During the past month I have successfully refurbished an older (2003) eMachines box. I removed Windows and installed “Gusty” Ubuntu Linux and assorted software to re-make the machine into a Linux powered media pc.

I am using Miro for television and video podcasts, Audacity for audio recording, Skype for phone calls, and Ubuntu’s native software for CD and Mp3 playback.

This is an easy, fun, project, and I have been enjoying the results so much that my next computer, someday, will be a linux box from the ground up (as in, I’ll build it myself). For anyone who is as sick and tired of Windows as I was, I highly recommend switching to Linux.