Use Linux to Rejuvenate Old Computers [aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com]

Use Linux to Rejuvenate Old Computers [aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com]

O'yeah Can you feel the geek factor here filmsbykris.com

aboutcomputer99.blogspot.com Linux Computer in a car

With the rapid change of technology nowadays, computers become obsolete very fast. The latest versions of Windows and Mac are now incompatible with outdated computers. But with Linux, which is well known for running very well on old hardware, you still can utilize your outdated computer for many things. In this article, I will show you some tips to keep your old computers useful with the help of Linux.

Use the old box as a torrent downloading tool

If you use your new computer mainly for work and entertainment, you will probably have no time to manage all your torrent downloads. Fortunately, many Linux distributions come with a torrent client pre-installed by default. Therefore you just need to install a Linux distribution to your old computer and run it as a full time torrent downloading box. Since all the torrent clients consume very little hardware resource, your old computer will perform this task very well.

Print server

If you have a printer at home or office, it is not a bad idea to turn your old computer into a print server. In the past, Linux used to have many problems with printers but nowadays, everything works nicely out of the box. You can then use the Linux computer to handle all your printing jobs regardless of the fact that other computers in your house might be running other operating system like Windows or Mac.

Media server

If you have a huge collection of music, videos and TV shows stored in one of your computer and you want to share them with the rest of the family. You can install a Linux distribution on your old computer and store all the media files in there then you can share those files with the rest of the devices in your house using a simple Linux setup. Although your computer may be very old, it is not that bad to give it a large capacity hard disk to store files as a server.

Use it as a firewall

Network security is a very important issue nowadays. If there are more than one computer in your house, it is always a good idea to build up a firewall. A firewall is like the security guard at your gate by keeping a watch on everyone who goes in and out. Linux can be used in this case to turn your old machine into a watchful firewall device. All you need to do is to install a firewall Linux distribution then set up the firewall. All the firewalls need very little resource so they will run smoothly on your old computer.

More Use Linux to Rejuvenate Old Computers Issues

Question by Jessie C: Are Linux computers not good for writing novels or illustrating them? How expensive are they? I heard about them, but don't think even though I am great with computers that I could get used to that one at all. Best answer for Are Linux computers not good for writing novels or illustrating them?:

Answer by no1home2day
Linux is a free operating system that you can download and install on any computer. It includes a word processor (OpenOffice) that is just as good as Microsoft's Office, and it is totally free; and if it isn't automatically installed, you can download and install it yourself. Furthermore, the same OpenOffice software can even be installed in a Windows computer - for free \O/ (*GRIN*)

Answer by Andrew M
Not at all. Windows is

Answer by tbshmkr
Linux computers are good for writing and illustrating novels. = Linux computers are as expensive as you want to spend on features (memory size, hdd size, ....) -

Answer by jplatt39
Linux computers are GREAT for writing novels. Most of them are old refurbished Windows computers anyhow -- if you have one which is useless to you now you can throw linux on it. That said, I assume you would expect to hear something positive about illustrating novels. While I am writing this in Gentoo Linux on a refurbed Toshiba Satellite M55-s329 I have to say for graphics get a mac. Apple computers are optimized for presentation graphics and the Mac OS X provides a very stable platform for working on your masterpiece for hours. Oh, yes I am a Windows hater but also a trained artist (you will notice my current Top Contributor badge resolves to Drawing and Illustration). After leaving a Windows machine on for about twenty-four hours it is usually a great idea to reboot it. Linux and Mac OS X you can leave on for as long as you need to as a rule. And if you are doing graphics or illustrations an eighteen hour session sounds reasonable -- if you were tired when you started. Graphics done right take a LO-ONG time. Most Open Source, and Linux is about Open Source -- is written by engineers and academics with one or another expertise in Math or Science. I respect a lot of the work I see being done in Inkscape by these guys, but they really don't have a clue about the contracts involved in commercial printing and like the "respectable" businesses whose understanding of Open Source is such that they use pirated copies of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (which you are supposed to buy with a consulting contract) when CentOS and White Box Linux will provide binary-compatible packages which are free and do not infringe on Red Hat's copyrights or trademarks, trying to draw or make graphics for commercial printing in Linux is murder. It's JUST AWFUL. Macs are what professionals use for graphics and there are good reasons for that. For WRITING novels, look at: http://www.openoffice.org Which is very memory-intensive http://www.abisource.com which is not part of an Office Suite but is probably at least ONE of the best word processors out there. And you don't have to be on Linux to run them but they run beautifully on it. You CAN run Photoshop using Wine (Wine Is Not and Emulator is its name -- a recursive acronym which begs the question what is it then?) but it is not optimal. If you want to try out the Open Source alternatives I dissed above, just download the iso file at: http://www.dynebolic.org burn it to disk, and boot up your computer with it. Any computer. Just don't install it, I'm warning you. Right click anywhere on the desktop for a menu and you will be able to try all the writing, drawing and mixing packages Linux has to offer (assuming it recognizes your sound card which it doesn't with us).

[linux computers]