scan

problem — scanning eats up system resources, leaving me unable to do other things on my computer. this is boring and inefficient.

solution — set up a secondary computer for the scanner.

but which is the best option…

a — get hal 9000 up and running again on windows 95, near or next to neuromancer, so that while hal is scanning i can jump back into the internet, or photo-editing, or whatnot.

b — buy a fujitsu lifebook p1032 or p1120 for $500-1000 on ebay, which would get me a 9″ laptop with a touchscreen, hardware that’s better than hal 9k and runs xp, and pick up either a parallel-to-usb adapter for my current scanner, or a new usb scanner that should be faster than my old one. it wouldn’t scan toys like my current one, but i have a digital camera now. scan with the laptop, computate with the desktop, take hal to freegeek.

c — pick up one of the $200 motherboard/processor combos in the fries ad every week that’s faster than my new computer, and build a better new computer for under $500. buy new graphics cards for both of them, hook up an input switcher so i can run them both off one monitor/kb/mouse, and scan in the background on my spare xp tower. take hal to freegeek.

d — pick up the hp ipaq hx4700 pocket pc for $650 and browse the internet via it’s built in wi-fi while my desktop is scanning stuff. take hal to freegeek.

e — read a book.

c is tempting, but ultimately only because of half life 2. and it probably wouldn’t run hl2 better than my current tower unless i also snagged a better video card than the one i’m planning to get, which is something i can do for my current tower anyways.

b or d would be nice because while it’s theoretically cool to have two spare computers laying around, i don’t really need them and if i’m only going to use them for scanning, i might as well get a laptop to replace them, which has mobility i can take advantage of, and then i only have one machine i have to open up and mess with every now and then.

hell, theoretically speaking, if the ipaq cradle has a usb port, i could hook a scanner up to THAT and let it handle the scanning. it’s got a 624 mhz processor, all i’d need would be scanner drivers for winmobile 2e.