Cecropia download time

[Paul Cherubini]

Ron Gatrelle wrote:

> I have a "small" 566? 10gig? Compaq 
> (pretty much off the shelf). I do have 128 of memory and am hooked 
> up to a cable modem with unlimited email.

> it costs me right at $50 a month for cable access - but unlimited email 
> and instant transfer of data is well worth it. If I had to go back (in computer 
> years) a century and use what some of you have I would probably go crazy.

Ron, you fit the kind of computer user profile that makes
Bill Gates smile  - someone who is spoiled by the speed of the latest and 
greatest internet hardware and software.

But more experienced computer users know a 5 year old computer system that
costs next to nothing on ebay running 3-5 year old software can do just about 
everything the latest stuff does, just somewhat more slowly. Thousands of
poor students and people living on a tight budget do fine with their old hardware
and software, twenty dollar 28.8 phone line modems and the free internet access 
accounts offered by Yahoo and others. They can make and upload websites, run 
fancy page layout and illustration programs, run complicated statistical and 
business accounting programs and much, much more with their old machines, 
even download a full screen 100 MB picture in about 30 seconds.

In order to learn the capabilities of older computers you would need to educate 
yourself since the entire computer industry is geared into making you THINK
an old buggy can't do anything. I could, for example, send you this email
message on my antique, ten dollar 1990 Macintosh LC with 2 MB of RAM, a 
miniscule 40 MB hard drive, a ten dollar 14.4 modem and tiny, free, system 6.0.7 
(a system so small it fits on one floppy disk).

Paul Cherubini

 
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