What's your level of computer-ease

Which statement best describes your highest computer literacy level? Feel free to add your own personalized quote.

Will you build a computer for ME?

I'm intimidated by all this expertise around me - never knew.

They are pretty good at helping you pick out what you need. And you get a warranty. You won't get that on one you build yourself.

Apple is far better and cheaper in the long run for most people. Far easier to use software, much of which comes with the computer, less virus problems, higher resale value and Al Gore is on the board of directors.

It is not easier for someone who is relatively novice to use. More people know how to use PCs so it would be easier to get help. PC software IS easier to get than Mac software. Mac addicts think that Macs are the only computers worth using and that is pure crap. Macs are good for certain things, graphics, 3D rendering, animation. But for someone who just wants to surf the net, make some basic web pages, and write a few letters, there is no reason for them to buy a machine that is not compatible with MOST of the other computers in the world.

And I'm pretty sure if you start doing some tracing, just about every big company has ties to places they shouldn't. Pick your battles. If you start not using products from companies that you suspect or know have ties to the s then you won't be able to buy much of anything from anywhere. I'm sure sticks and rocks are good for something but they are not good computer parts.

The Dell site is easy to use. They have good customer service. They have warranties on their systems. The are pretty inexpensive. They are compatible with other hardware if you want to do your own upgrades.

Ordered a Dell with exactly what I wanted, and one month before the extended 3-year warranty expired the thing short-circuited to death. Tech support had me open the box and test everything (I almost cried, wimpered alot), and then sent a guy out who replaced everything except the hard drive, which survived intact.

Next time I'd like to build my own, if it's as easy as alot of you are saying, and no more expensive than ordering one custom. I've heard people claim that it's considerably cheaper - what's the real skinny on that?

I can't say about your Dell case, but if you have a standard sized case for standard sized motherboards, when it comes to upgrading your computer..

You already have:
Case
Keyboard
Mouse
Mousepad
Monitor
Hard Drive
Vid Card
Sound Card
Network Card
Modem
Cable
CPU
Motherboard
CD-Rom drive
Floppy Drive

Upgrading could be as simple as buying a new CPU, or more RAM, or both. With a big jump in processor generation, you might need a new motherboard and power supply. Power Supply being unlikely.

So, instead of paying for the things you can't easily buy computers without "keyboard, mouse, cables, manuals, bundled software, sometimes even monitors" you only pay for core components, and can upgrade when needed.

I have an AMD Atlon 1.4, my next upgrade will probably be to the 64-bit AMD set, that will require a new motherboard and CPU. My current vid card "GeForce3" is fine. My CD is fast enough, drives big enough, etc, etc.

Its not that hard. Its all a matter of plugging components into the motherboard. The hardest part is trying to determine what you want to do with your system, and then getting the parts that you need. There are a good number of do it yourself PC construction sites out there that break it down step by step.

I was totally in the dark before I built my system. I'm no expert now, but I'm alot more knowledgeable about how PC's work. With a little research almost anyone can build and upkeep their own PC. Not to mention the pride that comes with saying: "I built my own PC."

is the cost of the software...hell, Windoze alone will run you almost $200 for the non-upgrade flavor of XP Home edition...and then you've got to install some productivity stuff and if you plan on using Office, get ready to pay through the nose ($400 for the standard edition but you can get MS Works for about $90).

Of course, I won't tell anyone if you pirate a little here and there! ;-)

theProdigal

If the person was going to put XP on it, it could mean that the computer is either relatively new and came with XP bundled, or they bought the upgrade previously. Same with office.

Then of course there's linux.

Macs don't give you an option either way, I'd love to see a Mac running linux

but he's talking a new build...so all new software...linux on a mac? isn't OSX essentially a unix-style kernel with a GUI over it???

theProdigal

I can turn mine on and off now.

Can you start it up in "safe mode"?

<reaches for condums>

write functional code, I hope??

I don't even know what code is, except that one needs it for creating websites.

From FOLDOC (the Free On Line Dictionary Of Computing):

code
<software> Instructions for a computer in some programming language, often machine language. The word "code" is often used to distinguish instructions from data (e.g. "The code is marked 'read-only'") whereas "software" is used in contrast with "hardware" and may consist of more than just code.

and I've been doing it for more than 20 years now.

unix/linux? windoze? SNA? just curious...

theProdigal

Primarily Windows but a smattering of Linux and I came from a mainframe enviro a few years ago.

not that we have not met in other threads... :-)

Mostly a protocol geek here...so I get to play with a little bit of everything and much more with network infrastructure than with the server/workstation side...

How much linux are you running into in the corp world? We are starting to see a LOT more of it in web server environments and application servers...this makes me very happy!

theProdigal

I am in the CAD/CAM industry. I support the lead design groups and the trim groups. As such I see a wide spread of cutting edge and grunt maintstream apps. The CAD industry is currently fleeing from the UNIX/Mainframe enviro. The rise of the Windows workstations are dealing a serious blow to our hardcore UNIX geeks.

so i am a little familiar with the CAD world...most of that drawing stuff is over my head...i can draw sitck people on a good day. I bet the Unix-ers are feeling the pain of loss! My world, fortunately, is fairly stable (TCP/IP and related protocols don't change much)

theProdigal

I share my cube area with one of our former UNIX gurus. I am having to walk him through Windows issues as he tries to adapt. It is a grind on him. Particulary when you consider the crash rates on UNIX systems vs Windows. The Stability and reliability of UNIX just makes us shake our heads all the more at the advance of Microsoft.

but I started with an OS no one knows anymore, back in the 1980s - Xerox's. And if anyone still doubts that the whole Windows interface was copped from Xerox, I'm here to tell you we were using it on Xerox workstations in the late '70s, back when Bill Gates still meant his dad around here.

and fun stuff...yeah, all those guys over at PARC could be running the world now had they decided to turn Bill away at the door! But they wanted to be 'the document company.' Looks like they succeeded in that...but they could own the world now...

theProdigal

i even get to wear a propeller-beanie at work

theProdigal

does a protocol analyst do besides wear the beanie?

Would Wolfowitz & Rummy qualify as protocol analysts, or just anals?

i work in an environment where we put a computer on the network (that is a network we have been invited to...we are not big brother)and it intercepts network traffic. My job is to go in there and analyze what has been intercepted in an effort to troubleshoot various problems. Fun stuff...if you like hex and binary and trying to figure out why this box won't talk to that one...

theProdigal

on edit:should really learn to type one day

So you are in good company!!!

And believe me, I know how to use them. I'm not a computer geek but I've known my way around since DOS was the only OS.

and never was it the only OS. Thank God is wasn't the last one...whoever thought we would need more than 640K of memory??? :-)

theProdigal

I guess even back in the 1980s, Microsoft was already hard at work attempting their monopoly. Our computer came with DOS I think and I guess we just never knew of anything else.

Today, people tell me about Linux. I should try it but, being socialized to like Microsoft's line of OS from an early age, it would be really hard for me to switch.

the school girl Barbie that said things like "Math is hard."

with the advent of more and more people desiring to use it, the installs have become simpler (no need to be a driver guru) and the interface for GNOME or KDE is sufficiently Windoze-like to be usable by most current Windows users.

Microsoft really hit the timing right and set up the right marketing and relationships with hardware vendors!!! Most people today in the PC world never HAVE known anything but a Microsoft OS!

Fear not and go forth into the world of other operating systems and ye shall find a plethora of functionality...

theProdigal

When I was four we had PONG and we were happy to have it!

DOS has NEVER EVER FUCKING been the only operating system.

Ever build a Comodor Synclair from the box? Ever run a word processor from a ROM cartridge? Do you remember the day you got the switch box that would let you run TWO external five inch floppie drives on your PC? Have you ever tried to trouble shoot a modem (300 baud coupler) connection based solely on the screach?

Bah!

Build a computer with no fear! I had no idea when I built my first Commodore Synclair that I should fear anything other than dripping solder on my hand. All of this snap together computer components makes it so easy these days. Self recognizing hard drives! Mother boards that can read a RAM chip and just use it!

Oh, wait ... damn, all of those things ARE improvemnts over the old systems. All of them except now any monkey with a few hundred dollars and a phone line can caome along and screw up the Internet.

Commercial use ... grumble ... grumble ... HTML mail readers ... bitch moan complain ...

These days, it seems like every other email I recieve uses html, and many are pieces of mail I'd like to read. I'm so sick of reading a raw message, trying to pick out the text from the html code. It's more of a pain in the butt than it's worth. But there is no f'n way I want to use the virus magnet, Outlook.

.
.
.

Select the whole message, copy it then paste it into Word

Do the "Find" thing - type in the " > " or other offensive symbol, and in the "Replace" window, leave it blank.

Select "Replace All", and BOOM - 392 " > " 's removed!

Repeat for each symbol.

once the text looks normal (if you want to save it), Select all, Copy it, open Notepad and Paste it then you can Save it as a small text file.

Try it, it's worth the time, even if you just want to read it.

I've had good success with Eudora. I administer Exchange servers with Outlook clients at work, but my personal choice is Eudora.

and went with outlook for the office...just made things easier and got my email-gurus off my back...i miss it... :-(

theProdigal

on edit : Hot Damn...post 666

from the 666 post, lest all thine systems crash.

and done!

theProdigal <--- could still be Satan's spawn

I saw the slick right on your tail there.

and it was a long way from being the first. Xerox had a graphical interface back in 1977 which used a "desktop" with "icons." I used one! And that's not even counting how long UNIX had already been around by then, or machine code, or VAX/VMS...there were a LOT of OS's before Microsoft appeared on the scene and swiped the core of it.

it's all I can do to log on here. don't watch tv. don't drive. born at least 100 yrs late.

TV occasionally. I primarily watch DVDs. Right now I am digesting season one of Starsky and Hutch (drooling over Starsky!).

I would be lost w/o the Internet.

}(

For the record, my mom bought me a used TRS80 in 1983...when I was eight years old. It was followed up a year later by a CoCo2 and my first PC. Guess which one ran a Microsoft operating system (seriously, take a guess).

I wrote my first program at 9, and rebuilt my uncles old Heath at 10 (you really old computer geeks should know what that is). In college, I wrote my own operating system with dreams of being the next BG. Today, I think I may still have a copy on CD in my attic somewhere.

At the moment there are five computers in the house that were built by me. And yes, they all work just fine.... ;-)

Thank goodness husband is the PC guru. :)

3D graphics and animation

But I cannot write code.

But that is it. If anything goes wrong I call the university computer center and they come over and fix it.

As of now, 32 out of 64 respondents to this poll are able to build a computer. How many of you can perform a heart transplant? I am humbled and amazed - this is an even more intelligent, brave, & inquisitive group than I'd thought. I feel like a republican...

ie. Create my own motherboard, program my own bios, write my own operating system