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Hi guys. Someone in my building has placed an old Gateway computer in the trash room. All I know from looking at it is that it says made for Windows ...
  1. 03-05-2011 #1
    RossJH
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    Linux on an old Gateway

    Hi guys. Someone in my building has placed an old Gateway computer in the trash room. All I know from looking at it is that it says made for Windows XP and its the old tan hue computers use to have. My question is what are the odds that if I go grab it before trash day I could boot up Ubuntu 10.10 or some other current Linux build on it? I just want to use it as a secondary computer and solely for web browsing and possible word processing. Let me know what you guys think.
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  2. 03-05-2011 #2
    Rubberman
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    It depends upon the CPU the computer has. If it is a Pentium system with at least 256MB of RAM, then you can install 10.10, but you may not have the resources to get the 3D graphics stuff like Compiz, though personally I think it's a waste of CPU/RAM myself. But then, I'm an old fart and my vision is no longer good enough to enjoy all that eye-candy!

    FYI, Ubuntu says that for 10.04 you can do a "normal" installation with 32MB of RAM and 500MB of disc space... Yeah, and my cat can drive my car and do the grocery shopping!
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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  3. 03-05-2011 #3
    RossJH
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    Thanks for the quick reply.

    Its marked Pentium 4 and I only really want it for some basic web browsing...email, fb, etc. Im not even sure what all this Compiz stuff is. I'd be less hesitant to grab it if I had the cables for it. All I have right now is a laptop, I would use a spare LCD TV for a monitor I suppose but I still need a cable to connect that too.
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  4. 03-05-2011 #4
    Rubberman
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    A Pentium 4 will do just fine to run Linux. You should be able to run most current distributions on that just fine. Memory is the biggest issue, but my guess is that it has somewhere between 500MB and 2GB of RAM which will do.
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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  5. 03-05-2011 #5
    RossJH
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    Cool... do you think Boxee will run smoothly on it?
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  6. 03-05-2011 #6
    Rubberman
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    FWIW, I picked up a nice wide-screen LCD monitor (VGA only) from Dell recently (1366x768 - 18.5") for under $130 USD. I use it for client systems since I have dual 1920x1200 24" displays for my workstation. Anyway, that would be a good match for a freebee P4 Gateway.
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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  7. 03-05-2011 #7
    Rubberman
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    Quote Originally Posted by RossJH View Post
    Cool... do you think Boxee will run smoothly on it?
    Probably. I haven't tried it yet (downloaded, but not installed) so I don't know for sure how resource-intensive it is. That said, it likes Ubuntu for a host, so you might try that. They have a Debian/Ubuntu package to download and install (both 32 and 64 bit versions), so you should not have to install from source, though that is also available.
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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  8. 03-05-2011 #8
    RossJH
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    That's a good suggestion, for time being I was thinking of connecting up to my 19" LCD TV I just have to get the cables. Do you know of anywhere I can get the power cable and the vga cable online for cheap?
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  9. 03-05-2011 #9
    oz
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    Quote Originally Posted by RossJH View Post
    Do you know of anywhere I can get the power cable and the vga cable online for cheap?
    Hello and welcome!

    Take a look at monoprice.com for computer and video cables. They probably have what you need and the quality and prices are hard to beat.
    oz

    → new members/users: read this first | new member faq
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  10. 03-05-2011 #10
    MASONTX
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    Lubutu would be good if your freebie has less than 1 gb ram. Should be fast and a good for browsing.
    Registered Linux user #526930
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