I have been donating some computers again trying to clean out some old systems that are no longer good enough for the office. Some of these were given to me because the hard drive failed and the owner just bought a new computer or I no longer have the discs that came with the computer. I don’t like to donate something that won’t work because anyone who buys it may not have the skill to get it up and running. So I turn to Linux, in particular Fedora Core.
I have been using Fedora since Red hat spun it off. It works well and is easy to install. I found the easiest method to use, especially on older computers, is the Network Install CD ISO. I was using a DVD burned from an ISO, but some older computers’ DVD drives wouldn’t recognize the disc. The Network Install is smaller so it fits on a CD which pretty much any computer can read. It downloads packages from the Internet during the install. I just do a basic desktop install and make the passwords “password”. I tape this information to the computer so when someone looks at it they know it has Linux and know the login information.
You can find different download formats at the Fedora website.