MY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS ON RUNNING OUT OF DISKSPACE

COMPUTER  #1
386DX 25 MHZ.
200 MEG MAXTOR DRIVE
4MB RAM
MICRO SOFT MOUSE ( CARD )
PRINTER TI857 WITH APPROX 64K BUFFER CONNECTED TOLPT1
2 COM PORTS ( 1 FOR MODEM, OTHER FOR WHATEVER )

PRIMARILY USED FOR WORD PROCESSING, WRITING LARGE FORTRAN PROGRAMS.
WIVE USE'S IT FOR GAMES.
RAN OUT OF DISK SPACE. CONSTANTLY CLEANING THE DRIVE.

MY SOLUTION
BUY A BIGGER DRIVE?
YES BOUGHT A WESTERN DIGITAL 340 MEG DRIVE AND USE IT FOR MY PROGRAM
BUILDING, COMPILERS, SOURCE AND EXECUTABLES.

GREAT.

TRIED TO INSTALL THE DRIVE IN COMPUTER #1.
COMPUTER #1 DIDN'T HAVE USER DEFINABLE DRIVE
TYPES.

DOWN LOADED SOME SOFTWARE FROM MY FAVORITE BBS. THE AUTHOR CLAIMED
THAT IT 
WOULD ALLOW ME TO DEFINE THE TYPES OF DRIVE. CALLED SAN JOSE, CALIF.
PLUS A FAX. NEVER RETURNED MY PHONE CALLS.

NEXT CALLED THE MANUF. OF THE BIOS.  THEY DIDN'T HAVE A UPDATE FOR
THE BIOS FOR THE CHIPS IN MY COMPUTER #1.

WELL I JUST DROPPED 6 BILLS + FOR THE WD DRIVE.

THE WIVE REALLY TWISTED MY ARM BY HER SUGGESTION OF GIVING HER
COMPUTER #1, AND BUYING ANOTHER ONE FOR MY "JUNK'.

SO I PURCHASED A OFF BRAND ( LOCAL ASSEMBLER ) 486DX2 66MHZ WITH A
200MEG WD DRIVE, VIDEO CARD, A (CHEAP) MONITOR, GENIUS MOUSE,
WINDOWS, DOS, 4MEG RAM. THEY GRACELESSLY INSTALLED THE 340MEG DRIVE
AS DRIVE #1.

VERY GOOD! SO NOW I HAD 530MEG OF DISK PLUS 200 MEG ON #1.

SPENT APPROX. 12 HOURS TRANSFERRING FILES FROM COMPUTER #1 TO
COMPUTER #2 ( THE NEW ONE ), USING LAP LINK.

FINE AND GOOD!

WOW NORTON SI GAVE A FACTOR OF 100 VERSUS A SI OF 30 ON COMPUTER #1.

OKAY SO WE CLEAN OUT MY OLD FILES FROM COMP. #1 AND CLEAN OFF HER
JUNK FROM MY BABY.

OK SO WE GET UP AND RUNNING AND IT LOOKS GREAT.

NEXT I START PULLING MY CARDS FROM THE OLD ONE ( FAX CARD, IOMEGA   
DRIVE CARD, ...) AND PUTTING THEM IN MY NEW ONE. SHE DON'T NEED ALL
THAT STUFF ANYWAY.

NEXT WE INSTALLED A A-B SWITCH FOR THE PRINTER.
WHY BUY A NEW PRINTER. IT IS GOOD FOR OUR PURPOSES. BOUGHT THE
CABLES FROM THE COMPUTER TO THE A-B BOX. GOT IT UP AND RUNNING ON
COMPUTER #1. EASY

ANYTHING I PRINTED FROM THE NEW COMPUTER CAME OUT GARBAGE. APPROX
30% READABLE WITH EXTRA LINE FEEDS AND PLATEN ROLL BACK, OR NO LINE
FEEDS.

THE PRINTER WORKED FINE AT 8MHZ BUT GARBAGE AT 66MHZ.

OK. JUST GO OUT TO THE GARAGE AND GET THE SERIAL CABLE, INSTALL IT
AND USE ONE OF THE COM PORTS FOR THE PRINTER. IT WORKED FINE FROM
BOTH MACHINES. THIS ALLOWED ME TO SLOW DOWN THE INPUT TO THE PRINTER
MEMORY TO 9600 BAUD VERSUS ???.

NOW MY NEW GENIUS MOUSE DIDN'T WORK. SWITCH IT
OVER TO COM2. AND WE SHOULD BE UNDER WAY.

COM1 = LINE PRINTER
COM2 = MOUSE

OK SO WHAT TO DO ABOUT MY EXTERNAL MODEM WHICH
USES COM1 OR COM2.

WELL IF THE MICROSOFT MOUSE USES A CARD DOES THAT
MEAN THAT I CAN USE COM2 FOR MY MODEM.?

OFF WITH THE COVERS

INSTALL THE GENIUS MOUSE ON COMPUTER #1. SHE WONT
NOTICE, BESIDES IT'S NEW.

INSTALL THE MICROSOFT CARD MOUSE IN THE NEW ONE
FREEING UP COM2 FOR MY MODEM.

SHE DID NOTICE THE NEW MOUSE AND SHE WASN'T
PLEASED. FORTUNATELY I HAD A OLD MICROSOFT SERIAL
MOUSE THAT WORKED JUST FINE. NOW SHE IS HAPPY.

PERFORMANCE
 THE CURRENT PROGRAM I AM WORKING ON ( 154000
BYTES WORTH OF SOURCE CODE)  COMPILED AND BUILT
THE EXECUTABLE IN 13.5 MINUTES ON COMP. #1

THE SAME CODE AND STEPS ARE NOW COMPLETE IN 4.6
MINUTES ON COMPUTER #2.

FOR SALE! TWO LPT1 PORTS. ONE WELL USED AND ONE
WITH APPROX. 10 MINUTES ON IT.

1 GENIUS MOUSE ( SERIAL )

WINDOWS SOFTWARE - TOO MUCH HASSLE TO DO THE
WINDOW THING WHEN *.BAT FILES DO THE SETTING OF
PATHS, COMPILE OPTIONS, ETC. THEN WE JUST TYPE IN
" NMAKE FULL" AND WE ARE OFF COMPILING OUR SOURCE
CODE. ( NEVER INSTALLED IT ).

                                 ANONYMOUS
                                            JAN 93