pax anglia - To answer your last question first, UK Mil AIP uses Internet Explorer v5, Acrobat Reader v4, Map Explorer 2 and MDAC v2.1 (Microsoft Data Access Control). If they are not installed, the CD will install them for you. These last 2 are utilised by the Bird Concentration Areas software although, IMHO, it's pants. There is, however, no reason why you should not use this package on any Windows OS PC.
OK. What sort of computer should you buy? Do not, whatever you do, go to a box mover. I can't name names of companies whose PCs I have had experience of that have been utter rubbish, as they'd sue me. Suffice to say they have widespread advertising campaigns, hint, hint. They pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap. The reason they can afford to do this is not just volume leading to savings, they install cr@p components.
See my post on this thread for a rant about box movers and why you will pay so much:
http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/For...ML/000544.html
Next Question, do you have or are likely to have in the future, kids? If so, you might like to thinkabout decent video and sound cards. For that matter, why hamstring your PC by not getting decent kit? When it says in the advert "16-bit sound card" MOST sound cards are 16-bit but if you go for the cheap, un-named one the MIDI music will make your ears bleed. £100 is not much extra to pay for a SoundBlaster Platinum Live! that has instrument sounds that sound about right.
OK, here's my recommended spec:
Processor - Pentium III or AMD. Don't touch anything else with a barge pole
Motherboard - 100 or (better) 133 Mhz Bus
RAM - at least 128 MB (your existing RAM is likely to have too slow an access time and will need to be replaced to work with the new, fast motherboards)
Video Card - 32 Mb at least. You appear to need high resolution for your satellite imagery, therefore a good card is required. Go for anything from ATi, Creative, Guillemot, Matrox of the order of £160 plus.
Sound Card - Creative SoundBlaster Live! (Platinum version costs a bit more, but then I like music)
Modem - Buy from Rockwell, US Robotics or another "named" brand. Don't touch HSP. Don't be tempted to go for anything that, for example, says it has the Rockwell chipset if it doesn't say "Rockwell" in large friendly letters on the box. These "clones" are difficult to install and configure. If you want to go ISDN, that's a whole different ballgame.
Monitor - CTX are good and reasonably priced to boot.
Hard drive - Western Digital, Fujitsu, Seagate (had a bad rep 2 years ago, but I gather they're better now), in excess of 20 Gb. Sounds like you have large graphics files to play with.
CD drive - Go for something like a Panasonic, Mitsumi or other named brand CD writer/re-writer, at least 24x/4x/4x. This last means 24 speed read, 4 speed write, 4 speed re-write. You might wish to archive some of your large graphics files and CD is a cheap, fast and roomy storage medium.
DVD drive - go on, you know you want to!
Printer - Personally, I'd go for a late model Epson. The downside is that you only have 2 ink cartridges, 1 black, the other with 3 ink reservoirs for magenta, cyan and yellow in one package. Sounds to me that, if you are dealing with colour satelltie imagery, you will be using a lot of blue, so 2 of your 3 colour inks are going to run out "prematurely". You might be better going for a 4 cartridge system, ie 1 black, 1 cyan, 1 magenta and 1 yellow cartridge. These cartridges are more expensive, but you might save in the long run. Then again, once you have a good printer, you will probably find there are lots of other things you want to print, in which case you are likely to be using all 3 colours at the same rate.
Scanner - get one. Scan a document in, send it to the modem, instant fax. You've just saved yourself £200.
If you elect to build this monster yourself, be not afraid - it's just a large Lego set. If you get one from a retailer, you'll pay a bit extra, but you will get the peace of mind of a guarantee if it all goes Pete Tong. Make sure that it's an "On-Site Repair" warranty, else you'll have to pay carriage costs to and from the repair centre - not cheap.
Try this site:
http://www.computerprices.co.uk
They have up to date catalogues from (at last count) 26 hardware and software suppliers. Search for the component(s) you are looking for and the site displays the cheapest quotes from the databases. It has a shopping cart, so you can see just how much you are likely to have to spend. It also provides links for all the companies with phone numbers, on-line stores, addresses, etc.
If you want more info, why don't we arrange to meet in PPRuNe chat tonight, go private, and talk some more? Post back here if that suits you.
[This message has been edited by R O Tiree (edited 12 November 2000).]