August Update

Well would you look at this, a post by Mikey Pizano! Turns out that I am not actually dead like some of you might think! Okay I don't think any of you thought I was dead, but I have been busy with work lately, but since I got some new stuff this year, I figured I should take the time to make a new post for a change, and even though August technically isn't over yet, I am going to call this the August Update! I don't want to talk about work here, since I am sure that no one cares about my grass cutting, but it does fit into the whole Classical Computing thing since I like to use old computers to keep my spreadsheets updated. I keep a very detailed one for all the jobs I do and how many hours are on my lawnmower since I added that hour meter to help with stuff like the oil changes, since it says in the manual to change the oil every 100 hours. Lately, I have just been using my main desktop for that task, since I keep it synced up using DropBox, so I can also have it on my laptops and sometimes I like to open the file on my tablet, though Android sucks for spreadsheets. I wish that I could run DropBox on my older computers though, but that wouldn't work well since I have more space on DropBox than the hard drives in those computers. So where do I start? I think it would be best to start with the new stuff I have gotten recently, and I think it would be best to start with the oldest one I got first, which I also happened to get first as well. My friend in New Jersey sent me his sister's old Toshiba laptop. The model is a Tecra 750DVD. I plan to write a review of it when I get a chance as well, so I don't want to spoil too much before I can get that review done. Since I have had more time, I can finally start doing it. I don't have a lot of time though. The Tecra is a Pentium MMX laptop, which shipped with Windows 95, running at 233MHZ. I installed Windows 98SE to make it more useful though, and since it has 160MB of RAM, which is maxed out, it runs well for most uses. It also has a 5GB hard drive, as well as DVD ROM drive. This was the first laptop to ship with a DVD drive, and when it came out, it was $5,600! The laptop is pretty thick, and for its age, the battery still holds a charge since it was replaced at one point. I can tell that it is not the original simply because of the label. It is not a OEM battery, but it works, however I haven't tested it to see just how long it lasts, since I normally leave this one home.

The next thing that I got was a Compaq Pressario SR1055CL desktop. I built a new computer for my neighbor and I was given the old desktop as part of my payment. This is still a work in progress as I just got it on Thursday, however I do have Windows XP installed, as well as all the updates, but not much software I need yet. When I get a chance I will need to install the usual things like FireFox, DropBox, and Pidgin. That will make the computer much more useful, and I might even install Linux on it! This desktop isn't very modern, as it was made in 2004, but it does have an AMD Athlon XP 3000+, which is a 2.16GHZ single core processor, as well as 1GB of RAM. It has a 160GB hard drive as well. I don't really know what else is in this computer really, but I will probably do a review on it one day I bet. There is not a whole lot to say about it right now so I will move on to what I am typing this on.

The last modern laptop I had, besides my netbook, was my old Toshiba A205-S5859, which is no longer working. It suffered many weird problems, but that is all in the past. The new laptop I am using now is a Sony Vaio. It is not a new model, but it is new to me. It is the N320E model, and it is really nice. I plan to review this one as well, so here is a quick rundown on it as well. It uses the Pentium Dual Core t2060 processor, which is really a Core Duo with half the cache, running at 1.6GHZ which is good for me. It has 2GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. I installed Windows 7 on it and it runs great!

Finally the other little things I got this month include another Palm Treo, this time a Sprint branded 700p, a Dell 17" LCD with a built in 4 port USB hub, and a HP LaserJet 1100 printer. I got the Treo with the 2 computers, and the LCD and printer were from a flea market at a church picnic. The LCD was 25 bucks and brand new, and the printer was 5 dollars with a spare toner, which appears new, though not the HP brand, was only 2 bucks!