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Best OS for a C2D-era rig with 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2?

VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
XP? Windows 7 32-bit? Some Linux distro? (Will any modern distro run in 1GB, or will I be limited to Puppy Linux?)

What if the computer was using a 30GB SSD?
 
Win7 would choke on 1gb ram
XP would run great but its riskier to run do to vulnerabilities. I tend to use XP for general purpose VMs.
Linux is an option but it comes down to use case of the machine
 
GNU/Linux will pretty much always outperform Windows on lower spec machines, but if you need Windows programs, that's out. I wouldn't use XP for anything. Might as well go with the newest, and tell the recipient to deal with it. Anything Xubuntu class and under should perform fine. Really, you should be able to use anything, but you might be cutting it close with the heavier desktops.
 
That's what I was wondering, if Ubuntu would even run in 1GB. If it will, I'll probably use that. Saves me the Microsoft "Windows tax".

(I might be giving away these machines anyways.)

Will current Ubuntu distro versions properly support TRIM for an SSD? Or do I need to do a configuration change after installation to support that?
 
See this for enabling trim...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1928155

You might want to consider using 12.04. It's a LTS release, and will be supported until 2017, with the upgrade occurring in 2014. You also might want to consider Xubuntu. It's a bit lighter, and more like classic Windows, but it isn't as pretty by default. It can be made pretty if that's important though.
 
If you're still looking for a lightweight OS give Peppermintos a try. I have it running on my 1.5ghz Semperon laptop with 768mb of memory and it looks and runs pretty smooth.
 
Gotta put in a plug for Puppy Linux.

The FatDog-64 version is especially nice.

The whole thing is only about 200MB so it will load COMPLETELY to RAM. This makes it very, very fast. It will boot from a live CD so you can try it with no need to install it to a hard drive. There is a package manager so getting/installing extra apps is super easy.

I've had some trouble with the Firefox edition so maybe try the SeaMonkey version...

Here is a link to the current version and a desktop screen cap of an old version:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=82611

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4108/sdfgxd.png
 
win 7 will work fine, but alot of the fancy/pretty features will automatically be turned off leaving u with the core OS.
 
Only 1GB of ram?

Windows 2000, or one of the suggested Linux distros.

Even XP does not do all that great with only 1GB of ram. It runs, but it does not mean it will run great. By the time you put antivirus on it, possibly firewall, have a couple browser windows open etc... it just wont cut it.

If upgrading ram is an option, then I'd put 2GB+ then XP would be fine. You could try 7 but I have a feeling it would get pretty bogged down due to the processor.

If it does not have to be Windows, then Linux would make more sense.
 
XP is still supported, until mid 2014. A lot of corporate world is still on it. I see no other choice, 1GB is barely enough for XP and few programs running. 2GB of RAM would make it run well latest, 7 or 8.
 
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