Win7 32-bit, 64-bit or Lubuntu?

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Woody1999

Woody1999

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Hai all,

I'm building a PC out of spare parts for my Dad, for Father's Day. However, as its out of old parts I have lying around the house, it's not going to be the fastest machine, nor have the most amount of storage.

The system will have 2GB of DDR2-667 with an 80GB Seagate Momentus XT. So, I was wondering if 32 bit Windows uses less storage space on the drive and would it be better? If not, Lubuntu can also be an option.

Woody
 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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32-bit (x86) Windows requires fewer system resources than 64-bit (x64). Most notably is that x64 requires 2GB of RAM and 20GB of disk space, whereas x86 requires 1GB of RAM and 16GB of disk space. You also need to consider that x64 requires x64-compatible hardware.

These days there's no point in having an x86 OS as it restricts the system RAM to 3.5GB and x86 software still works on an x64 OS.

As your Dad's PC is going to be assembled from very old components, an Ubuntu installation would be ideal, as the system requirements are even less than x86 Windows. For basic desktop tasks and Internet browsing, Ubuntu would be ideal. Plus, it's free.
 
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Woody1999

Woody1999

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Thanks very much, that was very informative.

Would you recommend any particular distro for my Father? He has no experience with anything other than Windows, and I have a limited knowledge of Lubuntu. I can get Win7 x86 easily, but I'd have to buy the key off a friend for about £5. Yeah...I'm a tight a*** :p

These are the full system specs if they're necessary:

E6700
MCP73PVT-PM (a weird OEM 630i board from Packard Bell)
2GB DDR2-667
80GB Seagate Momentus XT
Delta Electronics 250W

Woody
 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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I'd advise caution when buying a second-hand product key. Even if it is genuine, if it's an OEM license then you may not be able to activate it, as OEM licenses are tied to the motherboard. It's usually possible to swap the motherboard and still activate the license a certain amount of times, otherwise you may have to speak to Microsoft who could well refuse to help.

Ubuntu is probably the best distro for non-power users.
 
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Woody1999

Woody1999

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He has a load of retail keys, not OEM keys. I don't tend to push him too far to explain how he got them, but I think I have a pretty good idea. He was a software developer for a long time.

Ubuntu or Lubuntu? I've heard that Lubuntu runs faster, but has a more complicated desktop environment. I've also been looking at Zorin OS, as it's basically a copy of Windows 7.

Woody
 
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bicycle_repair_man

bicycle_repair_man

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I've only ever used Ubuntu, so I can't comment on anything else unfortunately.

If your friend was a software developer and he's acquired a load of retail license keys, then they probably came from the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network). If that's correct, the usage rights dictate that only MSDN members can use the license.

If your friend is selling MSDN license keys then they're breaking the law (at least here in the UK) and violating the terms of the license. Do yourself a favour and establish exactly where the license comes from. If you don't, and get caught, you'll get strung-up, not your friend.
 
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H

h8dkngrg8

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I would suggest Ubuntu.

As you said he was a software developer then he wont have any problems with it, in fact, I think he would appreciate it better than the rest of us.

And if he really wants something fun, then he could use Arch Linux(which is slightly loopy to set up but extremely stable when done), and build shit from ground up and if not then many pre packaged Arch based distros are out there and merely a google search away.

But for a complete newbie, ubuntu is the gateway Linux OS. Ubuntu 15 looks breathtaking infact.
 
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Woody1999

Woody1999

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I went for Zorin OS 9 in the end. It's based off Ubuntu 14.04 (what I'm currently running on my MBP) but it has a really good desktop environment for newcomers to Linux. You can choose anything from Windows 7, to XP, to OS X and of course GNOME.

Woody
 
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