[RTTY] Customize a "barebones" PC kit for RTTY (and WriteLog)

[Larry L Lindblom]

One of my favorite web sites for hardware reviews and do it yourself tips
is http://www.tomshardware.com/.  It is somewhat aimed at the computer
gaming crowd but the reviews are usually informative and some good tips
from time to time for the home brewer. It is broken down by various
categories (e,g, Vid cards, sound cards, MM, storage, etc).

W0ETC


On Thu, 19 Sep 2002 21:31:27 -0000 "Jon Harder" <jon@praxisworks.org>
writes:
> Andy, et al --
> 
> >Building one would be fun though.
> 
> While I didn't save a _whole_ lot overall, I found that buying a 
> speedy
> barebones kit with CPU included was a good compromise between "roll 
> your
> own" and trying to adapt a complete new PC package to do what I 
> wanted under
> Win XP.   I spent a LOT of time on the web comparing boards and 
> kits,
> reading reviews, and saw quite a number that would have done just as 
> well as
> the one I finally chose.
> 
> The object was to move up to a machine capable of running WriteLog 
> in SO2R
> with two instances of MMTTY, and plenty of serial ports.  From Tiger 
> Direct
> I purchased a SOYO Dragon Plus barebone kit and AMD 1700+ CPU with 
> one 128MB
> DDR RAM module.  The price had just fallen to around $300, with an
> additional $50 rebate.   The SOYO board had an integrated C-media 
> sound
> module which gets 7F on the WL soundchecker utility.  Then I found a 
> large
> hard drive discounted at BestBuy, and migrated my SB PCI soundcard, 
> SIIG
> CyberPort PCI serial card, CDRW drive and a spare floppy drive into 
> the new
> ATX chassis.  Other items have been added  in a little at a time 
> over the
> last three months, as I could afford them.   I opted for a quieter 
> power
> supply - a good idea.  Also added another 256mB of DDR Ram, to a 
> total of
> 384.
> 
> The result is a machine running Win XP nicely at 1.4 GHz,  with 
> separate
> DSP sound  modules for each instance of MMTTY, six serial and two 
> LPT ports.
> (I like to run CW on an LPT port to be able to use YPLog's very nice 
> CW
> keyboard, and WL as well.  (Serial CW keying is also there if I need 
> it.)
> My Kenwood 870 and 850 are both happy with this arrangement.
> 
> I'm very pleased with the stable and reliable results from starting 
> half-way
> there from a good barebones kit and adding the rest at my own pace.  
> It also
> handles all my home office chores when not driving the RF end of 
> things.
> 
> Just another way to go, but a good one, IMHO.    Everybody's mileage 
> will
> vary!
> 
> 73,  Jon         K1US
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew J O'Brien" <obrienaj@netsync.net>
> To: "K4SB" <hamcat@directvinternet.com>
> Cc: <rtty@contesting.com>
> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 20:35
> Subject: [RTTY] Serial cards are getting scarce
> 
> 
> >
> > >
> > > You will find you get much more for your money by "brewing your 
> own",
> > > and save money as well.
> > >
> >
> >
> > Does anyone have a source for advice on " brewing your own" ?  I 
> am
> thinking
> > of doing that as a winter project.  I figure I installed my HD, 
> new floppy
> > drive, CDRW drive, and serial cards, there can't be much more to 
> it.  I
> > looked at mother boards on the web the other day and the prices 
> are very
> > cheap.  I am not sure which are good ones though and what they 
> include.  I
> > thought that by the time I buy all the other components that I 
> could have
> > bought a cheap system.  Building one would be fun though.
> >
> > Andy KB2EOQ
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > RTTY@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
> >
> 
> 
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