I know that we decided that we would just use the iBook as the computer with a new monitor, but I figured this would crop up again in the future some time and so I looked around a little bit.
While this doesn't have the software out of the box to do video editing, it kind of sounded like we were looking at two computer any ways, 1) for the front desk for looking up stuff online, and one for the loft and video editing. There is the virus issue, which is always a problem with public computers, but I could help work out some type of re-imaging system to solve that easily enough.
Just goes to show that as a couple of folks pointed out , you can get a lot, probably more power than what we really need for around $500. I also would add the first step would be to starting to asking around for donations. There is a lot of stuff around ..... and that's not just for computer stuff...............
On ebay the imac G5's go for around $400 and up. We could get an imac G4 (dome base) for about $200, or roughly what we're looking to pay for just a monitor anyway.
I'm going to look into soliciting a donation of either a flat screen monitor or a G4 or up mac before we spend any money. If anyone has any IT contacts, please spread the word that we're looking for old equipment.
As Matt pointed out PC stuff is a lot cheaper and there are a few PC types around. ( Syd, Harv and me). Unless anyone objects to FREE,with Matt's help I might see what I can put together for FREE - this would be in addition to any Mac stuff - and would be planned for upstairs only.......
Regardless of what goes upstairs we will need - electricity, telephone/Lan line and better lighting for the upstairs alcove if we move any computer stuff up there. I'll start collecting cost estimates and material needs. but for starters if any one has any 12 gauge romex ( w/ground) and telephone 2 line wire about 100 feet of both, couple of 110 outlets and boxes and 110 light switches and boxes should just about do it.
Back home I had a pile of stuff that might have been useful here, but didn't have room to move any of it out. I picked a lot of it up from this 'garbage hall' at the college I used to go to (where they would dump old computer parts for people to pick apart). You guys would know better than me if there might be anything like that around here.
Matt - I'll let you know what I have in the next week or so. The first order of business will be to get the space cleared out in the upstairs alcove and get the wiring in order .........
I was never able to find the password to the original hard drive, and I couldn't get it to boot off of any of the DVD's we had (it is an older dvd drive, which do sometimes have trouble reading burnt DVD's), so I had to try a few other options. I tried putting both the new and old HD's in my room mate's Mac and doing the copy there, but his computer wouldn't boot with the bad drive, so I then just put the new 320gb drive that I'm donating in his computer, installed OS X 10.4 there, then took that hard drive out and put it in the G4.
One thing I noticed however is that the AirPort wireless card doesn't seem to be working. I'm just doing the updates now, hoping that might fix it (but I doubt it). If not this may need to have an ethernet cable ran to it for it to be useful.
(Note: because its an old computer, its only able to use the first 128GB of the drive. If we ever get a newer mac, which will probably come with <128gb drive, it might make sense to trade the drives so we can get the most use out of them.)<br /> (Note2: I set the default password to what Steve thought it might have been on the old computer. If you don't know what that is and want to, just email me, but I figured I wouldn't post it on the forums. I'll make a little note card and tape it on the inside of the case too.)
I have a 19" flat screen monitor and a 2GB flash drive (for transferring files) on the way. Should come in Tuesday. Total price $98.95. I'll swap the Trek 800 for it, so $0.00 cash out.