# Computers!



## NDJollyMon

Alright fellow OUTBACKERS...lets talk computers.

I want to know what *YOU * have. The meat & potatoes. I think mine is outdated, and needs to be "kicked up a notch!" If I tell my wife, "Everyone else has..." , Maybe she'll "OK" a new setup! (come on married guys...you know what I'm talkin' about!)









I currently have a custom built set-up, and have totally gutted and rebuilt it once since new.

It was built by a company I selected from COMPUTER SHOPPER called, Micronix.
It had an outstanding warranty, but less than a year after I bought it, they disappeared from the face of the earth!









After a few years, the fan on the power supply quit working, and so did the processor fan. Long story short, everything over heated and fried.
I took it to a local shop, and upgraded it to this (mid 90's):

New motherboard, power supply,
AMD K6 500 MHZ processor (was 266 MHZ)
13 GB Western Digital Hardrive (always full!)
192 MB RAM
21 inch monitor
CD burner
Windows XP Home

Surfing with Cable modem at 256 K

My internet is fast, but my computer could be faster.

Whatcha got???????


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## camping479

A friend of mine built ours 5 years ago. Here it is;

Intel pentium 3 500 megahertz processor with 256mb of ram

Just upgraded from an 8 gig to a 46 gig hard drive with windows 98 second addition (friend who is into computers says XP likes a faster processor than I have). I tried to load xp and had trouble, so I'm sticking with the 98se for now.

creative cd burner with roxio software.

48x cd rom

iomega 100 megabyte internal zip drive

My monitor is a miniscule 15 inch. I have a 17 at work that I keep forgetting to bring home.

I use dsl for internet access.

That's about it, outdated but it works


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## Y-Guy

I have a Dell P3 700mHz 384MB ram, 120GB HD running Win98SE and an el cheapo eMachine 500mHz 128MB RAM running Lindows 4.5, I use an Omniview KVM to swap between the two. Been trying to cut the cord of Microsoft and I'm getting pretty close too.


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## vern38

You would ask







Ok here it goes, since this is what I do for a living I have 7 running computers and enough spare parts to build at least 3 more. My office is a network room, lets just say it hums and never gets cold in the winter.







The computer I do most of my work on has Windows 2000 Pro with a AMD 1200 mhz Athalon, M7VKD Biostar board, heavy duty 500 amp power supply, 4 cooling fans, 512 mg ram, CD Burner, second CD playback, Zip, Floppy, main hard drive is a 20gb 7200 rpm Western digital, backup drive is a 30gb Western digital 7200 rpm being pushed by a add on Promise Ultra 133 Tx2 Controller, Nvida Riva TnT2 32 mg video card, Us Robotics v.92 modem, creative labs platinum live sound card with a 3 way 300 watt pre amp speaker system, 500 va apc backup, 3 way digital card reader, hp 3200c flatbed scanner and lexmark 4800 x 2400 photo quality printer and a 17 inch KDS monitor. Upgrade "YES" very soon. The board CPU and memory will be changed out within 4 to 6 months. My minimum requirement I have made for my self is to double the computer speed each time I upgrade. Over kill for some yes but for someone who makes a living with it Nope... I haven't purchased a computer since 1991, always build my own.

Yo Pete, my computer flys but my internet S****


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## ctsoderq

I have a white computer and square monitor thingy


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## djd1023

I have a 3 yr old Gateway desktop and a 2 yr old Dell Laptop


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## CamperDC

I have an hp nc6000 laptop with 1.6Ghz Intel mobile chip, 1Gb ram, 60Gb hard drive and 802.11g wireless. We also have a Compaq PC at the house that everyone else uses. It has Intel 1Ghz with 512Mb of ram.

Like Vern, I too am in the computer biz.


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

Now we're talking. Forget this camping stuff.

It would appear, to this point, that I own the processor speed war. We have 5 computers in our house, one in the study, one in each kid room (3), and one in the basement.

My computer was purchased through my company (www.benzel.net) and has the following specs:

+ AMD Athlon XP 1900+ processor (which is at least a GB below the lastest and greatest from AMD)
+ 512 MB RAM
+ 60 GB Hard Drive (partitioned into 3 virtual drives by Partition Magic: C: 4 GB for Windows 2000 Pro, D: 35 GB for applications, E: 21 GB for data).
+ Two optical drives (F: CD_RW and G: DVD). 
+ 18" Mitsubishi Flat Panel LCD
+ Optical Mouse

Mods include a 5 1/4" drive bay cooler, PCI firewire card (for digital video camera interface), and a 10/100/1000 Gigabit copper ethernet card. Internet access is provided by Mile High Online point-to-point wireless access (I have a cool rectangular flat antenna on my roof). Download speeds average in the high 900 kbps (almost a gig), and upload is usually in the mid 200 kbps.

Now for the kids:

My olderst daughter (who is 10) is running a faster computer than some of you! She has an AMD K6-2 500 MHz processor, 384 MB RAM, and 8 GB hard drive running Windows 2000 Pro. She also has a CD-RW drive.

My son (who is 7) has a Pentium II-450 processor, 256 MB RAM, and 12 GB hard drive with DVD running Windows 2000 Pro.

My littlest girl (she is 4) has a dinosaur. But, since she usually shuts it off by turning it off, that's good. She has an old Gateway 2000 Pentium 166 with 32 MB RAM, 8 GB hard drive, CD-ROM, running Windows 98 SP2.

The basement computer (used for the daycare business) is also a dinosaur. It is a Pentium 266, 128 MB RAM, 8 GB hard Drive, CD-ROM running Windows 98 SP2.

So, if your computer is slower than that of a 7 year old, maybe it is time to upgrade? Configure a new system on Dell or Gateway.com, then get a price from www.benzel.net. Keep $200 to $500 in your pocket!

Randy


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## NDJollyMon

OH MY!









I guess an upgrade is in order! I'm glad there are some computer GURU's on this site, cause I'm going to need advice!

Randy...
I got a quote from you the other day. I'm sure I put down way more computer than I needed. It'll still take some sweet talkin'. Wife don't let me buy toys at TAX TIME! (she also runs a home daycare!)


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## CamperDC

It would seem to me that a high powered PC might be a bit usefull to a daycare. Know what I mean? B) 
%0


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

CamperDC:

Agreed.

Teacher: "So kids, what shall we do? Read a story? Play a board game? Do an art project? Play on the computer?"

Kids: "Computer! Computer! Let's do the computer!"

Randy


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## camping479

Okay,

I tried to load xp over 98se and had a problem. The cd installed the system files and then went to restart, when it went to boot up, it wouldn't go no matter how many times I tried to restart it. The boot sequence is A then C. I tried changing the bios to use the cdrom to start from but that didn't work either. I'm reluctant to try it again because I have a bunch of files and software loaded and don't want to screw it up again.

On microsoft,s website, I found xp system boot files you can download onto a floppy to use to load xp, I wonder if that might be the ticket. Am I on the right track or should I just be happy with 98se and get a new computer soon?

Mike


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

Camping479:

Personally, I would not run Windows XP on a 500 mhz system. If Windows 98 is suiting your needs, stick with it. The overhead associated with XP may even slow your PC down a bit...especially with only 256 MB of memory.

If you want to move to Windows XP, get a computer that will take advantage of this OS.

Randy


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## NDJollyMon

I am running Windows XP on a 500 MHZ processor with only 192 MB memory. Mine operates fine, but I don't run a lot of things at the same time. It does seem pretty slow though. 
I like XP a lot better than 98. It's a space/memory hog though!

I need more POWER! I have the NEED FOR SPEED!


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## KellerJames

First off, I'm not a computer person. I've only recently started into the forums and really enjoy it. It's also good typing practice. Be patient, I'm getting better.







Ok,,if this info wasn't printed on the tower, I wouldn't remember it all. We have an HP with a 3000+ (2.16 GHz) Processor. 512MB DDR SDRAM memory. 120 GB Ultra DMA Hard drive. DVD+RW/ CD-RW DVDwriter and CD writer combo drive. CD-ROM drive 48x max speed. NVIDIA GeForce 4MX graphics with 64 MB DDR shared video memory. Built in front access 7 in 1 media card reader, high speed USB2.0, and FireWire ports. Running Windows XP Home. Just bought it a couple of months ago. This "rig" is mostly for my wife. The RV rig is mostly for her and my daughter. I just get to have loads of fun playing with both.








Oh, we also have a ViewSonic 17" LCD monitor and DSL high speed connection. 
And it seems a little slugish at times, but much better than the dial up we had for the last three years.


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## vern38

Ok thats it, I'm gonna have to go and upgrade now, us Network Administrators and Technicians CAN'T have the slowest computers...


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## camping479

Thanks guys,

I've got 98 running pretty smooth right now so I think I'll stick with it on this machine.

Randy you're the second one to tell me they wouldn't run xp with this speed processor. Appreciate the input. 
Pete, I know what you mean about slow, I had xp on the old hard drive and it was much slower than what I have now. I would like to upgrade soon though and pass this one on to the kids.

Oh and by the way Randy, I think kellerjames has you beat







even though he doesn't know it.
















Better get on it vern!


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

Yes, I see KJ's two month old computer is a smoking unit. 3 Ghz of processor is incredible when you think about it. My first computer was an IBM clone with an 8086 processor. The CPU ran at 6 Mhz. There was also a turbo button on the front of the unit that, when activiated, propelled the processor to 12 Mhz. WOW!!

My next computer was a Gateway 2000 Pentium 100 Mhz machine. I purchased it in late 1995, right before windows 95 came out. I took a big leap and spent the extra $$ to upgrade the memory from 8 to 16 MB! Wow! 16 whole MB of RAM. I remember purchasing it, with 17" CRT, for $3,400. Top of the line in 1995.

Today I sold a new computer on www.benzel.net to a customer who works at First Data Corporation in Englewood, CO. He chose these specs for his PC:

Chieftec Dragon black case w/ window + enlight 420w power supply
ASUS A7N8X Nforce2 chipset 8x agp usb 2.0 motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 333fsb barton processor
512MB DDR400 PC3200 (Samsung) memory
Western Digital 120GB 7200rpm ultra-ATA 100 8MB cache
NVidia Geforceâ„¢ FX 5200 128MB 8x AGP w/DVI & S-video
Integrated Soundstormâ„¢ / DolbyÂ® Digital 6-channel audio 
Lite on 52 x 24 x 52 cdrw 
Lite on 16x dvd rom
Onboard 10/100 nic 
56k PCI v.90 voice / fax modem
2 x 80mm double ball bearing smart fan
Round IDE / floppy cables (instead of flat ribbon cables for better internal air flow)
Matching color WIRELESS keyboard & mouse 
Altec Lansing AVS500 5-pc subwoofer system
Red neon lights
Microsoft Windows XP Home
1-year warranty w/ tech support

The price? $990 delivered. We configured the same system at Dell.com. Just over $1,400 there.

Don't ya just love technology?









Randy


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## camping479

Yep,

Debbie our office manager keeps our books on an apple LC3 with a portrait monitor and an hp deskwriter that prints about a page every two minutes or so. I think the processor is around 33mhz. 3400 bucks ten years ago! OUr new dell has an intel pentium 4 with over 2.0giga hertz,around 80gigs on the hard drive, cdrw, flat screen monitor, xp, excel, etc, for 990.00. You're right, computers have come a long way, and think about 5 years from now when we look back at what we have now.


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## camping479

Yep,

Debbie our office manager keeps our books on an apple LC3 with a portrait monitor and an hp deskwriter that prints about a page every two minutes or so. I think the processor is around 33mhz. 3400 bucks ten years ago! Our new dell for the office has an intel pentium 4 with over 2.0giga hertz,around 80gigs on the hard drive, cdrw, flat screen monitor, xp, excel, etc, for 990.00. You're right, computers have come a long way, and think about 5 years from now when we look back at what we have now.


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## CamperDC

Camping479,

I have installed Windows XP on hundreds of PC's and I agree with the other posters here.


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## NDJollyMon

Tell me if this is a good deal...

I just bought a DELL INSPIRON 7000 (266 PII) (used of course) for $150.
I haven't seen it yet, but it's in excellent condition. It's just a second computer, so power and might is not really needed

Two questions: Is it worth the money?

Is it upgradeable? I never owned a laptop before?

Let me know your thoughts!


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## hatcityhosehauler

Okay, Okay, I will add my 2 cents. I am currently running a Dell with a 500 MHz P3 processor, 128 MB RAM, and a DSL internet connection. Might not be as fast as cable, but I refuse to give any money to the cable company (got a dish for TV). I have been trying to convince the wife that we need a new machine, ...sound familiar guys? Only, I don't want to stop with just one, I want to get a desktop, and two laptops, with a router and set up a home network. I may have to put the computer replacement on the wayside for a few months while we finalize the purchase of the new outback.

I noticed many of you have AMD processors instead of Intel. Have you noticed any compatibility issues with any software you are using? Are there any differences in the AMD vs. the Intel other then price?

Tim


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## camping479

hatcityhosehauler,

I agree with not giving the cable company any business. Our cable company was the worst, switched to satellite tv and dsl internet access.

I see several of you are into carving and woodworking, that's my line of business, my brother and I own a custom cabinet and millwork shop. I threaten once in a while to gut the outback and put in some real woodwork, probably will never happen though.


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

HatCity,

AMD vs Intel. Yes, there is a price difference. AMD is the better value. Then there is the performance difference. In my opinion, and for what I use my computer for, AMD is the better processor.

Go to Google and type this in the search box: AMD vs Intel

You will get more information about the two processors than you need.

Randy


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## aplvlykat

Ok you guys lost me? Now I don't know if my computer is good but it seems to do what we what it to do. It is a E-machine with a celron 2.8 processor, 1gig of ramm, 1-40 gig hard drive, 1-60 gig hard drive, 2- 48x48 read/write cd, 15 lcd flat screen,HP scanner,canon i560 printer. I hope I got this right, my 17 year old son is telling me what to type. It works for me and the family.


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## camping479

aplvlykat,

You've got a setup a lot of us would like to have


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## aplvlykat

Oh I guess the funny thing is that my two boys and me just happened to stop by Best Buys for a quick look around. It just happened to be the day they were changing floor display units, so we bought the E-machine we have for $275.00. Again I have to trust my 14 & 16 year old sons instincts.


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## NDJollyMon

A GIG of RAM? Holy Smokes...am I lacking!


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## vern38

Well I did it, went and ordered a custom configured Dell Laptop new...







Still working on the add ons but it's over twice as fast (2.8Ghz) as my desktop. Thinking about using a docking station and moving the 1.2 into the backup position. Getting ready for that Wi-Fi on the road.


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## NDJollyMon

Vern...
I will get my DELL laptops this weekend. I'm sure once I get them, I'll want to upgrade them! Does this computer madness ever stop????


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## KampingKris

Well, might as well chime in...
I've got an HP laptop - p4, 2.8 gig which has crashed twice. 
I now back to CD about every other week.
It's got wireless which have yet to figure out how to use and its got the shortest battery life around. 
But the office bought it for me as I handle PR duties for the local chamber of commerce. It's got a CD/DVD writeable drive and a (rare) parallel port! (yes some of us use older printers!) It's also heavy!
Next time I'll know better...

My desktop on the other hand is a AMD 900 with 512 meg which also seems to have a mind of its own. It tends to have a problem overheating at times. I wiped the harddrive (when I orginally bought it I made a mirror copy of my OLD computer memory - real mistake!) and it STILL seems to drag. It's got windows 98. I use an older HP 4 laser upgraded to postscript and extra memory because of printing newsletters with color separations (hey, working with a non digital commercial printer!) I've got a 21 inch monitor which I LOVE but has a tube that is HUGE!

AND I WANT A NEW COMPUTER!!! And right now, I'm still DIAL UP!! (believe it or not) (the desktop doesn't have a eithernet card)

Did I say - I WANT A NEW COMPUTER?


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

Kris,

Sorry for all your PC troubles, my friend! When you are ready to purchase, please let me compete for your business. Configure the exact system you want at www.benzel.net. I generally beat Dell or Gateway by $200 to $500. And I use what I sell.

Randy


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## California Jim

OK me too:

P4 2.8ghz processor, 400mghz buss
1 GB of dual chanel ram
two 120GB 7200rpm SATA hard drives
ATI Radeon 9700pro video card
LG dual format DVD burner
lite-on 56x DVD/CD player
viewsonic 17" LCD monitor

I HAD to chime in because we replaced our computer last year after having an old AMD K6 350mgz machine since the invention of that processor! We were way overdue!


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## vern38

Laptop came in.







It's nice to have a Mobil unit faster than the house computer. You know what that means







Have to spend more time on the road...


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## vern38

Well got the laptop all setup this weekend. I have it running from a docking station at home but can unplug at a moments notice and hit the road. I have it set up to get Internet via modem, cell phone, wi-fi or hard wired network. Talking about mobil...









PS: Pete, did you ever get your network setup?


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## NDJollyMon

Vern...
I sure didn't! I'm still scratching my head. I only wanted to bother you if I HAD TOO. I guess it's getting to that point now. I'll be emailing you my number soon!


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## Phil

I won't bore you with the details of the whole network, but the machine I use most is a P4-3Ghz w/2gb Ram, DVD burner and Triple 21" screen displays.

Phil

(also a network administrator







)


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## NDJollyMon

WOW! You could launch the next mission to Mars!

"Houston...MY computer has a problem!" No I really feel inferior!


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## roemmele5

OK, "Wifey" says I had to reply to this thread.

When I start to think about how many computers I have here, it's ridiculous!!!

We have 5 laptops (not including the one that needs to go to Salvation Army soon).
#1 - Wifey's "new" laptop in the kitchen: Dell Latitude C840 w/ P4 2.2ghz & 1gb ram, DVD & CD-RW, new wireless super-G (108mb/s), 40gb harddrive and 15.5" XVGA display running XP pro.

#2 - Wifey's "old" laptop in Kitchen: Compaq 1660u w/ P4 1.6ghz & 512mg ram, 30gb hard drive and 15" SVGA display. (this one was running "slow", so hence the "new" #1), running XP pro.

#3 - Wifey's other "old" laptop from kitchen: Dell Latitude C610 w/ P3 1.1ghz & 512mg, CD-RW, 20gb hard drive and 14.5" VGA display, running XP pro (see a pattern here?)

#4 - Mine Work laptop: Dell Latitude D600 w/ Pentium M 1.8ghz & 1gb ram, 40gb HD and 14" XVGA display, also running Wireless Super-G (108 mb/sec with MAC filtering and 128 bit encryption), running XP Pro.

#5 - Oldest daughter's school laptop: Compaq N160 w P3 1.0ghz & 256mg ram, 20gb, DVD cdrom, 15" SVGA, and wireless 802.11b (11mb/sec on her own Access Point with 128 bit encryption) running XP Pro

We also have 2 desktop's and 3 servers:
#6 - Kids game computer w/ P3 1.0ghz with 1gb ram, 20gb hard, ATI ALL-in-Wonder Pro with a 17" monitor running XP Pro

#7 - Hubby's home computer is a AMD AthlonXP 1800 (1.8ghz) with 2gb ram (2)x 36gb 15K SCSI disks and an Adaptec RAID controller. DVD-R and CD-RW drives, ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 9800 graphics card and 21" monitor (still looking for a 20" flat panel that will support a 1900x 1280 res), running Gentoo Linux with WinXP Pro as a VMware session.

#8 - Domain Controller for household authentication. HA HA. Dell PowerEdge 500SC Dual Xeon 1.2ghz and 1gb ram, (2) 18gb drives for mirrored OS, (2) 72gb 15K Barracuda with dual Adaptec RAID controllers. Running Win2003 Advance Server, this is Active Directory server for our AD domain. All user's & computer/printer's auth goes here, as well as a DFS (Distributed File Server) for our "My Documents" folder for all the computers in the house. Single place to backup everyone's junk.

#9 - Old Domain controller: Dell PowerEdge 2200 w/ dual 400mghz & 512mg ram, (2) 9gb SCSI disks. Running Gentoo Linux and SETI (uptime = 92 days!)

#10 - Sun UltraSparc5 with (2) x 300mhz UltraIII CPUs. 1gb ram and 200gb AutoRaid. This acts as my homes firewall (Sun's Solstice SolarFlare), Samba server, mail server (sendmail), Apache WWW (http & https) and VPN gateway for work.

All this running via an HP 2424M manageable ether switch with 4 VLANs and 24 x 100/10 ports and (2) x gb fibre.
We have Comcast.net







runnning at 3mb/s download, and 512k/sec upload. I have 2 seperate wireless access points, 1 for me & wifey running 802.11g(54/108mb/sec) and one for the kids at 802.11b(11mb/sec). There's also a Intel ProShare100/10 ethernet print server with (1) HP DeskJet Photo 1120cs Pro and (1) HP PhotoSmart 1315 printers hooked to it. The kids have a Kodak Photo printer on their desktop.

All this is backed up on a weekly basis by (3) x DDS4 4MM (20/40 gb) and a DLT7000 (35/70gb) tape drives.

Is there a pattern here? Do we have issues?

Scott - Senior UNIX engineer and Storage Area Network admin.

Believe it or not, I'm below average on my home computer inventory compared to most of my co-workers, but "wifey" says "No more!!!"


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## roemmele5

WOW!, I didn't know his post was going to be quite so long! And I knew we had a lot of computer, but not that many! Hmmmm maybe thats why my electric bill is so much.

I was just excited to find a topic we actually knew something about and could respond to. I've been reading through all the fourms to learn all I can about the new TT we have ordered. Going from a pop-up I'm feeling a little overwehlmed.

I admit its actually a topic HE knows about, my response would have been: A lot of computers, data ports in every room (except the bathroom, thats where I put my foot down), and its not a big house. Maybe thats why he went wireless?









All I know is that my laptop comes on automatically every morning at 6 am. If my computer isn't working correctly then he needs to fix it or upgrade it. I leave it on all day since we have cable internet, and I'm able to check the Outbackers web site as often as I need to to get my questions answered.....this is a great site, it has been very helpful.

So, if there is a rally will you all sit around the campfire swapping computer stories? You can scare the children by telling them about the days when we didn't have a PC in every room of the house!

Renee


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## vern38

Uh Scott, I can't help myself but have to ask. Why do you bring work home







I am a Network Admin for the DOD and after a day of 1-800-Waaaaaaa I'd rather talk RVing, Scuba or Music. Yes I do like computers BUT







It appears like there will be a Networked Outback here in the near distant future























PS: I couldn't help it Scott, just had to, Please forgive me...









Vern


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## NDJollyMon

All I have to say is....

HUH?


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## hatcityhosehauler

Ok, all you computer guru's out there, I have a question for you. I am running a Pentium III at 500 MHz, with 512 MB of ram, under W98. While doing some financial record keeping recently, I noticed Quicken was running extremely slow.









I started a defrag under windows, and it never got past 0% completed, over a 10 hour work day. I stopped the defrag, and tried to run scandisk. I was rewarded with a message that the scan had to restart 10 times because an application was attempting to write to the HDD. I wasn't running any applications, and had closed all of the TSR programs prior to attempting the defrag.









I then re-booted the machine in SAFE mode, and attempted the scandisk. After scanning approximately 30-35% of the drive, I received an error stating that the program had performed an illegal operation, and was shutting down.









I'm not a windows guru, and after pouring over my "Windows 98 Secrets" book, I am truely dumbfounded.









The only changes that have been made in the last few weeks have been the addition of a CD-RW drive, and 384 MB of Ram which brought the total to the above mentioned 512. If anyone has any thoughts on what may be the issue, could you point me in the right direction?









Tim


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## NDJollyMon

Tim...
I always blame a virus.


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## hatcityhosehauler

That's what I initially thought, but I ran two separate scans, using two different virus software's, both updated with the most recent data files, and both searches came up negative.









I thought I might bounce this question off the many guru's hear to see if they might have an answer. Randy, I might need the computer soon.









Tim


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## aplvlykat

Tim, I had the same problem with ME. It turned out that I had to many programs running and once I shut down all but 3 if I rememeber right then I could optimize. I don't remember which programs have to be running in order for the computer to work but I think one was systray, ccApp- oh I don't remember. Does anyone know what min. programs have to be on for 98??


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## Bopper

greetings:

Boy, do I feel inadaquate. I only have one machine and it is not mobile. It is:

Dell Dimension 8200 with a P4 processor @ 1.8 GHz w/ 400Mhz bus
256 MB DRAM
80 GB (7200 RPM) Hard Drive
64MB nVidia Video
17" flat screen monitor
24X10X40X DVD/CD-ROM Drive
Using XP Professional

Bopper

2002 23FBS
2002 Explorer
2 Adults and two very spoiled Cocker Spaniels


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## vern38

You can add upgraded ISP with Direcway Satellite, 100mgb hardwired and a 10mgb wireless network broken down into 2 subnets.









Vern

PS: Yo Pete, ever get you wireless network to work?


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## NDJollyMon

Vern...
Sounds really cool! I never figured out the simple network either. I was just thinking about that the other day. I wanted to transfer some from laptop to desktop and couldn't. Got any spare time?


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## Ymryl

I just built my new pc last night.







I bought all of the components from newegg.com, they have great prices and selection, shipping is very reasonable (it cost $13.00 for everything to be shipped in two business days) and tax free (shhh, don't tell the IRS).









So, here's what I went with....

*CPU* - AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512k L2 Cache, The Only 64-bit Windows Compatible Processor

*Motherboard* - MSI nForce3 250 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 CPU, Model "K8N Neo Platinum" (MS-7030)

*Memory* - 1 GB Corsair Value Select Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin (512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 (400 Mhz)

*Video Card* - XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/Dual DVI, 8X AGP - Model"PVT40KND" (The

*Hard Drive(s)* - Two Seagate 160GB Barracuda 7200.7 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST3160023AS (I set these up in SATA RAID 0 - this allows the system to write and/or read from/to both drives at the same time. Makes an amazing difference in speed when loading software or launching applications).

*Case* - ANTEC Black Performance Series II SOHO File Server Tower ATX Case with 400W Power Supply, Model "SX1040BII" (This is a really nice case which has a locking front door to keep the kids from playing with the on/off button and DVD drive button).

*DVD Burner* - NEC 8X Black Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive, Model ND-2510A BLK (Bought some DVD+R disks today, the dual layer dvd's are still around $10 bucks a piece so I'll prob. only buy a few of those once I figure out the burning process - don't want to throw away 10 dollar disks because I screw something up).

*OS* - Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack SP2

*Keyboard/Mouse* - Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/ PS/2 104keys - Model# 967300-0403

*Floppy Drive* - NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive - Model# FD1231H-302

The total cost for everything (minus the O/S which I already had) was just under $1,300.00 and took me approx. five hours to build and load. I'll probably spend another week moving stuff from my old machine (a Dell Dimension 8100 with a Pentium 4 - 1.4Ghz processor, 500MB of RD800 Ram, twin 40 GB IDE hard drives set up in RAID 0, a Geforce 3 64MB video card and Windows XP) and loading up all of the various software I need. The old machine will go in the boys room with a 54G wireless card in the back (probably overkill for the boys, Justin is 4 and Bryan is 2 but hey, you have to start them young these days).

The decision to go with a 64 bit processor was made with the realization that the wife is not going to let me buy another new machine for at least another 4 years (which is how old the Dell is). I want to make sure that I am able to migrate to the next Windows platform (called Longhorn at the moment) when it is released (they are saying 2006/2007 right now). By then there should be some software written for a 64 bit platform.

The last thing I would say about the system is that it is F A S T !!! AMD has been kicking the snot out of Intel for a few years now and they have done it again. This setup compares with the new Intel Pentium 4 Extreme processors at around 3.2 Ghz. The NVidia6800 video card is the replacement for the crappy FX series that so many people got burned by in the last couple of years. I thought about an ATI 9800 Pro but have never had good luck with ATI cards in the past. They are really just meant for gaming and not much else. I loaded Doom 3 in last night (yes, I am a gamer, but I also work for a CAD/CAM company so I need the machine to be able to handle more than just games) all I can say is WOW!







The difference in graphics quality from where I was (with the Dell) to where I am is astounding. I'll be loading Mastercam (the CAD/CAM software I work with) this week to do some benchmark testing in tool path calculation so I can recommend the setup to some resellers.


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## Mgonzo2u

Does a pair of cups attached by a stretched out string from one camper to another count as a network setup? Or is that solely a dial up connection?


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## vern38

Mgonzo2u, sounds like a Cupwork...







Ymryl, did that puter come with seat belts and a helment?







Pete, I'll make some time and call you.









Vern


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## NDJollyMon

Thanks Vern. I won't be so busy after the upcoming holiday. It's my last camping trip of the season!

Ym....WOW! Sounds like a killer machine!


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## BigBadBrain

Ymryl,
Might try a product called PC Relocator Ultra. It moves the files from one PC to another and also transfers the 'personality' so you don't loose the feel of the old setup (other than distateful stuff like waiting all day to launch a program - seems you've taken care of that with the new machine).

I had an old P3 machine and moved it to a Sony Vaio P4, 3Ghz machine with a 120G hard drive (CD/DVD R/W and 17in. LCD for those interested). Took a little time but it was pretty amazingly simple. After that I just got on and drove - really fast.

Link: http://www.alohabob.com/PCRelocatorUltra.asp

Software from a company called alohabob kinda scared me but it worked like a charm. Only files I had to transfer were in My Documents. I recomend you copy all those to the D drive before the operation and then mback to the C drive when everything is moved.

Hope that helps.
Brian


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## Ymryl

> did that puter come with seat belts and a helment?


heh, it's not quite _that_ fast... but defintaley the fastest machine I have been on so far. The biggest problem with computers of course is that six months from now you'll be able to buy something even faster for 1/2 the price.

Thanks for the link Bryan, I'll check it out. Having all of my stuff networked does allow me to move things at my leisure so I'm not really in that big of a hurry right now. Bigger things are on my mind - mainly camping this weekend !


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## BigBadBrain

I hear you on the better things to do front. We pick up our 23RS tomorrow if there are no problems and I'll be pretty busy the rest of the weekend. Not going to be looking to spend time at the keyboard.


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## Castle Rock Outbackers

Ymryl,

Very nice computer. I own a business building and selling custom computers at www.benzel.net. So, you can imagine I was interested in how I compete with build-it-yourself folks like you! So, I took the specs you listed for yours and tried to match as close as possible to see where I came in on price. There are some differences between your system and the one I configured below:

1. I cannot put Corsair Value memory in my system, so I went with Corsair XMS High Performance with Heat Spreader memory.

2. I cannot put Seagate disk drives in this powerful of a system (option is not available), so I replaced with higher-end Hitachi disks.

3. Your case has a 400 watt PS, I can't do less than 420 watts on a system like this.

4. Since this is not a server, I had to change the case to a Turbo X Infinity with window and LCD internal temperature display. It doesn't have the locking door like yours to keep toys from going into the DVD drive.

5. I did not see a sounds card in your spec. For my system, I added a mid-range Creative Labs 5.1 PCI sound card.

6. No OS on my system since it was not included in the price of yours.

7. My system includes a 3-year parts and labor warranty (from the vendor I use) plus life-time technical support. Since you built yours, you are Mr. Tech Support on your system.

Here are the details on my comparable system:

Turbo X INFINITY Case 420W power supply with window and LCD Temperature Display

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor

MSI K8T Neo FSR VIA K8T800 Chipset AGP8X with LAN / USB2 / Audio

1024 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR Memory (Corsair XMS High Performance with Heat Spreader)

Two Hitachi 160GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB Cache Hard Drives

RAID 0 (Data Striping)

nVidia GeForce FX 6800 128MB AGP 8X with TV out and DVI

Pioneer DVR-108 Dual Format 16X DVDÂ±R/Â±RW and CD-R/RW dual layer

Creative Labs Sound Blaster 5.1

1.44 MB Floppy Drive

Onboard 10/100 NIC

Logitech Cordless MX DUO

Total Price, delivered: $1,449

So, doing it yourself saved you $150, but you had to build it, and considering the hardware differences between our systems (#1 - #7 above), I think I am pretty competitive (whew!).

Thanks for posting your system specs and price. Helps me make sure I am staying price competitive.

Randy
www.benzel.net


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## Y-Guy

Well back in April I bought a new HP Laptop at costco, last week I returned it (gotta love costco return policy) and swapped it for a new Toshiba with a wide screen. The HP had one USB port dying off and the power cord plug in was connecting unless I held it in place. I'm loving the wireless deal of the laptop but if I have problems it goes back and I'll buy a new desktop and be done with laptops for me.


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## vern38

Anybody get to checkout the new SuSE 9.1 Personal Linux. Loaded it today on a bench machine and it is a really nice OS...









Vern


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## Y-Guy

Vern I ran Lindows/Linspire 4.5 for a while, felt it did a good job but lacked some abilities and refinements. Looking over the new SuSE it looks good, I'll be curious to hear your comments. I have an extra box that I may boot back up with a flavor of Linux so my kids and I can learn more. I'd like to be free from Windows to some level, but I found a lot of software really lacked the refinement and abilities I've come to expect. Linux is getting very close to having the necessary applications for me to make a move though.


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