First - it took way too long and too much frustration, so I must say that Linux still isn’t quite ready for full general consumer use. However, I’m persistent and motivated, and now completely Microsoft software free, with full system operations.
I’ve even been able to run a Windows program or two. More on that as it comes up…
But for now, the time of year many dread has arrived: opening day of the new baseball season is this Sunday, though it’s actually Opening Night. Either way, I’ll be there to cheer on the Cardinals.
Behold, my newest apartment decoration.
The laptop has started doing funky things, and as much as I’ve tried to put off doing this, the frustration and aggravation has reached critical mass. So, after many days of research and price comparisons, I’ve ordered components from Newegg.com and TigerDirect.com. Hopefully they’ll be here by the end of the week, so I can spend the weekend getting it built and running.
So what will be on the inside? A Dual-core AMD processor, 2 gig of RAM, a 250 gig hard drive, a DVD burner, a decent but inexpensive video card, and my old laptop harddrive. Yes, hopefully I’ll be able to boot up directly from that and not lose anything (including XP…) I’ll migrate as much data as possible to the big drive, but probably leave the operating systems running from the old one. All this, and I’ve saved more than $250 off a comparably (but still not identically) spec’d system from HP, gateway, or Dell.
I thought I thought of everything - recognized that I had to get a heatsink for the processor, made sure the RAM has heat spreaders, the power supply unit has enough juice, the motherboard fits the case, got 2 80mm fans for the case, everything is theoretically compatible, got my checklist of items checked off.
But I still just recently realized that I’d forgotten to get a network card. *Doh!* No biggie on that one, Best Buy or Circuit City will likely be competitive on that note (but were nowhere near competitive on the other components! Like $120 vs $65 nowhere near competitive, if they had the particular component at all). Probably this won’t be the last item I’ve forgotten, but I hope not, so keep your fingers crossed. Also cross your toes, because I’ve got several rebates involved in this (not depending on them, as I price-compared and budgeted on pre-rebate prices, but would like to get the rebates anyway if at all possible).
In the meantime, I’ll try to edit and post some new photos on Flickr, but no guarantees (the laptop may not let me do that…)
An even dozen new photos on Flickr. These run the range from (more) Arch shots to Ducks! to Revolutionary War-era cannons. Enjoy.
