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This isn't really my project, but Jamie's
November 30, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
This isn't really my project, but Jamie's. Plus I'm not really doing much of the work. Still, I guess it falls under the category of "projects", so I might as well stick it here.
Jamie seems to start up some house remodel every few months. The last big one was repainting the house yellow. The next one is a bathroom remodel. Already she's picked out the tiles, sink, and bought an antique chandler. It sounds like the workers will descend upon the house in a few days, filling our home once again with tarps and dust.
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The computer projects are apparently endless
October 02, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
The computer projects are apparently endless. It looks like the rear speakers attached to my main computer have died. I've had this speaker setup for six or seven years now, so I suppose I got my money's worth. I've ordered a new 5.1 surround sound system that was fairly inexpensive. Hopefully I can get it set up in time for F.E.A.R. Gotta hear those creatures sneaking up on me from behind, after all.
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Well, my semi-annual computer upgrade and shu...
September 20, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
Well, my semi-annual computer upgrade and shuffle is over. Jamie now has my brass and wood case, Sam has my old computer, and my new computer is hooked up and ready to go.
My new computer is certainly fast and spiffy, though it's hard to really tell unless I'm playing certain high-end computer games. I like the new LCD monitor for the most part. It has a native resolution of 1280 x 1024, which is weird. Everything is smaller but the bigger size of the monitor makes up for it.
I preordered F.E.A.R., a creepy survival/horror game that's coming out in a few weeks. It looks like it'll be the first game to really push the limits of my system. Should be fun.
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I'm a stud
September 14, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
I'm a stud. The cable arrived yesterday. I plugged it in and pushed the on button. Everything turned on. I don't know if I've ever got all the various connections working the first time around. Well, it wasn't absolutely perfect. The memory wasn't in the optimal slots and I'd reversed the leads for the power and hard drive LEDs. Two minutes of switching things around fixed those problems.
Now is the tedious work of installing various software on the device. As the years roll on, strange things get installed on computers. Now I need to track down the CDs or web sites and get it working properly. I'm hoping everything is ready by this weekend so I can take it to Portland and polish it up.
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Well, the magic cable is on the truck waiting...
September 13, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
Well, the magic cable is on the truck waiting for delivery. Hopefully by the time I get home I can plug things in and turn them on.
I also ran into a weird issue with my ancient monitor. Everything was blue. It's a 19 inch CRT monitor from the days when they were expensive and impressive. I swapped it with the kid's matching 19 inch monitor. I think what I'll do this weekend is pick up a new 19 inch LCD monitor from Fry's this weekend. Jamie's parents got me a gift certificate for Fry's and I'm finally getting to go to Portland to spend money on something.
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I found some time over the weekend and assemb...
September 12, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
I found some time over the weekend and assembled everything, though I'm still waiting for that one cable adapter before I can turn anything on. At the moment, it's just an expensive piece of art.
Fortunately, FedEx is telling me that the magic cable has crossed the country since I ordered it Friday. It may make it into town tonight or tomorrow and then I'll be able to turn it on and start installing things. Installing software on a new computer reminds me of the smell of fresh mowed grass. Everything is new and full of possibilities.
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All my parts arrived yesterday, so the grand ...
September 09, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
 All my parts arrived yesterday, so the grand computer shuffle has begun. I started by emptying the case of Jamie's current computer. It's one of my oldest and dearest case mods. I remember working on it with my dad about five years ago. Holes were cut to make windows in the side. I spray painted everything black, as you could only get beige components back then.
I then transferred everything to a new case just so Jamie wouldn't be inconvenienced by my fiddlings for the next few days. I'd also have a fully functioning computer in case I needed it for something.
I did run into a few snags. The first was realizing that I didn't know how to connect important wires like the power switch to the motherboard after I'd disconnected it. I'd purged my old manuals long ago but eventually got the website in Taiwan to cough up an electronic manual. The computer turns on now, though I haven't dared hook it up as it's still early in the morning.
The other snag is around my new computer. I guess I've been snoozing away these last couple years. It turns out that the new and fancy motherboards take a 24-pin power supply attachment, rather than the usual 20-pin ones. I bought a 20-pin power supply, of course. Fortunately you can buy adapters. Mostly it just slows down the install process.
Since I'm not in a giant rush, I'll probably order online instead of searching around tech stores this weekend. It'll still be built in plenty of time for the latest round of games.
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It's been almost exactly two years since I up...
September 02, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
It's been almost exactly two years since I upgraded my main computer. I've moved away from buying the absolute best, like I did when I plunked down $3,000 for a Dell about ten years ago. Now I'm spending $1,000 for a vastly more powerful system, but such is the way of the tech industry. As a general rule of thumb, my new computer is about twice as fast as the old one.
Anyway, my new computer should be quite spiffy. The parts have yet to ship, but it should be able to play all the latest games perfectly, and keep me going into the future as well.
There's other things I'm hoping are speeded up. Burning DVDs is currently painfully slow, as are certain video editing projects. With luck I can get all my video tapes onto a hard drive, just in case the tape disintegrates.
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I spent big chunks of this weekend working on...
January 24, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
I spent big chunks of this weekend working on computers. Dave's old computer was going to go to Josh, but something inside blew up and black smoke came out. Never a good sign.
I first tried replacing the power supply, but it still didn't boot up. I decided that another computer I had laying around would work just fine, so I embarked on a journey to get it up and running. I had come along pretty well when it suddenly decided not to boot up. After a couple frustrating hours, I formatted and started from scratch, which worked fine.
I also did the usual scurrying about, switching memory from one place to another, moving CD ROM drives and hard drives. I have way too much computer stuff, but it does come in handy at times.
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Jamie promised me a new and improved office, ...
January 09, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
 Jamie promised me a new and improved office, though it seems that some assembly was required. Today we put put shelves, with Dave's incredibly useful help. They look great and I've been organizing and throwing things out. Today I begun the great Purge that will be spoken of by dust bunnies for generations. All my old floppy disks were copied to my hard drive and thrown out. I cut my CDs down considerably, though they still fill up several shelves. I also tossed out the old Lego computer after stripping it for parts. I think I have enough for a low-end computer, so I'll try assembling it when I get some time.
A new computer desk should arrive any day now, replacing the old antique card table that Sam's computer is sitting on.
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It's pretty rare these days that I do much wi...
January 01, 2005 by Adam in Adam's Projects
 It's pretty rare these days that I do much with my computers. Yesterday, however, I didn't have a lot of choice. The CD-ROM drive in the Fossil computer has been failing, typically leaving a kid making grumpy noises when the whole system locks up. Even Emma started to say "problem" in a cute voice when her puppy game became hopelessly stuck.
I've been slowly taking apart my old server for parts and it had a decent CD-ROM drive inside. The problem with the Fossil computer is that the drive has to match the various holes and such perfectly. It didn't. I ended up having to make the hole where the CD's go bigger, creating a pile of splinters in the process. I also scratched up the front a bit, though not too badly.
When I finally got the new drive lined up and working properly, I discovered that somehow the power button got screwed up. No longer did the shiny brass button connect to the plastic switch that actually turns the thing on. After fiddling for a long while, I fell back to a simple solution. I put a little bit of tape on the switch to make it longer, which worked like a charm.
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