3/30    Does anyone have technical details of why BART's computer system is
        fucked up?  They installed a 'software upgrade'  what software?
        They 'switched to a backup system' but that failed.  Who is their
        primary IT consultant?
        \_ I bet BART is running a crazy ass minicomputer or mainframe
           from the early 80s.
	...

2/10    What was your computer configuration during your UCB years?
        \_ None.
        \_ 286, 5.25" disk drives
        \_ 486-66, upgraded to 100MHz.  Worked far better than the HPUX
           machines compiling over NFS at the time (graduated in '97).
           \_ hah, me too, except I also did the DX3 (33 MHz FSB) to
	...

6/8     I recently bought Via Samuel 2 based motherboard to use for my
        firewall.  There is a little fan mounted on the cpu and I was
        wondering if I could disconnect it and stick a bigger 80 mm or
        120 mm fan on top of the cpu and run the system safely. The
        current fan is a bit loud and I want to make the system as
        quiet as possible.  I'm open to other suggestions as well. tia.
	...

6/2     I've been to many places and almost every place I go to have
        802.11b/g. However, almost all of them have protected access,
        which I presume they use because they don't want people stealing
        their bandwidth. So here is one idea I think will really
        revolutionize 802.11X... an option in the router that allows you to
        specify the percentage of unprotected bandwidth you are willing to
	...

5/27    How is Intel's Dual-Core technology different from using two CPUs?
        \_ Difference is negligible. The point is costs. Obviously one dual
           core will cost less in the long run to make vs. 2 seperate CPUs.
           Savings may not be immediate, though.
           \_ Not always. If you have two chips with 50% yield each and decide
              to combine them into one larger die, your yield goes down to 25%.
	...

4/30    I'm thinking about getting my mom a mac mini. Right now I've got
        her hooked up on a Celeron in a small form factor, but I think
        Windows is too complicated for her. She's used to Macs from her
        Adult School, so I figure she'd be much more comfortable using
        it. The only thing is that I usually hack the firmware on these
        machines because she likes to watch foreign DVDs. Is it possible
	...

3/15    It's been a while since I bought a notebook. Is there any reason to
        pay extra $100 to upgrade from XP Home to XP Professional? How about
        Intel Pentium M Processor 7x5, do they run at decent speed relative
        to say, P4? And what's the difference between 1) Crystal View XGA TFT
        and 2) SXGA+ non-crystal view TFT? ok thx
        \_ You definitely want a Pentium M for the power savings.
	...

1/11    So the iMac Mini is basically an evolution of the old Cube thing. Or
        those little Shuttle PC boxes. Or a Gamecube. But it doesn't seem
        to make much sense compared to an iBook. Why no digital audio output?
        \_ you can still do digital audio over usb. Probably the reason
           there is no spdif connector is b/c of space/price. I think
           it makes a lot of sense (I bought one for my living room),
	...

11/29   I haven't bought a PC in years.  How does the quality of Dell, Compaq
        and Gateway PCs compare?  That is, how long does a brandnew machine
        last until something breaks.  Any other major brands I missed?  I'm
        buying a low-end desktop.  Thanks for any info.
        \_ Other brands: Sony, HP, Micron (now "MPC"), eMachines.  Try CNET.
           \_ HP == Compaq, eMachines == Gateway.
	...

11/16   I did some simple performance test of NS7.1 vs. FF1.0 on my 400MHz
        Celeron NT machine:
                                        NS7.1   FF1.0
        Start-up time with blank page:  5.0s    4.0s
        Memory used after start-up:     9.8MB   8.8MB
        Memory used for http://www.yahoo.com  1.7MB   1.1MB
	...

10/6    What's a good video card with DVI output to drive a LCD at
        1600x1200? Something not too expensive, under $100? I get
        confused looking at all the brands at newegg. Maybe something
        with Nvidia chipset? Thanks.
        \_ Can't all of the ones with DVI-out do this? -!LCD user
        \_ what's the highest resolution on LCDs nowadays?
	...

8/27    I'm currently running a 1.2 Ghz Celeron with 386 megs or so of RAM.
        I'm thinking of buying a new machine, but I want to go cheap, maybe
        less than $500.  I want to end up with a nice machine and a crap
        machine at the end of this.  (Crap machine so my wife can do email and
        stuff) so don't need a CD drive or monitor, and the video card
        doesn't have to be great because I already have a nice one in my
	...