Well, if all you need is a mobo, proc and tower then you should be able to find a pretty damned decent system for $300 or less. Hell, my tower was only $15 and it looks great (if a bit flimsy) with a nice window in the side, lighted clear fans and a blue backlit display on the front for temp. I think I paid about $70 for my Abit KV7 and around $100 for my Athlon XP 2600 Mobile proc . So there you go $185 for a more than decent rig with money to spare for more RAM, HD, whatever. Anyway, www.newegg.com is the only place to shop for computer stuff IMO. On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 10:49:22 -0500, Bryan Zimmer <baz at winternet.com> wrote: > Unfortunately people are not rational about computers. They are like members > of the family. As a result, people bang the around, put food near them, > curse them out, love them to death, care for them poorly but innocently. No > wonder there is so much work for those of us who make a living from these > types of people! > > My friend, I don"t want to give her real name, which is Cindy, so I will > call her Samantha. Anyhow, Sam had a relationship going with her computer > that was wholesome and innocent in most ways that I could tell, except the > other family members would burn questionable CDs and in general treat it > according to somewhat lower standards than did Samantha. > > Samantha's computer was an XP, probably with a Pentium III, 265 Megs RAM, > and a hard drive that must have been 60 megabytes. I didn't study the > ROM-BIOS setup screen that closely, but you get the idea, a machine about 3 > years old, maybe a little more. > > It was used so well, or should I say so frequently that eventually it > started breaking down, and in the end, lost its operating system at a very > crucial moment. Microsoft now DESTROYS any machine that doesn't have a > pre-purchased license. I wouldn't dream of putting an untested OS on my > equipment, but they have the policy, and they won. Until I sue them. > > Anyway, sorry to bore you with this, my main reason for writing was that I > am looking for a similar machine for about $300 dollars. Not more, hopefully > less. Hers would have brought considerably less at Computer Renaissance, the > CD drive had stopped working. > > OK,. now after all hat, is it even conceivable to buy a PIII computer for > $300? I have the RAM, I have a few components, only the tower is necessary. > And if the CD drive works, I bet that would be worth a little more than 300. > I don't know if I'm fooling myself, but recently I bought as Pentium IV with > 1 GIG memory and a 160 G hard drive, plus a few extras. For about $800. > After rebates. For real. > > So let me know if there are any nibbles of interest out there. I have an > open mind and a very slim wallet. The prices I reluctantly listed above are > regrettably all I have to work with. If it's not enough, maybe we could buy > parts of your working system. Who knows. She is clear on wanting XP home > edition. Like I said, she could probably be converted to Linux if Linux runs > AOL. I know Netscape has made something of a comeback on Linux boxes. Not > Mesilla, but commercial Netscape 7.2, probably complete with AIM. > > Let me know, > > BAZ > baz at winternet dot com > > BAZ > ------- > Bryan Zimmer > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Scot Jenkins" <scot at thinkunix.net> > To: "TCLUG Mailing List" <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> > Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 12:44 AM > Subject: Re: [TCLUG] Computer donations > > > Bryan Zimmer wrote: > >> I know of at least one person who is in need of a computer. Her > >> motherboard > >> was fried and now the computer is of no use at all except for certain > >> parts > >> (memory, hard drive, the sort of thing). It does not boot and has no > >> CD-ROM > >> drive to boot from. > >> > >> I truly need to find something for her. She is not only a friend but sees > >> me > >> as being able to "fix" most computer problems. I told her I couldn't > >> resurrect from the dead, but she still thinks I can produce a working > >> computer. I considered putting in a new motherboard, but the fact was > >> that > >> the computer was beginning to enter its "twilight months". It was > >> starting > >> to be one thing after another. Not worth the cost of repairs, many of > >> which > >> were done as a favor to a friend. > >> > >> If anyone has, or know of a computer capable of running Windows XP (or > >> possibly she will resort to Linux...can Linux run AOL?), I would > >> appreciate > >> it. > > > > What exactly does your friend do with a computer? If she's just using > > the internet over dialup (email, web browsing), and the occassional > > MSWord doc, she can probably get by with lower end hardware. > > > > I have an older P166 with 128 MB RAM that runs win2k respectibly. I was > > pretty surprised. I don't want to start a flame war, but on this same > > hardware IE6 is much faster for surfing then the latest Mozilla under > > Linux. Don't get me wrong, Linux as an OS is faster, but Mozilla is > > just a slow pig compared to IE on this old dog. > > > > My point is that there's plenty of old hardware (usually available for > > little or no cost), that still has plenty of usable life left in it. > > Why not put it to good use? Do most people really need a 2 or 3 Ghz > > processor with 128 or 256 MB of RAM on their video card just to write a > > word doc or check email? > > -- > > scot > > > > _______________________________________________ > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org > > Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org > Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Loren H. Burlingame <loren at lhb.name> GPG Key ID: 0x112DCF4F "Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes." -William Shatner (a.k.a. Buck Murdock) _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list