That's all for now...but keep looking in on me.
I also purchased Partition Magic [PM] so I could easily create multiple boot partitions on my system. I know...you could use the 'free' Boot Manager, but PM let's you hide the boot partition you're not using!! This will let me install Win95 separately from Win3.11/Dos6.22 while I transitition over (I know...Win98 is coming soon...).
As before, I'm still wondering why upgrades never go smoothly (Now there's a philosophical question for discussion!!!)? My CD-ROM drive is messing up. It only works when it feels like it (usually not when I need it!!). Oh well....
For B&W printing I'm using a Brother HL-720 laser printer. The Brother is a true 600x600dpi laser that prints quickly and has a fairly straight paper path. I've run card stock through it already and the printer was actually able to auto-feed properly. I was impressed!! I installed an additional 1.5MB ram (0.5MB std) because I've had trouble printing my route-list (remember, I'm a paper boy...among other things). The list is 13 pages of tables (with some scattered graphics) done in WP6.1, plus an additional full page graphic (large apartment complex) done in WP-Presentations. The memory upgrade was successful...the printout of the route-list is much quicker, and I can do it in one piece. I no longer have to print pages 1-4, 5-9,....
For color printing I purchased (5/11/97) a Cannon BJC-620 bubble jet. What attracted me to it was it's 720x720dpi and the 4 separate ink cartridges. I've seen too many cartridges disposed of because 1 color was gone. I know there are refills available for various cartridges (maybe even mine), but I've heard more horror stories about them than good comments, so I'll hold off using them for now. Haven't gotten to use the BJC-620 very much but I'm satisfied with it's output, although it's speed could be a bit faster. I did have a problem with the driver for the printer. I wanted to put the BJC-620 on a switchbox with the laser. Unfortunately, I discovered that the bi-directionality of the BJC-620 could not be disabled. In September I discovered a driver to fix my problem. It's available at a great site for Canon printer information, driver upgrades.... If you have a Canon printer, then you'll definately want to visit this site!!
My next accessory purchase (~8/97) was a SNAPPY. It lets you capture still images from any video source with an RCA cable out (camcorder, TV, VCR, video game,...). A small device attaches to your parallel port (unfortunately no pass-through) and your video source plugs into it via the RCA cable. I figure it would be the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to create JPG's & GIF's from a video source for the web. Unfortunately just after I purchased my Snappy Vers 2.x version 3.0 hit the market. From what I've heard (a friend bought one), it's even better than mine (I thought that would be impossible!!. A reasonable upgrade was recently announced (2/98) so...Version 3.0 here I come.
Another recent (relatively speaking) purchase was a real scanner, the Mustek 600III+. It's a 600x300 resolution (hardware), parallel port scanner at an unbeatable price, with good customer support! While working at Circuit City I had to contact Mustek several times for additional information about their products. I e-mailed them as a re-seller and a confused consumer (from different e-mail addresses of course), and both times the responses were quick (afew days) and thorough...very impressive. Unfortunately I won't be able to install the new parallel port (LPT2) I also purchased. My new motherboard has limited ISA slots and I've already used them all!! Oh well...installed the scanner on my switchbox with my 2 printers and SNAPPY.
That's all for now...but keep looking in on me.
