15 Practical Things You Can do With an Old Computer

[@bluedesign4790]

Your channel is so underrated. It is you who introduced me on how to use MS-DOS and now I'm codding my own MS-DOS operating system with QBasic 4.5 thanks to you!

[@oqocraft2661]

amazing! how is it going

[@Findmylimit]

@@oqocraft2661 I'd say not good

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Wow, that's amazing! Building your own operating system is no small feat. What kind of features are you working on in QBasic

[@robrobbins]

As a programmer, I use old PCs as a development system when I need to run old software. For example, I might need an old version of Python to avoid running into a lot of problems trying to follow an old tutorial. Instead of trying to install multiple environments on my PC, I can use an old system. Some programmers use virtual machines for this.

[@yungdnny]

Sandboxie is a nice step in between vm’s and separate bare metal imo. Curious to see what you think as a programmer?

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's a great tip about using an old PC for running legacy software! Do virtual machines ever come in handy for your development workflow as well, even alongside the old PC method?

[@Arise1]

I was gifted an old laptop from a friend and decided to upgrade the parts and use it as a secondary device or for school which was fine but then decided to multiboot windows xp , vista , 7 , 8.1 , and ubuntu while still using it for work which is quite awesome in my opinion it also familiarized me with how laptops are compared to towers.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Very nice!

[@fwingebritson]

Great video. Nothing to troll about. However, it would be interesting to see videos like how to set up a weather station, and setting up a retro computer. Maybe a little more in depth than "this is what it is" but actually explain how.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Thanks for the kind words! That's a great suggestion about weather stations and retro computers. I'm always looking for new video ideas, would you be interested in a beginner's guide to setting up one of those, or something more advanced?

[@new-knowledge8040]

With old computers like mine, CPU upgrades are really cheap. Upgrade from the dual CPU processor, to a quad processor, cost you only a massive $20 CAD. Add an SSD, and bingo, things are running much faster. My computer is a 2009 Lenovo computer, but here today in 2022, it is still fast enough to watch YT videos at 1080p 60 fps, all while running on Windows 10 Pro. And so if you are not into games, etc., a few minor cheap upgrades in a 2009 computer can still be enough for you to keep your computer running fast enough for your movie watching at HD quality at Movie/TV_SHOW websites, watching YT videos at 1080 p60 fps, and of course watching HD NETFLIX.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

This is an excellent point. Depending on the age of the system some upgrade parts are very affordable. I remember when I first switched to an SSD. It made us surprisingly noticeable difference in performance

[@kendan856]

In highschool I used an old stick of RAM as a straight edge. Imo it's more convenient and durable than a plastic ruler

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Thats actually kind of cool. you get Extra swag points for one

[@Max_Mustermann]

Interesting suggestions. One thing one has to take into account though when using an old PC as a server that runs 24/7 is power consumption. For less demanding workloads like weather stations or home surveillance something like a Raspberry Pi might be preferable in this regard.

[@NCC-0000]

You know you are a deep technophile when you started cringing in the last "destruction for art" part

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Do you think there are ever situations where using old tech for art is justified?

[@CoolGorillaGoAnimate7000]

My way of using old hardware is just testing games and having nostalgic experiences. It's so much fun for some reason.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Sometimes I'm just on the mood for some old games. They just appeal to me on ways that new games just don't.

[@PurblePink8678]

I would ABSOLUTELY want my room stuffed with Desktops And Laptops From The Intel Core 2 Era To The Ivy Bridge Era So That I Could Play On Them With Windows Vista!

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That sounds awesome!

[@PurblePink8678]

@@adventuresinnostalgia Thanks

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Windows Vista does bring back memories. What specific games from that era would you be revisiting in your awesome computer collection?

[@PurblePink8678]

@@adventuresinnostalgia I can't count them all

[@3sixtybubba133]

Im just seeing this video after taking my family old pre built pc to school to take apart that media server wouldve been so helpful right about now

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Did you happen to get that computer back from the school?

[@3sixtybubba133]

@@adventuresinnostalgia nahh lol that was 2 years ago lol

[@FirestoneAnimation]

Where I work we have some old computers just collecting dust waiting to hear from IT what they'll do with it. After binging some PC building and watching old computers being used, I figured to ask my dad (manager there) if I could take one of them with me to tinker with. Still waiting to hear

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

I hope you get to take at least one home with you to tinker with!

[@gamepad3173]

I'm in the process of building out an entire network using the server,surveillance and retro gaming ideas (hence why I'd rather build up a LAN center for older versions of Windows just for that reason). along with a firewall and router (wouldn't hurt to have more devices to plug in). since I am going to the way of security.

[@gamepad3173]

@@adventuresinnostalgia I'll be sure to,in fact my Firewall is nearly ready to go just needs a firewall OS like IP fire.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That sounds fun! Let us know how it goes

[@kovacsdavid4362]

I mean yeah, I have an old Dell PC, and I upgraded it with a GPU, and some RAM. Still runs Windows perfectly, but it doesn't have to. I use Linux. Great video though.

[@dcfuksurmom]

My desktop doesn't like anything newer than Windows 7, despite being from around 2016, yet Linux runs beautifully. I use Artix BTW. (technically I dualboot with WIndows 11, but Artix is the main OS)

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's awesome! Upgrading and using Linux with an older machine breathes new life into it. What kind of Linux distro are you running on your Dell PC?

[@chucku00]

Ther's a usage you can also have (tangential with an arcade station) : use it to emulate older computers or game consoles. Win XP and even Win98 have a lot of emulators.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

This is an excellent suggestion

[@macblink]

retro gaming/emulation or surveillance system are my favorite options 👌🏻

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

I would like to make a video about emulation. Something along the lines of a tutorial on how to get started. The problem is it's a very fine line between acceptable use and piracy.

[@Mrshoujo]

I use an old computer for specialized tasks. I use a Win98SE desktop to copy DVDs. I have a slow cobbled together Win2K / XP to make DVDs from video files. A WinME just for reading old hard drives and copying to a flash drive and converting the occasional AOL .art picture file. A recovered WinXP Pro tower for connecting hard drives to clone with Clonezilla booted from CD.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's a really interesting way to repurpose old machines for specific tasks! Out of all your retro machines, which one has been the most surprisingly useful for you?

[@matthewday7565]

I wouldn't be inclined to use a particularly old computer for distributed computing, as the contribution is likely to be low for the power consumed. Running Android-X86 is another possible use. The world of retro can also pose interesting challenges - sometimes you need it to be fast enough, other times you need it to be SLOW ENOUGH

[@matthewday7565]

@@adventuresinnostalgia Just noticed, it seems you don't get chapter markings on the video progress unless you start with an 00:00 Entry

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's a great point about distributed computing on older machines! For someone curious about trying it, do you think there's a certain age/power threshold where it becomes more trouble than it's worth?

[@Arcobite]

Amazing ideas thanks bro.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

You are most welcome

[@jasonmadello7345]

This is to you. What would be my best way of myself using the old dell cpu unit from 1990 if its broken.

[@f3rn4n2x3str3ll4]

This is such a great list!

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Thank you! Which idea are you most excited to try with your old computer?

[@parthaprateempatra4278]

I think I am going to use my old PC as a surveillance system.

[@HiddenAgendas]

NSA: Welcome to the team. (But we just use your iphone).

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's a great idea! Are you planning to use it for indoor or outdoor surveillance?

[@the4thj]

Do you have any pointers on where to look step by step on some of these?

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

I'm always looking for ways to expand my content. which of the 15 things from the video were you most interested in tackling?

[@Freedom4Ever420]

16. You can use the chips to make fashionable jewelry

[@superduperboyx]

I'd like to refresh an old desktop to donate, but I hate that people can UNDELETE data from hard drives..so it sucks to give away a perfectly fine PC without a hard drive 😑

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

The wipe feature in CCleaner is good and DBAN is an alternative. 3 passes of writing all zeros should be sufficient to prevent any data from being retrieved

[@Kasi11]

Just put in a new HDD, they arent expencive

[@yotoprules9361]

I like to use a tool called NWIPE

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

@yotoprules9361 That's interesting! I haven't heard of NWIPE before. Can you tell us a bit more about what it does and how it helps you reuse an old computer?

[@Mixxo6]

I have a HUGE black pc in the garage and I’m thinking about trying to see if it works. Wish me luck.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[@Mixxo6]

@@adventuresinnostalgia I will.

[@Jadon.MacCormack]

@@Mixxo6 how did it go?

[@thegoodkidboy7726]

@@Mixxo6 :(

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

The suspense is real! What is the mystery black box? did it work?

[@baslielalene5971]

Thanks.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

You are most welcome!

[@AnnkurKumar]

I am totally clueless to what it is called! !! But I am very clear what I want to swith my old desktop pc. I want use it as thing to access any data from ,on my primary laptop. And can stream any content directly TV an can access data remotely via ip address. Can you tell what it called I technical language and how can I make on using my 10+ years old desktop !!?

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Using a PC for storing and accessing data over a network would be either a file server or network attached storage. Streaming media to devices like a TV would be a "media center". There is software called Plex which is commonly used for that purpose so you may see it called. Plex server

[@AnnkurKumar]

@@adventuresinnostalgia are media server and file server

[@AnnkurKumar]

@@adventuresinnostalgia can both be combined !! vis having capability of acceccing files on desktop laptop or multiple pc's on a personal interenet network and can stream videos on tv too. Is there anything as such. I am based in India.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

absolutely, you can have one PC fill many roles as long as all of the supporting applications can run on the same operating system e.g. Windows or Linux

[@depoka1420]

Fun fact : The kids first PC part applied to me but rather than playing fortnite i played stuff like portal 2 for 18 hours

[@dreamingflurry2729]

Hmpf...I was the (glad) recipient of hand me down computers back when I was a kid (my dad was never the enthusiast gamer back back in the early 90's there were no gaming computers, so a regular machine, even if a few years old, was fine)...now it is me who gives my dad (some! Not everything! I am keeping my old desktop from 2011 around, because it makes for a decent backup machine!) his old hardware (especially since I know that I'll get it back if I truly need it again, which has happened when a newer device stopped working and I was without any computer and yeah, almost any machine is better than non - within reason! Having a computer that only does browsers and word processors as a slide-show? Yeah, unusable!)

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's cool that you get to hand stuff down to your dad! I like this story. Very true that something is better than nothing, within reason

[@t8polestarcyan22]

To me, it's a big crime to simply throw old computers into a rubbish bin which will end up to a landfill. Even if motherboards and other internal parts are useless, the case still can be very useful. I've bought an old Intel Core i3 and turning it into our NAS.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

A crime indeed! if there are laws for littering there should be laws against destroying old computers. Time is relative. what are old computers to us may be "Historical Artifacts" in the future

[@t8polestarcyan22]

@@adventuresinnostalgia Buying a brand new case can cost at least four times compared to buying an old machine if you're lucky.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's a great point! Even upgrading an older machine can be super budget friendly. For viewers who might be interested in this route, are there any specific components you'd recommend looking for in a used case to ensure compatibility?

[@chuckfinley5206]

Got a place that gives me electronics. Gave me a lot of ideas for the 30 or so I have. Rather than just stack them up.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

While stacking and dust collecting are pretty cool on their own, I'm glad you found something cooler to do with those systems

[@chuckfinley5206]

@@adventuresinnostalgia the real issue has been the printers. And about 80 or so monitors.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Depending on the age of the printers there are some interesting things you can do with them. If they can connect to a network wirelessly, chances are they can also function as an access point. Also, some have a task scheduling function where you can give it a URL like to a news site and have it print the page for you in the morning. My Grandpa always had a newspaper delivered in the morning. It was pretty mind blowing for him to see the printer do that automatically.

[@shahzadmughal7666]

When you say old pc, how old it should be I mean core 2 due would do this all things ?

[@Santor-]

Depends on the machine. I have an old 2009 core 2 duo Lenovo laptop, that I occasionally use for work, if working from home. Granted, its upgraded to the hilt, with the "Extreme" series of Core 2 duo, 16Gb ram, win 10 pro etc, and Im very experienced eeking out maximum power of any computer system, but it proves the point; a core 2 due system can be usable in 2022 with no perceivable performance issues, if managed properly. If your only having 1 or two computers though, id highly recommend something newer. In my experience, it really comes down to how much ram you can fit. Any machine that takes 8Gb or less, as maximum installed memory, isnt really usable anymore, in the real world. Or, you have to adjust how you use the computer. I mean, sure, you can still run an old win 98 laptop with 64 mb ram, but you cant do what we do with new computers today.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

I released a follow up video to this that talks about that. Core 2 duo should be good for the mentioned projects

[@josephrose4530]

I do Clean outs. Mobile Homes. Sheds. Houses. I will even clean out a Business. People Leave stuff behind. I generally Scrap or Pawn or Resale what I can. Flat screen TVs TVs. Old electronics they want money to tale usually. So I have quite a bit. .

[@josephrose4530]

Location I am at. They are like So a Tv I can get for like 200 dollars instead of dealing with it. But then here comes Inflation.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Sounds like you have a good bit of parts to work with to Frankenstein something cool together

[@9852323]

The computer in the thumbnail isn’t really old. I have one with a quad core and 16gb ram

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

True, old is a relative term

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

One other channel gutted out an iMac(crt) and made it into a cat condo! Cool!

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Wow, an iMac cat condo sounds amazing! Have you seen the video? I'd love to try that myself.

[@BlackLink0]

What should i do with my pentium 3

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Retro gaming!

[@limo9402]

Will a new motherboard support a old CPU like i5 2th gen?

[@Kasi11]

All of the supported sockets and CPUs is listed in the mainborad description

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Generally, no. There are some motherboards designed so support 2 generations of hardware so you can upgrade from one to the other without having to buy everything all at once

[@joshbatchelor535]

I watched this whole video just to get to 8:33 and turn my volume to 100%....

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Haha! What was at 8:33 that deserved a full volume bump? Must be good!

[@AlphanPeter]

I play my 16 bit old games on my windows Xp 32 bit version laptop

[@ItachiUchiha-ny6di]

I just use an emulator.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's awesome! Retro gaming on an XP machine sounds like a blast from the past. What are some of your favorite 16-bit games to play on it?

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

@ItachiUchiha-ny6di Between work, family, and world of warcraft i sadly don't have time to enjoy some of my old favorites. there is something I've always wanted to try in Earthbound, but I don't know where my cart is off hand. What is the go-to emulator for the 16-bit era?

[@TheLightingPerson]

Even though I'm first, hey, I think it's a good idea.

[@ToastedHeadcrab]

I would make use of my old pc if every click did not take a minute or longer to register

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Hey there! I understand your frustration. It can be really frustrating when your old computer is so slow that it takes a minute or longer to register every click. There are a few things you can do to try to speed up your old computer. First, *make sure that you have all of the latest updates installed* . Outdated software can sometimes cause performance issues. You can also try to *free up some space on your hard drive* . Old files and programs that you don't use can take up a lot of space and slow down your computer. If you've tried all of these things and your computer is still running slowly, you may need to *upgrade your hardware* . A new hard drive or more RAM can make a big difference in the speed of your computer. Here are some additional tips that you can include in your reply: *Use a lightweight operating system* . If you're running an old version of Windows or macOS, consider switching to a lightweight operating system like Linux. Lightweight operating systems are designed to run on older hardware and can often improve performance significantly. *Upgrade your hard drive* . If your computer has a traditional hard drive, consider upgrading to a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs are much faster than traditional hard drives and can make a big difference in the overall speed of your computer. *Add more RAM* . RAM is the memory that your computer uses to store data that it's currently using. Adding more RAM can help your computer run more programs at the same time and improve performance overall. I hope these tips help you to make use of your old PC!

[@TheGuruTech]

1:00 This is NOT how you recap. Is this horrible soldering job for real?

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Hi there, thanks for your comment! the soldering might not be perfect close-up. Were you referring to a specific technique at 1:00 that you think could be improved?

[@bretthagey7916]

They make good ottomans.

[@VooDooTube...]

You can also turn it into a fish tank.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

I believe that falls under the "art" category which is not an ideal use of old computers

[@fgfgfgfgf2919]

how about old mac os ?

[@fgfgfgfgf2919]

@@adventuresinnostalgia yes like g3 and g4 ?

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Great question! G3s and G4s are awesome retro Macs. What kind of practical things were you hoping to do with yours?

[@sevensupergirlsbackup9086]

How about online school.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Intriguing question! It depends on the age of the computer. Have you tried using an old computer for online school? What were your experiences?

[@billiejones3587]

Wish I had my old one my mother almost killed mr with it

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

I'm interested to know what the larger story is there

[@damrooa]

I would rather run Windows2000 as my main operating system but not H as Hackintosh and neither LINUX!!

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Windows 2000 is really good.

[@littletimmythefifth29]

Here at 86,425 views. :]

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Woot woot

[@lawnside82]

And replace that hd with SSD!!!

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

That's a fantastic tip! Upgrading to an SSD can make a huge difference. For viewers who might be new to this, could you share a sentence or two on the benefits of using an SSD in an older computer?

[@vancegosselin]

Recycle it

[@kevinsantiago260]

I to was a foster kid

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

Thanks for sharing. That must have been a tough experience. Is there anything in the video that you think might be helpful for foster kids?

[@LoganKaval]

I use Linux on my new pc.

[@adventuresinnostalgia]

How has that been working out for you? Give us all the juicy details!

[@LoganKaval]

@@adventuresinnostalgia It's great FreeCAD works well Prusa Slicer has a download that works well. Privacy is great and there is less bloat wear exponentially with Linux Mint. I use MX Linux and I have no regrets. Even on my knew computer with good hardware it works fine.