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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → What to do with old computers?
What to do with old computers?
2005-05-12, 7:00 AM #1
By old, I mean two windows 98, 5-8 years old. One has a 4gb drive, a nvida riva card 128, and a pentium 2 233 mhz, 128 mb of ram.

The other is better, a zip drive, two 60 gig hard drives, a pentium 3 ~ 800 mhz, 512 ram, and a radeon 7500.

Standard other crap (mouse/keyboard/monitor).

So, apart from scrapping them, what do I do with my new found friends, if anything at all?

Oh yeah, and both have network cards for the 'net, heh.
2005-05-12, 7:03 AM #2
routers, file servers, game servers...

i have a Celery 400MHz system in my room right now that i experiment on (mostly trying out various Linux distros and stuff like that)
my plan is to make it a router soon.
"*quickly adds in disclaimer that Is may still yet end up being slapped with a white glove, as all women are crazy and there are no rules*" --mavispoo
2005-05-12, 7:05 AM #3
Quote:
Originally posted by Is_907
routers, file servers, game servers...

i have a Celery 400MHz system in my room right now that i experiment on (mostly trying out various Linux distros and stuff like that)
my plan is to make it a router soon.


Install Linux on it! Why the hell not!

Oh yeah, I also have a problem of not having any drivers/documentation for these machines. That isn't really a big deal. (I hope?)

I actually wanted to try linux out. Where is a good place to start reading?
2005-05-12, 7:08 AM #4
heh, this may turn into a "linux newbie" thread ;)

i'd suggest RedHat or Mandrake first... i forget what they renamed Mandrake to, though. google 'em.

read their documentation... and google for "linux newbie guide" or something hehe
"*quickly adds in disclaimer that Is may still yet end up being slapped with a white glove, as all women are crazy and there are no rules*" --mavispoo
2005-05-12, 7:14 AM #5
Quote:
Originally posted by Is_907
heh, this may turn into a "linux newbie" thread ;)

i'd suggest RedHat or Mandrake first... i forget what they renamed Mandrake to, though. google 'em.

read their documentation... and google for "linux newbie guide" or something hehe


Mandriva

And I can do this with the really crappy one, no? My ma may want to use the newer, better one.

Edit: Wait, that one isn't free; what gives?

Edit 2: Well, I was able to get the ISO from here: http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=29. But why can't I get it directly from them?
2005-05-12, 8:04 AM #6
It is harder use a modern Linux distro on such an old computer (if you are new at Linux) because they mostly come with KDE or Gnome as the default window manager.
You have to make a custom installation where you choose the WM you want to use (or use none at all, or install one later on).
Sorry for the lousy German
2005-05-12, 8:37 AM #7
Impi: i'm running KDE 3 on that Celery 400MHz right now ;) (got 384MB of PC100 SDRAM and a 4200rpm 4GB hdd, heh)

i dunno what distros are good for newbies now... because i'm stuck on Gentoo, Slack and FreeBSD heh (=
(the Holy Trinity of *nix)
"*quickly adds in disclaimer that Is may still yet end up being slapped with a white glove, as all women are crazy and there are no rules*" --mavispoo
2005-05-12, 8:55 AM #8
You could donate them to charity so that people who could really benefit from having them could use them.
2005-05-12, 9:02 AM #9
Give it to charity, a school, or a library.
The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.
2005-05-12, 9:10 AM #10
What kind of RAM in the newer one, and are you willing to sell atleast one of the harddrives?

I'd love to have atleast even one 60 gb harddrive. I'm stuck with one 9 gb and one 16 gb. I keep running out of space.


If the RAM is PC2100 DDR I'd like to have it.

(amusingly enough, this computer I'm using belonged to Is. Btw Is: Your AGP Bus sucks. It won't use a 6600GT or even a Radeon 9550 :P)
*insert some joke about pasta and fruit scuffles*
2005-05-12, 9:44 AM #11
lol Ober... yeah, that's what sucks about ALi (now ULi) chipsets... that's why i've got an nForce4 on my new board ;)
(picked up an MSI K8N-Neo4 for $86 on NewEgg!!)
"*quickly adds in disclaimer that Is may still yet end up being slapped with a white glove, as all women are crazy and there are no rules*" --mavispoo
2005-05-12, 9:47 AM #12
I gotta get a new mobo. but that means I'll have to reinstall windows. And I don't have access to a photoshop install anymore. :eek:
*insert some joke about pasta and fruit scuffles*
2005-05-12, 2:58 PM #13
give me the graphics cards because i'm poor?
Holy soap opera Batman. - FGR
DARWIN WILL PREVENT THE DOWNFALL OF OUR RACE. - Rob
Free Jin!
2005-05-12, 3:50 PM #14
Quote:
Originally posted by Lord Kuat
...The other is better, a zip drive, two 60 gig hard drives, a pentium 3 ~ 800 mhz, 512 ram, and a radeon 7500. ...
That would make a perfectly usable desktop (via Debian Sarge)...
And when the moment is right, I'm gonna fly a kite.
2005-05-12, 5:06 PM #15
Quote:
Originally posted by Is_907


i'd suggest RedHat...


For the love of god don't use Red Hat as a desktop. I was practically pulling my hair out in fustration near the time i decided to get rid of it.
2005-05-12, 5:16 PM #16
Quote:
Originally posted by Pagewizard_YKS
For the love of god don't use Red Hat as a desktop....
Ive been saying that for years and your just now figuring it out?
And when the moment is right, I'm gonna fly a kite.
2005-05-12, 6:52 PM #17
Quote:
Originally posted by gbk
Ive been saying that for years and your just now figuring it out?


I just had to see for myself. RH does make a decent server, though. (Or so I've heard)
2005-05-12, 7:25 PM #18
Fedora Core's supposedly umpteen BILLION times better than redhat.

Either way, Debian/Gentoo > * for desktops
D E A T H
2005-05-12, 7:26 PM #19
FC2 was a pretty decent distro, with yum it was almost on par with Debian. I haven't tried FC3, but I think Dave has.
2005-05-12, 7:36 PM #20
I HAVE FC3 on DVD. Got it for free at a LAN. Haven't had time to mess with it yet.
D E A T H
2005-05-12, 8:25 PM #21
i have never once used RH or Fedora... i'm just going on what i've heard.

as i said, i really have no clue what distros are newb-friendly. the newest *nix newb i know jumped in with SuSE then went to Slack very quickly. (he's a real nerd, though)
"*quickly adds in disclaimer that Is may still yet end up being slapped with a white glove, as all women are crazy and there are no rules*" --mavispoo
2005-05-12, 8:32 PM #22
I've found Ubuntu to be very newbie friendly. Especially on my laptop, where everything works just as it does in Windows, except for my infrared port, which I don't use anyway.
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski,
Z ziemi włoskiej do Polski,
Za twoim przewodem
Złączym się z narodem.
2005-05-12, 8:39 PM #23
If you are gonna throw them away, dont cause my PC Support class is brand new and we could use any equpitment that is being donated. Let me know gammasts@gmail.com
A computer's worst nightmare:
0010111010011110210011010001

HazTeam Website-=HT=
2005-05-12, 8:43 PM #24
Unless you live where I do, I'm not gonna ship anything anywhere. Right now they are in my house, so short of someone picking them up, they are staying here, charity or otherwise.

The Linux idea sounds pretty nifty, hadn't thought about that. Being that there is enough online about that anyway, I'm pretty much done...
2005-05-13, 3:29 PM #25
:/

you sure? I don't think shipping would be that much on a harddrive. I could really use one that big considering all I've got is a 9 gb and 16 gb harddrive. And thats for everything I've got, games, music, etc. constantly running out of room.
*insert some joke about pasta and fruit scuffles*

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