[raketenjagdpanzer]

Off the cuff, I would say use this for computers:

(Note availability scores are for Stateside only, with a remote possibility for Soviet held territories far from the front-lines)

COMPUTER, DESKTOP (FUNCTIONAL)
R/- Cost $1000
A PC (1% chance Macintosh) running DOS or Windows, intact. Requires power source.

COMPUTER, LAPTOP (FUNCTIONAL)
R/- Cost $5000 (yes that seems steep, but it is in line with demand and retail cost in 1995-1997)
A portable laptop/computer (1% chance Macintosh) running DOS or Windows. Requires power source to charge battery, good for 1d6 hours.

COMPUTER, MAINFRAME (FUNCTIONAL)
S/R Cost $25000
VAX/VMS, Data General, IBM, etc. running UNIX. Requires power source.

COMPUTER, MINI- (FUNCTIONAL)
R/- Cost $15000
PDP11/75, SGI, IBM PowerStation running UNIX, IRIX, or OS/2. Requires power source.

COMPUTER (ANY) (NON-FUNCTIONAL)
S/R - Cost $150
Any number of systems can be found in the ruins of universities, data centers, banks, office complexes, factories, etc. in the west. Far less prevalent in the East. These systems were rendered inoperable by EMP effects or exposure to elements (rain, dust, cold etc.). However, it is possible with an ELC skill check that part(s) may be salvageable or if many of the same type (at GM discretion) are found, that a working system may be cobbled together (for example, a laptop with a dead screen, keyboard and input devices may still be connected to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard and used as a desktop, although this obviously limits its portability).

As to what characters might do with it/them, that is the question. The internet (DARPA/ARPANet) was designed to operate in the same environment laid out in Twilight:2000, so it is almost certainly still operational, but who controls it? CivGov? MilGov? Rogue military units? New America? It's impossible to say. Multiple redundancies in the network, however, should provide some CONUS internet connectivity - but security is always in question. DES-encrypted messages are the only way to be sure two units aren't compromised.

What we generally think of as "the web" was nowhere near as prevalent in 1997 (for most folks) as it is today. Pervasive computing just didn't exist. A "Smart" phone was one that could hold 10-20 phone numbers and play GO on its 2" amber LCD screen. So you're not going to be using Google to ask "HOW DO I DISARM UNEXPLODED NUKE" in T2k! Skype and like tools do not exist, nor does a reliable video chatting system of any kind (unless you're fortunate enough to have a pair of SGI Indigo systems at either end of your communication network).

Beyond frittering around with desktop apps, all communication will be in text via emails or Usenet postings, the latter probably very VERY hard to promulgate with a fragmented and slow internet, so it will come to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) or emails. DDoS attacks from belligerent parties (MilGov against CivGov, vice-versa and New America against all) will be commonplace; as servers are brought online, they will find themselves the target of hostile ping-flooding at the very least, over time.

Edit to say: Also, computers are (then, and today) fragile things. The environments of Twilight:2000 are not conducive to the health and well-being of computers (especially mainframes which require power distribution units and MASSIVE air conditioning at 60-70F to stay operational for long periods of time). Getting time on an operational system is in and of itself an expensive and chancy prospect; most municipalities will be using their tiny number of operational systems for disaster relief coordination, supply inventory, etc. and "Hey I just wanna send an email" will likely be a no-go unless the party or character can provide a service to the person(s) controlling the computer in question (if it even has an internet connection, something I'd place at 1% chance for a "private" system (or New America-controlled system), 5% for a local government, 6% to 10% for a MilGov or CivGov computer. Also, this connectivity will have to be direct-connect: the phone exchange system (most everyone was on dialup in 1997) is in ruins.

...

Now, regarding the operational state of computers in Twilight:2000?

I think the chief thing to remember about T2k is that it's a fantasy game. There's no way SIOP would be activated and leave anything but ashes on this earth. Certainly not armies as remotely "intact" as they are in the game. Hellfires, TOWs, Tankbreaker nee Javelin missiles? Yeah, all packed full of computery goodness. None of those working. Abrams' ballistic computer? Solid state, baby (although even in a "misery tourism" version of T2k, you could make the allowance that vehicles' hulls make like a Faraday cage).

It's clear the authors wanted to completely jack up the West, and to do so they needed "magic" EMP (what was the line? "Far worse than anyone predicted"?) that somehow left high-tech warfighting gear intact, right along with 90% of the US' population dead and belligerent middle eastern nations becoming garden spots due to ecological patterns being shifted due to the war - and that's fine, I mean, my game of choice is AD&D where men in robes and pointy hats lob little burning BBs of bat guano that explode into 33,000 square feet (or yards, outside) of fire hot enough to cause gold to melt. Also, elves and dragons. So I recognize that a game is a game and just go with it in terms of canon.

I have my own game/campaign world ideas that are equally untenable (again, that involve SIOP being carried out yet the world not being a burned out husk) but don't involve magic EMP leaving military computers running and civvie computers all to a one dead.