Dec 07
27
Fozzie just got a Christmas upgrade — a new Seagate Barracuda SATA 120GB hard drive, to replace the existing Maxtor 80GB drive.
This serves as my secondary hard drive; it only stores my user data. That’s why it is smaller than the other hard drive, which is 250 GB. I need to be able to back up my secondary drive onto my primary drive, so my primary drive needs to be big enough to hold both the contents of the secondary drive as well as the operating system and applications. So, when I upgrade my primary drive, I can buy one as big as I want. But when I upgrade my secondary drive, I have to keep it smaller than the primary drive.
The biggest reason for doing this upgrade at this time was that I plan on renovating Fozzie again sometime this summer. When I do so, it’s quite likely that whatever motherboard I end up buying will only support one IDE channel (2 devices), as IDE is being phased out. My current board supports 2 IDE channels (4 devices), and my existing setup was 1 SATA hard drive, 1 IDE hard drive, and 2 IDE optical drives. So, I felt it would be prudent to replace the IDE hard drive with a SATA drive, so now I only have 2 IDE devices.
I’m very impressed with this new drive. Yes, it’s bigger (120 GB vs. 80 GB) and faster (SATA vs. IDE), but what really impresses me is how quiet it is. As I soon I turned my computer on for the first time with this drive in, I instantly noticed that the noise level had dropped dramatically. I assumed that my older drive was causing some noise, but not nearly as much as it actually was. And I always like to make computers as quiet as possible, so that’s a great benefit.
Nov 07
5
Ever since I got a Bluetooth adapter for Fozzie, I’ve been interested in trying to use a Bluetooth headset with my computer. So, I recently decided to go ahead and try it out. After reading tons of reviews of headsets online, it was clear that the universally best reviewed headset was the Plantronics Voyager 510. No other Bluetooth headset had anywhere near the positive feedback that it did. So, it was the obvious buy.
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.
Oct 07
16
Waldorf had a hardware change a while back that I completely forgot to post about here. The new Logitech mouse that we got for it turned out to be a piece of junk — which is surprising, as I’ve generally been happy with other Logitech mice. The cursor was very jumpy, which made it hard to point at anything with precision on screen. Tried more than one mouse, and all of them had the defect.
So, we quickly replaced it with a Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000, which seems to be working great. Goes to show that even companies with good histories can make mistakes!
Jun 07
16
Waldorf just got a new mouse — a Logitech LX3 Optical Mouse Blue. This is an upgrade from it’s previous non-optical OEM Compaq mouse, so it’s a big step forward.
It’s corded, because this computer doesn’t really require a wireless mouse & keyboard. I was surprised when we went to a certain big-box retailer, and there only 2 corded mice, and 1 corded (no-name brand) keyboard. I didn’t realized wireless had become so pervasive (although I do love the wireless sets on Fozzie and Clementine, but Waldorf just didn’t need one).
Luckily, one of the two corded mice was this Logitech LX3 model, which is very similar to the mouse that’s part of my highly-recommended wireless set — the Logitech LX7 — except it’s a) corded and b) optical in stead of laser. Great high-quality mouse.
May 07
19
BIG change to talk about — I built a new computer!
My fiance’s computer has been seemingly dying a slow death recently, so I decided it was time to build a new one to replace it, and include it in my family of computers. The new computer’s name is Clementine, and you can read all of the detailed specs here. You can also see images and commentary from the building process by going here.
As a quick summary, this computer is centered around an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ processor — dual core and quite powerful, but also very reasonably priced. We’ve got a great Asus M2N motherboard, and a fanless, silent, EVGA GeForce 7100GS video card. The card is not super powerful, but this computer will not be used for gaming at all, so sound level of the card (and computer in general) was more important than power. And at any rate, this card is still quite capable for simple 3D tasks and even high-end games from a couple of years ago.
Two SATA Seagate hard drives, totalling 240GB of space, and a Plextor DVD burner. Also, we’ve got a Logitech LX710 cordless desktop set (same as in Fozzie, excellent set!), a completely silent Enermax case fan, and the 15-inch Samsung LCD that was previously used on Fozzie. Check out the specs, it’s a pretty decent machine for general tasks, with a lot of room to grow.
Also, at the same time, I remove the StarLogic floppy drive from Fozzie, and instead bought a NEC USB floppy drive, which I’ll share amongst the three computers I have here (Fozzie, Camilla, and Clementine, none of which have built-in floppy drives). Floppy disks are used so infrequently nowadays, I felt it was better to not build a drive into every computer, and instead just share a USB drive. However, I took this StarLogic drive, and installed it in Waldorf. Waldorf is not physically located here, so would not benefit from my USB floppy drive. Also, the floppy drive that was previously in Waldorf did not work, so this gives Waldorf a functioning drive at least.
So, we welcome Clementine to the Greg Leedberg family of computers!
Apr 07
27
As part of a push to “refresh” the capabilities of Waldorf, I recently replaced its aging 17-inch Compaq CRT monitor with a new 17-inch Samsung SyncMaster 720N LCD monitor. The Compaq it replaces is a massive monitor, so the switch to a flat panel is a definite improvement in desk space utilization.
Waldorf is currently my mother’s computer, although I still consider it part of my “family” of computers. When I first built Waldorf, I built it entirely out of used parts, and intended for it to be a secondary computer to Fozzie. Fozzie is still my primary computer, but now that Waldorf is my mother’s primary computer, I’d like to try and update some of the hardware components. I’ll focus first with the most pressing needs — like this monitor.
I recently bought a new cell phone (an LG VX8600) which supports Bluetooth. As you may know, I’m a big fan of Bluetooth technology, so I took this as an opportunity to add Bluetooth connectivity to my desktop, Fozzie.
After reading lots of reviews on Bluetooth adapters, I found that they range in price from $7 all the way up to $60 or more. But, they had almost universally bad reviews, except one — the Anycom USB-250. It seemed that for most adapters, no matter the price, some people could get it to work, while lots of people could not. To be fair, Bluetooth can be complex because compatibility depends on both the adapter as well as the device you’re connecting to (in my case, my cell phone). There are so many possible combinations that it’s not surprising that there are compatibility problems. But, it seemed that more people had success with the Anycom adapter than with others.
Since I got it, I have found that it works perfectly with my phone. I am able to transfer files, use my phone as a modem, and use my computer as a speaker phone. Some of it was non-obvious (step #1: Get rid of the CD that comes with the adapter and download the latest software from Anycom’s web site), so I may end up writing a how-to for my blog.
Now that I have Bluetooth connectivity on my computer, I am excited to start getting more Bluetooth-compatible devices. Printers, mice, keyboards, media players… lots of things are supporting Bluetooth nowadays. And now I can take part in the wireless fun!
Jan 07
7
Well, you should always expect unexpected problems when upgrading computers.
Case in point: In my last post, I talked about adding an XFX GeForce 7300GT video card to my computer. However, at that time I had not really pushed it very much. I played Doom 3 for a couple of minutes, was amazed by the quality of the rendering, and posted to this blog. Later, I continued to play Doom 3, and found that, consistently, after about 5 – 10 minutes of playing, the computer would lock up. So, I downloaded a video card stability tester, and the card would fail the test (i.e., crash the computer) within just a few seconds of the test running. After reading online and reviewing the specs for the video card, I began to suspect that the card was attempting to pull more power than my 400W power supply could, well, supply.
So, I went onto NewEgg, read some reviews, and ordered an Antec TrueControl 550W power supply. This time around, I wanted to go with Antec since they are consistently well reviewed and have a very good reputation for producing high-quality power supplies.
A few days went buy, and it came. I installed it, and it completely solved the problem. Doom 3 runs perpetually, and the video card stability test runs without crashing. However, this is not the end of the story.
The TrueControl line of power supplies come with a control panel you can mount on the front of your computer. This panel has several dials which allow you to tweak the voltage and fan speed of the power supply. I have two issues with this control panel: One, I don’t overclock so I don’t need to tweak my voltage levels. Two, the panel is incredibly, incredibly, ugly. Perhaps if you’re one of those people who put neon lights in your case, it wouldn’t be so bad, but that is not the look I’m going for at all.
When ordering the power supply, I assumed that if you didn’t set up the control panel, the power supply would just run like a normal power supply and produce the rated voltages and whatnot. However, it turns out that without the front panel connected, the power supply actually runs all the voltages at their minimum rated levels, and fans at full speed. Incredible.
It’s perfectly safe to have voltages at the bottom of the rated range, but the problem is that if that voltage were to fluctuate at all, you’d suddenly be outside of that safe range. I didn’t want to pay top dollar for an Antec power supply, and always be worried about my voltage levels. Nor did I want to have to install the horrible front panel.
So, I returned it to NewEgg. Luckily, they are good about things like this. In its place, I ordered a standard TruePower Trio 550W power supply. No front panel.
Upon installing this power supply, the video card still functions correctly, and voltage levels are where they should be. I’m pretty impressed with the Antec power supply so far. It’s quiet, powerful, and puts out incredibly steady voltages.
But in the end, this is a lesson — always assume that something is going to go wrong when upgrading parts. Not that that’s bad — you’ll learn a lot along the way — but it’s just important to keep in mind.
Dec 06
27
As is always the case with Christmas, I have had a series of changes in my computers over the span of the last few days.
The biggest change is that I’ve upgraded the video card in my primary desktop computer, Fozzie. The new video card is an XFX GeForce 7300GT, replacing the existing PNY Verto GeForce 5200FX. The reason for this upgrade is that my system is AGP-based, and the graphics card industry has recently switched to PCI-Express, so AGP cards will be becoming more rare. As such, I wanted to put a rather high-end AGP card in Fozzie, effectively maximizing its graphics capabilities, until the time comes that I upgrade the whole system to a PCI-Express-capable motherboard. I’m very happy with the GeForce 7300GT card so far. It runs Doom 3 amazingly well, and also lets me use the digital connection to my recently upgraded LCD monitor.
On Fozzie, I also upgraded both the keyboard and mouse with a new desktop set, the Logitech LX710 cordless desktop. There were several motivations for this upgrade. On the keyboard side, the keyboard that I had (a Logitech Cordless Access keyboard) was relatively low-end when I bought it, and the “feel” of the keys has significantly degraded over time. Since I am a software engineer, I do a lot of typing, and the feel of the keys is very important to me. This new keyboard is a slim profile, with quiet keys. On the mouse side, the mouse I had (a Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse Blue) was getting to be 4 years old (the longest I have ever had a mouse!), and was showing significant wear-and-tear on the surface. Additionally, in the four years that have passed, new optical mouse technologies have come out, most notably laser mice. I am quite impressed with this new mouse — with the laser technology, it seems to perform almost identically to a corded mouse. I always felt that my previous cordless mouse was very, very good for a cordless mouse, but it was noticably different than using a corded mouse. Not so with this laser mouse. Also, going to this new set allowed me to consolidate the two different wireless receivers I had into just one. And, this one receiver is just a USB dongle, so it doesn’t even need to sit on my desk. Amazing.
Lastly, Waldorf saw an upgrade in that I added a printer, a Canon Pixma iP4200 to it. Waldorf previously had no printer. Waldorf is a computer I originally built out of spare parts for myself, but now it is serving as my mother’s computer, so it warranted having a new printer. The last three printers I have purchased have been Canons, and I have been consistently impressed.
Oct 06
28
As an early birthday present, today I upgraded my current 15″ LCD monitor to a 19″ Samsung SyncMaster 940BX monitor. This new monitor is absolutely amazing — 1000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response time, no dead pixels, adjustable height, and can be rotated. Those are feature normally found in very high-end monitors.
This replaces a 15″ Samsung SyncMaster 570V, which I’ve had since sophomore year of college. I still remember when I first got that monitor, it was a big deal because at that time not many people had LCD monitors. That monitor was very good for its time, and is still actually a very nice monitor (no dead pixels there either!). My primary reason for wanting to upgrade was because I wanted a little more screen real estate than a 15″, 1024×768 monitor can offer. So, that monitor has been moved to my fiance’s computer, which is a nice upgrade from her previous CRT monitor.
The monitor was one of the three oldest parts of my computer, upgrading it now puts my >4 year old, 80GB secondary hard drive into that category.