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Your Modern Computer

Toshiba_Collector said:
How is Asus?
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Works perfectly. No problems with these boards after 1.5 - 2 years. I am convinced that ASUS is the way to go after having problems with other brands in the past and never having any problems with ASUS products. This is my first ASUS video card, but it works flawlessly and I'm thinking about getting another one.
 
TomFCS said:
. . . . I took a lot of of pictures of this project along the way. . . .
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Yes, really well done! Thanks for the picture tour. Ten, twenty years from now, you'll enjoy looking back on those pictures and remembering the project.
 
Hi All,
The semester just ended and I'm snowed in, so now I'm catching up on my forum reading.

My newest acquisition (couple weeks ago) is an OLPC XO laptop I got through Amazon's G1G1 program. You can all look up the specs, but to save you the time:
  • 433MHz AMD Geode LX-700
  • 256KB RAM (edit: sorry, I mean 256MB)
  • 1GB Flash RAM persistent storage (no hard drive; the only moving parts are a few hinges)
  • SD slot (I use a 1GB SD card for swap (a necessity) & home)
  • 3x USB (but no serial, parallel, VGA)
  • microphone, camera, 2 sets of game buttons (1 set works as cursor keys), 2x decent sounding speakers
  • impressively long range 802.11b (faster than your modem, slower than 10bT)
  • screen is 1200x900 in sunlight readable B&W, 800x600 in backlit color
  • screen rotate button rotates image in 90 degree increments
  • Linux using yum package manager
  • nearly instantaneous suspend & resume (1 second or less)
  • Open Firmware with built-in Forth interpreter

I teach CS and write a lot of code, so I have C, Java, Ada, and Erlang compilers installed and running. Prior to that, my main PC was a ThinkPad X31. I've been using the XO more than the X31.

I encourage all you retro PC users to check out this laptop: it was designed to be retro.
 
Last edited:
JeffMeunier wrote:

Hi All,
The semester just ended and I'm snowed in, so now I'm catching up on my forum reading.


My newest acquisition (couple weeks ago) is an OLPC XO laptop I got through Amazon's G1G1 program. You can all look up the specs, but to save you the time:
  • 433MHz AMD Geode LX-700
  • 256KB RAM
  • 1GB Flash RAM persistent storage (no hard drive; the only moving parts are a few hinges)
Er? Don't you mean 256Mb of RAM? Guess it don't really matter, though if you're doing it fine with 256Kb then that sounds quite impressive!! :-D
 
JeffMeunier wrote:

Oops, yes, 256MB RAM. Thanks for catching that.

Pity, I was hoping someone had found a way of running all the stuff you need with 256Kb and just have a 1Gb Flash RAM. Still using the Flash RAM instead of a Hard Disk sounds clever & quicker I guess.
 
willie8605 said:
Works perfectly. No problems with these boards after 1.5 - 2 years. I am convinced that ASUS is the way to go after having problems with other brands in the past and never having any problems with ASUS products. This is my first ASUS video card, but it works flawlessly and I'm thinking about getting another one.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll keep Asus in mind.
 
I just rebuilt my current system a month ago which was a 2600 Duron with 1GB RAM to a new AMD Phenom quad-core/crappy motherboard comboi ($160 = $60 more than the 5000 x2 I was going to get)
4GB RAM ($50)
1TB ($100)
512GB (also $100 on a previous special but had in previous machine)
Memorex dvd-dl burner (previous machine)
Memorex dvd burner (previous machine)
Nvidia Geforce 9800GT video card ($200 which was $100 more than I walked in to buy a cheaper ATI card. Took all the room I have for slots, looks like a vintage peice of junk but takes 2 PCI-e power connections and has a physics engine to my surprise)
650W power supply ($70, had to upgrade to get 2 pci-e connectors where my last PS I bought a few months ago after my system was off for a few weeks and as always wouldn't turn back on only had 1 PCI-e connector).

My only reason to upgrade? "Sacred 2" game released.. my system couldn't even play the stupid intro video.. wtf.. I had an ATI X1600 from 2 years ago which played most stuff on mid to low graphics settings fine. Atleast now I won't have to upgrade next year like I was going to have to with the system I was about to build.

What do I use it for? Playing mp3s, some avi's, and surfing the net and drooling over and/or buying vintage computers I may or may not have.

Anyway so kinda lame there is NO IDE cable for floppy drive at all now, and video card again takes up pretty much 3 (and it only has 3) PCI slots so no expansion there.

My girlfriend doesn't understand as we're clearing out my library room (not sure where I'm gonna move 7 bookshelves of computer books quite yet) for her girls but the computer in the computer room is my Zenith 8088 (Z-151) sitting on it's original cheap computer desk and she commented on that system. I told her that system is staying inside, not going to the garage or a possible environment monitored storage site and that's the only system in the house I care about. If need-be the new system can gtfo in the garage but not my first computer lol.
 
Actually, I'm currently running beryl on an old PIII I picked up at goodwill for $50 a few years ago. It has an ancient GeForce2 graphics card. It's amazing how much you can squeeze out of old hardware with linux.
 
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