Computers

Office Engineering PC = Windows XP x64

Servers = Open Solaris (If you haven't discovered ZFS, You Should)

Home "Main" PC = Fedora Core

Home Laptop = Dual Boot Solaris Express & Windows 7 x64

Media Center Server & Clients = LinuxMCE

Win 7 x64 on a SSD and overclocked quad i5. I just love peformance especiall it it's noiseless. Only 4Gb of ram but i find it more than enough.

Monowall is FreeBSD isn't it? Looks pretty nice, I've always admired it but never had the need to install it. Nice setup Vectrex!

I built an XP system the summer prior to my junior year in college. Never done anything like it before and really didn't have much of an idea other than what I read online. I bought everything online, slapped it all together and it worked. I was happy enough :)

Now I just want something that works and is affordable. Maybe I'll try a compact desktop build someday. For now my interest faded, just like it did with cars.

i have a pretty custom computer. running windows 7 64 bit.

ultra m998 case. the thing is huge, but wire management and working in it is great.

asus m4a7bt-e mother board with a amd athalon II x4 630 processor. i usually have it clocked around 2800mhz but have had it up over 3000 a few times playing, dont know the max i can get though

apevia warlock 750w psu. though i want to upgrade to an ultra modular psu. im very ocd on wire management

nzxt iu01 internal usb hub... this one is a must have for me, but im on my 2nd and both have been faulty. the usb headers work fine, but only one of the two usb ports them self on it work correctly. traded one in with no problem. the second they gave me the run around until it wasnt worth the time... but i still use it

ultra x2 cpu cooler. i was worried when i first installed it, my cpu usually ran at 37*c, and the 1st week after install it ran at 42*... now its back to 37* but dont get as high as quick as stock

other than that, i have installed a fan on the cpu air duct on the clear window, installed a higher flow, quieter fan in the rear, two uv 12" cold cathodes, replaced all(20 some) thumb screws with blue anodized thumb screws, 4gb corsair ram.......

all that and im typing on a power a dvd/gaming remote made for a ps3 because a spillage on my logitec wireless kb

I am writing this on a Mac PowerBook G4, vintage 2005. It pays for my flashlight addiction;-) Until the recent actions by Apple with 10.7 the useful service life of a Mac has really made it fit my budget DNA. Frankly, for most of the past 20 years I chuckle at the people that think Macs are expensive. When I consider even a minimum wage value to my time for keeping things running and protecting from viruses etc, a Mac has been dirt cheap. Frankly I am no where near minimum wage so a Mac has really been an unbelievable bargain for me.

My other current Mac is a mini server from late 2010. Bang for the buck it for what it does -- not large server -- nothing else even comes close. Decent performance. Super energy efficient. Tiny footprint. Ok, multi-service WAN/LAN servers are not easy to administer period. However, this is about as easy as something that powerful comes.

That being said, I don't know what I will do in the future. It looks to me like Apple is becoming the Harley of computers. I'm basically a tool guy. I don't give a crap about image or lifestyle. I just want something that works. Not saying that new Apples won't work for people without history but for those of us with history Apple has just said they really don't give a hoot. They will do what they want to do and if it breaks everything I have done in the last 3 decades they simply don't care as there are plenty of new people willing to give them money so who cares what the small number of us who kept them alive think.

Used to be a Micorsoft snob but that was before windows. Can live with XP but don't like it. Too hard to do the easiest things. Wife has a Vista laptop that I finally got fed up with her complaining about and put Ubuntu on it. LOVE ubuntu when I get it settled in. However, when something changes or brakes it is really a major PIA. Certainly not up to Mac standards yet but overall much better in my experience than any version of windows that I have worked with. (Of course that is after resolving a couple of major PIA issues;-) Have yet to try windows 7.

Wade

I can safely say that windows 7 is the best operating system to date from MS after dos 6.22. Works splendidly on older machines and does not slow down over time like it's predecessor XP (Vista was a joke, or perhaps a sloppy graphical interface test for win 7). The learning curve is easy.

Dislike what they are planning to do with windows 8. Operating system centered on a GUI that is designed primarily with touchscreen in mind. Blah!

Not really that huge.

Ultra m998 ULT40069
240mm ( W ) x 460mm ( H ) x 520mm ( D )
Weight 7.7kg

My case

SilverStone Raven 2
212mm ( W ) x 503mm ( H ) x 643mm ( D )
Weight 12.5kg

You call that huge? LOL

I've retired this Lian-Li case, but it was a real monster.

Current computers:

Asus EeePC 1000HE (use most of the time)

Antec Fusion HTPC case with a DFI something or other board and an Opteron 175 (rarely used and not even set up as an HTPC)

A little ol' Antec Lanparty case with DFI NF4 LanParty mobo and an Opty 165 that has run at 2.8GHz+ since 2005 (3GHz when it was watercooled and in that big Lian-Li).

All running XP (still)

Nice :)

I have old stainless steel server case too, but it's too narrow for my CPU ja GPU coolers :(

Here's a few Lian Li's I've built over the years.

man... now I feel like a computer hack AND a flashlight hack

good job, guys!

I am using Win 7 Ultimate on both laptop and desktop, and also ubuntu on both, I use any of them depending what I want to do, but I generally use more win 7 than ubuntu.

Both worlds have their good and bad things, so I find it better to work with both of them.

Various laptops, netbooks, and tablets but my main PC is a watercooled 6 core beast with 16gb of ram. Built by myself a few months ago when I was feeling a bit more flush. Apart from a few Android devices, all my PCs run 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate, mainly because I'm a habitual user of pirated software.

hard to see the lights with the flash on, but i got too much glare with it off to see inside. need to dust it, and still need to get a video card....

Macbook Pro 15" 2007. OS 10.7 and win 7, with a samsung 226BW 22".

OSX since I started uni 6 years ago, and because I'm a UI simplicity freak, OSX has always delivered with the hardware, and the availability of great third party plug-ins I have my multitouch trackpad and BT mouse customised to great extents. (Steermouse, Namely, iStat Menus, BetterTouchTool)

I guess this is why I like UI based torches like the D10, 120P.

Started with DOS (about 17 years ago), and have tried/used all M$ Windows. No probs even with ME and Vista, don't know/understand why so many people hate them. Only had a few problems with beta drivers (in last decade with diff OS, less that 10 in total). If you know how Win works... you shouldn't have any probs with it ;)

I like Mac (and Mac OS too). Can't buy it because of its price. Too expensive, IMO. For that price I can build a MUCH better PC. Anyway, still prefer Win (I use Win7 Ultimate 64 right now)

I like Linux too :bigsmile: But yeah, I have to agreed with Matt. I only have it because I like try new stuff, but for daily use, Win7 all the way 8) I use latest Ubuntu right now. Still can't get used to last UI :~ Needs more time. But again, no prob here, I just need to use console for some things. Quite stable OS.

I build PCs (on demand), repair PCs and sell them.

i started with windows 3.1, went on to 95, then 98, then to xp and its variants, and then vista, and now windows ultimate 7 64 bit

i have also tried all sorts of linux ditros, and live distros, but i always feel like its lacking/missing something. and usually there is a lot of configuring to just get it set up.

never got big on mac though. we didnt have that kind of cash growing up, and i can build a pc way better for the price, and can dual boot it if i want to now that mac is basically an atx form factor now, and is the same hardware as windows... iirc

Another Zombie thread revival! 1/2010 to 9/2011 without action...

My Home PC; built about 2.5/3 years ago; was a budget build at the time:

  • Dual Core AMD 64-bit CPU of some speed. Don't know/care any more
  • 2GB of RAM just upgraded to 6GB last week. I can't tell a difference in performance
  • ~500GB HD
  • GeForce 9800GT video card with 1GB (IIRC)
  • 19" Samsung LCD
  • Win7 Pro 64-bit

The entire build cost about $500 when I assembled it, and it's still serving me well. I initially loaded an early Win7 beta build, followed by the final RC release. When it expired, I bought the Win7 license and have had no issues. Everything runs well and I have had no problems with slow performance or crashes. Working on computers for a living has kind of killed the enjoyment. This box is enough for internet access, and will play any games I want very well (HL2 and the sequel episodes, Portal, Bioshock).

Now, if we could just get reliable high speed internet in rural areas. Cry

always wondered how many BLFers were/are pc modders

... XP and i downloaded win8 last night , we will see how that goes