PongRiddims Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Afternoon all, I got a boatload of old laptops and units I've acquired over the years, nearly all of which are totally redundant to me now. Is there anything I can do with them these days or am I best just scrapping them completely? I did consider using one of the units as a media centre type thing, but don't really know what that would entail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 9, 2015 Administrator Share Posted July 9, 2015 Any Linux running XFCE as a window manager should run fine. Xubuntu for example. All most people need is a browser. It depends what else you want to do with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 9, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted July 9, 2015 Build a fort 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Any Linux running XFCE as a window manager should run fine. Xubuntu for example. All most people need is a browser. It depends what else you want to do with them. I literally have no idea what that means Mr Limpid kind sir Build a fort I'd love a fort. A fort with Windows, is that still a fort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 9, 2015 Administrator Share Posted July 9, 2015 Try googling for "xubuntu". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Is it difficult to do if you've never done it before? Google makes it look complicated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 10, 2015 Administrator Share Posted July 10, 2015 It involves inserting a CD and booting. I don't know your level of expertise, but that's quite straightforward. Out of interest, what kind of answers were you expecting? I'm not really sure what else you can use old computers for other than as computers. Steveo might have the right idea - turn them into art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted July 10, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Is it difficult to do if you've never done it before? Google makes it look complicated Download http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/to a computer and have a USB-stick memory ready. Then just start the program, chose, for example, Xubuntu from the program options and the "14_04 live" version and let it install to the OS to the USB drive. Then boot the old computer from the USB drive. Either you can run the live version from the USB or you can install it to the harddrive on the computer. The latter is probably what you want if you intend to use the computer more than just testing it. Edited July 10, 2015 by Tegis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 10, 2015 Administrator Share Posted July 10, 2015 Tegis, if they are old, they might not boot from USB, but otherwise yes, exactly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted July 10, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted July 10, 2015 Send them to Africa: http://www.computeraid.org 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Burn them to destroy the evidence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 10, 2015 Moderator Share Posted July 10, 2015 Is it difficult to do if you've never done it before? Google makes it look complicated Building a fort can be difficult. Start out by deciding how big you want it and what shape. It depends how many desktops and laptops you have as to how it will look and how many can fit inside. You won't need a foundation although RIBA recommend putting the desktops closer to the bottom in the event of attack from rival clans (do you know anyone else with a similar amount of desktops and laptops?). Good luck with it and keep us up to date with pictures. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 Forgot about this thread, still don't know what I'm trying to achieve with the old units hmmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 If you have plans to buy any new equipment then they could be worth money I had to purchase 120 laptops for a project at work and HP were offering £250 trade in on any old Windows XP PC towards any business laptop .... and as luck would have it all my old desktops from our office rollout the other year were sitting in the server room gathering dust so we got £5000 off the price (it was capped to 20 units boo hiss ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 If you have plans to buy any new equipment then they could be worth money I had to purchase 120 laptops for a project at work and HP were offering £250 trade in on any old Windows XP PC towards any business laptop .... and as luck would have it all my old desktops from our office rollout the other year were sitting in the server room gathering dust so we got £5000 off the price (it was capped to 20 units boo hiss ) Oh really? I was considering updating some tech actually so this is interesting, thanks mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Right, with the release of the new Football Manager around the corner, I've decided I'm gonna use one of the tower boxes and create a mid range FM only machine, using whatever components I can salvage firstly, and spending a couple quid if needs be. Spec Requirements for 2015 are... CPU: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD AthlonCPU Speed: Windows XP: 1.6GHz+ Windows V/7/8: 2.2GHz+RAM: 1 GBOS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8Video Card: NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, ATI Radeon 9800, Intel GMA X3100 - 128MB VRAMFree Disk Space: 3 GBI imagine the most important thing to get right would be the CPU, is this correct? How do I work out if my existing CPUs are up to scratch for this kind of Project? Thanks friends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyvilla Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Right, with the release of the new Football Manager around the corner, I've decided I'm gonna use one of the tower boxes and create a mid range FM only machine, using whatever components I can salvage firstly, and spending a couple quid if needs be. Spec Requirements for 2015 are... CPU: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon CPU Speed: Windows XP: 1.6GHz+ Windows V/7/8: 2.2GHz+ RAM: 1 GB OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Video Card: NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, ATI Radeon 9800, Intel GMA X3100 - 128MB VRAM Free Disk Space: 3 GB I imagine the most important thing to get right would be the CPU, is this correct? How do I work out if my existing CPUs are up to scratch for this kind of Project? Thanks friendsThey would pretty much be the minimum requirements , whilst it doesnt need a good spec i would go towards a minimum of a dual core processor and 2gb of ram , otherwise it will be slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Right, with the release of the new Football Manager around the corner, I've decided I'm gonna use one of the tower boxes and create a mid range FM only machine, using whatever components I can salvage firstly, and spending a couple quid if needs be. Spec Requirements for 2015 are... CPU: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon CPU Speed: Windows XP: 1.6GHz+ Windows V/7/8: 2.2GHz+ RAM: 1 GB OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Video Card: NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, ATI Radeon 9800, Intel GMA X3100 - 128MB VRAM Free Disk Space: 3 GB I imagine the most important thing to get right would be the CPU, is this correct? How do I work out if my existing CPUs are up to scratch for this kind of Project? Thanks friendsThey would pretty much be the minimum requirements , whilst it doesnt need a good spec i would go towards a minimum of a dual core processor and 2gb of ram , otherwise it will be slow.Ok that makes sense, thanks mate. How can I work out what processors I have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyvilla Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Right, with the release of the new Football Manager around the corner, I've decided I'm gonna use one of the tower boxes and create a mid range FM only machine, using whatever components I can salvage firstly, and spending a couple quid if needs be. Spec Requirements for 2015 are... CPU: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon CPU Speed: Windows XP: 1.6GHz+ Windows V/7/8: 2.2GHz+ RAM: 1 GB OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Video Card: NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, ATI Radeon 9800, Intel GMA X3100 - 128MB VRAM Free Disk Space: 3 GB I imagine the most important thing to get right would be the CPU, is this correct? How do I work out if my existing CPUs are up to scratch for this kind of Project? Thanks friends They would pretty much be the minimum requirements , whilst it doesnt need a good spec i would go towards a minimum of a dual core processor and 2gb of ram , otherwise it will be slow. Ok that makes sense, thanks mate. How can I work out what processors I have?in your pc? Right click on my computer and select properties , should tell you your processor and ram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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