Unless you are the kind of person who when they get a new PC instantly goes into 'wipe and donate' mode, odds are that you have an old PC or two laying around collecting dust. Myself, I'm up to three or four. A few have some potential and I've often told myself that they would be good candidates for a Linux conversion, but honestly that is some big talk on my part seeing as I don't know the first thing about setting up a Linux system. But since the beta of Xandros' 'Presto' instant-on OS is available maybe I'll go that route instead.
A Linux based utility that once installed through XP or Vista, sits right along side that OS, presenting itself at startup as an OS option, it allows you to fire up old computers in seconds that were once painfully slow. The beauty of Presto for the layman is that it is a simple install designed to coexist with your existing Windows OS. Just install as you would any other program, do some minor configuring and reboot. Xandros provides a series of free applications with the install to fill your taskbar with including a full version of Firefox, Open Office, Skype, IM, file access for managing existing files, WiFi and a connection to the Presto application store. A pretty wide variety of applications can be found at the application store, some free some not. Presto is definitely not designed to replace a full functioning Windows OS, or a full fledged Linux replacement, but it seems to definitely be a handy and inexpensive tool to get an old PC moving much quicker, especially for simple tasks like browsing, webmail, IM, skype, etc. A two week trial of Presto is available now and the final version launching on April 13th for $20. Check out the two videos for the tool below.
This one is the Xandros company line and comes off a little cheesy.
This one is via testing site jkkmobile.blogspot.com.
--Tom Milnes
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