Hey everyone,

I've heard from multiple sources that nowdays you can get old laptops for as low as $50 to $100.
Granted you get what you pay for.
But hey, I was thinking I could install a scaled down version of Linux on there and use it for
surfing and or document writing.

But does anyone know where to find these? Froogle didn't have anything that low, and I havn't been able to win on Ebay. I was thinking Goodwill or something.
Any Ideas. Or maby even Locations if you live in L.A. area.

Thanks,
-Matthew

The laptops you will get in that price range are not suitable even for the simple tasks you contemplate. They are typically 486 machines with 8MB of RAM (or less), and 512MB (or smaller; yes one-half gigabyte) hard drives. No CD, only a floppy, no network connection. They will run a floppy-based Linux, but are minimally usable (you can make a print server, for example, by adding a network card). If you have the parts laying around, they can be a cheap alternative, but they are not what you think of as a usable laptop. They are more of a really big, slow, embedded system. Windows 95 is about the best GUI you can run on them; X is not an option.

Laptops for the activity you are describing are available for $250-$300, and they are not hard to find. I don't consider them much of a bargain, since really nice last generation machines are typically available for about $700 (I recently bought one in that price range: P4M 1.7GHz, 512MB Ram, 40GB HD, Nvidia 1600x1200).

clicky clicky

I've gotten a few machines from these folks in the past couple of years. They're up front about any problems and their prices are superb.

I'd go to an internet auction service (like eBay). At least here in Finland Pentium Class laptop can be easily bought at 50 euros (about $60) from these.

I've tried Abiword with P120 and 32MB RAM and it worked like a charm. You will have problems with www browsers, though. I'd try console-based lynx or elinks.