[ale] Any suggestions for cost effective computing.

[Byron A Jeff]

I'll respond to everything all together...

>-------------------------
>From: KingBahamut <gwosbahamut at gmail.com>
>
>Koala - http://system76.com
>-------------------------

$500 is too costly.

>----------------------------
>$500. Too costly.
>
>Used iMac running OSX 10.3
>---------------------------

An idea I actually considered when I saw Surplus Computers selling iMacs for
$49 and $99. It turns out they was bastards with souped up MB. The reports
I read were that they were dogs and to avoid at all cost.

I actually have a Mac 6400 PowerPC that I bought off a table at a school fair
for $20. I got a VGA adapter. However it doesn't have a ADB keyboard/mouse.
Probably too old and slow to do anything effective.

The other issue is that since I'm way more up to speed on Linux than OSX
I'd prefer to have a Linux box. I'll be the system manager.

------------------------------
>From: Magical Floppy Man <fd0man at gmail.com>
>If Flash is the only requirement, then all you need to do is use a
>32-bit browser on the 64-bit system.  There are a couple of ways to do
>this; under Ubuntu (and probably Debian) you can setup a 32-bit chroot
>environment where you can run "firefox32" that runs a firefox out of the
>32-bit chroot environment, and shares the home directory.  All you have
>to do, then, is change the desktop links that run Firefox.
>
>http://process-of-elimination.net/wiki/Ubuntu_32bit_CHROOT_for_AMD64
>works, though IIRC, I had to do some trial-and-error with it when I used
>that setup.
------------------------------

Flash isn't the only requirement, but a critical one. Truth of the matter I'm
probably going to have to explore running the Windows version of Firefox
with Wine along with the Flash plugin. It's just terrible that Adobe is
being so insistant to doing Linux development in a Cathedral. They refuse
to release an alpha of their current Linux Flash Player, and won't be
releasing a beat for another 3-4 months.

------------------------------
>From: "James P. Kinney III" <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
>
>Get the 64-bit system and use 32 bit OS.=20
>
>Or use the 64-bit OS but get the 32-bit Firefox. It works just fine.
-----------------------------
I somehow apt-get upgraded my Debian Sarge to AMD64. That's when my own
Flash troubles started. I real about the chrooted 32 bit environment. It
seems almost as complicated as the Wine/Windows Firefox/Flash solution
which will get me Flash 9.

This isn't my machine, and truthfully it really isn't for my MiL. My kids
will be the primary users and that's why Flash is high up on the list.

-----------------------------
>From: Jeff Hubbs <hbbs at comcast.net>
>
>Under Gentoo, if you use the binary-only mozilla-firefox-bin package
>instead of the source-only mozilla-firefox package on AMD64, I think you
>get the Flash plugin as part of the package.  That used to not be so and
>was a major irritant with desktop Gentoo on AMD64.
----------------------------

No chance of switching to Gentoo. I'm sticking with Debian.

----------------------------
>From: "Brian D. Pitts" <bpitts at LearnLink.Emory.Edu>
>
>Be wary of the ECS motherboards that many of these combos include; I've read
>lots of reports of poor video and memory compatibility. 
>
>Below is the cheapest "combo" I could come up with in 5 minutes on Newegg.
>
>Athlon 64 3000+ (Socket 939, Venice) $64
>Asus A8N-VM (nForce 410 w/ onboard graphics) $63
>Kingston ValueRAM (2 x 256MB DDR 400) $57
>
>At $184 it's a bit pricier than what you've found for sale. It's also only $90
>less than Dell's cheapest desktop.
----------------------------
>
>From: Christopher Fowler <cfowler at outpostsentinel.com>
>
>Also Dell includes a LCD, CD-ROM, HDD, Floppy?  The Dell has a good
>price if you consider them disposable computers.  My wife's grandmother
>is in need of a new PC with WinXP.  I used to get them at Ginstar and
>take them to her but this time I just told her to get a Dell.  She wants
>an LCD anyway and there is no way I can get the same from Ginstar that
>includes a LCD.
----------------------------

Well I really didn't need to buy a whole machine. I have a 200 GB IDE
drive laying around. I also purchased a 17" flat screen Sony CRT from the
Goodwill for $10.

I just pricewatched something in the ballpark of Brian's specs. There were
boards that were $50 cheaper with the dreaded ECS and Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9
and MSI K8NGM2-L boards. Any opinions.

BAJ