The newest computer is a donation from a friend of mine. I was helping him clean out the house, and he had an old computer collecting dust. He had no further need for it (he’s got a much newer one), so I suggested that I could bring it into school and put it to good use.

The new computer is from circa 2000. It’s a Pentium III Processor, 800 mhz, with 256mb of RAM. There’s also a fancy graphics card, since he used to use it as a gaming computer. Funny how pathetic those old gaming computers seem now…

Like the Dell I found at school, it wouldn’t boot up. Blue screen of death.

No problem! I booted up a Xubuntu install CD, and it was up and running in an hour or two. I fished some more parts out of a closet at school (we have an abundance of unused mice, keyboards, and CRT monitors) and set it up this morning.

It’s not as speedy as the Dell, but it’s certainly useable for research. It runs Mozilla Firefox fine. Students can surf the web better than they could on the old Macs that used Internet Explorer 5.5… *shudder*

The only thing I’m concerned about is whether or not it will run OpenOffice well. It Xubuntu comes pre-installed with a basic word processor (AbiWord), but Openoffice Writer is much better. It needs a minimum of 256mb of RAM, so I’m unsure how well it’ll work. I’ll install it tomorrow and see.

While digging through my parents attic, I came across an even older computer and wondered if I’d be able to make it useful.  It’s a Pentium III, 450 mhz machine with 96 mb of RAM and an extra graphics card.  I think I purchased it right when the P III processor came out – way back in 1999 (when I was just about to enter high school).

At the time, it was a hot new gaming PC.  Now, it’s more or less a piece of junk.  Is there something that can work on it?

Enter DSL – Damn Small Linux

Xubuntu is a great Linux distro.  While it’s not as resource hungry as operating systems like Vista, it’s still too much for a PC this old.  The minimum requirements suggest 128mb of RAM to install, but I loaded it up on the Dell at school and 128mb of RAM wasn’t really enough to run it.  I’d suggest 256mb of RAM or more.

That takes Xubuntu out of contention for reviving this older machine.  Luckily, there are more options.

I wanted to stick with a Linux distro – because it’s free, open source, and I don’t have to worry about licensing.  In theory, the machine might run ok if I found the old Windows I had installed on it (Windows 98 I think?), but why would I want to use an out-dated, 10 year old operating system?

I also needed a Linux distro with a GUI.  You can easily find a version of Linux that will work on this old computer – and uses a command line prompt to drive you around the system.  In fact, I downloaded and tested one that fit on a single floppy disk!  But it would be useless for me, because I don’t have the time to teach the kids how to navigate a computer that requires you to type things instead of click them.

I found the best of both worlds – Damn Small Linux.

What Is Damn Small Linux?

It’s an ultra small, lightweight Linux distro.  The entire operating system fits on a CD – and only takes up 50mb of space.  Compare that to the 15 gigabytes that Windows Vista uses… *coughchokesputter*

According to the DSL website, the operating system is lightweight enough to load on a 486 PC with 16mb of RAM.  For those of you keeping track at home, that would put that computer at circa 1990.  I had one of those when I was in grade school.

This seemed perfect, so I wrote a copy of the OS to a CD and booted up the old PC.  It boots up quickly, and I can navigate around the apps with ease.  It doesn’t seem at all as sluggish as I would expect a ten year old computer to be.

I wasn’t able to test out the internet on this computer, because I need to scrounge up a network card.  However, I ran DSL on the Dell at school, and the networking capabilities seemed to work fine.  Complete plug-and-play.  Plug in the network cable, and it immediately connects.

Potential Problems, Dislikes

Xubuntu is practically a Windows replacement.  Despite some oddities and minor differences, students can interact with it very much the same way they would a Windows PC.

Since DSL is so light-weight, it does take some short-cuts and parts of it might seem unappealing to the students (and to you).  For starters, there are two internet browsers installed by default – Dillo and Firefox.  Firefox works fine, but only if you have enough RAM (probably 196mb or 256mb would be good).

Dillo works much better on older computers, but it also strips out most of the visual elements that would appeal to students.  It ignores the CSS styling of a site and presents that content (text, pictures, etc) in a simple top down format.  It takes you back to the 1990′s internet.

Also, the default word processor is quite dated.  It’s basically a text editor.  It saves file in *.rtf (Rich Text Format), which has the appearance of an old manuscript worked up on a typewriter.  You can convert normal *.doc files to be opened with the Word Processor, though.  It is possible to customize the CD so that it will load a better word processor (AbiWord) and with enough RAM you might be able to run Open Office (a fully functional MS Office replacement).

DSL isn’t going to turn your old computer into a high-tech wonder.  But it will make the computer effective.  If you’re looking for bells and whistles, hope that your school will buy you some new computers (or go spend $200 and buy one yourself).  But if you want that old junker to surf the ‘net and allow students to type up their assignments, it’s probably your best bet.

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.