Text 6382, 84 rader
Skriven 2005-03-29 12:07:40 av Gordon Huff (1:106/2000.0)
   Kommentar till text 6327 av ED VANCE (1:123/140)
Ärende: Re: I've Been AOL'd Part
================================
-=> ED VANCE wrote to GORDON HUFF <=-

 GH>If you want to press an antique computer into service,
 GH>you *should* update and upgrade everything until replacement
 GH>is cheaper than upgrading.

 GH>If your computer does not have the latest BIOS --
 GH>it *should* .... it's cheap or free.

 EV> Gordon, The 11/11/94 BIOS in my main box (PC DOS 7.0/W3.1) isn't
 EV> Flashable because it was built before Flash BIOS's were offered.

The price of this upgrade is then relatively high. 
Maybe you should do it, maybe not. There are three or four 
paths available. You might be able to buy a new BIOS chip or
salvage a newer BIOS chip from a junked motherboard similar to
yours. My dealer burned me a new BIOS chip for my 286. 
You might find a BIOS on the web - perhaps a freeware
site that you can burn to a chip and install. (A ham radio
friend was collecting BIOS's ..maybe you could find someone
like that.)

Another possibility is switching to Linux. To make 
Linux portable, Linux uses the motherboard BIOS
only to boot. If your motherboard can reach 8 MB of
a new hard drive .. you can boot Linux ... and Linux
can reach to at least 137GB!

Still another possibility is to do nothing - DOS7 and 
Win3.1 are enough. 

 EV> I don't know about the 1996 BIOS in the GateWay 2000 box, it has some
 EV> PCI slots mixed in amongst the ISA ones, it might be flashable, I've
 EV> never tried calling GW2K about it since I wasn't the original owner.

Go onto the GW site and see!

 EV> And I have no idea if the AcerNote BIOS is upgradeable or not.

Go onto the Acer site and see!

 EV> They're working for me for what I want to do right now.

That's the answer.  I suggested earlier that you should upgrade until
replacement is cheaper. Today, Dell will sell anyone a complete system
for $349 that's better than anything you could have bought in 1998.
(Even a flat panel display and free shipping!) The system I'm using
this instant (not a Dell)  was $179 a year ago. Mine is a Duron 1.6G.
The one on sale last week was $179. It's a Sempron 2200+ !

If that's too rich for your blood, stick with what you can get for free.
Alan mentioned he has been given lots of 300-700MHz machines. Get
something like that, move your good parts into it and move on!

 GH>Eventually, you run into the fact that computer stuff
 GH>has never been cheaper. Companies are giving away
 GH>computers better than you're working on.

 EV> I have to agree with your first sentence, but I haven't seen any
 EV> lines where companies are disposing of their "older stuff". ;-}

My computer club(s) have all kinds : IT types with stuff to give
away, non-profits who receive it. For example, "Los Angeles 
City College" received 30 21' monitors for a computer lab from 
Netgear. What do you suppose happened to the 15' and 17' monitors?
They gave them away to other places.

 GH>Something with a chance of running WinXP might be $50.
 GH>A Win98SE might be free or $25.

 EV> I didn't know they could be that cheap.

If you're ready to pay this much, you can deal with junk dealers.
Last Saturdays swap meet had Mac 7100's for $15. Six of them.
Mac LC, complete, working, $25. One of them. Socket 7 motherboards, 
30 day guarantee, $10. Sony B55 DirecTV receivers, $5 or 5 for $15.
Same thing, new, opened box, manuals, accessories, $20.
Get connected!

Regards, Gordon

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