Windows 10: 10 on a Netbook? SUCCESS!

Yes, I agree.
I didn't want to chuck it out or mothball it if there was something it could be doing.

So far no hiccups.
If something eventful happens I'll tack it onto this thread.

 

Hi there
@teachermark

SERVIIO is fine (the free versions) until you want subtitles -- then sometimes it can go Bonkers. I use MEZZMO (OK not free) but it works !!! also with almost every format of subtitles you can throw at it.

One problem though you will probably find using a Netbook as a Media server is that if the SOURCE file needs transcoding to see it on your Target device the load on a small netbook might just KILL the CPU !!!. You can usually though "Pre-transcode" library in advance if you need to.

Using a Netbook as a Media server !! -- I'll bet a few people thought you must be crazy --but if it works OK why not !!.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Its nice to know 10 works on those old netbooks . I have a friend who is almost ready to throw his away and I'm thinking my way lol ... I was going to ask you if you have try Linux Mint on it ? I agree with Jimbo45 with it being easiest straight out of the box, also their support is pretty good to .

 

Hi, Jimbo...





Yes, in my post I did say to DISABLE transcoding on Serviio.
This is very important as a netbook won't be able to handle any of these tasks with any degree of reliability.
My mobile devices (DNLA apps) and WD TV Live media player do all the heavy lifting so the netbook simply sends the signal.

Well, like I say - if you are patient and do enough research, you can tweak and pimp Windows 10, so it runs just fine.
It does take a fair amount of detailed fixes, etc to minimize the wear and tear that Windows 10 has... but it can be done.
Good luck and post your results... we could do with a laugh! Ha ha!

Yes, I have. And a couple of other distros...
Never found one that I liked.
Linux takes a lot of learning and fiddle-arsing about...
...but it did work. Not as fast and as 'zippy' as the on-line forums and fans would lead us to believe, though.

 

I would think a Netbook would make a better media client than server. I'm thinking about connecting one to the TV in my bedroom. My movie collection is on a NAS drive and I use Kodi for my client software. Kodi has fantastic remote control capability from Android devices. Set up the Netbook with Wake On Lan which can be triggered from the android remote, automatic login to a local account that starts Kodi upon login. That's the way my living room runs - except off a desktop that also has a second computer monitor connected to use the computer functions with.

With a paid plug-in, Kodi will stream to the android remote device as well - but not transcode. I can even do all this to a remote location over the internet, but I haven't been able to get my router to pass the Wake on Lan packet from the internet to the computer yet. Freaked my daughter out the first time I logged in over the internet with my phone and saw that she was watching a movie and took control of it from my phone.

 

UPDATE: One week in and absolutely no issues.
The media center works like a charm! *Smile

 

Hi there

Problem with a Netbook as a CLIENT might be that the Video output to your TV won't have proper resolution (say 1920 X 1080).
Depends on the Video card in the Netbook. If you have a decent smartphone you could probably use that as a Client to mirror the video to your TV at full HD- you need a decent smart phone though or you might find the audio slightly out of sync due to CPU lagging etc.

The netbook as a client though if the video resolution is OK should be fine -- but if no HDMI output you'll need a VGA--HDMI adapter particularly if your TV also has no VGA (Monitor) input. Most these days have 2 or 3 HDMI inputs plus possibly a DVI one.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Yep... the video limitations of older netbooks will make for very unreliable clients for home networks.

The idea of making the netbook a server (with Serviio) is to utilise the minimal resources that both the hardware provides and the software demands to still ensure a consistent and reliable service.

So far, I can leave this netbook on for days at a time and get good results.





In the image above you can see that the USB (green) connects the
underneath fan and the three hard disks that contain the media.
(There are 8 terabytes of stuff down there!)
The cord on the left (yellow) is the network cable.
The monitor turns itself off after a reboot after ten minutes.

 

I've upgraded 2 netbooks to Win 10 with good results. The first one was an Acer Aspire one AO150. It has the N270 ATOM running at 1.6Ghz and 1.5GB of RAM. This netbbok is about 7 years old and originally came with Windows XP. I ran Win 7 Pro on it for about 5 of those years and had no problems with it. I've also had Win 8.1 and Mint Mate running on it as well. It is now running great with Win 10. Lots of people badmouth this little netbook but I've been very happy with mine, never had any problems with it and it has done all that I've asked of it.

The 2nd netbook is a 4 yr old Asus eeePC 1001PXD with an ATOM N455 cpu running at 1.66Mhz with 2GB of RAM. This netbook came with Win 7 Starter.

I run FireFox 41 on both and can watch videos from my network connected NAS using VLC without stuttering, only complaint is low audio volume (especially on the Acer) which is due to the tiny built-in speakers. Audio is fine when run thru external powered speakers. I have Office 2003 installed on both as well as Visual Studio. Visual Studio is slow to open but once open seems to work fine.

 

Some of the posters complained about slow graphics performance. Make sure you have latest Intel graphics driver installed, not Microsoft or even worse Basic Display Adapter. Also someone suggested a netbook would not be able to give 1920x1080 (full HD) resolution to a TV. Yes, it can, but then it will have trouble playing video full screen. I would suggest 1280x720 (HD-ready) resolution for best results. If you also want to play some games (non-demanding of course) don't forget to install latest DirectX runtime. Some older games look for DirectX 9 files and don't work properly if not found. So install latest DirectX runtime to get these files. If Windows tell you they have to enable .NET 2 and 3 support, do it or DirectX applications won't work properly. I regret I sold my netbook to a friend (damn crisis, I needed money then), but before I did I had installed Windows 8. I have to tell it worked OK with little delays without tweaking anything. The only problem was that because of the native 1280x600 resolution Metro Interface wouldn't work. There was a workaround. With a registry tweak you can enable 1280x800 resolution. When set you get 1280x800 scaled to 1280x600 for the monitor (so things are a little squeezed vertically), but it allows you loading the Metro Interface (in case that you wanted it, I don't). Of course at this mode the screen is not perfectly sharp, but is a little sacrifice to make Windows 8 fully working on that. I bet Windows 10 don't need this tweak as modern apps can run in a window and Metro interface is only viewable when in tablet mode.

 

I installed it on a 10" Asus Eee PC 904Ha recently - no drivers needed - everything fine, and it's zippy! (Same Motherboard as Eee Pc1000H I think). I've just installed it on an Eee PC 701sd - one of the first little 7" ones. It has an upgraded 60GB ssd and 2GB ram and has been happily running Windows 7 for a few years.

So it runs fine on the 701sd except for the graphics driver - if anyone knows of a modded one I'd be grateful
Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS, 910GML Express Chipset family.

I tried the XP one in compatibility mode but it wasn't having it. Screen is only slightly stretched and Windows programs are fine but other programs are off the screen (ie too big).

 

Unfortunately there is no Vista or newer driver (WDDM) for Intel 915/925 graphics. Your only solution to have some acceleration is to install Windows 7 32-bit and use the XP driver (XPDM). The XP driver is not supported in Windows 8 and 10. If you don't mind about graphics performance, stay with Microsoft Basic Display Adapter (no hardware acceleration) but it is very slow and annoying sometimes.

PS: Other models have the newer 945G graphics which has Vista and higher drivers, so you can also install Windows 8 and 10.

 

Just carried out a similar 'upgrade' Win7 to Win10.
So, Advent 4211-B netbook : 2 GB ram, flashed bios with Ver. 1.09 from MSI wind U100 - this enables a bios set overclock of Atom 1.6 processor, 3 options 8% or 15% or 24% - charger must be connected to utilise the overclock, I have stable 15% 1.8 odds mHz. top whack.
Way back in early 2013 Fitted Vertex Plus R2 SSD 120 GB.

Procedure :-
Fresh install win7 home premium 32bit, eventually fully loaded with updates.

Carried out upgrade to Win10 via web, no problems runs as well if not better than using Win7.
Can view non choppy 720p video over house network pretty good via VLC player.

Thought the old NetBook was effectively dead... Not so.

-0-

 

Can you post the specs? Which chipset it has? Intel 945 or earlier?

 

Mobile Intel 945 express chipset family (MS corp'WDDM 1.0).
Differs from standard Advent 4211-B by :-

• MSI Wind U100 bios installed, to gain some built in processor overclock.
• 2 GB memory (800Mhz PC2-6400) fitted, with system ram (1GB) disabled via bios.
• Vertex Plus R2 SSD 120GB.

Seems ok given the miniscule grunt thus far
-0-