Tag: computers

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It’s so true…

Wow, two posts in a day…after a drought of a few weeks… What’s the world coming to?

Penny Arcade

Penny Arcade had a nice comic up today, referencing Spore, a new game from the creator of Sim City, Will Wright, to be released later this year. I remember Stu bringing this game up a few years ago when its development was in infancy, but it’s finally coming together.

The idea is pretty straightforward: you design/create your own organism (and environment?) and watch it evolve through the millenia. As in, you can start it from the single-cell stage and watch it grow into an intergalactic powerhouse. It will be Windows and OS X compatible, but I thought I heard it would be coming to the Wii/360/PS3 in some form or fashion – just might be later than the projected early-September release date for computers…

The neat thing is that the game is fully adaptable and unscripted, so if I start up a single-cell organism the same way for two different games, it could end up evolving into two separate beings with two separate “views” on the world…which is crazy to think about, especially for people like Stu that think about the programming involved in having everything generated on-the-fly, rather than having it lined out on the DVD it comes on.

The “creature creator” piece was released a few days ago and the internet is abuzz about it, although I haven’t tried it yet. Perhaps this weekend…

Either way, I found the comic amusing… 😛

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A new addition to the family…

So, the newest addition to our family arrived today. We’ve been expecting her for a few days, but took her sweet time getting here, much to my chagrin. Here are her vitals:

Size: 14.06″ x 10.34″ x 0.93″ – 1.38″
Weight: 6.29 lbs

Now, most white men married to a white woman would question the fact that their new addition would be black, but I will accept her as my own anyway…that’s just how I roll… That, and the brushed silver finish on the palm-rest looks pretty sweet…

The name on the birth certificate reads “Dell XPS M1530″…I may call her “Lola” for short…

Here are “her” other vitals:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Windows Vista Home Premium
3 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability (slot loader)
Bluetooth Wireless Card 355
120 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
15.4 WXGA Laptop Screen Display with TrueLife
Two 90W AC Adapters
Intel 4965 802.11a/g/n Dual-Band Mini Card

I’m sure “Lola” and I will have a wonderful time together!

Now, the first thing I need to teach her is to run Linux… 🙂

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Well, that was interesting…

So, the few of you who check this blog occasionally may have noticed that it wasn’t there for a few days… Here’s the story:

I had Xgl/Compiz installed on my Linux box. When it’s running, it gives Unreal Tournament 2k4 graphics problems, so I decided to remove it. While removing it, I ran into various issues such that I figured it’d just be easier to reinstall Linux, instead of fight with the removal of the program… So, I back up the WordPress database(s) to my laptop, move over the pertinent files to a different hard drive on my desktop, and begin the format. No big deal. Done it many times before.

I walk out to the living room and look at my laptop. It has lovely colored bars running up and down the screen. This isn’t normal, of course… It actually happened earlier in the day, again while I wasn’t looking at it and not really doing anything…but earlier, it restarted and worked fine…this time, not so much… I don’t know if the screen saver somehow triggered the problem (unlikely…) or what, but it went nuts…

Anyway, I tried turning it off and on…no help…  It wouldn’t even show the BIOS screen, let alone get to Windows… I tried plugging it in to my desktop’s monitor to see if it’s just the laptop LCD. No dice. Soooooooooooo…that didn’t sound good…and to make matters worse, some of my music library wasn’t backed up to my Linux box (the music from iTunes) and the most recent WordPress databases for the website(s) were on it as well. Not cool.

So, I pull the hard drive out of the laptop, only to find that it doesn’t have a standard IDE connection…thus, I can’t just open ‘er up on the Linux box and pull files off. Thankfully, there are adaptors that exist to convert a 2.5″ laptop hard drive to a 3.5″ desktop hard drive. I ordered one from Newegg, got it working, and pulled the files off. (Note: that also rules out the hard drive as being a problem for the laptop).

Soooooooooooooooooooooo, to make a long story short(er), the laptop has some issues but I’ve got all the data off of it and my desktop works just fine. Thankfully, the laptop still has a year left on its warranty (w00t!), so I’m going to take it by a repair place tomorrow and will hopefully have it back by Christmas. If it isn’t the LCD screen and isn’t the hard drive, then I’m afraid the problem lies somewhere on the motherboard…and that could take awhile to fix…who knows…

At least it’s under warranty…  If you’re in the market for a laptop that’s worth anywhere near $1000, please get a warranty!!!  It’s worth it!!

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Mmmm, toys…

Well, I’m about ready to purchase that new computer system in the next few weeks… I already got a new LCD monitor for a whopping $105, after rebate, so I’m well on my way… But for now, here’s the system I have speced out:

I was hoping I didn’t need a video card, as many nForce motherboards have one integrated (and for my Linux purposes, I don’t need anything crazy with regards to gaming), but this board apparently doesn’t have one, so I’m adding on a card… Total, the cost comes up to around $700 once you figure in shipping, etc…

Not too bad, you think? I’d actually like some video card suggestions… Not that I really want to play games much, but I’d kinda like to try getting UT2004 running under Linux, since a). there are Linux versions available, and b). I can run it in 64-bit mode. I’d like to stick with nVidia because their Linux drivers are much, much better than ATi’s…but I’m thinking that I could get a decent GeForce card of the previous generation (6 series) for the same price as a budget GeForce of the current one (7 series). So yeah, that’s just one on Newegg right now, but lemme know if you know of something better…

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Hell freezes over…

1). Dell has officially decided to start using AMD chips in their desktop line of PCs beginning as early as next month. Honestly, I’ve had three major reasons for hating Dell over the past few years: reliance on only Windows, reliance on only Intel, and the fact that their systems suck because of both. So yeah, hopefully by adding AMD, they’ll improve the quality of their systems and give AMD a boost in the process.

2). Due to the new planet-naming structure, if Pluto is to remain a planet, then other “celestial bodies” needed to be re-designated as planets, including an asteroid (Ceres) and even Pluto’s moon, Charon. Well, apparently, if Charon is to be added, then that means that our own moon would count as a planet, as well.

Anyway, we’re off to Columbia a little later today…just figured I’d post a bit…