(Re-sent today as no joy sending it yesterday.) Interesting. I know old slow motherboards are *cheap*, I just bought 7 386's for $6 total, delivered, and I've bought bunches of 486 motherboards at $3 apiece. You can make a 386 or 486 machine about 3" tall if you work at it a little - get 2" tall video cards and HDC cards, take the "backplane" connector off and bend it to make it shorter, or figure an alternate way to do the connections; splitting the power cable's possible (with some work perhaps - You may have to make a transistor buffer for the PowerGood signal, as it may not have enough "fanout", I need to research that. We were talking on another list about making Beowulf clusters this way, multiple motherboards in a stack! <G>) I suggested making a wood or metal case that held 2 motherboards, hold the HDD's against the top of the empty ISA connectors, you could flip it open to work on both, then flip it closed; I haven't heard if he did that. He wanted to just slide them into 2x4's with slots, instead, which would work. 3 or 4 motherboards per power supply, probably, should be OK, with lower power hard drives (If you use 5.25" ESDI full height drives, one drive per power supply <G>) Another option is to use one machine running Linux or Win95, the Linux box can serve multiple (6+!) cheap serial terminals with a reasonably priced multi-port serial card, also there's some Multi-server deal for Win95 I've heard of (can look that up) that's pricyish but not obscenely expensive. Mark Brian Rankin wrote: > > Hello, > > I am working with a K-12 school in Ghana Africa to help construct and > expand a computer laboratory. Last summer we built the lab and I installed > 13 donated computers (12 Win95, 1 Redhat server). The lab is operational > and self-sufficient, the Redhat box is a Samba/PPP/File/Squid/email server > and is working out extremely well. > > A major issue was getting the equipment there: the bulky/pricy shipment, > the extensive attention such a shipment causes with the (extremely > corrupt) port authorities. So: I've been considering alternatives to > desktop units and tube displays, the wearable technology seems to be a > valid consideration. > > I'd be interested in constructing units that can handle Win95 on a > network. Each unit would use an external hard drive. In fact, I can > imagine one standard desktop case that contains 6 complete units sharing > one power supply; it would sit on a table with 6 monitors & keyboards. > > Of course, pricing is a major issue, I don't have lots of money to > expend. I'm sure this isn't a new idea, has anyone ever done anything > like this? What components (motherboards in particular) are inexpensive > yet reliable? I know LCD monitors are expensive, are there better > alternatives? The monitors should handle graphics (Windows/office apps, > web pages). > > Any recommendations greatly appreciated. > > Sincerely, > > Brian Rankin > > PS: this school is not affiliated with any NPO, so it is difficult to > obtain funding beyond personal contributions. But: if I can get more > equipment to the school the children will benefit enormously in terms of > learning basic computer/office skills and understanding web/email usage. > The school is in an economically-depressed region, so the impact of this > computer lab is absolutely incredible. Right now there are 12 workstations > yet 1500 children. -- I ship small packages for small businesses, world-wide. (And for private individuals at cost, just ask.) -- Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with subject of "subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" toWear-Hard Mailing List Archive (searchable): http://wearables.blu.org
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