XP Flotsam and Jetsam

[raymac46]

As the local (unpaid, helpful) IT guy I help a lot of older folks install new computers. Then comes the inevitable question - can you use my old one?

Back when I started doing this around 2006 my answer was always "yes." After all there's hardly a machine built since 1995 that won't run some form of Linux. Once upon a time, I had it working with a GUI on a 1997 Pentium 133 laptop. But really there are cases where installing Linux on an old junker is really just putting lipstick on a pig. I have gotten a lot pickier over the years.

 

Two recent examples:

My old friend Lillian wanted a new all-in-one in 2011 and offered me her 2007 Dell Inspiron desktop. This one had 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, SATA drives, Pentium Dual Core, DVD-RW. Great machine for Linux even in 2014 and now another older lady has it. That one was a "yes."

My wife's friend Shari was taking apart an old desktop and asked me if I wanted it. Built in 2000, Celeron 400, 128 MB SDRAM, old CD-ROM. Um...no.

 

Since I expect a lot of folks will want to get new machines to upgrade from XP, I expect I'll get several similar questions over the next few months. Probably most of my answers will be "No. Recycle it."

 

Here's my list of minimum system requirements:

 

Desktop

Pretty well anything less than a dual core AMD or Pentium will be a no-no. I'll be looking for DDR2 RAM, DVD-ROM, hopefully SATA hard drive. Video must be PCI-e capable. I don't expect to get much hardware as good as this really. You could probably put Windows 7 on a machine like this.

 

Laptop

If it's old I want commercial grade, Thinkpads, Dell Latitude, HP Probook. The consumer grade stuff I'll see will mostly be junk. I'm even pickier here. You can at least upgrade a desktop a bit.

 

Monitor

I'll take any flatscreen LCD at this point. CRT monitors are recycler fodder nowadays. Got a great Dell CRT downstairs. Beautiful color. Nobody else will take it.

 

Printer

I pretty much want HP and nothing else, and if it doesn't have USB forget it. New ones are dirt cheap anyway.

 

Keyboard/Mouse

Well I'd like wireless but if not I'll take USB. Forget about PS/2.

 

At least I have my standards set in advance and I hope nobody gets offended when I tell them to junk their old hardware.

Edited January 26, 2014 by raymac46

[lewmur]

...

 

Keyboard/Mouse

Well I'd like wireless but if not I'll take USB. Forget about PS/2.

 

At least I have my standards set in advance and I hope nobody gets offended when I tell them to junk their old hardware.

Just make sure you have at least one old PS2 keyboard around in case you make the same stupid mistake I did. :'( I was trying to get a MB to boot from a USB 3 port, and without thinking, turned off the legacy USB support for the board. Once you've made this stupid mistake, you can't get back into the BIOS, or make choices from the grub menu, without a PS2 keyboard.

[goretsky]

Hello,

 

Depending upon your requirements (and storage capacity), it might make sense to keep even older CPUs, RAM, and representative models of well-supported expansion cards (video, audio, RAID, SCSI, etc.) in case you need to replace parts in an older PC that's running a critical application (PoS, industrial control system, etc.) that cannot be upgraded for whatever reasons.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[raymac46]

I've still got some PS/2 keyboards around, In fact I still use PS/2 input on my latest build. I have an adapter which connects both PS/2 keyboard and mouse to USB. The Gigabyte MB still has one PS/2 connection for use in emergencies.

As far as legacy hardware goes, I do keep a fair bit of DDR memory and old PATA HDDs and CD-RWs around. I'm keeping one old P4 desktop and of course I have my legendary Pentium II 266 laptop in the Museum. Still have some AGP and early PCIe video cards as well.

But I'm not anxious to get much more of this stuff. Most systems I deal with are not mission critical, unless you include Facebook in that category.

Edited January 27, 2014 by raymac46