Untitled Post
December 27, 2001 on 8:20 pm | In Main |The blogger website was down again last night, so I couldn’t post. I think they are running into some reliability problems complicated by rapid growth. I hope to have time in the near future to write my own blog software.
I started the day Wednesday going to Fry’s to by a USB keyboard, and to get a video cable to hook up our new DVD player to the TV. I need a USB keyboard because I bought a USB only KVM (keyboard, video and mouse) switch. (By the way, the IOGEAR 2 computer switch works great. The video switches instantly, and has no degradation in signal quality. The keyboard and mouse take a second before control is transferred, which can be annoying, but is certainly workable.) The checkout line at Fry’s was almost all the way around the building. While I was waiting in line, I realized we don’t have any DVDs to check out the new player. I had my father-in-law, Corky, who was with me, get a copy of the Matrix to purchase. While Sean was taking his afternoon nap, we hooked up the DVD player. The picture quality is amazing. There is absolutely no noise, and you can clearly see each scan line. Cortney enjoyed watching the Matrix film.
I forgot how much work it is to install software on a new computer. Even though it took longer than I had expected to build my new computer, it will take several times that amount to get all of the applications I use up and running. My new computer crashed twice last night, which really bothered me. I went through a lot of effort to buy reliable hardware components. I think the crash was caused by the print server software for the router. It turns out that the printer drivers for my HP deskjet printer don’t work with the print server, so I uninstalled the server software. Don’t buy an HP printer If you want to do anything other than print from a single windows PC. I am considering upgrading from windows 98 to windows xp to improve the software reliability of my computer.
I went back to work today. Two other people from my group were in as well, so I wasn’t all alone. I didn’t get much done other than get caught up on my email and take mandatory year-end training in ESD (electro-static discharge) protection and code of ethics. At least the ESD information is potentially useful for my home computer work.
Sean is having lots of fun playing with his grandparents. He is also enjoying his new Christmas toys. Today, he had a new experience of watching from the driveway the trash trucks come down the street and picking up our garbage. He was terrified by the loud noise. I was trying to reassure him, when a whole convoy of at least four additional trucks came by. He was terrified but fascinated at the same time.
I was annoyed to find out the floppy drive wasn’t working with the new computer again. This is the least expensive component, but the one that has given me the most trouble. I thought the drive was failing intermittently, but the problem turned out that the drive was extended too far out in front of the computer. The front bezel has a built-in floppy slot, including the eject button. The eject button was partially depressed all of the time, causing the drive not to work with the bezel in place. The drive itself had screw holes an 1/8th of an inch behind the ones I had used, which worked perfectly when I put it back in the computer. I also checked the on-line documentation for my motherboard. I wanted to see if there was a way to connect the case 3-pin connector for the power LED on the front of the case. The printed documentation only showed a 2-pin slot. The on-line documentation showed a 3-pin slot labeled as additional LED connection. This additional connection works just fine. I also didn’t realize that there was a second audio connector. With the second connect, I now have the CD-RW drive audio cable hooked up as well as the DVD drive. The most unusual thing I found in the on-line documentation was that there is a 4-pin connection for 12 volt power to the motherboard that I didn’t have hooked up. I only hooked up the 20 pin connector, which must have both 5 and 12 volt power. I decided that it was better to hook up the cable, rather than leave it dangling in the case. It doesn’t seem to make a difference either way. I know feel the my new rig is rock-solid hardware-wise.
After thinking more about windows xp, I decided to download the upgrade adviser and run it on my old computer. I did this, and it appears that the only issue is with my anti-virus software. I have a copy of Norton anti-virus 2002, which is xp compatible, so I have a work around for this issue. I am considering dual booting windows 98 and xp, at least until I am comfortable with all my software, particularly games, on xp. I won’t do anything about this until we get back from our trip to Sedona/Flagstaff. This trip will by our yearly outing to go find some snow. This year, we will be spending the night at a resort in Sedona, so this should be a nice relaxing trip.
No Comments yet »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
© Copyright 2001 - 2001 Barry Pendegrass
Powered by WordPress 2.5.1