My Lubuntu Laptop

I had an old Dell laptop that I didn’t know what to do with. It was a Dell Inspiron 1520, manufactured in 2007, so old that it came pre-installed with Windows XP. It was so old that it had a VGA port, something from the days of heavy, boxy monitors instead of flatscreens. It was so old that it didn’t have Bluetooth. The hard drive only had 320GB of space. To put this in perspective, modern laptops have three to six times more space.

Since it was just sitting in the basement, I wondered if I could do anything with it. Since it was so out-of-date, I knew it couldn’t handle any modern version of Windows. So, what could I do with it?

I knew the only operating system I could install would be some form of Linux. There are many, many distributions (or versions) of Linux and many of them can be used on older computers.

I decided to try Ubuntu. This is a free version of Linux first developed in 2004. Unfortunately, the laptop was so old and slow that even older versions of Ubuntu were too much for it. So, I installed a different version called Lubuntu. This is a lightweight version of Ubuntu; in other words, made for computers that don’t have a lot of memory or a fast processor.

I had some trouble installing it at first. I tried to install Lubuntu with a flash drive, but the BIOS was so old that it did not have the option to boot from a USB drive. In the end, I had to install Lubuntu from a CD-ROM.

The installation went well, but I couldn’t connect to the internet because the Wi-Fi adapter wouldn’t respond. Then I did some research. I learned that after you install Lubuntu on a computer, Wi-Fi does not automatically work. To connect to the internet for the first time, you have to physically connect your computer to your router. Then you can install all the necessary packages (or software) to turn on the Wi-Fi adapter. But my router was located in a completely different part of the house! Plus, the laptop backlight needed to be replaced and the only way I could see the display was to connect the laptop to a monitor. Fortunately, I remembered that I had a Wi-Fi extender, so I connected it to the laptop with an Ethernet cable.

Now I could take a look at what Lubuntu had. It came with some basic apps that most computers have, like a calculator, an email app (Sylpheed), a video player (GNOME MPV), and a web browser (Firefox). I decided to install more advanced apps. LibreOffice is a group of apps much like Microsoft Office, able to create documents, spreadsheets, and slide shows. VLC Media Player is a video player that can play all kinds of video formats, plus it can play DVDs.

Installing VLC was not difficult, but playing DVDs was. I put in one of my favorite movies and was disappointed when nothing happened. Any commercially-made DVD has DRM (data rights management) embedded in it; it’s put there to keep you from making copies. Windows and Apple computers usually have apps installed that can “read” the DRM and let you watch your movie. I had to install another software package called libdvd-pkg to read the DVD. After browsing Linux websites for instructions, I finally got it to work.

Here is the proof (filmed with my phone and before I fixed the laptop’s backlight):

Why did I do this project? Because I didn’t want to throw away a laptop that could still work. Electronic waste is a serious problem. The devices that we use every day have some pretty dangerous chemicals and materials inside. The worst offenders are the batteries, which contain very corrosive chemicals. If tablets, phones, or computers aren’t disposed of correctly, those chemicals can end up in the soil or the water. It’s a good thing to try and extend the lifetime of a computer for as long as you can. Lubuntu can give your old computer a new lease on life.