Parts advice please: building audio-editing computer from donated computers

First post for me (and note that I am a beginner to computers/audio
editing so please grade your language accordingly...now if we are
talking yoga or himalayan trekking, I can hold my own) .
I will be building a computer using old systems. I will build it at a
non-profit computer recycling/donation center in Portland Oregon
(www.freegeek.org) where I am volunteering. There are about 200 used
systems that I can choose from. The used systems are all ATX with
Pentium 3s. The Pentium 2s get recycled.

My short term goal is to have a starter system where I can record
guitar, vocals tracks, something to get up online to start networking
with other musicians to form a band (I just moved to Portland). Note
that the short term goal is minimal financial investment (no job yet!).

Questions:

1. What case/motherboard/cpu brands should I look for in these piles
of P3 computers? What should I avoid? I was told to stay away from
Dell, Gateway and HP as they are
not the best for rebuilding. Note that most computers are at least two

years old.
2. What sound and video cards should I look for? We have boxes of
cards to choose from, from two to five years old.
3. What are the cheapest options for getting my guitar and vocal
sounds into my computer? Is plugging directly into a sound card an
option? I believe I need a preamp....


After attaching all the components I will be installing a Linux OS.


Any other advice would be appreciated.

.

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