So I finally got well enough to put together the new computer. Shipped, taxed and warrantied, it totalled $680.00 CAN from Dell. That is nuts. The March 19, 1996 stickered Pentium 75, 16 Mb Ram that has been managing this site for seven months now cost me $2,900.00. The new box has 16 times the Ram, 31 times the ROM and a CPU 32 times bigger than the old one - 2.4 Ghz over 75 Mhz. So far this means I do not have to wait 30 second between edits via this website's content management systems and I can listen to web radio without the sound cutting out everytime I go to a new page.
I still am trying to get the high speed internet hooked up but what do I do with all this computing power? The old comuputer is becoming a dedicated Snood terminal with tendencies towards Asteroids but there must be something worth doing with this box that was beyond thinking about with the old one. Steve has wisely warned me off re-entering the world of Counter Strike. Other than that I am game. Recommendations?
Comments
Brad Pineau - November 22, 2003 3:20 pm
That is an awesome price. Congrats.
Will - November 22, 2003 7:37 pm
pr0n server!
Alan - November 22, 2003 7:57 pm
I actually had to look it up:<blockquote class="smalltext"><i>pr0n: // [Usenet, IRC] Pornography. Originally this referred only to Internet
porn but since then it has expanded to refer to just about any kind. ...</i></blockquote>It was that obvious. So much for recommendations on the newest Quicken update...
Rob MacD - November 22, 2003 8:52 pm
If it's first person shooters (which I believe Counterstrike is?), you cannot go wrong with Max Payne. Get the first, rather than the new Max Payne 2. It is wonderful in all aspects. If it's racing games, the Need For Speed series is very good.
Ben - November 23, 2003 12:51 am
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. A first person shooter adventure where you're a jedi, gradually getting more and more force powers. And a lightsaber. Until you've hacked storm troopers' libs off you haven't played a computer game.
Arthur - November 23, 2003 12:00 pm
Shipped, taxed and warrantied, it totalled $680.00 CAN from Dell. That is nuts.
The blessings of mass production :-)
Alan - November 23, 2003 12:13 pm
Jeese, what other than a shoot'em up should I be looking for. I recall spending a few days on Wolfenstein in the mid-90's and the thought of exposing the Dora the Explorer set to that before they pick it up off the street is worrying. The racer idea is good, Rob, as I've got a couple of kids and a dune buggy crash bash would be good fun (as opposed to hacking off limbs with a lightsaber - "No, Daddy, the bloooood....whyyyyyyy!")
But what other things is it good for, this whiring $680.00 box? I'm not talking Bass Masters, which my brother in law offered me. Are there good music software programs or community building games or something that really surpises like Myst did back in '95 or so?
Wayne - November 23, 2003 2:35 pm
Are you any good at "pong"?
Arthur - November 23, 2003 4:18 pm
Are there good music software programs or community building games or something that really surpises like Myst did back in '95 or so
OK: I admit. If I had a box like that, I would be patiently waiting for Half-life 2.
Alan - November 23, 2003 6:10 pm
First download: Abilion 1.3.2 syndicatron, feeder reader, aggregator - whatever you call these. Here is the maker's homepage. Freeware. Small and useful. I'll likely be told by you that it sucks, that it is part of the Nigerian scam or that it is making my computer the spawning hub of a new set of viruses which will lead me to being charged in Taiwan and Minnesota. I like that it is easy to load the feeds. Simply select the URL in your browser's address and click the new feed button on the aggregator - not even copy and paste. I like that posts contain links to the post, the website as a whole and the links within the post each of which when clicked on become a tab which remains at the top until deleted.
Alan - November 24, 2003 6:05 pm
Second download: Snood.