bought a new computer
Jan. 9th, 2004 12:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagibbsWell, I've decided to finally join the world of those that own a computer. Yes, despite working for a software company and having been online for approaching 2 decades now, despite being a technical geek type guy, I have not owned a computer for the last several years, probably about 5 years in fact.
What I've got is a basic modern machine -- 500M RAM, 2.6 GHZ P4 hyperthreaded, 120G disk (serial ATA I think), DVD/CD-RW combo, and random on-the-motherboard graphics and network card. No, I didn't build it myself, just went out to a store and bought a package. It came with cheapo speakers, ok monitor, a Microsoft "multimedia" keyboard and optical mouse (the mouse seems broken... may need to get it replaced) and seemingly decent Lexmark printer/scanner combo thingy. (I did a couple test scans... seems to do a pretty good job even at its basic level. It looked like it had an OCR option, too, might play with that later.)
I don't think I like the keyboard that much... they've added a bunch of useless "shortcut" buttons for webpages or starting MS messenger, but have re-arranged the usual home/delete/end block, and moved insert out of that block, both of which I find annoying.
Oh ya, also picked up a Linksys DSL access point router combo thingy, so I can share my DSL access, and it happens to do wifi (802.11B) as well. Got that disabled for now, as I don't have any wifi cards in any machines, so no point in broadcasting a "hotpoint" and opening my house network that way.
Now, the fun of moving/installing the collection of apps & tools that I like on my (work) laptop to this machine. Fun, fun, fun.
P.S. I don't like the XP look&feel, and while there is a "Windows Classic" skin, it doesn't change everything. I guess I've just gotten too used to Windows 2000 professional which is what my laptop runs. Wonder how XP is going to do on the stability side...
What I've got is a basic modern machine -- 500M RAM, 2.6 GHZ P4 hyperthreaded, 120G disk (serial ATA I think), DVD/CD-RW combo, and random on-the-motherboard graphics and network card. No, I didn't build it myself, just went out to a store and bought a package. It came with cheapo speakers, ok monitor, a Microsoft "multimedia" keyboard and optical mouse (the mouse seems broken... may need to get it replaced) and seemingly decent Lexmark printer/scanner combo thingy. (I did a couple test scans... seems to do a pretty good job even at its basic level. It looked like it had an OCR option, too, might play with that later.)
I don't think I like the keyboard that much... they've added a bunch of useless "shortcut" buttons for webpages or starting MS messenger, but have re-arranged the usual home/delete/end block, and moved insert out of that block, both of which I find annoying.
Oh ya, also picked up a Linksys DSL access point router combo thingy, so I can share my DSL access, and it happens to do wifi (802.11B) as well. Got that disabled for now, as I don't have any wifi cards in any machines, so no point in broadcasting a "hotpoint" and opening my house network that way.
Now, the fun of moving/installing the collection of apps & tools that I like on my (work) laptop to this machine. Fun, fun, fun.
P.S. I don't like the XP look&feel, and while there is a "Windows Classic" skin, it doesn't change everything. I guess I've just gotten too used to Windows 2000 professional which is what my laptop runs. Wonder how XP is going to do on the stability side...
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-10 09:57 pm (UTC)Actually, the most annoying change is they re-arranged the home/end/delete/etc block -- it is now 3 vertical by 2 horizontal, with a double-sized delete key, and the insert key moved out of the block. I'm a touch-typist, and even for most non-standard keys my fingers "know" where they are -- that re-arrangement, rather than the rather silly extra keys is my major annoyance.
I think the extra keys are aesthetically blah and kinda a waste of space, but can ignore them fine -- but the change is bad.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-11 08:00 am (UTC)