Slacr

So my new machine is up and running. Quite nicely in fact. I'm especially fond of the modular power supply, as it is built like a tank. My only real worry is that the motherboard sags quite significantly (about an eighth of an inch) under the stock Intel heatsink. It is hard to tell if the sagging is from the weight of the heatsink itself or the pressure I had to apply to install it. Honestly not sure which scenario would be worse. I can't imagine the stock heatsink would be so heavy as to cause the motherboard to sag, but it's not like I pushed that hard on it either. So far everything seems to be running stably, but it just worries me.

The case itself is pretty tight, especially when I had to lace the IDE cable for my DVD drive. For that reason I returned that drive and got a SATA version. The SATA cables are nice and small.

Gentoo installation has so far gone well. All my hardware seems to be supported and I got X correctly configured the first try. The quad core seems to make compiling faster, but I haven't actually tried an objective comparison. Right now it is chugging away on OpenOffice, Firefox, Pidgin, and Conky. When I get home I'll sort out the Java mess and get Eclipse, Ruby, Rails, and Erlang compiled. Then I'll set up Samba and Cups. I know the printer sharing works, but still have to figure out the automatic driver serving. At the moment the client machine has to have the driver preloaded, which isn't a big deal for Ben or Kathy, but it'd be nice if it worked for any visitors too.

I'm also looking forward to trying out AzSMRC and Virtualbox. Hopefully I'll have enough time tonight to mess with that. If not, I guess I have all weekend.

Got new tires last night. Car = smooth as silk now.

Only other real focus at the moment is turning the financial situation around. I have been on a huge spending spree since I got home (computer, tires, apartment, shoes) and don't get my first paycheck until September 7th, which will immediately be passed on to American Express. I look forward to the day when I am putting money back into savings, which should be around October 5th by my latest estimate. Bonus points if harry and I get that side gig, which would move up F-Day quite a bit.

The Skinny on Dry Loop DSL with AT&T

As part of their merger with SBC and Bellsouth, AT&T is required to offer dry loop DSL (what you might call 'naked DSL' or 'toneless DSL') until some date in the future. About a year ago, I had dry loop service, and everything was great. Then I moved out of the country for a while, and just got back. When I called AT&T this time, the representative swore up and down that they no longer offered it, even when I said I was pretty sure it was required by regulators (op! this too!).

I have one friend that had dry loop, and several other friends that were also asking for it getting the same response. AT&T claims it's not offered because there is no demand. Fancy that... no demand for something they don't advertise and actively try to hide.

So finally I found the old number I called a year ago to set up my service. (Randomly stashed text files ftw!) For the midwest (11 states including Texas), that number is 1-800-264-0002. Let me make that clear, since you cannot find this number on the AT&T website.

AT&T Dry Loop DSL: 1-800-264-0002

The representative at this number assured me that they still offer dry loop, and quoted me the following prices (speeds noted as up/down):

• 512kbps/3mbps (with 6 month contract): $49.99/mo


• 256kbps/1.5mbps (with 6 month contract): $44.99/mo


• 512kbps/3mbps (without contract): $54.99/mo


• 256kbps/1.5mbps (without contract): $49.99/mo

While this is generally more than the bundled packages (with phone line), there are no taxes and fees like normal phone service. So if your plan is $49.99 a month, that is what you pay. Currently I nominally 'pay' $34.99/mo for 768kbps/6mbps DSL service, but by the time you add phone line and taxes it comes to about $65/mo. Not to mention I have to pretend to support AT&T's packaged deals, which I detest.

That brings me to the only downside I see. For some reason they could not offer me 6mbps download speeds with dry loop. Now I get to ponder whether that supposed extra speed (which I rarely if ever actually see, as my speed tests seem to top out at 4.5mbps on a good day) is worth the extra $15 a month. If any of you call them up and get 6mbps offered to you, please let me know.

Another tip: In some states telcos are required to offer what is called a measured line. If you have your line mainly for the DSL (and never use the actual voice service), you can ask for a measured line. This is still voice service, but you only get about 20-25 calls a month. The upside is it only costs between $5 and $7 a month. My state (Kansas) doesn't offer measured lines, so I am stuck paying $15.70 for basic service, without a phone even plugged into the wall. If you are like me and asked for the cheapest line possible (because you don't use it), chances are they gave you a flat rate line like mine. You could probably save about $8/mo if you switched to a measured line.

Cheney on Iraq

No matter which side you are on, you have to admit this is amusing.

Shipped

So my new case was shipped yesterday evening from Rochester, New York. Hopefully that means it will get to my parents house by Saturday (when they bring up my desk), but we shall see. It was shipped USPS, so that could mean a longer wait than I had hoped.

I started this new computer with the intention of building something relatively cheap yet good. The problem is that I keep upgrading things slightly, and now I'm looking at like $1100 worth of stuff. Instead of a no-name power supply, I'm looking at a Corsair 450VX. Instead of a no-name case, I got a Qmicra II. Instead of a smallish hard drive, I'm getting a 750gb speedster. Instead of the 2GB of ram, I'm considering 4GB... 4GB of quality ram no less. Instead of air cooling, I'm wanting water.

Waking up at 6:45am has yet to get easier. If I have one complaint about a day job, it's the schedule. I don't see how anyone gets anything meaningful done being this tired.

We got kitty into our new place last night. So far her and Tulah have only approached to within six feet once, hissed, and ran in opposite directions. However, they sit and watch each other from 30 feet away without any hissing, so that is something.

Back in Town

Well just got moved back to Lawrence.

Several projects on tap at the moment. Helping Dad build me a computer desk for my new office space in my apartment. I really enjoy having an office area, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more once I have a big flat surface to work on. Also slowly putting together a new computer at home (only have the case bought at the moment). Preliminary specs are as follows:

• Qmicra II Case
  
• Core 2 Duo E6420
  
• 2GB of DDR2-800
  
• Western Digital SE16 750gb hard drive
  
• Some kind of microATX motherboard (this is what is holding me back at the moment)
  
• Possibly a GeForce 8600GT if the motherboard has crappy onboard video
  
• Watercooling and generic DVD/CD writer
  
• 24 inch black Samsung LCD that does 1920x1200
  

One thing I am excited to try is running XP on a VirtualBox VM from within Gentoo. It would be nice to be able to play DotA and use Skype without rebooting all the time. Not to mention it would free me from having a separate 20gb partition just for Windows. Now I'll just have a big fat 20gb binary file.

My laptop has some serious motherboard problems, so I'd like to get the new machine passably running so I can send the laptop in for repairs. It's past the warranty now, so it'll cost me, but need the darn thing to work well.

Current read is The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil. I have just started it, but so far enjoy the heck out of it. Considering all the changes that have happened in my short life so far, I can't wait to see what humanity is like in 50 years.