What should i do with my really old pc?

ighosty

ighosty

CAGiversary!
So i went back to my parents place over summer break and found a really old pc. It runs wins 98 with 64 mb of RAM and a 6Gb harddrive. I was trying to think of something to do with it. Was thinking about using it to just play something old like diablo or using it as a network firewall pc. Any suggestions?
 
I would try to max the motherboard out...probably try to see if I can load Windows XP on it to see how it runs...but.

1, it will probably be a waste of money
2. chances are you are not a nerd such as i am when it comes to these things.

I pimped out my iMac G3 (Tangerine) for no logical reason...then I sold it.
 
[quote name='WeaponX2099']is it a IBM Aptiva E Series 240?[/quote]

would have to look, i'm at school right now so, but off the top of my head i don't think so
 
If you're planning on keeping it to use it I'd see how much it'd cost to upgrade it as far as it could go - RAM, add a cheap DVD burner, maybe a cheap PCI/AGP video card. It may not be the best PC on the block but it'd still be useful as a back-up PC.

Or, use it for the most obvious answer: porn.
 
When that happened to me I got a switchbox and used it to run all the old dos, 95, & 98 games that were a pain to get to run in xp (virtual pc doesn't work for 98 if you have over a gig of ram)
 
[quote name='sweeetja713']When that happened to me I got a switchbox and used it to run all the old dos, 95, & 98 games that were a pain to get to run in xp (virtual pc doesn't work for 98 if you have over a gig of ram)[/quote]

interesting, what could i run tho? I was thinking diablo and maybe some others. the comp only has 64 mb of RAM so i should probably upgrade it.
 
[quote name='ighosty']interesting, what could i run tho?[/QUOTE]
You should be able to run most anything up into 1998/1999. I don't have to list every PC game ever released up until then, do I? ;)
 
no not every game, but i was looking for a website that would list some. I tryed http://www.vgrequirements.info but it didn't work to well at least when i was looking for older games. Any other suggestions on websites that would list requirements for older games.
 
Seriously, the main requirement is that the game be from no later than 1998/early 1999.

Do you know what sort of processor and video card, if any, this PC has?

And furthermore, what sort of game do you like? That should have been the first thing you told us. :)
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']Seriously, the main requirement is that the game be from no later than 1998/early 1999.

Do you know what sort of processor and video card, if any, this PC has?

And furthermore, what sort of game do you like? That should have been the first thing you told us. :)[/quote]

for older games i like diablo type rpgs, and FPSs was thinking unreal tourny and quake
 
Use it as a test box if you like to play around with shit.

Maybe you could connect it to the interweb and let it constantly run some "at home" research projects like with SETI. But it might be so crappy that it won't really help them.
 
[quote name='captainfrizo']
Or, use it for the most obvious answer: porn.[/quote]

Duh. I second.
Internet porno, care free of viruses.
 
[quote name='Serik']Use it as a test box if you like to play around with shit.

Maybe you could connect it to the interweb and let it constantly run some "at home" research projects like with SETI. But it might be so crappy that it won't really help them.[/quote]

thought about doing that but this thing is old. I have never heard of the processor before, so i think SETI would kill it.
 
Well my old comp was a 500mhz and I upgraded the ram to like 384 mb and installed a 64 mb video card so it ran everything up to BG 2 pretty well. However I had to take out the card because a lot of games wouldn't run on it so no more bg 2. Thankfully it runs on xp pretty well.

I had another old one that had about 500mhz might've been 666mhz but I upgraded it to 256 of ram, put in a 64 mb video card and actually got xp running on it well enough to do word and internet browsing at a good speed. Of course I couldn't run much besides word an firefox at the same time but it was a passable spare to keep at my fiancee's apartment till I built another one. But with a 6gb hard drive you probably couldn't fit xp on it let alone run it with 64 mb of ram. So find out the processor, see what you can upgrade to and go nuts.

As far as games to run, fallout and fallout 2. You can get them cheap

http://cgi.ebay.com/FALLOUT-2-POST-...ryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
for me it never got any better than quake 1, there still is a quake 1 community (download quake world)

that and the orginal monkey island games should be enough to keep you entertained.

if you get bored with that put linux on it and then you can run a pbx, dns server something light on it. had a buddy run the slowest webserver in the world off a mac lc2, thing never crashed once.
 
Every old system I have turns into a Linux box. Mostly experimentation. I usually go with a Gentoo or Kubuntu repack because I'm trying my best to get to the point where I can make any PC as "close" as it gets to a "Windows" type of experience. You know, where you just click/type/browse and don't have to do finicky installs. Problem is almost every Linux box I've done has at one point or another needed tech support. It's not so much I am not good at support but the fact that it needs it done.

I've never had a "complete" Linux box that never needs maintenance. It's eally quite a pain. But if it's really that old, honestly a good looking Linux would work well on it.
 
Definetly learn Linux. You'll have to find a distro that will install on that small of memory (Live CDs won't install), but you can find them. Hell, there are some that can go on a thumbdrive and you can run it on any PC.

I'd recommend Xubuntu, but I don't think you have enough memory. Try PuppyLinux.
 
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