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Old 07-21-2008, 11:06 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Best OS for an older system?

My sister's old pc screwed up and now Windows is unrecoverably ruined on it =/

What I'm wanting to do is install an OS on it that will work well on an less powerful system. I don't remember the exact specs, but it's along the lines of

256mb of RAM (this I know)
2.0ghz Celeron

It had XP, but the system was slow without running other programs. It's sometimes used to play warcraft 3, but that's the most demanding game that it's ever going to play. Mostly it's used for its cd burner, internet surfing, and random simple stuff like word processing.

It still needs to be able to play Warcraft 3, Diablo 2, Daggerfall, Counterstrike, and a few other 90s games (or more specifically my little brother does, lol). What's the best OS for this pc?

Last edited by toothman : 07-21-2008 at 11:08 PM.
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Old 07-22-2008, 02:40 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

There are several versions of Linux that will run on very low-spec computers, but if you want to stick with Microsoft I would go for Windows 2000. I used it myself until recently, and I know someone who still uses it for advanced programs like AutoCAD and 3D Studio, as well as CD burning, internet and office apps.
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Old 07-22-2008, 03:43 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

I agree with Koala.
Perhaps ReactOS will work as well (I don't know how stable it is).
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Old 07-23-2008, 09:02 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

With specs like that you can run any number of distros. Here is a list of some of theme: Aboslute Linux, Damn Small Linux, Fluxbuntu, Mempis, TinyME

These should all be able to run on your computer. You can also check out more at distrowatch, and Linux Online.

I hope this helps you out.

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Old 07-25-2008, 08:19 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

I'd say Fluxbuntu, Xubuntu or maybe Puppy Linux. Absolute Linux looks fairly nice and might be the fastest, since it's based on Slackware (Slackware can run on very low spec machines). Blizzard's games are known to run fairly well with Wine (a Windows emulation thing that runs on Unix-like systems). I can't say about Daggerfall, or the others, but you could check out the Wine app database that lists how well programs run through it ( http://appdb.winehq.org/ ).

I recommend putting more RAM in that machine. RAM access is MUCH faster than hard drive access, and your computer will have to use virtual memory/swap space to run most programs. Getting the RAM up to 1 GB should help a fair amount.
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Old 07-25-2008, 09:31 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

Can you play the games mentioned by the OP in Linux?
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Old 07-25-2008, 11:19 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

Warcraft III, Diablo II definitely should work (I've always heard of them working fairly well with Wine). Looked like Counterstrike was in the Wine AppDB. I've never heard of Daggerfall (although I don't have much time for gaming anymore).
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Old 07-25-2008, 11:36 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

WINDOWs XP


also, you expected to game on that old rig? even Linux won't help...

Last edited by peterhuang913 : 07-25-2008 at 11:38 PM.
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Old 07-25-2008, 11:58 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

you will see an increase in speed if you up the ram to 512mg or 1g
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Old 07-26-2008, 02:02 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

Quote:
Originally Posted by peterhuang913 View Post
WINDOWs XP


also, you expected to game on that old rig? even Linux won't help...
I've run Diablo II on much slower processors. The main problem is the RAM. If the RAM was increased to 1 GB, I'd expect decent performance from that machine.

Using swap space instead of real RAM, it's usable, but the real RAM should be a big factor in the speed.
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Old 07-27-2008, 11:08 AM   #11 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

Thanks a lot for the repsonses. Unfortunately, my bro demands XP, so he's gonna pay me to upgrade the RAM and eventually GPU and CPU. If I was keeping the thing as a second pc for myself, I'd prolly go Linux thanks to the posts in this thread.

Btw I was wrong about the current CPU. It's a 2.7Ghz Celeron (still crap). P4s fit in the slot, so it's gonna get one of those eventually.
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Old 07-28-2008, 07:31 AM   #12 (permalink)
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Re: Best OS for an older system?

Is P4 the highest that you can go? What is your mobo, we can probably find something better if you want.

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