I like computers. I might even call myself a nerd among normal people (among real nerds, I’d be a laughing-stock). Some people name their cars, I’ve named my computer.
Must. Find. All. Flags.
In Assassin’s Creed you find different flags all around the world and cities.
There are
That’s 420. That’s a lot of flags.
And of course, I have a huuuge temptation to try and find them all. Because, I just like collectables.
There are also 60 Templars to (find and) kill…
I have to start following a game decluttering policy: finish one game before you start another.
The reason I’m thinking about this is that I bought Spore on Saturday and now I’m itching to install it. Luckily I have the patience to wait for the price to drop on the newest Splinter Cell until at least this Christmas because I haven’t even finished Double Agent yet.
There are so many games I’m “currently playing”:
And loads more I have installed on my old computer (Fear, Half-Life 2 episode 2, Fable, Splinter Cell Double Agent (which I’m going to install on the new computer and start over), Morrowind) and some I cannot even remember.
Thankfully, I finished Prince of Persia and Lego Indiana Jones a while ago. I still have well-hidden treasure chests to find in Lego Indiana Jones so I haven’t got it 100% finished yet. Also, TR: Underworld is advancing nicely now once I got past some monsters that killed me and my motivation in January (hey, I was completely out of medikits!). Thank you, vacation.
I better get at it, this is my last day off!
Ever since I got my new computer my old one has been understandably neglected. It’s been such a hassle crawling under the table to switch the monitor cable back and forth that I’ve just left it be. (I do have 2 keyboards and 2 mice but not really space on the desk for all 4 peripherals.) At least I have an access to the files on my old computer so I’ve been able to move what I want over, but I still want to keep on playing with old Sullivan every now and then (I’m thinking of trying out Ubuntu on it).
One Saturday morning I was planning on going to the centre to look for a VGA+USB+audio switch so I looked at the websites of a couple of shops I thought could be promising. I’d been looking at this Aten CS-62U at a web store but the delivery estimate was 5-10 days and I figured I couldn’t wait that long; I’d rather go in a store and pick up a switch.
Well, the stores that I looked at didn’t seem to have what I was looking for, the weather was kinda cold, and I was feeling lazy after a rough week (work) so I decided to order the switch after all. The 5 days’ wait wasn’t too bad. 
I went to pick up the switch last night — after an hour of queuing — and picked up a fresh Nokia battery and Chronicles of Riddick Dark Athena while I was waiting.
This morning I hooked it up. The guide says to turn off all power from the computers, hook everything up and then turn on the computer(s). Well, I did that and nothing worked. I figured it was the same situation as when I’d hooked up my special keyboard and mouse for my very first start-up of the new computer — and the screen kept being black, and nothing lighted up on the keyboard and mouse. So, I plugged my keyboard, mouse, and screen directly to the computer and surfed to Aten’s site to look for a driver. None available. Isn’t this nice.
I read the manual a bit further and it mentions a hot-key for quickly switching between the ports (2 x Scroll Lock). I put everything back again (except for the screen), and pressed Scroll Lock twice. Lo and behold. It made the lovely little chime and started installing a driver. Phew.
I suppose pressing the Scroll Lock would’ve worked the first time around (without having to plug in the switch while the computer was running) but it was actually supposed to detect the computer that turns on first and switch to using that port. Oh well. Now it’s working and after adjusting the resolution back to 1280×1024 everything seems to look the same as before.
Welcome back Sullivan! (I haven’t tried this on it yet, though.)
Hello, my name is Angus. I’m an Aspire-ing entertainment centre. I enjoy FPSs, surfing, and occasionally wearing a skirt. I have a handsome brushed steel exterior and my innermost core is Phenomenal, if I may say so myself. I’m a bit of a softie (Win7 variety) but you better be on good terms with me since I never forget anything — everything’s stored in my gigantic memory and hard disk. (Technically, “giga” is too small a word to describe the disk, but I don’t want to brag.)
—
The first start-up was interesting — in addition to having a mild heart attack when the screen (my old one) wouldn’t work. I plugged out all extra peripherals, plugged in the mouse and the keyboard that came with the computer, and restarted a 2nd time. Thankfully, this time it worked!
I decided to go with Finnish Windows although I’m very comfortable with English. I may regret this later since it’s, of course, easier to look for info and help online when you know the English application names, menu options etc. During the first steps, one of the buttons was incorrectly labeled in French (Suivant, I suppose that’s “Next”). Tsk tsk. Who’s in charge of the localisations? It may’ve been Acer’s dialogue, actually, and not Windows. Having briefly visited Acer’s Finnish website, I think that’s exactly the case. The translation there is horrific.
There is a mysterious hidden compartment on top of the computer. It’s slightly bigger than a CD. I don’t know for what I’m supposed to use it but since I’m currently making a recovery DVD (requires 3), I may stash those in there. Luckily 3 DVDs were included in the package. (Sure, I have stacks of DVDs but it’s nice that they were considerate.)
Even the texts in this recovery disk program sound strange: “Tarkastamassa taustakuvaa”. Checking background image? Why would it do that? Maybe it’s supposed to mean “background checking image” (disk image). I have no idea.
This is a nicely silent computer. My previous ones (both Fujitsu Siemens) have been quite noisy. Possibly due to collected dust, and maybe even the power supply is to blame (Dad mentioned that my older computer (Simon) got better when they swapped the power supply. Good thing, too, that this is silent since I’m planning on keeping it on the desk instead of under.
(OK, I’m already regretting my language choice. Still, I’m convinced all the bad language is thanks to Acer, not Microsoft.)
Can’t decide whether I should start thinking about the migration right away or install Tomb Raider Underworld…
All work and no play makes Minna a dull girl…? I think I better check that TR:U installs properly since that’s the reason I got this machine. 
(Well, not exactly but it certainly accelerated the decision.)
I have a huuuge dilemma: I’m trying to decide which Nokia device to get next and I just can’t make up my mind this time!
There is the N97, the N900 (not available just yet), XpressMusic 5800 (getting kinda old ), and the upcoming X6 (no idea when it’s coming out), that have all caught my interest. And who knows about what’s coming out soon!
I would choose the N900 in a heartbeat because I’m very curious about Maemo, if only it had a radio and a multimedia message feature. (I don’t use either of them very much but they’d be useful to have.) The 5800 is the first touch screen device, released quite a while ago, so I figure the newer ones should have improved technology — and it has only a 3.2 megapixel camera which is what I have now in my 3-year-old phone (!). I think N97 would be my number one choice right now, but N900 is too close a second.
I must make up my mind though, since all these devices are around 600 euros each… (If I was rich I’d get the N900 and wait around for a bit to see if something amazing comes along and if not, get the N97.)
I bought a new USB stick (8GB) for making a bootable stick for Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I tried following different instructions to create it with the Linux’s “dd” command. First it reported errors in data transfer, then after Kory’s help it transferred properly but I was faced with a non-effective bootable stick. I chose to boot off it but it just went right through to the normal boot-up. Gah.
(At this point, I managed to bork something bad enough that I ended up making a recovery stick for the original AA1 Linpus and installed it again. Because this worked, I trusted the problem was not with the stick as such but the creation of the bootable image.)
Today I decided to try it on Windows — and it worked! (trusty Windows )
Not that there was anything really wrong with Linpus (except that I couldn’t install a Pidgin version new enough to support ICQ and updating Firefox would’ve been such a hassle), but there’s something irksome about the super-simplified interface.
Now THIS looks like a proper computer OS:
Haven’t played much on it yet. I’m now retiring to the sofa to do just that.
[edit 8/3/2009] Here’s a sceenshot
[/edit]
I had planned on installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my AA1 this morning so I started downloading the image to make a bootable USB stick.
Ehm. The image is 1.02Gb in size (I understand I need to do something with it first but I can’t imagine the file size reduces from that). And I only have a 1Gb USB stick. A bit of a pickle.
Need to go shopping for a new USB stick on Monday…
I was so looking forward to playing with Ubuntu today.
The next phone I’m going to get will be a clamshell or a slide phone.
Why? Today as I was walking home, listening to music, my phone suddenly started a call. And the destination was none other than the emergency centre! I was mortified! I’ll have to figure out a better place for my phone in the bag — and fast!
Stupid phone. 
Someone in this building seems to have gotten their very own WLAN and maybe a netbook for Christmas. A brand new network has appeared in the selection (called “own wlan” — clever). This one is locked — kudos to them.
Myself, I’m typing away on a fancy new keyboard: a Razer Lycosa. The blue backlighting of the keys nicely match the blue lights on my computer. I don’t like blue but this blue I can like. I haven’t yet tested this in action — I just installed it and haven’t yet restarted the system. I got this from Dad. I got tired of my basic keyboard once the browser button suddenly stopped working and I couldn’t figure out how to re-program it to start up Firefox. The basic keyboard has no special settings anywhere. Then I started looking for keyboards and I shouldn’t have googled “keyboard”… I stumbled across a site reviewing Razer keyboards and that was it; I couldn’t settle for a dull Microsoft board anymore. I mentioned the brand to Dad and said I couldn’t even think of asking for it for Christmas because they are more expensive than the basic keyboards. But he insisted.
Well, this keyboard doesn’t have a browser button, but it has customisable macro buttons so I’m hoping I can get an easy access to the programs I need. This does have media buttons which are also important to me. Now need to learn the new layout: the media buttons are in the top right corner now, not in the center anymore.
I spent the Christmas eve and most of Christmas day at my parents. The muffins were a hit but the sweet potato casserole wasn’t. Apparently it wasn’t a taste they are used to. Well, of course it isn’t because Mum never uses sweet potato. They like the same ol’ same ol’ every day. I’m more into trying new stuff. And my sister didn’t try it at all because it’s a casserole… Oh well, more for me. It’s not tastier than the sweet potato casserole I usually make so I’ll keep making it until I find a better recipe.
My Christmas Star was offended when I chose not to celebrate Christmas with it. I had watered it on the morning of 24th, and when I got home in the evening of 25th it looked like this:
Come on! You can’t expect me to sit home alone talking to a plant on Christmas! 
[Edit] Yeah, I programmed Scroll Lock and Pause/Break to work as my browser and email shortcut keys. I never use those anyway and they’re in the same area where those special keys used to be on my old keyboard so I instinctively try to push a button there. [/Edit]
[Edit2] When I told the boys at work that I got a Razer keyboard for Christmas one of them commented “I heard they’re not that good.” Er, what’s the point in telling me that? To make me feel bad about my present? [/Edit2]
I’m sitting here at my dinner table, waiting for potato wedges (mixed with onion wedges, sweet chili sauce and a little oil) to bake for half an hour. You guessed it, on my brand new Acer Aspire One.
I haven’t got my cookblog here and I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to have a local copy of it here or whether I’ll try and access the blog on my PC (which I may not be savvy enough to accomplish). So, to get things started I set up the mail program to access the same Gmail I’m using on my phone to view recipes. Boy, was that a breeze! I just entered the email address and password (which I luckily remembered by heart) and the application set up everything else. There are some “pre-installed” mail addresses you can set up as easily as that. If the application doesn’t recognise the mail you can enter the information manually.
So, what do I think about this little thing. (I haven’t named it yet.) The keyboard feels nice. The del, home and end keys are a little difficult to access: ins and del are in the farthest top right corner, and home and end keys need to be accessed using the Fn key. There is a Home button where the Windows key usually is and it minimises all windows which is really handy.
The touchpad is a little tricky. Sometimes I’m good at using it and sometimes the pointer is all over the place. Maybe it depends on the dryness of my fingertip. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it glides. But I’m getting the hang of it. I’ve enabled tapping (I should say I haven’t disabled it — it was on by default) because the mouse buttons are on the sides of the touchpad instead of above or below it (which is the layout I prefer) which results in some accidental clickings. Especially because the applications open with single-click not double. Don’t know if there is a way to change that setting.
The out-of-the box theme looks like Windows XP so I couldn’t be faster in changing it. First I needed to access the advanced settings which aren’t accessible by default. To do this, I browsed to the 10 tips I found earlier. I’ll also try and figure out if it is possible to use the other user interface style of Linpus: not this ultra simplified 4 categories, 3 icons layout but a normal desktop with a menu in the left hand corner and several icons on the desktop.
(Excuse me for a second. I’ll need to toss the potatoes around a bit.)
Hm, what else. Oh yeah, obviously I got the WLAN going. It was nice and easy because I just followed the instructions without doing anything special. I did enable all kinds of security settings I could find and restricted the use to this laptop and the PC (because the WLAN box works as a router for the computer). I was proud to name it something “clever” instead of the default (brand of the router). I’m imagining the faces of the people who find it in their access point list. I’m seeing two other networks and one of them is unprotected! (Or at least it doesn’t have a lock symbol.) Tsk tsk.
Anyway, time to resume cooking.
