Monday, October 07, 2013
Brief History of my Personal Computers
It has been a while since I started giving all of my personal computers (meaning not "PC"s as opposed to Mac or Linux, but computers I owned and used personally) specifically chosen names. Below are all the names I used so far with a brief description of the corresponding machine; I'll be updating it as new computers are added or taken out
(Note that since about 1997 I have been using company-provided laptops; naturally, these machines are named by the company and not included here, even though at times I used them most of the time; neither do I include portables such as MacBook Air, somehow I consider those more like appliances (not unlike a smartphone or a tablet) and lacking their own personality)
sun 2000-2007
HP(?) computer with pre-installed Windows 98, bought around 2000; installed Windows 2000 and used along with Suse using KMV (Keyboard-Mouse-Video) switch. Rarely used it after buying new Dell in 2007 and almost not at all after moving out of Brookline house in 2009; thrown out during cleanup in 2012.
spirit 2001-2007
Cheap Dell computer (2001-2002); installed SuSe (before Novell acquisition), used it heavily till buying Dell in 2007; in the end of 2007 - beginning of 2008 gave to L.E. where it worked (under Windows XP) till March/April 2010 till hard drive gave up.
luna 2000-2007
Really old (1999?) painfully slow Compaq computer with AMD processor; bought it for P.I. and tried installing WIndows 2000, it worked but rebooted from time. Gave up, installed OpenBSD on it and used it as a local file/web server. Rarely used it after buying new Dell in 2007 and not at all after moving out of Brookline house in 2009; thrown out during cleanup in 2012.
zeus 2007-2012
Expensive new Dell Precision 390, two core, 1.86GHz, 4GB RAM, CD- and DVD- read/write (two separate bays), pre-installed 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS v4, May 2007 (I was waiting for first suitable 64-bit Intel processor with "EMT" architecture (that is, backward compatible with 32 bit). AMD invented this architecture a year earlier, but their machines were said to be poorly compatible with 64-bit Linux.
charon 2013-
Sort of cheap Dell laptop, give to PD at his work during summer 2012; stayed without much use till September 2013 when I decided to try it with WIndows 8.
Heibohre 2014-
(Note that since about 1997 I have been using company-provided laptops; naturally, these machines are named by the company and not included here, even though at times I used them most of the time; neither do I include portables such as MacBook Air, somehow I consider those more like appliances (not unlike a smartphone or a tablet) and lacking their own personality)
sun 2000-2007
HP(?) computer with pre-installed Windows 98, bought around 2000; installed Windows 2000 and used along with Suse using KMV (Keyboard-Mouse-Video) switch. Rarely used it after buying new Dell in 2007 and almost not at all after moving out of Brookline house in 2009; thrown out during cleanup in 2012.
spirit 2001-2007
Cheap Dell computer (2001-2002); installed SuSe (before Novell acquisition), used it heavily till buying Dell in 2007; in the end of 2007 - beginning of 2008 gave to L.E. where it worked (under Windows XP) till March/April 2010 till hard drive gave up.
luna 2000-2007
Really old (1999?) painfully slow Compaq computer with AMD processor; bought it for P.I. and tried installing WIndows 2000, it worked but rebooted from time. Gave up, installed OpenBSD on it and used it as a local file/web server. Rarely used it after buying new Dell in 2007 and not at all after moving out of Brookline house in 2009; thrown out during cleanup in 2012.
zeus 2007-2012
Expensive new Dell Precision 390, two core, 1.86GHz, 4GB RAM, CD- and DVD- read/write (two separate bays), pre-installed 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS v4, May 2007 (I was waiting for first suitable 64-bit Intel processor with "EMT" architecture (that is, backward compatible with 32 bit). AMD invented this architecture a year earlier, but their machines were said to be poorly compatible with 64-bit Linux.
charon 2013-
Sort of cheap Dell laptop, give to PD at his work during summer 2012; stayed without much use till September 2013 when I decided to try it with WIndows 8.
Heibohre 2014-
