Subject: shrug-l: Hardware

[Tim Spivey]

Late arrival here (our e-mail system deletes SHRUG mail notices)
Dual monitors, definitely - and I would go so far as to specify CRT
monitors, not flat panel. We use aerial imagery a lot and see the
difference in onscreen image quality. Get one monitor with dual inputs,
and you can run 2 CPUs into it. So while one CPU is crunching big ortho
reprojections, you can still do your road centerlines. There is a Belkin
"octopus" adapter that connects 1 keyboard to 2 CPUs.
A pair of 22" CRT monitors also makes a nice space heater.   8^)
Put a UPS on everything, don't overload one UPS. And replace UPS
batteries every 2-3 years; they do lose reserve power as they age.
Printers - for a wide-format (36"+), I can highly recommend the Canon
line. Competitive prices, excellent output, easy to setup, zippy
printing. What HP only hopes it could be.
And finally, a good backup strategy, hardware and software. I don't know
about y'all, but I have no desire to have to re-do a month's work
because a hard drive crashed. We use "Retrospect" to run scheduled
backups to an external hard drive, and "Norton Ghost" to clone the C:
drive every 3 months.