I don’t see how having no money opens up worlds of opportunities. Spending time here is free, meaning it is one of the few good ways I know to spend time without spending money. My other favorite is bike riding, which is nice, but you need a bike first.
Anyways, if you do have to leave, I’ll make sure to leave a light on for you as soon as you can find you way back here.
With the very little I know about the jab’s full situation, I gotta agree with Chas.E to some extent.
jab’s writing ability at the very least tells me that he or she is at the very least intelligent enough to find gainful employment of some kind rather than scrounging for free computers. The library is paid for with public funds and allowing any given person to have two free hours each and every day seems pretty damned generous to me particulary when the time is being used to post to newsgroups. Computer access is not a Constitionally guaranteed right. Why the hell should people have to wait around while you spend the entire day keeping one computer to yourself? Presumeably the rule has to be enforced because of people like you not giving others a chance to use these computers in a public facility.
I am also troubled by the fact that people are suggesting that jab fraudulently obtain computer time at public or private universities. If it’s a public university, tax payer funds are being abused. If it’s a private university, paying customer funds are being abused.
jab might be better served during this “time off” to find work or gain some training to eventually find work that will earn the income necessary to buy the niceties of life. Again, I certainly don’t know all of the details, but if one can get it together enough to go to the library every day and spend eight hours in front of the computer, one can handle an office job of some kind.
Haj
Jab has no gainful employment due to his chronic depression. From what I understand of his situation, it is pretty much impossible for him to really be gainfully employed. I’m pretty sure he’d have thought of employment himself if it were possible.
Just to piss off haj and Chas.E and their like, lets take up a collection to buy a used set up for jab1. I imagine one of us has a used set up gathering dust, they’d be willing to sell on the cheap.
I’ll start it off with ten bucks.
Not as charity, ya understand, just 'cause I value jab’s posts. All but the contribution about John Stossel.
And if he doesn’t like getting out and riding the bus, just name one of your wonderful ideas.
Also jab the problem of not getting incoming calls can be solved with Call Wave http://www.callwave.com/. People were complaining about me being on the internet, until I found it. The cost is $1.00 per month.
It would seem to me that some organization like Salvation Army could supply one for you. That is what they are there for is to help out people in need.
I’ve got an old Pentium 233 (Only runs at 180 Mhz for some reason) just sitting around at home. If my parents decide they want to throw it away, I’m sure I could just give it to you. I could also probably throw in a 15" monitor and keyboard and mouse too.
Not the best machine, but I’d most likely be willing to give it to you.
OK, let’s build a computer for Jab.
I have a 1 gig hard drive, unused, and a completely legitimate copy of Windows 95, and MS Works, with certificates, which I will mail anywhere at my expense to a person with the skills to assemble a one lung internet machine for Jab. I may be able to get a 56K modem, as well, but that won’t be new.
So anyone in LA who can cobble together the donated stuff? Let us know here.
Tris.
Oh, and fuck off, somebody. After all, this is the Pit.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi ~
You could probably find a cheap 486 PC for less than $100. If I recall correctly, Juno (a free ISP) requires at least Windows 95 and IE4. An old 486 should be able to handle that, as long as it had enough HD and enough RAM. (I think 16 megs would be the minimum, and at least a 250 MB HD.) About a year and a half ago, I found a 486 with about those specs (a little less HD) for $100. It had a crappy monitor, and was s-l-o-w, but I got on the Internet with it. I can imagine that a simular PC would cost a lot less now. Really - I think with a bit of scrounging, you could easily find a viable computer for less than $100. Much less, hopefully. People are using 486s like doorstops these days. All you’d need is a phone line, and the old doorstop 486, and you’d be all set!
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t get a lot of use out of old crappy computers. About a year and a half ago, I had a 386 laptop, with mono screen, and 4 (yeah, you read that right, FOUR) megs of RAM. I used the alternative browser Opera (which is very easy on system resources) and was able to (kinda, sorta) limp along on the Internet with it! I had Windows 3.1, of course. I don’t think you want to get something that old (for one thing, Juno won’t run on it) but it just goes to show you - someone else’s throwaway computer could be your answer!
Oh, and I see in preview that Monster has a really nice PC he might be able to part with. An old Pentium would scream! It would be just dandy.
Why on Earth would that piss me off? I replaced my old 166 Mhz machine last year I gave it to a friend of a friend who I have never even met. My friend told me about a friend of his who was a starving student whose computer had died. I gave him my old one the next day.
My only problem with the OP was the indignation that he was getting cut down to a measly two free tax payer supported on line hours a day. I think that that’s generous.
Exactly what the fuck do you mean by “and their like?” It’s very likely that I have donated way more to charity (time and money) in my life than you. It’s a certainty that I have donated way more to charity (time and money) than nine out of ten Americans (not saying much, maybe).
Haj
I will send money to help pay if someone can track down a used computer for Jab. Maybe monster’s family can be encouraged to give up their old 'puter if we can give them some money for it. 
I don’t have any spare computer bits lying around, I’m afraid.
Hey - I have a three or four-year Dell laptop that has some sort of electrical problem. Needed one for work immediately so simply replaced it and didn’t have it diagnosed. It there’s anyone out there who would be willing to diagnose/fix it, I’d be glad to send it to you and when fixed it can be sent on to Jab. If not fixable, it can be used for parts.
Also have an HP DeskJet 682C color printer that works and is gathering dust.
Will also donate ten bucks if that will help.
Just let me know! Forget about the negative responses, Jab. It’s the result of compassionate conservatism we hold so near and dear to us.
Best of luck, Buddy.
So **Gaudere…**would you be willing to e-mail your address to respondents and take care of collecting and dispersing any cash.
I wasn’t meaning to impugn your charitable instincts haj, your comment just seemed somewhat mean-spirited. I apologize, even if it is the pit.
Geez, bare, you sure roll over easy. I was hoping for my first ever pit fight. 
Oh well, apology accepted.
Haj
Does the library have non-internet-connected computers available?
Also, are you allowed to split your allotted two hours into two or more chunks?
If the answers to both of these questions is “yes” (this is the case in Orange County), a jury-rigged solution is at hand.
Log on to the SDMB.
Find all of the threads that interest you, and convert them into printer-friendly versions (the real neat thing about this is that the printer-friendly version isn’t broken up into pages).
Copy the threads onto a floppy disk.
Log off, and note how much time you are entitled to.
Take your floppy over to the word-processing computers, read the threads at your leisure, and create a clipboard full of your responses.
Log on again when ready, post your responses, and start the process over again.
It may take a while to get used to the loss of continuity in your back-and-forth, but it will take US a lot longer to get used to not having your posts around.
Of course, if you CAN get telephone service into your home, I’ll be happy to contribute some time in getting you set up. Anyone may feel free to contact my Hotmail account if necessary (kaylasdad99@hotmail.com no viruses, plase ) to follow up on this.
I dunno about LA, but copying to a floppy doesn’t work in these parts. We’ve got a pseudo-desktop set up over Windows that disables most Windows functions, including saving to a floppy.
My girlfriend is going through one of her periodic bouts of double depression right now, and it ain’t pretty. Let’s just get the man a damn computer. I’ve got an old Acer P 70-something in the garage… I was probably going to toss it, but I can pull the (8MB) RAM and (4GB) hard drive if somebody wants them to build a system.
Yeah, there is NO REASON why jab can’t get a computer. As I said before, a crappy old 486 will get you on the boards. (Until recently, I had a 486 laptop with 24 megs of RAM, it did the Internet like a breeze.) 486s are like Kleenex. Totally disposable. I’d hazard a guess and assume that some people probably are dumping them on the curb, or selling them in garage sales!
And some of you are talking about (gasp!) Pentiums? They’d SCREAM compared to a 486! And a low-end Pentium is probably pretty near Kleenex status as well.
No one should have to do without a computer, as long as they don’t insist on the latest and greatest. (I know Jab wouldn’t care.)
I’m so sorry to hear of your troubles, Jab, even though they sound very familiar. Each life carries its own story but that doesn’t mean any one of 'em isn’t unique.
FWIW, at my library we have schedule 'Net usage by the hour–and the machines are in constant use. It’s horrid but we’ve had screaming, shoving brawls break out over access times. (They’re the exception rather than the rule but illustrative of the need.) We’re setting up a 15 minute “email express” machine to try to bleed off the load.
I understand Chas E.'s point but offer a different perspective–and one won through hard years of frontline public service and scarfifying budget battles. Often libraries fall short, through ineptness or lack of funds, but our underlying credo still rings true: information is a human RIGHT. It’s terrifically hard to draw distinctions between “want to know” and “need to know.” I learned long ago not to prejudge where supposedly ordinary people find the solace, inspiration or information they need–and none of it is predictable.
Computers–and connective systems–are just TOOLS. Forget the ballyhoo, if cost is the issue, take a look at book costs. What about kids carting off hopelessly silly, gorgeous books purchased at public expense? “Needed”? No way. Frilly novels, recorded books, medical information, great literature–it’s all part of the same package. Complex, migraine-inducing but doable.
One thing I beg all to remember–and it’s very timely for the Fourth of July. We’re the first republic to include knowledge as an inalienable HUMAN birthright. And that includes supposedly “marginal” people. Damned fools throw away potentaial, even though some resources fall on fallow ground.
With apologies for the rant and on a much more mundane level…Jab? Email me. I can help you with the hardware (including shipping). Your assignment? Contact the local Information Referral agency and ask about the connectivity issues. They know the resources and the possibilities. There’s a solution and people eager to help you find it.
Veb
I’ve got a 56K modem, brand new, never been used that I’ll happily kick into the kitty for Jab. I got it for free because customer support at Compaq is so crappy (I said it was a software problem, they said it was hardware. They sent me a replacement modem and before it arrived me and my buddy had fixed the problem.) Now, that I think about it, I’ve got an old Pentium 100 that probably needs a new motherboard (it stopped recognizing the mouse and modem after a rainstorm and no one would fix it). The hard drives are ludirously small on it, so he’d need a bigger one and a monitor, but I’ll ship it free of charge to anyone who can fix it for him. I know exactly Jab feels as some days this board is the only thing that allows me to maintain my thin vineer of sanity.
Are you a veteran? Have you ever filed a claim? Contacted a Vet Center? Received treatment? If you are a vet, I can help you out. Email me if interested.