Hello, I'm back

[MorseLady]

As promised in my post enquiring about my custom Avatar, here is an update and I am sorry I have not been active here (and elsewhere) for so long. I have had to put my hobbies and my ham radio and studies on the back burner because of things I have had to deal with at home and it is not all over yet but after a year of no courses I am ready and enrolled, wait for it, at the age of 63 for MCP Windows Server 2003. Over the coming academic year I will have the opportunity to earn MCSA and even MCSE if I can stand the pace

Anyway I am all enrolled and funded for the Server 2003 course and two exams on 15th December and our trainer will be my old City and Guilds W2K Networking Level Three tutor Paul who is now an MCT - Paul! He's a great trainer and a nice guy. Of course the class is full now, he's popular.

In January we start work for the XP module and Support and another module I cannot remember.

Paul says I need XP Pro so when I get my new computer (configuring it online via Watford Savastore) I will include XP Pro. I am undecided about whether to stick with Intel or go for the cheaper Athlon XP? But I will have 3GHZ min processor, a gig of memory, 256 Radeon card and Creative Audigy ZS. The new
machine will have to last some years so am making it as good as I can whilst
keeping to a budget.

I will then use this XP Home machine as my backup machine and my Hewlett packard for messing about with Linux and beta stuff. The XP partition on the HP will be reconfigured for something else and I will give my retail copy of XP Home to my husband when I service his computer. He is still sceptical about XP but I am sure he will see a very noticeable improvement over the ME he has onthere at the moment

I am excited about the course but boy am I scared at the prospect
MICROSOFT PROFESSIONAL EXAMS! Am I mad or what

[jitBob]

Welcome back! Why not save a little money and get a board with great onboard sound?

[Ya_know]

Am I mad or what

You are mad crazy!!! But then life would be a bore if we were all acting sane!

Give them hell, and ask as many questions as you have free minutes in class...if there's one thing I hate about taking MCSE courses, is that sometimes (not always) the instructors stick to the curriculum far too tightly, and don’t try to give you the real world impression of how everything works by expounding on their experiences…beyond the text. If you show them the interest, they will open up!

[MorseLady]

You are mad crazy!!! But then life would be a bore if we were all acting sane!

Give them hell, and ask as many questions as you have free minutes in class...if there's one thing I hate about taking MCSE courses, is that sometimes (not always) the instructors stick to the curriculum far too tightly, and don’t try to give you the real world impression of how everything works by expounding on their experiences…beyond the text. If you show them the interest, they will open up!

Hi There! Paul I know will encourage us to ask questions and indeed he is the type of trainer who fits in extras when he can and yes I will milk the course as much as I can because the knowledge I will gain is just as important as the certificate and I am doing this for fun - oh boy!!!!!!! I am really I am!!!!!!!!!!

to jitBob - yes I have seen some boards with sound but wondered if onboard sound could ne good because I am a musician and may want to play with midi. I always use headphone sby the way. I have onboard AC97 on here but no bass and treble controls, I route it through my hifi for that.

[Atodini]

Hi There! Paul I know will encourage us to ask questions and indeed he is the type of trainer who fits in extras when he can and yes I will milk the course as much as I can because the knowledge I will gain is just as important as the certificate and I am doing this for fun - oh boy!!!!!!! I am really I am!!!!!!!!!!

to jitBob - yes I have seen some boards with sound but wondered if onboard sound could ne good because I am a musician and may want to play with midi. I always use headphone sby the way. I have onboard AC97 on here but no bass and treble controls, I route it through my hifi for that.

Welcome back ML, we've missed you

To echo what jitbob says.... this MSI board has full Dolby 5.1 sound with all the tone controls anyone would want either via the graphic equalizer or the "surround" sound presets, of which there are more than enough. Connected through my Altec Lansing speaker system the sound is truly awesome! It has full midi capability as well, though I've never tried to compose on it.... not a fan of computerised or synthesised music - strictly acoustic!

Several times recently we've had posters who are amazed to discover that their on board sound is in fact better than the soundblaster they'd fitted because "onboard sound sucks"!!

John

[GrandDad]

Give um H$LL ,
show them what us old folk are made of .

[jitBob]

Give um H$LL ,
show them what us old folk are made of .

Ewwww....Yuckkkkk!

[GrandDad]

Ewwww....Yuckkkkk!

nobody don't bother ya after that

[NooNoo]

*drags topic kicking and screaming back from the sewer and away from jitbobs mind....

Morse you will end up with a great machine... I am stuck on 2.8 no HT

As for intel/amd, go with whatever you are comfortable with.

[MorseLady]

*drags topic kicking and screaming back from the sewer and away from jitbobs mind....

Morse you will end up with a great machine... I am stuck on 2.8 no HT

As for intel/amd, go with whatever you are comfortable with.

Hi Noo. I think price might determine because the almost identical AMD Athlon XP based setup I have configured is nearly a ton less than the Intel setup. However I do have a leaning towards Intel. It is great fun playing around with the various online configurators and I am in no hurry because this machine is adequate but I am greedy and want more

Atodini, hi John and thanks for your advice re sound cards. Yes I had noticed some of the motherboards have very nice onboard sound and I must admit that I did wonder if I really needed a card. The one thing that I really must go for broke on is the graphics card because I use my computer for web design and digital photography so am going for 256 MB Radeon with DVI and a firewire card because a digital camcorder is on my Santa list. I am still using the Fuji Finepix A204 it is a great camera but of course an upgrade is on my Santa list too.

Folks, I am absolutely petrified at the upcoming MCP/MCSE course with TWO Server 2003 exams in December and want to run because I will be the only retired person in the class and there is apparently a long waiting list of professionals and I feel I am taking up a place needed more by them.

[rgharper]

Hi Noo. I think price might determine because the almost identical AMD Athlon XP based setup I have configured is nearly a ton less than the Intel setup. However I do have a leaning towards Intel. It is great fun playing around with the various online configurators and I am in no hurry because this machine is adequate but I am greedy and want more

If you're doing anything that can benefit from multithreading, and can't afford a dual-CPU motherboard and can't wait for the dual-core CPUs that are coming soon ... definitely go with the Intel HT processor. I have three "main" PCs - one Intel 2.8HT, one AMD 3000+, and one AMD 64-bit 3200+. All have 1gb of memory and comparable hard drives, video cards, etc. The Intel HT processor kicks butt whenever you have more than one thread running.

Folks, I am absolutely petrified at the upcoming MCP/MCSE course with TWO Server 2003 exams in December and want to run because I will be the only retired person in the class and there is apparently a long waiting list of professionals and I feel I am taking up a place needed more by them.

You deserve your shot the same as anyone else. Relax and enjoy the show.