[sungchoiok]

Well, it's not that ancient. It's about 20 years old, and all it runs is DOS.

I mainly use it only to edit text documents on MS-Edit and print it out. I use it every day, since it's kind of like my dedicated journal/balance-sheet/other-non-important-docs computer.


I am primarily wondering how often I should turn the computer off. I'm considering NEVER.

Also, I'm wondering if I should boot from the HDD or from the floppy.


Any insights will be appreciated.

[calvinthedestroyer]

Here are my suggestions:

Keep your floppy in a zip lock bag and out of sunlight. (all ways protect your floppy)

Look into buying a UPS with line conditioning. (this will help prevent noise, power spikes and brown outs that could damage components)

Is your house properly grounded?

Once a year, clean out your PC with "caned air" dust remover.

Do you have carpeting under the computers desk? I would move the computer to a room with out carpets.

[sungchoiok]

calvinthedestroyer, on 27 August 2011 - 01:39 AM, said:

Here are my suggestions:

Keep your floppy in a zip lock bag and out of sunlight. (all ways protect your floppy)

Look into buying a UPS with line conditioning. (this will help prevent noise, power spikes and brown outs that could damage components)

Is your house properly grounded?

Once a year, clean out your PC with "caned air" dust remover.

Do you have carpeting under the computers desk? I would move the computer to a room with out carpets.

thank you for the reply.

a) ok
b I will never have the money to buy a UPS. (student)
c) I will never get to know whether my house is properly grounded
d) I have the computer up above my desk, so no carpet worries there.

As I have said in the first question, I'm primarily wondering if I should keep that computer running all day long, because I use it frequently.

This post has been edited by sungchoiok: 27 August 2011 - 02:28 AM

[calvinthedestroyer]

sungchoiok, on 27 August 2011 - 03:26 AM, said:

As I have said in the first question, I'm primarily wondering if I should keep that computer running all day long, because I use it frequently.

I meant that you should not have carpet in the room that the computer is in, since you stand on carpet and then touch the computer. (not a big deal, but hey, you want to be as safe as you can)

You should pick up one of these testers:
Ground Fault Indicator Outlet Tester
I got mine on sale at harbor freight.

As far as leaving it on or turning it off. That's a big debate
I like to turn off CRT's but I leave the computer on (since start up and shut downs can be hard on a system)
But we are talking 20 years of computing deference.

What exactly is in your PC? do you have the model number? type of hard drive?

[no2pencil]

If your PC is truly 20 years old, & is running DOS, I would not suggest leaving it running 24x7.

The AT power supplies were not designed for that kind of regular usage day in & day out. You'll kill the power-supply & potentially pc components, & then you'll have to play hunt-&-find for old PC equipment.

[calvinthedestroyer]

no2pencil, on 27 August 2011 - 09:52 PM, said:

If your PC is truly 20 years old, & is running DOS, I would not suggest leaving it running 24x7.

The AT power supplies were not designed for that kind of regular usage day in & day out. You'll kill the power-supply & potentially pc components, & then you'll have to play hunt-&-find for old PC equipment.

Hmm, 20 years old? It might not even be an AT power supply, heck it might still have paper wound capacitors and liner regulators in it. Like something you would see in a NOVA 4 computer.

Nova 4 control room

[hlx]

Also, keep a few copies of your floppy if you are booting from it. Floppy disks are volatile media, and will not last forever despite your best efforts.

If you have electronics knowledge, consider getting some replacement capacitors for your motherboard, as even though in that age high quality capacitors were still used, they still can fail. You will need a decent mastery over a soldering iron, though.