OT: computers

[Suicide Junkie]

- A second floppy? I haven't used mine in ages, but you can get them for about $5. With a CD burner, you can get a rewritable disk for a buck or two, and carry a 650 meg "floppy" around There is free software around which will make it act exactly the same as your standard 3.5" floppy (except bigger, and faster).
- All you need in an ethernet card comes in at under $25. If its much more than that, it will be loaded with useless features, like the ability to turn your computer on remotely.
- WinXP may or may not be an "upgrade", depending on your point of view
- You can easily boost yourself into the 1500 Mhz range for $150 these days.
- DVD burners are about the same price ($150). If you just want a CD burner its less ($50), and read-only CDs go for $20.
- Hard Drives are roughly $1 per Gigabyte of storage, with almost 200 Gig drives appearing lately. Going from 60 to 80 will probably cost you only $10 more, depending on the store.

I have 1 CD-R drive and space for a 2nd but no corresponding hook-up for the wire inside unless I pull the 3.5 floppy.

The floppy and the CD/Harddrive cables are not the same size.
Usually, the CD and Harddrive cables have three connectors on them (one at each end, and one in the middle), and motherbords come with two connections for them. That gives you room for a total of 4 CDs and HDs.
The floppy cables are set up in a similar way, so adding a second drive will be easy.

If need be, you can buy fresh "IDE" cables for $1.99