Subj : Re: test To : Russell Tiedt From : Chip Hearn Date : Wed Apr 28 2004 12:40 am -=> Russell Tiedt Scribbled to Chip Hearn <=- CH> I own and operate my own business, with 3 kids, I have a ton of CH> clients that think they can get me to do their "Home" computers as CH> well as their work computers... My Wife has a ton of friends, and CH> each one of them seems to think I'm their computer geek. And yet my CH> wife gets pissed if I spend 3/4 hours on the computer... Normally CH> doing my paperwork, keeping up my records, generating invoices... you CH> know... business stuff. Anyway, I find time to do the mail... I use CH> it for my break from work and life. >:) RT> I work as a representative for a small company, and tend to have a RT> similar problem as yourself, this evening, my wifes brother has RT> "arranged" that we go and visit, and then later phoned to say, "Please RT> bring whatever you need to fix my computer, the nephew was there and it RT> no longer works". So I sorta understand where you are coming from. Such RT> happens more time than I care for. Such is life. :-) Yeap... so, which is rude? I mean, would it be rude to turn down the visit? Would it be rude to say you can't fix the computer for them? Or, would it be rude to tell him that he will be charged a fee for you to fix his computer, and that the visit/dinner is optional. ;) >> I want to learn perl/php, get some dos doors (BRE, LORD & >> Tradewars) running somewhere in between I need to try and find the >> financial means to acquire myself a HDD that works with an AMD 500 >> cpu system I have, the 2x545 Seagates, and a Seagate 2.2 Gig, I >> have on hand, it does not like, and I am unable to buy it a new >> one, a computer dealer friend of mine says it is fine just needs a >> HDD that is in good nick, I have my doudts, but don't have the cash >> to prove it either way, so it must wait. CH> I have no desire to learn any languages... I'm not a programmer... CH> Don't want to be... :) I do design and implement databases, such as CH> PHP, SQL, etc... I've been running Linux for... about 12 years now... CH> Started with Slackware and have switched to Debian. I play with CH> Slack, Fedora, and some others for fun. But have no real intention of CH> switching from something that works well, to something I'd have to CH> learn all over. :) As for why your HD's don't work with an AMD 500 CH> CPU??? That doesn't make sense. Is it an IDE drive or are they SCSI? CH> If IDE, I've never heard of a system that wouldn't understand an CH> IDE drive... well, not a small one... I've heard of systems that CH> couldn't see large HD's, but that was then, and this is now. :) As CH> for SCSI... if your CH> controller can see the drives, the processor shouldn't have anything CH> to do with it. RT> I don't want to particularly learn to program, but an understanding of RT> some of the scripting languages, it seems, is a definite advantage when RT> working with Linux. I've needed something of that nature now, once in what... 12 some years? I usually find another way. RT> Me, I dunno either, it is an IDE system, and the 2x545MB Seagates I RT> tried didn't work, I have since got another 2 of them. The 2.2Gig RT> Seagate, it currently has, worked lots better, but I get errors when RT> compiling programs on Linux. Gave it to a mate of mine who has his own RT> bussiness and asked him to check it out, and maybe he can find a reason RT> for the "odd" IMO behaviour. Bought that motherboard from him a while RT> back and have only now got the bits together to make a system. He RT> claims the HDD's are faulty, but they work fine in other systems. I RT> suspect that the BIOS has been "flashed" and that the problem is RT> possibly DMA related but I am not sure. My mate says it works perfectly RT> with one of his spare 20Gig HDD's, so I don't know. Waiting to get it RT> back so I can fiddle some more. Well, lets put something to the test here. You say that the 2 545mb HD's had a problem. I say, 545 meg HD's are older than dirt, and its no wonder they dont' work. They probably actually died 5+ years ago. As for the 2.2 gig drives. I have tossed a bunch of those into the trash. I personally don't even think theres a use for anything under 4 gig's. And those HD's are getting to a point. See, understand, Hard Drives do not last indefinetly. A constantly used drive might last 5 years, but all that moving, all those seeks, reads, spinning, wears drives out. I've done some crazy things to Hard Drives over the years to get a bit more out of them. Drives that the heads have crashed on, I've taken the controller card off and put on a drive that the controller card has died... I've low level formatted drives to try to fix some drives... it was all worthless... considering the prices today of a 20 gig drive. The amount of labor and time spent to fix an old 1 or 2 gig drive... seriously not worth it. >> Wouldn't mind playing with a dual CPU system, mostly for bragging >> rights, bu I have never seen one. Dual Pentium I's or even 486's >> would be fine, tho finding memory for 486 boards is extremely >> difficult, even when one has mone to burn. CH> I've got an old Pentium Dual 150 setup with 256 megs of ram old server that a client gave me>. Its currently residing out in the CH> back shed. The case is a 3 1/2 foot high, 2 feet deep, about 16" CH> across dual motherboard case on wheels. Currently have the Dual 150 CH> motherboard and a Pentium 166 motherboard... Yes, that's right, 2 CH> motherboards go in this monster... has a dual 300 watt power CH> supply... It would be cost prohibitive to ship it anywhere... I had a CH> lot of fun with it for quite some time. I ran Slackware and Debian on CH> it... was interesting to compile a kernel for the dual processors... CH> Worked great... now the entire system is sitting in a shed... Just CH> never had the heart to take it to the dump. :) RT> Hmm ... that would be a real treat to play with , but shipping that RT> sucker would definitely cost a small fortune. Maurice Kinal sent me RT> 2xMatrox G200 video cards and that cost him $12.20 Canadian to ship RT> (440 grams), and I just posted a Video card and 2 CD-ROM's to Roy J. RT> Tellason (370 grams) for R68-00, which works out at approx. $11 US. RT> What the cost of a box like you describe is going to cost to ship, RT> doesn't bear thinking about. And as this thing weights in at a hefty 40+ us lbs... Very cost prohibitive. But, if you ever decide to make a drive to southern Georgia, your welcome to pick her up. :) When I say this, most people going down to Disney in Orlando Florida drive down I75 which is right through my town. :) Make a little side trip. :) .... It's easier to have solutions if you don't know much about the problem --- MultiMail/Linux v0.43 --- SBBSecho 2.00-Win32 * Origin: Killed in Action BBS telnet://kia.zapto.org (1:3613/52) .