White Intel iMac in 2022

[robla64]

I am a Technology teacher and have a half dozen 2006 17" white Intel iMac's (education edition). Next semester I have a PC repair class and would like to use them as projects with my students at some point.
I'm looking for ideas for projects. Like what Linux distro might run well. Could I run opencore legacy patcher on them? If so what is the latest OS that would run on them? I'll try and Max out the RAM and maybe put an SSD in them for fun as well.

 

[redheeler]

2006-era iMacs make fun project computers for Linux, look for distros that run well on old hardware (Arch Linux with a lightweight desktop environment would be my preference to try out but is a pain to get installed / set up). If these are the Core Duo version that'll limit what you can do with them without a Core 2 Duo CPU upgrade, they are 32-bit computers and can't run any modern software compiled for 64-bit. For Mac OS X a Core Duo would be stuck on Snow Leopard which is old and can't run modern apps but it does work just fine. (Some people have gotten Lion working on 32-bit as well but IMO there isn't a huge reason to do this, most apps that work with Lion and not Snow Leopard will require 64-bit anyway)

 

[velocityg4]

Since this is supposed to be projects to teach students. I'd say have them swap out the Core Duo for Core 2 Duo and apply thermal paste. Remove hard drive and put in 2.5 to 3.5 adapter and SSD. Since I assume this is for every semester. Keep the old parts to swap back for the next class.

Install Lubuntu, Archlinux and FreeBSD. Perhaps just install one. Then setup really light VMs of the others.

Setup CalDAV, CardDAV and IMAP servers on them. Host simple websites on them.

Perhaps create lightweight cloud servers.

Use QEMU to set up emulators for Apple II, Amiga, Xerox Alto, Lisa, NES, &c emulators.

Other things to mess with on them. FreeNAS, VyOS, PFSense. File serving, Disk imaging, network backup,

Really, it all depends on what the point of your class is and budget. There's all sorts of projects to work on. Although if school budget will allow. I'd look at Raspberry Pi. Because there's a huge hobbyist community with tons of projects that are fun and range from simple fundamentals to expert. Beyond software there's lots of cheap hardware projects for Rasperry Pi. Where students can learn about a variety of chips and what they do. Along with soldering.