Picking an OS

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:38 pm

I just scored a laptop from Ebay, a Vaio Z505, with a P3 processor that clocks in at 750MHz, and 128mb of RAM built-in. I'm just waiting on a new hard drive now, it's 40GB, should be plenty. But now the question is, what OS to use? I was looking at a light Linux like DSL or Puppy, but manual install is a real pain in the ass, not to mention it's hard to find drivers for many devices on Linux. I really like Windows, but they're really heavy operating systems, not to mention RAM hogs. Has anyone used TinyXP or something along those lines? I've got TinyXP rev. 5, and was looking to get rev. 6, does anyone have any input as to which is better? Thanks!

CTFan

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:24 pm

Go with Windows 98 SE or TinyXP

Post by **bicostp** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:39 pm

Go with XP. 98's device support is laughable.

I've used 2000/XP Lite and nLite to make my own slim installations of XP, and as long as you don't rip out something you may need later you won't have any problems. (I start with anything MSN related, Windows Messenger, Media Player, Luna, etc...)

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:33 pm

Dual boot between D.S.L. and XP Damn small linuz is damn light and packed full of good programs ive never seen it use more than 100megs of ram and the entire operating system loads into ram the only thing hard drive/CD is holding the apps

lifeisbetterwithketchup · Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:54 pm

I'm using tinyXP Platinum 2. Everything's fine and it's really zippy (P4 2.4Ghz, 256 RAM), but I do have driver issues. I cannot install my sound driver. It's a SiS-645 motherboard with onboard sound. Ubuntu has no issues (sound works fine). Other than that, it's great. It's faster than XP home on my Dell 4550 (P4 2.4Ghz, 1GB RAM). I fully recommend tinyXP, but don't be too surprised if you run into driver issues.

I've also used Damn Small Linux, and it's good too.

So I suggest tinyXP/DSL dual-boot.

EDIT: Dammit, I had to go saying how great tinyXP is. Now it's BSODing on me once I get entirely logged on.

Felino · Post by **Felino** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:21 am

Kenny_McCormic wrote:Dual boot between D.S.L. and XP Damn small linuz is damn light and packed full of good programs ive never seen it use more than 100megs of ram and the entire operating system loads into ram the only thing hard drive/CD is holding the apps

[Gulp] Nice grammmer there man.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:39 pm

Go with a slim downed XP install if your more a windows person. If you know you're way around Linux I'd say go with what ever distribution you know best. If you're going to go with Ubuntu go with one of the 6.x versions, 7.1 needs 256MB to really run.

As for DSL you have to like the way DSL works. People either love it and want it on everything, or they hate it and think it needs to die. As some have mentioned it is hard to navigate if you don't know where things are.

Felino · Post by **Felino** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:16 am

Whats the smallest you can go with tinyxp? Like 300mb maybe?

WOOT 500th POST!!!

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:43 am

Felino wrote:Whats the smallest you can go with tinyxp? Like 300mb maybe?

I've nlite'd the install files for XP Home SP2 down to 161MB, I haven't tried installing it yet. The one I made without any service packs is 233MB, but I think I left more stuff in, that was the first one I made. I'm going to try them in Virtual PC 2007.

Post by **marshallh** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:55 am

XP is actually a pretty good OS once you strip it down to its NT5-based core. If you disable the eye candy, it runs fairly well. (Much more efficient than some Linux window systems I know of *cough*)

I used to run XP with eye candy on a 266mhz PII with 256mb ram, it ran great. I'd guess it will run even better on yours.

You need more ram. Try to double what you have, if you can.

Post by **gannon** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:00 am

You could always give OS/2 or BeOS a try

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:14 am

yeah i have xp right now cause im having issues setting up my dual boot and it runs OK on my 866mhz p3 with ~380 megs of ram

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:37 am

marshallh wrote:You need more ram. Try to double what you have, if you can.

Yeah, that's the first thing I thought of when I got it. Luckily, the RAM's on the motherboard, and it's upgradeable to 512mb.

Thanks for all the input, guys, I think I'm going to install TinyXP Rev. 6, even though it's 700 megs. Rev. 5 was cool, but a bit too stripped down for me.

CTFan

totokan · Post by **totokan** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:35 pm

freeBSD with X.Org. Best OS I've used, better than any Linux distro or microsoft product.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:55 pm

totokan wrote:freeBSD with X.Org. Best OS I've used, better than any Linux distro or microsoft product.

If you're going that route you might as well go with PC-BSD. That way you have a simple install, and you don't have to deal with learning how the ports system works.

I'd also be wary about using a FreeBSD. Sure it's more stable, but it doesn't have as many drivers or driver developments. It's not like using Linux (System V), it's not sd# it's ad#. You should also be prepared for people to be snooty, BSD people want you to research first then ask.

Just giving a fair warning as I've been down that road before.