Rising from the ashes of obsoletism

My dear old PC, 1998 vintage Aptiva, has been suffering under the weight of Windows XP.
She take a long time to load and is slow.
The latest software update from Microsoft has taken its toll, we now have continuous BIOS restarts.
Apparently a problem of compatibility with my aging BIOS.

So what can a boy do, I have already upgrade the memory to the max, a glorious 256Mb.

I have been aware of the Open Source software of Linux, tried before but could not understand enough to get it going.

This time I found Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), it says that everything is on the CD, and it is free.

Downloaded the disk to another PC, then after saving my lifes work to a memory stick, I ran format /s on the Aptiva hard drive, loaded the CD, and installed without any problems.

Firefox is included, plus some other Open Source office type stuff.
Other versions, like Edubuntu, contains a large number of educational applications.
And Xubuntu is intended for users with less-powerful computers.

So the old Aptiva has risen from the ashes of obsoletism to live another day.