Hi I’m a volunteer in a youth center. Some time ago, their organization switched to OneDrive and their old server got shelved. I thought it would be a waste to just throw it out, but I’m not sure what to do with it. It runs on an outdated system (CentOS 7, I believe), but otherwise works fine.
I have dipped my toes into Linux, but I am in no ways an expert.
So I would like to ask for ideas, suggestions or maybe just some pointers. What is a fun way to use a server for a youth center? While I’m at it, any ideas what to do with this?
Use it, donate it, sell it? I’m not trying to profit, by the way. Selling would mean to reinvest it into new equipment for the kids, whatever that may be.
I also have a bunch of Lenovo ThinkCentres and old or broken Notebooks at my disposal.
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Install a newer Linux distro on it and run a Lunanti server for the kids to play on.
the issue is that its very old. when running it, you will use a ton more electricity and be a lot slower than even a 5-8 year old unused retail box/workstation.
yes, you could throw ubuntu on there and it will work fine. then you could toss docker on there and play with some container apps for the kids maybe… like a mintecrafter server.
but, like i said, youd be better off digging a more recent workstation out of some garbage can and doing the same thing.
e. ha, just checked that is a desktop/workstaton box…i thought you were talkin a real HP server… they have much larger power requirements. that little box you have there would be fine for a little mini server for light apps.
You could sell the RAM sticks on eBay. There are a few similar listings I’ve seen in the past and generally people looking to collect for old hardware or those who will strip them for gold will be interested in buying in a large bulk quantity like what you have there.
I have seen these listings in the past but checking right now to give you a price idea is difficult. Would need more time to check into today’s market to determine approximately how much you’d realistically get if sold on there. The current price of gold and the current price of RAM somewhat dictate the price, so keep that in mind.
Well, the Compaq dc7900 is like 19+/- years old. That’s vintage. It would probably handle basic software as a server. If I remember correctly, the Compaq mobo had a RAM max of 8 gb.
Assuming the Lenova ThinkCenters are of the same era, again, not much you could do with them.
However, since it’s a Youth Center, you could set them up with a basic Linux distro and introduce Linux to the youngsters. That might be a worthwhile project.
They’re not as old. They are M93p Tiny. Probably better suited for this kind of thing.
Probably better suited for this kind of thing
Yeah, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p’s would be the better option. Those are at least 12 years old, with a max RAM of 16gb, of which I can see some Lenovo RAM in the box so you’d be on your way.
I think so as well. The computer isn’t really good to “use” it. That’s more the category for experiments. Or teach people how to install Linux. Or a computer museum corner and you put vintage games on it. Or just recycle it.
And a box with RAM sticks collecting dust isn’t useful either. Put whatever is compatible into other computers, and then try to sell and recycle them. Seems 4GB DDR3L RAM modules still sell for 1 to 4€ on eBay?! So maybe you can make a few bucks to invest in other projects for the kids.
Or teach people how to install
I think that’s a noble cause right there. Get them <ahem!> hooked while they’re young and impressionable.
