Initially, I was not thinking of getting anything at all. I just got a new laptop and the only things I could really improve on the computer front was the fact that my desktop had only 1 GB of RAM (which I could double-up to 2 GB, but would cost more because it was 184-pin stuff, not the current 240-pin stuff) and a single-core AMD Athlon 64 CPU (which would also be expensive because it was Socket 939, not the current AM2).

Then I did some looking around.. mainly at NCIX….

Like always, there was not any awesome stuff on outdated technology that my desktop runs on. No dual core Socket 939 CPUs. Surprisingly enough, there was 184-pin RAM on sale, but it wasn’t that great of a deal when you compare that with the sales for 240-pin RAM ($58 for 2×512 MB Corsair Value Select PC-3200 compared to $30 for 2×1 GB OCZ Value Series PC2-5400). However, if you take a look at tech pricing trends as proposed by of the tech staff at work, you will notice that prices start off expensive, dip down to quite low prices when they are mainstream, then go up again when it is past their time. To avoid getting shafted any more on RAM that would work for my desktop (it’s only a year or two old), I got the Corsair RAM.

However, when it was time to install it, the upgrade failed. After some trouble shooting, which involved borrowing stuff from people (thanks Benton for the PSU tester!) and Googling, it turned out that my PSU, although in working order, lacked the power to run the stuff, or something. What was strange about the situation was that even after removing the RAM, the motherboard still refused the power supply.

Replacing the power supply for my case, an Aspire (now Apevia) X-QPack, is a complete pain because the depth for the unit is 11.5cm. Your standard ATX power supplies are 14cm to 16cm deep (or long). After some measuring and experimentation, a 14cm depth PSU would fit, given some work, so I looked around for suitable power supplies.

Things somehow worked in my favour because my distant cousin who is studying down in the US came by to visit and my dad was going to drive her back down to Seattle (and also visit her sister because she could not come up due to unsigned papers; they are international students). Doing some research, Fry’s Electronics has a sale for the 550W Antec TruePower Trio for $60 USD (50% off) and since there is a Fry’s in Renton, I got myself that and made myself a happy camper.

Some further checks on my laptop, due to the 1 GB laptop RAM sales going on at NCIX, revealed that my spiffy new laptop has two slots for RAM and only one slot is used to get my 1 GB of RAM. NCIX has the RAM inside the computer available, but not on sale, so despite the fact it was not on sale, I ordered a stick for $26.28, which is a fairly decent price for a RAM upgrade for an already pretty cheap laptop.

On the audio-front, I was using my dad’s 1 GB MP3 player and a pair of gimped-up headphones (only one side works). The NCIX web-only Boxing Day sale had Sennheiser earbuds going for $18, so that’s been ordered (along with the previously mentioned laptop RAM). Haven’t got them yet, but should be awesome stuff. It just so happened that for the in-store NCIX sale on Boxing Day, they had 2 GB Creative MuVo T100s on sale for $0.99, so I managed to snag one of those as well. Of course, that meant an early morning for Boxing Day, but meh.

Boxing Day also saw a new game in my library – World in Conflict. If you are into the whole tactical strategy stuff, it is a game for you!

So a little bit of spending from me for the Boxing Day sales, although now that I have cleaned up a good portion of my room, it appears that I can actually go dual-monitor..

And I still have yet to procure a Nintendo DS.

Oh well, maybe some other time.

So far, it has been pretty awesome. The X61 is an ultraportable, being somewhere around 3 lb. On the best settings (ie. wireless off, screen at lowest brightness, etc.) the laptop can last for somewhere in the range of 8-10 hours. Otherwise, I see the laptop work on battery for around 6-7 hours. This is pretty awesome. However, that’s only for Windows.

I also managed to install xubuntu, shortly after tweaking around the settings, repartitioning things, and even doing a system restore because my attempts to do a clean install failed and no OEM CDs exist anymore. It works well for the most part, save several issues:

• I can not get the brightness keys working.
• General laptop power management tools do not exist on the machine at the time of writing. I just do not know what to use or what is out there, but it will be something to look for over the weekend.
• Most of the Fn keys are not working.
• compiz-fusion runs quite slowly – maybe it is the X3100..
• I get these weird lines on the screen from time to time and have general unexpected display behaviour, such as parts of the screen not dimmed out when the password prompt appears when one runs a program which requires root access, like Synaptic.

Sure, there are some issues, but quite minor and will not make things difficult to work with in Linux, which is good since that will be my primary work environment in terms of Web development.

Here lies my problem: despite these suckers being sold down in the States for stupidly cheap (ie. less than $100), it’s hard to find Socket 939 processors up here. Even if I do find them, they’re not even dual-core or stupidly expensive!

Honestly Canada. What the hell. Get with it!

If my reply to Yang’s comment was any indication, yes, I am getting a ThinkPad. And yes, I’m getting an X-series ThinkPad (you know, the small and lightweight ones), the X61 to be specific. And it all cost just under $1500 CDN. No shipping, just taxes and the laptop.

It pays to know people who work at IBM.

But then again, my requirements for a laptop would be somewhat demanding.

• Really really really good battery life. As an example, the borrowed laptop can run for 4 hours while running off my boot drive, which is the 30 GB drive from my first laptop that I got for free with xubuntu installed. If possible, I’d like to get it up and high as possible…
• Durable. I generally like to make full use of whatever I use and given the fact that a laptop is a portable computer, I find myself using it all over the place, from my desk at home to a couch in the CS common room to the bus. What use is it if you need to be extremely delicate with it?
• Warranty and service that doesn’t toss you all over the place. I just speak from experience with Dell Tech Support. I absolutely hate having to call them just because they don’t really give you a permanent solution to your problem. For example, with my dad’s laptop right now, it’s got a screen issue where the laptop screen just dims itself out. The tech’s fix was to set something in the registry to have it not shut down the screen. Maybe it’s just me and not wanting to just tell the tech to screw off and die and let me return the thing to depot for repair.

Anyone have any recommendations? New laptop preferred.

So, since the URL has now changed to take advantage of my domain that I have had for well over a year now, some people will need to change their links.

Given time, which I should have an OK amount of outside of going to interviews for co-op Lightning Round and such unless something big comes up, here’s a to-do list.

• Design a scheme
• Create my website (I have the levels of navigation and everything already thought out for it) – just so you know, its going to be one of those sites for work searching purposes.
• Make WordPress work with the scheme (ie. create WP theme to make Curtis stop telling me to make my blog look different)

After that, then I guess it’s time to bring projects off the shelf where they are collecting dust and get to work with them.

Fun times. Fun times.

Just finished my MATH 342 assignment and put it out for printing on my print server when BAM! power surge!

I do have my system on an APC and of course my monitor, a Daytek MV170, as well just in case stuff happens. Unfortunately, it does not work all that well and whenever it happens, my computer just shuts off.

After I try rebooting, I notice that the monitor’s light isn’t on. Obviously, the first thing that happens is panic kicks in, simply because

1. I only have one monitor (all you dual-monitor users can shut it ); besides, if I did go dual monitor, I don’t have the desktop space for it until I do a complete overhaul of my room space (ie. cleanup)
2. I don’t have the money to go out and buy another monitor
3. I have to do stuff on this machine and all the other unused monitors around the house are CRTs (eww.. placing that here would kill all the desktop space I just freed up with a small amount of cleaning)

Thankfully, a few minutes later, after shutting off the APC and letting things kind of just sit for a while unpowered, the monitor turns on again. Yay!

Well, I know what I need to do now – get a new APC or swap it out with another one  around the house.

After going to the TD Canada Trust branch near my place to deposit a check, I went out and saw a bus that I could catch coming closer to the bus stop across the street from the bank. Making sure the road was clear, I made a run for it, successfully getting to the bus stop and thus, catching the bus.

Now on the bus, I somehow decided to go check my phone.

*pat* *pat*

No phone.

Crap.

Luckily, I noticed this early enough, so I got off the bus the stop immediately and backtracked to my stop, a minute or two worth of walking.

Upon reaching my stop, I noticed a small black leather case resembling the phone case, lying on the road, just where the bus would have stopped. Picking it up, I realize it is in fact my cell phone, although a bit run over, most likely by a bus, given its position.

Amazingly enough, it still worked. The only damage it took was on the mini LCD display, which is unfortunately now cracked and unusable. Of course, there’s also a small dent on the phone as well.

Maybe it’s the leather case that prevented the phone from getting destroyed or perhaps the fact that it was ran over directly by the bus, but hey, the phone still works.

On the plus side of things, my RAZR now has fairly unique identifying marks on it. That cracked LCD display is a quite a sight when lit.