New Life: Bring Old PC To Life With Ubuntu [PDF]

Bring Old PC To Life With Ubuntu

Give an old computer a new life, using Ubuntu. It’s simple if you follow the instructions by author Stefan Neagu in this new guide. Outlining everything you need to know to get Ubuntu up and running on older computers, the latest free PDF manual from MakeUseOf isn’t one to be missed.

While striving to sell more and more products, marketing departments want us to believe that PCs, laptops and netbooks become obsolete after a couple of years, and not replacing them makes us luddites. It’s not true. Except for high-end gaming, a mid-level system bought in 2006 will provide enough functionality to get work done and have fun in 2011.

Word processing, Internet surfing, watching movies – either from DVDs or from your friends at the Pirate Bay – shouldn’t make your old system think twice, granted it is configured correctly, up-to-date and has a operating system that’s efficient, performance oriented, and free as in free beer and free speech.

This manual will show you how to:

  • Prepare to install Ubuntu by backing up old data
  • Installing Ubuntu on your old computer
  • Configuring Ubuntu to work for your needs
  • Using your old computer as a server
  • Configuring Ubuntu to work the way you want
  • Setting up educational software for kids

Like all MakeUseOf manuals, this is completely free.

It takes a lot of effort to produce such guide. Please share this page with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon etc.

How To Download

Option 1: Very easy! Share this page on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus. You need to use the buttons above to share and your download link will be revealed right below! That would also help us spread the word. Thank you!

Option 2: Subscribe to MakeUseOf Newsletter and get unlock password to our downloads. Enter the password below to download the file. (Already subscriber? Re-enter your email in the newsletter subscription form to retrieve the password).

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Reader Feedback

  • http://amateurgeeks.com Sumanth Kumar

    Nice guide…will surely try each every trick in it.. :)

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      let us know your thoughts once you have tried all the tricks :)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YI6YF5MODP2ZBSHKHC6PJ4GQJM DexterP17

    Can’t wait to read it!

  • Joseph Citta

    Please tell me if this is for Macintosh as well as PCs. Thanks!

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      It’s primarily for old Windows PCs that are no longer powerful enough to run newer Windows opreating systems like Vista or 7, or even XP.

    • Guest 1535

      There’s no reason this shouldn’t work on a Mac. After all, Mac OS X is really OpenBSD Linux underneath.

  • Gorila12

    SPOT ON PEOPLE KEEP EM! COMING THE OLD XP!! WON’T KNOW WHAT HIT IT, APART, FROM THIS OLD BUGGER!!, THANKS A LOT, GAZZA

  • Gorila12

    SPOT ON PEOPLE KEEP EM! COMING THE OLD XP!! WON’T KNOW WHAT HIT IT, APART, FROM THIS OLD BUGGER!!, THANKS A LOT, GAZZA

  • kmarkos

    My mom can use her old PC again!!

  • Mark Urso

    If this works half as well as you say, it will be a Godsend as I have a 2005 desktop and 2008 netbook to bring back to life one last time before I donate them to charity.

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      check it out, I am sure it will bring both your desktop and netbook back on the table :)

  • Smazr

    how cn i save it?! its downloading,but as soon as i close browser,it goes away !

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      what browser are you using? Did you try Chrome or Firefox?

  • tomp5331

    I’m having the same difficulty as Smazr. Can bring it up but it stays in a little box and is not downloadable. Am I doing something wrong?

    • nruffin3

      Do you already Adobe Reader installed?

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      try downloading from another browser

    • muotechguy

      It’s a problem with our downloader manager. Please right click the “download it now” link and open it in a new tab, from there it will display full screen once you’ve entered the password.

  • Hammc

    How do I save the document?

    • Anonymous

      Subscribe

    • Anonymous

      Subscribe

  • Anonymous

    Sweet lesson

  • Anonymous

    Sweet lesson

  • Windows119

    thanks to your good works!

  • Colper8

    Love MUO write-ups. I almost always pull something from every one of them. Love the PDF layouts as well. Its more enjoyable to read from (layout). Also glad to see the support for the Linux community as well!

  • Vijay Human

    nice work………..

  • Dreamland0212

    Great idea. I tried this with Debian and I had to hunt for documentation.
    Many thanks.

  • Cairns Daved

    Long live the old stuff.

  • Bssaw

    It seems to be of great use for those with old pc. Great jod. Thanks

  • tomp5331

    You have all these people saying how great it is but they haven’t bothered to explain how they downloaded it.

    For all of those people, HOW DID YOU DOWNLAD OR COPY IT TO YOUR COMPUTER???

    • Cloud.No9

      dude, you can only download this file on a computer from 1996 of older. and after following the notes in the file, your computer will function as brand spankin new.

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      It should work on all browsers apart from Internet Explorer 8

  • http://twitter.com/suebecks Sue Beckingham

    message on download – this type of file can damage your computer. Can you please verify.

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      What security program shows this message? I am pretty sure it’s a false-alarm.

    • muotechguy

      That’s a standard security message from your browser, as PDFs *can* contain a virus. I don’t handle them myself, but I can assure we don’t introduce viruses into our guides!

  • Comppgeeek

    I have the same problem as several others, how do you download the PDF file? It just opens in a small box with no options to download.

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      Hey Comppgeeek,

      It’s probably not working because of your browser. It seems that users using Internet Explorer 8 not able to donwload the guide. We are working on the fix. Meanwhile please try using some other browser like Chrome or Firefox.

      Aibek

    • muotechguy

      Right click the download it now link, open in new tab or window, then type the password in there.

  • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

    interesting, never heard of this one. thanks for the input.

  • Flaflounder049

    Look under picture of the PDF file, click download, when asked password, enter “makeuseof” without quotes. Follow this and you should have no problem.

  • gazza

    HEY. People click download enter password , do you know your password & its yours no prob’s all the best gazza

  • gazza

    HEY. People click download enter password , do you know your password & its yours no prob’s all the best gazza

  • imperial

    Mine only opens up in a tiny window. No way to enlarge it. Is that the way it is or am I missing something?

    • muotechguy

      try right clicking the download it now link and opening in a new browser window. This is a known problem we’re seeing with IE i believe. Alternatively, switch to chrome or firefox…

  • gazza

    HI, PEOPLE GAZZA AGAIN THE OLD AUSSIE BUTTON PUSHIN “FART” I HAVE WIN-8 BROWSER & I USE MOZILLA-FIREFOX 6.1 AS MY MAIN BROWSER, I LIVE ON MOZILLA EH!! & THIS MAKE USE OF TEAM ARE A “CREW & A HALF PEOPLE” NOW GO! FOR IT YA!! WON’T GET ANOTHER CHANCE LIKE THIS IN A BLOODY!! HURRY!!!, EXCUSE THE FRENCH!!! BYE
    GAZZA!

  • gazza

    GAZZA AGAIN AS I STATED BEFORE, YOU WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITH MOZILLA TO GET IT AS I STATED!! I DON’T USE WINDOWS-BAH!!! & JUST USE MOZZIE’S ADD ON DOWN-LOADER FLASH-GOT OR EVEN THE STANDARD ONE IS ENOUGH NO PROBLEM STRAIGHT THROUGH TO ME, GOOD LUCK!! GAZZA

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dl-Betty/1671975345 Dl Betty

    Thanks! I had to wait for power to blink back on to get the password!

    • muotechguy

      ? At no point should you need to reset your PC!

  • Craig Cleere

    To save the guide to your computer, click on the Adobe icon which opens the Adobe Reader toolbar. Then click on the little arrow in the center of the top of the page. This brings up your menu. Then click on the little floppy disk which will allow you to save the pdf to anywhere on your computer you wish to. Hope this helps!

  • John Alldis

    NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH :(

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      ???

  • Luisjcolorado

    I was thinking… what about bringing new life to an old Mac? We have in the basement an iMac that I would like to use as a little server. Thank you!

    • http://www.makeuseof.com/ Aibek

      let us know how it goes!

  • Chansal

    Thanks Stefan MEAGU and to all MUO
    Team.
    Good Job !

  • Sunnycomputers2

    very good

  • Agent047

    Thanks a ton !!!