Ok, so I definitely needed a new computer. What OS do I want to run? Linux of course is awesome, but I haven't exactly found the perfect distribution for me. Windows? Bleh. Windows has its own set of issues besides I don't want to run Windows Vista exclusively. Mac OS X? I love my iMac at work, but I didn't think I could afford to buy real, honest-to-goodness Apple computer for its price premium.
While I honestly considered getting an iMac at least $1500 (EXPENSIVE!), I decided I would be a fun experiment to see if I could build my very own Mac using standard PC hardware. Enter the Hackintosh. The first place I started is where I first heard the term Hackintosh - Lifehacker.com - Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800.
Sweet, I could build a computer that could run Mac OS X for half the cost of a real Mac. And it had the added benefit of being able to run other operating systems too. The Lifehacker article was a good place to start, however the hardware list was kind of out of date. Like any good googler, I found a couple of really great forums to look at to get some more help with picking the right hardware. Some really good resources I found for this was the OSx86 project. Their wiki page includes some really great installation guides and a HCL (hardware compatibility list) that I was able to make some decisions about. The InsanelyMac Forums were also a great resource for tutorials and advice.
I had a few requirements for building my Hackintosh:
1.) Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. It seemed there was more support for OSx86 for the Intel side than the AMD side. Besides I had never built an Intel box before.
2.) The hardware had to closely match the HCL List on the Wiki. No digging around for obscure drivers or patches.
3.) The installation had to be easy, since I was a newbie.
With those requirements in mind, I browsed through a lot of forums and on the HCL wiki to see what was a consistently used motherboard - one that had been proven to work well. Once I had the motherboard picked out it was just a matter of finding components that fit my budget. I also had a few components that I could reuse from the old PVR box that I could use in the new hackintosh to save some money.
Old Components:
- Full ATX Case (used to be my old desktop case before I used the PVR box)
- 200 GB Western Digital Hard Drive (from PVR box)
- PNY nVidia 8600 GT / BFG Tech nVidia 7600 GT. The PNY card was originally Matt's, but needed to be RMA'd because it was flaky. The 7600 GT was in the PVR box and it worked pretty well. More on this later.
- SATA Sony DVD/CD Writer (from PVR box)
New Components:
- ($190) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor. This is the at the price break between the low end Core2 Duos and the high end Core 2 duos and quads. I briefly considered the quad processor for $30 more, but decided even I didn't need that much power
- ($96) OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500). Highly rated by Newegg and relatively inexpensive. I was originally going to do 2 GB, but found there wasn't much cost savings by doing that. FYI, Windows XP can't natively support over 3 GB.
- ($100) SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT 550W ATX12V. I've been using Antec products mainly for my builds in the past, but the power supply going out in the PVR box really peeved me off from Antec. This PS is steady as a rock, voltage swings are not nearly as bad the Antec.
- ($110) ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail. I've had good success with Asus in the past and it came highly recommended. Only thing I wish I could have done is gotten this board with the built in WiFi.
So for a grand total of $496, the Hackintosh I was going to build was going to have better performance than a $3000 Mac Pro. And even if Mac OS X didn't work - it was still going to be a pretty potent Linux or Windows machine.
For Part II I'll include some information on the build and the installation of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). That's for you Joe.
]]>Taken from The Consumerist.
----
If this vending machine had been made by Apple, it would've been crafted in stunning clear Lucite with just the word "Coke" engraved subtly in a proportionally-spaced font.
There would only be one button to push on the machine. The machine would display a smile when you pressed it.
The bottle would be delivered silently, at the absolutely ideal temperature. Customers will have the uncontrollable urge to dance in silhouette when the buy one.
The machine would be immune to temperature changes, break-ins, and any attempt to modify it. Occasionally the electrical cord will catch on fire, but look cool while burning.
However you can only drink the soda while standing at their vending machine and you can not share it with anyone. The bottle will have a proprietary cap requiring you to purchase an iOpener ($29.95). People who drink this soda will think it tastes like Kool-Aid and will refuse to drink anything else, because they insist all other beverages are crap and wouldn't ever consider buying one even to extinguish the electrical fire.
]]>I like monkeys.
The pet store was selling them for 5 cents a piece. I thought that odd since they were normally a couple thousand. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. I bought 200. I like monkeys.
I took my 200 monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one drive. His name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact, none of them were really bright. They kept smacking themselves in the face. I laughed. Then they smacked my face. I stopped laughing.
I herded them into my room. They didn't adapt very well to their new environment. They would screech, hurl themselves off of the couch at high speeds and slam into the wall - although humorous at first, the spectacle lost its novelty halfway into its third hour.
Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so inexpensive: they all died. No apparent reason. They all just sorta dropped dead. Kinda like when you buy a goldfish and it dies five hours later. Stupid cheap monkeys.
I didn't know what to do. There were 200 dead monkeys lying all over my room, on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my bookcase. It looked like I had 200 throw rugs.
I tried to flush one down the toilet. It didn't work. It got stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey and 199 dead, dry monkeys.
I tried pretending they were just stuffed animals. That worked for a while, that is until they began to decompose. It started to smell real bad.
I had to use the restroom, but there was a dead monkey in the toilet and I didn't want to call the plumber. I was embarrassed.
I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them. Unfortunately, there was only enough room for two monkeys at a time so I had to change them every 30 seconds. I also had to eat all the food in the freezer so it didn't all go bad.
I tried burning them. Little did I know my bed was flammable. I had to extinguish the fire. Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen monkeys in my freezer, and 197 dead, charred monkeys in a pile on my bed. The odor wasn't improving.
I became agitated at my inability to dispose of my monkeys and to use the bathroom. I severely beat one of my monkeys. I felt better.
I tried throwing them away but the garbage man said that the city is not allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him that I had a wet one. He couldn't take that one either. I didn't bother asking about the frozen ones.
I finally arrived at a solution. I gave them out as Christmas gifts. My friends didn't know quite what to say. They pretended that they liked them but I could tell they were lying. Ingrates. So, I smacked them in the face.
I like monkeys.
I don't do politics. I abhor politics - the endless discussions of who's right and wrong. Instead of the micro issues (Hillary - bitch? yes/no) why not larger issues? Why do we get so pent up about who's done wrong? I've said this before, I don't consider myself an active political participant - I do not ally myself with any party. I don't even have brand loyalty. As far as I'm concerned Charmin = Quilted Northern and Blu-Ray = HD-DVD. In the grand scheme I am nello.
So ok - you get it - you see that when I read the newspaper, I throw out the politics section along with the sports. Why am I making a blog post about the very topic when I haven't even written a informative post about what's up in my life? (Laziness is the answer to that, but I digress) Because this election year is polarizing almost every news media format. It is inescapable, people are excited about our government and are out going nuts in primaries and caucuses. This intrigues me as most of my life, nobody (other than party fanatics) has shown such interest in the direction and issues of our country. What the hell is so fantastic about this election, why are people so fired up? I think it is because people sense that this is *important.* When you get the lazy non-political people fired up, it makes for good discussions and for history. So there you go, I'm gonna talk about.
That doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading about politics, I can only take so much and it has to be in a particular format. For the most part, I intentionally do not read articles that I know will be factually incorrect or that are slanted one way or another. It is very difficult in this day and age to find *real* news sources. In fact, the best alternative I can come up with is to read from all sorts of sources. Now this doesn't mean I subscribe or watch to Fox News (I actually watch zero network news) or read leftist newspapers. I don't drink the Ron Paul kool aid.
But I do read Dr. Paul's website to get a feel for what he is like. He is a nut, but he does agree with some of my ideologies regarding the role of government in our lives.
The great thing about this election is how the internet and technology is involved. I love being able to read RSS feeds from mostly innoculous news feeds (google, yahoo, etc.) and pull certain stories from them. From those articles, I can sometimes pluck up great new websites and I'll add them directly to my RSS feeds. Google Reader is my tree of information, from which I pick the fruits of funny animal pictures with captions, hot deals, informative blogs about finance and food, web comics, and lastly my news resources.
That's enough for now.
]]>Heh
Crazy travel plans is what is up. Its official, I'm a travel addict. Priceline and Hotwire are my drugs. I peruse travel forums like a gambler frequents his favorite casino. Like a World of Warcraft player mocks his teammates in AV and over uses the term WTF. Like a porn addict sits and home and ...uh that's too much isn't it?
Matt has a Microchip conference in Phoenix the beginning part of August, so we decided I would tag along and we would take a side trip to L.A. to see some friends and hang out at the beach. So I have been hitting the travel web forums, priceline, hotwire, fatwallet, bidding for travel, etc. like mad since July. Well today I got 3 things accomplished. Booked our round-trip tickets from Phoenix to Burbank, rented a convertible from Hotwire for an obscene $40 a day (I was proud of myself in a good way), and booked my very first Priceline hotel room in Burbank.
I spend a lot of free time nowadays reading various websites and forums. And not just ones related to Travel. We rarely do enough travel to make it worth my while to keep researching travel sites everyday. I'm sure Matt appreciates that, as today I kept running down the stairs - "Hey guess what! I can get a convertible for $40 a day...should I wait and see if it gets better." His response - "Hell no - rent it right now so you'll stop bitching talking to me about it."
Here's my must hit list for websites and blogs that I must read at least 2-3 times a week:
Consumerist.com:
A compilation of daily stories about bad (and good) things that happen for consumers. One of my co-workers stories was mentioned on there once. They are also the ones that brought you the Verizon brou-ha-ha concerning the price difference between 1/10 of a cent vs. 1/10 of a dollar. Hilarious.
Violent Acres:
This is the only blog (besides friends) that I read on a daily basis. The synopsis is, I'm a crazy, mean bitch and I say what I want. If you are easily offended, don't read her site. I love it though.
Travel Websites (they are sweet, tasty crack to me):
BiddingforTravel.com:
Just a forum that gives advice on how to use and abuse Priceline and Hotwire for your own evil perfectly innocent uses. Users post their 'wins'
BetterBidding.com:
Same thing as BiddingforTravel.com - forums seem nicer and they have Google Mashups!! Yay!
FatWallet.com:
I've heard of this site for awhile. They don't just deal with travel stuff, they have forums for finding all sorts of deals. The travel forum is spiffy because of all the coupon codes for rental cars they have on there.
Other than that - things have been peachy. Keeping busy helping out the SSOL with a project (I'll make a separate entry for that) and stuff with Open Engineering. We've been looking at doing some projects and SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) things too. A lot of this stuff is exciting and scary at the same time. A lot of things for Matt and I to look at in regards to the future of Open Engineering. And to keep us very busy too.
More later on how the travel plans work out and my methodology behind picking out hotels. You've been warned.
]]>That is way of things with me it seems. Like I already stated, I think about random stuff to write about all the time. Usually when taking a long drive somewhere or if I'm bored. However, I'm much to paranoid to tape record myself. I'm worried someone will find those recordings 50 years ago and realize how much of a dork I am.
When trying to come up with topics, I try to find something that I can write short and sweet on. Otherwise I ramble....and that's boring. Bitch and moan blogs are a dime a dozen, and I don't want to be one of those.
But I do think it is important to have some kind of focus on a web journal, ok I'll say 'blog' even though I hate that word. I haven't determined a focus for this journal yet. But it will probably have to do something about being a girl in guyland. Female engineers are not a dime-a-dozen unfortunately, so I think I have some perspective on that. In fact I remember making a posting on Slashdot years ago regarding the lack of women in technical/engineering fields. Someone posted back saying of course there are...lots of them...and he listed one - Grace Murray Hopper.
A very talented woman, that worked on the first compiler, COBOL, and the UNIVAC. One problem though...she died over 10 years ago. I have no issue with not having any female role models in these fields, let alone ones that have been dead for some time. I'm not a big role-model or celebrity follower anyway. No hero worship here. My point, I guess I don't have one. HAH. Just using this as a segway to something else.
I rarely hang out with other women. I'm usually work with mostly men, hang out with guys at the SSOL lab, play WoW with guys, etc. The only time I am absolutely surrounded with women is with family (not as common as it used to be for me) or getting my hair cut.
Let me point out something before I forget. I HATE getting my hair cut. I have ever since I can remember, even when I was young. It's not that I like to have shaggy hair or don't like my hairdresser. I do, she's great and I get lots of compliments on my hair. I just don't like sitting still and having people try to talk to me. I hate the awkward silence and forced conversation. I feel like I have to be nice when asked about small talk topics. Especially when stuff that interests me (tech and engineering) is something that my hairdresser may not - a.) understand b.) care about, or c.) all of the above.
My mom told me at one time that she actually requested that no one talk to her when she's getting her hair done because she uses it as her time to decompress. I wish I could say that, however I'm afraid I'll come off as a snotty bitch.
Howeaver, it is interesting to note the dichotomy between techy/guyland and frou-frou/girland. An explanation of the differences will have to wait for another day, because I fear I am getting boring. I'm boring myself...that's how I know. Till later.
]]>So now they want to adopt some 'guidelines' for appropriate behavior. Various levels of flair badges, will be made available to bloggers (hate this word). Each badge will relate to what kind of guidelines they are following.
The most wonderful thing about the Internet is that it is a basically an open canvas for any and all discussions. Although these pieces of flair badges are entirely optional, what kind of precedent are we setting? Basically setting up some kind of net segregation. Is that really the direction we are headed?
Its like what happens your favorite unknown band gets 'discovered' and gets widespread attention. Oh sure that band (and you by association) is now more awesome since everyone knows who they are. But they're not really the same anymore are they? Maybe their music changes to meet the demands of the new audience. Not the same band anymore are they? Sold out to the man? Hehe.
I mean its great that the Internet is so popular and there are so many cool and interesting things and people that can get together and exchange ideas. Bad news, is that every uneducated, overactive, overly sensitive idiot wants to change it because the Internet was mean to them. Waaa.
]]>I have forgotten how much I enjoy reading. I signed up for the Ames Public Library email newsletters some time ago, so I get weekly reminders about all the good things I can read about. And they taunt me in saying - 'You know the library is free, and they have tons of reading goodness for you to pick up.' The public library here in Ames is excellent for those that aren't aware. A best kept secret if you ask me. They even have new release DVDs and music CDs. I love to use their online site to hold items for me. So I can just walk in and walk out with my media goodies. They also have upgraded their website, so now that looks snazzy.
Only bad thing about it is there are sometimes random weird people hanging out outside it asking you for movie dates - true story, ask me about it sometime. And their crazy powerful hand dryers in the restrooms. Never have I had to force my hands to stay under the blower, made my skin on my hands wavy....kind of mesmorizing. I probably took 2 minutes just playing with it and thinking "How the hell does something this small blow so hard...and why is this the only one I have ever seen." Yes I realize that statement is just a little (a lot) perverted. Small children would be blown away by this thing.
So to end this post:
Ames Library = good
Books = tasty
Crazy people outside the library = interesting, but strange (walk quickly past them)
Hand dryers = trippy (if you're on drugs and/or an engineer)
So let me make this abundantly clear for those that are looking at my personal blog and are interested in me professionally:
1.) I'm human, I say dumb things at times. No question about it and I admit it freely that I will write things from time to time. However, I have been told that I behave well at work and I'm honestly not this crazy in real life.
2.) I'm not going to censor myself. After careful consideration I have decided that there is no reason to do so. The link on my portfolio site to this blog is because I plan on talking about projects and stuff from time to time.
I'm sure I'll have more to add to the list, but this is boring to talk about and I think it makes me look narcissistic.
Fun stuff now - things that are new: I have a new job that I started in December. I work for Ag Leader Technology part-time as a an associate engineer. For those that don't know - Ag Leader makes precision farming products that can do all sorts of cool farming things such as yield monitoring and automatic steering using GPS. I do like it and since it is part-time it gives me time to work on stuff with Open Engineering and 'donate' time to the SSOL.
I have plenty of other things to occupy my time too. Matt and I still play World of Warcraft. Makes things interesting considering he plays mostly Alliance and I play mostly Horde.
I'm also obsessed with the movie 'Howl's Moving Castle' lately. Every once in awhile I get totally addicted to one movie and have to watch it over and over again. I'm sure Matt very well remembers the 'Emperor's New Groove' addiction back in 2003. In fact, I'm sure he still has nightmares about it.
I've also been studying for my Extra class amateur radio license since the Morse code requirements were dropped recently. I have been waiting since I got my Technician license way back in 2000 to upgrade my license. Last year I gave up waiting and decided that the FCC didn't care or wasn't willing to face the wrath of OMs and forced myself to take the General test and start studying for Morse again. About 2 weeks after passing the written test, the FCC comes back and says 'nah nah we're dropping morse code.' Figures, it would happen like that.
So bright and early on Saturday morning, I will be going to the CARC testing session to pony up my $14 to get my general upgrade. Note, that I don't need to take the test again since I have my CSCE from December. But I figured since I was paying the cash anyway I might as well try for my Extra.
Enough for now - Matt is pestering me for the laptop. Post more later.
]]>I was making some updates to my portfolio today, and I realized that I have hardly any information on what I like to do. Sure I list them, but that doesn't really explain what I'm about. To be honest I feel a little scattered on what I like to do. It seems that there are so many cool things in the world, especially on the technology and engineering side. Why should I have to pick and choose which ones to be involved with?
Of course the flip side of that is that it would make me go insane if I tried to research and experiment with all the nifty cool projects and ideas that I have from day to day. Living with Matt doesn't help either - he's much worse (better?) at coming up with interesting ideas and theories. And no I'm not slamming Matt. We have some really bizarre conversations about hacking Roombas and how to incorporate a treadmill with World of Warcraft...among other things. I wonder when people talk about having a special 'bond' with their spouse if that qualifies as the same as the bond Matt and I have regarding 'hey wouldn't it be cool if...' conversations. Especially when the 'hey wouldn't it be cool..." thing ends up with something that blows up or involves fire. Ok the fire thing is probably just me. :D
So to fix my conundrum...I'm making a master list of projects/learning experiences that I want to do. Hehe some of these will probably be neverending projects or interests...but I'm willing to give it a try. Ok here we go.
Amateur Radio stuff:
Oh my, ham radio is composed of so many different opportunities for experimentation. I think that's what I like about it the most, that we as hams can basically do whatever we want for our own inventive purposes. Since taking all those fun, yet beat-your-head-against-the-wall-because-they-are-freaking-hard classes in RF, antennas, and microwave circuits I really want to do some more hands on stuff. That's where ham radio comes into play.
In EE 414 (microwave circuits class) my team and I built a fully fuctional 1.2 GHz amplifier, oscillator, and filter. That class went so fast I feel that I didn't learn as much as I wanted to. I can say the same thing for the antennas class I took, EE 417 for the curious. There were so many great articles in this month's QST about microwave stuff. All the way from theory to actual circuit/antenna construction. So now that we have a real house and a real ham shack I want to set up a microwave station. Doing EME (Earth-moon) or satellite communications sounds really cool. I would really like to try my hand at doing more microwave circuit design work.
Also doing some work on digital communications, espcially in the 802.11b bands (2.4 GHz) sounds cool to me too...
OMG this is too long...I'll add more later. Besides we need to install the D700 in the HABET recovery van now.
]]>Those of you that are familiar with Warcraft will probably find this more amusing than those that have been spared the addiction. Original linky
Dear: (Annoying poster du jour)
[ ] Moron
[ ] Loser
[X] Ganker
[ ] 12 Year Old
[ ] Twink
[ ] Troll
[ ] Nerfherder
[ ] l337 d00d
[ ] Whiner
[X] Fruit of the Stupid Tree
[ ] Other
You are being flamed because:
[ ] You forgot to search. This is in the common suggestions thread and still posted too many times a day to anything else with you.
[ ] You posted a "Nerf Pallies!" thread.
[ ] You posted a "Buff Pallies!" thread.
[ ] You posted a "Nerf Shaman!" thread.
[ ] You posted a "Buff Shaman!" thread.
[ ] You posted a "Class is Overpowered" thread.
[ ] You need to lean to play your class.
[X] You need to learn to play the game.
[ ] You have no concept of class balance.
[ ] You're just an idiot.
[ ] You posted a Omg-i-got-ganked thread.
[X] Your model brain is defective, leave until you have one that works.
[ ] You have an unhealthy fixation on horses.
[ ] You lost a fight to my class and came here to cry about it.
[ ] Someone told you my class was easy to beat, you found out otherwise, and now you're complaining.
[ ] You posted a total lack of understanding about my class .
[ ] You posted a total lack of understanding about your class.
[ ] You don't know which forum to post in.
[XXX] You made a ridiculous claim.
[ ] I don't like your tone of voice.
[ ] You fell from "the tree."
[X] You posted false information.
[ ] You just plain suck.
[ ] YOU POSTED A MESSAGE ALL WRITTEN IN CAPS.
[ ] You are not civilized enough to post in these forums.
[ ] Yuo mispeled evry sengle wurd.
[ ] Youhavenotlearnedthepointofpuncuationsuchasspacingcommasandperiods.
[ ] You are too stupid to argue with.
[ ] You are extraordinarily bad at [detecting ()/posting ()] sarcasm.
In punishment, you must:
[ ] Play a paladin to level 60.
[ ] /delete yourself
[ ] Suffer at least three nerfs.
[ ] Play a FULL demon spec Warlock to 60.
[ ] Drink out of a spitoon.
[ ] Fetch me a shrubbery.
[ ] Help defeat MCP.
[ ] Go aggro the murloc.
[ ] Apologize to everybody on this forum.
[ ] Get to 60
[X] All of the above.
In closing, I'd like to say:
[ ] Stop stinking up the gene pool.
[ ] Get a life.
[ ] Never post again.
[ ] I've found more intelligent things floating in the toilet.
[ ] STFU.
[ ] Learn to post
[X] All of the above
[ ] No one Cares
