Computing

1988-1995 I first came to computing in 1988 when I bought a new Amstrad PCW 9512 from Dixons of Berwick upon Tweed.......cost £549
This system included a Daisywheel printer which was limited in its use so I bought an Olivetti 9pin dot-matrix printer to use as an alternative.
The original software supplied was Locoscript which again had limited use (wordprocessing), so I added to this by using Mini-Office, which increased the capabilities to Databases and Spreadsheets.
The final addition to the system was in 1993 when I added an extra Floppy Disc drive to take the standard 3½" discs.I continued to use this system until March of 1995.

1995-1999 1994....February-I had become Self Empolyed and was working from home, the Amstrad system had become limiting.
1995....March- I bought a Vtech computer from Crown Computers (Lancashire) a Direct Supplier..........cost £599.
The system was as follows;

Cyrix DX2-50mhz processor,4Mb RAM,210MB Hard Disk,14" Monitor,Windows 3.1 OS

Software......various games and Computer Associates(CA)-Simply Business package which had a useful accounting unit

Upgrades
1---May `95...............The CA package was not satisfactory so I purchased Microsofts` Works, which was a big improvement.
2---March `97---------33.6 Modem(Internal) fitted.
3---May `97------------1.7Gb Hard Disc fitted.
4---June `97-----------8x CD-ROM and sound card fitted.
5---August`97--------16Mb RAM fitted.
6---Oct.`97-------------Windows 95 installed
7---November `97--Epson 400 Colour printer bought to replace Olivetti.
8---February`99----Replacement DX4 100 Cyrix CPU fitted in an attempt to speed up the system

The system was used for personnal and home business use.
March `97........... after installing the modem I used Compuserve to access Internet and advertise my business.
May`97................ I dropped Compuserve and began using the new Cable & Wireless Mercury Internet service as access charges were cheaper.
Sept`98............... I began using the Freeserve internet service and after about 6 months I dropped the Mercury service to save
on costs.

March 1999

March`99.................. purchased a new system from a supplier in Edinburgh for £375
System Specification;
MiniTower, Cyrix 686 MX 333 CPU, 64Mb RAM, 4.3GB HDD, 40x CDROM, PCI V90 56k Modem, Monitor not included.
Software: Win98 and other Microsoft Products.

July 1999.................Registered with Cable and Wireless again for their free Internet Lite Service
September 1999.......Registered with ISP Freenetname.co.uk....obtained domain name.....hoprig.co.uk
December 1999........Fault on CDRom drive.........44x new one fitted under warranty.
March 2000.............Upgraded RAM to 128 Mb
                                Purchased AMD K6-2- 500mz CPU, but will not run on present system, requires 100mz M/B
                                Registered with LineOne.net ISP........FREE internet connection due in the near future
April 2000................2nd 6.4Gb Hard Disk fitted for backup purposes
                                100Mhz Motherboard purchased and fitted , AMD CPU now OK
                                CPU cooler fan replaced.
                                Free internet connection started with Lineone via their Quip associate
Sept 2000 .............Purchased Win98 SE CD and Windows ME(upgrade)
Oct 2000..................Lineone free internet discontinued end of October, switched back to Freenetname as main provider.
                                  6.4Gb Hard Disk replaced with 10Gb Disk
Dec 2000..................Upgraded RAM from 128mb to 256mb
Jan 2001..................Artec 8x4x32 IDE CDRW Kit installed
Feb 2001.................Video editing pci board installed for use with my analogue camcorder
Feb 2002.................Upgraded motherboard(Elite) and fitted 1100mhz AMD Duron processor
March 2003.............4.3Gb Hard Disk replaced with 20 Gb HDD
Aug 2003................ bought Windows XP (upgrade for ME) but had trouble due to system incompatabilities and required upgrades.
                                  Decided not to use just yet, de-installed.
Sept 2003................CDRW upgraded to 52x32x52 and my 14" CRT upgraded to a 17"
Feb 2004.................AMD 2400 cpu fitted to existing M/B
March 2004.............New case and PCChips M848ML M/B purchased.
                                 CDRW upgraded in Sept. 2003 faulty, replaced by supplier(Ebuyer)
                                 20 Gb HDD faulty replaced with new 80Gb HDD
                                 WinXP upgrade installed successfully, all incompatabilities resolved,except for analogue video editing pci board
                                  which I use with WinMe

AVG; Ad-Aware and Spysweeper in use

Internet Service Providers : Freenetname(Main ISP;using Anytime package@£12.50/month,
23/12/2004-Upgraded to Broadband256 package@£18/month
Freeserve,LineOne(Tiscali) and Ecosse.Net-all remain on Dial-up
Browsers: IE6 and Netscape 4.07