Originally Posted by
MaydayMark
Warning: Thread creep ...
Looking for some "technical expertise" from you smart APC folks. I volunteer for a disabled women's group. I began by donating a few very old Mac (G3) computers that had been collecting dust in my basement. Most of them are old enough that they have "dial-up" modems (more on that in a second).
Mostly, I try to get them set up with INEXPENSIVE Internet access for email. Most of the women's only income is their meager social security disability income.
What I need from you guys/gals are recommendations/suggestions for a FREE dial up Internet service. I thought I remembered hotmail being free (w/free dial up access numbers) in the old days but I can't seem to located a reference for that.
Thanks in advance ...
Mark
I had no idea that NetZero did free dialup, that's cool... My friends mother used to use Juno. It's free dialup for sure and pretty sure they do email too.
Another option I was thinking of is to ask a neighboring local business or school to donate wifi. If all the computers will be close together then a single wireless router could be setup to take the donated wifi and distribute it via ethernet cable. That may be more trouble than it's worth though with wiring and dealing with glitches and such...
I think the biggest obstacle you'll have is getting the old operating systems on the G3's to work with modern webpages and email systems. I don't think you'll have a problem with email software, but the web browsers you will. I imagine NetZero will require installing something which I'm guessing won't work on OS9 anymore... You might have to find a geek to put linux on there and make it extremely simple and easy to use. Although, I doubt NetZero supports linux. So, it might just be easier to find some old Win XP machines people are willing to donate.