Slowest computer you can use with Magicjack?

Emdev2 · Post by **Emdev2** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:07 am

Hello,

I was wondering what is the slowest computer specs you can use and still get reliable magicjack sevice? Does the computer need to have USB 2.0 or does USB 1.1 work fine?

What are the specs of the computers people are using with there magicjack setup? Are most of you doing stand alone computers or using your main ones?

I want to use a dedicated computer for this that uses the least amount of power any suggestions?

Xen1969 · Post by **Xen1969** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:47 am

I'm using a 800 Mhz Pentium III Dell with 512 mb RAM via a wireless PCI adapter.

So far its working well. Sometimes I might have to repeat myself a few times during the call due to sporadic fading for a second or two but I've also had days where I'm told the quality is great. For the savings I can put up with the sporadic fading but I'm still trying to isolate the source of it.

I don't think MagicJack works with USB 1.1? The cards are so cheap I went ahead and upgraded to USB 2.0.

The company comes across as dysfunctional but so far I'm happy with the product. Also my 911 service went green today.

smstefany · Post by **smstefany** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:42 pm

I was wondering what is the slowest computer specs you can use and still get reliable magicjack sevice?

I was using a Compaq laptop - about 500 MHz and only 184M Ram. I was using a wireless pc card also. It was not too choppy.....my wife was satisfied with the quality so that says something.

Emdev2 · Post by **Emdev2** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:27 pm

Emdev2 wrote:Hello,

I was wondering what is the slowest computer specs you can use and still get reliable magicjack sevice? Does the computer need to have USB 2.0 or does USB 1.1 work fine?

What are the specs of the computers people are using with there magicjack setup? Are most of you doing stand alone computers or using your main ones?

I want to use a dedicated computer for this that uses the least amount of power any suggestions?

Come on guys almost everyone here has this thing attached to a computer, share you specs and please answer the poll! I need to know the min specs this thing will run on!

war59312 · Post by **war59312** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:58 am

I too would like to know if MJ would work on my old PC:

Windows XP Pro. SP2
Intel Pentium 3
600Mhz
256 MB PC133
USB 1.1 Only

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:41 am

Sorry but the poll is pretty pointless.
Magicjack has to run on either XP or Vista - that right there pretty much tells you how fast the cpu needs to be and also how much memory needs to be installed.
XP & Vista are both memory hogs so need to get as much ram as possible.
Just to get xp to run decent usually takes about 512mb, though it can run on less (think the min is 256mb).

So it really depends on what else you're going to do on the pc - if it's just going to be used to run MJ, get one that meets the min requirements for either xp or vista.

MagicJacked · Post by **MagicJacked** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:53 pm

SpamBox wrote:Sorry but the poll is pretty pointless.
Magicjack has to run on either XP or Vista - that right there pretty much tells you how fast the cpu needs to be and also how much memory needs to be installed.
XP & Vista are both memory hogs so need to get as much ram as possible.
Just to get xp to run decent usually takes about 512mb, though it can run on less (think the min is 256mb).

So it really depends on what else you're going to do on the pc - if it's just going to be used to run MJ, get one that meets the min requirements for either xp or vista.

I disagree. I had XP on a P-300Mhz with 96Meg RAM laptop. It was not pretty, but it worked. I ran MS Streets and trips with a GPS in my car.

I did try the MJ on that (or similar) laptop. It did not work. It tried, but could not dial out. I think it was swapping so much it timed out.

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:09 pm

MagicJacked wrote: I had XP on a P-300Mhz with 96Meg RAM laptop. It was not pretty, but it worked. I ran MS Streets and trips with a GPS in my car.
I did try the MJ on that (or similar) laptop. It did not work. It tried, but could not dial out. I think it was swapping so much it timed out.

Ok so you got XP to work on below the recommended minimums but I wonder if you had to strip XP down to the barebones (XP lite maybe?). Could you use any kind of instant messaging or Skype? I'm guessing it's probably the lack of RAM that held MJ back from working or missing XP components.

Anyway back to the original poster - you could always swap out the power supply to a lower one. Seems most use about 300 to 400, while some gamers have 500-600 (and higher!). Could always swap in a 200 or 250 power supply. Maybe lower just don't know how low they go. I've always built my computers to the max (well my financial max at least!). I would imagine you could find a cheap used computer off craig's list/ebay, etc... that would meet XP's minimum's then just swap in a really low power supply. I actually might check into this myself now. AFAIK xp doesn't have minimum power supply but your hardware will, esp motherboards & graphic cards. Here's one that's 300w and is rated as energy-efficient: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151055 There's lower wattage ones available but personally I just couldn't bring myself to use something else.

FYI - XP minimum requirements/recommendations:
1) 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
2) 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
3) 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space (1.8 GBs for XP SP2 which MJ now needs)

So you can see you can't get away with very old stuff (probably stuff people have been using for door stops & boat anchors) Check your local Goodwill sometimes they have really old computers or even a local computer recycler. I know I could probably buy the bare minimum for about $50/system, a legal copy of XP is where the costs are going to come in!

Here's a link to site that got XP to run on really minimum stuff: http://www.winhistory.de/more/386/xpmini_eng.htm (talking old Pentiums and 486's!!! Guess most of the young-un's here haven't even seen one of those before let alone used one. Me - I was building them! hahaha!!! I remember having to take a phone off it's hook to access bbs!, loading programs from a cassette tape drive, ah the old 2600 days!)

MagicJacked · Post by **MagicJacked** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:51 pm

nope, XP was not stripped. And normally updated. That was 2-4 years ago I think. And yes was a memory problem. Like I said, swapping. I had the thing maxed out at 96 Meg RAM. Built-in 32+ 64 stick.

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:37 am

Wonder if MJ can run on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition?

Emdev2 · Post by **Emdev2** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:53 am

Emdev2 wrote:Hello,

I was wondering what is the slowest computer specs you can use and still get reliable magicjack sevice? Does the computer need to have USB 2.0 or does USB 1.1 work fine?

What are the specs of the computers people are using with there magicjack setup? Are most of you doing stand alone computers or using your main ones?

I want to use a dedicated computer for this that uses the least amount of power any suggestions?

Emdev2 · Post by **Emdev2** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:55 am

Emdev2 wrote:
Emdev2 wrote:Hello,

I was wondering what is the slowest computer specs you can use and still get reliable magicjack sevice? Does the computer need to have USB 2.0 or does USB 1.1 work fine?

What are the specs of the computers people are using with there magicjack setup? Are most of you doing stand alone computers or using your main ones?

I want to use a dedicated computer for this that uses the least amount of power any suggestions?

Update:

I have magicJack running on a Dedicated P-III 1Ghz, 768Meg Ram, 40Gig HD, USB 1.1, Windows XP Pro. So Far so good. Anyone with lower specs have Magicjack running ok?

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:20 am

Emdev2 wrote: Update:
I have magicJack running on a Dedicated P-III 1Ghz, 768Meg Ram, 40Gig HD, USB 1.1, Windows XP Pro. So Far so good. Anyone with lower specs have Magicjack running ok?

I got it to run on my old laptop - a P3 600mhz 384mb ram, 30gig HD, usb 1, xp pro - bare minimum of services running. Would use it as my dedicated machine except the power adapter is so loose it just falls out the back! Have to hold it manually just right in the back to get it to power up. The battery is so shot that when the power adapter falls out, only takes about 3 minutes before it dies.

testing123 · Post by **testing123** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:20 am

SpamBox wrote:
Emdev2 wrote: Update:
I have magicJack running on a Dedicated P-III 1Ghz, 768Meg Ram, 40Gig HD, USB 1.1, Windows XP Pro. So Far so good. Anyone with lower specs have Magicjack running ok?
I got it to run on my old laptop - a P3 600mhz 384mb ram, 30gig HD, usb 1, xp pro - bare minimum of services running. Would use it as my dedicated machine except the power adapter is so loose it just falls out the back! Have to hold it manually just right in the back to get it to power up. The battery is so shot that when the power adapter falls out, only takes about 3 minutes before it dies.

The only problem with this for me: I don't know if I completely trust these old laptop batteries (i.e., the potential fire hazard from overheating) ... this really has me nervous. And that sucks because I have a few old laptops kicking around.

Now, of course you could argue "take the battery out" but then you basically have instantaneous shutdown if there is a power glitch AND, I am not aware of an older Laptop supporting auto restart when power is reapplied.

For me this does not bode well for "Landline replacement." Back to the Server approach -- and worse yet, running XP as a "Server."

So far, I have had sound issues (using conventional phone) running it under VMware. So strike that as well.

It would have been REALLY nice if Linux (Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux run on practically ANYTHING) and Win2k (runs in 64MB of RAM!) had been supported.

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:02 am

testing123 wrote: The only problem with this for me: I don't know if I completely trust these old laptop batteries (i.e., the potential fire hazard from overheating) ... this really has me nervous. And that sucks because I have a few old laptops kicking around.

You're right. My battery gets really hot. Couple of years ago I bought one of those laptop "mats" with the three built fans. I've never been able to use it as a "laptop" - gets too hot!

testing123 · Post by **testing123** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 7:02 am

SpamBox wrote:
testing123 wrote: The only problem with this for me: I don't know if I completely trust these old laptop batteries (i.e., the potential fire hazard from overheating) ... this really has me nervous. And that sucks because I have a few old laptops kicking around.
You're right. My battery gets really hot. Couple of years ago I bought one of those laptop "mats" with the three built fans. I've never been able to use it as a "laptop" - gets too hot!

Yes, I bought a couple of those "laptop coolers" as well, but I still don't trust the battery explosion hazard ...

If it weren't for this, I could have laptops controlling all kinds of stuff around the house.

MJ either needs to run on Hardware + OS that can run 24x7 RELIABLY or support ATA.

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:36 am

testing123 wrote: Yes, I bought a couple of those "laptop coolers" as well, but I still don't trust the battery explosion hazard...
If it weren't for this, I could have laptops controlling all kinds of stuff around the house.
MJ either needs to run on Hardware + OS that can run 24x7 RELIABLY or support ATA.

I agree. That's one of the reasons I'm not using the laptop - just wanted to try it out for this forum really.

dbarber · Post by **dbarber** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:13 pm

I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop that I use for MagicJack. It is the only machine I have running WinXP. It has a P4-M 1.8 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM. The battery does NOT overheat, even though the laptop is on 24/7. I have a little "riser" under my laptop for cooling purposes, but I don't recall it overheating before I got it.
Everything works OK other than the first call not connecting correctly if I haven't used the MJ for a day or more.

Edited because I hit the wrong button

Donn

MagicJake · Post by **MagicJake** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:11 pm

Emdev2 wrote:Update:

I have magicJack running on a Dedicated P-III 1Ghz, 768Meg Ram, 40Gig HD, USB 1.1, Windows XP Pro. So Far so good. Anyone with lower specs have Magicjack running ok?

I've been running for quite a while now with a dedicated Compaq Armada model M700 notebook:

700Mhz PIII (XP System Properties says 696 Mhz PIII)
192 Meg Ram
20G Hard Drive (now 13 Gig free)
USB 1.1
WindowsXP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2

Seems to run fine. I use my Linux box for my regular PC; the laptop is just for the MagicJack.

Note:
Compaq M700 is the notebook model number and does not indicate the 700 Mhz speed. Be careful because these come in a range of speeds and including even some slower PII versions which I have not tested. Mine just happens to be a 700Mhz PIII.

Emdev2 · Post by **Emdev2** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:19 pm

Emdev2 wrote:Hello,

I was wondering what is the slowest computer specs you can use and still get reliable magicjack sevice? Does the computer need to have USB 2.0 or does USB 1.1 work fine?

What are the specs of the computers people are using with there magicjack setup? Are most of you doing stand alone computers or using your main ones?

I want to use a dedicated computer for this that uses the least amount of power any suggestions?

I tiried a AMD K6-2-350MHZ with 128meg ram up to 512meg ram, Windows XP Home. It's not fast enough. I can receive calls but very choppy. Cannot make any outgoing calls. The phone starts to dial then quits. I also tried a AMD K6-2-400 and 450MHZ with the same results.

SpamBox · Post by **SpamBox** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:42 am

Emdev2 wrote:I tiried a AMD K6-2-350MHZ with 128meg ram up to 512meg ram, Windows XP Home. It's not fast enough. I can receive calls but very choppy. Cannot make any outgoing calls. The phone starts to dial then quits. I also tried a AMD K6-2-400 and 450MHZ with the same results.

Somehow I doubt the computer isn't fast enough unless you have a bunch of other stuff going on at the same time. MJ isn't a resource hog at all.

Emdev2 · Post by **Emdev2** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:08 am

SpamBox wrote:
Emdev2 wrote:I tiried a AMD K6-2-350MHZ with 128meg ram up to 512meg ram, Windows XP Home. It's not fast enough. I can receive calls but very choppy. Cannot make any outgoing calls. The phone starts to dial then quits. I also tried a AMD K6-2-400 and 450MHZ with the same results.
Somehow I doubt the computer isn't fast enough unless you have a bunch of other stuff going on at the same time. MJ isn't a resource hog at all.

This is Windows XP Home with the latest updates. There is nothing else installed on this computer but the OS and Magic Jack. It was a 6.4Gig Hard Drive. Not much room left for other stuff. It had a gig free after the os and updates installed. It took a AMD K6-2-533 to get it to barely run. It did run pretty good with a AMD K6-2 550MHZ. The motherboard did have built in Video that shares the memory but only 8meg, that was to max it would go up too. It also had an non hardware based NIC card. Those should take away some of the processing power but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. Like I said before, I could receive calls but out going it would start to dial and quit. If you know something I don't let me know!

From my testing it seems to me that Magicjack needs a minimum of a P-III, AMD Athlon or faster processor and 192megs or more of ram to run good. If anyone can get it to work good on something slower let me know as I would love to use them as a dedicated magicjack system.

suprattdoc · Post by **suprattdoc** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:08 am

I have it runniing on an old IBM thinkpad(PIII 750) with XP PRO SP2 and 256 megs RAM

I used the blackviper .com site to configure services that I need and don;t need to make XP run smoother

Seems to run okay for me on this old machine.

I have better rigs, but i wouldn't want to run the 24/7

war59312 · Post by **war59312** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:22 am

Working great on:

Windows XP Pro. SP2
Intel Pentium 3
600Mhz
256 MB PC133
USB 1.1 Only

No lag and working fine. Well besides the 5 mins it takes to start up. lol

However, my father is using it and he might restart once a month so it's not that big of a deal.

Only problem is that forwarding calls does not seem to work. I have told it to forward to Grand Central but its not.

gcv_824 · Post by **gcv_824** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:49 pm

my setup :
P3 - 600mhz
memory 640mb <256+256+128>
windows xp
usb hub= ? i dont know if it is 1.1 or 2.0
desktop setup and there is no problem encountered with mj

nckat · Post by **nckat** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:21 pm

This is my first post...

We have found issues w/ magicjack over wireless, and our cable modem is connected to a place in our house that doesn't have a phone jack. We have two desktops and two laptops, but all are used and in places where a LAN connection is nigh on impossible.

Bring in my dad's old P3 - 733MHz, 128MB RAM. We were loath to actually spend any money on the thing, so gave an XP installation a shot. XP actually installed and ran on the thing! We hid it behind an audio peer, connected it via LAN connection to wireless router, plugged in the magic jack, and voila! Perfection!

victhestud · Post by **victhestud** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:54 pm

My fileserver was an old Compaq Presario 1200-xl106, its an AMD K6-2 475Mhz cpu, running 192MB of Ram, USB 2.0 using a PCMCIA card, and with a 100Mbs usb network adapter. I got this thing pimped out!
All I did on this old laptop was run Windows Server 2003, ran it as a file and print server via USB Hard drives and USB inkjet printer. I added MagicJack to this puppy to see how she ran.

Calls were OK, but almost bearable. When sharing files or doing anything to make the CPU think, calls were more choppy.

SO I replaced the AMD K6 server with another laptop, a HP Pavilion with 1GB of ram, using an AMD Athlon 3200+ barton processor, USB 2.0, 100Mbs, windows 2003 server. Calls are much better even when getting files off my external hard disks.

If you are using your computer as a file server, print server and magicjack phone server, I would recommend a nicer computer.

Calls are possible on older computers like my Amd K6 475mhz machine, but dont do anything else!
Like I said, quality was OK on that machine, but much better on my faster machine. (Hint, go for the better)

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PIII 750 256 megs ram IBM thinkpad usb 1.1

PIII

My laptops that I have used