rich-c: test
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to George rich-c: hi George George: hi rich-c: how's things down in Philly? George: i just got your email rich-c: great heavens, that took a while George: it's wet and cool here rich-c: we were below freezing overnight and aren't much above it now George: i'v beenn offline for a while rich-c: more problems qwith the computer? George: caught up in the holiday rush rich-c: know what you mean rich-c: fyi I was over buying a new coputer Thursday and asked about your USB problem George: i'm working on 3 different computers swapping out disks rich-c: apparently it is well known in teh trade that a certain generation of VIA chips are dicey with USB George: and other assorted hardware rich-c: why working with three? rich-c: drawing for two earlier generations to build up the latest? George: hobby? rich-c: like, get into trouble and see if I can get out of it? George: my at&t didn't like the 8.4 gb. harddrive i had to use easybios rich-c: there are days when what I really want for Christmas is a computer case with zippers rich-c: what CPU does the ATT have? George: intel pentium 180 mhz overdrive George: upgraded from pentium 90 rich-c: that's actually a pre-MMX BIOS then, is it? George: yes rich-c: do trust my memory on this, but my impression is 386s were limited to 504 (540 with overhead) drives rich-c: and the earlier Pentium class could only cope with 2.1 gig max rich-c: sorry that was DONT trust! George: actually it handled a 6.4 gig nicely rich-c: but you could partition the drive and trick the BIOS with software into thinking it was two+ drives rich-c: do you partition your drives or use a multiple boot? George: using fat32 i could use my 6.4g as one big drive rich-c: right, FAT32 will go up to 2 terabytes or something rich-c: it won't go below 2 gigs though rich-c: but some of the barrier is in the BIOS and how it reads teh drive geometry George: my at&t hit the limit at 6.4g at fat32 rich-c: there's probably a way around that but don't ask me what it is George: easybios rich-c: that was originally for the small drives - does it work in the gigabyte sizes too? George: very well with the datalifeguard rich-c: datalifeguard? that an ATT feature or a program? haven't heard of it George: from western digital rich-c: one of those hardware makers in-house specials, then George: yes to go with their harddrives rich-c: yes, when I went from 2.1 to 8.4 gig on this machine I was prowling the hard disc websites a bit rich-c: noticed that a lot of them had specialty programs like that, and others George: handy info there rich-c: the web is absolutely loaded with useful info - one gets into overload George: yes 90% of my online time is websurfing rich-c: ditto and likewise rich-c: any specific big areas or do you just wander about? rich-c: brb - gotta get a glass for my beer George: mainly hardware and software manufactures rich-c: thery are very useful, but I like the independent commentary sites too rich-c: there is a free weekly newsletter I get I think you would enjoy rich-c: and by the way, their lists are confidential - no spam or whatever George: sometimes i use mrdriver.com and like sites rich-c: right - Tom's Hardware is good, and I've found motherboards.org quite useful George: i forgot about those sites rich-c: would you like me to ask the newsletter to send you a copy? George: yes rich-c: will do then when we close down here rich-c: meanwhile, check out karenwares.com (or karenware) George: can i call you again it's much easier for me to talk rich-c: she has a bunch of neat free utilities - you'll like her PTprofiler especailly rich-c: you can call me anytime you like, George George: thankyou rich-c: I am almost always out Tuesday and Wednesday till about 1 - 1.30 rich-c: we NEVER answer the phone between 5.45 - 7.30 p.m. George: ok rich-c: and I'm usually online (phone blocked) Tuesday and Saturday afternoons rich-c: the best time to catch me is around lunch - say about 1.30 as I'm drinking my coffee rich-c: by the way, have you figured out yet how much memory you have? George: it's 224mb. i was wrong rich-c: that would imply a rather unusual arrangement of chips but as a multiple of 32, it's credible George: i have 32mb 64mb and 128 mb rich-c: I wonder if that's the source of the slowdown you were complaining about rich-c: hate to suggest it, but maybe you should try taking out the 32 and 64 chips and see what happens George: i don't know it counts up correctly rich-c: it would not astonish me if things speeded up rich-c: 7x32=224 rich-c: remember all memory slows down to match the slowest chip George: i'd like to be able to get 2 128mb rich-c: why do you feel you need so much memory? rich-c: I'm feeling hypocritical about that last - I ordered 256 MB on the new computer George: aol says my resources get too low rich-c: but realistically, I'm doing jsut fine with 32 MB on this one rich-c: I think that your problem is not with the computer, it is with AOL rich-c: what are you using to measure your resource utilization? George: they require 90% resources free to run their software rich-c: THEY WHAT11111 rich-c: what are they doing inside your computer when it's online, anyway? George: thats what i said to tech support they are hogs rich-c: why don't you get a new ISP and save yourself money and hassles rich-c: every report I've seen says AOL has the highest prices and lowest service standards in ISP-dom George: i'm too use to them now. and i have my page there its too hard for me to do another one rich-c: my fear is that you're going to have to bite the bullet on that rich-c: if they're demanding the resources they are, then you're going to hit a wall rich-c: my cursor crony in Phoenix has a Mac and AOL told him to buy a new one - the one he has doesn't suit them any more rich-c: it could happen to you George: i will change if they raise prices too high rich-c: by the way, in US dollars, I pay $10 a month for unlimited dialup 56K access George: i want to find a cheapy dsl George: multi platform if possible rich-c: it will be years before you see any decent ADSL or cable prices rich-c: in fact DSL just went up to $45 a month on AOL, if I recall George: my computer are hybrid rich-c: well, if you've got a clue about computers, the "white boxes" are the best value rich-c: my new one is to be a white box built to my specifications George: i pay 23.xx standard aol and 19.95 for dsl service rich-c: well, the ISP charge is on top of your regular phone, of course rich-c: it's just another number you dial where Ma Bell is concerned rich-c: sorry, I read DSL as DIAL George: i haven't noticed any change in rates since i started dsl in 1998 rich-c: prepare for a $5 hike very soon - it has been announced rich-c: there was an article about it in the business papers a short while ago George: great rich-c: that's why I am not on DSL - it just isn't worth $550/year to me George: they better serve notice or i will go to war rich-c: prepare for battle! rich-c: we just had a local fight because Ma Bell wanted to roll tone dialling into their basic charge rich-c: they got such a violent resistance they withdrew the application George: i can't afford any price hikes on SSI rich-c: SSI? George: disability rich-c: right - up here the terminology is different rich-c: by the way, Michael, who was on Wednesday night, is in a similar situation George: i get $558.40 a month rich-c: from what we saw of your supermarket prices when we were down there in October, I'm surprised you can eat on that George: barely rich-c: that figures rich-c: maybe you should consider dropping AOL and DSL and settle for a cheap dialup rich-c: you're not into streaming video or audio or big file downloads, are you? George: that's why i use older systems George: i do sometimes rich-c: that can make a decision hard, then George: i have tv cards and video cam rich-c: I look at the value I'm getting for the money and for me the cost of DSL isn't worth the return George: strictly flea markets rich-c: I though a TV card was for taking stuff off the air rich-c: haven't got around to getting a video camera yet rich-c: want one, thinking about it, just too lazy and preoccupied to research it properly rich-c: I'm lucky that affordability isn't an issue for me George: netmeeting was promissing till they tied it to hotmail rich-c: I'm a retired teacher-librarian so good pension fully inflation-compensated rich-c: netmeeting is a sort of IRC type thing, isn't it? George: i used it for video phone calls rich-c: those sound like fun, though I've never had the urge to try it rich-c: I'm shy about showing those toppling towers of books and magazines all over the house George: its good when it works rich-c: that's sort of damning with faint praise rich-c: I guess us ugly old farts juast value our anonymity George: it has its bottlenecks rich-c: yes, streaming video tends to guzzle bandwidth like there's no tomorrow George: slower than cnn video phone rich-c: you need might big pipes to carry it every inch of the way rich-c: I've only seen one sample of CNN videophone transmission rich-c: I didn't include it in my satellite channel choice George: my fingers are getting cramped rich-c: it happens rich-c: I'm having muscle problems in my groin area - can't sit too long George: ouch rich-c: well, with medication they're tolerable and sooner or later will go away rich-c: meanwhile, just have to be careful how I walk and climb stairs George: Nancy just came home George: she wants to play rich-c: and I'm expecting Frances any minute - looks like we're hitting closing time George: yes rich-c: I'll get that newsletter off to you and also try and suggest some neat URLs George: thanks rich-c: see you on Wednesday? George: yes rich-c: OK, see you then - bye for now George: bye
rich-c left chat session
George left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to olx