Continuing Ho Computer Hell...

The addition/enhancement/migration/rebuilding of all our 4 different computers is continuing and continuing to be hell.

First, the new Dell XPS600 is quite a machine - 820GB disk, 2GB ram, dual 3.6GH processors and it can even change colors from the BIOS. We got it a week ago and I have spent most of that time working on it. It came with both disks configured into a single RAID0 array, which means that if either disk has any problems, the whole thing is gone. After my recent disk disaster, that wasn't going to work, so I converted it all to a mirrored array, which has two identical disks each with a full copy of all the data. This allows for recovery if either disk breaks. The bad news with all that is that I had to start from scratch and reload the OS and all the Dell software and drivers that came loaded on it from the factory. All that went pretty well and I spent a long day getting it all setup and loading lots of my applications. Then, Pam came home and checked it out and said that I had not loaded this certain driver first and that all would have to be redone... It was all working so well, I was having a hard time what that concept, but after much 'discussion' I had her reload the drivers in the right order and started loading all my data and applications all over again. Learning more than I ever wanted to know about RAID, SATA and lots of new technologies. At this point, it is all up and running, with only a few 'issues' left to resolve, and is one quick machine. It also runs MCE and has two TV tuners in it so I can now watch and record TV from the office.

Second, the little Mega-PC Media Center machine in the front room just couldn't handle the new dual TV tuner card. I did reinstall it and finally got it 'working', and was loving the ability to watch and record shows at the same time. But, it kept freezing up and needed to be rebooted more and more frequently - like 2-3 times a day. This just wasn't working, I think the little power supply on the Mega just wasn't enough for the extra power needs of the dual tuner card. So, out it came and I happened to see an external USB MCE tuner at Best Buys. I got one to try and it all works great - so far. Its been up and running for 3 days now with no problems and I am again loving the results. The dual tuner card is going back to where it came from and good riddance.

Third, the old Office PC is now reconfigured and installed up in the Guest Suite, with the old 17" LCD flat screen monitor and seems to be loving the view. It now has all the best parts of two PCs and is quite a machine now also.

And forth, the old HP laptop is still plodding away in the living room and trying to deal with all the changes that have been going on around it. A lot of the keys are now worn blank and its battery only last about 15 minutes, but it's still working along. It has been my data transfer machine during this whole process and did well.

As for the rest of life, things have been going along as much as possible. We had a dinner party for a workmate of Pam's and his wife on Saturday. The house cleaner didn't show up last week, so we had to clean up the house. I had a pool qualifying tournament I had to go to, so Pam did most of the house work and did a awesome job. The dinner was great but our guests didn't say too long and it seemed that we had done way too much work for the event. They are from Bosnia and she didn't seem very comfortable which we were warned about in advance.

Then there was pool... In my spare time, I was playing pool. Two of the leagues I was playing in for the winter are now having tournaments to wrap them up. Also, a new 9-ball league is starting up this week. So, the end result was that I ended up playing three times last week and will play 4-5 times this week depending on how things go. I have been playing very well, considering I haven't gotten a good nights sleep for quite a few days now. Pam is a little frustrated with all the pool activity, along with all my computer hell, but is dealing with it well...

Well, Hell, it can't get much better than that here in DaHo...