Look at the specs, and realize that when you take it to a LAN party, you'll get laughed at. 1.25 or 1.42GHz G4, 256MB (up to 1GB) RAM, Radeon 9200 with 32MB RAM.
Actually, six years ago, ATX was in wide use. Info in it is QUITE relevant, as long as the system in the case is a P3/Athlon class or less (which most of the suggestions here say to use a P1, so the point is moot).
I don't know about LG phones, but Nokias have a "Voice Recorder" feature. The easy way is to hold the phone up to the PC's speakers while recording, and then use the recording as the ringtone. Simple analog hole attack.
The complex way is to make a MIDI file of the background noise (no voice in a MIDI), and use the Get It Now (I THINK that's what Verizon calls it) to grab the MIDI from your own web site.
Practical life of a computer as a WP+basic Internet terminal today is about 8 years, and that's pushing it (and that's after multiple RAM upgrades). A 10 year old computer (read: a very slow Pentium at best) just can't do it well. Also, that range is shrinking. 5 years ago, an early 486 (circa 1990, with RAM upgrades) could still limp around on the Internet and do decent word processing.
BTW, on the listening to music thing - I've been sickened by the latest rush to XM and Sirius. The sheep don't have to pay if they listen to AM and FM, yet pay $10-$13 for satellite. Also, that satellite radio probably will have DRM (I know XM is fighting attempts to record onto a PC). AM and FM don't.
What's going to happen is that pirate radio stations won't give the FCC the bands for AM and FM radio (the FCC will want them back, after the sheep have left for satellite), and there'll be non-RIAA music on them (which will be illegal in 10 years if nothing changes).
The only problems with that are that they use Award (read: Pheonix) BIOSes, and (although I've heard that they might be switching away) GSC capacitors. The GSC capacitors blow ridiculously easily.
There's no really good answer, as I don't think many people are going to spring for SPARCs, Intel's got a good chunk of ARM production (although, Toshiba and TI do too), IBM has almost all PowerPC production, AMD and Intel have almost all x86 production and ALL decently performing x86 production (VIA and SiS have at least Pentium-class x86 cores, and SiS's core, which is Rise MP6-based, has been considered to be almost as good of a design as the Athlon, but the fact that Rise only put 8KB L1 on killed performance - SiS has a good design team, though, if they truly bought ALL of Rise). Any other manufacturers of CPUs that we can look to, for ANY arch?
I barely use my phone, FWIW. The only problem was that I used my Vision (Sprint's wireless web) service ONCE, and got $2.96 (296KiB) of charges, because it turned out we didn't have the trial for some reason, and didn't pay for monthly service.
And, you'll either have to have the laptop 6" above the desk if the Mini-PCI slot is on the bottom, or you'll have no keyboard if it's on the top (and it'll be hard to see the screen).
OS X's Inkwell is Rosetta, the Newton handwriting engine. Also, I've heard that the iPod borrwos heavily from the Newton, and will even more in the future.
There's actually a BUNCH of big players in graphics. Intel (the 800lb gorilla of GPUs, FWIW), ATi, nV, S3, Matrox, 3dLabs. Whew. Intel is good in low-end, ATi and nV are good in mid to high-end 3D, S3 is good in... nothing, but their GPUs make Intel's look good, Matrox is good in high-end 2D, and 3dLabs is good in workstation 3D.
Hmm... try MSWLogo. LOGO was an option back in the '80s, and it still is today. MSWLogo is a pretty good interpreter for Windows, and it will run under WINE (just install on a Windows machine, and copy the program folder to the Linux box - that's the only place it puts files).
I will run AdAware and Spybot scans on my boxes every now and then, but that's not why I run them normally. I'm usually cleaning spyware off of OTHER PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS, those that I can't control whether they get crapware on or not at least until I get to the PC.
I've grown into my install, and put the following on:
Avast AV Azureus Opera Paint.NET GIMP Winamp StatB ar (a pretty nice status bar for Windows - shows a bunch of stuff - mine has uptime, CPU usage, RAM usage, power (it's a laptop), net usage, drive info, volume controls, log off/shutdown controls, Num/Cap/Scr/Ins indicators (mine aren't the most visible), and Winamp controls) Snappy (a program to give snap-to-edges to windows, like X has
Well, I guess Apple is a hell of a lot better than Windows;-)
How to get someone away from Windows 98:
1. Bring a Windows 2000 CD (this is important that it is 2000 - XP will be too obvious) 2. While they're away, put it in. 3. Install it as an upgrade, so all of their settings stick. 4. Run Windows Update 20 times, until you've got all of the patches (I HOPE they're not on dialup). 5. Convert to NTFS (convert C:/fs:ntfs). 6. If you're feeling adventuresome, mod NTOSKRNL.EXE and other things (MSGINA.DLL, IIRC) so that it looks more like Win98 on startup and shutdown. Kinda hard, but just say it was an update.
Or, if they're OK with 2000, don't do step 6.
If they don't want to convert to Linux, don't try. Convert them to a more stable version of Windows, though.
Actually, it's a sticky in the Opera Beta Testing forum. Since Previews are essentially alphas, they don't want Joe Blow stumbling on them, and saying "OMG, this Opear makes teh intarweb crashy".
Slashdot Mirror
Look at the specs, and realize that when you take it to a LAN party, you'll get laughed at. 1.25 or 1.42GHz G4, 256MB (up to 1GB) RAM, Radeon 9200 with 32MB RAM.
Ehm... that's true, as long as it's those icky Taliban peoples.
Looking at the "More Shuttle" link you gave, I have one thing to say...
*drool*
Shuttle DID say they would do a P-M XPC, after all, didn't they?
Actually, six years ago, ATX was in wide use. Info in it is QUITE relevant, as long as the system in the case is a P3/Athlon class or less (which most of the suggestions here say to use a P1, so the point is moot).
I don't know about LG phones, but Nokias have a "Voice Recorder" feature. The easy way is to hold the phone up to the PC's speakers while recording, and then use the recording as the ringtone. Simple analog hole attack.
The complex way is to make a MIDI file of the background noise (no voice in a MIDI), and use the Get It Now (I THINK that's what Verizon calls it) to grab the MIDI from your own web site.
Practical life of a computer as a WP+basic Internet terminal today is about 8 years, and that's pushing it (and that's after multiple RAM upgrades). A 10 year old computer (read: a very slow Pentium at best) just can't do it well. Also, that range is shrinking. 5 years ago, an early 486 (circa 1990, with RAM upgrades) could still limp around on the Internet and do decent word processing.
BTW, on the listening to music thing - I've been sickened by the latest rush to XM and Sirius. The sheep don't have to pay if they listen to AM and FM, yet pay $10-$13 for satellite. Also, that satellite radio probably will have DRM (I know XM is fighting attempts to record onto a PC). AM and FM don't.
What's going to happen is that pirate radio stations won't give the FCC the bands for AM and FM radio (the FCC will want them back, after the sheep have left for satellite), and there'll be non-RIAA music on them (which will be illegal in 10 years if nothing changes).
Heh...
The only problems with that are that they use Award (read: Pheonix) BIOSes, and (although I've heard that they might be switching away) GSC capacitors. The GSC capacitors blow ridiculously easily.
There's no really good answer, as I don't think many people are going to spring for SPARCs, Intel's got a good chunk of ARM production (although, Toshiba and TI do too), IBM has almost all PowerPC production, AMD and Intel have almost all x86 production and ALL decently performing x86 production (VIA and SiS have at least Pentium-class x86 cores, and SiS's core, which is Rise MP6-based, has been considered to be almost as good of a design as the Athlon, but the fact that Rise only put 8KB L1 on killed performance - SiS has a good design team, though, if they truly bought ALL of Rise). Any other manufacturers of CPUs that we can look to, for ANY arch?
I barely use my phone, FWIW. The only problem was that I used my Vision (Sprint's wireless web) service ONCE, and got $2.96 (296KiB) of charges, because it turned out we didn't have the trial for some reason, and didn't pay for monthly service.
And, you'll either have to have the laptop 6" above the desk if the Mini-PCI slot is on the bottom, or you'll have no keyboard if it's on the top (and it'll be hard to see the screen).
Feeding a troll, but...
OS X's Inkwell is Rosetta, the Newton handwriting engine. Also, I've heard that the iPod borrwos heavily from the Newton, and will even more in the future.
ARGH! It's the PENTIUM M, NOT the Pentium 4-M that's the fast low power one! Say "Centrino" if you can't figure it out...
Ijit. Use an XGI graphics card. ;-)
There's actually a BUNCH of big players in graphics. Intel (the 800lb gorilla of GPUs, FWIW), ATi, nV, S3, Matrox, 3dLabs. Whew. Intel is good in low-end, ATi and nV are good in mid to high-end 3D, S3 is good in... nothing, but their GPUs make Intel's look good, Matrox is good in high-end 2D, and 3dLabs is good in workstation 3D.
IBase MB860, Mini-ITX, TM8600 Efficeon.
$485 at Logic Supply
Hmm... try MSWLogo. LOGO was an option back in the '80s, and it still is today. MSWLogo is a pretty good interpreter for Windows, and it will run under WINE (just install on a Windows machine, and copy the program folder to the Linux box - that's the only place it puts files).
I'd give them a Visa Buxx card number with $0 balance ;-)
That said, I wouldn't participate in this pyramid scheme .
I will run AdAware and Spybot scans on my boxes every now and then, but that's not why I run them normally. I'm usually cleaning spyware off of OTHER PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS, those that I can't control whether they get crapware on or not at least until I get to the PC.
I've grown into my install, and put the following on:
B ar (a pretty nice status bar for Windows - shows a bunch of stuff - mine has uptime, CPU usage, RAM usage, power (it's a laptop), net usage, drive info, volume controls, log off/shutdown controls, Num/Cap/Scr/Ins indicators (mine aren't the most visible), and Winamp controls)
Avast AV
Azureus
Opera
Paint.NET
GIMP
Winamp
Stat
Snappy (a program to give snap-to-edges to windows, like X has
I know I've got other stuff on here, too.
Ad Aware - spybot not needed really. AA catches just about everything now if you need this, you should not talk about software,kid.
If I can run an AdAware scan, and catch even ONE THING with Spybot S&D after that, then AdAware isn't doing it's job.
Actually, it WOULD be possible to put a USB or serial cart reader in the thing, if you wanted to.
Directions to build the thing: http://mini-itx.com/projects/falcon-itx/
Well, I guess Apple is a hell of a lot better than Windows ;-)
/fs:ntfs).
How to get someone away from Windows 98:
1. Bring a Windows 2000 CD (this is important that it is 2000 - XP will be too obvious)
2. While they're away, put it in.
3. Install it as an upgrade, so all of their settings stick.
4. Run Windows Update 20 times, until you've got all of the patches (I HOPE they're not on dialup).
5. Convert to NTFS (convert C:
6. If you're feeling adventuresome, mod NTOSKRNL.EXE and other things (MSGINA.DLL, IIRC) so that it looks more like Win98 on startup and shutdown. Kinda hard, but just say it was an update.
Or, if they're OK with 2000, don't do step 6.
If they don't want to convert to Linux, don't try. Convert them to a more stable version of Windows, though.
Opera Software's still getting money, it's just not from you, it's from Google. Click the ads now and then, if you're feeling guilty.
FWIW, what feature DOES Firefox have, other than AdBlock, that is something INNOVATIVE, and ISN'T IN OPERA?
From what I've heard, Opera 8 won't even be offered with Java rolled into the install anymore.
I don't know what the actual size on Konq+Linux+KDE (it's in kdebase, though, so I can't single it out) is, but here goes on functionality:
Web, file management.
Hmm... Then Mandrake (9.2, 10.0) and SuSE (8.2) both come with borked X configs ;-)
Actually, it's a sticky in the Opera Beta Testing forum. Since Previews are essentially alphas, they don't want Joe Blow stumbling on them, and saying "OMG, this Opear makes teh intarweb crashy".