So, it would appear as though I haven't blogged since mid-September, which oh-so-slightly goes against my "One Blog Post Per Day" crusade. Whoops. I guess a lot has happened since then, for example four days after my last post Hannah turned 20, which is of course fun. I got a 640GB HDD for the server in keeping with the "lets tell the blog reader(s) about the server" fad. I sold the thinkpad to Ian, should be mailed some time today.
Honestly I didn't even really want to blog at all, it's just that I'm sitting here in the library on my acer aspire one (oh yeah, I bought one of these suckers) and I need to be working on my final for english, but I'm at a bit of a block making my claim sound nice and fluent, but I really really want to type, so I figured the only place where I could really sit down and type lots and lots of things without boring someone (i.e. in irc) would be a blog, either that or a word document that could constitute a blog or journal.
That's one thing I've been somewhat excited about doing since getting the aao yesterday- I can more easily keep a decent written journal for pretty much anything. One thing I have found is that this keyboard is nowhere near as bad as I anticipated from looking at pictures, I'm cranking a nice handful of words per minute, not sure how many but it's not bad; I think I've only been writing this blog post for the past 5 minutes, and that include inline edits. And it's only bound to be longer because I really like typing on this keyboard. It's a very nice little tactile thing, very curious considering its size. So far my only size related complaint is because I'm so tall, it's hard to set it on my lap and write. I can put my ankle up on my knee and wrest it on the intersection, but then my leg gets sore.
The battery doesn't last all that long either, but wherever I look around I see outlets, so I'm not concerned in the least about that. Next semester I plan to use it liberally, takings lots and lots of notes in HIS112. One more reason for me to be happy about getting it so much before the semester starts, I have lots and lots of time to get really really proficient on the keyboard. I also have onenote 2007 all setup and ready to go, it will be interesting to see how that plays out, seeing as I've never used a laptop in a real serious lecture/notetaking environment before. Though, considering the rate at which I was writing in that class, I'm not all that concerned that I'll have trouble keeping up on the keyboard, especially considering that I wont be typing full sentences or editing, just line, line, indent, line, out indent, line, etc.
*pops fingers*
All in all I've been incredibly impressed with this little sucker. I has no problems doing what I like to do, and can very easily play a hulu video while I do skype with the internal webcam and have several documents and IRC open. No lag at all. Because of this, I do not think I will upgrade it to 1.5GB RAM. If 1 is enough for all the crazy stuff I'm doing now, it will certainly be enough for what I'm going to be doing come january.
THe one thing I have to train myself for, honestly, is the trackpad. I haven't used one fluently in over three years, so it will be interesting. I've already installed an app that allows me to two finger tap for right click, and two finger drag to scroll. That makes things much nicer.
As per heat output, it's not objectionable. The palmwrests get a little warm, as does the bottom. With a program called "aa1 fan control" I can set exactly when the fan kicks in, which is great. Unlike ubuntu, though, windows has a harder time locking the processor to one speed or another- typically when using battery I want it locked at 800MHz, and on power I want it to dynamically switch. I may have gotten it locked though, through the windows power manager thing.
Oh! Speaking of windows- it came with XP home SP3 with two pieces of crapware- mcafe or whatever antivirus and some intervideo dvd player; ironic for an opticaldriveless netbook. Anyway, I thought that right away I would trash XPh and pop XPp on here, but to my surprise XPh isn't at all what I thought it was. In fact, it's really nice to use, and is very fast. There are a few features here and there that I would rather have from XPp, but I can make due for the most part. Is that make due or make do btw? I can never remember for that sort of thing.
I think I'll stop writing for now and either plug in, browse the web, or just sit and stare blankly at the pretty fluorescent lights.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Winders FLP
Last night I was bored sitting around, so I decided to give Linux Mint a go on the Athlon, using my spare 80GB sata drive. About five minutes after I got it installed and updated, I was like "Yeah, I still really don't like linux..." so I pondered alternatives. I remembered that I have a great CD for Windows XP FLP, which is basically what you get when you mix Windows 2000 and Windows XPpro speed wise, but in terms of actual usability it's just like incredibly fast Windows XP. I installed that (in about 20 minutes!) and then got my drivers up and going, and I've had no problems whatsoever. This will probably end up becoming my actual production OS on the Athlon. It runs things like itunes8 and picasa3 just like as they were in Win XP. The only "problem" I've had thus far is SP3 not wanting to install, but that doesn't make the biggest of differences to me, because I can get all the other updates.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday!
It's officially Monday, which means I start work today, which is awesome. Right now I'm sitting in the library during my 20-30 minute pause between classes, reading over my little English assignment and pondering adding some more to it. Recently a friend of mine/classmate and I have been working collaboratively on our English work over Skype, which has been pretty cool. The work that we did last night, though, I think is actually due Wednesday according to my notes, but I'm not really sure what we were supposed to have in today. I guess it can't hurt to have the extra work in earlier.
As I sated above, though, today is they day when I officially start work. It sounds like the agenda is to first get orientated, i.e. meet all the people in charge, figure out how to work the time sheets, label my mailbox, etc. After that I'll get assigned a student and we'll go over that type of stuff. Should turn out to be a rather interesting day, I hope.
On another note, due to Lee going on about how great Jaguar (OS 10.2.8) was on his Pismo, I busted out my copy (pressed!) and put it on the gigabit ethernet. Aside from having massive problems initially with video, due to having a much newer card, it actually ran really nicely, and brought back some nice memories of when OS X was new and I actually loved macs and all that. Oddly though, when it sits for a while, unused, for maybe an hour it will randomly Kernel panic. Maybe it just needs to be loved, or maybe jaguar is incredibly unstable when it comes to my OC job. Who knows!
As I sated above, though, today is they day when I officially start work. It sounds like the agenda is to first get orientated, i.e. meet all the people in charge, figure out how to work the time sheets, label my mailbox, etc. After that I'll get assigned a student and we'll go over that type of stuff. Should turn out to be a rather interesting day, I hope.
On another note, due to Lee going on about how great Jaguar (OS 10.2.8) was on his Pismo, I busted out my copy (pressed!) and put it on the gigabit ethernet. Aside from having massive problems initially with video, due to having a much newer card, it actually ran really nicely, and brought back some nice memories of when OS X was new and I actually loved macs and all that. Oddly though, when it sits for a while, unused, for maybe an hour it will randomly Kernel panic. Maybe it just needs to be loved, or maybe jaguar is incredibly unstable when it comes to my OC job. Who knows!
Friday, September 12, 2008
gigabit ethernet G4 and work
The other day Lando and I hit up the ECU surplus, and we both picked up dual 450MHz gigabit ethernet G4s for $30. Unfortunately they had neither RAM nor HDD, but when we brought them back to my place we got them set up with parts. Right now mine has 512MB RAM and a few different HDDs in it, with OS 10.4/OS9/maybe Debian later on it. I've also clocked it to be a dual 500 now, which is pretty cool.
Also, I officially start work on monday, mostly it'll be getting oriented and meeting all the people in charge of stuff. I'll also probably get paired up with a "tutee" which will be pretty cool.
Right now I'm thinking about nabbing up another HDD for it and giving debian a whirl.
Also, I officially start work on monday, mostly it'll be getting oriented and meeting all the people in charge of stuff. I'll also probably get paired up with a "tutee" which will be pretty cool.
Right now I'm thinking about nabbing up another HDD for it and giving debian a whirl.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Holy Cannoli!
So dang, haven't exactly blagged in a while. Guess there's a bit of stuff you readers out there are wondering about. The most recent post I made was about how I had purchased the parts. We'll, they've long since gotten here. One of the RAM sticks was bad so I had to send it back, I should get replacements tomorrow. Hopefully.
-a night passes-
Last night I never really finished writing that post, so I'll finish it up here. According to UPS, my RAM stick is not only coming today, but it's on the truck. When I get it the first thing I'll do is run memtest86+ for a few hours to make sure there are no problems. I don't wanna risk it.
Right now I'm at the community college library, waiting for 10. At 10 is when I go in to start my official interview for being a paid tutor here at the community college. A few days ago Dr. Davis (my awesome english teacher) came up to me and asked if I was interested in tutoring other students in ENG111 topics such as expository and creative writing, and some developmental english. It sounded good to me, plus I could really use a job, so I went to talk to the Student Support Services counselor yesterday and we talked about the job for a bit and I filled out an application and all. It sounds pretty awesome, basically just student to student peer help, which is something I already do with other people in my class, but with perks. One being $7.50/hr, after I do the tutor training, another being that I get unbridled access to a little mail slot and even my own office of sorts. I'll be tutoring up to three different students, maybe one or two more, but not more than two at a time, which is good for me cause I'm best at one on one.
I guess that's pretty much it. It's 9:30 now so I'm going to go ahead down there and see if she's around.
-a night passes-
Last night I never really finished writing that post, so I'll finish it up here. According to UPS, my RAM stick is not only coming today, but it's on the truck. When I get it the first thing I'll do is run memtest86+ for a few hours to make sure there are no problems. I don't wanna risk it.
Right now I'm at the community college library, waiting for 10. At 10 is when I go in to start my official interview for being a paid tutor here at the community college. A few days ago Dr. Davis (my awesome english teacher) came up to me and asked if I was interested in tutoring other students in ENG111 topics such as expository and creative writing, and some developmental english. It sounded good to me, plus I could really use a job, so I went to talk to the Student Support Services counselor yesterday and we talked about the job for a bit and I filled out an application and all. It sounds pretty awesome, basically just student to student peer help, which is something I already do with other people in my class, but with perks. One being $7.50/hr, after I do the tutor training, another being that I get unbridled access to a little mail slot and even my own office of sorts. I'll be tutoring up to three different students, maybe one or two more, but not more than two at a time, which is good for me cause I'm best at one on one.
I guess that's pretty much it. It's 9:30 now so I'm going to go ahead down there and see if she's around.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Bought parts
I just ordered the parts from tigerdirect. I opted out of the shuttle because, while it was a way cool box, it was sort of expensive for what I needed. Instead I got a kit with a mobo, 2GB RAM, and an AMD 5000+ proc for $170, as well as a geforce 8400gs that will hopefully blow the pants off the x300.
What to name the new system, though.... Hrmmm...
What to name the new system, though.... Hrmmm...
Sold!
Yay.
Last night the Athlon's processor sold for $200. Some guy in Oregon decided to skip all the bidding shenanigans and did the buy-it-now. For some odd reason my ebay toolbar in firefox got logged out, so I wasn't alerted of it the second it happened. When I did catch it Ian, Tyler, and I were in a Skype conference and I had a bit of a random outburst. Though, for the first time ever I listed an auction as as-is instead of providing a warranty, so that I could buy my new stuffs right away! Except! No. Paypal/eBay decided to implement another "protect the buyer" feature that that causes paypal to hold all funds transferred if the item sells for over $100 by a seller that has less than 100 feedbacks until either A) paypal gets delivery conf. on the buyer's end, B) the buyer provides positive feedback, or the questionable "three weeks have passed." I'm not really sure about the last one, like as in how it protects the buyer or whatever. They make it sound almost like "no matter what, after 3 weeks the seller will get their money."
It doesn't matter at all though, because I'm not a scammer, the processor works fine (as does the HSF,) and dad shipped it right after he dropped me off here (comm co) via priority, so it should get to Oregon around tuesday or wednesday. As for my other eBay items, one set of RAM currently has a $20 bid, and the other does not. I'm getting ready to write up a post for the motherboard but I just realized I can't actually post anything from here on account of the fact that I only moved part of the athlon backup to the thinkpad.
So!
Now that the processor is sold and gone, the Athlon is pretty useless. Realizing this, I went ahead and stripped it down and set all the parts aside. While I was doing this, something occurred to me- I don't really need the massive space that a tower provides. I mean, it's not like I'm about to run out of places to put a tower in my room; but when I can get a new smaller case for cheaper, why not check it out? And check it out again. On TigerDirect I found a really, really, really nice barebones shuttle system. Basically a 12" deep by 8" tall and 8" wide box with an AM2 motherboard providing PCI and PCI-e, as well as two RAM slots, three sata, two esata, lots of usb, 7.1 audio, firewire, etc bundled with an AMD AM2 5000+ processor, which is epic. Plus it was only $220! Unfortunately the sale ends in two days so I'm not going to be able to get this specific one but there will always be more, but at least I have my sights set.
Though that kit would need another $30 at least, for RAM and shipping. This is where the RAM on ebay and the work I'm (hopefully) doing this saturday kicks in. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to be doing on saturday, but I know it involves my NET225 teacher, who's an awesome guy, and a lady moving into a doctors office and needs computer stuff set up, and she things she has a bunch of networking equipment set up or something. I don't really know, but I should be finding out this afternoon, as today is another all-dayer.
All in all I'm predicting that within the next two or three weeks I'll be setting up some sort of new system or another. If I /do/ go with getting a shuttle, then I'll have no use for the athlon's case or PSU, both of which are very nice. So I have to decide- sell them, or keep them for a potential later computer! I don't know! If the funds from selling crap and working level it out I'll probably just keep them around. Here's to waiting.
Last night the Athlon's processor sold for $200. Some guy in Oregon decided to skip all the bidding shenanigans and did the buy-it-now. For some odd reason my ebay toolbar in firefox got logged out, so I wasn't alerted of it the second it happened. When I did catch it Ian, Tyler, and I were in a Skype conference and I had a bit of a random outburst. Though, for the first time ever I listed an auction as as-is instead of providing a warranty, so that I could buy my new stuffs right away! Except! No. Paypal/eBay decided to implement another "protect the buyer" feature that that causes paypal to hold all funds transferred if the item sells for over $100 by a seller that has less than 100 feedbacks until either A) paypal gets delivery conf. on the buyer's end, B) the buyer provides positive feedback, or the questionable "three weeks have passed." I'm not really sure about the last one, like as in how it protects the buyer or whatever. They make it sound almost like "no matter what, after 3 weeks the seller will get their money."
It doesn't matter at all though, because I'm not a scammer, the processor works fine (as does the HSF,) and dad shipped it right after he dropped me off here (comm co) via priority, so it should get to Oregon around tuesday or wednesday. As for my other eBay items, one set of RAM currently has a $20 bid, and the other does not. I'm getting ready to write up a post for the motherboard but I just realized I can't actually post anything from here on account of the fact that I only moved part of the athlon backup to the thinkpad.
So!
Now that the processor is sold and gone, the Athlon is pretty useless. Realizing this, I went ahead and stripped it down and set all the parts aside. While I was doing this, something occurred to me- I don't really need the massive space that a tower provides. I mean, it's not like I'm about to run out of places to put a tower in my room; but when I can get a new smaller case for cheaper, why not check it out? And check it out again. On TigerDirect I found a really, really, really nice barebones shuttle system. Basically a 12" deep by 8" tall and 8" wide box with an AM2 motherboard providing PCI and PCI-e, as well as two RAM slots, three sata, two esata, lots of usb, 7.1 audio, firewire, etc bundled with an AMD AM2 5000+ processor, which is epic. Plus it was only $220! Unfortunately the sale ends in two days so I'm not going to be able to get this specific one but there will always be more, but at least I have my sights set.
Though that kit would need another $30 at least, for RAM and shipping. This is where the RAM on ebay and the work I'm (hopefully) doing this saturday kicks in. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to be doing on saturday, but I know it involves my NET225 teacher, who's an awesome guy, and a lady moving into a doctors office and needs computer stuff set up, and she things she has a bunch of networking equipment set up or something. I don't really know, but I should be finding out this afternoon, as today is another all-dayer.
All in all I'm predicting that within the next two or three weeks I'll be setting up some sort of new system or another. If I /do/ go with getting a shuttle, then I'll have no use for the athlon's case or PSU, both of which are very nice. So I have to decide- sell them, or keep them for a potential later computer! I don't know! If the funds from selling crap and working level it out I'll probably just keep them around. Here's to waiting.
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