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  #11  
Old 3rd June 2015, 12:00 PM
Lee S Lee S is offline
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Xubuntu or Lubuntu are good "out of the box" options. I use Xubuntu on my Asus EeePC which is Atom based too.
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  #12  
Old 3rd June 2015, 12:29 PM
mattylondon mattylondon is offline
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Thanks guys for all the input and suggestions. The beauty of Linux is that I can try them all for free and see how they perform before handing back the laptop
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  #13  
Old 4th June 2015, 06:14 AM
oldnick oldnick is offline
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how about quantum robins .... that sounds REALLY interesting !
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  #14  
Old 4th June 2015, 06:56 AM
lebesset lebesset is offline
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but in response to your original question i would say none ...for the moment
first I would suggest reserving a free download of windows 10 available next month , see if he likes that
if that doesn't suit , by all means linux in some form
but if you install linux first you have burnt his boats...no free install of 10 !
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  #15  
Old 4th June 2015, 07:16 AM
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moltuae moltuae is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lebesset View Post
but in response to your original question i would say none ...for the moment
first I would suggest reserving a free download of windows 10 available next month , see if he likes that
if that doesn't suit , by all means linux in some form
but if you install linux first you have burnt his boats...no free install of 10 !
There's no reason he couldn't go back to Windows 7 later (and then accept the Windows 10 upgrade), assuming there's a readable COA sticker on the machine, or the key is extracted and saved before reformatting. However, Windows 10 will require similar resources to run (if not a little more) as Windows 7/8, so it will still be slow, especially if the netbook has only got 2GB of RAM.

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Originally Posted by oldnick View Post
how about quantum robins .... that sounds REALLY interesting !
Ah, yes, the discovery that some birds appear to utilise quantum mechanics for navigation. Yeah, I remember hearing about that recently; that IS interesting ...
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  #16  
Old 4th June 2015, 07:26 AM
mannyo mannyo is offline
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Windows 10 actually runs pretty well on ancient hardware. We've been playing around with the preview at work on a number of dual core laptops with just 1GB Ram and 250GB HDD and it actually runs pretty good. Far better than Vista and 8 did on the same hardware. The new version seems to be less demanding on hardware than 8.1.
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  #17  
Old 4th June 2015, 07:47 AM
lebesset lebesset is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mannyo View Post
Windows 10 actually runs pretty well on ancient hardware. We've been playing around with the preview at work on a number of dual core laptops with just 1GB Ram and 250GB HDD and it actually runs pretty good. Far better than Vista and 8 did on the same hardware. The new version seems to be less demanding on hardware than 8.1.
word is that some slimming down has been taking place , not hard seeing that windows has always been some of the worst written software ever [ ok , not compared to what the NHS paid billions for !]

but with the size of HDD fitted to a netbook dual OS just isn't going to work , and as microsoft are having a peek at the fitted OS before permitting the free upgrade download [ or even making a reservation ] having a sticker ain't going to cut the mustard I presume ; as 10 is an upgrade , if the old OS isn't there it won't be able to install one presumes ; don't forget a netbook comes without a DVD player or a system disc ; hastle ,hastle

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  #18  
Old 4th June 2015, 08:52 AM
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moltuae moltuae is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mannyo View Post
Windows 10 actually runs pretty well on ancient hardware.
For now ...

Windows 7 was the same on release, and it's been the same story with most versions of Windows. If you install an early release of 7, without any service packs, it too will happily run on older hardware with just 1GB of RAM, but now it's middle-aged and it's gained some weight. Without putting it on a diet by identifying and removing a heap of non-essential services and features, it struggles to run efficiently at anything less than about 3GB of RAM. I reckon Windows 10 will be looking podgy in less than 12 months.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lebesset View Post
but with the size of HDD fitted to a netbook dual OS just isn't going to work , and as microsoft are having a peek at the fitted OS before permitting the free upgrade download [ or even making a reservation ] having a sticker ain't going to cut the mustard I presume ; as 10 is an upgrade , if the old OS isn't there it won't be able to install one presumes ; don't forget a netbook comes without a DVD player or a system disc ; hastle ,hastle
Some netbooks come with relatively large HDDs (~320-500GB), but you can easily upgrade that or replace it with an SSD, as Matty is doing, so dual boot isn't an issue. In fact, I have a netbook of a similar vintage that I configured to quad-boot at one time.

No need to dual-boot it though. If you have the key (either from the COA on the bottom, or by recovering and recording it before reformatting), trying Windows 10 later won't be an issue. It's simply a matter of reinstalling Windows 7 first then performing the upgrade.

As for the lack of a CD/DVD ROM, I can't remember the last time I used an optical disc to install an OS; it must be a good 5 years or more. For at least 10 years, it's been the norm in the IT industry to boot and install the OS from USB storage devices. At the server-end of the IT world, which is where the majority of my work is these days, optical drives have been obsolete for years, but even down at the residential end they're being omitted from newer systems now.
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Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
(Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability)

The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust

Last edited by moltuae; 4th June 2015 at 08:55 AM.
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  #19  
Old 4th June 2015, 09:29 AM
oldnick oldnick is offline
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so format the HDD , try a linux distro , probably quicker
but maybe I would like 10 better ?
format again , download 10 , try
actually I think linux was better
format again , install linux

personally I would just wait until next month ;actually , come to think of it , that's exactly what I am going to do ! 10 is bound to be an improvement from reports I have , if and when that gets overloaded , linux will undoubtedly have improved so will changed then !
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  #20  
Old 4th June 2015, 10:33 AM
mattylondon mattylondon is offline
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Well this is an interesting article, the second paragraph reckons that upgraded Win 10 users will be able to do a clean reinstall of Win 10 from ISO. That will be great if true.

So far only my work PC (win7pro) is showing the Get Win 10 icon, all our home PCs are 8.1 / 8.1pro.

http://arstechnica.com/information-t...ws-10-upgrade/
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