My knoppix 3.4 cd works great on a dell 4400 xp with 256 memory mediacom cable machine. It will set up with no input and is ready to type in a url and go in a little over three minutes. Also has f-prot virus program that can scan and report virus on windows hard drive. It will not work on my gateway pentium 90 machine with 64 memory. Knoppix 3.4 also has trouble with dialup winmodems. A user report on Knoppix. Art Allen [log in to unmask] On 18 Aug 2004 at 3:53, Cathy Pierce wrote: > I have been offered one "Pentium 1 range (90-180)" from a government > office. I was told it has no operating system. I was cautioned > that while I may SOMEHOW be able to obtain (they didn't know how) an > operating system for this computer, I may have trouble getting most > software to work with this older system. Some of the pre-school > software I have states on the label that it will work with "Windows > 3.1 or higher"; another set states it will work with "486MHz or > better". Although some major recent software may not run particularly WELL on such an old.slow machine, it should be adequate for most simple web browsing and emailing. Legitimate copies of Windows versions designed for hardware of this vintage could be a little hard to come by, although you might ask around to see if there's a "computer surplus" store in your area. They often have stuff for not much more than spare change, just because it's a few years out of date. Several people have suggested Linux as an alternative to Windows, and that's an option worth considering. Specifically, there's a Linux package named "Knoppix", which will run directly from a CD-ROM -- and there's a version of Knoppix specifically intended for children. (You haven't mentioned whether this machine includes a CD-ROM drive, and you may need to find someone who can download Knoppix and burn it to a CD for you....) David Gillett Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to Digest mode - visit our web site: http://freepctech.com/pcbuild.shtml Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to Digest mode - visit our web site: http://freepctech.com/pcbuild.shtml