For that real retro PC look I've taken an Original IBM PC Case and with a little modification (a few mins. with a hacksaw) squeezed in a K6-3 mobo and dvd drive etc. No floppy required (- but windoze does not seem to recognize this fact). Sprayed the whole lot black and it sits under the telly ready for watching DVD's.
A little noisy, but what can you expect from a PSU that must be 16 years old!
Here in the UK we have had a choice of many free ISP for several years - free meaning no monthly ISP bills, we do have to pay for the calls though... Many of these free ISPs operate on getting a cut of what we have to pay for the call.
The firstfree ISP here, X-Stream (unfortunatley w32 clients only), though was and is funded through advertising, taking up a couple of lines at the top of the screen.
They have also been trialling free phone calls for the past month or so, supposedly 24/7 access, although I have only had success during evenings and weekends...
One simple way to bypass the ads is by using W98SE's Internet connection sharing - the adds only appear on your host, the clients displays are clean!
Here in the UK we have had a choice of many 'free' ISP for several years - 'free' as in no monthly call costs, we do have to pay for the calls though... Many of these 'free' ISPs operate on getting a cut of what we have to pay for the call.
The firstfree ISP here, X-Stream (unfortunatly w32 clients only), though was and is funded through advertising, taking up a couple of lines at the top of the screen.
They have also been trialling free phone calls for the past month or so, supposedly 24/7 access, although I have only had success during evenings and weekends...
One simple way to bypass the ads is by using W98SE's Internet connection sharing - the adds only appear on your host, the clients displays are clean!
I have a Alcatel One Touch Pocket - this phone has a built in modem, and reasonably cheap 9 pin serial cable available (around 40 UK pounds as best as I remember). I have only it so far with M$ Win95, but using standard modem drivers it works fine, and understands most of the AT command set when using HyperTerminal. Only draw back apart from the usual 9600 speed it that it does not support hardware handshaking.
I have been using this with my laptop to connect to the net for the past few months - slow but usable. Thanks to Cellnet's current offer I am able to do this for free off-peak (2 landline numbers free off-peak till the end of the year).
Another phone I had considered was the Mondial ML808, I belive this also has a built in modem and is even supplied with the serial cable. I am sure the web site was www.mondial.com - but it seems to have gone now - so may be the phone is no loner avalible...
One phone to be cautious of is the Ericson SH888, although this can be connected via a serial cable it will still want to use the infared protocols!
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For that real retro PC look I've taken an Original IBM PC Case and with a little modification (a few mins. with a hacksaw) squeezed in a K6-3 mobo and dvd drive etc. No floppy required (- but windoze does not seem to recognize this fact). Sprayed the whole lot black and it sits under the telly ready for watching DVD's.
A little noisy, but what can you expect from a PSU that must be 16 years old!
The first free ISP here, X-Stream (unfortunatley w32 clients only), though was and is funded through advertising, taking up a couple of lines at the top of the screen.
They have also been trialling free phone calls for the past month or so, supposedly 24/7 access, although I have only had success during evenings and weekends...
One simple way to bypass the ads is by using W98SE's Internet connection sharing - the adds only appear on your host, the clients displays are clean!
The first free ISP here, X-Stream (unfortunatly w32 clients only), though was and is funded through advertising, taking up a couple of lines at the top of the screen.
They have also been trialling free phone calls for the past month or so, supposedly 24/7 access, although I have only had success during evenings and weekends...
One simple way to bypass the ads is by using W98SE's Internet connection sharing - the adds only appear on your host, the clients displays are clean!
I enjoy the programme, Robot Wars, on UK TV, my only worry is the definition of a robot.
Maybe I have been reading too much Asimov; but I do belive that a remote control toy has very little to do with any normal meaning of the word robot.
I would be far more interested in genuine robots fighting, a much better test for geeks - as this would involve both hardware and software hacks!
I have been using this with my laptop to connect to the net for the past few months - slow but usable. Thanks to Cellnet's current offer I am able to do this for free off-peak (2 landline numbers free off-peak till the end of the year).
Another phone I had considered was the Mondial ML808, I belive this also has a built in modem and is even supplied with the serial cable. I am sure the web site was www.mondial.com - but it seems to have gone now - so may be the phone is no loner avalible...
One phone to be cautious of is the Ericson SH888, although this can be connected via a serial cable it will still want to use the infared protocols!