Installing on a built-in PC

whitehat · 03 Oct 2009

I'm contemplating installing 7 on a built-in PC that currently has Windows XP SP2 Embedded on it. Here are the technical specs:

Athlon X2 Dual-Core 4450e (2.3Ghz)
Cache: 256KB(L1), 1MB(L2)
Flash Disk Memory (HD): 4GB [FDM4GB V2.X0C]
RAM: 1GB Single Channel DDR2
LAN: Marvell 88E8055, 10/100/1000 MBit/s
Northbridge: AMD RS780
Southbridge: AMD SB700
AMD / ATi Radeon™ HD 3200 (IGP)
3 USB ports
1 VGA port
Sound: Realtek ALC262

The reason why I'm thinking of doing this is because I can't get Google Chrome to work with the current OS. From the specs above, is this feasible?

System purpose: run Chrome with bare OS environment
Physical constraints: this thing is cast inside a friggin' piece of metal

DocBrown · 03 Oct 2009

Probably need more ram memory

sup3rsprt · 03 Oct 2009

if that computer has a hard drive, it would seem feasible. If it only has 4GB then I don't think Win7 will even allow you to install (maybe use something like vLite which can slim it down). 1GB of RAM is also pushing it, but it would work.

I'm not sure why you can't use Google Chrome in XP. It works fine here.

whitehat · 03 Oct 2009

Windows 7 has a special interface feature which I'd prefer to have.

Chrome keeps getting "Aw snap" on all pages that use extensive JavaScript (mostly high end jQuery effect stuff). I couldn't find a fix it so I thought I'd just nuke it.

DocBrown · 03 Oct 2009

A 20gb to 40gb would get you started, also !

whitehat · 03 Oct 2009

Thank you Doc and sup3rsprt. I've been doing research and the consensus is that a bare-OS Windows 7 install is ~9.1GB. I am stuck with 4GB of physical space so unless I can somehow rip out the HD or cut 5.1GB out of Windows 7, I will be installing Windows XP SP2.

DocBrown · 03 Oct 2009

Is this a desktop or laptop ? could you just get a bigger hard drive for it ?

sup3rsprt · 03 Oct 2009

Windows doesn't necessarily take 9.1GB. It really depends on the system.

afaik when you try to install Windows 7 it will warn you when there is less than 8GB of free space.

whitehat · 03 Oct 2009

Changing the hard drive would void the manufacturer's warranty (changing OS doesn't though).

I have come across this tutorial on how to put 7 on a 4GB SSD. Will look around some more before I proceed. Has anyone on here done this?

Shrink Windows 7 to fit on Asus Eee PC 4GB SDD or any netbook » multimolti’s Techblog

SIW2 · 03 Oct 2009

Yes, I have removed components from 7 using vlite - not as much as that - but it's a great app. I used it on Vista a lot, too.

If you get vlite 1.1.6, install it ( it's tiny), then install vlite1.2 ( also tiny ) over it - that's all you need. Start it up , click install wimfltr (it's instant).

Start vliting.