{"id":150,"date":"2006-09-24T22:43:16","date_gmt":"2006-09-24T22:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.gregbueno.com\/wp\/sakufu\/2006\/09\/24\/let_it_go_let_i\/"},"modified":"2006-09-24T22:43:16","modified_gmt":"2006-09-24T22:43:16","slug":"let_it_go_let_i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregbueno.com\/sakufu\/2006\/09\/24\/let_it_go_let_i\/","title":{"rendered":"Let it go, let it go"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been 19 months since I bought a new computer and 19 months since I paid my old computer any mind.<\/p>\n

I use it now as a web server, and I do all development work on it.<\/p>\n

It’s eight years old and creaky. Here’s a feature comparrison between it and my newer machine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nDell Dimension L500c (old)<\/th>\nDell Optiplex GX280 (new)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Processor<\/strong><\/td>\nIntel Celeron 500mHz<\/td>\nIntel Pentium 4 2.8gHz<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n320MB SDRAM (512MB max.)<\/td>\n1GB DDR2 (4GB max.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hard drive<\/strong><\/td>\n120GB EDIE<\/td>\n160GB SATA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Optical drive<\/strong><\/td>\nDVD-ROM\/CD-RW<\/td>\nDVD-R\/W<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Floppy drive<\/strong><\/td>\n1 ZIP, 1 3.5" floppy<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PS\/2 ports<\/strong><\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Serial ports<\/strong><\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PS\/2 ports<\/strong><\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
USB ports<\/strong><\/td>\n2 USB1.1<\/td>\n8 USB2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PCI slots<\/strong><\/td>\n4<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

I attempted to backup the smaller partition of the Dimension’s hard drive, and it took Acronis True Image 7 hours<\/em> to finish. I wondered why it took the Optiplex less than half that time to archive the same size.<\/p>\n

It came down to the USB port. I was backing up the partition with my external hard drive, which supports USB2.0. My documentation was vague about whether the Dimension supported USB2.0, but I suspected it didn’t since it was built in 1998. I spent more than hour trying to download a driver from the Windows Update<\/a> site, only to get an error time and time again. As it turned out, it didn’t like the fact I was using IE5 instead of IE6. No, I didn’t upgrade because I had switched to Mozilla before IE6 was released.<\/p>\n

Then I attempted to install the driver through the Device Manager, but it wouldn’t have any of it. So I pretty much concluded the USB ports were 1.0 or 1.1.<\/p>\n

If I want the external hard drives connecting to the Optiplex to work with the Dimension, I would need some upgrades. I have a number of upgrades in mind for that machine:<\/p>\n