shellylh Posted December 19, 2009 Report Share Posted December 19, 2009 I decided to give my dad my partner's old laptop (Pentium M 1.6Ghz 1GB RAM). After erasing everything and reinstalling Windows XP Pro from the original disk, the computer kept crashing. I am guessing that it had something to do with some drivers. Instead of trying to fix it, I wiped the HD clean and installed Linux Mint on it. I figured that he could do everything on Linux that he needed. So I get to my parents house today and find out that most of what my dad does on the computer is stream Netflix movies. As far as I can tell, you cannot stream Netflix with Linux (even with Moonlight). If there is a way, I would love to know. My other option is to install Windows XP Professional back on it (or Windows 7). Unfortunately, both disks are in TX and I am in CA. Is there a way that I can download a version on the web that won't have viruses, etc. I figure that this is (should be) legal since the computer has a license for XP Pro, correct or no? I also have a legal version of Windows 7 at home (bought a home premium 3 pack and only have it on one computer so far). I could take the laptop back home, install it and send it back but it would be better if I get it working from here. I am not sure if it would be better to run Windows 7 over Windows XP Pro on such an old computer. I am also assuming I cannot use the Windows XP Pro license to run Windows XP home, correct? Thanks for any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morphsci Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 1 Gb of ram does not meet the minimum requirements for Windows 7 as it requires 1 Gb of free memory. I know because I just upgraded the mom-in-laws laptop and had to upgrade the memory from 1Gb to 2 Gb. I would suggest keeping it an XP machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellylh Posted December 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Good to know about the requirements of Windows 7. I will stick with Linux or XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morphsci Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Yeah, I didn't mean to imply it would not install or run. After I had done the install I was curious as to why it was running like a turd. Then i actually checked the "requirements". It did make a pretty significant difference just going from 1 to 2gb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morphsci Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 That is what I thought but I actually ran the win7 update compatibility wizard from the cloned hard drive under XP and it gave me a warning of not enough memory when there was 1Gb installed but only 900+Mb available so I assume it is some MS fine-print bullshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duggeh Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 I run Windows 7 x64 on 2gb of ram. Runs snappier than XP x64 did. I wish I'd never bothered with DDR3 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellylh Posted December 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Guess I'll take the laptop back home with me, load XP on it and mail it back to pops. I am not sure if the laptop I have will support 2GB of RAM and cannot find any way to run Netflix on Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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