Lee Hart wrote:
No. If it is, you aren't doing it right. :-) The essence of "hacking" is to make do with what you can actually get and afford. You don't build a car from new parts; you start with a junked car you got for free, and fix it up with parts from the junkyard. Likewise, you don't buy your computer parts new at full retail. You strip them out of old systems, or get them at hamfests or from surplus dealers.
Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring 814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
You can't beat the price of an apple 2 i guess.But these can't do some of the things kids might be interested in. You couldn't for example learn how to do GUI programming.
You can now buy a new linux box for very little ($200-$400). I also think that Palm Pdas might be interesting for schools. With both of these you could learn a lot about modern operating systems.
People have wrote TV remolt control software for the palm that uses its built in IR. There are also Palm controlled robots. Kids love robots, right?!
The Palm is simple enough so that you can just reset it in the unlikely event that one starts behaving badly.
Glen.