Should I give PC away with XP or reinstall Win98?

beachbeth

My pc is quite slow and I have ordered a new Dell with Intel core 2 Duo etc etc. I know someone that wants my old pc because its more up-to-date than the one he's got (even though its about 10 years old!!!) Excuse me if Ive got the details wrong because I get confused about RAM, MB and GB but my present pc has got AMD Duron, 128 MB Ram and 114GB. Someone told me this isn't enough memory for XP which is why its slow.

When my new Dell comes I shall wipe my pc ready to give away. I was wondering whether to reinstall Win98 back on it for 2 reasons:

1. I could sell my XP Home separately on Ebay
2. The pc would work better for the new owner with Win98 on it

Whats best?

Ninty

Personally, As he's getting the PC for free I would put an extra 128MB of RAM in it (could be picked up for less than a tenner) and do a full reformat and re-install of XP.

Though it does depend on what he is going to be using it for. If its only for word processing and occasionally surfing the internet, Windows 98 would probably be alright, thought after being installed for a while, it would probably end up being just as slow as XP would be without the extra RAM.

isofa

Just wipe it and install free Ubuntu... XP isn't going to be happy in less than 512Mb RAM. Then they can decide whether to keep Ubuntu as the OS or install something else and you can sell XP on eBay if it's a retail not OEM copy of course...

beachbeth

isofa wrote: »

you can sell XP on eBay if it's a retail not OEM copy of course...

My pc came with win98 on it and I purchased XP later as OEM along with a mouse.

Never heard of ubuntu.

-TangleFoot-

beachbeth wrote: »

Never heard of ubuntu.

It's an operating system based around the Linux kernel. If you'd like to know more about it, take a look at the Ubuntu Pocket Guide.

Baldur

isofa wrote: »

Just wipe it and install free Ubuntu... XP isn't going to be happy in less than 512Mb RAM. Then they can decide whether to keep Ubuntu as the OS or install something else and you can sell XP on eBay if it's a retail not OEM copy of course...

Even Ubuntu's likely to struggle with 128MB RAM, judging by its bare minimum & recommended minimum system requirements - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements

Bare Minimum requirements It should be possible to get Ubuntu running on a system with the following minimum hardware specification, although it is unlikely that the system would run well. You should use the Alternate install CD to attempt such an installation.

• 300 MHz x86 processor
• 64 MB of system memory (RAM)
• At least 4 GB of disk space (for full installation and swap space)
• VGA graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution
• CD-ROM drive or network card

Recommended minimum requirements
Ubuntu should run reasonably well on a computer with the following minimum hardware specification. However, features such as visual effects may not run smoothly.

• 700 MHz x86 processor
• 384 MB of system memory (RAM)
• 8 GB of disk space
• Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution
• Sound card
• A network or Internet connection

hotkee

win98 is sooooooo old and so insecure to use now - you should buy a new pc and keep whats on it.

As for your AMD duron pc - its worthless virtually

LeeSouthEast

Do not put Win98 on it. You can pick up ram as cheap as chips these days (pardon the pun), and it'll give the old dog a new lease of life. The hard drive is a good size, and the processor will be fine for general usage. For £20 you could put the machine in a real usable condition.

beachbeth

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

For £20 you could put the machine in a real usable condition.

But why should I bother when Im giving it away for nothing?They can pay £20 to do this if they want.

Apparently, his machine is so slow that he clicks to connect to the internet and then goes away for 15 minutes and makes cups of tea etc. Mine will seem dead speedy in its present state anyway!

hotkee

Get rid of the old pc honestly its worthless.

I built a pc in 2003 myself, AMD Athlon 2Ghz, 1 Gig memory, 120gig and 160 gig hard disk sitting idle. Stopped using it in 2007 and now sits by itself,
could use it but I got a new pc, Dell e520 (with Windows Wasta on it, Intel 2.8 P4, 160gig, 2gig memory)

The old Duron processor is older than than the Athlon and I threw my Duron machine away in 2003. On ebay it would cost more to post it than to buy it.

-TangleFoot-

Baldur wrote: »

Even Ubuntu's likely to struggle with 128MB RAM

Perhaps Xubuntu or Puppy Linux would be more suitable...