I want a windows-like OS that uses very little ram!

(Sorry I missed this. Better late than never....)

Got a problem with your terminology. I use a GUI. I don't use a GIDE
(Graphical Integrated Desktop Environment). As far as I know, there
is no option to use just the GUI on Windows. That takes a fully functional
shell, which Windows no longer has.

Linux has three possible layers: The console, the GUI, and the GIDE.
Most servers and rescue disks only have the console, which has no
X-Window system, although there are ways to display graphics with
it. A lot of Linux runners don't use a GIDE, but we do use the GUI
that is built upon.

Sure would. They'd quickly learn that they were being had.

The object of the Corporations is to make them believe that computers
are too complex for them to ever understand.

In the case of a garbage OS like Windows, that's true. But it isn't true
of Linux.

Linux is a Unix clone. Unix was designed by scientists for networking,
as you pointed out earlier, on another thread.

Windows (MSDOS) was designed by yuppies for playing non-networked
games with.

Then they built Windows on MSDOS. And it's been a mess every since.


Littlefoot

 

If we can get back to the original poster's question with something hopefully helpful:

I'd suggest you try several "distros" (flavors) of Linux on your computer and see if any of them give you what you want. Look for "live" disks, which run from the CD/DVD drive and don't bother your hard drive. By their nature you can't customize them to your hardware very much, but you should be able to get a good idea if they might suit you. Remember that while they are running only on the CD, they are much slower than if they were installed.

If you think you might like to install a distro so you can get it tuned for your hardware, you first need to learn about disk partitioning, and that's a major stumbling block to many people who'd like to go from Windows to something else. If you'll search Wikipedia and other web sources you'll get the idea of it, it isn't that hard but it's a bit foreign to many Windows users. (Windows does this, too, except by default it hogs the whole drive). Many Linux distros have a very nice tool called "parted" or "Gparted" that will let you shrink Windows' domination of your machine and leave you room to try something new.

I like to play with Linux distros just for fun. The easiest, quickest and most logical ones I've tried lately are Ubuntu, PCLinos, Linux Mint, and ZenWalk. openSUSE, Fedora, and Mandriva are also very good, they tend to be loaded with goodies and a little slower on my machine, but hey, if the computer is waiting on the keyboard, a little slower doesn't much matter. All of them are quicker than Windows on my machines.

If you choose Ubuntu, install it, reboot, then update it (you'll be prompted), and when that's done go to the top menu bar (or "panel"), click on Administration, then Synaptic, which manages "packages", or programs packaged with the other libraries and such they need. Scroll down and find a package called "ubuntu-restricted", mark it, and go to the menu bar again and click on apply. All the codecs and such you need for full audio/video etc will be installed and configured. You're done! You can add a shitload of things as you want them, but you now have a good, solid install.

If you want to try it and get hung up, post back here and we'll help you sort it out. I can't help except on simple things, but Adderall and a few others know their shit and I know they'd help if you're really trying.

When you're partitioning your drive before the actually install you'll have the option of several file systems. xfs3 is usually the default and it's pretty good, but I get a lot better performance from reiserfs. Some like jfs from IBM, it does work well with large files.

That's enough to get you started, give a couple of them a try and see what you think!
And ... good luck!

 

try LINUX.
uses much less resources than windows

 

Dream on Twizz dream on !