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I'm typing this from my new computer as it's ...
September 27, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
I'm typing this from my new computer as it's busy installing software. Installing the operating system was a bit exciting, as I needed to have hard drive drivers installed. Unfortunately, you had to have a floppy drive to do it, so I had to mess around for over an hour getting it all arranged. There was a moment of terror when things started to crash and boot up with garbage on the screen. It turns out I had blocked the CPU fan with a cable and it overheated. Slowly getting there.
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The last of the components arrived at my hous...
September 26, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
The last of the components arrived at my house yesterday. Somehow I managed to watch the kids and start putting components together. It's slow work, especially the elaborate heat sink for the CPU. It should do a great job, however, and really help out when I start overclocking.
Before I went to bed last night, I turned it on only to hear a series of loud beeps. It turns out I had forgotten to plug in the additional power supply for the video card and it was gently reminding me. After that was done, it booted up fine and detected all the drives.
Tonight I hope to actually install an operating system, as all it does is fire up. Then it'll take a while to patch up the OS and get all the software I want installed on it. I want to try some overclocking too and test it out with some serious gaming tests. Yippie!
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It's done
September 19, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
It's done.
I just made the last of my orders, bringing together all the components of my new computer:
AMD 2500+ Barton (hopefully overclockable to 3200+)
Alpha PAL heatsink
DVD writer (Panasonic LF D521)
SEAGATE 160GB SATA hard drive
ASUS A7N8X DLX motherboard
Radeon 9800 Pro
2x Crucial 512 MB memory
AOpen case and power supply
The hope is that I'll be able to overclock the processor right away, as the particular stepping I purchased can supposedly make it into the 3200+ range without problems. It should be an easy overclock too, though these things are rarely certain.
I'm also meeting with my dad to start work on the infamous control panel. Should be fun.
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Well, the computer parts are slowly coming in
September 17, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
Well, the computer parts are slowly coming in. The LCD panel arrived yesterday and the DVD burner the day before. I ordered the CoolerMaster Musketeer today (the weird control panel pictured below). It'll probably get disassembled along with the LCD in order to make the ultimate wall-mounted computer control panel. I'll probably have to buy my dad some extra chocolate and coffee so that I can coerce him to do my bidding. I think he has some fancy patterning that he's thinking of for the aluminum surface. Should be cool.
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I've been looking around for cool things to a...
September 14, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
 I've been looking around for cool things to add to my little control panel. I came across this thing called a CoolerMaster Musketeer, which has a fan control, temperature monitor, and sound levels. It's admittedly mostly for looks, and the style is essentially what I'm looking for (30's analog electronics). I'm hoping my LCD comes soon, then I can sit down with my dad and come up with options.
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I'm slowly preparing the stage for a new computer
September 12, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
I'm slowly preparing the stage for a new computer. It's been a couple years since my last one and I'm going to try some different things. One of the joys of being a home owner is that I can cut holes in walls and not really have to answer to anyone. The current plan is to put as much hardware in my closet as possible and string all the cables and such into the office.
I already purchased an LCD panel for the server, which I'm hoping my dad can turn into a piece of art. I'm thinking it would look nice embedded in the wall with a shiny aluminum engine-turned finish, complete with nifty buttons. I also want to make a "control panel" with a similar look, with 1930's controls for the various computers within the closet. Where possible, I'll be using wireless (for the keyboards and mice), though I'll have to string cables through the wall for the monitor and such.
I'm also making a fairly major change in video card vendors. It looks like I'll be going for an ATI card instead of my usual NVidia. The benchmarks for Half-life 2 are coming out and NVidia's latest offerings don't look so good.
I also ordered a DVD writer, with hopes of transferring my home movies to DVD. I think it's an easier to manage Christmas present that my past CD-based videos.
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I'm slowly doing my part to prepare for the b...
September 02, 2003 by Adam in Adam's Projects
I'm slowly doing my part to prepare for the big remodel coming up in a month or two. One of the changes will be that my closet will be annexed for the rec room. Because of this, I turned the sauna into a walk-in closet, putting up shelves and a bar to hang clothes from. It works quite well, though it isn't especially fancy.
The next thing I'd like to do is to move my computers in there, having just the necessary cables move back and forth between the wall. I'm hoping it cuts down on noise and clutter quite a bit.
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