There’s (Virtually) No Such Thing as an Obsolete Computer
Friday, November 13, 2015 at 11:33AM Do you have an old computer in a closet or tucked away in storage? Is that machine a Pentium class or better with a 10 gig or larger hard disk? If you answered yes to these questions, then there’s no need to let the thing sit around and collect dust. Turn it into something useful like a VPN-capable network router, remote terminal, web server, network backup machine or media/file server.
The open-source community makes this possible for all but the most antiquated hardware. In fact, if your old PC was built in this millennium and is still in working order, then there’s some flavor of Linux or BSD that will make the old dog fetch again. While doing something like this used to require someone with a pocket protector and bridge-taped glasses, today’s open-source operating system distributions are installable by anyone willing to read a few simple instructions on-line.
