The Computer Life
of
Big Dave
I got into the world of HTML back in 1996, and I did just like everyone else: Steal. I took inspiration from another web site, copied it, changed it to fit my needs, and published it. Shortly thereafter, I actually looked at the HTML code and figured it out. I must say thanks to all the companies that make web authoring software. Things have gotten a lot easier thanks to you.
But my dealings with computers go back a lot further than that...
The following is a brief synopsis of my computer life
I
was introduced to computers at age 5. My father took me to work with him one
Saturday and sat me in front of a terminal. Even though I was just playing
games, I was having fun and knew this was for me.
At
age 8, I received a Timex-Sinclair 1000 with a full 2K of RAM for Christmas.
For my birthday I got the 16K expansion pack.
I
was attending Saturday classes at Marygrove College when I was 11. I was
learning to program in BASIC and according to my instructor, I was one of the
brightest students there.
13
years of age came around and I got an Atari. Not the video game, (I had
one of those already) but the 1200
XL with 64K of RAM. You could not only play games on it, but you could also
program and go online. This was when 300 baud was fast, hackers didn't have to
worry about Caller ID, and CompuServe had a text menu interface, not a fancy
GUI.
I
was 17 and it was suggested that I transfer out of my high school computer
class because I knew more than my teacher. I also got my first IBM compatible
PC. In fact, it was an IBM PS/1. The heck with kilobytes of memory, this thing
had a whopping 6 MEGABYTES of RAM!
Anyway,
I graduated high school and went to work for EDS. After 6 years there, I studied for the
next 2 years at National Education Center and came out with an Associates Degree in
Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology.
After graduation, I
began my employment at the Detroit Health Department. First in Substance
Abuse, then in Data Management. I
would oversee the daily operations of a Microsoft NT 4 Server, 2 Novell NetWare
5.1 fileservers, and 2 Sun Enterprise 250 UNIX Servers. I worked with a full
staff of 4 (including myself) to support these systems, 600+ local users, and
75 to 100 off-site users.
But it finally happened. I have left the City and have gone into business for myself. Starting out wasn't as hard as I thought it would be thanks to the powerful tool, "Word-Of-Mouth". I'll give you more company info once I'm better established, but for now you can click here.
Below is a general overview of my computer and some of the changes it has gone through. It may not look like much to you, but it works and works well. If you want to see a more detailed view, then click here.
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Windows 2000 was (and still is) my OS of choice. I skipped Windows XP, tried Vista, and realized that I really like Windows 2000, so I went back to it.
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An Intel P4C - 2.4 GHz - it has that new Hyper Threading Technology. With the HT Technology, it's like a dual-core machine. You know what they say - a faster computer is a better computer. Since dual-core (and quad-core) processors are out, it could be time for an upgrade.
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An AOpen AX4SG-N motherboard, too. Onboard it has 8 USB 2.0 ports, network, video, sound, and it supports an 800 MHz FSB!
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1 Gigabyte of DDR-3200 RAM! It runs at 400 MHz and replaces the 512 MB of the slower 333 MHz memory. 4 sticks of 256 MB works very well.
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A Sony DDU-1631 DVD-ROM. Just a reader (for now).
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A Sony DRU-530A DVD +-RW/+-R drive. It's only a single layer drive, so I'll need to change it soon.
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A Sony CRX-1601 CD-RW - You say "3 CD drives. Why?" Because I might want to watch a DVD while burning a CD or two.
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A 1.44 MB floppy - Nothing special about this.
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I replaced my Iomega Zip-250 with a 9-in-1 memory card reader. Besides, I've got an external Zip-100 and a lot of USB ports to use.
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A 250 Gigabyte, 7200 RPM Western Digital SATA hard drive. Originally I was going to add it to my system, but I ended up replacing my 120 GB IBM Deskstar drive.
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Ok, so I ended up putting the 120 GB drive back in my PC.
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I got a SATA to IDE converter. Now my disk drives are both SATA, and I freed up an IDE port.
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I couldn't find my internal Iomega Zip-250, but since I had a free IDE port, I've re-installed my Zip-100.
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An NVidia GeForce2 MX 100/200 Video card with 64 Meg of RAM. I didn't want to share any of my system memory with the onboard video, plus The Sims 2 needs it.
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All of this is neatly packaged in a nice black and silver case which leaves room for future expansion.
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19 inch ViewSonic LCD widescreen monitor. Great for movies, and well, just great!
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A Logitech USB/PS2 Optical mouse - These are great fun, I highly recommend one!
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I also have Labtec USB and Alaris Parallel webcams hooked up to it.
It's a little dirty, but here's a picture of "My Beast" now. It will change soon. When I built this it was "state of the art", but now it's just a regular PC. Thanks to my tinkering and upgrading, this one is a "tech dudes paradise".
Guess what? I've done 2 other things I never thought I would do. I recently got a notebook, and I've setup a Belkin wireless router on my network. The notebook is a Dell. It's an older machine, but it does what I need. Actually, it does more than I need, but I'm not complaining. It supports dual monitors, it's networked (wirelessly thanks to Realtek, and wired thanks to Xircom), and it shares my Lexmark Printer. They're not much, but check the specs. Plus, I recently got docking station, which is nice as it has all of the standard ports, plus a built-in 3Com network card and an external video port. I also ended up getting an Inland USB Hub/Memory Card Reader combo. Lastly, I now have an HP DeskJet 450 color printer. Since HP doesn't support Windows 98 anymore (thanks to the user friendly folks at Microsoft), I set it up and shared it from my above tower. And like of the above tower, I also have a webcam hooked up to it - a D-Link DSC-350.
It was said once (or twice) that I should have married a computer, and you know, those that said it may have been right. Oh well, it's too late now. Or is it? Hmmm...
One more thought. Is having a desktop computer and a notebook computer like having an affair? I hope not.
I
heard that on June 11, 2006, Microsoft will stop supporting anything below
Windows 2000. If you need assistance with upgrading your PC, just
click here and I'll help you
the best I can.
Maybe you want to learn to wire a CAT-5 or 6 cable or you might want to take an Internet Speed Test? If so, follow the appropriate link.
P.S. Guess what again? I got another computer. I had it for a while, but I set it aside because it wouldn't boot. The POST wouldn't even run. But I got it working, and it's a pretty spiffy PC. It's a 2.8 Gigahertz Pentium 4 with 512 MB of RAM, and I'm running Windows Vista on it. I didn't want to screw up my main PC loading a new OS, so this came along at just the right time. Luckily, it had an empty 80GB Maxtor HDD and a DVD/CDRW drive so that I could load Vista. The standard I/O (the Mouse and Keyboard) is USB as there are no PS/2 ports in it. It has something really neat (neat for now, tomorrow it will be obsolete), a 10/100/1000 NIC. Everything is built onto the motherboard (sound, video, etc), but it's cool nonetheless. I like it.
P.P.S. Well, you don't need to guess this time, I'll just tell you. I gave the above computer to my Lil Sis. She had been computerless for a little while, and since I had an extra one, I said "Here, take it". I was happy, she was happy, we were (and still are) happy! It's no fun emailing someone who can't email you back.
OK, one more enhancement to my machine. I got this idea from the friendly folks at MicroCenter. They sell USB turntables, and since I used to be a DJ, I have lots of old records in crates. I have connected one of my turntables to my computer so that I can record and convert some of my old music. I like it.
No more guessing, I'll tell you. I got a new notebook. The info about it is here.
Send mail to dmfarrior@gmail.com
or
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Copyright © 1999 David Farrior. All rights reserved.
Last revised: March 05, 2009
