Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[gerald]

more memory will help.  there are 4 common flavors these days. their is DDR and 
DDR2.  then each comes in "laptop" and "desktop", although a few desk tops use 
laptop(the new macs).  criterion will tell you what minimum speed you need.  
400mhz was mentioned by someone.  faster is acceptable.  sometimes the faster 
chips are cheaper???  particularly when they are on sale.  i have not had 
trouble with any off brands, and do cram in a lot of chips for friends.

I presume you can mix and match size and speed, since you have 3 slots.  

If unsure of what to get, i think circuit city and best buy are the best 
places, as they will accept returns, even on memory chips.  just keep 
everything.  there is also staples and office depot.   among the 4, at least 
one will usually have super cheap chips available.  staples will not put them 
on the floor.  ask the manager for the chips.

the prices on the web sites do NOT match the sunday brochure prices.  even with 
the same part number sometimes.  CC usually ships free for over $50 purchase.  
so does staples.  CC seems to be having a chip sale today.  $30 for a 1gig 
ofjust about everything.

chips are easy to install, if you cannot do it, ask your daughter.  all you 
need is a screw driver to take the screws off the back of the case, and a 
flashlite to see the guts of the machine.  if you live in an area with a CC, 
pull the chip and go down there for an exact match.  just remember faster is ok.

jer

At 09:48 PM 3/4/2008, you wrote:
>In a recent post on this listserv, I asked about increasing memory on an old 
>computer that my high school daughter was using.  That computer was:
>
>>Dell Optiplex GX240
>>1700 MHz. Pentium 4; 3/256 KB memory cache
>>Bus 100 MHz. 
>The consensus was that the computer was too old to try to upgrade memory.
>
>Now, my middle-aged daughter gave her old computer to my youngest daughter to 
>replace the older Dell computer.  This computer was built locally at my 
>specification about 4 years ago.  The info on this computer is (obtained from 
>BelArc Advisor):
>
>Win XP Pro SP2
>2.15 GHz. AMD Athlon XP processor
>ASUSTeK A7N8X-E Rev. 2.xx motherboard
>Bus 166 Mhz.
>
>The computer has 512 MB DIMM memory in one slot, two additional slots free.
>
>(1)  Is it advisable to add memory to speed up this computer?
>
>(2)  Where is a good place to buy cheap memory?  Most memory places ask for 
>brand name to select memory, but I have only motherboard info.  Is this info 
>sufficient?
>
>(3)  The motherboard on bootup displays first a BIOS-like menu, followed by a 
>graphic display with a female voice saying that something like all systems are 
>checked and found to be working.  The graphic splash display includes a 
>mention that the motherboard works at 400 MHz.  This contradicts the 
>information from BelArc Advisor that the bus is 166 MHz.  Is there something 
>set wrong in the BIOS?
>
>
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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Tom Piwowar]

>Go to www.crucial.com. Digit your motherboard and they will tell the 
>memmory you need. No problem.
>Good people.

But prices often too high.


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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Tom Piwowar]

>> Dell Optiplex GX240
>> 1700 MHz. Pentium 4; 3/256 KB memory cache
>> Bus 100 MHz. 
>The consensus was that the computer was too old to try to upgrade memory.

A 1.7 GHz Pentium 4 is not "too old" except for gamers.

>Win XP Pro SP2
>2.15 GHz. AMD Athlon XP processor
>ASUSTeK A7N8X-E Rev. 2.xx motherboard
>Bus 166 Mhz.

>(1)  Is it advisable to add memory to speed up this computer?

512 is a bit light. Adding another 512 costs $29. 1GB should be just fine 
for typical uses.

>(2)  Where is a good place to buy cheap memory?

datamem.com menu includes ASUS and finds your mobo model. They are not 
always the lowest, but are usually close. Service is good. Free shipping 
available.


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Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]

Common sense tells us that zeros weigh more than ones, consider how much more 
ink you need to display a zero than a one, or how many more pixels are required 
to display a zero.

Tom Piwowar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Of course you haven't. Everybody should know that the zeros travel faster 
> than ones because they are lighter. It is just common sense. :)


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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Tom Piwowar]

>the prices on the web sites do NOT match the sunday brochure prices.  even 
>with the same part number sometimes.  CC usually ships free for over $50 
>purchase.  so does staples.  CC seems to be having a chip sale today.  $30 
>for a 1gig ofjust about everything.

I just compared CC to DataMem. DataMem had a good memory finder and was 
$29 for 512. CC had no memory finder and did not have an exact match for 
what I was looking for. They had something that should work, but that was 
$38. Big difference in service and price.


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Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

[Snyder, Mark (IT Civilian)]

This thread long ago crossed beyond the Computer Guys Whopper Contest
thread...

Thank you,
 
Mark Snyder
-Original Message-
From: Computer Guys Discussion List
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 9:58 AM
To: COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

Common sense tells us that zeros weigh more than ones, consider how much
more ink you need to display a zero than a one, or how many more pixels
are required to display a zero.

Tom Piwowar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Of course you haven't. Everybody should know that the zeros travel
faster 
> than ones because they are lighter. It is just common sense. :)


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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Richard P.]

For what it's worth,  while Datamem has good prices, it's memory finder 
can't find my Compaq computer's memory. Crucial's memory finder was able 
to find it easily and the memory is guaranteed to work.


Richard P.

I just compared CC to DataMem. DataMem had a good memory finder and was 
$29 for 512. CC had no memory finder and did not have an exact match for 
what I was looking for. They had something that should work, but that was 
$38. Big difference in service and price.




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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Rev. Stewart Marshall]

On that suggestion.  Go to crucial look up your memory.

Then using their stock numbers go to other sites and see what they charge.

Also note compatible memory.

The only time I have gotten memory that did not work was when I got 
it on Ebay and the shyster was selling some memory that would only 
work in a specific style board and did not disclose this.


Other than that I have had many sticks of memory over the years 
bought at a variety of dealers with no problem.


But make sure you know what type of memory belongs in that system 
before purchasing.


(I noted Crucial sold both 333 and 400 memory for that 
Board.  Depending on the processor this will either be no effect or 
slow it down.)


Stewart


At 10:00 AM 3/5/2008, you wrote:
For what it's worth,  while Datamem has good prices, it's memory 
finder can't find my Compaq computer's memory. Crucial's memory 
finder was able to find it easily and the memory is guaranteed to work.


Richard P.

I just compared CC to DataMem. DataMem had a good memory finder 
and was $29 for 512. CC had no memory finder and did not have an 
exact match for what I was looking for. They had something that 
should work, but that was $38. Big difference in service and price.





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Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Prince of Peace www.princeofpeaceozark.org
Ozark, AL  SL 82


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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Tom Piwowar]

> I just compared CC to DataMem. DataMem had a good memory finder and was 
> $29 for 512. CC had no memory finder and did not have an exact match for 
> what I was looking for. They had something that should work, but that was 
> $38. Big difference in service and price.
 
Correction. CC does have a memory finder. The link is formatted to look 
like an ad so I was filtering it out. When I looked back at the computer 
screen from across the room it was suddenly obvious.

There is a lesson in there somewhere.


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Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

[mike]

But don't forget the zeros and ones are traveling at high speed across
copper wire...a zero is far more aerodynamic then a vertical one.  I saw a
BMW put a zero and a one in one of their wind tunnels against a one of their
750li's when i was flown to germany for a secret meeting.  I can't disclose
the exact details of what happened but let's just say that the 750li
engineers left crying after being smacked down by the zero.  The one hadn't
even placed.  Proof positive to me.

Mike

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 7:58 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

> Common sense tells us that zeros weigh more than ones, consider how much
> more ink you need to display a zero than a one, or how many more pixels are
> required to display a zero.
>
> Tom Piwowar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > Of course you haven't. Everybody should know that the zeros travel
> faster
> > than ones because they are lighter. It is just common sense. :)
>
>
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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Tom Piwowar]

>(I noted Crucial sold both 333 and 400 memory for that 
>Board.  Depending on the processor this will either be no effect or 
>slow it down.)

Ah! 333 makes more sense for answering the third question.

>(3)  The motherboard on bootup displays first a BIOS-like menu, followed 
>by a graphic display with a female voice saying that something like all 
>systems are checked and found to be working.  The graphic splash display 
>includes a mention that the motherboard works at 400 MHz.  This 
>contradicts the information from BelArc Advisor that the bus is 166 
>MHz.  Is there something set wrong in the BIOS?

BelArc reports the bus is 166. With DDR (Double Data Rate) memory that 
makes 166 x 2 = 332 a.k.a 333. But I still don't know where the 400 comes 
from.


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Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

[Tom Piwowar]

Those Germans don't know anything. The Swedes put a serif on the top of 
the one and rotated it 90 degrees. That one really flies.


>But don't forget the zeros and ones are traveling at high speed across
>copper wire...a zero is far more aerodynamic then a vertical one.  I saw a
>BMW put a zero and a one in one of their wind tunnels against a one of their
>750li's when i was flown to germany for a secret meeting.  I can't disclose
>the exact details of what happened but let's just say that the 750li
>engineers left crying after being smacked down by the zero.  The one hadn't
>even placed.  Proof positive to me.


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Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

[mike]

Those damn swedes.

Mike

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 11:38 AM, Tom Piwowar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Those Germans don't know anything. The Swedes put a serif on the top of
> the one and rotated it 90 degrees. That one really flies.
>
>
> >But don't forget the zeros and ones are traveling at high speed across
> >copper wire...a zero is far more aerodynamic then a vertical one.  I saw
> a
> >BMW put a zero and a one in one of their wind tunnels against a one of
> their
> >750li's when i was flown to germany for a secret meeting.  I can't
> disclose
> >the exact details of what happened but let's just say that the 750li
> >engineers left crying after being smacked down by the zero.  The one
> hadn't
> >even placed.  Proof positive to me.
>
>
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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Rev. Stewart Marshall]

The  board is capable of running both 33 and 400 with the 400 being 
the upper limit.


The AMD chips in the XP series (I think that is what they were 
called) came in both 166 and 200 speeds.


I had a board that topped out at 333 (166x2) so I could not run the 
faster 200 chips.


His board will run the faster buss speeds chips so therefore he can 
put in a faster chip and run the 400 memory.


Stewart



At 11:35 AM 3/5/2008, you wrote:

>(I noted Crucial sold both 333 and 400 memory for that
>Board.  Depending on the processor this will either be no effect or
>slow it down.)

Ah! 333 makes more sense for answering the third question.

>(3)  The motherboard on bootup displays first a BIOS-like menu, followed
>by a graphic display with a female voice saying that something like all
>systems are checked and found to be working.  The graphic splash display
>includes a mention that the motherboard works at 400 MHz.  This
>contradicts the information from BelArc Advisor that the bus is 166
>MHz.  Is there something set wrong in the BIOS?

BelArc reports the bus is 166. With DDR (Double Data Rate) memory that
makes 166 x 2 = 332 a.k.a 333. But I still don't know where the 400 comes
from.


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Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Prince of Peace www.princeofpeaceozark.org
Ozark, AL  SL 82


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[CGUYS] "Good Enough" Product Quality

[Richard P.]

Awhile back, there was some discussion about the degradation of product 
quality, both on the manufacturer side as well as the consumer 
acceptance side. I ran across this Business Week article which seems to 
hit the nail on the head:

http://tinyurl.com/29tvfy

By Stephen Baker 

Commentary: Why "Good Enough" Is Good Enough
Imperfect technology greases innovation--and the whole marketplace

Say you have a crucial conference call in an hour and your phone goes 
dead. What do you do? A generation ago, this wasn't much of an issue, at 
least in the U.S. Phones in the days of the Bell monopoly were 
engineered to be "mission critical." You picked up one of those heavy 
receivers back then, and the dial tone was as prompt and reliable as 
water from the tap. It worked.


Yet these days, even as we pack global multimedia in our pockets, phone 
service sometimes seems to march backward. Andy Beal was one of 220 
million subscribers to Skype, the cut-rate Internet telephony service 
owned by eBay (EBAY  ), who saw the 
service go dark on Aug. 16. A software glitch kept it down for the next 
two days. Founder of the Raleigh (N.C.) Internet marketing consultancy 
Marketing Pilgrim, Beal learned that Skype was out an hour before 
clients were to call him from Holland. He had to message them in a 
hurry, telling them to call his tenuous backup: the cell phone. "It was 
embarrassing," he says. But at least the cell phone worked--which isn't 
always the case.


Are communications getting worse? Not by a long shot. We're surrounded 
by miraculous machines and services, most of them calibrated to a level 
software engineers have long called "good enough." In the right 
circumstances, good enough is great for the entire economy. A 
marketplace that's not hung up on fail-safe standards is open to risk 
and innovation, and drives down prices. Ever since the dawn of the 
PC--the archetype for a good-enough machine--inventors have been freer 
than ever to piece together and launch their visions. Some are 
brilliant, some are half-baked, many are a blend of the two. A precious 
few are up and running 99.999% of the time--Bell's old standard. But 
they cost far less to build.


The rise of good-enough technology raises different questions for 
do-it-yourselfers and major corporations alike. It's no longer whether 
we can afford a technology, but more often whether we can afford the 
disruption if and when it fails. Is it critical? Do we have backup in 
place? Many of us face this question every time we venture from our 
office with a cell phone. We don't have "one machine that works all the 
time," says Dave Morgan, chairman of Tacoda Inc., a New York advertising 
company. "We have lots of alternatives that work most of the time."


The upside of this sloppy status quo is enormous. Consider Andy Beal. He 
pays Skype about $60 a year, plus a couple cents for foreign calls. This 
gives him global telephony wherever he wanders with his laptop. He calls 
the service "seamless." He recently switched most of his office 
work--including e-mail, contacts, and calendar--to free Web services. 
This, of course, entails risk. In late July, an electrical outage in San 
Francisco brought some of the biggest sites, from Craigslist to Second 
Life, crashing down for 12 hours.


Beal's data reside on Google (GOOG  
). The search giant is in fact an example of a major corporation that, 
like so many small fry, bets its business on good-enough technology. 
Google's data centers, the heart of the company's operations, consist of 
hundreds of thousands of commodity computers wired into a vast global 
network. These computers are little more reliable than yours or mine. 
Many die and are replaced every week. It could be that one of them at 
this very minute is issuing its dying blinks--and taking down Andy 
Beal's contact data with it. But if Google is working as designed, it 
links customers to another copy of those files or Web pages stored 
elsewhere on the network. Every computer has a legion of backups. 
Success, in the good-enough economy, means racing ahead even as the 
machines supporting us sputter and break.




Richard P.


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Re: [CGUYS] USB cables

[Brian Jones]

Grrr... I'm going to New York I'll crab at cha' next week.

  - Brian


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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[gerald]

we talking memory chips here?  Is that how fast the chips run, or how fast they 
are capable of running?

i thought memory chips did not run, but only responded.

At 03:46 PM 3/5/2008, you wrote:
>The  board is capable of running both 33 and 400 with the 400 being the upper 
>limit.
>
>The AMD chips in the XP series (I think that is what they were called) came in 
>both 166 and 200 speeds.
>
>I had a board that topped out at 333 (166x2) so I could not run the faster 200 
>chips.
>
>His board will run the faster buss speeds chips so therefore he can put in a 
>faster chip and run the 400 memory.
>
>Stewart
>
>
>
>At 11:35 AM 3/5/2008, you wrote:
>>>(I noted Crucial sold both 333 and 400 memory for that
>>>Board.  Depending on the processor this will either be no effect or
>>>slow it down.)
>>
>>Ah! 333 makes more sense for answering the third question.
>>
>>>(3)  The motherboard on bootup displays first a BIOS-like menu, followed
>>>by a graphic display with a female voice saying that something like all
>>>systems are checked and found to be working.  The graphic splash display
>>>includes a mention that the motherboard works at 400 MHz.  This
>>>contradicts the information from BelArc Advisor that the bus is 166
>>>MHz.  Is there something set wrong in the BIOS?
>>
>>BelArc reports the bus is 166. With DDR (Double Data Rate) memory that
>>makes 166 x 2 = 332 a.k.a 333. But I still don't know where the 400 comes
>>from.
>>
>>
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>Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Prince of Peace www.princeofpeaceozark.org
>Ozark, AL  SL 82
>
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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[Rev. Stewart Marshall]

OK do you have Prince Albert in a  Can???  :-)

It is how fast they are capable of processing transactions.

Stewart


At 05:19 PM 3/5/2008, you wrote:
we talking memory chips here?  Is that how fast the chips run, or 
how fast they are capable of running?


i thought memory chips did not run, but only responded.


Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Prince of Peace
Ozark, AL  SL 82


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Re: [CGUYS] More memory needed?

[John Mealey III]

The question was centered around the AMD 2.n chip
and older style memory.  I had a system with 512
and upgraded to 1.5GB and was pleased with both the
performance increase and the price / speed
crucial provided.

Not the cheapest by a long shot, but I am confident I
will not have to open the crate to *ever* replace it.

Just a pc, nothing special, no high end games on it.

John Mealey


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Re: [CGUYS] ebook readers

[b_s-wilk]

I'm thinking of giving an ebook reader to someone who loves reading
books and takes Metro to work.   I'm trying to choose between the
Sony Reader, Amazon's Kindle, or waiting.  Any experiences, concerns,
or suggestions to share?  TIA.


I hate ebooks.

I travel a lot. I carry paperback books. They drop. They get wet. They 
fall in mud, dirt, get lost under the seat in cars, buses, planes, 
trains. When I finish reading my book, I give it to someone else, and 
pick up another. Many small hotels, inns, apartments outside the US have 
a library where you leave your finished books and pick up one you like. 
Our local public library [Cecil County, MD] has a free magazine exchange 
and used paperback books for 10-25 cents.


Wet paperbacks can dry out. Wet ebooks die. I trade paperback books with 
other readers. I'd have to refill an ebook and couldn't share it and 
have something to read at the same time. I've never had an ebook on the 
beach, but I suspect they're hard to read in the sun, and don't do well 
in sand [?].


Be sure that the person who will potentially receive the ebook really 
wants one and realizes its features and limitations. Otherwise the ebook 
will end up spending more time on a shelf or in a drawer, or broken. For 
electronic books, I prefer unabridged audiobooks on my iPod.


My 2 cents.

Betty


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Re: [CGUYS] Computer Guys Whopper Contest

[Reid Katan]

Quoting Tom Piwowar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:


It's from when Kojo took over the show and they stopped calling it
"Public Interest". It originally said "The Computer Guys First Tuesday
of every month at 1 p.m. on Public Interest with Kojo Nnamdi" The
Sharpied in a "2" to make the time 12:00 and scratched out "with" and
wrote in "The" and "Show" so it "reads" "The Kojo Nnamdi Show".


Do you know that they had a poor soul working for hours and hours with a
Sharpie making those edits and they refused to distrubute any mousepads
that had not been so edited?


I can imagine some naive young volunteer showing up for his/her shift  
eager to collect mucho dinero for WAMU only to get sent to some cold  
dark room with a stinky Sharpie and told not to come out until the job  
was done.


Katan


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