[RESOLVED] OS for Older PC

[LimCY]

Hi:
My sister got an old PC (Pentium 1, 200Mhz with 39MB of Ram). And the outdated onboard display adapter only has it's driver support for Win95. I hope someone can suggest which OS is more suitable to use (not Win95 or older). I want it to have best apppearance, but not to be hung easily. As long as it can run smooth when watching movie & play simple games will do. I visited microsoft's website & saw it seems to be met with the minimum requirement for Windows NT, but does it really can run? Or even crawl??? Thanks in advanced for any reply.

[SpywareDr]

Minimum Hardware Requirements for a Windows 98 Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/182751/

The following list describes the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 98:

• A personal computer with a 486DX 66 megahertz (MHz) or faster processor (Pentium central processing unit recommended).
  
  
• 16 megabytes (MB) of memory (24 MB recommended).
  
  
• A typical upgrade from Windows 95 requires approximately 195 MB of free hard disk space, but the hard disk space may range from between 120 MB and 295 MB, depending on your computer configuration and the options that you choose to install.
  
  
• A full install of Windows 98 on a FAT16 drive requires 225 MB of free hard disk space, but may range from between 165 MB and 355 MB, depending on your computer configuration and that options that you choose to install.
  
  
• A full install of Windows 98 on a FAT32 drive requires 175 MB of free hard disk space, but may range from between 140 MB and 255 MB, depending on your computer configuration and the options that you choose to install.
  
  
• One 3.5-inch high-density floppy disk drive.
  
  
• VGA or higher resolution (16-bit or 24-bit color SVGA recommended).

MSN, The Microsoft Network, Windows Messaging, or Internet access require a 14.4 bits per second (bps) modem (28.8 or faster recommended).

Optional components:

• Network adapter
  
  
• DVD-ROM drive and decoder adapter
  
  
• Audio card and speakers for sound
  
  
• Scanner or digital camera
  
  
• Second monitor and second video adapter
  
  
• IEEE 1394 bus (Firewire)
  
  
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus and HID hardware
  
  
• ATI All-in-Wonder graphics card

[LimCY]

Hi :
Thanks a lot for your reply. And one more question. Does the display driver for Win95 can be using for Win98? I visited the manufacturer's website & it's latest driver support is for win 95!!! As I'm thinking that newer windows supports certain hardware without having driver of it (windows itself already has compatible driver) & that's why I'm asking does it runs on windows NT. And I'm believed that 98SE will be the best choice if the display driver can work properly.

[A31Chris]

Just add more memory to the PC and it should be fine.

As for speeding up the display adapter I recommend the SciTech display dr. It's free and should do wonders on that older PC's graphics card. It did on my older system.

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...t=display+6.53

But you can put 98 on it if you want.

[LimCY]

Hi :
Sorry that I forgot to tell you the PC uses older type of RAM, not even SDRAM. So I don't think my sister will buy extra RAM (the PC is for her children to learn typing etc.). It will be wonderful if the driver can work properly. I'll try it later when I'm free. Really thanks a lot for your help.

[Train]

98 will work, but it will be slow and the 95 drivers should work.

98 is just 95 dolled up a bit.

[liam858]

Do you recognise the RAM here: http://home.pacbell.net/dbk4297/memory_what_kind.html ??


Liam

[Train]

Pentium 1, 200Mhz with 39MB of Ram

Some of those older rigs have a limit of the amount of ram they can use. And that one just maybe maxed out.

[LimCY]

Hi :
Thanks a lot to everybody for kindly help, especially A31Chris & Liam for giving me the useful links. Don't know why, I saw a similar PC (Pentium 1, 200Mhz) but with 64MB of SDRAM. The PC using Windows ME. It runs, but with the speed of tortoise.
Again, thanks a lot for helping me. Later I will format it & install 98SE.

[104456]

Just an after thought but you could try a Linux distro like Knoppix.The diffences between its interface and windows are slight and it may well run better than windows 98se on the older system.

[LimCY]

Hi:
Good idea. However, my nephew & niece know almost nothing about PC (The only thing they know is playing games). I think they have to spend a little more time to go along with Linux. Thanks a lot. I'll ask my sister later.