Category: Tech

I got the replacement hard drive from Dell today- fast shipping, one business day. I feel like I’m playing Monopoly, because this is a total Dell Error in My Favor. I had a 100GB drive. They gave me a 120GB drive. Freakin’ sweet.

Unfortunately, they sent the thing pre-imaged, but only halfway, so when I booted the thing it locked up for an hour while it installed America Online, NetZero, “Adobe Elements”, and tons of other crap that I don’t need. So I took the opportunity to just wipe the whole darn thing and start from scratch with a good ol’ XP Pro disc.

Big mistake. I’ve spent the last 7 hours or so reinstalling drivers, files, and software. It’s not done yet- but it’s 1:30 AM and I’m really tired. I also need to work on an assignment for BG200 that is ominously close to a due date. Blar.

I am learning to hate the Housing department’s evil software. They use Cisco Clean Access, which scans your computer for up-to-date virus & anti-spyware definitions, as well as windows patches. Fair enough- I made sure to update all three with my new install.

Clean Access thinks I have an unpatched version of Windows. Microsoft Update can’t find anything that I need. So I can’t get access to the network until then. It’s especially annoying since this part is basically identical to my duties at work, and we have a much better solution to verify client security without making the client jump through five million hoops to authenticate themselves.

But, more importantly, Final Fantasy VII works again.

My laptop’s hard drive committed suicide at 35,000 feet last night. I was using it on the plane and the whole thing just died. I think a head’s out of place, dragging straight across the platter, because it’s awfully noisy. Nothing will boot, even a Live CD.

Luckily I shelled out a couple of benjamins for the good warranty… a new drive’s on the way, and I can install it myself. And did a complete backup of my hard drive right before I left for Arizona.

I’m computer-less for a few days… Not the biggest deal. Probably a good thing. See y’all soon.

OK, I know it’s been really geeky here recently, but, well, I have been really geeky recently. Sue me.

Today Apple announced new iPods and iTunes 7. This is the coolest refresh I’ve seen to the line so far… The second-gen iPod nano and shuffle are definitely the coolest new things… But they updated the big guy, too:

• 80GB Hard disk
• 20 hour battery life
• Gapless playback support
• Top model price down to $349

I think that it may be time for me to upgrade. Gapless playback is huge for me, since I listen to so much Grateful Dead, Mars Volta, and Pink Floyd where the songs just segue into each other without warning. No current players on the market support this feature, so it’s a big deal. (I don’t know how they do it- gapless playback is literally impossible to encode in the MP3 or AAC formats…)
My trusty 40GB iPod still works great (well, except for the little fact that it is my third one on the warranty) and I have no problems with it. It’s very full though, and I hate trying to remember what’s on my iPod and what’s only on my computer hard drive. I could easily sell it off, too- I have tons of cases and accessories that won’t work with the new one. It would significantly reduce the cost of upgrading.
Of course I’m gonna sleep on it first. The thing just plays music, after all- not my usual technolust “I can’t stop thinking about this” thing.

iTunes 7 totally rocks, too… The gapless playback is there, plus a bunch of good visual and interface changes. I won’t go on about that here, just because that’s beyond even my limits of what is too geeky. I’ll just say that I’m very happy with it.

I totally shot all chances of productivity today by installing Windows Vista RC1 on my E1405… It took me a few tries to get it right (as in I installed Vista twice and XP Pro once today…) but it dual-boots XP and Vista now…

It’s good. I didn’t think I’d say this, but Vista works really, really well. None of the stability problems from previous betas… Almost no software compatibility issues… Heck, it even eats up less RAM than my XP Pro installation! No clue how that works. And Aero is awesome….

…Though Vista is most definitely a total ripoff of Mac OS X. Big surprise there…

Unfortunately it only works partially with CSU’s network security software. I won’t be able to use wireless here. And to do the wired connection, I have to authenticate my connection through XP first.

Needless to say, my time management skills were shot for the day.

Ack.

In the last month, three Dell laptops have exploded.

With my luck, the TSA probably won’t let me carry my E1405 onto my flight to Colorado next week, since they’ll be classified as some kind of WMD by then.

(…I wonder if reproductive organs are covered since I went for the expensive “Accidental Damage” warranty… I wouldn’t want this baby to burst into flames with such proximity to my future children.)