How to Set up a Spare Computer for Under $200

This video shows how you can set up a spare wifi computer, with a gorgeous 23-inch LCD monitor, all for less than $200. The Encore Electronics 802.11g Wi-Fi USB adapter works right out of the box, without installing any drivers on Ubuntu. It does take a little effort to remove the cover of this USB Wi-Fi adapter. Just rock it back and forth and give it a strong tug.

Web sites mentioned in this video include -

http://geeks.com
http://newegg.com
http://blog.dakarlug.org/
http://ecost.com
http://waba.org
http://wifv.org
http://ubuntu.com
http://sites.google.com
http://takomaplays.org
http://gmail.com

Video produced by Justin Swain. justin.swain@gmail.com

See also http://redecoratingtipsfor.blogspot.com/

------------

For those who might be interested, you can support my creative work by making a small contribution using the PayPal donate button at the bottom of my brief bio. http://www.his.com/pshapiro/briefbio.html

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• ubuntu
• lubuntu
• pcworld
• shapiro
• swain
• refurb
• refurbished
• newegg

[Lindocarlos100]

where can i find The Encore Electronics 802.11g Wi-Fi USB adapter for windows vista

[pshapiro]

@Lindocarlos100 thanks for asking. you can find it on amazon.com for about $14. search amazon and you'll see it new for $49. then scroll down and you'll see it sold by another vendor (new) for $14. I can't guarantee that it will work with Windows Vista, but I think it would.

[paradigm71]

Might run better with the Chrome browser. I find Firefox slow at times even on fast computers.

[pshapiro]

@paradigm71 you're quite right. i should have tried chrome browser.

[jerm1027]

You could try using a PCI Wi-Fi card. Some of these old computers use USB 1.1 or slower, and I think the bottle-neck for the web-browsing might be with the USB wi-fi adapter, if not the USB bandwidth. The PCI WiFi cards are still under $20, and still pretty easy to install.

and I've always wanted to revive old computers with Linux.

[pshapiro]

@IchigoRukia09 thanks. i sure appreciate your insights on that. i couldn't figure out where the bottleneck was.

[IchigoRukia09]

@pshapiro It's because of the Interference of WIFI that sites loaded slower on that computer.

[sheights360]

you really helped me with this video. thanks a lot!!!!!!!

[cvillemer]

#dakarlug rocks !

[ab2zu]

Phil,

Great video. It seems that your lag with Firefox is related to DNS lookups. It might perk up a bit if you use a local caching DNS server on the machine itself. Also, for some older machines the Xubuntu distribution is a bit peppier. Good luck!