Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
Posts: 14954

I bought a Pentium III from a supermarket three years ago, I know nothing about computers from before that era.

It's broken, the motherboard is rodgered, but I have an iBook that has all but replaced it.

I'm waiting till I get a decent amount of wedge before I upgrade, slot 1 motherboards are rare on the secondhand market and not availiable new anymore, so I'm biding my time, watching the prices come down.

Unfortunately the iBook doesn't connect to my scanner, drawing pad or CD burner.

There's a secondhand store that sells crappy computers around the corner, what are the minimum requirements I should go for, i.e. ram, processor?

I want to be able to burn CD's, use the drawing pad if possible (Illustrator or Flash), scan of course, install word 2000 for it's spell check and fit in a network card.

I may get around to using it as a file server one day and maybe have a go at installing Linux.

The thing doesn't need to be fast or good looking.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

You probably want an AMD.

The XPs are so fucking cheap, it's stupid not to get one.

I'd say a 1900+, 512MB of Crucial (it's the cheapest it'll be in months and months and months) 2100 DDR, a gigabyte mobo (KM266 GA-7VKML), a 40x12x18x CDRW (lite-on, they are fucking cheap, and really good) a non-IBM HD (get a WD, Seagate, or Maxtor - with seagates being a little slower but also quieter)

Uh.
a good power supply. I wouldn't trust anything but antec (or a rebadged one) and nothing lower than 330W. If you're going to be doing graphic work, get a ti4200 nvidia geforce. a live! audio card should do.

If it's BUDGET BUDGET get 256MB of crucial instead (it's really really cheap) and a mobo with built in video and sound. You want a nforce2.

Uh. Not sure what else. Just trying to give some guidelines. Don't get fucked over by a local crapshop. You and I will hate you.

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 4736

He said crap computer. Anything from a P2 400 and up with at least 256MB of RAM will do what you want to do, although not with the greatest of speed.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

Just out of curiosity, why doesn't the iBook handle the canner, burner, or drawing pad?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

For $400 he could get an XP system, why settle for less? The difference between $200 and $400 is amazing.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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quote:

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Originally posted by Nutrimentia
Just out of curiosity, why doesn't the iBook handle the canner, burner, or drawing pad?

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
Posts: 14954

quote:

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Originally posted by macker
He said crap computer. Anything from a P2 400 and up with at least 256MB of RAM will do what you want to do, although not with the greatest of speed.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

You can get a good FW case for $100, try OWC if interested. Link to the enclosure for optical drives, $115[url].

Wacom does have good macdrivers out now, but i'm not sure if you use a wacom tablet. Have you checked [url=http://www.versiontracker.com]VersionTracker for drivers? If anyone has one, they'd know.

Regardless, this doesn't solve your scanner problem (there may be serial/USB adapters, dunno abuot about drivers though) and may not be the best use of funds. Good luck with the new comp, I'd like to do something similar myself, if only I had $500.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3691

there are serial/USB adapters available. try the usual suspects, Belkin, Macally, and some other brand i can't think of right this second. I don't think drivers mean much as far as the adapter goes. For the tablet, try the wacom driver/pkg thing. Or try USB Overdrive, i don't know if it supports tablets.

but if you spend $30 on an adapter for a scanner with a printer port (but no SCSI?) , then you may as well shell out an extra $20-$50 for a whole new USB scanner, which will be waaaaay faster. Or Firewire. I don't know what price range the FW scanners run.

there's a reason macs since the first iMac haven't really supported "legacy" ports.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
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Firstly the tablet is a no-name brand, Target to be more specific, Wacom's are very much Mac friendly, and will be my next choice of tablet should I require something plush.

Since I posted this thread my iBook has packed a sad, not a major sad, but enough to warrant a re-install of OS X. ( An Apache / OS X 10.1 compatability issue that has had me chasing solutions down blind alleys for over a week now)

Anyway it means that I want to go for the upgrade option instead of the downgrade so I can back up the files on the iBook before delving into "Format C" Mac style.

There's a shop around the corner offerring an upgrade kit for about $200 US, Athlon 1.7, a 256mb stick of 133 ram and some cheesy motherboard, I'll probably shop around and go for something like that.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

I'd do that too. Only thing to consider is if the mobo has PCI slots so you can add a FW card to it eventually (I assume it doesn't have FW ports)

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3691

jebus. that belkin serial to usb adapter is about $50. I paid less than double that for a USB 2 scanner today.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

crap motherboard: $48.00 (20.00 if refurb)
XP1700+: $50.00
RAM: $24

These are the lowest prices I could find, seperate, all with shipping included.
Pretty high markup, and that's if he purchased it from another retail joint.

package2you.com on the mobo (Part - 52-1145)
http://www.computerbrain.com/cbisys...cpus&id=100 on the 1700+
1-800-345-8880 for the ram, or if you want a web page, and want to pay $2 more, http://pcwonderinc.com/specfreship.html

Nute: I'm pretty sure the mobo is going to have PCI slots. *cough*

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: ........
Posts: 14954

Thanks caff, but I'm based in the Netherlands, it may be cheap enough to get some parts shipped over, but it adds to the logistics, finding someone with a credit cars, guarentees etc......

www.norrod.nl has consistantly the cheapest prices over here (making a 1 US $ = 1 euro)

Crappiest motherboard (Jetway): 75 $US
Duron 1.2 ghz: 52 $US
A cooler: 12 $US

256 of ram (if the 100 mhz stick I already have isn't compatable): 43 $US

That's almost up to the 200 $ mark, guess hardware is just pricier here, and if I am going to invest that sort of wedge I may as well spend a little bit more and get an Asus board or someit.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

You got me Caff, I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe something along the lines of "a cheap mobo maybe only has 2 PCI slots that would be used immediately by the NIC and Video or something."

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

Video uses AGP. pci is probably no better than onboard, depending.

I'm not really sure what you're suggesting.

I second it though, make sure your mobo has PCI slots. Ask him "Vendor, does this motherboard come with any PCI slots, and how do I install said slots?"

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location: toronto
Posts: 1612

My pentium 166 laptop does everything I need.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

It heats your room? : |

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