Not long ago I blogged about fitting Linux onto an older system and giving it to someone who doesn’t need the latest model of PC. This week, I tried it with a notebook that’s about seven or eight years old. Windows XP barely ran. Linux gave it a new lease on life.

OpenOffice gets all the attention, but Linux gives you several excellent office suites to choose from. KOffice is fast, powerful, and has a nice clean customizable interface; Eric Geier shares some tips to help make your KOffice experience as great as possible.

802.11n is the hot new wi-fi standard, all faster, better, and less interfering with common wireless devices than 802.11a/b/g. But don't get rid of your old devices---give them new jobs. Eric Geier offers 8 great ways to recycle old wi-fi gear.

Six-month cycles are great. Now let's talk about meta-cycles: broader release cycles for major work. I'm very interested in a cross-community conversation about this, so will sketch out some ideas and then encourage people from as many different free software communities as possible to comment here.

The world of Linux applications continues to expand and improve, so check out Eric Geier's roundup of ten great Linux applications you might not have discovered yet: media players, Web page designer, video creation, run Linux on Windows, Windows apps on Linux, and more.

One of the most touted advantage of Windows 7 over Windows XP and Linux is improved battery life. This may be trues for newer netbooks that would be optimized for Microsoft new operating system, but don't expect any gain from installing Microsoft's latest release on you current netbook! Many people have actually reported reduced battery life on their netbooks after an upgrade to Windows 7.

There are a few desktop applications out there that can help you to keep track of your personal finances, but if you are a freelancer or a small business owner, you might need something more powerful like Tonido Money.

DD-WRT not only converts those little consumer broadband routers into mighty Linux networking powerhouses, it also runs on any old PC. Eric Geier shows how.

Yesterday, I was trying to figure out what to do with a spare Athlon XP 1600+ box that I have. I wrote down some of my ideas and threw in some others I’ve used in the past. If you’re looking for ways to reuse that old PC, just peruse this list.