If I remember correctly, I read in a very old Computer Shopper (back when it was a thick mag) that Intel decided to use DX4 strictly for marketing reasons. It made the consumer think that Intel had quadrupled the performance of the system. But, like the above poster stated, it was actually 3x the bus. So, when you got that nice new DX4-100, you actually bought a DX3-99.
Actually, it is Reader Rabbit. My two boys (4 and 2) play educational games on the computer. Stuff like Reader Rabbit, Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big Red Dog, etc. Another reason why I run WinXP on the kids' box is because my wife is the main one supporting them when I'm at work. She doesn't even install her own software on OS X 10.2.x, so trying to teach her anything about linux is out of the question. Her quote: "That's why I married you."
FYI, as of Office 2003, you have to have either W2K sp3 or WinXP. Office XP looks like the last one to support Win98. The ongoing saga of 98 support being cancelled is why I bought the Microsoft Action Pack (were they not going to cancel support back last summer? The dates have changed so many times I can't remember). I mainly run MS stuff at home due being able to support work (and I don't think Reader Rabbit runs under Linux very well). To upgrade to WinXP Pro at home was going to cost me on the order of $500 at oem pricing, plus the cost of other app upgrades. For $300 US I got a 10 user license of XP Pro, all the server products and a 10 user license of Office XP and now Office 2003. I don't like supporting the evil empire, but with this I am supporting them a lot less than I used to.
or something similar like Oracle, DB2 or any that is Transact-SQL compliant. I know that every vendor probably has their own take on the TSQL standard, but I can't even use MSAcess because the syntax is FUBAR. I'm not a great DBA (or DBMA), but I'd take SQL Server over Access any day of the week just because of the language. However, I do agree that you should try to use the best tool for the job. I just happen think that Access is a glorified spreadsheet.
I can't speak for the speed issues, but I know Win98 blows up no matter what settings I change when the machine has more than 512 MB RAM. As far as USB addons for Win95b go, google for them. They've got to be out there somewhere.
I still had LJ II's running when I was the network admin at a local accounting firm 3 years ago. Only problem with those beasts now is that it is getting a little more difficult to upgrade the memory for the larger print jobs (and convincing folks that they are still some of the best printers ever built!).
You'll be lucky if it takes you only 3 tries with them.
I signed up with them back in August, intending to get my money's worth out of the 15 day trial period to make sure I wanted to stay with them. I was in analog roaming in areas of my own city I know had digital towers. My wife couldn't reach me in an emergency (she got a fast busy), and calls were dropped like crazy.
Took me 3 months to get them to quit billing me AFTER I RETURNED THE EQUIPMENT IN PERFECT CONDITION! They tried to charge me twice for an early termination, which I wasn't bound to since I cancelled in the 15 day trial, billed me for two or three months of service and made my life miserable. Finally got it straightened out.
Don't even get me started on bellsouth! Took 6 months, a lawyer and the Public Service Commission to get them to quit trying to bill me $200 for a "FREE" external DSL modem. As soon as that contract was up, I cancelled all my service with them and have everything (phone, cable, internet) through my cable provider. Now I have better service and I'm saving $30/month.
My shop (a gov't agency) is an all GW shop. I prefer Dell for my server, but the Gateways have been stable the two years I've been here. Only probs I've had were a drive failure in a raid 5 array and a tape drive transport mechanism jam DURING A CRITICAL RESTORE. Can't blame either of these problems on Gateway. So, to answer the question, seems to be decent hardware to me, except they make it too complicated to get the cover off of a tower server (keep telling the boss we need to go rack).
Re:this has a sister product, you know
on
Microsoft's new CLI
·
· Score: 2, Funny
And then they will probably redo XENIX to run on the NT Family as MUNT (Microsoft Unix on NT).
I haven't bought any music yet, but I have loaded iTunes on two of my Win XP boxes with no problems and used it for searches and playing music. I think the interface is very well thought out, and I love the feature set. Selection seems pretty good, although I have seen a few old favorites of mine that aren't available yet (Stan Kenton band doin' Hey Jude for example).
The interface is almost identical to iTunes for OSX (from what I can tell...the wife won't let me touch her Pismo). Way to go, Apple!
We did one to a guy in my dorm that no one liked. We taped Saran wrap across the door opening (made sure it was pulled tight so that it wasn't visible through the peep hole). Of course, the RA and security guards were in on this. Anyway, the next morning, he runs out the door late for class, and completely wraps himself up in the Saran Wrap. It's a miracle the moron didn't suffocate before he got out of it. The security guard made sure to tell all of us about it the next night.
They must have changed their policy since I left my job at an accounting firm. Lexis would charge us a fee just to connect to their system via a 1-800 line, and then charge an outrageous amount for each search. Needless to say, out of 140 employees, about 3 had access to Lexis. If I remember correctly, they dropped the connection fee once we were able to go IP to their system, but it was still very expensive to use them.
I have personally given computers to families with lower incomes (although not quite so low) that were perfectly equipped to do this, and there are still a few low cost/free ISP's out there.
I have been on both sides of this coin. I used to service about 20 HP LaserJet printers and a couple of 1600C printers at a previous job, and the only time I would have a real problem with a printer was when some idiot bought and used a refilled toner or ink cart. Not only could it void the printer warranty (on a $5,000 unit), it would leave a tremendous mess to clean up at the next maintenance, and it really didn't save money, since I had to perform maintenance more ofter. As a consumer at home, I had an HP DJ 695 (best home printer I ever owned) that I finally gave away because of lack of OS X drivers. I tried a refill in it one time, and swore I would never do that again. The print quality was horrible, and it only saved me about $5. I agree the prices are too high for the ink, but the alternative isn't worth the savings.
Now if only I could convice the female spousal unit that we would be better off with one networked color laser, I'd be in great shape.
Check out this site: http://pckeyboard.com. They were featured in an MSNBC.com article. These folks were spun off from Lexmark a while back and still make the old keyboards (and can repair them too). You can also get one with a pencil eraser mouse built in!
My wife says her Powerbook G3 w/1GB RAM is fast enough, but the PC side of the house says faster is better. I bet I could lose in solitaire a lot faster w/a dual G5!
This may be a little off topic, but I still consider 5.1 for DOS (the one with the blue screen and white text) the best word processor I have ever used, although doing graphics in it was a pain in the rear.
I even owned a copy of 5.0 for UNIX, but I had to through that out the other day...something about SCO source code or some other crap:). I couldn't run it anyway since I no longer have a 5 1/4 drive or a tape drive that could read the tapes.
I can most definately attest to this. When I am playing my trumpet (play 1st part and solos at church), I am always using the 1st & 3rd tuning slides to adjust my pitch. Usually have to do this more to adjust to they guy who plays 2nd part. He has yet to figure out how to tune the horn while playing...but he's still a pretty good player.
If you ever watch a piano tuner work, he will usually tune A440 (or as close as possible depending upon the condition of the instrument) and then tune the rest of the piano by ear. This makes the piano very pleasing to the ear, however it is actually a little out of tune over the entire range of the instrument. A "strobo-tuner" will show this to be true.
PS: I was a music education major in college, and then I got mixed up with a Wyse 286. It's been all downhill ever since. Although I have to admit, the pay is better.
I was given a Firewire/Pismo back in December. It is a 400MHz w/6 or 8GB harddrive. Had no O/S or optical drive, just the basic laptop. I have since bought a DVD drive and 1GB RAM for this machine (as well as the software...it is all legit). It runs OS X 10.2 just as fast, if not faster than my 1.6 GHz P4 with 98SE. If I didn't work in an all MS shop, I'd consider a G4 tower for my next machine. The wife got the Pismo, and now she swears that Mac and OS X are superior to Windows and x86 hardware...it has yet to crash on her since January.
Anyway, my point is to have a decent processor (I'd say at least a G4 300) and plenty of memory. As cheap as RAM is now, go ahead and max out if possible.
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If I remember correctly, I read in a very old Computer Shopper (back when it was a thick mag) that Intel decided to use DX4 strictly for marketing reasons. It made the consumer think that Intel had quadrupled the performance of the system. But, like the above poster stated, it was actually 3x the bus. So, when you got that nice new DX4-100, you actually bought a DX3-99.
Actually, it is Reader Rabbit. My two boys (4 and 2) play educational games on the computer. Stuff like Reader Rabbit, Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big Red Dog, etc. Another reason why I run WinXP on the kids' box is because my wife is the main one supporting them when I'm at work. She doesn't even install her own software on OS X 10.2.x, so trying to teach her anything about linux is out of the question. Her quote: "That's why I married you."
FYI, as of Office 2003, you have to have either W2K sp3 or WinXP. Office XP looks like the last one to support Win98. The ongoing saga of 98 support being cancelled is why I bought the Microsoft Action Pack (were they not going to cancel support back last summer? The dates have changed so many times I can't remember). I mainly run MS stuff at home due being able to support work (and I don't think Reader Rabbit runs under Linux very well). To upgrade to WinXP Pro at home was going to cost me on the order of $500 at oem pricing, plus the cost of other app upgrades. For $300 US I got a 10 user license of XP Pro, all the server products and a 10 user license of Office XP and now Office 2003. I don't like supporting the evil empire, but with this I am supporting them a lot less than I used to.
or something similar like Oracle, DB2 or any that is Transact-SQL compliant. I know that every vendor probably has their own take on the TSQL standard, but I can't even use MSAcess because the syntax is FUBAR. I'm not a great DBA (or DBMA), but I'd take SQL Server over Access any day of the week just because of the language. However, I do agree that you should try to use the best tool for the job. I just happen think that Access is a glorified spreadsheet.
I can't speak for the speed issues, but I know Win98 blows up no matter what settings I change when the machine has more than 512 MB RAM. As far as USB addons for Win95b go, google for them. They've got to be out there somewhere.
I still had LJ II's running when I was the network admin at a local accounting firm 3 years ago. Only problem with those beasts now is that it is getting a little more difficult to upgrade the memory for the larger print jobs (and convincing folks that they are still some of the best printers ever built!).
I signed up with them back in August, intending to get my money's worth out of the 15 day trial period to make sure I wanted to stay with them. I was in analog roaming in areas of my own city I know had digital towers. My wife couldn't reach me in an emergency (she got a fast busy), and calls were dropped like crazy.
Took me 3 months to get them to quit billing me AFTER I RETURNED THE EQUIPMENT IN PERFECT CONDITION! They tried to charge me twice for an early termination, which I wasn't bound to since I cancelled in the 15 day trial, billed me for two or three months of service and made my life miserable. Finally got it straightened out.
Don't even get me started on bellsouth! Took 6 months, a lawyer and the Public Service Commission to get them to quit trying to bill me $200 for a "FREE" external DSL modem. As soon as that contract was up, I cancelled all my service with them and have everything (phone, cable, internet) through my cable provider. Now I have better service and I'm saving $30/month.
My shop (a gov't agency) is an all GW shop. I prefer Dell for my server, but the Gateways have been stable the two years I've been here. Only probs I've had were a drive failure in a raid 5 array and a tape drive transport mechanism jam DURING A CRITICAL RESTORE. Can't blame either of these problems on Gateway. So, to answer the question, seems to be decent hardware to me, except they make it too complicated to get the cover off of a tower server (keep telling the boss we need to go rack).
And then they will probably redo XENIX to run on the NT Family as MUNT (Microsoft Unix on NT).
I haven't bought any music yet, but I have loaded iTunes on two of my Win XP boxes with no problems and used it for searches and playing music. I think the interface is very well thought out, and I love the feature set. Selection seems pretty good, although I have seen a few old favorites of mine that aren't available yet (Stan Kenton band doin' Hey Jude for example).
The interface is almost identical to iTunes for OSX (from what I can tell...the wife won't let me touch her Pismo). Way to go, Apple!
That's a great one. Too bad I don't have mod points...I'd bump you on up.
We did one to a guy in my dorm that no one liked. We taped Saran wrap across the door opening (made sure it was pulled tight so that it wasn't visible through the peep hole). Of course, the RA and security guards were in on this. Anyway, the next morning, he runs out the door late for class, and completely wraps himself up in the Saran Wrap. It's a miracle the moron didn't suffocate before he got out of it. The security guard made sure to tell all of us about it the next night.
I have personally given computers to families with lower incomes (although not quite so low) that were perfectly equipped to do this, and there are still a few low cost/free ISP's out there.
If you think duping the "evil bit" on Slashdot is bad, just wait 'til Taco's in office!
With my current job, I can't afford to buy clothes to wear, you insensitive clod!
Now if only I could convice the female spousal unit that we would be better off with one networked color laser, I'd be in great shape.
Check out this site: http://pckeyboard.com. They were featured in an MSNBC.com article. These folks were spun off from Lexmark a while back and still make the old keyboards (and can repair them too). You can also get one with a pencil eraser mouse built in!
My wife says her Powerbook G3 w/1GB RAM is fast enough, but the PC side of the house says faster is better. I bet I could lose in solitaire a lot faster w/a dual G5!
I even owned a copy of 5.0 for UNIX, but I had to through that out the other day...something about SCO source code or some other crap :). I couldn't run it anyway since I no longer have a 5 1/4 drive or a tape drive that could read the tapes.
If you ever watch a piano tuner work, he will usually tune A440 (or as close as possible depending upon the condition of the instrument) and then tune the rest of the piano by ear. This makes the piano very pleasing to the ear, however it is actually a little out of tune over the entire range of the instrument. A "strobo-tuner" will show this to be true.
PS: I was a music education major in college, and then I got mixed up with a Wyse 286. It's been all downhill ever since. Although I have to admit, the pay is better.
Anyway, my point is to have a decent processor (I'd say at least a G4 300) and plenty of memory. As cheap as RAM is now, go ahead and max out if possible.
Arrrggggghhhh, stop shooting disks at me, you evil robot floppy things!!!