Just another rainy day.......
May. 1st, 2004 12:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1....which is always a good day to sleep in, if you don't work 1st shift.
This week was one of organization. Earlier this week, I pulled out several Rubbermaid clear tubs from the data warehouse (aka the offsite storage unit) which contained power cables, computer cables, audio cables, computer stuff, and headphones. I sorted them out, took inventory, tested some of the items, pulled out the things that didn't work, slapped an "04" sticker on the tubs to signal they were either accessed or gone through, and put them back in storage.
One of the down sides of having too much stuff is that I forget that I already have something, and end up buying something needlessly. I found ribbon cables I could have used in the file server I built last week.
This was also a week of installation. I also installed -- or reinstalled -- some software on the aforementioned file server, which has since been christened "slave". (Two of my computers are named after the ones in Blake's 7. "orac" is my main production machine. I don't have a computer named "zen", although I sometimes refer to my Palm IIIxe as "zen". The laptop is named "tardis".)
I reinstalled the versions of Windows 95B, Microsoft Office 95, WordPerfect Office 7, and other pieces of obsoleted software that I had. I also installed Mandrake Linux 8.2, so I can get familiar with Linux system administration, the KDE user interface, and the Gnome user interface. (Has anyone worked with KDE? Are there any good tutorials out there?)
I probably should take software inventory as well. I have stuff in my software CD rack that I haven't used in years, like a copy of Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional, or a stack of diskettes for Norton Utilities 8.0 for DOS. What can I do with old and obsoleted software? I like to hoard it and re-use it in other systems, so long as it's not already installed on any of the other machines I own. I've already paid for the software license, and the company doesn't want the media back, so why not reuse it? Although I doubt I'll ever come across a machine again that's so old that it can't run anything later than DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, and doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. Even a lowly 486/33 with a 1x CD-ROM can still run Windows 95, although slowly.
Some companies have a liberal policy about old software, and some are more strict about it. One company whose software I use has a clause in its license agreement that states that previous versions of the software should be destroyed if the software was bought as an upgrade from a previous version. Said company also stipulates that the software cannot be transferred to another machine. I think those measures are a bit extreme. How will they know that these things were done or not done?
I can take the software and donate it to a charity that could use it. Or I could try to sell it on EBay. Or I can give it away and transfer the license. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who's interested in old software. I've often bought "last year's version" of software (and related documentation) at computer shows at deep discount prices. Since I'm rather computer savvy, I rarely make calls for technical support.
Any suggestions? Any comments? Any takers?
This week was one of organization. Earlier this week, I pulled out several Rubbermaid clear tubs from the data warehouse (aka the offsite storage unit) which contained power cables, computer cables, audio cables, computer stuff, and headphones. I sorted them out, took inventory, tested some of the items, pulled out the things that didn't work, slapped an "04" sticker on the tubs to signal they were either accessed or gone through, and put them back in storage.
One of the down sides of having too much stuff is that I forget that I already have something, and end up buying something needlessly. I found ribbon cables I could have used in the file server I built last week.
This was also a week of installation. I also installed -- or reinstalled -- some software on the aforementioned file server, which has since been christened "slave". (Two of my computers are named after the ones in Blake's 7. "orac" is my main production machine. I don't have a computer named "zen", although I sometimes refer to my Palm IIIxe as "zen". The laptop is named "tardis".)
I reinstalled the versions of Windows 95B, Microsoft Office 95, WordPerfect Office 7, and other pieces of obsoleted software that I had. I also installed Mandrake Linux 8.2, so I can get familiar with Linux system administration, the KDE user interface, and the Gnome user interface. (Has anyone worked with KDE? Are there any good tutorials out there?)
I probably should take software inventory as well. I have stuff in my software CD rack that I haven't used in years, like a copy of Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional, or a stack of diskettes for Norton Utilities 8.0 for DOS. What can I do with old and obsoleted software? I like to hoard it and re-use it in other systems, so long as it's not already installed on any of the other machines I own. I've already paid for the software license, and the company doesn't want the media back, so why not reuse it? Although I doubt I'll ever come across a machine again that's so old that it can't run anything later than DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, and doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. Even a lowly 486/33 with a 1x CD-ROM can still run Windows 95, although slowly.
Some companies have a liberal policy about old software, and some are more strict about it. One company whose software I use has a clause in its license agreement that states that previous versions of the software should be destroyed if the software was bought as an upgrade from a previous version. Said company also stipulates that the software cannot be transferred to another machine. I think those measures are a bit extreme. How will they know that these things were done or not done?
I can take the software and donate it to a charity that could use it. Or I could try to sell it on EBay. Or I can give it away and transfer the license. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who's interested in old software. I've often bought "last year's version" of software (and related documentation) at computer shows at deep discount prices. Since I'm rather computer savvy, I rarely make calls for technical support.
Any suggestions? Any comments? Any takers?
