Old XP Laptop

[Greatscott]

I am trying to decide what to do with a very old Dell XP laptop. As big of a geek as I am, I have never played around with Linux or the many bootable flavors of it, so I really don't know what is out there.

It is a P1.7ghz M. processor
40gb HD, which is mostly empty
32mb of RAM.

Aside from running WIN XP, it works just fine. Seems like I should be able to find a use for it.

Thoughts?

[Panther6834]

If you're in need of a security camera system, instead of buying a prepackaged system, you can just get yourself several POE (power over Ethernet) cameras, download the software, and user the laptop as the system's "brain". You could also 'convert' it into a Chromebook (free). Donate it to a family in need. Although it would be 'slow', you could update it to Windows 10.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[JatoTheRipper]

I’m not sure if any of these will work, but try the following operating systems:

Chromium OS - I love my Chromebooks!
Elementary OS
Ubuntu

The last two are versions of Linux

[BUBBA069]

Most current versions of any Linux wont run on that system. Most need a modern 2ghz or better CPU, and 4GB of ram.

If you want to play with Linux, toss the laptop to the recycler, and pick up a Raspberry Pi and play with Linux on that. The Pi with Raspbian (based on Debian) will be good enough to get your feet wet. Will run Inkscape, GIMP, and good old Kodi. Would probably be faster than that old XP laptop.


If you decided to like it, you can pickup a use laptop with a little better specs.. say Win8 era in age... then give POP! OS a try. Will ease you into the Linux world.

[Greatscott]

Originally Posted by BUBBA069

Most current versions of any Linux wont run on that system. Most need a modern 2ghz or better CPU, and 4GB of ram.

If you want to play with Linux, toss the laptop to the recycler, and pick up a Raspberry Pi and play with Linux on that. The Pi with Raspbian (based on Debian) will be good enough to get your feet wet. Will run Inkscape, GIMP, and good old Kodi. Would probably be faster than that old XP laptop.


If you decided to like it, you can pickup a use laptop with a little better specs.. say Win8 era in age... then give POP! OS a try. Will ease you into the Linux world.

Well, not the answer I was wanting, but it sounds like it is the correct one. I am a pack rat by nature, and it really pains me to toss out a piece of equipment that is still functional, even if it is outdated.
I was thinking that it might be fun to set it up on a VPN with some traffic monitoring software and see how quickly XP gets attacked and hacked. I was thinking that the 40gb HD might become .308 fodder anyways...


Funny you mentioned the Pi, I was watching a couple of videos on the new P4s, and was thinking about setting up one in my shop and hobby room (3D printer and Legos) for something to surf on/stream music on.

[MaX-D]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Chromium OS - I love my Chromebooks!

Why do you love your Chromebooks? I ask because I know absolutely nothing about them. I'm just curious that's all. I am not into computers at all other than for video editing.

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[BUBBA069]

Originally Posted by Greatscott

Well, not the answer I was wanting, but it sounds like it is the correct one. I am a pack rat by nature, and it really pains me to toss out a piece of equipment that is still functional, even if it is outdated.
I was thinking that it might be fun to set it up on a VPN with some traffic monitoring software and see how quickly XP gets attacked and hacked. I was thinking that the 40gb HD might become .308 fodder anyways...


Funny you mentioned the Pi, I was watching a couple of videos on the new P4s, and was thinking about setting up one in my shop and hobby room (3D printer and Legos) for something to surf on/stream music on.

Get one for streaming, one for OctoPi for controlling the 3D printer.

[JatoTheRipper]

I think of my Chromebook like a tablet, but better. Sure, the form factor is different, but the Chromebook has the advantage to me because it has a physical keyboard and larger screen. If you’re like me, you despise typing on a touchscreen. It’s slow and tedious to write emails and respond to forums. The touchscreen is still there if I need it though since my Chromebook has that feature as do most of the newer ones. Chromebooks are lightweight and they have nearly instantaneous startup and shutdown times and the battery life is excellent. They’re fast at everything as long as you don’t get a junk one. They are the absolute perfect machine for web browsing, email writing, responding to forums, or any other web activity where you may type a lot. Now they can run Android apps and even some Linux programs. I’m successfully running Inkscape vector graphics software on mine. And the Google suite is basically a cloud based Microsoft Office albeit obviously less powerful. I’ve used them to edit resumes, create spreadsheets, etc.

I think there’s a reason tablet sales are declining while Chromebook sales have taken off. Some schools are teaching on Chromebooks. I know some of the local ones here are doing it. And if you do see a tablet, there’s often a keyboard nearby for most people. Touchscreens suck.

That’s my Chromebook rant. LOL I honestly love mine. I’m on my second. The first is old and small and I wanted bigger and faster. But my old one is currently being used by my nephew to do his homeschool work during the pandemic.

[Inspector86]

I am typing this on an old Dell Latitude D830 which was originally running Windows Vista. I maxed out the RAM, installed a 500GB SSD drive and loaded Windows 10. I see no need to upgrade to a newer laptop. Over the years I have purchased six or seven of these old D830s and now I have my own laptop salvage yard. Recently broke a hinge on this laptop and I just took one off of a parts machine and was back up and running in about 15 minutes. I keep three or four new keyboards around and I can swap in a new keyboard in about 5 min. Out of these parts machines I have been able to piece together two additional fully functional D830 laptops. These things can be purchased off ebay for under $100 all day long.

[MaX-D]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I think of my Chromebook like a tablet, but better. Sure, the form factor is different, but the Chromebook has the advantage to me because it has a physical keyboard and larger screen. If you’re like me, you despise typing on a touchscreen. It’s slow and tedious to write emails and respond to forums. The touchscreen is still there if I need it though since my Chromebook has that feature as do most of the newer ones. Chromebooks are lightweight and they have nearly instantaneous startup and shutdown times and the battery life is excellent. They’re fast at everything as long as you don’t get a junk one. They are the absolute perfect machine for web browsing, email writing, responding to forums, or any other web activity where you may type a lot. Now they can run Android apps and even some Linux programs. I’m successfully running Inkscape vector graphics software on mine. And the Google suite is basically a cloud based Microsoft Office albeit obviously less powerful. I’ve used them to edit resumes, create spreadsheets, etc.

I think there’s a reason tablet sales are declining while Chromebook sales have taken off. Some schools are teaching on Chromebooks. I know some of the local ones here are doing it. And if you do see a tablet, there’s often a keyboard nearby for most people. Touchscreens suck.

That’s my Chromebook rant. LOL I honestly love mine. I’m on my second. The first is old and small and I wanted bigger and faster. But my old one is currently being used by my nephew to do his homeschool work during the pandemic.

Which model Chromebook do you have?

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[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by MaX-D

Which model Chromebook do you have?

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I have this HP x360. I got it for $349 on Black Friday of last year.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-2-in...?skuId=6301869

I know full price is expensive, but they have deals on Chromebooks all the time. For similar money you can get a Windows laptop, but it’ll be low budget and most likely slower than a similarly priced Chromebook. Slow computers drive me batty! Notice the specs of my Chromebook - i3, 8GB of RAM (a lot for a Chromebook), and a 64GB drive (also big for a Chromebook) and it’s very fast as a Chromebook. That’s why people convert old Windows laptops, that are struggling to run Windows, to Chromium OS. It gives them extra life and usefulness.