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July 28, 2005

not funny

It's painful to admit it, but when I am busy and distracted, I'm not a very humorous person. That isn't to say I lose my sense of humor (at least I hope not). But when the gears are really turning upstairs, I'm generally not the one thinking up new material worthy of Jerry Seinfield's immediate attention. I'm not funny, and I know it. Ouch.

It reminds me of the line from the movie An American Tail. Fival, the movie's undersized hero with the oversized curiousity, asks the boss of a sweatshop, "but what about my family?"

The boss replies, "You don't need a family, kid. You got a job. Now GET TO WORK!!!"

So what's the job these days? I've shifted abruptly from reading books in my spare time to assembling a PC for my son to use in school next fall. And so I've lapsed into PC Assembling Mode. This means that I think about building computers all the time. Haha, haha. Ha. Funny. What's worse, I think it's fun. My entheusiasm is unmatched, even by my son, and he's pretty darned entheusiastic. It's just hilarious.

But it's going to be so cool! Assembled entirely from scratch, and on the cheap, this puppy-dog-tail of a computer is going to rock, relatively speaking. I'll post a picture when it's done.

<boring>
I bought the microATX case for this computer several years ago. Can't remember if it was eBay or somebody's sale, but I got it for six bucks ($6.00). Such a deal. Only when it arrived did I discover my foolishness: there was no power supply in this case. I then shopped for a microATX powersupply and found they were a little more pricey than regular ATX power supplies, particularly if you didn't want an underpowered one (I definitely didn't want that).

So this little-bitty case languished. But this summer as the school year approached, I became enamoured with the thought of assembling a PC for the young scholar, and my eyes turned again to that little case. Now for the ingredients:

  • CPU: Sempron 2300+ Thoroughbred 333Mhz FSB
  • MOTHERBOARD: PC CHIPS M863G Micro ATX
  • RAM: 512Mb X 2 (1Gb) PQI Power Series PC2700 (333Mhz)
  • POWER SUPPLY: 320 Watt MicroATX
  • HARD DRIVE: 60Gb ATA133 White Label (junk, it'll die in 2 years)
  • DVD Drive: Lite-On Beige DVD-ROM (only $18! Hahahahaha!)
  • MONITOR: 14" ProView LCD display
  • GUNK: OCZ Ultra 5+ OCZU5STP Silver Thermal Compound
  • EXTRA (FREE) JUNK: Skype VOIP Starter Pack
  • FRONT PANEL: SOYO BayOne Extreme 9-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader/Adapter (fits in second 5.25" bay)
  • FAN #1: 80mm quiet, thermal-sensing, auto-speed-adjusting fan
  • FAN #2: Very quiet PCI-slot fan
  • NOISE REDUCTION: Some noise reduction mats to cut and stick on the inside of the case.
  • CASE MOD: Clear blue led feet for the bottom of the case.
  • KEYBOARD: Cheap ($10) black and grey multimedia keyboard
  • MOUSE: Something blue and glowy and optical.
  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Undecided. Was going to buy Windows XP, but now I'm looking at Linspire and Xandros.

I was going to get a variable rate fan and a nifty glowing LCD displayin' fan controller, but I opted to automate (after all, it's for a 10-year-old), so I got a front panel which just has USB and headphone jack, and I'm putting in the automatic fan. This fan is pretty cool (Hahahahahah!) because it runs slower and quieter if the computer is cool, but when things heat up, it cranks up, providing extra coolness. No fuss, no muss, no chance the scholar will turn the thing off.

Motherboard, CPU, RAM, DVD-ROM are all here and installed; tonight I should get the powersupply and hard-drive, and I'll be ready for a Xandros-fueled test run. Compared to the other computers I've got laying around doing next to nothing, this one should cook.
</boring>

My sister and her husband just moved. This weekend I may go help them get settled in. Then maybe while I'm hanging a picture or two, and pushing furniture around, maybe, just maybe I'll forget to think about computers for a while. Maybe. But seriously, what do you think about getting a cheap MP3 player?

Posted by joel at July 28, 2005 02:02 PM

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Comments

This is distinctly not boring to people who are curious... which I am.

Have fun in the WindE SitE.

Posted by: El Fid [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 28, 2005 03:31 PM

I'm curious too, and actually excited about the creation of your son's computer. In fact, it is inspiring me to show your sim working on his own computer.

And your post about the fear of not being funny was funny. So there.

Posted by: Tara [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 28, 2005 04:43 PM

Sounds nice. I was also considering a second fan because my room gets way too hot and I don't want my little Diptera to cook. How much did it run you to get the PCI fan?

PS - love the new page banner.

Posted by: nightfly [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 29, 2005 01:40 PM

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