In the wild: Sighting an Asus Eee

The Asus Eee PC. Saw one in Asianic Computer Shop SM Sucat. They had stocks available but no word yet on pricing. It's so small! Smaller than my Vaio. It's official, I want one! Asus EEE!ASUS EEE
 

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Shuttle XPC cleaning

This is a three-year-old Shuttle XPC used for web and print publishing by one of our graphics staff in Ortigas. It hasn't been opened and cleaned since it was bought. It overheated this November so I had to open it up. All fans weren't working and you could fry an egg because of the heat. You know why? Cobwebs, dust and dirt have built up in many places, hampering optimum functionality (wow, big words :D). Jeez, don't let this happen to your rig. Took me half an afternoon to clean it up.

UPSLIS Computer Lab Regular Maintenance

You'll be surprised how much dirt and grime can stick to computers in the course of a semester. Check out the before and after mouse ball pics. :D

PC Repair, Upgrade, Cleaning and Maintenance
1st Sem, AY 2007-08
UP SLIS, Diliman, QC

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New Computer and redecorating for breathing space

I recently bought a new computer.
 
The old PC was too slow for me, especially for graphics work at the home office (which doubles as my room, or is it the other way around, O_o;;).
 
So I bought some parts and put together this: Core2duo PC (Intel Core2 CPU, 4400 @2.00Ghz, 2Gb RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS, 512Mb, LG 18x DVD-RW). I also bought a KVM switch, 160GB hard disk, CD / DVD spindles, blank CDRs and DVDs, and cpu side fan for the new casing.
 
 

Here is my old PC (Celeron, 2.13Ghz, 512Mb RAM, VIA S3G Unichrome IGP 32 Mb onboard, HP 12x CDRW, Samsung DVD-combo, Wacom Graphire 4 graphics tablet) at the old home office where I usually do graphics stuff. Disorganized, huh? Reminds me of bullpens I used to inhabit.
 
 
 
Here's my room / home office while I was redecorating and setting up the new pc and home network. I decided to take out the bed for more breathing and walking space. The computer table had to go too since it eats up a lot of space, I used a good ole trusty wooden bench instead.
 
 
 
After transferring my old external 40Gb and 80Gb hard disks and new 160Gb hard disk to the old pc, I installed the old dual monitors, a 80Gb hard disk and the graphic tablet on the new pc. The Nvidia GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS, 512Mb has support for dual / multiple monitors so I made use of it (others use it for gaming, but I use it for work).
 
I set up an Aten KVM switch so I could use 1 set of keyboard-mouse-speakers for the two pcs (no need for individual keyboard-mouse-speakers). I set it up so the primary monitor is the one that can switch between the old and new pc. I knew about KVM switches but never did try nor had any use for them before. The only time I saw one up close was Qiqo's setup for Ate Shelly's 2 PCs at the UPSLIS. It's cool, I can now surf on the old pc, tap scroll lock twice to switch, and be transported to my work on the new PC. I also set up a home network to so I could transfer files between hard disks on different PCs. The old PC now serves as a file dump.
 
Core2duo 4400  @2.00Ghz on 2Gb RAM very fast... Me like... Here's the new cozy home office. Gorilla too tired? I just lie down and snooze.
 
 

Wacom and Weddings

My cousin Neil got married to his beautiful bride Cielo last Friday, December 8 at the San Sebastian Church. They met in UST where they got their college degrees. They also became co-teachers there because they taught right out of college. Neil didn't have any problems in the NCAA and UAAP since both UST and San Beda College (where he finished grade school and high school like me) won the basketball titles. Cielo was in a quandary in the UAAP when Ateneo and UST were duking it out since she studied in both schools. Speaking of basketball, Cielo worked for Vintage and also became a courtside reporter at one point. The reception was sort of like coming home for Neil since it was held in San Beda at the Jubilee Garden. The couple wanted to have the ceremonies (officiated by Fr. Tarsi, our principal in high school) held at San Beda. But that wasn't possible after the ruling that only parishes can hold weddings. My sister and brother-in-law, both bedans, were one of the lucky last couples to be married in San Beda. (Multiply Photo Album Link)

I dropped by Meowok and Olan's office last week for some manga updates. I dread going there. :D Hehehe. Like I said in previous posts, it seems I end up buying new stuff for my PC to be able to keep up with the increasing computing demands of graphics work associated with manga retouch and lettering. I wanted to buy Bambi's extra motherboard for upgrade purposes, but it turned out to be basically the same as my current motherboard (ECS Elite Group ). On Olan's suggestion, I bought a Wacom Graphire 4 4x5 pen tablet from Octagon Computer store in SM southmall to replace my now obsolete low-end Creatis graphics tablet. Took me some time to find out how to limit it to work in just one instead of my two monitors (dual monitor set up). It works like a charm! Plus I could change the tablet backing with photos and magazine cutouts. :D And of course, a trip to SM wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Tom's World UFO Catcher. There I got this ugly Tweety bird. :D

crossposted: gokitomo.com, gorilla.multiply.com, gorilla.vox.com

Stuff to go, stuff which stayed

With my usage of two monitors for manga comics lettering and
retouch work, I found myself with very little space to move around in
my room. That's when I decided to do some general cleaning while my nephew Enzo was in the hospital. It was my
only chance since I had the house all to myself and I needed the sala
space to store the junk before I move it to the trash.

I admit I'm sort of a pack rat so I keep (read:
"collect") a lot of stuff. I had this
inkling that I had accumulated too much junk through the years. I
decided to just classify them into "stuff to go" and
"stuff to keep". I had to let go of a whole stack of
old PC, gaming, fitness and photography magazines. The photography
magazines were the toughest to let go since a lot of them belonged to
my Dad. But I really had to discard them, like most of the stuff I let
go they were obsolete, unusable, deteriorating and just plainly took up
a lot of space. Other than those I also discarded a decade old PC
monitor, 2 PC casings, various add-on cards, speakers, earphones,
microphones, car pillows (a whole trash bagful!), 2 USB PCI cards, old
martial arts equipment, striking mitts, speed punch gloves, computer
peripherals, PC and electronics boxes, broken DVD players, old belt and
gym bags, Baguio sturdy woven hiking bags (which I haven't used in more
than a decade, they were the kind that you can sit on when in line for
subjects at UP), lots of foam padding, styrofoam, plastics, art and
crafts resources, paints, varnishes, thinners and various other
disposables. When I finished removing the "stuff to
go" and temporarily placing them in the sala, I realized that
the volume of discardables was about half the size of my room floor
space. O_o;;

I disposed of the discardables via my mom's garage sale, I
pegged the prices very, very low (PhP10 - PhP50 only) so that I could
get rid of them fast. The whole bulk was bought by Mr. Jojo even before
everything was displayed outside. Easy sale. Now I have plenty of room
for new junk. Hehehe. I didn't get rid of any of my (now few) musical
instruments, cameras and usable computer parts. I love my cameras, even
if they are old film cams. Two old things I didn't part with and
decided to resurrect were an old Franklin eBookman EBM-911 and
Fujifilm Instax
200.

The Franklin eBookman isn't
really much of a PDA, it's really more of an ebook reader. It was given
to me years ago by my sister who got it from her former
officemate Armand. She got a Palm Pilot from her sister-in-law (and my
kumare) Kay so she had no use for the eBookman. I
gladly accepted it. I stopped using it when I was able to install
software that allowed me to read books on my celfone. I bought AA
batteries, restored the MMC, plugged it in to the PC and revived it.
Now it houses about 60 titles in its 32Mb MMC. It plays converted MP3s
so I can use it as a music player too, but I don't know if it can
recognize MMCs larger than 64Mb since it's old tech. Oh well, next
risky project for me would be figuring out how to make it recognize a
larger capacit MMC. :D

When it comes to text readers, I always start off with
Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary
Shelly's Frankenstein and Joseph Sheridan
Le Fanu's Carmilla. I quickly follow those up with
Sir Richard R. Burton's
Vikram and The
Vampire, Lafcadio Hearn's
Kwaidan, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'
Arthur and Thomas Bulfinch's
Mythology. Yup, all gothica, medieval and mythology,
it's my "hello world" for eBooks. I found the public
domain eBook texts and more titles on Project
Gutenberg but decided on Franklin Free Library and Manybooks.net downloads since
they're more readable and specific for the Franklin Reader and MobiPocket
software that came with the eBookman.

The Fujifilm Instax 200 I bought
many years ago on a whim at the dawning of digicams. It's an instant
camera similar to Polaroid models, nice, quick and handy if you want to
see printed pics in less than a minute. Only drawback is
that the film costs too much. A 10-exposure film cartridge costs
PhP300+. That explains why I only use it once a year. But I love it
just the same.

crossposted: gokitomo.com, gorilla.multiply.com, gorilla.vox.com