- David L Norris
- Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Semi-topical babble about Radio, Computers, Linux, Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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2005-05-27
Inexpensive Linux Machines subsidized by Earthlink...
You know, normally I dislike the idea of bundling Internet Service with a computer. But, maybe it could be a good thing for people with limited funds. Earthlink is offering deep discounts on Microtel desktop Linux and laptop Linux computers.
The subsidized systems always seemed pointless with MSN and AOL in the past. You had to sign up for like 3 years and then the lousy computer you got still cost a fortune and probably didn't even last 3 years. After about 2 months the person realized exactly why the Internet service was subsidizing computers, the service sucked.
These low end Linux machines are so cheap that just about anyone could stretch their money one month or two and afford the thing. One year isn't a terribly long time to be stuck with their service. The Microtel computers are what I'd consider fairly lousy quality but for $70 they're way more than adequate for most people. Earthlink's Internet service seems to be quite reliable and inexpensive. All in all, it should be a winning combination.
Apparently you will have to buy a monitor if you don't have one. But a used monitor is extremely cheap these days. Find a thrift shop, Goodwill, computer shop that sells used stuff, etc. Used 15 and 17 inch CRT monitors are going for $20-$30 every day. I recently bought a 19 inch CRT monitor for $50 that has minimal wear on the CRT.
How can you tell if the CRT on a computer monitor is worn out? Plug in the monitor and turn it on. You don't even need a computer plugged in unless it is a monitor that immediately goes into a power saving mode. I have an ancient laptop I use just to light up old monitors. Crank both the brightness and contrast up to 100%. At 100% brightness the the screen should turn whitish-gray if the CRT is not worn out. (Any color other than whitish-gray is bad. Brown is bad. Any shade of red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow mean the CRT is probably shorted. Black means either the CRT is worn out or some internal adjustment is out of whack.) For normal usage set the contrast to 100% and adjust the brightness down from 100% just to the point where black turns black. A good CRT should run around 70%-90% on the brightness depending on how much it has been used.
The subsidized systems always seemed pointless with MSN and AOL in the past. You had to sign up for like 3 years and then the lousy computer you got still cost a fortune and probably didn't even last 3 years. After about 2 months the person realized exactly why the Internet service was subsidizing computers, the service sucked.
These low end Linux machines are so cheap that just about anyone could stretch their money one month or two and afford the thing. One year isn't a terribly long time to be stuck with their service. The Microtel computers are what I'd consider fairly lousy quality but for $70 they're way more than adequate for most people. Earthlink's Internet service seems to be quite reliable and inexpensive. All in all, it should be a winning combination.
Apparently you will have to buy a monitor if you don't have one. But a used monitor is extremely cheap these days. Find a thrift shop, Goodwill, computer shop that sells used stuff, etc. Used 15 and 17 inch CRT monitors are going for $20-$30 every day. I recently bought a 19 inch CRT monitor for $50 that has minimal wear on the CRT.
How can you tell if the CRT on a computer monitor is worn out? Plug in the monitor and turn it on. You don't even need a computer plugged in unless it is a monitor that immediately goes into a power saving mode. I have an ancient laptop I use just to light up old monitors. Crank both the brightness and contrast up to 100%. At 100% brightness the the screen should turn whitish-gray if the CRT is not worn out. (Any color other than whitish-gray is bad. Brown is bad. Any shade of red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow mean the CRT is probably shorted. Black means either the CRT is worn out or some internal adjustment is out of whack.) For normal usage set the contrast to 100% and adjust the brightness down from 100% just to the point where black turns black. A good CRT should run around 70%-90% on the brightness depending on how much it has been used.
Labels: linux