Got a couple new computers today

[linuxlove]

First one is an HP NetServer LC 2000. Current specs are:

600MHz Pentium III (I may upgrade this to an 800MHz P3)
512MB RAM (prolly ECC)
a 4GB boot drive
40GB of storage split up between six 9GB SCSI hard drives
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise

Next is some old Gateway.

650MHz Pentium III
128MB RAM
Unsure about the hard drive (It won't load Win2k)
Windows 2000 Advanced Server (Only starts in Safe Mode)

 

[Vint]

It is fun to fiddle with machines, even when not vintage. Neat to dig thru the junk box and swap boards and stuff. Revive a sad machine to top notch running condition again. I had a (secondary) machine that I've been using for about 5 years that lost it's PS, so I retired it for a while and spruced up an older machine in it's place - digging thru my 'spare' stuff, building it up and it's making a fun replacement for now, tuned up like a 57 Chevy - well maybe a 97 Chevy but it's still cool.

Good business on the 'new recruits' you've snagged there. I'm sure they'll find their nitch in being fixed up and used once again, happily humming along till they become coveted vintage machines too

We here should develop the slogan; "No machine will be left behind!"

 

[linuxlove]

Both machines are fully functional. The HP computer I'll use as a secondary server, maybe to use as a backup server should my main one go down. The Gateway I'll fiddle around with it to see if I can get it to boot in normal mode.

 

[Bobthearch]

Neat stuff. IMO, as much as I like vintage computing, I consider the Pentium III era the 'golden' age of computing. That's when computers finally reached an acceptable level of usefulness, affordability, expandability, flexibility, and standardization.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Bob, I don't know. I probably have more PIII motherboards than anything else, but I'm always somewhat surprised when I run something like Win2K on a faster Socket 7 system--given sufficient memory, it's really not bad. I'd say that the Pentium 1 is where x86 systems finally came into their own. P4 will doubtless become known as the age of software bloat.

Right now, there's some catching up to do with software. 64-bit software is doubtless the way of the future, but right now, there isn't an overwhelming compulsion for most users to adopt it. Even the Ubuntu 64-bit people have a web page on "Do you really need to run AMD64 Ubuntu?"

 

[linuxlove]

I think I know what's going on with that Gateway system. It was used as a server (its use will not be said) and it was looking for the correct stuff to connect to. Since it wasn't connected to any network I think it's just in a loop of "Are we connected yet? No." when it tries to start the network.

For fun I put my old Windows 7 RC hard drive in the Gateway and even though 7 was originally installed on 100% different hardware, it's actually started and usable right now. After putting in my GeForce 6200, I even have Aero! I did bump the RAM up to 256MB though.
UPDATE The Gateway is actually fast enough to do YouTube with Flash Player 10 under Windows 7, a 650MHz CPU AND 256MB RAM.