Category: Computers

Dead Computer

Today my main desktop PC died. I was using it this morning and all of a sudden it just stopped. I smelled the un mistakable oder of cooking parts and I knew that something has failed in there. Upon examination I realized that the power supply kicked the bucket. No problem, I have two cases that are not being used so I swapped one out at lunch. I powered it up and started to finish up what I had started in the morning and left to go back to the office. I came home and found that the PC was, for lack of a better word, stuck. It was like it was trying to boot but just could not do it. Power was on, lights were on, but no video and the DVD would blink every once in a while. I swapped the power supply out a second time and tried to boot the system but all I got was more burning part smell. So I’m very annoyed by all of this, I can’t scan my slides, edit video, or do anything that requires some computing oomph. My laptop is a 1 GHz Celeron with XP on it so even typing causes the system to drag. Anyone want to make a donation so I can get some new hardware?

(dead,computer)

Soldam Lepty PCs

Sodam Lepty
I like the idea of a mini form factor PC. The idea of a huge loud box on your desk is not all that great if you have six of them in one room. These are a welcomed answer to just that problem. The ‘Lepty’ is a tiny ( 195x195x109mm )fanless Pentium M (or a Celron if your hard up for cash and are stupid) PC with a built in slot loading DVD-+R/RW/RAM burner that comes in eight colors for you to choose from.
Gizmodo : Soldam Lepty PCs

OQO

OQO
I have a dream… This dream is to find the perfect ultra sub compact computer that I can take with me on trips and vacations to use as storage for the photos I take with my digital camera and to check e-mail with.
This would be it if it was a bit cheaper and had a CF slot.
The specs on the OQO make it the king of the PDAs. A 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe CPU, 20GB hard drive (with freefall detection and shock-mounting), 256MB RAM, 800 x 480 W-VGA 5″ transflective display, a real QWERTY keyboard, Firewire and USB (1.1), 802.11b WiFi, microphone and headphone jacks, tiny size (4.9″ x 3.4″ x .9″), and a removable li-poly battery.
Wow.

oqo: hardware: basics

(Thank you Charles for this info!)

RAID!

With the low cost of hardware (still not free but getting close) and the huge amount of data a digital camera can make, the thought of a total hard drive failure (especially the one your using to back up your data to, but that is another story!) should send shivers through even the most brazen computer user.
How can you provide protection against data loss? Tape drive? Have you ever actually tried to get data off a consumer grade tape drive? You might as well inscribe your data on grains of rice an keep it in an old sock… The commercial drives cost way too much and the software is sketchy at best.
Backup to DVDs? Sure, as long as you don’t mind plodding through the 30+ disks you made when you backed up your 160GB drive. That is if none of them have developed a read error (that is yet another story for me to write.).
So what are you to do? Well, why not build a RAID…
What is a RAID you say? Well, it stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives. Once a thing only for servers that cost as much as last years Ford Focus can now be build at home for next to nothing. You just need some drives and a controller and your all set!
What’s RAID? – Tweak Hardware
Beginners Guides: Installing RAID on Desktop PCs