Advice on buying new PC under $500._

[Brother Jerry]

Actually even their EULA for Vista now is limited to the number of computers it may ever be installed on.  So you really have to watch out...their intentions were to do the same with XP but they did not get it worded just right...but you can bet they did for Vista.

[nChrist]

Microsoft did get far too greedy and even harsh with their customers. As a result, they are losing many of their customers, especially the big customers like governments and business. Microsoft products aren't good enough for them to mistreat or try to take advantage of their customers. They are learning this lesson now.

[daniel1212av]

"I "Great hosts have been martyred for CHRIST throughout history,"

Thank God for your zeal for Jesus, and i prayer for my suffering brethren, and like Peter, we must be in prayerful dependence upon  the Lord.

As for Vista Eula, i think they amended it so that retail owners are not limited. I cannot get Vista SP1 installed, after many attempts, but XP is better and that is what i mostly use,  praise the Lord. An XP SP3 RC is out, but i will wait, and  FF 3.0 is coming out soon. But i am glad God does "updates" above all.

[nChrist]

Hello Brother Daniel,

If a Christian is attempting to use a computer for the LORD'S WORK, it's probably more accurate to simply say that GOD will work things out if the WORK is within HIS Will and Purpose.

Many people, churches, Christian organizations, and charitable organizations don't have the money to make many choices. I recently read an article about a man refurbishing old and donated computers to be used by people who could never afford a computer of any kind. They had various operating systems. One of his goals was to put some kind of Bible Study Software on every one of them, basic editors, and basic programs people could use to share what they were given. I think that I kept a copy of it, but I don't know if I can find it right now. HE did make the point that he was usually able to install the things on his list of priorities, regardless of how old the computer was. It even involved DOS and older programs that were designed for tiny amounts of system memory. I just wanted to make the point that we take many things for granted. People in many parts of the world are tickled half to death just to get a very plain electronic Bible. It's amazing how many people can be positively impacted with what we might consider to be old and obsolete. In the right hands, the old and worn out computer systems can be used to distribute and print all kinds of excellent Bible materials. SO, they put that super old printer into use also.

I found it interesting to note that basic Bible Study software is still being distributed for DOS. Could I go back to DOS? Yes, but I wouldn't want to.   

I'll just give thanks for what I have to use. If GOD wants something done, HE will provide a way to do it. If HE sends us, HE'LL equip us, and it will be more than adequate for what HE wants done. We must remember there was a time when GOD'S WORD was hand copied and checked - word for word - so that others could simply read HIS WORD. GOD'S Servants were happy to hand copy that one page at a time with primitive writing instruments. It would be hard to imagine the time and effort necessary for a single page of the Bible, but it was GOD'S WORD and worthy of the effort. JUST THOUGHTS!

Love In Christ,
Tom

 

[Brother Jerry]

I would consider DOS in a heartbeat....  But it is a pain to switch for a DOS prompt to a 'Nix prompt.... I keep 'ls'ing on the DOS box and 'dir'ing on the nix box..... 

[nChrist]

Hello Brother Jerry,

I found your thoughts on DOS to be much like mine. It's been a long time ago, but there was a time when I was extremely comfortable with DOS and could almost make it sing and dance.     In fact, I had a hard time giving it up and wouldn't have given it up if not for some programs I was interested in that wouldn't work with DOS. DOS was really efficient and elegant considering the amount of memory it was designed to access. The same was true for the programs. Those were the days when programmers couldn't get by with big and sloppy programs that wasted resources. I actually think that I could get comfortable with it again if I needed to. OK - I'll go ahead and say it:  "Those were the good old days."   

[Brother Jerry]

RORL

yeah there was nothing like sitting back and enjoying watching a batch file you wrote go through and clean up the HDD....and it would only take about 2 minutes too (but then 10MB drives were huge!!!!  ). 

[nChrist]

 

You just got me laughing about my first hard-drive. This should get a laugh or two. There was a time when average folks only had cassette drives. Somebody needed a reason to have a hard-drive. My first one was a 10 Meg and weighed in at about 40 pounds. YES - it was EXTERNAL. They built things right then, and things were expensive. How about those terribly SLOW modems that cost an arm and a leg.   

Brother Jerry and Roger, let's go ahead and tell them about our first communications:

       CARRIER PIGEONS!

[Brother Jerry]

ROFL

Yeah my old TRS-80 had a tape drive.  I can remember saving up $300 bucks to get my disk drive (5 1/2 inch floppy).  ANd once I did...man I was up town.

My first Intel was 8088 with math co-processor, 640K of RAM, 5 1/2 in floppy, 10 MB HDD, and a monitor....amber.

Cost me $1000.  That was the first thing I ever bought on credit.

[nChrist]

 

Good Morning Brother Jerry and All!

You got me laughing and thinking about my first printer. WOW! - They made them right then. I think that they called it a dot-matrix impact printer. It shook the desk when you printed something, and you could hear it outside the house. I might even still have it somewhere, and it was still working when I quit using it.

My first computer was an Atari. NOT the game - they did have a very good computer. I remember the memory cartridges you could buy for it - 16K per block. The memory cartridge was about 5 inches tall, 4 inches wide, and 1/2 inch deep. I had a whopping 48K of memory, so it was a big and powerful monster at the time.     By the way, it was still working perfectly when I sold it after using it for 4 years. They made things RIGHT back then.

[daniel1212av]

I certainly do not go back as far as you guys in PC's, and cannot do DOS (though i have run a few lines here and there).  My first PC was an answer to prayer, that someone would give me, without asking  (i am part of a faith tract ministry) a PC if it was God's will. This was about 1999. Shortly thereafter a friend called up, telling me his landlady had to move and was throwing stuff out. One of the things was a PC with a (as i recall) 266mhz cpu and 512mb HD, with 32mb ram!  I promptly did something that stopped it from booting and i had no OS disk . I also knew no one that really would tutor me on  it. But i prayed and a brother who i rarely saw came by and asked if the PC worked, and i said yes but it needs a OS. He then went right out and bought one!  Praise the Lord.  I was able to get it going, and  also prayed that he would get me on the web for free, if it was God's will, and that i would use it for the Lord's work. That quickly came to pass as someone offered to put me on  their account for a time, and thru that I later ended up getting about 24 months on a AOL "free trial," as every time i called to quit (as i honestly could not afford the fee),  then they would give me another free trial. (i prayed before calling).  But i also searched and found a local free dial up service  which i used for about 6 years, till the Lord recently enabled me to get cheap (15.00 a month) DSL (what a difference!).

About 2001, a friend gave us a PC running W/98se with an AMD 650mhz cpu, msi6195 mobo (now with 320mb ram) which i used extensively, and safely (by the grace of God), for about 6 years.  I actually found it faster than newer PC's with twice the cpu power running XP, and i ran up to 4 HD's on   it. But things like encoding were slow and it crashed frequent as i  ran out of sys. resources.  I still use the old AMD as a DVD/audio player to show others. It can surf about as fast as the below.

In answer to prayer, last year the Lord gave us our first new Dell E20 PC, with a 3.06 cpu, on which i dual boot Vista HB with XP, as i was able to get a retail version cheap prior to this, and find it faster and more customizable than Vista.  With it i am able to rather run plenty of apps at once, and quickly encode and author DVD''s (as the Lord provides) of material that is free to share, such as you see on http://www.freecdtracts.com. This is to supplement the free tracts we want to share. As well as answer 1,000 questions on Yahoo answers. among other things. The information highway is a disinformation highways for the enemies of the gospel (which why Christians unite is needed). So thank God for His grace to us so that that we may share the word of His grace, as well as warn those who spurn it. To God be the glory. Amen

 

[nChrist]

Hello Brother Daniel,

I give thanks that GOD is using all kinds of media to deliver HIS WORD and the GOOD NEWS to great hosts around the world. By media, I'm talking about just about everything you can dream of: radio, television, tracts, books, recordings, the Internet, etc. Things are wide open right now, and the devil can't stop it. However, as the End Days of this Age of Grace draw nearer, we know that things will change, so we should take every advantage of the open channels of distribution while we can. I pray that GOD will richly bless your ministry and many others that are distributing Godly materials in these possible End Days of this Age of Grace.

I'm firmly convinced that nothing will be wasted, and GOD will use it for HIS Will and Purpose. People are being killed in some parts of the world for just possessing parts of a Bible or Christian materials. The beatings, imprisonment, torture, and killing of Christians in many parts of the world are not slowing down the distribution of GOD'S WORD and Christian materials. There are now armies of volunteers translating Christian materials into just about every known language to mankind. Amazing use of a single Bible tract is happening in countries where that Bible tract would get them killed. We should think about the hunger of these people for GOD'S WORD and make a contrast with what we can use in safety every day. What if we had the same HUNGER for GOD'S WORD and Christian materials as they do in countries with tyrants for leaders?

We should never take for granted the RICH assortment of Godly materials we can use any time we want to. We truly have been blessed by GOD, and we need to give HIM THANKS AND PRAISE for allowing us to worship with freedom and safety. We should also know that these days of freedom and safety could end, so we should never take a minute of it for granted. We all have much work to do while we can, and I give thanks that GOD is equipping us for what HE wants done. GOD gets all of the Glory!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ephesians 1:18-23 NASB I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

[daniel1212av]

"However, as the End Days of this Age of Grace draw nearer, we know that things will change, so we should take every advantage of the open channels of distribution while we can."

How sobering and true. One day the church may awake and say, "How we wish we used the freedom to share the truth when we had it."

(John 9:4)  "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work."

 Watch here: http://www.silencingchristians.com/Default.aspx