linux vs microsoft

my old pc is running microsoft 98 and its is extreamly slow. would putting linux on the machine instead help it speed up atall so that my sister can actually use it instead of sitting waiting like 15 mins for it to load up?

hello

Which linux u r using ?

im not. it is on microsoft as i said. but i would go onto linux if it would make my pc run faster. as i said. so i dont no what linux i would run it off as i dont no much about it. that is what i am asking help about.

Generally, if you want it to "look" like windows, then it won't run faster.

Bloated GUI environments like KDE or Gnome will run just as slow, if not more so.

You can load lighter GUI's, such as XFCE, but you begin to lose the 'look and feel' I think you are going for. The real benefit is found elsewhere; limited viruses, no macro hacks, stability. Additionally, in the server arena, where a gui should NEVER be used... that, is where the *nix shines.

You can try to pick a flavor of *nix and load a lighter graphic environment. Once she gets used to it, she might not even notice.

i'd have to suggest trying out Damn Small Linux. that or yoper. yoper boasts about being speedy, but DSL might run faster for you. i'd check what the system requirements of said distros are then then give it a try. DSL comes as a livecd, i think its all of like 100mb or something to that effect and if you have room/an extra hard drive throw it on to see how fast it is off a hdd. and yoper is compiled to be quick. maybe i'll install it on an old pc i have to give it a rating..


http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
http://www.yoper.com/

right thanks alot. Daemonguy i think you have gotton a slight missunderstanding, i dont care what it looks like. and id ont think she does. i just want the pc to be able to run properly. and i didnt no whether a different OS would help that or not.

Ahh, well in that case I think it matters little which variety of linux you use (if you do intend to utilize a GUI). As long as you trim the kernel down and recompile you can make ANY linux small enough. The real problem is the GUI. I would install something like XFCE; as I mentioned, it's small but still has come good features.

As for DSL; that really just takes the work out of compiling your own kernel, but then you're stuck with whatever they chose to implement. Yoper ... isn't that an optimized Linux for higher end machines? (686 or greater?)

right sorry but unfortunatly windows is all i am used to. so i dont really understand waht you are talking about. sorry.

If it's really a rather old machine then I would use Puppy. Everything works well, and it's very light on system resources.
The support is excellent, but the main advantage is you can run it from a live cd and try it before you commit to installing anything.

Grab a copy from here. http://puppylinux.com/

There are screenshots of quite a few of the smaller distros on these forums. I had a weekend of testing.. http://alien13.jumbahost.com/afterdark/ ... c.php?t=59

DSL is also great too, but there are certain dependency problems due to the age of some of the included libraries when it's installed.

Not to worry. We're all here to help if we can.

that puppy program looks just about perfect for the job! thanks alot. but can it run windows aplications?

If you install Wine (it's an emulation layer) some will work. It's a little hit and miss which ones work as it's an ongoing work in progress. I add a full set of windows dll's to it when I am forced to use a windows program. I haven't found anything I need windows apps for, but there is always something that it's easier to try one for.
It really depends what you want to do. For internet and general use there is usually a linux native application that is faster and better than any windows based one.
The only time I find people having compatability problems is when they are forced to use certain software for work/college.

yer well its for the use of dvds and games, which is rhy i am asking about the use of windows apps.

dvd's shouldn't give you too much of a problem if the hardware is up to it. Games on old machines? Try cedega (not free) which may not work.

I'm just guessing here, but my assumption is a machine running 98 isn't going to be much more than a pentium3 450? (if that!) Any less and it's really a lost cause for your intended purpose.
Let us know the specs we are dealing with and maybe we can offer some more specific advice.

well i think its a pentium 3 its doesnt tell you. but what i can tel you is that it was as good as they came when 98 came out. it cost about 1800 english pounds has a 128 ram and a 20gig hard disk(big as they came at the time) and when i say games i meen things like the sims. nothing reli that needs alot of power.

The bios should tell us all.. try pressing <F2> or <ctrl> or even <delete> at the (probably) award flashbios screen. Remember not to change any settings while in there. If it's from 97/98 era then it's most likely a P2 333 or maybe a K6...you may even have a nightmare Cyrix 333 with no L2 cache..if it's one of those the best place for it is used as a firewall or printer server...That's what I use mine for.
As an example of how things move on I have a Compaq Deskpro386 here that cost £1,100 way back when, I paid £2 for it 2 or 3 years ago for a minimal linux project. It makes a good doorstop...

Believe it or not here are the machine specs needed to run the sims..


Needs-

If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM (such as nvidia GeForce 2 or better or ATI Radeon 7000 or better) then you need at least:
600 MHz P3 processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as TNT2 or Intel Integrated for example) then you need at least:
1.5 GHz processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

Recommended video cards (and the more video memory the better):
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Nvidia Geforce 4 or FX series cards

Wants-

Minimum, 1.8 GHz processor
512 MB SD Ram or 256 DDR
4 GB hard drive space (to allow for swap files too)
GeForce 4 and above.

All of which means I have no hope whatsoever of running it on my desktop machine. P3 600 overclocked with 12MB video ram integrated.

(edit.. I'm cheap..that's why I run linux and FBSD)