Cheap laptop windows xp

[Goshawk]

So my sister found a cheap laptop at a yard sale that used to run winxp, picked up for $10.  But of course the hard drive is gone.  She took a chance buying it, and gave it to me to fix.

Found a hard drive for it on ebay for $15.  But the internal RAM is only 1GB (small).  Then of course discovered that no one has all the drivers for it, under windows xp.  Windows XP is so old that there really is no way to support it, and it is very susceptible to virus infections.

Instead found that LINUX MINT (and a few other LINUX variants) have been developed and are sophisticated enough where they can detect all the drivers needs and install them for functionality.  Downloaded and burned an *.ISO file for LINUX MINT, installed it on the laptop.

LINUX MINT works great.  Also installed WINE (windows emulator to run any windows software).  So now I can play DVDs and Audio CDs and browse the internet (wifi works, Ethernet cable works).

Point is to not overlook a windows XP laptop, as it might still be functional.

 

[rvpopeye]

I've done that to many XP computers !(and will be doing it to lots of Vista ones next May !)
(There's a distribution of Linux called Zorin 7 that is very easy to get used to for windows (7) people.)
There are some low power requirement ones like Puppy and Xubuntu that work very well with small Ram ...

WINE will only work on "some" win software but better than none !

 

[steamjam1]

Linux is great for older PC's with slower chips and little rams.

 

[jimindenver]

I have a XP tower with nothing wrong with it. Might have to give that a try one of these days

 

[rvpopeye]

Turn that boat anchor into something useful,,,,well actually the XP will still work ....IF you don't mind waiting for it to do something after you click ........................like 30 seconds Skuh kuh kuh kuh 60 seconds.....2 minutes ...."hey did I click something I forget"

 

[Goshawk]

I tried Zorin 9 and it had issues with this specific machine, and did not have all the extra free tools I would have expected on it.  Could not find the SOFTWARE MANAGER APPLICATION  in free version of Zorin, to download some simple card games; so had to switch to LINUX MINT.

Then again had some issues trying to install LINUX MINT or ZORIN off an external USB.  It seems both these systems expect that you are using a CD/DVD and reference that during the installation process.  So make sure you use a DVD/CD to install.

 

[rvpopeye]

My fave is ubuntu studio but not everyone has the same interests as I do.
Guess the point is , there are many many linux derivatives , try 'em all ! They're free!
Yes , I usually burn the iso to a dvd before installing.
Oh yeah , It will give you the option to dual boot and keep XP on the machine,,,,,,,like you want to do that !