Hardware

I don't know what I have with printers, or better : what printers have against me. All the deskjet printers I had, never kept up longer than two years. So the last printer I got, was a second-hand HP laser printer, which would last longer, I hoped than its predecessors. Vain hope, it seemed : after two years, this one also died.
So now I decided to buy a new laser printer, a Samsung ML-1610. I wonder how long I will be able to use this baby...

Installing a printer under Linux has become a breeze - relatively spoken - with CUPS : the printer wasn't available in the default CUPS list, but a search on linuxprinting.org revealed a ML-1710 driver, which I copied to /usr/share/cups/model/. Works great.

Some days ago, I noticed that my computer booted a bit slower than usual. It kept hanging a few seconds in the POST on the "Secondary Master... None" message. I didn't pay much notice to it, because after my last apt-get dist-upgrade, I had my own share of problems. But yesterday when I tried to open the CD-writer lid, it refused. A quick look inside the computer didn't reveal any loose contacts, so I guess the CD-writer is dead. Damn.

Normally, I would just grab another CD reader or writer, and yank in back into my PC, but the fact that my computer is already 5 years old, and that I was planning anyway to buy a new one next year, makes me wait. I have a good idea what type I want for a new computer, so it's time to explore what's out there.

To whom it may concern : from Wednesday on, my phone number at home will be cancelled. If you want to contact me by other means than email, use my mobile phone number.

Confused by names as SledgeHammer, Sempron and Prescott ? There are alot of codenamed CPU's out there, and if you're checking out the market for a new computer, it can sometimes be confusing. Intel have mangeled their CPU names quite a lot, even worse than AMD in my opinion -- a XEON can be anything from a dualcore EMT64 Hyper-threading enabled monster that comes with a free coffee maker, to a "plain" 32bit x86 clone with no fancy addons.

Anadtech has a nice overview over the current desktop offerings from AMD and Intel . I'm not aware of a good overview article on the whole range of server cpus available from both AMD and Intel (or one including Power cpus and sparcs, for that matter), but Anadtech (again) has done a lot of benchmarks and reviews for the server market that at least gives you a brief overview of what's new.

Computer parts are not like they used to be manufactured before. That's all I can say after my new LCD screen died this morning. My previous monitor died on me some six months ago, after six years of faithfull service. My new Philips LCD screen couldn't keep it up for 6 months... Luckily the thing is still under guarantee, so Monday I have a new one. Untill then, it's back to the nineties, using an old CRT screen with a resolution of 800x600 !

Charles Spurgeons site about Ethernet offers a wide range of Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) documentation and links to other Ethernet resources.

This is my new monitor; a 17" Philips TFT screen, running at a resolution of 1280x1024. Feels like watching a giant TV screen after the last week, looking at an old monitor at 800x600.

Dammit ! I passed by the waste recycle park and noticed that some of the dumped computers still carried some coax network cards, like the ones I use at home (yes, I know it's 2004). As almost everyone uses UTP, coax cards are rare, and (more) expensive, so when I see a spare coax, I grab it. Unluckily, I wasn't allowed to disassemble the computers, as I need a special permit. What country is this, Russia ?

I got a few phone numbers of official instances that I'll try next week, so with a bit of luck, I'll have my coax cards in the next weeks.

Update : crap. No luck in obtaining some kind of permit. Apparently they still get money for those old machines...

The PC HabiCase allows your gerbil, hamster or mouse to live INSIDE your computer. The ultimate case mod or animal abuse ? Decide for yourself.

This guy build a computer mod [read: modified case] to propose to his girlfriend. Check out the photo's. The're really cool [and crazy].

I ended up cutting a side window (which I hand etched with the words "will you do me the honor" with my trusty Dremel), a front window (custom crafted out of some plex I had- matching the curve of the case was FUN!) below the 5.25" bays, painting the entire case white, vinyl dyeing the CDRW, wrapping EVERY wire with white wire wrap and heatshrink, adding lace from said craft store to the PSU and side window, and as the piece de resistance, I created a fake 3 tiered wedding cake decorated with mini ribbon roses attached to the top of the case (the top tier of the cake removed to display the ring inserted inside). Also, you can see in the pics that I accented the case like mad with the mini ribbon roses and lacy wedding-ish stuff. I even went so far as to create a desktop theme for her, with a wallpaper of her ring, and matching icons (her "My Computer" was a ring, "My Documents" was another view of the ring, and "Network Places" was a diamond-- unfortunately I have no pictures of that as the system is now at her job).

I won't spoil the fun by reposting the pictures here, but I will spoil the fun by saying now she said "yes".