MicroCenter Systems

[Charles Steinkuehler]

> MicroCenter is selling OS'less systems for $99. The package includes a
> monitor and PC, spec'ed at:
>
>  - Pentium 100mhz
>  - 35mb RAM
>  - 1.7gb HDD
>  - FDD
>  - No CD-ROM
>  - NIC
>
> Assuming I have a CD-ROM drive, can this system run a modern distro of
> Linux? I'm looking for either:
>
> A) a home/office machine with StarOffice and a GUI, or
> B) a command-line-only httpd/ftp server with all the bells and
whistles
> (php, mySQL, Perl, etc).
>
> These machines worth $100?

It depends a lot on the monitor.  A year or so ago, I paid $20 for
several HP Pentium-75 systems with FDD and 16 Meg of RAM (No CD-ROM, no
HDD).  I've also typically paid $70-80 for a working, used 15" svga
monitor (1024x768 capable, but illegible at anything over 800x600).

These days, you can probably get much faster hardware for $20-30 used,
and you can probably pick up the monitors separately, if required.  With
the CPU unit being apx 1/4 of the price of the system by my estimation,
you're definitely at the point in the price-curve where spending another
$20, or carefully shopping around, could get you a system many times
more powerful.

Also, I'd make sure the systems can boot from CD-ROM before you buy.
I've found this *WAY* too useful to be without, especially on hardware
that I'm typically using for test systems, and/or doing frequent
experimental re-installs.  Of course, if you just want to let the
systems run for ages w/o upgrading, you might not care, but it's
something to consider.

Charles Steinkuehler
charles at steinkuehler.net