Windows 7 - Pleasant Surprises All Around
I dug out an Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop CD (always have plenty of GNU/Linux distros kicking about) and installed that onto this machine - Celeron 2.6, 512mb RAM, 40GB IDE drive, CDROM - nothing special. Asus mobo, clone type machine.
Anyway, Ubuntu fired up OK but didn't detect the integrated video card - as the family member in question's going to want to play Alien Arena etc this wasn't good enough. At this point I thought the machine had 1GB ram so I thought 'let's throw the Windows 7 beta on it and see how it goes'.
An hour or so later, Win7 is installed and runs up fine. It was only after the install and a couple of reboots later that I found that the RAM was only 512mb - and nearly fell of my chair.
I've tried Vista Ultimate on a late model Acer Celeron notebook with 512mb RAM and it took 20min post boot for the HD to stop working. The first 10min post boot you couldn't do anything useful other than appreciate your wallpaper.
Win7 on this much lower spec machine - that's a different story. HD activity stops less than 5min post boot. I know that since there's no other apps installed aside from what ships, but still, at the same point after a Vista install the HD is working its arse off hammering the disk.
So, Win7 on a cheap clone with 512mb RAM runs up acceptibly and the interface is quite snappy. I'm officially shocked and surprised. Never thought I'd say this, but score one for Microsoft.
Now back to installing an OpenFiler SAN at home....
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Comment by sbiddle, on 8-Feb-2009 15:41 , user id: 1387)
I'm assuming you are aware that the beta is time bombed and will expire on the 1st July?
Hate to see the person load lots of things onto the PC and then lose all their data.
Author's note by nzsouthernman, on 8-Feb-2009 16:56 , user id: 37616)
@sbiddle Yup, knew that the beta has an expiry date, cheers. I'm fairly certain that the recipient will be reloading the machine with XP at some point in the near future and adding a decent video card so he can play games so I'd be *really* surprised if the OS I sent it out with stays put for longer than a month... 
Comment by dedoughboy, on 9-Feb-2009 08:00 , user id: )
Now u got me what's an open-filer SAN box? Is that something like a RAID box? Try an older version of Ubuntu like release-6. I had similar problem on my old Acer-P1 until I loaded Ubuntu release-4. I dont think they include all the old AT-drivers in new releases...so some of the video cards wont install. If u can get to the command line then u can fix that...
Comment by dedoughboy, on 9-Feb-2009 08:06 , user id: )
Now u got me what's an open-filer SAN box? Is that something like a RAID box? Try an older version of Ubuntu like release-6. I had similar problem on my old Acer-P1 until I loaded Ubuntu release-4. I dont think they include all the old AT-drivers in new releases...so some of the video cards wont install. If u can get to the command line then u can fix that...
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Comment by antoniosk, on 8-Feb-2009 15:39 , user id: 9158)
I concur.... WIn7 on a 5yr old laptop with Trident graphics (32mb!) and 1.25gb ram... I can play H264 video's faster than on XP...