Personally, I have a few of old NE2000 net cards, and various I/O cards that I'd be willing to donate. Just let me know where to send them... Edison Gieswein Charles J Knight wrote: > > > > 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. > > > 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, > > One note -- he mentioned that he wanted W95 capable machines, > which implies a minimum of a 486/50, and preferably a machine > that's a lot faster. > > These motherboards, with RAM (8-16 meg) and processor, regularly > come up at swap meets for $3-10. But that's here, in the US, where > these are considered old and slow. > > In fact, I purchase entire 486 systems, complete with 300M hard drives, > for $5 on a regular basis. > > He's setting up a lab in Ghana, which is a country over in Africa, where > these machines would not necessarily be considered so out of date. > Parts availability would be minimal, relative to what we are accustomed > to. > > We could certainly just fill up a shipping container and ship a few dozen > complete machines to him, with relative ease -- cost is the major factor. > Full desktop systems are heavy, and weight is all important when shipping > things overseas. This is probably why he is asking about wearable > components -- the extra cost of shipping to Afica probably evens out the > price difference between "traditional" 20 pound monitors which we would > buy for $100, and HMDs which we would buy for $500. > > > "fanout", I need to research that. We were talking on another list > > about making Beowulf clusters this way, multiple motherboards in a > > stack! <G>) > > Why am I picturing something akin to a NeXT cube, as a final > product? > > Of course, a passive backplane with multiple CPU cards (shades > of S-100) might make a good arrangement. > > > > 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. > > What types of computers would you like? If each member of the > list donated some of their "old" equipment, I'd be willing to bet > that we could come up with at least several 486 and Pentium desktop > units at little to no cost. > > Shipping would remain, though... > > How would y'all on the list, feel about this type of collective effort? > > -- Chuck Knight > ___________________________________________________________________ > Why pay more to get Web access? > Try Juno for FREE -- then it's just $9.95/month if you act NOW! > Get your free software today: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. > > -- > Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with subject of > "subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" to> Wear-Hard Mailing List Archive (searchable): http://wearables.blu.org -- Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with subject of "subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" to
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