Re: In search of knowledge

Posted by colin on July 29, 2003 at 12:41:12:

In Reply to: In search of knowledge posted by Mike on July 29, 2003 at 11:36:51:

Thank you, I consider that a compliment and I can only tell you, the best way to learn is to do.
Build a PC a cheap one you can play with, install different systems to the hard drive and when you read, possibly from the likes of me, that you wil acheive a certain result bt doing the following, try it and see, if it didn't work find out why.
www.google.co.uk is a tremendous source of knowledge, if you have say a problem with an IDE driver, put the name into google with problem after it, you will come up with an answer sooner or later.
I have been building PC's and repairing user's software errors for years, I started building my own and then helping pals, but I as smart and only offered help if I knew the answer!
I'm fortunate as I have a very high level of recall, if I read something I almost always remember it, so that's what I do.
PCAnswers, XP official and PC Forum(games mostly) and then there is all the news groups and tech forums on the web, you don't need to join them, just read, windrivers.com is a good source as is Anandtech and Tomshardware, you'll read in these places not only what's new but also how hardware works and why sometimes it wont. It will take a while but it will start to snap into place.
I post here purely for fun, I like to see if I know the answers and believe me often I don't, but I never guess, I search the subject and read it until I understand it well enough to post an answer which hopefully will help, so I get a satisfaction that if the person follows what I put then they will usually end up with the desired result.
I started to put together a help site a while back at www.helpgem.co.uk which although has a lot needed doing yet will give you a lot of good information and links to find yet more. There are mail links there as well, fee free to mail me anytime, if I can help you in any way, I will do my best to point you in the right direction.
One last thing, I do this for fun but there's a lot of PC's out there needed upgrading, systems installing and just general overhauling. When you know enough you can make a reasonable living if you want, from other people's PC's and without charging silly amounts either. If I say so myself I am fairly well known in the area I live and have repaired many a PC previously taken to high street shops that are worse or no better when they come back usually having cost a considerable amount. The poor old public need sensible reasonable tech's on their side and you'll never want for work again.
be lucky, just do it. (please dont confuse knowledge and learning with sill bits of paper issued by large corporations, they are worth less and will teach you nothing)

Re: In search of knowledge

Looking for a device driver? Try DriverGuide.com