I'm curious to ask "What is everything?"

I ended up buying a 20" HP model 2021x on sale at OfficeMax but, although the on-line manual for it had no specs on contrast-ratio, it does have this statement that it has "Dynamic Contrast Ratio to provide deeper blacks and brighter whites for brilliant shading effects while gaming or watching movies."
I'll see how well that works out when I pick-up the new HP tower and monitor Wednesday 11/30.

I wonder how crowded the 20" screen will get while running during "casual contesting":
1. logging software by N1MM (suggested to me as the best software for contesting),
2. CAT program by Logger32 (this works well on my FT-950),
3. Goggle Chrome for QRZ.

73 Jerry km3k

All the above is good to know.
I suppose size is an individual choice; I was going for the 20" based on what I could afford.
Contrast-ratio?? no clue what that means.
In fact, I have no idea what the buttons on a monitor do; I've never gotten a manual with a monitor and the one time I tried messing with the four buttons, I messed things up so badly, I've never tried it again.
73 Jerry km3k

I've just ordered a new HP tower (nothing fancy; dual-core @2.7 GHz; 6 GB RAM; Win7; wireless).
I want to buy a new monitor for it and so have to choose between LCD or LED monitor.
In the store, display-wise they all look the same to me as I see no difference between the two regardless of manufacturer;
The monitor's primary use would be for ham-radio; when the dust settles, I expect to run Fldigi, MMTTY and N1MM with some casual contesting too.
I'd appreciate reading any comments, ideas or recommendations on LCD vs LED monitors as applies to ham-radio usage.
73 Jerry km3k
PS. I've given up on trying to use my Dell laptop; grandchildren have taken it over to do homework assignments.

Thanks for the good laugh that I had when I read those words.
Seriously though, it was a big deal, especially since I had done my research prior to my purchase and had the proper drivers.
Keyspan tech-support talked me through a self-test of the device and then claimed that, since the Keyspan passed the self-test, it was working as designed.
Gee, that's great but it is not running my AIM-4170.

I totally agree with that sentence and I've been there, done that many times with the Keyspan but only had to do it once to the Radio-Shack.

BTW, as I understand it, an adapter designer has a choice of using a Prolific-chip (bad choice) or a FTDI-chip (good choice).
I would suppose that you were fortunate in getting an adapter which used the FTDI-chip.
From my experience, information like that is not to be found on a web-site or any container-box....neither for Keyspan or Radio-Shack or anywhere else for that matter.

Also, from another group, I have learned that a RT Systems adapter RTS-03 for $23 is universally acclaimed to work in all applications (disclaimer: I have no financial interest in the company). I just can't bring myself to try it out.
73 Jerry km3k

I have had a terrible experience with a Keystone USB-to-RS232 adapter.
I wish I could get back the hours and hours I spent in trying to get it to work with my AIM-4170 analyzer.
(At the time, I knew next to nothing about RS232. I could stand to know more even now.)
I also feel bad for the time W5BIG freely spent with me in that unsuccessful endeavor; after all, his time is money.
I ended up getting a  Radio-Shack GigaWare adapter and that worked the AIM-4170, which is a totally first-rate piece of gear.
BTW, I knew the AIM-4170 was working properly because I could run it with a tower that has a dedicated RS232-port

Add to that a different USB-to-RS232 adapter fiasco and that is why I'm gun-shy of USB-to-RS232 adapters.
I'll use the Radio-Shack adapter with my laptop if I have to use my AIM-4170 in a portable location; otherwise, I'm going the fixed RS232-card route in a tower.
73 Jerry km3k

There is a HP-tower that I'm considering for the shack and need help concerning expansion-slots.
1. I'm going to need a card for 2-ports of RS232 (to avoid any USB-to-RS232 adapters); planning on a StarTech card.
2. I think I won't need a Network-Interface-Card because the HP-specs say this "LAN: 1000-Base-T Interface: Integrated into motherboard
Technology: RTL8171EH-CG gigabit ethernet controller
Data transfer speeds: up to 10/100/1000 Mb/s
Transmission standards: 1000-Base-T Ethernet".
3. I don't understand what I've copied below about the expansion-slots; hopefully someone can explain where'd go and what could be possibly done with the left-over slots.
Expansion Slots:
1 PCI Express x16
3 PCI Express x1
1 PCI Express Mini Card x1
I hope this makes sense.
73 Jerry km3k

In case anyone is interested....
My Dell tower is up and running after over a week of hard labor working on it.
In one way or another, the postings here helped me.
The major hurdle was rampant ignorance on my part of the nitty-gritty workings of XP and Office.
Previously I had just enough passing interest to do whatever work I wanted to do.
This week was a tremendous learning experience; I learned a lot and learned that I have a lot more to learn.
Here's what happened....
Whatever caused the initial problem of the corrupted-file also may have affected Dell's built-in network-adapter.
I ended up buying a NIC; then I was able to get on the Internet.
A second problem was mis-information from Microsoft caused confusion; their website stated Outlook-Express came with XP.
It took awhile to sort out that Dell shipped it with Outlook.
And it took awhile to get Outlook configured the way it was before for two users; since Comcast was no help, I ended up figuring it out myself even though Microsoft's help-files were difficult to follow (I think they assume you've done the operation before and so know what the major terms mean).
We intend to make periodic print-outs of our email-address-books just to have that resource available in hand in case of a computer catastrophe; we realized that was the one thing we missed the most when we went to use our laptop.
I still have not figured out a way to get our Google "Favorites" back in place.
Also, I'd like to make a system-backup someday to an external-drive (that I don't have as yet) but my XP does not seem to have a Backup program.
This past week was interesting but stressful.
Next step is to figure out a plan to replace the hard-drive.
73 Jerry km3k

A search shows no hits on this topic.
I tried a re-install of XP on my 5-year-old Dell desktop and encountered two major problems in that process along with the possibility that its hard-drive may be going astray.

The fastest way to get something up and running might just be to buy a new tower.

One of the choices is to decide whether to go with a 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7.
What I've found is a 32-bit choice would limit memory to 4 GB.
But a 64-bit choice might limit what "old" programs could be run.
I wonder what other input some might provide who have already made this choice.

73 Jerry km3k

The re-install of XP-home is not going very well.

Problem#1 is the system cannot find my network-connection, so I have no Internet.
As I understand it, clicking on Control-Panel->Network-connections should show an IP-address, a subnet-mask and a gateway-default.
Well, nothing shows up.
I did take off the tower's cover to do a visual check in the region where the yellow-cable connects to the tower; see nothing unusual there.

Problem#2 is a concern.
When I bought the computer-system from Dell, it came with XP-home installed on it.
I'm finding out now that XP-home uses Outlook-Express.
However, I think my computer had Outlook installed because I have pst files.
Yet the re-install put in Outlook-Express (which uses dbx files).
I have looked, by using Windows-Explorer, at the contents of both of my Dell disks (one for re-install and the other has drivers) and see nothing there about Outlook.
My XYL will have my head if I lose her email stuff; I won't be too happy if I lose my email stuff.

The re-install is not going very well. Oh, yes; I said that before.
I have so many hours into this mess; I'm starting to think about just getting a new tower (with Windows7) and it won't be a Dell unit.
73 Jerry km3k

That works; it reports "NTFS" and shows "C" drive capacity and free area.
It is of interest that this approach does not show the two unlabelled "drives" (is that the right terminology?) found in the W8JX method.
Thanks for the help.
73 Jerry km3k

Yep! that worked; I found it in 'Disk Management'.
There I see four volumes, two of which are have no label and the other two are 'C:' and 'D:'.
For the two with no label....
one is FAT (EISA configuration) with capacity of 39 MB and free-space 31 MB.
the other is FAT32 (unknown partition) with capacity of 3.26 GB and free-space 173 MB.
'C:' is NTFS with capacity of 52.70 GB and 47% free.
'D:' is NTFS with capacity of 18.49 GB and 97% free; labelled as 'backup'.

Out of curiousity, might you be able to explain why FAT and FAT32 are being used there?
Thanks for the help.
73 Jerry km3k

Also I might add when you install always use NTFS files system and not FAT32 which XP will default to. NTFS is a lot more robust and can correct some errors transparently that FAT32 will not.[/quote]
I think I chose NTFS but I'd like to verify that.
What would you suggest as the right way to check that NTFS is "in play"?
73 Jerry km3k

Hi W8JX,
Actually, I used the authentic Dell restore disk that came with the computer.
Dell included another disk labelled as having drivers and utilities. So I'll try that.
When I get something new that has documentation or whatever with it, I make up a folder and put all that kind of stuff in it.
Now, for this desktop computer, there is no install CD. I have no idea if this computer has a hidden partition nor do I know how to check if it did.
I've taken in that wise counseling but please understand that I'm working under a time-constraint that does not allow for me getting another drive today.
73 Jerry km3k

I had another topic going about a "missing or corrupt file...." on my desktop.
But thanks to help from my neighbor and W8JX, I have recovered my data (saved to this laptop).
I'm now trying to re-install XP on the desktop albeit to the original hard-drive notwithstanding the advice from W8JX about going to a new drive (a change to a new drive will happen in the very near future).
Anyway, I'm in territory in which I've never been before and encountering some terminology, which I've read before but never took time to understand.
Anyhow...somehow the screen-resolution is set at 640 by 480 and I don't like it.
The Dell monitor reports optimum resolution would be 1440 by 900.
To make that change, I've tried every control I could think of but have not been successful.
Any ideas to make that change would be appreciated.
BTW, my neighbor is away in DC for the weekend now, so he is not available for help.
73 Jerry km3k FN10je

First the good news:
A neighbor, who does IT work for a paycheck, took the hard-drive out of my XP-desktop and connected it to my Vista-laptop via an adapter that makes the hard-drive look like a USB-device. I was able to copy the data (most importantly, our family pictures) to my laptop. So that means no grief from the XYL.
The plan was for me then to put the hard-drive back into the tower and re-install the Microsoft-XP-Operating-System.
However, the bad news is:
I cannot get the laptop to "STOP" the USB-device, so I 'm unable to unplug it safely. I keep getting the error-message that it is in use. But nothing is using it. I even powered-down everything and started all up again, so I know no files are accessing that drive.
At this point in time (11:51 pm), I'm stumped.
If anyone has any ideas on how to properly disconnect the device, I'd be grateful for them; Plan-B is to talk tomorrow to my neighbor about this problem.
Also, at this point, from some Internet searches, it seems like my "system32\hal.dll" problem may have been caused by a power interruption during a Microsoft update; we did have a sudden storm come through the region last night while the update was happening.
Although I don't know if the desktop's IDE-drive is too old or not, I'm will replace it since it is 5 years-old and gets heavy daily use and get an external-drive for back-up use.
73 Jerry km3k