This & That

This is an update on where Josh's new computer is at and that is something else entirely. I'll start with "this" since it's pretty short. So far, I've gotten Windows completely loaded and updated on the "beast" after some standing on my head and crossing fingers, toes, and everything else. The color has been chosen: Rustoleum's "Gamma Green" Color Shift paint that does that iridescent color changing stuff. Now, I'm in the annoying process of trying to find a bargain on obsolete RAM. If I can successfully pull this off, I'll be well on my way to being canonized!

Now, on to "that".....well.....that is kind of a long and sordid story. Way back when, don't remember exactly, I fell for the siren charms of the "Portable Computer". No!!! not that kind of portable. Laptops (more correctly called notebooks anyway) are so last decade. No, I mean, desktop components, crammed into a semi-transportable-sewing machine-lookin'-28lb-weighin' "mutha" of a computer! The type goes way back, and oddly enough in this day of the tiny laptops, they still make them. There are some arcane computer (really networking) rituals that apparently can only be performed well on these things, so they still sell a few of them per year and the other 10 or 20,000 go to the military. Who knows what kind of experimentation those guys do to them!

Anyway.....I found couple on eBay, need to get one, will rip its guts out, and rebuild it, don't have any idea what I'm going to do with it, end of story....

Not really, but not too far from the truth either. If I manage to get this thing, it'll be the next project after "Boy Wonder's" computer is done.

Battling the Beast!

If you haven't struggled with a machine that's not from a "major" manufacturer; let's just say that its a "different" experience. I understood this going in, which is why, whenever I'm advising someone or doing a machine for a client, I almost universally use something from a major player, and not only that, but a machine from their corporate line that they sold in the tens if not hundreds of thousand units. The reasoning is very simple. The vast majority of these computers are sold to corporate clients who not only demand a high level of reliability, but support as well. What this means is that the drivers and software utilities are typically available 24/7 from the internet with little fuss and muss.

However, when dealing with smaller outfits (like the Clevos) of the computing world, this is quite often not the case. Relatively speaking they don't sell a lot of units and therefore, can't really rationalize the infrastructure it takes to provide top-notch support. This is further complicated by the fact that some of them (again, like Clevo) don't sell very much to the end user, but more to boutique OEMs such as VooDoo, Hypersonic, and Alienware which further muddies the waters. All that being said; lets just say that finding the correct hardware drivers for my son's potentially "new" computer was challenging.

To start with, Windows XPP left about 6 devices without drivers. Clevo's Europe site where I located the drivers was a little "bare-bones" to say the least, but never-the-less, I was able to grab enough drivers to clear up all but 2 of the infamous (!) marks, leaving only the webcam, and most frustratingly, the video adapter. There were 3 different zip files for video adapters, with no indication which to use, so I grabbed the latest (2005!)......3 different times at 25+ minutes each time! Repeatedly the zip expansion said that the file was "invalid", so I finally gave in and the tried each of the other files....multiple times....with the same results.

Today I finally decided to stop banging my head against that particular wall, and try different routes. A BitTorrent all-encompassing package ended up being a dead end. Then it was onto the ATI, the maker of the Radeon 9600 GPU, and their Catalyst driver package....no joy. Finally, it was on to the world of "Googled" driver results. As most of you are aware, this is a shadow world of the internet with all manner of "blind alleys", gimmicks and Malware, so I was understandably a little nervous. Ultimately, after quite a bit of searching I came across a site with a different version of the ATI Catalyst driver that looked promising.

So I started this load, and BOOM.....not what you think, it didn't crash or anything...it gave an error message referring to a MS Dotnet utility that wasn't loaded. This I'd seen before, in the ThinkPads which will not load their automated software updater without it. So, after a little rummaging around in my software archives in the desktop, I found it, put in on a flash drive, and loaded it up on the Beast; after which I reran the ATI loader, rebooted, and like magic, the screen came back as the high resolution (relatively speaking) 1440 x 900 that the correct video adapter driver would support on the screen!

After that, I corrected another issue that it had had when SP2 was loaded (unsuccessfully), which cleared up the IE problem which was making it not be able to download anything from M$. Then we moved on to catch up on Updates that wouldn't load previously and Security Essentials.

So, here we are, despite sketchy support, weird/non-working drivers, odd chipset (SiS!), it's got the basic load that it needs to move on and seems to be stable.....which leads to the dismantling and painting of the machine. I've spent a ridiculous number of hours on YouTube watching videos on painting (although its somethings I've done already, but hey, you can always learn) and spray paints by Rustoleum and Dupli-color. Next step now is to take Josh down to the auto parts store and have him look at colors to get his thoughts. Personally, I'm really leaning toward the Green/Blue "color shift" paint that you can get from Rustoleum, but its up to him to see what he likes, then it'll be on to dozens of screws and taking the Beast down!

Misc Ramblings on an Icy Day....

OK, I'll admit it; I'm avoiding grading the stack of essays for my Advanced Placement World History class. Even though, nation-building and the Capitol One barbarians are interesting; 40 papers about the Middle Ages is mind-numbing!

So, is HP the current evil empire or What? Almost as bad as the Wankees or anything new york for that matter. They've even invaded one of my favorite TV channels (HGTV) with that insipid "Selling New York" show; I change that channel almost as fast as I do when the "UFO/Aliens taught us everything", I've got bad "Babylon 5" hair guy on History Channel comes on. They're everywhere (HP that is, not the Aliens, but who knows); the stuff is over-priced and just superficially looks good. If I were in the market for a new computer, I'd sooner buy a Dell or Acer, but really, Asus. Is the G73 "Stealth" gaming laptop not the coolest thing you ever saw other than any overpriced Apple product? And they sell for around a $1000!
If I wasn't morally opposed to buying new computers (and rich), I'd run out and buy this thing right now. OK, I wouldn't run anywhere since I'd buy it online, but you guys know what I mean. I understand some folks probably aren't as impressed with the looks as I am since it basically looks like what a gaming ThinkPad would be, right down to the rubberized finish from the high end TPs like my X300.
And these guys are on a roll; don't believe me? Read some reviews about the G73, then go down to Best Buy (don't buy anything from them, but go down there) and look at it. Better yet, feel it. I must say that I hate the "chiclet" style keys (basically, not as bad as new york, maybe l.a.), but I could live with it.

Overall though, I'm doing very well living here on the "trailing edge" of technology. My literally blazing fast desktop is running on a Core 2 Duo processor with 2 5 year old LCD monitors. I've got a 2+ year old laptop that's just amazing and my kids on on 5-8 year old computers. I have a very nice old (D70s) Nikon DSLR that does everything I need it to do (except turn off) which costs less than $250, plus a Nikon Coolpix 995 that was $15 on Craig's List. I'm about to replace my son's 5/6 year old computer with something even older, but does what he wants it for even better.

I love technology, but have decided that paying retail price for the honor of owning "new" is crazy and just plain expensive!

Pizza Delivery!

WHAT THE....!!! As my brother-in-law would say, but that's what this thing reminds me of; other than the fact its widescreen format vs. the traditional 4:3, or it would have looked like a really cool pizza box!
Good thing I cleared my work space of other machines, because this thing is a beast! I've worked on other 17" machines before, and they are all big, but this is different. The last 17" notebook I worked on was an HP DV9700 (don't ask- nVidia GPU, lawsuit, yada yada yada), but it was swoopy, thin and maybe a pound, pound and a half lighter. This thing is SQUARE....OK rectangular, but let me emphasize the "ANGULAR" aspect of it. Clevo has gone to very little trouble to disguise it for what it is.... What it is, is that 6' 6", 235lb girl who's going to play college basketball on scholarship. She doesn't NEED make-up. Make-up isn't going to help. It is what it is.

So, what is it? I was right, almost to the "T", however the former owner didn't do quite as much research and missed a few things. He/She/They put PC2700 DDR in it, making the bus run on 333 vs. the 400mhz that its designed to. Apparently the hard drive was bad, hence the "no disk found" error; a different PATA disk recognized without issue. It came without an optical drive, but that's a non-issue as well since it takes the standard (for that time) ATAPI interface, 12.7mm drive. Not being the IBM, Dell, or the HPs of the computing world, Clevo didn't need that drive bay to do anything but hold an optical drive, so no "special" (read hard to find and expensive) caddy or adapter cable. So I just grabbed a random junk CD-ROM drive that I had squirreled away and slid it in; recognized just like the hard drive. The screen lights up with no decernable issues. Got into the BIOS just fine and everything seems to be working on the machine. I threw in a Windows XPP disk and it spun up and started to load.......which is when the universal adapter I was using crapped out. It's rated to give 70w output. I was having it boot a machine that's rated to draw 150! So, not surprisingly the protection circuit kicked in and it "passed out". Oh; and it's UGLY..... remember the 6' 6" college bound basketball player? She's also got acne....
Hard to tell from this picture, but, trust me; she needs a make-over.

So, what needs to be done and how much is it going to cost? Here's the rundown so far:

• 1 "As Is" Clevo D47v "laptop" $77 after shipping off of eBay
• 1 Sony DVD Burner off of eBay $20 (just assume the prices I give you includes shipping unless otherwise noted)
• 1 20volt/7.5amp (150watt) power adapter $42...eBay of course
• 2 sticks of 1Gb DDR400 RAM, will probably run between $35-45, but should have been $26 if I hadn't of fallen asleep right before the end of an auction!
• 1 250Gb Western Digital PATA Hard Drive, Free- out of the drawer I put it in after taking it out of my wife's old computer.
• 1 can of Krylon Fusion (for plastic) spray paint, $4
  
• Masking tape from the garage, Free
• Disassembly instructions, Free from some random place on the Internet.

So, the total should run around $175 to 185. Less if I get lucky with the RAM or the A/C adapter. All in all, I don't think that'll be half bad, particularly if I can recoup some or all of the cost by selling his old machine...but that's a different story.
Yes, I'm completely aware that I'm probably not going to be able to replicate this for him, but for $175 vs. $3500; I can live with that! As for the performance, I think we'll be able to get by with a speedy P4/3.2Ghz machine for a few more years (after all, he'll only be 8), or at least until daddy gets itchy to build another computer!

What's next? The nitty-gritty, of searching out and buying cheap on eBay, then....THE TEAR-DOWN!!!

OH YEAH: any suggestions on asthetics, colors, what to do with that weird-shaped piece in the middle of the lid? I'm open, although, given that it's for my son; the colors will start and end with some version of green (kind of like Katie's computer is lavender).

Performance is Only Skin Deep

I don't know if any of you guys follow the Byzantine relationships of the computer manufacturing world, but I've been "neck deep" into it for a few weeks....whereas before I was only knee deep. Anyway, as more and more people are aware, even the big boys out there (Dell, HP) really don't build their own computers; especially laptop computers. Largely, these are sourced out of Taiwan , or at least designed in Taiwan and manufactured in China from companies that you may or may not of hear of such as: Arima, Asus, Clevo, Quanta, etc. And of course, they all have differing levels of quality and areas of expertise. As a standard, the HPs of world put out a spec, and these guys send out bids and design proposals which lead down the path eventually to their websites or Best Buy. Typically, with the true heavy hitters such as HP & Dell, those designs are pretty much theirs and you aren't going to find an almost identical product from Acer, or whoever, although there mights be a very similar product from a "captured" brand (eg. Compaq, now owned by HP).In any case, this is not true of second tier OEMs, "Original Equipment Manufacturer", who don't manufacture anything. But this is especially the case with "Boutique" OEMs such as Hypersonic, VooDoo and that darling of all gamers....Alienware. In fact, right up until Dell bought them out, Alienware (and virtually everybody else in that market area) bought from one Taiwanese ODM; Clevo. Where Clevo has made its name was the far outer reaches of performance in a "portable" machine. They typically use full-on desktop CPUs such as Intel P4 (vs. P4-M or P M), or AMD X2 (vs. Turion), plus really powerful (relatively speaking) video processors. The latest generation of them even have the capability of installing multiple video cards in an SLI configuration using a newly standardized mobile video card interface. Many have bays for multiple optical as well as hard drives. When you throw in 17" LCD displays, the multiple fans it takes to keep things moderately cool, some times 4 speakers with an onboard sub, then you have some really big and heavy machines! Oh and we can't forget the amount of draw that all this places on the power "brick", which often exceed 150 watts, which causes even that item is monstrous. All in all, you can easily end up with an "all in" weight in excess of 12 pounds!

So your question might be (particularly if you know me well), what does that have to do with me? I don't game, and if indeed, if I were to end up having to sit at a desk to use a computer (and trust me, these computers NEED to be used on a desk), I'd want a full on tower with at least 2 monitors attached! Well....the thing is, is this; my son loves to play games on his computer and uses an IBM ThinkPad T42/15". I although I love the T4x series, and believe that the 15" SXGA+ resolution, ATI chipped T42 was a great design; its not really designed for an immersive gaming experience for a 7 year old. So, as a Frugal Propellerhead, but conscientious Dad, what do you do?
Find a Clevo on eBay sold for "parts", not fully working of course and see what can be done to:
a. Get it working
b. Make it look as cool as possible since I can't convince myself to buy an actual Alienware Area-51 notebook computer.
For you guys who are pretty good a projecting, I'm certain you can see how this could turn (yes, I know it could turn ugly, I don't mean that) into a series of posts on this subject.

So, at least let me start by giving you the particulars of what I know about it (its not here yet), and the parameters of what I'm working with:

• Its a Clevo D47V/EV- P4/3.2Ghz CPU, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb HDD, Combo Optical Drive, 17" LCD
• Boots to BIOS, but then, "No OS Found" error
• No, A/C adapter

What I think I know (piece together) so far:

• Socket 478 "Prescott" processor
• 2 200 pin DDR RAM sockets taking PC400 modules
• IDE HDD interface for PATA drives
• 20v, 6amp power spec., yielding a 120 watt draw requirement

What I really want to know ASAP, so I can make plans and gather parts:

• Is there a 130Gb HDD partition limitation in the BIOS
• Does it have the "deep" lower chassis of the Alienware M7700 that has multiple optical and hard disk drive bays, or the earlier shallower casing
• Is the resolution the underwhelming WSXGA 1440 x 900 LCD, or high res. version
• Will it take some/any of the Alienware case parts (would love to install the cool Alienware LCD lid), if so, which model

Roughly, my plans are, to get it up and running, then take it apart, and depending on whether it'll take the Alienware case parts or not, I'll either install those, or work on a really cool paint scheme for it. Make my 7 year old son a happy camper.