project1

Project Stage 1 : In the beginning...

After purchasing a TINY PC some 3 years ago, in the early days when I thought a J-peg was something that holds your clothes to the washing line, I parted with my hard earned cash and salivated all the way home as I gripped my �1500 invoice eagerly awaiting my first PC's day of arrival.

In the days that passed I decided to fantasise about my new purchase, and how clever I was NOT to allow myself
to be coaxed into ordering the EXTENDED guarantee. Yup, I did my virgin research, strolled into the shop, and maintained my complete control over the contract to be.

Then again, despite my PC being customised to my personal technological requirements, it did appear unusual that my needs were coincidentally the same as every other customer who had entered the store. Self-control? It is actually more probable that the Salesman had listened to my requirements with sympathetic ear, and then talked me into buying a completely different model which had convieniently been manufactured three months prior. Since then, I have developed my PC knowledge and come to the firm conclusion that in those early days, the attractive PC-package that had convieniently already been built 3 months prior to my visit to the shop, was infact a rip-off, by my guess approximately �650 over priced.

All said and done, this TINY pc has actually served me some justice, and I did infact enjoy 24 months of trouble-free computing experience. However, as I have stated, I have owned this PC for 3 years, not 24 months, and this leads me onto my next point, the past 12 month ecstasy of hair-ripping profanic frustration.

My Old System.

The afore mentioned TINY PC, has served me well for 2 years, but at an average cost of �750 a yr.
Although the desk still comes in handy, here is the original spec:

Microstar MS-6191 Motherboard - with ALL parts stuck-fast with Industrial strength Glue,
which causes quite a problem in future when upgrading parts, even the mere floppy drive was as good as rivetted down.
20 Gigabyte Fujitsu Hardrive - has since developed cyber-chicken-pox,
that is to say Bad sectors cropping up in even the most embarassing of bodily parts.
(Now it's 2007, I have come to realise that in cyber world Fujitsu is an anagram of NETTO.)
256 MB PC100 SDRAM - I didnt quite understand this term when it came to the "handing over of the monies"
part of the transaction, but it did sound quite futuristic and beneficial.
Futuristic it wasnt, but 256Mb wasn't a bad deal at the time.
AMD Athlon SLOT-A processor 1000 MHz - Unaware at the time, this little baby has become a wise investment.
Since there are still a fair amount of SLOT-A Motherboards in use today, and slot-A users are apparantly more willing to buy a faster Slot-A cpu in order to upgrade their old PC performance, as opposed to just purchasing the more reliable AMD Socket-A Motherboards and a more modernised chip.
The resultant force is this old 1GHz processor is highly sought after and now fetches up to �100 second hand!
Now I call that a rather tasty chunk of a Black-Plasticated Golden Nugget.
DVD-rom drive, 4x speed CDRW - These items are still going strong today, albeit used in a completely different machine.
nvidia riva tnt2 m64 32 meg agp (2x) graphics card - Despite only running at 2X AGP speed, this little gem has pelted out my polygons and reticulated my splines without fail, every single day for 3 years running.
Admittedly the most extravagant game that I ever play on my TINY PC is 'THE SIMS', so thats not exactly pushing my Riva TNT2 video card to the extreme, but it has survived over 150 DVD-Movie viewings.
To all those sad people whose motherboards only support AGP 2x speeds (Like I), if you are currently using a graphics card with 8 megabytes specification or less, then scour the auction sites and purchase one of these lonely discarded items.
Mine doesnt have TV-out function, but the Riva tnt2 (32 meg sdram) WITH tv-out has recently sold on Ebay.co.uk for �27, and would in future suit a 4x AGP slot if you ever decided to upgrade your Motherboard.
Whereas simultaeneously on Ebay.co.uk, the PCI version of my graphics card (without TV-Out) sold at a mere �3.
Although please be aware that the PCI port can only transfer Data at a Quarter of the speed of a 2x AGP slot.
An Actually rather attractive PC Case - I wasn't aware at time of purchase, but there are an awful lot of ugly beige PC-Towers out there, the kind that share a likeness to the old withering relative frantically knitting in the corner of the room quietily mumbling under her breath whilst everyone around her dare not gaze at, and feverishly ignore.
So hats off to Mr TINY, they actually produced a slender Brilliant-WHITE case with sexy curves and metallic finishes in all the right places. However....
This stunning modrrnised Case merely acted as a facade in order to deter the user from realising its true hidden purpose, which was a stifled hot-house PCB-Torture chamber.
Inside was cramped, severly. You see the Microstar 6191 Motherboard is of the Cute MICRO-ATX form factor,
by sacrificing its PCI potential to a mere 3 slots, it does manage to take up less room and promote a far more healthy Air-flow within the usual ATX Case where it resides. Tiny decided to side-step this convienience, and opted for an adorable Micro ATX Case which appears less like the Knitting geriatric, and more like a cute fluffy puppy-dog
with big doe-like eyes lightly yapping such phrases as "tickle my modem" , "play with my Hard drive" and
"caress my Ram-stick".
Such a delightful new member of the family, except for the searing heat and faint stench of bubbling plastic within.
Literally a ticking time bomb waiting to exert electrified flatulence.
In short, a beautifully asthetically pleasing case, which can only be utilised by removing the side doors.
"Oxygen at last" cries the CPU, "what a relief."

Stage 2 : Under the Scalpel.

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