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Computer disposal has been and, is increasingly so, becoming a huge problem against environmental concerns. Despite the computer manuals, that no one reads, explicitly stating that “DO NOT THROW IN TRASH” people go ahead and throw their computers into regular trash. Well, there’s something better to be done with your old computers than just throwing it away in the trash, even if it is barely running. This is where Linux can help, it’s a very common method of extending the life-time of your almost worn out computer.

So what is it that you can do?

• Well, quite a bit, really but more specifically the following things:
  If you have a Google Voice phone number, than you might be able to get free VOIP out of it. You can find more information about this with a step-by-step guide available here.
• Turn your old computer into a central storage server, or a back-up storage device. The plus side to this is that you can even program this to automatically make a backup of certain information on another computer and have it downloaded and stored on your Linux server. Here’s a resource specifically for this task located here.
• Install one of the above Linux installations and let your kids play with it as a learning experience. Remember, Linux has become just as easy to use as windows in recent days, so it’s fairly simple to setup and use. This simple installation should at least make available the following features:
  • Word processing ( Open Office )
  • Browse the Internet ( Mozilla Firefox )
  • Chat/E-mail ( Thunderbird )

Why Linux?

This question is simple to answer: Linux has much lower system requirements. As a matter of fact, the requirements for Linux installation are so low that even computers from 10 years ago can run it at favorable speeds. Some of the Linux distributions, their system requirements and a link to their download is listed below.

Note: The download links are embedded in the Title of the Linux Distribution.

• Ubuntu
  • 300MHz x86 processor or equivalent
  • 64MB of RAM
  • At least 4GB of disk space
  • Video Graphics Array (VGA) graphics card capable of 640 x 480 resolution
  • CD-ROM drive or network adapter
  • Official Installation Requirement

• Puppy Linux
  
  • Intel Pentium 166MMX processor
  • 128MB of RAM
  • 20x CD-ROM drive
  • Official Installation Requirements

• Damn Small Linux (DSL)
  • Intel® Pentium® 200MHz processor
  • 64MB of RAM
  • 8x CD-ROM drive
  • Video card capable of 16-bit color
  • 1.44MB floppy disk drive (for boot floppy, if needed)
  • Scroll wheel mouse
  • Official Installation Requirement

• Fedora 11
  • Pentium 400MHz processor or equivalent
  • 192MB of RAM
  • At least 9GB of disk space
  • CD-ROM drive
  • Official Installation Requirements

• Zenwalk
  • Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent
  • 128MB of RAM
  • At least 2GB of disk space
  • Official Installation Requirements

Additional Resources:

• A linux resource with a latitude of articles: http://www.linux.org/

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