Darkelve Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Hi, our company is offering "old" computers for sale for €75 VAT included. I just wanted to does anyone use one of these and are they any good? I am considering buying one to install a Linux version on. Here are the specs: Brand : IBM Type : 300PL Model : 6862-850 Pentium II 400 MHz RAM : 64 MB Hard Disk : 4 GB L2 Cache : 512 KB Disk Drive 1,44 Mb Ethernet on Board No cd-rom (Damn. I believe it does have, however, 2 usb ports). No Windows (what would I want that for anyway :P) No software (I'll have that fixed soon :) ) No support after sales (I won't be needing it :D ) No guarantee Note from our IT people: We want to emphasise that these are aged and certainly not suited for heavier graphical applications or games. [hmm... I wonder how Frozen Bubble will run on it, lol ] Delivered with keyboard, mouse and 15" color screen (I guess it's always handy to have those, even if the box itself doesn't get used much) So what do you think/advise? I'd appreciate a quick response, since there are only 20 of those things. Darkelve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 for a very basic linux system, it would work but you'll probably want to up the RAM to atleast 128MB if you plan on using a heavy DE (KDE/GNOME), but 64MB may work if you use a light WM (fluxbox, etc.) I have no idea what €75 is in USD, so I couldn't tell you if it's worth the money ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Well, not bad for routers etc. I have a similar spec'ed machine running right now No X at all (actually its installed but not used) All admin is done by webmin, including backups etc. You cant really go wrong for E75 !! if you fancy making a wifi router or about 1001 other things. If nothing else get one and use it as your internet connection. Incidently with a DXR-3 card you might get reasnable performance for mplayer. My Xbox has 64MB on a PII633 and manages xine and Mplayer OK :D It struggles a little with KDE .... etc. Anyway, it will make a great web/mail server + firewall etc. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I have no idea what €75 is in USD, so I couldn't tell you if it's worth the money ;) Roughly $93 US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 I'd like to have a test system instead of breaking Linux on my main computer every week, so I'd like to do that. A few problems: 1)I'm a perpetually-broke college student 2)there's no room in my room for that, even if I do the laundry :P 3)I live 10,000 kilometers from you guys 4)But I might be able find some things in the scrapheap...EDO RAM? uh...here's a 10mbps ethernet card... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 To be honest, I find it an acceptable price, but not a bargain. I got a PII 350MHz with all the RAM I could fit in (384MB), plus 6GB drive and cdrom; ethernet and audio onboard, AGPcard, all this for less than 35euro. Ok, it was a compaq and I would say you're likely better off with the IBM... It's just not 'a one time deal', imho. In any case, what kind of graphics card is in there? Could you upgrade to something nicer? Beware, agp 4 cards don't work in agp1 slots, they can break the machine/mobo. Also: can you get more memory? It will really not be fun with just 64MB. And a bigger hard drive too. I'd say: check well to what point you may be able to upgrade it, maximum memory, fastest cpu that will fit (find those on scrapheaps...), etcetc. BTW I turned mine in to a file/internet/p2p/print/scanner/audio server. Runs no X, but does run 2 vnc sessions. Not too slow either (except when hashing...). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghil Vertefeuille Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 hmmm...just for the record, I ran mandrake 9.1 with KDE on a 133 mhz with 40 meg of ram...it lagged, but it worked. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinkliberty Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 If you run run a lightweight WM like fluxbox or blackbox it should be OK. Running gnome or kde will be a struggle. It would make a nice firewall/router or web/email server running linux as long as you are using static webpages with no ssl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 darkelve I probably have some spare EDO ram and stuff and definately a spare CD rom drive etc. IF you do spend the money then don't expect to run X. (you might get away with it but it won't be enjoyable) .... Let me know what you need and ill see what postage is to Belgium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghil Vertefeuille Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 like I said...it will be ok. If you're running fluxbox, there will be no problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 It's a PII 400, fast enough to do dvd playback. And I think it does not need/support edo ram, those are from the P1 days... more likely PC66 memory. Actually, I have seen reports of full screen divx playback on PII 400 with kernel 2.6 without jerkiness. Don't know what videocard they had though, and whether or not it was true... I think with more ram, you can run kde fine, with 64MB, go for icewm, fluxbox, blackbox etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 aRTee, I think it depends on the graphcs card a lot and the driver. Many like the nvidia have the MPGEG2 decoding built in! Without X it shouldn't be a problem though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted March 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 (edited) I don't think it has a graphics card. At least not with 3D-accelleration with the Nvidia or Ati ones... Perhaps I COULD make a better deal somewhere. Question is: WHERE? Any Belgians know?? Edited March 19, 2004 by Darkelve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Darkelve, Its not the deal of the centuary BUT its convenient! i.e. Its right where you are. You don't need to go anywhere to find stuff, etc. etc. For a box, power supply, keyb, mouse and monitor 70E is OK. the bottom line for me is WHAT will you use it for. You won't be happy using it as a second PC becuase even with flux it will still be slowish. If you wanna DSL router, web server/firewall whatever then its fine. You might get it for E35 ... but you have to go looking every weekend! Personally Id have it but I can afford to waste 70E !(at the moment) If your bothered over the difference you might get one for 35E then leave it !!! Use it as a HW router but with web serbver and email etc. Thats a couple of months DSL charges with wanadoo .....???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted March 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 (edited) You mean I can set up my own webserver with this old box? That would be fun. I've been trying to learn apache for a long time now, so... Btw what do you mean use it as a HW router? Edited March 19, 2004 by Darkelve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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