Gaming Linux or XP on this netbook?

[Findecanno]

use Linux. I would recomend ubuntu netbook remix as ubuntu is one of the easier Linux distros for people new to linux and netbook remix is made specially for netbooks. My friend ran it on his desktop and said it booted in afew seconds. xp takes forever to boot and on a netbook it will take longer im sure. so use Linux. another option to consider is to partition your harddrive and dual boot xp and Linux. that way if there are some xp programs that you must have (you mentioned having a dsl so I assume you do homebrew and alot of homebrew apps like dpg converters need xp) but for basic things like word processing and internet you cant beat Linux.

 

[Deleted User]

I would recommend Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I have used Windows on Netbooks and it is so much slower and harder to use and read.

 

[playallday]

If your not going to play games then get Linux.

String Linux = "rocks";
String Windows = "sucks";
String OS = "none";
boolen games = false;

if (games == false && if Linix.compareTo("rocks") == 0)
{
OS = "Linux";
}
else
{
OS = "Crapdows"
}

 

[Governa]

If you plan on using the default Linux installation:

1- There are numerous apps able to uncompress RAR files under Linux ;
2- Use OpenOffice (free) or install MS Office using WINE (free), Crossover (commercial) or a virtualization software such as VMware (commercial and will be slow on that machine).

If you plan on running Windows:

3- Create a lighter version of Windows with nLite ( http://www.nliteos.com ). 512MB of RAM is not much for Windows XP, maybe you'll want to add more RAM or make an nLited install of Windows 2000.

Check this tutorial to get a feeling of how you can create your nLited installation:

http://www.i64x.com/eeexp.php

This is for the Asus Eee (I have an Eee 901) so your mileage might vary (it took me 3 times to make the perfect install for my needs).

You may want to check forums related with your machine. Try this one: http://www.aspireoneuser.com

Further enhance your system by reducing the amount of space it takes and the amount of times Windows writes to the SSD :

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=40356

 

[jy2]

I have that Acer! First thing I did was upgrade the RAM to 1.5gb. Complete pain in the ass, seeing as you have to pretty much dismantle the entire unit; but its definitely worth it if you are technical enough to do it.

I had XP Pro running on mine with EWF; which dramatically sped up the unit as nothing gets written to the SSD at all. Got annoyed with that though, and now am much happier running Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix. Highly recommend it! Everything just worked, even using my phone as a 3G modem! (Which is awesome at school!)

If you do go for Ubuntu, install it on an Ext2 partition rather than the default Ext3 since Ext3's journal will thrash the drive. If you upgrade the ram, you probably won't want a Swap partition either and I found it a good idea to mount /tmp in a Ram drive, and eventually once everything is set up, /var/log too. Both massively reduce the wear on the (slow as molasses.. seriously...

) SSD.

Every little helps!

 

[James_Wulfe]

I have an IBM Thinkpad A20m with lesser specs then that, i run both Kanotix and Windows XP on this rather smoothly granted I am not playing anything spectacular on it, but it does everything I need it to do, IE: run FireFox3, IRC, Half-life etc so if your not trying to play Fallout 3 or anything modern then yea both OS's will be great. Personal opinion though Linux as it is a superior operating system to XP