The arrival of Jade and the departure of Trojen

Author: jawapro
Date: Mon 10/09/2007 09:34 PM




Well, good news and bad news tonight.

My laptop (Jade) has arrived. It's a HP NC4000, and although Turkeybrain dosnt like it, I'm quite happy with it. In my experience, HP is a good brand, and it's the right size and everything for my case. It also goes nicely and has decent battery life so I can use it as a laptop when I want to. And it looks far nicer than the competition for what that's worth. It also has Video out - which is usefull for movies. And I can make use of the inbuilt wireless connectivity as my ADSL router happens to have wireless. Only because it used to belong to my old boss, who was told by a technician that it was faulty and he had to buy a new one. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the modem after all, and he ended up selling it to me.

On the subject, one of my friends thought their computer was dead a while back, and took it into a computer shop, where they convinced him to buy a new one because the old one was had it. He gave it to me for parts - and after I swapped the dead power supply for a new one, it worked fine. I got a newish PC out of the deal - but I still dislike stupid techies who tell people that things are dead when they're not.

But anyway - the bad news is the fact that one of my best mates (Mr Trojen) has decided to up-stumps and move to the mainland. And to make it worse - of my three best mates, Trojen is the last to make the trek to the mainland. Good luck mate!

I'm going to have to find some more local friends I guess. Even Turkeybrain is at the other end of the state. At least Trojen's only going as far as Melbourne and I'll be across for work occasionally and should be able to catch up then.

And there's a chance that one of my other mates, Klutz, could be comming back to Tassie for uni next year. But that all depends on which unis accept him and which he accepts and such.

Ah well - good thing I'm not a terribly social person I guess.

Oh yeah, and we went down to Ross on the weekend to celebrate Terreth and Martha's wedding. Stupidly I didnt get any photos though.

Anyway - I'll leave you with a photo of my new laptop. And in case you're wondering, it's called Jade because it's going to be a partner with the server, which is going to inherit the name Mara.

 



Comments: 10

 

Comment: 1

Author: omnimors
Date: Mon 10/09/2007 08:02 AM




Of course I can´t help but smile at the names. So how are you going to decorate the outside of the server? And are you going to do anything to personalize the laptop?

 

Comment: 2

Author: Nifen
Date: Mon 10/09/2007 08:02 AM




umm those laptops are really good. we had 2 of them at work until one died. well actually its fine, but the screen there is something wrong with it, well actually the screen is fine, its the motherboard i think, the connection to it is something wrong. if you lean on it it works fine otherwise it flickers like crazy. Maybe i should offer them 20 quid for it or something. could be taken apart and the screen taken out of it to be used somewhere else.

 

Comment: 3

Author: jawapro
Date: Tue 11/09/2007 08:17 AM




"Those are really good - we had 2 but one died." That´s very encouraging!

So far I´m happy with the laptop. Havent tried video out yet though.

And Omnimors, glad you appreciate the names. My server has always been called Mara. It´s a hereditary title. When my main server gets replaced, the new one is named Mara and so on.

Are you going to tell your daughter where her name came from - or are you going to wait and see if she discovers it for herself? Lol.

My main gaming system is called Jadesfire, but that name is probably going to pass on to the combination of the server (Mara) and the laptop (Jade) and thus my main rig will need a new name. Currently considering Zoltan (in honour of Andy) or maybe Drongo (in honour of me).

And Nifen - dont expect to be able to use the laptop screen on a PC without a lot of effort. I looked into that, and its far from easy. Possible, but very few people have gone to the trouble to actually do it.

 

Comment: 4

Author: omnimors
Date: Tue 11/09/2007 12:50 PM




I had caught on that your server was always Mara...but it´s good to know that you are keeping the Jade. As for your gaming rig: Phaeton. It´s a homonym for exactly what you´ll be doing (fighten´) with a nod to Maelstrom.

As for my daughter, I´m not sure. I know I won´t hide the fact that I had originally suggested Mara Jade (changed to Mara Kate by her mother). I also plan on raising her knowing the Star Wars saga, so she may end up piecing it together. Regardless, I hope that she´ll end up ok with the fact that here name started in the Star Wars universe.

 

Comment: 5

Author: jawapro
Date: Tue 11/09/2007 12:51 PM




Phaeton...hmmm...

The last of the mighty Sorayans.

I´ve got grand plans for that ship if I ever get around to writing my story based in the Maelstrom universe. Still just a tangle of story-lines in my head and in short notes I´ve written.

But anyway, Mara Jade is just a great name (as well as a great character). You could tell your daughter that her name was Biblical - but in that case it´d mean you named her "Bitterness" which isnt exactly the nicest thing to name your daughter. I can sort of see why Mara from Star Wars got the name though. She starts off trying to kill Luke, but changes over time. I wont spoil things too much, as you havent read all the books yet.

And I think that watching the original Star Wars saga should be a compulsory part of any education system. Lol. Maybe not the prequels though.

 

Comment: 6

Author: turkeybrain
Date: Tue 11/09/2007 06:19 PM




Well my gaming rig goes by the name of Bertha. Yes, it is truly a great name, full of meaning and relevance to geeks.
Well...

Yeah, I am a little annoyed he bought the bad one, but that is totally his problem. So I really shouldn´t get too stressed I suppose. Nice to hear that the server is still keeping on going nicely. I hope you eventually manage to do what you want with it!

 

Comment: 7

Author: jawapro
Date: Tue 11/09/2007 06:23 PM




As far as I´m concerned a Bertha is a great big artilary piece in the game Total Annihalation.

"Oh frell - Tojen just built himself a Bertha!"

Basically it´s a huge gun that can shoot insane distances and destroy your base from the other side of the map. And there´s little you can do to protect yourself.

Eventually the expansion pack had maps that were larger than the Bertha´s range. But it also introduced the Vulcan - which is a rapid fire Bertha. Build a few of them (which takes ages) within range of the enemy base, and then build a radar tracking station - and hear the screams of anguish from the other side of the room. Sheer poetry!

 

Comment: 8

Author: turkeybrain
Date: Wed 12/09/2007 07:58 AM




Ah! So its not just the fat lady that sings! Or maybe it still is...

But then how do you explain Eugene, Henry, Percible and Gladys? Me not know!

 

Comment: 9

Author: jawapro
Date: Wed 12/09/2007 07:58 AM




Lol.

I´m not sure why you think Henry is a dodgey name though. I have a couple of friends called Henry.

But the others....

But a Bertha definatly refers to something massive and powerfull to me - so your PC probably fits (in comparison to mine anyway). I´m planning to save up for a bit before moving into the next phase of my server project. I plan to upgrade my gaming rig, and move the current system down to my server case - but I´ll give my bank account a few weeks to recover after the camera and laptop spend-ups.

 

Comment: 10

Author: turkeybrain
Date: Wed 12/09/2007 02:00 PM




Yeah, Henry has always disappointed me a little too. It was the first time we really used that naming scheme. I should really change it to something slightly more fitting... I will have to get Dad´s name book out again! That has some rippers like Menrig and Azuba and other awfuls!

And my gaming rig may be getting a big upgrade soon too. I´m currently looking at getting myself an 8800GTS and a 620W Corsair PSU. (I´ll need the new PSU to run the GFX!) Amazingly, I should be able to get the 8800GTS for a total of <$299 AUD, which would be insane! Especially considering it won´t be from Ebay! In fact, and eBay sells them for around $400, so I am very happy. I should buy more than 1 and get sell them off!