Re: [kidsgames] Equipment Survey

[RRPotratz <rpotratz@vbe.com>]

I am a home schooling parent with 3 boys and this is what we have and
what we use them for.  I am not a programer, but am not adverse to
testing things on machines if anyone needs.

1- 	Warhawk
	Windows 98 SE (Gasp!!!)
	450 AMD K-6
	160 MB Ram
	1 - 15 Gig HD
	Diamond Viper 770 Video (riva tnt)
	Memorex CD 40X
	Sound Blaster Live 128 Value
	3COM Etherlink XL PCI 10mb 
	Main Use: Graphics, scanning, snappy, Sound processing and editing,
photo 		editing and archiving ( to Thunderbolt), Windows CE services to
Nino 550 		(Hawk). Backup office applications for work.
	
2-	Thunderbolt
	Mandrake 6.1 and Stormix 2000
	333 Cyrix MII
	128 MB Ram
	1 - 25 Gig HD
	2 - 15 Gig HD
	SiS 6326 8 MB Video
	Acer 6x CDR/CDRW
	CM8330 On Board Sound (disabled)
	USRobotics 56K External Modem
	Linksys Etherfast 10/100 NIC
	3COM Etherlink III PCI Combo 3c590c 10mb
	Main use: Dial up server, ftp server for lan, samba server, print
server 			through samba, file storage for lan, learning about linux,
CD 				Burning, etc., sort of a bridge between cat5 and thinnet 			
networks.

3-	Hurricane
	Windows 95 OSR2
	300 Cyrix MII
	64 MB Ram
	8.4 HD
	SiS 530 Video with 4 mg shared from ram
	32X CDROM
	ESS1868 Sound
	Netgear FA1305a NIC
	Main Use: Primary Family machine for kids apps, games and internet 			
access.
	
4-	Corsair
	Windows 3.11 & DRDOS 7.03 dual boot with Red Hat 6.0
	300 Cyrix MII
	64 MB Ram
	6.4 MB HD
	SiS 5598 Video with 4 MB shared from ram
	24X CDROM
	SoundBlaster 64AWE
	Linksys LNE 100/10 ver 2
	Main Use: Dos Stuff, Teaching the kids linux and linux games. They get
to 		"administer" and mess this one up.
	

5-	Wildcat
	OS/2 Warp Version 4
	133 Pentium
	32 MB Ram
	4 Gig HD
	Diamond Steath 2000 Video 2MB ( S3 Virge )
	8X CDROM
	Sound Blaster 16
	3COM Etherlink III ISA
	Main Use: Internet/email learning - teaching OS/2

As I look at the list I wonder how'd I end up with all that stuff?
Mostly used and trades ( I once traded a guy a WD 2 gig drive for the 4
gig Quantum, because of bios limitations on his machine, even up!! ) and
never pay retail. I haven't had a current family processor since the
pentium. Got the Cyrix Chips for next to nothing, Got all the NICs and
more at a rummage sale with cables for $40 and traded the rest for other
hardware. There is nothing over a 15" monitor in the house....*sigh*.

Through it all though I've learned some lessons.  1) The harddrive that
seemed so cheap just might have a virus (NATAS)!  2) Some of that off
brand stuff linux has a hard time with, but you can usually get it to
work with time, patience, and lots of reading. I've had various flavors
of linux at least running on all the machines at least once in their
existence. 3) I've probably have got the most patient wife in the world,
I work long hours so she can stay home with the kids, and still puts up
with me fiddling with the computers when I get home. Well...not all the
time. :>)

I really appreciate your guys work.  Thanks RRP
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