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Yesterday Microsoft ended support for Windows XP. While many users and even businesses continue to cling to the venerable OS there will be no further security updates and even with active anti-virus and malware protection, many users will be left unsecure reports the LA Times and various other news outlets.
There are some exceptions for the right customers.
The UK and Dutch governments have paid Microsoft multiple millions to extend support for Windows XP past the 8 April cutoff date.
The UK extension cost £5.5m but is only valid for a year, after which public-sector users will have to be moved to newer software.
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Microsoft Ends Support for Windows XP
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Any woman is a volume if one knows how to read her.
(Score: 2, Funny) by deimios on Wednesday April 09 2014, @11:51AM
Linux desktops (ubuntu, kubuntu) will not run acceptably on 384 RAM so I'd say that linux is not yet a viable replacement.
On the other hand, FFS people, most PHONES have more RAM than that...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Marand on Wednesday April 09 2014, @04:33PM
They will with a bit of tweaking and removing some less useful services. That's the pro/con of just grabbing a *buntu disc and installing it, though: you get a generic experience that should work for all but a few edge cases, which means you get extra crap you don't need in order to make it work for a larger group of people.
A better solution for an edge-case system like that is to take a Debian netinst, install just enough to get a system that boots to console, and then install what you need from there. You can even get KDE running acceptably on sub-512mb systems if you do that, and KDE's considered the heavyweight desktop environment. (Though you do have to disable a few KDE-specific autostarts you're unlikely to use. Nepomuk being an obvious choice, for example.)
I did this with some spare PC parts and was able to cobble together a working sub-512MB KDE system that ran well enough that I was able to give it to my grandmother so she could have her own system. No issues at all until the hardware eventually died.
True, but if the hardware still works well, there isn't much reason to throw it away and create unnecessary waste. Better to use it for something or give it to someone that couldn't get better, preferably with a system that can still get OS updates.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 09 2014, @11:24PM
ubuntu, kubuntu
The City of Munich has been handing out Ubuntu disks to XP users.
I thought Xubuntu or Lubuntu would have been more apt.
There was a time that Ubuntu and Mint had spins built around Fluxbox.
a Debian netinst
Arch is another build-it-up option.
Another idea that starts with a 10MB download:
Smallest Full Linux Distro in the World, Tiny Core, Gets a New Version [softpedia.com]
If you want something that Just Works(tm) out of the box, Bodhi Linux is built around Enlightenment.
There's also antiX (pronounced "Antiques") which runs on pretty much any hardware that's still alive. [google.com]
There is absolutely no shortage of ways to achieve a viable solution with sparse resources.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday April 10 2014, @05:30AM
Thanks, hadn't heard of these. I have Puppy on the ancient laptop, it's very fast but let's just say the experience recreates Windows 3.1. (Which is more funny than annoying, actually.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 10 2014, @06:28PM
Thanks
No sweat.
hadn't heard of these
Brad Rodriquez has several more options on his chart. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [goodbyemicrosoft.net]
He has a short explanation. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [goodbyemicrosoft.net]
Note that Damn Small Linux hasn't been updated since 2008.
The fact that it doesn't execute a swapon when it starts makes that a good utility distro to access Gparted and create/tweak a swap partition.
DSL's ISO is even smaller than Puppy's.
NB He doesn't mention it, but Deli(cate) is -not- a boot-to-a-desktop ISO; unlike most modern distros, you have to install it to try it.
Puppy
When you consider that Puppy's ISO only consumes ~20 percent of a CD, it's pretty impressive.
the experience recreates Windows 3.1
Yeah. JWM (Joe's Window Manager) is pretty basic.
ROX Filer (a single-pane file manager) is also kinda aggravating; the default of Icon View is pretty point-and-drool.
(My first menuing system was DOSSHELL, so I find icons without data to be pretty Playskool.)
Puppy's default desktop background image is also the most garish thing I've ever seen.
--gewg_