Friday, March 25, 2011

Ghetto DIY

Another old project I just dug up photos for.  It's an old PowerBook 1400cs I repurposed as a digital frame.  It was really easy on these models; a few screws and the screen flipped right around, making the base the stand.  I put it up on the shelf over my TV.  The laptop was a donation, and I think with parts this ran around $10 or so.  It didn't come with a power brick but I had an extra laying around (which might say something about me.)  I put OS 8 on there with a JPEGView slideshow at launch and automatic reboot if the power went out.  With a wireless card and shared folders I could manage it over the network.  The only real downside was the lower-quality screen on the 1400cs vs. the 1400c.

I got it with the screen already flipped (bonus!)

We can rebuild it, we have the technology.
Phase 1: assembly
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: profit!
P.S. I don't have that couch any more, so don't worry.

Old PowerBook

Digging through my old photos, I also found this.  A fun mod for the old G3 PowerBooks (this one's a Wall Street) was to remove the rubber stuff from the metal with some solvent and a scraper.  After I had the goo off I did some half-OK etching with some awl I had laying around.  I took the case apart and packed some clay inside the Apple logo to make it look like someone was peeking out.  Not sure if I liked the result.  It's OK, I guess.

Peek-a-boo!

Photo round-up

I was looking on my NAS for a photo I wanted for my tumblr.  Couldn't find it, but turned these up.  Took them a while back but forgot.

Barely eaten!

Point-Of-Operations cabinet.  P.S. do not open.

This is offensive to Australians.

P.S. You may have noticed (OK, probably not, but just go with it) that some photos are justified left and some center?  I prefer left, but when I put more than one up, I can't manage to get them all left-justified, somehow the layout gets messed up.  Blogger, I shake my fist at you.  (Just kidding, we're still besties.)

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Sharks with lemon

My 6-year-old likes to practice typing in Microsoft Word or whatever.  He was channeling Axe Cop when he wrote this.  P.S. do not take advice about sharks from a 6-year-old.

"..and please throw Satan into the lake of fire, amen."

Hmmm.

Does this seem racist to anyone else?

Just sayin'.

In Memoriam

I finally retired my Hallowe'en costume.  I thought I could still use it for something, but it was #literally eating up space in my tiny storage closet.  Here are the before-and-after photos.  I like to think he's still out there, menacing rats in a landfill somewhere.  (Just kidding, I put him in the recycling.  Still, though.)


Goodnight, sweet prince.
KILL ALL HUMANS

Friday, March 18, 2011

Trifecta

I finally gave in and set up a Tumblr.  I also fixed my Wordpress site up and re-purposed it.  I tried to differentiate each of them from this one as to intended content.  Now you can do a rock-paper-scissors thing and type up crashsuit.[pick-a-blog].com, though don't actually go there, there's nothing there yet, so really, go ahead and ignore this post.

My new card

I recently changed my ISP at home.  My old email was tied to my provider, and I wanted to switch to something more portable, hence the move to Gmail (since I'm too cheap to pay for my own domain.)  Anyways, I had to update my business cards.  I think they turned out pretty well.
We miss you, Mitch.  Come back soon.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

I made you a LOL

Maybe you're familiar with the Cheezburger Network, or maybe you just live under a rock in a cave at the bottom of the ocean, but whatever.  They just put up this new ragecomic generator app, making it hilariously easy to make a half-assed 4-panel while sitting around on your lazy butt.  So I did.
Damn you vile woman!

Acer 522 Benchmarks, round 1

Just before hijinks commenced, I did finally get those benchmarks I was promising, but as the computer's been non-operative I hadn't gotten them up.

"Hello, IT?  Yeah, I did that too, it's still not working."

I was originally going to try a variety of benchmark programs, but interestingly(?) I couldn't get some of them to run or install, even after fiddling with permissions, compatibility modes, etc.  Unigine Heaven 2.1 wouldn't install, Game Mark wouldn't run, and PCMark Vantage was a no-go as well.  (I wasn't sure it would work anyways but thought I'd give it a go.)  That leaves CrystalMark, 3DMark11, and FPS testing (in Portal) with Fraps.  I also did some tests on time for bootup, shutdown, hibernate, and wake, plus loading of Portal.  Why Portal?  Because it's awesome, that's why.  The one thing I'm *not* doing is specific benchmarks on just the hard drive, as I'm not really concerned about swinging my huge 'numbers' (numbers=genitals) around the Internets, but more about improvement in usage in general day-to-day usage.  I also ran all tests with MSE 2.0 and a firewall running, plus VirtualCloneDrive, as I wanted real-world numbers, and I'm not going to go shut down these things every time I want to run a game or whatever.

So.

Windows Performance Index numbers.  What do people really think about these anyways?  The processor score is pretty low, as is to be expected, but otherwise not bad, even with stock 1GB of RAM.  (With W7x64, 4GB RAM and SSD I expect most of these will shoot up considerably.)

WPI - 2.8
Processor - 2.8
RAM - 3.9
Graphics - 4.2
Gaming graphics - 5.5
Primary hard disk - 5.5

Next, 3DMark11.  Pretty punishing for a stock AO522, framerates were in the 0-to-2 range throughout all tests.  I did the basic and Performance tests, but it seemed silly to attemt the high-end test.  Results are not fantastic but still better than pretty much any other 10" netbook out there.

3DMark11 - P189, E269.

Then, CrystalMark.  Again, not too concerned with specifics, more just the overall feeling of the machine, so no breakdown here, just the final tally.

CrystalMark - 34372

Timed tests.  These were all averaged over three runs.  I had one or two bootup/shutdown tests I threw out the times for as they were outliers that I figured had to do with one-time startup/shutdown stuff Windows was doing in the background.

Boot time to post to desktop - 0:56
Shutdown time - 0:23
Hibernate time - 0:18
Wake from hibernate - 0:23

Portal tests.  I picked Portal as I figured it's pretty representative of the level of game people will want to run on this type of system.  It's a bit scalable, has some fancy effects, etc but isn't too punishing.  Plus, you know, think of the possibilities.  The Fraps wandered a bit, except when a portal was in view, so I differentiated those scores below.

Portal load time - 0:50
Fraps range, no portal visible - 35-65
Fraps, portal visible - ~25

So there you go, round one down.  Probably a couple weeks now until I can get the 'after' benchmarks up, as I've got to wait on return shipping, delivery, installation, etc.  Don't worry though, it'll be awesome.

Also, rub the USB  ports with cheetah blood.

99 problems

I'd almost forgot how fun upgrading hardware was, and by fun, I mean a hellish agony of torment.  The main reason (other than laziness) for not updating in a week or whatever?  All that new hardware I was throwing at my new netbook?  Turns out everybody didn't all get along so well in there.  First, there was the RAM.  Turns out I got high-density, the laptop only takes low-density.  Seriously?  I didn't realize that was still an issue.  So, Craigslist that one and order a new one.  Next up: the SSD from OCZ.  OK, so benchmark-wise they're about the fastest.  At least, they were, until they changed the manufacturing process without really telling anyone that now they're slower and die more.  So, return to Amazon and order the Intel one instead, almost as good for a few bucks more, but they don't die out of the box.  As did mine.  On the plus side, the BT/WiFi combo works with stock drivers.  Oh yeah, and I kept the awesome sticker when I packed the SSD back into the box.  Consider it my fee for half-a-week's wasted evenings troubleshooting bad hardware.

Take that, you sticker-less bastards.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

New best site ever.

I am now totally in love with Fiverr, possibly the best new site ever.  On it, people sign up to buy and sell services for $5.  The site gets $1, the sellers get $4.  This is my favorite new site ever and ALL OTHER SITES CAN GO TO HELL (just kidding other sites, we're still totally BFFs.)  I just put up three services I will perform for $5 each: Swede any 1 movie currently available on DVD; give running commentary to any 1 episode of Futurama; compose your very own personal anthem, using several key words of your choice.  I know right?  And that segues us into my Challenge of the Week: Head on over to http://www.fiverr.com/, sign up, and start selling something.  Anything!  You will be a better person for it.  #ISwearTheyAreNotPayingMeToSayThis.

Also, P.S. I am just finishing my first benchmarks on the Acer 522, should have results up later.  I would've had results up a lot sooner but benchmarking Angry Birds took many more hours (hours=days) than I'd anticipated.  WINK.  #WhyDidISayWinkThatMakesNoSense


EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that Fiverr is not new.  It is, however, new to me, therefore I get to be excited anyways.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

EPIC CHALLENGE WEEK™

I have **THREE** Challenges of the Week today.  All of them are possibly impossible, or even possimpible.  Also someday someone will point out that these don't really come weekly.  Moving along.

1. Watch Battlefield Earth, start to finish, and do not laugh.  NOT EVEN ONCE.  (This is maybe one of the very few Rifftrax that's at least as, and maybe even funnier than the original.)  You are allowed to choke on your popcorn though.

2. Click the link and do nothing for two minutes.  (If you succeed, you win the Internet.  Also, The Other Game.)

3. On one day this weekend (Saturday or Sunday, your pick) go the whole day without saying *anything* at all. Very tough as it's easy to accidentally say something to yourself.  Alternate rules: Go the entire day without saying the letter E.


EXTRA BONUS CHALLEGE®:

4. Start a fake Twitter feed, see how many people you can get following in a week. Rules: Fictional character.  Doo-gooder or wimp.  Jazz them up with a bit of DNA from Insanity Wolf or Mr. T.  Something like @InsaneBettyWhite, @MeanDrunkMightyMouse, or @BadAssMrWhipple.

BEHOLD WHAT I HAVE WROUGHT!!

I pity the fool who squeezes the Charmin.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Tuesday, March 1, 2011