Re: [PLUG] Procuring Portable Penguin Power while pinching pennies?

[brent saner <brent.saner@gmail.com>]

Floyd Johnson wrote:
> I'm hoping you find this relevant, and are therefore game for the topic.

i'm all for it! great topic. i cannot speak for the other members though..
> My goal is to acquire a laptop for my mum within a year. She has 
> suggested that, despite having saddled herself with AOL, she'd be 
> willing to learn to use a Linux machine, provided it can be configured 
> to make up for her poor eyesight and provide Internet multimedia so as 
> to catch the TV shows she missed via the broadcast networks' servers.
have you decided on a distro yet? (no, this is not an opening to start a 
distro flamewar, or even "she should use...". please don't.)
it's the hardest step, i'd say. take some time with your mom and sit 
down with her and take her through a couple different distros' live 
discs/VMs. let her get a feel for each one.

> Historically, I've bought used laptops that at maximum RAM and CPU, 
> barely contained Taroon and Dapper, but, counting shipping, never cost 
> me more than $300.
> The question is whether to, for my mum's proposed rig, (1) look for a 
> high-caliber used laptop, praying for Moore's Law to work in my favor 
> -the "Internet hoopty" strategy (2) hunt up a firm that specializes in 
> "Tux-tops" and/or blank notebooks, or (3) find parts from various 
> places and build the crate myself (digital gearheading)?
it's hard to find a "usable" laptop still on sale at a decent price this 
close to christmas; most of them were GONE off the shelves after black 
friday.

however, i would definitely have to suggest making a visit to the following:

http://www.linux-laptop.net/
http://mcelrath.org/laptops.html
http://www.tuxtops.com/
http://www.thelinuxlaptop.com (exclusively dell with pre-installed 
linux, it would seem)


and linux.org has a nice (if not out-of-date) collection here: 
http://www.linux.org/hardware/laptop.html


--
Brent Saner
215.264.0112(cell)
215.362.7696(residence)

http://www.thenotebookarmy.org

Bill Gates is to hacking as Sid Vicious was to the Sex Pistols: no talent, everyone hates him, and he's just in it for the fame and money.

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