- Feb 15, 2000
- 20,551
- 2
- 81
I was working on a system and I got to thinking about how working on computers have changed. And realized that there are a lot of things that the average user has no clue about that we don't have to deal with these days. And that being a really good thing.
My list:
IRQs, addresses, and resource conflicts. Even in the PNP days this was a pain in the rear.
Master/slave jumpers on HDs. A minor thing that won't be missed at all.
Five pages of jumper settings. Motherboards automatically know what multiplier to apply, and what voltage. If you want to override it, you have a whole list of voltages in itty bitty increments and can change the voltage on damned near everything. Today "the jumper" just clears CMOS. And that's pretty much it.
Dialup modems. Okay, this one's not dead, but out of mainstream. Getting the modem/com port/DNS settings all setup and working was the hardest part of getting on the internet. Plugging in a USB or ethernet cable is so much easier. Just clicking on a thing and telling it to connect to the wireless even forgoes that step.
While talking about networking, NICs. Pretty much all MBs have them on board and they're good eliminating the need for them in almost all cases.
Piss-poor onboard audio. Yes, dedicated sound cards are still blowing onboard audio out of the water. But these days onboard audio is actually decent and in many cases pretty good.
SCSI for reliable burning and ripping. Yes, I blew hundreds of bucks on SCSI cards and drives, dealt with termination and addresses. All that sort of thing. I ended up giving it all away because my $30 SATA drive basically kicked it's ass in every conceivable way. SCSI still has it's place, but home PCs isn't it anymore.
What are your things that you won't shed a tear for?
My list:
IRQs, addresses, and resource conflicts. Even in the PNP days this was a pain in the rear.
Master/slave jumpers on HDs. A minor thing that won't be missed at all.
Five pages of jumper settings. Motherboards automatically know what multiplier to apply, and what voltage. If you want to override it, you have a whole list of voltages in itty bitty increments and can change the voltage on damned near everything. Today "the jumper" just clears CMOS. And that's pretty much it.
Dialup modems. Okay, this one's not dead, but out of mainstream. Getting the modem/com port/DNS settings all setup and working was the hardest part of getting on the internet. Plugging in a USB or ethernet cable is so much easier. Just clicking on a thing and telling it to connect to the wireless even forgoes that step.
While talking about networking, NICs. Pretty much all MBs have them on board and they're good eliminating the need for them in almost all cases.
Piss-poor onboard audio. Yes, dedicated sound cards are still blowing onboard audio out of the water. But these days onboard audio is actually decent and in many cases pretty good.
SCSI for reliable burning and ripping. Yes, I blew hundreds of bucks on SCSI cards and drives, dealt with termination and addresses. All that sort of thing. I ended up giving it all away because my $30 SATA drive basically kicked it's ass in every conceivable way. SCSI still has it's place, but home PCs isn't it anymore.
What are your things that you won't shed a tear for?
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