The $85 computer - Forbes.com

[mechmike0034]

As most PC makers tack on ever-sexier features to justify their $1,000-plus price tags, a select few are going in the other direction: All function, no frills-- machines designed to perform basic computing tasks reliably--for a couple hundred bucks. Don't expect to play "Grand Theft Auto III" or edit your film-school opus on some of these stripped-down machines. But do expect to get a tool for Web surfing, word-processing and other everyday PC uses, as well as an extra $750 or so in your pocket.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/16/cheap-pc-computer-tech-cx_ag_0516cheappc.html

These will run Puppy Linux quite nicely. The article talks about hardware only, and hardly mentions the OS.

[johnnymk]

A 300 MHz processor? I believe you can get them for a buck nowadays. Although that is fast enough for word processing and a few other applications.

[redcolours]

no OS. thats the clincher.
linux distro will do the trick, but the ram will always be an issue.

flash cards? that thing cant last too long, with multiple writes and rewrites. unless of course they dont use it often.
whoever uses it.

something for the kids to trash with their downloads. or because they hate it.
:P

[DarkFury]

Must be an "E-Machines". :heh:

[mechmike0034]

no OS. thats the clincher.
linux distro will do the trick, but the ram will always be an issue.

flash cards? that thing cant last too long, with multiple writes and rewrites. unless of course they dont use it often.
whoever uses it.

something for the kids to trash with their downloads. or because they hate it.
:P

Puppy minimizes writes to flash for this reason.

I found the article interesting as not everyone needs the biggest, baddest and fastest in the land.

[mechmike0034]

A 300 MHz processor? I believe you can get them for a buck nowadays. Although that is fast enough for word processing and a few other applications.

Yep, I agree. I put a machine together for my Mom recently for under $100. I bought a Dell Optiplex GX150 off of eBay for cheap, added a half-height vid card and brought it to 512MB of RAM, and then installed Linux Mint on it.

Cheap and effective.

Like I told RC, I just found the article interesting. The low wattage is cool - you won't get that resurrecting an old computer - but the low cost is what appeals to me.

Not that I am ready to run out and buy one, mind you...

[johnnymk]

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetail&item=COM10349

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/IMAGES_PRODUCT/COM10443_LG.JPG

Processor: Intel Pentium III 866Mhz.
System Memory: 128 MB of RAM
Hard Drive: 10GB
Optical Drive: CD-ROM
Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy
Network Card: 10/100 Integrated Network Card
Sound: Stereo Sound
Ports:
- 2 USB Ports
- 1 VGA Port
- 2 Serial Port
- 1 Parallel

[shocky123]

omg, 10GB! Nobody will ever be able to use that much space!

[mechmike0034]

Puppy Linux targets sub-$100 mini-PCs:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2057778408.html