Windows 2000 on old pc

[02hudsond]

hello i have been given an old laptop and the spec is pentium 3 1ghz 128mb ram .... my question is how will would windows 2000 run on it and would xp run decent on it for web browsing ,,,, u will be looking for some cheap ram for it in a few weeks but want to know whats the best operating system to go for i only need web browsing on it

 

[COLGeek]

As 2000 is no longer really supported in any way, you would be better off with XP and it should be fine for web browsing. What make/model of system do you have? Older laptops can be VERY picky regarding the memory they will work with.

 

[womble]

Windows 2000 is okay though you might struggle with some bits of software asking for XP minimum, which is an annoyance when the two are pretty much the same. Microsoft wouldn't issue the WPA supplicant for it though so unless your wireless card offers different you'll be stuck with WEP encryption (and no telletubby looking theme!)

Performance wise I doubt you'd notice much difference between the two. Linux would be another option though most distros have got quite heavy over the years

 

[02hudsond]

thankyou well ive installed 2000 on a virtual pc and set it to 128mb and it runs orite tbh i am now installing xp with 128mb ram on virtual pc so will see if theres a diffrence and what version of linux would run fastest on it ... all i need the laptop for is web browsing sites like facebook etc, and of course tomshardware .... i am waiting on a charger from my freind so cant use the laptop untill my freind find the charger the laptop is a compaq armada e500

 

[COLGeek]

I agree with womble that using Linux would be a better (and certainly more modern) option. Consider one of the "lite" versions like Puppy Linux.

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

 

[womble]

I would try Windows 2000 first if you have it sitting around, it always seemed reasonably nippy to me, can't remember what hardware I was running it on.

A lightweight linux is always a fun thing to have a look at though. Lubuntu has a nice modern kernel, using a light desktop manager and can run on a 128MB PII system. Not been playing with linux for a while as I use OSX and XP, was never keen on Ubuntu but seems a lot friendlier now that the synaptic package manager is built in.