Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?


On 27-Sep-2007, John Larkin <jjlarkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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From: John Larkin <jjlarkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Low end desktop for EE tasks?
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:18:28 -0700
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On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:10:02 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

nico@xxxxxxxxxxx (Nico Coesel) hath wroth:

That depends on your setup. I have a spare PC and daily backups. If my
PC fails (which happened a few months ago) I fire up the spare PC and
pull the projects I need from the backups. It takes less than half an
hour to get up & running.

Maybe. Just one problem. It takes more than twice as much work to
keep two machines in sync. Between Windoze updates, application
updates, software license issues, and minor configuration differences,
the two machines are guaranteed to diverge. I own a fair number of
functional machines. Among those that I use regularly, there are 2
desktops, 1 server, 2 laptops, and a PDA phone. I synchronize the
address books, bookmarks, billing info, and several active projects
between most of these machines. It works for me because I actively
use all these machines at least once per day. If your backup machine
is sitting around collecting dust, while waiting for a PC failure,
methinks it will take more than a half hour to get it up to date and
usable.

If my HP dies, I can grab a spare, identical machine from the storage
cubicle, plug in a front-panel hot-plug RAID c: drive from the dead
machine, and be back up in minutes. Most of that time will be spent
under the table groveling with cables. If the OS dies and I can't
boot, I can plug in a c: image drive, stored in a baggie, and mount
the old c: as d: to get its files, or use my daily files-only d:
backup drive and get most of what I need.

Only the paranoid survive.

John

Two weeks ago, I had the crash from hell on one of my home machines. It had halted a couple of
times for no reason and I had the side cover off. Pressed the ON button and saw a puff of smoke
from the Power Supply. Found burned up components in the supply. Replaced the supply but no
startup. Voltages all OK, MB obviously bad. Bought a used replacement MB and installed. No drives
attached and only the video card installed, MB starts up, finds Keyboard, and goes to Setup.
Attached HDD and started up but BIOS doesn't detect HDD or CDR. Installed second hard drive which
is detected OK. Diskette drive is detected so use Windows XP Startup diskette to boot. FDISK and
Format new HDD OK. Prepare to re-install Windows. Have to install W98 first from CD to install XP
upgrade. BIOS only detects one of the CD drives so Windows CD in. Drive won't read anything.
Installed another CD Drive which is detected and get W98 installed. Then the usual re-installation
process for OS and programs. Took about 10 days. Fortunately, no business loss here. I'm retired.

The moral is that at any time, a simple Power Supply failure can wipe out everything. I lost MB,
HDD, CDR, DVD, and even USB Wireless Adapter. And yes, the power supply was not crap and had been
working for seven years. Good Luck to All.

Ken Fowler
.