Reincarnating a discarded laptop with Linux: "Reincarnating a discarded laptop with Linux
by Howard Fosdick (Aug. 1, 2006)

I recently picked up an old discarded laptop... straight out of a corporate garbage bin, as a matter of fact. Could it be useful? What could it do? As an IT professional, I thought I'd find out.
You've probably read similar stories elsewhere. Many people acquire old Pentium I, II, or III era laptops and install Linux and other free software to create a useful machine. A few years ago, laptop Linux was immature and this was a challenge. Laptops have always been proprietary and less standardized than desktop PCs. Today, however, Linux features much better hardware detection and installs easily on most laptops."