Techie Article for Local Magazine

[TriniXaeno]

Guys, I have been solicited to write a techie article for a local magazine.

Anyone of you interested in doing some up?

Post them here and I will submit these to the magazine.

Latest and greatest. From USB mini storage drives, ipods, mp3 players, latest video cards, laptops, the works.

The more the merrier.                    

[richjob]

LOL.  We getting credit, right?                    

[TrinireturnofGamez]

any  money involved ?  :-D

 exactly what kinda article? tips and tricks ? nu stuff ? reviews ?                    

[TriniXaeno]

no credit iymc!
no pay either, I gettin a shameless plug for the website and that's it.

we could do it under an assumed name, like TriniTechie (gay)

any better suggestions

J. Carmack?                    

[TrinireturnofGamez]

no credit... no money.....

now exactly what kinda articles?                    

[TrinireturnofGamez]

Choosing the right computer for you :
 interested in purchasing a new computer? want to save as much money as possible? here are some tips that will help you accomplish just that :
 ask yourself this question , what do i want out of it?
  IF you plan to use it to surf the net, and listen to music and type some letters , you don't need a top of the line machine, something in the 4000-5000 dollar price range will accomplish this task admirably.
  If you are going to do heavy work.. like editing photos or movies using high end software ie Photoshop , you would want something with a little more punch. Look out for a machine with a Pentium 4 or athlonXP , and at least 512mb of ram.
 If you plan to use it to play video games, [ not solitaire and hearts, warcraft III and unreal ] you should look out for a machine with either a Radeon graphics card, or a Geforce 4 Titanium, at least 256mb of ram , and an athlonXP or Pentium 4.                    

[TriniXaeno]

excellent start there trini!

That is precisely the type of article.

Aimed at the layman, to introduce him or advise him on the latest tech toys and PC purchasing considerations.

good work                    

[TrinireturnofGamez]

dammit.. wrong post..


exactly what magazine is this anyhow ?


what about using our own GATT handles? that way we won't really get credit but we will be able to say that we wrote it..                    

[!Synth]

booooorinngggggggg! when it gets more hardcore gimme a buzz                    

[!Synth]

On second thought, does the author get full credit? Maybe even a linky back to author's website?                    

[TrinireturnofGamez]

whats the sense of being hardcore when 50% of the readers won't be able to understand whats going on ?

 Gamers : upgrading for the future :
 are you a serious gamer stuck with an old system? having trouble with Farcry ? want to upgrade ASAP? here are some tips.
   If you have a fast processor eg . P4 2.4 ghz or athlon xp 2400 , and 256mb of DDR  or more, all you need is a new video card, look around for a Radeon 9600 256mb, these go for 600 TT online and around 1000 in a local store, they will keep handing out smooth frame rates well into 2006.
   If your processor is below 1.5 ghz or 1500+,  find a 2ghz+ processor compatible with your motherboard, the new games are very cpu intensive and coupled with a good video card, you will be set for a year or more.
  If you have money left over, add another 256mb of DDR to your system, make sure the ram is the same speed, and if possible, the same brand .
    Always remember, you don't need to go all out on the latest and greatest parts, never believe manufacturers specifications or the local street hype , and ALWAYS shop around .                    

[!Synth]

Depends on who your readers are doesn't it? But in the context of this thread I wasn't being serious hence the emoticon.

And 50% is giving me too little credit                    

[Defcon10]

Maybe if everyone stops thinking about themselves you all will have a good article :shkfgr:

GOOD LUCK                    

[TriniXaeno]

lol @ synth and hardcore

agreed trini, this is a local magazine and it's not a hard core audience so the material needs to be targeted at john doe computer user but at the same time retaining a technical flavour. Like many of those TechTV segments. Above average technical users explaining technical issues in as close to lay man terms as possible.

Good stuff.

Thanks for the contribution Defcon, a few more like those and we good for the year!!                    

[Waggy]

I wrote this the other day after seeing this thread  and then bugged synth to look it over. He doesn't agree with my comparisons, but  I can't let it go easily. I always imagines explaining it that way. Well this was a half @$$ed attempt and if you like it maybe i can bug synth again to help me do a better one.




                                                          TECH BABBLE
        Ever went into a store, or read a computer catalogue and you see all these numbers, but don't know what they mean? Don't worry, 60% of T&T's population are with you. Most people don't know, but all these numbers are really simple if
You look at it in a different way. Don't let technicians confuse you, and don’t let them make all the decisions for you. Let’s look at it this way. A computer deals with information and data (both are the same thing more or less). Let's say that information is gravel, and a computer is a truck. Now people use computers for different things, just like they use different trucks for different jobs. You'll see something like Pentium 4, 2.8GHz, or Athlon 2.2 GHz.That means the CPU (core, brain) of the computer will operate at a certain speed. 2.2GHz=2200 MHz. MHz means how many million times a second. So this means a 2200 MHz pentium will think, or do something 2200 million times a second. Pretty fast huh. Let's compare that to a trucks engine. More power means better.

         Now you see 256MB RAM. RAM is memory. This is how much data the computer can handle at a time 1 MB means 1 million bytes. If you're typing up a letter or a resume on a computer, 1 letter, space or symbol takes up 1 byte of that memory, so you can see how much 256 million-byte capacity can handle. Now let's compare Ram to the size of the tray in a truck. Bigger tray means more gravel, and roads fixing faster right?

        Speaking of roads, you will also see something like 400MHz FSB, or Front Side Bus, that is simply how fast the parts in your pc talks to each other. So you can compare that to the road the truck drives on. 400MHz is pretty fast and can be compared to the Uriah Butler Highway. On the other hand, 66MHz FSB will be compared to a back road with potholes.

        The Almighty hard drive. Almost always mistaken for the actual computer tower itself. Actually this can't really be compared to a truck. So let's compare it to the quarry holding all that gravel in the first place. Your hard drive holds data until you choose to erase this data. It's holds Windows itself, and anything you decide to save. So these days you'll see 40 GB hard drive most times 1 GB is 1000 million bytes. Imagine how many letters that will hold. Hard drives are merely boxes with discs inside them, and these discs have a speed. More speed means more data transfer to and from the hard drive.7200 RPM (revolutions per minute) are standard in this day and age.

        The thing the kids look at first-The Video Card. This device handles video as you guessed. You might see 64MB video card, or 64MB GeForce 4. Choosing a video card all depends on the use of the pc. This is like a mini computer dedicated to video. Like the CPU, the video card does all these math functions, but only for displaying video. So for simple stuff like writing letters, a 32MB video card is more that enough. But for things like playing video games, changing pictures, watching
DVD movies or even making little movies, a card with more power is needed, like 128MB-256MB these days.   All depends on the job for the pc.

         The sound card is something like the video card, but is dedicated to sound. It is also measured differently. The usual power today will be about 32 bit. What is a bit you say? Simply put, 8 bits add up to 1 byte. So this particular card
Will be good for just playing cd's on your pc. For having that theatre experience with 5 speakers will need around 64 bits at least. A better sound card will also mean better sound in video games.

        The other drives are pretty straightforward. DVD drive means it will play DVD movies and read DVD's. Burners will record CD's. Now for speeds. Floppy drives are standard and DO NOT buy a PC without one. 16X DVD ROM. Another
measurement on information. 1X means 125 thousand bytes a second. So it reads so much in 1 second. This is the standard for most pc's these days. On to the more confusing, the burner. 52X 24X 52X. This means read speed, rewrite speed and write speed in that order. re-writing is burning on a CD-RW, or re-writable CD. The above speed is the fastest manufacturers can offer right now.

        Modems are standard, most being at 56K (56 thousand bits per second) That is the maximum transfer speed from the Internet, and anything less is unsatisfactory in these times. An Ethernet or LAN card would be great if there's more than 1 pc in
the house. They can then be connected to share files, Internet and even a printer.

        These are the main things you'll see when shopping for computers. Do they still look like gibberish?                    

[TriniXaeno]

good one waggy!

I would have said "agp video" card, to save the people from getting stuck with an onboard video only PC. Nothing hurts more than to see one of those machines, minus an AGP port.                    

[coldstorm]

there the minor thing u ain't fix yet for the disc drives section waggy
get to it                    

[Waggy]

Will make a part two explaining all those acronyms so agp will be covered  and hopefully show them the light                    

[Defcon10]

Good job Waggy Nice format Good concept!!!!!!........ That 60% of T&T's population needs to be more like 95% I think.
There may have info on these stats somewhere.