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Posted: 1/27/2015 1:30:48 PM EDT
[#1]
If you haven't got the original program disks then you aren't going to be able to reload those machines. XP is no longer supported by MS, anyway. Just wipe the drives and let the next user do whatever he wants to with them.
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Posted: 1/27/2015 1:55:25 PM EDT
[#2]
Could always look for window xp iso images and burn 'em. Can probly find them in the torrents.
But, yea, I'd just wipe the drives. Look for DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke). Burn the iso to a CD, boot from it, and use it to wipe the drive, to make sure there's no recoverable data on it. As far as Linux, you could go download an iso (if you don't know, an iso file is a disc image, usually of a CD or DVD) of maybe Ubuntu Linux, and install it. It's been a while since I've done a linux install, but i'm pretty sure they're pretty damn easy nowadays. |
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Posted: 1/28/2015 1:17:29 AM EDT
[#3]
Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Throw a free office suite on it.
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Posted: 1/28/2015 9:30:11 AM EDT
[#4]
I'd put some version of Linux on them. How much ram do your machines have? Will they have internet access in Africa? What printers will they have access to?
If they have enough ram, I'd probably use a LTS Linux distribution. I hate Unity with a passion, but I've been playing with UbuntuMATE 14.04 and like it so far. It's supported until 2019. |
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Posted: 1/28/2015 9:42:55 AM EDT
[#5]
Wipe both drives with Boot n Nuke as recommended above.
Big question is how powerful are the machines? CPU? Amount of RAM? Hard disk size? Ubuntu, Mint, LXLE and Elementary are all great distros. Most come with "LibreOffice" a great free MS Office type suite of apps that allow you to save/ open MS files. I use Ubuntu on my desktop and LXLE (smaller, lighter distro) on my old laptop. Both work well. |
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Posted: 1/28/2015 1:53:16 PM EDT
[#6]
OK, so ran home for lunch and got some specs.
1) HP Pavilion: Celeron CPU 2.93GHz, 504MB RAM w/ 80GB hard drive 2) E-machine w/ a replaced motherboard and I believe somewhere around an 80GB hard drive. This is the one that is infected and the virus has disabled the Control Panel & My Computer properties... So I can't see some of the specs, but on start-up, it tells me the following: Main Processor : AMD Athlon XP 2200+ Memory Testing : 491520K OK + 32M shared memory |
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Posted: 1/28/2015 2:22:02 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'd put some version of Linux on them. How much ram do your machines have? Will they have internet access in Africa? What printers will they have access to? If they have enough ram, I'd probably use a LTS Linux distribution. I hate Unity with a passion, but I've been playing with UbuntuMATE 14.04 and like it so far. It's supported until 2019. I'm not sure about internet access over there... I kind of doubt it. We're loading all this stuff up in a shipping container this weekend to send over. The facilities there are such that on arrival the shipping container itself will be converted into the library on the school grounds. Printers will probably be small desktop models... whatever they can get their hands on, really. |
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Posted: 1/28/2015 2:46:56 PM EDT
[#8]
With 512mb of ram, I'd stick with lighter weight desktop environments like Lubuntu 14.04.
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Posted: 1/28/2015 6:32:13 PM EDT
[#9]
The cost to ship those is going to far outpace the cost to buy IN Africa.
Also, they are barely worth messing with unless you are a thin Linux Distro aficionado. The "someone you know" better be a Linux guy and love the fuck out of messing with computers or they'll end up in the scrap heap in the end. It's better not to spend a bunch of effort on the before they end up in the scrap heap if that's the case. |
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Posted: 1/30/2015 10:46:06 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuote HistoryUsing the infected machine as a guinea pig, I was able to wipe the drive and install Lubuntu. This should work fine for them to create word documents and do excel sheets. Thanks. Quoted:
The cost to ship those is going to far outpace the cost to buy IN Africa. This would be true except she's got a shipping container that these will just be added into Also, they are barely worth messing with unless you are a thin Linux Distro aficionado. The "someone you know" better be a Linux guy and love the fuck out of messing with computers or they'll end up in the scrap heap in the end. It's better not to spend a bunch of effort on the before they end up in the scrap heap if that's the case. That could very well happen, and if they end up on the scrap heap, that's fine... it's where they should otherwise go anyway. But if there's a possibility that they'd be useful to someone else, I'd like to give them that chance. Plus it's not really wasting my time as I'm learning some new things through all of this. Thank you, everyone, for your input! |
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Posted: 1/30/2015 11:15:24 PM EDT
[#11]
Personally I'm a Xubuntu fan for running on older/challenged machines. Mint is great too (prefer the Cinnamon desktop).
Check as some Ubuntu sub-distros (Xubuntu for example) don't have Libre Office installed so I needs to be installed from the repo's. |
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