|
JULY 2002 |
31st July 2002
I just spent a whole load of money on a new laptop today. A Sony Vaio PCG-R600MX from Technoworld PLC (the cheapest place after much investigation). Brand Spanking New. First time I've actually bought a new laptop out of the box from a shop ever. I can't wait until I get it, its really damn cool (the specs are not amazing, but its the right size, good (best?) quality, robust, light, and has a half-decent battery. It will do what I want it to, and *everything* works great under Linux). Maybe here tomorrow, maybe (most likely) on Friday. Yay!
Track of the day: Air - Talisman
30th July 2002
Got my laptop back from Dell today. They replaced the Motherboard (sigh) and a load of plastics. The laptop now feels like new, and works very well. But then again, so it should seeing as it is on its seventh motherboard, third keyboard, and second processor. Not to mention the numerous replaced plastics and a dodgy SO-DIMM. I had placed an advert in the loot a few days ago, and I got a call about it today. Someone wants to buy it! Oh yeah. I arranged for him to come around tonight. A couple of guys come over, I wire over all my stuff, show them its working (for now) and blank the machine. They then spend the next half an hour quibbling over 10 pounds. I let it go, so I could see the back of this nasty unreliable hulk of big heavy nasty Dell junk. Btw, all you people out there shaking your heads - it was working *perfectly*, it had virtually all new components and still has a year of warranty left. So I have a clear conscience in selling that jinxed machine ;)
Track of the day: Nightmares on Wax - Mega Donutz
28th July 2002
Its ADSL Activation day today! Yeah, its Sunday, but whatever. I got up in the morning and plugged in the little magical box. Lights Flashing. Lights On. :) I check the status over its web-interface, put in some settings, reboot the little box, and voila! Working Broadband! Time for some gratuitus downloading of Debian Woody ISOs methinks.
Track of the day: Nightmares on Wax - A Case of Funk
27th July 2002
Jon and I went to see Austen Powers Goldmember today in the Warner Bros in Leicester Square. First time I've actually been to a West End cinema, and its pretty damn nice (er, and expensive too). We also had Ben & Jerrys "One Sweet Whirled", its the greatest ice cream ever! We met Martin on the way, who pointed out that I might not actually want an iBook as it may be more borked than I thought under Linux. I'm going to think about it, read more stuff on the net and ask some people.
Track of the day: Presidents of the USA - Froggie
24th July 2002
Motherboard number 5 arrives today. The laptop fires up (external monitor) There is no clicking. It is stable. The keys on the keyboard work. Nice, apart from the fact that the engineer killed one of the SO-DIMMs, leaving me with 128MB RAM instead of 256MB. So, we have one laptop where half the memory is broken, the palmrest plastics are busted, and the screen is mashed. I get annoyed and Dell arrange for the thing to be collected from me for an off site repair of everything. They'll collect it tomorrow.
Track of the day: Moby - Signs of Love
23rd July 2002
New Processor and Motherboard today. Well, its now a PIII700 instead of a 650, and seems to work OK. Apart from the fact the speakers are making a clicking noise every few seconds. The guy puts the old 'board back in and although it crashes after 5 minutes, there is no clicking noise. I put up with the clicking (and broken sound output) of the new 'board for today cos it looks like a new motherboard tomorrow. I used it for a few hours later in the day when the TFT screen started flickering. Probably a bad sign. 10 minutes later it gave up the ghost altogether and died on me.
Track of the day: Moby - In My Heart
22nd July 2002
Finally! Winamp.com have published my submission for the greatest Winamp 2 skin known to man. Its called MattAMP and is made for my good friend & ex-housemate Matt. Isn't is beautiful?
Track of the day: Jamiroquai - You Give Me Something
19th July 2002
New keyboard and motherboard today. Well, the keys all seem to work OK, and with that the engineer is off to his next call. Later on I find that the laptop crashes (hangs) after about 5 minutes of being on. Whether you're in Windows, Linux or even the BIOS! Damn laptop. It also chooses not to work once the Dell support lines are closed for the weekend. Nice.
Track of the day: Moby - In this World
17th July 2002
ADSL stuff was on Todayonly today. I ordered a nice ADSL Modem/Ethernet Router box and a handful of microfilters, all for a very decent price. It'll be here tomorrow morning. Can't wait to get the ADSL sorted here.
Track of the day: Nightmares on Wax - Nights Interlude
16th July 2002
Good old laptop repairman arrives with a replacement keyboard. Fires it up, everything seems fine. Off he goes, and later I find that the Control keys don't work. I'll call them about it sometime.
Track of the day: Moby - We Are All Made Of Stars
15th July 2002
I was supposed to go and see my friends band in the city tonight. But being completely retarded I missed it. Gutted. Laptop repairman arrived today with another motherboard. I explained that someone had already replaced it, but he changed it again anyway. Its working! Apart from the keyboard that is. New keyboard tomorrow.
Track of the day: Stereophonics - A Thousand Trees
14th July 2002
Turns out that the replacement motherboard hasn't solved the problem. Someone should be back with a CPU on Monday, and he thinks that my keyboard is quite worn, so he is going to see about a new one. Took my sisters to Thorpe Park today. It was loads of fun, it was a glorious sunny day. We all went on all the crazy rides, including the 10 loop rollercoaster which was fairly ridiculous. I was expecting the park to be slightly bigger than it was - it could easily be navigated in 2/3rds of a day I think. We spent 6 hours and went on 6 rides, only spending about an hour for lunch. The average queuing time is just too long for me to bother going back in a hurry.
Track of the day: Stereophonics - Not Up To You
11th July 2002
I gave Dell a call today to see whether they can help me with my laptop not posting (turning on). Turns out to be a motherboard problem - but the cool thing is that I've just been told that it is covered by a 3 year onsite warranty that was bought by the last owner. Yes, I'm a seriously lucky person and an engineer is to see me tomorrow with a new motherboard.
Track of the day: Groove Armada - M 2 Many
10th July 2002
My last day at Computer Exchange today. My laptop still doesn't work. I still don't have ADSL. I still haven't done much work. Well now I've got some time to rectify some of that. I'm saving up for a iBook (kinda hard without an income). I really can't wait to get back to Nottingham. I should be going to Thorpe Park with my sisters soon which will be fun. I got the new Chili Peppers album, which is pretty cool. Probably going to Canada next month. Lots of stuff happening.
Track of the day: Red Hot Chili Peppers - This is the place
