rich-c: confirm
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changed username to George rich-c: hello George George: Hi Rich rich-c: see you're quite prompt - feeling a bit better? George: a little better rich-c: still on the analgesic shots? George: it's sunny and 65F here rich-c: see you on the sunny, but we're only up to 50 rich-c: they are promising better a little further on in the week George: i'm still on pain meds rich-c: but almost all of our snow is gone, except in teh shaded areas rich-c: oral or injected? George: pills rich-c: oh well, for that matter, so am I - three arthrotec a day rich-c: thats a combination of an NSAID and anti-ulcer drug George: i have a laptop with no floppy drive rich-c: what brand is it, Apple? George: toshiba satelight pro George: 490xcdt rich-c: what has it in processor, memory, screen size? rich-c: I gather that it has a cd drive and modem George: PII 266 64mb ram 12"TFT George: 20x cd drive rich-c: a little fasster and one stage up from my P166 then rich-c: it should have had a floppy drive though as OEM George: had a hardtime getting an operating system on rich-c: yes, without a floppy drive to handle teh boot that would have been tricky George: it has a connector for a floppy drive rich-c: although if it will automatically boot from cd you are OK rich-c: you should be able to get into the BIOS just by turning it on George: only windows system that boots from floppy is windows xp (retail that is) rich-c: and if you can do that you can tell it to boot from floppy if that's provided for rich-c: I can boot Windows 3.1, 95, or 98SE from floppies rich-c: that's what an emergency boot disc is all about George: with no floppy drive that is hard to do rich-c: obviously - is there no bay where one can be installed, just a connector for an external? George: a computer surplus outlet special rich-c: and I hope very, very cheap, with no OS or floppy or emergency disc or documentation George: yes just a connector no drive supplied rich-c: and being of nasty suspicious mind, bet teh battery is no hell either George: no drivers George: all for $360.00 George: USS rich-c: you should have told tehm to be honest and use a gun and mask rich-c: one like that would sell for less here in Canadian dollars George: it's in dispute with visa rich-c: anyway, have you managed to get an OS installed yet? George: strangely yes rich-c: I dont find that strange - which one? George: win98se rich-c: good choice, I use it myself ;-0 George: at least toshiba had some downloads rich-c: that will have at leasst basic driverss for keyboard, mouse, modem rich-c: what did you have to get from Toshiba? George: some basic drivers rich-c: for what? George: to get the mode to work rich-c: the whom which? George: and sound rich-c: right, it would have built-in sound, right? George: sorry i meant modem rich-c: that's odd, I thought 98SE had the necessary modem driver George: it has a infered device i don't know what it does George: odd modem rich-c: the infrared lets you use an IR keyboard or mpouse if you want to - nice for folks with too much money and a distaste for cables George: usb ports rich-c: I think you can also use it to sync with palm computers that have IR ports rich-c: yes, only 1.0 but they'll handle the job quite nicely George: 4 gb hdd rich-c: actually with the USB or parallel ports functional you can transfer programs and data to and from teh computer using DCC rich-c: pretty dinky but for a third-string computer more than adequate rich-c: it isn't your desktop or even backup desktop, after all, so you dont need much computer George: don't know about the battery there is no warranty on it rich-c: no, even new the battery warranty stinks - if they even guarantee it's working when you take delivery you're ahead rich-c: beyond that it is just blind luck, and replacments cost more than teh computer, near enough George: bright ss rich-c: ? George: bright screen George: farn dingers rich-c: that's encouraging; expect eventually to find a few dead pixels, those are unavoidable even new rich-c: by the way, I gather Radio Shack are now offering battery rebuilding for about half the price of new George: oh rich-c: you may want to see in your area rich-c: what do you plan to use it for? George: trips rich-c: like, to where, for how long? George: and waiting in doctor offices rich-c: just hope you know how very slow it is running on the battery rich-c: and you do know, don't you, that it will need full recharge after about three hours George: now i need to know about wireless internet rich-c: not sure if you can get a WiFi or 802.11 PCMCIA card that will work with that computer rich-c: also don't know if they'll be supported in Win98SE, but you have too little memory for anything newer George: yes first thing i want to see if i can get it to 256mb rich-c: don't know about teh Toshiba; apparently my Dell won't take anything over 96 MB - quite shocked me rich-c: and you'll get a hell of a shick when you price notebook memory too, trust me! George: this one says 256mb max rich-c: you will likely have to discard the 64 in favour of two 128 sticks George: it's old 66mhz rich-c: well, that depends on the bus speed of the laptop - back in PII days that may have been the top rich-c: after all, a 266 implies a bus speed of 66 as it's a 4x multiple George: seems to do internet good rich-c: my old 386 running Win 3.1 did the internet fine - it isnt a big challenge George: downloads are a challenge rich-c: they depend on your modem speed and I don't think a 56K modem can outrun even a 386/16 George: heavy graphics are killers rich-c: yes, because they are absolutely huge file sizes rich-c: takes teh same time to downlod one 10 mb file as ten 1 mb files George: no train sim rich-c: well you'd be buying that on a cd anyway, surely? rich-c: or are you talking about add-ons to the original program? George: DX 9a a no no rich-c: who dat? George: direct X 9a rich-c: don't know what version of Direct-X I have George: maybe 7 or 8 rich-c: doubt I will do anything about it till I hit something that needs it George: it's on windows update rich-c: in that case I gues I have it - I am totally updated George: quite a change from that 286 i worked on for a friend
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changed username to rich-c George: it was a bondwell from Canada rich-c: sorry about that, George - I got knocked off (my own goof) rich-c: want to go back - everything since my last reply? George: i was just saying it is quite a change from the 286 i worked on for a friend it was a Bondwell From Canada rich-c: when I moved from teh Adam it was to a 386/33 rich-c: didn't intend to; bought a monitor for Frances at an auction and found the computer came with it George: the 286 would only take dos 3.3 rich-c: the auctioneer told me about teh computer, you bought it, you take it away rich-c: then Frances didnt like the monitor -so I hooked it up to the computer and the rest is history rich-c: the 286 had a 16-bit bus, wonder why it couldn't handle Windows to 3.1 (DOS 5 or 6) George: no memory rich-c: right - limited to 640K, right? George: yes 640 rich-c: suppose they could have made a revised BIOS and chipset for it but by that time the 386 was so close it wasnt worth it George: still my xt i found in the trash will boot dos 6.20 rich-c: I suspect all that proves is that DOS is backwards compatible and the XT just ignores what it doesnt understand George: it has a 30 gb hdd rich-c: that's 30 mb, George and even that is pushing it George: sorry 30 mb hdd rich-c: most XTs that had hard drives at all had 10 mb maximum George: big one 5.25" rich-c: yes, you forget that even today there are 5.25" "Bigfoot" hard discs - some folks like them George: and space for second one rich-c: more likely you were expected to put a second disc drive there George: has two floppy drives too George: belt drives with timing gears rich-c: both 5.25", are they 360s or 1.2? George: 360 rich-c: save them, they can be used with the Adam emulator George: i think it's a beltron rich-c: boy, that's a brand name long lost in the mists of history George: one of the firsts rich-c: in fact, I can't even recall having encountered it - but then that was before my DOS days George: old computer museum rich-c: yes, have a great one in my basement rich-c: and yes, I have a real full-houe XT down there rich-c: never fired it up but I'm told it works George: old herc mono monitor green display rich-c: think I have something like that too, though more likely amber George: it start up in 1980 rich-c: it's been a while, hasn't it? George: yes rich-c: actually even the Adam dates to about 1983 George: yeah George: got mine in 86 from kiddy city both gone now rich-c: the reason there are so many in Canada is because Coleco dumped them here through Canadian Tire rich-c: they wre selling them off at $299 - soon as I told my brother he wanted one too George: oh rich-c: cost me $40 to send it air freight to Yellowknife George: can't remember what i spent rich-c: I had been tempted when there was an earlier selloff at $500 through a computer chain but I didn't get there in time George: everyone said i was foolish for buying it rich-c: what happened to me is that we had gone up to the Canadian Tire store to get a plumbing repair piece rich-c: but when we walked in there were these mountains of Adams on skids all over rich-c: man,were they moving - every third person at the chekout was carrying one George: LOL rich-c: I looked at Frances, she looked at me, we both looked at the pile, and bingo, another Adam joined the line George: two in every arm rich-c: by the way I am not kidding about the every third person - it was incredible rich-c: especially as I'm not even sure they wre advertised and it was a Saturday afternoon crowd in the store rich-c: everyone knew a bargain when they saw one, and he who hesitated lost out rich-c: anyway it was a good deal IF you could find support - and I stumbled over MTAG George: i fought a lady for mine she had it on lay away and couldn't make the payments George: i had cash on the spot rich-c: that's the rules of teh game - pay up or give up rich-c: anyway, seems as if you are getting a little tired George: market was already dry rich-c: yes, there was no way to know that if you kept looking they could still be found ten years later George: up all night kickstarting this computer rich-c: you're responding like someone who needs his shuteye - now I know why rich-c: I assume you got it to install off the cd George: after a number of weird trys rich-c: yes, using a cd when there is no driver installed is sort of difficult George: tell me about it rich-c: next time you'll know to refuse it unless it has a working floppy George: true but then again they said it had a floppy drive rich-c: well if they lied to you then you have a claim and can force them to make good rich-c: Pennsylvania I gather has one of the better consumer protection laws around George: that's why it's in dispute with visa rich-c: if you could find an ad offering it with a floppy drive you'd be in like a dirty shirt rich-c: the problem with that is Visa can say ok, take it back, we'll credit your money rich-c: good but then you are without the computer George: i should have printed it out rich-c: where did you see the thing advertised? George: www.computersurplusoutlet.com George: they sent aan email rich-c: then go to the website and print out the page if it's still there George: they were sold out as soon as they put it up rich-c: ok, if you still have the email, and it details the offer, print that out rich-c: pity, that makes life more difficult rich-c: besides, floppies are rarely mentioned as everyone assumes they are built in anyway George: no, the email just said 39 notebooks rich-c: does the computer have a bay where a floppy is normally installed? George: it has a swap bay with cd rich-c: and at the moment the cd is thee and the floppy is - who knows? rich-c: there George: true George: i dread my next statement frrom visa rich-c: just looking for laptop prices here but the used dealers arent in Toronto Computes currrent issue rich-c: and I'm not sure which page of the newspaper has teh ComputerFest ads - it's on this weekend rich-c: I have a very simple rule - if you cant pay cash for it you cant afford it George: true rich-c: only thing I have ever financied is the house - and that was paid off in less than six years rich-c: means you do without an awful lot a lot longer than most folks rich-c: but when you get old and grey, no debts means your pension goes a lot further rich-c: anyway, do think we're sort of getting on in the afternoon George: and when you buy something you really own it rich-c: yes, just me, the company or bank doesn't have a piece of it George: ok George: seems like time to go rich-c: the real key is don't pay interest - on a credit card, that's like an almost 20% discount on every purchase George: yeah 19.9% rich-c: that is why I have always paid off my credit card billings in full when billed rich-c: but you're right, time to pack it in George: down from 24.9% rich-c: planning to be by wednesday as usual? George: yes rich-c: ok, see you then rich-c: bye now George: bye for now
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