What computer/OS are you using?

[Kami-Tux]

I first thought only Knoppix existed, but 'lo there is a gnoppix as well: http://www.gnoppix.org/pages/downloads/index.html

[Dos]

just a gate way but i sometimes talk to XP MCE-tan but i don't get her most of the time

[Kami-Tux]

Does it run DOS?

Added after 22 minutes:

Maybe I should tell something about my craptop: She is called Sydi if I like her or Vista if she is slow. She has 75 MHz and 40 Megabytes of RAM. Her harddisk is 4 Gibibytes big. Of those 2 GB, 128 MB are used for freeDOS, the rest for a damn small Linux. While the DOS feels very much at home on the machine, DSL-tan makes me think her name is derived from 'damn slow Linux' a simple project of mine needs 8 seconds to compile despite being well below 1000 lines. A GUI exists, but it only has 16 colors and 640x480. I am pretty happy that the screen does not interpolate though better only to have a small window than a really blurred picture!

EDIT: this sounds too much of a rant. so some more positive things about her: she was free. I like her nub-mouse and that It's hard to hit the mousebuttons on accident. Also I can type blindly on that keyboard surprisingly well and better than on the one of my real PC.

[Echo 8]

Custom built PC running XP Pro
2.8 GHz Celeron D
40 GB HDD
256 MB shared memory (32 MB used by onboard graphics chipset)
No sound card or video card - I use the onboard ones ;066
The motherboard is an ASUS, but I can't find the box...

She's no gaming machine, but she does what I ask of her.

[NejinOniwa]

Wasteful!
You need to upgrade yourself a bit, man. At the very least, get a proper graphics card and some more memory!

[C-Chan]

Ummm,....  Nejin-san.... ^^;

In that scenario, maybe its preferable to just switch the OS, so he can save himself the cash (and minimize e-Waste).  ^.^

Plenty of modern systems out there that could ROAR on a 2.8ghz celeron, 256MB of RAM, and integrated graphics (hopefully that's Intel, not VIA).

Might not be a bad idea to at least try one....

As the old saying goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", but then these kinds of things do break every once in a while.  Might as well be prepared.  ^____^

[NejinOniwa]

Yessu, i knows ;
But I just feel the processor is too good to be wasted like that - I mean, my Intel P4 is on 2,3ghz, and she handles an XP modded to near-death very well. In comparison that processor would be _quite_ a nice platform for like, well, ANYTHING. and I've done most things with my computer.

[Echo 8]

Wasteful!
You need to upgrade yourself a bit, man. At the very least, get a proper graphics card and some more memory!

Yeah, I've been planning to upgrade for years - it's just I don't have a job yet to pay for the stuff.

Ummm,....  Nejin-san.... ^^;

In that scenario, maybe its preferable to just switch the OS, so he can save himself the cash (and minimize e-Waste).  ^.^

Plenty of modern systems out there that could ROAR on a 2.8ghz celeron, 256MB of RAM, and integrated graphics (hopefully that's Intel, not VIA).

Might not be a bad idea to at least try one....

As the old saying goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", but then these kinds of things do break every once in a while.  Might as well be prepared.  ^____^

Never! I'm a slave to Windows!!! Or at least until I get a second HDD - it's got hardly any space left. Though I doubt I'll completely replace it, I like WinXP too much to get rid of it altogether.

As for the graphics, the MB manual (found it under my bed - it's a P4S800-MX) mentions a SiS Real256E (though XP lists it as SiS 661Fx). I'm not a hardware person, so I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

[Smokey]

Man I wish I had my old collection back (wich I WILL)... But I'll sum it all up for you to show just what a hardware-freak I am:

Here goes

1. 8088 PC-XT 6MHz, 640K ram running DOS
2. 8086 PC-XT 8Mhz, 640K ram running DOS
3. 80286 PC-AT wich i still had to complete
4 AM386DX 12MB ram running windows 3.11 (I actually got Win95 installed on it, but the loading time was a bit like waiting for the next century to come...)
5. AM486DX 40Mhz 32MB ram running DOS
6. AM486DX2 80MHz 64MB ram running Win95
7. AM486DX4 100Mhz 64MB ram running Win98
8. Pentium MMX 233MHz 128MB ram running win2k
9. AMD k6-2 550Mhz 256MBram running Win2k
10. Compaq ProLiant dual PII 266MHz 128MB ram running Win2k
11. Del PowerEdge Quad (I love how Quad sounds ) PentiumPro 200Mhz 256MB ram running Win2k
12. AMD Duron 1100Mhz 128MB ram running WinXP
13. Jewel Sapphire Craptop PIV 2.4GHz 128MB ram (left) running (if it actually starts, 'cause it is near death) WinXP
14. And finally my main PC a AMD AthlonX2 4800+ 4096MB ram running WinXPpro x64
I also have a IBM 5x86C, and a Texas Instruments 486DX2-80 processor, three classic SoundBlaster boards and various other exotics, like a 7.5" floppy-drive and 7.5" HDD
I do love those oldies  ;010

All of them are homemade except for the Compaq and Dell (obviously)

When I have moved I will begin collecting again, so the list may expand

[NejinOniwa]

And on to the obvious question...
When do you ever use all that stuff?
AND
Who's paying the electricity bill?

[Smokey]

Well a lot of them are currently not working and I had to let go of my Compaq and Dell (for shame...).
But my intention is to set them up as data servers (the ones that will actually work with windows or any Windows-compatible OS) and I want to set up a win2k domain server plus a seperate DHCP and DNS server. The ones that are too old- 386 and older I'll keep to complete the x86 line...
The main reason is just that I have great respect for those old machines because they're durable, and often underestimated (like the 486-es wich are pretty powerful machines if run by the right OS)

Plus its nice to have a network on wich you can mess around with different programs and protocols...

As for the power bill..... I don't have to pay that, yet...
Besides there's people with big plasma-tv's and sunbathing-beds (whatever you call it) and airco's so I think that a couple of low power PCs won't cause that much of a WattFest ;012

[C-Chan]

Never! I'm a slave to Windows!!! Or at least until I get a second HDD - it's got hardly any space left. Though I doubt I'll completely replace it, I like WinXP too much to get rid of it altogether.

Fufu,... you do realize that you don't necessarily need a hard drive even to try out another one of these,.... alternative systems, right?  A lot of them just run straight from a CD or USB stick.  

1. 8088 PC-XT 6MHz, 640K ram running DOS
2. 8086 PC-XT 8Mhz, 640K ram running DOS
3. 80286 PC-AT wich i still had to complete
4 AM386DX 12MB ram running windows 3.11 (I actually got Win95 installed on it, but the loading time was a bit like waiting for the next century to come...)
5. AM486DX 40Mhz 32MB ram running DOS
6. AM486DX2 80MHz 64MB ram running Win95
7. AM486DX4 100Mhz 64MB ram running Win98
8. Pentium MMX 233MHz 128MB ram running win2k
9. AMD k6-2 550Mhz 256MBram running Win2k
10. Compaq ProLiant dual PII 266MHz 128MB ram running Win2k
11. Del PowerEdge Quad (I love how Quad sounds ) PentiumPro 200Mhz 256MB ram running Win2k
12. AMD Duron 1100Mhz 128MB ram running WinXP
13. Jewel Sapphire Craptop PIV 2.4GHz 128MB ram (left) running (if it actually starts, 'cause it is near death) WinXP
14. And finally my main PC a AMD AthlonX2 4800+ 4096MB ram running WinXPpro x64
I also have a IBM 5x86C, and a Texas Instruments 486DX2-80 processor, three classic SoundBlaster boards and various other exotics, like a 7.5" floppy-drive and 7.5" HDD
I do love those oldies

Well that's not the longest list of hardware I've seen on here yet,... but it's pretty neat, especially considering they're all nearly homebrewed and most run old OSes.  Methinks SOMEONE's trying to build himself a Beowulf Cluster.  A good many of the older ones would make good Thin Clients.  ^____^

[Bella]

Fufu,... you do realize that you don't necessarily need a hard drive even to try out another one of these,.... alternative systems, right? A lot of them just run straight from a CD or USB stick.

And of course there's always virtualization if you have enough resources.

And wow, Smokey, you have one awesome collection!

[Smokey]

First off....Thank you C-Chan and Bella, you are the first two who didn't say I had lost my mind.

And another thanks to C-Chan for reminding me of Beowulf I read about it a while ago but disregarded it as being uninteresting and not viable. But I didn't know then that those clusters could be run on Linux based software.
So I think I'll dive into this and I may have a go it... This could be fun

[C-Chan]

First off....Thank you C-Chan and Bella, you are the first two who didn't say I had lost my mind.

Oh don't sweat it.  Compared to some of the other characters that have passed through here, you're actually relatively sane.  ^.^

You'll also find a few vintage hardware enthusiasts around these parts as well, although you may have noticed that by now.  ^___^

And another thanks to C-Chan for reminding me of Beowulf I read about it a while ago but disregarded it as being uninteresting and not viable. But I didn't know then that those clusters could be run on Linux based software.
So I think I'll dive into this and I may have a go it... This could be fun

And you'd have a veritable supercomputer for free (or at least the cost of energy + extra cables).

If you're willing, I think it'd be a worthwhile project, certainly very informative.  People love to belittle hardware that's even only a handful of years old, not realizing that people used to be sent into space with computers offering not even a fraction of the processing power of our 10-year old hardware.  When in the proper hands, even the crappiest hardware can be made to fly above and beyond its capabilities.  ^^