building PCs from scrap parts

[silverclaws]

My first computer, a windows 98 machine was built out of skip finds and there I learned how important it was to destroy hard drives when disposing of them,the things I found on a discarded hard drive, clearly deleted does not mean gone forever. In fact, my first computer cost me the grand total of two quid and that was for a second hand roller ball mouse.

Then came my very first new computer financed from the sale of my five year old Ford Focus estate I could no longer afford to run and had a dodgy crank shaft, a HP530 laptop running vistaster basic edition.

I now have a macbook pro.

 

[barry2017]

There really isn't that much difference between any of them. While I have open source burned into my soul, that doesn't mean I think there is a clear "winner", everything has advantages and drawbacks.

Ultimately, if your computer does what you want, it doesn't matter what OS it runs. At the risk of pedantry (what, on a forum?) it's the applications you're using; the job of the OS is simply to provide services to them.

 

[legrandefromage]

I do like linux but I have genuine software and licenses so it seems a shame to waste them.

 

[Massai]

How did you build a laptop from scratch if I may ask, wasn't that quite difficult? Also, Windows 7 is quite a good OS if you ask me. I've tried Ubuntu 10 and ofc Windows XP. I don't really have a favorite, although I don't really use Ubuntu because I like playing games . Best OS of all time is still Windows 2000.

 

[sylus]

I used to use xp on the notebook, upgraded at the time to vista..what a pile o kak and clearly microsoft tried to out mac the mac with windows 7 which really was just vista as it should have been.

I got confused by my mac until I added office for mac and since then I use it as I see fit and it is much more user friendly than microsoft....once you've got past the transition

 

[legrandefromage]

How did you build a laptop from scratch if I may ask, wasn't that quite difficult? Also, Windows 7 is quite a good OS if you ask me. I've tried Ubuntu 10 and ofc Windows XP. I don't really have a favorite, although I don't really use Ubuntu because I like playing games . Best OS of all time is still Windows 2000.

a Dell Latitude shell/motherboard then loads of trial and error with memory, working hdds, a brilliant discovery that it had wiring for an internal wifi card, looking for an internal wifi card, etc etc.

plus a HP XP disc, license and two attemps with a Vista disc

 

[legrandefromage]

Have to add though - wifi my arse - tried 3 wifi products in the sitting room, about 4 metres and two walls away from the SKY hub and theres buggerall signal for the internet to work.

Works great on the throne though.

 

[Neil]

How did you build a laptop from scratch if I may ask, wasn't that quite difficult? Also, Windows 7 is quite a good OS if you ask me. I've tried Ubuntu 10 and ofc Windows XP. I don't really have a favorite, although I don't really use Ubuntu because I like playing games . Best OS of all time is still Windows 2000.

W2K was a worthy step from NT (or Win9x, I suppose) but WinXP made what was W2K great.

Vista seems theoretically a good idea, but seems to cause nothing but pain in reality. Windows7 seems to be what Vista should have been out of the box. edit: meant to say, I still prefer XP.

As to the various Linux variants, I'm no stranger to them, and I think they can be good in the right hands, with some savvy. But like somebody else pointed out, it all comes down to apps.

As to Macs - well home users seem to think they're great. I've had some use of them over the years, and again I think it comes down to apps and what people are most technically happy with.

 

[JeRkY]

Arm processors & RiscOS was the best end of. Way ahead of the time but sadly fell long behind in the development race. Arm processors are still doing well though. Not so much in the desktop world but certainly on industrial SBC's and mobile devices.

 

[Easy_Rider]

Have to add though - wifi my arse - tried 3 wifi products in the sitting room, about 4 metres and two walls away from the SKY hub and theres buggerall signal for the internet to work.

Works great on the throne though.

Don't the internal cards need an Ariel that usually wraps around the screen? Is yours just running off the card alone?