| Author |
Message |
CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.84)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 1:17 pm: | |
As we struggle along with the planning, building and such we look for ways to document our plans. I know I did! There are times when I have to leave part of the work, either for weather or other parts of the projects that need attention. I May not see part of the original work for months.
I don't know about you all, but I have a tendancy to forget where I was on the original work, must be "old timers Syndrome" creeping in on me.
Well I thought I was being "smart" and "prudent" by purchasing a Cad Program. I can tell you, I spent months drawing layouts, electrical, components, all the things needed for a project this size.
Now the benefit of using a computer program, is when you get familiar with the workings of the Cad Prog, you can make some great permanent drawings and you can take copies on the work site, write all over them and update the original. And next time you need a copy, out prints a nice clean fresh sheet. Not to mention that you KNOW WHERE THE HECK YOU HAVE IT when you need it.
Well, of course, time moves on and the computer operating systems need up grading. I have a couple of machines, the laptop came with Windows 98 and the desk top came with Windows Millenium. And until recently, the Cad program ran great, that is until they crashed and I had to upgrade to Windows XP. Turns out Win98 and WinMillenium are a couple of the worst, programs MicroSoft has put out, very unstable, as I found when they kept crashing periodically.
Ok, now we have WinXP, start up the Cad prog, and it can't be found. Try to re-install, XP wont accept the program. Now we are talking everything ever dreamed up in systems and electrical (my main reason as the electrical has quite a few termination points).
Ok, now we are frantically rumaging through the note books and papers, looking for the OLD drawings. UGH!!
Ok, I find on the computer a program that I considered "USELESS" called "Paint". I began to play with it and found it is basically a very simple "Cad Like" program, and, it will never be out dated, IT COMES WITH WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEMS. The data drawings will work on any Windows machine. Talk about compatability.
So, the point here is mostly for you new converters, or converter "want-a-bes'". Before running out and spending a bunch of money on a Cad program that might become outdated at the whim of MicroSoft, give Paint a whirl. You may find that Paint is excellant for your purposes, and the best part is You ALREADY Have It!
Just my thoughts as I wait for weather to break
"Imagine Your Dreams"
cdcdcd |
John Feld (Deacon) (150.199.209.41)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 2:37 pm: | |
When I build a new system, about every two years, I install larger hard drive's and partion them so I can install the old operating system and programs seperate. This way I can boot-up Win98, Win98SE, or XP and all my old programing and files are compatable with what I boot. It also helps to have more than one system in a LAN set-up. Right now we can network 4 different IBM Thinkpads w/Win98, one system w/Win98, one w/98SE and now one w/XP.
Personally I never do an upgrade patch to any system once installed. My Win98 OS's have not blued in several years of 24/7 use. Its the board failures I fear most.
Your info on 'paint' sounds good, never even messed with it before.
John |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell) (66.81.39.140)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 6:27 pm: | |
On bus drawings, schematics, diagrams, etc., I always make a hard copy of what I have done on the puter. I refuse to be beholdin' to some machine built by some Chinaman or Malaysian, not to mention if Bill Gates is involved with it, I'm not trusting anything to it. I generally do this type of stuff and my drafting table but the problem comes in where I leave it laying on an end table or somewhere in the house and Mama only sees paper where it does not belong; forget what's on it, it gets round filed rather than in my bus folder in the cabinet. |
CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.219)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 4:46 pm: | |
John, your multi op sys interests me, how do you make the selection to boot up in a different drive if you have multi op sys on the HD? Do you have to partition the HD to enable this?
Just Wondering
"Imagine Your Dreams"
cdcdcd |
John Feld (Deacon) (204.184.224.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 5:56 pm: | |
Yes, you set partitions when formating the HD. Normally I only use around 10 to 15 GB on the drive anyway. By useing a large HD you can easily set up several partitions, say 15GB for the first 2 and the balance whatever.
You can access the CMOS and set which drive to load, say "C" for XP, or "D" for Win98. Now I have whichever I want to boot to and can still drag and drop files into the other partition.
I'm no guru when it comes to 'puters, I just have a good tech that I bug the heck out of to make it easy for a Puter Dummy like me.
John 4104 |
Phil Dumpster (24.16.189.48)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 8:03 am: | |
You can also use the NT loader in Win NT4, 2000 and XP to load alternative operating systems.
Very easy to set up, just install your other operating system first, leaving some unallocated space on your hard drive. Then install whatever flavor of NT you want. It will prompt you during installation about the particulars and configure the NT loader for you. |
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