BKHMDNPC.RVW 971211 "The Hand-Me-Down PC", Morris Rosenthal, 1998, U$21.95, 0-07-053523-X %A Morris Rosenthal %C 300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6 %D 1998 %G 0-07-053523-X %I McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne %O U$21.95 905-430-5000 800-565-5758 louisea@McGrawHill.ca %P 307 p. %T "The Hand-Me-Down PC: Upgrading and Repairing Personal Computers" Many seek to advise on upgrades; few deliver. This book provides a fairly standard mix of generic and not always helpful content. The four chapters of part one look at the basic parts of a computer. Chapter one discusses the system unit, consisting of the case, power supply, motherboard, CPU (Central Processing Unit), and RAM (Random Access Memory). Drives are usually part of the system unit, but get the second chapter to themselves: floppy, hard, CD-ROM, cartridge, and tape drives. Chapter three gives an overview of common internal adapters or cards, such as video, I/O (Input/Output), IDE (Intelligent Drive Electronics), internal modem, sound, network, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), and video capture cards. The external components, or peripherals, are covered in chapter four, including keyboards, monitors, mice, joysticks, graphics tablets, printers, scanners, plotters, speakers, and external modems and drives. At this level, the book is simply providing terminology and some basic explanation. Part two deals with the work of the computer, and therefore with software. Chapter five examines operating systems, the basic software of the computer upon which all else depends.This chapter is quite weak, tending to the Microsoft view of the world without much analysis. Since the intention of the book is to renovate or rejuvenate old hardware, it is surprising that the author does not see fit to point out that Minix or Linux on an old machine, with hardware too dated to be capable of running Windows 95 in any decent fashion, can outperform Windows 95 with greater stability than Windows NT. Chapter six is very simplistic overview of applications software, with not much to recommend it except the important exhortation to make sure your computer will support the software before you buy it. (Come to think of it, that applies to operating systems as well, and seems to have been missed.) For some reason the title of chapter seven is "Custom Computing." In fact, it is an attempt to list minimum configurations for different types of computer use. The book starts to pick up a bit in part three. Examination of the system and determination of what it consists of is in chapter eight. The material addresses only the most common elements (network interface cards, among others, aren't covered), and some advice is questionable (not all Com1 ports have DB9 connectors, not all Com2 ports have DB25). And when you're dealing with older machines, Plug and Play usually doesn't. Chapter nine discusses memory and CPU upgrades in what appears to be considerable detail. Unfortunately, on closer reading, the detail is again both incomplete and wrong in some cases. While the book talks about machines as far back as the 286, neither SIP nor DIP memory packaging are mentioned. The banking of memory is more complicated than is noted, and the most frightening part of CPU upgrades is the working of the chip out of, and into, the socket. Installation of adapter cards, in chapter ten, seems to assume that all drivers are available and working immediately. By the time I got to chapter eleven, on drives, the fact that it contained pretty good information came as a relief. Chapter twelve is a brisk walk through other peripherals, and thirteen is similar to every "what to get your computer geek for Christmas" list you've ever seen. Starting part four, about the most valuable thing in the technical basics chapter is the advice that quality control from manufacturers can be very poor. Chapter fifteen, on troubleshooting parts of the computer, gives a lot of general advice, but little practical "cookbook" testing that the user can actually use. The top ten boot failures, in chapter sixteen, are a helpful quick guide. Chapter seventeen, on memory management, is the usual rather useless collection of vague ideas. Part five looks at the future, and has almost nothing to say about upgrading or repairs. Computer repair is a complex field. Buying or upgrading computers is a continually moving target. Books dealing with these topics have a difficult task. Unfortunately, Rosenthal doesn't seem to have anything special to contribute. (Except his cartoons. They're cute. Or does that accolade go to Mary?) copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKHMDNPC.RVW 971211