Old HP Compaq

Since being unemployed Im really starting to turn into a techno-geek :cool:

I have a 5 yr old HP Compaq that was bluescreening me to death a few months ago so I got a mid-range Acer travelmate instead - which Im rather happy with.

I almost bought a RAM expansion card for my Acer the other day, since Iv been running a VM and two OS's on it. then I remembered my old HP and thought that I would check to see if I could use the memory cards from it first.
But the blue screen is really only software caused, issn't it?
So I figured I could do some things with my old HP. I could completely wipe it out and start with a new OS, I could use some of the hardware or I could sell bits piece by piece ... whatever, its not COMPLETELY dead.

Anyone have any other ideas on what I could do with it?? Something that would be kinda fun, challenging and would help me learn something - just looking for ideas from 'outside the box' that I may not have thought of.

Thanks and Blessings
F

Quote:

---

But the blue screen is really only software caused, issn't it?

---

Nope, a BSOD can have pretty much any sort of a cause in reality.

Windows is an OS so it reports most every problem as if it were a software problem, even though the root cause might be something quite different. What I am saying is that Windows is reporting the problem as it affects itself and the applications you are running. Its hardware diagnostics capabilities are minimal at best.

My advice in this instance would be to forget about loading some other operating system on a platform that is having problems running the OS for which it was designed and built. You need to sort the machine out first!

You have an opportunity to sharpen up your Windows diagnostic and troubleshooting skills...............take it ;)

Often it is the physical memory that causes a BSOD.
You need the stop code and/or a dump file to properly debug a BSOD.

do the basic first aid though
CHKDSK on the HDD
and in BIOS there is generally a setting to run a set of tests over HDD as well
DELL has one, not sure of COMPAQ routine off my head

full strip and clean
then do start ups from scratch
adding bits n pieces as you go

so MoBo / PSU / CPU / RAM / HDD and fire it up
once you have it running, THEN you can think of what to do next

how about the basics..
1) open the case first.. look inside at the condition.. if dusty and dirty .. take it outside, compressed air it .... take it in...

2) reseat memory, cpu, turn on.. watch that fans work ... etc..

Then if you're still getting BSOD go forward with trouble shooting the problem..

Hmmmmm................

Quote:

---

I have a 5 yr old HP Compaq that was bluescreening me to death a few months ago so I got a mid-range Acer travelmate instead - which Im rather happy with.

---

Well, the Acer is a laptop, so I suspect that the Compaq is as well..........some model and specification details might be helpful? ;)

Problem with a lappy is most of the crap is hard (cold?) soldered to the MoBo, so you don't have much to play with?

Quote:

---

You need the stop code and/or a dump file to properly debug a BSOD.

---

1. The stop codes and error code (if any) are needed. Also anything in the system logs that relate to the incident.

2. The dump files are the singularly most useless bits of information I have ever seen come out of Windows. I have never ever used one to any effect. Basically they are just the Windows whine, and add nothing to the party. After all, they are generated by the OS itself?

My suggestion is that as this came as a question of what to do with the box, rather than how to fix it; I suggest that we guide our friend in some of the basic analysis steps?

First, is to note down the fault codes that the BSOD shows. Note also the date, time, how long the machine had been running error free; and what you were doing when it happened. On reboot go to the system logs and see what you can find there.

You are looking for either:

1. Consistency.
2. Randomness

Please wait for the next thrilling installment........................:cool:

Actually the dump will provide information on the faulting module that isn't otherwise available as well as a stack trace back. That in itself makes it easy to diagnose a bad driver versus a hardware error. The trace back also shows what code was in memory and executed recently. It is much more specific than simply recalling that text was being edited, an email client and a browser was also running.

I've never really had to do any of this before but Im really pumped to get started.

I booted her up and the first thing that I got was:

SMART Failure predicted on hard disk 0:ST980829A-(PM)

WARNING Immediately back up your data and replace you hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.

F1 to continue

Then I got through the boot up screen and the welcome screen until I got the "ACTIVE DESKTOP RECOVERY" screen.
clicking the "Recover Active Desktop" button got me an Internet Explorer script error (I have never used IE on the machine - nor any machine actually). So I just turned off the Active Desktop.

Even though I hadn't Yet seen the BSOD the whole system was feeling lice ridden and really bogged down.

I was in the middle of copying the sys specs from System Information when *WHACK* .......... BSOD.
It wasn't even there long enough to see what it said.

Anyways, I was going to wait until I could get more of the system info. before posting but its clogged up and seems it will be taking its time (like senior citizens driving in a school zone on sunday). These are the sys. specs as I have them right now:

Os: xp home
Vers: 5.1.2600 service pack 3 Build 2600
Manufacturer: HP
Model Presario V2000 (ET933UA#ABA)
Type:x86
Processor:x86 Family 15 Model Stepping 2AuthenticAMD~1790 Mhz
SMBIOS Vers.:2.31
Win Directory: C://WINDOWS
Sys Directory: C://WINDOWS/System32
Boot device: \Device\harddiskvolume1
Hardware Abstraction Layer: <this is when BSOD hit>

Iv been trying to get back to the System Info now for the last half hour, but its so lice ridden that its practically stopped in its tracks.. its been awhile and I suspect that BSOD will pop up pretty soon.

Its a great little lappy, I'd love to be able to wipe it clean and get it up and running again, I just dont know where to start - I have the time.
Like I said though, Im not sure where to start and Im not even sure where to start researching (AO has always been my failsafe lol)

I'll get the rest of the sys specs up when I can finally get to them ...

EDIT: Is there anyway to get BSOD to stay long enough to read it, or will I just need to have my phone on cam mode and ready??

Quote:

---

Actually the dump will provide information on the faulting module that isn't otherwise available as well as a stack trace back. That in itself makes it easy to diagnose a bad driver versus a hardware error. The trace back also shows what code was in memory and executed recently. It is much more specific than simply recalling that text was being edited, an email client and a browser was also running.

---

I've never used a .dmp before nor a traceback. right now (on the HP) I have searched and found the most recent .dmp (6-1-2011) and amazingly I got it to connect - a tiresome process not for the impatient). Im looking for a way to open the .dmp now.

This is taking a really long time and I hope its not for nothing (its taken me the better part of an hour just to get the system specs, find the .dmp and get this thing connected).
Im not wasting my time here am I. I don't mind spending the time to do this Id just hate to find out I spent so much time on nothing lol.

Since I have no data on my HP that I will miss, could I reformat the hard drive or something to return it to its original state? Since Im not trying to save any date, would this be a wise first step?

as you have a SMART warning
you really need to swap out the HDD PDQ
THEN a clean install of XP Home using the COA key from PC itself
then you will have a nice little PC ready to go again

would advise you get 2GB of RAM too
and maybe set the beastie up as a test box for any OS that takes your fancy

we are assuming it to be a lappie ??
so the other options of adding additional HDD's and setting them as a mirror / RAID 5 to create a file server are not going to be an option here really

but the reality is that we don't know what you are interested in to make an informed suggestion
so we will just throw some ideas around, see what takes

Quote:

---

as you have a SMART warning
you really need to swap out the HDD PDQ
THEN a clean install of XP Home using the COA key from PC itself
then you will have a nice little PC ready to go again

---

Im on the PhoenixBIOS setup utility right now trying to figure things out a bit and learn some stuff I didn't know before.

I have to physically remove and install a new HDD or will wiping the old one clean and starting over work?

SMART is self monitoring the HDD, it is telling you it is about to fail - physically :(
you need to replace it with a new one
probably the reason the PC was running like a dog too

Here is a free home edition dump analyzer.
Microsoft also has a dump analyzer/debug package, WinDbg. Here is a good WinDbg resource page.

S.M.A.R.T is an acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. It is a HDD manufacturers' sort of standard, although individual implementations vary.

It works at the BIOS level (which is where you can activate/deactivate it, depending on your BIOS implementation) and is OS independent.

Basically, if you have a SMART error like yours, you need a new HDD pronto!

This has nothing to do with what is on the drive, corrupt or otherwise, it is a physical/electronic fault with the drive itself. Hence wiping it and reinstalling would be a total waste of time. So, yes, you do have to physically replace it (look for a bigger drive, as a replacement and make sure that you get the right connection, as there was a shift from EIDE to SATA around 2004/5 ;))

Quote:

---

would advise you get 2GB of RAM too

---

Not really foxy~, that thing takes DDR1/333MHz 200 pin SODIMS. Crucial say $49/&#163;36 for a 1GB strip.............not worth it for a 1.8GHz single core box, as it will not run Vista or 7 in any acceptable manner. His money would be far better spent on beefing up his current machine's RAM, IMO.

I have been using Vista on a 2.17GHz single core with 2.5GB of PC2700 (DDR1/333MHz) and it runs like an absolute dog, even with the aerocrap disabled and the Windows set to "performance").............it is the processor that is the problem.

On the other hand, I currently have XP Home running on a desktop with an AMD Athlon 2200+ (1.8GHz) and 1GB of PC2100 (DDR1/266MHz), so the specs are similar, and it runs just fine. My view is that the V2000 has reached the end of its evolutionary branch in that department.

It would be a good platform to mess with *nix distros though, as they tend to be way less demanding on the hardware front than Vista or 7.

:)

I learn alot from you guys, man. I appreciate it.

Quote:

---

It would be a good platform to mess with *nix distros though, as they tend to be way less demanding on the hardware front than Vista or 7.

---

I was thinking the same thing, Im running Ubuntu through a VM on the lappie I use now and was thinking about putting a distro thats a bit more advanced on this one when I get it going.

Quote:

---

we are assuming it to be a lappie ??
so the other options of adding additional HDD's and setting them as a mirror / RAID 5 to create a file server are not going to be an option here really

---

It is a lappie, and what you're saying is really too bad as that is exactly one of the options I was thinking about exploring. Either trying to set it up as an FTP server (something I've never done and don't even know if is possible, but would tackle for the learning experience alone), a single or dual site web server, or 'RAIDing' it with my primary use machine, or 1-2 of these lol.

Would you mind going into the limitations of these possibillities a bit more? Why you say its not an option here, or if there are just alot of obstacles to overcome to accomplish it.

Thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IcSilk

Would you mind going into the limitations of these possibillities a bit more? Why you say its not an option here, or if there are just alot of obstacles to overcome to accomplish it.

Thanks

---

to get a RAID set up, you require additional HDD's adding into the box. Now, on a desktop / tower, you will have aome room to move, and a wiring setup that can handle additional HDD's too.

BUT
lappie is restricted on room, as in, NO ROOM :D
so not able to attach additional HDD's inside box

RAID is a way to build in redundancy into your system
RAID 5 requires at least THREE HDD's, and works by striping data over each HDD so that each disc will contain 2 parts data, and one part parity data, so if you lose a drive, you swap it out, add a new -IDENTICAL DRIVE] into the unit, and re-initialize drive, then system will re-write the lost data back onto new drive, so you get you data protected

short version I know, but Google for RAID and there are a LOT of pages to read :)

as a lappie you are stuck with basic options
and of those, the test bed is probably the best one to use
after you add a new drive natch :P

if you REALLY want to play with file server / FTP
then save up
use a site like ebuyer.com [UK based that one]
and buy a PC in bits
use the 80 / 20 mark
so you NEVER buy this years big boy on the block
but get LAST years
will give 80% of performance for about 20% of cost :D

NOW you can go wild, would advise a Linux server option, unless you can get an MS NOS [Network Operating System] W2K3 onwards
and set the box up as a file server / print server / FTP
have OS mirrored to allow for redundancy / security there
and implement RAID 5 for DATA
I used 3 500GB drives to give me a 1TB data store

mind you, I also lost a drive, and on installing new drive, where it said "do you want to DELETE data" :eek: I said yep
so maybe double check my ideas elsewhere too :D

NOW you will have a box to play with
with sufficient space to store plenty of data
and getting a DYNDNS account will allow for FTP too

DYNDNS as you will probably have a dynamic IP, so it will change, setting up a DYNDNS account, they will poll your system, and update the IP address, now when you want to FTP, you go through DYNDNS, and they will provide the correct path

have fun

In my opinion, once you've taken Foxy's advice, and have this thing rolling again, why not go and get something new to toy with? If you have an Acer now or whatever it was you said so you have all the things you needed before and this is going to be a toy to play with afterward, I'd say to grab yourself FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE, and install it.

I currently have been using the Net Install CD ISO, as it's very nice, and I like it. Basically, you grab the ISO image, burn it to CD, then, you boot from the CD after making sure that your BIOS supports doing that (anything made even close to recently does) and then, once you have booted, you can use my tutorial to install FreeBSD, or, you can read the Docs from the FreeBSD Documentation Project to install it, and, remember when it says "Would you like to install the Ports Collection?" say yes. When it asks if you'd like to look at the Ports / Packages, say NO!

Wait until you have the OS booted up to install anything else extra.

Basically, once you have FreeBSD booted up, and you log in as root, THEN install some Ports. And, if you'd like, you can run this command as root:

pkg_add -r xorg enlightenment kde gnome fvwm xterm Eterm windowmaker

You can add way more than that, but it shows you how awesome the Packaging System in FreeBSD is; You type that command, and the -r flag basically says to try grabbing the software, AND all dependencies for it, and install them from one of the FreeBSD FTP Servers.

You can also do this:

Once you have FreeBSD installed, and you've logged in as root, which, by the way, make sure to do this:

CTRL+ALT+F2 to switch to TTYV1 as the first one you see will display system messages, and you don't want that in your shell. So once you have that done and you've logged in as root, type this:

sysinstall

You'll see a Text User Interface, and it's what you used to install FreeBSD.

The cool thing, is that you can now go to "Configure" where it says to do post installation configuration or whatever, and then, select Packages, and hit Enter.

Once you've waited a few minutes for it to read the Data, you'll see a list of Categories of Ports. Using the Arrow Keys, you can look through the list, and, when you get to something you want to look at, you hit ENTER, and you can use the Spacebar key to select Ports / Software Packages you'd like to install.

It automatically will select Dependencies as well. When you're done, you use the Left and Right Arrow keys to select install, and it shows you what you're installing, and then asks which way to install. Select FTP Server, and it shows a list of them. Select whichever one you'd like, and if you've got the Network Set Up done from the Installation, it will tell you that you've already done so and if you'd like to skip, so you say yes to that, it logs in, and start downloading and installing everything.

It's awesome.

yeah yeah. I've learnt alot and developed alot of new ideas through this thread. It'll be awhile until I can get a new HDD worth getting. In that time I'll be able to get up to par on hardware knowledge and Unix. I'll probably be able to use a more complex *nix distro by the time it comes to install something on this machine.

Im thinking I might try to get a tower and use the old lappie as the access terminal (AT) to it. I live in a college town so I may be able to come across something useable that was discarded as junk. I'd learn alot by fixing (or attempting to fix) something like that up.
Now if I went that route, I wouldn't actually need a HDD for the lappie, right?? Just remove the old HDD from the HP and use an access cable to join HP to tower.

Im on it, thanks again to everyone who responded.

EDIT: I was just on craigslist browsing in the computer section and I got thinking/conceptualizing. Really, if I had a complete tower unit I wouldn't need anything inside the HP lappie at all. then I was thinking about what kind of drivers would need to be installed in order to use the HP as an AT.
Im really excited about this, I have alot of freetime and have been looking for a project - not just any time killling project but a productive one.

Well, one reason I said FreeBSD, is that it's not a clone of Unix, it's a version. Even though the Lawyers would scream at you for saying it, the fact is, BSD has more rights than System V to be called Unix, not just technically, but Historically. But since AT&T and SCO are douche bags, you can't "call it that". Lol.

FreeBSD is not only a real Unix, it's awesome. I've been toying with it, using it, and setting up machines with it as a Server since FreeBSD 4.0 in 2000. I think 4.0 came out in 1999, but I didn't get it right away as I didn't have a Computer until late 1999. I got my first Computer in VERY late 1999. In fact, it was almost 2000 when I did.

I just got into BSD fast. I'm still a Linux user too, but really, everyone uses Linux these days, and even though I do too; If I was gonna set up a machine where I didn't have more than one to do it with, I'd for with FreeBSD for now. Or I'd set up FreeBSD and Linux as a dual boot situation.

BSD is a great OS. I started with it in 1977. Alas, I've forgotten most of it since alpha testing NT IIRC 1992. I've used NT server versions exclusively until Windows 7 was released.

Dude WTF is wrong with you? You left BSD for NT?

....OK, I now command you to download SOME version of BSD.... Say, FreeBSD, since it's what I use, or even PC-BSD, since I use that too, and install it.... And don't come back to me until you're set up!

Well what can I say other than MS paid good money for me to test NT. When I built my current Supermicro box (8 Xeon cores w/16GB mem and a 4 TB array) a few years ago I had every intention of running multiple virtual machines including NT, BSD and CentOS. Alas the plan fell apart because I forgot most of what I knew about BSD and I couldn't get an I2C driver working on BSD, a critical requirement. I found NT applications to substitute for the BSD and CentOS applications I planned on running and kept the box on Win2k3 until Win7 x64 was available.

I know, I know I succumbed to the dark side but it is too late to go back.

Quote:

---

Im thinking I might try to get a tower and use the old lappie as the access terminal (AT) to it. I live in a college town so I may be able to come across something useable that was discarded as junk. I'd learn alot by fixing (or attempting to fix) something like that up.
Now if I went that route, I wouldn't actually need a HDD for the lappie, right?? Just remove the old HDD from the HP and use an access cable to join HP to tower.

---

Probably not as easy as it sounds. It is a computer and will likely need to be booted from something to work..........a live CD perhaps? For the sake of a new HDD it sounds like a waste of a perfectly good laptop?

I am not familiar with the V2000, but you might be able to get an expansion base for it? They vary but as a minimum you generally get an extra battery and HDD compartment. Given that the PC usually dies first you might be able to pick one up cheap?;)

Another possibility would depend on your BIOS. If it supports booting from an external USB drive you could get a drive caddy/docking station and boot from any 3.5" or 2.5" drive. I bought a used 160GB 7200rpm Seagate from a local store for &#163;8. It has a 1 year warranty.

EDIT:

You might also be able to get a used 60~80GB drive pretty cheap. People do upgrade laptop drives and, as they only have room for one drive it means that there will be a spare drive going cheap.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ua549

Well what can I say other than MS paid good money for me to test NT. When I built my current Supermicro box (8 Xeon cores w/16GB mem and a 4 TB array) a few years ago I had every intention of running multiple virtual machines including NT, BSD and CentOS. Alas the plan fell apart because I forgot most of what I knew about BSD and I couldn't get an I2C driver working on BSD, a critical requirement. I found NT applications to substitute for the BSD and CentOS applications I planned on running and kept the box on Win2k3 until Win7 x64 was available.

I know, I know I succumbed to the dark side but it is too late to go back.

---

It's never to late. Besides, what's stopping you from buying some cheap PC that's really low end / old, and running it on there? My FTP Server is the first Computer I ever bought, which is a Pentium 3 733 MHz, and it came with 128 MBs of RAM which I upgraded to 384 MBs of RAM, and a 43 GB HD came with it, and I installed one that's 120 GBs too and made that the root Partition.

I also had my Mom's old 433 MHz Celeron running it too. It still runs on a 486 too.

I'm down sizing these days, not adding new boxes. That was one of the reasons for moving to virtual machines years ago. I'm down to a single machine of each type - server, workstation and desktop plus 2 notebooks. All are running applications 24/7/365.

We have 11 machines right now, but really, only two or three are powerful. Most of them are pretty much test machines. The two laptops are good, and then my Desktop is decent, and my Wife has the machine She uses normally which is really good and Water cooled, and then She has two other Desktops that are pretty decent too, and then the rest are older machines of mine that I test stuff on.

My main machine uses Windows 7 and Slackware, and my Wife's stuff is basically the same. The rest though, we use mostly either Linux or BSD.

You must have lots of space for that many machines. All I have is a 5' x 5' closet I call my comm closet. It contains the DSU/CSU, router, patch panel, switches, etc. It is full.

Yea, we have a three bedroom House, and it's just my Wife and I living in it, so we have one room just for machines and stuff with our desks in it, and the closet is walk in, so we put book shelves in there and made a Library out of it. The other bedroom has a bed and we use as a spare. So we have quite a bit of space dedicated to these.

I have a 3/2/2 2300 sq ft house. My office is about 160 sq ft including the comm closet. With a desk, a couple of chairs, a table and a bar there isn't room for much more. I have a notebook on the desk and a workstation positioned by one of the easy chairs. A 4 drawer legal size secure and fire rated file cabinet (huge) is in the closet along with most of my technical books. The books are rapidly getting out of date and won't be replaced. After all who cares about the internals code for old MS software? Most of my newer books reside on the 4 TB array.

As I approach 70, I find that things that were once important during my career no longer have that status (I retired in 1998). That's why I'm down sizing. Technology moves on. I can do today with a small box that once required a rented space with 5 or 10 tons of A/C. Back in the 80's I had a personal mainframe with 3 phase power and the bills to match.
:cool: :drink:

Heh, when I was college, I started out taking the higher up Computer Science classes, since the College tested me and said anything with the word intro in it would be boring and a waste of time, and in my second or third semester, I met a Student who was about your age.

His name is Bill, and he was in my Security+ class, my TCP/IP class along with the System Admin of the school, and he was in another one with me, and we were sitting near each other, so when we had a project in one class, he ended up being part of my group.

Turned out he was a Systems Coder from way back, and his job, was writing code for Processors. So to see him in a class at all seemed weird to me because writing Processor code, is pretty damned high up there. I asked him what he used at work, and he started talking about his BSD based workstation. I told him I used BSD too, and he thought I was kidding.

He'd never really used anything open source or free, and so he had no idea that people not only still used BSD, but that you could get it freely. I said that I used FreeBSD at home, and that it was based on 4.4 BSD-Lite from the CSRG at the University of California at Berkeley, and that the Lawsuits and stuff were long over, and it was freely available now.

He again, didn't think I was serious, so I said I could install something for him. I ended up installing Slackware for him at school one day after we both aced our exams in 15 minutes, and GOD did we ever have fun. We used to have a "friendly" competition on who could get a better grade, and whenever one of us got ANY question wrong, we ripped each other apart.

I remember tearing into him once because he got a question wrong on a mid term, and he said "Hey the info was there it was just not worded right" lol. But we had a pretty good time, and the next semester, he was teaching some classes, so I took one.

He was amazed to see that even though I could do Binary in my head, I always screwed up Hex because of the Division, and how bad I am at normal Math. Like, I can't do division at all. I can do addition, subtraction, and Multiplication, but anything else, like Division, or Fractions, and I'm out.

He thought it was funny that someone like me who could do Binary in his head, couldn't do simple Division. The other teachers used to have a "joke" about me; Right before the Final Exam, one teacher would always come up to my desk, and grab the book for that class from me, and tell everyone "quiet everyone!" and then open my book real slow and say "See, that's that sound a book makes when it's opened for the first time!" It was pretty funny I guess, I mean they knew I didn't read the books or study, which is why I was allowed to do whatever I wanted most of the time.

In my Security + class I basically helped teach it and had more than 100% in the class because of all the extra credit. My teacher said I could have skipped the final and still gotten an A.

But yea, Bill is really funny, and he's like almost 80 now, and still teaches. My Cousin has him now, and once they found out he was my cousin, they were scared lol. I still see one of them now and then, and he says he uses me in the Security + class as an example a lot, and talks about how I used to help out and kinda mess around sometimes, and, FTP into the Printer and made it print over FTP, which was useful because the Linux+ class couldn't print so they started using my FTP trick, and it worked.

I have almost 3 Gigs of books on this machines, and I have... Basically every BSD book from freebsdmall, and a bunch of Linux and Security books. I buy them whenever I can.

My Wife got me "a Quarter Century of Unix" for I think Christmas like a year or two ago, and I Loved that, especially the BSD stuff. I'm biased.

Quote:

---

I have a 3/2/2 2300 sq ft house.

---

ua549.................you need a larger house ;)

Quote:

---

with 3 phase power and the bills to match.

---

Were you using 415v like we did over here?

America uses a different voltage to us
110v IIRC
so the 3 phase will be a spread of that
about 200v across any two, again IIRC

we have 240v single phase
= 415 v across any two
all to do with phase angles when generating the stuff :P

It was 240v delta power. The US also uses 240v wye power.

OK, I have to know:

You told me that you had been working with BSD since '77, which, I personally find awesome, but have you ever used any other non-PC based stuff? For example, if I EVER won the Lotto, and I had LOTS of money, I know that I'd be doing a huge upgrade of my "Tech Room" along the following lines:

I'd expand the room, adding more desks and so on. Get a nice sized UPS and Generator so I could keep going during a Power Outtage, and, I'd be doing some major upgrades on Hardware:

First and foremost, I'd buy some SGI Workstations and Servers. SGI makes my Dream Machines. I can't even think of a Computer I'd LOVE to own more than an SGI.

I'd buy an Altix Server for sure, and Workstation, but I'd REALLY love to have some of the older Workstations and Servers. In Particular; I get a nerd boner every time I see an SGI Workstation on Ebay that has IRIX. I know that SGI isn't exactly doing IRIX at all now, and that mostly they seem to have gone for Linux, but I can run Linux on a PC, so, I'd want at least a few machines with IRIX on them.

I mean yea, I like Linux and all, but, if I had the cash to do it, I'd be getting myself some really nice SGI Workstations running IRIX, and drool. A lot.

The next thing on my list would be a couple Alpha Workstations. I'd like them running Tru64. I'd also get some Suns; A server, and two, maybe three Workstations. Each OS.....

What I mean, is that I'd buy some Sun stuff, but, again, I'd want at least a few running SunOS instead of Solaris. Solaris is great and all, but, really, I'd really prefer to have some SunOS Workstations. Solaris is based on System V, where SunOS is BSD.

Also, my Wife, LOVES Sun. Sun is to my Wife, what SGI is to me; Her dream machine.

Once I had that stuff done, I'd set up a REAL FTP Server; The HP Pavilion PC, which is the very first Computer I ever bought, has 384 MBs of RAM, a 43 GB HD, and it's getting dated with it's Pentium 3 733 MHz Processor. It also has just shy of 200 GB of disk in it, which isn't enough.

I'd buy a REAL Server for that. I'd want a couple TBs of Disk, maybe 4 GBs of RAM (I don't really need much considering I don't even use a GUI on my Server... It doesn't need that.)

Anyway, that's what I'd do. Other than buying a better router. And of course some new PCs. I'd LOVE to have a nice machine I can play games on. I'm not a gamer by any means, but I did wet myself seeing a 12 GB Nvidia card.

And of course; Having nice speedy PCs for FreeBSD, Slackware, SUSE, and Debian.

@IcSilk,

Hi there, can we have an update please............have you decided what to do with the old laptop yet? :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nihil

have you decided what to do with the old laptop yet? :)

---

I reckon he BINNED it :eek: :D