Spare Computer HELP!

I recently pulled a Compaq Prosig 550MHz Pentium II/XP Pro from the apartment dumpster. The only thing I can see wrong with it is the missing front cover.

The BIOS password was set. It took me almost a minute and a half to get by that(jumper). The XP Pro password took a while longer with a google search, but I got by that also. It hadn't been booted since 2002.
However I don't want to pay a hundred and some $$$ just for an activation code to run what would basically be a toy.

So, my bright idea is to wipe windoz & load some flavor of Linux on it. In another lifetime I used to maintain an AT&T 3B2 with UNIX. I'm not real sure how much I can remember about UNIX. It's been a while.

Anyway I was thinking about downloading Linux, burning a cd and going from there. What do I need here besides Linux for Dummies?

XP pro on a Pentium 2? Hell, my AMD AthlonXP is kinda slow with XP home, can't imagine how it would run on a P2.

Anyways, try a live CD first, here are two distros that you can try, both of which have graphical install shells so you can install the system AFTER you test it out.

http://www.knoppix.org/

Click on the US/UK flag to see the site in english.

OK, the next distro is Ubuntu, it uses a Live CD with installer.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Now, I'm assuming, since XP ran on this computer, that it has quite a bit of RAM, however, if it doesn't, and the Live CDs are EXTREMELY slow(they run exclusively in RAM), then these two LiveCD Distros are probably best.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

http://www.puppyos.com/

ON EDIT: You can save yourself some money and not bother getting Linux for Dummies. Most of the time, you can just burn a CD, and boot from that to see if any hardware incompatibilities crop up, if not, usually installation is as easy as Windows.

Likely someone go very frustrated.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org is a good one for anyone who simply wants to play with linux. I've had it running on old laptops and a variety of other things. I also like DSL-N (Damn Small Linux - Not) because it runs Abiword.

Windows 98SE is another very workable OS for these sorts of computers, but it may take a while to track down all the various drivers for USB devices, etc.

As much as a love ubuntu, it does run much better on newer computers, and it will choke many older computers entirely.

It uses XFCE instead of Gnome, which should speed things up. Generally, the smaller distributions are best, they hum along just fine on older computers, the only problem with Windows 98 is that the limitations built in can make setting it up a pain in the ass. A smaller installation, like DSL-N as you suggested, with an installer, would be good to set it up for just surfing the web, checking e-mail, or setting up a firewall or file server. I have an old Pesario and its damned near useless, it had Windows ME on it, and wouldn't even boot. So I slapped Linux on it, with a HUGE hard drive, and set it up as a file server.

Sounds interesting. It moves to the top of my list for the next old computer I find.

http://www.xubuntu.org

That rather than beating on it, trying to get a modern OS to run on it in something less than snail time, you put two NICs in it and get this:

http://smoothwall.org

It is a free and industrial-strength firewall/NAT/DHCP server/VPN server/much more that is easy to setup and amazingly secure. It runs great on a PII.

...Simply as an energy saving measure. But it's a great way to get hands-on experience with this kind of stuff.

I bought at P1 165 MHZ PC from Boeing Surplus for $15.00. (about 2 years after i bought it the were going for $15.00 per pallet; about 15 computers) 6 GB HD, all of 35MB Ram. (this was in the mid-late '90's) I used it as a firewall. I had to upgrade the NIC's to 10/100 from the old ISA configuration. Loaded a copy of Win 98. worked great. A lot cheaper than spending $70.00 on a new router. Which I did after it finally bleeew up when I tried to replace the USB card last year.

Even at the local charity junk store, they cost plenty ($50 for a 486 I saw), often don't work, and then can't be returned because the money has gone for poor nuns and orphans, whom I certainly don't begrudge. The last time I found old hardware in the trash, it was a 20 MiB Macintosh hard drive I found when I was living in University City (Penn) in Philly. (I'm in the normally colder suburbs now.) That was back when Macs were only for Trustafarians and 20 MiB was shameful obesity. I was using a 286-16. Good Times.

I'm looking for something to run the last two can't-live-without-'em Windows programs I have left. Neither require much horsepower, but their Linux "equivalents" aren't very equivalent, and WINE doesn't seem to run them -- though if you know differently, let me know (the programs in question are eMule P2P client and Applian's Windows Media recorder).

--p!

A friend of my Mom's bought a new computer and gave me her old one -- a 300 MHz P2 (Coppermine) but with a 200 GB hard drive.

A bright spot in a dogbite of a winter.

Woo. Hoo. !

--p!

I use it as a file server. I'd recommend leaving the Micro$haft on there and making it a dual boot. Once you've got the server set up the way you want it then get rid of the MS BS. I've got mine running 24/7 and just ignore it. Works fine. Good luck.