What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

[ransompendragon]

What do you do with your home computers? Movies/photos? Music? Games? Making toast?

This question is sort of directed at the guys on here with the top notch hardware and specs as shown in their sigs. In my other world my sig has my desktop hardware too but that is the world in which I play PC games so am running windows.

I was a "laptop only" computer owner until the games hobby overtook me and I "settled down" a bit. Now my household of 2 people has 2 desktops and 4 laptops (only 2 really get used). My wife also plays pc games and uses her laptop for work or playing online sudoku from the recliner. Because of the games we have Windows OS on nearly everything.

We are pretty much failures with home networking (the wireless is fine but the printer is only attached to one machine). I have an external backup drive and have made one back up of every computer once some time ago...... :P

Anyway, other than our jobs and our pc games we are not heavy into multimedia (although we each have a pretty good collection of music and audio books) or other hardware intensive activity. And we spend far more time in front of the computer than in front of the tv.

Now I am rambling, sorry. The other thing I think about is why on earth do I own three laptops and how could I possibly actually use them all? (And how can I make myself stop wanting a new one.....)

cheers,

ransom

[jyen]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Making toast! :P
Thanks for sharing... it's always nice to know there are other Kubuntuers that don't take things too seriously. After work I like to turn geek-mode off (usually), so my house isn't really high-tech (unlike my workplace).

My home machine is a high-end Sony laptop, running Lucid Lynx. For occasionally watching tv I hook the lappie up to the tv via the DVI and watch hulu. Mostly I just do some email, social networking, internet shopping...
But, I use it as my work machine on travel, so I also code and do data analysis on it, which is why I need the horsepower.

I used to play a bit of OpenArena, but the upgrade to Lucid killed that and then I found other things to do with my free time! :-) So I've had more time in the outdoors recently!
Anyway... I couldn't deal with three computers at home. My work is mostly computer oriented (and I run Karmic Koala at work), so the last thing I need at home is to spend all evening on the drat thing too. My old laptop has retired to work as a DVD player... :-X

I'm happy to say I have no desktop at home. I like being a laptop only owner. If my laptop can't handle I'll do it when I get back to the office. If it can't handle it and I shouldn't doing it in the office, then I'll find something else to do. Like get back to building bikes, or go cycling, or try to turn my jungle back into a yard...

[arochester]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

This question is sort of directed at the guys on here with the top notch hardware and specs as shown in their sigs

I don't have any "top notch hardware". I have what some would consider a pile of junk that I have built, repaired, upgraded myself.

For some reason I have the feeling that, instead of wanting to know what we do with our computers, you are saying - there are 2 of us, we have 6 computers, what can we do with them?

My advice would be to sell or give away the excess. I said this to a student and he was most indignant. He wanted advice about using his "spares" as servers. Although he didn't know how to do this, or what it might achieve.

the wireless is fine but the printer is only attached to one machine

I have a little box, that I bought on ebay, a Linksys Wireless-G Print Server. This is connected to a printer via USB in a back room (not connected to a computer). With this I can print, wirelessly, from any computer in the house. OK, it can be S-L-O-W, but it works.

And how can I make myself stop wanting a new one.....

The difference between wanting and needing. Do you want one because it is the latest, shiny, gizmo? Ask yourself "Why do I NEED it?" Why can't the ones I have fulfill that need? --- You probably don't need it!!!

[dibl]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

My desktop hardware was "top notch" when I built it 4 years ago. Today, I suppose it's pretty "middle notch". I have a new computer on my Christmas list ....

But it runs great and is still sufficient for my needs. In 2007, I used it, with Ubuntu and a "RT" kernel, for a project to record my father's collection of 78 RPM records -- about 100 of them, going back to the 1930s. Since then, my "mission critical" use is to run a genealogy database and a companion web site development tool on a Windows VM. The database is written in MS Visual FoxPro, which makes it a CPU hog, so that's the justification for my overclocked X6800 with 4GB of RAM. In conjunction with that, I use gimp a lot for sizing and enhancing of old scans, and gftp for uploading the web site.

I've also got a Toshiba NB205 netbook with sidux/KDE4 -- it provides reasonable connectivity to the office when I'm on the road (or on the patio).

[GreyGeek]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

What? You're running SIX BOTS!



Just joking....

Before I retired I did a LOT of programming on my computers. For the last two years I do mostly:

• KMyMoney for personal accounting,
• Thunderbird for Email
• FireFox for browsing on KubuntuForums, CNN, Slashdot, LinuxToday, DrudgeReport, and general
• Internet slumming around... (Lots of "Stumble")
• DigiKam for my camera snapshots and Fliker home movies.
• Skype for keeping in contact with friends and family (AND supporting the dozen or so ex Windows friends who've switched to Linux)
• SecondLife (mostly to test my video and sound systems)
• QtCreator & PostgreSQL putzing around to keep up with apps my co-workers occasionally call about.
• Tinkering around with apps that folks on this forum mention or need help with

The most essential in all of those is KMyMoney. When this two year old Sony VAIO notebook begans to give me trouble I plan to get a enTourage eDGe Netbook or an HTC Evo 4G to do my finances so that I can do it anywhere without carrying around a big notebook.

[MoonRise]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Hmmmm. I do a little of just about everything you said. Photos, Graphics, Multimedia (video and music), Programming, Gaming and OS testing. I don't consider any of my machines Top Notch though I guess the Desktop is more so than the laptop. Both handle what I do. One reason for the new laptop. The old one couldn't keep up game wise. Both my machines are primarily Kubuntu. Use the XP partition only when playing older MS games that I can't get working under WINE. Interesting thread. Like to see what others post.

[Zhao]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

The computer I have right now is an old desktop, so none of the games I would like to play can run on it. I use it to play music and videos, surf the web (YouTube, forums, reading news, googling about what comes to mind), school work, edit or see photos and documents. All of this I do it under Linux and with the power of Open Source Software because I really like it and the quality is great. If I had a gaming pc, perhaps I'd use Windows for some proprietary games that can't run on Linux, but there are many funny open source games that I can play on Linux.

I have no need for laptop computers and I don't need more than one desktop computer for myself. Also my family members also have their own computers, so if I had that much amount of computers and no use for them perhaps I'd sell them to other person. But it's entirely up to you since they are yours and there is nothing wrong with having many computers

[sixonetonoffun]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Picturing more then one garden shed out there full of svga, crt monitors and half a dozen or so doa printers.

[ransompendragon]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Hey, great replies. 8)

For variety I am using one of my little eee computers--I did buy these little things mostly for the novelty but also because way back in the day I thought laptops were supposed to be small.

The rare times I have had to travel for work they have been a huge help since I was able to pull up any document/spreadsheet we were referencing. And there have been a few other occasions where they have been really handy.

But, yes, arochester, I do wonder about having too many things I don't use.
We typically donate or give away our unused or unloved gear. And there is no doubt I have no NEED at all for anything new. (Although last night I spent an hour on newegg looking at video cards.....)

Homemade databases and genealogy, cool stuff. truly awesome on the 78's, dibl. It was great recording some of my wifes old jazz albums to mp3 by hooking up my turnable to my desktop. I even did a few cassettes, No usb required.

At work I am a SAS programmer (among other things)which we have running under Unix and Windows. I bought the personal use program but it only runs on windows. besides I access all my work stuff through Citirix both from the office and home. As I have mentioned elsewhere I get a perverse pleasure in running workstuff on a linux machine.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. Oh, GreyGeek, you really shouldn't have included that link to the eDGe. Wow.

[Detonate]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

I'm retired, so I spend a lot of time on the computer. I run two forums and three web sites. I am not a gamer, so I spend 99% of my time in Linux. I participate actively in six forums. I use the internet to keep up with current affairs in the news, mainly politics. I do a lot of research to answer questions in the forums when I can. I currently have three computers on my home network. My desktop is a huge tower with plenty of room to work inside. An EVGA P55 SLI MB, i5 processor, Geforce 9500 GPU, 4GB DDR3 memory, 750 GB storage, 24" HDMI monitor.

Probably 25% of the time my computer is being used by my grandchildren to play games. They love "ECO Buddies" which I pay for the subscriptions. They also play "Supertux" a lot, and sometimes they play "Supertuxkart", "Extreme Tux Racer" and "Abe's amazing Adventure". The younger ones use "Gcompris" and "Tux Paint" a lot.

I also use the computer to keep up with my appointments, online banking, and listen to the radio.

[Detonate]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Picturing more then one garden shed out there full of svga, crt monitors and half a dozen or so doa printers.

I have an old pickup in my back yard that does not run. The bed is currently full of old computers. I strip out the memory, disk drives, and power supplies, and keep them. In my garage I have six old crt's that still work if anybody wants them they are free to a good home. I also have 10 laptops that are stored that belong to the AARP which are used in their tax preparation program every year. I am the "Technology Coordinator" for the program. In my junk pile I have two printers and two scanners. I really need to make a trip to the landfill.

[oshunluvr]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Your neighbors must love you, Detonate!

I guess I qualify as a "top-notch" owner. My big-rig does DVD and CD processing for my home media network and all my daily uses (see GG's post).

I'm a hobbyist with a good income so I always stay near the upper end. I haven't upgraded in a while though. I'm currently browsing NewEgg and spec'ing out my next super-computer 8) but I'm too frugal to upgrade until it breaks, though. I've just installed lucid on my mostly broken, 10 year-old HP laptop (battery life currently 5 minutes) so I can take it with me on a business trip and skype with my daughter.

I'm a sometimes gamer, but can't abide windoze so I run my stuff in wine or not at all. I love FighterAce and WarCraft. I may have to change my tune because I really want to play Bad Company 2 and StarCraft II is coming soon!

[Detonate]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Your neighbors must love you, Detonate!

They do! I'm the neighborhood Mr. Fixit. I can fix computers, cars, appliances, and just about anything. I'm also the neighborhood emergency baby-sitter.

[toad]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

Hm, shame I live in the wrong neighbourhood

[14tjoyce]

Re: What do you do with your computer(s)? with bonus question!

I have a laptop (Kubutu 10.04) which I use for about everything - Media, school, internet, write my website (when i bother to keep the site active), AutoCAD, I take the thing like EVERYWHERE. Also I have two old Compaq Deskpros. One runs sidux 2009.04 and I use that as my personal file server, a webserver, and some music. The other Compaq has a bunch of opeerating systems that i just use for messing around. In my home there is also a newer Dell desktop that I hooked up to the big TV and is used as a media center. Really in my opinion, you can never have too many computers .