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Ask Slashdot: What OS For a Donated Computer?

Posted by Soulskill on from the free-and-tax-deductible-software dept.

chefwear writes "I am thinking of donating retired computers to a local charity for kids. What OS do you think would be best for this? From reading tips regarding the donation of computers, it's widely recommended to keep with the currently installed OS (which is Windows XP in this case). Since XP will be unsupported in about two years, I'm not sure I would be setting the little ones up for success. Would anyone suggest donating a computer with a Linux distro like Ubuntu to a local charity for kids?"

14 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Depends for what by drolli · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In which context and for what should it be donated?

    1. Re:Depends for what by Haedrian · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Most of games and educational software is Windows only.

      Then I wonder what exactly is installed in Edubuntu - which is a linux distro specifically designed for education

    2. Re:Depends for what by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Really? My sister is in highschool with a learning disability (uses the compute a LOT more than most students) and taking one of her classes online as well and has had NO problems using here ubuntu netbook and the home archlinux computer. In fact, a couple of her teachers have asked her how she got it to do some of the stuff that isn't available in windows (multiple desktops, effects, etc). Most computer stuff in grade school now-a-days in either
      A) office. Libre office works PERFECTLY as long as they save a .doc (or .pdf) version for the teacher
      B) online through a browser, so no problems there.

      Posting anonymously for my sister's sake.

    3. Re:Depends for what by Haedrian · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm not that old (graduated form uni this year), and the only software we had that was 'needed' was avaliable in linux (with some exceptions such as Visual Studio).

      We had people who came to uni with macbooks, and they did ok.

      I don't know how common it is for young children to REQUIRE certain software - which isn't a webapp. Even many of the companion cds/websites came with stuff which opened with everything.

      Similarly, I hardly expect the teacher to expect homework to be done using some particular software.If the pdf/doc comes from LO or MO it makes no difference.

      So when they said "Educational software" I thought he meant "Stuff your kiddies use to teach themselves". What I mean is, if you want software to teach kids something, you'll find one on linux. If you need a PARTICULAR piece of software, that's different. I admit that.

    4. Re:Depends for what by capnkr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My sister is the Principal for a small private school, ~80 students or so. With the exception of a few (2 or 3) students who have Macbooks, the staff and students all run Linux for their primary OS. This came about after one of their Windows boxes got rooted and became a spam relay, resulting in Time-Warner shutting down their net access with no warning in the middle of a school day - and net access is something which is absolutely a requirement for schools to have these days.

      My sister called me, I found the rooted boxes, wiped/fresh installed them, and got TW to restore their access. Then I cleaned the rest of the Windows boxes on site, and set them all up as dual-boot machines. I used to have to go to her school 3-4 times a year to clean up some Win system that had become unusable, but not in the last 2 years since they've gone all-Linux. Showed my sister how to install with a LiveCD, and when a student gets a new computer, she installs Linux alongside whatever Windows is on the laptop, and the student understands that they are forbidden to use the Win partition while on the school network.

      The *only* reason Windows remains on any systems at the campus is that there is one testing site which uses Active-X; it is accessed once a year on testing day, under supervision in their 'CS lab'.

      Number of rooted boxes since Windows was replaced: 0
      Number of times TW has shut down the schools net access since Linux became the primary OS: 0
      Number of times I have had to travel an hour to clean viruses. trojans, worms, etc from the Linux machines: 0

      --
      "...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
  2. It depends... by Dexter+Herbivore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it depends on what the purpose of the PC is going to be, are the kids going to be playing games, is it for web browsing, is it for educational purposes, is it to teach programming or business skills? All of these possibilities may affect the choice of OS. Overall though, if the tips that you've read suggest staying with the installed OS, why not follow the tips? XP being unsupported shouldn't affect them in any real manner, and if it does become a problem then the OS can be changed at that time.

    1. Re:It depends... by shish · · Score: 5, Insightful

      non-computer-geeks don't know jack shit about Linux

      They don't know jack shit about windows either; but if there's a desktop shortcut for The Internet, they'll be fine :-P

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  3. Dualboot? by cheaphomemadeacid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Keep the old xp's lying around and install Ubuntu dualboot.

  4. Licensing? by headLITE · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would install Ubuntu or some other free operating system. Main reason being licensing, with Ubuntu they'll get a current operating system and future updates and I don't have to worry about whether the XP license was part of a family pack and I can't even give it away, or whether it's an OEM license that prevents them from modifying the hardware, etc.

  5. Ubuntu, but keep XP as well? by QuasiSteve · · Score: 4, Insightful

    XP is still very much relevant - much to Microsoft's chagrin - regardless of its expiration date. The machine comes with a (OEM) license, presumably, so why waste it?

    At the same time, might as well expose them to a Linux distribution that at least has scores of layman support, such as Ubuntu.

    So why not set up a dual-boot system?

  6. Also in the case of Linux by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Be ready to do some real support. You may not find it very different form Windows but they will. That is just life, they aren't computer people. Be ready to have plenty of training to do. If you aren't willing to do that, then consider just leaving XP on them. You aren't doing them favours if you give them systems they can't handle and say "Too bad, your problem now!"

    Also make sure Linux supports everything they want to do. If it is just web surfing and e-mail, no problem. However if they want to run special educational software, it may be Windows only. If that's the case, XP may be what is needed. Remember that "You don't need that," or "Well there might be OSS that is kinda like it," is never an acceptable phrase. Unless you can find something that they are happy with as a replacement, it isn't a replacement.

    Just make sure that if you give them a Linux system, it will be workable for them. While a supported OS is always the best way to go, an unsupported OS won't necessarily be horrible. If the firewall is enabled and people don't use it as an administrator, it could be a long time before there is a real security issue.

    Also keep in mind how long the hardware will last or is going to be used. XP will have patches for another 2.5 years (April 8, 2014 is when it stops). Will the systems still likely be running much after that?

    There isn't a right way to do this, depends on the situation. So decide if you are willing to support it (or if they have a support guy that handles Linux, which is unlikely), and if so then find out if you can meet their needs with Linux. If not, put XPSP3 on them, patch it, harden it to the extent possible, install security software like MSE, and call it good.

    1. Re:Also in the case of Linux by realityimpaired · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Most charities that accept computers (at least in this city) will wipe the hard drive and install their own anyway... they need to make sure they aren't being presented with pirated software or viruses, and that's the easiest way to do it. The licenses that MS offers to charities are dirt cheap (in some cases free), so it just makes sense for them to install their own.

  7. More information needed. by PyroMosh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Moe info is needed. I had to do something similar when my employer got rid of a lot of old machines. they went to different places, and for each, I evaluated certain criteria.

    Who will be administering these machines? This might make the decision easy for you, it might not BE your decision if there's a competent admin in the organization there who will of course have their own ideas. They may use the product keys the machines came with, they may have their own distro they want to standardize on, or they may even qualify for one of the cheap or free site licenses that Microsoft offers to NPOs.

    As others have asked, what will the machines be used for? If it's 100% for the web, any OS will do, and it's a question of what will be easiest to maintain. Install the OS, lock it down good, install Firefox or Chrome in terminal mode and you're golden.

    If you have any expectation that the staff or kids will want to install their own applications, you're almost certainly better off with XP - end of life or not. WINE is probably not something you want to get into with folks who don't understand computers well enough to administer them on their own.

    Remember, just because it's a charity for local kids doesn't necessarily mean anything. Kids might not ever get anywhere near these machines. They could go to an admin who does the finances. One of the PCs we donated went to a charity for Cerebral Palsy where it's being used for fund raising. It's running Razor's Edge on XP.

    The best thing to do is ask how they expect to use the machines. Then figure out how to set them up based on that (If they don't have their own people).

    --
    Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
  8. Kids = computer games by Treffster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ask yourself 3 questions:

    1) Will the kids want to play computer games? Of course, they are kids, what else are computers for at that age? That means XP.

    2) Who will help them with the computer? Answer: other kids, parents and teachers. I bet your bottom dollar kids will get much better teaching from others with XP compared to Ubuntu, purely because of the install base and general familiarity.

    3) Is the 2 year limit on XP relevant? Of course not, in 2 years as an XP machine it'll be due for a re-install anyway (if not before).