OSes and Applications for Aging Machines?

TellarHK asks: "My aunt and uncle, both completely unfamiliar with computers, are looking to replace a broken word processor with something new. They'd like to either spend as few dollars as possible on a computer, or replace the word processor. Silly me, I mentioned I had a spare PC kicking around. It's a Digital Equipment 'Starion 930' Pentium 100 with 40M, and onboard video of an unknown type. As this machine is going to be used for word processing, I need an OS that will work with my newly dusted-off Lexmark Z11 printer. So what are my options? Will QNX handle the limited video and printer? Is there a WYSIWYG solution for FreeDOS? Is there a chance in hell any Linux distribution can give me graphics? I've got a whopping three gig drive in there. What can I do with it?"

Comments

Overkill - Ha!

[moosesocks]

I have an old laptop which I use for a similar purpose: an IBM thinkpad 755, which is a 486/75 with 20mb of RAM, and what is possibly the world's most troublesome video adapter.

Despite these shortcomings, I am still able to run Windows 98 with Word 2000. '98 boots up in about a minute, and word takes about 10 seconds to load. For an 8 year old laptop, that's pretty darn good. The only drawback is that the type is somewat laggy, although the system described in this article should be nearly twice as fast.

hate to do this to you.

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

If you do this, welcome to support hell. You will get calls why this does not work. That is not here...etc.

If you want calls about how to get the *nix to work like windows by all means sign them up. I really would like to stress just droping win95 on it. Scream all you want but it is a small foot print, it is stable if your really only using for for word processing, and you not the "only well of knowledge" for that os.

Just my views, I have only put a computer in about quite a few famialy/friends homes and linux in the long run always ends up kicking my ass. That is because they get hooked on the computer and they want to talk about it with frinds, share all the stupid shit that is not going to work on linux without some computer skills to get it to work.

Linux and endless support for "my friends computer does this" how come I don't have the stuff he has...

Install windows and the crash now and then with the virus that goes with it. Install linux and be the only person that can help them, and deal with the why does this not work like everyone else "I" know besides you that runs windows.

Hard choice, make it wisely for your friends. There are cases for both, just depends which set of problems you are going to want to deal with.

Good luck, and get use to being someones free tech support for the life of that computer. The linux biggots are going to eat me alive on this, but that just shows they are like a lot of people I know. They don't use the best tool for the job, they use the tool that they can wave like a badge of knowledge even if it was not the best choice.

OS/2 Warp 4

[LordNimon]

You can find a copy for cheap on eBay. It will run great on that machine, give you full networking, and it can run tons of Windows apps, as well as Mozilla, XFree86, and Star Office.

In my experiencing, Warp 4 runs better in low memory systems (less than 64MB) than Linux + X does. I have a 40MB laptop that runs OS/2 great but Linux won't install on it.

On "helping" your family...

[joto]

Do you want to continue helping them forever? There are some alternatives you can choose between to make life easier for yourself, and having been in that situation, here are some things you can do.

1. Tell them you've tried your machine, and it doesn't work for you, but they are free to take it if they want. (There is nothing better you can do to avoid helping others, than to play an idiot. Unfortunately, it might be difficult to formulate this in a way that makes them try it out themselves before giving up...)
2. Do exactly the opposite of helping them. Install QNX and a bunch of worthless applications on that box, but nothing that will help them type that stupid letter. Sooner or later, it's going to get through to them that you are in fact misleading them, and they will probably consider you an idiot, since they will probably not understand why their nephew is deliberately misleading them out of pure selfishness.
3. Give them machine, Win98 install CD, Word install CD, and free phone support for one hour (yourself). Optionally, give them a book if you think it helps, but they are not going to read it. Hopefully, having done the install once themselves will make it easier for them if they get into trouble, but you may have to lie later to avoid helping them.
4. Tell them that you will help them for a fee of $350/hour. You can of course help them with anything non-computer-related, but since this is your day-job anyway, doing it for free for friends and families later, is really annoying. I'm sure they'll at least halfway understand it.
5. Tell them you tried the machine, and it didn't work anymore. Tell them that they will have to buy a new one, and that unfortunately you can't help them (sorry, but you are _so_ busy right now, with all the things at work). This might not make you feel well, but is generally the best option. They can understand that you can't help them, since you haven't got a machine anymore. They can understand that other people are busy. And busyness is always a better excuse then not wanting to.