et asked:

"What all do you do to customize/modify your system? Is it an application specific thing?"

My computer is a dual CPU SMP machine (very smooth operation). Modern DVD playing codes like Mplayer and Xine are multi-threaded so they run very nicely on an SMP box (my kids often watch cartoons on my computer). My computer also has SCSI and EIDE drives. I'm into "junkyard computing" and like to shop the surplus and second hand electronics stores in the Silicon Valley. My CRT is from an ex-Sun workstation. The keyboard is from an old IBM PC (they make nice durable keyboards) and the mouse came from an SGI box. My disk drives and a couple of my DVD drives were bought from a junk store. The funky motherboard, SCSI/IDE and assorted weird hardware leads to some interesting kernel hacking. Years ago, in another life, I did assembly language for a living. I still do some assembly as a hobby on 68HC11 microcontrollers (I use my PC as a front end). My wife's car is a 1996 Saturn SL-1. It's powertrain control module (PCM) is based upon a dual 68HC11. When the Saturn is broken, I use my computer to talk to the Saturn's PCM and get a diagnostic. Getting fiddly with computers is something that I enjoy (to me they're both tools and playthings).

Gary