I started writing about the computers under my care really for just one reason: so that I would have some record of what I’d done, so I could stop making the same mistakes over and over again.

I don’t know if I’ve accomplished that, exactly, but at least it’s been entertaining watching me try.

Since many of you are new around here, and this is an admittedly quirky personal site, let me point you towards some other computer logs that may interest you:

Commissioned

The following computers are currently in service.

• Eöl, my new Black MacBook running OS X 10.5.2 (Leopard).

  Eöl replaced Vinyamar.

• Tsiolkovsky, my wife’s Toughbook W2, continues to crunch numbers and hang in there, despite losing the “B” key to a toddler-related accident a few weeks ago. The lower left hand side keyboard is also starting to have some problems, but there are no new issues to report with Ubuntu Dapper Drake.

  Tsiolkovsky is slated for replacement in the next few weeks.

• Hithlum, my 17” PowerBook G4, is as lovely and elegant as ever, even if her PPC chip is getting a little long in the tooth. She still does great work, however, and is running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger).
• An unnamed Thinkpad T43, my work computer, runs Windows XP and is completely uninteresting to me as a computer. My company gave it to me to work with, I work with it. End of story.
• Tigana, a Sony Vaio 505-TR running Red Hat 7.2, has a busted power supply and no battery power. I will need to wipe the hard drive before I can consider her decommissioned.

Speaking of which…

Decommissioned

These computers have left the building:

• Vinyamar, my Macbook Air, went through two revisions before being sent back to Apple.
• Al-Rassan / Ithilien, a Thinkpad 1400 running SuSE 9.x.
• Arbonne (I) / Sarantium / Atlantis / Lórien, a beige 750MHz Pentium III tower I picked up from CompUSA which ran Windows 98, Windows 2000, and more Linux distributions than I really care to remember.
• Arbonne (II) and Gorhaut, two identical Linux towers who ran Red Hat 9.

You will no doubt notice certain themes in the names.

Each computer has its own category, some with more information than others. Hopefully you’ll find something you like.

Thanks again for visiting!

Cheers,
Brett

Spent tonight setting up cable modem and wireless network. I've been grouchy about the whole project for some time - I didn't want to spend additional money on something that only I'd really use - so finally I cut my cell phone bills by $20/month and will cancel the dialup account (also $20/month), which gave my conscience the permission it somehow needed to get a high-speed wireless connection.

I have strange hangups. I admit it.

My biggest concern was with the cable company - I don't trust them, even though they've been less apt to price gouge than, say, my cell phone company. I really hate dealing with my cell phone company, and can't wait until LWNP (local wireless number portability) goes into effect this November. But, overall, it was much more pleasant dealing with the cable company.

Did I just say that? Someone please hit me.

Right. So. I drag my tower (Sarantium) downstairs to where the live cable outlet is early this evening and hook up the cable modem. I do this because I'm not letting the cable company's software anywhere near Merrystar's laptop, Tigana. You will in fact have to shoot me before I let them mess with her internet settings litke that. But, and this is wonderful, there's software that you need to run once to register, and it only runs on Windows - actuallly, I could have said I have a game box or something like that, or pressed the point about a non-Windows solution, but I didn't - well, I thought it only ran on Windows, so I drag the tower and monitor downstairs to watch Merrystar play Atari whilst I get the cable modem working. Soon it is, and then it's the wireless router's turn.

Nothing worked. Absolutely nothing! Argh! Then I had a flash, put the install CD back in the drive, and reinstalled the router software. I had to reset the router twice and get rid of all the stupid changes I'd made before, but eventually everything was conifgured. I got Sarantium's firewall set up to handle the new configuration, and then - as I'd just reinstalled the operating system(s) last night in a sucessful attempt to get the computer to recognize itself on the network - proceeded to do the Windows Update dance. So much faster now! I can almost remember what it was like to just have a list of software sites and download whatever the latest versions were. (Almost.)

While Sarantium was patching, I got Al-Rassan out and ran up2date on her. Then I browsed the web until Sarantium finished and I rebooted her into Linux, where she got the up2date treatment, too. I then disconnected everybody from the network and dragged them upstairs again, reassuring a somewhat concerned Merrystar that Sarantium wasn't going to live permanently in our kitchen.

So.

I'm in bed, a floor away from the router, typing away. I'm not so grouchy anymore about high-speed access.

Just don't ask me about my cell service provider.

After long discussion with Ryan last week about network nomenclature schemes (weapon names, Tolkienian weapon names, starships), decided to stick with the established use of Guy Gavriel Kay's fantasy worlds. Renamed Atlantis to Sarantium. Renamed Ithilien to Al-Rassan. Two other machines waiting in the wings: Arbonne and Gorhaut. It will be some time before we run out of names.

Anyhow, back to the linux installation. Wireless card was easy to configure with the drivers already present - connected to my Windows desktop (sarantium) via Samba.

Nasty surprise - Red Hat removed MP3 support. Was aware of it in the back of my mind but still unexpected. Still, gives me a chance to reburn entire CD collection. Add to todo list - find MP3->OGG converter. WMA not an option.

Oh yeah, and there's this rather significant life event to plan.

And the Olympics. Can't forget those pesky Winter Olympics. Especially curling.

So part of it is quite easy to explain: writing is hard.

But part of it is because I feel that what I have to say isn't interesting. I watch the signal-to-noise ratio drop on places like slashdot and I wonder where the hell all the content went. I read flamewars over separating design from content, wondering what the content feels about it all, where it went, and if it's nice there.

Merrystar and I had an argument about that last one. Why should you use CSS if you design simply with the HTML 3 standards in mind, avoiding things like gratutious <FONT> tags? Assuming a small (under ten pages) site, if you kept your design simple to begin with, why spend the effort to change?

It's like this creeping malaise has me in its grasp, saying "what you have to say is worthless, so sit down, shut up and fuck off." The more I read, the more I watch, the less I talk.

I have become quiet and reserved. I don't like it, not one bit.

 ]]> 3580@http://brettpeters.org/log/ Brett Peters Personal Log 2002-03-02T20:03:09-05:00 http://brettpeters.org/log/2001/11/30/inaguration.html#3568 I'm currently helping Merrystar move from her apartment in Alexandria to our townhouse in Springfield. Her parents are coming up this weekend with a pickup to help us with the big things, and I was in there early today to let all the utilities guys in to turn things on.

The last time I moved it took a month to get the gas turned on, and two months for the phones to be straightened out. It's strange to have everything taken care of before moving. It makes the lifting heavy boxes of books up and down stairs not too bad.

So.

After about three weeks, my computer at home is finally rebuilt. I learned a few things:

• Upgrading Win98 to Win2000 will solve some of your problems. Because it feels guilty for having done so, it will introduce a host of additional problems to make up for it.
• Triple-boot systems, no matter how cool they are in concept, can be rather tricky to set up. This is especially true if 2/3rds of your system is written by Microsoft. Your hard drive may collapse under the boot weight.
• When your hard drive crashes, the period of panic is much shorter when all your data is on CDs you burned the week before.
• Lotus Notes is wonky no matter what OS you run. It is a fundamental axiom of this world.

So my apologies to all those to whom I owe email responses; they're coming, honest. I've been restoring files from CD and should have my inbox back in the next day or two or three.