Russell Tiedt wrote in a message to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE:

 WC> -> That is the problem, I get to work on them mostly when they are
 WC> broke, and -> spares are not available or if they are, I can buy 10-15
 WC> replacement parts for -> a standard computer for 1 of their parts,
 WC> then the owner does not want to pay -> daylight robbery prices ... so
 WC> my time is mostly wasted, and the owners piss -> me off further when
 WC> they request that I make ordinary "normal" parts fit
their -> box.
 WC> 

 WC> Older H.P. here, very reliable.
 WC> Very good performance with Linux too with the Celeron 433
 WC> and 256 Meg of RAM.

 RT> I have found Compaq and HP boxes to be reliable, but when they
 RT> break, here we  chuck them away, as getting replacement parts is
 RT> not worth it, so I avoid them as far as possible.

Got the one Compaq box here that's the windoze machine,  and we're about to
retire it,  if I ever get around to it.  No using much of anything that's
in there,  though I'll probably reformat the drives and use them at some
point,  since they're SCSI.  Also got this cute little bitty case for an HP
around someplace (probably in storage),  I can't fit a standard power
supply in it,  much less anything else.  I'll probably end up using it for
a project box or something...

 WC> Convinced it required proprietary memory I was informed otherwise
 WC> and I upgraded it on the cheap.

 WC> Ripped out the combo software sound card - modem and using an external
 WC> 56K modem and Turtle Beach hardware sound card Knoppix Linux
 WC> autodetects everything and provides the correct sound card drivers.

 RT> No problem when one has enough slots to accomodate, normal bits an
 RT> pieces. 

Heh.  That one Compaq here is both PCI and VESA!  Never even saw any VESA
cards,  though...

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