Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Met Ken Howell Today

It was a pleasure, I will be going again in the next few days, probably tomorrow. I don't know him well enough to speak for him. He was weak of body but so strong of spirit. He made me laugh more than once with his sharp wit.

Thank you Tom for taking me with.

Kent

I'm sure that helped to brighten his day!

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear that he is doing ok.

Kent
Thanks for going, I know its always good for Ken to see new faces. Ken's a good man and its a damned shame he is going through all this, if there is a way I can help him I am happy to do it. Even if its just being around so he isn't by himself.
He is a good friend, and he would do the same for any person around.
tom

Good Show, Gentlemen. I know he appreciates your kindness.

Tell him of our good wishes and that we're glad for the contributions he's made.

Right now, finding a laptop with internet capabilities for him is the #1 thing. I didn't think it would be that hard but all the ones extra, people I know, have don't work. If something don't come up today I'll check Craig's list and buy one if I have to. Gotta do it before Sunday, I have to go to LA and work all next week.

Kent

My sister just got my old one to use for school. If I had known he needed one, I would have gladly shipped. If I see one around here, I might grab it.

I checked on that deal about his old one, and it doesn't sound promising.

It doesn't have to be superfast does it?

I know of an older Dell 1.0ghz with a wireless G card in it if I can get the owner to let it go

Ok Tom, I did see some on Craig's list for 200.00 to 250.00.

Savage, he needs it to continue to write and also view the internet and even this place some. I'm completely laptop stupid, I don't know exactly what to look for.

Kent

go to www.tigerdirect.com, and look for a low end Acer or something in the $200-$400 range. At least that way you'll have some sort of warranty if it goes bad.

dell has their bottom end Netbooks NEW for 279 . delivered in 48 hrs

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/...;acd=7PQ52D-ZA7K2-3JKLHS-GIX8SG-6FPCP-v1

It doesn't need to be anything special. He basically wants it so he can write some, use auto-cad, run quickload, and a couple other programs of his. Getting on the internet he has told me is a secondary goal, but I think it would do him good.
I wish I could do more to help with the laptop situation, but I am strapped right now. Like the saying- Bad things seldom have good timing.

Does anyone know if running AutoCad would require any special specs? It has been a number of years since I was involved in figuring out what specs a computer needed, but back several years ago running AutoCad required somewhat more than you got with the baseline off-the-shelf computer - e.g., more memory, faster processor (and MANY years ago you needed to make sure the computer had a math coprocessor), and even a larger hard drive unless you had another place to store the files. I suspect with how far computers have come in the past several years that memory would be the critical thing to look at, but it would be good if someone knew what version of AutoCad Dr. Howell was running to see what was required from the computer. Ditto for any other "special" programs he would want to run.

The netbooks are great (I have one), but I'm not sure the screen is as large as someone would want for using AutoCad. However, a viable solution for Dr. Howell might be using a netbook (or very inexpensive laptop) for everything but AutoCad, and using his desktop computer for AutoCad.

I don't think autocad needs anything extra anymore. I have a copy of it and it runs with now issue on my desktop. I am not sure what version he has but I imagine it would work fine with a newish laptop since him desktop is rather old.

As to him being able to use his desktop, thats a no-go. Ken is in the hospital down in Mesa, Arizona not his normal casa up in NM. After the hospital he will heading to a nursing home in the same area, where he expects to remain.
I don't expect a net book would do all he would like, but it might get him through.

Netbooks are the mini-laptops? Might be difficult for Ken to view and use.

I was looking at some really big ones (thought about for sure not getting a little one) on craig's list, I have to run for an hour but will post up some options that I've found later, need to do this by tomorrow.

Thanks, Kent

I am "in" for $25 of Ken's notebook. PM me snail mail addy to send the check.

BMT

I can certainly "kick in" like that as well. I will get it to you Kent, or whoever ends up getting it.





Don't know why I didn't think of that before, my heads not right