OK, the forum has been kinda "cabin feverishly" slow. Perfect time to inject some useless fluff.
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I am not computer neophyte, but further away from a savvy nerd. Most posters already know that I keep a pretty large collection of pictures of our project. My PC monitor plays a big role; most do. We operate at home with a 3 year old Dell with a CRT monitor. My work computer is pretty much the same setup. Sometime last year, my work unit got upgraded to an LCD monitor. HOLY SMOKES! I thought there was something wrong with the new LCD monitor; it was WAY too bright and sharp. I figgered I should try to tune it down. My IT guy laughed and calmed me down to the harsh reality. Tube monitors just plain suk. I remember a pic I posted that Burger made fun of me because all the soil looked as red as Mars. On the tube monitor at home, I looked OK. When I brought it up on the LCD at work....ooops.
Well, I finally broke down and dropped $160 on a Tiger-direct deal on a 19" LCD monitor for the home 'puter. Donna-ski spent the next week commenting "I didn't know that thing was purple...I didn't know that banner was pink..."
So, the moral of the thread. If you haven't already, take the dive and move up to LCD. Hang onto the ol' tube monitor for an emergency back up or just plain throw it out. It has very little value....unless your great great great grandkids find it in the attic and take it to Antiques Roadshow in 2090.

i kinda wish i still had my original IBM XT with the green monochrome CRT. with DOS, fortran, basic, wordstar and lotus you got all yer work done, and then could play centipede, pong, and missile command on it, it had a tape backup, and TWO 5 1/4" floppy drives.....it rocked!

oh, but then came the 386 and 486 with Windows and COLOR CRTs.....whooee, those systems flew....

one of the Antiques Roadshow guys was asked once what now will be the collectible of the future....he said early primitive tech stuff......go through yer attics pondmeisters

Got a 17" lcd from tigerdirect a couple months ago. The monitor I was using had black bars on the side of the screen and images were distorted. I am free, free at last.

Basement in my case. I still have our first machine - a 1984 Columbia 1600 (the last PC copy that IBM bothered to put out of business), highly modified with a full 640k RAM, a HUGE 21 MB hard disk card, added external cooling fan, and 2nd external power supply (we called it the "baboon heart" p.s.). Other than some sticky keys on the 'board, it all worked 4-5 years ago.

In my office I have an Apple II (Minus) that used a r/f connector to a black and white tv. When I was able to buy a 5 1/4 floppy I was "uptown". Prior to that floppy data and prograns were loaded from a casette player.

Frank

Jeez you guys are bringing back the old computer memories. My first computer was an IBM PC Junior that I purchased at the "Sears Computer Store", anyone remember when Sears had computer stores? The PC Junior didn't have a hard drive and only 1 floppy drive and a funny cartidge drive thing.

My first professional computer was a Compaq Luggable that looked like this...


I was the computer guru in our firm. I carried this 20 plus pound monster to client's sites along with a dot matrix printer and a large catalog case full of the client's files and performed their accounting on site. Many small businesses back in those days didn't have their own computers.

Fast forward to today. I keep two computers in my office built to the exact same specs just in case one crashes (I had a motherboard fail one year during the first week of April). I use four 130 gig removeable hard disk drives (a work drive, a data back up drive, a "play" drive and a misc storage drive). I use the "play" drive for uses like Pond Boss posting and surfing the net. Since the "play" drive does not contain any business or client data I can keep sensitive information isolated. My wife and I have been building our own computers for over 10 years. Building one yourself is not difficult and is fun. I replace my systems every 2 to 3 years just to keep my motherboard/processor combination relatively current.

As for a montior I use a 21 inch LCD. The large size makes life easier on my tired old eyes. It also lets me view Bruce's monster blue gill in life size proportions. The unfortunate side effect of this was that I had to get a "drool protector" for my keyboard.

I'm using a jury rigged Atari 2600. I have to mind meld with it to see an image.

This is a Bruce-eye view of me with the big Redear I caught last Summer:

He's still not sure which is me and which is the fish.

Jeff.....thanks for the flashback with the Compaq suitcase....wiping the tear from my eye.......that one got me thru college......sure beat having to go to the computer lab all the time!!!!!....

:D ROTFLMAO

I still have my original Radio Shack TRS1 in the attic somewhere. That was the beginning of my techno-nerd era. That era continued and eventually became what I do for a living.

I work (and play) here, 3-19” LCDs, 1-17” LCD, a 12” Notebook and a 15” Notebook.

You make me feel like Homer Simpson, Dwight:

"Marge, did you now the Internet is on computers now?"

all that dwight and PB aint even up on one screen?.....what's up with that

when the machines decide to take over, dwight will be the first to go

The Bears at the Super Bowl on 6 screens, a few cases of Corona, and your friendly bartender Dwight. Bremer Sports Bar. I see one fan has already arrived!

Theo Gallus - That wasn't my intention!

Some days when I have three different problems running on three monitors at the same time, I long for the simplicity of a single 12" green CRT display and a replacing the bottled water!


dave in el dorado ca – Worry not, PB is there somewhere, you can have more then one window on a display! :p

The machines will never take over, as long as I am at the con….. Please send money to keep me at my post.

Brettski – ‘Da Bears and Da Beer and Da Bowl at Da Bar’

There is your title. You get to write Da Book!

Say the title three times in rapid succession and you will sound like you have already been at da bar for awhile………

I took a big disk drive from one of the old computers where I work...put it up as target practice because I heard stories of how cool it looked pierced. Walked 10-15 paces and handed my Pop a .454 pistol He hit it dead on, but didn't really care to take another shot ! I was amazed at all the small platters fragmented for about 20 seconds, then tossed it in the trash !

Eastland - That would be wiping as disk clean!

the eastland disk doctor

EDD.454.com

Hmmm, I don't see Dwight in that photo. How do we know that Dwight hasn't been "reformatted" already???


HAL 9000: "I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

The Space Odyssey ended abruptly due to a lack of incoming funds.

B-ski because of you I am forced to purchase this 22inch bad boy on the way home tonight. I will be able to design even bigger homes and ponds now. Thanks alot

Eastland, we did the same thing! I work in IT and a co-worker and I shot up some hard drives recently. They needed to be erased and shooting them was more fun than a magnet A co-worker has 120 acres near our office and we ran them out to his farm. We shot them up with an AR-15, a .45, a .357, a K31 Swiss rifle, and others.

Surprising my .45 did the most damage. It would have probably been a different story at longer ranges. We kept the drives in a bag in my closet at work for a while.

On the monitors (among other things) be sure to get a contrast ratio better than 500:1 and a response time of 8ns or lower.

Eric

Good for you, RT. If you're comin' off of a CRT monitor, you ain't ever gonna look back.
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One thought on the wide screen display. PB geeks, please tune this up if it's incorrect; I'm runnin' on here-say on this. Pics will be stretched to fit the screen. This may look slightly askew if you are accustomed to the standard screen size.
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(edit) ps; oh yeah, Mr "I can't stop inventin', designin' and building stuff".....you're very welcome.

The pics will stretch if the aspect ratio of the new monitor is different than the old one. That LG monitor has a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is gradually becoming the standard for monitors and tvs. All the old monitors (and tvs) had 4:3 aspect ratios. When you switch to a "widescreen" LCD monitor from a 4:3 aspect ration monitor you'll also need to switch screen resolution to make it look right.

All these LCD monitors will look best when screen resolution is set to the native resolution of the monitor. For a 4:3 15" it's usually 1024x768, for a 17" usually 1280x1024, for 19" usually 1600x1200, etc. If you aren't sure which resolution is native try changing them around ... one of them will be clearly more sharp and look better than the others and nothing will be stretched.

Eric

Thanks, Eric...
Well, there ya go, Rocky. You're gonna be able to fit the entire width of that ramblin' ranch on one screen.

I got my new 21" LCD screen for Christmas. Its like a whole new toy!!!

B-ski it may not fit, the ramblin ranch has grown sense the version I sent you. Here is what it has metamorphosed into now. This is version 20 I think, kinda lost count, you know "I can't stop inventin', designin' and building stuff"..... even the new 4+ acre lake is beginning to look to small now. I think I'm going for a 15 to 20 acre one next.

Rockytopper,

If you use this Redneck Flatscreen, you should have no problems fitting it in your house.

Cary how much do these models cost? Maybe I should reconsider my choice.

rockytopper, I think you have the disease...it's SMDMS. a.k.a.the 6 Million Dollar Man Syndrome....with today's technology, ideas are unlimited, just plug them ! Your Ramblin Ranch looks just like my cabin will be, I hadn't thought about adding on the building addition, walkway, and guest quarters, nice touch ! p.s. I modified your version for my layout...the bathrooms have been removed, (poker tables there) everyone goes outdoors. This strategy limits the lond term comfort factor for women The kitchen is only a pot belly cast iron stove, (everything is cooked on the BBQ or deep fried outside). No utility room, (bar goes there). The front garage has the refrigerator with beer, freezer has wild game. The back garage is for 4-wheelers & open-sided, with a shooting range to the West, fishing pier to the right

If I ever got it done, I wouldn't sell.

Rockytopper-

Okay, the price should be no worry with this piece of technology. Here are a few more Redneck engineering ideas for your new castle:

You can save some money and install your own hot water heater,



Who needs a grill, here is a great recycling idea from "Redneck Co", a take off of Ronco,



Of course that grill comes with a free set of cooking utensils:



You don't want to waste inside space with a wood stove do you? Here is a great outdoor furnace:



You and your buddies heard over the scanner that a big storm is comming, better take shelter in your storm shelter:



After the storm, you need to survey your pond and property for damage. You get into your state-of-the-art seaplane:



After review of the damage, you file a claim. It is about time you check the mail for the check to repair those ponds where the dam broke:



Once all the repairs are done, it is time to take off and attend the Pond Boss Conference in TX:

Oh yeah, you need a trailer to bring your "Shock Boat" to TX with you:

Durn it, the pitchfork I use to cook the kids hotdogs at the pond is only a four pronger.
That guy has a 13 pronger.

zhkent- I never counted how many prongs were on a rake...it just took some redneck with hotdogs on them to bring it to my attention!

And the leaf rake has another advantage if you don't clean it off first.

Theo,

I thought that was just "Bad" hot dogs!

Rockytopper-

I think you said you wanted a gun range too...dont' use this as hearing protection:

Cary the redneck storm shelter is genus! I'm going to start that one next. My wife drives a school bus she can relate to it.

Brettski - Your thread has fallen off the deep edge, Not hijacked, but rednecked! :p