Mid-Winter's Day Off

It's mid-winter and guess who got sick? Yup, those familiar with this blog are probably also familiar with my daughter who occasionally gives me a day off. As she gets older though, it involves less and less intervention from me other than just being there and making lunch. So, pretty awesome, other than the first part of the morning rushing around and making arrangements at work. 

As you could imagine; tied down at home, no responsibilities other than to be at daughter's "beck and call"....... I'm pretty much working on computers all day. Although, much of it was "grunt-work" that I've been putting off; things such as checking through and marking my drawer full of various ThinkPad batteries. I know; mind-numbing, right? I did have two computers that I was finishing for clients, but those were in their Windows Update stage, so not big deal. 

Was there any fun, a "silver lining" in this dreary cloud of computing drudgery? Yup, there sure was! I found a computer that I had forgotten about. I know, I know..... how on earth does someone forget about a laptop!?! OK, here's what happened: a few months ago, my brother was cleaning out and we were in the process of scrounging around to computers for my wife's classroom. A marriage made in heaven! So, he sent us a couple of boxes of his old computers that he wasn't using.. There was variety of them, in varying states of disrepair and missing parts, but for the most part, they worked. They ranged from the relatively antiquated T43, to a Z61t, and some T60s. The vast majority of them were set up quickly and have gone right to work helping 3rd graders get on the Internet.

However, out of the pile, I decided to keep one of them. Yes..... like I need another computer. This one is special though. Of the 3 T60s there was one T60p. That's right, as in professional workstation. In this case, that meant, not only all the normal, top-of-the-line "T" series business-class goodness, but also, the ATI Mobility FireGL V5200 GPU, higher-end duo core processor, but most importantly the 15" IPS high-res screen with a 1600 x 1200 resolution! This is an awesome workstation, even by today's standards. I knew with just a little bit of tweaking, I can make it a pretty nice machine.

A few of you might remember the big to-do about my getting the "Ark", the ThinkPad Z61m with the titanium lid. I love that machine, and yes, your right..... a Z61 is essentially T60 in another form. And yes, there is really little to no difference between the two. The reason(s) for the switch? Two, the Z61 has a BIOS password that I don't want to spend the money to clear. But most importantly..... that 1600 x 1200 IPS screen. If you haven't used a machine with a IPS screen...... it's pretty much computing Nirvana. Oh yeah, the Z61 has it's wireless shut down, and of course the BIOS is locked so I can't get into there to see if the problem is a setting. So, it's a "no-brainer"! At some point, I might end up having that issued cleared, but here's this fully working T60p that has fallen right in my lap, so, what's not to like?

What am I going to do with it? I need one of these in my classroom. What is it? It's a Corsair Voyager Air portable wireless drive. Essentially, it's a portable drive combined with a WiFi access point that allows computers within it's range to access it's files. As connected as my school is, students often are unable to access my classes' file from their various devices. I'd really like to have a device that I can put those files on, so that makes the access easier. Since I don't want to spend the $200 right now to buy this, I can put an extra drive into the modular bay, and just take the T60 to school and set up an Ad Hoc network. It can also do random other tasks, like trans-coding video while I'm working on the main machine. It's become my latest fixation. Ripping and trans-coding my DVDs into MP4s so they can be generically portable. I'd have to say that finding that T60p was a nice little surprise.