There are Linux distributions specifically "designed" with older hardware in mind......AntiX might be just what you're looking for.... See the link......... Then again maybe not...Go to distrowatch.com and click on all the "top 100" list items....AntiX runs like a scalded dog on fairly recent hardware with 2GB Ram. Then again, almost everything runs really fast with 2GB RAM and nothing running except what's needed/wanted....And just my experience with the "base" system that underlies AntiX, (SimplyMepis7.0 for more "recent" hardware) it's absolutely unbeatable, and stable as a rock running 4 browsers with lots and lots of windows and tabs open and several programs running too.... And in my experience, no need for anything anti-virus or the like needed..... I never turn this thing off and never disconnect from the WWW, and I never have an issue If you think you are going to run XP w/o issue on that much RAM, it ain't gonna happen, not with anything more than just the base OS running anyway at a pace that you'll measure in less than hours, you won't anyway....But with lots of RAM it will do just fine, just remember to start nothing and only load what you are running. Regardless of what you choose to do or what you choose to run, more RAM is always a good thing. Here is a link that might be useful: OS for

Well to keep the censors at bay, let me first say that I haven't made any interesting improvements to my small house. My septic tank drainfield stopped working and had to be replaced. Home maintainence zapped the home improvement budget so everything else is on hold for a while. Add my son's 16th bday on the 9th and Christmas closing in fast and there just isn't any cashflow left. In fact, it all left! My son and I did engage in a rather fun and interesting project two weekends ago but since it was more furniture related I didn't feel right airing it here, but since you asked..... I bought him a flat screen high def television for his birthday. My first. I had a 27 inch conventional tube TV sitting in a typical entertainment system/wall unit. That unit was quite large and included a concealed, swing out rack on the left to hold the CD's, DVD's, etc. and a rack system on the right for stereo equipment. Although the old wall unit was quite large, my new flat screen TV (37 inch) wouldn't fit the hole for the TV. I had looked around for a replacement stand to hold the cable box, my son's game system, etc. and put the flat screen TV at an appropriate height but couldn't find anything. We had unloaded the old wall unit and wheeled it out to the porch so we could load it into the truck and take it to the dump. We had talked about designing and building our own stand and since the old unit was very large and very heavy, we started dismantling it to salvage hardware and make it easier to handle. The more we dismantled, the more I started thinking I could cut this old unit down to size and redesign it. So we did. My old (1985 vintage) component stereo system had developed some problems so the stereo section was eliminated. I liked the concealed rack for the Games. Cd's, DVD's so we disassembled that, shortenened it, changed the location of the shelves and reassembled it. Then we shifted the stereo cabinet upright panels over to the "TV hole" and shortened them, creating a shelf for the cable box, game system and another shelf for the modem and wireless router since all that connects to my incoming cablevision. We shortened and refitted the top and voala! A redesigned cabinet/TV stand for zero dollars. The old unit was about 60 inches wide and 50 inches tall the new unit is about 40 inches wide and 34 inches tall. Perfect fit! And, my son and I had a great time thinking through the redesign and planning it out so most of the old hardware went back into the factory holes. It was a fantastic father/son project and one we won't soon forget. This will do until we find a better solution or until we design and build a replacement unit from scratch. Fun enough? Sorry that took so long to describe. Scott

Today culture, the internet is ones gateway to everything, especially entertainment. You can pay $5-$12 a month for a streaming service that give access to library of TV programs, movies, concerts, documentaries, etc.. The only big cost is your broadband bill. In 2020-2022 a new technology will be installed by the in the U.S. ISP that will give everyone up to 5GBS download speed. 4K programming will be the norm. Movies are being shot in 8K now instead of the previous 4K digital and before that, 35mm film which was over 4K but on film stock, not flashdrive storage aka called SSD. This new broadband technology is currently in use already in the Netherlands. They do still make plain TV still and you can find some on eBay. They are the 720p and 1080i models that are marketed to the third world countries. Anything bigger then 32" is at least 1080p or full HD in current models sold in the U.S and are Smart TV equipped. You can still find previous models that are "new" in warehouses that were not sold for various reason still for sale and may not have Smart TV in them. If I were you, I buy the latest TV model and an UHD with HDR not a HD TV. Almost all UHD models have built-in 4K upscaling too. The difference is about 20% difference in price. Not talking about HDR 10 nor Doblevision equipped models or both but the basic UHD models here. The time is right for cheapest tv prices too!

For people who are concerned about their items not being appreciated at a thrift store, I live in a rather crummy area of the country and even our Good Wills and Salvation Armies have appraisers who come in and volunteer on all sorts of things from furniture to jewelry. If you are curious, go on into a few thrift stores in your area and see if they have a "boutique" area or a lot of glass counters to display items away from hands, or cordoned off shelves near the register. You might be surprised at what they have on display... Be careful not to find any new treasures though. For those of you who enjoy your stuff, KEEP IT! Enjoy it and love it. That's the whole point. I talked about my Dad having items that we knew he loved because he had so few and was obviously choosy, but one thing I didn't mention was the stuff that he kept in excess that could not have provided much value to him or anyone else. We hauled off so many old magazines, household chemicals and products that were so old that they had gone bad, old paperwork that he didn't need to keep, cardboard boxes, old broken tools, etc. For those not interested in getting rid of sentimental items, at least do your family members a favor and organize/toss the type of stuff mentioned above. I'm constantly surprised at how much outdated stuff I find in my own house (this morning a box of old paint cans- it was good when it was put away a few years ago, now not so much). It can be hard to see even when it is right in front of your eyes. Interesting thought about designating items to people in your will. My father was not a person who had much of $$ value, but he had listed a few items in his will to go to certain people. They were things that obviously meant a lot to him, but when the executor tried to hand those items over to people, nobody wanted any of the listed items. That left the executor a little bent out of shape because he felt Dad's will wasn't being honored. That's a double edged blade as well. Then also consider that Dad did not designate even one item specifically for me... my feelings aren't too badly hurt, but for some people designations could be very devastating.