Geek Cred

I'm lacking in this important department. Street Cred is something rappers want, Geek cred is something I want.

I haven't upgraded my computer in 5 years. I have an Athlon XP 1800 (1.5 GHz) with 512 MB RAM. Video cards now have this amount of memory. I just bought a new keyboard after using my previous one for 8 years. It was dirty (<-- understatement). My monitor is not even widescreen. I don't even bother with new computer games anymore because I know I can't run them.

My current dilemma is whether to buy a desktop or laptop. I've decided to get a laptop first to help with my constant moving around and then when Starcraft II comes out, to get a new desktop.

But here's where the geek cred comes in. I'm going to get a Mac laptop. Probably not a Macbook Air, as it's crippled is a few ways, even though it's undeniably sexy. I'm probably looking at the low end Macbook Pro. I have to experience the UI everyone keeps raving about. I have to play with Unix. I have to feel the sleek form factor. I have to see what a big difference integrated hardware/software can make. I have to virtualize ftw!!!

The bad thing about Apple is the insane pricing. Because there is such a big difference, I'll probably get my sister to buy it in the States with her Education discount (She's a teacher in the USA). That will result in a savings of $500-$550. I can't believe it's such a big difference and it only increases with the pricer models. Even with that discount, it's still going to be pricey, especially when compared to a PC. Now if I could only convince my family to become exclusive Mac users...

Resuming Regularly Scheduled Programming

My computer is alive!

I'm ecstatic. I went out to Canada Computers Waterloo today and picked up the Sonata III. I was leaning toward the NSK6500, but they didn't have them in stock today. I was lucky to get Canada Computer's last Sonata III, because it just came out and it's been selling briskly.

After putting it together, it was a great relief to find out that it seems the only thing wrong with my previous computer was the power supply. That means I don't need to upgrade....yet. There is no big incentive for me to upgrade just yet (waiting for starcraft 2), so I'll wait at least until AMD gets more employee stock.

The reason I didn't really want the Sonata was because of the front door. They made it much stronger than previous versions, but the door itself is kinda useless and just gets in the way. I wonder how long it'll last before it breaks. The good part about it is the eSATA port on the front. It's also a little pricey for this sort of budget case. The NSK6500 is cheaper because it's been out for a longer time and the power supply is 430 W instead of the Sonata's 500 W.

Anyway, it's good to have a computer again. I feel complete again.

Getting a new Computer

My computer finally broke down this week. I opened it up to investigate a little further, and from the burn marks on the power supply PCB, it appears that the PSU has failed.

I'm going to get a new power supply and see if that fixes it. I've basically decided to get a new desktop computer by components instead of getting a Dell. I figure it'll be a little bit cheaper, since I don't have to buy a hard drive. I'll also hopefully be able to get a discounted video card from the AMD folks at some point.

I will try to go by Canada Computers and pick up an Antec NSK6500 today. For my last case, I bought an ultra cheap one, ($35) and regret the decision a little bit. I frequently accessed the insides, and this cheapo case made it difficult. It was also really noisy, which meant I never had the computer on overnight. I'm not too concerned with the look. I definitely don't want a flashy one, I don't want a see through one (dumb), and I want a minimum number of external LEDs.

An alternative I'm considering is the Antec Sonata III, which just came out. It has an external eSATA port, which would be a definite advantage over the NSK6500. Unfortunately, I can't find any Internet reviews for it yet. If anyone has some computer advice for me, please share.

Meanwhile, I've been playing Online Tetris with my DS, and surfing the internet with my Wii and finishing Tuesdays with Morrie. I'm also searching desperately for my MCBCSL softball jersey so I can get my third badge. It is nowhere to be found after searching both my Waterloo and Toronto homes for several hours. :(

Boring Diary Post

Haven't updated in a while. Lot's of people clicked on my link for the "My Toronto is" voting, so hopefully many votes were submitted. I wonder how much Matt's one comment skewed the voting. I was hoping more people would comment, since so many of you clicked through!

Even though it's boring, what have I been up to lately?

My parents are off in China/Korea/Taiwan for work/vacation and my sister is back in Queens so no one is in the Toronto home and therefore, there's no one to cook my weekend and Monday/Tuesday meals. I bought a four pack of steaks for $18, so I've been happily eating that this week. So far one's gone in the oven, the other on the foreman grill and tonight's will be pan fried. Any suggestions for the last one? Unfortunately, Steaks don't make for great pictures for BiteMe, since it's just brown. Bacon looks so much more appetizing.

I've caught a little bug so I have a slight sore throat and cough, but nothing serious. I'm finding I need a lot of rest this week though. Yeah, that's my excuse for not posting. It's also my excuse for not working out this week.

My computer started working again spontaneously, and since ATI is all out of stock of discounted cards, I'll try to hold out on making a new purchase until they have some more in stock. I keep my computer turned on all the time now for fear of it not working again.

Been playing a lot of Civilization IV recently. I only started playing because I read an article in Wikipedia about the Mongols and then hours later, had proceeded to read several (dozen) more articles. Then I felt like taking over the world myself. Since that's not practical in real life, I'll do it virtually and hence the Civ IV playing. Civ IV supports multiplayer, so this could be an idea for our next LAN party. Although it could potentially suck for someone that died early or if someone got ganged up on. Still, any supporters?

Started to read Joy Luck Club, which should be required reading for all CBC/ABC, especially first generation emigrants. Perhaps not as relevant to HKers though.

I had no idea you could get season tickets for the Blue Jays for only $95! Sweet deal, and could be fun if you go with fun people (because the game itself isn't that exciting). Too bad I live in the wrong city.

Played some Charades with Taboo cards in Reety's really sweet condo. How do you do "Billy the Kid" in charades?

Played some Settlers of Catan, which was fun, but not the greatest in the world. I still want to try Carcassonne, the other classic tile game. Apparently they've made these games for Xbox Live so it could be fun online as well, but you'd miss out on the social interaction (read: arguing) with your friends.

Haven't heard from a lot you recently, so what have you been up to?

Desktop Tower Defense

Wow, this little game is taking over my life. This is practically the only thing I can do with my "safe mode" computer. I'm still not very good at it, because I'm not close to reaching a top score. That scoreboard is CRAZY! Remember add your scores to the group, "hustheman".

When I open up my computer up, I can smell what I think is a leaking electrolytic capacitor. I've blown them up in the past and know what they smell like. Since I havne't disassembled it, I can't physically see which one is blown so I can replace it. Anyway, I think I'll be getting a new computer regardless.

The cards at ATI are out of stock! I hope ATI continues the employee discount program, because it's such a good deal. I don't have high hopes though, especially after ATI was bought out by AMD. They are also behind NVIDIA, as they aren't offering a DX10 card until May at the earliest.

I'm probably not going to get a Mac as I want to do some gaming on this computer, as I've never really had a decent gaming computer before. Running virtualization (XP and OS X) does sound promising though as I hear from Maggie and Mike that it's pretty slick. I probably won't get a laptop either, since I'm looking for a bit more power and it lasting a longer. I might pick up a laptop down the road at some point so I can bring something back and forth from Waterloo/Toronto.

I currently have 3 HDD (80, 250, 320), LCD/keyboard/mouse and can borrow a video card from Matt to wait until ATI/AMD has more cards in stock. I'm not considering a complete system (Dell), although I should research it. Is it cheaper to buy a complete system or build my own?

So I need:
1) Motherboard
2) CPU
3) RAM
4) Video Card
5) Case + power supply
6) OS

Also, I don't have a DVD burner, so I'll probably need to pick one of those up as well. Any advice?

Desktop Tower Defense

If you didn't try out the Tower Defense link from the other day, give it a try sometime this weekend. It's quite an addictive and quick game.

They added new creep and a new tower type this week to spice things up a bit. Matt and I have been playing a lot recently and posting our scores to the group "hustheman". I didn't pick that name, Matt did, but regardless, post them there to see how you compare!

I just checked and Keith has apparently come out of nowhere and kicked our asses. I think it's the use of the new bash tower that's making the difference...or rather that's my excuse.

I've only been playing a lot of it this week because my computer crapped out again. So I'm back to "Safe Mode with Networking". Shitty. It worked on Sunday, stopped working Monday and Tuesday, started working again on Wednesday and then crapped out again on Thursday. This means I'm forced to get a new computer this time. I've inquired about video cards already with ATI folk and will look into the other components shortly. Anyone got any computer advice? Probably Intel this time around. Should I wait for DX10 video cards? 1 or 2 gigs of RAM? Vista or XP? Drop some wisdom in the comments.

Computer Whoa

So my computer decided to spontaneously work again. No reason whatsoever, so I hope it doesn't crap out for no reason either. So I'm pretty sure it's a problem on the motherboard. Cary, this means that your card is likely ok. I don't want to risk switching anything out or even touching it, so I'll leave it as it is for now.

I tried playing Wii on my video in part of my card. First of all, the video quality is absolutely crap. Maybe I'm spoiled with component 480p on a 37" LCD at home, but I don't remember it being this bad. Maybe since I work with video all the time now, I notice the difference more. The other bad part is the perceptible delay. It makes some games almost unplayable, so that's unpleasant. Back in university (Cardill) we use to play Smash on my computer and it wasn't too bad. I remember it was a little dark and had a little delay, but was ok, even for something as sensitive to delay as Smash. But now I'm really noticing it and can't stand it. Looks like I will have to take up Maggie's advice and get the TV going again, but I am a little concerned if that room gets wet again. But I suppose I should be lucky that I can even play at all...or even blog at all!

Here are some random links:

Basketball All-Star weekend in Vegas, dubbed by Bill Simmons as the Hip-Hop Woodstuck. Some pretty crazy stuff going down.

Mario Party 8 screenshots....looks like I will consider getting this one.

Drinking Vodka on the Internet with virtual buddies, invented of course by a Russian.

Recent quote from Morello about RATM getting back: "Is it coincidence that in the seven years that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE has been away that the country has slid into right-wing purgatory? I think not," he said. "It occurred to all of us that the times were right to see if we can knock the Bush administration out in one fell swoop, and we hope to do that job well. This administration has done enough damage that it may take generations to undo. This is an administration that believes it's beyond the laws of the land, which is fine for emperors, but not so great for presidents. One thing this president isn't above is the laws of physics, and there is no action without reaction. And we're part of that reaction."

What it's like to be a gamer in Iraq. Choice Quote: "He and his gamer friends used to enjoy first-person shooters like "Medal of Honor" and "Call of Duty." Then a real war started around him. "We hate the attacking, the gunfire in games," Wisam said. "We started to hate it." In fact, there's only one game with guns he can still tolerate. " 'Grand Theft Auto' is the exception. Because 'Grand Theft Auto' is like us.""

One of my favourite Directors, David Fincher is featured in this interview. Choice Quote: “David knows what he wants, and he’s very clear about what he wants, and he’s very, very, very smart. But sometimes we’d do a lot of takes, and he’d turn, and he would say, because he had a computer there” — the movie was shot digitally — “ ‘Delete the last 10 takes.’ And as an actor that’s very hard to hear.”

That's all for today. I'm actually considering NOT going back to Toronto this weekend, something like the first time in 3 months. Anyone want to convince me to go into TO?

Computer Woes

My computer is dying a slow death. I am currently blogging from my computer while it is in "Safe Mode with Networking". I have shit ass resolution and colours and no audio or video.

Recently, I blogged about my video card acting up. Cary was nice enough to pass along his slightly defective video card. The defective part about it is the TVin part of the card. I wanted to play some Wii at home, and since the living room is in a disarry due to the water leak, I could only play on my computer. So Richard had a spare TVin card lying around and gave it to me. This was the beginning of the end.

I go to install the noname TVin card and then I try booting my computer. Won't boot properly because of video card error. Uninstall noname TVin card, still no improvement. Whatever I try, the computer won't boot. I install my old broken card, and it boots, but then when windows loads, I get no video output (blank screen or boots into windows but randomly reboots soon thereafter). The only way I can do anything is boot up in safe mode.

Anyway, seems like something is wrong with all the video cards I have or more likely there is motherboard board problem, specifically with the AGP port. Or maybe it's a power supply problem or power circuitry problem, since I often get into this strange state where my computer won't even start booting. I have to unplug the power connector from my mobo and reinsert it to get it going again. I can't explain that one.

So it looks like I''ll need to get a new computer (more money down the drain). I'll have to do the research from my safe mode computer :( I've already started talking about video cards with Barry (hopefully he can hook me up!). Anyone got any computer advice?

So sorry Cary, I may have killed the rest of the 9600aiw card. Richard, I'm not touching your TVin card ever again. I'm so unhappy now, I feel like I've lost a limb or something to that effect. My main source of entertainment is my computer. I don't have TV (cable) in the 'loo. I can't even watch torrented 24 or Heroes on this computer anymore. :_-(

I don't think I've caught a break this year; I've only had bad luck. Sigh.