I'm being spotty again, I know. But this work and travel thing tends to take it out of you. I've actually been rather sparse in my online usage as of late.
But, a quick update: the Dell XPS M2010 arrived, in somewhat decent shape, only to die as I was trying to test it with various Linux versions. Not sure what happened there, but it's now in the shop to be tested, and hopefully fixed. (Beyond the whole not-working thing, my biggest gripe was the screen. Or the fact that the screen had apparently taken a goodly sized blow from behind, and is now sitting crooked. {!!!}) Joy.
The T23 is still in the shop, having a new fan installed. I'd hoped to have it done while I was home, but that didn't happen. Maybe next time...
While on the road, I've been using my Macbook for my work stuff, and carrying the "James Bond" Vaio (the VGN-SZ120P/B) running MacPup 550 as my backup. That worked well, though I was kind of worried about the constant on/off cycles I was putting the Vaio through, as I haven't gotten 'round to setting up a sleep function under MacPup.
Well, I decided to change up a bit, and switch out systems. So, this trip, I switched the Vaio for my Thinkpad T410s, which is running Manjaro. Bit of a difference. I'm actually using the Thinkpad as my main work computer today, giving the Macbook the day off. (Though I'll probably end up "thumb driving" the files I create today over to the MB, just so I'll have everything in one central location.)
So far, I have to say, the T410s is very, very seductive. The Thinkpads are designed for day to day work, and this keyboard is...well, it's a Thinkpad keyboard. The keyboard on my Mac is great, but this... Well... Yeah...
And, I have to say, Manjaro has, so far, acquitted itself quite well. I hadn't had this system out in a while, so I had to do some heavy updating before bringing it on the road. Not a problem. And, as expected, LibreOffice has handled all the Office documents I've thrown at it with aplomb.
My only "wants" so far has been for a good graphics converter. (I need something that will take .TIFFs and convert them to .PDFs.) And I need to find a good deed plotting package for Linux. (I know Sandy Knoll has their Metes & Bounds program set up for Ubuntu, but...) I'll do some searching... (Luckily I found a good, non-CLI screen grab utility, gnome-screenshot, which has filled the bill for me quite nicely.)
So, things are going along at least OK. I'll be glad to see if the Dell gets up and running, or if I just inherited a big bag of parts for cannibalizing...
And, now, back to work....
Monday, October 21, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Corrections and Admissions
Yeah, I meant to make a correction the other day. I know it's "conficker", not "conflicker".
OK, that's out of the way, and I feel slightly less dense...
And I hope no one took grand offense at my going off on the mild rant last entry. I'm not even sure what caused it. Though maybe I was simply anticipating, as today I did run across some real charmers on YouTube. Fine examples of "the binary thought matrix" types. (You know, "Everything SUCKS except what I like...") In all honestly, I'm a live-and-let-live type. Use what you feel most comfortable with. Just don't try to ram your views down my throat as holy writ. I might get testy...
This evening I'm trying to get myself psyched to get back out on the road for the second week of my new work adventure. It's kind of...well, hard. I'm not working with my old crew anymore, and I'm having to adapt to new requirements. My old group was known for their hardcore, cover-all-the-bases style of doing our line of work. This new group is...well, it's different. And I'm having to get used to that. Among other things... It ain't easy for an old dog like me...
And now to the admission. I'm one of those people who, when they get a little down, gets a bit too materialistic for their own good. (I'm sure no one has noticed that. They certainly wouldn't if they walked into my house and saw the stacks of old computers...)
Well...
I've always said that there were only two Dell laptop models that I would ever want, and I have one of those. (The XPS M1530.)
Well...
I now have the other one...
I was moping about on YouTube, got bored, and bounced over to the 'bay. Did a search, and the little devil sitting on my shoulder started doing the Happy Dance...
There was a functional Dell XPS M2010. For a decent (by XPS M2010 standards) price. Granted, it's a bit of a fixer-upper. But the features were tolerable. It has everything it needs to make it usable for right now...
Yeah, long story short, I bought it... I couldn't really afford it. But...
Oh hell...
I need to go pack... The Macbook, my "James Bond" Vaio, a stack of Puppy Linux CDs... I might actually drag out my old Nook which has a ton of books on it...
I think I need to get some sleep...........
OK, that's out of the way, and I feel slightly less dense...
And I hope no one took grand offense at my going off on the mild rant last entry. I'm not even sure what caused it. Though maybe I was simply anticipating, as today I did run across some real charmers on YouTube. Fine examples of "the binary thought matrix" types. (You know, "Everything SUCKS except what I like...") In all honestly, I'm a live-and-let-live type. Use what you feel most comfortable with. Just don't try to ram your views down my throat as holy writ. I might get testy...
This evening I'm trying to get myself psyched to get back out on the road for the second week of my new work adventure. It's kind of...well, hard. I'm not working with my old crew anymore, and I'm having to adapt to new requirements. My old group was known for their hardcore, cover-all-the-bases style of doing our line of work. This new group is...well, it's different. And I'm having to get used to that. Among other things... It ain't easy for an old dog like me...
And now to the admission. I'm one of those people who, when they get a little down, gets a bit too materialistic for their own good. (I'm sure no one has noticed that. They certainly wouldn't if they walked into my house and saw the stacks of old computers...)
Well...
I've always said that there were only two Dell laptop models that I would ever want, and I have one of those. (The XPS M1530.)
Well...
I now have the other one...
I was moping about on YouTube, got bored, and bounced over to the 'bay. Did a search, and the little devil sitting on my shoulder started doing the Happy Dance...
There was a functional Dell XPS M2010. For a decent (by XPS M2010 standards) price. Granted, it's a bit of a fixer-upper. But the features were tolerable. It has everything it needs to make it usable for right now...
Yeah, long story short, I bought it... I couldn't really afford it. But...
Oh hell...
I need to go pack... The Macbook, my "James Bond" Vaio, a stack of Puppy Linux CDs... I might actually drag out my old Nook which has a ton of books on it...
I think I need to get some sleep...........
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Just fiddling about
Yep, it's just another weekend here at the Unnecessarium. Nothing going on beyond a lazy evening, watching YouTube videos. (This evening's fare provided by the Aussie50 and LMull3.)
The battery on the "James Bond" laptop (ie, the Sony Vaio) finally gave out after the endless video runs, so I switched over to the T30. (Which I jokingly [and for the oddest of reasons] also associate with a real spy, though definitely not one in a heroic vein. We'll just leave it at that...) I think I was kinda driven towards using a Thinkpad for the rest of the evening by LMull3's video on an IBM PS/Note 425 laptop. Fun stuff...
I dropped the T23 off at the Computer-Shop-Across-the-River this morning. Don't know when I'll be able to see it again. Kind of sad about that. I hope the fan is easily fixed, or quickly replaced. (I suspect the latter.) It's such a cool little computer, I wish I had it to play with. (Might want the CMOS battery here for that, too.)
I'm going to go off on my usual little side rant about these older computers I am perennially impressed by how capable these older systems are, once they're cleaned up and blessed with a newer, better operating system. (Yeah, I did just take a jab at the Great Redmond Beast there...)
UXWBill has a good rant on old computers in the description of one of his videos. I think he hits the nail on the head with his comment to the "young whippersnappers" that not everyone is interested in the latest game du jour. Not eveyone needs a bleeding edge processor, nor the latest graphics gismos... I certainly don't.
This old T30 cost me pennies compared to a newer system. No, it won't play the latest games. No it won't run Windows 8, thank God. (There's another dig, by the way...) It struggles just a bit to get up to speed with YouTube videos. But, it's happily running a very up-to-date Linux operating system. It will surf the web via a wireless card, and it can run some quite productivity powerful software.
And it's just damned cool.
I dare anyone to pull a current production laptop in that has a keyboard as nice as this one. And I think you'd be somewhat hard-pressed to find a modern system that's as well-built as this computer is. (And I'm including it's current day descendents in that.)
And it's just damned cool.
A couple years ago, I got a wild idea to play with a Powerbook 3400, which I'd upgraded the RAM (to a whole 80 MB), and installed OS 9.1 on. I dragged it into the office, hooked it up, and started writing up speadsheets and reports on. (Using MS-Office 2001 for Mac. And no, that's not a dig...) Using a thumb drive, I copied all of our then-current office forms over to the Powerbook. (I did this via a USB card, having installed the drivers from one of the Operator HeadGap CDs.) And, you know what? It worked perfectly. I did a bunch of file write-ups, saved them all back to the thumb drive, and was able to email them in later from my Powerbook G4. (If I'd put some real time in, I could've installed a wireless card on the 3400.) No one who received those files had a clue they'd been completely written on a c.15 year old machine.
I used to routinely work in OS 9 under Classic on my old AlBook, a computer which routinely ran circles around a brand new Toshiba I had with the (then) latest version of Windows 7 installed on it.
And, no, I have no idea what brought this little rant on. I guess I was feeling a bit defensive about my dear little T30 here. And all the other old computers, both (former) Wintel and Mac, that festoon my room.
They're all just damned cool...
The battery on the "James Bond" laptop (ie, the Sony Vaio) finally gave out after the endless video runs, so I switched over to the T30. (Which I jokingly [and for the oddest of reasons] also associate with a real spy, though definitely not one in a heroic vein. We'll just leave it at that...) I think I was kinda driven towards using a Thinkpad for the rest of the evening by LMull3's video on an IBM PS/Note 425 laptop. Fun stuff...
I dropped the T23 off at the Computer-Shop-Across-the-River this morning. Don't know when I'll be able to see it again. Kind of sad about that. I hope the fan is easily fixed, or quickly replaced. (I suspect the latter.) It's such a cool little computer, I wish I had it to play with. (Might want the CMOS battery here for that, too.)
I'm going to go off on my usual little side rant about these older computers I am perennially impressed by how capable these older systems are, once they're cleaned up and blessed with a newer, better operating system. (Yeah, I did just take a jab at the Great Redmond Beast there...)
UXWBill has a good rant on old computers in the description of one of his videos. I think he hits the nail on the head with his comment to the "young whippersnappers" that not everyone is interested in the latest game du jour. Not eveyone needs a bleeding edge processor, nor the latest graphics gismos... I certainly don't.
This old T30 cost me pennies compared to a newer system. No, it won't play the latest games. No it won't run Windows 8, thank God. (There's another dig, by the way...) It struggles just a bit to get up to speed with YouTube videos. But, it's happily running a very up-to-date Linux operating system. It will surf the web via a wireless card, and it can run some quite productivity powerful software.
And it's just damned cool.
I dare anyone to pull a current production laptop in that has a keyboard as nice as this one. And I think you'd be somewhat hard-pressed to find a modern system that's as well-built as this computer is. (And I'm including it's current day descendents in that.)
And it's just damned cool.
A couple years ago, I got a wild idea to play with a Powerbook 3400, which I'd upgraded the RAM (to a whole 80 MB), and installed OS 9.1 on. I dragged it into the office, hooked it up, and started writing up speadsheets and reports on. (Using MS-Office 2001 for Mac. And no, that's not a dig...) Using a thumb drive, I copied all of our then-current office forms over to the Powerbook. (I did this via a USB card, having installed the drivers from one of the Operator HeadGap CDs.) And, you know what? It worked perfectly. I did a bunch of file write-ups, saved them all back to the thumb drive, and was able to email them in later from my Powerbook G4. (If I'd put some real time in, I could've installed a wireless card on the 3400.) No one who received those files had a clue they'd been completely written on a c.15 year old machine.
I used to routinely work in OS 9 under Classic on my old AlBook, a computer which routinely ran circles around a brand new Toshiba I had with the (then) latest version of Windows 7 installed on it.
And, no, I have no idea what brought this little rant on. I guess I was feeling a bit defensive about my dear little T30 here. And all the other old computers, both (former) Wintel and Mac, that festoon my room.
They're all just damned cool...
Friday, October 11, 2013
Back Yet Again
Another happy return. Or somesuch...
My apologies for the silence here. I seem to have become employed again, and am back in the traveling mode. Long distance travel combined with a lot of work on-site do not a good blog environment make. But, I'm back now for a very quick update before crashing out.
Being on the road has meant taking up the Macintosh mantle again. I do most of my heavy duty work lifting with the Macs, as most of the "tools of the trade" are on them. This week, I had my white Macbook with me. It was my first "new" Mac, and introduced me to Snow Leopard. And it works like a little polycarbonate trooper.
However, it wasn't alone on this trip. I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I had come across another system to join my Linux fleet, a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ120P/B. It's a nice little system, with a Core Duo processor at about 1.83 Ghz, a gig of RAM, and a 100 GB hard drive. Came to me with WinXP, but it's now running MacPup 550, and works phenomenally. I jokingly call it my "James Bond" computer, as it's close to the models used in Casino Royale. (As an added bonus, the previous owner apparently had some business dealings in Russia. The keyboard has a set of aftermarket Cyrillic stickers on them. Sort of a nice touch...) It went with me on the road, and handled some email and entertainment duties. Just for the heck of it. (I just gave it the gift of some new rubber feet, as its originals had long disappeared.)
While I was on the road, I found (yes) another Thinkpad. This one a T23, almost literally for pennies. Nice little Pentium 3 system. I did manage to get a new main battery for it, and upgrade the RAM from 256 MB to 640 MB. That was all the anticipated stuff... Would be nice if the CMOS battery were in good shape. That was something I foolishly didn't think about. (One is on order now.) My only complaint... I seem to have a problem with laptops and PCMCIA slot covers. I pulled the T23 out of the box, unwrapped it, and the slot cover fell out...
Oh well...
When I upgraded the RAM this evening, WinXP threw a fit, informing me that it had to be "reactivated" because of changes in the computer. Huh? So, I took great joy in live booting my Puppy Slacko CD, firing up Gparted, and... Well, you know... Running great now. I swear it actually runs better than the T30 does...
Alas, no wireless. From the looks of it, it (like my old A31) doesn't have the antenna installed. And I'm not bothering to install one. I am a bit worried about the system fan, and may drop it off at the Computer-Shop-Across-the-River tomorrow, as I really don't have time to tear the thing apart. I have two days off before heading back out on the road. Probably just needs a good cleaning...
And, I also picked up a copy of Mark Bowden's Worm, about the "Conflicker" outbreak of a few years back. Bowden's not the greatest writer out there, but I'm hoping it'll at least hold my interest, when I'm not watching UXWBill and VWestlife videos on Youtube...
My apologies for the silence here. I seem to have become employed again, and am back in the traveling mode. Long distance travel combined with a lot of work on-site do not a good blog environment make. But, I'm back now for a very quick update before crashing out.
Being on the road has meant taking up the Macintosh mantle again. I do most of my heavy duty work lifting with the Macs, as most of the "tools of the trade" are on them. This week, I had my white Macbook with me. It was my first "new" Mac, and introduced me to Snow Leopard. And it works like a little polycarbonate trooper.
However, it wasn't alone on this trip. I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I had come across another system to join my Linux fleet, a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ120P/B. It's a nice little system, with a Core Duo processor at about 1.83 Ghz, a gig of RAM, and a 100 GB hard drive. Came to me with WinXP, but it's now running MacPup 550, and works phenomenally. I jokingly call it my "James Bond" computer, as it's close to the models used in Casino Royale. (As an added bonus, the previous owner apparently had some business dealings in Russia. The keyboard has a set of aftermarket Cyrillic stickers on them. Sort of a nice touch...) It went with me on the road, and handled some email and entertainment duties. Just for the heck of it. (I just gave it the gift of some new rubber feet, as its originals had long disappeared.)
While I was on the road, I found (yes) another Thinkpad. This one a T23, almost literally for pennies. Nice little Pentium 3 system. I did manage to get a new main battery for it, and upgrade the RAM from 256 MB to 640 MB. That was all the anticipated stuff... Would be nice if the CMOS battery were in good shape. That was something I foolishly didn't think about. (One is on order now.) My only complaint... I seem to have a problem with laptops and PCMCIA slot covers. I pulled the T23 out of the box, unwrapped it, and the slot cover fell out...
Oh well...
When I upgraded the RAM this evening, WinXP threw a fit, informing me that it had to be "reactivated" because of changes in the computer. Huh? So, I took great joy in live booting my Puppy Slacko CD, firing up Gparted, and... Well, you know... Running great now. I swear it actually runs better than the T30 does...
Alas, no wireless. From the looks of it, it (like my old A31) doesn't have the antenna installed. And I'm not bothering to install one. I am a bit worried about the system fan, and may drop it off at the Computer-Shop-Across-the-River tomorrow, as I really don't have time to tear the thing apart. I have two days off before heading back out on the road. Probably just needs a good cleaning...
And, I also picked up a copy of Mark Bowden's Worm, about the "Conflicker" outbreak of a few years back. Bowden's not the greatest writer out there, but I'm hoping it'll at least hold my interest, when I'm not watching UXWBill and VWestlife videos on Youtube...
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