Re: Questions re my new used xps-r 800
- From: ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)
- Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:04:46 GMT
a) The power supply in a Dimension XPS800R is rated at 200w. Although the power
connector LOOKS like a standard ATX connector, it is NOT. I would not consider
changing out the power supply for one of higher wattage.
b) Dell has very respectable documentation for the computer on its web site. It
might be a good idea to add Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to your system,
to access the Dell web site and thousands of other web sites now built around
Java.
c) Upgrade the BIOS to the latest one available from Dell, but the BIOS is
limited to a 127GB max, like most computers of its time. An add-in hard drive
controller will raise this limit, should you decide to get a very large hard
drive.
d) USB 2.0 support for Windows 98 comes along with most of the decent USB cards.
Don't buy one unless it does have USB 2.0 drivers for Windows 98.
e) CD-RW technology has stabilized a great deal in the last couple of years. If
you use a modern CD-RW drive (Sony, Liteon, Hitachi/Goldstar, Plextor are
reliable brands) and decent CD burning software (CDBurnerXPPro is a fine FREE
CD-burning package), most any generic CD-R write-once media will work just fine.
I do not have great faith in CD-RW write-many media. DVD-RW technology is just
about where CD-RW was two or three years ago. To label DVD-RW as flaky is not
unreasonable.
f) Your XPS800R has a free drive bay that could handle hard drive caddies, but
that would limit you to using the hard drives on only your own computer. USB
hard drives are now much more common and easy to use, so if data interchange
with other computers is a major consideration, USB is the way to go. Or, just
burn CDs... Ben Myers
On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 03:20:36 +0000 (UTC), Ed Norton
<Ed.Norton.fictitious@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>I recently acquired a dell xps T800r loaded with win98SE.
>
>No docs (got this almost free).
>
>Can anyone help with a few questions:
>
>a) no label on power supply that is visible except the ink
>Foxconn QC 08-b. Anyone know the wattage of this so I don't have
>to remove it to see if the remaining side has a label?
>
>b) any place I can get manual for this machine. Dell uses
>javascript, which I don't, so if I do use it can I d/l this from
>dell?
>
>c) which bios upgrade is best for this machine? from my reading
>drives over 127GB are not supported by any bios upgrade.
>
>machine has one open pci slot. rest are taken by network card,
>video, modem & sound.
>
>for maximum data portability and transferability as well as easy
>backups would it be better to:
>
>a) add a usb 2.0 port-will the card, generally speaking,require
>install win98 disks, which I presently do not have.
>
>b) after researching the dell site it appears the upper limit on
>hds is 127GB. Instead of a, would it be better to ad a controller
>card to extend that limit and install hard drive caddys for easy
>swapping of hard drives?
>
>a seems to offer alot for newer machines, but will mean I can only
>use with usb machines.
>
>b would seem to offer more interchange possiblities but means that
>any new computer the case would have to come off first. I'm going
>to be doing some travelling so may be using internet cafes; that's
>one consideration. Actually, not sure I'd want to hook up any
>drive to a net cafe machine, so maybe I should consider dvd-rw for
>data transferability, except that the cd-rw I use are so flaky, I
>can't imagine the dvds would be any better.
>
>also a, I have read, is problematical with many data backup
>programs that have not fully developed their usb capabilities.
>which option is cheaper/easier a or b?
>
>Sorry if this post is somewhat disorganized, I pooped right now.
>thanks for any helpful ideas.
.
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