Which operating system should I choose?

[Guest]

I have Celeron 333Mhz and 128Mb RAM and not planning to upgrade my hardware. I don't play games either. The problem is that I'm a student and Windows 98, which I'm using right now, is getting a bit old... I need to upgrade my OS but I don't know which one I should choose

Will Windows XP even work on my machine? And if I get XP, I'd have to buy Microsoft Office, too. Would that be the best choice? How about Linux? I know some basics of UNIX and one chance would be Slackware 9.1. I could get that for free with free OpenOffice.org and free GIMP (better than Photoshop). I guess Slackware suits better for my hardware, too (works on 486, huh?). By the way I have a small ZipSlack on other partition right now (not enough space for full OS)

What I'm saying is that is it wise to switch to GNU/Linux 100%? Being a student and becoming an IT professional, is it wise to go with UNIX systems in the 21th century? The problem here is that I know Win98 as my own pockets and getting a new OS is a big step to take. Should I learn XP or UNIX

The other thing is that this is about our home pc and I'm the only one who can use Linux. Will this cause problems? On the other hand, if I get WinXP I also have to buy antivirus programs and all the other applications I need which are free in GNU/Linux (well, not antivirus - I haven't heard about viruses in UNIX...??). If I'll become a software developer, Linux is a must (all tools are free). The others at the school are hostile against anyone switching to UNIX OS (of course). They say Linux sucks and "you can always get an illegal copy of WinXP". None of them has actually bought Windows. I don't want to do that

Then there is FreeBSD. I've heard that it's the fastest and most stable of these three. And it's also free of charge, along with its applications. And I could be installing it from MS DOS within 10 minutes after this

What should I do? I have a very small HD so I can only keep one operating system. Can't dual boot

Regards
Bams

 

[Guest]

Stay with 98

 

[JAX]

dido

JAX

 

[JAX]

Oops, that was supposed to be "ditto". Slip of the keyboard there.

JAX

 

[Guest]

My comments restricted to Win OS only; other OS for others to comment about. You might take a look at this WinXp info which includes Sys Rqmts. I agree with the previous posts .. stick with Win98. You have a system that apparently works pretty well for you .. and for the other members of the household. You did mention that your HD size is not large. As for the comment that Win98 is getting old .. everything in the computer world is always in transition .. for example, the current move is into 64-bit machines (on the market now) running 64-bit WinXp OS (MS has betas available now). Further, the move from Win98 to WinXp is not always smooth given some of the horror stories I've seen posted by user's on the web. So, given your situation, I wouldn't move from Win98 to WinXp right now; instead, I would hold off until you are ready to move to a new box.

 

[Guest]

....BUT don't get me wrong! Free Software is still A MUST and vi the best text editor ever!

I highly recommend Vim and XEmacs for every programmer or so. (...and Mozilla Firefox for a web browser, of course).

Regards,
Bamse

 

[Guest]

Yeah... I guess I should stick with 98. It works like a dream on my machine, if you don't mind the crashes and "blue screens of death".

It's just the current GNU/Linux fever out there. Everyone is switching to the "faster, more stable, free, etc." Linux. I had Slackware on my machine once ... I was impressed. The graphics and the interface was much better than XP's and it still was even faster than my old Win98, but it was very difficult for me to because of my lack of experience with it. I've been using "the command line" maybe whole my life (DOS C++ w/ DJGPP programming as a kid), but still a command line driven OS was kinda difficult. If you didn't know the right command you were stuck. I could never load the keyboard locale! I had to download the whole X (graphical interface) from the internet manually and then compile e.g. web browsers I wanted to use (to get help...?). Of course I understand that this is the OS that "the g33kz love, which has a 1337 k1t and 0wnZ y00!!!111", but it didn't suit my needs as a family desktop OS. If I was a GNU/Linux professional that would have definitely been my ultimate choice.

There are easier Linux distributions like Mandrake, but the easier it goes the more unstable. And less UNIX.

By the way, when I get "a new box" it's clear that I will dual-boot. And at that time Slackware will be the superior.

Regards,
Bamse

----- Pavey wrote: -----

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have Celeron 333Mhz and 128Mb RAM and not planning to upgrade my hardware. I don't play games either. The problem is that I'm a student and Windows 98, which I'm using right now, is getting a bit old... I need to upgrade my OS but I don't know which one I should choose.

Will Windows XP even work on my machine?

Only just. With another 128 of RAM it would get by.

And if I get XP, I'd have to buy Microsoft Office, too. Would that be the best choice?

Any Office program that you are using with 98 will probably work in XP -
certainly Office 97 does

I would probably stick with Win98.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

"Glacial" is the term that comes to my mind, I'm afraid. If you
turn off all of WinXP GUI eye-candy, it will still be very slow but it
might usable for simple word processing (_not_ MS Office, though),
email, web-browsing, etc. It won't be any good for graphics-intensive
applications, and many newer games. (During the public preview
period, I tested WinXP on a 500 MHz machine with 256 Mb of RAM.)

1) Right-click the Task Bar > Properties > Start Menu, ensure
"Classic Start menu" is selected.

2) Right-click an empty spot on the Desktop > Properties > Themes >
select "Windows Classic."

3) Right-click My Computer > Properties > Performance > Settings >
Visual Effects, ensure "Adjust for best performance" is selected.

However, with a PC this old, it's essential to make sure it's
components are WinXP-compatible _before_ proceeding. Have you ensured
that all the PC's components are capable of supporting WinXP? This
information will be found at each of the PC's component's
manufacturer's web sites, and on Microsoft's Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx). Computer components
designed for use with Win9x/Me very often fail to meet WinXP's much
more stringent hardware quality requirements.

Can you obtain OS-specific device drivers for your PC's
components, and any necessary motherboard BIOS updates? Additionally,
you can download and run Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you
have any incompatible hardware components.
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp)

HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Ron Sommer]

Greetings --

"Glacial" is the term that comes to my mind, I'm afraid. If you
turn off all of WinXP GUI eye-candy, it will still be very slow but it
might usable for simple word processing (_not_ MS Office, though),
email, web-browsing, etc. It won't be any good for graphics-intensive
applications, and many newer games. (During the public preview
period, I tested WinXP on a 500 MHz machine with 256 Mb of RAM.)

1) Right-click the Task Bar > Properties > Start Menu, ensure
"Classic Start menu" is selected.

2) Right-click an empty spot on the Desktop > Properties > Themes >
select "Windows Classic."

3) Right-click My Computer > Properties > Performance > Settings >
Visual Effects, ensure "Adjust for best performance" is selected.

However, with a PC this old, it's essential to make sure it's
components are WinXP-compatible _before_ proceeding. Have you ensured
that all the PC's components are capable of supporting WinXP? This
information will be found at each of the PC's component's
manufacturer's web sites, and on Microsoft's Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx). Computer components
designed for use with Win9x/Me very often fail to meet WinXP's much
more stringent hardware quality requirements.

Can you obtain OS-specific device drivers for your PC's
components, and any necessary motherboard BIOS updates? Additionally,
you can download and run Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you
have any incompatible hardware components.
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp)

The upgradde advisor is a 50 MG download.
My XP Home Windows folder is 2 GB.

Your processaor speed is marginal.
Your ram is not adequate.
Your hard drive size should be 8 GB minimum.
Save your money and buy a new machine.