Sounds like a good way to make use of old eMachines, at a large discount too.
Finally, the year of the Linux Desktop! (eMachine edition)
2 gigs of ram is going to be incredibly rough in 2025. Linux is better on old hardware but those specs are pretty optimistic.
This image is at least 10 years old
It’s at most 9 years old, as it mentions Ubuntu 16.4.
But they put Ubuntu on it
Dude, a single chrome take is going to nom the fuck out of 2gigs.
That’s correct, but you can use such low end device as your home server with services like PiHole/AdGuardHome, Invidious, Vaultwarden.
One of my low end home lab server is running invidious (YouTube front-end) on Ubuntu server 24 and just using about 900 MB RAM.
I had an exact machine like this, with these specs, just with an internal Nvidia GPU and 4 extra video cards added. Using USB splitters and USB audio cards, we made that computer work for 5 users simultaneously.
Built software for initial setup (what USB mouse and KB goes with what monitor?) and it worked like a charm.
There was even enough ram available to run a single virtual box instance with Windows XP (I believe) for one single user.
The Linux desktop was skinned to look like Windows XP too and for class rooms we used… I forgot the name, some open source classroom management system where the teacher could guide students remotely
Linux is awesome
2gb of ram really isn’t enough
At least give them something usable. I see a lot of 6th gen machines on the market and they can be loaded with 8/16gb of ram.
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When quarantines hit and everyone was communicating via zoom, I offered to recycle people’s computers and destroy their old hard drives for free. I’d remove and drill multiple holes through the hard drives, vacuum/dust the computer, install a small, inexpensive HDD, and install Ubuntu.
Then I’d install zoom and chrome (sorry) and then pair each computer with a wired mouse, keyboard, and webcam that I had laying around in bulk. Then I’d drop these computers off at shelters, elder communities, and religious institutions. Essentially, anywhere you’d find someone who didn’t have the means to contact family, attend an interview, or whatever.
Recycling/upcycling old computers isn’t just good for the environment and your investment, it’s good for your community!
You’re doing the lord’s work, fartographer
Eh, I didn’t have much else going on and playing Jackbox remotely with my family made me realize how much others were possibly missing out. I don’t even know if or how those computers were used. I just had a lot of time on my hands and an urge to use my then-new drill. Then, I’d move the equipment out before my wife killed me and then let literally anyone else handle the logistics.
Prior to the pandemic, I’d take 20+ year-old laptops and other equipment to a friend’s ranch and we’d shoot shit. One time, I peppered myself with glass from a CRT after shooting it from a few feet away with a 16 ga.
I’m not directed by charity, I’m just wildly impulsive and occasionally productive.
Do we have a rimjob Steve comm?
Then I’d install zoom and chrome (sorry)
You monster…
Chaotic good
Why chrome?
Sometimes you have to meet people where they are with something familiar, I’m guessing?
I guess if there’s also Firefox installed on the computers as a separate alternative browser then I wouldn’t be mad.
Mainly because it’s what people knew and expected. “Other” browsers make it too easy to blame user errors on an unfamiliar environment or interface.
But most of all, it’s about picking my battles. I’m there to get employees and volunteers to help vulnerable people get connected and don’t want to get hung up on trying to educate them about privacy and ethics.
Sometimes, designing systems for non-technical people requires a little compromise on the licensing extremism that is very baked into FOSS culture.
It is why most Linux folks are stoked that Linux can play Windows games reliably — it means that millions of Windows lifers are getting exposed to Arch Linux for the first time. Sure, Steam is proprietary, and so are Nvidia drivers, but nobody decides to start with Linux and stay there (they do, but, I am talking single digit numbers vs the billions using Windows). Everyone has to start somewhere.
That said, big frown on Ubuntu. I would personally prefer something like Debian that has fewer major update increments, or an immutable Arch setup.
“Ewww, Ubuntu? Honey, don’t touch it. We’re an Arch family.”
-No one ever
I mean I’m bit of an Ubuntu hater, not because its bloated or whatever, but because they’re too corpo.
I stopped using it back when they put Amazon in their start menu.
“We use Arch in this house, BTW”
Ah! Nailed it.
Me, a Debian Enjoyer but Ubuntu Hater: 👀
I’m all about upcycling PCs with Linux, but I think selling a PC with 2GB RAM is going to make Linux look bad. It’s gonna handle its resources better than windows, but 2GB is just too little for today’s standards. It will not run well.
edit:considering this is 10 years old judging by the versions used, back then it would have been okayish, I have a convertible from that time with the same specs but it just can’t keep up anymore.
Combine that will a failing hard drive and you have a train wreck
That’s what my NetBook had, back when those were The Thing To Have :)
Ubuntu 16.04? Was this photo taken 8-9 years ago?
idk if it’s that old but it’s certainly not recent, ive seen this photo floating around for years
My search shows it’s at least as old as 2017
Idk what year that pic was taken, but 2GB of ram is useless no matter what operating system you put on it.
Except ofc for a home nas, but as a desktop, the user is going to open Firefox, try to open a website, it will take minutes to load and the user just wasted $20
MS-DOS
More importantly the GPU is going to be unable to process modern graphics which means it will fall to the CPU. The desktop will be very slow and potentially unstable.
Plenty of mem for Xv6
2GB of ram is useless no matter what operating system you put on it.
Ubuntu 16.04
This is an old photo
Libre Office 5.2 seems to have been released in August 2016.
And a reverse image search shows the picture of at least as old as 2017
Edit: still not enough ram. 4gb, maybe, at a minimum, for this type of thing. Even Linux has it’s limits if you’re trying to get anything done in reasonable time on the modern web
Not sure how 2016 era gnome handled low ram, but I can assure you I was browsing the web just fine on an Ubuntu based lxqt machine around that time
It’s a poor spec for a phone, let alone a PC.
Sometimes it’s best just to scrap it.
5 minutes ago I was gaming on my 2gb Windows XP machine.
I just installed my tenth distro on a 2gb netbook, and they all played games of that era just as well as I remember. Just got done playing a map on dawn of war.
I don’t expect these things to play cyberpunk 2077, but if you just want to play stardew valley or terraria it is more than sufficient.
My NAS had 4GB and eventually I maxed it out to 16GB when the pricing for its type of RAM dropped significantly.
Mine has 256Mb for steaming audio. Doesn’t use it all even :)
After reading that, I just checked my memory. After an hour and a half using FF and and a videoplayer (on a reasonably up-to-date Ubuntu 20.x-based XFCE system), I’m using 2.2GB (out of 16, fairly typical, with no swap). So I’m pretty sure that - depending as always on what software they’ve chosen - 2GB is far from ‘useless’. As always, depends on the use case. That’s plenty if you spend most days in a text editor coding.
I mean, installing alpine is surprisingly simple and is capable of playing HD youtube by modern standards
Important note: alpine is black magic and the comparison I’m making is not really sensical if we take into account that one needs at least some terminal knowledge for alpine, let alone install doas instead of sudo (which is bloaty, as it turns out (for alpine stabdards at least))
I was able to get Windows 11 to run on a 10 year old laptop through Proxmox. With 3 other Linux OSs running at the same time. With almost no issues. The Win11 system requirements are made up. It’s a way to sell more computers, that’s it. Line go up is all it is.
Still a very inefficient OS
Oh totally! It took 5x longer to install than endeavorOS and Arch combined. It was really more of a test. I was just surprised that it ran at all on such low allocated resources given how inefficient it is! Especially since it wouldn’t pass the system requirements they allegedly require to upgrade from win10. I guess the point I’m driving home is, if you really HAVE to use windows, there are janky, hoop-jumping workarounds. It’s all getting wiped anyways. I’ll probably load LM or an Arch flavor for more fun tests later. It’ll end up as ewaste in a couple years anyway. The onboard vent fans are dying.
I know it’s not much to criticise over, but it takes like 4-5 restarts to install windows, and one to install most linux distros.
Yes, but at the end of the day you’re still running Windows.
This is exactly how I got into Linux .
Had some… Life troubles.
Started over.
Needed computer.
Local community employment/outreach/social support place had a volunteer run computer place in the basement (they also had a bike place, and a cafe or two, and some apartments, and they were the best community org ever…).
100$
I bought 2 over a couple years.
I’m pretty sure they had xubuntu.
Over 10 years later I still have both. And I just put mint 23xfce on one and use it as my living room media player - dvi to HDMI projector.
I have no need for a lot of stuff. I make work what I can. And I keep it working as long as I can however I can.
$20 is one hell of a price, considering how much time must have gone into this machine!
That depends on their setup.
Taking donated PCs to save them from e-waste. Hooking it up to a large KVM and running hardware diags then a image script to load OS, software and quick check for drivers and functionality…
Maybe 15-30 min labor if you’re efficient and doing them in bulk.
… Yeah still a good deal haha.
I used to do this kind of work. With a wall of monitors mounted and PCs below. It was pretty chill and just needed to poke one when needed.
Nah that’s at least an hour, assuming there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.
I don’t mean time on the bench. I mean tech time working on it.
Hook it up. Start diag. Poke a different system.
Diag done? Passed? Start imaging with post kickstart or Ansible script. Work on a different box.
Image done? Check drivers, updates and functionality checklist.If you had to do 100 of these you can get pretty good at it.
Exactly. I used to do the same thing about 15 years ago with Windows XP and Windows 7 computers. I didn’t have a lot of space, so I’d get about half a dozen set up and go along them in a row running the installers. By the time I got to the end of the row, the first one would be about ready for me to click the next box. The vast majority of time installing an OS is waiting.
Yep. Wrench time vs bench time was my thing. If you do 16 in a 8 hour shift that’s 30 min a piece even if they take a few hours with diag, imaging, installs and updates.
Once you get good you just doom scroll while you wait.
Love the “Installed and tested by Tim G.”
Hey bro you got Tim G. PC too?
Thanks Tim!
make use of old eMachines
eMachines was a brand of economical personal computers. In 2004, it was acquired by Gateway, Inc., which was in turn acquired by Acer Inc. in 2007. The eMachines brand was discontinued in 2013.
