Why do you assume using Linux means you are training to be a programmer?

Personally, I have installed Ubuntu Linux on friends' "old" laptops that have gotten "too slow" for Windows upgrades. Instead of being thrown out, these machines are still being used for common tasks such as internet browsing and e-mailing.

Ideally, a non-profit - if there isn't one already - could install a Linux distribution on an "older" machine and give those to low-income students in the States. (How often do government agencies cycle through machines? What happens to those old machines?)