Sempron 3200+ 2GHz 960MB RAM What OS?

[Dngrsone]

I have been gifted a 'new' Dell computer with the above specs-- Sempron 3200+, etc.

Right now it is running XP Home (SP3) somewhat slowly. I don't know if that is due to crap on the drive or if XP is just that slow on this processor.

I don't have an installation disc for this machine, otherwise I'd wipe and reinstall (I have an XP Pro disc, but unsure whether I have a valid license).

So, I am considering installing a Linux on it. I am wondering if Ubuntu or perhaps Mint would work better on this thing.

The goal is to provide a 'gaming' machine for my two grand-daughters, both under the age of two at the moment.

Any comments, suggestions, condemnations?

 

[Rukbat]

1) Under the age of 2? Almost anything would work.

2) Mint is cleaner than Ubuntu, so it might run a bit faster. Luna (Elementary OS) is supposed to be even leaner and cleaner. I've never tried it, though.)

 

[PaulS]

If WinXP is running slow on that spec then it's OS needs tuning.I'm running Win7 Starter on a Lenovo S10-2 with only 1 gig of ram.The processor is only a 1.66 Mhz(dual core) a standard ATA drive and a shared Video card.
I tested a dual boot on it with winXP Nlite version and it ran really fast.

There's plenty of tuning sites around for XP.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=how+to+speed+up+XP&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&ei=h_65UoOwA-6A7QbOqoCwAw

I've run a few versions of linux over the years(And from USB flash drives and SD cards) but unfortunately my present Internet hardware doesn't have support for Linux.

There's a lot of,"Abandonware" games for free here,

PC Downloads • The Iso Zone

That will run fast on older machines.

:bebored:

HTH

 

[JVene]

While I generally agree with PaulS, I'd like to offer a few points:

The Sempron has a lower IPC and is a single core CPU, so it's probably not half the machine in the dual core Lenovo. Also, it's not 3 Ghz. I think it's about 2.2, if memory serves.

That stipulated, XP was originally intended for machines of much less muscle.

One problem we have now is comparing today's machines with those of the previous epoch. Drives are typically a serious bottleneck. In the era of the Sempron, read write speeds in the 40 to 60 Mbyte per second range were fast. Today, they're abysmal. So if the drives are as old as the Sempron, you should know it be observing the CPU usage in task manager. When the machine seems slow and the CPU usage is not high, it's not the CPU at the heart of your problem.

It can be RAM. If your RAM is small enough, and you cause VM thrashing, THAT will be the primary bottleneck.

It can also be fragmentation of the drive.

It can be malware/viruses/junk.

Some browsers open with so many toolbars, it looks like an Admiral's decorations.

After all that, however - if your use of the machine is typical and modest (browsing, occasional word processing / spreadsheet ) - Linux will most certainly outperform XP.

XP is also loosing updates in April 2014. MS is pulling the plug.

 

[mikedt]

There's a lot of,"Abandonware" games for free here,

PC Downloads • The Iso Zone

That will run fast on older machines.

:bebored:

HTH

Just to add to that one, oldversion.com is a great site for utilities and things. It's been around for years. Ideal for where the latest bloated versions of whatever free-ware might run like crap on older hardware.

"Because newer is not always better!" :thumb:

HTH.

 

[mikedt]

I have been gifted a 'new' Dell computer with the above specs-- Sempron 3200+, etc.

Right now it is running XP Home (SP3) somewhat slowly. I don't know if that is due to crap on the drive or if XP is just that slow on this processor.

I don't have an installation disc for this machine, otherwise I'd wipe and reinstall (I have an XP Pro disc, but unsure whether I have a valid license).

So, I am considering installing a Linux on it. I am wondering if Ubuntu or perhaps Mint would work better on this thing.

The goal is to provide a 'gaming' machine for my two grand-daughters, both under the age of two at the moment.

Any comments, suggestions, condemnations?

There's a really good open source, activity, games and education suite for Linux.
GCompris Free Educational Software
Does colours, words, music, clothes, puzzles, action verbs, many things.

I often use it for my kindergarten and primary level students.

It's available for Windows as well as Linux. XP might be OK, as long as you're not putting it on the internet IMO. Because after April it's end of life, unsupported and no more updates and security fixes.

 

[ellippsis]

Can you some show me how to post without "reply." Thanks

 

[Rukbat]

"Because newer is not always better!" :thumb:

Absolutely. My first Linux install was Slackware - version 0.9x (2?). That would run like lightning on even a P5. A Sempron? That's overkill for that OS.

Of course there was no X-Windows in it, just a CL, because the 386 I was running it on couldn't handle X-Win. But it was pretty fast, in 640k of RAM with a 20MB hard drive.

Linux was designed to run on pretty bare metal. It's all the pretty face and geegaws that make it need today's processors.