What OS? Garage 'puter edition

Very recently I was able to resurrect a desktop PC that I had written off in the past but kept nonetheless.

This beauty is a Dell 3000 XP machine, Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, 512 MB of RAM and a 40 GB hard drive. It has a wireless adapter in it too.

I have a 2 GB RAM upgrade on it's way, and I'm not opposed to picking up an external HD if necessary.

So I'm wondering what to do about an OS. It seems my options are to pay for a Windows upgrade or to go with the latest release of Ubuntu. As info, I had a Ubuntu machine about 8 years ago so I have a little experience with that. With big thanks to their forums I was able to get it to do (almost) everything I wanted it to do.

Any experiences to share?

I think your garage-puter experience would be better on a Pi 2 or 3 over that thing.

TinyXP? I would say chromium, but its unlikely your hardware is supported.

I'm running Linux Mint 17 on mine. I use Chrome or Firefox for browsing. I have Virtual machine setup with an XP image and the BMW INPA and NCSExpert running on it. Works great for me.

I just started converting old laptops to ChromeBooks. check out www.neverware.com

Latest 32-bit Mint LTS release w/ XFCE desktop:

https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=213

2GB isn't much by today's standards, but with a 32bit OS and a more resource-efficient desktop it should work OK.

ProDarwin wrote: I think your garage-puter experience would be better on a Pi 2 or 3 over that thing. TinyXP? I would say chromium, but its unlikely your hardware is supported.

Probably. But I am Pi-less at the moment. And have virtually no knowledge of programming at this point.

We had a Chromebook for a little while, and it was pretty good. I'll check out the neverware site, thank you!

Remix OS is another option.

Basically a desktop Android box.

Fits your username

http://forum.xda-developers.com/remix/remix-os/remix-os-pc-hacked-edition-ota-v2-0-201-t3345968

...or just keep using XP.

What do we do with a garage computer?

Keith Tanner wrote: What do we do with a garage computer?

Browse the web and view manuals with dirty fingers, interface with ECUs...and play music and stream futbol matches, from what I've seen

If interface with ECUs is among the desires, a Windows OS might be preferable.

Straight up debian with XFCE desktop.

scardeal wrote: If interface with ECUs is among the desires, a Windows OS might be preferable.

Sadly it's true that, like the industrial control industry, the automotive industry has a strange infatuation with Windows even though they should know better.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: What do we do with a garage computer?

Browse the web and view manuals with dirty fingers, interface with ECUs...and play music and stream futbol matches, from what I've seen

Yeah, this!

It seemed like an interesting idea anyway...

I do have a few projects planned for an Arduino or a Raspberry pi, so it would need to interface with those. Well, not really planned, but y'all get the idea...

Grtechguy wrote: Remix OS is another option. Basically a desktop Android box. Fits your username http://forum.xda-developers.com/remix/remix-os/remix-os-pc-hacked-edition-ota-v2-0-201-t3345968

How stable is it in real life? I don't have fond memories of anything to do with Android phones...

Huckleberry wrote: Straight up debian with XFCE desktop.

From Ubuntu or Linux Mint?

Debian is the OS that Ubuntu and Mint are based on, and the system requirements are lower...I gotta say though, it's not quite as noob-friendly.

If you plan on running automotive software on it, that's going to dictate the operating system you have to use.

All my automotive software is incompatible with Apple, most is incompatible with Linux, and several are incompatible (essentially) with even Windows 7.

I run windows XP as a result on the garage computer. All my automotive software is compatible with XP.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

I run xp with the chrome browser on my garage computer. Being a former computer guy, everyone wants to give me their crappy old stuff, the current old stuff was better than what I was using, fresh load of xp and updates, no bloat ware, this thing is a rocket, even with it being about 10 years old. Use it for web searches when stuck, stream music, 24 hours of daytona, and posts to this forum and othere when in the garage, stuck, and needing help.

Steve

I'm generally all for Linux, but if you have any plans to use it with an OBD connector I would stick with Windows7. You'll spend more time working on your actual project than your project computer.

That said, if you just want it for internet, pictures, etc. I like Debian, Mint, or Ubuntu.

If it has XP on it already, you can always dual-boot Linux, so you'll have an up-to-date OS and still have XP for working with awful automotive software. Just do a disk defrag in XP before installing. The install wizards in Mint or Ubuntu make it super-easy to set up a dual-boot system.

GameboyRMH wrote: Debian is the OS that Ubuntu and Mint are based on, and the system requirements are lower...I gotta say though, it's not quite as noob-friendly.

Thank you for this explanation, I knew they were related but couldn't remember how.

To be very honest, if I can't go to a forum and ask what the code is to do something, I'd be out of luck. This was the only way I got Ubuntu to work back in the day.

Irrs said: I run xp with the chrome browser on my garage computer.

I thought XP was no longer supported. Can you still get Antivirus software for it? There won't really be anything important on it to protect, but it makes life easier.

You can still get an AV for it but no security updates - so you shouldn't use IE for sure. Any vulnerabilities in the OS itself will still be exploitable. I think dual-booting and disabling the network adapters in XP would be the safest choice.

Another vote for Mint XFCE (32 bit), it just works. You should have plenty of hard drive space to set it up for dual boot should you need windows.

GameboyRMH wrote: You can still get an AV for it but no security updates - so you shouldn't use IE for sure. Any vulnerabilities in the OS itself will still be exploitable. I think dual-booting and disabling the network adapters in XP would be the safest choice.

+1^

If you can find it, you can also try Windows for Legacy PC's, but I agree with leaving XP off the network.

Ubuntu and other distros have gotten much, much more user friendly and you can try them from a "LiveCD" where you can boot from CD or a USB key without making any changes to the system. If you like it, you can choose to install it from there.

I am firmly in the "don't run XP" camp.

If you need Linux, the options already mentioned are pretty strong. Xubuntu is probably my favorite for a super friendly distro for old hardware.

If you need Windows, I'd cancel the memory upgrade and buy a Lenovo IdeaCentre Stick 300 for $90-$110. It's a tiny computer. Comes with Windows, costs about what a Windows license would cost. Just make sure your monitor will take HDMI, or that you're prepared to get the adapters.