The world of the geek can be a confusing one for 'normal' people.
For starters there's the strange behaviour and social reclusive style, then there's the language.
It's an acronym jungle out there folks, so for those who often get confused about what they all mean, the guys over at Tom's Guide have created a Geek's Dictionary. It looks like a work in progress job, but may help to explain the often lazy expressions that are used in the geek's world.
So excuse me whilst I LOL & ROFL reading it.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Friday, 17 April 2009
The rant of the PC geek...
As much as I think I know about computers sometimes they really bemuse me...and f**k me right off!
I've just bought a new 1TB internal SATA drive (to have some kind of back up for my external WD 1TB drive - that I'm using to rip my entire DVD collection to).
Prior to this purchase, in my PC I had...
2 x WD 250GB SATA (striped RAID array - using the Intel controller)
1 x WD 400GB SATA (also on the Intel controller)
1 x WD 120GB IDE (on the JMicron controller)
1 x DVD drive IDE (basic IDE controller)
The new drive (as mentioned) is SATA and is supposed to be replacing my 120GB IDE drive, but on first glance my motherboard (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) doesn't appear to have enough usable SATA ports on it.
There are 2 orange SATA ports (using a Silicon Image controller) which are hard-wired for RAID0/1 (called "EZ-Backup" by Asus) - but apparently it's bloody slow (compared to the Intel/JMicron controllers).
There's 2 on the Intel controller and 1 internal + 1 external on the JMicron controller.
So I'm already using the 3 internal ones.
I stupidly figured I could use one (or both) of these orange ports (on the Silicon Image controller) as standard SATA ports and connect my new 1TB drive to it...I spent 4 hours f**king about with it before I gave up trying. I even considered just using the EZ-Backup RAID instead of my existing array just to get the bloody thing working!
This morning I was just about to give-up totally and order a PCI SATA controller (didn't really want to spend any more (wasted) money on this PC (since I want to buy a Mac Pro at some point)...then I read this page which says:
I tried all three combinations of jumper settings...EXCEPT removing both jumpers!!
F**KING computers really piss me off sometimes...and I'm a proper PC geek!
(I've also managed to piss my wife off by spending all evening messing around with it and swearing constantly - so apologies will be needed for her today).
I've just bought a new 1TB internal SATA drive (to have some kind of back up for my external WD 1TB drive - that I'm using to rip my entire DVD collection to).
Prior to this purchase, in my PC I had...
2 x WD 250GB SATA (striped RAID array - using the Intel controller)
1 x WD 400GB SATA (also on the Intel controller)
1 x WD 120GB IDE (on the JMicron controller)
1 x DVD drive IDE (basic IDE controller)
The new drive (as mentioned) is SATA and is supposed to be replacing my 120GB IDE drive, but on first glance my motherboard (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) doesn't appear to have enough usable SATA ports on it.
There are 2 orange SATA ports (using a Silicon Image controller) which are hard-wired for RAID0/1 (called "EZ-Backup" by Asus) - but apparently it's bloody slow (compared to the Intel/JMicron controllers).
There's 2 on the Intel controller and 1 internal + 1 external on the JMicron controller.
So I'm already using the 3 internal ones.
I stupidly figured I could use one (or both) of these orange ports (on the Silicon Image controller) as standard SATA ports and connect my new 1TB drive to it...I spent 4 hours f**king about with it before I gave up trying. I even considered just using the EZ-Backup RAID instead of my existing array just to get the bloody thing working!
This morning I was just about to give-up totally and order a PCI SATA controller (didn't really want to spend any more (wasted) money on this PC (since I want to buy a Mac Pro at some point)...then I read this page which says:
If you remove both EZ jumpers you can use the right EZ-Backup port as the 4th ICH7 port.
I tried all three combinations of jumper settings...EXCEPT removing both jumpers!!
F**KING computers really piss me off sometimes...and I'm a proper PC geek!
(I've also managed to piss my wife off by spending all evening messing around with it and swearing constantly - so apologies will be needed for her today).
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Patience is a virtue...for those on dial-up
Is technology and our ever increasing desire for faster everything, making us lose patience? We seem to live in a world where we assume everything can be done in the blink of a virtual eye - or at least perhaps I do.
Today is a perfect example for me. Recently I was given a cheque (that's a "check" for the American readers) - which as we all know are fading away with the revolution that is online banking. I went to the bank to deposit it only to find I had to fill in a deposit slip with God knows how many different parts to it. For some unknown reason I became very frustrated at having to go through this process and also at the person who wrote the cheque for making me go through this torment, even though in reality it didn't take me a huge amount of time to complete.
When most other things in our lives appear to be accomplished with relative ease/speed it simply highlights the things that seem to take a long time (when in fact they've probably always taken that long, but it's never been noticed until everything else sped up).
As our lives get more and more used to having so much "on demand" it's more likely that we will begin to ignore things/processes etc. that take that little bit longer to get/do because we will be frustrated by the amount of time we have to wait for them. Perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps not. Only time will tell.
Today is a perfect example for me. Recently I was given a cheque (that's a "check" for the American readers) - which as we all know are fading away with the revolution that is online banking. I went to the bank to deposit it only to find I had to fill in a deposit slip with God knows how many different parts to it. For some unknown reason I became very frustrated at having to go through this process and also at the person who wrote the cheque for making me go through this torment, even though in reality it didn't take me a huge amount of time to complete.
When most other things in our lives appear to be accomplished with relative ease/speed it simply highlights the things that seem to take a long time (when in fact they've probably always taken that long, but it's never been noticed until everything else sped up).
As our lives get more and more used to having so much "on demand" it's more likely that we will begin to ignore things/processes etc. that take that little bit longer to get/do because we will be frustrated by the amount of time we have to wait for them. Perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps not. Only time will tell.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Mini Geeks In The Making?
In a world that appears to be getting more reliant on technology by the day, the exposure of children to this technology is inevitable. However, what amazes me is their inherent ability to pick up this new technology and master it without issues.
Recently I was at a friend's house and my wife had taken her compact camera with her to take a few pictures of their three children (2 months, 20 months & 3 years old). The 3 year old enjoyed the photos being taken and (like all young inquisitive minds) wanted the camera to take the pictures by herself.
My wife showed her how to zoom in/out and how to switch over to playback mode - once and only once. She immediately picked up the camera switched to record mode and zoomed in on her younger siblings and started clicking the button. Then switching back to view the picture before deciding she wanted to take another.
I don't know a large number of 3 year olds - but this seemed remarkable to me. That she was able to pick up this amazingly small piece of technology (which would have been considered ultra-advanced merely 15 years ago) and use it with such ease.
I've also been told that she's quite good on the PC (using the mouse and identifying where to click on the Cbeebies website etc.).
With all this technology surrounding us it's inevitable that the younger generation(s) will become increasingly more techo-versed (I know it's not a word but it sounds right) than their parent's generation, but does this mean we're going to see lots of mini-geeks in the making? Or will 'geekdom' become the norm?? (Damn - that makes me cringe!)
Recently I was at a friend's house and my wife had taken her compact camera with her to take a few pictures of their three children (2 months, 20 months & 3 years old). The 3 year old enjoyed the photos being taken and (like all young inquisitive minds) wanted the camera to take the pictures by herself.
My wife showed her how to zoom in/out and how to switch over to playback mode - once and only once. She immediately picked up the camera switched to record mode and zoomed in on her younger siblings and started clicking the button. Then switching back to view the picture before deciding she wanted to take another.
I don't know a large number of 3 year olds - but this seemed remarkable to me. That she was able to pick up this amazingly small piece of technology (which would have been considered ultra-advanced merely 15 years ago) and use it with such ease.
I've also been told that she's quite good on the PC (using the mouse and identifying where to click on the Cbeebies website etc.).
With all this technology surrounding us it's inevitable that the younger generation(s) will become increasingly more techo-versed (I know it's not a word but it sounds right) than their parent's generation, but does this mean we're going to see lots of mini-geeks in the making? Or will 'geekdom' become the norm?? (Damn - that makes me cringe!)
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