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John R. Shaw wrote: Let’s face it, we as developers often push the speed envelope and need a machine that can compile and run code (tests, and etc..) as fast as possible.
Reeaaaally now??
http://www.xkcd.com/303/[^]
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John R. Shaw wrote: Let’s face it, we as developers often push the speed envelope
That doesn't do the final users any good at all. You start to end up with the ever-famous "well, it works on my machine" reply. If it doesn't unduly drag on while I compile, than whatever I'm using is fast enough.
Now - you mention you're a gamer - and that is usually from where the PC Hardware development envelope is driven madly forward. You can keep playing games and get out of that hamster-exercise-wheel: play ROGUE . Download a suitable version from SourceForge, or elsewhere.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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Yes but a developer who thinks ahead will test the product on the worst box they can find.
djj
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I really really (really) want to agree with what your saying. It's the logical extension of my own posting.
But,
Unless specifically required to by specifications, I gave up bottom-fishing quite some time ago. I consider it akin to knocking myself out attempting to support Win95/Win98 - not if I can help it. It's nice if it works on the living-dead, but beyond tweaks, it's usually not worth the time (=cost) to scavange a few more possible users. (If their machine's that old, they're probably not the buying type, anyway)
I guess I still agree with you in principal, but in practice I'd not go quite that far. My targets are machines in roughly the current sweet-spot (and a reasonable range below).
FWIW, I don't have a single user with VISTA.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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I tend to be in small shops where there are only a couple of different levels of machines, i.e. some 2000, some XP. Also most code I do is for every one, so if it does not work on a machine I try to get it replaced (sometimes I am even successful).
Hey, my new position I have a XP machine with a Window 98 sticker on it and 512 RAM. So my wanting better comes for a reason. 
djj
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djj55 wrote: Hey, my new position I have a XP machine with a Window 98 sticker on it and 512 RAM. So my wanting better comes for a reason.
That brought up a bad memory: when I first started at my current workplace, I was given a P2 with 128 Mb RAM and Win98. Since I worked from home a lot, it didn't matter - until I started having apps running at their site. Then I needed a real PC. That request was enthusiastically greeted by the IT Director (at that time). Particularly when I noted the repair cycle was a minimum of 2 days if I had to try to fix it (or make any changes) at home - and possibly 10 minutes on site. Itterative debugging was required, the delay was rediculous (and very expensive).
It took 6 months because of a obstructionist/control-freak, in charge of the ordering, simply sitting on the request.
When the sytems finally arrived, their were four Xeon's: one for each developer - and MSDN sub's to go with them. Even at that, the control freak had them all set up identically . . . and expected them to stay that way.
But, I digress.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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Balboos wrote: "well, it works on my machine"
I know that trap very well!
During most of my programming career I have had multiple machines and Microsoft OSs to test my applications on. I remember, before modern machines and pre-compile options, waiting up to an hour for a single application to compile. Now days I may have half a dozen application open while working. Therefore Power & Speed are important to me, I do not like it when running a test causes other applications to drag.
I will check out ROGUE - Thanks
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra
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Rogue is pure strategic assessment.
Each game is different - you need to understand the patterns and behaviour of things. When it's the best time to do what vs. the pragmatism of survival.
This is the original "Amulet of Yendor" game - 26 levels down, find the Amulet, and come back out. There are various flavors of it, since the source code was made public.
Without ruining the game, the use of various items, and even how they are described, can vary, depending upon current conditions. One nearly impossible assessment, which I'll share. Some items can counteract or undo the effects of others (or monsters), etc. Nothing is, in general, guaranteed, although good things seem to always be good.
A scroll of 'scare monsters' works when you stand on it - not when you read it! There's no obvious (or even difficult) way to figure it out, except by accident.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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I was stunned and amazed that my latest PC has no COM ports! I had to buy a USB-to-COM device.
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As someone who has spent much of my life tracing faults in rs232 connectors, I won't be sad to see them go.
That said, there are still a lot of devices out there which require them.
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Because they "just work", as opposed to those USB KB/Mice combos which will/will not work, depending on brand, type and whatnot. And then, they use two USB ports, which are rare by design.
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You obviously have never had to make a null modem adapter at 2:30 a.m. at a customer site because the fracking morons told you the wrong set of signals that they used for flow control.
RS-232 was a PITA. May it rot in its grave.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I believe the MS hardware spec of the year 2000 said that the COM ports should be removed and replaced with USB ports. It has taken 7 years to implement that...
John
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They don't have my permission to do that. I thought they were all about backward-compatibility.
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Good point. Serial ports started to get hard to find on laptops (as are parallel ports) some time ago.
When you work with embedded devices, serial ports are almost a required item. There are a lot of devices in the field that communicate via 232 or 485. In addition, a lot of inexpensive tools (e.g. Atmel's in-circuit programmer) require a serial port.
USB/RS232 adapters can be squirrely (especially if using a laptop with power management enabled).
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When I buy a new comp I look for company that installs the least amount of garbage. All I want is the hardware and an OS, nothing else; I have a hard enough time keeping junk off my PC.
I have no idea what's going on...
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ummoops wrote: least amount of garbage
Or you are trying to tell it very diplomatically? About a good per centage of the disk is just gobbled up by junk games, sh*t antivirus and other things, which just needs to be cleaned at the earliest before our customization for our system's good performance. 
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least amount of garbage
- You are trying to tell it very diplomatically?
Well said. Some companies don't install any crap; just the OS and the minimal drivers to run the hardware.
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I tend to agree. The last thing I need is a bunch of advertising popping up every time I start it up. I already have an ISP etc… and do not want most of this garbage preinstalled. If I need any of that stuff, I know where to find it.
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra
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That's why I ask my dealer to just give me the plain OS CD. I'll set up everything from scratch by myself - no worries about preinstalled junk. I hate getting those recovery CD's, you can't even use when you have a problem that requires reinstalling/fixing a single part of the installation.
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Pater wrote: That's why I ask my dealer to just give me the plain OS CD
I usually get that or the lowest OS option and nuke the hard drive when I get it, installing my own stuff my way.
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Yep, wipe the drive first thing.
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It would be nice if MS would only provide an OS not a bunch of stuff I will never want or use.
djj
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Its very frustrating getting this crap as a business customer as then I have to spend hours of my time removing it.
John
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As a business user set up an image of your base configuration - every 12-18 months and burn it on.
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