What should I do with this PC?

[TekkyTG]

Someone gave me an old eMachines Windows Vista Basic computer. It has PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard inputs, a VGA slot (among other inputs that I don't know the name of they are so old), and no GPU. It's got an Intel Celeron D single core processor, 512mb of DDR2, and a 120gb drive that's down to a 103 due to how old it is (in other words, it's got about 90 because of the software on it that makes it work). Basically it's a piece of trash, but it's a free computer so I hate to just throw it out when it could be used for something. I don't trust it to store stuff, it's such a small hard drive and it could die soon. The computer is at least seven years old, and obviously older. I can confirm only seven because the guy who owned it died seven years ago... I upgraded it to Windows 10 Pro, but it's such a bad PC it has trouble with just moving the mouse. I had to stick my GPU in it to make it work properly, and then it was still awful doing much of anything else. I figure I'll have to downgrade to Windows 7 Pro instead. Anyone have suggestions what I should do with my PC?

 

Maybe I should make a video of me smashing the living daylights out of it with a sledge hammer. #satisfyingcompilation

[Ashleyyyy]

install a lightweight Linux distro on it, like Lubuntu. 

[TekkyTG]

Then what lol

[Spotty]

1 hour ago, TechPrince said:

and a 120gb drive that's down to a 103 due to how old it is (in other words, it's got about 90 because of the software on it that makes it work)

HDDs don't lose capacity as they age unless it is physically damaged, in which case it will still display at the original value from the controller, but it will just stop working and/or those damaged sectors will become 'bad'.
Most likely the drive has a hidden system restore partition on it that is using up some space. Most likely created one when you installed Windows 10.

 

1 hour ago, TechPrince said:

The computer is at least seven years old, and obviously older. I can confirm only seven because the guy who owned it died seven years ago

Without knowing exactly which model it is, if it's a single core Celeron D using DDR2 memory, it will have to be at least 12-15 years old, maybe even a few years older. Going back to around 2005-2006 was the last time desktop Celeron Ds were single core with DDR2 memory. After that they were all dual cores and DDR3.

If you're curious to know for sure, an easy way to check is to check what model number is reported in task manager in windows, or what model number shows up in the BIOS. Just google that model number page and you will find the Intel info page for it which will list that CPU models release date.

 

1 hour ago, TechPrince said:

I upgraded it to Windows 10 Pro, but it's such a bad PC it has trouble with just moving the mouse. I had to stick my GPU in it to make it work properly, and then it was still awful doing much of anything else. I figure I'll have to downgrade to Windows 7 Pro instead.

The system really isn't suitable for Windows 10 as you've no doubt already figured out. Even Windows 7 would be too much for it to handle. Was probably pretty poor back in XP days as well when it came out.
 

1 hour ago, TechPrince said:

I can confirm only seven because the guy who owned it died seven years ago...

Only thing I can really think of doing with it would be trying to plug the HDD in to another computer and copying any personal files or photos the person may have stored on their PC and copy them over to a USB drive to give to that persons family or friends if you have any contact with them. I'm guessing if you reinstalled windows the drive was probably wiped and any data on it lost (except if you did an upgrade maybe). Other than that there's probably very little use for a 15 year old machine with those specs in modern age.

As mentioned maybe chuck an ultra light Linux distro on there. Maybe run a Linux compatible emulator with some old arcade games might be the best you can get out of it.

[Ashleyyyy]

8 hours ago, TechPrince said:

Then what lol

that'll make it a lot faster. Lubuntu from a cold boot uses about 250mb of ram... 

[TekkyTG]

@Spotty

I was able to get onto the system before I installed Win10. There were some old Microsoft Money (2006) programs and files, and the history showed that the computer was used for only accounting. I reset the PC and installed Win10 from there. I do know who owned it before, and I can contact them pretty easily.

 

This is kind of a post inside a post, but in the process of installing Lubuntu on the PC, I had to move the HDD to my computer temporarily because the main computer doesn't enable keyboards until fully booted, meaning I can't access the BIOS. After I created the Flash Drive to install Lubuntu and got the HDD moved over, it was pretty late so I went to bed, leaving my computers open (not the best idea ever). When I woke up, it was my first priority. I got Lubuntu installed and the first thing I tried to do was install Minecraft, just to see how easily it is to move around the system. I began to really like Lubuntu, and started thinking maybe I should dual-install it with my Win10 PC. I had trouble installing Minecraft 1.13 directly from minecraft.net, so I went to the internet to learn how. There were only tutorials for cracked launchers . I finally gave up and decided to move the HDD back to the old PC (I, of course, knew I didn't need MC on that PC as it obviously wouldn't run very well on such a bad PC). Turns out I forgot to move the SATA cable from my HDD to the other HDD. Rookie mistake. I have a backup and my PC didn't have much on it that I couldn't download from the internet, so I'm okay as far as that goes, though. Thing is, I think I want to do a dual-OS with Win10, Ubuntu or Lubuntu now. Only problem is that I can't figure out how to install Minecraft on Lubuntu, which is where I'd rather have MC installed on.

 

Anybody have extensive knowledge of these things?

Thanks.

[Ashleyyyy]

as far as i know, download the .jar and mark it as executable. done...

[TekkyTG]

If you guys don't recommend dual-OS, I'll actually just install Lubuntu or Ubuntu. It's so fast and easy to use (except when installing programs, as I have to open the command line every time, though I actually kind of like doing that, and I'd like to learn how to use Linux anyway, as it's easy to get a job as an MC Server DEV if you have experience. I was already offered a job doing it, but when they learned I had no Linux experience, they revoked the offer).

[TekkyTG]

1 minute ago, firelighter487 said:

as far as i know, download the .jar and mark it as executable. done...

There is no longer a .jar. There is Minecraft.exe for Win, .msi for Win, .dmg for Mac, .deb for Debian/Ubuntu, minecraft-launcher for Arch Linux, and Minecraft.tar.gz for Other Linux. I have tried .deb and .tar.gz. I can't figure out how to install .tar.gz, and .deb won't install, it just gives an error and says I need to run apt --add- architecture, which brings an error message saying --add- or --add or -add- or -add or add- is not a command (I tried it for all of these, however -add was the one that seemed to work best, but still it didn't).

[TekkyTG]

[TekkyTG]

Maybe I should just install Ubuntu instead? I'm talking about my personal computer in this case, of course.

[Ashleyyyy]

oh you're trying on that athlon system? yeah i think you need a 64 bit cpu... 

[TekkyTG]

Actually, I just remembered that the emachines (the PC I was given) is a 32 bit PC, and so I downloaded a 32 bit install. My PC is 64 bit, but it's running a 32 bit OS. I'm downloading Windows 10 x64 now, I'm going to install it, and then I'll install Lubuntu to run along side it, but a 64 bit version. I kind of feel silly now

[Ashleyyyy]

Just now, TechPrince said:

Actually, I just remembered that the emachines (the PC I was given) is a 32 bit PC, and so I downloaded a 32 bit install. My PC is 64 bit, but it's running a 32 bit OS. I'm downloading Windows 10 x64 now, I'm going to install it, and then I'll install Lubuntu to run along side it, but a 64 bit version. I kind of feel silly now

if your main pc has decent specs you might wanna try Linux Mint instead.. it's ubuntu based just like Lubuntu but has much more features. 

[TekkyTG]

Will do. Thanks for the info! I'll install Mint then. My main PC isn't a beast, but it runs Win10 easy and also runs MC at about 300+ FPS w/o Optifine.

[TekkyTG]

@firelighter487

What version of Linux Mint do you think I should install?

https://linuxmint.com/download.php

I see Cinnamon, Mate, and Xfce. Or maybe you know of a better version on another website.

[Ashleyyyy]

if your pc is decent Cinnamon. 

[TekkyTG]

Okay, thanks! Works for me.