WWIV, Wildcat, Celerity — these hallowed names represent the best of a golden era of communication, back when “getting online” meant tying up the family phone line, remembering arcane Hayes AT codes to maximize performance out of the 9600 baud modem your dad borrowed from work, and TradeWars was the best multiplayer game available. Yes, I’m talking about Bulletin Board Systems, originally text based and later augmented with ANSI graphics. The first public BBS celebrated its birthday yesterday, and I think it’s a fair bet that few of us would be engaging in discussion today if it weren’t for that simple little computer bulletin board in 1978. Why even our esteemed leader John Biggs ran a bulletin board system for a brief while!

I met a lot of really interesting people, and learned a lot of interesting things, as a result of my participation in BBSes around town. I never got into CompuServe or AOL or Prodigy — they were too corporate for me. I was more interested in the smaller BBSes hosted by people with interests similar to my own: science fiction and fantasy, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and role playing games. I attended a couple of parties, picnics, and other social events coordinated by BBS users. Because the community of users was smaller — and local — there wasn’t nearly the prevalence of trolling or anonymous flamewars. BBSes were a great way to connect, and communicate, with people.

Of course, it was a simpler time back then. We weren’t bombarded with advertisements. There was no Flash animation. Heck, even downloading a low-resolution image of a pretty girl in a bikini took upwards of 20 minutes! There were no hyperlinks, no embedded images or videos: it was all text based, so there was a very real value to careful explication. The depth and breadth of discussion was often greater, with more personal insight and contribution (and sometimes BS). Generally we all knew one another, and welcomed new participants pretty quickly.

BBSes exist in stark contrast to today’s web, where the regular participants on many big blogs drown out newcomers, the audience’s fixation on neophilia and the John Gabriel Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory prevail, and a pithy image or silly video can trump even the most erudite discussion.

Thanks Wired for the trip down memory lane!

VIA just launched their latest little computer, the M’SERV S2100. Designed for the small business and home user, the M’SERV uses a VIA 64-bit processor with support for DDR2 and SATA.

The M’SERVE also has a bootable CF socket, allowing you to install your OS on a compact flash card, and then boot from said card. A pretty neat feature. The S2100 also has dual gigabit LAN, and very low power consumption so you don’t have to feel guilty about leaving it on all the time. VIA hasn’t announced how much the M’SERVE is going to cost, or when it will be available.

From the press release:

Thanks to the VIA Nano processor and its 64-bit architecture and integrated hardware assisted virtualization technology, the VIA M’SERV S2100 is capable of hosting multiple virtual environments. In addition, the VIA VX800 single-chip media system processor provides support for SATA, USB, and a whole host of other essential functions.
The VIA M’SERV S2100 mini server is even smaller than most small form factor (SFF) desktop PCs. Its ultra compact size and whisper quiet operation makes it a perfect server for the home, or any place where space is at a premium or noise is an issue.

You’d think a guy who writes about tech all day would have the latest and greatest gear. Confession time: I don’t. In fact, most of it’s pretty old and I sort of like it that way.

The winter months are the hardest time to not want new stuff. We’re inundated with sales, and in a few short weeks we’ll be ogling next year’s tech at CES. As the resident Gizmodo “no I won’t upgrade my PowerBook” curmudgeon, I’m here for support. Take a look at the gear I use, and how despite its age, all (well, most of) it has plenty of life left.

I Call Him FrankenPod

No, you’re not seeing things. The image above is indeed a picture of my primary media player, and yes, it is an iPod mini.

Go ahead, get the Borat jokes out of your system.

Done? Okay, now hear me out. Don’t judge a book by its cover. As far as I’m concerned, this little guy can blow away nearly any other MP3 player on the market.

Under the hood, I swapped the 6GB microdrive with a 16GB Compact Flash card. I can easily change it out for a 32 or a 64GB card once prices come down. It’s also running what I consider to be the most feature-rich firmware around, Rockbox. What looks like a beat-up iPod mini is actually a robust, nearly indestructible flash-based portable audio player, all built for a fraction of what a new one costs.

The mini isn’t the only old iPod that’s easily moddable. Considering about 118% of the United States’ population has an old iPod lying around somewhere by now, chances are you’ve got what you need for a fun weekend project. Even if your heart’s set on the Zune HD’s OLED display or the Touch’s app catalog, some love and a little elbow grease can breathe old life into that old iPod, and give you a great secondary PMP.

The Little Computer that Could

When I walked into Gizmodo HQ on my first day, I was nervous. Some of that anxiety was the new job jitters, but I was mostly afraid that my 12″ PowerBook wouldn’t cut it. Gizmodo moves fast, and my aging machine certainly doesn’t. I was on the verge of upgrading, but decided to see how my old hardware fared before taking the plunge.

Long story short: It did the job. Barely. But through compromise, I made it work. I love Firefox and all of its extensions, but Safari runs at half the resource load. Photoshop Elements does what I need without the huge footprint of CS. With a little thought as to what applications I was running, which ones I didn’t need, and where I was willing to compromise, my plucky PowerBook and I made it through the summer.

As much as I love the little guy, it’s not like I haven’t thought about replacing him. I almost pulled the trigger on a new MacBook last month. At the last minute I decided that instead of buying a computer that would last me 2-3 years, I wanted another that could feasibly last for 4+. Whenever that computer comes out, I’ll probably bite, but until then I’m happy squeezing a little extra life out of my aging hardware.

Look at how you use your computer. If you’re rendering all day, never leave Photoshop, or doing any other heavy computing and you need the speed, then upgrade. But the rest of us can probably hold off a little longer, even tech-obsessed gadget bloggers.

Nice Peeling Chrome Paint, Dude

I’m fairly certain I’m the only writer at Gizmodo without a smartphone. Yes, dumbphones must die, and someday I will upgrade this one. But for now, it makes calls, texts, and even has an almost acceptable music player built in that works in a pinch. Google services run surprisingly well in a WAP browser, too, so I can get email and read my RSS feeds when necessary.

Would I love to have a smartphone? Sure. (Hey Brian Lam and Jason Chen, skip down a few sentences) But it’s also really nice to be disconnected sometimes. My Gizmodo email account receives a very steady stream of emails, to say the least. I like being able to walk away from the computer and cut myself off every once in a while, without my phone constantly reminding me that there’s work to be done (Okay overlords, you can read on from here).

Just Because it’s Old Doesn’t Mean it Sounds Worse

No, this stereo doesn’t do DTS-HD Master Audio. It has zero HDMI ports. But it still does 2-channel audio pretty well, more than well enough for what I need it to do.

Repurposing old stereo equipment is one of the best ways to build a great system on the cheap. The turntable and receiver are my dad’s old gear, coupled with a pair of speakers I yanked off of a CD player I’ve had since I was 14. The setup won’t win me any audiophile cred, but it definitely does a much-better-than-OK job at playing music.

Not to mention that it’s pretty cool to listen on the same equipment my dad once used. When I was 17, I found his old record collection in the basement and immediately started spinning it on his long-forgotten turntable. Call me corny, but I think it’s pretty awesome to know that 30-some years ago he was listening to the same records on the same deck.

If you aren’t lucky enough to have access to your parents’ old stereo equipment, it’s not uncommon to find some real gems at your local thrift shop on the cheap, tossed away by someone who thought McIntosh is a cheap Apple knock-off.

Okay, so Maybe I Want to Upgrade Some of It

I do have one thing that I desperately want, and will upgrade to soon: an HDTV. I’ve never owned anything besides tube TVs under 20 inches. The fact that flat-panel prices are finally reasonable, combined with the digital switchover makes it prime time for me to jump the CRT ship.

I want to say that it always makes sense to hold onto your old TV after you upgrade, but in this case it might not. Television sets were at their saturation point well before HDTVs came along. In 2009 there were more TVs per household than people. By now it’s likely that you just don’t have room for a fourth or twelfth tube anywhere.

If you find yourself needing to dispose of an aging TV, please do so properly. Donate it. Sell it on Craigslist. Or look into electronics recycling centers in your area. An old TV may not have a place in your house or apartment, but it might find a place in someone else’s home. It certainly doesn’t belong in a landfill.

See? I’m Not a Total Luddite

I might roll with old stuff, but I’m not some sort of quasi-neo-luddite. Plenty of other gadgets in my arsenal are much more recent than what you see here. I have a PS3, my music gets fed to my stereo through a Squeezebox, and I do have another receiver that handles multichannel audio, albeit a relatively cheap and older one (and in case you’re wondering, I did take these pictures with a DSLR, but it’s not mine).

So yes, even I don’t always live by the “never upgrade” mentality. Planned obsolescence and the industry’s fast pace make it impossible to live by that creed. But I also think that a lot of the time we feel “forced” to upgrade we’re really being driven by gadget lust, that powerful desire which makes us overlook the benefits of using old stuff.

Here’s what I always think about when that ol’ familiar “gotta have it” feeling hits. The biggest and most obvious perk: buy new stuff less often, save money. I don’t know about you, but if I walk away from a big purchase, I feel like I’ve won. It’s like trapping money that was trying to escape from my bank account. And if you’ve got a bit of the tree-hugging hippy spirit in you, you’ll feel good about cutting down on your e-waste output, even if only by a little bit.

Not to mention the freedom old gear provides. I imagine it’s similar to the feeling of operating the Mars rovers. I know that my gadgets have gone far beyond their planned mission length, so I throw them around without caring if they get damaged. And once that old gear inevitably goes belly up, I’ll feel no remorse upgrading something that lasted for so long.

But that doesn’t mean I won’t be sad to lose my gadgets. I’ve heard other tech junkies say that we should never fall in love with technology, because we’ll just end up heartbroken when it’s time to say goodbye. In my opinion, that emotional connection is exactly what we need nowadays. If we all try to love our gadgets, to start treating them more like companions than disposable tools, a lot more perfectly good gear could be saved from an untimely retirement.

I know more than a few of you out there are eyeing some new toys for the holidays. I am too. But before we let upgraditis get the best of us, let’s consider what we already have. Maybe it’s still good enough. Maybe there’s a new part that could make our gadgets better, and provide a fun modding project to boot. Take it from me: There’s almost always some way to squeeze extra life out of old gear.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s an old Dell tower around here somewhere that’s begging to become a NAS.

Dell just went official with the Inspiron Zino HD price and spces. There have been a few unboxing and previews popping up around the blogs the last few days and I’ve fallen in love with the little computer. It’s slightly larger than the Mac Mini, but I believe infinitely more versatile.

HTPC - It’s a given. The $229 Dell Zino HD would feel right at home on a A/V rack. The Athlon CPUs and optional ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB GPU has more than enough juice to output 1080p to your HDTV. Check the box for the optional Blu-ray drive and TV tuner to create a bonafide HTPCIB – Home Theater PC In a Box, that is.

WHS - There are about a dozen and a half already built Windows Home Server options available. HP makes the media-centric MediaSmart line, Acer has the Atom-packing easyStore, Lenovo has options and the list goes on. They are competent boxes, but none of them have the processing power that the AMD options offer in the Zino HD, which is somewhat important if you want to turn the server into a torrent downloading monster. Choose the integrated graphics but select at least 2GB of RAM along with the option 1TB hard drive. The 2 eSATA ports ensure that you’ll never run out of storage capacity too.

Trendy office computer – It doesn’t take much to run Microsoft Office apps anymore. Why live with a boring gray tower these days when the playful Zino HD can get the job done too? Even the base model should be fine for most office tasks.

In-car computer – The Mac Mini might score you nerd points with the geeks posing in the car tuning crowd, but there are a lot of PC-only in-car apps, which makes the Zino HD a perfect solution. It has a small footprint and more than enough power to run GPS and music software. But most importantly is that the computer comes in enough color options that you should be able to find one to match your ride.

Old folks computer – What do old people do on a computer these days? Play on Facebook? That’s about it and the Zino HD, along with countless other options, has more than enough power to be a reliable computer for them. The Athlon cores should be able to handle at least five Internet Explorer toolbars and several spyware programs posing as card games. Try that with an Atom CPU.

The Zino HD product page is currently up, but you can’t customize or order one yet. That will probably change sometime today.

Press release,

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Nov. 12, 2009 – Dell today introduced the mini-sized Inspiron Zino HD, which is versatile enough to handle tasks from basic computing chores to driving a big-screen, High-Definition TV media center. With a choice of colors, the Inspiron Zino HD can be easily personalized to add flare to any room in the home.

The News:

Starting at $229, the Inspiron Zino HD includes standard HD-capable integrated graphics, HDMI output and built-in networking that make it smart for typical home and student computing activities such as word processing, e-mail, organizing photos and music, and surfing the Internet.

The economical Inspiron Zino HD with optional additional memory, hard drive storage, combo Blu-ray disc player, HDTV tuner, wireless remote control and Windows 7 Media Player and turns into a powerful home media center computer. In that capacity the Inspiron Zino HD can record and play your favorite TV shows, display high-definition content from the Internet, and store and deliver music, video and photos very well.

The Inspiron Zino HD is also ideal as an additional household PC that can fit in tight spaces and make home networking a cinch. It measures about 7.75 inches square and 3.5 inches tall. While small in size, the Inspiron Zino HD is a big performer with:

• Ultra-small form factor designed to fit almost anywhere.
• Easy personalization with nine color choices for Inspiron Zino HD.
• Choice of AMD processors or dual core Athlon Neo X2 6850e.
• Up to 8GB dual channel DDR 2 memory.
• Up to 1TB internal hard disk storage.
• Combo DVD/CD RW drive with optional Blu-ray Disc combo.
• Integrated 10/100/1000 networking with wireless option.
• Optional TV tuner, wireless keyboard and mouse.
• Built in 2.1 high-definition audio and 4-in-one media card reader.
• Integrated ATI graphics adapter with standard HDMI and VGA video connections, and optional 512MB discrete graphics adapter.
• Four USB ports (2 front/2 rear); two eSATA ports (rear).
• Energy-Star 5.0 compliant.

A basic Inspiron Zino without High-Definition capability or upgrade options will be offered in some regions.

Oh, netbooks. Doug loves ‘em, but I’m still not convinced of their vitalness. Is it neat to see a tiny little computer zip around the Internet? Sure, yeah. Can I go about my business without ever having owned one? So far, so good! I bring this up because yesterday I was able to goof around—in truth, that’s probably the most accurate phrase to describe it, no matter how silly it sounds—with Acer’s newest netbook, the Aspire One AOD250 ($350, available now, rumored for the past 700 years). It’s a netbook; it doesn’t look too different from netbooks you’ve already seen, but for one difference: see that little switch right there? That’s where you tell the netbook to boot into Android or Windows XP.

That’s right: this netbook is able to dual-boot, and pretty easily, too. (Though I’m sure it’s just a matter of putting a couple of ISOs on a flash drive to configure any netbook to dual-boot, but I somehow doubt Joe Sixpack has any interest in doing such a thing.) It’s not hard to figure out why Acer would do this: netbooks, for better or worse, are where consumers’ money is going these days, and despite the fact that margins there are still pretty tight—really, how much profit can you expect when you’re selling these things for $300?—Acer has to follow the crowd. Can’t let other companies hog all the fun, right?

So throw XP and Android on it. That way, you’ve got an operating system that was designed from the ground-up to be gentle on devices with very little horsepower, and another operating system where people can “surf the Internet,” that is, fire up Internet Explorer and buy movie tickets from that one Web site. You know, because no other browser, let alone operating system, can work in the Internet. (Is is just me, or do you still know people who, despite the fact that computers have been pretty accessible since the mid-1990s, are still like, “What’s a URL? Oh, you mean the words I type to read my Hotmail?”)

In having both XP and Android on the netbook, Acer can say, “Hey there, person who’s money we’d like! Did you know that with our notebook you can use an OS that excels on netbooks, and have your Windows, too? And all you have to do is press this button, et voilà!”

Presumably Acer has a marketing team that’s a little more clever than that.

How does the AOD250 feel? Frankly, like every other netbook out there. That may be fine if you have small hands, or are comfortable with working in small spaces, but if you’re a Big Guy, it’s not exactly ideal to smash your wrists together trying to poke out an e-mail or tweet. Another weird point: we’re pretty used to seeing Android on touchscreen devices, and interacting with it as such. This Acer netbook, though, doesn’t have a touchscreen. Now, I’m cool with that—the Zune HD is my very first touchscreen device, and I’m still getting used to it, several weeks after having given the nice man at Wal-Mart my money—but I can almost hear some of you yelling “Lame!!!” Calm down, sirs, it really isn’t a big deal.

Specs? Again, I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, but you read about one netbook… It’s got a 10.1-inch screen, 160GB hard drive (not a flash drive, just to clear that up), 1GB of memory, built-in 802.11b/g and Bluetooth, three USB ports, and a multi-touch touchpad. An Intel Atom N80 powers the whole thing. That should be enough to run Windows XP, right? I mean, XP is an 8-year-old OS at this point!

So, netbookers, I ask you this: yea or nay? I feel as thought I’ve completely skipped out on the netbook fun, and don’t really have as personal reaction to this as I normally like.

Newegg has listed prices for OEM copies of Windows 7—technically intended for little computer building businesses, but there’s nothing stopping you buying them. And as long as you understand some mostly-minor limitations, you can save some serious money.

Take a look at the table—that’s not chump change. Newegg is also taking a further $5-$15 off some prices for pre-orders before October 20.

The main two caveats: OEM product keys aren’t transferrable from one PC to another, and you’ll need to install them on a formatted machine (usually the best way, anyway). Less of a concern is that you don’t get any support or packaging; just the disc. Still sounds like a bargain to me—unless you’re a college student, in which case you can pick Windows 7 up for just $30 bucks. [Newegg via ComputerWorld via ArsTechnica]