Recycle an old PC with Linux

[Trickster]

I want to recycle an old PC 9 years for office use, with internet access for mail and possibly some research. I therefore wish to convert to Linux,

Here my hardware configuration:

• Intel Celeron : 603MhZ
• Hard Drive 15.4GB
• 192Mb RAM
• 4Mb graphics memory
• DVD-ROM

[Jeffrey]

I advise you "Ubuntu"

[Trickster]

Thank you for your response, Ubuntu requires 256MB of RAM. I have heard of Xubuntu, is this good?

[need Tos]

Thank you for your response, Ubuntu requires 256MB of RAM. I have heard of Xubuntu, is this good?

Xubuntu is designed for small configurations: It works with only 64 megabytes of RAM and 2 GB hard disk.

[SecRecy]

Ubuntu will not work with so few resources ...

Use rather Xubuntu or Fluxbuntu .

[deoWo]

1. Know when to fuggedaboudit. If the machine is older than a PII 266, cannot support more than 128MB RAM or won’t boot from a CD-ROM I just don’t think it’s worth my time to work on it. Better to send it to the shredder and move on to a better candidate.

2. Use Linux for the operating system. Yeah some of these old junkers would work fine with Win 2000 but I don’t have the cash to buy a CD every time. Win 98 or Me aren’t supported for security so why would you want to install them anyway if someone wants to go online?

3. Have hardware available. For sure you’ll need more RAM. Most old computers I get have 64MB and often some of that is shared video. I buy used PC133 RAM off eBay and it works OK in older systems, right down to PC66. Anything older than that I don’t fix (see point 1). You might need an old video card as well - sometimes onboard video is SiS which sucks with Linux. Audio can usually be configured even if it’s ISA. An Ethernet card is always handy as well as some of these old junkers were used on dial-up.

4. Know your customer. Can they afford cable or DSL? If not, set up the machine to play music and Linux games. If they can afford it, encourage anything but dial-up. In my area light DSL and cable are the same cost as dial-up anyway.

5. If your client has no previous experience with a PC, so much the better. They won’t expect to have Windows and will happily use the Linux desktop. If they are Windows conditioned be prepared for a harder sell and maybe rejection. If that happens, move along to another possible user.

6. Install the right desktop. KDE and Gnome are probably going to be slowboats on the old hardware I get at the thrift store, even if I put in gobs of RAM. On the other hand Fluxbox is going to scare the pants off a new user, especially if they have seen Windows once or twice. Xfce seems to be a great compromise and both Vector Linux and Xubuntu offer very classy Xfce desktops.

7. Don’t always go for the cutting edge distro. The old graphics cards prefer something a bit more trailing edge. You aren’t going to enable much eye candy anyway. I find that Xubuntu 6.06 LTS works fine in most situations.

8. Configure, configure, configure. Make sure your client gets all the right codecs, printer support, scanner support etc. because sure as shooting the precocious ones will want to try hooking up a digicam or something.

9. Be prepared to offer long term tech support. Linux is pretty user friendly but you can’t expect a new user to have no support if something goes wrong. I don’t tell my clients the root or admin password but they still manage to mess up the icons or worse at least once or twice. Also make sure they know how to do basic tasks like email and web surfing before you leave them to it. Remember there are not that many Linux tech support folks out there – yet. So this means you.

10. You have the final word here…any additional rules you can think of?
VIA