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Date:      Fri, 23 Mar 2001 19:22:49 -0500
From:      "Andrew C. Hornback" <hornback@wireco.net>
To:        "J Ramos" <JRAMOS2@nc.rr.com>
Cc:        "FreeBSD Questions" <questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   RE: Need a box, and your experience.
Message-ID:  <001a01c0b3f8$8ea34560$0e00000a@tomcat>
In-Reply-To: <3ABBCCF3.3262D77D@nc.rr.com>

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of J Ramos
> Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 5:24 PM
> To: Slim; freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: Need a box, and your experience.
>
>
> I've got an old P75 Compaq with no CD-ROM, 8MB of RAM, and a spare HDD
> in that I'm _trying_ to install a form of BSD on. I'll let you know if I
> get it working, it's gonna be the deal if it'll ever work. :-)

	Shouldn't be a problem, although the memory limitation is going to be a
pretty good sized headache.  I wouldn't throw less than 16 at FreeBSD.

> Slim wrote:
> >
> > And the beauty of it is that these 'old, slow' boxes that are
> > 'worthless' because they won't run w98 etc. run just fine on
> > FreeBSD/Linux/Unix systems, right?

	Or they're old server machines that can't be updated to Windows 2000, like
my old Firewall.  Seems that the company that used to use her wanted to go
to 2000 and couldn't.  Their loss, my gain.  Dual Pentium box makes for a
hell of a firewall, even if it is only clocking 266 MHz total.

> > Lute Mullenix wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Well, you may or may not believe this, but it just so happens
> that I have
> > > FreeBSD 4.1.1 installed on a 486/66 with 20MB of ram and a
> 1.5GB drive, CD
> > > and ethernet card. Only installed it a few days ago, had
> Linux on it up till
> > > then. Now are you ready for this? My brother and I found it
> sitting outside
> > > the county hwy dept shop. They were throwing it away, so I
> got it for $0.00.
> > > Went to Walmart and picked up a $15.00 keyboard and a $9.00
> mouse, my bro
> > > tossed in an old SVGA monitor that had been collecting dust
> for a couple of
> > > years. So for $24 plus tax, license, dealer prep, and options I had my
> > > Linux/FreeBSD machine.

	Doesn't really surprise me one bit.  486 processor, decent amount of RAM
and a hard drive... makes for a decent little machine.

	Ahh... memories of my days of scraping systems together (still doing it,
although, it takes bigger scrapes these days... :)

> > > I mention this because since then I have come across a couple
> of other guys
> > > that have gotten similar deals with low end (75/90) Pentium
> machines from
> > > office and university upgrades. Since they are basicly worth
> nothing, and it
> > > costs money to dispose of them, they just give they to
> whoever wants them.
> > > Another option might be state or school actions. The state
> prison in South
> > > Dakota just upgraded all their system, and all the old stuff
> went to state
> > > auction, heard there were complete systems going for as
> little as $25. Wish
> > > I had known about it. So keep your eyes and ears open, you
> may come out
> > > better than you thought you could.

	Another thing to look out for is firesales put on by Dot.Bombs that need to
liquidate in order to pay their bills.  You can get some pretty kick a$$
hardware out of those places, since they spared no expense.  And who really
cares if the machine was top of the line 2 or even 3 years ago, if it'll run
with the "big dogs" of the here and now?

--- Andy Hornback
Owner & Lead Technician, R&R Computers


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