2007/07/26

Hack: Impossible?

[insert theme music here]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to hack the following upgrade card into a workable machine sizing less than a breadbox and drawing under 50 watts of power at idle. Said machine should be capable of running OpenBSD 4.1 as a server or WinXP.

The target: one Powerleap upgrade card. Model: PL-Renaissance/R370S fitted with a 256MB stick of PC-133 SDRAM and an Intel 733MHz Pentium III Coppermine processor.
ISA card...PC upgrade...you decide!

You have as much time as you need and a budget of $200. Beyond that, you may scrounge for parts around your workshop.

Good luck.

2007/07/17

Old Hardware

Most of the people who read here know me well enough that this isn't a surprise, but for everyone else out there: I have a problem with obsolete computer hardware.

The problem is that I seem to accumulate it at an alarming rate (i.e., greater than zero) and have a real hard time getting rid of it. Currently I own seventeen machines in various states of disrepair. The vast majority of those are functioning but without a real purpose. I never take a machine that I don't intend to use for some purpose of varying nefariousness and while I did use most of them, most of those uses are no longer necessary. That makes me sad, not in the least because I get bitten by the "must have new hardware" bug about every four months.

I don't think there's anything that depreciates in value quite like computer hardware except maybe automobiles and my stock options. Computer equipment just doesn't die that often if you take care of it. Oh sure, you'll have a hard drive or two die but for most parts just don't stop doin' they thang. Some of my (vast) collection I still have uses for but that leaves about a dozen machines I need to offload.

This is where y'all come in. I need help getting rid of these but I'm particular about where they should go. I don't want them in a landfill; I want them in the hands of someone who will put them to use doing whatever or at the very least recycled. So if you know of a good or even slightly disfunctional home that could use an old machine or three, drop me a line.

2007/07/11

Betterer Followup

Don't try this at home. Make sure you download the full version (about 30 megs) rather than just watching the preview.

And if you absolutely must watch it in crappy low rez, well, I feel for ya, but here ya go. You won't get a lot of the more subtle effects; just sayin'.

No hobbits were harmed in the making of this film.

2007/07/02

Bad Followup

As it turns out, I've been kind of busy lately, but not with anything that could have prevented me from posting something meaningful here. I just didn't know how to follow the last one. So here's a whirlwind update of what's gone on in the last two months.

Stuff:
- Looks like I'm finally selling my house in Madison
- I'm finally able to exercise my Activision stock options
- Got my fast machine in a proper case
- Playing Civ IV (for obvious reasons)
- Played Vanguard
- Played LOTRO

The last two are deserving of posts of their own which I'll leave for another day. The first two mean I don't have to eat ramen and mac&cheese every day (assuming all goes well, anyway).

Also: tasteh.

That is all.