> I knew that - what about an ASUS then? Does the all-in-one
> approach work okay?

JT> Aside from not working with some OSes, yes.

 When I mentioned Linux, my yumcha immediatley gave me a gigabyte
board. 

JT> , better bundled software.

> And that's the same, too. All that changes is the HELP file.

JT> Bullshit. Some hardware has better software support. Even if
JT> only with the drivers.

 Which the yumchas immediately steal...


JT> The built-in sound card in my machine doesn't work with either
JT> windows OR linux. It used to (well, sometimes anyway), so
JT> fucked if I know if it became faulty, or it's back to its old
JT> tricks again.

 The Gigabyte Triton has inbuilt sound that works. In fact, it's
already giving me the shits. I only hope I can turn it off.

... [later]

 I loaded everythign that came with the motherboard, including a
sound "control panel" that looks like it was designed by a Klingon
(or maybe an advertising executive on cocaine). I'm not sure what it
was supposed to do... but what it *did* do was lock Windows! It
loaded as a TSR via the Registry, but it only succeeded 4 in 5. Thank
goodness it was easy to get rid of...    

> it struck me as stupid to screw the system for 20% when all you
> had to do was wait three months and it would double anyway.

JT> There are a couple of guys at work who are still doing it. As
JT> it stands, they have something like 20% faster machines that
JT> what is currently available on the market. 

 But you can't notice 20% anyway... dickheads abound.

JT> However, if you talk to them, you'll be left shaking your head.
JT> They're continually upgrading, it's one long continuous upgrade
JT> path (hold on to nothing for longer than six months), and the
JT> worst thing- they never actually use their machines for
JT> anything _useful_.

 I only hope dickhead-disease isn't catching.

... [later]  think it might be catching...

 I went to plug in the network cable but there was no hole, and
complained about the severe lack of hole the yumcha sold me a network
card for $10. Now I've got a hole to put the cable in but it didn't
work so I went back and the tech told me I was a dickhead. The card
wasn't plugged all the way in...

 I'm beginning to frighten myself. Is there an anti-dickhead pill?

JT> All they have on it is an OS and benchmark software.

 ROFL!!

JT> Numbers portraying an idea is always popular with PCs. And
JT> until a short time ago, it was the ONLY thing driving the
JT> marketing. Intel finally learned they can't play the numbers
JT> game because AMD beat them every time. So now they're playing
JT> the performance game. More numbers... Idiots. -- 

 Actually, this new machine is useful. Win98 was always sluggish
compared to Win31. Now with 3GHz and 133MHz bus, it runs at a
reasonable speed.

... [later]

 I can't make the network work. Would you answer a few basic dickwit
questions for me? I'm running Win98 on both computers just now. When I
ping, it doesn't reach the other computer (from both ends). It's the
same if I pull the lead out. It pings itself okay.

1.  Can I simply link the two computers with a 10base T cable, or do I
need a special null-modem thingie, or a hub?

2.  Are the lights supposed flicker when I ping?

3.  How do I tell if one of the netword cards is stuffed?

Regards,
Bob



--- BQWK Alpha 0.5