raymac46 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) My neighbor behind me (you know, the one with the broken Ethernet cable) recently approached me about his even older and more computer illiterate sister. This is a lady in her late 80s. Jean is running XP on a very ancient AMD desktop and really needs to upgrade before April 8. I told John (her brother) that I could probably fix her up with Linux at no cost, as I always have a few junkers in the Computer Museum. My original plan was to supply a 2003 Dell Optiplex GX270 but I've had second thoughts because: The GX270 is pretty old now and I am not sure about the reliability of its motherboard. This was the model that had big time capacitor issues back in the day. It has a P4 2.0 that'll only run 32 bit O/S solutions. Crappy 82865 Intel graphics. No DVD-ROM , just an old CD-RW. So after more rummaging around I have decided on a 2007 Dell Inspiron 530. This machine originally ran Vista. It's much better: Dual-core E2160 Pentium 1.8 Capable of 64 bit O/S. Nvidia graphics (cheap discrete card.) DVD-ROM This unit allows me to go with Linux Mint Cinnamon which is pretty stable, has lots of features and pretty nice eye candy. I'm going with LM13 LTS and enabling the backports so I get the latest Cinnamon. I've been reinstalling the system and updating today. Next Tuesday we'll deliver and set it up. She has a Canon printer I hope works OK. I have to transfer her data and set up her email, plus give her a brief tutorial. Maybe we are going to set up a wifi network so John can use his iPad when he visits. The Desktop has a wifi card in it. Edited January 18, 2014 by raymac46 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Very nice!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Very cool that you do this Ray! I wish I was in a position to refurb older machines with Linux and "donate" them to users. The best I have done, so far, is to convert their existing hardware that they already own. What a great idea to take it one step further and provide the machine! I think I'm going to take a page from your play book and start looking for "older donations" and "cheap purchases" to refurbish. There's a bunch of them available, and I suspect even more WinXP machines will be available very soon?! GREAT idea! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 It is great that your clients will even consider going to Linux! Most of mine will not, sadly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhbell Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I think that Mint was a good choice. I use both 13 lte and 16 on my main computer. very stable and both work very well. I don't have any MS windows on any of my machines anymore although I have several copies of win7. I just don't see the need to use them when Linux Mint does everything I want or need. I like anything debian derived. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Well I never buy anything like this. There are folks around my neighborhood who get sick of Vista, or want a cool new laptop or all-in-one so they junk a perfectly good desktop. In fact I used this one myself as a jukebox for a few years in my workshop until I recently built a new Linux machine, My 2008 model became available as a jukebox then so this 2007 one went to the Museum. Mint Cinnamon is a very solid choice with a machine like this. Enough graphics power (the right kind too!) and memory to run a "heavier" desktop. 13 LTS because it's supported for a while yet. The lady in question should have no problem. She uses web based email and a bit of office work that I am sure Libre Office will do, once I configure it for MS Office compatibility. At 87 she's not a big time gamer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 All set to go today with the install. The lady's brother picked up the router, and splurged a bit on a lovely HP Office Jet 6600 that was on sale at Staples. A bit more than she needs but lovely. Her Canon was very old and probably wouldn't work with anything but XP 32 bit. Since I am using LM 13, HPLIP was a bit too old for the printer so I had to download build and install the latest version. I wasn't sure how that would go so I went and got the printer this morning. After connecting the USB cable and switching it on the printer was just there. Scan and print worked fine. Linux is getting better and better with printing especially if you can use HPLIP. Also set up the router so if all goes well I'll have some time to give her a brief tutorial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I installed a Canon (Pixma?) printer on my kid's laptop when he moved out briefly. Ubuntu "found" it and installed drivers, no problem. But Canon does have drivers for some of their printers. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/canon-printer-and-multifunction-drivers-for-linux-620610/ When I find a vendor who provides Linux drivers/support out of the box, I like to send them a quick e-mail to say "thank you for providing Linux drivers, it was one of the reasons I purchased your equipment; I will continue to purchase your equipment and recommend it to others as long as you continue to support Linux. You are ahead of the curve!" Or something very similar. FYI, HP is excellent for linux support. I've also had good experiences with Brother and Epson AIO machines. Lexmark & Dell are horrible for Linux printer support. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) Well I researched this particular Pixma and it said that it would only work with 32 bit and you had to do a lot of console work to get it going. The HP Office Jet 6600 is beautiful. I've always relied on HP. However I had big time issues with the install and I am pretty sure it's because this lady has a 25 year old CRT monitor. The desktop would start and then hang at a text based login screen. After login we had to wait 40 seconds, then the CRT gave a "click" and the desktop came up. When I used an LCD monitor here that never happened. After I came home I got an email from the lady and she said the machine booted into the desktop without a login. I think she really needs to replace the monitor. I'm going to go back someday soon and try the LCD monitor I used during the install and see if that makes a difference. I checked the Canon link and as expected the iP1600 wasn't there for Linux. Edited January 22, 2014 by raymac46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yeah, HP is excellent for Linux users. Seems like every printer/scanner device "just works" out of the box. Their Officejet AIO 4000, 6000, and 8000 series are available pretty much anywhere, at a price everyone can afford, and their Linux drivers are feature compatible with their Windows drivers, i.e. no functionality is "missing" for the Linux user. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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