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I am wondering what would be the best Operating System for my computer (Please note that this is a differnt PC than in my other post). It has 233mhz, 96mb of RAM and a 1mb video card, and a 8x4x32x CD-RW drive, and a 52x LG drive. It origanily had a 2GB (which is nothing) and about 6 months ago I upgraded it to a 40GB drive, and I know it is no Pentium 4 with 3Ghz nor does it come close, but with the 40 GB drive it seems to run a fair bit faster than it did before. I currently have 3 operating systems installed on it (because I cannot make up my mind) It had Windows 98SE, Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP, and all of them run ok but it is hard to tell which runs the best because I have most of my stuff on the Windows 2000 volume. I know you will say Windows XP will run really slow and it will take forever to start up, but it will play MP3's, and even some videos (mainly not compressed videos Windows 98 cannot play those either). It says on the front designed for Windows 95, but I guess that is because it came out before 98 was made. So that is my final question What would be better 98 or 95?
Thank-You
Hi there, this is just one opinion, so wait around for a few others before making a choice, but with your system I'd personally pick 98.
Now, I'm not exactly an expert here, but by being on XP myself and knowing most of the requirements, I'm very curious as to how XP is even running on that system. XP is a memory hungry monster, I was thinking that Windows 2000 Pro was the same.
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I would go with either Win98SE or WinME...I personally prefer WinME. You should also check the specs on your motherboard...96mb of RAM may be exceeding the the cache limit...it depends on the chipset. But the majority of older socket 7 boards, especially those based on Intel chipsets, could only cache 64mb, exceeding 64mb actually slows the system.
This will help explain:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/cache/char_Cacheability.htm
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I had that same problem until i upgraded my memory. DO NOT GO WITH WINDOWS ME. It has many flaws due to the fact that Microsoft rushed for its production for the new millenium. I would suggest sticking with Windows 98SE And upgrade your ram to atleast 256mb. If you do, then upgrade to Windows XP Home Edition.
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If it is Pentium 1 233MMX no USB - W95B or C
If it is Pentium 1 233MMX with USB - W98SE/ME
If it is Pentium 2 233nhz no USB - W95B or C
If it is Pentium 2 233mhz with USB - W98SE/ME/W2K
Though it would make a good DOS Web Server or Dial-up modem internet connection sharing box
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Good suggestions. I'd go with 98SE, and max out the RAM. Some tricks:* only install software that you really use
* do minimal installs of the OS, Office, etc. to eliminate accessories and applications you don't need
* keep in mind the age of the computer, and install software of the same vintageBeOS would run fine on that machine :)
Best Luck,
Bob
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One thing shocked me in this thread, x86 suggesting using it as some kind of server running DOS. Do people really do this? Seriously? Do they know you can run real operating systems, OSs people actually choose to use for web and file servers, on lesser hardware? Of course I'm talking about Linux and the BSDs.
Linux would make a good desktop OS for even an old computer. You just have to avoid memory and CPU hog programs. Slackware with XFCE and MozillaFirebird would be a good combination. BlackBox is also popular for slower hardware. OpenOffice will take forever to start but run fine once it does.
If you want a web server, install FreeBSD stable and Apache. You would be running the most widely used web server on the most stable free OS (probably also the most stable even after including popular non-free OSs like Solaris). I have a Celeron 400 with 128Mb of RAM running FreeBSD as a fileserver. I'm using software RAID to combine a bunch of old hard drives and make one good Samba (free server for the Windows filesharing protocol) share.
OpenBSD would turn a computer like that into a great firewall/router. I'm running my router on a P-166 MMX with 48Mb of RAM, both of which are more than enough.
If you insist on using Windows, avoid ME like the plague. Back when XP came out, Microsoft had a comparison on their site of XP vs. ME vs. 98SE. ME did significantly worse than 98SE. All they did was put a bunch of extra junk on top of 98SE, and it only ended up slowing it down. Also avoid XP unless you get the RAM up to at least 256Mb. XP is essentially a bunch of junk on top of 2000. They did make some improvements, but you'll only see them on better hardware. Between the two remaining versions, 98 and 2000, I'd personally pick 2000.
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Jake,1. I use DOS daily...still a very valuable OS.
2. "avoid ME like the plague" Nothing wrong with Me that can't be fixed in a half-hour. In this particular case, I don't recommend Me because of the 233/96Mb combination.
3. Linux and the BSD's are fine; but perhaps he doesn't have them, doesn't want to start from square one, or just likes windows. Like it or hate it, the various flavors of windows are real operating systems too.Skip
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I know some people prefer Windows and would rather not use Linux or a BSD, but using DOS for a server rather than Linux or BSD just doesn't make any sense.
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