I got my new computer. My older eMachines computer wasn’t able to run naturally born speaking version 10. So I decided it was time to get a new computer. While my old computer was probably about six or eight years old. My new computer is a Compaq Presario with an Athlon or AMD Athlon II dual core processor has three gig of memory, and a 500gb hard drive. I got it at Best Buy packaged with a monitor for a pretty good deal. I’ve been working on getting it all set up, copying files installing software. I’ve had a few issues. For instance it doesn’t have a parallel port and my old machine did have a parallel port. So I had to order an adapter cable so you hook up my older HP LaserJet 4 printer to it. And it’s got four USB ports on the back. But two of those are used by the mouse and keyboard. I still have to hook up an inkjet printer and scanner, external hard drive. And once I get the adapter cable, the LaserJet 4 printer to the back of the computer too. But there’s fortunately also two USB ports on the front of the computer which will be nice if hooking up a a camera and also a digital voice recorders at the same time. I had a little bit issue hooking up my Plustek OpticBook 3600 scanner last night. When I plugged it in, it would come up saying USB device not recognized. I managed to download a new driver from the Plustek website and got it to work. Then I was able to install software that originally came with the scanner. I still have more files to copy from the older computer, but I hope to get that done in the next few weeks. And theres still all the newer software to install such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 10, which is why I bought the computer in the first place.
I went and picked up my new computer last night at Best Buy. Compaq Presario Desktop with AMD Athlon II Dual-Core Processor, 3 gig of ram, 500gb hard drive, and all kinds of stuff. But it’s fast enough, and has all the stuff that needs to be able to run Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 10. It actually meets or exceed the recommended setup. I pulled the stuff out of boxes, and set it up on a card table near my other computer. I booted it up and got the browser up and running. I copied the bookmarks from my old computer over to the new computer. That was successful although they were totally out of order from how I had them on my other computer. Then I started getting the mail program set up. My old computer had Outlook Express, but the new computer has Windows Live Mail. I managed to get Windows Live Mail setup to where I can receive and send e-mails. Now I’m trying to get my old e-mails from Outlook Express installed into Windows Live Mail. I found the e-mails on my old computer and copied the folders onto a thumb drive and I’ve managed to import them into Windows live Mail. But unfortunately it just keeps putting them into the unread e-mail folder instead of putting them into the individual folders like I had them over on Outlook Express. So I may need to do some more research to see if I can do what I want to do. I estimate it will probably take me a couple weeks before I finally get everything moved over to the new machine. My plan is to get the browser up and running, and get the e-mail program up and running which I partially due to all my old e-mails copied over a drywall use e-mail program on the old computer and all. Once I have that stuff set up, I will move my old computer off the computer desk and out of the rack and move the new computer over there. Then set up my old computer on the card table, and I can copy stuff off at my leisure.
My wife has been using an old Pentium II computer that used to belong to me. I works, but is relatively slow these days. It often comes up with the blue screen of death saying memory low, forcing her to reboot. If she turns the computer off, and on, she has to re-adjust the monitor as the horizontal and vertical borders of the screen will have moved. I have another Pentium II computer that is a little faster, and a little more solid. I had set that up, but never got around to moving all of her stuff over. It was installed with Windows 98 as I don’t think it was good enough to run Windows XP. My machine is an eMachines computer that I bought at Best Buy a couple years ago, and have been pretty happy with. The only hardware problem that I have had was a hard drive that died. I bought a new hard drive, and was surprised how easy it was to install. The stuff inside the case was easily accessible, and it took me on a couple minutes to replace the drive. And then with the Norton Ghost created CD’s that came with the eMachines computer, it was so easy to reinstall the software to that exact state the machine came new. So instead of setting up the other slow machine for my wife, I decided that it would be better to buy a new computer. I am trying to get her to set up a blog or two of her own that will make money. She has been unhappy with her job, and I think if she spent the same amount of time she does at work (about 70hours/week), working on websites, should be making far more money. I have been watching the sales. There was one about a month ago, where I could have bought her a machine for about $300 after rebates. I almost bought it, but I hadn’t fully decided yet. But I have been watching the ads. I thought about waiting till Black Friday. But I saw yesterday’s ad for a eMachines computer at Best Buy for $349 after instant savings. It seemed like a good deal. There was a similar Compaq computer at one of the office supply stores for $299, but I decided that I have been pretty happy with my eMachines computer. A Compaq may be more proprietary inside, or not come with the back up CDs, or whatever. So I stopped at Best Buy about 3pm. I was told they didn’t have any more. He said people lined up in the morning, and said it happened every weekend. How the heck do they know what will be on sale? Do they drive to the grocery store, and buy a paper in the hopes that Best Buy will have something good on sale, just so they can line up an hour before the store opens? I’d expect on Black Friday, but not just a regular Sunday. I asked for a rain check, and was told they didn’t do them for computers. He said that another nearby store had some in stock, but that didn’t help as I had to be somewhere else at 4pm, and the store was way out of my way. I got pissed off, and left. Last night I got the idea, to see if I could order the computer online on Best Buy’s website for in-store pickup. I found the ad, and clicked on the computer. I was able to order the computer for in-store pickup. So tonight after my class, I will head up and pickup the computer. Then will begin the process of moving stuff from my wife’s old computer to the new one.
I love eBay! I currently own an HP LaserJet 4 that I bought on eBay a couple years ago for around $30. I also have another LaserJet 4m that I bought on eBay for $15, but it turned out to have a burned out fuser. I have neve bought toner. The toner cartridge that with in the LaserJet 4 last a long long time. When that ran out, I simply grabbed the cartridge out of the 4m that I have been saving for parts.
I have been looking at starting a small home publishing business. I want to be able to print two sided pages, so I want duplexing capability. After some research I found that the LaserJet 4 (and 4m) were not capable of duplexing. That didn’t come until the LaserJet 4+ and 4m+. So I started watching eBay. When looking for something large and heavy, I search for local auctions to save shipping. I found an auction for a LaserJet 5si that included a 2000 page sheet feeder. I knew I could get a duplexer for this printer. But I called and asked whether the printer would print duplex. They tested it, and said yes it would. GREAT! It already had the duplexer installed! The starting bid was $99.99, and there were no bids. They had a buy it now option for about $300. But I watched, and set up an automatic snipe bid of over $175. I ended up winning the auction and got the printer for $99.99 plus $10 pickup fee, and NY sales tax.
I drove to the place after work, to pick it up. I drive a 2000 Honda Civic, and was concerned whether I could get the printer into the car. I had read, and knew the printer would separate from the sheet feeder. I though that it would fit. When I saw the printer, it was bigger than I thought. But I decided it was still worth a try. The printer just sits on the sheet feeder, and they were easily separated. The sheet feeder wasn’t too heavy, and fit into my back seat. The printer itself was very heavy. The two guys from the place I bought it from, hefted the printer, but realized it would go into my back seat as easily. I said try the front seat. They got it onto my front seat, but I couldn’t close the door. We rotated it, and I could close the door. I had about 1 inch clearance for the gear shift.
I drove home holding the printer, to keep it from bashing around. When I got home, I unloaded the sheet feeder, and carried it up the stairs to the computer room. I carefully extracted the print from my front seat, and set it on the garage floor. I removed the two paper trays, and the toner cartridge to lighten it some. Then I carried it up the stairs to my computer room. I managed to bash a knuckle on a door frame along the way, and was bleeding. I set the printer on to the sheetfeeder, and then retrieved the paper trays and toner cartridge. I didn’t have time last night to hook it up. It didn’t come with power cables or the parallel cable, but I already have some of those, and pulled them out. With the size of the printer, I am not sure where I am going to put it. I am looking at buying a wireless print server, so I can place the printer across the room.
In reading, I found this printer is a workhorse, and is designed to printer millions of pages. I think I got a great deal!
After my recent hard drive failure, I decided to get a better system for backups. I have tried using the built backup program that comes with windows XP, but it is a pain to use. It also doesn’t work on schedule. It is supposed to. I set it to, but it never does anything at the scheduled time, so I gave up trying. I was impressed with Norton Ghost. When I was reinstalling my machine, I found the 3 disk set that came with my eMachines computer were created using Norton Ghost. I think the disks said Symantec Ghost, but Symantec is Norton…same thing. The install was easy, and painless. It didn’t take very long to restore my machine to the state that it came new, out of the box.
I was reading some descriptions of Norton Ghost, and it sounds like it will do what I want it to do. I want to be able to back the machine up to disks (CD or DVD). But my main backup destination will be to an external hard drive. Norton Ghost will work on a schedule, and it sounds like it has various options as far as compression, and whether it will do full backups, or incremental backups. So I broke down, and ordered a copy of the program. I would like to get it automated, so I will have grandfather backups on my external hard drive if something ever happens to my main hard drive again.
I do most of my work on my desktop computer. That computer makes me money. So I don’t mind spending a little bit. I can deduct it as a business expense anyway.