Julius wrote: I like my HP Laptop, found one that still had a serial port with XP on it.
Vista has been nothing but a pain on all the computers I've used it on so far. ----------------------------------------- That's an excellent example of how experiences vary. Over the past year I've swapped two of our three business pc's for new machines running Vista. One, a Toshiba notebook, runs Vista 32 and the other, an HP mini-tower desktop, runs Vista 64. Both machines run a wide variety of applications used in data analysis, modeling, publishing, writing and graphics development. Neither Vista machine has caused any problems at all. They both work day after day like a good, dependable tool should. Obviously Julius' and my experiences demonstrate how results vary widely according to the specific environment, and that's *very* important to understand in modern Hamshacks. I will say that, because our machines are critical to supporting our clients, I don't quibble about updates. Upon upgrading a machine or an OS, important software that has a new version available is updated immediately. Also, our machines are configured to automatically download and install every Windows update. I wholeheartedly endorse Julius' suggestion to avoid being an "early adopter" of a complex new product if you want a stable system, especially new products from a strongly market-driven company like MS. As more and more Hams tightly integrate their computers with their stations, having a known, stable, and dependable computer, with correctly-assembled interfaces and proper cabling is essential for a reliable station. Such Hams are really the modern "homebrewers", building a complex communications system out of a variety of components that is electrically quiet, RF- efficient and reliable. As long-time homebrewer who started with vacuum tubes in the 1940's, I believe that what Hams do today assembling a complex station is often as demanding as the work of many Hams decades ago who assembled their own receivers and transmitters. Ron AC7AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
