# I'm so pathetically geeky (computer related) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799 "2003-11-12T13:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ryle\_Dup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Ryle\_Dup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryle_Dup)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/41 "2003-11-13T20:40:38Z")
Daamn, my computers are old in comparison to these new boxes you all got. Lessee… I’m on my wireless networked laptop. Compaq Presario 2800 1.4ghz ( I think) 384m SDRAM GeForce 2 MX ( I think) 30 gig 5400 RPM HD CDRW-DVD Connect to a wireless network using a 802.11b d-link airplus wireless laptop card. From the wireless I run another hub outward, and connect that hub to my cable broadband. Yay, cable is like… 1.8mbps downstream, 384kbps upstream I believe. From there it goes into 4 more computers off the main hub, 3 are the same models AMD Athlon XP 1800+ 1gig DDRAM GeForce 4400 Ti 60 gig HD 7200 RPM CD-RW/DVD and another one which is a crappy old 600 mhz 128mb Tnt2 shitbox. In my “inventory” (read: old crap) I’ve got… like 4 hard drives, couple CD-ROM drives, several floppy drives, 3 motherboards, 4 chips, endless screws and cables, 2 cases, 1 broken up case, assorted broken mice, assorted broken keyboards, several network cards, a couple 56k modems, 2 old monitors, 1 broken monitor. I have headphones all over the house, most are broken. All of em have voice attachments. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/42 "2003-11-13T20:49:49Z")
**yosemitebabe** , ditch the KVM switch and install [a remote desktop connection client](http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/DOWNLOAD/MISC/RDC.xml&secid=80&ssid=9&flgnosysreq=True)on your mac(s). You can control all your networked PCs from a window on your mac. I get some geek points for suggesting this, right? ---
**Author:** ![Wyatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Wyatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyatt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/43 "2003-11-13T22:35:45Z")
Small gray box with a wind-up key … but I Can wind it up 26 1/2 winds before it’s fully wound, I reworked the power supply to also accept input from a footpedal from an old sewing machine that gives me exercise while I surf the net, a back-lit screen with 3 separate candles, but I’m thinking of upgrading to kerosene lamps, changing candles is getting old, I custom re-worked my net-connection to be able to upgrade to a full-sized “Hi-C” can with double waxed poly-cotton blend string and I rewired a classic Remington typewriter, to avoid having to use one of them fancy curved keyboards. ---
**Author:** ![peritrochoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peritrochoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peritrochoid)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/44 "2003-11-13T23:58:05Z")
**Wyatt** , dude, will you build me one? PLEEEEEEEEEZE!! ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/45 "2003-11-13T23:58:12Z")
Wow, you people are wonderful! Love the detailed descriptions of geeky hardware! Wonderful stuff! > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by heresiarch \* > **yosemitebabe** , ditch the KVM switch and install [a remote desktop connection client](http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/DOWNLOAD/MISC/RDC.xml&secid=80&ssid=9&flgnosysreq=True)on your mac(s). You can control all your networked PCs from a window on your mac. > > I get some geek points for suggesting this, right? Yes, indeed you do! I will be definitely looking into this. Thanks so much! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/46 "2003-11-14T00:14:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by heresiarch \* > **yosemitebabe, ditch the KVM switch and install [a remote desktop connection client](http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/DOWNLOAD/MISC/RDC.xml&secid=80&ssid=9&flgnosysreq=True)on your mac(s). You can control all your networked PCs from a window on your mac.** That reminds me. We have a computer hooked up to our TV in the lounge (dorm life), to watch movies and cartoons on and listen to music. I go and sit way back on the couch with my iBook and control it from there. Best. Remote. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/47 "2003-11-14T00:24:47Z")
**Angua** sez: > [@](#): > > I can program in FORTRAN (beat that!!) I converted some FORTRAN coordinate code (lat/lon to state plane (lambert conformal conic)) to C, but I still have my wire-wrapped 8085 based computer and used to be able to do assembly and even some machine code programming (as in type in hex values). Not anymore tho ☹ Long time ago I tapped into a b/w TV and extracted the video signal and displayed it on my Apple ][ monitor. (I know use a VCR, but still have the monitor) (speaking of which I have a Sony b/w VTR also) I have a HP 122AR Vacuum tube Oscilloscope (former owner AEC/Sandia Corp) Brian retro-geek mode ---
**Author:** ![ThreeLeggedBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThreeLeggedBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThreeLeggedBob)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/48 "2003-11-14T00:58:01Z")
I still have a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 from 1984. It’s a bootable 5 1/4 " floppy. System requirements: 64K (yes, K) of memory, one disk drive, IBM color graphics card. IBM PC Jr requirements are 128K. (I was a geek before some of you were born.) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/49 "2003-11-14T05:36:19Z")
You are a geek if the following makes you laugh: There are 10 kinds of people in the world- those who understand binary, and those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/50 "2003-11-14T09:14:01Z")
You know that geeky female from one of the Wayne’s World movies (I don’t - I’m going by a report from someone else, here)? You know how her geekiness was demonstrated by (among other things) a book she was carrying? It was called ‘The Unix Programming Environment’, and it is all white, with the title and author on the front in the least interesting way possible. That book is on my shelf right now, right next to ‘The C Programming Langauge’ from the same series. Plus, I think Nintendo makes the best games. Say no _more!_ ~ Isaac PS I should say that despite all this, there are those far geekier than I, at least in regards to computer know how. I guess in that respect I’m just a geek-in-training. PPS Geek points to anyone who thinks of the words ‘say no more’ as a Python reference. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/51 "2003-11-14T10:46:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ponder Stibbons \* > \*\*Fortran? I tested out of fortran (FORmula TRANslation language) in college back in '83. How about FORTH or LISP? And I would have nothing but the geekiest of respect for anyone that could produce a useful program using APL. > > Having said all that, my fave is still C++ 😛 \*\* I use LISP on occiasion. 🙂 I do a bit of S-Lang scripting, does that count? The data processing packages I use are really obscure - CIAO, HEASoft, and IRAF. This probably won’t mean anything to anyone, but I still use AIPS. AIPS is the “Astronomical Image Processing System”, originally designed in Cambridge, and written in FORTRAN60 ( I think), for processing interferometer data. Its still written in FORTRAN, and the interface still harks back to the days when GUIs were a pipe dream. 🙂 Looking at my bookshelf, it is very very geeky - a couple of books on Unix and FORTRAN programming, a math text large enough to be a dorrstop, a book on relativity, another on analytical mechanics, an introduction to radio astronomy and one on high energy astrophysics. There is also “Analysis Fur Physiker und Ingenieure” - yup a math text in a foreign language - which I can read and understand. 😃 Do I retain my geek-girl status? PS - \*_Venus Probe_ - I think there’s a queue forming. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/52 "2003-11-14T13:00:04Z")
Only a true geek would run a free version of Linux on a 10 year old server he/she is using as a home computer 😃 ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/53 "2003-11-14T15:28:24Z")
Here’s a geek riddle (stolen from this new [t-shirt](http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/6596/)) at [thinkgeek.com](http://thinkgeek.com): How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex? Answer:57,006 In case you don’t get it:‘dead’ in hexadecimal = 57,005 in decimal ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/54 "2003-11-14T20:29:07Z")
I took the cover off my PC a long time ago, I don’t even know where it is now. So there!!! I just love the sight of ribbon cables flying in the breeze. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wyatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Wyatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyatt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/55 "2003-11-14T20:52:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peritrochoid \* > \*\ ***Wyatt** , dude, will you build me one? > > PLEEEEEEEEEZE!! \*\* Well, Ok, **Peritro** but YOU have to drink the Hi-C! I’m not doing That again! ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/56 "2003-11-14T21:45:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Angua \* > Do I retain my geek-girl status? You are a geek-goddess in my eyes. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Angua \* > PS - **Venus Probe** - I think there’s a queue forming. 😃 :eek: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Parallax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Parallax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parallax)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/57 "2003-11-14T23:52:59Z")
Is it geeky to be posting this on a wireless PDA while sitting in the bathroom supervising my daughter’s bath? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/58 "2003-11-15T00:05:21Z")
**Angua** , FORTRAN in itself is mildly geeky, but using it for astronomical image processing, now THAT’s geeky (and cool!) Brian ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/59 "2003-11-15T01:31:28Z")
Meg / Megs…? I count 'em in gigs. The small Unix boxes here have 4 gig of RAM. I was using my Palm the other day and realized it has more RAM than my first PC that had a hard drive had drive space. …does that make sense…? it’s not parsing well to me on re-read, but what I mean is my first PC that had a hard drive had a 10 meg drive and my palm has 16 meg of RAM in it. My camera has way more memory than my second, 20 MB drive. First computer had 2K (Yes, two K!) of RAM and no drives. I think _keyboards_ have bigger buffers than that now. Now? My primary box has a gig of RAM and a 120 gig drive. 2.8 GHz P4C overclocked to 3 GHz. But perhaps a truer measure of geekiness can be found in my doorbell. The outside button is an IBM Trackpoint cap. ---
**Author:** ![sezyou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@sezyou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sezyou)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799/60 "2003-11-15T07:29:59Z")
Operating System System Model Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (build 2600) No details available Processor a Main Circuit Board b 2.15 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP 128 kilobyte primary memory cache 512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: [http://www.abit.com.tw/](http://www.abit.com.tw/) NF7-S/NF7-M/NF7 (nVidia-nForce2) 1.X Bus Clock: 166 megahertz BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 07/02/2003 Drives Memory Modules c,d 123.51 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity 80.08 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space AXV CD/DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive] SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-816B SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive] SONY DVD RW DW-U14A SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive] 3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive] IC35L120 AVV207-1 SCSI Disk Device (123.52 GB) – drive 0 Had to post. Just got this one. I’m spoiled rotten. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-pathetically-geeky-computer-related/212799.md?page=4)