freecomputer20090117
This post is part of the freecomputers effort.
freecomputer20090117
I've rebuilt the first machine (see the January 17th update below) with Ubuntu 8.10. openSUSE was slower than expected on the 256MB RAM. The Ubuntu distro installed pretty fast, but desktop load time doesn't appear to be faster than openSUSE. That's besides the point however. What I was looking for was really usability of the O/S on older hardware. And it appears that there are moderate performance gains from Ubuntu over openSUSE. Whoo-hoo!
Ubuntu comes preloaded with Firefox, a slimmed down version of OpenOffice.org, GIMP, a bunch of tools, games, and assorted goodies to keep most people from wanting to install more apps. The distro also provides a quick and easy way to keep the O/S up to date. An icon provides notification when new updates are available, and quickly downloads and installs them without much user interaction required. An internet connection is of course, required.
Hardware configuration of freecomputer20090117:
Updated: January 17, 2009 -- for what was undone by the above, and who supplied the hardware.
The first computer is done. I picked up hardware this weekend from some good folks donating what they no longer needed, via FreecycleTO. Friday night I dropped by Narender's place and got a whole bunch of drives, a few motherboards and a 486/66, with 20MB RAM -- which I won't be able to do anything with, other than pilfering the power supply. Today, I dropped by Adina's grandfather's place, and picked up two desktops and a 19-inch monitor. It is one of her donations that got the first conversion. It's a Dell PIII, with only 128MB RAM, so I added another 128MB from one of the motherboards Narender gave me, and set to work. openSUSE is now fully loaded -- and it was the easiest install ever. The only tricky part was the drive partition, but after that, openSUSE just loaded and configured itself from the DVD I created via the openSUSE torrent. The great thing about this install was that a host of applications were also installed at the same time: Firefox, OpenOffice.org, Planner, Inkscape, and a bunch of utilities and games. There's enough there that most general users will not want anything else. I used the GNOME interface, although KDE ships on the ISO as well -- I don't think it matters to the general user.
At 256MB RAM, the machine is slow, making it ideal for web browsing and emailing only. The office applications can be used, but not for heavy lifting. The motherboard maxes out at 512MB RAM, so it handle a bit of an upgrade, but it won't improve much. Watching streaming videos for instance will be a nuisance. Regardless, someone who can't afford to purchase a computer, will shortly get one.
Updated: Feb. 4, 2009 -- this computer has been delivered to a new home. It's now a second machine for Kathy, which will deal with some of the competition for computing time with her sons.
freecomputer20090117
I've rebuilt the first machine (see the January 17th update below) with Ubuntu 8.10. openSUSE was slower than expected on the 256MB RAM. The Ubuntu distro installed pretty fast, but desktop load time doesn't appear to be faster than openSUSE. That's besides the point however. What I was looking for was really usability of the O/S on older hardware. And it appears that there are moderate performance gains from Ubuntu over openSUSE. Whoo-hoo!
Ubuntu comes preloaded with Firefox, a slimmed down version of OpenOffice.org, GIMP, a bunch of tools, games, and assorted goodies to keep most people from wanting to install more apps. The distro also provides a quick and easy way to keep the O/S up to date. An icon provides notification when new updates are available, and quickly downloads and installs them without much user interaction required. An internet connection is of course, required.
Hardware configuration of freecomputer20090117:
- Dell Optiplex GX110, Pentium III, 256MB RAM
- LG 52X CD-ROM, GCR-8523B
- Maxtor 6.51GB HD 90651U2
- Monitor: ViewSonic 21" P815, Model: P815-2M, Serial: QE73404067
- Logon: freecomputers // Password: Dabydeen
Updated: January 17, 2009 -- for what was undone by the above, and who supplied the hardware.
The first computer is done. I picked up hardware this weekend from some good folks donating what they no longer needed, via FreecycleTO. Friday night I dropped by Narender's place and got a whole bunch of drives, a few motherboards and a 486/66, with 20MB RAM -- which I won't be able to do anything with, other than pilfering the power supply. Today, I dropped by Adina's grandfather's place, and picked up two desktops and a 19-inch monitor. It is one of her donations that got the first conversion. It's a Dell PIII, with only 128MB RAM, so I added another 128MB from one of the motherboards Narender gave me, and set to work. openSUSE is now fully loaded -- and it was the easiest install ever. The only tricky part was the drive partition, but after that, openSUSE just loaded and configured itself from the DVD I created via the openSUSE torrent. The great thing about this install was that a host of applications were also installed at the same time: Firefox, OpenOffice.org, Planner, Inkscape, and a bunch of utilities and games. There's enough there that most general users will not want anything else. I used the GNOME interface, although KDE ships on the ISO as well -- I don't think it matters to the general user.
At 256MB RAM, the machine is slow, making it ideal for web browsing and emailing only. The office applications can be used, but not for heavy lifting. The motherboard maxes out at 512MB RAM, so it handle a bit of an upgrade, but it won't improve much. Watching streaming videos for instance will be a nuisance. Regardless, someone who can't afford to purchase a computer, will shortly get one.
Updated: Feb. 4, 2009 -- this computer has been delivered to a new home. It's now a second machine for Kathy, which will deal with some of the competition for computing time with her sons.
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