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Joined: Oct 2000
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Scott35 Online Happy OP
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Hi all,

I would like to poll the members of this forum and see what types of computer programs / applications that you use, along with the platform / Operating System.
Just want to know what everyone is using.

Stuff like: CAD programs [AutoCAD, TurboCAD, Visio, etc.], Schematic / circuit simulation [Circuit Maker, Trax, etc.], Word Processors [word, word perfect, etc.], spreadsheets [excel, lotus 1-2-3, etc.], Adobe [acrobat, photoshop, etc.], utilities [PKZIP, WINZIP, cleansweep, etc.]

Operating systems: Windows 3.1 [?], windows 95, 98, ME, Windows NT [?], Windows 2000, Mac, Unix / Linux, etc.

Platform: Intel based PC, IBM AT compatable [??], AMD, Cyrix, MAc [Motorola CPU ??], speed and build.

Any other relative info.

Thanks!! I'll add my profile later tonight or tomorrow.

Scott SET


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,116
Likes: 4
Member
Scott,

Here you go:

P2-400
128mb ram
16mb video
BBB Brand (Built by Bill) [Linked Image]

Win 98 SE

Programs regularly used:

Aol 6.0 + 5.0
Explorer 5.5
Netscape 4.08
Eudora Pro (Email)
Winfax Pro
Pagis ScanWorks
Mcafee VirusScan
Frontpage 2000
Adobe Photoshop 5
Paintshop pro
MS Image Composer & Gif Animator
Printmaster 8
Graphics Workshop
Acrobat Reader 4
Word 97
Excel
PKzip

That's all the basic stuff I can think of.
Some other specialized utilities too.

Bill


Bill
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
uh, let's see...

windows 98
pentium
64mb
CTX

DSL
word
adobe acrobat
norton
mike holt
a few blue light special graphic's programs
a print/letterhead program (printartist)
getquicktimepro
photoimpact
MYOB
quickbooks
iomegaware
freeware from the BB's (thank you)

[Linked Image]

Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,236
Likes: 1
Member
Celeron 400Mhz
64 MB Ram
20x CD-ROM
4 MB Video Card
4 GB Hard Drive
56K Modem (connected at only 24,000 bps)
600 DPI Scanner
HP Deskjet 932C Printer

Win 98 SE (Waiting for XP..if it's worth the hype...)
MS Works (Spread sheets, word processor, invoices, etc.)
Visual Business Cards (shareware)
Internet Explorer
Outlook Express
Netscape Communicator
Netscape Composer
Yahoo Messenger
MS Flight Simulator 98
Paint Shop Pro
WinZip
WS_FTP
GIF Construction Set
NoteWorthy Composer
Sound Forge


Before 01/01 I had:
i486/DX2/66Mhz
32 MB Ram
420 MB Hard Drive
14.4 Baud Modem
8x CD Rom
HP Deskjet 600 Printer

Still using the Packard Bell 15" monitor!


-Virgil
Residential/Commercial Inspector
5 Star Inspections
Member IAEI
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Scott35 Online Happy OP
Broom Pusher and
Member
My profiles [home based LAN]

PC#2 [my workstation]:
Intel P5 166 Mhz [430HX chipset]
64 MB DRAM [FPM-yuck!], 512K LII Cache
ATA/IDE Hard Disk Drives [Pri master = 2.1GB, Pri slave = 1.2 GB]
6X ATAPI CD-ROM
ATI on board SVGA controller
Crystal Sounds CS4232 [on board]
3COM Etherlink III [ISA bus]NIC
Boca 28.8 KBPS MODEM [ISA bus]
17" SVGA monitor
HP LaserJet 6P [shared printer]
Logitech scroll mouse [PS/2]
Tolerable Speakers with intregal power amp
Kurta / ISONE digitizer tablet [12" x 12"] - connects via COM port

Programs, apps and O/S:
Operating System: Windows 95 [OSR2.5]
Netscape Communicator 4.7xx
Adobe Acrobat 4.0 [full version]
AutoCAD Release 14
Visio 4.7 technical
Circuit Maker 5.0xx [PSPICE type sim]
Corel 4.0
Form Tool 97
Turbosketch
Visual Basic 5.0
Paper Port
PK ware
Cleansweep 3.0
WinFax Pro 8.0
Excel 97
Word 97
Lotus Smart Suite 96
This PC was purchased new June 96 [I still use it]

PC#3 [wife's workstation]
Intel P55C-MMX-166 Mhz [430VX chipset]
48 MB DRAM EDO [60ns], 1024K LII Cache
ATA2/3 IDE hard drive [2.1GB], ATAPI 12X CD-ROM
On board ATI SVGA Video controller, on board Yamaha OPL3 audio system [PCI connection, but on board]
15" SVGA monitor, Logitech scroll mouse [PS/2]
3COM EtherlinkIII [ISA bus] NIC, Boca 33.6 KBPS MODEM [ISA bus]
HP Inkjet 720 C

Programs, O/S, etc:
Operating System: Windows 95 [OSR2.5]
Adobe Acrobat 4.0, Lotus Smart Suite 97, PK ware, cleansweep 3.0, Netscape Communicator 4.0x, Family tree maker 7.0, Print artist, print shop, Goo, Flex talk [a cool text to speech program], virtual pool, you don't know jack [1,2 and 3].
Purchased new - November, 1997

PC#4 [workstation/server]:
Pentium II - 233 Mhz [slot 1], AL440LX chipset
64 MB SDRAM [DIMM/PC66], 2048K LII cache [on CPU]
SVGA card - PCI bus, EPP/ECP parallel port adapter [ISA bus] - in addition to on board LPT port.
3COM Etherlink XL [10/100MB] NIC
15" Viewsonics SVGA monitor
UDMA/33 - IDE hard drive [3.2 GB], ATAPI 24X CD-ROM
HP Scanjet 5100CXI, Lexmark 3200 color inkjet printer [shared printer]
HP DesignJet 450C Color Plotter, D size media [shared plotter]

Programs, O/S, etc:
Operating System: Windows 95 [OSR2.5]
Microsoft Office 97 - Professional, Adobe Acrobat 4.0, AutoCAD LT 13, AutoCAD Release 14, Paint Shop Pro 7, Paper Port, Omnipage Pro 8.0 [for OCR], Bass Box 6 Pro [audio speaker design], Xover 3.0 Pro [audio crossover network design], Norton Antivirus, PKware, Cleansweep 3.0, Winfax Pro 8.0.
This machine was built 6 - 98

All workstations connected via 3COM 10MB - 10BaseT Ethernet hub.
Each Workstation uses 3COM NIC [Network Interface Card] utilities.

Previously used machine [prior to PC#2 in June, 1996]:
Intel 80386SX-16, 4MB DRAM [100ns], 850MB IDE hard drive
one [1] 3.5" H.D. floppy disk drive {A:}
one [1] 5.25" H.D. floppy disk drive {B:}
VGA graphics adapter [ISA bus], Sound Blaster Pro 2 [ISA bus]
Epson MX 80 Impact Printer [later changed to Epson FX 1180 Impact Printer]
HP Legacy 6000 series laser printer [serial port connection! talk about slow]
14" VGA monitor.

Programs, O/S, etc:
Operating system: MSDOS 6.22 [first version was MSDOS 5.0, then 6.2, then 6.22].
Windows version: 3.10 [shell, of course!]
Direct Access 5.0 [DOS shell / application launcher], DOS Sketch, Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS, MSword for DOS, Word perfect for DOS, Wordstar gold for DOS,
CUPS - Nuclear and Particle physics simulation, waves and optics simulation, and electricity and magnetism simulation for DOS, Misc. shareware electronic programs for DOS, misc. shareware and full version games for DOS, printshop for DOS, Bannermania for DOS, Xtree Gold for DOS, CopyQM for DOS [disk copy utility], MS works for Windows, Excel 3.0 for windows, circuit maker 3.0 for windows, visual basic 3.0 for windows, AutoCAD LT 2 for windows, wordstar for windows, correct grammer for windows.
Received this machine in December, 1993

Used a few AT machines [80286] here also, along with an old antique machine - TRS80 model 2 - uses the Z80 CPU and 32K of RAM. does not contain fixed disk drive [hard drive]. Bootstrapping was achived by loading DOS into RAM from an 8" floppy disk. after successful booting, applications could be loaded into RAM from another floppy disk, or written in BASIC [which was saved to floppy disk when finished].

Scott


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,116
Likes: 4
Member
Scott,

I see a lot of similar parts in my closet here. Some fond memories include my vic 20 and it's cassette tape drive, Writing basic programs with 'peeks and pokes'. A hand-Me-down IBM PC jr - (also with no hard drive) But ... with the optional 64k Extended Memory sidecar! So that programs could be loaded into virtual memory! Wow!! BTW, the first nite We got it the wife was reading the manual going to show me how to use it, skipped a page, and formatted the Boot disk! It took awhile to find someone with a copy of Dos 2.1 so We could use it.

Not too long ago I emptied the closet and got rid of most of the real old stuff. Mostly hand-me down stuff. It's hard to totally let go of things, I still have a 5 1/4 Floppy drive in my main PC. We've got 3 hooked in a thinnet lan, mostly to share printers and for Me to Whup the kids in Warcraft once in awhile. I like those Flying Dragons!

Bill


Bill
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Scott35 Online Happy OP
Broom Pusher and
Member
Bill,

Ya, it's hard for me also to part with old stuff, but with my eyes closed, I was able to "purge" my stock pile of collected stuff [to an extent]

I still have the 386 - Annie's mom is using it right now. I'll never get rid of that machine, or any others! The 386 was a valuable working model of experiences for me in my extreme infancy with this technology.

Still have the Model 2. Where you mentioned formatting the DOS boot disk, that reminded me of when we first tried to use the model 2.

In early 1993, I had no clue about any operations of computers - other than extreme basics [what memory is, binary, stuff like that], and the only hands on work was pulling in and terminating LAN cabling [such as coax, triax and IBM type 2], or moving computer equipment.

My parents had this machine since it was new, back in 1980 - they paid nearly $10,000 for the entire system!!! [Linked Image]
They were going to use it in a small business that they had with another partner. This didn't amount to much, so it was folded within a year.
They never could use the machine [gee, I wonder why [Linked Image] not like it's hard to use that type of machine [Linked Image]], so it was packed up in it's original boxes and put into storage.

We [my wife and I] decided it was time to learn how to use a computer, so we setup the model 2.
As you and your wife had done, we read the manual[s] prior to doing anything. After somehow figuring out enough to get things started, we setup the system.
It had the case and monitor, plus drive A: combined into one unit [like an Imac]. It had an external disk drive in a case that is the size of an IBM 4702 Contoller!! It connected to the PC via SCSI. It also had a "Daisy Wheel" impact printer.

The worst [but turned out to be the best] thing that happened was the DOS boot disk was lost [didn't get a chance to format it [Linked Image]].
The manual said to place the disk that says "Operating System" on it in the A: drive [local drive].
There was an included word processor, which was already written and saved to a floppy. On it at the top in small letters were the words "for the TRSDOS operating system".
We had no clue of the missing Dos disk, and as far as we could figure, the wordprocessor was the bootdisk mentioned in the book.

Well after endless attempts to get the thing to boot, and seeing the "Non-System Disk, or Diskette - Reboot" error message [got to know Interrupt 081 real good from this!], we just gave up on it.

My brother in law was, and still is, a PC user with a lot of knowledge.
Asked him what the heck was going on with this thing, and he easilly explained it to me.
The way he explained it and the fact that I actually grasped it, was so cool and easy to realize, that I had to know more about these misterious machines - so began the non stop quest!

So, to end the story on a happy note, we got a copy of the DOS diskette [big old 8" floppy [Linked Image]], which cost a whole $5.00 from Radio Shack [that's another story!], put it in the drive, fired it up, and FINALLY got passed the IRQ 081 error message!!!
I was so shocked to see it ask me for time and date that I just stared at it for some time!!
The rest is history [Linked Image]

I mentioned the boot problem was bad and good. This simple thing was such an interesting principle, in the whole bootstrap sequence and logic, that it made me want to learn as much as possible, plus continue using computers. Things would have certainly been much different now if that didn't happen.
It also was a great thing to identify boot errors in the future.

Scott SET


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,116
Likes: 4
Member
Scott,

Computers are something I find very absorbing and can really relate to. The technology, of course is really astonishing, but the way they (basically) work is very simple and rather easy to understand. Anything that you see on a Computer, or anything it does can be broken down into very simple and logical steps. Barring any component error, it is a rather 'Dumb' machine in that it only does what you tell it to do - exactly!. If it doesn't do what you want it to, chances are that you didn't tell it the right thing. Once you realize that and the extreme 'anality' it can display it doesn't look as intimidating.

I have enjoyed writing programs in basic, haven't had much time lately though. I build all my own computers and have had some quite interesting experiences trying to work out hardware and software incompatibility issues that often come from using hand-me-down and mis-matched components.

It gives a great feeling to be able to overcome problems and Master something as technically powerful as a modern PC. That's where it gets interesting! [Linked Image]

Bill


Bill
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Scott35 Online Happy OP
Broom Pusher and
Member
Bill,

Great message!

Keep up the great work in your forum and good luck with all your future PC troubleshooting.

Scott SET


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
Member
Just bringing this one back up.
Scott 35, how do you fit all of that stuff into your house?. [Linked Image]

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