[ubuntu-uk] Dell Inspiron Mini 10v

[Bruno Girin]

On Sat, 2010-04-10 at 14:30 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 2:21 PM, Bruno Girin <brunogirin at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I just installed Xubuntu Lucid beta 2 on an old Pentium III (700MHz,
> > 384MB RAM, 8.8GB HDD) and it absolutely flies. Windows 2000 that was
> > running (or rather crawling) on it until last night would take 1/2 hour
> > to boot and would be very painful to use. Xubuntu takes 1 minute and 30
> > seconds to go from "on" to fully logged in with Wi-Fi connected and
> > makes it a very usable machine: great for web browsing, listening to
> > music or using the occasional spreadsheet.
> 
> To be fair, if you wiped & reinstalled the machine with a fresh clean
> copy of Windows 2000, I bet it would fly as well. Of course, then it
> needs patching up to date, followed by a visit to the very handy
> www.ninite.com to install anti-malware & a bunch of useful apps. So
> it's hours more work than with *buntu & of course you need a copy of
> Windows & a licence.
> 
> But it's not solely a magic property of *buntu, handy as it is. Taking
> any old PC, formatting its disks & reinstalling it afresh with a
> suitable copy of its original OS or something not too much newer will
> always give it a huge new lease of life.

You're right, installing it afresh with a "copy of its original OS or
something not too much newer" will always make it work better. What is
interesting about installing Xubuntu on it though is that we're talking
about the very latest version of the OS, with modern apps, up to date
security patches and great support online.

So not only is the machine working, in the sense that you can use it,
but it does so to a level where it can integrate into a modern IT
infrastructure,  exchange data with much newer systems and benefit from
a level of support that is on a par with a brand new box. This would not
have been very important 10 years ago but in today's world where
everybody is connected to the net and exchange lolcats with their
friends via facebook, it can make quite a difference.

Bruno