CHARLES ANGELICH -> DAVID DRUMMOND wrote:

 DD>> What sort of software? The Windows OS supports it,
 DD>> therefore I'd expect any app designed for Windows should
 DD>> work.

 CA> There are 'apps' for Windows that drop to DOS and will not see
 CA> all external USB devices. Image copying software would be one
 CA> area.

Not if such software is written for Windows. The last three of Windows
renditions don;t have the ability to "drop to DOS" (although they
will spawn a command shell).

 DD>> However, I wouldn't recommend anyone have their only copy
 DD>> of data on a USB memory drive, rather, work the the hard
 DD>> disk and use the USB for copying it somewhere else.

 CA> That works if you are a member of "the church of what's
 CA> happening now" but if you have a collection of files gathered
 CA> over a period of years that method doesn't work. I don't move
 CA> 'recent' files on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

I move daily file on a daily basis - between machines here at home, and
between machines at home and at work.

The only files I have left that I've gathered "over the years"
are the photos taken with the digital camera, or scanned form the old 35mm
photos. Those are quite happy to be moved/copied on a USB memory drive.

[...]

 DD>> How do you share that, via Ethernet? Why not share
 DD>> resources on the machines too, it save so much time copying
 DD>> files between them.

 CA> One word, "children". My grandchildren used the other computers
 CA> scattered around the house and would answer "yes" to any popup
 CA> asking to install any software. Now and then they would
 CA> download a game and try to install that. The other machines
 CA> were down for re-install as often as they were up and running.

 CA> None of the adults wanted to 'share' virus etc. with the
 CA> children.

You allow viruses on your machines?

You should try Linux or OS-X, viruses are virtually unheard of for those,
and even Windows has virus checkers that one can keep up to date.

[...]

 CA>>> Mine _was_ slow until I bought a newer CDRW 52x35x52 for
 CA>>> $30US. Now it takes just a bit over 4 minutes. :-)

 DD>> Takes about 15 seconds to copy that much to a USB memory
 DD>> drive, and you can flush and re-use it over and over.

 CA> One CDRW CD costs less than $1US. The 'thingie' of comparable
 CA> capacity costs you how much?

Does it fit in your shirt pocket? Can you copy 1GB to it in seconds and be
on your way?


 DD>> I see CDs as more useful for something more permanent, but
 DD>> then they don't hold enough - DVDs are a little more
 DD>> realistic.

 CA> DVDs aren't really more realistic. I wait for quite some time
 CA> to collect enough to fill a CD. Waiting to fill a DVD would be
 CA> an additional risk factor that something would go wrong on the
 CA> computer and I would lose what I had before getting enough to
 CA> burn a DVD.


DVD-RWs are available too these days - or multi session DVDs. They're much
faster than CD-RWs too.

 CA> I did however buy a double sided DVD writer and install it
 CA> here but my machine would lock up after a reboot and I decided
 CA> it wasn't worth worrying about.  Double sided media is more
 CA> expensive and I just don't  move/offload enough to worry about
 CA> the extra capacity.

Maybe your machine doesn't have the horsepower? The one we have works Ok on
the 1.3GHz Duron (with XP-SP2 and Nero).


 CA> My brother, OTOH, is into photography and ripping his CD collection
 CA> etc. and does have a DVD writer and now wishes he'd waited for
 CA> the double sided DVD writers to come out.

There will always be something new.

 CA> Soon there will be 'blu-ray' and all the weenies will have to
 CA> repurchase and reinstall again. :-)

Or continue with the older hardware they have - just as you're doing.



 DD>> Win95 (up to OSR2) does not officially support USB so I'm
 DD>> not surprised, but who uses that any more?

 CA> There are FIDO users who use W95 and even W31 and DOS. I am
 CA> one of them. :-)

It would seem that quite a few Fidonetters in your neck of the woods seem
to use older stuff. Is that what attracts them to Fidonet, that it can
still be done with outdated hardware and software?

 CA> W98 USB support for USB is/was 'iffy' as well.

When we ran 98 the only USB device we had was a scanner. It never gave us
any trouble (on the PII-350).

-- 

regards

David

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