My laptop is in Indianapolis. That’s close enough that I can feel it calling to me.
In other news, my iTopper skins arrived today. They look awesome, and I can’t wait to post pictures of them on the laptop.
Author: Paul Tomblin
AlBook2 is on its way
My new laptop has shipped. It’s still in Shanghai, but it’s shipped. Woo hoo.
My previous laptop was named “TiBook” because it was a Powerbook Titanium. My current one is named “AlBook” because it’s an aluminum Powerbook. So what should I name my MacBookPro?
I hate trackback spam
It’s inevitable that within seconds of posting to this blog, the new posting gets a trackback spam. Since the only other trackbacks on the blog are internal links between my posts, there doesn’t seem to be any point keeping them. So I’ve turned off the ability to do trackbacks. Sorry, spammers.
Too much screen real-estate, part 2
I just got my new work machine today, after 6 years of using the old IBM Intellistation. The Intellistation is dog slow, and noisy, and the new machine is fast and quiet. I really can’t complain, though, about how long I went without an upgrade because 3 years ago when I was offered an upgrade I said it was fast enough for me so I didn’t need one.
The most salient feature of the new one, besides the fact that Eclipse can rebuild the workspace in less time than it takes me to type this sentence, is that it came with a 21″ flat panel display. The screen doesn’t have as much screen real-estate as the old 24″ CRT I was using, but it did include dual display capability. So just for the hell of it, I attached the CRT to it as well, and now I’ve got a wrap-around screen.
The new LCD is much brighter and sharper than the CRT, so I may end up dumping the CRT after a while, but for now here it is. I feel like I could get a suntan off all this light hitting me from all directions.
The only problem is that the new display uses DVI connections and the new computer uses USB for keyboard and mouse, so the PS2 KVM that I only managed to snag a few weeks ago is now useless to me. If I want to use the SafeType keyboard and external mouse with the laptop, I have to physically unplug it from the work computer and plug it into the laptop. And I don’t have anyway to remote the display onto one or both of the ones connected to my Linux box, short of installing VNC.
In other news, my new MacBook Pro has just been received by FedEx in Shanghai.
Looking for recommendations on big external USB drives
I’ve had a series of bad experiences with cheap-ass external USB drives. I’ve bought some that sucked right away, and some that look like they’re working right at first but which get slower and slower and slower. One I have now that I’ve had for years is working perfectly, and another transfers a few files quickly and then bogs down hugely and gets slower than USB 1. I’ve also got a couple of Seagate Free-Agents that are working perfectly (after I discovered how to turn off sleep mode).
So I’m thinking that from now on I should stick to the known brands. Also, my backup needs are getting bigger, so I’m thinking of getting a 1Tb disk. Does anybody have any specific recommendations in that size range? Stick with Seagate? Right now the price leaders seem to be Iomega (the company that brought you the term “click death”) and LaCie. Any experience with them, especially as TimeMachine drives or doing hourly rsync backups on Linux?