h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Pc's are great because they are so modular. If one aspect of your system is a problem, pull it out and put in something better. You don't even have to throw away the old bit I just wander down to my local computer exchange and sell it to them partially financing the new bit.
I started with 486 five years ago and have replaced every bit of it over time so I have never had to buy a new pc and never will if I can help it.
The most important thing to consider when buying a new pc is whether you can upgrade it So, for example, don't buy a pc that has graphics and sound built into the motherboard.
Also don't be fooled into thinking this stuff is hard to do, if you can change a plug you can change a graphics card.

I thoroughly agree. I also bought a 486 5 years (or so) ago. It didn't have a CD-ROM (I didn't see the need), didn't run Windows 95 (I don't think it was out then) and Pentiums still had that floating point bug. Over time I have added (and upgraded) a CD-ROM, upgraded to Windows 95 and a Pentium 200 equivalent, increased the RAM, upgraded to a bigger/faster hard drive and changed the monitor and graphics card. The only thing I needed help with was the mother board, and this was because there weren't enough spacer slots and the mother board was shorting against the case. Everything else I did myself. It was easy.

My computer is now obsolete. Everybody is advertising Pentium III's and Windows 98. I don't see the need for either. I'm happy with my computer the way it is and won't be upgrading again. Even if my PC suffers 'accidental damage' and needs to be replaced I'll still run Windows 95, because I don't need any of the whistles and bells Bill Gates claims are essential!

As far as OS is concerned, there is no real reason to upgrade. Windows 98 is functionally the same as Windows 95 OSR2. The only reason I've seen yet to upgrade is a little utility that manages registry backups and restorations. As long as you don't screw up your registry, you'll never need this utility.

Windows 98 has a few nice features, and is a little prettier in places... however, it *would not* work with my ATI Xpert@Work, so I had to "downgrade" back to W95... although now I have a Voodoo II I could theoretically re-upgrade back to '98, I can't really see the point...

Regarding continuously updating your PC lego-fasion... this does have the disadvantage that you don't end up with several PCs. What with second-hand PC stuff worth so little, it might be worth just keeping the old bits until you have enough to make a second PC... then you can link them up via a serial cable and play all the two-player classics.

Great article, BTW.

"As far as OS is concerned, there is no real reason to upgrade"...
Unless, of course, you have an original copy of OS/2...

I only upgraded when the OS came with the compy...it's still amazing how Microsquish98 doesn't want anything to do with the Microsquish95 "Plug and Play" periferal that I've got..considering that the two are essentially the same OS...as for hardware, each time that I got something new for my P133, the replaced bits went on to my Mum's then P90,now P266mmx upgrade. The subsequent displaced bits were then filtered down to her then 386, now 486 upgrade, and what was left over from that often was broken anyways. My latest purchase was prompted by an office-sponsored interest-free loan, and my whole old system is about to get part swapped with the P266 and the 486 to end up with two really decent P systems and enough leftovers to produce a useable 486 for my sister.

The only tossable things from over the last ten years would be a dead hard drive and two 14.4 modems, which could still be used, push comes to shove..well...excepting the hard drive; there's no slave switch. The only hardware that I've regularly thrown over the years have been power supplies, owing to an unfortunate run of damp. Replacing those have made me the...proud?...owner of three towers for one pc, which could feasably tie in with the Lego metaphor...perhaps a little too literally, though...

if you are using a modem connetion the limitations on speed are down to the link therefore any proccessor including 8 bit is capable of running an iternet connection, the only reason that some can't is due to commercial decisions on the software which prevent earlier systems from being used

Not ENTIRELY true, BB...

Modems faster than 19600 Baud all rely on compression techniques to increase their speed. Most cheap, internal modems are known as "WinModems" simply because all they supply is an I/O port, which relies on the computer (running a Windows driver) to provide all the compression in software. (Hence the price differential between internal and external modems - you didn't think the plastic box and mains transformer REALLY cost £25, did you? External modems have a RISC CPU and flash-rom to provide the compression!)

Also, many web "extensions" such as Macromedia Flash run in the background as a seperate process. The general upshot of all this is, if you're such a cheapskate as to buy an internal WinModem, and you surf the web, then anything less than a P200 will slow to a crawl. With an external modem, a P166 can just about cope with "multimedia" content.

If you think that using the software which makes your webpage prettier, and therefore attracts more users, is just a cynical commercial decision, then just turn off images in your browser for a day or two, and see if the "Web experience" is still the same for you...

You know, the best LEGO for grown-ups are LEGO.

I bought a robotics invention kit ($200) and now I have something that I can program with my computer. Right now, I'm using the RCX, as the programmable brick is called, to move my mouse while I'm away to keep a particular program working (it pays me as long as I'm using the internet, and stops if I don't move my mouse for awhile.)

If I need to do that, I've got a cheaper solution - it just requires one "Post-It" note...

I use a small graphics tablet as a mouse substiture, so by hanging the pen over my desk lamp, sticking a "Post-it" note to it as a "Sail", and opening a window, the mouse pointer will swing randomly about the screen indefinitely!

I assume you're talking about the @ll@dvant@ge Viewb@r (Can't use the real name for copyright reasons) - It's a pain, 'cos when I really am surfing, I prefer to use keyboard shortcuts (Tab, Space and backspace) to navigate, but it stops paying me if I don't remember to move the mouse when spending a couple of hours on H2G2!

There is a tiny utility out there called Fiddler which wiggles the pointer all over... it can be used as a prank or for this purpose. I don't know exactly where to get it, but I'm sure you could run a search at some download site...

Unfortunately, in the year since I last posted on the subject, their software has become more sophisticated. It now cuts you off if you don't click on a link every couple of minutes, and keeps a list of where you clicked to. You have to click somewhere "new" every 15-20 minutes, else it cuts you off pending investigation - this is to prevent software patches which cyclically surf through a fixed list of sites. It's more hassle than it's worth to try cheating the system anyway - since they reduced the monthly hours quota, I can surf all my hours for a month in 4 days, then get rid of the bar for the rest of the time...