Old PC - P60 whats it good for?

RicardoSmith

I've been landed with an old PC a P60. Wil I just drop it in the bin, or can anyone think of a good use for it? I could use it to play all my old DOS VGA games I guess.

SantaHoe

You should ask someone you know do they want it.
Stick Win9x (if it'll take it) or failing that 3.1 on it with office or something.
Could be a good starter PC for someone who just want's something to type on and draw pictures in mspaint... and basically just tinker with.
That's all I did with my first PC... a mighty 386 33MHz, was old hat even when I bought it, but I payed good money for it.
There again, you have to think twice before you inflict a life of withering away infront of a monitor on someone

ChipZilla

It's not going to be good for much. if you have broadband, you could stick Smoothwall on it and use it as a firewall/router. I wouldn't waste time on it otherwise...

po0k

Install Dos 6.22 on it, configure it to run like the wind and play abandonware games on it.

RicardoSmith

I had given it to a relative who had been using it to play card games, but they've got bored with it now and are giving it back to me.

Originally posted by SyxPak
Install Dos 6.22 on it, configure it to run like the wind and play abandonware games on it.

I might try the smoothwall and the abandonware games. X-Wing and other similar games would work fine on it though.

Adeptus Titanicus

Man, the AbandonWare thing grabbed my attention so I plugged www.abandonware.com into my browser... :eek: :rolleyes:

Civilian_Target

If you have broadband, use it as a router and put a webserver (etc) on it. My P120 has met the same fate, check out http://4eg.homedns.org which it hosts

I'd recommend IPCop over Smoothwall BTW.

www.ipcop.org

SouperComputer

Originally posted by SyxPak
Install Dos 6.22 on it, configure it to run like the wind and play abandonware games on it.

great idea, no arsing about with cpu slowdown progs!

Civilian: Just out of interest, does your server have no GUI installed? Im seting up a server myself at the moment and I dont want to use a GUI, i want to do it all from command line.

[edit] legend site BTW, didnt realise therapy were still going [/edit]

Civilian_Target

Linux GUI on a P120?! Are you off your wall? No, it's running Debian testing distro, with no X

SouperComputer

you could to it with fluxbox with enough ram, it just wouldnt be ideal!

Dr Bolouswki

ab-so-lutel-ly NOTHNG say it again YEAH...

Frankie says relax

Civilian_Target

Oh, and thanks for calling the site a legend. It's not pretty but it makes interesting viewing.

po0k

Chuck on a minimum debian install with a command-line MP3/Ogg player, maybe an apache web-interface/X11 forwarding for some of the more complicated control (or install a serial port LCD in a 5.25" bay?). Install LIRC on it and config it for some old remote control you have around.
Slap in a soundcard, hook up your speakers and it's a MP3 jukebox

Suosan

Originally posted by Civilian_Target
If you have broadband, use it as a router and put a webserver (etc) on it. My P120 has met the same fate, check out http://4eg.homedns.org which it hosts

I'd recommend IPCop over Smoothwall BTW.

www.ipcop.org

I am interested in doing this but I have a couple of questions about doing it.

Can linux recognise my USB modem (ZyXEL PRESTIGE 630) or will UTV changh it for me.

Did you get a static ip (I'm guessing you had to) ?

What did you do about the 2 DNS servers ?

Mutant_Fruit

if you overclock it enough, you should be able to cook eggs on it.

Other than that, all it could possibly do is run a router, but i don;t know if it'll even be up to that task.

po0k

if the ram is up to it the P60 should run at 75Mhz FSB x1multi, provided the board can support it.
Otherwise it might be 50Mhz x1.5multi
If the ram is 60Mhz (probably is, 60FSB x1multi for the cpu clock) you could try and squeeze it into a 90Mhz shoe with 60Mhz x1.5multi.
Again, depends on the board.

Giblet

Fill the HDD with mp3's, and use linux to run it from a command line, play the whole directory at random.

Handy:D


Me myself, would use it as a file server.

Civilian_Target

Can linux recognise my USB modem (ZyXEL PRESTIGE 630) or will UTV changh it for me.

Theoretically, yes, but you never know for sure until you see it yourself. On a p60, unlikely, because you won't have USB ports.

Did you get a static ip (I'm guessing you had to) ?

No, not at all. Check out dyndns.org
Most routers and Linux distros supply auto-update utilities so your IP address is kept constant, and they manage the DNS for you. It's an excellent service.

I wouldn't expect MP3s of it, to be honest. To decode an MP3 at full quality, the minimum spec is a P75. You could obviously cut down on the quality, but there'd be no point because you could get an MP3 player that would pay for itself in a year over the electricity bill run up by your P60.

Finally, the only worthwhile upgrade you can get that machine is RAM, and don't spend more than €15, it's just not worth it for such an old machine.

Gerry

Originally posted by SyxPak
if the ram is up to it the P60 should run at 75Mhz FSB x1multi, provided the board can support it.
Otherwise it might be 50Mhz x1.5multi
If the ram is 60Mhz (probably is, 60FSB x1multi for the cpu clock) you could try and squeeze it into a 90Mhz shoe with 60Mhz x1.5multi.
Again, depends on the board.

P75 does run at 1.5 x 50, one of the reasons why it is so slow. Ah, the stupidity of releasing a faster chip with a slower bus...
I think it will be able to play mp3's either way.