bob klahn -> ANDY BALL wrote:

 AB>> Hello John,

 JC>>> ...if it's just email and light surfing linux on your
 >>> old box will work. I run Ubuntu on a PIII 866 with 768
 >>> megs ram and can even run flash video.

 AB>>     Right, but 866 MHz is significantly faster than 500 MHz
 AB>> and it would have cost me US$ 90 to upgrade to 768M RAM, so
 AB>> I decided instead to put that money towards a new
 AB>> mainboard, microprocessor and RAM.

 bk>  Not to deny that is a good idea...

 bk>  I used to watch TV, record Mpeg VHS quality videos and edit
 bk>  them, on a 500mhz Emachine, with a couple hundred megs ram.
 bk>  True, I did step up to a 1.6gig Dell with, now, 1.5gigs ram, and
 bk>  a very large HD, to make the video editing faster. But it did
 bk>  work ok on the Emachine.


Used to do well with a Mac 660 computer (68030), later the 6600 (ppc 601),
the 8600 (upgraded to G3), and now the Eye TV with my G4 computer. 
Recording with computers rock!!


 JC>>> But you likely need a OS upgrade too and if you use
 >>> Windows, it's going to be cheaper to buy a ready unit
 >>> than putting a system together.

 AB>>     My wife runs MS Windows on her own machine, but I mostly
 AB>> run NetBSD and occasionally Linux.

 bk>  I am also working with a lot of slower computers, an old Armada
 bk>  laptop originally 366MHZ P2, now 500mhz P3, and a very old
 bk>  Pentium 133mhz that doesn't even have cardbus.

I have an Armada.. 500 mhz version.  Neat machines eh?


 bk>  I had Win 98 on a 486sx-100mhz, but I changed it last night to
 bk>  Rom-Dos. Just starting with that.

 bk>  You can do a lot with a slower machine, though I am still doing
 bk>  this on my faster one.

Extra speed never hurt.  :)

Doc Clu

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