But I can install Linux on seven year old laptop, and it still works fine. If you go for some of the specifically light-weight distros, Linux will work on some truly ancient hardware, by modern standards. And still provide you a modern, usable interface, with a modern web browser, media codecs, etc.
Do you seriously keep a closet full of 7+ year old equipment? Really and truly?
Technically, I could drop a lawnmower engine in to a 1984 Ford Escort and make it functional too. That doesn't mean, however, that's genuinely functional for every purpose a user might use.
I did not say that you specifically said that it was the year of the Linux desktop. However, that's all we've been hearing out of the Linux camp for years. It's like a mildly retarded mechanic repeating that some day a Pinto is going outrun a Ferrari. Sure, under conditions where that Pinto has been reworked with a near infinite budget, it just might. However, stock versus stock, it's nothing special.
Right now, Linux is the Pinto. Maybe someday it'll grow up in to a Maverick or Grand Marquis but not now.
Dante, to address you:
I assume this is a 64bit machine running Windows 7 64bit ?
Yes, of course it is. You already know the limitations of the 32 bit side so let's not bait here.
Silly me, I thought the average memory on a average desktop PC in an average home was 1gb max. I'd be worried if my win7 was using over 1gb of ram doing nothing, my desktop at work is 7win and it's only got 512mb ( because it's a basic office PC ) and it's only using 210mb idle.
You are very silly indeed if that is your genuine belief. 2GB is now the average install base with 4GB currently moving in to the mainline retail channels, or the "cheap seats" as we call them, for people who spend $300-400 on a box at Walmart.
As I said previously, if you're just absolutely insistent on digging your heels in to the ground and running that Pentium II 233 with 16MB of RAM as your day to day machine (which I highly doubt) then you're not really interested in gaming in the first place which is what this site is about, no?
How's the new version of Wolfenstein running for you sans emulator?
This comment was edited on Aug 24, 2009, 14:22.
"Just take a look around you, what do you see? Pain, suffering, and misery." -Black Sabbath, Killing Yourself to Live.
“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau