gushue.net

I’ve been working on a new design for my web page recently (previously blackplasma.net). As well as moving various other little one-page sites I have around to that domain and style. It’s nice to start having everything in one place with one look.

I still have to integrate Gallery and Moveable Type into that design, but I’m not in a big rush to do that yet. With Gallery, it should just be a simple HTML wrapper addition, but for MT it will be more involved.

After having problems with krypton (the computer handling the internet connection, and doing various server things), I’ve decided to upgrade neon (the Pentium Pro box) to dual 200 MHz 512 KB cache CPUs, and 320 MB EDO RAM. I’ll probably add another 2 GB drive for /home, and make that one handle everything that krypton does currently. It should run much better.

Well, even though I misread the date on the expiry of my domain (it’s next month, not this month), I have it renewed for another year.

I have the base of my new web design done, I just have to finish up the backend PHP, and then convert all of my pages to use it. I think I’ll have my other little pages (geekcode, bplog, mutt, and whatever else) use the same design as well. Might as well have everything the same :)

Yet again, I kept putting things off, and now my domain needs to be renewed in the next few days. This is one of the few times I actually wish I still had a credit card. Or at least a U.S. banking account so I could transfer money to my PayPal account, which I have the ATM/Debit card for (acts like a credit card). I don’t like to ask for this kind of help, but it would definitely be appreciated - I just need $11 US :( (if you’re crazy enough to want to help, there should be a PayPal donation button thing on the side of this page).

I want to start using this weblog more often, change the design/template/whatever, and possibly integrate it more into my other website, and my photo gallery. Right now I just have bplog handling the little news updates on there, but I could still have that in another section (sidebar, possibly) and have this weblog more in focus. The problem I have is lack of design skills. And graphics skills, but those aren’t needed as much. I like simple web pages :)

I think I’ll mess around with a new style in the coming weeks. It’s been just over a year since I last redesigned blackplasma.net, and it’s due for another!

Things have been pretty good lately. The last two weeks at work have been a little exhausting, though. Since the guy I work with most of the time is on vacation, so instead of having to do the work of 2-3 people, I’ve been having to do the work of 3-4 people. Understaffed? Not at all… I can’t wait for my vacation coming up in a couple of weeks :)

Anyway, Hodd has also been back in town for a couple of weeks, and good times were had. Went to the bar a couple times and just had some fun. And of course, there are pictures.

After I get a Pentium 4 and motherboard, I’ll have a high-end system for a change. Usually I lag behind a couple of steps. Of course, I’ll have to get a nice video card as well, probably a GeForce 4 Ti4200 - they’re good cards, and fairly cheap compared to recent cards. After that, possibly a new case. A shiny Lian-Li, or something. A case with better cooling, since multiple hard drives tend to heat up a nice bit. But I think I’ll only be spending money from the next paycheque on the basic necessities, because I’m not sure how much vacation pay I’ll be getting. Only a week paid, I think, and then not even a full week’s pay.

After Christmas I probably won’t upgrade my computer as much for a while. Put aside some money for something else. Maybe I’ll do something more on my vacation next year. It’s too early to plan for that, really. but there are some people I’d like to visit.

After years of using AMD CPUs (actually, I think all of the x86 CPUs I’ve owned have been AMD, with the exception of my Pentium Pro system), I think I might actually go with Intel for my next upgrade. I’ve been doing some reading, and apparently the new P4 2.4C (800 Mhz FSB) can apparently easily overclock to 3.0 GHz when using an i875P motherboard. Now, I haven’t been much for overclocking lately, because there hasn’t been much point. But going from 2.4 to 3.0 GHz is quite the jump, and actually worth it if you can safely do it with stock cooling. I’d like to get a gig or two of ram for it, but for now I’ll probably just go with 256 MB (that’s what I have now, so I’m used to it). Maybe by Christmas I’ll get a gig of it. And I’ll need a better video card as well. I’d like one of those new GeForce FX Ultra 5900 (or whatever, the NV35 chipset) but I’ll settle for the more reasonably priced GeForce4 Ti4200. My system will be pretty good then except for my monitor. A nice 19″ would do nicely. I have a 120 GB Seagate drive on the way, too. Which should solve my storage problems for a while. A short while :)

My Linux box could also use some upgrading, but I recently added 32 MB of RAM to it, bringing it to 96 MB total. Which has definitely helped. Now to add a decent hard drive in there, and it’ll be pretty decent. A new CPU and even more RAM would be nice, but not as necessary.

My other Linux box (the Pentium Pro) is currently compiling the 2.5.74 Linux kernel. It only has 64 MB RAM, but I think it needs a less common type of SDRAM, which sucks because it’s harder to find. It can take up to 512 MB apparently, so I’d like to get that someday. And dual 1 MB cache 200 MHz CPUs :)

I haven’t actually done a lot with my Sun Ultra 5 yet. Partly because the monitor I was using with it is currently being used by my sister. I’ll probably just let her keep it, because the one she was using was pretty dark and generally sucky. Besides, it’s warm enough in my room with 3 computers running, I don’t really need a fourth system going.

I must be a pretty big geek, having so many computers in my room (and a couple of them “different” systems) and getting excited about future upgrades :)