New life for old PC

fwor

Conor wrote: »

My Epson SX400 doesn't. Prints fine using generic PPD but scanner is unsupported. My old CX5400 was supported fine for both print and scan. Scanner support, particularly in multifunctions, is crap for anything under a few years old.

Have you tried Image Scan for Linux? That (supposedly) added support for the SX400 scanner function back in September:

http://avasys.jp/hp/page000001200/hpg000001171.htm

redux

amcluesent wrote: »

Bump it up to 1Gb, then use Nlite to customise an XP install; you'd be amazed at how good XP can be when you remove all the nonsense.

MrBG wrote: »

... but RAM is cheap so a 1gb upgrade wouldn't harm but no point spending money on an old PC if ...

Some processors won't recognise any more memory than 512 MB, such as the Pentium III in this which still works fine; eventually as suggested I'll play with Nlite or LitePC and with Linux

Conor_3

redux wrote: »

Some processors won't recognise any more memory than 512 MB, such as the Pentium III in this which still works fine;

Not correct. The processor is a 32bit one so it'll recognise up to 4GB. The motherboard chipset is the problem. Get the right motherboard and it'll take 4GB.

DCFC79

I second giving linux a try, its easy to install, you just need to write down the username and password you select when you install it, it shouldnt take too long to install and if you dont like it then go for xp or something else

redux

Conor wrote: »

Not correct. The processor is a 32bit one so it'll recognise up to 4GB. The motherboard chipset is the problem. Get the right motherboard and it'll take 4GB.

ok, to be more correct about use of phrases, sure - typical chipset for P3 processor was Intel 815 which supports 512 MB but others may support more

but then that would be a lot of work upgrading one old PC with obsolete components from a higher spec one