Unfried Hardware
Published Tue, May 11 2010 7:12 PM
Well, I got my desktop machine back today. It cost me $20.00 more than originally estimated, because the original machine had a genuine Intel processor and that meant that the AMD-based motherboard that they originally wanted to put in for me wouldn’t work with the version of Windows that was installed – and I insisted on repairing Windows rather than re-installing it. It was worth it though. It would have cost me more than $20.00 to have all of my original software disks shipped here from home and then it would have taken me most of a week to install the software, leaving me with little time for anything else. I “could” have done it I suppose, but I consider that small oval portrait of Andrew Jackson to be a reasonable convenience fee.
Of course, this computer, as it was originally delivered was a high-end system for the time. I’ve had it long enough now that it’s considered a low-end system. My laptop is considerably more powerful, until you count the fact that most of my good software is on the other machine. Still, I ended up with a 2.4 GHz processor (just a little bit more than twice as fast as the old one) and 2 GB of ram – exactly twice what I had before, for less than half of what I originally paid for the system when I bought it new.
Right now it’s downloading all of my “backed up” e-mail. Something like 2,000 messages being pulled from the servers. Carbonite is happy again too, now that it’s backing my system up again. Maybe now I won’t keep getting those messages telling me my backup is overdue.
I’ve got to re-work the sound drivers on the system now too. Apple’s iTunes doesn’t want to play sound because something there is misconfigured. That’s OK though. I moved most of my iTunes library to the laptop anyway. It’s still a bit of an annoyance though. If iTunes doesn’t like it, it’s a fair bet that my video editing software won’t like it either until I get it worked out.
The best part of all of this though is that I can begin my own application development again. Sure, I write code all day at work, or support existing code, or attend design meetings to design new code, or any of a bazillion other things that software engineers do to earn a living, but there’s still something to be said about developing your own software for your own purposes. I consider it a great recreational activity, and it beats watching television. Who knows? Maybe I’ll come up with a “killer app” one of these days.
Hey, a guy can dream right?
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Stanford Matthews responded with:
 | Technology sucks except when it doesn't. :-) |
David responded with:
 | Nah, Stanford. Technology's great, except when it sucks. :-)
I like this tale of resurrected hardware. "Use it up; wear it out; make do; do without," is a watchword our society would do well to reconnect with. And frugally repairing/rehabbing a piece of hardware (or other durable good) is a Very Good Thing |
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