Why do people have so much pride in "building" a computer ?

[hans007]

back in the 80s it was a lot harder to build a computer as there were like a ton of jumpers to set, and tons of software to configure. lots of stuff could go wrong. its a lot easier now, just snap everything togetehr and load XP. plug and play and you are done. i learned how to build like in the late 80s from my dad when i was like 9 years old. computers by then were in the early 486 stage and it was a pain to setup but still not that hard. back in the really early days when everything came on its own card, that was far worse. with a floppy card, mfm card, i/o card, modem, etc. memory expansion cards. and things never plug and played and you had to have all the wierd settings on the drives to punch in. but it still was doable given a LOT of time.


that not withstanding there are certain things people can learn how to do just by working hard at it and being into it. being an auto mechanic requires training and knowledge but you dont have to be brilliant you just have to be interested in cars. besides if cars got progressively easier to use like computers it would be easy. fixing computers in the mid80s was more like fixing cars is today.

another job i think that anyone with enough hard work and training can do is be a doctor. not necesarily a surgeon but like just a normal doctor who does check ups and eye exams. so basically any non surgical family practician type. a non specialist. really its just years and years of gathering knowlegde and reading books. but you have to want to do it. so i don tthink you have to be exactly brilliant to be a doctor either, its just thats what you wanted to do, and as long as you arent a moron you should be able to do it pretty well. some may be offended at my comparing a doctor to an auto mechanic, but i think really its fairly close to the same thing. The only thing the doctor has is the possibility that someone could die if they screw up, but thats really just a question of precision and having the knowledge. not the same as being smart, but having the knowledge.

some things i do think you need to be pretty smart to do are like things that require a lot of creativity like engineering , or being a lawyer. id unno thats just my opinion . lots of other jobs, are all just a matter of working hard to become it and in the doctor case very very freaking hard , but no rocket science.

 

[GermyBoy]

<< Well, lots of things:

1. I know exactly what I've got in there.
2. The fact that my computer is unique and in no way similar to any other computer.
3. Knowing that everything has been put together correctly, tightly, and securely.
4. Knowing that there are no proprietary parts that will be hell to upgrade or replace.
5. Not having to pay extra for tons of preloaded shovelware crap I will never use (like Windows, MS Office, their branded IE, spyware, crappy image editing tools, and whatever else they decide I need)
6. Confusing the hell out of people when they ask "what kind of computer do you have?"
7. Being able to use an AMD processor. >>



Additions:

Buying what you want in terms of which will fail w/in warranty (ie no OEM procs if you're going to overclock, etc) and knowing what your warranty is immediately without having to call some weenie company.

Also, you can put together the best rig for whatever you want for cheaper, and you don't get cheap extras like printers or scanners to "sway" your decision. You can get a full system that does what YOU want for YOUR budget.

 

[microAmp]

<< I'd be damn proud if I'd made this.
>>



That's pretty cool!

 

[skace]

Man, this thread annoys me. I don't know why I should be annoyed, maybe it is because it is also hot outside and I'm sweating my ass off, but for whatever reason I am.

First off, let me say I am not elite or anything of the such about my ability to build a computer. I also think I have A LOT to learn about the skill. I will probably never get to the point where I know everything about a computer and how all the parts work, nor do I ever have the need for that quantity of knowledge. Knowing this, I can't believe some of the posts in this thread trying to talk down a profession and make it into something like tieing their shoes.

The logic here is that since there are manuals on computers and the components only fit in 1 spot (yea right), that you can assemble the entire thing and it will work no sweat. Well by that logic, there are books on every single skill known to man, all these skills have components, anyone who reads these books and spends time working with these components can figure them out, therefor all these things arn't really skills since anyone can do them and nobody should be proud of them. To my untrained and unskilled eyes it would seem this logic is flawed.

Now, since you think computers are so easy and average. How about I dump a raid array on your desk and you do it. Better yet how about I toss all these unassembled pizza boxes on your desk and you setup the entire cluster? Now how about you setup this logic analyzer? What? You didn't read these instructions on the back of an AMD cpu box? Boohoo, better start reading. I've got a couple VAX terminals and AS400 mainframes you can work with also. I bet you won't even be able to setup the hardware and even if you do, what the fvck does that get you. Hardware doesn't do jack without the software to back it up. When you mention assembly, you mention software as well, whether you mean to or not. Because what is a computer without software? It is a paperweight. No one will ever ask you to assemble a 400 dollar or a 50,000 dollar paperweight. You have to be able to put the computer together, get all the parts working together without conflict for dependable periods of time, and then make sure all the software works as it should. Then you have a working, fully assembled computer.

See, it is funny because some people made computer references to cars and they were quickly thrown out because there are more car parts and varying models. Well if you look beyond your Intel/AMD cpu then you will also realize there are millions of computer parts out there. Some far less documented then how to mount a socket370 chipset. When you bring up a thread about the generalized term of "computer", realize how large a category you have just entered and then watch before you step on feet.

Let's say we only focused on 1 platform, an Intel Pentium 4 Northwood. Someone could infact read about where to place the CPU, the ram, the psu, etc. But even if they understood these things, I would bet firsthand that without any extra help their first computer would be a failure, they would likely break a few components and probably shorten the life of many others. Even overlooking these things, would they understand what a Front Side Bus is? Would they understand what the PCI slot really is or what is going on in the BIOS? Sure they don't need to know these things when they push the ram in, but when the thing doesn't turn on and they need to find out why they may need to know a little more. Soon we are talking about weeks of learning until they fully understand what each component is doing and where things could possibly go wrong / limitations of devices. Most people can show an example where they showed someone else how to build a computer, but the question is, how much of the process did they actually do for that person and how many times does that person come back to them for more help? If you showed someone how to assemble a computer and they never had help past that point, they would be screwed with all the troubleshooting. Take math for instance, I can show anyone in 12 minutes how to go from 1 equation to the answer and give them the formula to get to the answer in similar problems. But that formula isn't really teaching them math, because they will hit walls down the road due to their lack of knowledge of what that formula is really doing and how they actually got to the final answer. This is where a lot of people end up getting poor grades in math classes. Not because it is hard to understand, but to go beyond the basic formulas is to require time, effort, and the will to learn on the participant (much like building a computer).

In conclusion, I'd like to draw some parallels in your nicely oversimplified little world. Anything a human did before us can be done by any human today (barring mental and physical disabilities) given the time, effort, and will to learn on that persons part. The most precious thing in life is time as it is a limited quantity. Knowing this, most people pay money for other people skilled in other professions to do things for them, with the end result of saving time. If time was not a limited quantity, I could go on to be a lawyer, rocket scientist, c programmer and doctor. But for now I will settle with the thing I've been doing since the age of 5, building and troubleshooting computers. Since my end goal is to make enough money and get out of work as soon as possible. As long as people are time limited and require the service I provide, this goal should be very attainable.

 

[Red Dawn]

skace, take a valium

 

[Instagib]

You get what you want for cheaper than any pc vendor can offer

 

[Goosemaster]

<< When you bring up a thread about the generalized term of "computer", realize how large a category you have just entered and then watch before you step on feet. >>



I have never heard it put so well...

 

[busmaster11]

Deftron - most of us here can spec out and build solid high performance PCs with our eyes closed. I'm sure when you first figure that out you were(or will be) pretty proud of yourself. Yea right now we don't really care that we can, and I wouldn't say we have *pride* in and of itself, except for you newbie types...

I personally enjoy saving money and knowing exactly whay goes in my machine and what doesn't... But as far as pride in concerned, I have about the same amount of pride in that as I do in being able to tie my laces...

 

[stonecold3169]

If you think that 99% of the population can build a comp, you are wrong. I work at an Officemax, and a good probably 33% of all cd-rw drives come back because the person who purchased it could not get it installed right/work with certain software/couldn't figure out a feature. Keep in mind this is just a cd-rw drive, a basic ide device that requires little to no knowledge of acronyms or other "computer jargon".

99% of the population could care less what an "AGP" slot is or what it's used for. They want to play Wolfenstein and the little manual dingy said they needed a new-fangled 3-d accellerator to do it. People here tend to take advantage that they know what a PCI slot is, what it stands for, why it stands for that, safe operating FSB/voltages for them, how to format a hdd, how to manually config a NIC or router, how to ping, what anti-aliasing is, order to install drivers for best/optimum/workable conditions, how to set up an array, how to diagnose heat problems, how to find if you have an underpowered PSU, and I could go on forever.

In those above five lines of text, I pulled out random things that are done through software that the average person in the population can't do because they will not take the time to learn protocals and how they are used and implimented. On the other hand, I'm 19, never taken a computer hardware course(CS major), and have built multiple systems with no problem. Does this mean I am untalented? No, this means I am dedicated to computers, and have taken the effort upon myself to learn about them.

Look in the general hardware forum and look at the senior/diamond members in there asking questions trying to get their system working. The manual does NOT always work... like when configuring a northwood on a mobo that requires the first boot to have a jumper tripped and then configured and then set back... and what happens if you get a bad part? You've put it together, how do you figure out what is wrong? Would the average person know that to get a SB Live! card working on an Apollo 133 chipset that they would have to turn off 4x AGP until it was configured and then it would be safe to turn it back on? No... and these are all topics regarding desktop systems, not even delving into complicated servers or dealing with SCSI, or the differences in RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1... it goes on and on...