Re: Intro

["Hans Sittler" <babar@earthlink.net>]

> Date:          Wed, 9 Dec 1998 13:34:03 -0600 (CST)
Another intro - I have been watching for only about a week.  I am the 
just starting a computer club for K -5 at my son's school, with the 
aim of starting the kids with Logo and looking at the computer as a 
machine rather than a software platform - as this is a club and not a 
class I have the luxury of telling the kids that if they're not 
interested they can go do something else.  I really think the normal 
edutainment stuff is a waste of time - of my time, anyway.

I am responding to this message because I also think that there's a 
lot of older equipment that I can get donated and that would work 
well if configured as terminals.
> 
> Lastly, I'm trying to figure out ways to use older equiptment. It wasn't
> that long ago when I thought a 486-100 was a super-computer, and now I'm
> using a 486-120 and people think I'm in the dark ages.  Well the same
> situation exists for 386s, 286s, and downwards. XTs and 286s won't run
> Linux, but they could be useful still.  Transform them into Terminals and
> FTP boxes and you've found a use for an old machine. I've seen articles
> describing how to take old 386s and 486s and turn them into Xterms using
> Linux, and apparently it's worked out quite well at some universities.
> It'd be a good use for them seeing as how they just aren't going to be
> popular running Windows 95. Anyway, there's no sense wasting this old
> hardware that could be put to use.  The question then is what software is
> available that would allow a DOS machine to talk TCP/IP, run telnet and
> FTP, maybe even do NFS mounts.

I'd love to try this, as XTs and 286s are pretty much free now, but 
I'm not being offered even 386s.  There are a number of low-income 
kids in the club who don't have anything at home at all, and the 
school doesn't have either the equipment or the space to help with 
this.  I'm thinking of setting up one machine with Linux and getting 
the rest to connect either locally or by modem.  Any information will 
be gratefully received.
Hans Sittler