preposterous's posterous

Build It!

 

Years ago back in 2002 I needed a new computer. At that time I wasn't building computers; I was a software geekette, and I was still learning about hardware. My old 233MHz Cyrix processor on a PC Chips PC100 motherboard  was becoming  too slow even for Windows 98. I wanted to move up to Windows XP; but wasn't happy about trying it on my existing system.

Like I said; I wasn't a hardware geekette, but I knew what to look out for; so I did the usual British thing and headed for the PC World store.

I parked outside in their car park and entered the store through the plush sliding automatic doors; went to the back of the store, and started looking at what they had to offer. It wasn't that bad; but I only had a choice of around 15 different computers; each with its own special deal.

I felt eyes on me and noticed a salesman hovering not far away pretending to dust a shelf. I wandered over to the pre-SP2 stacks of Windows XP Professional CDs: £99! - Extortion! I was going to have to cut a deal here.

To cut a long story short I left the store that day with a computer made by Medion, running a 2.8GHz 1st generation P4, (A cutting-edge processor at the time.) 512MB RAM, (Standard at the time was 250 to 512MB) and 32MB onboard graphics. (Again standard for the time 32-64MB) I also had a ton of crap freebie software thrown in, and the tower came with a wheel-mouse, reasonable stereo speakers, ( - Which I still posses.) OK keyboard, Canon inkjet printer - Which I got them to upgrade from the cheap-looking Hewlett-Packard printer that originally came with the deal, and a free Windows XP Professional CD.

How I got that free was a bit of a crafty deal: You see PC World stores in the UK make a huge percentage of their money selling warranties on their goods and earning from the commissions from that; and therefore the salesman wasn't going to let me get away without buying one. (All their customers complain about the warranty that they're virtually forced to buy with their new computer, and which usually costs around as much again; but still they keep going back to them like wasps to a jamjar.) I cut a deal in which I agreed to buy the 5-year-warranty that they were pushing on me on condition that they gave me a better printer than the one in the bundle, and that they threw in a free XP Professional CD. I was trying to get their top-price scanner free with the deal too; but I had to drop that in compromise.

I was happy at the time, except that the box was the wrong colour and I'd had to give up the chance of a model with 64MB onboard graphics to get the model with the printer in the bundle. 2 years later, and with the price of RAM still high, I wanted to upgrade to 1GB RAM and found that there were 2 x 250MB sticks already in the box; which meant I'd have to replace rather than fit 2 more as there were only 2 slots. I also wanted to upgrade to 128MB graphics and did that instead with a Radeon PCI graphics card. I also wanted to upgrade the CPU to the latest 3.06MB P4 with hyperthreading; but that was out of the question.

2006, and I'd just finished my electronics course and gained 2 certificates. I'd also killed two birds with one stone by messing about with computer hardware/software in the computer course classroom which was adjacent to the electronics lab; much to the tutor's annoyance, as he had to keep coming over and getting me to attend his impromptu lectures. - You could therefore say that I was trained in computer hardware also; although without a certificate.

By this time my computer was in its old age and was starting to show it; although I'd kept it going reasonably well. I was in a mind to attempt my first full-build - I had the know-how; I just needed the parts. The immediate objective; though, was flashing the BIOS on my existing box: I'd done it before on that box, and I'd done it a number of times at college; all successfully. This BIOS flash didn't go to plan however: A power-spike during the process - I was economising by not having a UPS in-circuit - fried the BIOS chip: All I got from it was a blank screen and a continuous beep...And it was a week before Christmas too! I phoned the warranty company and got a number unobtainable tone. PC World informed me that the warranty company had gone out of business and that the company that had taken over were now closed until the New Year. - I couldn't wait until then for a computer. I know; I'll build my own: I'd bought a book from PC Mech that covered everything. In case I'd missed something or did something wrong I'd have that concise manual to put me right. I need components. I'll make a list: Just in case I've missed something there - It is my first full-build after all - I'll check with the book I bought mail-order off the internet from PC Mech ... Let's have a look...Blimey they cover everything in here: Windows 95 to Windows XP, Linux, the lot... OK I have listed everything - Good. Now to order. Oh my god everywhere's shut early for Xmas! PC World will be open but will charge me a fortune...

Panic mode: I grabbed the telephone directory and ordered a machine to be custom-built for me before Xmas from a firm I'd never heard of. I did that and the custom-built computer arrived in 2 days; it worked, and I used it until April - When the PSU exploded!

Fortunately I'd already made my first build by then; checking everything from the book I'd ordered from PC Mech just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I post-mortem' d the blown PC and found that the company I'd employed had used all cheap components, the wrong components, (e.g. A 32-bit single-cored Sempron CPU rather than the 64-bit dual-cored Athlon I'd asked for...) and built it badly - so I started legal action against the fairly-local English bodger-company; but that's a totally different story.

Actually to be honest I needn't have bothered with the computer room at college had I ordered that book earlier: It was just like a computer course in its own right: In fact I'd go so far as to say that it was more concise than the college course, and everything was well written and easy to understand - Honestly even a beginner without any computer experience whatsoever could use it to teach them how to build their own.

That really pissed me off; because I'd seen it advertised a I think it was the year before I went to college; maybe even before that; but I'd thought 'Oh; it's just another American net-profits person flogging more cyber-junk': I thought I'd find that's part 1 which I'd bought at a discount, and I'd have to buy all subsequent parts and join a get-rich-quick scheme to continue to receive the other instalments: Oh how wrong I was! I so wish that I hadn't been so pessimistic and that I'd bought it then and there. It would have saved me time, money, and hassle.

Well I did it all arse-about-face and I paid the price - Literally in some respects; all because I was too cynical and didn't think that the book was worth buying - I mean it doesn't exactly cost a fortune either; but miss tight here was just procrastinating to save a few £s; and yet it cost me a few £s more maybe: False economy.

I don't want to say which book it is after all that: I mean if I do and you buy it then you could end up knowing as much as I do and that'll put me at a disadvantage. Having said that; I kept my money to myself and ended up losing; so if I were to keep my knowledge to myself then would I end up losing also? probably knowing my luck.

I've been churning it over in my mind for some time whether to let the cat out of the bag; but look what procrastination did before; see above.

Which company and/or its staff/owner have I mentioned more in this blog than any other? Apple. - Well almost; but in a slightly derogatory way. No; PC Mech. Why? Because I have experience of PC Mech and I know that I always get a good deal out of them: that's why I have a membership with PC Mech, like quite a few others also do.

I'm in England; PC Mech are in America. If I were in any way dissatisfied with their service I'm hardly likely to be able to drive over to their office and have a go at them am I? - Oh believe me more than one English company has had a piece of my mind in the past. No; it's a matter of trust. What more needs to be said?

So no further procrastination. If you make a fortune out of what I share with you then I want half; all right? Like I'll get it eh? Well you're going to find out one way or another; so I suppose 'better from me than someone else. Scroll down.

 

Either you want to find out which book it is or you don't. If you do then scroll down. Of course; if you don't want to custom-build a PC for yourself - ever - then there's no point: Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

- I've had to do some work typing this lot you know; so it's not going to hurt you to do a tiny bit yourself. Keep scrolling...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep going: Remember; it's a matter of trust...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you!

If you've bothered to scroll all the way down here then you're either interested to know more or you're as crazy as me. Whichever is the case you're about to get what I said you'd get.

In fact I'm not only going to tell you the name of the book; I'm also going to give you a link to a bit more information and the point of purchase. I've procrastinated to this point, and now I'm no longer doing so: The knowledge can be yours.

- All you have to do is click on the ad, no more than that.

What; you've come all this way and you're wondering whether you should? Oh give me a break!

OK; If you're determined to make the same mistake as me and continue procrastinating until you miss your chance then this link will get you out of here.

- Otherwise there's a square-ish bluey thing below to click on:-

 

 

Happy building!

 

Ad-Libbing

I've done one of this type of posts on my blog at http://kkomp.com already: In future I'm going to restrict them to here, as I don't care what anyone may or may not think; it's very rare that I come up with a decent topical post by just ad-libbing.

Here on Posterous I treat this as my secondary blog - It is actually linked directly to my main blog by a widget in the sidebar if you weren't aware - So this is where I'll spill my mind live in the future. I think I said something similar in my last post here; but let's call it repetition for emphasis shall we?

I'm not happy that I chose the Serenity-Pink theme in all honesty: While I like the layout to a certain extent, and love the colour, I find the default fonts a pain in the ass and although I've already rewritten the style.css file twice I still have more to do with it. There's also a slight conflict of interests with Windows Live Writer, which I write most of the posts on; inasmuch as the WLR default margins are far too wide for the Serenity-Pink theme - So I have to either reset the margins or create all text and pictures within a table...Which nearly always guarantees that the posts are well structured and neatly laid out; but involves a fair bit more time than I'd like at times.

Of course I'm sure that there's an easy way around the above issue and I can find it if I put my mind to it - It's just simply a matter of finding time to do so.

I have Chris Pirillo live on Ustream in another window; but he's just playing about with his Macs and grunting the occasional expressive primal male communication from time to time; so when he actually starts chatting with the audience I'll end this entry and switch windows if it happens before I finish.

Holy carp; I just realised it's 12 midnight already here in UK: My body clock is going haywire with all these late nights and burning-the-candle-at-both-end-nights.

I have an issue with my UPS: I placed it on the desktop - My actual desktop where my computer, router, mouse, etc are that is - and after it's been working a while it's like a mini-heater:That would be good if it were Winter; but it's not yet Autumn, (Fall for you Americans.) so if it weren't for my huge office fan behind me I'd be baking hot. I don't want to move it though - because when it is  Winter I'll hopefully be glad for it.

In addition to that I've rigged up a power cable bringing power from a socket on the other side of the room to my desk; and leaving the power sockets right by my desk free for if I need them : I have a multi-socket under my desk into which is plugged my set-top box and television, plus both UPS's: One of which runs both my computers and 1 monitor; the other runs the other monitor, my sound system from my sound cards, my external HDDs, router, and the socket on my test/build-bench. (Not forgetting a low-energy light: You would be mightily surprised how dark it gets when you've only got monitors on after dark - And if the UPS runs low on power and shuts everything down via USB command I'd be in the dark literally - But the light I use is only 9 Watts and still works even after the UPS says it's empty.) 

From that you can imagine the complicated network of adapters and multi-socket outlets I have; in addition to the various ethernet-network cables etc everywhere - So moving a single unit such as a UPS involves a major rewiring and cable laying operation which isn't pleasant as I have to identify, group/loom+tie, and label, each cable in addition to setting up, for the purpose of safety, in accordance with EU Health and Safety + British Standard Directives - Oh I do it all by the book: It's better in the long run, believe me. - All using the 13-Amp plug system to BS 136*, carrying the appropriate rating of cartridge-fuse in each plug to BS1362 except the kettle leads from one of the UPS units to the equipment that it runs. (Actaully IIRC the kettle-leads have an IEEE specification plug; although I forget the actual nomenculature right at this moment: Not a lot of people know that.)

There is a huge lag on Ustream right now. Occasionally it all catches up and Pirillo starts talking like a chipmonk for a second or two...That indicates to me that I may be running too much software currently; despite having a dual-core CPU, 2GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card, etc. I think I saw 76 running processes when XoftSpySE last scanned the HDDs a while ago.

OK I gotta end here for this entry: Look after yourselves peeps: Catch y'all later. Bye for now.

 

Activity

It's been more than a month since I was last here; and I've just arrived to sweep out the cobwebs et al. It's kind of funny that I sort of maintain this blog as well as http://kkomp.com ; but it gives me a chance to express myself in another way here.

"Beyond" ( kkomp.com ) is like my formal face to the world: I use it to post anything that I feel people would be interested in; mainly tech stuff, also some Pagan, girl-talk, news and views - That kind of thing. It's currently funded by advertising only, and although it's making very little money at this point, I do intend to increase the number and the variety of the ads, as well as eventually getting a decent subscription-only newsletter running in the future. I want to use it to air my literary and editorial talents as well as make some money from it in due course. If you happen to go there; or even be there right now and reading this from the link or widget, I'd be grateful if you'd click on some of the advertisments; even buy something perhaps.

The "Deal of the Day" widget in the sidebar near the top of the page has a new offer every day at sometimes a rather sensationally low price. I take it you do want the site to continue as it is and/or keep improving? Well the story there is that unless the sales revenue from the advertising starts increasing after I've made the 100th post, (And we're only around 15 away from that mark.) I'll have to start making cuts; the first of those will be less postings as I can't spend too much time which I could otherwise be making money in writing posts for free. - Having said that I do love writing and blogging; so have no fear that the site content will stagnate.

Here I'm just ad-libbing basically: I don't want to make any money from here; I don't even know if I'm allowed to should I even want to. - But no; this is my non-commercial zone: Here at Posterous you'll get live uncensored thought as it happens from me - But not a lot of it as this isn't going to benefit anyone except the casual internet browser person.

I tweet fairly often; at least daily, on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kkomp. I do ping.fm from time to time: http://ping.fm/kkomp I have an account on Plurk (kkomp IIRC) and MySpace as Shazzalive; though I prefer to stay in one place if I can; so it's usually my blog http://kkomp.com and Twitter which is where I'm at.

That's all I'll be writing this time around on Posterous; so now to give this thing a title and get on with other things. Bye 4 now.

 

Rollercoaster Mindride

Here we are 'neath tumbling stars - We are entwined by the mind to this body so far; but we can fly, fly away.

Me and you encased in blue - We are at one with the sun and in tune with the moon, and so we fly, we fly away.

The spice of life we have tasted - No more time will be wasted.

Floating hours on reiki powers - we can survive, we can thrive, on the wells and the tow-ers of the moonbeams we absorb.

Falling slowly, lowly go, we rise above from our love and we pop up on top - We swoop and glide, we- slowly slide.

Rhyme and reason elated - Eyes and pupils fixated.

Eagle lands on rubber bands - Turns supernova and over and over we roll - Inside this rollercoaster ride.

Fever eats the ragged rock -  As chains unlock and we dock, to the mindtime unwind - As hips and thorax gently grind.

Springs unwind in drawn-out time - Gently down to the ground as the senses rebound, we have returned and reburned, flipped right back to rewind.

- Bits of old poems by myself stuck together and edited a little.

Social Notworking


Is all this "blogging" going to turn my working day into a big skive? I was advised to spread myself across the social net to establish a brand-name and an online reputation: Well this I'm doing; but I'm finding that it's taking up all my time that could otherwise be spent doing other things as well; in addition to which I'm getting "sitting-in-front-of-computeritis" , symptoms of which include loss of fitness, isolation from the real world, and even RSI from continually typing.

Allow me to introduce myself to the Posterous community:

I'm Sharron from the UK. I'm still establishing a small business with currently minimal turnover building and supplying uniquely-designed desktop computers to the UK individual consumer.

The website, Kustom Komputa, is at http://www.kustomkomputa.co.uk .

Due to the sporadic nature of business currently I find that I have time on my hands to blog; like right now. I run a blog called "Beyond" on my own webspace at http://kkomp.com . I was originally intending it to be a techy blog; but everyone is doing that, and as it happens there's more to me than tech alone, although I love tech and all things geeky; so it's a technology and everything else blog. I try to post to it at least once a day but sometimes there are just too many other things to be done so it doesn't happen.

If you like you could subscribe to the RSS feed at http://kkomp.com/kkompRSS.xml .

This tactic of spreading myself throughout cyberspace will either work or it won't: Only time will tell.

Anyway that's the icebreaker-post made as far as this site goes. I'll try to post what I can when I can on here; but no promises. If you want to keep up with my cyber-babblings then why not subscribe to my blog; the url is above. If you're a UK resident and you're looking for a new desktop computer then visit Kustom Komputa and have a unique computer designed and built to your requirements.

I'm not going to include any type of graphics in this post as I just don't have the time right now - So I'm afraid you'll have to make do with text-only. I might re-edit this and post a version to my blog too.

Take care; have fun. Blessings - Sharron.x