Well, it is not quite that simple. If you have a lot of normal IDE
cables, you might create air-pockest that do not get any ariflow. In
these you may then get "hot spots". Still, this can be avoided just as
you say, if there are few of these cables and take is taken that they
do not block the airflow to a hot component, like the a chipset
heatsink. Also short (45cm) rounded IDE cables, while not as good
as SATA cables, do also reduce the problem considerably.
Bob said:How do I attach two printers, one needing LPT1 and the other LPT3, and
to each selectively? Don't ask me why XP put the second printer on LPT3
when the card is jumpered for LPT2, 'cause I'm sure I dunno--but it works
fine. In my business program I specify LPT1 or 3 in the code to send to
the chosen printer.
I'm much more comfortable sitting upright (more or less) and typing on a
fixed keyboard, but I understand the appeal of your preference, as I have
friends that insist on cordless keyboards. I could lean back, actually,
because the cord is quite long.
I have no wearing of letters here, even though some of the more frequently
used letters are very shiny from use. Like I said, one of these keyboards
(102) was standard on a 25mhz 386 I bought from Northgate in 1988 or 1989,
and this "Ultra-T" I bought on Ebay a few years ago. They bring big $
now,
often >$100. Here's a description: http://tinyurl.com/z2lyq.
Interestingly, Ergonomic Resources (www.ergo-2000.com) has resurrected
them and is selling supposedly identical copies under the name "Avant
Stellar," even with the Alps keys, for $189.
All new keyboards that I have tried have mushy keys with no feel, and I
hate
all of them. Just my 2¢. A friend likes the old Lexmark keyboards (IBM,
I
think) and uses one of those. They have a nice feel to the keys, but not
like Northgate, IMO.
I can see the possibility of these "pockets." As for round cables, I never
got into them. The early ones got some bad press and I never did try any.
Since they've been out for several years I'm sure the bugs are worked out of
them by now, if there ever were any.
My inclination would be to use a print server. In XP you can then specify
which LPT is to be assigned to the printer for use by legacy applications.
Why have just one?
Personally I don't like Northgate all that much. They're OK for
overpriced
cheap keyboards but nothing like IBM. Try <http://www.pckeyboard.com>.
How do I attach two printers, one needing LPT1 and the other LPT3, and
print to each selectively?
Don't ask me why XP put the second printer on LPT3 when the card is
jumpered for LPT2, 'cause I'm sure I dunno--but it works fine. In my
business program I specify LPT1 or 3 in the code to send to the chosen
printer.
I'm much more comfortable sitting upright (more or less) and typing on a
fixed keyboard, but I understand the appeal of your preference, as I have
friends that insist on cordless keyboards. I could lean back, actually,
because the cord is quite long.
I have no wearing of letters here, even though some of the more
frequently used letters are very shiny from use.
Like I said, one of these keyboards (102) was standard on a 25mhz 386 I
bought from Northgate in 1988 or 1989,
and this "Ultra-T" I bought on Ebay a few years ago. They bring big $
now, often >$100. Here's a description:
http://tinyurl.com/z2lyq. Interestingly, Ergonomic Resources
(www.ergo-2000.com) has resurrected them and is selling supposedly
identical copies under the name "Avant Stellar," even with the Alps keys,
for $189.
All new keyboards that I have tried have mushy keys with no feel, and I
hate all of them. Just my 2¢.
A friend likes the old Lexmark keyboards (IBM, I think) and uses one of
those.
They have a nice feel to the keys, but not like Northgate, IMO.
That's old. Maybe it'll be worth something as an antique someday. That's
what I keep telling myself about the Osborne while it sits on
my shelf. It hasn't been used since 1989 and one day I'll try to
boot it again if I can find on of the boot floppies.
I'm 98,
so how old are you? Okay, so you doubt it. Would you believe 58?
I think that would be a challenge for even the most astute networking
gurus.
That's before my time. My first HD was a Miniscribe (I think) MFM
10mb. That's MB. It was full-height like these ESDI's and cost me
$1800 with a 384k cache buffer interface for the Osborne, called a
"Drive C". I was happy as a clam, and at the time I thought it was
all the drive space in the world, and made the Osborne zippy by
comparison. It was a new lease on life compared to two 5¼" 192k
floppy drives.
Never had trouble with these Vipowers over maybe 5-6 years other than two
outer units that crapped out completely, and I have about six I'm using
around here, including one with a USB2 interface. This brand is getting
very hard to find lately, though.
Bob Davis said:If I used the dot-matrix often it would be a consideration, but I
can't see building another box just to work the printers. This setup
works great, although if I buy a mobo in the future that has no
parallel ports I'll need to find a card that has two. Not sure I've
seen such a thing, although single-port cards are plentiful, even
locally at CompUSA.
You mean the Northgate and a USB cordless? Possible, but I've got
enough crap on this computer now, frankly, including about six USB2
devices, four FW, etc. I hate clutter even though you'd think I love
it looking at the back of this box. Anyway, I don't know where I'd
put another keyboard in this office. I really don't like cordless
computer stuff anyway, dealing with batteries. I tried a CL mouse
once and it ate up the charge on nicads in two days and alkalines in
two weeks.
The other approach is a USB/printer port converter or a
proper print server in a small box with an RJ45 lan connector.
My Logitech MX Duo keyboard batterys last for a decent fraction
of a year. The mouse drops into a charging garage and doesnt
need to go in that every night. And gives heaps of warning too,
it'll happily run all day with the low battery led flashing, just put
it in the charging garage thingo overnight etc.
I meant that you may well find it hard to find a dot matrix
printer that is USB but its trivial to find a laser that does.
Yeah, but I've had heaps say that about the Logitech and MS
keyboards too. I use the keyboard a lot more than most do.
Thats a mad price.
I used to prefer clicking keyboards but found that I got
used to the non clicking keyboards and the Logitech and
MS keyboards arent mushy at all. The only problem with
them is that they arent double injection moulded keytops
and so the lettering does wear off.
I dont even bother with PS/2 keyboards anymore, let alone AT format.
I dont care much about the feel, in fact in many ways I prefer
the lighter modern key feel. In spades with the weight of the
total keyboard. The old DEC LK101 keyboard was much too
heavy for my style of use. Main advantage is that it did have
proper double injected keytops so the letters never wear off.
Yep, like I said, I'm quite a bit older than you.
Yeah, I used to run a massive great DEC RS09. Thats got
a head per track, literally, with electronic switching instead
of physically moving the heads. To format it you needed to
borrow the formatter from DEC, a suitcase full of logic cards.
Never had one of those at home tho.
Makes no sense to use other than sata now, that way you
can have a mobile rack that doesnt flout the standards.
I was using a M$ cordless mouse and it didn't have a cradle, but I can
see the value of a charging "garage" or cradle.
I like trackballs and use a M$ optical (thumb on ball) and a Wacom
Intuos2 pen tablet for my PhotoShop work. It is a perfect combo for me.
The way this desk is configured a mouse simply does not work well.
I would never buy another dot-matrix, and if this one died I'd forget the
FedEx forms and do them by hand. I don't do that many anymore anyway.
Yes, almost all lasers are USB2 now, so if I dumped these
old Brother printers it would be little trouble finding a USB laser
with Epson FX emulation, but unfortunately all such printers with
this emulation are above the entry-level price. I don't need a major
laser printer here, which is why I've held onto these oldies. Anyway, if
parallel becomes an endangered species I'll cross that bridge when I come
to it.
I too am big on keyboard use. I have my business program coded with the
mouse set OFF and doesn't even show the cursor. It is Foxpro DOS, BTW.
(Don't even suggest that I "upgrade" to a Windows version. Thank you very
much.) I use only keyboard commands, like f-keys, ctrl's and alt's, etc.
Since data entry is predominant, I don't have to remove my hands from the
keyboard. I have not learned most PhotoShop keyboard commands, however,
and rely on the pen tablet or trackball almost exclusively for that.
I wouldn't pay that much, as you can pick up used Northgates for <$100,
usually.
I've seen them go for $150 or more, though, but ~$75 is the norm these
days for an Ultra-T.
All the new M$ and Logitech I've used still feel mushy to me by
comparison. I'm not saying they're all bad, just not as "clicky."
One drawback of the clicky keyboards is that people can hear the sounds
while talking to them on the phone, and that might be construed by some
as being rude.
I can usually multitask, though, and do it anyway--
maybe with a lighter touch. It's hard to mask the
clicks on this keyboard, though.
Mine are PS2, but need an adapter for that. No problem, really, and USB
adapters are available.
I prefer feel over the other stuff, but I'm in a minority. Most people I
know want the programable keys, etc.
That's before my computing life began.
True.
I have seen these, though, and I'm truly amazed.
I have no SATA racks yet, but the next ones I buy will be. As the
IDE's fade I'll need them, but none of these drives want to die.
I have two old 20gb IBM (pre-Deathstar) dating back to 2000 that are
still trucking along, although I pulled them off of clone duty when my C:
drive exceeded 20gb. Don't know what to do with them now, but I won't
throw them out.
Maybe they could see service for a print server some day.
Surely they must have binned that requirement themselves by now ?
Those keys that do get used instead of the mouse dont generally
wear the letters off, its the high use keys in the english language
that wear off first. The vowels are all long gone.
Yeah, I wont even consider optical cordless mice
that dont use that approach. And I wont ever use
other than an optical cordless mouse again either.
I've never liked that approach myself.
Sure, but the obvious fix for that is to fix the desk.
I'd never compute from a desk again and havent done for decades now.
Do these CL mice with cradles have replaceable batteries?
I hate accessories with batteries that last about three years and can't
be replaced.
Most people don't like trackballs,
but I think it is mostly because they are fundamentally different in
design require some practice to operate.
I got used to my trackball after a few days, and what's good is I can
move to a mouse when needed without a problem.
Too much trouble and expense,
and I like the trackball.
I have to, as there are too many things I need at arm's length.
My friends call this the "cockpit," and I'm surrounded on three sides
with a desk and hutches.
What, that shipping forms must be printed?
I don't think they ever did.
The vowels are the shiniest keys here after 18 years of clicking.
Bob said:If I used the dot-matrix often it would be a consideration, but I can't
see
building another box just to work the printers. This setup works great,
although if I buy a mobo in the future that has no parallel ports I'll
need
to find a card that has two. Not sure I've seen such a thing, although
single-port cards are plentiful, even locally at CompUSA.
You mean the Northgate and a USB cordless? Possible, but I've got enough
crap on this computer now, frankly, including about six USB2 devices, four
FW, etc. I hate clutter even though you'd think I love it looking at the
back of this box. Anyway, I don't know where I'd put another keyboard in
this office. I really don't like cordless computer stuff anyway, dealing
with batteries. I tried a CL mouse once and it ate up the charge on
nicads in two days and alkalines in two weeks.
Puhleeze, you blasphemer! These keyboards are bricks, anything but
"cheap"! Anyway, as for the other keyboards, I'd have to try 'em first,
but I'm open-minded.
Bob said:Do these CL mice with cradles have replaceable batteries? I hate
accessories with batteries that last about three years and can't be
replaced.
Its more that its a rather poor approach compared with the best mice.
The other thing I didnt mention is that I wont use a mouse
that doesnt have properly forward and back buttons and
a decent powerful scrollwheel anymore either.
Not for something you use all the time.
Me too, on 4 sides actually, because the big TV is off past my feet too.
Must be printed on multipart forms that need a dot matrix printer.
I doubt they're that primitive. Ours certainly arent,
they come with proper barcodes on them and are
only single part, and are printed in laser printers.
Sure, but mine get used so much that they are way past just shiny.
No letters at all.
I wouldn't build another box, I'd probably blow the dust off the Intel
Netport Express that's been lying on the shelf for several years. CompUSA
gets about 50 bucks for a 2-port parallel PCI board or about 70 for an
entry level 3 port print server.
I had two Northgates that Art Lazere gave me--one died the death due to
the
piss-poor cable design that kept pulling out and one day didn't recover
from reconnection and the other I never had any real desire to use. Yeah,
they're heavy, but it's all ballast, the keyswitches are just alps
keyswitches the same as on an alps brand keyboard that weighs a third as
much. www.pckeyboard.com is the IBM keyboard operation that was spun off
as part of lexmark and was then spun off from lexmark. Theirs are the
real
IBM buckling-spring design.
Bob said:Haven't really looked at the print servers, but will check them out next
visit. I only buy there in an emergency, when they have a sale, or on the
rare occasions where they're competitive on price.
The two Northgates I have here have a clip in the back to hold the cable a
few inches from the connector to remove the stress, and I would think that
would solve any cable issues. Did yours have this clip?
No.
I've never had
any cable issues with these keyboards, and use cords with 90° connectors
on the keyboard end.
You should sell these keyboards on Ebay, as they bring decent prices
depending on the model. Regular 101's less than 102's, with Ultras
sometimes bringing $150 or more. Lately the Ultras have sold for around
$75, as I watch them from time to time. Even the broken board should
bring
a decent price, as they can be fixed.
Some guy overhauls them for ~$50,
not including any key replacements.
If you still have the working board I might be interested. What model is
it?