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Living With Used Computers - Nov 1, 2004

 
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Maurice
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Joined: 08 Jul 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:59 am    Post subject: Living With Used Computers - Nov 1, 2004 Reply with quote

Living With Used Computers


By Maurice Ali, Journalist



Our newest acquisition, a slightly used computer!


I hate purchasing used computers; you just know there is something wrong, but what? Why did the other guy give up on it? I pondered this question as cleaned up our latest acquisition, a 2ghz/512ram/60gighd/WinPro HP Pavilion. I really hate the HP as the cases are small and the sound and monitor were onboard the motherboard with no drivers..... I did not really even try to get them as my first computer - a P166 desktop - was like this and the whole venture to get the drivers was a complete failure. The thing is; I really needed a powerful computer now, and this used one was just powerful enough (and at half price).



The new computer with 160gig harddrive (between the tower and the monitor), Samsung
monitor, a scanner and Tascam audio interface with cables and SM58
mic. - ready to record that radio advertisement!



The new computer gives us the ability to render digital video into any format including mpeg2 (which we exceeded requirements.....but just slightly). We had to buy it now as this was part of the finishing parts on our new office and studio; and my home computer had to be separate from the corporate computer for security and legal reasons. There are now three computers under one roof: The P166 - which we modified for invisibility in the freenet article - and still has that ability and will be used for corporate internet surfing as the 2ghz is strictly an off-line machine. The last is my twin drive 500mhz P3 computer that was used for our projects at FOF so far. I could have kept on using it with problematic results, but this is a business, and we needed something more efficient. This computer is our internet surfer and uploader, we can swap large files via our external hard drive and firewire ports (I am becoming a big fan of this over USB2.....).


Problems with the new computer as we stripped it down and added disc drives
and sound cards and firewire, etc - Fun!


I overcame any relief I had that we finally had a computer that could handle the multi-media jobs we now faced; I faced the task of altering a proprietary name-brand computer to our needs..... Problem is that these things come with proprietary motherboards and components and software that is not generic. We were better off with a clone, but where do I find a modern clone - you would have to buy new..... Off came the plastic shell - breaking of one of the tabs; I pressed it apart gingerly.....and it did not spring back! The thing just stayed bent - then fell off! I glued it back reversed (so that it did not lock to the case, but looks like nothing was broken, and for some reason this made me feel better.....hehehehehe.....). Anyway, to no ones surprise, the dude who had it previously overwrote the XP Home program with Windows Professional and lost the drivers for the monitor and sound card (both on-board). This was not total grief as I specifically wanted Windows XP Professional and now have it, plus I still have the licence for XP Home (on a decal on the case). Some good news as I found he added Ram, now up to 512 - double the out-of-the-box specification. He replaced the motherboard monitor connection with a decent video card (which is good for us as we work in multi-media) and I added a 24bit Creative sound card wich is desirable again because we are a multi-media company. I swapped out the DVD player into this computer as we will be cutting all sorts of CDs and the current drive was just a rewrite..... I kept the modem (just in case) and added the firewire card for the camera and HD connection. This used up all the slots on the computer, so I had to resort to a USB2 hub to bring up the total number of USB ports from four to seven, more than enough! I also bought a Samsung monitor as swapping one good monitor up and down stairs (the smaller one only works occasionally - now connected to the P166) was insanity and not congruent with our "separate office" philosophy. I rounded the purchases off with two more optical mouses (10 dollars each) and a keyboard (five dollars - new!).


The P166 in the office - ready for internet surfing!


So now we have all three positions for:

Work - the new used 2ghz.

Internet work - P3

Casual internet browsing in the office - P166


The amazing thing is that we still use the 166 - but I will not allow the 2ghz to pick up all sorts of malware off the internet; even though we have the service pack 2 installed! When we upgrade the 2ghz; we will rotate the P3 for casual internet browsing and the 2ghz to the internet work,


The computer for my personal use.


I am grudgingly going to have to admit that the new used computer can do things that the old P3 struggled or could not do. Some old files from Pet loaded instantly while the same operation with the P3 made lots of noise and took forever and even that was problematic. So the purchase was a good one. I like the rotation idea, as it allows upgrading without having to "chuck" the old one immediately with the huge loss of depreciation.....

Later.....

Being the fool I am - I sheepishly took on the task of upgrading my 166 with an intel Pentium 2 Celeron processor (300mhz) and 3.2Gig hard drive in an old tower. Initially nothing worked - but when I added a stick of Ram.....I finally hear the familiar noises and things started to work. So I will clean her up and take some pictures and get the ball rolling. I figure I should have twin drives of 5Gig total and run Windows 98SE on this baby. I hope this should be enough not to notice the humble hardware as we surf the net at FOF and IAIJ.



The new and very old computer!

That is the computer in the photo above, pretty old looking.....but will be rejuvenated to help promote free speech and thought! I had to add a CD drive and as mentioned before, we will have two small hard drives, supported sound card and modem and USB prots to run more modern accessories.


The new and very old keyboard!

One thing I may stay with is the large prong and high quality keyboard you see above this paragraph. I love this stuff as they just do not make the keyboards like this anymore. Some things get hard to find now - like a serial mouse, but I found one in my basement! So it appears that we are now ready to breath a little life into this inanimate object and start having some fun! More to follow - a serious geek thread for aging geeks world-wide!

Disaster has struck!!!!!

Three of the four computers I had earlier today are dead! The only one still operable is the 2ghz off-line computer in the office. I will have to see if the hard drives on the P3 are still intact or whether all data is lost!

To make a long story short,my quest to upgrade the 166 turned horribly wrong when I found out - after installing 98SE - that the graphics were a miserable 16 colors or two, and no larger screen size. This was untenable and a reversion to the 166 with both drives screwed everything up. I then gave up and made the best of a bad by installing three good components to the P3. In my haste to set up the P3 - I forgot to unplug the system and it came to life as I was yanking in a USB card, made a lot of noise and then I smelled something burning....., Looks like the power supply, I will replace it tomorrow and see how bad it is.

I could be suicidal now if I had not backed up all 10GIG of the P3 onto the 160GIG external Maxtor harddrive I purchased a week or so ago. FOF and IAIJ are information and our database is the soul of this organization. We had depth and it was tested today but the data is still intact and the best systems are still there.....because they are always off-line.....


Back on the internet with the P166! I had to resolve some problems with DOS Commands, but all is well now. I will still have to download all relevant internet browsing software again.....a real pain!

The P3-computer is back on line!!!!! I needed a new power supply and I also added a new DVD player! So now the 2ghz and 500mhz have DVD players and firewire ports for the external drive. The memory in the P3 is safe and all there. The fourth computer is going back as it is a piece of shit! I need sleep and the paper formatting is starting tomorrow so the paper probably will have to be distributed on the weekend at the earliest. I have also added a Logitech webcam to the 166 for electronic meetings - and yes.....it works!

Alright; electronic corporate meetings with the 166 was a bit much. I finally took my own lessons learned and scored a 1.6Ghz Athlon on a modern motherboard capable of supporting 4 harddrives and 4 or so stacked accessories with five pci slots! The thing looks new and unused so I am happy.



And running 98se is very fast. I got it for 200Can with an old 6GIG HD thrown in (it was stripped). and only 128meg of ram, but for web browsing and uploads that is enough.

When everything is sorted out I may just use this one for personal use and take (the very loaded) P3 500mhz for that purpose instead.
For now, at least, I don't worry about the computer situation. It has been resolved.


Conclusion

What can we learn from my experience? Well you can keep these thoughts in mind when living with used computers:

1. Always try new if you can help it!

2. If used - Buy form a reputable vendor.

3. Buy your used computer in demonstrable working order - I can not stress this enough. You do not hand over your money to anyone unless they prove what is in the box and that the computer will work!

4. Know your prices - A used computer must be really cheap or else why bother with all the crap that goes with used equipment.

5. Having a lot of cards on the computer means little if you don't have the drivers for them. XP is helpful here but never any guarantees so sort this matter out with the seller before you leave.

Thats about it; and I hope my experiences (good and bad) have helped someone out there live with used computers.....you have my sympathies.....


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