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[ToxicPhantom]

My wife and I were cleaning out the small office room that was full of junk and boxes. After everything was cleared out, I pulled aside her very old Gateway computer.

I powered it on and it all works just fine. It has Windows XP and I was able to pull of any old pictures she had stored.

With all that said, I want to rip the system out of the god-awful case and place into something newer.

It’s been YEARS since I worked on an old system like this, so I may need a bit of guidance for some things.

Here’s what I want to do with it.

1) Rip out the mother board and place it into a new case.

2) Replace the IDE hard drive with a SATA drive. I have a spare 500GB SATA drive and I picked up a bridge board from Microcenter. I connected it and the system saw the SATA drive, so I’m good here.

3) RAM, it current has about 383MB. I ordered 2GB from NewEgg. Hope this comes in soon. Yes, I made sure it was compatible.

4) Operating system: I want to go with Windows, but considering that the CPU is a Celeron, not sure if Windows 10 would work or would I need to go down to Windows 7.

5) The current PSU works, but it’s too tiny for the new cases, so I may just pick up a new one unless someone off of CL is selling a used one.

What I’ve done so far was install Windows 10 on the 500GB SATA using another computer I have. After it installed, I placed the 500GB on the Gateway system. It balked at me because the system didn’t have enough RAM, which is why I ordered 2GB.

Yes, some may say why not just install something else other than Windows. For me, I’d like to install Windows, simple as that.

What am I planning to do with it? Just going to have it as a spare PC for the kids. Not for gaming or anything like that. Just simple web browsing and whatever the system can handle.

My concern, if Windows 10 does not boot up since I installed it from a difference PC, how can get Windows 10 installed then? From what I can tell, the system can’t boot from a USB stick. This is the part that I may need some guidance because I have no idea what to expect once I get everything together.

If not Windows 10, then maybe Windows 7 from a disc?

This should be fun to experiment with.

 

[Tesseract]

try windows 2000

 

[kingbean]

Might be a decent older linux box. I'm not sure how well windows 7 even on an SSD would do on there.

 

[poppabk]

I've always wanted to stick a computer in a non-computer case, maybe this is your chance to give it a shot.

 

[mango drank]

Might be able to handle Windows 7, but iirc that's reached end of life, so support / updates are over.

I second the suggestion to throw a lightweight Linux on there, especially if it's mostly going to be for your kids to do browsing on.

 

[eddie4]

Lubuntu

• 64-bit version suitable for PCs with Intel or AMD chip.
• 32-bit version, for most PCs older than 2007.
• PowerPC version for Apple Macintosh G3/G4/G5 and IBM OpenPower, please choose Long Term Support (LTS) version below.
• Mac64 version for Intel Macs, 2006 and beyond, please use the 64-bit version.
• For low-RAM (less than 700 MB) PCs use the Alternate versions with a smaller set of applications.

Get Lubuntu

Download lubuntu, a fast and lightweight Linux operating system. Lubuntu uses LXDE/LXQT and a selection of light applications. It focuses on speed and energy-efficiency. Because of this, Lubuntu ha…

lubuntu.net

 

[Mr Nash]

Count me in as another person recommending trying a Linux box. That OS can really extend the useful life of old PCs.

 

[ToxicPhantom]

Lubuntu

• 64-bit version suitable for PCs with Intel or AMD chip.
• 32-bit version, for most PCs older than 2007.
• PowerPC version for Apple Macintosh G3/G4/G5 and IBM OpenPower, please choose Long Term Support (LTS) version below.
• Mac64 version for Intel Macs, 2006 and beyond, please use the 64-bit version.
• For low-RAM (less than 700 MB) PCs use the Alternate versions with a smaller set of applications.

Get Lubuntu

Download lubuntu, a fast and lightweight Linux operating system. Lubuntu uses LXDE/LXQT and a selection of light applications. It focuses on speed and energy-efficiency. Because of this, Lubuntu ha…

lubuntu.net

Thank you. If all else fails, I'll try this.

 

[Cunth]

hide porno mags in there

 

[Patrick S.]

Burn it.

 

[teezzy]

hide porno mags in there

 

[synchronicity]

I've always wanted to stick a computer in a non-computer case, maybe this is your chance to give it a shot.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Trash it and never look at it again

 

[Pagusas]

I turned my old computer into a security camera storage and monitoring system running Blue Iris. It worked extremely well for a few years. Then we upgraded my Wife’s laptop and I threw away the old computer and used her old laptop to now run the security camera software (as its on a battery and will keep recording if the power to the house gets cut for any reason).

 

[Captain Zyrain]

Honestly I'd keep it as is as much as possible.

In 20 years having it working as 'stock' as possible will be cooler than anything else you'd do with it. If you can do some small upgrades to keep it going sure.. But I'd love to see a genuine XP machine running in 2040.

 

[DonMigs85]

Try Lubuntu or Xubuntu

 

[Old Retro]

WOW! Last time I stepped in a Gateway store was maybe Y2K or 2001. I completely forgot about that company.