On this free site technically savvy and altruistic geeks list machines they either used themselves and no longer need, or have acquired by some lawful means, then give them away at no cost [other than shipping] to others in the spirit of both open-source kinship and environmentally-friendly recycling.

I tripped over the site by accident last night and was immediately intrigued. My own machine is about eight years old and long overdue for replacement, and this seems the perfect solution; You get a fully functional PC with some flavor of Linux or BSD already installed, at a price you probably couldn’t even match at a Goodwill.

I placed a bid on a machine with a 160Gb primary drive, an 18Gb backup drive, 1Gb of RAM [expandable to 2Gb] and MEPIS 8.5 64-bit installed. Total cost: $29.75, including a keyboard, mouse and power cord.

Recycling perfectly functional machines which are regarded as ‘obsolete’ simply because the installed version of that proprietary OS is no longer in fashion could be a great way to give the unaware masses the chance to discover there’s a viable and powerful alternative to that other system.

The funny thing is, if those same folks tried this with their current OS they’d get sued. But with Linux as the enabling system it’s not only safe, it’s inspired.

I’m now awaiting confirmation of shipping and will keep you all informed of what happens.

Wish me luck…

Photo by: Jakke