But, all of a sudden one day, it started acting up.  While using Clementine, you would randomly get multi-colored pixelization, and after a while of the pixelization, the machine would hang.  From the beginning I suspected this was the video card failing, but I did try other easy things first — update driver, update Windows, reduce resolution, turn off Aero… the last two helped prolong the time before Clementine would hang, but nothing actually fixed the problem.

So I ordered a more modern, but very similar card to replace the failing one — an EVGA GeForce 210.  Still nVidia, still silent, and still modestly powerful but well-priced.  Since it’s four years later, it’s significantly more powerful than the 7100GS it replaces.  It also adds an HDMI port in place of the S-Video port my previous card had.  Great card so far.  And it’s a PCI Express 2.0 card, so my current motherboard is holding it back, but I’m planning to replace the motherboard next year, so this card will grow with that upgrade as well.

Both the previous printer and scanner were great and largely working fine, but this will be a beneficial upgrade on several fronts.  The fact that it’s wireless means it’s no longer dependent on anyone computer.  Sure, Windows can share printers, but then you have to make sure the host computer is powered on.  In my computing environment, where I have 3 computers spread over 2 floors, there’s no guarantee that Clementine will be powered on and it might be inconvenient to go and turn it on.  In this vein, the new printer can actually automatically open up the paper output tray when a print job comes in.  So, as long as the printer is on (in a standby mode), any other computer can print.  Great!

Also, over time it has become more and more desirable to be able to occasionally do a quick copy, without having to start up a photo editing program, scan, save, and print.  This new multifunction unit will streamline that workflow quite a bit.

So far, I really like this printer / scanner.  It was very easy to set up, and the features all seem to work really well and are easy to use.  I already love Canon printers, and the scan quality is quite good as well.  I’ve always been weary of multifunction devices, but I did a lot of research and this particular one seems to be great.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that the old printer and scanner were two of the oldest components in Clementine.  The Canon printer was 5 years old, but the Epson scanner is an amazing 10 years old — it’s seen many computers come and go and has continued to perform well in all that time.  You will be missed, Epson!

This drive replaces a basic Compaq OEM DVD-ROM drive.  I decided to replace this drive because it was one of the oldest components in Clementine, and that drive was long and sometimes hard to work with inside the case.  Since I chose to replace the DVD-ROM, that means I still have my Plextor DVD burner as well, so now Clementine has two optical disc burners.  I figure that’s OK — the Plextor drive is newer and better than the older Compaq drive, so even if it only gets used for reading now, I’d rather hold on to that drive.  And who knows — maybe I’ll want to burn two DVDs at once someday!

First, I added memory. I had long intended on increasing Clementine from 1GB to 2GB, and finally did it. The memory module that came was, apparently, low-profile. It’s about half the height of a regular module. I didn’t know this when I ordered it, but it doesn’t really affect me, for good or bad. Just have never seen that before.

Second, I added a Firewire card, which provides a 2 external Firewire ports (one 6-pin, one 4-pin) and 1 internal port. This was desirable because my wife’s digital camcorder is able to connect to computers via Firewire, but we’ve never had a firewire port. Now we can back videos up to the computer. The firewire card with a cable, which is nice, but it turned out the cable was defective. I ordered a $3 cable from Amazon, and now it works great.

Third, I replaced both hard drives. The old 120GB data drive is now replaced with a 500GB drive, and the old 160GB OS/backup drive is replaced with a 750GB drive. Both are Western Digital drives.

Lastly, since I was going to need to re-install Windows anyways due to the hard drive replacements, I upgraded the computer to Windows Vista. Of course, this was just days before Windows 7 came out, but oh well. I don’t like adopting an OS until a few months after release anyways. But I think this computer is well-suited to Vista, so it’s nice to finally have a modern OS on here.

My wife and I bought a house (hence life busy)! Which has resulted in several computer changes. Most importantly, we decided that instead of each having a separate computer, we’d consolidate onto just one computer, in order to make the office more manageable. Since Clementine, my wife’s computer, was overall newer than my computer, Fozzie, we decided to consolidate on Clementine.

This lead the significant event of Fozzie being decommissioned, after a lineage going back almost 10 years. Of course, nothing remains of the Fozzie that existed 10 years ago, but along the way it’s just been incremental upgrades, and so I still view it as the same computer. This was a big deal to me, as Fozzie was the first computer that I really did significant upgrades to and built myself. But, the decision to move towards Clementine makes sense. And Clementine holds a special place in my heart as well — it’s the first computer I built entirely from the ground up, rather than upgrading an existing computer. So I bid a sad farewell to Fozzie, but not too sad, as I look forward to the future with Clementine.

However, consolidating also meant taking components out of Fozzie and installing them in Clementine if they’re better than what was already in the computer. This lead to several upgrades to Clementine. Her existing 80GB data drive just didn’t cut it anymore for two people, so I replaced it (temporarily) with Fozzie’s 120GB data drive. Even that is tight; I intend on upgrading soon. Fozzie just recently got a new Altec Lansing speaker set, so I used that to replace Clementine’s existing speakers, which were the oldest componet in Clementine. Clementine also gained Fozzie’s Canon printer, Epson scanner, and Logitech gamepad, as she lacked those components. And lastly (and coolest), I now found myself with two identical, great, monitors. So I added Fozzie’s 19-inch Samsung to Clementine, resulting in an amazing dual-monitor setup at home. I’ve gotten used to this sort of setup at work — it’s hard to explain why two monitors are so great, but once you experience it, you’ll never go back to just one.

With the two computers merged, now I plan on doing some specific upgrades to Clementine to make her better suited to serving the needs of both me and my wife. Look for those soon.

Also, my trusty D-Link wireless router was replaced in favor of an Actiontec router provided to me as part of my new Verizon FiOS service. It wasn’t necessarily by choice, but the new router actually seems quite good — better than the wireless router Verizon provided me as part of DSL, which I ended up not using. And it’s necessary for some FiOS features, such as On Demand, so I might as well use it.

Overall, a busy few months, both in terms of computer upgrades and general life events.

This is pretty much the same UPS as Fozzie has, although it’s a slightly newer version. Slightly slimmer and nicer looking, but effectively the same specifications. I’ve been well-served so far by APC (better than the two previous CyberPower models) and I look forward to having it as a part of Clementine.

Attentive readers may remember that this is actually the same monitor I added to Fozzie back in December 2006. Even over a year later, I still couldn’t find a better monitor than this, particularly at this price point. I didn’t start out saying that I was going to get the same monitor, but after looking at all of them, this one still won.

It’s also worth noting that this replaces a Samsung SyncMaster 570VTFT that Clementine was using. Before Clementine, this monitor was used with Fozzie, and was in fact the first LCD monitor I acquired, back in July of 2001. I am amazed at how well this monitor has held up over time. Other than being a slightly small 15 inches (which is still a common size), it has otherwise been great monitor to use over the years. That monitor — and the 4 subsequent Samsung monitors I’ve purchased — has made me a big Samsung fan. I’m continually impressed with the quality of their monitors. 5 LCD monitors and no dead pixels!

I’m happy to say it works great with my computer (and with my cell phone, too!). One change I had to make was that I needed to move the Bluetooth dongle from the back of my computer to my desktop, using an extra USB extension/stand that I have. It seems that line of sight is very critical to Bluetooth working correctly, especially for real-time audio. But once that change was made, the audio is very clear in both directions, and I have continued to reduce wires!

With this change in place, I was able to move my existing headset setup (a wired Plantronics MX-505 and Radio Shack speaker/headset switch) to Clementine, which had lacked a headset. That’s still a pretty recent headset model, I only got it about a year and a half ago.