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You guys all know this – but anyway –
because of eye problems I’m not exactly
an expert with computers.Anyhow, one of the places that I work is
dumping a bunch of old computers. TheyYou guys all know this – but anyway –
because of eye problems I’m not exactly
an expert with computers.Anyhow, one of the places that I work is
dumping a bunch of old computers. They
are probably about 10 years old.The drives will be wiped clean when they
leave. I was wondering if I could download
LINUX on some other computer and burn the
LINUX operating system onto however many
discs it takes. Then if I could get one of these
old computers, I could just put the LINUX operating
system onto one of these
old machines. It would be to play music
and that’s all. It would sort of be like a big
MP3 player. I have been told LINUX has some
MP3 player programs. I have no funds available
right now. I’m hoping that this old computer
would not have to even ever
be on line. I’m hoping I could get a LINUX MP3
player through a Windows on line computer, and
do the same thing – just burn a bunch of discs, and
put the player on the MP3 machine.For most of you guys, I know that this would be
very easy. But for me, I just don’t have the experience.Any thoughts?
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
Total posts : 45366That’s pretty much a go – the only challenge that comes up occasionally is if there is some oddball hardware (Hard drive controller, sound card, video card, etc.) on the platform. Getting the right drivers for some of the more obscure hardware can be a pain and sometimes a no go.
That being said, most mainstream stuff is well supported – if the PCs are free or almost free, give it a shot.
There are almost limitless numbers of web sites, blogs and discussion boards devoted to exactly what you are trying to do, so it’s just a matter of finding some you like.
There are full station automation proggys in LINUX, lots of incredible work being done there.
Once you get the hang of it, you might even build yourself a nice home PC on one of those “10 year old” PCs – it’s amazing how well they run when not managing the sloth-ware they came with 🙂
For a single purpose machine (music player, etc.), don’t overlook good old DOS. It runs like a banshee on a modern PC (though there can also be occasional driver issues) and DOS is easy to get off an old WIN98 CD. An older Soundblaster card actually has more functionality in DOS. There are some phenomenal audio players available for DOS that include features like variable speed playback and crossfading. Again, lots of web assets to help there, too.
Perhaps you can show us how to build a cheap sound source for those shortwave transmitters folks are talking about.
Total posts : 45366Something else you might want to consider if you have access to a few dollars. With a bit of searching, you can generally purchase a new all-in-one motherboard, processor and memory on e-bay for less than $100 – not the latest and greatest, but probably multiple generations ahead of old clunkers. Rip out the motherboard from a clunker, put in the new one (reusing the case, power supply, hard drives, etc.) and you have something that will be serviceable much longer, at very little cost.
Total posts : 45366I have a HP Pavilion that gave me alot of problems until i got really fed up with Windoze and install Unbuntu Linux. It runs fast and never crashes. The only trouble i have ever had was with a no-name pci wireless card, the silly thing just will not recognize the card and so the HP needs to be wired to the router. Other than that, it is a wonderful operating system. I managed to get a copy before they stopped sending them by snail mail for free.
Total posts : 45366Not to swipe at Linux (I’ve used UNIX very successfully in the past) but there are also other alternatives to the Windows XP/Vista/7 bloatware. Windows 2000 is small, fast, stable, now relatively cheap and supported by a vast array of peripheral manufacturers. I’ve run Windows 2000 Server for months without rebooting (along with Windows Media Server and other Microsoft add-ons including Internet Informat Server, FTP Server, etc.). Interestingly enough, it was only when I added supposedly more stable open development software (IceCast) that the configuration became more unstable (but it still ran for weeks at a time).
I continue to use Windows 2000 Server for Artisan Radio’s server platform. Having used pretty much every operating system and hardware platform out there at one point or another of my career in the computer industry, I’d still stick with Microsoft if I had any choice at all. But then, at this point, I prefer to get things running quickly and easily, rather than having to play around. My geekware tolerance is pretty negligible.
Total posts : 45366Hi Bruce.
Grab the old equipment. It can do plenty of good work for you and save the budget.
I’d love to explore Linux and other operating systems, but have not done so, so have no advice on that.
Look at the CPU processor information tag on the computers and tell us how fast they are and find out how much RAM they have. You probably know where I’m going with this…. upgrade to the fastest CPU the machine will accommodate, put lots of RAM in there. Sometimes when operating systems act badly it’s because of too little RAM.
You set a good example for us techno-types with your boundless enthusiasm for electronic projects.
Total posts : 45366Thank you very much gentlemen!
I appreciate it very much!These old PCs are going out
of the university where I work
in clumps. In other words, a
bunch of them have already gone
into the dumpster and I didn’t
know about it. There is another
clump of them coming.I have to intercept the clump and
get a machine out of it. I’ve
already been told it’s OK. I just
don’t know when the next clump is
coming. It should be soon.A friend told me last night that you
can get a whole LINUX operating system
to
fit onto a little USB stick. (I tend
to call them “thumb drives.”)Then you put the thumb drive into the
USB port of the PC. Even though the hard
drive is blank, the BIOS is still there,
and it will see the LINUX operating system.
This will enable the LINUX to run. He also
told me that most of the newer versions of
LINUX out there have MP3 players included.So I’ll wait for the next clump and see what
happens. I also appreciate the other kinds
of suggestions you all gave. I may get around
to them, and it sure does expand my knowledge.Thanks again!
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
Total posts : 45366Computers tend to have names assigned to them by the user. My first old computer I named “Dumpster” because someone had set it out on trash day.
You should call your new old computer “Clump.”
Total posts : 45366If you have space you could link several together and come up with a fast powerful system. Yank the drives and build an array out of them. This is similar to how Virginia Tech built their famous Mac Supercomputer 8 years ago.
With help from the Linux community, you could probably make a very viable dedicated system for playing music … not something the people disposing of the machines would ever even think of.
Total posts : 45366When I get CLUMP-ONE I’ll let you know.
If I get any other CLUMPs to hook it to,
I will report that as well.Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
Total posts : 45366Bruce, you put the fun in fun.
Your Clump Network will be as big as Facebook and Youtube.
“I’m late for work this morning because I was on The Clump all night.”
Total posts : 45366KLUMP 1700
Total posts : 45366Tempting!
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
Total posts : 45366The KLUMP ONE PC is in my house now.
Actually, this is the first computer of maybe
several. But I have no idea when others will
show up.I don’t know anything about the machine. I just
know that this particular unit is about 10 years
old and has some form of Windows on it. It
is probably password protected. I have been
told that this machine has a BIOS. It has a CD
drive and a sound card.Here’s what I want to do.
I am going to grab a monitor, keyboard, and
mouse from another machine, and fire this
thing up. Then I can see if it works at all.If the machine runs, then I want to wipe the
hard drive clean. So I need to find out how
that is done.After the hard drive is empty, then I want to
put LINUX on it. And as mentioned before,
most new versions of LINUX have MP3 players
included. I understand a popular LINUX MP3
player is called M Player. So again, the goal
right now is just to make this machine into
an MP3 player that will always run 24 hours
a day, never run down, and will have plenty of
space.There are a few things I don’t know how to
do. If you guys have any ideas I would be
very grateful. So here they are.1) How do I wipe the hard drive clean?
2) How do I download LINUX from another
machine onto a USB memory stick?3) How much memory should the USB stick
have?4) From what I understand, the USB stick
needs to just be plugged into the PC in
question, and the BIOS will take care of things.
Is this true?I realize that these are basic questions with probably
many answers, and that the answers may be complicated
by all sorts of factors. But because of lack of eyesight,
and lack of experience with PCs, I am pretty lost here.
I can get help from my son in order to see what is
happening on the computer screen. So no problem there.Anyway, thanks for reading this. Again, if you guys have any more
info, I would be grateful.Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700P.S. I know this last message is pretty redundant and that
you guys have already given quite a few answers. So I
guess if you can tell me how to wipe a PC hard drive clean,
at least, and then any other info you want to throw in will
be fine.
Total posts : 45366Your new Clump Project sounds like it should be much fun and have many possibilities for the future.
Please remember, my input about this are AMATEUR OPINIONS and you need much better informed advice, but I will say some of what I THINK is true, and then sit back and see if I’m right.
IF POSSIBLE, and IF the installed Windows will run, I think you should keep the Windows installed and ALSO install Linux, so you can switch back and forth between operating systems. I seem to recall reading that this is possible.
I GUESS that if the USB drive is BOOTABLE or even if a disc drive exists, if a Bootable Disk is made by someone who knows how, that you can boot into your operating system so that you can PARTITION and FORMAT the drives.
I think FORMATTING will wipe old data from the drive if you select the LONG formatting option.
Now let’s find out what the other members have to suggest.
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