On Aug 1, 2:34*pm, Bill wrote:
Someone has sent me this question

"Do you have any sources who could source 25 very simple
*reconditioned heavy laptops which could run from a wireless network and
*run only word, excel and powerpoint?"

I assume he wants the machines to come with the Microsoft applications
and licences, and I assume the "heavy" is to make walking more
difficult.

Has anyone any recommendations or other suggestions? I think it's
probably for a school or youth association.

That is a very strange request. Presumably there is a problem with
space?

Old equipment required oodles of desktop space. And soring them after
class is a nightmare without a room dedicated to them.

However a lot of reconditioned Compaq stuff and similar are fairly
small units for their P2 and 3 boxes. If you can get them all ytou
wiould have to spend on is some not too old thin monitors. You might
find them at car boots but obviously not in bulk at car-boots.

Here is a recycling charity that I know is very good for what they
attempt:
http://www.terc.org.uk/

Failing that it is a matter of scouring computer ads and computer
fairs.

If you make enquiries to recyclers you could ask for computer with the
MS license stickers if any and they will also clean the hard drive and
install Linux or if you require it Windows. You'd have to pay for
Windows on a box that doesn't have the license for the OS required.

You might consider Damn Small Linux and Tiny Core Linux. But software
suggestions can be never ending and they would be pointless without
some idea of what is needed.

With the smaller OSs the distro tends to come with the smallest
effective software such as AbiWord and a stand alone spread sheet
rather than full blooded office suites.

More complete modern Linux distros are designed to make the most of
modern hardware and not good with old stuff. Here is some stuff I
prepared earlier:

http://my.opera.com/Weatherlawyer/bl...omment94089852