Need operating system suggestions for old laptop (Vanity)

Yours truly | 6/25/2014 | Me

[deoetdoctrinae]

I'm trying to determine if it's worth messing with to find a different (and free) operating system for my very old Dell Latitude laptop. It currently has Windows XP SP3, which of course Microsoft no longer supports.

[Kirkwood]

Just keep XP until you can no longer get usable drivers for peripheral devices. That could be years from now. All of your security protection comes from firewalls and third-party software anyway. As long as those companies continue to support XP, you can keep using it.

[Billthedrill]

Probably too old for Ubuntu or Mint Linux (but maybe not)...

I'm running the current Mint distribution on a lappy with specs similar to these. It runs pretty durn well, all things considered. I'll never use it as a screaming games machine but for FReeping and word processing and playing music it's just fine.

[hattend]

I’d just keep what you have if all you are doing is surfing and email.

[edpc]

Of course they’re programming languages, but it was a joke for an old system, which the original poster seemed to appreciate. Thanks, however, for being the designated drag and providing your Sheldon-esque wet blanket input.

[Mr. K]

dont move it to Windows 7 unless you can put 8 gig of memory in it

[RJS1950]

You’re more than welcome.

[The Great RJ]

Linux variants might be your best bet, but this old dinosaur is not worth keeping given the simple lack of computing power. Sadly your choices for a new laptop are limited to Windows 8..a pathetic OS or going to a Mac. If you are just using your old laptop for web surfing, e-mailing, Skype and Facebook, I would consider getting a tablet instead of a new laptop. Tablets will not really work well for more heavy uses like Word or spreadsheets, but if you are not doing those types of things look at tablet. I-pads are pricey but work well however Android based tablets are less expensive and likely would give you everything you need

[GOPJ]

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3166614/posts?page=1

The story comes less than a year after the death of security expert and hacker Barnaby Jack, who demonstrated his own hacking technique on ATM’s in 2010. Despite their vulnerabilities, ATM’s are the salvation of diehard Windows XP users who, it seems, can re-enable updates for the operating system by telling their PCs that they are ATMs.

[GOPJ]

I pulled a quote from your link... was that a great story or what? Renews your faith in mankind.

[knarf]

"Do PEEPS have an infinite shelf life?."

They usually grow up to lay eggs and then get eaten ... I don't know ... if you can them with a pressure cooker .... maybe.

[John Robinson]

This might not be of much help to you. . . I’ve used underpowered machines as thin clients— “remote desktops”, that is, the old machine becomes a dumb graphical terminal with a mouse and keyboard, some more modern piece of hardware runs the heavy loads over the local network. In my case, light Linux distros on the laptops running X servers, shelling into a beefy Linux workstation to run the hungry apps like web browsers. There are similar solutions in the MS Windows world, though I don’t know the requirements on the thin-side.

[Nateman]

I use to work at a place that had a bunch of old Windows computers. They practically crawled most of the time. I would boot up using a Puppy Linux CD and then use a memory stick to save anything. Puppy worked great and when I was done for the night the original computers were unchanged.

[scottteng]

dad the geek swears by Puppy Linux even has it set up to run off a flash drive

[deoetdoctrinae]

Hey John. Yeah, this one is definitely an underpowered machine, lol. I've almost decided to just use it "as-is", with up-to-date security, for just knocking around the good old interweb!

If not, folks posting on this thread have given me food for thought for some alternatives. I love Free Republic!

[deoetdoctrinae]

Several people have mentioned Puppy and other Linux offerings. I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks very much!

[MarineMom613]

post for later reference on laptop

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

bump for later...

[Organic Panic]

Do PEEPS have an infinite shelf life?.
PEEPS are just as awful on day one as they are on day 1000. They are however, fantastic targets for shooting with my pump action BB gun in the back yard. They are virtually indestructible in the face of the highest power firearm.

[usconservative]

Pascal or COBOL

Pffffttt!!! Assembler is the way to go.