noordinaryspider
Group: Members
Posts: 67
Joined: Feb. 2005 |
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Posted: Mar. 05 2005,19:12 |
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I haven't actually used that many different OSes. I was given my first computer, a 386, in November of 2001 and purchased my first internet capable PC the following month. So far, my opinions:
98 was better than XP on hardware that supported it. I don't have a 98 machine at the moment, but I kind of wish I did.
95 is actually my latest little adventure, specifically OSR1, which is so old that even the most die-hard 95 enthusiasts shake their heads, but after a lot of trial and error I found a downloadable Netscape 4.8 that works, Miranda for IM, an old but not that old version of Ad-aware, and I have been advised that no antivirus is necessary since I got rid of IE and OE. I will probably keep the 95 long after I get rid of all my other Windows.
I ran 3.1 on my 386 until it was stricken with a hard drive controller failure in 2003 or 2004. There are still uses for these old machines and loads of downloadable programs still available on the internet, many of which are abandonware but others which are written and given away by aspiring new programmers. A child or a financially disadvantaged adult could still get a lot of benefit from a castoff 386, so please don't send them to the landfill.
I've heard a lot of Win2000 bashing and will admit to my lack of experience; it came preinstalled on my Mandrake machine. I planned on wiping the drive and putting on 98 for a dual boot, but changed my mind as it has everything I actually like about XP and runs fast enough on a 400Mhz PII, originally 128MB RAM upgraded to 256.
I loved Mandrake initially, but it is not the best distro for that PII as it is rather slow and takes up too much space on a too small hard drive partition. It may last a year because I already paid for the update service, but then again it may not. I'd rather run it on a more modern PC.
I use Slax on my Compaq Presario S5000NX and would love a hard drive install of Slackware, but I probably lack the experience and the machine is probably too poorly made for this to be a good idea.
I've been running DSL for less than 24 hours, mostly on my Gateway P5-166, 48 MB RAM, although I tested it out first on the Compaq to make sure it wasn't a coaster and to quickly find out where everything is.
I do not intend to purchase another copy of any windows operating system. I would like to eventually purge my own computers of them as my abilities improve. I am interested in Free BSD as well as Linux but would like to experiment with live CDs for awhile before making any more permanent commitments.
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Sorry, I don't do windows.
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