My First Attempt at Re-imaging a Computer with Linux.

My first attempt at reimaging an old computer with an Linux Operating System.

I have been interested in reimaging computers for quite some time now with the Linux operating system.  My reasons are as follows....

• I hate the idea that perfectly good computers are starting to pile up in landfill sites.
• I love the functionality and speed of Chromebooks and I believe that we can have the "Chrome experience" in our schools with old free devices.
• I wanted to try to do it on my own so that I could speak to the process in my new role as a Resource Teacher (as it is now approved by the PDSB).
• I want teachers and students to be able to have access to devices in the classroom, even when budgets are tight.  
• I have some friends that have been doing this for a couple of years now.

So today, I decided to try this amazing process (bit.ly/reimagewithlinux), by @A_Dobbie11 for myself.

This is the computer that I attempted to reimage.

Apparently, I should have chosen a "younger" device for my first attempt, as I ran into several issues. I believe this computer was made prior to 2005, and Andrew, who was gracious enough to be available for me for the past couple of hours (shouldn't take that long), advised me that I should reimage computers that are not older than 10 years.

Ok, I'm going to walk you through what I learned from Andrew and his process.


The first screen here allows you to select the actual operating system that you want.  I chose Ubuntu, and this is the one that Andrew suggests is the best.  However, I did learn that the Elementary option would have been a good option for "my older than 10 years" computer.

Once you download the operating system of your choice, you are ready to make a "bootable USB".
At this point you need to download software that will allow you to transform your USB into a Bootable USB. (Make sure you have at least a 2GB USB).

The software that I used was ETCHER.  Dowloading this software was easy. Go here:etcher.io. I was using a Macbook, so I selected download for OS X.  You should choose the one you need.

The download took 2 mins max.  Once you have it, right click on it to open it.  From there it is literally very easy.





First you hit "select image" - this is where you will select the operating system that you chose to download (I chose Ubuntu).

Next, you choose"select drive" - select the USB that you want converted to a bootable USB.

Once you have done both, hit "Flash" and it's that easy.  It will start the process and go through a validation and then you are done. (4 mins maybe)

One problem I ran into was, of the many USBs
that I had to choose from, several were not writable. So again, Andrew bailed me out and told me to go to my  disk utility and reformat the USB by erasing it. Once I did that, they were fine.  I have since converted two USBs into bootable USBs.

Next, what is supposed to happen, didn't actually happen for me (due to the age of the computer that  I was trying to reimage).  You are supposed to insert the USB into the computer while it is off and then turn it on.  Once you turn the computer on press F10 or F2 (or whatever it is on that computer to enter the BIOS setup) repeatedly.

Once you are in the BIOS, make sure the time is set, and check your boot order (watch this video from Andrew).

Once you have "saved and exited" your USB will load the operating system.  Once you have that, just follow the prompts. This video will be very helpful for you to finalize the process and get the "chromium" web browser.

I plan to get my hands on some old computers (not older than 10 years) and try this again.  So if you have a device that you don't want to try yourself, then send them my way. @LadyFitzee