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View Full Version : Somebody just gave me their used laptop!



Saint Angeles
September 30th, 2009, 12:24 AM
my best friend's mom just bought some expensive macbook thing with all the bells and whistles and once she figured out how to transfer her data from her old laptop to the new on, she GAVE me her old one! its a Dell Inspiron 600m. it's not the fastest laptop in the world, but after removing windows and installing Jaunty on it, it feels like a brand new machine!

the windows XP installation that was on the laptop (before I erased it) was so old and full of loads of unwanted software, that the thing ran so unbelievably slow. when I showed her how fast it was running with linux on it, she couldnt believe it was the same machine.

Installing Jaunty on this In spiron 600m was a snap! the only little hurdle I found was that the wirless card didn't work off the bat... so I plugged it into the router, did all the necessary software updates, and clicked on "hardware drivers'. Ubuntu found the driver I needed and everything works perfectly now! I turned off compiz because even though it could run, it's a lot faster without it. I figure that because I already have a 3.2 Ghz P4 desktop at home with a 256MB ATI video card and 2 GB of RAM, I don't realy need my laptop to run things like games and video/music editing and stuff. I'll just be using this laptop for e-mail, PHP/website work, and maybe a little GIMP fun.

also, you might have noticed I haven't been around in the last couple of months. Well, basically, my insternet was shutoff, then I got evicted and now I live on the streets of downtown LA. I'm managing to afford hotel rooms for the most part and thats how I'm able to be online right now, but I have had to sleep on the streets and its not a lot of fun. It looks like my mom and stepdad might be moving to Missouri soon and they want me to join them. Seeing as my only other option is homelessness, I think I will have to go with them. I'll be able to have a dedicated high speed internet and actually SAVE some money so life might be good again.

OK so I know I'm just rambling right now but I havent visited this site in a long time and now that I have this laptop, I'm very excited to be able to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi in hotels and coffee shops.

YAY for free laptops!

JillSwift
September 30th, 2009, 12:26 AM
Congrats! New hardware is always a blast, even if it's "new-to-you" old hardware =^_^=

I hope things work out soon for your living conditions!

Also, as seems to have arrived on the Ubuntu forums, I invoke the meme:

Cool story, bro.

Machnikowski
September 30th, 2009, 12:28 AM
New hardware is always nice, as Jill said, even if it's old :)

I own quite a bit of old computer **** , fun times.

clonne4crw
October 1st, 2009, 12:46 AM
Old, free hardware is the only kind that I've got lying around my room. And I love it.