What to do with five 486s?

[SUOrangeman]

Five 486s have been donated to my church as a part of its Information Technology initiative. No real treats (we just purchased some treats, but that's another story). Standard fare 486-50, 16MB, 500MB HD, no sound, no CD, 14" monitor.

The treats we just purchased were Celeron 400s (64MB, 4GB HD, 17" KDS *Trinitron*monitors) for $300 each. Now that we have these, we can't figure out something *useful* to do with the 486s. The new machines will be networked and so forth, while the 486s will likely not be.

Can anyone think of some good uses for the 486s? One possibility is to use one as a Linux firewall if we decided to open up to the 'net. But, what about the other four?

I would like to entertain any and all ideas. Obviously, the more useful the suggestion, the better.

-SUO

 

[Soccerman]

RC5! hehe. YEAH! heheh..

 

[IaPuP]

for a church, they might make good "charity" projects.

You can set up Win95 and IE4 on those without too much problem.

And with a 33.6 or 56k modem, you could set someone up with NetZero service and they'd have free internet!!!

I think that would be a very noble cause and would be good for your 'image' too if that's important

Eric

 

[IaPuP]

or perhaps a "public computer lab" with like 4 internet connections for people who can't afford it.

*shrug*

Eric

 

[GT1999]

I'd also run RC5 on 'em. Better than nothing.

 

[chiwawa626]

you guys are little dicks saying run rc5
what you gota do is put the 486's on the network, and get some internet access. It may not be the fastest, but it sure gives some less fortunate kids some place to use computer for research. Im sure the kids or adults would like that better then rc5

 

[Soccerman]

heh I was kidding about RC5, because not only are these 486's (anything helps though), but they belong to a church now! what are THEY going to do with RC5! let alone something like Seti@Home! LOL! I hope Seti@Home doesn't interfere too much with their religion. (you never know, it could be an orthodox church.. those churches are so stubborn!)

"you guys are little dicks saying run rc5" why's that? any power that is supplied is appreciated. the only problem I see with RC5 running, is that this is a church who might not enjoy having RC5 on there. if they don't mind, then it's fine.

I wish I had the courage to ask my teacher at school to get RC-5 running on the computers there.. they just got (at least) 15 new Celeron 500's with 64 megs SDRAM on BX mobo's in the room where I do Cisco Networking, and there's at least 5 computer labs in the school..

man that would contribute a fair amount to our score huh? lets see, an average of about 300mhz P2 processor power (we also have older computers too), multiply by around 100, and you get a fair amount of RC5!

 

[RSI]

I wouldn't run RC5 on them, it's useless and you'd get nowhere with 50MHz 486s.

 

[oblivion2888]

prolly could only do text browsing of the web usign lynx

 

[Soccerman]

486's CAN run Windows 95 for all you who didn't know that. I've had it on one myself! it was slow, but it worked.

 

[SUOrangeman]

C'mon guys! Gimme a lil credit. I'm already running RC5 a 10 machines or so at work!

Anyhoo, we already have about 8 other machines designated for specific use and lab equipment. These 486 are not currently included in that number. I'm just wondering if there is anything useful to gain from these if they are not used a dumb terminals and/or aren't networked to the outside world.

For a minute, I thought about a Beowulf (never set one up) but I think the lack of NICs (and funds for NICs) may put that out of reach.

-SUO

 

[McCarthy]

I've got a 486 in here right now, keep playing with different configs, but with as little as a 486dx-33 and 12 meg of ram it's a PERFECTLY USEABLE machine for browsing the web, checking email, recording/playing back wavs, etc. Running Win95 and IE5.0 currently, old ISA NIC and it's on the cable connection. No, it doesn't play mp3s worth a damn (will with the AMD chip at 160 fine) at the speed you have, but if the church is willing to give you some place to set them up, go for it.

Some uses for the church members I can think of:
First, for software - old and outdated by "our" standards would be great - remember those using the computers there are likely to be people who don't have their own at home, hence don't have as much experience and won't miss the latest and greatest. Best yet, see if church members would be willing to donate their copies of software they don't use anymore.


Word Processing (not everyone has a computer yet) - have a printer available too of course.

Get a simple graphics program so people can make cards/small banners.
Old copy of Printshop would be nice here. A graphics editor like an old copy of Paint Shop Pro would work nice for a machine like that (About 5 meg total I think for PSP3).

Spreadsheet program.

Web browsing (turn java off though)

Email - print up and laminate a tutorial to show people how to sign up for web based email so they can email friends/family/whatever. Make sure autocomplete is turned off in the browser for the passwords.

They may be slow, but for an adult education class in basic computer learning they're plenty fast. Network them so they do have access and see if anyone would be interested in doing an hour a week class some evening.

If there's any space left, put some old DOS games on them to keep the kids busy while the parents are using the treats as you call them.

And so on

Comon guys and gals, I'm sure we can think of other legitimate uses. Not everyone has or needs their own computer, but could get use out of these.

--Mc

 

[Dan]

If I'd had 4-5 486's like those described I'd be a hero. I know a place in SoCal that is looking for a setup like that so they can teach kids typing, etc. They don't even want to have Internet access.

The point is that there are a lot of places like churches, private schools, etc. that would grab those in a heartbeat. Just remember, it's tax-deductible!

 

[CniCE]

Play old video games that don't work on our new machines! Some do but a lot run way to fast and the stupid slow down programs work like crap.

http://www.theunderdogs.org/

Tons of old games =P Starflight, pirates, xcom, MOM, MOO, prince of persia, space quest, all those old timers.

CniCE

 

[Soccerman]

"will with the AMD chip at 160 fine" really? I personally don't know anything about 486's, because when I began working on computers (I got my first one I think 5 years ago!

it was an old 8086, but man, did it ever teach me alot! people aren't kidding about using old computers to learn about them. with newer computers it's nearly impossible to learn anything about DOS, or anything more detailed then what an IRQ is, etc.. a good old machine with DOS and a Dos for Dummies book is what I started on 5 years ago, and now look where I am! lol..

anywho, yeah you could use em for plenty of things, just use your imagination! you could even run Linux on there! free up more CPU time for RC5! hehe.. or if you want, you could put windows 3.1 on there! it's a good speedy (on 486's, becuase it's not so bloated) OS that would be pretty good. however be prepared to think about IRQ's etc when installing devices.

 

[dickdick]

Rip 'em apart and sell them piecemeal on fleabay. The 72 pin memory probably is the most valuable part. Have buyers make their checks or paypal to the church.

 

[Vincent]

You can get used ISA NICs for $5 each.

These NE2000 compatible cards are only $3.79:

http://www.pcliquidator.com/nic2003.htm

I've never ordered from these people before, but it looks like they're not interested in providing much after-purchase support.

 

[Sephiroth_IX]

I think you should try and get up a basic game and make a tiny network for kids to play on. Or you could donate them to the needy, although i think this would be a less intelligent option because it would be far too difficult to choose which people, and you might step on some toes.

 

[Soccerman]

heh games... you COULD run warcraft 2 on those.. though this is a church...

 

[403Forbidden]

pimpwars

 

[hans007]

there is that one browser that fits on one floppy with a custom OS, you could use that, its supposed to run on a 386. Has a tcp/ip stack and everything. Or you could install win 3.1 , and get the win 3.1 version of opera. And you'd still be ok.

 

[Adul]

Skeet shooting anyone?

 

[xtreme2k]

486/50 give out max of 15blocks of RC5 PER DAY

from my point of view

a waste of electricity more than anything

just use those 486 as some internet station with win3.1 or 95
should be enough for casual internet use or wordprocessing

 

[PowerJoe]

I've recently setup a 486 for net access:
486DX100, 32MB RAM, VLB display card, 14" monitor, 400MB HD, no CD/sound, 33.6 modem, Win95, IE5
It's used by people who wouldn't have any Internet access otherwise. They use it mainly to access their Hotmail accounts. This machine is much faster than trans-Atlantic snail-mail... It's constantly in use, and I believe it hold the record in benefit-per-computing-power rating.

-PJ

 

[vanderStoep]

You could sell them for a couple of bucks or organise a lottery or something and then use that money for good cause.