OS suggestions for cleaned PCs

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hansov

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I have the offer of two wiped PCs from an office which I want to donate to a school. However the machines were wiped and there isn't any Operating system on either machine. Can one buy OS's cheaply (eg Windows 95, not Vista) off the shelf or what would one do to make the PC's usable.
 
I believe many people are switching to Linux-based systems such as Ubuntu - might be worth a look given the price (free ;) ).
 
I would certainly suggest at least looking at...

Xubuntu if the PCs are old/low spec.
EduBuntu for educational use by kids.
Ubuntu otherwise.

If I recall correctly Microsoft used to have some scheme for offering Windows licenses for free (or a discount) for such purposes too.
 
Thanks for the suggestions - forgive my ignorance - would one be able to run Windows based software such as educational gams etc on such OS's
 
Maybe - using something like Wine or something similar. But this may not be easy (I've never had much success I have to say!) and if the user's primary requirements is a Windows platform and applications then you don't have much choice other than to get Windows somehow.
 
You could go with Linux or pick up a 2nd hand XP licence and CD on the web.


I've not got my head around Linux and I work in IT.
 
Ubuntu (and derivatives) and other GNU/Linux distributions are quite easy to use in my experience and you need little or no Linux specific knowledge to use many of the applications and tools.
 
The MS scheme to which I was referring above seems to be Freshstart. Not sure if it has been updated to cater for XP or Vista rather than just Windows 2000...? (Red highlighting is my own):
The Fresh Start programme has been created specifically for primary and secondary schools to help eliminate confusion about whether donated personal computers have a legitimate operating system licence. The programme provides licence documentation and Windows installation CDs—at no cost—for an original Windows 2000 operating system on qualifying donated personal computers.
Click to expand...
 
ClubMan said:
Ubuntu (and derivatives) and other GNU/Linux distributions are quite easy to use in my experience and you need little or no Linux specific knowledge to use many of the applications and tools.
Click to expand...

Thats all well and good until you need to install a device where the driver config isn't straightforward, and you have drop out to the command line. Thats where I ran into problems.
 
As someone, who has had little, ie. no linux esperience up until about 2 weeks ago, I would recommend ubuntu. Very easy to use, the install is the easiest I have ever seen, and works pretty much straight way. The user interface is almost identical to windows too. It also has openoffice software, which gives you word and excell equivelants for example, that I belive are compatable with the MS equivalents.

Wexfordman
 
This may be a stupid question, but is it possible to leave Windows XP on a pc and also load Ubuntu i.e. have both systems on the one PC? Or would I have to uninstall Windows before installing Ubuntu? I have a relatively new, and currently unused PC which would be a good opportunity to try Ubuntu.
 
To try it out, you can actually boot from the ubuntu cd too to see what it looks like. It runs slower obviously, be gives you a preview.
Wexfordman
 
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