The $120 silent PC

I was looking on Craigslist for bargains. Maybe a 300 MHz laptop with 128 MB RAM for $100. Or an 800 MHz desktop for the same $100 -- or less.

What did I find?

A lot of crap from people who are totally deluded as to its value -- if it has any at all.

Laptops with 100 MHz CPUs and 16 MB RAM for $75 -- hey kids, it comes with a Windows 98 disc! Bargain city! This, clearly is a $25 item, again, if it's worth anything at all.

And desktops -- where are the $50 PC desktops out there? It's hard to get rid of these for NOTHING -- even the Salvation Army doesn't want 'em. My very own This Old PC isn't worth $25 -- and on Craigslist I couldn't find anything priced ... to move.

I'd like an old laptop on which to test Linux. But I'll be double-damned if I'm paying $300 for 5-or-more-year-old hardware. If it cost you $600 in the year 2000, it's not worth $300 in 2007 -- it's just plain not.

Hell, Fry's periodically has a new laptop under its "Great Quality" label for $250 or so. No PCMCIA port (come on, now!) no WiFi. But it's a real PC laptop with a new, working battery, USB ports on the back ...

If they can blow out a new laptop for $250, surely you can let a five-year-old one fly for $100 or less. It's not doing you any good molding in your coat closet.

Every once in a while, somebody breaks out of the beige box when it comes to computer hardware. Not just in case color or size, but in conception, execution -- and even price.

Not that it's happening a lot, Apple being the leader when it comes to all the above angles on innovation -- excluding cost, of course, which remains high for Mac hardware.

But on another front, taking inspiration from the Mac Mini for size, from Linux for value, adding the flash-memory version of Puppy Linux, Michael C. Barnes, the Desktop Linux writer whose articles have been so helpful, has a company in Thailand called NorhTec, that specializes in small, rugged, fanless PCs -- one of which costs $120 and can run Puppy Linux from a Compact Flash memory card. (The people behind Damn Small Linux offer a similar setup but it costs $375-$399.)

The Norhtec machine doesn't have a hard drive. But it's $120. Yes, a new PC -- Mac Mini-style -- ready to be connected to your own keyboard, mouse and monitor. It's got USB ports -- so add a drive that way, if you must.

But in any event, you can run Puppy to get on the Internet, write e-mail, do word processing, spreadsheets and more. Remember -- there's no hard disc, no CD-ROM (or CD-R, or DVD), just a Compact Flash plug on the front, USB and Ethernet on the back.

It's a Linux-running Mac mini footprint minus the drives -- and at less than 1/4th the price.