Re using old computer with Open Source software

magnus500 · 12-01-2010 03:12PM #1

Hello

Sorry if this isn't the correct forum. I work in a school in west Dublin and have a number of old PCs (Windows 2000) that are no longer useable. I heard it is possible to re use these using a Linux based system and other open source software that would be useful in schools. They are reall only used for internet browsing and basic things. Does anyone have any tips or know of any online tutorials? Funding is low so this would be great for the school.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Orion · 12-01-2010 05:44PM

You can indeed. If they ran Windows 2000 they will most likely run Ubuntu which would be your best bet. Or Linux Mint. You can try out any distribution by getting a Live CD and booting from it. Most distros come pre-packaged with Firefox for web browsing and OpenOffice for documents.

Depending on the age of the kids you might want to install gCompris as well - a suite of educational applications for primary school level. I have Qimo on a laptop for my kids - it's a very child friendly distro wtih gCompris pre-installed.

All of these are free to download and use.

spurious · 12-01-2010 05:49PM

You might want to cannibalise a few of them for RAM/hard drives etc. for the benefit of the others.

croo · 13-01-2010 06:22AM

Edubuntu http://edubuntu.org/ is a version of Ubuntu aimed specifically at education.

The key difference between Ubuntu & Mint is the latter comes with many closed source or controversial applications already installed, so youtube & playing dvd's work without you having to install these separately (there is a long story why this is usual for most distros).

Not to dissuade you from the wonderful world of open source, but if you are just planning on using it for browsing etc why remove the Windows 2000 from the systems?

Johnboy1951 · 13-01-2010 10:05AM

magnus500 wrote: »

Hello

Sorry if this isn't the correct forum. I work in a school in west Dublin and have a number of old PCs (Windows 2000) that are no longer useable. I heard it is possible to re use these using a Linux based system and other open source software that would be useful in schools. They are reall only used for internet browsing and basic things. Does anyone have any tips or know of any online tutorials? Funding is low so this would be great for the school.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Why are they no longer usable?
If it is because they will not run some software the school uses, then changing to Linux will not help. Windows software does not run in Linux natively.
If you give some of the hardware specs of the machines that would help also ..... those can determine which Linux distro would be best suited.
CPU type & speed and amount of RAM fitted would be useful to have.

Despite replies here Ubuntu and its derivatives are not the only Linux distros out there, and there are others which may be more suitable, depending on intended use and hardware specifications.

So more info would be good .......

regards.

Moonbeam · 15-01-2010 12:02PM

I would also recommend edubuntu.
if you need more help with installation etc see www.linux.ie

surm00 · 03-02-2010 01:18PM

Well since they are older pc's I wouldn't use ubuntu - xubuntu or any other of the many xfce based distros would be ok. if you're a beginner i would recommend linux mint xfce or xubuntu or even puppy linux. There are many light distros are specifically for older machines.

Re using old computer with Open Source software

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