17-10-2019, 12:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 17-10-2019, 12:15 PM by Mike Watterson.)
Mint with Mate desktop seems best. You can turn of "Compositing" on lower spec computers.
Cinnamon is less supported, less popular and uses more CPU.
Install several desktop types! Then you can compare and if you break one, you can log on with the other and fix it! Impossible on Windows.
Very many older programs will run on 32 bit WINE, more integrated than a VM. You may find you get the less useful 64bit WINE and no 32 bit. There are simple instructions online how to fix that. Most 64 bit Windows programs need the VM, not 64bit WINE.
Things like a USB based DVD/BD drive or USB based RS232 adaptors work both in VM on XP and also on WINE. You need to set up mapping from the linux device name of a serial or USB port to the WINE or VM logical COM1 to COM255. Even VB6 app using a COM2 works on 64 bit linux on 32bit WINE using a mapped USB serial adaptor. The same programs won't even install on 64 bit W7 or 64 bit W10, though can be installed on the rare 32bit Win7 and even rarer 32bit Win 10.
We have 64 bit Win 10 Workstation and a 32 bit Win 10 on a tablet/netbook. Dreadful compared to WFWG 3.11 with 32 bit, NT3.5, Win9x, NT3.51, Win2K, XP, Server 2003 and Win7. In some ways worse than disastrous ME and Vista.
A server, loads of netbooks, PCs, laptops with Linux.
Cinnamon is less supported, less popular and uses more CPU.
Install several desktop types! Then you can compare and if you break one, you can log on with the other and fix it! Impossible on Windows.
Very many older programs will run on 32 bit WINE, more integrated than a VM. You may find you get the less useful 64bit WINE and no 32 bit. There are simple instructions online how to fix that. Most 64 bit Windows programs need the VM, not 64bit WINE.
Things like a USB based DVD/BD drive or USB based RS232 adaptors work both in VM on XP and also on WINE. You need to set up mapping from the linux device name of a serial or USB port to the WINE or VM logical COM1 to COM255. Even VB6 app using a COM2 works on 64 bit linux on 32bit WINE using a mapped USB serial adaptor. The same programs won't even install on 64 bit W7 or 64 bit W10, though can be installed on the rare 32bit Win7 and even rarer 32bit Win 10.
We have 64 bit Win 10 Workstation and a 32 bit Win 10 on a tablet/netbook. Dreadful compared to WFWG 3.11 with 32 bit, NT3.5, Win9x, NT3.51, Win2K, XP, Server 2003 and Win7. In some ways worse than disastrous ME and Vista.
A server, loads of netbooks, PCs, laptops with Linux.
