What OS to put on an old Dell laptop?

[kenbobo]

My dad wants to know what he can do with his old one now that he has a new Windows 8 laptop...

specs are as follows

[Camacha]

What is wrong with Windows 7? Unless for a specific reason, I would just rock with that. If you want something different for the sake of it one of the many *ubuntus will do nicely too.

[kenbobo]

What is wrong with Windows 7? Unless for a specific reason, I would just rock with that. If you want something different for the sake of it one of the many *ubuntus will do nicely too.

I don't have Windows 7. I have vista.

[Camacha]

I don't have Windows 7. I have vista.

Whoops, I guess that makes it obvious I have not used either for a while

Though the question remains; is there any actual reason for you to switch? Without knowing if anything is wrong and how so, drawing conclusions becomes hard.

[ZedNova]

Linux Mint, it's free and works way better than vista. (Assuming you can get linux to run on those specs)

[Fel]

Meh... you still have to deal with an absurd amount of user access control paired with even less intelligent UAC system. In short, you'll be asked constantly to allow running a program as root; of course you can setup trusts (or just use root as your default account XD) but you aren't going to escape UAC.

Linux and Windows (as a user desktop) "just are" they're not really in a good position to say one is better than the other.

Linux can run on anything, though various distros are obscenely bloated. The problem with linux is that having no solid foundation (you can remove everything until you get down to the kernel and you probably can remove that as well) cleaning a distro takes considerably more time than just getting the kernel installed with a package manager + networking... then downloading what you really want.

Once fully setup to exactly how the user likes it; windows and linux, as desktop software, is identical. The only difference is how much restriction you have in getting it to be "how you like it", linux has restrictions to hell due to relying on the "if you don't like it, fork it" methodology. Windows has restrictions due to the "If you don't like it, we don't care either!" methodology... but if we're going to let linux get away with using non-integrated software (like file managers) we can do the same for windows (a file manager is just a program, so if you don't like it "download another" does work for windows.)

Once the illusion is removed, you realize that the only part of "Windows" you're really stuck with is the Window Manager (well, and a bunch of subsystems but it's the GUI that people really focus on) (and possible the taskbar, though I suspect enough interfaces exist to at least capture the "active foreground tasks" and make your own.)

Ultimately, you need a REAL reason to switch OS'. If you think linux will make the computer "run faster" you're wrong, you just need to clean up all the junk currently installed and running and the computer will operate as before. (Also, disable some 90% of the currently running services; look them up first but most you don't need for a typical "at home" user desktop.) Neither linux, nor windows, will actually make your system "a beast" it's all smoke and mirrors tricks people pull to make it seem one is better than the other.

[pincushionman]

Before you ask "what should we do" with it, you need to decide what you want to DO with it. Browse the internet, do e-mails, use word processors and spreadsheets? Most Linuxes (Linuces?) do that just fine, but there's no reason to bother because your Windows already does that just fine. Play games? Tough call since you're 2 1/2 versions back, but Windows still has a larger "library" of runnable games, though Linux is catching up. Play music and videos? Again, either one.

If you want to muck around in a Linux distro just for the hell of it, that's different. But you still have to decide what you really want out of it first.

[steve_v]

If it's got no other important use, it sounds like an ideal candidate for experimentation with GNU/Linux / BSD / Solaris / Any other OS you haven't tried out

If you want it to be a 'daily driver', I'd suggest either Win7, Debian GNU/Linux or one or it's many spinoffs.

As for reasons to switch, you need only one: Windows disaster Vista.

Edited May 23, 2015 by steve_v

[Rainbowtrout]

If you have a desktop without Linux, you could use the laptop to mess around with it. Overall, it depends on your needs.

[longbyte1]

Yuck, Vista. If you are a brave individual you can try Windows 7, but in my opinion Linux ages better on old hardware.

While I would usually suggest Ubuntu as the distro, but I'm sure there are some distros out there that need some love.

[Nuke]

i just junked a rig like that, stripped it of useful parts, chucked the mobo in the scrap pcb box and the case in the dumpster. useful drives got put in another machine. theres also an old cd rom i figure i can salvage the stepper motor for some project. the psu will make a good bench supply.

id use it as a linux box. find a lightweight distro to play around with. windows can make old hardware seem slow.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Nuke