Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 21:53:24 -0700 From: Nathan Kinkade <nkinkade@dsl-only.net> To: "C T" <willtop27@hotmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: I need some help... Message-ID: <20020927215324.38dc1eaf.nkinkade@dsl-only.net> In-Reply-To: <F153hGvDpEDiOa7ddhl000005d3@hotmail.com> References: <F153hGvDpEDiOa7ddhl000005d3@hotmail.com>
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On Fri, 27 Sep 2002 20:46:12 -0700 "C T" <willtop27@hotmail.com> wrote: > To whom it may concern, > > My name is Craig and I am in the process of forming a non-profit > organization that takes old computers (286's etc...), setting them up > for email, word processing, internet browsing, spread sheets, and them > giving them to people who can't afford computers. > > One of my obstacles is finding an OS package similar to MS-DOS, but > doesn't cost money. > > Does FreeBSD distribute something simple that would operate on older > machines? > > Thank you, > Craig Craig, I volunteer at an organization here in Portland, OR that generally does what you are describing. It is called FreeGeek (www.freegeek.org). FreeGeek usually recycles anything less than a Pentium (i.e. 286, 386, 486). The current processor specification for computers that are put back out into the community are Pentium 166MHz-233MHz. The full specs are at http://www.freegeek.org/freekbox.html. Believe it or not, we seem to receive plenty of donated machines that fall into this range. FreeGeek is currently installing Debian Linux on these machines. Trust me when I tell you that even a P166 with 80MB RAM (72 pin SIMMs) is just fast enough to make X, Mozilla and a few other applications run reasonably. Of course, if you plan to put out non-graphical, text only, console basesd machines then a lower spec may work for you. In any case, if you plan to run X and any sort of browser you probably don't want to go below a P100, and even this is pushing it a bit. I've talked to a few people at FreeGeek about getting FreeBSD on some of the boxes, but they are too firmly entrenched in Linux. Good luck, Nathan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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