Parvati

Parvati is the name of my laptop, which I bought in the summer of 1997 to bring to Japan with me. Despite limited money and time (I really wish I could have waited for one of the Pentium II laptops out now), I think it's a pretty decent machine, even though things are now starting to break. The picture was taken by Parvati's companion Fei-Oh, my digital camera. (Blame my photography skill, not Kodak.) Here are Parvati's specs:

Acer / Texas Instruments Extensa 660CDT
purchased June 1997
(Acer bought TI's notebook PC business in 1997)

• Intel 166MHz Pentium processor with MMX technology
• 80MB EDO RAM
  (upgraded from the default 16MB -- much nicer now)
• 2.1GB EIDE hard drive
• 11.3 inch TFT SVGA display
  800x600, 64K colors - the people who say dual-scan is just as good are lying
• NeoMagic 128ZV PCI video controller
• 10x CD-ROM drive
  (swappable with 3.5" floppy drive)
• Zoomed Video and CardBus compatible PC Card slots
• Microsoft Windows 98 with Plus! 98 and relevant updates
• Acer's latest drivers and software
• System Commander Deluxe 4.0 for running other operating systems (currently only Win95/J)

Other Goodies:

• SyQuest SyJet 1.5GB removable hard drive (external SCSI) and a bunch of cartridges
• Adaptec APA-358 MiniSCSI parallel-to-SCSI adapter
  very slow and initially somewhat flaky, but it's working OK now
• NEC Aterm IT50DSU ISDN terminal adapter (very nice)
• 3Com Megahertz 10 Mbps LAN + 56K Modem PC Card with XJACK Connector
  (model 3CXEM556 B), which is quite nice
• Kensington MicroSaver lock and cable
• Targus carrying case
  (leather, oddly designed, heavy, and free!)

The Wish List:

• Adaptec APA-1480a CardBus SCSI controller
  (unless something better comes along)
• 3D accelerator video card with OpenGL support (Voodoo 2 PC Card? In my dreams...)
• video capture/overlay equipment

Just one last comment: I'm a Windows NT zealot, but I'm not too keen to install NT on my laptop just yet. Now that I have System Commander and solid net access, I'm thinking about installing Linux just for fun.

This laptop has served me pretty well, but I'm planning to buy a new desktop PC later this year. I have purchased a new PC every two years since 1992. That's four computers. The PC industry loves me. ^_^ My next computer will be built from the ground up by me. I'll have a specs page up soon.

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