The older sun4 type machines are very cheap these days and can be had for minimal cash. However, they are still very useful. A sparc 1 can be used as an effective Xterminal. They are ideal for this task as they come with ethernet built in and can run Linux or another version of Unix. Also, some very high quality fixed-sync Sun monitors are available for them very cheap also, which makes for a very easy to use yet inexpensive solution. A good place to find them in Boston is at the MIT swap meet.