# Need a cheap computer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-cheap-computer/366951>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 1, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-cheap-computer/366951 "2006-08-01T23:31:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-cheap-computer/366951/21 "2006-08-02T22:14:56Z")

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[QUOTE=flight]  
Oh God. I thought it was hard helping her with the mac. I have had a good bit of UNIX experience, but little to no Linux. Any helpful hints as to how this would go? I didn’t think changing operating systems was particularly easy on a mac. Hell, I could do it on a pc, but I haven’t a clue where to begin with a mac.  
[/QUOTE]

You might be pleasantly surprised; Ubuntu Linux is a fairly simple clickthrough to install on a x86 PC and I expect it’s reasonably similar for the PPC version. Once it’s installed, it just presents the user with a graphical desktop which is not at all unlike Windows; for a basic web/email machine that has an ethernet connection to a broadband modem/router, there’s absolutely no need for anything scary or complex at all - it just _works_; the command line is there if you need it, but in this case, you simply _won’t_.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-cheap-computer/366951/22 "2006-08-02T23:03:49Z")

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Questions which are mainly looking for opinions belong in IMHO.

Moved.

**samclem**

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**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-cheap-computer/366951/23 "2006-08-03T18:29:04Z")

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[QUOTE=samclem]  
Questions which are mainly looking for opinions belong in IMHO.

Moved.

**samclem**  
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it started out looking for the answer to the factual question, “Where are cehap places to get a computer?” and has evolved into a discussion of the relative merits of going in different directions. In any case I have purchased a new El Cheapo Dell, so I am good.

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