Hi Folks,

I just realized (sometimes I'm a little slow) that my Dell Precision 380 only has one Gigabyte of memory, and Eudora, Firefox and Linkman crash that out to smithareens (swap out anyone) -- before the eye blinks -- with the XP op sys. Even before Web development and database stuff that wants to be loaded and worked on.

So I want to expand the memory, some questions arise.

Even if I buy a hotter machine, and this becomes #2, I can see memory worth about $100, for better usage for the next year or two. This sys is 3 Gigahertz Pentium 4 and 160 gig disk.

Dell has an interesting auto-scan upgrade tool, but it gets bogged down thinking of Vista, and forgets to offer memory.  It offers me disk and a faster video card, yet does not think memory, even after giving a notification that more memory often helps performance ! 

Then I got one of their chat-meisters.  He says that the system will address 8Gb for applications, while another had said no.  Who is right ?   

1) Should I do it myself ?  I know it is fairly simple, and I've done it once or twice, but still .. if I can buy the memory local, installed cheapo, is that better, safer ?  Or definitely just buy on the Net and install myself.  (GeekSquad at BestBuys would charge $40 for the install, and the BestBuy memory might be a smidgen more than the net, so that is an example of too much extra.)  However what if I only pay $10-20 more, schlepping the puter to Joe Memory a mile away. 

2) Should I go for 4 Gigabyes instead of 2 ?  Supposedly the 4th gig is not addressed.  The extra cost is about $40, but that third gigabtye might come in real handy I think.  So far, I figger, go for 4, your thoughts ?  (This morphed into a question of 8 vs. 4, since the price is lower, see below.)

3) If only 4-gig is used, then I wonder .. does it really matter if I dual-channel (4 1-gigabtyes versus 2 2-gigabtyes). They talk of better performance, but probably just a smidgen and you lock yourself into a max of 4.

If I go 8 gigabtyes all channels are filled, and if it is cheap enough, I may do that, if it is confirmed that it helps over 4gig on a busy system.

4) Do you have a favorite store ?  Memorystock came up with a fine page for my puter, so right now they are in the lead if I buy on the Net.  This was pretty impressive.

http://www.memorystock.com/memory/DellPrecisionWorkstation380.html
Memory Upgrade for Dell Precision Workstation 380 Computer

However Dell was just as cheap, maybe cheaper.
Only $21 for 2-gig units ! Wow.   So there we go.  Home-install.

Ok, so far I am going non-ECC, (non-parity) since that is what I have now, Dell even recommended it sort of.  And the techies seem to indicate that memory parity is more for the server-delicate mentality.  Makes sense to me.  Also I am not too concerned about the brand name.

Your thoughts ?

Main question .. 4 gigs is probably much better than 2, right ?
Does 8 gig help at all ? 
Should I just put it in myself.  Carefully, delicately, not while eating.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

Hi Folks,

Looking for a scheduler, fun to use, reasonably versatile.
Almost no reviews on the Net.

Ok, granted I could probably use various scripting language tools.
What if you want a dedicated simple scheduler that is more robust
than what comes with XP ?

Here is what I have found, before loading any, have you used any of these ?
Or recommend another.

======================================
Freeware

Automatize
http://argentesoftware.blogspot.com/search/label/Argente%20-%20Automatize%201.6.0.4

JIT Scheduler
http://www.gibinsoft.com/gipoutils/scheduler/

*** UPDATE 8-23-2011 Web of Trust has negatives about Gibin Software ***

Smooth Program Scheduler
http://www.xemico.com/scheduler/

======================================
Shareware

Advanced Task Scheduler - $40
http://www.advscheduler.com/index.html

Hi-Base Task Scheduler - $30
http://www.dbf2002.com/scheduler/

======================================

Shalom,
Steven

Hi Folks,

Here is an issue to consider.

From Irfanview, strong words, and this is part of their regular blurb.

http://www.irfanview.com/main_what_is_engl.htm
IrfanView is trying to create new and/or interesting features in its own way, unlike some other graphic viewers, whose whole "creativity" is based on feature cloning, stealing of ideas and whole dialogs from ACDSee and/or IrfanView! (for example: XnView has been stealing/cloning features and whole dialogs from IrfanView, for 7+ years).

Assuming true, we could look at this in a number of ways.

"Stick with Irfanview, they do the real research and concept pioneering. And avoid flagrant copying products. Integrity first."

Or

"Irfanview is being petulant and acrimonious without real cause, just improve your product and move on, with gazillions of users product feature cloning is expected and fine. And Irfanview did not give any examples."

If XnView takes whole dialogs (I have not researched this further) that is very tacky, and I would consider that a big negative, as it is not only clone copying but plagiarism, unethical if not illegal.

Here XnView was defended.

http://www.download.com/XnView/9241-2192_4-10127223.html
re: Alleged Stolen Elements - XnView vs IrfanView
by: adesigninteractive on 05-Dec-2007 10:14:20 AM
"Please identify these stolen items. As a long time user of both IrfanView, and XnView, I see no legitimate evidence in XnView which might support your allegations. the archaic IrfanView GUI is nothing like that of XnView. I recognize elements which may be inspired by ACDSee, where the author has implemented a Lowest Common Denominator of preferred features-- but this trend is pervasive in virtually every software category; in every dynamic. I believe you owe it, not to XnView development, but to the imaging software end-user to explain yourself."

I don't have an answer, however when we use software, integrity issues are very significant.  (As another example, I try not to use sites that have advertisements for rogue products, or if the ads are from Google, I try to do what is appropriate, such as informing the site.)

It does seem clear that XnView implements features not in IrfanView, (apparently their tab implementation is one) and does some features in a superior manner, so the issue becomes complex. e.g. It is possible that XnView would implement a feature, at first, using the Irfanview dialog and then at leisure change the wording.

Anyway, while considering this in terms of my own use, I figgered it really should be part of this thread.  I was a little surprised at the sharpness of the Irfanview words, there does not seem to be any notice or discussion on the XnView site. The IrfanView website is nicely done, the author, from Bosnia, introduces himself well and links to lots of good software, I do not think his forum discusses this.  The XnView site is also nice, less personal, and does have a forum where users discuss many things, including features they would like to see, that may be in Irfanview.

Your thoughts ?

Shalom,
Steven