March 09, 2008
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Future shock
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3259 hit(s)
When we asked Zack last year what we should get him for Christmas, the thing he really wanted to do was to build his own computer. I agreed to "help" him pay for this, and he set about, with much agonizing over which parts to get, ordering up a carton full of computer bits. This included an ASUS motherboard, the Intel Q6600 chip, and a monster video card that had its own power input and enormous fan, and that cost fully a third of the total price. To hold it all, he got himself a Raidmax Smilodon Extreme case that featured,among other things, many fans and blinkenlights. When everything arrived, he assembled methodically, and except for the usual minor mishaps, it all went together great. I was on hand to observe, to periodically offer the wisdom of my experience, and occasionally to root around in the parts bin out in the garage for cables or whatnot.
The whole thing got me thinking. Here my kid has this super-duper new computer, and I'm chugging along at home with a computer that I put together so long ago that I don't even remember when it was. I think it was before SATA drives were an option, and I know for sure that it isn't Vista capable by any definition. What with now doing sound recording, and working on new versions of Visual Studio and Office, I got it into my head that hey, I want need a new computer, too!
Piggybacking on the research of Zack and Friend Saul, I ordered an Intel DP35 motherboard and Core 2 Quad CPU. Since I was in what-the-hell mode, I got 4GB of RAM and a 10,000 RPM SATA drive. To Zack's surprise, I ordered the same Raidmax case that he has. I believe he liked the coolness factor of the lights, whereas I'd been well impressed with how much cases these days are designed for each of assembly and reconfiguration. Plus how quiet it was, in spite of all the fans.
Assembly was last weekend, and what Saul calls "future shock" set in, in both positive and negative ways. As I say, it's been so long since I assembled a computer that I'm way out of touch. It's substantially easier than the last time, that's for sure. As noted, the case is explicitly designed for ease of access, and heck, you barely even need a screwdriver any more. Everything is accessible and pretty well labeled -- even the front-panel connectors are color coded on both the case and the motherboard. The power supply bristles with every conceivable kind of plug: I am ready to power things.
But my lack of recent experience tripped me up multiple times, plus I just wasn't thinking. When I ordered everything, I just plum forgot to order a CD-ROM drive. Shoot. Trip to Fry's. And I can't think why, but I just assumed the mobo had integrated VGA. Nope. (Saul even reminded me that he'd pointed this out to me, which is true.) Trip to Fry's for a video card. I likewise assumed that the mobo would have the, you know, traditional PS2 plugs for keyboard and mouse. Nope again. I had to "borrow" the USB keyboard and mouse from one of the kids. This meant -- yes, I believe you're getting the pattern here -- yet another trip to Fry's. On the plus side of this last, Santa Vaca, basic keyboards are cheap. With new USB keyboard and mouse in hand (so to speak), I also realized that an all-USB, all-the-time keyboard and mouse also meant that I would have to replace my KVM switch, since my existing one is of course all PS2. Guess where I went next.
Oy.
I had determined that I wanted to install Windows XP. The reasoning was not fully logical, but part of it was that this will be my main machine, and I absolutely don't want to run into driver issues. I started up the machine (everything powered up quite nicely, except that I had managed to stick a stray cable into a fan somewhere), and the XP installation process started from CD-ROM.
And then stopped: cannot find device. What it meant was the SATA drive. Hmmm. Ah, I see: XP does not natively support SATA (I guess), so Intel explains that you need to tell the Windows XP installation process that you will provide a third-party driver. Which Intel provides. On a floppy. Which turns out to be no accident, as near as I can tell -- the XP installation process is apparently hard-coded to look on a floppy, and only on a floppy, for third-party drivers.
Here's the rub: there is no built-in floppy port on the motherboard, no place to plug a floppy drive into. Talk about a head-scratcher. So, options. I could get a floppy controller card. Seems like overkill to install one measly driver. Or to heck with XP, I could go ahead and install Vista. So -- sigh -- that's what I did.
So we're up and running. Is he done yet? Ha. I went to plug the new computer into the router so that he, too, could talk to the internets. Oops ... full. The router, he takes only four inputs, which are all hopelessly devoted to existing computers. Well, shoot. Do we sniff another trip to Fry's in the air? Maybe. For now, I co-opted an existing router port that is not in constant use and sorted out the connection, and activated Vista, and heck, since I was there, downloaded VB Express and C# Express and C++ Express and VWD Express and SQL Server Express.
I sat down this morning and walked with some deliberation through the Start menu and Add and Remove Programs app of my XP-based main computer to inventory what-all I would need to install on the new box. The list is long -- around 30 apps, plus data -- but gratifyingly, there's a bunch of stuff I don't have to install, like desktop search and a .pdf-output printer (thanks to Office 2007) and, dunno, a bunch of little things. The XP machine, having been my daily computer for 5 years or better, has a lot of stuff installed on it that I rarely need, or needed once, or in some cases can't even remember why I installed. That will be a nice feature of the new computer, at least for a while -- not so much stray crap on the box.
I'm not yet using the new computer full-time; I'm moving stuff over in no great hurry, so I'll wait till I have the critical apps installed before I make the transition for good. And surely there's at least one more thing I can buy before I do that.
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