The various digital technologies and products we use
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|
-What We Use- |
Fox
Engineering Inc.
PO Box 215 Spencerville, MD 20868 (301) 421-4130 |
| Hardware | ||
| Computers: Most of the desktop computers we use are DELL, in fact most are Dell OPTIPLEX computers of various models. These include Dell Optiplex 745 and 755 desktop computers. A few years ago we saw an Optiplex and became enamored by the technology employeed and our ability to rapidly change a hard drive without tools. In fact changing a hard drive only takes about 5 minutes. | Dell OPTIPLEX 755 | Intel Core 2 Duo (E6750) 2.66 Ghz w/4 GB Memory |
| Dell OPTIPLEX 745 | Intel Pentium D(ual) 3.4 Ghz w/4GB Memory | |
| We like the Shuttle Small Form Factor (SFF) computer due to its small (but also crampted) size, easy to place on any surface. | Shuttle SG31G2 (FG31 motherboard) | Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600) CPU w/4 GB Memory |
| Home Made - ABIT AG8-V Unfortunately ABIT is no longer in business but we had a lot of their product in their heyday. Mini Tower construction with 1 external slot for Kingwin KF-72 hard drive "mobile rack" This enables different hard drives with completely different operating systems for experimentation. Currently 8 drives for XP, 2000, 7, Linux, Linux Server, etc. | Intel Single Core CPU w/4 GB Memory | |
| Dell Dimension C521 |
AMD Sempron 3400+ w/2 GB Memory |
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| Servers:
The revolution of the netbook brought about attention to the Intel ATOM
chipset. These low power (a few watts) and moderate speed CPU
power (about 1.6 Ghz) made them ideal for uses other than
netbooks. SuperMicro has taken the ATOM and developed a series of
motherboards using the single core and dual core versions of
ATOM. For home or web hosting usage, with relatively low
transaction volumes, these ATOM-based motherboards make very low cost
ideal platforms to play with. | SuperMicro X7SLA-H (about $150) SuperMicro CSE 502L-200B 1U Chassis or Supermicro 5015A-H assembled X7SLA-H and CSE 502L-200B chassis | Intel Atom 330 (dual core) w/2 GB Memory |
| Netbook Computers - We've tried several including the early 7" version, the 9" version, and now the 10" ones. The one we like best, today, is the Lenovo S10e our current workhorse, and the Lenovo S10-3. Two keen features we like best with the Lenovo's are the easy access to both the hard drive and memory. No matter, always take the memory to the max, in the case of the S10e, 1.5GB, in the case of the S10-3, 2.0 GB. We also like to take the OEM drive and replace it with another hard drive that we can experiment with. In this case, we built the S10e, which comes with Windows XP Home Basic, added a larger hard drive, and cloned the original operating system. But in the larger drive, we split it so we could test Windows 7...and it was a huge success. Windows 7 Ultimate ran great...and we put Windows 7 Home Basic (not the premium version) and it performs well and has all the features we need. | Lenovo S10-3 Lenovo S10e | |
| Laptop Computers - We like the Thinkpad family, originally IBM but now Lenovo. However with the emerging Netbook technology, we don't use laptops very much anymore. | ||
| Tablet Computers - We've used a Motion Computing M1200 for many years and still like all the writing features. It is great during conferences and taking class notes, and with two battery packs and some "lunchtime" connections to the electrical grid, 8 hour computing is very practical. | Motion M1200 | Intel Pentium 900 Mhz w/2 GB memory and Windows XP (tablet) SP3 |
| Network switches and routers - We like D-Link products for our network, from the 24-port 10/100/1000 switch to 5 and 8 port 10/100/1000 switches that help connect the computers and devices on the network. D-Link routers form the core of our network as does the G wireless access point. | D-Link DGS-1024D | 24 port rackmount switch 10/100/1000 |
| D-Link DGS-2208 |
8 port desktop switch 10/100/1000 |
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| D-Link EBR-2310 |
Network router...creats a DMZ |
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| D-Link DWL-3200AP |
802.11g Power Over Ethernet Access Point |
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| Network Attached Storage - | D-Link DNS-323 | Dual 1 TB drives, Raod 1 configuration |
| Printers - A mixture of laser and inkjet printers | HP 2300 L with Jet network adapter | |
| Epson Artisan 50 w/six color cartridges | ||
| Software | |
| Operating Systems | Windows 7 Home Basic - we use this in netbooks only. Not available in the US but available via Technet, this is one rung above Starter Edition which we don't deem suitable for anything. Home Basic and Home Basic Premium seem to be the workhorses for consumer based Windows computing. |
| Windows 7 Home Premium - Generally favor this version for any desktop computer in the home / small business environment. (in 64-bit mode) | |
| Windows Home Server
(Vail Beta) - Experimenting with this product in its 64-bit version
that should be release in late 2010 or early 2011. Beta 2 is very
stable | |
| Puppy Linux - |
|
| Ubuntu Desktop
- Nice integration of everyone you need for web, Internet, mail, and
office suite. Constantly evolving, nice colors too. Live
and installed versions available. |
|
| Ubuntu Server - Experimenting with the LAMP stack |
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| Office Suite | Microsoft Office, versions 2003, 2007, and 2010. Basically only Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. |
| Open Office.org - For basic work, especially on the netbooks, this is sufficient, effective, and nicely evolving. | |
| Web Browser | FIREFOX is our choice, period. (would you expect Fox Engineering to use anyother named browser?) |
| Mail Client | Thunderbird
is our
choice for reading and sending e-mails. We don't leave e-mails on
the Internet but store them locally and back them up. Its faster
and easier than web mail, can be used offline, and can be used with
features that leave the e-mail on the Internet while on the road for
download when back home. |
| Security Tools | Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows platforms |
| Other Tools | |
| Other Stuff | |
| E-Book | Amazon Kindle 3 - Amazing. Price is now right. |
| Connectivity | Verizon FIOS - Fast and reliable |