mad modding - sticker shock
Well, I am still in love with me beauty of a computer and have gotten the hardware and modding bug. I spend several hours researching the possibilities of my new computers motherboard and I just start getting lost. I start looking into hardware mods, my ASUS P4B motherboard supports a proprietary thing called an iPANEL(it actually a P4B-LA, but that suffix seems to not exist, I find no mention of it on any web site, it must just be an OEM brand). Anyway this drive bay unit is an LCD and LED monitoring device for CPU speed/temp/voltage along with fan speed. I know this information is available because it is displayed in the BIOS. Obviously that information does me little good there. I want to be able to see that from a desktop monitoring application similar to gkrellm. My look into getting lm_sensor to work left me reeling at my Linux inadequacy. I�m sorry but recompiling my kernel with new modules is something I simply don�t know how to do properly, not for a lack of effort though.
My Solution to this dilemma was that I could use the iPANEL, uh oh, no free drive bays on my mid-tower. Well, I wanted a cool lian-li case anyways� so i might as well get a window kit too� if i have a window i need some cold-cathode lights for my case�. and a window etching is a must have. All of a sudden I realize I don�t need all of this stuff, my HP Pavilion case isn�t all that bad even for a mid-tower. My next option is getting an LCD box that works through the serial port, hey thats a great solution. pcmods.com has a nice little jobber that should work very well. If I can assure myself that it will work for both Linux and windows than I may by that sucker, It�s a little pricey, but still cheaper than my scott e-vest.
I first saw these things in a review from pdabuzz.com when I first purchased my iPAQ. After I saw it mentioned in reviews of the latest major tech shows. I went back to their site and found that they dropped the price considerably. So I had and attack of impulse shopping and had one sent to me. I must say that I really love it, I wear it for college a majority of the days of the week. Hey, I am a geek and proud of it, this vest is what people at work know me by, I like it. Oh and it is just as frustrating as the gadgets It holds. As soon as I have it, the evest v2.0 is announced! Honestly its more like a version 1.2 but I wont hold that against them. The biggest feature that I missed in my evest is zip-off sleeves, this is included in v2.
Tonight I was reviewing the 3 high-end hardware items that I have wanted for my new system. An ATI All In Wonder RadeonDV which is the coolest video card around, with a TV tuner and a full range of inputs and outputs you couldn�t ask for more. Except for a price tag that is less than $400 :( Also in my line of sight is a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum Ex. This is the highest end sound card you can get, it is really probably for professional audiophiles only. It is the version with an external connections box since I don�t have any spare drive bays, nrgggg! This item prices out at a little over $200. To go with that sound card though would be a nice set of THX and DTS 5.1 speakers� hm.. that will be aver $300 for top of the line. Ouch, I think I�m going to curl up in bed and plan for a better paying summer job.
Posted by
sirtimbly on 02/24/2002 at 12:02 PM
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Linux - interfaces - hp
Sure it�s been, lets see� oh, a few moths since my last entry; but I�m not quite dead yet. Well, since September I have had a lot happen, relating to computers and technology, I acquired for the hefty sum of nearly $500, one iPAQ. This machine is amazing, If you are looking at buying a laptop you should really contemplate just getting one of these. After buying a few overpriced accessories you can have all of the capabilities of a laptop with the sleek and small form factor of a top-rate hand-held. I�m not going to get into all of the messy details of comparing the iPAQ to a palm device, but lets just say that if you want power and high-end usability the iPAQ series is a great option. That was back in October, for Christmas I was gifted by my overly generous parents with a brand spanking new hp desktop (19 inch monitor included)
P4 2.0 GHz
DVD
CD-RW
100GB HDD
512 MB RAM
nVidia geforce 2
All of this awesome hardware came with Windows XP preinstalled. Yeah, no choice in the matter. Well, after aproximately 3 weeks of messing around with this new reason to bang my head against the wall, I bought Mandrake 8.1 and was thourghouly surprised. The biggest thing about Win-XP is the immediate hardware recognition. Installing my numerous peripherials was a breeze! I was of course concerned about this when switching over to Linux, but decided to just go for it. Oddly enough all of my peripherals are fully operational in Linux. Mandrake 8.1 installed cleanly and recognized nearly everything. My CD-R was recognized correctly and works just fine with eraoster. My DVD player works, but it took a little IRC tech support to figure out that my DVD drive was symlinked horribly, I have to browse through about 8 subdirectories to select the device node in ogle. My SanDisk CF card reader works and i just mount cards like any other drive. I have tried out 2 different digital cameras, both are fairly easy to access with gphoto2. The one interesting bit is my iPAQ. Technically I cant synchronize with it�s UB cradle but I can easily transfer files using my CF card reader.
So Linux is a success, but I am frustrated by interfaces yet again. KDE has by far most complete desktop with excellent features and programs including excellent anti-aliasing which works in my favorite browser: Opera. Unfortunately KDE is but-ugly, and resembles Windows a little too closely for my tastes. Of course Enlightenment is better in many ways including usability and graphic, unfortunately I miss the features that make KDE great, including anti-aliasing. Don�t tell me to use gnome with E, cause gnome has bought the big one for some reason, it just dosen�t load up correctly anymore. When it was working it still had problems such as a lack of a working ppp dialer.
As for HP, well they have started doing something very annoying, they do not actually distribute install cd�s for windows xp. That�s right, if you want to format and dual boot your machine then you are required to get the CD�s from hp through tech-support. The windows xp recovery information is kept on an �emergency partition� this is where they tell you to do a system restore from. I see why they do this, 1.) Its cheaper to not make as many cd�s, and 2.) Many, many people lose their recovery cd�s. It wouldn�t be as much of a problem, except there is a $9.95 charge to send you the cd�s for the software which you actually already purchased.
Well, it�s been interesting for sure, and while messing around with a nice digital camera I was borrowing(and the help of the gimp) I came up with this pic here.
Posted by
sirtimbly on 02/18/2002 at 11:02 AM
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