Tim Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Good morning.I wonder if anyone can make a suggestion for an operating system? I've rescued a laptop from the bin. It's quite old but appears to be well built and still works.It was, according the a label on the base, originally installed with Windows 98 and at some time, someone has tried and failed to get Knoppix running on it.It's has a 5 or 6 gig hard drive - 64 meg of ram, but I can't remember what processor, but it's obviously going to be contempory to it's age. The model is a Compaq Pressario 1200.I've 'toyed' briefly with Ubuntu on a different machine and tried my ISO disc on this laptop, but it wasn't happy with the lack of ram.I downloaded Puppy linux but it didn't run very well, and there didn't appear to be a facility to run the wi-fi dongle I'm having to use for net access. I should have said it doesn't have an ethernet port.Surprisingly, the most success I've had so far is with a spare copy of XP. It took quite a while to install, of course, and a further couple of days to install all the XP updates!!I'm now playing with the Knoppix disc that I found inside the CD drive, but that doesn't seem to be very happy either and I'm not getting very far with it - as I said, I'm no Linux expert.A friend is certain that he has some more memory for this machine, but has, so far, been unable to find it. Apparentely it is able to have an extra 250 meg in the expansion slot.In all honesty, I'm not too bothered about the machine, but there is something in me that's reluctant to throw a working piece of equipment in to the recycling bin. I would never expect any computer of this age to be of great use anyway, but it could be a handy box to cart about for net access and e-mails and that would be all.So, don't waste too much time on any potential response to this thread - the machine's not worth it - but any suggestions would be welcome but I wouldn't be too surprised if most of the suggestions echo my wife's!![:)]Regards - Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 I have an old copy of Windows ME knocking about at home. Any good to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 ME - mmm - I did have a copy of that somewhere - probably back in the UK, or lost by now.It's a thought, but I don't have good memories of that os.Thanks for the offer - I'll bear it in mind.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex H Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 How about Windows 98?http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows98-CD-Product-Key-Recovery-Other_W0QQitemZ280450177702QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Software_Software_SR?hash=item414c221aa6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 I think that's what was on the machine all those years ago, when new.I haven't got a copy of that - only 95. I remember having great problems with Win 95 when trying to use USB - it didn't originally support it, and the patch crashed many machines including mine.Bearing in mind that I will have to use the wi-fi dongle via USB means that I'm reluctant to install 95 - but 98 is a possibility - if I see one around somewhere - thanks for the link.I'm still hoping my friend will find the extra memory he reckons he's got somewhere. I've found some memory on t'net for around $30 plus postage - I may go down that route, but I'm very reluctant to fork out limited funds on a machine that will probably end up at the dechéterie anyway.Thanks for the suggestion.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 You are making me feel very cheap and out of date as I think my only computer is older than the one that you reckon is only fit for the decheterie.Mines a Compaq Pentium P166 and runs (just) Windows XP.I am sure that I dont have that much memory either, how do I check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 If your machine is till doing what you need it to do, then there's no problem with that.This old laptop, however, would test the patience of a saint. It's 64 meg of onboard ram is just nowhere near enough to run XP. In fact, as I said previously, I'm amazed it's even having a go.To find out what you have - go to the 'Start' menu - select 'Control Panel'. Then double click on 'System' and a panel called 'System Properties' should open. There you should see some of the details about your machine, including the processor and memory details.Frankly, I'd be surprised if your machine has less than 256 meg.Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Tim, I have sent you a pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 Thanks Nick - I have replied. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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