[KLUG Members] Re: KLUG's 501(c)(3) status

[Jamie McCarthy]

bruce@armintl.com (Bruce Smith) writes:

> Sure, we might be able to use some SCSI cables.

Whenever you get around to it, email me a list privately.

> > I've been wondering for a while -- would it be valuable for
> > KLUG to have one or two low-end machines with largish
> > (17"+) monitors, to bring in to meetings?
> 
> I think that's a very good idea.  Instead of bringing them to
> meetings, we should leave them there.

Is it a problem to have them sitting in WMU's Computer Club room
doing nothing (or being played with :) six days out of the week?
Does the CC have a policy about that?

Note, this pretty much depends on the CC having a room near to
KLUG's meeting room -- if KLUG gets moved halfway across campus,
any demo machine better be a laptop.

> As far a machine to demo installs, it should have a fast
> CDROM drive and enough CPU power to complete an install in a
> reasonable amount of time. The meetings are only two hours
> long . . .    :-)

Ha, yes.

As a ballpark, last month I put together a 1.2 GHz Duron system with
512 MB RAM and 60 GB HD for about $600 shipped.  That's with a
well-ventilated case, NIC, and CD-ROM, but without keyboard/mouse/
monitor.  A cheap-but-good-enough system might cost as little as
half that.

Or, $400 will buy a nice Linux-compatible Wal-Mart 1-GHz PC with a
warranty, keyboard, and mouse, and no worrying about assembling parts
(except they need a NIC and a monitor):

<http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product_listing.gsp?cat=86798&dept=3944&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A86798&bti=0&sb=61>
<http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/05/02/1514240&tid=7>

And, geez, I'm seeing new, good-quality 19" monitors on Pricewatch
for under $200 shipped.

If anyone's interested in going in on such a contribution, email me
privately (maybe several people can each buy a part, or the total cost
can be split n ways, or something).  Now that KLUG is 501(c)(3), it's
tax deductible!