News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Vern Potter says to say Hi

Started by Phonesrfun, February 22, 2014, 11:00:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Phonesrfun

I got a call from Vern tonight with a cute story.

He said that he got a call from someone who had bought an AE payphone at an antique event last week.  Seems that the lock on the upper housing was jammed and could not be opened.

The phone had also been ripped off a wall because the screws were still inside the phone rattling around.
He also could not for the life of himself, find his stash of keys to the vault door.
Vern tried and tried to get it unlocked and eventually had to pop the lock to get it opened.  At that point, he found the vault door key strategically placed in the upper housing, and determined that this was a pay phone he had once sold to someone else.

Once he opened the vault, he found that whoever had the phone before was using it as a safe place to keep money.  Inside the vault was $75 in Eisenhower silver Dollars and Kennedy halves.

Unfortunately the person who now owned the phone didn't give Vern a finders fee.

Anyway, Vern and I had a good chat.  He still hasn't replaced his "toy" computer but he is still looking at buying a real one some day.    He says to tell everyone Hi.
-Bill G

Mr. Bones

Thanks for the update, Bill.

     I am super-glad to hear from Vern, and hope that he is doing well. How bad is his old computer? I have several ones that are only vintage; might be better than antique.

Best regards!
Sláinte!
   Mr. Bones
      Rubricollis Ferus

WesternElectricBen

Thanks for the update,

Terrence: He doesn't really have a "regular" computer, but "Internet TV" which was canceled. Going from that, he would be just fine with a Dell Optiplex GX270 system, etc.

Ben

Mr. Bones

Lol! My daily driver is an Optiplex GX 270, on it now. Works fine.

Best regards!
Sláinte!
   Mr. Bones
      Rubricollis Ferus

WesternElectricBen

Oh, I'm sorry!!

I actually use one to view schematics and go on this forum, in my workshop.

Ben

AE_Collector

Two Optiplex GX520's here!

I too am glad to hear news from Verne! He should just get an iPad or tablet of some sort as he never had a computer so wouldn't miss that functionality. I think he is "afraid" of anything else besides WebTV. I also think he would be amazed how easy it is to carry on with a tablet.

Terry

Mr. Bones

Quote from: WesternElectricBen on February 23, 2014, 10:33:05 AM
Oh, I'm sorry!!

I actually use one to view schematics and go on this forum, in my workshop.

Ben
Ben,
     Many thanks, but no need for sympathy. Mine works fine!; 3.4 ghz HT CPU, 4 gb RAM, 2-500 gb hdds. XP Professional SP3. I don't have / play newer games, so no need for more CPU at this point. It chews up everything just hunky and or dory. Stable, and reliable... my most admired qualities in a computer. ;D

Best regards!
Sláinte!
   Mr. Bones
      Rubricollis Ferus

WesternElectricBen

Terry, the 520's are good machines, I used a 620 for about a year. I cannot remember, does the 520 systems have the P4HT, because those are really good systems, for the money.

Terrence, yours is much better equipped than mine, as mine has 2 gigs of ram, low rated p4 and a 80 GB drive.

Ben

AE_Collector

Sounds like mine are combos of the two you have. Not sure what the processor is in either but only an 80 gig HD in one and 500 Gig in the other. Only 2 Gig RAM in one and 1 Gig in the other. These only have two slots for RAM. Even the one with 2 Gig of RAM bogs down so I need to get them both to 4 Gig I think.

Terry

Mr. Bones

Quote from: WesternElectricBen on February 23, 2014, 01:43:27 PM
Terry, the 520's are good machines, I used a 620 for about a year. I cannot remember, does the 520 systems have the P4HT, because those are really good systems, for the money.

Terrence, yours is much better equipped than mine, as mine has 2 gigs of ram, low rated p4 and a 80 GB drive.

Ben

Ben, is yours a tower, desktop, or SFF? Also, have you been into the BIOS? all the Opti 270's I've had featured the HT (Hyper-Threading) processor, but all had to have it turned on in the BIOS setting to work. Made quite a noticeable difference, actually, even though it is supposedly dependent on programs that are written to utilize it.

     If yours is a tower (4 RAM slots, I have been able to consistently find the 1G RAM for $5-10 locally, like on Craigslist.

     Also, Mine has a hot shi* (for the day) 512mb video card that I got for like $20 from Craigs. They were like $500-$700 new. It takes quite a load off of the processor, and renders even complex videos and things slam bam quick.

Win XP can only utilize 3 Gb of RAM, but since I had 4 slots, I put 4 Gb in. Figured it can't hurt none, lol! Ain't so far.

Best regards, Mr Ben!
Sláinte!
   Mr. Bones
      Rubricollis Ferus

WesternElectricBen

Quote from: Mr. Bones on February 23, 2014, 02:43:53 PM
Quote from: WesternElectricBen on February 23, 2014, 01:43:27 PM
Terry, the 520's are good machines, I used a 620 for about a year. I cannot remember, does the 520 systems have the P4HT, because those are really good systems, for the money.

Terrence, yours is much better equipped than mine, as mine has 2 gigs of ram, low rated p4 and a 80 GB drive.

Ben

Ben, is yours a tower, desktop, or SFF? Also, have you been into the BIOS? all the Opti 270's I've had featured the HT (Hyper-Threading) processor, but all had to have it turned on in the BIOS setting to work. Made quite a noticeable difference, actually, even though it is supposedly dependent on programs that are written to utilize it.

     If yours is a tower (4 RAM slots, I have been able to consistently find the 1G RAM for $5-10 locally, like on Craigslist.

     Also, Mine has a hot shi* (for the day) 512mb video card that I got for like $20 from Craigs. They were like $500-$700 new. It takes quite a load off of the processor, and renders even complex videos and things slam bam quick.

Win XP can only utilize 3 Gb of RAM, but since I had 4 slots, I put 4 Gb in. Figured it can't hurt none, lol! Ain't so far.

Best regards, Mr Ben!


My Optiplex is a SFF, a nice sized machine. I do not have a video card for it, just because all I do is view schematics and this forum on it.

I think mine is just the plain old P4, not the hyper-threading model. I'm guessing your model is one of the newest 270's.

Ben

Mr. Bones

Quote from: WesternElectricBen on February 23, 2014, 02:51:48 PM
My Optiplex is a SFF, a nice sized machine. I do not have a video card for it, just because all I do is view schematics and this forum on it.

I think mine is just the plain old P4, not the hyper-threading model. I'm guessing your model is one of the newest 270's.

Ben
Sweet! I have two SFF's, a 270 and a 280, as well as three 270 towers, and a Dimension 2300 (2.8gHz). They range from 2.6 gHz-3.4, but all are HT processors. Might wanna check your BIOS settings, for grits and shins. You might be missing out on some processing power. They are turned off, by default settings. Only bad thing about the SFF 270 / 280's is cooling issues...otherwise, I love mine, puts a puter where nothing else can be concealed.

Best regards!
Sláinte!
   Mr. Bones
      Rubricollis Ferus

WesternElectricBen

Quote from: Mr. Bones on February 23, 2014, 03:22:19 PM
Quote from: WesternElectricBen on February 23, 2014, 02:51:48 PM
My Optiplex is a SFF, a nice sized machine. I do not have a video card for it, just because all I do is view schematics and this forum on it.

I think mine is just the plain old P4, not the hyper-threading model. I'm guessing your model is one of the newest 270's.

Ben
Sweet! I have two SFF's, a 270 and a 280, as well as three 270 towers, and a Dimension 2300 (2.8gHz). They range from 2.6 gHz-3.4, but all are HT processors. Might wanna check your BIOS settings, for grits and shins. You might be missing out on some processing power. They are turned off, by default settings. Only bad thing about the SFF 270 / 280's is cooling issues...otherwise, I love mine, puts a puter where nothing else can be concealed.

Best regards!

You could transfer the parts into a different case.

Ben

AE_Collector

I sure wish mine had 4 slots for RAM! I am just in the process of moving everything on the one with the 80 Gig HD to the one with the 500 Gig. Then I can retire an even older computer replacing it with the Del lwith the 80 Gig HD.

I wonder if verne is keeping up? Oh forgot, he doesn't  have a computer right now.

Terry

DavePEI

Quote from: AE_Collector on February 23, 2014, 07:11:27 PM
I wonder if verne is keeping up? Oh forgot, he doesn't  have a computer right now.
Yea, we can say anything we want to about him now.... :)

Wish he was closer to here. I am sure I could scrounge up a machine for him...

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001