Hello everyone,

I originally started my quest by purchasing a used IBM thinkpad 240X off of ebay. I thought it was time for my own computer but did not want to pay full price for a new one. When I got it, I found that the power jack was broken so it could not charge its own battery. So I used it chained to the wall with Win 2k for a while until I really started to learn about Linux.

Along the way I also purchased a Jornada 720 and 690 and the Toshiba portege 610CT I have mentioned in another post.

The main point is that none of these seem to satisfy my needs or ideals both. Ideally I want no non-Free software, which knocks out all but 6 or so distros. Unfortunately they are not very floppy-friendly. The IBM and Toshiba only have floppy drives, no optical. The Toshiba as I've said in the other post is too old to be really useful so I have ruled it out as just a project/toy.

The IBM seems to have broken after a supposedly successful Debian floppy/network install. I can't even get into the BIOS- before anything can happen it seems to go into sleep mode.

The Jornadas run JLime Linux fine, but I'm not sure if their distro is fully free or not.

I presented you with all this info to illustrate my feeling of failure. It seems like all the laptops i've bought fall short.

So my question is, should I look for another cheap laptop on ebay, or work with what I have? I could see how much it would cost to fix the IBM or try my hardest to get a free distro on the Toshiba or verify the free-ness of JLIme.

Or, should I quit the quest and use fully-Free distos on the Desktop only?

When purchasing used equipment I usually opt for someplace like Intechra where they go through and TEST the equipment before they resell it. They provide complete specs on the system. Most equipment they have comes from a Corporations doing updates, Which means there was nothing wrong with it to begin with, the company that sold the equipment was just doing it's standard upgrade as part of their PC refresh program.

Ebay, and sites like it are a crap shoot. You may get a great deal, but then again you may get stuck with a broken piece of equipment if you didn't read the description close enough.

I've had great success with Intechra, including if I received a computer that was DOA or had an issue. they were prompt at getting me a replacement part or PC to keep me satisfied. There are other companies siomilar to Intechra if you search around a bit you will find them. here are a few but I have never dealt with any of these companies.. please do your own research before placing any orders.
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Hardware/Used/
http://www.pcretro.com/
http://www.affordablecomputers.com/pages/
http://www.erpcsales.com/
http://www.compuoutlet.com/

Now if the laptop you purchase used is a Dell theres a great site that provides almost any part imaginable for Dell laptops.
http://www.parts-people.com/ I've purchased additional batteries, Hard drive trays, DVD Burners, replacement power supplies, replacement plastic body parts for the laptop case.. they have it all at a reasonable price.

Best of luck in your search.


Some of these companies also sell parts... you may be able to find the parts you need for your broken systems..

You asked for advice, so my advice is the following:

1) First, try to debug the issues with the computers you have now. At first, don't worry about distros being 100% fully FLOSS distro. No distro can truly be that way, even if they report that they are, they are just closer than the rest. As long as you can see the source code, you have no reason to worry. What kind of things are you worried about, which particular programs or libraries ?

Anyway, try several distros, even Window$, and see if there are hardware issues with the machines or whether there are software issues (usually misconfiguration).

No laptop is too old to be useful, just try a lighter distro.

2) Second, don't you think you'd save money if you went out and bought yourself a real, new, computer instead of wasting your money on junk from ebay that will never add up in value to a new computer ? There are cheap, new computers out there, many even that come with Linux installed or choice of no operating system, and one that come with a warranty and that come intact without missing parts or broken pieces.

This is just my advice, take it or leave it. May the force be with you

Used Laptops almost never save you any money....just a piece
of advice from over 20 years of messing with computers. Older
Laptops are really just tools...not toys and dont have the
capacity that current laptops have. Many
times even a used PC is a waste. Build or BUY new...so that you
don't have to deal with outdated tech...like floppies. Most
of the distros have a floppy install, I am currently using
open-suse...and the redhat release that I used to run also had
the option. Get to a machine ...friend or what-have-you that
can download and create the floppies for you. If it ran under
Win2k without problems then it will most likely run under
Linux...though Linux is not as forgiving in regards to
marginal hardware.
So far as software..I have not seen any function I could not
perform with linux with Open software...there is a good
selection, of high quality software available. I very seldom
boot into windows...even though I have it installed. It is
still needed for some games...Would like to see a lineageII
client for linux. I would not worry so much about which
distro as long as you like it, can use and understand it
and it works on your machines. Look for a lightweight distro
as has been previously mentioned......just another repetitive
opinion!!!Good Luck!!