I have a few such netbooks. I’m currently running debian oldstable (bookworm) on them. GuixSD also provides x32, but I still have to try that on slow computers. (Sidenote: maybe old Mesa versions work better for GUI). Ofc, it’s ok for trying BSDs (or maybe experimental stuff like Hurd and 9front).
About usage: you can put it into your garage, workshop, storage room, whereever you wouldn’t want your regular laptop (gets dirty, dusty).
can play 360p H.264-encoded videos (you could use a smartphone for that, but I don’t)
play mp3, act as a radio and play music or podcasts from the internet
SSH and other remote access stuff
testing whether software you write could run on slow hardware.
it is a terrible experience to run a browser, but it works. I could browse the catalogue of a local library from it
if something was doable in the 90s, the machine can handle it (mine came with diablo 1 installed)
As others already wrote, it’s also good for homeservers (web/gemini/gopher, git, mumble, irc bouncer).
If it is an actual nettop, and not a netbook, it probably has a mini-itx board with PCI on it, which makes it able to test/use old PCI cards. I used it for that purpose a little bit (there are better options, PCIe->PCI bridges). The atom D525 nettop board I have also has a mini pcie slot, which I converted into a full-sized one. Now it has a similarly slow Radeon HD 6450 in it, which helps it play videos. Should work up to 1080p, but now I realize I haven’t actually tried that.
I have a few such netbooks. I’m currently running debian oldstable (bookworm) on them. GuixSD also provides x32, but I still have to try that on slow computers. (Sidenote: maybe old Mesa versions work better for GUI). Ofc, it’s ok for trying BSDs (or maybe experimental stuff like Hurd and 9front).
About usage: you can put it into your garage, workshop, storage room, whereever you wouldn’t want your regular laptop (gets dirty, dusty).
For “desktop” purposes:
As others already wrote, it’s also good for homeservers (web/gemini/gopher, git, mumble, irc bouncer).
If it is an actual nettop, and not a netbook, it probably has a mini-itx board with PCI on it, which makes it able to test/use old PCI cards. I used it for that purpose a little bit (there are better options, PCIe->PCI bridges). The atom D525 nettop board I have also has a mini pcie slot, which I converted into a full-sized one. Now it has a similarly slow Radeon HD 6450 in it, which helps it play videos. Should work up to 1080p, but now I realize I haven’t actually tried that.