Where does it end?
Joined: 08-Jun-2004
alexdresko wrote:
Dang, it's been quiet around here lately. Anyway, I was curious if anyone else here finds themselves using 2 or more computers on a daily basis just to get all of your work done. I'm using four at the moment. One is compressing videos for a work project. Another is burning DVDs for the same project. I have my main computer (dual monitors of course) and my laptop is always next to it in the event that I need to reboot or something (I connect to the other two via RDC)... That's multitasking!
Dual monitors mmm 
I still use a single 19" CRT IIYama monitor (VMP 454, love it). I use a server (dual proc p3-933) for sqlserver/subversion/bugtracker etc. and a single p3-933 for testing on oracle (dual boot with 9i and 10g). Oh and of course I develop on my dell xeon 3GHz monster
Lately I've tried to use Virtual PC, for example when testing Beta1 for vs.net 2005 or testing installer issues. Though I didn't like it very much, it was slower than expected. So I don't think my testbox for oracle will go away, indeed... where does it end... with team system around the corner 
(not that I'll buy that but still)
Heh, nice set up alex and Frans, hmmm, dual processors .
I have a wireless P4 3.2Ghz 17 inch Toshiba Laptop [hmmm, I wouldn't call it a laptop, more like a portable desktop] with 1.5GB of memory. I use this for all of my development and connect to the other system through secure wireless which is brilliant, can even go outside and sit in the sun [sun; what's that in the UK I hear you ask].
I also have a P4 2.4Ghz with 2GB RAM and 360GB of disk capacity for my virtual environment. I run Virtual Server 2005 with images for 98, linux and 3 for XP; I use these for testing. All of these are viewed with my 22 inch monitor running at 1600x1200, yumm 
Geoff
Joined: 08-Jun-2004
davisg wrote:
Heh, nice set up alex and Frans, hmmm, dual processors
I have a wireless P4 3.2Ghz 17 inch Toshiba Laptop [hmmm, I wouldn't call it a laptop, more like a portable desktop] with 1.5GB of memory. I use this for all of my development and connect to the other system through secure wireless which is brilliant, can even go outside and sit in the sun [sun; what's that in the UK I hear you ask].
I also have a P4 2.4Ghz with 2GB RAM and 360GB of disk capacity for my virtual environment. I run Virtual Server 2005 with images for 98, linux and 3 for XP; I use these for testing. All of these are viewed with my 22 inch monitor running at 1600x1200, yumm
Geoff
Honestly Frans, you gotta try dual monitors if you haven't before. I've gotten to the point that I feel like I HAVE to use two monitors to be productive. That's why I've got duals at home AND work.
'Bout the only way I can top Davis is that I've got 1.2 terabytes of HDD at home. I've also got Pre-N wireless networks at home and work so I can go for about an 1/8th of a mile (?metric folks?) and still stream mpg2 video.
Joined: 26-Oct-2003
alexdresko wrote:
Honestly Frans, you gotta try dual monitors if you haven't before. I've gotten to the point that I feel like I HAVE to use two monitors to be productive. That's why I've got duals at home AND work.
'Bout the only way I can top Davis is that I've got 1.2 terabytes of HDD at home. I've also got Pre-N wireless networks at home and work so I can go for about an 1/8th of a mile (?metric folks?) and still stream mpg2 video.
While I can't compete with you all on stuff, I do have to say that I think a wide-aspect monitor works better for me than dualies. I use a wide aspect screen on my laptop and refuse to develop on my desktop because it "only* has a 21 inch 4:3 monitor.
And check out this deal: a 24" wide aspect Dell flat panel LCD monitor for around $1000.
Frans: Virtual PC is booty slow when doing installs, partly due to its dynamic disks functionality. There's some FAQs on-line about this. Once you get past the installs though performance is pretty snappy.
I've been experimenting with "difference disks". Basically, you create a base XP image, then you build another hard drive using difference disks that just saves differences from the base XP image. Voila! Virtual PC inheritance! I loaded up the Feb CTP drop of Visual Studio and the Feb CTP drop of the WinFX SDK within the span of an afternoon; it wasn't as slow as I thought it was going to be.
Jeff...
Joined: 26-Jun-2004
davisg wrote:
Heh, nice set up alex and Frans, hmmm, dual processors
I have a wireless P4 3.2Ghz 17 inch Toshiba Laptop [hmmm, I wouldn't call it a laptop, more like a portable desktop] with 1.5GB of memory. I use this for all of my development and connect to the other system through secure wireless which is brilliant, can even go outside and sit in the sun [sun; what's that in the UK I hear you ask].
Isn't that slow? I mean, laptops are often slow because of the slow harddisks (compared to desktops that is). I have a RAID 0 SCSI setup for my harddisks and I think it's a must if you do development, compiling and other disk torturing techniques are much faster.
alexdresko wrote:
Honestly Frans, you gotta try dual monitors if you haven't before. I've gotten to the point that I feel like I HAVE to use two monitors to be productive. That's why I've got duals at home AND work.
Well, 2 of these massive CRT's on my desktop is perhaps a bit too much , and I don't really know for sure if it will speed up my development, I don't have a lot of situations where the screen isn't wide enough (I have almost everything tucked away anyway. just solution explorer at the left and teh rest is code window). What I need is a higher screen, more lines at the same time on my window. This could be accomplished by switching from courier 9 to lucida console but vs.net has a bug with fonts other than lucida that hte carret isn't positioned correctly when you press the '.' sometimes. so I need 1600x1600!
jeffreygg wrote:
Frans: Virtual PC is booty slow when doing installs, partly due to its dynamic disks functionality. There's some FAQs on-line about this. Once you get past the installs though performance is pretty snappy.
Hmm. I know installs are slow, but I find the usage of applications under virtual pc also slow, it's slower than working on my P3-933 testbox and I do have installed the add-ons for better performance.
I've been experimenting with "difference disks". Basically, you create a base XP image, then you build another hard drive using difference disks that just saves differences from the base XP image. Voila! Virtual PC inheritance! I loaded up the Feb CTP drop of Visual Studio and the Feb CTP drop of the WinFX SDK within the span of an afternoon; it wasn't as slow as I thought it was going to be.
I use that too, pretty cool indeed 
. Is the class designer now usable? It took the class designer in beta1 sometimes 30 seconds to come up with a single diagram.
sirshannon wrote:
alexdresko wrote:
Honestly Frans, you gotta try dual monitors if you haven't before. I've gotten to the point that I feel like I HAVE to use two monitors to be productive. That's why I've got duals at home AND work.
Seriously, Frans, 2 monitors really is as great as everyone says.
Unfortunately, I was forced (kicking and screaming) back to a single monitor setup after only 2 months of dual-monitors... such a short taste of heaven...
heh Ok, but what does it give to you exactly? (just curious)?
Joined: 08-Apr-2004
Heh, theres nothing like techy hardware talk to bring a forum back to life
I've finally managed to get my Dell laptop dropped and now have a precision machine Not as fast as your kick-ass machine Otis, but a 3Ghz processor and 1 gig of ram make all the difference from a 1.6Ghx lappy with a sllllllloooooooowwwwwwww hard disk....I swear I get loads more done in the day now
So, are a lot of the people who posted to this topic self-employed? With these kind of decent PC specs, I figured most of you are self-employed, or work somewhere where they have a good IT budget Theres nothing worse that companies that give their developers crap to work on....here in the UK its quite common to get a complete crap machine (pentium III's etc) and be expected to stay quiet and work....luckilly I dont work for one any more!
Hmmmm, just noticed my Gfx card supports dual monitors.......
wayne wrote:
I am a contractor and have 3 of my own PC's plus a intel rack server of my own at home.
I hope the rack server isn't as loud as the online server we have. When I configured it here locally I had to shut it down after a few hours because the noise was just too loud
The shop that i work at is a DELL shop - everything is DELL. Every developer work on a DELL Laptop with a docking station and a 19 - 21 inch flat screen. All the servers are DELL even the mouse and keyboards. But i can tell yah - i am NOT a DELL fan - the are VERY overpriced and not any better that a normal chinese takaway pc.
I disagree. (ok, I can't say anything about their home pc's). When I look at the workstation I work with and especially the hardware internally, it's very well done, and the hardware is optimized to the max, everything fits etc. Also our online server, it's a simple P3-1.1gz 1U box but because of the special motherboard, the extra buses they've added, makes the server perform way faster than the dual proc server we have here based on a cur-dls board.
Joined: 08-Jun-2004
Joined: 08-Apr-2004
Joined: 26-Oct-2003
Joined: 08-Jun-2004
Otis wrote:
wayne wrote:
I am a contractor and have 3 of my own PC's plus a intel rack server of my own at home.
I hope the rack server isn't as loud as the online server we have. When I configured it here locally I had to shut it down after a few hours because the noise was just too loud
Loud? Ha! it sounds like a Boeing - especially when you switch it on - VROOOOOOOOOM!!!!!! My wife hates it. - She can't sleep at night. he, he
Luckily the server is only at my place for a short while...It usually sits at the ISP but i am configuring at the momment.
Otis wrote:
The shop that i work at is a DELL shop - everything is DELL. Every developer work on a DELL Laptop with a docking station and a 19 - 21 inch flat screen. All the servers are DELL even the mouse and keyboards. But i can tell yah - i am NOT a DELL fan - the are VERY overpriced and not any better that a normal chinese takaway pc.
I disagree. (ok, I can't say anything about their home pc's). When I look at the workstation I work with and especially the hardware internally, it's very well done, and the hardware is optimized to the max, everything fits etc. Also our online server, it's a simple P3-1.1gz 1U box but because of the special motherboard, the extra buses they've added, makes the server perform way faster than the dual proc server we have here based on a cur-dls board.
My problem with the DELL's are: During the last year the following things have happended to the DELL machines in the shop where i work:
- Hard drive crashed (Propably acceptable)
- Laptop power adapter exploded (went BANG!)
- DVD rom causes Laptop not being able to boot. (Take DVD ROM out works perfectly)
- Server motherboard went funny - just shutdown by itself.
- 1GB Ram chip of Server packed up.
Now these things might be normal...maybe....But the problem is it takes 2-3 weeks to receive new parts for DELL machines.
Now lets talk about prices. I can buy a brand new desktop PC (custom build) for R 4 500. DELL machines go for R 20 000. Top of the range Laptop go for R 10 000 - R 15 000 but DELL laptops go for R 25 000 - R 30 000. That is why i think they are over priced. The Intel rack server that i own set me back R40 000. How much will a DELL server be?
I have a new Dell 2x2.8 workstation that replaced my existing 2x800 which lasted 4 years (!!!). I went from dual 17-inch monitors to dual 19-inch. Awesome.
I tried out dual monitors for about 3 months, but found that VS.Net 2003 was not realy made to work over dual montors - I would usually have my editor on the left and my solution explorer, object inspector and test app on the right hand window...But switch of the PC and and start .NET and all my settings would be gone.
The secret to using dual monitors is to treat them as 2 separate monitors most of the time. Don't blow up an app across both. Of course, once in a while that is handy. But usually you only want to maximize on one monitor.
So with Visual Studio, maximize on your left monitor and debug the app on your right.
Oh sorry, you're from South Africa, so switch that around, like you do with cars
Joined: 26-Oct-2003
JimFoye wrote:
I have a new Dell 2x2.8 workstation that replaced my existing 2x800 which lasted 4 years (!!!). I went from dual 17-inch monitors to dual 19-inch. Awesome.
I tried out dual monitors for about 3 months, but found that VS.Net 2003 was not realy made to work over dual montors - I would usually have my editor on the left and my solution explorer, object inspector and test app on the right hand window...But switch of the PC and and start .NET and all my settings would be gone.
The secret to using dual monitors is to treat them as 2 separate monitors most of the time. Don't blow up an app across both. Of course, once in a while that is handy. But usually you only want to maximize on one monitor.
So with Visual Studio, maximize on your left monitor and debug the app on your right.
Oh sorry, you're from South Africa, so switch that around, like you do with cars
Just for interest sake - How many countries drive on the right hand side of the road? 
Joined: 08-Jun-2004
alexdresko wrote:
My 3.2Ghz 512RAM laptop is still crawling on a 5400RPMer.. I'd LOVE a 100GB 7200RPM HDD... I hear is a pretty big difference in the scheme of things.
One of my fellow programmers here got a Hitache (Hope i spelled it right) that runs at 7500 RPM for his DELL laptop - but its operating tempreture is 70 - 80 degrees celcius. - Little bit high messa thinks.
What happended to the idea of VR (Virtual reality)? I think it would work better if each programmer wore goggels with 360 degree viewable area of his desktop. - Then there would be no need for dual monitors.
Joined: 07-Jan-2004
wayne wrote:
JimFoye wrote:
I have a new Dell 2x2.8 workstation that replaced my existing 2x800 which lasted 4 years (!!!). I went from dual 17-inch monitors to dual 19-inch. Awesome.
I tried out dual monitors for about 3 months, but found that VS.Net 2003 was not realy made to work over dual montors - I would usually have my editor on the left and my solution explorer, object inspector and test app on the right hand window...But switch of the PC and and start .NET and all my settings would be gone.
The secret to using dual monitors is to treat them as 2 separate monitors most of the time. Don't blow up an app across both. Of course, once in a while that is handy. But usually you only want to maximize on one monitor.
So with Visual Studio, maximize on your left monitor and debug the app on your right.
Oh sorry, you're from South Africa, so switch that around, like you do with cars
Just for interest sake - How many countries drive on the right hand side of the road?
Right side... US Canada Mexico ?
Left Side... England ?
Joined: 07-Jan-2004
wayne wrote:
alexdresko wrote:
My 3.2Ghz 512RAM laptop is still crawling on a 5400RPMer.. I'd LOVE a 100GB 7200RPM HDD... I hear is a pretty big difference in the scheme of things.
One of my fellow programmers here got a Hitache (Hope i spelled it right) that runs at 7500 RPM for his DELL laptop - but its operating tempreture is 70 - 80 degrees celcius. - Little bit high messa thinks.
What happended to the idea of VR (Virtual reality)? I think it would work better if each programmer wore goggels with 360 degree viewable area of his desktop. - Then there would be no need for dual monitors.
The last time i say VR was at a video arcade in the mall. Some sort of shoot um up game. It kept breaking down.
What i want is the computer i can talk to and it will program with the sound of my voice or mentally know what i and the customer whats ahead of time and it writes itself.....
Wait .... LLBGEN PRO 3024
