Guys, Thank you very much for the info and wisdom. I've forwarded and discussed with my friends at the computer store.
Pat; I'm taking your suggestion about the hardware controller. Was a bit surprised by my retailer's advice that I then needed a spare controller as a backup, the logic being that if the controller goes bad the same model's firmware is needed. Oh well, another hundred bucks but it makes sense. I'm going to load Ubuntu on my daughter's old laptop and stress the poor thing (the PC, not my daughter) as a learning project. Bob; I'm on Big Island. a kw/hr here is $.3752 and rising monthly. There are tax credits for solar but just for heating water. I have a few neighbors "off the grid" but all appliances and electronics they buy has to be 12 volt. There are more modern 117v systems but no one I know can afford them. As far as being jealous, location is always a trade off. I dream of visiting a Fry's or being able to buy a shirt that doesn't have flowers or say "Hawaii" on it. Our only concerts are by has-been rock acts. I'd kill for good Mexican food and our lack of radio stations is what got me to start such a silly-big music collection when hard drives got large enough to make it practical and there wasn't yet internet radio. While there's now a "Tech-Center" on Maui, you're still probably unemployable here but now there are lots of guys who telecommute to the mainland and Asia. -- Harry G ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Harry G's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1165 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=47243 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss