Future Linux machines?

[mike at bilow.com (Michael Bilow)]

I am trying to liquidate computers from a private school which is having
to close after 150 years.  While the computers are considerably newer than
that, the bulk of them have 486 CPUs, usually 66MHz although some are a
bit faster or a bit slower, 8MB RAM, and usually IDE hard drives of a few
hundred megabytes capacity.  Nearly all of the computers have Ethernet
cards, either 10Base-T/AUI or 10Base-T/10Base-2/AUI.

There are about 40 machines which we could boot and test, about 10 more
machines with problems which are probably fixable but not as part of our
testing procedure, plus about 10 or so machines which were not tested for
other reasons, such as finding that they had 386 instead of 486 CPUs or
that they had what sounds like loose parts or screws floating in the case.

These machines, mainly because of the RAM limitation, are not really
suitable for running Windows 95/98/ME, so they cannot be realistically
sold to the general public.  To be frank, we are looking at scrap value.  
Expanding the memory probably is not an option, as many of these machines
probably have 8MB because they use 30-pin SIMM and all eight slots are
filled with 1MBx9 SIMMs.

We have been thinking that these machines might make quite nice Linux
desktops, however.  A lot of people seem to want to try Linux, but they
either are afraid to install it or afraid to mess up their main computer.  
These boxes, which were deliberately set up to be fairly straightforward
networked workstations in the first place, might make ideal second
computers for such people, especialy if -- and this is the key part of the
idea -- these machines were to be sold with Linux preinstalled.  After
all, people commonly go to the store and buy a shrink-wrapped box of
Linux for $30-80, so why not throw in a computer for the same price?  It
would be a kind of "Super-Installfest."

A number of goals could be achieved: the school could get a little money
to pay off some of its final debts, many people would be exposed to Linux
in a fairly easy and friendly way, and the school would be able to vacate
its premises as required by the end of this month.

There are some downsides.  These computers come with no monitors.  (The
school does have monitors, but they are being paired with the better
computers first.)  There are few if any mice, although there are probably
close to a sufficient number of keyboards.  The computers are not heavy,
but it would probably be uneconomical to ship them anywhere, at least in
single lot quantities.  There are no CD-ROM drives.

Offsetting these downsides is the probability that the computers could go
very, very cheaply.  I would be happy to get $50 each for machines like
this, with Linux preinstalled and configured.

What do people think about this?  Are these machine worth anything?  
Would people pay enough to make it worthwhile to invest the time to
install Linux on them?  Does the BLU have any interest in making a project
out of these machines?  Or are 486 computers really just scrap now?

-- Mike


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