The place where the computers will be installed is very limited and I cannot afford desktops.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Need Cheap PCs to run Puppy!
Need Cheap PCs to run Puppy!
I want a number of basic small computers for running Puppy. I searched the Internet up and down and could not find anything below $200
The place where the computers will be installed is very limited and I cannot afford desktops.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
The place where the computers will be installed is very limited and I cannot afford desktops.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
laptop
A used laptop will be fine, even Pentium II will be OK, and choose more RAM, preferably above 128 MB.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].
-
technosaurus
- Posts: 4853
- Joined: Mon 19 May 2008, 01:24
- Location: Blue Springs, MO
- Contact:
tigerdirect.com has lcd monitors for $79 (they are also low power <20w and will save $$$ in the long term)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=164
dataevolution.com has a deal for 4 dectops for $300 (they are also low power <10w and will save $$$ in the long term as well)
evertek.com had some netbooks for ~$199 and will usually negotiate bulk discounts (usually you can get ~3% or so) and they often have a $49 nohd "samba" computer that could run puppy from cd (they pretty much have the same exact inventory as geeks.com but are more difficult to navigate)
http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=42655&cat=62
http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=21996&cat=39
59+49 (no hd is good for a kiosk system - or add a cheap spare if needed?)
the dectop solution would be <$200 and since combined they are <30 watts you could save close to $100/yr each on operation cost compared to a standard desktop
That's about the best deal I can find as far as new goes... many used thin clients are available in lots on ebay that will run puppy for as little as $10
Also check out the ebox systems at wdlsystems - there is a 1Ghz 256mb for $150 ($138 for 100+)
http://www.wdlsystems.com/modperl/view_ ... le_id=1070
need more info to properly advise
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=164
dataevolution.com has a deal for 4 dectops for $300 (they are also low power <10w and will save $$$ in the long term as well)
evertek.com had some netbooks for ~$199 and will usually negotiate bulk discounts (usually you can get ~3% or so) and they often have a $49 nohd "samba" computer that could run puppy from cd (they pretty much have the same exact inventory as geeks.com but are more difficult to navigate)
http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=42655&cat=62
http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=21996&cat=39
59+49 (no hd is good for a kiosk system - or add a cheap spare if needed?)
the dectop solution would be <$200 and since combined they are <30 watts you could save close to $100/yr each on operation cost compared to a standard desktop
That's about the best deal I can find as far as new goes... many used thin clients are available in lots on ebay that will run puppy for as little as $10
Also check out the ebox systems at wdlsystems - there is a 1Ghz 256mb for $150 ($138 for 100+)
http://www.wdlsystems.com/modperl/view_ ... le_id=1070
need more info to properly advise
Check out my [url=https://github.com/technosaurus]github repositories[/url]. I may eventually get around to updating my [url=http://bashismal.blogspot.com]blogspot[/url].
My advice would be to ask around your local schools, colleges, councils and businesses and get yourself some of their kit that they throw away because they wont run the latest Windoze. These types of organisations often have to pay to have their "waste" removed and will bite your hand off if you offer to collect if for free for recycling and of a use that benefits the community. With Puppy you are likely to be using them longer than they did.
Laptops are always harder to find than desktops, because they have a higher mortality rate, but it is possible. If you cant find them, just collect the towers/base units and buy in the cheap lcd screens. Maintenence is a lot easier on desktops too.
Linux is always developed after the machines they run on. You will find that you will get a lot less problems if you use older hardware too, as many of the faults with drivers have had several years to be ironed out. This keeps costs and hassles to the organisation (you havnt said what it is) to a minimum.
Use DBAN (google is your friend) to remove the data from the machines totally before installing puppy, that way no data gets left behind. This will be the donors main concern. If its good enough for the U.S. secret service and their secrets it will be good enough for them
Laptops are always harder to find than desktops, because they have a higher mortality rate, but it is possible. If you cant find them, just collect the towers/base units and buy in the cheap lcd screens. Maintenence is a lot easier on desktops too.
Linux is always developed after the machines they run on. You will find that you will get a lot less problems if you use older hardware too, as many of the faults with drivers have had several years to be ironed out. This keeps costs and hassles to the organisation (you havnt said what it is) to a minimum.
Use DBAN (google is your friend) to remove the data from the machines totally before installing puppy, that way no data gets left behind. This will be the donors main concern. If its good enough for the U.S. secret service and their secrets it will be good enough for them
Puppy Linux's [url=http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=296352#296352]Mission[/url]
Sorry, my server is down atm!
Sorry, my server is down atm!
The deals in this thread aren't current, but they'll give you some places to look:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=12372
Also, have a look at these sites:
http://www.intechraoutlet.com/home/
http://computer-show.com/ccc1006-comput ... -24100.htm (Under $100)
http://www.hcditrading.com/Shop/Control ... sell_price
There's also eBay, Kijiji, Craigslist, and Backpage...
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=12372
Also, have a look at these sites:
http://www.intechraoutlet.com/home/
http://computer-show.com/ccc1006-comput ... -24100.htm (Under $100)
http://www.hcditrading.com/Shop/Control ... sell_price
There's also eBay, Kijiji, Craigslist, and Backpage...
Search mini-itx for Via Artigo and Thin Client (M65 or 70 or 75 or something like that). From €130 and up.
T_Hobbit
:idea: Rebuilding old DOS Machine for Wing Commander Privateer and Puppy :!: Old spare parts to give away - anyone interested :?:
:idea: Rebuilding old DOS Machine for Wing Commander Privateer and Puppy :!: Old spare parts to give away - anyone interested :?:
Unfortunately, there is some very bad advice as well as excellent suggestions.
Whatever you do, avoid laptops, especially used ones - they are a nightmare to fix and the all-proprietary innards means that distros of all varieties will drive you bananas. You should also avoid ITX if you are on a budget.
There is no reason to buy anything! Presuming from the $-sign you are American [please edit your profile] you have got to overcome the brainwashing that makes you associate money, your money, with requirements. Well, some exceptions, there are people out there that will pay YOU to take away their last-year's kit. Local companies like travel agents & co would have to pay trade waste rates to dispose of their stuff. Make them an offer they can't refuse. Ask friends, neighbours, family - stuff is out there.
Or you could get it from the Freecycle organisation, try <http://www.freecycle.org>.
If you haven't yet acquired the ability to strip, recondition and rebuild old stuff, this would be an excellent moment. A little 'electrical' screwdriver and a bit of 'common' is all that's needed - definitely not any formal IT training; maybe invite the 16yr old kid next door to show you?
The important thing to realise is that these compact liveCD distros run on really old HW, Puppy being one of the best, although there are plenty of others. Only idiots actually buy Intel's latest and greatest multi-core creation - sending your salary to Obi to offset the national debt makes more sense.
It would be a worldwide public service if one of the more clued up moderators like PG could distil the advice from this thread and issue it as an Hardware sticky guide.
Whatever you do, avoid laptops, especially used ones - they are a nightmare to fix and the all-proprietary innards means that distros of all varieties will drive you bananas. You should also avoid ITX if you are on a budget.
There is no reason to buy anything! Presuming from the $-sign you are American [please edit your profile] you have got to overcome the brainwashing that makes you associate money, your money, with requirements. Well, some exceptions, there are people out there that will pay YOU to take away their last-year's kit. Local companies like travel agents & co would have to pay trade waste rates to dispose of their stuff. Make them an offer they can't refuse. Ask friends, neighbours, family - stuff is out there.
Or you could get it from the Freecycle organisation, try <http://www.freecycle.org>.
If you haven't yet acquired the ability to strip, recondition and rebuild old stuff, this would be an excellent moment. A little 'electrical' screwdriver and a bit of 'common' is all that's needed - definitely not any formal IT training; maybe invite the 16yr old kid next door to show you?
The important thing to realise is that these compact liveCD distros run on really old HW, Puppy being one of the best, although there are plenty of others. Only idiots actually buy Intel's latest and greatest multi-core creation - sending your salary to Obi to offset the national debt makes more sense.
It would be a worldwide public service if one of the more clued up moderators like PG could distil the advice from this thread and issue it as an Hardware sticky guide.
-
technosaurus
- Posts: 4853
- Joined: Mon 19 May 2008, 01:24
- Location: Blue Springs, MO
- Contact:
There is more to cost than purchase price. Sure a "free" pentium 4 and 24 inch CRT monitor sounds great until you consider the operational cost
$0+
~500w x $0.10/kwhr x 40hrs/wk x 52wks/yr = $104/yr
$200
vs 20w LCD and 5w mini-pc = 25w
~25w x $0.10/kwhr x 40hrs/wk x 52wks/yr = $5.25/yr
Total_cost = initial cost + yearly_cost x yrs
setting the Total_costs equal and solving for years yields that...
at just over 2 years the total cost is the same
... maintenance would be dependent on labor cost + free vs. much lower failure rate + cost + labor ... would probably be a wash
this is just the general idea ... a web kiosk may be used over 100 hrs a week (definitely low power systems - also if your organization is trying to be greener) or some systems may be used more infrequently (definitely go free)
If you want to make the best business decision sometimes you have to look beyond the bottom line.
"Free-cycling" is another one of those seemingly good environmental ideas that when put on paper often defeats its own purpose. If you really care about the environment, re(not free)cycle your PC and get a more efficient one that (by the way) is much more environmentally friendly due to ROTS(more environmentally friendly material requirements) and shear difference in amount of material (often less than 1/10th of the total mass or even less)
Puppy runs pretty much the same on a cheap <5w ebox as it does on a P4, but a reason may exist that they need to use a macro-distro like Ubuntu, Suse or RedHat and ultra low power is not an option. In the end each person has to weigh his own operational needs, current budget, estimated future budget and other factors to determine what solution is best for his needs.
$0+
~500w x $0.10/kwhr x 40hrs/wk x 52wks/yr = $104/yr
$200
vs 20w LCD and 5w mini-pc = 25w
~25w x $0.10/kwhr x 40hrs/wk x 52wks/yr = $5.25/yr
Total_cost = initial cost + yearly_cost x yrs
setting the Total_costs equal and solving for years yields that...
at just over 2 years the total cost is the same
... maintenance would be dependent on labor cost + free vs. much lower failure rate + cost + labor ... would probably be a wash
this is just the general idea ... a web kiosk may be used over 100 hrs a week (definitely low power systems - also if your organization is trying to be greener) or some systems may be used more infrequently (definitely go free)
If you want to make the best business decision sometimes you have to look beyond the bottom line.
"Free-cycling" is another one of those seemingly good environmental ideas that when put on paper often defeats its own purpose. If you really care about the environment, re(not free)cycle your PC and get a more efficient one that (by the way) is much more environmentally friendly due to ROTS(more environmentally friendly material requirements) and shear difference in amount of material (often less than 1/10th of the total mass or even less)
Puppy runs pretty much the same on a cheap <5w ebox as it does on a P4, but a reason may exist that they need to use a macro-distro like Ubuntu, Suse or RedHat and ultra low power is not an option. In the end each person has to weigh his own operational needs, current budget, estimated future budget and other factors to determine what solution is best for his needs.
Check out my [url=https://github.com/technosaurus]github repositories[/url]. I may eventually get around to updating my [url=http://bashismal.blogspot.com]blogspot[/url].
-
sneekylinux
- Posts: 61
- Joined: Fri 20 Mar 2009, 19:49
- Location: dorset,uk
hi,as said before,one of the best and cheapest ways of doing this may be to put in a small add in your local saying that you will collect any old and unwanted units for free.
although some of them will be unservicable you will be able to make some units out of them.
as for monitors,people are just giving them away if they are under 19".
as with all stuff,rip the bad one's apart and take all the goodies that are usable out of them.
also if you are nice to the guy's at your local tip/recycle place you will find normally good pc's that have nothing wrong with them that you can't put right.
a beer is normal currency....lol
or if you are like me and brew your own cider it is worth 5x as much....
nuff said...............................
although some of them will be unservicable you will be able to make some units out of them.
as for monitors,people are just giving them away if they are under 19".
as with all stuff,rip the bad one's apart and take all the goodies that are usable out of them.
also if you are nice to the guy's at your local tip/recycle place you will find normally good pc's that have nothing wrong with them that you can't put right.
a beer is normal currency....lol
or if you are like me and brew your own cider it is worth 5x as much....
nuff said...............................
environmental cost
I understand Sage's point here, and recognise also, as raffy points out, that laptops have a higher mortality rate than desktops. However, I've personally found that old laptops from the PII or PIII era, if they are still working now, tend to keep working! Once you find a model you like, there is certainly a big advantage in trying buy more of the same model (assuming you want more than one); my family generally use two old laptops, and both PIIIs of the same model - makes installation/maintenance a breeze.Sage wrote: Whatever you do, avoid laptops, especially used ones - they are a nightmare to fix and the all-proprietary innards means that distros of all varieties will drive you bananas.
I still have an old desktop, which though old is nothing like as old or slow as the laptops; so I still use it for special purposes that would otherwise take forever on the lappys. However, in general, I keep it switched off because desktops in general, as technosaurus says, consume tons more electricity than laptops, and over a year the savings of not using them is surprisingly large, even in one household. Each year, I could buy an other old lappy of similar spec on ebay for the savings in electricity alone (I don't, but that's because I don't need any more(!), though maybe I should buy a spare for the inevitable day this old machine does finally give up the ghost). Save the planet and recycle the CRT monitors as big plant pots (or build walls out of them)!
The main thing that goes in lappys (apart from the HD which is cheap/easy to replace secondhand anyway or with a USB stick...) is the LCD inverter; but the day is coming soon when the old flouro-backlight should easily be replaced with some hi-brightness LED strip (or roll your own... or cut a hole in the back and let the sun shine through!)
If only it were as straightforward. All manner of fates beset laptops, both of the electronic and physical kind. The list is endless, although cracks at the hinges, tabs around the periphery and cold cathode lamp+psu/inverter loom large. Nothing but trouble and they also fall off desks with alarming regularity. Eventually you will be unable to secure sufficient memory upgrade if Mr Moore is to be satiated and don't think about Tb HDs.
If it must be portable, get a netbook. Otherwise, the much maligned desktop box is your universal solution - it can be kicked, sat upon, used as a step to paint the ceiling, your-abusive-application-here, as well as the intended use. Provided you don't sup with the devil, an old SktA desktop should satisfy the most demanding needs for another decade.
If it must be portable, get a netbook. Otherwise, the much maligned desktop box is your universal solution - it can be kicked, sat upon, used as a step to paint the ceiling, your-abusive-application-here, as well as the intended use. Provided you don't sup with the devil, an old SktA desktop should satisfy the most demanding needs for another decade.
cheap desktop computer
I have been using a MSI Wind from Newegg that works well with Puppy Linux 412. They are a barebones computer that just need memory and a hard drive and CD-DVD drive. They will take either desktop or laptop hard drives and CD-DVD drives but require sata as there are no ide connections. They have a 10 dollar rebate now so are $129.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856167032
This is a single core Atom CPU or search for MSI Wind for dual core Atom processor.
Hope this helps.
Bushybill
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856167032
This is a single core Atom CPU or search for MSI Wind for dual core Atom processor.
Hope this helps.
Bushybill