Need help with picking OS

[xSeongminx]

Hi, I have an older lappy that I would like to take to school but I first need to install an OS. This is why I have turned and come here. The specs to the laptop are as follows:

AMD 475 mhz K6-2
128 Ram
6.4 Gig HD

I was wondering, which OS suites me the best and will run at full potential without any hinderances? (I tried XP Pro but it lags slightly)

 

[bleuiko]

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional
?

PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
?

128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
?

1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
?

Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
?

CD-ROM or DVD drive
?

Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

 

[Zugzwang152]

windows 2000 will be better than xp. otherwise 98 will run fine on it. i dont think any of the linux GUI's will run smoothly with that kind of hardware, so you're definitely looking at a windows OS.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: bleuiko
Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional
?

PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
?

128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
?

1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
?

Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
?

CD-ROM or DVD drive
?

Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

you want at least a 1ghz processor, 256mb ram, and 10gb hard drive. power users will be disappointed with anything less than 2ghz, 512mb ram.

 

[bleuiko]

Yeah, I was just pasting it from the MS site, I was looking up Win2K specs, but I echo your comment and recommend Win2K as well. Anything less would be extremely outdated.

 

[bleuiko]

Here are the minimum system requirements for running the Windows® 2000 Professional operating system.
Minimum Requirements
Computer/Processor 133 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU.
Memory At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM; more memory generally improves responsiveness.
Hard Disk 2 GB with 650 MB free space.
CPU Support Windows 2000 Professional supports single and dual CPU systems.
Drive CD-ROM or DVD drive.
Display VGA or higher resolution monitor.
Keyboard Required.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
windows 2000 will be better than xp. otherwise 98 will run fine on it. i dont think any of the linux GUI's will run smoothly with that kind of hardware, so you're definitely looking at a windows OS.

Um, there are linux guis that will run on far less ram than windows so I don't see why linux is out, at least for that reason.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: kamper

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
windows 2000 will be better than xp. otherwise 98 will run fine on it. i dont think any of the linux GUI's will run smoothly with that kind of hardware, so you're definitely looking at a windows OS.

Um, there are linux guis that will run on far less ram than windows so I don't see why linux is out, at least for that reason.

i speak just from browsing the OS forums, which seem to suggest a default packaged GUI will suck. what kind of gui's are you thinking of?

 

[lederhosen]

I concur with either Win2k or 98.

 

[skace]

I'd say 2K because, while 98 may run better on that hardware, it will extremely limit you as far as security (you will be at school) and support. If you loaded XP, you would simply be cutting all the fat out until it ended up looking like 2K starts out as.

 

[Mavrick007]

Yes, I have Win2K Pro on my old lappy and it works great.
It's under 1gig install on a 400 celery with 128megs ram.

I'd probably say go for Win2k.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Damn Small Linux. When booting type "dsl toram" so it'll load everything in the ram and run everything extremely fast and do a frugal install.

 

[xSeongminx]

Thank you guys for the help. Time to install W2k.

 

[dguy6789]

I would VERY strongly reccomend against anyone using windows 98/me for anything anymore.

For the system described above, Windows 2000 would be by far the best choice. You would have the stability of Windows XP and most of the features without the steep system requirements.

 

[nweaver]

I run Gentoo w/XFCE4 on a P2 400 w/256, and it runs awsome. I can do firefox, terminals, and a few small things and not really hit the swap file. I think the the linux gui statement is a bit uniformed 😛

 

[Mavrick007]

If you want Linux, there are many older versions which will work with less overhead than probably any version of Windows, but it depends on what you want to do with this machine.

 

[xSeongminx]

I just need it for word processing and surfing the web. I know that this isn't much of a laptop but college is starting to look like it's going to be a hassle trying to pay off.

 

[mundane]

You might want to try Morphix - Light GUI variation. It's a Live CD, so you can try it without actually installing it. I gave it to my wife for her old laptop, it was a 700 Mhz, and runs great.

 

[dummy2001]

dguy why are you so adamant about win98? I'm using it now and have had no significant problems in years. It probably helps that I'm using 98lite and don't even have internet explorer or or other MS apps on my machine. I've used plenty of machines w/ XP and nothing about the experience has made me want to give Bill Gates $100 for a bunch of junk bloated into the another OS that I don't even want. The only thing that has gotten me considering it is that BF2 won't run on 98. Are there specific documented performance differences that you can point to? Security has not been an issue for me.