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http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AV49VN&sou rceid=00384104774967759786

So i took the processor, along with the box, instruction manual and packets of some "thermal paste" (whatever that is) and chucked them all out the window

You must be the guy who dropped an retail box edition AMD 1700XP+ on my head. In all fairness to your claim I have found that AMD fans clog up rather quickly. Mine clogged in under 6 months. I've actually had similar luck with intel's solution.

If you have an AMD fan it's highly reccomended that you upgrade... This is what I use to adapt 80mm fans to the AMD sync. Because AMD uses machine screws there is no chance of it falling off, the airflow is higher and the noise lower.

I don't know where the $89 system is, but the closest I can find is the Geekit:

Geekit

And that's $199. Don't forget the RAM too, though it does have the keyboard and mouse, though only PS/2. Not a bad price, but it's not a Mac either, I already have PCs that are a lot better than that. That said, I wouldn't buy a Mac to run linux or a plain BSD, I'd buy it for OS X. In my opinion, as a desktop OS, OS X as a whole is lightyears ahead of any Linux or other BSD I've seen.

THIS is what they should have sold over there. This is a 16MB Handheld PDA w/Built-in 56K Modem people! And the price (which is the most important thing) is BELOW 25 BUCKS.

The original article is here.

Don't forget geeks.com The website isn't that pretty, but sometimes you can find a pretty sweet deal on computer stuff.

On the other hand, you could get a Pentium III (or another equally distasteful brand) for $200 from geeks.com and just replace the whole damn show.

Abandonware becomes a problem simply because of the differences in the expectations of the corporate authors and that of the end users.

The entire point of intellectual property, from a corporate point of view, is to allow a company to continualy gather profits from something even after its been left abandoned (eg Sim Earth).

As an end user I would --love-- to be able to buy a copy of Sim Earth, especialy one designed to take advantage of hardware/software developments in the last 10 years or so. Unfortunately, Sim Earth was abandoned.

Now we end users have built into our minds this concept of depreciation. Go to www.geeks.com and check out the price on a 386 processor, less than a dollar! It sure was a hell of a lot more expensive than Sim Earth was at the time wasn't it?

What it really boils down to is that we're willing to pay for software that the "owners" are willing to keep up to date. Software depreciates just like hardware does.

Sell this stuff at a price that reflects its age, keep it up to date, or give it away for free. I think those are the only options that will fly with this readership.

Computer Geeks has nice prices and a good selection. Sometimes they have simply incredible bargains, but they sell out very quickly, so you have to pay attention. I've ordered from them a couple of times, and they are a bit slow, but OK otherwise. -pm

Best I found was this page: Rob's Home Automation Page which mentions a few possible choices. I'm working on some other software to build a computer in my fridge for this purpose. Electrolux has a prototype of a similar design called a Screenfridge Now this would be a cool Linux project! e-mail, ipmasq, firewall, home automation, alarm systems, etc. I use Festival for voice synthesis on mine, I just need a good voice recognition module!