Wayne Chirnside wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:



WC> Jameco I see from their catalog is still offering ISA network cards 
WC> at reasonable price so I could network my two boxes, only need the 
WC> one as the H.P. has one.

RJT> What kind of prices?  I saw the ones I use here,  3com 3c509,  on sale
RJT> at a local used outlet for under $10 each.  I forget if it was $9 or
RJT> $7,  somewhere around there.

WC> Jameco is always pricey but sometimes for an odd piece they are the 
WC> only game in town, 15 bucks ISA network card and a rather 
WC> frightening 50 for a PC133 I/O card to utilize a fast drive.

Well,  if you want some drop me an email and we'll work something out...

RJT> Hm.  I've heard of way better prices than that.  The place I mentioned
RJT> had 9G drives for around $50.

WC>  You should be in hog heaven with those prices.



I can do way better than that.  My brother stumbled across a deal on some
refurb'd IBM 4G drives for around $5 each!  They were SCSI,  needing the
68-pin cable or adapters,  but that drive I was running before was like
that so I have one adapter,  and I have a 2940uw that has the wide
connector on it too,  which would double my throughput.  All I need now is
a case with a bunch of drive bays in it.  

WC> Except Nic-Cads which require complete discharge on a regular basis
WC> but not below 1.1 volt IIRC.

RJT> That was the source of a lot of confusion,  people used to think that
RJT> the lead-acid stuff had the "memory" problem.

WC> Heh, more like sulfation if not topped off. Motorcycle batteries 
WC> were really prone to this and if you kept a spare around as I often 
WC> did you'd best leave a trickle charger on it.

That was another thing I used to tell people,  we'd get a big rush each
spring,  which was the busy season,  not winter as most people thought. 
They'd come in at different times for bike,  mower,  and marine batteries
and thought that taking it out and "putting it someplace warm"
was a good thing.  I told 'em over and over to put a small charger on it
once a month or so,  and that'd make a big difference.

WC> I physically _lost_ my last set and they were working like new
WC> after 7 years.

RJT> I've had a few go bad on me,  most often the go to dead short.  Or they
RJT> start leaking around teh positive terminal.

WC> I zapped the bad ones with a large cap and about 40 volts that 
WC> cleared most shorts and I tested individual cells under load so as
WC> to not mess up other cells in series usage.

I have the bad ones around here someplace,  and will probably get around to
trying that out eventually.  Used to use them all the time,  with a walkman
and a small flashlight,  but I haven't used either of them in ages.

RJT> transfers even easier,  once you get things set up...

WC> No cable and one network card short.

RJT> Easy enough to fix.

WC> fixable for 25 bucks at Jameco but suspect CompUSA would no longer
WC> carry ISA though I could remove the PCI sound card and slap a PCI
WC> network card in there.

RJT> $25?  We can do better than that.

WC> I can move the machine next to the 98 box too and slaving the drive 
WC> is no big deal as I've two spare dual IDE cables.  NEC tower annoys 
WC> though as with 5 bays, one for floppy, only the two that currently 
WC> have a hard drive or CD-Rom in them fit standard mounting hardware.
WC> They went out of their way to make the 2 open bays not have a 
WC> suitable place to affix a drive.  What's the sense in that?

Proprietary crap!  That sort of thing drives me crazy,  too.  The Compaq
I've mentioned in here from time to time has its main drive just sorta
sitting there in the bottom of the case -- it's a 5.25" bay,  and I
had no mounting kit handy,  so...

WC> I like to do my window shopping online but purchase locally where
WC> possible.

RJT> Yeah.  Where it's easier to deal with the hassles that come up from
RJT> time to time...

WC> That's my reasoning, don't want my equipment down while waiting on
WC> the mail.

Exactly.

WC> Going online to check out the news at the Wash. Post with this 
WC> upload. Gotta slow down again as I keep _hitting the wall_ even
WC> with my feeble efforts of late.

RJT> How do you mean?

WC>  Messed up spine, if I accomplish one thing another must be 
WC> forstalled.  An example being cutting that one piece of plywood to
WC> make the NEC box accessable will mess me up for days.  I should try 
WC> to sneak that job in today or tomorrow so as to recover in time to 
WC> go grocery shopping monday.  I'm quite certain if I didn't have the 
WC> dog to walk I'd be locked up so tight I'd need assisted living and 
WC> even as it is the dog is _walked_  in the empty ajoining lot about 
WC> a dozen times a year.  Gotta love this dog can't think of anything 
WC> you coud possibly improve upon except maybe him giving himself a 
WC> bath ;-)

Heh.  :-)

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