OS Dilemma

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Aharon

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Hi guys,

I currently have the following setup -

4GB Ram
Dual Core 2.33Ghz
250GB Partition for OS / Downloads
Windows Vista Home Premium

I am running on a 4096Kbps ADSL Line and downloading on this using either Free Download Manager.

My computer runs out of memory every 12-36 hours to the point that I cannot load a program and anything that downloads is corrupt. I then need to restart and redownload everything from the point where memory became an issue.

I am contemplating 4 things:

-Reinstall Vista Home Premium (not too keen)
-Revert to Windows XP SP3
-Move to Windows 7 Premium
-Move to a Linux Distro - Quite keen on this

HOWEVER - I have no knowledge on Linux, but I believe some have drastically simplified over the years. The only things I would need on Linux are:

-Email client (Pop3)
-Download Manager (I have no idea)
-Simple ADSL Setup support

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Regards
Aharon
 
Hi,

Sounds like one of the programs that you use causes a memory leak hence the out of memory to open programs as well as the corrupted downloads.
Try and check if you are using the latest versions of the programs that you currently have installed.

If that doesn't solve the problem, the next thing I'd do is rather go for windows 7 premium as its known that it is not much of a resource intensive OS as is vista.

If you're going the windows route, also make sure that you go for a 64bit os since I know that the 32bit OS of windows are capable of addressing only 3 GB of memory which in your case you say you have 4gb.

One more thing, if I were you, I'd split the 250gig partition in two, so that one partition is for the OS and the other for downloads.

But if you're keen on Linux, I'm sure one of the linux guys will have much to say about your situation.

Regards,
 
Last edited:
Dumb question - Does the Core 2 Duo 2.33 support 64bit?
 
Yes, its impossible to find a modern x86 CPU that doesnt support it. The original Athlon 64, released about 4-5 years ago I think, supported it.

try a different download manager? Also, if it happens every 12-36 hours, check on the state of your PC every 4 hours. Open up task manager, and write down how much memory the most resource intensive processes are using. Simply sort by memory and write down anything above 100 MBs. Repeat every 4 hours, and you should quickly see what is causing you to go out of memory.

Linux could probably do what you ask, in fact if you partition your drive you could have both installed at the same time. The one that I dont know is how good NTFS support is on modern Linux - if its iffy, you'll have problems moving stuff between Vista and Linux. That is, if you still have Linux installed at all.

Give linux a try by downloading an Ubuntu live CD.
 
Ancalagon said:
Open up task manager, and write down how much memory the most resource intensive processes are using. Simply sort by memory and write down anything above 100 MBs. Repeat every 4 hours, and you should quickly see what is causing you to go out of memory.
Click to expand...

Good idea. I would definitely try this first.

Ancalagon said:
Linux could probably do what you ask, in fact if you partition your drive you could have both installed at the same time. The one that I dont know is how good NTFS support is on modern Linux - if its iffy, you'll have problems moving stuff between Vista and Linux.
Click to expand...

NTFS works without any issues on Ubuntu. The only thing to do is set the OS to automount each partition at startup. Thats it.

I'm dual booting Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 10.04 and it works great.

To Aharon regarding Linux - These days, the challenge for Linux newbies is not installing the OS. The challenge lies in finding good replacement software for your Windows programs and setting up everything the way you like it. Usually a few Google searches will answer your questions.
 
Last edited:
Install Linux after you have installed windows first and partitioned your drive and it will take care of it for you. It will install GRUB as your boatloader - this will allow you to select whether you want to boot into Windows or Linux. You can customize it with a delay, etc.
 
If you decide to install linux and you are new to it then install 1)Linux Mint, 2)Ubuntu
 
Cool - hadn't heard of Mint - will give it a go...
 
Am I being stupid with Mint - I want the 64bit version for Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, but the only 64bit says 64AMD - is that correct?

Regards
 
Cool, thx a mil - only now delving into the world of linux.
 
Aharon said:
Am I being stupid with Mint - I want the 64bit version for Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, but the only 64bit says 64AMD - is that correct?

Regards
Click to expand...

Yes that's correct. AMD pioneered the 64 bit instruction set which Intel also adopted and it is called 64AMD or AMD64 in the linux environment.
 
Mint is a good distro for someone who does not know how to get multimedia going on Ubuntu. Its all done for you already with Mint.

The only reason why i stopped using mint is I did not like their menu structure. I prefer Ubuntus menu panel layout.
 
Cool - I did the check on memory and found under processes only about 200MB being used. However, when I go to the performance tab about 70% used?? :confused:
 
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