March 2007 Archives

   If you haven't heard about the all-powerful iPhone that Apple is releasing eventually, then you must have been taking an extra long nap underneath a rock somewhere. Who hasn't heard about it? I can go to almost any Mac-centric news site and blam. iPhone this and iPhone that. Hell, you can't even get the damn thing yet.
   Oh, I have no doubt that it is going to be some sort of success. It worries me, though. Its almost as if Apple has become content with their computers (They used to be called Apple Computer) and decided to focus on... phones. Yea, wow.
   Don't get me wrong. I think its a neato device and all, if somewhat unexciting. Where is the new iMac design that incorporates some new industry-leading technology in itself.
   I'm still a Mac person but the iPhone just doesn't interest me.

   Not long after flashing a Geforce 5200 AGP video card for the Mac, I may get a chance to see if a PCI version will flash as easily. I'm quite confident that it should be successful. I'll just have to wait and see.
   In related news, the video card that I'm going to use in my gaming PC still hasn't arrived. The bastard probably shipped it the cheapest method he could. Ass. Even my book that I ordered still hasn't arrived. Cheap ass bastards.

   With my next move right on the horizon (two months away actually), I'm starting to feel like a nomad. Not that feeling like that is a bad thing. I actually quite like having a change of scenery every now and then, in fact. I still hate having to move right after I get myself adjusted somewhere.
   The part that angers me is that I'm not setup for a nomadic lifestyle. Since I moved out of the townhouse and into a larger apartment, I've been consistently gathering up material things. The sad thing is that most of this stuff I can actually do away with easily enough. I'm not a packrat by any standards, but I can't bear to part with something that has some (even miniscule) value to me. Sadly, I don't think this type of thinking is feasible anymore.
   I suppose I have to begin packing stuff up, which I have begun to do. I'll just have to sell/give the rest of the stuff away. Not to worry, though, as I'm going to be holding on to quite a bit. That is the Will of Thomas.
   P.S. I also don't mind moving since it gets hot as Hell in this damn 'house'. The AC works like crap (It will freeze-up after extended usage) and it will get around 85 degrees F in here at night. Luckily, we'll turn on the AC and get it a little cooler for when everyone goes to sleep. I just can't sleep when it is too hot.

   I suppose I have to keep up with my every-other-day updates. Mind you, I don't have anything that would be interesting to update on. I actually do but I just don't feel in the mood.
   I'll try to get something meaningful up tomorrow or something. I doubt it, though. Worth a shot.

   Although my attempts to flash it directly in the Mac failed, the Geforce 5200 was successfully flashed using the time honored method of simply using a PC to do the work. It seemed to take forever to get everything just right on the PC being used for flashing but once started it worked the first try.
   My last attempt at flashing (aside from the Radeon 7000s I flashed back a couple of years ago) failed. Mind you, I don't think many people have had success with a 'ole Geforce 4 MX440. I didn't really expect that one to work and it didn't. Nevertheless, now that I've got my feet wet again I think I'm going to try some others.
   In other news, I gave my B&W G3 a good dusting out. It took me several minutes in order to get every little spot, but it looked quite a bit cleaner afterwards.

   I've got a treat for you/all loyal internet reader(s). I have the first screenshot from me playing EVE-Online.

   I've finally solved the issue with the rusting spots on top of my Mustang. I picked up some waterproof and heatproof epoxy from store today. It was exactly what I was looking for.
   I know that fixing the paint problems on my Mustang was at the bottom of the priority list, as far as my Mustang was concerned. The epoxy was only about 3 dollars and it was quite worth it. So far, the epoxy has long since dried to its maximum strength and it forms a nice protective barrier.
   You can still see the rust that is already there, but there shouldn't be any more forming. I'll finish up the other spots tomorrow and that should be that.
   Actually, I still have that rather large mark on my bumper. The bumper is made of some sort of plastic and shouldn't degrade due to the elements. I suppose that shouldn't be a problem then. Hmm, that was easier than I thought.
   Looks ugly but works.

   I couldn't help but take the offer of an account plus thirty free days of play time. It was quite a steal for just 20 bucks. I, strangely enough, haven't been playing too much of it today, but I plan to soon.
   If the title of this entry wasn't ovious enough, the game I'm talking about is EVE Online. I've heard a bit about it and it sounded just right. Hell, its ships IN SPACE.
   I can't do much of a review because the time that I actually was on today was spent going through some of the tutorial on how to play. I will post back once I get a little more experience playing. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

   I've been playing a little bit of Kengo lately. I haven't played it in some time but it is still a fun game. I've actually been meaning to get started back playing Final Fantasy X and Wild Arms 3.
   I don't know what it is with RPGs. I like playing them but sometimes I'll just stop playing half way through. It's hard to get started back on them once I've stopped.

   I've begun looking into video cards for both my sister's B&W G3 and my Dad's G4. My goal isn't really getting them able to play games but more able to run Quartz Extreme, and maybe Core Image on the G4. I've found that just having Quart Extreme makes a world of difference. Not only does it make the UI smoother and sometimes more responsive, but it also lowers UI overhead as the GPU is handling a good portion of the work. You've probably already heard about this when QE came out with 10.2 a couple years back. So, I'll continue.
   I've mainly been focusing on the Geforce 5200 for the G3, as it seems to be a good card that has a high chance of flashing success. I'm pretty sure you can get Core Image working on it over the PCI bus (for the PCI version, duh), although I haven't heard good things about this. As for the G4, I'll probably go for a 5200 as well. I would have tried to get a Radeon 9800, as they flash very easily from what I've heard, for the G4 and give it some gaming power. I've pretty much already got my hands on a AGP GeForce 5200, though.
   I haven't yet gotten my hands on the AGP, for the G4, or the PCI, for the G3, versions of the 5200 yet, but I hope to soon. I'll have to post on my success, or failue, in the flashing procedure for both of the cards. I hope for the best.

   For about 3 hours this morning, I was deep into rearranging my second room into a type of 'Media' room that would house all my computers and the TV. It was a success. Sadly, the previous desk that my Gaming PC resided on had to be completely disassembled in order to quicken things up. Other than that, the move went well.
   I know that I have more important things to do but I enjoy the little things such as this. I'm a procrastinator by nature and I enjoy it.

   I was stumbling around the Intarwebs and I saw a comic that asked a thoughtful question. That question was wether a blind person had 'visual' dreams. Someone who was blinded later in life would probably have visual dreams but what of someone that was blind since birth. What would they dream of?

   I made up some nice but simple wallpapers for you to use. They aren't meant to be fancy but more functional.

  

   I successfully overclocked the FSB on my Gaming PC to 186MHz (372MHz Effective). It seemed to work fine. So, I decided to give it to run through by letting Seti@home run fullspeed on it for a bit. I came back and tried to rouse it, in order to make sure it was still working, and the monitor reported that there was no video signal. Since I have the display to sleep eventually, this means that the CPU crapped out after the display had gone asleep.
   I'll probably try lowering that until I get a good stable FSB frequency. On the other hand, I could change the ratior the DDR-400 ram is set at. I think it may be getting too high even for it. I'll see, tomorrow.

   Well, it seems that my Dad ordered some upgrades to his G4. On top of a 1.2GHz G3 with 2MB L2 cache, he also got a stick of 512MB RAM to bring the G4's total to a good 1GB. Both of these upgrades together should make for a nice experience. It will still be lacking Quartz Extreme, though. So, I plan on buying and flashing a good video card for the G4. Maybe just a Radeon 9200 or something. We'll see. Oh yes, we will see. (Whatever that means)

   The new heatsink my brother bought me for my Gaming PC's processor is working quite well. In fact, it is about 15 to 20 degrees cooler than the previous one. It is also a lot quieter.
   I may even think of overclocking it some more since the chip is being cooled so well.

   Nope. Nothing really exciting going on at the moment. I did get some new fancy cloths (for various reasons) and I got the 'Icewind Dale Trilogy' book I've been wanting for some time. I can't help but find these books concerning Drizzt Do'urden quite entertaining.
   Other than that, I'm not really up to much. So, I'll let you go for now and I'll get back to some lazy making.