Found an HP HSTNC-003-HC "Thin Client" at a thrift store
for 5 USD the other day. Booted to XPEmbedded, an x86-based
system with 512MB of RAM, 1GB SSD, reasonable processor,
lots of USB, VGA and DVI, plus a serial port. Also got a
Dell e172FPb monitor at another thrift store for 4 USD.

F10 got the BIOS, unit booted TinyCore Linux off a USB
CDROM drive. Installed TC8.1 without any hiccups. Currently
logged into grex with the < 10 USD setup. Not a bad setup
at all, for basic modern tasks. Exceptional considering the
cost.

I've tried TinyCore before, but only minimally. It really
is an excellent solution for systems where disk space and
ram are limited. I had considered DOS for this setup, but
with TinyCore I've got a modernish setup, plus the option
of running dosbox or 8086tiny.