So today I asked my school's IT manager if I could get an old unused computer to mess about on, he asked me to come back tomorrow but I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be yes.
Does anyone have any suggestions for things I could do on/with it to better my understanding of computers?
I was planning on looking at some different Linux Distros, including (but not limited to) Manjaro, Debian, Mint, Puppy, #!, and maybe even Arch (I've heard that's quite advanced so not sure). Recommend some distros and I'll probably check them out.
Other than that, I don't really have many ideas... The main idea of getting an old computer is that I don't have to at all worry about the safety of my main computer, therefore don't worry about how risky it is.
take it all apart and put it back together.
break it and try ti fix it
thats how I learned
If you are not used to linux and your going to use an old computer I wouldn't really mix Arch and old computer part unless you want to learn a new level of frustration. Well actually that depends on what you mean by old. The laptop I'm on now is a 2004 IBM Thinkpad T42 demo Model 1.7ghz Pentium M using 1gb 333mhz DDR and an ATI Radeon 7500 FX with 16mb and if I wanted to put a source based system it would take about 30 hours to get a working X session if everything went smoothly. :D
Well I'll take a look at the specs tomorrow but your advice is duly noted :p
I got one!
But... It uses a VGA connection (shoulda seen that coming) and my monitors only use DVI or HDMI. I guess I'll need to find a converter or something.