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March 15, 2008
Dual-Screen Godliness!
Mike had decided that he needed a new monitor for his computer, because he was frustrated at not being able to get his PS3 to work with his old one. Apparently without a real HDMI connection (he had been using a converter), the PS3 did not want to play friendly with his monitor. So at work today he asked how much I'd buy his old monitor for (how kind!), because he knows I've always wanted two monitors.
Now, I got my monitor from CompUSA when it went out of business. About a month later Mike bought an identical one from Best Buy (his was 'better' because it was 'newer'). They're Gateway 24" widescreen LCD--very nice monitors as far as I'm concerned.
And dead sexy sitting side-by-side on my desk.
Video card seems to be handling it quite well. Intially it cut my framerate in WoW in half (to 30fps), but I moved WoW into monitor 2 and it rose back up to 60. I completely unplugged my laptop, and it's now leaning against my 'bookcase' behind me.
God, I need to install my camera onto this computer, so that I can upload pics. Which means I need to take pics of my desk now (along with uploading my computer as it was in pieces).
Posted by Coyote at 12:47 AM
March 11, 2008
Sick Day
Since yesterday a migraine has been unkindly flirting with me. It refuses to hit full-bore, which means it's lingering and making me feel like absolute crud in the meantime. Mike and I actually left work early yesterday because his IBS had kicked in over night and I killed myself on caffiene trying to keep the migraine at bay.
This morning wasn't pleasant upon waking, so we decided a day off was due. I'm still horribly stiff and my head is kinda stuffy, but it's getting better as the day progresses. Hopefully I'll sleep better than I did last night and end up feeling good tomorrow.
I re-wired yesterday, getting my computer under my desk and actually hooking up my speakers properly, with two on the wall behind me. Mike walked past them later and said something about how they work better with wires. I sighed at him and nudged my Bleach wallscroll--the wires are neatly behind it. I'm really not used to my computer being under my desk, and now there's SO much light coming through the window. With a black case though, that's probably a good thing--don't need it overheating from simple sun exposure.
The computer is running better now that I've disabled the whole sleep mechanism in Vista. Damned thing would absolutely refuse to come out of sleep properly. And with it under the desk--and no longer behind my head when I'm in bed--I can leave it running. Much nicer!
I went to boot up my old computer to hook up the external drive, but it simply won't boot. I acts like it needs a new power supply, which is possible. Right now I'm trying to read up on how to properly clean a mobo, so that I can start working on it and get it running for Fig. New power supply, some better RAM... shit, I may see about getting a better processor for that board even. Cooling won't be an issue, because Fig's room is like the first room in the house that gets cooled. Of course, on the same note it's the first roon that gets heat when that's running too. But at least he doesn't get the NJ summer humid heat, so normal fans should work fine.
I've read so many different opinions on how to clean a motherboard. Most suggest simple canned air and soft brushes, but... this old thing is a wall of dust. I suppose I can start out with that, but it may come down to me washing the board. I've seen more than one mention of Scrubbing Bubbles too, to really get the grime out. Hmm.
Building a PC from scratch was fun; fixing my old one for Fig ought to be the true adventure!
Posted by Coyote at 1:45 PM
March 1, 2008
Wootage!!
The monster is alive!!
I have successfully built my first computer. The bumps along the road were minor: can I put my RAM in the "B" slots, because my massive CPU fan blocks the "A" slots? (yes); where the fuck does the CD drive plug in?! (tilted away from the mobo, almost invisible!!); it's not booting!! (missed the power for the video card, new concept to me). All minor!
I feel very damned confident now. Mike's mom thinks I should start building PCs for people; she's been exceedingly amazed and proud of this project. Apparently she told "everyone" about it, and was just glowing this morning when I told her that it was done and running.
Vista is odd. I'm not very fond of the constant nag screens about allowing installations, but whatever. The sidebar is kinda cute, especially now that I've got lolcats in it. In fact, I've narrowed my widgets down to lolcats, local weather and a performance one that can actually track my quad-core.
Speaking of tracking performance... 61% of my 2g of RAM is currently being used?! By what, might you ask... well, Glass I'm sure is the largest theft of my RAM. All that is currently running is IE (gag), Sidebar, and the Blizz Downloader. Cus I cannot find my discs. Sigh! But I do still have three hours until raid time; though I will probably be back on the old beast for tonight's raid. I would completely love to be on this one, but, meh. Shit happens, no?
I'm going to have to find my discs for Photoshop and Office. I don't use Excel often, but it would be nice to have. I'm also shopping for an external harddrive, because I won't be able to hook up my old drives to this new PC (SATA drives). I don't really mind, and Mike would probably like it too.
I still have software to install. I should install my monitor properly (something I never did on the old PC), then my new stuff... my rocket launcher and my psuedo-G15 reader, both of which Mike got me for Christmas. Then Nero (does it rip CDs?). Hmm. iTunes! But without my music, that isn't pressing.
Only thing that I'm honestly concerned about is that there was no audio wire with my CD drive, so at the moment I'm not even sure if CDs will rip properly. We'll see.
*throttles BlizzDownloader* 45mins left?! Sigh!
Posted by Coyote at 3:03 PM