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Upgrade
Well, yesterday started out as an exciting day, but ended up as merely a frustrating one. My PC upgrade parts arrived, and I proceeded to fit them - all went well until booting, when the BIOS reported CPU temps of approaching 100ºC… peculiar. I did all the obvious checks, thermal paste, heatsink/fan correctly seated, etc. but to no avail. Unfortunately, this means that both the CPU and the mobo have been RMA’d and I now have to wait until Monday to put my build together again.
On the plus side, the ASUS Xonar D2 card works with my current rig - and that, coupled with a new Logitech 5.1 speaker system, is at least improving my audio experience in the meanwhile.
For those that are interested, these are the upgrade parts I’ve got (or, in the case of the CPU/mobo, am waiting for). Not the best rig on the planet but hey, a student income doesn’t really promote high-end systems, especially not with petrol prices as high as they are right now!
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz) FSB1333 6MB Cache
- ASUS P5K AiLifestyle Series Mobo
- Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E
- Asus Xonar D2 7.1 Sound Card
- Corsair 4GB (2×2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 DHX Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12)
All-in-all, I can’t wait for next Monday to get this rig up and running! 
Windows is Everywhere
One can understand entirely the uses of Windows in a desktop environment, as that’s what it was designed to be a - a desktop operating system. What I can’t really understand, is how it worms its way into locations where simplistic, and more reliable, embedded systems should rule the roost.
With the news on one MSDN blog (by a Microsoft systems engineer) recently arising, that Windows 3.11 is to be ‘officially discontinued’, I began to wonder exactly where, except in PC environments, Windows would still be used on a regular basis. I’d heard horror stories of Windows-based ATM’s crashing, and the like, but I thought these were probably rare incompetancies in IT departments - alas, ’tis not the case.
Whilst browsing around for information, I came upon a useful page that pretty much rendered my own ‘collation’ attempts rather useless. So, instead of boring you with a repetition of what has already been written, may I present you with the Top Ten Worst Uses for Windows.
Enjoy 
Moan to Steve - Get Somewhere (The Return)
Well, some of you may remember from a while back my troubles with Kate’s PowerBook G4 and getting it repaired (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). We got a new iPod Classic 80gb out of it, so that was a benefit that we weren’t expecting - but the story has progressed even further in the past couple of weeks.
Even since the laptop returned from service, one would presume all had been well - but that’s not the case. Overheating (to the point of burning), loud noises, and terrible performance have all added up to (what is now) 6 months of frustration with the Powerbook.
So, after many, many emails and phone calls - Apple have decided to replace it with the Macbook Pro 17″, £1.8k isn’t a bad deal on a two-and-a-half-year-old PowerBook G4, in my view.
But, that’s not the end of it, we’re looking to sell the MacBook Pro (brand new, as received from Apple, unused). At the moment, the cash is of more value to Kate and I than the Mac itself - though I can definitely see the possibility for buying a Mac again in the future (when finance permits).
So, if you’re interested in a deal on a MacBook Pro 17″, let me know