Vern Potter says to say Hi

[Mr. Bones]

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

Darn senior moments!

     Refresh my memory, Gentlemen... where does Vern live? By the way, I'd kick in on getting him a computer, anybody else game? Sure miss hearing from him.

     He is a great guy, and his knowledge, kindness and generosity are the stuff of legends, here in Telephone Land...

Best regards!

[AE_Collector]

Salt Lake City...I think?

Terry

[Dennis Markham]

I'd be more than glad to kick in on a computer too.  Someone may have to be there to help him unpack it and set it up, however.

[Mr. Bones]

I'd be more than glad to kick in on a computer too.  Someone may have to be there to help him unpack it and set it up, however.

I understand that he will need some help with this. That is what friends are for.... hopefully, somebody on the list is geographically closer to him than I, and might be of assistance. I pledge $20.00 to start off... found plenty of great Opti 270 / 280's on Craigs, new install of XP SP3 OS, etc. for <$50.00...15"-17" LCD flat screen monitors are also widely available in the $20.00-$50.00 range. I'd say $100.00-ish would get our friend back in the game, ballpark-figure.

     Let's do this, Gentlemen.

Best regards!

[DavePEI]

I'd be more than glad to kick in on a computer too.  Someone may have to be there to help him unpack it and set it up, however.

I understand that he will need some help with this. That is what friends are for.... hopefully, somebody on the list is geographically closer to him than I, and might be of assistance. I pledge $20.00 to start off... found plenty of great Opti 270 / 280's on Craigs, new install of XP SP3 OS, etc. for <$50.00...

     Let's do this, Gentlemen.

Best regards!

I will also do likewise. Now, we need someone to collect - best someone closer to him.

Dave

[WesternElectricBen]

I don't even know Vern, but I'd cough up some money for him.

Ben

[AE_Collector]

How did web TV work? Would he have some sort of high speed connection or was it some sort of hybrid system over cable? He might not have a connection?

Terry

[WesternElectricBen]

There is a good write up of WebTV on Wikipedia.

I think somebody said he has Comcast.

Ben

[Phonesrfun]

Vern's biggest issue is that he is very far from being computer literate, and has a great deal of difficulty mastering key strokes and other things about computers that the rest of us take for granted.  Vern is not a dummy, in fact he owns his own landscaping company.  That being said, even though he is quite an expert in phone collecting, and has a massive collection, computers are not his strong suit.  He was fine with Web TV because it was literally plug and play.  He only did the very basics with email and participation in the forum.  He always had someone else post pictures for him.  He told me the other night that he did take a 4-session beginner's class in computers not long ago, and was fine for the first two classes and the third began to get over his head and by the fourth, it was over the top.

He lives in Salt Lake City, and there are no other phone collectors there.  He probably has friends, but he does kind of keep to himself.  He did say that he would probably get a laptop or something, but a challenge would be to get him set up with a wireless router.  I am assuming he has cable or access to DSL or something.  I don't know if Web TV was a high speed service or dial-up.  Probably dial-up.  If that's the case, Vern would need some help in getting the whole thing set up.

I think once he gets something set up and after a few sessions of someone giving him hands-on help, he'd eventually get it just fine. 

So, I think it is the deeper issue of getting it all set up with very simple instructions that is the issue, rather than him needing a donated computer.  In fact a used computer with lots of cords and things to plug in might not be the best thing for him.

Someone earlier on in this thread brought up the idea of an iPad.  The iPad or other tablet computer might be just the thing, especially with a bluetooth keyboard.  I might call him and bring that up.  I know I use my iPad more than I use my desktop, especially for just plain typing.  I am typing this post using my iPad and a Zagg keyboard, and I am envisioning that it is about as simple as things get, and Vern could probably handle that.

[G-Man]

As I recall when his WebTV service was terminated some of the members on the TCI list tried to chip-in for a computer for Vern but at the time he declined it since he felt he would be getting over his head in trying to master it. I believe that someone had even offered to travel to his location to set it up. 
It is heartening to see from Bill's report that he is at least making the effort to learn its intricacies. 
WebTV was a horrid service but probably did help introduce some to the internet age even though it was strictly dial-up. Here a link to the manual:
https://www.p4c.philips.com/files/m/mat972kb/mat972kb_dfu_aen.pdf

[DavePEI]

As I recall when his WebTV service was terminated some of the members on the TCI list tried to chip-in for a computer for Vern but at the time he declined it since he felt he would be getting over his head in trying to master it. I believe that someone had even offered to travel to his location to set it up. 
It is heartening to see from Bill's report that he is at least making the effort to learn its intricacies. 
WebTV was a horrid service but probably did help introduce some to the internet age even though it was strictly dial-up. Here a link to the manual:
https://www.p4c.philips.com/files/m/mat972kb/mat972kb_dfu_aen.pdf

So it sounds as though his best bet might be a tablet with web mail... Probably the easiest for him to learn? I would think that if he had an Elmer to call up for advice he would be ok with one?

Dave

[G-Man]

Dave I suspect that both yours and Bill's ideas about a tablet or iPod would offer the best solution.

[DavePEI]

Dave I suspect that both yours and Bill's ideas about a tablet or iPod would offer the best solution.

Ok, now we have to find someone closer to Vern to collect the money and to act as his "Elmer". For those who don't know what an "Elmer" is, it is an old Ham phrase which means a person who guides someone through something new. I suspect when faced with a way to get back on line, he will be happy and that will help him to get over any reluctance he might have. I for one, would love to see him more active here and on the lists. He is a great fellow.

The reason I suggest a tablet, is the size of screen. As a person gets older, seeing the screen of an IPod can be a problem. I have no idea of how good Verne''s eyesight is, but know in my case at least given the choice between them, I would chose the one with the larger screen for that reason. And I think a person who isn't overly computer literate would enjoy the larger screen for other reasons.

Too bad he lost his web TV access - he wasn't on often, but at least we heard from him once in a while. If someone decides to try to get this together, let me know, as I wold like to contribute to the fund.

Dave

[xhausted110]

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

If that's the one I gave you, It's a straight P4.

[WesternElectricBen]

If that's the one I gave you, It's a straight P4.

That is what I was thinking, thanks again for it!

Ben

Fixed your quote... D.