do i save money and stick with windows or make the change to linux

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Donald_72

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May 31, 2017
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I have xp service pack 3 34 bit. my computer will handle 64 gig os. really cant afford to upgrade at the moment.so do i wait and save or make the switch to linux mint ? i pretty much use my pc for social or web searches. the only games i play are on facebook when im bored
 
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captaincharisma
ther are a lot of free linux distrros out there that will run quickly on a computer that old. just remember there is a learning curve when it comes to Linux especially when you're trying to install programs that are not in the Linux distro's app store
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thats what i was thinking. i was using an old sony vaio and decided to build my own so i am using msi platinum with amd phenom and a 250 g hdd. so can i go from slow 34 bit to 64 bit if i change. than i can use more than the 3 gigs of ram im using
 
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Hi,
Try burning Linux Mint, and others like Ubuntu (don't pay) to a USB stick or DVD (USB best if your older PC can boot to that). Then boot to test it out. You don't need to install right now just to get an idea (though DVD would be very sluggish).

To boot you may need to go into the BIOS to change the boot order so USB/DVD is first before your Windows drive.

Making the bootable USB stick is pretty easy with something like RUFUS.

(BTW, you mean 64-bit not gig. As in the CPU has 64-bit, x86 extensions thus you can use 64-bit versions of Linux though 32-bit would work the same for you)

 
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Use a LiveCD would be a good testing ground for it. You will need a burning software, so something like Nero or Daemon Tools should work..if I remember correctly for XP. You don't even need DVD-R..you should be able to grab a nice Ubuntu ISO under 700mb. I will say that trying to start X can be painful sometimes, but Ubuntu is usually user friendly.

I'm a bit rusty on installing linux
 
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YEAH i meant bit . ha ha. thanks for the reply. yeah ive been thinking about linux . it seems like microsoft will change and want you to upgrade every couple of years . i could find windows 7 or 10 for $50 but $50 is $50 . can i do a clean install if i decide too?
 
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sounds good . im pretty much thinking of the upgrade because i can only use 3 gigs of ram do to the 32 bits . is there an upgrade to 64 bit for xp . and somtimes i play games and they are sluggish. no big games
 
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64 bit windows xp is a buggy hell. You can just install windows 10 and activate it later as it has no expire date and will just leave a transparent small watermark on the left bottom side of the screen.
 
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yea the 64-bit version of windows is buggy and not supported much. but windows is going with apple's upgrade model now offering major upgrades now for free and almost every windows 7 or 8 licence (legit) key is able to activate a copy of windows 10

 
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Gaming:
Gaming on Linux has improved, but it's still mostly crap. I've tested that out extensively.

Most Linux games I've found with SteamOS (so not using WINE) were roughly 70% of the FPS compared to Windows. Within that group of games that "worked" several had issues such as stuttering.

(You don't want STEAMOS. That's just based on Debian I believe, but you can put Steam on different Linux distros and have it download Linux games. Provided the video drivers have been installed STEAMOS and Steam on Linux should work the same in terms of game performance, however STEAMOS is useless for watching your own videos or do other stuff. It's locked down so you can't download applications very easily.)

*Your gaming performance on Windows may be primarily the GPU (iGPU or graphics card). No idea, but even with the 3GB of system memory, an okay CPU and okay GPU there are a few games that would run fairly well.

64-bit stuff:
(whether you can use 64-bit Operating System depends on the CPU; easy to check if you are uncertain)
It's largely a non-issue unless you have a graphics card that has more than 1GB of VRAM. The main difference that 64-bit x86 offers is more addressable memory.

32-bit can address a 4GB memory map. This includes the video memory, system memory, and some minor other things. Basically, just take 4096MB (4GB) and subtract 200MB, and subtract the size of VRAM and you're left with the amount of system memory that the system is capable of addressing.

For example, if you bought a 2GB video card, despite having 3GB of system memory (DDR2?) installed you would only be able to use about 1.8GB of it.

So...
Here's an example of a Linux start:
1. Linux Mint 64-bit (if CPU supports)
https://linuxmint.com/download.php

2. Burn to USB. i.e. use RUFUS https://rufus.akeo.ie/

3. hit "DEL" on startup to go into BIOS, then look for BOOT ORDER and change so USB HDD or similar is first.
(if super stuck you can keep the computer off and just DISCONNECT the HDD cables from the rear of it. The computer will then look for the next bootable device. If it's capable of doing USB, and the USB was done correctly with RUFUS it should start the bootup)

4. Boot to Linux Mint, create user name/password (write it down)

5. test.

6. GAMES is a separate post really, but STEAM (not STEAMOS but just install Steam) may be the way to go. You'd have to ask carefully though for what games work with your older hardware. Usually older 2D style games work best.

Microsoft's Age of Empires series for example?



 
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