Video encoding is very processor intensive. You dual core Centrino Duo laptop is a more advanced architecture than the P4.

If you replace the motherboard and cpu, you will have to start over and blow away your hard drives.  I'm assuming the P4 is running XP.   I've tried replacing just the motherboard on Win XP systems twice without reinstalling and it just ends up in a mess.  I've "heard" of people successfully doing this, but from my perspective it is internet lore.

Ripping dvd's and converting them to mpeg4 or whatever even on a modern processor is still a time consuming task. 

Since you're putting the video on an iPad, which has a smaller screen, depending on the software you're using, maybe you can change the settings to speed up the encoding process: lesser quality, less bit rate, no 2 pass encoding, etc.

In a program like Handbrake different profiles and different settings can lead to wildly different encoding times.  Depends on what you want.

I don't really understand KC9GMX's reasons for not wanting computer stuff there.  I think computer parts are part and parcel to any hamfest swap meet.

However there should be limits.  The last hamfest I was at, I guess I was just surprised by the amount of old junk.  I know that one man's garbage is another man's treasure, but geez.    Not everything that is "old" is "vintage."  Sometimes it is just junk.

Not even Goodwill accepts just any old computer anymore.  There was too much old PC crap (stacks of modem cards and thick clunky laptops) and most of it ridiculously priced. Sorry but your old bondi-blue G3 iMac just isn't worth $500.

Isn't it slightly ironic that people who don't care if they can write or speak well, get involved in a communications related hobby?  Amateur radio is obviously a very technical hobby but the end goal of all that technology is to communicate.  Shouldn't we want to do it better?

I also don't agree that "one man's misspelling" is another man's "abbreviation."   There is misspelling and there is abbreviation.  Two different things.   CQ, RST, Q codes all developed out of necessity and efficiency, not because people were bad spellers.

From my perspective, if somebody writes an email or posts into a forum like this and uses an acronym such as RST.  That is fine.  It is an accepted abbreviation.   If instead you type in Rdibility, Strenkth, and Ton - you really should learn how to spell.

Certainly some misspelling is unintentional.  I might have missed something in this post, but if the grammar and spelling is so bad, I'm sorry, people are going to blast you for it.  This is the internet, you need thick skin to operate here...

Finally, since this thread was originally about mean old hams and their cliquey clubs, I still say it is whining to complain about it.   If you attended a club function and nobody seemed friendly - move on.  Think of it this way: it is there loss, not yours.

I've attended a few hamfests too.  I pay the guy at the door and he says 'thanks.'  The ARRL guy manning their booth is always pleasant.  At that point my expectations are met.  I've generally found that club people working their tables tend to be more talkative if you have specific questions about what their particular "specialty" is.   I walked up to the microwave club table and said I had a question about a homebrew yagi for 802.11 gear.  He was quite talkative.  Another guy walks up and says "I don't much about that there microwave. What's them metal horns do anyway."  Expecting the microwave guy to be chatty is unrealistic I think.

Never at any point at a hamfest have I ever had 10 people rush up to me saying "I wanna be your friend, I wanna be your friend."   

I'm OK with that.

If the flesh-eating zombies attack I think I could hold them off for a bit.  If Skynet sends in the Terminators however,  I'm pretty sure I'm screwed.

We are always well stocked in canned goods.  We're all weather, year around campers so we're pretty well equipped there.  We are also hunters/fishers, so we could have a bambi roasting out back without too much trouble.

I gotta say I'm impressed by some of the responses in this thread.  Making sure the car is gassed up every night.  Radiation pills.  Spare radios in emp proof cases.   That's planning. 

I was happier in my ignorance.

I think people that rush out to take the tech test, buy a cheap FM HT, get frustrated because they found a particular person or club unfriendly, and then immediately become "dissappointed with the hobby" need to take a step back.   I think you set yourself up for the disappointment.

If you just want to chit chat via wireless buy an iPhone and text your friends (and download angry birds, it's really fun...).  If you really want to use an HT get FRS radios for your current friends.

Amateur radio was created so that individuals could have access to radio spectrum and experiment with radio: technology, techniques, operating, etc.  Find something that truly interests you about radio operating or radio technology and you'll develop a circle of friends over time.