[geeks] Hello, my name is Ken, and I am a...

[Ken Hansen]

This morning, on my way in to work, the town my office is in is having a "big pick-up" (this is when the trash man will take away anything *reasonable* left on the curb, i.e. no water heaters). On my short jaunt through town I counted no less than 5 IBM XT/AT clones stacked next to various trash piles, and I was tempted to stop and take a look. There was also a Mac IIx (yes, I got close enough to see the model number)...

I have a problem.

I need a 12 step program.

I actually slowed down to look at the first XT clone I saw, then sped up and made a snide remark about the 3 folks i the pick-up truck that had slowed down to examine the next trash pile.

I can rationalize that I really have no use for an XT or AT class machine, but a 486 still would give pause. About a year ago I got a UPS (500 VA) and a Compaq 486 w/3Com nic and CD-ROM/sound card that work great (but with minimal RAM, I think 16 or 24 Meg). Looks like a nice, no-cost Linux Router Project "kit" to me ;^).

At TCF last weekend, I turned up my nose at a $15 Sun Classic with RAM/HD, so I have defined a lower-limit to the machines I will "rescue" (486 or greater, better than Classic/LX) -what are other peoples minimums?

If I spotted an SS/5, SS/10 or better, I'd pick it up w/o reservation - but I don't think anything slower would make me pause...

Ken