Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Sun 11 Jan 2009 06:39:47p, George Shirley told us...
>
>> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Sun 11 Jan 2009 04:18:00p, Dave Smith told us...
>>>
>>>> Dan Abel wrote:
>>>>>>> Dialup at 26.4, included in the monthly phone bill.
>>>>>> Spring for a 56K modem and you won't look back. Combined with
>>>>>> tabbed browsing, the only time you won't know you're on broadband is
>>>>>> when you're downloading something and how often is that?
>>>>> I don't know if you can even buy anything slower than 56K any more.
>>>> I haven't seen any slower than 56K for years. It was interesting to
>>>> watch the evolution. My first modem was 600 baud.... $250. Then I went
>>>> to 1200, 2400, and then to 56.... $250 each time. Later on you could
>>>> get a 56K (Fax modem) for $30.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> until a few years ago, every new computer came with a 56K modem built
>>>>> in. Now, with so many people having high speed connections, phone
>>>>> modems are going the way of floppy drives and the dodo bird. New PCs
>>>>> don't have them anymore, except as an option.
>>>> My system is 4 years old and it came without a floppy drive. What good
>>>> are they anyway? Neither the drives or the disks last more than a few
>>>> years. Now you can get memory sticks that can hold more data than some
>>>> people's hard drives, and they are cheap.
>>> My first modem was only 300 baud, built in to my Kaypro computer.
>>> Hell, I could type faster. <g> I soon bought a 2400 baud external and
>>> paid several hundred for it. This was pre-PC days. After buying my
>>> first PC, I went through all the speed evolution. Had good 56K for a
>>> while before going with DSL, now cable.
>>>
>> Yup, had a 300 baud modem on my Osborne One, bought in 1982,later
>> upgraded to 1200, then moved to an XT pc with 36K, then up to 56K. Every
>> since that ISP folded I have been on DSL. I do miss that old Osborne
>> though, handy to tote around, looked like a portable sewing machine.
>> Used 5.25 inch floppies, two of them, 90K each. I could swap floppies on
>> the fly and get a good bit of work done. So much easier with today's
>> computers.
>>
>
> I've pretty much been that route, too, George. Now my current laptop is
> 2.6Ghz, with 2GB RAM, and 200GB hard drive.
>
I had a friends son build this one several years ago. Can't even
remember all the stuff on it and to lazy to look again. It's plenty fast
enough for me now that I'm retired so, hopefully, it will last a few
more years. I know it has two 80gig internal hard drives and I have a
plug-in 160 gig sitting on the shelf above it. The 160 is my "run from
the hurricane" drive, unplug it, shove it in the suitcase, hit the road.
Has all our financials, a genealogy database with about 3300 names in
it, plus all the other crap you gather around you in 27 years of computing.

I just ordered another USB pci card that will increase USB ports by five
and another case fan to replace one that quit of the three onboard.
Already replaced the old CD R/W with a DVD R and CD R/W. About all I
need. Got a color laser printer from my business days and a mid-level
scanner that is handy at times and was paid for by one-fourth of a job I
did for the local port here a few years ago. As long as its plug and
play I can take care of it. <G>