Yamyam Posted May 6, 2002 Share Posted May 6, 2002 Just now, I'm at a friend's house in Stevenage. I'm surfing the web on his webpad and radio network via his ntl: cable modem at 512K. Woo! Now, if I ever get a pay rise I'll have to do the same thing. Obsessed is such a strong word. I prefer to think of myself as "differently enthusiastic" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 I've got W95 running on another machine and it's always been awful. Crashes all the time and so does internet explorer, inspite of several reinstalls. I've got W95 at work and W98 on this machine at home and they are both fine. I can leave this machine on for a week and it never crashes. So I don't think it's right to say Windows is bad out of hand. It depends on what hardware you are running it on too. OK, an OS which is very sensitive like that is not the best, but it can work almost perfectly given the right set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azraelle Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 AMD 1700+ XP processor 512MB DDR-266 SDRAM 40GB 7200 RPM Maxtor HDD; 4.3GB Toshiba 3500 RPM laptop drive (hey, it has my LimeWire'd Photoshop 6.01 on it!) MSI-K7N-420-Pro (nForce chipset w/ built-in GeForce-2 graphics, Sound, and 10/100 Base-T) Lite-On 24X CD-RW; Toshiba 16X DVD; Iomega 250MB internal zip drive; External 2.2GB Castlewood Orb Drive hooked to internal Ultra-SCSI controller card (circa 1995) 56K modem (wireless is only option here, but can't afford the $300 installation just now) Phillips 107T 17" Flatscreen Monitor LexMark Z52 inkjet printer; HP ScanJet 3300C flatbed scanner; El Cheapo scrolling laser mouse and Labtec speakers; MoBo box has 5 noisy fans, not counting the one on the 325 Watt Power Supply. My laptop started life as a POS Compaq Presario 1685 w/AMD 380MHz K6-2, 64MB RAM, Win 98SE, 4X DVD, & 4.3GB HDD; I took it apart (more than once) and it now has a 450MHz K6-III+, 20GB HDD (only 18GB recognized by the BIOS--see POS, above!), 192MB RAM (again, BIOS won't recognize any more, were I to install a 256MB SoDIMM), WIN 2K w/bugfix no.2. Contrary to every post on the subject, it installed just fine, as a new computer version after a total disk wipe of WIN98SE which sometimes crashed several times per day! Talk about POS's. I agree with the joke about failure being built-in at MicroSoft. DVD only recognized as a 12X CD-ROM, but what the hey--it dropped as many frames as it played w/ WIN98SE. "All that you can decide, is what to do with the time that is given you."--Gandalf, "Life is not tried, it is merely survived -If you're standing outside the fire."--Garth Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox Posted September 11, 2002 Share Posted September 11, 2002 Loads of people knock MS products especially geeks who all seem to praise Linux. Since I'm not a geek, I'll take your word for it that Linux is vastly superior. However, if MS products were completely crap as so many people make out, then people wouldn't use them. They would be switching to Linux in their droves. There is such a thing as a market and user perceptions. Since the mass exodus to Linux is not happening, I conclude that MS is not as bad as pehaps many wish it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurieheels Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 For me, the fault with the computer often lies with myself, not the machine. As well, the hardware has much to do with the software not working. And at work, we run more than MS programs, and those ones are just as bad at slowing down or messing up the computers as any version of IE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamyam Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 I think it's fair to say that there's a lot of bad software and a lot of good software out there. I'm running Windows XP on most of my machines now, because it just works, and at the moment I'm just trying to get stuff done. Next time I have a few hours off to play around, I might have a go at cadging Linux into working again, but only because I might have some work to do on that. I've never found Windows NT/2000/XP to be less than very stable, as with my better Linux installations. However, Linux seems to need much, much more configuration to get useful, much as I like it. My next hack, tho', will probably be trying to make FreeBSD work on one of my Alphas, as Red Hat Linux won't support the SCSI cards in them Obsessed is such a strong word. I prefer to think of myself as "differently enthusiastic" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Well I have copies of Linux but never used them. Have played with QNX rtos, but didn't get far with it. My computer stock has dwindled now down to the one main machine (duron 750) and a machine that I'm giving away to the railway club (486 dx2-66) and the only machine I'll ever keep (only cos you can't upgrade it) the Apple 2e. The Apple Mac (suck machine) went and was traded for a lovely mountain bike with dual suspension and the wife's AMD K6-2 366 went in favour of a car So now back to one computer for the work and the old apple for retro gaming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Good choice to get rid of the apple mac, a mountain bike sounds preferable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 at least I can get fit on the bike and yes, you're right, far more preferable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 oooooooooooooooooooo MTB is the best choice Does anyone has Radeon 8500 LE graphic card ????????????? good choice better picture quality and colors are a bit better too, and those 2 monitors/TV !!!!!!!!!!! very nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 that's my choice for graphics card to go in after I upgrade from duron 750 to at least Athlon 1700XP, then this Xpert 2000 with TV out can be removed and stored for building into the wife's new computer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 If You want to buy radeon 8500 then do it fast because they are about to stop production of this chipset and continou only 9000 and 9700 and then 9500 but 9000 is a bit (big) worse then 8500 it is somethink like GF4 MX - big shit only a little better then GF2 MX You have to decide now !!!!!! and chose Radeon 8500 ----- Vertex shader !!!!!!!!! or buy 9700 ----- only the price 400 $ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck !!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azraelle Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 I have tried to install Debian 2.4 and Mandrake 9.0, from both boot floppies and CD-ROM, and it freezes in the middle of the first boot disk on these lines (or the CD-ROM, which I downloaded from a Mandrake mirror site at the Univ of Wisconsin): PCI_IDE: unknown IDE controller on PCI bus 00 device 48, VID=10de, DID=01bc PCI_IDE: chipset revision 195 PCI_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later ide 0: BM-DMA at 0xe000-0xe007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA ide 1: BM-DMA at 0xe008-0xe00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA And there it stops! I finally got Red Hat 7.3 to install (it used its' own set of generic default IDE drivers) but the computer completely freezes about one second after typing in "startx". Has ANYONE been able to get a successful install on this board (or any other nvidia nforce chipset motherboard for the AMD CPU)? And if so, what "tweaks" did you use to get it to work? "All that you can decide, is what to do with the time that is given you."--Gandalf, "Life is not tried, it is merely survived -If you're standing outside the fire."--Garth Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasbumpkin Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 I admit I do not have the best computer.....I have an E-machine,.....hey it works for what I need it for......surfing the net and playing games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 I now have another machine to sit alongside my 750 and do most of the cpu intensive stuff specs; Intel P4 1.6Ghz, 256DDR Ram, 60Gb Hdd, 64Mb Geforce2 Ti graphics, 16x DVD, 24x16x48x CDRW. don't know what the motherboard is yet, but I'll interrogate it divx's a film in about 4 hours (including rip time) which is pretty good going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shoe Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 brand new "Time machine" AMD athlon 2000+mhz, 512mb DDR, 64mb geforce2, 80gb, 40X12X48 CDRW, 32X DVD etc. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 very respectable spec! but why Time? Make sure you got an extended warranty on it. They have a habit of dying just as the warranty expires. We know to our cost But having said that they do perform very well. I want to uprate my 750 to at least 2ghz and a better graphics card, then it'll rock again ps. my P4 is a Sony Viao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamyam Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 I've just got FreeBSD 4.6 and Apache running on one of my AlphaServers. Now, if I can just persuade it that it doesn't need to spend ten minutes launching bits of Sendmail that I don't want, I'll be sorted! Obsessed is such a strong word. I prefer to think of myself as "differently enthusiastic" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shoe Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 very respectable spec! but why Time? Make sure you got an extended warranty on it. They have a habit of dying just as the warranty expires. We know to our cost But having said that they do perform very well. I want to uprate my 750 to at least 2ghz and a better graphics card, then it'll rock again ps. my P4 is a Sony Viao Don't worry, I've got the three year "gold cover" that includes full technical helpline support. I will almost certainly have upgraded it to 3Ghz CPU and added a 240Gb HD by then! (not to mention DVD RW). All of which will be within scope by then. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 I will almost certainly have upgraded it to 3Ghz CPU and added a 240Gb HD by then! (not to mention DVD RW). All of which will be within scope by then. Oh yeah, go on, rub it in and make me feel bad. When you're running all of this I shall still be in the backwater with 12 months old technology as usual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilettos Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 No need to worry about having old kit. My portble PC will soon be celebrating its 5th birthday, PII 266 MMX 4Gb disk, 96Mb RAM, Win 98 etc... it does what it needs to do and I could still develop software on an old 386 machine that would run on the fastest PC going! As long as you aren't seriously into Games/Media/DVD having the very latest/fast kit is not reality. The top of the range is aimed at business users and 12 months down the line the same will be offered to domestic users for a quarter of the price. Unless you REALLY need it NOW WAIT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shoe Posted November 10, 2002 Share Posted November 10, 2002 [Oh yeah, go on, rub it in and make me feel bad. When you're running all of this I shall still be in the backwater with 12 months old technology as usual Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamyam Posted November 10, 2002 Share Posted November 10, 2002 No need to worry about having old kit. My portble PC will soon be celebrating its 5th birthday, PII 266 MMX 4Gb disk, 96Mb RAM, Win 98 etc... it does what it needs to do and I could still develop software on an old 386 machine that would run on the fastest PC going! As long as you aren't seriously into Games/Media/DVD having the very latest/fast kit is not reality. The top of the range is aimed at business users and 12 months down the line the same will be offered to domestic users for a quarter of the price. Unless you REALLY need it NOW WAIT! Quite so! I'm typing this on a PII 266MMX, with 2x 2GB disks, and Windows 2000 (I'm allergic to Windows 98). I shudder to think how old my Alphas are. If I need power, I haul out my AMD Duron 950-powered laptop, and that's the fastest I've got. The only time I play games, where the serious performance is required, I'm either on a friend's PlayStation 2, or in a video arcade. (ObShoe: I've played Sega Virtual Karting in 4" wedgies!) So I'm happy with my elderly hardware. Obsessed is such a strong word. I prefer to think of myself as "differently enthusiastic" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted November 11, 2002 Share Posted November 11, 2002 Well i currently am using my newly upgraded PC (if you can call it a PC) This PC is used for web site work and my 4000+ mp3 albums Lian-Li pc70 aluminium server case 23" high 8" wide 23" deep 550w PSU 2 x AMD MP2000+ CPU's ASUS motherboard 266fsb 1 GB DDR ram Nvidia Geforce 2 ultra AGP 64MB Traven 20GB backup drive with scsi card (un-used and for sale) Samsung DVDrom LG 32x10x40 CD-RW 2 x 40GB HDD 2 x 75GB HDD 2 x 80GB HDD ( all HDD are 7200rpm) (more HDD on the way) 10/100 netgear FA311 Creative sound blaster live 5.1 card LG 17" flatron 776fm Epson photo 895 The other PC is Athlon 1.2ghz duron 256mb DDR ram compaq 40x cdr Plexwriter 40x12x40 nothing fancy just a regular PC Both running Windows XP proffessional ( 100% stable ) Networked with netgear 8 port hub 100mbits and another netgear 4 port switch/modem connected to 576k ADSL line Not meaning to brag or anything but just thought i would chuck in my 2 pennies worth..... but i never ever have any computer failiures or crashes with any microsoft product's, and those people that do are the ones that dont get the configurations correct... The microsoft HCL was created for a reason, and too many people ignore it...hence they get problems and cry wolf, when in fact its user error ( or manufacturer ) in building the PC in the first place.. Heels for Men // Legwear Fashion // HHPlace Guidelines If something doesn't look right, please report the content ASAP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurieheels Posted November 11, 2002 Share Posted November 11, 2002 And it plays games very well from what I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrelheels Posted November 11, 2002 Share Posted November 11, 2002 Well... here's my main lineup: Athlon Slot A 800mhz Gigabyte 7IXE (AMD 750 chipset) 256mb SDRAM 1x 20gb Maxtor (5400rpm, silent) 1x 80gb Seagate U Series (5400rpm, silent) GeForce2 MX AGP Voodoo3 3000 PCI 17in Monitor 15in Monitor (both at 1152x768) SoundBlaster Live! 4 point surround Sound run through 50WPC (rms, not pmpo) hi-fi system... very loud! Realtek 8139 10/100 NIC LiteOn 12x10x32 CDRW (black) Pioneer 16x48 DVD Rom (also black, arriving on my bday on Wednesday ) Logitech MouseMan+ USB (ergo shaped) Logitech PilotMouse+ PS/2 (yes, I have 2 mice as well as two monitors!) Standard PS/2 Keyboard Standard Floppy Drive (evil things...) Windows XP Corporate and various other bits and pieces of software... That's about it for my main machine. We have about 10 or 11 others in the house, all networked and connected to 600k NTL Broadband through a nice linux box. I own a total of 5 of these computers, 4 are my brothers, 1 is my sisters and 1 is my mum's. Do I win the prize for most computers in house?! SH Hi! I'm a signature virus! Copy me into your sig and help me spread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamyam Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 I think we should consider the computer/person ratio. After all, you live in a full house. I'm here on my own with eight computers that work plus a broken one. Well, at least a podium position, anyway. Obsessed is such a strong word. I prefer to think of myself as "differently enthusiastic" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ Posted November 14, 2002 Share Posted November 14, 2002 hmmmm, I just realized I have never discarded any of the computers I have owned. Let us see what is in my inventory: 1) Macintosh Desktop purchased in 1984. Came with 128k RAM, and a 9" black & white monitor. Over time, I upgraded this to 512k RAM, then to 1M RAM. 2) AST Desktop PC with an Intel 386SX CPU purchased in 1990. 3) Dell Laptop PC with an Intel 486 CPU purchased in 1995. 4) Gateway Laptop with an Intel Pentium II CPU purchased in 1999. 5) Gateway Desktop PC with an Intel Pentium III CPU purchased in 1999. And all of them still work. #1 is now a boat anchor. #2 and #3 are bookends. And #4 and #5 are still used as computers. Just kidding about the boat anchor and bookends. click .... click .... click .... The sensual sound of stiletto heels on a hard surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shoe Posted November 14, 2002 Share Posted November 14, 2002 Not meaning to brag or anything but just thought i would chuck in my 2 pennies worth..... but i never ever have any computer failiures or crashes with any microsoft product's, and those people that do are the ones that dont get the configurations correct... The microsoft HCL was created for a reason, and too many people ignore it...hence they get problems and cry wolf, when in fact its user error ( or manufacturer ) in building the PC in the first place.. Oh absolutely! Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shoe Posted November 14, 2002 Share Posted November 14, 2002 Actually, I'm in the same position. 1. A sinclair spectrum 48k :rofl: 2. An Amstrad CPC464 with 16K expansion giving a massive 80kilobytes of memory which wouldn't even support my shortcuts today! 3. An Amstrad WP128, (no more snarling up wordies!) 4. A BBC 128K 5. An Amiga 500 (still working but software hard to come by) 6 An Amiga 1500 with 9Mb memory (ditto) 7 A mongrel PC with PTX pro 200 chipset, 5GB HD and 12X CDROM (robbed for parts to upgrade 8. A mongrel PC with pentium II 400Mhz, 32Mb RAM, 8Gb Hd, 52xCDROM, generic dial-up modem etc. Former owner: The Millenium Dome! now ensconced in daughters bedroom. 9. My new Time PC AMD 2Ghz+, 512DDR, etc etc. (See post above) In theory, all machines are still in running condition and the sinclair was actually running a model railway quite happily as recently as 1995 but I got tired of that game and consigned the computer to a box in the attic and the railway went into a box of spares for the next one. I am actually looking at the Amiga 1500 as I write but I'm thinking of disposing of it as the power supply seems to be shot. The 500 hasn't seen the light of day since I acquired my 1500 and I'm not totally sure where it is. The amstrads likewise. I also bought my daughter a 486 as a christmas present some time ago which she decided to customise beyond repair and was dropped so often that it soon became unusable and was chucked out when we moved. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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