This year, our school purchased a whole bunch of new computers. Very few of them will be in any concentrated area for student use. Makes sense, right?

The media center got a handful of computers – about 15. That’s enough for the average class to meet and pair up with two students at each computer.

Each teacher is supposed to be getting a single new desktop in his or her classroom. In addition there are some computer lab rooms, but these are all used by classes on a regular basis – keyboarding, desktop publishing, etc.

To make matters worse, the Apple carts that we had last year – which were old but functional – have been taken to the library to be fixed up… and they’ve never returned. If they’re ever finished, the number of carts will be reduced as old laptops are eliminated, and the tech coordinator has already announced that the board has no plans to buy new laptops because of the fear of vandalism.

The overall effect is that there are few to no places to take my students so that they can use computers.

Lately, I’ve gone on a bit of a quest to remedy this situation. I’m trying to build a small, but effective, computing station in the back of my classroom.

What Happens to All Those Old Computers?

When I heard we were going to be getting new machines, I asked the coordinator what would be happening to the old ones. She said that some would be donated to non-profits and some would be recycled. There were no plans to refurbish them and re-use them within the school.

I asked her if I could snag some for my classroom use, and she reluctantly seems to have agreed.

In the meantime, I started snooping around the school for unused technology. I found an old Dell computer tucked away in a closet. The teacher said she’d notified the tech coordinator about it last year and it was never moved… so she asked me to put it to some good use.

The machine had a 1.8ghz processor (I think it was a Celeron) and 128mb RAM. For a machine that’s nearly ten years old (it was sporting Windows 2000, not XP) it was pretty nice – except for the low amount of RAM.

Although the hard drive was corrupted and it wouldn’t boot, I confidently toted the machine up to my classroom, using a couple students to help carry the CRT monitor, keyboard, and other accessories.

Installing a New Operating System – Xubuntu

There were two main problems with the machine. The operating system didn’t work, and it had far too little RAM to run modern programs (probably including the Windows 2000 installation it came with).

My first task was to get it up and running with a new operating system. Instead of re-installing Windows, which probably would have bogged down the machine, I chose a lightweight version of Linux – Xubuntu.

Xubuntu (and its cousins Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Edubuntu) are designed to be user-friendly Linux distros. Despite the notoriety of Linux for being difficult to use, these versions are very user friendly. If you’re capable of using Windows, you’ll be able to use Xubuntu. There are some differences, but it’s similar to switching from a Windows machine to a Mac.

There are a couple advantages to this. Number one, it’s 100% legal and free. There’s no threat of a software audit that could get me in trouble and cost the district a lot of money. Two, it is lightweight. Xubuntu is trimmed down to the essentials, but still looks pretty and modern. It’s perfect for refurbishing old machines that would otherwise fall under the pressure of Windows XP or Vista.

It also provides me a potential opportunity to introduce students to open source software – a topic that the copyright-ignoring students of today might find astonishing. Who knew that could get high quality software for free without breaking the law?

Bringing the Dell Up to Speed – More RAM

With the software dilemma solved, the main problem was the memory. 128mb of RAM is simply not enough, under any circumstances, for a modern computer to run. I’d like to find the person that ordered the computer and have a word with them. The standard at the time should have been much higher.

Nonetheless, this is a cheap situation to remedy. The maximum amount of RAM that this machine could handle is 1gb. This is dependent on the motherboard, but you can expect older machines to only accomodate 1 to 2 gb of RAM.

How much do you need? Xubuntu can run ok with 256mb, but some desirable applications (like the Open Office Suite) require closer to 512mb. I wouldn’t bother with anything less than 512mb, and where possible I’d go with 1gb.

Sounds expensive. Right? Wrong.

I tracked down the proper type of RAM for my machine and found a 1gb stick for $30.99.  When I ordered it, there was also a mail in rebate, bringing the total down to about $20 after shipping.

I received the RAM upgrade in the mail yesterday and I plugged it into the machine this morning.  It booted up smoothly and perfectly.  You’d never know the machine was almost ten years old.

And all it took was $20-30, a little know-how, and some time.

I’m also working on an older machine (a PIII 450mhz 196mb RAM machine from the mid ’90s).  When/If I get that working satisfactorily, I’ll post some tips on that.

I also plan on revisiting the topic of Linux because I think it’s a great resource for educators.  It can seem daunting at first, but it’s not at all complicated to use and only requires a little know-how to install on an old (or new, for that matter) computer.