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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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