You know you've been neglecting your LJ when...
your dad rings you and tells you he's worried because he hasn't seen anything from you on LiveJournal.
That was a week ago.
OK. Highlights, then, yeah?
The Macbook is back, and it's working fine so far (aaand now I've jinxed it...) - and they've since released a firmware update which is supposed to address the issue as well. So, now I can look into upgrading the RAM and the hard drive on it - both are clearly quite necessary.
The other interesting bit is when countertony, while going through 'historical' OODS documents, found a 5.25" floppy dated 1990. So I started trying to obtain a drive for it, and in the process got permission to pillage most of the discarded hardware that's been lying around our corridor in Physics for a while. Which included not only the required drive, but also a working 19" CRT monitor for my housemate Skip, various components (oldish motherboards and such), and a 1996 PowerMac that I haven't got a monitor for... I should probably try, er, redistributing some of this kit via freecycle and similar ways at some point. (Anyone need a monitor? There seem to be various 15" and 17" ones still lying around there, probably mostly in working order.) And there may well be more to be had in other places.
As a result, my desktop PC now looks rather more... grungy by having a 5.25" floppy drive mounted just below the dual-layer DVD burner, and the old-electronics clutter in my room has increased dramatically but is now mostly hidden in a cupboard.
I'm typing this while working on the MPhys project (on the Mac, of course), and once the jobs I have going finish, I think it might be time to go hunting for lunch...
That was a week ago.
OK. Highlights, then, yeah?
The Macbook is back, and it's working fine so far (aaand now I've jinxed it...) - and they've since released a firmware update which is supposed to address the issue as well. So, now I can look into upgrading the RAM and the hard drive on it - both are clearly quite necessary.
The other interesting bit is when countertony, while going through 'historical' OODS documents, found a 5.25" floppy dated 1990. So I started trying to obtain a drive for it, and in the process got permission to pillage most of the discarded hardware that's been lying around our corridor in Physics for a while. Which included not only the required drive, but also a working 19" CRT monitor for my housemate Skip, various components (oldish motherboards and such), and a 1996 PowerMac that I haven't got a monitor for... I should probably try, er, redistributing some of this kit via freecycle and similar ways at some point. (Anyone need a monitor? There seem to be various 15" and 17" ones still lying around there, probably mostly in working order.) And there may well be more to be had in other places.
As a result, my desktop PC now looks rather more... grungy by having a 5.25" floppy drive mounted just below the dual-layer DVD burner, and the old-electronics clutter in my room has increased dramatically but is now mostly hidden in a cupboard.
I'm typing this while working on the MPhys project (on the Mac, of course), and once the jobs I have going finish, I think it might be time to go hunting for lunch...