Got a really slow PC that's just gathering dust? Give it a new life by ripping out Windows and replacing it with an open source OS
Let's start with a couple of assumptions. Let's assume that, some time in the past two or three years, you or another member of your household has updated their computer, and has left their old one to petrify under a bed.
And let's assume that, but for the fact that this older machine is: cluttered with old stuff, takes 10 minutes to boot up, and is about as inviting to turn on as a toaster in the shower, there's probably someone in the household who might actually benefit from using it.
If your household ticks both these boxes, then you're a perfect candidate to have a bash at installing Ubuntu, the free, open-source, operating system (OS).
Ubuntu, if you're not familiar with it, is one of many varieties of a broader, open-source OS called Linux.
It looks and feels a lot like Windows (more or less), but, being very lightweight, it runs very quickly, and - especially if you mainly use the computer to browse the web - it's a really great way of giving an older machine a new lease of life.
We thought we'd compile a beginner's guide to installing it. The main thing is: don't be afraid. It's much easier than you think. And the satisfaction once you've done it is...well, you be the judge. But we were punching the air for hours.
(We installed ours on a Dell XPS M1210 - about three years old. Many thanks to Dell for providing us specially with a suitable 'older PC'. Here are the recommended minimum system requirements for Ubuntu .)
A few starters
This guide assumes that the computer on which you want to install Ubuntu has a CD drive. If you don't have a CD drive, don't worry: there is a good page on the Ubuntu site detailing how to install it from a USB stick.
Before you start installing Ubuntu, make sure you've got everything you want off your PC. We are going to do a fresh install that wipes your existing OS (probably Windows). You can obviously store documents and photos on your machine post Ubuntu-install, but you'll need to copy everything on to a USB stick beforehand.
Note: You can do a more complicated install of Ubuntu, where you reserve a part of your Hard Drive for Windows, using what's called a partition. We won't be taking that path here.
Download
On any computer (preferably one that works better than the one on which you're going to install Ubuntu), go to the Ubuntu home page, hit 'Get Ubuntu', on the left, and begin the download. (The + most up-to-date version is 9.10.) It should take about 5-10 mins.
Burn to a disc
Ubuntu downloads as what is known as an 'ISO' - or CD image - file. (It's basically a file designed to be written to a CD.) To burn this file to a disc - much like you would if you're making a CD from iTunes - you'll need a CD-burning program. If you don't have one, or don't know what that is, you can download and install a free one.
Once your CD-burning program is installed, open it, select write disc, and select your ISO file, which will probably be on your desktop. (If it isn't on your desktop, go into Options/Settings/Preferences, in your browser, and check where files download to by default.) The CD should then begin to burn. (If you need any help burning to disc, this is a great page.
Install
This is probably the trickiest bit. You need to get your computer to boot from your newly burned CD.
PCs typically work out how to boot themselves using a utility called 'Setup Utility'. By default, yours will probably boot from the hard drive, which is where Windows will be installed.
To get it to boot from the CD, switch the machine on normally, and, the minute you see the first screen - which will probably display the manufacturer's name (in our case it was Dell) - immediately hit F2. It has to be immediately! If you wait too long, the machine will go on and boot as normal and you'll have missed your chance, so you need to start over.
Which key you have to hit to get into 'Set Up Utility' may vary from PC to PC.
On this page you can find advice on which keys you have to hit for which machine. Once you're in Set Up Utility - which will look like an old-style MS DOS window, scroll down (usually with arrow keys - your mouse won't work here) to 'Boot Sequence', hit return, then use the 'u' and 'd' keys (or whichever keys you're prompted to use) to change the order so that CD-ROM is first, ahead of hard drive.
Now stick your CD in and restart the machine.
When Ubuntu loads, you'll be guided through a very simple install process, where you customise things like language, keyboard layout, timezone, and login and password. When you get to the section about partitions and disk space, you'll have to make a choice. Either you can create a 'partition' - the default option - and retain Windows on your machine. That means that whenever you boot your machine subsequently, you'll have to choose which operating system you wish to run (ie. Windows or Ubuntu). (That's the default option.) Or, you can wipe the rest of your computer and just have Ubuntu on it. Seeing as the whole reason you're probably reading this article is that you don't need or don't like the version of Windows on your old machine, we recommend you take this option - the second one down.
When you're finished the steps, you should get a prompt to restart your machine, and the CD will be spat out. A short while later, your newly installed operating system should boot up. (If you have any other queries about this section, this Ubuntu forum page is very helpful.)
Installing drivers/Flash etc.
One slightly annoying thing about Ubuntu is that it doesn't come with built-in wireless drivers. (Whoa! What's that? A wireless driver is a bit of software your computer needs to run the wireless card - a bit of hardware it uses to connect to the internet wirelessly.) One slightly lovely thing about Ubuntu is that, if you're able to connect your new Ubuntu machine to the internet via an ethernet cable, then the minute you connect, just go to System (at the top)/Administration/Hardware Drivers, and the machine should go and search for the wireless driver your particular machine needs, and download it.
(Connecting via ethernet cable, by the way, couldn't be easier. Just run an ethernet cable from the port on your machine into any of the ports on the back of your router, and your machine should hop straight online.)
Once you connect - as well as searching for wireless drivers - your machine will probably also get a message saying there are a number of updates to Ubuntu that have been added to the OS since the version you installed. Say yes to installing them. It may take 5-10 minutes.)
You'll also need to install Flash, but that only takes a sec. The minute you visit a page that requires Flash, like YouTube, you should be prompted to install it.
That should be enough to get you started. Firefox comes pre-installed (just go to Applications, at the top/Internet), as does Open Office, a handy, open-source word processing program (Applications/Office). Having Open Office means you can open Microsoft Word documents when they're sent to you by e-mail.
Let's start with a couple of assumptions. Let's assume that, some time in the past two or three years, you or another member of your household has updated their computer, and has left their old one to petrify under a bed.
And let's assume that, but for the fact that this older machine is: cluttered with old stuff, takes 10 minutes to boot up, and is about as inviting to turn on as a toaster in the shower, there's probably someone in the household who might actually benefit from using it.
If your household ticks both these boxes, then you're a perfect candidate to have a bash at installing Ubuntu, the free, open-source, operating system (OS).
Ubuntu, if you're not familiar with it, is one of many varieties of a broader, open-source OS called Linux.
It looks and feels a lot like Windows (more or less), but, being very lightweight, it runs very quickly, and - especially if you mainly use the computer to browse the web - it's a really great way of giving an older machine a new lease of life.
We thought we'd compile a beginner's guide to installing it. The main thing is: don't be afraid. It's much easier than you think. And the satisfaction once you've done it is...well, you be the judge. But we were punching the air for hours.
(We installed ours on a Dell XPS M1210 - about three years old. Many thanks to Dell for providing us specially with a suitable 'older PC'. Here are the recommended minimum system requirements for Ubuntu .)
A few starters
This guide assumes that the computer on which you want to install Ubuntu has a CD drive. If you don't have a CD drive, don't worry: there is a good page on the Ubuntu site detailing how to install it from a USB stick.
Before you start installing Ubuntu, make sure you've got everything you want off your PC. We are going to do a fresh install that wipes your existing OS (probably Windows). You can obviously store documents and photos on your machine post Ubuntu-install, but you'll need to copy everything on to a USB stick beforehand.
Note: You can do a more complicated install of Ubuntu, where you reserve a part of your Hard Drive for Windows, using what's called a partition. We won't be taking that path here.
Download
On any computer (preferably one that works better than the one on which you're going to install Ubuntu), go to the Ubuntu home page, hit 'Get Ubuntu', on the left, and begin the download. (The + most up-to-date version is 9.10.) It should take about 5-10 mins.
Burn to a disc
Ubuntu downloads as what is known as an 'ISO' - or CD image - file. (It's basically a file designed to be written to a CD.) To burn this file to a disc - much like you would if you're making a CD from iTunes - you'll need a CD-burning program. If you don't have one, or don't know what that is, you can download and install a free one.
Once your CD-burning program is installed, open it, select write disc, and select your ISO file, which will probably be on your desktop. (If it isn't on your desktop, go into Options/Settings/Preferences, in your browser, and check where files download to by default.) The CD should then begin to burn. (If you need any help burning to disc, this is a great page.
Install
This is probably the trickiest bit. You need to get your computer to boot from your newly burned CD.
PCs typically work out how to boot themselves using a utility called 'Setup Utility'. By default, yours will probably boot from the hard drive, which is where Windows will be installed.
To get it to boot from the CD, switch the machine on normally, and, the minute you see the first screen - which will probably display the manufacturer's name (in our case it was Dell) - immediately hit F2. It has to be immediately! If you wait too long, the machine will go on and boot as normal and you'll have missed your chance, so you need to start over.
Which key you have to hit to get into 'Set Up Utility' may vary from PC to PC.
On this page you can find advice on which keys you have to hit for which machine. Once you're in Set Up Utility - which will look like an old-style MS DOS window, scroll down (usually with arrow keys - your mouse won't work here) to 'Boot Sequence', hit return, then use the 'u' and 'd' keys (or whichever keys you're prompted to use) to change the order so that CD-ROM is first, ahead of hard drive.
Now stick your CD in and restart the machine.
When Ubuntu loads, you'll be guided through a very simple install process, where you customise things like language, keyboard layout, timezone, and login and password. When you get to the section about partitions and disk space, you'll have to make a choice. Either you can create a 'partition' - the default option - and retain Windows on your machine. That means that whenever you boot your machine subsequently, you'll have to choose which operating system you wish to run (ie. Windows or Ubuntu). (That's the default option.) Or, you can wipe the rest of your computer and just have Ubuntu on it. Seeing as the whole reason you're probably reading this article is that you don't need or don't like the version of Windows on your old machine, we recommend you take this option - the second one down.
When you're finished the steps, you should get a prompt to restart your machine, and the CD will be spat out. A short while later, your newly installed operating system should boot up. (If you have any other queries about this section, this Ubuntu forum page is very helpful.)
Installing drivers/Flash etc.
One slightly annoying thing about Ubuntu is that it doesn't come with built-in wireless drivers. (Whoa! What's that? A wireless driver is a bit of software your computer needs to run the wireless card - a bit of hardware it uses to connect to the internet wirelessly.) One slightly lovely thing about Ubuntu is that, if you're able to connect your new Ubuntu machine to the internet via an ethernet cable, then the minute you connect, just go to System (at the top)/Administration/Hardware Drivers, and the machine should go and search for the wireless driver your particular machine needs, and download it.
(Connecting via ethernet cable, by the way, couldn't be easier. Just run an ethernet cable from the port on your machine into any of the ports on the back of your router, and your machine should hop straight online.)
Once you connect - as well as searching for wireless drivers - your machine will probably also get a message saying there are a number of updates to Ubuntu that have been added to the OS since the version you installed. Say yes to installing them. It may take 5-10 minutes.)
You'll also need to install Flash, but that only takes a sec. The minute you visit a page that requires Flash, like YouTube, you should be prompted to install it.
That should be enough to get you started. Firefox comes pre-installed (just go to Applications, at the top/Internet), as does Open Office, a handy, open-source word processing program (Applications/Office). Having Open Office means you can open Microsoft Word documents when they're sent to you by e-mail.
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