Despite the tremendous size and high tech nature of the internet the minimum required hardware is quite simple and inexpensive.of course specifications can be written for a 250000 hardware package but a few hundred dollars can get you started even if you won't have any equipment now. Computers : The basic requirements for computers are that communications software is available for it and that there is some means of connecting a modern . This describes almost any computer built in the last ten years from the commodore 64 to the current Macs and Pentium computers. For email and world wide web an even an old IBM XT will work though any file processing there after would be considered tedious by today's standard . It is not necessary to have the fastest most sophisticated equipment to use the internet. Because you will be downloading large files lists and software you will find that the more disk space you have the better .it's quite amazing how fast another 10gb of data can come on to your hard drive when you are hervesting the internet. Files can of course be sorted on floppy disk,but that takes extra time and the data becomes less accessible for searching and for using .Do get the fastest and the largest machine that is reasonable affordable Becomes it will serve alot of time but don't let any one tell you that you can't use the internet if your not using one of the lastest machines. Modems : This is the one place to spend the money and get the best . A near state of the art modem for use on standard phone line runs at the speed of 28800 baud and has under the correct condition of data compression, the ability to send and receive data with the equivalent of 115200 baud . Such modems are available starting at $175 from mail order houses.
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