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Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

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Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#81

Post by unhammer »

jlgaddis wrote: post #76
Animats wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next step above Lubuntu is Xubuntu. If it will fit, use it. I buy old ASUS subnotebooks on eBay for about $40 and put Xubuntu on them when I need a little machine for something. Drivers can be a problem. However, [UXL]buntu finally fixed the years-old bug where the cursor goes away on devices using built-in Intel graphics. (You could make the cursor come back with CTL-ALT-F1, CTL-ALT-F7, which switches the displa…

It's not just for old machines either! I've used XFCE for years and prefer it, even on my well-equipped machines (4-core laptop w/ 32 GB RAM and a new 16-core workstation w/ 128 GB RAM). It looks "nice enough" and is still flexible enough that I can customize it exactly how I want. I really liked Gnome back in the "good ol' days" (2.x) but I can't stand to use it anymore.

I want to like Gnome and Unity, but Xfce just lets me get things done with no fuss.

The only issue is the name. My girlfriend pronounces "Xubuntu" like "Cthulhu".

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#82

Post by keithpeter »

olegkikin wrote: post #36

SSDs are what breathe new life into old PCs. And they are quite cheap. My wife's laptop turned from extremely annoying to decent, almost pleasant to use.

OA uses a Thinkpad X40 as the target machine. A 1.8 inch Hitachi drive with PATA interface and with 256 or 512Mb of RAM soldered to board with a socket for one further RAM stick. This is a 12 year old design. Probably best used with what it has rather than spending any money upgrading. A good test target for a 'light' OS.

A Thinkpad X60 or later (dual core) with 2Gb RAM can run a 'full fat' Linux (e.g. Ubuntu or CentOS/Fedora) OK if not slick in my experience (and yes I did once compile a kernel from source on an X61s - took a few hours). An SSD makes a difference in that kind of machine.

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#83

Post by tbronchain »

jlgaddis wrote: post #76
Animats wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next step above Lubuntu is Xubuntu. If it will fit, use it. I buy old ASUS subnotebooks on eBay for about $40 and put Xubuntu on them when I need a little machine for something. Drivers can be a problem. However, [UXL]buntu finally fixed the years-old bug where the cursor goes away on devices using built-in Intel graphics. (You could make the cursor come back with CTL-ALT-F1, CTL-ALT-F7, which switches the displa…

It's not just for old machines either! I've used XFCE for years and prefer it, even on my well-equipped machines (4-core laptop w/ 32 GB RAM and a new 16-core workstation w/ 128 GB RAM). It looks "nice enough" and is still flexible enough that I can customize it exactly how I want. I really liked Gnome back in the "good ol' days" (2.x) but I can't stand to use it anymore.

You made me curious.. 128GB RAM on Xubuntu! Why? Which usage would require so much memory? Found 16cores quite a lot as well. Really wondering what you do?

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#84

Post by perryh2 »

jlgaddis wrote: post #75
Klinky wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should definitely be investigated before investing time getting an alternative OS up and running, along with the troubleshooting and training that comes with it. Upgrade to the latest CPU for the platform. For $25 you could gain an extra 1+ Ghz or more cores. Max out ram, for DDR2 systems this is usually 4GB - 8GB. 2GB sticks can easily be had for under $10 a stick. Replace hard drive with SSD. Especially if it'…

There are a lot of very respectable laptops available (off-lease and such) for relatively cheap. I picked up a ThinkPad T420 a few months ago on eBay for, IIRC, $180. For $250 all in, I had a nice i5 laptop w/ 16 GB of RAM and a 120 GB SSD. I didn't need it and don't really use it for anything but it's great when I need a spare or somebody else wants to use it. It could easily serve as a great primary machine for an…

I bought a T420 from Ebay as well for around $180. Everything works well but the screen on my sucked. Did you replace yours?

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#85

Post by jlgaddis »

perryh2 wrote: post #84
jlgaddis wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of very respectable laptops available (off-lease and such) for relatively cheap. I picked up a ThinkPad T420 a few months ago on eBay for, IIRC, $180. For $250 all in, I had a nice i5 laptop w/ 16 GB of RAM and a 120 GB SSD. I didn't need it and don't really use it for anything but it's great when I need a spare or somebody else wants to use it. It could easily serve as a great primary machine for an…

I bought a T420 from Ebay as well for around $180. Everything works well but the screen on my sucked. Did you replace yours?

Nope, it was in great condition.

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#86

Post by Pxtl »

pjc50 wrote: post #64
olegkikin wrote: post #36

SSDs are what breathe new life into old PCs. And they are quite cheap. My wife's laptop turned from extremely annoying to decent, almost pleasant to use.

And, especially for laptops, check the thermal management: clean the fans and vents, and if necessary redo the thermal paste.

If only they were built to make this a user friendly operation.

https://youtu.be/OpCJzdWxEbQ

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#87

Post by Pxtl »

StavrosK wrote: post #8
webwanderings wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'd argue that Internet browsing with 2GB is only suitable for reading news and email. This then is a common denominator for layman user, who then wouldn't be using Linux or Pi to begin with. However, this thread is not about Chromebook (and I agree with you there about Chromebook - my wife uses it for email/youtube browsing, and it works perfectly fine). There's a big difference between Chromebook and Linux/Pi…

What happens next? I've given Ubuntu laptops (2010 laptops) to my dad, mom, girlfriend and sister, and they're liking it a lot, especially the fact that they don't have to worry about malware. They're fine with it, it's not like people are born with an innate understanding of the Windows UI and are incapable of learning anything else.

Curious, for the "Ubuntu for Grandma" box, do you use the default partition plan? Because I find that stock Ubuntu has the infuriating habit of filling the boot partition with linux kernels and then freaking out unhelpfully during later updates about the lack of space.

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#88

Post by AstroJetson »

keithpeter wrote: post #82
olegkikin wrote: post #36

SSDs are what breathe new life into old PCs. And they are quite cheap. My wife's laptop turned from extremely annoying to decent, almost pleasant to use.

OA uses a Thinkpad X40 as the target machine. A 1.8 inch Hitachi drive with PATA interface and with 256 or 512Mb of RAM soldered to board with a socket for one further RAM stick. This is a 12 year old design. Probably best used with what it has rather than spending any money upgrading. A good test target for a 'light' OS. A Thinkpad X60 or later (dual core) with 2Gb RAM can run a 'full fat' Linux (e.g. Ubuntu or Cent…

X60 and X61 owner here. SSD drive brought new life to the machines. The new pixel desktop makes them fun linux boxes.

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#89

Post by tagrun »

Brakenshire wrote: post #27
em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #25

Lubuntu is worth mentioning as something that has been breathing life into old PCs while being noobie-friendly and with the access to current ubuntu software repos.

I think PIXEL is based on LXDE.

It's an LXDE theme, plus a few aesthetic modifications to a few LXDE programs.

I wouldn't call it an OS or a DE.

Re: Raspberry Pi releases an OS to breathe new life into old PCs

#90

Post by seanp2k2 »

agumonkey wrote: post #32
JayHost wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Headlines like these are always mind bogglin. I always wished the Puppy project would allow better browsing on the raspberry pi. I really dislike the new Raspberry pi toolbar / desktop

It's sad that they're using the RPI brand to distort reality. Even though in a way the RPI project was already twisting things (GPIO + python isn't computing education but I'm nitpicking).

Yeah, it'd be cool if they also taught Linux fundamentals, the way the internet works, networking in general, etc.
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