Computers
I've been using computers for a long time, and I've been programming them since I first started using them.
I have several banker's boxes in my basement filled with old and mostly useless computer gear that I've accumulated over the years.
(Banker's boxes are those cheap cardboard boxes you buy at Staples for storing reams of old and neglected paper.)
One is filled with nothing but old circuit boards (ISA, PCI, PCI Express, etc.), separated by layers of newspaper, and another is filled
with all sorts of old cables like PS/2 mouse adapters, SCSI connectors, parallel cables, serial cables, and power cables from long-dead devices.
One day, perhaps, I will have the willpower to throw it all out, realizing that a vintage 1998 gaming video card just isn't good for much these days. I've created
this page as a possible step on my path of computer gear hoarder therapy. If I can document it now, I might be able to throw it away later.
|
Year
|
Computer
|
Details
|
| 1982 | TRS-80 | We only had this for a little while. It was on loan to my Mom while she took some programming course. I think for a while my parents thought that was a mistake since it got me into computers. I guess the Porsche resolved that once and for all. |
| 1983 | Timex Sinclair 1000 | Including a "tape storage device" (read: tape recorder) and the 16k memory expansion pack. I loved the video chip, which had "slow mode" and "fast mode." The only problem was that the screen blinked for every single character update in fast mode. I think it was hooked up to an old black and white TV. The only game it could run was Chess. |
| 2007 | Core 2 Duo E6600
Core 2 Quad Q6700 | Three years is a long time for me to go without a new computer. I almost made it but came up a couple months short :). I decided to get serious about my computer upgrade with a Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 Ghz) processor on an Intel D975XBX2 motherboard with 4 GB of Corsair DDR2 PC-5400 RAM. Add to that an Enermax 600-watt power supply and an EVGA GeForce 7900 GS video card, all in a sleek black case with those cool blue LED fans running Windows Vista Ultimate, and you have a nice PC. I pulled over the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum and the HP dvd640c from the Athlon, with a new Western Digital 320GB SATA2 disk. The Athlon gets a Samsung OEM DVD-RW and a new ThermalTake 500 watt power supply to replace the old dying RAIDMAX power supply. Add the necessary peripherals - Edirol MIDI controller, Wacom tablet, Logitech mouse, ZBoard, SanDisk card reader, and get ready to rock. It's hard to back up 320 GB onto 120 GB disks, so I also picked up a pair of Maxtor 300GB external drives for rotating offsite backup. Oh, and yes... the motherboard does support a future quad-core CPU. Oh yeah. This computer also got the Canon printer and a Seagate 160GB second hard drive as a scratch disk. After a while the internal drive ran out of space, and was replaced with a Seagate 750GB model. To back it up I got a Maxtor One Touch 4 750GB external drive, and then also a Maxtor My Book Essential 1TB drive. I got tired of the ZBoard and retired it in favor of the good old Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro. After a while I decided to finally get a truly Vista-compatible sound card, and replaced the Audigy with an X-Fi XtremeGamer and a Cakewalk Music Connection USB MIDI device, because I also dumped the Edirol controller in favor of my very first keyboard, and still excellent controller, an E-mu Proteus MPS+. After Call of Duty 5: World at War came out, the 7900 GS just wasn't cutting it, and was dumped in favor of a massive EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ card.
This computer got a major upgrade in late 2009, after much hemming and hawing on whether to get a Core i7 computer. The Seagate 750GB main disk and 160GB scratch disk were replaced with an Intel X25-M 80 GB solid state system disk and a Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5 TB data disk, the 4GB of RAM was replaced with 8GB of faster RAM, and another 1TB Western Digital MyBook Essential external drive was added for backups. All the new hardware also got a new operating system: a fresh build of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit in place of Vista Ultimate 32-bit. Capping off the upgrade frenzy was a switch from the original Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU to a Core 2 Quad Q6700, the most powerful CPU the D975XBX2 could handle. All good stuff for running Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2, Office 2007, plenty of virtual PCs for development, and of course, Call of Duty 5: World at War. |