My Computer!

Our current main (Desktop) PC is a Dell Optiplex 740 with an AMD Athon 64 4400+. It's a dual boot machine with Vista installed from the factory and 64 bit Mepis 7 as soon as it was delivered! Mepis runs most of the time and the machine serves as a file/print server for use by any of the family laptops that are connected to our wireless network.  It's now running Mepis 8.  (7.9.94-RC1 originally installed.)

My past machines have included an Evolution K6/2 machine which had at various times Suse 7.1, Windows 98SE and Mepis 3.3.1 on it. This was replaced by a Dell Optiplex GX280 which sadly didn't last long due to a failed power supply. This had Mepis 6.0 and 6.5 installed. 

I just put together a cheap '2nd user' system to serve as a test/play machine.  It cost a grand total of £42.85 excluding bits I already had lying around.  It's a Compaq iPaq Desktop running PCLinuxOS Gnome 2009.1 which I decided to try mainly as it's a Gnome desktop and RPM based, although still fairly similar to Mepis in that it uses APT and Synaptic to manage packages.  The spec is:  1GHz Pentium III processor, 512Mb P133 SDRAM with a 20Gb hard drive.  I got an Edimax USB WiFi dongle to connect it to our network & also a Bluetooth adaptor which works great with KDE's Bluetooth application installed.  It came with 'hot swappable' DVD ROM/CD RW and 1.44" floppy drives.  It'll initially stay in our spare room attached to the TV but it's pretty portable so may well go travelling in the future...  I figure the specs make it more than adequate for web browsing and other light duties while being capable of running Gnome rather than a lighter GUI environment which might be a bit tricker for non technical users.  I'm sure it'd be capable of performing more than just desktop duties!  Without actually experimenting, I think if you attached a large external drive to it, it'd make a fine file server or plug a printer in and share that!  Here's a screenshot of the  PCLOS desktop.

Update...  My cheap & cheerful box is now running Mepis 11.0 (At the time of upgrade, Mepis 11 is  in alpha testing.) with LXDE installed as an alternative to the  standard KDE.  Just goes to show you can run a mainstream Linux distro on lower powered hardware and also have a lot of scope to tailor it to your needs!

Further update!  My little test/play box is now running openSUSE 11.4.  I had to replace the hard drive due to the stock one giving up the ghost.  I decided to take the opportunity to try a flavour of Linux I haven't used in quite a few years.  It's a great little system and copes impeccably with whatever Linux distro I care to throw at it.  LXDE seems to suit it particularly well.  I'm using the LXDE openSUSE respin at the moment.

If you'd like more info on how to go about getting something similar up and running, just ask!

The most mobile device on my home network of Linux devices is a Nokia N900 phone/tablet PC running Maemo.  It really is so much more than a smartphone and is astoundingly versatile in the hands of someone familiar with Linux.  I can imagine it would be a bit frustrating for anyone else as you do need to tinker to get the very best out of it.  As a Linux device on a network with other Linux machines, the possibilities really open up.  Sun Microsystems used to have a slogan that went "The network is the computer."  I get that now!

Also running Linux (Mepis 11 64 bit) and as a companion to my N900 when I'm out and about, I've now got a HP Mini 110 with an Intel Atom N550 processor.  When I'm not at home, tethering it with my N900 provides a pretty nifty computing solution for situations where a smart phone is just too small to work with.  In my opinion, it's way better than a tablet as it's got a real keyboard which never 'steals' screen area in order to provide a virtual keyboard.  Here's a screenshot.

For me (And I believe most other users!) the Windows 7 Starter operating system that came bundled with my netbook would have been totally inadequate for the purposes of providing a decent system.  I could in theory have 'upgraded' to a 64 bit version of Windows 7 but that would have probably nearly doubled the cost of the overall system.  As it is, I have a machine that blows most other peoples' netbooks out of the water and I didn't have to shell out for it.  The cost to me is I'll continue to support the Mepis (And wider Linux.) community where I can and make a financial contribution when it suits me.  Linux and FOSS FTW!

Page updated 28th August 2011