LED Museum Computer Fund.. 100% Funded and DELIVERED

Edited 06/16

Were are over the top as they say (sure hope all the pledges come in) GREAT JOB!

OK, it's time to set this plan into action. Without wasting anytime, I already have the commitment of several manfactures, and so we have a nice starting ballance of $450 (and I have only been on the phone 45 minutes)
The brand and configuration of the computer will be determined by the funds received

Let the donations begin....


How to donate?

Simple and fastest is paypal [email protected]

Using a credit card ?
paypal [email protected]

Want to send a check?
J Hong
11846 Balboa Blvd, #301
Granada Hills, CA 91344

Remember, this is for CRAIG

I just posted a reply in the previous post.

Mr Ted Bear,

Could you read that and comment. THX.

Don and others
$700 and counting, but we need more!

Help!!!

I'm willing to put in my bit, but am paypal-less, so that makes it a little hard. Unless there is some component which I can order and have sent to Craig directly,,

Graham

Graham

Not a problem.. we can do your credit card just like we did for the ARC-finity adapter.

Just let me know an amount

Ok, how much do we need?

Graham

Ted,
I just bought a lottery ticket. If that wins, expect a lot.
If it doesn't, a small sum will be on it's way within a week.
I'm glad to be able to be a part of this effort.

It's like funding the *official* CPF laboratory !!

lightlover

(The previous discussion on this matter started in Topic: Craig needs a new computer @ http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=22&t=000398

Well, I'm finally back - at least for a few minutes. Turns out my computer - among other things - dislikes ambient temperatures much over 30°C. And just as I started posting (less than 10 seconds ago), a whiny buzzing sound started coming from it, like a vacuum cleaner with a dead mouse stuck inside the hose.

I have no words to show my appreciation for what is being done. I guess a few more of you will end up getting Christmas cards this year than in years past, that much I'm fairly sure of. And of course, all that much more information to get off my website if I make more frequent updates.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another "scorcher" so I may not be around much until really late. And I have some updates to make on the LED Museum tonight, so I'll check in here the next time I'm able to (tomorrow morning before the day's heating begins, most likely).

thanks

(Edit) The "vaccum cleaner with dead mouse stuck inside" sound is apparently coming from the CPU fan, so at least it's nothing really serious or a fire hazard like a frying PSU. Jiggling and pushing makes the sound go away for awhile.

Mr Ted Bear email sent. I forgot to put my member name. Which manufaturers are helping out? How much do you think we need to raise?

I would have offered to collect the funds when I started the other thread but I figured it should be done by a member all of us can trust.

Paypal on the Waypal.

*** Edit: Well, I tried paypal, but it is currently "down for maintenance." I'll give it another shot in the morning when normal people are awake and using services like this ***

Mr Ted Bear,
Thanks for doing this. Donation sent.

Money sent.

I'm pretty sure the general consensus will be to buy a new system. That and having 24/7 technical support is more than I can offer.

So, I'll suggest I remove my offer to simplify matters.

(But, I have very strong opinions in the matter and if anyone would like to hear them, I'd be more than happy to elaborate)

Send me a pm.

As someone else cleverly said.

Paypal is onthewaypal...

Please confirm via email that it's been received.

I am really fond of Dell computers. I had the modem in my laptop go out while I was in Portland at a conference. Next day at lunch hour the tech showed up with a new modem, put it in and was gone.

Cheers,

Richard

Lonewolf
Which manufaturers are helping out? How much do you think we need to raise?
I would have offered to collect the funds when I started the other thread but I figured it should be done by a member all of us can trust

Regarding the maufactures that are helping out, or for that matter, the individuals that have contributed.....

It would be very easy for me to post a spreadsheet showing every vendor that I have called, who donated and who didn't. I could also include which CPF memebers contributed BUT, in the words of one supplier, when asked if they wished to receive "public acknowledgement and thanks" their reply was, that it was nobody else's business.

Suffice it for me to say, that during a hour drive from Los Angeles to Orange County yesterday morning, I called 7 suppliers, and 4 donated and we started the day with $450 in pledges. I have in my PDA, the phone numbers/e-maills/contact names for 18 different vendors, and my goal is to contact each and every one of them by the weekend.

How much do we need to raise?
Hey, I'm just a bean counter...

Here is what I wrote Graham...
I made a few calls, and would say $1000 could get Craig a very very nice set
up

@ $1500 we could preety much max out a system 2.3 P4, 512 RAM, DVD/cd
burner, 200 gig HD, 17"monitor, Printer, 3 year onsite warranty, all the etc etc
etc.

I don't think it's necessary to buy fastest, latest and greatest. Can
do much better with last year's models that have had all the bugs worked out, if you know what I mean.


As of 5:15pm, here is where we stand
$540 in the bank and $700 in pledges = $1240

The $540 came from 8 cpf members. I know for sure that we will receive at least $370 of the $700 in pledges, the other $330, I hope to receive

OK, Paypal worked that time.

It is a bit frightening to consider Craig with a blistering fast machine. Think of the damage he'll be able to do now! Of course it'll be great for him to have a machine that can keep up with his typing speed...

Jeff I am glad to see you took this to the next level I didn't even think to include manufactures. I will Paypal you my donation on Friday. Now if we could only get Craig hooked up to a cable modem that would be scary.

Mr. T Bear,
Thanks for doing this for Craig.
Here's a little more.

Pat

As of 10:45pm, here is where we stand
$605 in the bank and $850 in pledges = $1455

The $605 came from 11 cpf members. I also feel very good about the pledges. I am hoping to receive some checks this weekend, and that those who e-mailed me, will follow through on their promises.

I am thinking that by Tuesday we'll be ready to cut a check.... which means, anybody that has some thoughts as to what type, how fast, how many Gigs etc etc, please share your expertise!!

I personally own 6 computers (so I have had lots of practice) and have a preety good idea of what makes a good, better, best, excellent, or cutting edge system, but I have learned that its best to ask the experts, so please, you tell me what we should buy

My humble recommendations:

1. Brand - a reputeable brand-name machine such as Dell or Gateway, which offers on-site support (my preference is Dell)

2. CPU - pretty much anything on offer from 1-2Ghz. P4 or Athlon is better, but nothing wrong with a Celeron or Duron with similar clock speed - under normal use, it won't make too much difference whether its a 1.4Ghz or a 1.8Ghz machine..

3. Memory - 512MB. Memory is cheap, and has a much more direct impact on performance than CPU speed above 1Ghz or so.

4. Hard disk drive - bigger is better, but 60GB is probably a good choice, since price differential is quite small for 40-60GB.

5. Sound - onboard/integrated is fine

6. Graphics - integrated stuff is ok on the newer motherboards, but a GeforceMX is very cheap, and would do anything Craig could throw at it.

7. Modem/NIC - whatever is included (if included, o/w add in whichever isn't included) Whatever it comes with is probably ok.

8. Optical drive - unless Craig takes an interest in DVDs, just get a plain CDRW, whatever speed is on offer. They're all pretty fast now (24x10x40x or something like that).

9. Monitor - Bigger is better, but given Craigs space limitations, 17" is it I guess. Flatscreen is nice, but I don't think essential.

10. Mouse - an good optical mouse with scroll wheel makes a big difference..(no more cleaning mouse balls..)

11. Does Craig need a printer? You can get a decent Epson inkjet pretty cheap.

12. OS - Win XP is pretty much a given, but home or professional? I'd say Professional, but then I'm a Win2000 man...

13. KBD/Video/Mouse switchbox? Craig seems to need one..

14. USB hub while we're at it...

I could keep going, but then I'm a confessed computer geek..Craig probably doesn't need all the junk I could come up with...

Overall, I'd recommend going to Dell, picking out the cheapest basic desktop system, and adding on memory and hard disk, and maybe a grahics card.

Did I miss anything? Anyone have any othe ideas?

Graham