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Sounds like a good way to make use of old eMachines, at a large discount too.
Finally, the year of the Linux Desktop! (eMachine edition)
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
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That depends on their setup.
Taking donated PCs to save them from e-waste. Hooking it up to a large KVM and running hardware diags then a image script to load OS, software and quick check for drivers and functionality...
Maybe 15-30 min labor if you're efficient and doing them in bulk.
... Yeah still a good deal haha.
I used to do this kind of work. With a wall of monitors mounted and PCs below. It was pretty chill and just needed to poke one when needed.
Nah that's at least an hour, assuming there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.
I don't mean time on the bench. I mean tech time working on it.
Hook it up. Start diag. Poke a different system.
Diag done? Passed? Start imaging with post kickstart or Ansible script. Work on a different box.
Image done? Check drivers, updates and functionality checklist.
If you had to do 100 of these you can get pretty good at it.
Exactly. I used to do the same thing about 15 years ago with Windows XP and Windows 7 computers. I didn't have a lot of space, so I'd get about half a dozen set up and go along them in a row running the installers. By the time I got to the end of the row, the first one would be about ready for me to click the next box. The vast majority of time installing an OS is waiting.
Yep. Wrench time vs bench time was my thing. If you do 16 in a 8 hour shift that's 30 min a piece even if they take a few hours with diag, imaging, installs and updates.
Once you get good you just doom scroll while you wait.