Need operating system suggestions for old laptop (Vanity)

Yours truly | 6/25/2014 | Me

[steve86]

This old Compaq Armada laptop (PIII also with only 256 MB) has Salix Linux installed. Five tabs open right now.

An even older Armada with a Celeron/Pentium II has Anti-X Linux installed (one version back). Usually only one or two tabs open on that one.

[TomGuy]

When was the last time you called Microsoft to ask for help with the XP?

Just because the discontinue support does not mean you have to dump XP. If it still works and connects and you intend to use it only as a spare in case a later model breaks down, why erase XP?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

” that converted the Vista OS to Win 7. It was a seamless, though somewhat time consuming install — it works perfectly now and it’s like having a new laptop. Maybe something like this might be in order.”

Win 7 needs massive RAM to work well, but work well it does. W7 needs 4 GB to work right, IMO. I would probably stay with XP as long as possible, though I am not knowledgeable about Linux and other OS’s. You should be able to buy cheap RAM for it (because it’s old stuff) and I would jam as much RAM as I could in there.

[PapaNew]

XP. It is the best Microsoft OS.

I used to have it but I think it got replaced by Windows 7 which I now have. How does Windows 7 compare?

[truth_seeker]

Reference

[GeronL]

Probably too old for Ubuntu or Mint Linux (but maybe not) but there are many variety of smaller Linux programs.

When you reformat the HDD everything will be lost. So you better keep any old files you might want to keep.

[Trod Upon]

There is a very simplified Linux distro called Puppy Linux. Limited, but very small and simple.

[deoetdoctrinae]

Since it really is a last ditch fall back unit, I may very well leave well enough alone. I was just interested to see if anyone had some good ideas for something that would run OK, and be secure, just to see if something jumped out as a really great alternative.

Lots of good info already. Free Republic is a great place for answers. Like, Do PEEPS have an infinite shelf life?.

[GeronL]

or use Windows offline and launch Linux to go online.

[nhwingut]

1 - Security issues: not only is Microsoft not going to release security patches anymore, security vendors.... anti-virus makers, etc... are going to stop supporting the platform this year.

2 - Functionality issues: Websites are already dropping support for IE 8, and Google has made it clear Chrome will soon drop support for XP. So then it becomes a question of how long Firefox support will last. And with damn near everything web-centric now, if a vendor doesn’t support your OS, that means that your computer becomes increasingly useless without Internet capabilities (like Flash for YouTube, etc).

He already has the latest service pack (SP3) so as long as he keeps his anti virus protection up to date (most AV vendors are committed to XP through 2016), turns on the local firewall, and uses Firefox (no expire date yet) or Chrome (expires 2015), and uses a web based email, he'll be fine. He's only surfing and some email. Not exactly a production system. The system as is, should suffice for another couple of years. IMO.

[woerm]

for later and reference

[waynesa98]

By Larry Seltzer for Zero Day | May 26, 2014 — 14:10 GMT (07:10 PDT)
As reported by Wayne Williams at Betanews and confirmed by us, a simple registry hack to a Windows XP system tricks Windows Update into providing updates for it.
Williams says that the hack, included just below, makes the system look like Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 which will continue to receive updated until April 9, 2019.
To apply the hack, create a text file with a .reg extension and the contents below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
“Installed”=dword:00000001
Run it by double-clicking in Windows Explorer. After this is done, if you run Windows Update, it will find several updates, as illustrated in this screen capture:
(Image: ZDNet/CBS Interactive)The screen capture is from our own tests, which appear to work. Notice that two of the displayed updates are for WEPOS (Windows Embedded Point of Service) and Windows POSReady 2009. The others are for Windows Server 2003, which runs the same kernel and many other components as Windows XP.
This specific hack works only on 32-bit systems, but a 64-bit workaround is available at this page, which may have been Williams’s source for the 32-bit hack.

[UPDATE:] Late Monday we received a statement from a Microsoft spokesperson:
We recently became aware of a hack that purportedly aims to provide security updates to Windows XP customers. The security updates that could be installed are intended for Windows Embedded and Windows Server 2003 customers and do not fully protect Windows XP customers. Windows XP customers also run a significant risk of functionality issues with their machines if they install these updates, as they are not tested against Windows XP. The best way for Windows XP customers to protect their systems is to upgrade to a more modern operating system, like Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.

[TexasRepublic]

Someone gave me a 10-year-old Dell Latitude D600 running Windows XP. I upgraded the memory to 2GB and installed Ubuntu Linux. It runs extremely well with that much memory.

[kevkrom]

Just because the discontinue support does not mean you have to dump XP. If it still works and connects and you intend to use it only as a spare in case a later model breaks down, why erase XP?

If you never connect to the internet, keep XP. If it's online, "support" also includes security patches, and the longer you go, the less secure it will be; in that case get one of the lightweight Linux distros.

[montanajoe]

I'd keep XP.

Just because Microsoft ended support doesn't mean it doesn't work.

I have XP on most of my putters and have no intention of changing.

[deoetdoctrinae]

Thanks for the info.

[SeaHawkFan]

You can buy a new low-end lap top for under $300 that is likely to be far more powerful than what you have now.

[deoetdoctrinae]

Lol, I know. I’m just trying to baby this one along as a “better than nothing” fallback unit.

[BornToBeAmerican]

Ping

[RJS1950]

Funny, when I used to write code in Pascal and COBOL I never realized that they were operating systems; silly me.