11 Nov
1998
11 Nov
'98
6:32 a.m.
On Wed, 11 Nov 1998, Marvin wrote:
I frequently get given 286 and 386 computers as well
as hearing about people
that are just throwing them away. Does anyone else on this list try to find
homes for these things, or know of homes? It seems such as waste to throw
out perfectly good computers just because they don't run the current rage of
the day.
That's a tough one. It seems like most organizations that accept
donations get plenty of useful 486 and Pentium machines, so they trash
everything less powerful than a 486. You might consider positioning them
as application-specific embedded systems rather than general purpose
computers. Take a 286, add an ISA card and some free software, and you've
got a network router or a digital answering machine. Add Linux to a 386
box and you've got a web server and network router.
-- Doug