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View Full Version : What can I do with a spare computer?



PrimoTurbo
November 23rd, 2008, 12:34 AM
I got a spare computer and I want to use it for something. It's an old Compaq P3 800Mhz 256 SDRAM 40GB. Any good ideas?

damis648
November 23rd, 2008, 12:35 AM
Give it to me! :lolflag:

How about a server?

Ub1476
November 23rd, 2008, 12:47 AM
Take it apart and build it up again?

Prospero2006
November 23rd, 2008, 12:48 AM
Easily handled. Here's what you do:

Get yourself another cheap computer.

Install Ubuntu on one.
Install Vista on another.

Build a lightweight catapult.
(Stick with something simple. Bungie
cords and 2x4's.)

Head out to the nearest football field with a camera
and post it up at the 1 yard line.

Launch!
Declare a Winner.

Post to youtube.

Post a link here when the video is ready!


:')

pt123
November 23rd, 2008, 12:51 AM
donate it to someone, than just using it for the sake of using it and wasting electricity which is probably from non-renewable source.

PrimoTurbo
November 23rd, 2008, 01:01 AM
Not worried about electricity I built a free-energy machine a while back.

xpod
November 23rd, 2008, 01:07 AM
Make someone`s day,get it set up and running then give it to someone for Xmas.

Engus
November 23rd, 2008, 01:10 AM
set it up as a firewall? just an idea, i dont really know what im talking about.

tealio
November 23rd, 2008, 01:18 AM
i would install debian on it since it's super-stable and secure, and use it as a fileserver on your local network... once you get debian's base installed (don't pick a task in the install process, no desktop, no server, nothing, just the base system) use apt-get to install an ssh server, ftp server, and a web server... whatever you want... and then make sure the bios is not gonna halt the system when it sees there's no keyboard or monitor... then all you need to plug into it is a power cord and an ethernet cable, and you've got your own simple server... yay you.

bobbocanfly
November 23rd, 2008, 01:31 AM
MPD server? Ideal for playing music all over the house (come on who doesnt want that?). Torrent slave for downloading those *ahem* Linux ISO's. File server for sharing stuff around your house. Practice your leet {cr,h}acking skillz by setting up some standard server stuff (Apache, MySQL, OpenSSH) and trying to root it (warning, this ended up with me wasting a weekend writing a worm in bash that spread using ssh, scp and a cowsay over IP server I wrote. Not recommended if you need to do important things with your free time)

I-75
November 23rd, 2008, 01:46 AM
My suggestion...

Use it as a distro test machine. First see if you can bring the Ram up to 512 MB. 800 Mhz is a Pentium III class and likely uses the plentiful but very inexpensive PC 100 Ram sticks. Usually Pentium III class computer should be able to support up to 512 MB Ram. Check E-bay, 256 MB PC 100 Ram sells around $10 - $12 each.

Buy some extra inexpensive hard drives 10 to 20 GB on E-bay. Even those older 6.4 GB hard drives would do fine...likely you can pick them up for under $5 a piece.

Install one distro per hard drive and you can really will have flexibility. Just manually swap out the hard drives if you want to change the distros.

I have Power Spec computer with 1 Gig of ram and a speed of approx 2 Ghz speed. It is my test distro computer. I have Windows XP Pro, Linux Mint, Knoppix 5.3, Suse 11.0, Ubuntu 8.04 and other distros all on the same computer just by swapping out the hard drives.

You have to leave the computer apart for this...but its worth the effort...especially if you like experimenting with different distros. Best of all if something gets hosed, just swap the hard drive out.

klange
November 23rd, 2008, 02:11 AM
The typical suggestion is a server. Set it up to do your bidding: network file sharing, web server, incoming mail server, torrent slave, etc.

mwalimu54
November 23rd, 2008, 02:55 AM
Load it with ubuntu and give it to your hard-core windows friend

Dr Small
November 23rd, 2008, 02:58 AM
The typical suggestion is a server. Set it up to do your binding: network file sharing, web server, incoming mail server, torrent slave, etc.
+1
Use it as a server.

nerd0795
November 23rd, 2008, 03:47 AM
If you have 3 you can make a super computer. You must have 3. 1 to get the data. The other 2 to process the data. :) Dunno how to do it, but it's possible.

K.Mandla
November 23rd, 2008, 05:53 AM
I guess so long as people keep asking, I should keep mentioning. ...

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/03/16/ten-things-you-can-do-keep-an-old-computer-useful/
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/09/14/things-to-do-with-an-old-computer/
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/case-in-point-an-rtorrent-slave-setup/

And this, because it's almost Christmas ...

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/ten-reasons-not-to-buy-a-new-computer/

mikjp
November 23rd, 2008, 08:31 AM
donate it to someone, than just using it for the sake of using it and wasting electricity which is probably from non-renewable source.

Well, it uses exactly the same amount of electricity when someone else uses it, supposed that the original poster does not use two computers at the same time.

But don't use it as a separate firewall, as there are more energy efficient solutions available...

mikjp
November 23rd, 2008, 08:32 AM
Load it with ubuntu and give it to your hard-core windows friend

Who would get a bad idea of Linux in general and especially of Ubuntu, as the hardware is not powerful enough to comfortably run Ubuntu.

Turpin
December 11th, 2008, 08:33 AM
Get yourself a Magicjack. Free phone service. Actually, not free, $20 PER YEAR. I should emphasize, not $20 per month, $20 per year, that's incoming and outgoing calls to regular phones, with your own phone number and all the extras to go with it (caller id, 9-1-1, etc.). Only downside: At this time, Magicjack needs a Windows box. No, Windows in a Virtualbox won't work. The dongle works in a unique way that Linux doesn't recognize. The maker of Magicjack has stated he'd like to make it work on Linux, but so far no development toward that goal.