Chapter 5 – Hardware (Organizing with Technology)
The Personal Computer – A Cyborg’s Best Friend
Preventing your investment from becoming an expensive paperweight
Have you ever wondered how many personal computers there must be out there? The actual number must be quite impressive, as personal computers have become more economically viable for the average household. However, how many of those computers are actually being used by people? I am speaking of real application, with real value, not merely for playing games, or even simply as a high-powered word-processor. I am talking about opening up a whole new world of information, right at your fingertips.
In the remainder of this chapter, I will show you how a computer will significantly empower you to achieve success. Perhaps you want to know from what standpoint I speak? Well, computers have been my lifelong interest. Ever since the day I put my kiddie fingers on a Radio Shack TRS-80, in 1978, I had always considered computers to be one of the most powerful tools human beings have ever invented have owned and used virtually every microcomputer the industry has been able to put out for the public. I have written programs, and been hired to teach other people how to use computers. Over the years, I examined the diverse applications that personal computers are capable of. Word-processing remains a popular option and a lot of household computers are used mainly for that single application. However, I am convinced that word-processing, and indeed all other applications, must take lower priority because that there is but a single, main job that a computer can perform marvelously: Remote information retrieval. The PC is essentially a magic box that can provide you with answers to virtually any question.
First of all , do you even have a computer? If you do not, and cannot afford one, you must make sure you somehow have access to a unit. Perhaps you can borrow a friend’s model. Most schools have a computer lab for student use. In my case, I have friends who either don’t have a computer of their own, or prefer using my Macintosh. The end result is the same: They come to my place from time to time, to do their work. I don’t mind at all, and welcome the opportunity to help them out, so long as they keep everything clean and don’t use up all my printer paper. I have, however, yet to enjoy all those dinners that they keep promising to buy me!
If you are thinking of buying a computer, for the first time or to replace your old unit, it is best to secure the expert advice of a computer enthusiast. Actually, you should consult computer enthusiasts, with an emphasis on the plural. Like all humans, enthusiasts have individual preferences and biases. For example, some 55 million people swear by the Macintosh computer operating system but the world in general is using the Windows operating system (mainly because it’s cheaper, and that is not an insignificant factor).
Keep in mind, also, that most universities and colleges have educational-pricing. They offer computer systems such as the Macintosh and PC computers at exceptionally discounted prices that no commercial vendor can challenge. Be sure to check your school’s computer shop and compare prices around town. If you do manage to find a commercial vendor matching, or even beating, the educational-discounted price, ensure that it is an authorized dealership, and that they are unlikely to disappear within the next year. Some retailers sell “grey market” machines that may have a low purchase price, but the warranties are not covered by the original manufacturer. You may also want to explore the possibility of buying a second-hand machine. As always, get the opinion of a friend who knows about computers so that you can tell whether or not the used machine is a viable unit.
No matter which computer you end up using, make sure that you have support using it. That means, you must ensure that (1) there are a lot of stores selling products for it; (2) enough of your friends and associates have similar models so that you can ask them questions; (3) the company you buy from is not going to leave you hanging without customer support.; and (4) enough people in the world are using the machine to make it “important” and guarantee continued support. Put simply, make sure your computer will be compatible with the world. As of this writing, the only two computer systems that I feel can really fit the bill, especially for students, are the Macintosh computers, and the IBM PC (or compatible) machines. In fact, all things considered, I would recommend a Macintosh unit for its superior ease-of-use. The Mac has the ability to not only use disks from the IBM PC and the Apple II computer, but it can even run both of their programs (with the proper software). Actually, the Amiga and the Atari ST machines can run both Mac and IBM PC programs as well, but the user-interface on the Macintosh is so much nicer, and the support in the other areas so much better, that I would have to recommend it instead of the other contenders. An exception can be made, however, for the Amiga computer. That is a unit superior to all other personal machines in the realm of video processing. If you are involved in commercial video production, you should seriously consider the Amiga. However, all things considered, a Macintosh system would best serve the needs of most people.
AUTHOR’s UPDATE: I now work for a large computer hardware corporation and can no longer objectively comment on operating system choice. However, I am happy to report that the end-user has even more choice than ever before, especially now that Apple has announced that it is highly likely that the MacOS will be released to run on Intel architecture. Meaning you can run Macintosh on your PC instead of being stuck with Windows95.
A second criteria to consider is whether or not you want a portable laptop computer, or a desktop computer. As a general rule, you will pay much more for a laptop compared to a desktop computer with similar capability. The ease of transportability of a laptop is seductive, but I would suggest that as a general rule, you will find that the times when you are really doing the most productive work will be at home, regardless of the type of computer you use. Your home is your HQ, after all! Therefore, unless you plan on doing a lot of work while traveling, or setting up your laptop computer during a lecture in order to type in notes – as opposed to writing them by hand – a desktop computer system will offer you more power, for less money. Laptops tend also to suffer from the limitations of battery life. A rule of thumb is that most laptops batteries only provide for a couple of hours of operating time before they need to be recharged. Carrying several batteries will soon become a burden. Laptops are relatively fragile. You expose your computer to many risks by carrying it around. Portable computers are also rather heavy, and can weigh in at seven to fifteen pounds apiece. On the other hand, if can afford the best of of both words, there is the Macintosh Duo, a laptop computer that can attach to a docking station at home and essentially transform itself into a desktop computer with the full complement of desktop power options. At the time of this writing, it is the most flexible and powerful model that money can buy.
If you are planning on buying a laptop in order to take notes during a lecture, be advised that you will probably still have to draw out diagrams by hand, on separate pieces of paper, and unless your typing skills are relative competent, you will not be able to keep up with the lecture speed. A laptop, however, is a valuable tool for increasing productivity when you are “on the road” if it is used properly and if its limitations are acknowledged.
Now, before you spend any money on anything else other than the basic computer system, be sure you get a modem. I will teach you how to use a modem properly in the next chapter, but for the time being, just know that a modem allows your computer to “talk” to other computers over a regular telephone line. In my opinion, the modem is the most important piece of computer equipment you can have. If I could only have one item out of my entire collection of devices, I would take the modem. I would trade all my hard-disks, colour screens, and even my laser printer, for the use of a modem. A computer without a modem would be like a television and VCR that could only play videocassettes, and cannot receive normal broadcasts.
When shopping for a modem, get the fastest modem you can afford. The maximum speed right now is 14.4 kilobits per second (kpbs). [UPDATE: For 1997 it is 28.8 kbps and 56 kbps is coming]. Ignore the technical considerations for now. A general rule to follow is that anything with 9600 bits per second (9600 bps) or higher is considered fast. Anything lower than 9600 bps is relatively slow. Ask your computer salesperson for this information. You would do nicely to bring a computer enthusiast friend along on the day of the purchase.
I don’t want to confuse you with too much technical jargon, but let me say that there are ways of increasing the speed of a modem by data compression, to squeeze the data into a smaller size before sending it. The addition of data compression options in a modem may allow the modem to be rated at a higher speed. For example, a 2400 bps modem with data-compression might be marketed as a 9600 bps modem. Make sure the “raw” data speed of the modem is being considered, and not the “effective” or “enhanced” data speed. There’s a big difference between real strawberries, and artificial strawberry flavours. Finally, most modems nowadays offer fax capability. If you can afford it, get the fax option. You will find a lot of uses for it over time, and the quality of a computer fax transmission is superior to that of a regular fax machine. It is, however, not recommended as a complete replacement for having a real standalone fax unit.
When you have gotten the modem stuff sorted out, throw in a terminal program. This is a program that lets your computer, and you, utilize the modem. A computer cannot use a modem unless it knows how. But don’t buy the terminal program, unless you really enjoy spending money. Most commercial terminal programs are quite expensive. Ask your computer friends, or the storeperson, or a local computer hobby group, to copy a shareware or freeware terminal program for you. These are usually comparable to commercial terminal programs and often times are superior. Freeware is, obviously, free. Shareware may require you pay the author of the program a nominal sum, usually about $20.
Finally, get a hard disk. Forty megabytes (40 MB) is usually adequate; less than that is pushing it; more than that is sometimes wasteful. You will also need a floppy disk drive. Ensure the floppy drive is compatible with the High-Density format, since that is the industry standard. The final peripheral you need is a printer. With regards to that item, if you can afford it, buy a laser printer. A model adequate for most people’s needs would cost about $1200 (for 1993 pricing, that is). However, if you’re spending more than $2000 for a laser printer, you may be paying too much or you may be getting more laser printer than you really need. If you cannot afford laser, the next best option is an inkjet printer. These print at almost the same quality as laser printers, but are much slower, and the ink tends to run if you get the paper wet. If you don’t mind the lack of speed, inkjet printers offer laser-quality at astonishingly low prices. A generic inkjet printer would run around $500. The remaining printer type, the dot-matrix printer, is all but obsolete and should be avoided. On the other hand, if you cannot afford a printer at this time, there are alternatives. You can print either from a friend’s printer, provided his machine is compatible with your computer, or bring your disks to the hundreds of service bureaus around the country that offer laser printing. In Toronto, for example, a lot of Kinko’s service outlets offer Macintosh laser printing with a per-page pricing plan.
Barring all of the above printing options, and if you have a modem with fax capability, you can use any fax machine as a makeshift printer. Simply fax your documents to the machine. The resulting printout of thermal paper will have to be photocopied before it is presentable for handing in as assignments. However, the quality of the fax printout will be superior to many dot-matrix printers, and this method is useful in emergency situations. A friend of mine who found that his printer was damaged did exactly this, and was able to make a deadline and hand in an assignment on time.
One of the most important things you should get when you have compiled your computer system, is a surge protector. These are multiple electrical outlet “bars” which filter the electricity from your wall socket before letting it go into your computer and the other devices. This is a very important part of your whole system, because unprotected components are susceptible to irreparable damage from fluctuations in the electrical current. Some surge protectors even include protection for the modem’s telephone line, and this is a feature that should be available on yours. A final note on this is that during a lightning storm, it is best to refrain from using your computer because of the higher possibility of sudden and destructive electrical surges.
Floppy Disks
Their Care and Feeding
Most of the time, you will depend entirely on your hard disk. It’s faster and has a larger capacity than a floppy disk. However, for backup purposes and to transport files, you will still require the use of floppy disks. (Floppy disks are named such – even though 3.5″ disks are hardly “floppy” – because of a carryover from the earlier days of personal computers. Back then, the 5.25″ disks were, indeed, “floppy.” They were also called “flexible disks.” – I, of course, flexed one too many of them!). You must always, always backup your data. I cannot stress this point enough. You don’t need any fancy backup or “archival” programs. You just have to remember to copy your files onto floppy disks. Make several copies. I recommend four copies on four different disks (three floppies, one hard disk). Some may consider this overkill, but maxok works here too. I’ve had backups, and even backups of backups, fail me, so I take no chances for important stuff. If all you do is save the latest version of your files onto your main hard disk, and then copy those same files onto your floppies, you will ensure a reasonable margin of safety. During the writing of this book, I saved copies in no less than seven locations (my main hard disk, two removable SyQuest hard disk cartridges, and four HD disks). [UPDATE: For 1997 I recommend the Iomega Zip or Jaz disks].
In fact, it was nearly too much of a coincidence that, while working on this chapter, my entire computer system failed on me. Although I had taken considerable precautions in the end the only reason why you are reading this book was because I backed-up my files. This incident demonstrates that you can never be certain just how reliable your hardware will be, and the only way to be sure that your work will not have been in vain is to backup, with as many copies as you can tolerate making. This golden rule of computing should not be learned the hard way.
Now, while we’re on the subject of floppy disks, be sure to buy top-quality floppy disks. Don’t try “el-cheapo” disks at bargain prices. In other words, don’t buy “no-name” brands. However, some computer supply stores are able to match no-name prices with their name-brands. For example, I recently purchased Polaroid HD disks for less than $10 a box. Always take advantage of these bargains, and steer clear of inferior disks. Over the past one and a half decades of computer experience, I have experienced total disk failure with just too many of these no-name disks. Brands of good quality disks include: Dysan, Polaroid, 3M, Sony, Kao, and Verbatim. Using disks of lower quality, you might get by with up to 70% of the disks you buy, but the remaining 30% will either fail to initialize outright, or are timebombs waiting to fail you sometime “real soon now.” If you forget which disks are the ones that were totally OK, and which ones you had trouble with before – but seem fine now – then you might record an important termpaper onto the wrong disk, and find that you computer refuses to read it on the day the paper is due. The savings in disk cost are just not worth it. After all, how much money do you need to save, to justify the cost of a lost assignment?
Some computer users advocate buying single-sided (SS) disks and formatting them as double-sided (DS) disks. This practice is potentially dangerous. DS disks were certified on both sides. SS disks failed certification on one side, or were not certified at all. You are playing roulette with this practice, even though there are very few SS disks that do not work as DS disks. Again, with the low prices of disks these days, you should not be trying to save money with these gimmicky tricks. Using SS disks as DS disks, and non-HD disks as HD disks, by punching an extra hole in the disk, were methods invented during the 1980’s when disk prices were astronomical. Nowadays, not only are disk prices very reasonable, but you would be hard-pressed to find single-sided disks – they’re all but virtually extinct now. As for HD disks, their magnetic surfaces are specially prepared for use with the high-density drive’s read/write heads. DS disks have too unrefined a surface to work properly with an HD drive. Don’t be fooled into buying a “disk hole-puncher” and think you can convert DS disks into HD disks.
Unless they come pre-formatted, initialize all your disks when you bring them home . That way, you have a constant supply of formatted blank disks ready to be used. Not only is it an inconvenience to format a disk halfway into your work, but some programs don’t have a formatting function, and won’t let you quit it, in order to go back to the main operating system for formatting, without losing your work.
Support
The most immediately available, and usually best, form of support for your computing comes from your friends and associates who have the same type of computer as you do. They are more often than not more understanding of any questions that you may have, and can offer more time and effort than a more commercial source. Perhaps there is a “computer-whiz” that you know personally, or can locate through a friend of a friend, and these computer enthusiasts really do know their material. At any given moment in time, it is highly likely that a “nerd” is saving humanity from utter destruction, somewhere in the world. It is to your best interests that you either establish rapport with one of them, or become one yourself.
Barring the expert advice of a computer hobbyist, your next source of support comes from the store you purchased your computer from. It is perhaps unfortunate that although the people there had been more than efficient in selling you the machine, they may not be as adept in solving a technical problem. In such cases, you should try other stores which carry your computer model. Be advised, however, that whichever store you receive your help from, it is quite possible that they have an inherent bias towards convincing you that you need to buy a certain product from them to alleviate your troubles. In such cases, be sure to ask the salesperson specifically whether or not he or she can absolutely guarantee that your problem will be fixed through the use of those products. Unless they swear on their dog Rover’s grave, I would seek a second opinion. Opinions – whether second, third, or of the order infinity – are the very essence of electronic Bulletin Board Systems, or BBSs. These are computer systems that have been devoted specifically for the purposes of allowing a lot of people to share information by “posting” messages digitally, analogous to leaving bits of paper on a corkboard. BBSs are accessed with your trusty modem, and they are usually free of any service charges. You see, BBSs are often run by the same “nerds” that have been saving civilization as you know it from crumbling, and are computer systems that have been “dedicated” for public use much in the same way that you offer the temporary use of your house for a party. You will be able to find telephone numbers for these systems from a local computer newszine, or by word of mouth. There is more information on utilizing BBSs in the next chapter.
Your final avenue for knowledge about computers will come from books and magazines. The latter is the more effective of the two, simply because of the frequency of publication. Because the world of high-technology changes so rapidly, the material contained in books are very often obsolete by the time anyone actually sits down to read it. This is especially true for books that teach you how to use certain programs. Because manufacturers may produce several new versions of their programs in the span of just one year, you must keep up with the Joneses through more current periodicals, and regard the advice of books with a certain degree of skepticism. The most up-to-date information, of course, will be found in the BBSs which are frequented by a myriad of computer users who have a comparable myriad of information sources. Very often, on the BBSs, you will learn of products that are not even on the shelves yet, or hidden features of programs that were not mentioned in the documentation.
To summarize, you should seek help or advice first from your friends and associates, then your computer store. However, it is best to leave a few messages on BBS systems and see what the 16-year old experts say. Their opinions and suggestions are usually the most sound out of the above sources of help, although it may take several days before you get an appropriate response. Finally, you should make it a habit to read at least one computer magazine each month to keep abreast of everything. Otherwise, you have no one to blame but yourself for not “getting with the programme.” [UPDATE: For 1997 there is the world-wide INTERNET and you probably know all about that already.] You have probably realised by now that there is a lot of power available to you via the computer, perhaps more than you’ve ever realised before. But there is yet more to come. Let us examine the ways in which you interact with the world, the way you handle your…
