Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Good morning sir. Don of the possible rescue! Let me be forthright. I have not bought a computer off the shelf since my very first one. Instead my machines have been built from scratch, or provided with alterations made to them. What that means is that my dictionary may not match yours perfectly, but I will try...when I doubt ask. First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is less important. A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for both. a 3.5 floppy is a must. serial, USB, and parallel ports are also a must. Slots, PCI are a must, if there is a single ISO slot it would be helpful, some of the alternative synthesizers are full size boards, but that again is not mandatory. In case I messed up that term, think soundblaster pro live. I have a dream-audio 2496 soundcard I still intend finding. I have d-link <spelling> ethernet cards, those sorts of things. Honestly? what this entire situation has taught me is that I need both a spare and a laptop smiles. Still, does that help? I have a combination of DOS programs and adaptive hardware, including sound Ethernet cards and so forth. Unless your items firmly have DOS drivers that is less of a concern. As for hard drive size, well I always have more than one drive, so room for more than one. 20 gig or higher at least. thanks for even offering! Karen On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Distilling your toughest requirements: - You need DOS - perhaps you would get no value from any additional OS - you would like an ISA slot. That means the the computer has to be more than at least a decade old. Perhaps two decades (I don't remember all transitions). I'm pretty sure we can come up with hardware that matches those requirements. But it will only become harder as time goes on. It would be great if you could figure out how to live with current hardware. I understand that isn't easy for a variety of good reasons. If you get such hardware, are you able to set it up? | From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have | utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. | As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, | again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is | less important. Those DOS memory managers are quite arcane. I imagine that configuring them is mostly a lost art. DOS kind of deals with 640K of RAM, with these memory managers fudging access up to perhaps 4M of RAM. I don't see how 800M of RAM can fit into a DOS world. Perhaps you meant 800M of Hard Drive (but you said 20G of HDD later). All current machines have gigabytes of RAM. Quite a different scale.
Hi, I appreciate your respecting that my choices are tied to what my body, in this moment, allows. The speech resources for more current hardware, and or other operating systems can trigger epileptic like reactions brain wise...there are some exceptions certainly. Finding a particular older macbook pro is on my agenda, but that cannot be my main system just now even once located. The ISO slit is nice, not fully needful though, not like the cereal and USB and parallel ports for example. and yes, on the set up. One positive from all this is discovering a colleague at the centre for Social Innovation able to help with the configuration and setup. In fact he located a brand new mechanical USB keyboard I am typing on in DOS right now..built like the IBM ones in fact. On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Distilling your toughest requirements: - You need DOS - perhaps you would get no value from any additional OS - you would like an ISA slot.
That means the the computer has to be more than at least a decade old. Perhaps two decades (I don't remember all transitions).
I'm pretty sure we can come up with hardware that matches those requirements. But it will only become harder as time goes on.
It would be great if you could figure out how to live with current hardware. I understand that isn't easy for a variety of good reasons.
If you get such hardware, are you able to set it up?
| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
| First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have | utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. | As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, | again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is | less important.
Those DOS memory managers are quite arcane. I imagine that configuring them is mostly a lost art. DOS kind of deals with 640K of RAM, with these memory managers fudging access up to perhaps 4M of RAM.
I don't see how 800M of RAM can fit into a DOS world.
Perhaps you meant 800M of Hard Drive (but you said 20G of HDD later).
All current machines have gigabytes of RAM. Quite a different scale. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
In fact, the P3 or greater aspect is far more important than the ISO slot, if that makes sense. Although not installing freedos, it can manage more current hardware, so can the DOS I run to some extent. www.freedos.org Kare On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
Hi, I appreciate your respecting that my choices are tied to what my body, in this moment, allows. The speech resources for more current hardware, and or other operating systems can trigger epileptic like reactions brain wise...there are some exceptions certainly. Finding a particular older macbook pro is on my agenda, but that cannot be my main system just now even once located. The ISO slit is nice, not fully needful though, not like the cereal and USB and parallel ports for example. and yes, on the set up. One positive from all this is discovering a colleague at the centre for Social Innovation able to help with the configuration and setup. In fact he located a brand new mechanical USB keyboard I am typing on in DOS right now..built like the IBM ones in fact.
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Distilling your toughest requirements: - You need DOS - perhaps you would get no value from any additional OS - you would like an ISA slot.
That means the the computer has to be more than at least a decade old. Perhaps two decades (I don't remember all transitions).
I'm pretty sure we can come up with hardware that matches those requirements. But it will only become harder as time goes on.
It would be great if you could figure out how to live with current hardware. I understand that isn't easy for a variety of good reasons.
If you get such hardware, are you able to set it up?
| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
| First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I | have | utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. | As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of | ram, | again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although | that is | less important.
Those DOS memory managers are quite arcane. I imagine that configuring them is mostly a lost art. DOS kind of deals with 640K of RAM, with these memory managers fudging access up to perhaps 4M of RAM.
I don't see how 800M of RAM can fit into a DOS world.
Perhaps you meant 800M of Hard Drive (but you said 20G of HDD later).
All current machines have gigabytes of RAM. Quite a different scale. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | In fact, the P3 or greater aspect is far more important than the ISO slot, if | that makes sense. Why do you need the power of a P III? Generally speaking, DOS software was built for much weaker processors (eg. 486 or older). | Although not installing freedos, it can manage more current hardware, so can | the DOS I run to some extent. | www.freedos.org FreeDOS looks like a good choice: it is still maintained. What DOS do you use? Here are some technical requirements that may make a recent machine unsuitable: DOS requires a BIOS as opposed to UEFI firmware. For about a decade, all machines came with UEFI firmware. But some UEFI firmware can emulate BIOS. FreeDOS requires that the disk be formated using MBR, not GPT. <http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/UEFI> DOS requires disks to have 512-byte sector. That's less common these days -- most current drives 4096-byte sectors. Sometimes they can emulate 512-byte sectors. MBR disks are limited to 2TB or less: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record> FAT32 partitions are limited to 2TB as well: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32> FreeDOS has supported FAT32 since 2002 (recent, in DOS terms). Does your DOS support FAT32?
IBM Thinkcentre M50 8189 2xP4 3.2Ghz, serial port (not tested) similar to https://www.newegg.com/ibm-thinkcentre-m50-business-desktops-workstations/p/... -OEM XP install dates this to maybe 2003, so 20 years old. It came with Win XP but is currently locked with a password that I do not know. It can boot and run Puppy Linux 32 bit from CD. I do recall it running but have not started it from before the pandemic. It is clean and still looks quite stylish in all black. Origin unknown, probably curbside, but possibly from an Indian family with 2 kids from Scarborough. I think there was a Bollywood CD in the optical drive (Is this a feature?) If you are interested I will start it up and look at its innards in greater detail. Don If interested I will boot it up and maybe do an additional vacuuming. On Sat, 14 Oct 2023 at 15:41, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
| In fact, the P3 or greater aspect is far more important than the ISO slot, if | that makes sense.
Why do you need the power of a P III? Generally speaking, DOS software was built for much weaker processors (eg. 486 or older).
| Although not installing freedos, it can manage more current hardware, so can | the DOS I run to some extent. | www.freedos.org
FreeDOS looks like a good choice: it is still maintained. What DOS do you use?
Here are some technical requirements that may make a recent machine unsuitable:
DOS requires a BIOS as opposed to UEFI firmware. For about a decade, all machines came with UEFI firmware. But some UEFI firmware can emulate BIOS.
FreeDOS requires that the disk be formated using MBR, not GPT. <http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/UEFI>
DOS requires disks to have 512-byte sector. That's less common these days -- most current drives 4096-byte sectors. Sometimes they can emulate 512-byte sectors.
MBR disks are limited to 2TB or less: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record>
FAT32 partitions are limited to 2TB as well: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32> FreeDOS has supported FAT32 since 2002 (recent, in DOS terms). Does your DOS support FAT32? --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Don: thanks for offering a computer to Karen. It has an AGP slot (empty) and 3 PCI slots (empty). Not quite old enough for ISA. Someone may know how to break the WinXP password from a Linux system. If Win XP mattered, I assume that it could be re-installed. But I don't think Karen cares about Windows. If I remember correctly, Win XP doesn't have include a free-standing DOS (it is based on Windows NT). The last Microsoft OS which included DOS was probably Windows ME. I wonder if any drivers are an issue for MSDOS-7.x (what Karen seems to run). Video drivers for DOS itself are surely not needed. But for programs that try to do graphicy things, a driver might be needed. I don't know if Karen uses a program with such needs. Sound drivers are more of an issue. Karen seems to want sound. There wasn't really a standardized way of doing sound in DOS. Disk drives should just work, I think. Is the drive CD and DVD? Can it burn? The one at newegg only reads and only CDs. How much RAM? The newegg model has 512MiB -- plenty for DOS, not so much for Linux. How much HDD? The newegg model has 40GB of disk -- plenty for DOS. Karen: does this look like a computer you can use?
On 2023-10-21 02:19, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Someone may know how to break the WinXP password from a Linux system. If Win XP mattered, I assume that it could be re-installed. But I don't think Karen cares about Windows.
There is an article in Wikipedia about breaking the password of a WinXP box. What would be easier would be to look at the information provided about how to set a new password. -- Cheers! Kevin. https://www.patreon.com/KevinCozens | "Nerds make the shiny things that | distract the mouth-breathers, and Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172 | that's why we're powerful" #include <disclaimer/favourite> | --Chris Hardwick
Hi Karen, Here is what I can give you: - Newegg says it takes DDR400. If it can take DDR2-667, then I got 4 x 2GB sticks for you. - IDE 3.5" floppy drive. On 2023-10-21 01:04, Don Tai via talk wrote:
IBM Thinkcentre M50 8189 2xP4 3.2Ghz, serial port (not tested) similar to https://www.newegg.com/ibm-thinkcentre-m50-business-desktops-workstations/p/... <https://www.newegg.com/ibm-thinkcentre-m50-business-desktops-workstations/p/N82E16883108249> -OEM XP install dates this to maybe 2003, so 20 years old.
Old 'puters, are a little ornery. You get what you get, and then scrounge for parts to upgrade. With luck it all works out in the end, or you die trying. Serial and parallel ports are a major constraint, then adding in USB will get interesting. Most of my old desktops came with almost no memory. In fact I've used these old biddies with as low as 500k of RAM, which will run Puppy Linux and an old browser, from a CD boot. You will need to see if you can combine new and old worlds of PC components. Usually I cannot even do a Linux boot from a USB drive. Let me check my stash of old PC carcasses.. Don On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 09:30, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
Good morning sir. Don of the possible rescue! Let me be forthright. I have not bought a computer off the shelf since my very first one. Instead my machines have been built from scratch, or provided with alterations made to them.
What that means is that my dictionary may not match yours perfectly, but I will try...when I doubt ask. First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is less important. A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for both. a 3.5 floppy is a must. serial, USB, and parallel ports are also a must. Slots, PCI are a must, if there is a single ISO slot it would be helpful, some of the alternative synthesizers are full size boards, but that again is not mandatory. In case I messed up that term, think soundblaster pro live. I have a dream-audio 2496 soundcard I still intend finding. I have d-link <spelling> ethernet cards, those sorts of things. Honestly? what this entire situation has taught me is that I need both a spare and a laptop smiles. Still, does that help? I have a combination of DOS programs and adaptive hardware, including sound Ethernet cards and so forth. Unless your items firmly have DOS drivers that is less of a concern. As for hard drive size, well I always have more than one drive, so room for more than one. 20 gig or higher at least. thanks for even offering! Karen
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
or maybe 500mb ram..sorry, I'm now used to G or ram.. On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 14:50, Don Tai <dontai.canada@gmail.com> wrote:
Old 'puters, are a little ornery. You get what you get, and then scrounge for parts to upgrade. With luck it all works out in the end, or you die trying. Serial and parallel ports are a major constraint, then adding in USB will get interesting. Most of my old desktops came with almost no memory. In fact I've used these old biddies with as low as 500k of RAM, which will run Puppy Linux and an old browser, from a CD boot.
You will need to see if you can combine new and old worlds of PC components. Usually I cannot even do a Linux boot from a USB drive.
Let me check my stash of old PC carcasses..
Don
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 09:30, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
Good morning sir. Don of the possible rescue! Let me be forthright. I have not bought a computer off the shelf since my very first one. Instead my machines have been built from scratch, or provided with alterations made to them.
What that means is that my dictionary may not match yours perfectly, but I will try...when I doubt ask. First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is less important. A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for both. a 3.5 floppy is a must. serial, USB, and parallel ports are also a must. Slots, PCI are a must, if there is a single ISO slot it would be helpful, some of the alternative synthesizers are full size boards, but that again is not mandatory. In case I messed up that term, think soundblaster pro live. I have a dream-audio 2496 soundcard I still intend finding. I have d-link <spelling> ethernet cards, those sorts of things. Honestly? what this entire situation has taught me is that I need both a spare and a laptop smiles. Still, does that help? I have a combination of DOS programs and adaptive hardware, including sound Ethernet cards and so forth. Unless your items firmly have DOS drivers that is less of a concern. As for hard drive size, well I always have more than one drive, so room for more than one. 20 gig or higher at least. thanks for even offering! Karen
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
I can't remember if it was 500 MB or 250MB that can run Puppy Linux, an outdated browser (Netscape Navigator) from a CD boot.. On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 14:56, James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2023-10-13 14:52, Don Tai via talk wrote:
or maybe 500mb ram.. 500 milli byte? That's 4 bits! 😉
Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Since we are pedantic, should be milli bits since it's lowercase b :-D Alex Kink (PGP Key <https://alexkink.net/public_key.asc>) +1 416 887 4795
On Oct 13, 2023, at 14:56, James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
500 milli byte? That's 4 bits!
I will be thankful for the options. Personally I find folks choices and experiences interesting. The bandaged machine I am typing on right now is a Pentium 2 constructed for me in 2008 or 2009. Still there is enough USB support in the bios for me to use a full sized USB keyboard in DOS for the very first time. its amazing. On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
Old 'puters, are a little ornery. You get what you get, and then scrounge for parts to upgrade. With luck it all works out in the end, or you die trying. Serial and parallel ports are a major constraint, then adding in USB will get interesting. Most of my old desktops came with almost no memory. In fact I've used these old biddies with as low as 500k of RAM, which will run Puppy Linux and an old browser, from a CD boot.
You will need to see if you can combine new and old worlds of PC components. Usually I cannot even do a Linux boot from a USB drive.
Let me check my stash of old PC carcasses..
Don
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 09:30, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
Good morning sir. Don of the possible rescue! Let me be forthright. I have not bought a computer off the shelf since my very first one. Instead my machines have been built from scratch, or provided with alterations made to them.
What that means is that my dictionary may not match yours perfectly, but I will try...when I doubt ask. First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is less important. A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for both. a 3.5 floppy is a must. serial, USB, and parallel ports are also a must. Slots, PCI are a must, if there is a single ISO slot it would be helpful, some of the alternative synthesizers are full size boards, but that again is not mandatory. In case I messed up that term, think soundblaster pro live. I have a dream-audio 2496 soundcard I still intend finding. I have d-link <spelling> ethernet cards, those sorts of things. Honestly? what this entire situation has taught me is that I need both a spare and a laptop smiles. Still, does that help? I have a combination of DOS programs and adaptive hardware, including sound Ethernet cards and so forth. Unless your items firmly have DOS drivers that is less of a concern. As for hard drive size, well I always have more than one drive, so room for more than one. 20 gig or higher at least. thanks for even offering! Karen
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
When you say "ISO slot"... do you mean - 5.25" CD/floppy slot on the front of case? - or, ISA slot on motherboard? -- On 2023-10-13 16:56, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
I will be thankful for the options. Personally I find folks choices and experiences interesting. The bandaged machine I am typing on right now is a Pentium 2 constructed for me in 2008 or 2009. Still there is enough USB support in the bios for me to use a full sized USB keyboard in DOS for the very first time. its amazing.
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
Old 'puters, are a little ornery. You get what you get, and then scrounge for parts to upgrade. With luck it all works out in the end, or you die trying. Serial and parallel ports are a major constraint, then adding in USB will get interesting. Most of my old desktops came with almost no memory. In fact I've used these old biddies with as low as 500k of RAM, which will run Puppy Linux and an old browser, from a CD boot.
You will need to see if you can combine new and old worlds of PC components. Usually I cannot even do a Linux boot from a USB drive.
Let me check my stash of old PC carcasses..
Don
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 09:30, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
Good morning sir. Don of the possible rescue! Let me be forthright. I have not bought a computer off the shelf since my very first one. Instead my machines have been built from scratch, or provided with alterations made to them.
What that means is that my dictionary may not match yours perfectly, but I will try...when I doubt ask. First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is less important. A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for both. a 3.5 floppy is a must. serial, USB, and parallel ports are also a must. Slots, PCI are a must, if there is a single ISO slot it would be helpful, some of the alternative synthesizers are full size boards, but that again is not mandatory. In case I messed up that term, think soundblaster pro live. I have a dream-audio 2496 soundcard I still intend finding. I have d-link <spelling> ethernet cards, those sorts of things. Honestly? what this entire situation has taught me is that I need both a spare and a laptop smiles. Still, does that help? I have a combination of DOS programs and adaptive hardware, including sound Ethernet cards and so forth. Unless your items firmly have DOS drivers that is less of a concern. As for hard drive size, well I always have more than one drive, so room for more than one. 20 gig or higher at least. thanks for even offering! Karen
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
yes..she just cannot spell because the machine says them the same smiles. On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Scott Allen via talk wrote:
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 19:56, William Park via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
When you say "ISO slot"... do you mean
I'm pretty sure she means ISA slot.
-- Scott --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Hi, Isa slot in a motherboard..not that this is critical. Kare On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, William Park via talk wrote:
When you say "ISO slot"... do you mean - 5.25" CD/floppy slot on the front of case? - or, ISA slot on motherboard? --
On 2023-10-13 16:56, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
I will be thankful for the options. Personally I find folks choices and experiences interesting. The bandaged machine I am typing on right now is a Pentium 2 constructed for me in 2008 or 2009. Still there is enough USB support in the bios for me to use a full sized USB keyboard in DOS for the very first time. its amazing.
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
Old 'puters, are a little ornery. You get what you get, and then scrounge for parts to upgrade. With luck it all works out in the end, or you die trying. Serial and parallel ports are a major constraint, then adding in USB will get interesting. Most of my old desktops came with almost no memory. In fact I've used these old biddies with as low as 500k of RAM, which will run Puppy Linux and an old browser, from a CD boot.
You will need to see if you can combine new and old worlds of PC components. Usually I cannot even do a Linux boot from a USB drive.
Let me check my stash of old PC carcasses..
Don
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 09:30, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
Good morning sir. Don of the possible rescue! Let me be forthright. I have not bought a computer off the shelf since my very first one. Instead my machines have been built from scratch, or provided with alterations made to them.
What that means is that my dictionary may not match yours perfectly, but I will try...when I doubt ask. First at least a Pentium 3, I can be flexible on processor speed as I have utilities working around some of the DOS barriers. As much memory as possible, my previous machine had almost 800 meg of ram, again managers made it work, even had onboard graphics memory although that is less important. A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for both. a 3.5 floppy is a must. serial, USB, and parallel ports are also a must. Slots, PCI are a must, if there is a single ISO slot it would be helpful, some of the alternative synthesizers are full size boards, but that again is not mandatory. In case I messed up that term, think soundblaster pro live. I have a dream-audio 2496 soundcard I still intend finding. I have d-link <spelling> ethernet cards, those sorts of things. Honestly? what this entire situation has taught me is that I need both a spare and a laptop smiles. Still, does that help? I have a combination of DOS programs and adaptive hardware, including sound Ethernet cards and so forth. Unless your items firmly have DOS drivers that is less of a concern. As for hard drive size, well I always have more than one drive, so room for more than one. 20 gig or higher at least. thanks for even offering! Karen
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023, Don Tai wrote:
What type of old computer do you seek? Please be very specific, as I have a couple. Circa year, specs, etc
On Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 02:12, Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
Hi everyone, will ask the question simply, as it is not one I have needed to ask for a good decade. Need a resource for older computer hardware, freecycle was terrific for this sort of thing, as was the talent who would build mine. Unfortunately a visit by someone from renew computer technology Ontario, www.rcto.org damaged my main computer, at least the motherboard, possibly the hard drive. I have a bandaged machine, does not boot to the c drive, using a floppy, with the second drive from my main placed in this unit. Now some of my critical synthesizer files are being damaged as well. screen reader utilities..so far at least. While I do have talent, quality talent to help me with the construction, finding say a p3 or p4 may be the challenge. Any ideas? Cheers, Karen
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for | both. Do you need a drive with the ability to "burn" or is reading enough? As far as I know, all drives that can handle DVDs also handle CDs. There are a whole lot of different kinds of drives: - CD, read-only - CD, read / write - CD & DVD, read-only - CD read / write, DVD read-only - CD read / write, DVD read-write There was a war about the way writeable DVDs should work. The two standards were DVD-R and DVD+R. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_recordable#DVD+R_and_DVD+RW_(DVD_%22plus%22)> I think DVD+R won. Usually you don't have to worry about this. Then there are some drives that can handle BluRay discs.
I need one that can burn as well as read. Indeed about the dvdr able to manage cds, play them as well as manage the software. i have an entire case of writable medium for work. On Sat, 14 Oct 2023, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
| From: Karen Lewellen via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
| A dvdr or combination cd and dvdr would be appreciated, or at least room for | both.
Do you need a drive with the ability to "burn" or is reading enough?
As far as I know, all drives that can handle DVDs also handle CDs.
There are a whole lot of different kinds of drives:
- CD, read-only - CD, read / write - CD & DVD, read-only - CD read / write, DVD read-only - CD read / write, DVD read-write
There was a war about the way writeable DVDs should work. The two standards were DVD-R and DVD+R. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_recordable#DVD+R_and_DVD+RW_(DVD_%22plus%22)> I think DVD+R won. Usually you don't have to worry about this.
Then there are some drives that can handle BluRay discs. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
participants (8)
-
Alex Kink -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
Don Tai -
James Knott -
Karen Lewellen -
Kevin Cozens -
Scott Allen -
William Park