So this is part 2 of my 2008 comeback blog, its going to be about computers, so if you don't like that, read the other part, which is about Christmas and Aberystwyth instead.
So a few days ago, my mate John's PC blew up, so guess who he called. I haven't actually seen it yet, but I gather the power supply blew up, chucks of metal came out the back of the fan, and unsurprisingly, John freaked out, and it hasn't booted since. This PC and me have quite a history already, since it was Jamie's PC a few months ago, until I built him a new one, so he gave his old one to John. Its about 4 years old, AMD Athlon, 1GB Ram, that is about all I can remember. So I'm not sure if its just the power supply, or weather he'll need a new motherboard as well. But we figured, it would probably just be cheaper and quicker to find another second hand computer, rather then try to find parts for this old one. So we wandered around Aber for a while, looked in several shops. John had seen one he liked, for about 35 quid, but that had been sold, and all that were left were really old ones. So we tried another shop, where the man offered to either sell us a Pentium 2 300MHz for 50 quid (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) or get us a new power supply and fix John's blown up PC, also for 50 quid (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
This conversation left me ranting for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe what a complete rip off this guy was trying to pull on us. I remember about 3 years ago, me and Dad threw away a similar spec'ed machine, a Pentium 2, because we thought it was worthless... but now, 3 years later, I'm being sold the same thing back for 50 quid? This guy had to be off his rocker. It was like someone stealing my poo 3 years ago and then trying to sell it back to me now for 50 quid. I was that insulted. I should have known when we approached his stall, and the PC just had "Broadband ready PC, 3 month warranty, £49" stuck on it, no specifications, that it was a con. I can't believe this guy gets away with it. I suppose he lures newbs into buying it with the 3 month warranty, but I'm pretty sure even the worst, oldest PC would last about 3 months. And that warranty doesn't mean it won't go wrong, it just means if it does, he'll gladly give you another one just as crappy as a replacement. I bet he will, hes probably got a skip full of them he got 4 years ago when some company was replacing its PCs and just threw them away. He claimed this PC was perfect for work and browsing the web, but Id love to see it in action, with its 300MHz, 128MB of RAM and 6GB Hard disk. I bet it runs Windows 98 perfectly... it must be at least 10 years old. And fifty quid to change an old power supply? I fixed the power supply on dad's PC about six months ago, the power supply cost me £3.99 and it took me about 30 mins to plug it in, and that is all.
Made me think, back in Winchester, Fred's old PC is still sat in our hallway, and its about twice as powerful as that one he was selling for 50 quid... all i can say is, I'm not throwing out another old PC, I'm going to stick an advert somewhere up at uni and offer it for 50 quid. Do that four times, and you can build a rubbish new PC, or buy yet another new graphics card for my gaming rig. Morally, I'm not sure if this is right, but so long as I'm up front about the specs and the condition of the machine, and don't offer any warranty, I think there is nothing wrong with that. And it seems people are clearly prepared to pay that price, so I'm not ripping them off if that's how much they want to give people for it. Ill just have to try and keep a straight face while I'm doing it, and forget to mention they could build a nice new one for four times the price, but that would last four times as long. I'm considering a career change...
Friday, 18 January 2008
Back in Black (part 1)
Ive decided I have a lot to write at the moment so I'm going to be like Tarantino (Big Kahona Burger anyone?) and split my masterpiece into two parts. I think this part will be able me and life and stuff. The other part will just be my rambles about technology.
Well, I haven't written for a very long time, since December 6th. I don't really know why, I think its because the end of term was really busy: I had major pieces of work due in, then a lot of partying to do, and then packing and getting ready for Christmas. I might have had a cold as well, I think. Oh, and I was busy being dressed as Lara Croft for a fancy dress pub crawl. I looked awesome but that is how I got the cold, the shorts weren't warm. My more recent costume, a Jedi, proved better at keeping the cold out, but I can see why Lara goes for the skimpier, tighter get-up. As a Jedi (Qui Gone Gin?) the wind kept blowing my robes off, and I couldn't find my hands most the time under them, and I knocked a pint glass off a table because it got caught up in them while I was exiting the Cambrian. And it had nothing to do with drinking one too many "Deathstars" (cocktail), honest. I was accompanied by an LOTR Elf and Hitch hiker's Arthur Dent who had a few "Pan-galactic Gargle Blasters" so I wasn't out of place and I think the pub staff forgave me. They clearly knew it was in the best interests of the galaxy not to mess.
Anyway, back to more mundane things. Christmas and New Years was good, some parts of the holiday were pretty amazing, and other parts sucked, but all in all, I feel good about how things went. I think everyone got presents and no one got left out, and considering what a huge part of Christmas mum was, I think we pulled it off well. I think maybe things will get harder as time goes on, as more things change, and people will probably start being less considerate about our situation. I think if we (the Gray tribe) forgot to send someone a card this year, people sort of
forgave it, but perhaps later they won't. And everyone sort of made a lot of effort to see us. Also I feel the family is quite together at the moment, and we're all making quite a lot of effort to make things work and be supportive, but I'm not sure how things will be once the situation develops.
Ive thought about it, and I think it was great mainly because of the people I got to spend time with. I couldn't have been happier then when we all sat down for our first Christmas meal together. I almost cried with joy. However, this all posed one dilemma in my mind... if, over Christmas, I saw pretty much everyone I care about in Winchester and London, and enjoyed myself thoroughly... do I really enjoy being in Aberystwyth? Is there anyone worth coming back here for? I wasn't missing anyone. Occasionally, I missed my room, having my own quiet space with a lock on the door, to be alone in and keep my things away from other people in. But, if my room had been in London, that would be the same, the room can be anywhere, just so long as there is one. So, basically, to sum up my rambling... I think I'm getting sick of Aberystwyth. Sure, its got a lot of pubs, take aways, and students, but are these the things I want now? I really miss London. Everyday I think it, at least once, and I wish I was still there. When I visited over the holiday, I felt better as soon as I got there, I immediately felt much more relaxed and calm (which is odd considering how busy London is, it always used to get me worked up). But suddenly, I just felt like I was home, where I was meant to be, where I belonged. And, so, this is what leads me to basically the only plan I have for the future, I simply plan to follow my heart, and go back to where I feel comfortable and happy. I think everyone knows why that isn't Winchester anymore, and Aberystwyth I'm not really sure why Ive suddenly grown to dislike it. Perhaps its just because I'm comparing it to London, and before Id lived in London, I didn't know better. This is also why I totally understood my dad when he said he was thinking about moving to the Greater London area.
I think, the thing that has really driven me away from liking Aberystwyth, is that for a long time, and mum often used to say this, it was "my place". It wasn't that I felt like I belonged to Aberystwyth, like how I currently feel about London, but more I felt it belonged to me. I'm not really sure why Ive lost this feeling, perhaps its just because so many people I knew have now left, and the town seems to have changed. It feels more like a ghost town, full of my trapped memories of old friends who've now buggered off. I walk around it now, not thinking about all the friends I need to see, things I need to do, but its all in the past now, friends I saw, places I went. In my mind, it feels like Ive already moved on. Which is good I guess, it means once I get my degree I can just get out of here and get on with my life, rather then just wondering around talking to the ghosts in my head. I suppose, however, if I wasn't here right now, I would be missing my housemates. But once they are gone, that is it pretty much. I don't go out nearly as much as I used to, because of how disillusioned Ive become with most the pubs, and I keep running into people I don't really want to see anymore. The other night, in the Bae, I was literally in a room full of people I knew, and all of which Id rather avoid. I was tempted to run out screaming, but then they'd all know that I did, and it would just make my paranoia's grip on my social life stronger.
Plus, then I would lose the Aberystwyth Game. Its very simple, you come here, and slowly drink yourself to death, every night in the Bae, with a room full of people who you know don't think your fit to breathe, and you know they aren't. And you all sit and stare and drink, and occasionally make awequad conversation and sleep with each others friends. The last one to go insane, buy a plastic guitar from B Wise, a nurse outfit from Stars, a chicken and mayo sandwich from 24hr Spa and throw themselves off constitution hill wins. If you get a degree, arrested, or a good pizza on the way, that's bonus points.
Well, I haven't written for a very long time, since December 6th. I don't really know why, I think its because the end of term was really busy: I had major pieces of work due in, then a lot of partying to do, and then packing and getting ready for Christmas. I might have had a cold as well, I think. Oh, and I was busy being dressed as Lara Croft for a fancy dress pub crawl. I looked awesome but that is how I got the cold, the shorts weren't warm. My more recent costume, a Jedi, proved better at keeping the cold out, but I can see why Lara goes for the skimpier, tighter get-up. As a Jedi (Qui Gone Gin?) the wind kept blowing my robes off, and I couldn't find my hands most the time under them, and I knocked a pint glass off a table because it got caught up in them while I was exiting the Cambrian. And it had nothing to do with drinking one too many "Deathstars" (cocktail), honest. I was accompanied by an LOTR Elf and Hitch hiker's Arthur Dent who had a few "Pan-galactic Gargle Blasters" so I wasn't out of place and I think the pub staff forgave me. They clearly knew it was in the best interests of the galaxy not to mess.
Anyway, back to more mundane things. Christmas and New Years was good, some parts of the holiday were pretty amazing, and other parts sucked, but all in all, I feel good about how things went. I think everyone got presents and no one got left out, and considering what a huge part of Christmas mum was, I think we pulled it off well. I think maybe things will get harder as time goes on, as more things change, and people will probably start being less considerate about our situation. I think if we (the Gray tribe) forgot to send someone a card this year, people sort of
forgave it, but perhaps later they won't. And everyone sort of made a lot of effort to see us. Also I feel the family is quite together at the moment, and we're all making quite a lot of effort to make things work and be supportive, but I'm not sure how things will be once the situation develops.
Ive thought about it, and I think it was great mainly because of the people I got to spend time with. I couldn't have been happier then when we all sat down for our first Christmas meal together. I almost cried with joy. However, this all posed one dilemma in my mind... if, over Christmas, I saw pretty much everyone I care about in Winchester and London, and enjoyed myself thoroughly... do I really enjoy being in Aberystwyth? Is there anyone worth coming back here for? I wasn't missing anyone. Occasionally, I missed my room, having my own quiet space with a lock on the door, to be alone in and keep my things away from other people in. But, if my room had been in London, that would be the same, the room can be anywhere, just so long as there is one. So, basically, to sum up my rambling... I think I'm getting sick of Aberystwyth. Sure, its got a lot of pubs, take aways, and students, but are these the things I want now? I really miss London. Everyday I think it, at least once, and I wish I was still there. When I visited over the holiday, I felt better as soon as I got there, I immediately felt much more relaxed and calm (which is odd considering how busy London is, it always used to get me worked up). But suddenly, I just felt like I was home, where I was meant to be, where I belonged. And, so, this is what leads me to basically the only plan I have for the future, I simply plan to follow my heart, and go back to where I feel comfortable and happy. I think everyone knows why that isn't Winchester anymore, and Aberystwyth I'm not really sure why Ive suddenly grown to dislike it. Perhaps its just because I'm comparing it to London, and before Id lived in London, I didn't know better. This is also why I totally understood my dad when he said he was thinking about moving to the Greater London area.
I think, the thing that has really driven me away from liking Aberystwyth, is that for a long time, and mum often used to say this, it was "my place". It wasn't that I felt like I belonged to Aberystwyth, like how I currently feel about London, but more I felt it belonged to me. I'm not really sure why Ive lost this feeling, perhaps its just because so many people I knew have now left, and the town seems to have changed. It feels more like a ghost town, full of my trapped memories of old friends who've now buggered off. I walk around it now, not thinking about all the friends I need to see, things I need to do, but its all in the past now, friends I saw, places I went. In my mind, it feels like Ive already moved on. Which is good I guess, it means once I get my degree I can just get out of here and get on with my life, rather then just wondering around talking to the ghosts in my head. I suppose, however, if I wasn't here right now, I would be missing my housemates. But once they are gone, that is it pretty much. I don't go out nearly as much as I used to, because of how disillusioned Ive become with most the pubs, and I keep running into people I don't really want to see anymore. The other night, in the Bae, I was literally in a room full of people I knew, and all of which Id rather avoid. I was tempted to run out screaming, but then they'd all know that I did, and it would just make my paranoia's grip on my social life stronger.
Plus, then I would lose the Aberystwyth Game. Its very simple, you come here, and slowly drink yourself to death, every night in the Bae, with a room full of people who you know don't think your fit to breathe, and you know they aren't. And you all sit and stare and drink, and occasionally make awequad conversation and sleep with each others friends. The last one to go insane, buy a plastic guitar from B Wise, a nurse outfit from Stars, a chicken and mayo sandwich from 24hr Spa and throw themselves off constitution hill wins. If you get a degree, arrested, or a good pizza on the way, that's bonus points.
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Fatlip
My dad recently name dropped the Chemical Brothers in an attempt to be cool in his blog. I retaliate with this; a much cooler Chemical Brothers song, so I am now cooler. pwnzed.
Anyway, enough of being cool for this evening, back to moaning endlessly. Well, its now December, the shops are now in their full Christmas fixation, the weather has got even rainier and windier, if that is possible. But at least our internets fixed, so I don't have to care about any of that... Hahaha... This spellchecker gets annoyed when I type internet without a capital I.... and also doesn't have Aberystwyth in it, so every time I write it, I'm corrected, and told I live in Abreast. And also when I write Hahaha it tries to correct it to "heehaw"... fucking American pig dogs.
I finally bit the bullet and ordered a graphics card. An EVGA 8800GT 512MB KO Edition, to be precise. Please, no fan mail telling me its wank, Ive already paid for it. And from what Ive read, it should be the shit. So that's good. Although slightly worried its not on Ebuyer's website anymore... It said they only had 3 in stock when I ordered it, so maybe they took it off when they ran out. Its a very new card, and most websites said you may have trouble getting one for Christmas since they haven't made many yet. But, I have one, Ive had an email saying its been sent home, so that's good. I won't be able to plug it in until I get back to Wales after Christmas, but I can sit around stroking it and waiting for better driver support, so I'm happy anyway.
In my spending binge, I also bought myself a Western Digital MyBook II 500GB external hard disk, very pretty. It arrived on Tuesday I think. Its an external hard disk, so its not very exciting, but means I can backup everything which is always good. I mainly wanted it before Christmas, since I'm not taking my PC home, I wanted some mass storage to take my stuff home with me and bring stuff back to Wales in the New Year. The only problem Ive had so far with the thing, was when I first plugged it in, it automatically, without asking, installed a TON on crap on my PC. Google Toolbar, Google Picasa, whatever that is, Google Desktop, and some other 30 day trail backup applications, along with WD's drivers. I was fucking livid. I nearly smashed the thing during the installation, I'm extremely careful what I install. I uninstalled all the software straight away, but this thing had now stuffed loads of DLLs and subfolders all over my PC which I now can't find to delete... GRRR. I spent 30mins going through Program Files and My Docs deleting stupid folders, even after uninstalling... makes me wonder how much it left hidden in my registry... Oh well, I haven't noticed any long term effects on my PC, so I'm hoping I got rid of most of it. But it wasn't a good start to my relationship with my new device.
Oh, and another stage in my saga of ordering the Matrix on DVD off the web... for those who didn't read it before, basically I ordered the Matrix on DVD off PlayTrade, and they sent me some shitty 2nd hand computer game, so I emailed them and told them, and they said "oh fine keep it, we'll send you the Matrix, incredibility sorry". So fair enough I thought, Ive only paid 4 quid, Ive got to expect screw ups if I'm a cheapskate. So... 8 days later, I receive yet another DVD, but once again, its not the one I want. Ill admit, they've got closer... this time they've sent me The Matrix Revolutions. I'm beginning to wonder if the people in their dispatch department, which they assured me last time had "very strict quality control checks" is in fact run by people who can't read. Or, as my housemates theorised, monkeys. I sent them a very angry email, and they now once again assure me they will sent me another DVD. If you give enough monkeys a DVD dispatch department full of DVDs that start with the letter M, how many more times will it take before they send me the Matrix...
Its funny, I was reading my dad's blog about the "Teddy bear called Mohammad" thing, and one point he made was that although the whole thing may seem very barbaric to Daily Mail readers, is it not right that a culture should have sacred words that can't be used for things? Things that cannot be said because they are too holy? Well, I retort that: Daily Mail readers do have scared things, holy, special things which we aren't allowed to poke fun at.... Ive only just finished reading an article about some outrage that Jonathon Ross poked fun at the Madelaine Mccanne investigation at some comedy awards ceremony, saying the voting was investigated by Portuguese Forensic teams or something. How we look down on other countries, saying "How dare they get offended, its only a god's name, for god's sake" and then you read the Daily Mail's front page the next day.... Its like they can't remember what they said the day before... and people still take it seriously? I do agree with my dad, we lost the plot along time ago... this truly shows how hypocritical we are. And if you want my crazy "left wing" opinion: we are no different to them, because we are the same: humans. True human nature always shines through, in every culture and society..... and then I remember why I don't leave the house anymore.
Anyway, enough of being cool for this evening, back to moaning endlessly. Well, its now December, the shops are now in their full Christmas fixation, the weather has got even rainier and windier, if that is possible. But at least our internets fixed, so I don't have to care about any of that... Hahaha... This spellchecker gets annoyed when I type internet without a capital I.... and also doesn't have Aberystwyth in it, so every time I write it, I'm corrected, and told I live in Abreast. And also when I write Hahaha it tries to correct it to "heehaw"... fucking American pig dogs.
I finally bit the bullet and ordered a graphics card. An EVGA 8800GT 512MB KO Edition, to be precise. Please, no fan mail telling me its wank, Ive already paid for it. And from what Ive read, it should be the shit. So that's good. Although slightly worried its not on Ebuyer's website anymore... It said they only had 3 in stock when I ordered it, so maybe they took it off when they ran out. Its a very new card, and most websites said you may have trouble getting one for Christmas since they haven't made many yet. But, I have one, Ive had an email saying its been sent home, so that's good. I won't be able to plug it in until I get back to Wales after Christmas, but I can sit around stroking it and waiting for better driver support, so I'm happy anyway.
In my spending binge, I also bought myself a Western Digital MyBook II 500GB external hard disk, very pretty. It arrived on Tuesday I think. Its an external hard disk, so its not very exciting, but means I can backup everything which is always good. I mainly wanted it before Christmas, since I'm not taking my PC home, I wanted some mass storage to take my stuff home with me and bring stuff back to Wales in the New Year. The only problem Ive had so far with the thing, was when I first plugged it in, it automatically, without asking, installed a TON on crap on my PC. Google Toolbar, Google Picasa, whatever that is, Google Desktop, and some other 30 day trail backup applications, along with WD's drivers. I was fucking livid. I nearly smashed the thing during the installation, I'm extremely careful what I install. I uninstalled all the software straight away, but this thing had now stuffed loads of DLLs and subfolders all over my PC which I now can't find to delete... GRRR. I spent 30mins going through Program Files and My Docs deleting stupid folders, even after uninstalling... makes me wonder how much it left hidden in my registry... Oh well, I haven't noticed any long term effects on my PC, so I'm hoping I got rid of most of it. But it wasn't a good start to my relationship with my new device.
Oh, and another stage in my saga of ordering the Matrix on DVD off the web... for those who didn't read it before, basically I ordered the Matrix on DVD off PlayTrade, and they sent me some shitty 2nd hand computer game, so I emailed them and told them, and they said "oh fine keep it, we'll send you the Matrix, incredibility sorry". So fair enough I thought, Ive only paid 4 quid, Ive got to expect screw ups if I'm a cheapskate. So... 8 days later, I receive yet another DVD, but once again, its not the one I want. Ill admit, they've got closer... this time they've sent me The Matrix Revolutions. I'm beginning to wonder if the people in their dispatch department, which they assured me last time had "very strict quality control checks" is in fact run by people who can't read. Or, as my housemates theorised, monkeys. I sent them a very angry email, and they now once again assure me they will sent me another DVD. If you give enough monkeys a DVD dispatch department full of DVDs that start with the letter M, how many more times will it take before they send me the Matrix...
Its funny, I was reading my dad's blog about the "Teddy bear called Mohammad" thing, and one point he made was that although the whole thing may seem very barbaric to Daily Mail readers, is it not right that a culture should have sacred words that can't be used for things? Things that cannot be said because they are too holy? Well, I retort that: Daily Mail readers do have scared things, holy, special things which we aren't allowed to poke fun at.... Ive only just finished reading an article about some outrage that Jonathon Ross poked fun at the Madelaine Mccanne investigation at some comedy awards ceremony, saying the voting was investigated by Portuguese Forensic teams or something. How we look down on other countries, saying "How dare they get offended, its only a god's name, for god's sake" and then you read the Daily Mail's front page the next day.... Its like they can't remember what they said the day before... and people still take it seriously? I do agree with my dad, we lost the plot along time ago... this truly shows how hypocritical we are. And if you want my crazy "left wing" opinion: we are no different to them, because we are the same: humans. True human nature always shines through, in every culture and society..... and then I remember why I don't leave the house anymore.
Sunday, 25 November 2007
Meh
Well, I'm quite chuffed. Looks like I was right about Vista. Look. Seems no one else wants it yet either. What I am thinking about getting tho, is an external hard disk, I need one for backup. I'm just trying to decide weather to build my own or buy one pre-built. I'm doing Dandy one soon, so Ill see how that goes. I haven't done a lot recently, just been playing the new Guitar Hero Jam got on Friday. Its super cool, has a wireless controller, and he already had the controller from the last one, so now we have 2 player. It has a much better selection of songs on as well, seems they've got more record industry backing this time. I'm now downloading all the songs from it, cos some of them are very catchy.
I also saw the Hitman film last night, that was pretty odd. For those who don't game, Hitman is a series of computer games about a genetically engineer super assassin called 47, who you play, and you have a series of missions to kill various people in various exotic locations. You can do so employing stealth or violence, or an mixture of the two. You get rated on how successfully you complete the mission and given appropriate amounts of cash to buy new tools for the next level. Its one of my favourite games. I was worried the translation into film would ruin it, and admittedly, it wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. The script was corny and barely had any dialogue at all, the characters were completely flat, and the plot very simple. But the cast was good, and there was a lot of stylish action. But It did leave me disappointed, it felt more like a trailer for a film then a actual film, since barely any plot or characters were exposed. Never the less, I don't regret watching it and recommend it to fans of action and the games.
I doubt I'm going to write much on here for the next week, cos Ive got a lot of work due in at the end of the week and next week, since its near end of term.
I also saw the Hitman film last night, that was pretty odd. For those who don't game, Hitman is a series of computer games about a genetically engineer super assassin called 47, who you play, and you have a series of missions to kill various people in various exotic locations. You can do so employing stealth or violence, or an mixture of the two. You get rated on how successfully you complete the mission and given appropriate amounts of cash to buy new tools for the next level. Its one of my favourite games. I was worried the translation into film would ruin it, and admittedly, it wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. The script was corny and barely had any dialogue at all, the characters were completely flat, and the plot very simple. But the cast was good, and there was a lot of stylish action. But It did leave me disappointed, it felt more like a trailer for a film then a actual film, since barely any plot or characters were exposed. Never the less, I don't regret watching it and recommend it to fans of action and the games.
I doubt I'm going to write much on here for the next week, cos Ive got a lot of work due in at the end of the week and next week, since its near end of term.
Thursday, 22 November 2007
New year, new OS?
For:
At the moment, I think I'm going to keep my university copy of Vista Business, but not install it, and wait, until I'm sure. Because at the moment, I think Vista is mostly vanity, there is no real underlying need for it, and its new demands on my system and my brain don't sound appealing at the moment. But I'm pretty sure some day Ill have to use it, probably on my next PC.
- It looks pretty
- The Beta version I had before XP ran ok, and its improved since then.
- I can have more then 3.5GBs of RAM
- and DirectX 10 graphics.
- I'm going to have to get used to it's new layout and style because: its the future.
- I know my hardware will work with it, because Ive used it before (apart from my wireless dongle which I don't think will work with it, but their cheap)
- SP1 is nearly here
- It actually works, Ive used it on Jam's PC, hes had for about 2 months now, and it hasn't gone horribly wrong.
- I don't have to buy it, cos the university gave it too me for free and legal!
- I can show off.
- It has Mahjong, which makes me feel warm inside.
- It asks for admin privileges every time you change any settings or install anything
- It makes annoying sounds.
- XP runs fine with 2GB of RAM, so do I really need 4GB if I'm not going to run Vista anyway?
- Vista might work with 2GB RAM, but I'm not sure, so Id probably have to buy more RAM which is an extra expense. But I get a free copy of Vista, so that's the only cost.
- I will probably have to wipe my PC and reinstall everything.
- Something might not work with it.
- It uses up a lot of RAM, so some games may go slower.
- Do I really need DirectX 10? I find it very hard to see any actual difference, except smoke and water look a bit better. And although I wouldn't be using the DX10, a new graphics card on XP would still give a massive performance boost, which is what I need.
- It takes up more room on my hard disk then XP does.
- Its still not as tried and tested as XP, so I may still find software I need doesn't work.
- My wireless dongle won't work with it (but their cheap and I got Jam one that does support Vista so I know where I can get one).
- No IE6 or Media Player 9, I would be forced into having IE7 and MP11, which are both total wank! (but not a big problem, since I use Firefox and VLC now anyway)
- I'm not nearly as familiar with it as XP, so if something goes wrong, will I be able to fix it as easily? (Although, this could be seen as a plus because it means I get to learn to fix Vista)
At the moment, I think I'm going to keep my university copy of Vista Business, but not install it, and wait, until I'm sure. Because at the moment, I think Vista is mostly vanity, there is no real underlying need for it, and its new demands on my system and my brain don't sound appealing at the moment. But I'm pretty sure some day Ill have to use it, probably on my next PC.
Fun Blog
Ok, hopefully this blog should be a bit more jolly then most, since Ive found some amusing websites:
Face transformer - Lets you upload a picture and muck about with it, quite amusing too see what you look like as an ape man.
Aberystwyth man crushed under house full of rubbish - Ok, so some people might not find this funny, but I just found it a bit odd, and wondered if that might happen when someone next stays in the spare bedroom...
Jellyfish launch assault on Salmon fortress - Lol, I just thought it was funny, that even the fish in Northern Ireland are at war with each other.... I think their just in a power struggle now Ming, the Mighty 400 year old clam Warlord, is dead.
The ultimate children's character, made by Zippy...
MOO - A very trippy animation about cows, with some quite cool music. It gets better near the end so I recommend watching it through if your interested. Quite gorey as well, I wonder if the maker eats meat?
Face transformer - Lets you upload a picture and muck about with it, quite amusing too see what you look like as an ape man.
Portal Cat ^_^
Jellyfish launch assault on Salmon fortress - Lol, I just thought it was funny, that even the fish in Northern Ireland are at war with each other.... I think their just in a power struggle now Ming, the Mighty 400 year old clam Warlord, is dead.
The ultimate children's character, made by Zippy...
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
My poor computer
Me and my computer have separated after a few days of spending too long together, and I'm now having an affair with this university workstation. It is a cruel mistress, which I had to "manually power cycle" after it wouldn't recognise my portable HD. Oh well, its being compliant now. And too add to my computers woes, I'm downloading two things that will punish it for failing me graphically in Crysis: Vista and Unreal Tournament 3 Beta. I'm downloading Vista, because as regular readers will know, I plan to upgrade once I get my mitts on a better graphics card, and I get a free copy of Vista Business edition off the university, so I might as well take it. Unreal Tournament 3, I'm just downloading just because I really want to prove to myself that my graphics card is rubbish and I have to buy a new one soon. I would use my home PC to download these, but I fear my housemates might batter me to death if I try to download 3GBs of stuff in the middle of the evening, so I thought Id rinse the University's net connection instead.
Crysis was good. I recommend it to anyone whose into pretty shooting things games. I finished it yesterday after 48 hours of hiding away with it. I managed to get quite a lot of work done as well. I'm feeling quite chuffed in a way. I haven't finished a computer game Ive bought in years, but then this seemed very short. But I think the fun of Crysis is that you can replay it a million times, because its levels are so large, there are so many different ways of doing things. Its very open ended, unlike most the console games Ive seen Jam play recently (CoD 4 and Halo 3), so its definitely getting replayed in DX10.
I'm starting to wonder if maybe overclocking my current graphics card might make things a bit better for now. I read an article about it, it doesn't sound that hard, although there is a risk of system instability and heat damaging the thing. Also, I'm not sure if I should add more RAM when I upgrade to Vista, because I read a lot of conflicting things about how much RAM it really needs. I had a Beta (RC2) Vista on my box before I put XP on it, and that ran ok with my 2GB of RAM. But some say you need 4GB, Jams has 4GBs, and that runs well. I should just try it with 2GB, see if its stable and responsive, and if not, RAM prices will have fallen and Il get some more RAM. Yeah, Ill probably do that. I need an external HD, a bigger one, before I upgrade to Vista as well, so I can backup everything. Ive currently got about 350GBs of crap on my box, so it will need to be bigger then my current one.
News:
Sorry this has been so long... downloading Vista is on 38% =( what am I going to do now? Oh well, I'm sure Ill think of something else... bye for now.
Crysis was good. I recommend it to anyone whose into pretty shooting things games. I finished it yesterday after 48 hours of hiding away with it. I managed to get quite a lot of work done as well. I'm feeling quite chuffed in a way. I haven't finished a computer game Ive bought in years, but then this seemed very short. But I think the fun of Crysis is that you can replay it a million times, because its levels are so large, there are so many different ways of doing things. Its very open ended, unlike most the console games Ive seen Jam play recently (CoD 4 and Halo 3), so its definitely getting replayed in DX10.
I'm starting to wonder if maybe overclocking my current graphics card might make things a bit better for now. I read an article about it, it doesn't sound that hard, although there is a risk of system instability and heat damaging the thing. Also, I'm not sure if I should add more RAM when I upgrade to Vista, because I read a lot of conflicting things about how much RAM it really needs. I had a Beta (RC2) Vista on my box before I put XP on it, and that ran ok with my 2GB of RAM. But some say you need 4GB, Jams has 4GBs, and that runs well. I should just try it with 2GB, see if its stable and responsive, and if not, RAM prices will have fallen and Il get some more RAM. Yeah, Ill probably do that. I need an external HD, a bigger one, before I upgrade to Vista as well, so I can backup everything. Ive currently got about 350GBs of crap on my box, so it will need to be bigger then my current one.
News:
- Apparently some hacker has broken the new encryption on BluRay discs. Although, it should be noted that this wasn't the original BluRay encryption, but another stronger layer (called BD+) they added on a few DVDs after the last lot of BluRay encryption, used on most discs, was broken ages ago. Makes me wonder why they bother. LINK
- More HD news: The BBC finally catches up with the rest of the universe and starts talking about HDTV. Pity they screwed up Freeview. I say this, because, from what Ive heard, apparently Freeview can't do HD, because they didn't allow enough space for the signals on the digital Freeview spectrum, so their going to have to re-shuffle all the signals to get it to work, which means we all need new Freeview boxes. Clever. LINK
- Leave Heather Mills alone, that poor women, their now claiming she drinks rats milk! Come on people, get over it, shes not Satan, shes just rinsing some silly old sod stupid enough to marry her for all hes worth. He'll still have a couple of hundred million quid left, I'm sure we won't see him busking anytime soon. LINK
- This ones just stupid: Christians are trying to sue someone over the Jerry Springer musical. Why do we still have a blasphemy law? In this day and age, of a multi-cultural, multi-faith England, do we still have laws that stop us saying whatever we like about a bunch of one faith's fictional characters? Am I now going to be burnt at the stake for riding in a horseless carriage or something? Apparently it won't get by the judges, and contravenes EU human rights laws. Thank fuck, at least the EU has done something useful for once. LINK
- Hmm... more bollocks about Dianne.. Oh look, UT3 Beta has finished downloading ^_^
- umm... probably more bollocks about Madeline...
- oh, Firefox 3 is out soon! That will be good, to watch it put the final nails in IE's coffin.
- Sony have released software update for the PS3, no surprises there....
- The internet needs more bandwidth, because we're watching too much streamed video, apparently.
- The Germans are kicking off about the iPhone because you have to sign up for a 24 month T-mobile contract to get one there apparently.
- And then there is all this stuff about this stupid Custom's and Revenue department losing a load of data. What a bunch of newbs. They just stuck it in the post, not registered or special delivery, just normal post, and now its gone missing. Twice. Oh well, at least they managed to at least to remember to back it up and not send the originals. Twits.
Sorry this has been so long... downloading Vista is on 38% =( what am I going to do now? Oh well, I'm sure Ill think of something else... bye for now.
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