So how big is your computer/network?

[Mr Slugger]

Just kinda curious what everyone is running for computers at home. Personally my computers aren't the best in the world, but I've got a large amount of storage behind them.

Here's my specs.

Main computer:

I'm running a imac 2.16 Intel 2 Duo 3 gb ram with a 250 gb primary drive.
I've got 2 1TB firewire mybook drives, 3 500 GB my book drives 1 750 GB seagate free agent. 1 320GB mybook drive and a 250 seagate drive.

My daughter's computer is a compaq with a 3.2ghz processor 1 GB ram with an 80 gig hard drive for primary and a 200 GB and a 100 GB Western Digital drives.

I've got 1 Buffalo Linkstation NAS server with 500 GB of storage. Currently set up as a person ftp server.

Next week I'm bring online a secondary NAS/ possible web server built from a old scraped dell. I've got 2 200 GB hard drives to put into it that I'm yanking from scraps this weekend, as well as a couple of small solid state drives I've gotten a hold of.

So what's it all used for. well on the mac the two 1TB drives are mirror drives. They are about 95% with my itunes library. 2 of the 3 500gb used to be the itunes library drives, but now are just there because I'm at 95% and will probably fill it in a week or two. The other 500GB is a time machine drive. The 750GB drive is the secondary mach drive. I looked up the instructions online on how to replace a imac hard drive and got really scared. The 320 GB drive just came online it was a 500GB drive, and one day I was working on my computer and the error code bummers came up, and so it has been reborn with another drive I had lying around. Keep considering throwing this drive into the apple tv, but it would require some mods to do that, and I'm not up for that. Will probably replace the 250 GB drive as an active drive and the 250 GB will end up in the new data server. The 250 GB is currently the windows drive of the mac. I'm running VMware on the mac and it's pretty stable now. So I'm running mac and windows at the same time.

The drive in my daughter's computer store back ups of stuff like photos and home videos.

My FTP server is pretty much a cluster fuck. It's got stuff for the stores, stuff for me. Kinda if people want to send me stuff (big stuff) they do it through there, and visa versa.

Ok I think I'm done rambling now. My inner geek is done

[lordlundar]

Let's see,

3 PCs (2 XP, one Vista. The Vista and one XP are wirelessly hooked up)
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo DS
Sony PSP

Had my old model PS2 linked in as well, but I have no use for the net connection now so I dropped it.

[protege]

Not much on my home network...

Main computer is a 1.25Ghz Athlon-powered machine, with 512MB (yeah, I know!) RAM, multiple hard drives (300MB, 40MB, 512MB). Most of my work, plus web-surfing is done on that.

Not the only machine in my house though--at my other desk, I have a salvaged 800Mhz with 256MB. I can't remember what drive is in there though--it's currently 'decommissioned' and awaiting repairs.

The last one...is an ancient Compaq Presario. It's only a 400Mhz so it's not exactly fast. Still running WinBlows 98. This one is used mainly for Wolfenstein, and my older games.

Then there's my file server. Or, rather, what's left of it. It no longer powers up, and both SCSI drives are shot. I'd like to rebuild it into a small web-server...so I can move certain sports car related things off of Geocities But, for now, it sits in the garage.

Eventually, my main computer will get a new board, and I'll probably scrap the others. What can I say...other than as the IT guy at work, I get my pick of "retired" equipment. I haven't bought new parts in years!

[lupo pazzesco]

Since my desktop was stolen and I've not had money to replace it, my sole machine is my laptop. Reading directily from the little sticker, since I"m not tech savvy, apparently it is an Acer 5520-5912 with

AMD Turion 64x2 mobile technology TL-59(1.9GHz x 512KB L2 cache)
2GB DDR2
15.4 WXGA Acer CrystalBrite LCD (8ms/220nits)
160GB HDD
DVD-Super Mulit double layer
802.11b/g WLAN

Whatever that all means. <shrugs> It lets me on teh intarwebz, I can burn DVDs and I can get all my schoolwork done, so I suppose I'm content. Of course I constantly have to burn CDs and DVDs since my hard drive space isn't near as much as my desktop had, and it fills up with videos and music fairly quickly. <le sigh>

Oh, and my stepdad got me a 120 GB Seagate FreeAgent external HDD. It helps a bit with the hard drive space issue, but I'm saving up for a 1 TB one. If only stupid daily expenses required for living didn't keep getting in the way. (Damn you, rent and utilities! )

[protege]

If only stupid daily expenses required for living didn't keep getting in the way. (Damn you, rent and utilities! )

I hear ya on that one! If it wasn't for pesky things like rent, utilities, food, car payments, and putting the other car back together... my home network would be freaking awesome!

[lupo pazzesco]

Precisely! Oh, and network-wise I have AT&T with a wireless router/modem thingie that lets me play on teh internet everywhere in my house without needing wires. yippee. I had fun figuring out how to rename and password protect my wireles. There are a LOT of mooches in my apartment complex, and when my connection was dragging REALLY slow one day I discovered it was because there were FIVE computers attached to my wireless. FIVE!!! WTF!?!?

So, I renamed it and slapped a new password (Even though it still had one one it!) on it, that wasn't 2Wire whatever, etc, etc.

[Sonoma]

I finally get to say I have a home network.

My primary computer is my Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. 1.6G processer, 1G RAM, running Windows XP Media Center. Until 2 weeks ago the desktop was an ancient HP 667 MHz Celeron machine running Windows ME. The 20G hard drive would no longer write, and I got sick of the Blue Screen of Death.

My (non-geek) friend only needs one computer, and she had recently bought a laptop, so I was able to pick up her 2G AMD-powered machine running Windows XP Media Center, and sporting a 200G hard drive for $50. It needs a DVD burner that actually burns, and I'll throw some RAM in there. I figure for a little bit of money, I can get a heck of a 'backup' machine.

Finally moved away from dial-up or 'mooching' neighbor's Wi-fi a few years ago, so Verizon sent me a modem/router when I signed up for their DSL.

[Gravekeeper]

Uzume:

Intel Quad Core Q9550 2.8ghz / 12mb L2 cache
4gb DDR2 ram
Geforce 8800 GTX 768mb DDR vid ram
600gb HD
+ Cintiq 12WX for artsy stuff


Eve: ( Laptop #1 ):

Intel 2.1ghz
1gb DDR2 ( Keep meaning to slap another 3 in this one )
nVidia chipset ( don't remember which off the top of my head )
160gb HD
15 inch LCD


Rin-chan ( Laptop #2 ):

eeePC 901
Intel 900mhz ( Teh power~ )
1gb DDR2
16gb SSD
Tiny and not too swift, but makes up for it with cuteness


On top of that there's a few more Athlons, mobos and several gigs of ram laying around my bedroom. ><

[BookstoreEscapee]

Uh...what's all those numbers peoples is posting?

I have a network administrator to handle all those things. (His name is Daddy and he is awesome.)

My "network" consists of my computer, my roommate's computer, and the wireless router on top of the TV. Though our computers can't "see" each other so I don't know if that really counts as a "network."

I have a crappy old hand-me-down Dell Inspiron 1100. It belonged to my uncle, and he gave it to my dad when he got a new computer. It was the family computer in the kitchen at my parents' house, and when I moved out my dad got a new notebook and reconfigured this one for me. It's slow, and annoying, and lolcats tend to freeze my browser. I have set aside my tax refund money, and when my change jar fills up I take it to the bank and add the bills to my stash, and eventually I will use it to get a new computer. I get a discount through work from Dell and Apple; I'm waiting for Windows 7 to come out because I don't want Vista (according to my dad). I thought about getting a Mac but I'm not such a big computer person that I need to spend the extra money. I mostly use it for internet, iTunes, and keeping track of some financial stuff so I don't need anything too fancy. Though my dad went on the Dell site and put together a machine just to see what the price would come out to. I think I want blue.

[ferebee]

Mmmm.....computers!

I want a wonderful high powered all the bells and whistles sort of machine, but I work retail.....so what I could actually afford was a refurbished computer, which I've upgraded a bit as money allowed:

IBM Thinkcentre m50
P4 3.00gHz processor
3 gb ram
hard drive a 40gb
hard drive b 80gb - scavenged from my older dead computer
nvidia geforce 6200 - an upgrade fron the onboard video
Seagate FreeAgent 500gb external
dvd burner
HP 19" widescreen monitor

I had to replace the power supply this week as the old one was starting to sound like a diesel truck idling. Now I have a decent 500w power supply I can upgrade the video card. Yay!

Multibooting XP Profressional, Ubuntu Linux, and usually a couple of other linux distros - currently Mandriva and openSuSe, but these often change. Ubuntu is my baby - I only end up using XP for iTunes once in a while.

As for a network, we've only got stupid frigging 56k dial-up, so we've not bothered with one. If we enter the 20th century and get high speed, we'll have to network the family machines.

Optional but important equipment - small Wall-E figure and a wind up penguin to sit on top of the tower. Gotta have a mascot or two.

[Kogarashi]

We've got two XP computers (laptop and desktop) and the Wii all hooked to the wireless, but I wouldn't really call it a network since we didn't officially network them and don't share anything between them (don't want our other neighbors on the same internet poking around our computers, even where we let them).

Currently Nameless (My computer; used to be "Legion" but is getting renamed when it's fixed again) is currently dead. I recently replaced the motherboard, processor, and RAM, so I've upgraded from a 1.7 GHz AMD Athlon processor and the 512 MB RAM I had before. Here's what the specs should be when it's repaired:

2.7 GHz AMD Athlon dual-core processor
2 GB RAM
160GB HDD
80GB backup HDD (currently disconnected due to lack of room on the IDE cables)
NEC CD+/-RW burner
Lite-On DVD-ROM (currently disconnected, again due to lack of room)
built-in audio and video on the motherboard, because I don't need anything fancy there.

I tend to replace computer parts as they break, so my computer is quite the mutt. Up until recently, the oldest component was the 10+ year-old floppy drive, but it finally showed signs of failing when it would only recognize data on disks about half the time (the other half, it claimed there was no floppy in the drive at all). That's gone now, leaving it a tie between the monitor and speakers as to which is older.


Rocenante (Hubby's Laptop):
Dell Inspirion 5100
2.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor
512 MB RAM
30GB HDD
DVD-ROM drive
external USB floppy drive (rarely used)

This thing's still holding out despite being much-used and much-loved since he got it in 2003. It had to have a battery transplant from Hubby's sister's laptop (same model, but died much earlier) when his stopped charging when the laptop was powered on. I think he also upgraded the RAM at that time too. The laptop's name is a Don Quixote reference (the titular character's broken down plow horse).

[Fire_on_High]

You can share the 56k connection using Sygate, if you're thus inclined. Run it in server mode on the machine with the modem, and set the rest to look to that one as if it were a router. You *can* use Sygate client instead, but there's really no need.

I did this for a few years and then when I got DSL, just swapped the modem for a second NIC and went on as usual. Works pretty well once you get around Sygate's occasional quirks when you first install it.

[ferebee]

You can share the 56k connection using Sygate, if you're thus inclined. Run it in server mode on the machine with the modem, and set the rest to look to that one as if it were a router. You *can* use Sygate client instead, but there's really no need.

I did this for a few years and then when I got DSL, just swapped the modem for a second NIC and went on as usual. Works pretty well once you get around Sygate's occasional quirks when you first install it.

I've been trying to convince my other person to network now, before we get high speed, in order to share our snail like connection and get used to the hardware and configuration, but other person has some sort of vague Commander Adama-ish objection to this.

Since they are the largest financial contributor to the household, I'll wait. Perhaps if we're attacked by Cylons we'll escape, while the networked houses perish!

[lordlundar]

Uh...what's all those numbers peoples is posting?

They're system specs. Basically the numbers that say how powerful your computer is. Basic number set is usually:

CPU Speed ant model (in GHz)
RAM amount (in MB)
Video Card (usually model name and video RAM amount)
Sound Card (Model name)
Connection type (Cable, DSL, etc)

These are the 5 basic ones you need when buying software. Depending on what you're buying, you won't need to know all of them.

[BookstoreEscapee]

They're system specs. Basically the numbers that say how powerful your computer is. Basic number set is usually:

CPU Speed ant model (in GHz)
RAM amount (in MB)
Video Card (usually model name and video RAM amount)
Sound Card (Model name)
Connection type (Cable, DSL, etc)

These are the 5 basic ones you need when buying software. Depending on what you're buying, you won't need to know all of them.

Well, I can tell you that my connection comes from the cable company.