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Shopping Spree 2

The Shopping Spree continues…

Last Friday, I showed at CompUSA around 9am to grab a few things I had seen listed in a one day blast sale flyer.

I picked up a D-LINK DI-524 Wireless Router and a Kensington PilotMouse Mini Bluetooth.

The Kensington PilotMouse Mini Bluetooth is just great. Small and light. Setup was a breeze. I really like the pairing button located underneath. Click it and you're paired. Simple, just works.

It's really too bad the Kensington MouseWorks software/drivers are not Bluetooth-device aware. It would be nice to have a separate set of settings for the mouse and the trackpad.

The D-LINK DI-524 Wireless Router was another story. I decided to get a new wireless router with 802.11g since we're now both using WiFi a lot more. Setup was easy. Set the static IP, restart, etc.

I immediately noticed a problem with DNS. On the first try host names would simply not resolve. Everything worked fined on subsequent tries. I called Matt to see if he had any suggestions. We tried various things to no avail.

We were able to determine that the router was sending 192.168.0.1 (the router's internal IP) as the DNS server to all DHCP clients, instead of sending the DNS hosts that I had statically specified.

We decided to call D-Link's tech support to see if there was a way to fix that problem. After going through many loops, we were basically told that we would have to manually set the DNS hosts for each DHCP clients. Simply not acceptable.

Our tech support experience was pathetic. They were at a complete loss. Forcing us to repeat the same things over and over, and asking us to perform stupid tests, like pinging a host.

I did thank the support tech for making my decision to return their router easier.

Matt pretty much convinced me to look for a Linksys WRT54G instead.

I drove back to CompUSA to return the D-LINK. Their pricing on the Linksys was out of this world. On my way out I stopped by Office Depot, which is conveniently located in the same shopping mall. I figured it wouldn't hurt to check what they had to offer. They had a good price (after rebates) for the Linksys so I picked one up.

It literally took me 10 minutes to set it up at home, most of it spent taking it out of the box. It's been working like a champ since then.

As Matt mentioned, it is Linux-based, meaning that there are quite few firmware alternatives out there.

On Saturday, I decided to swap the heatsink/fan in my desktop computer. I was waiting to go back to Fry's to pickup some Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound, but actually found some at CompUSA on Friday.

Since I had never attempted the procedure before, I, once again, gave Matt a call so he could walk me through it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would. Taking the old heatsink out was the toughest part. Silicon was used to lock the clips in place which made it quite hard to remove.

Everything is working like a charm now. There's one big problem though, it sounds like a turbine now. The new power supply I installed is very quiet, but the opening/grid for its fan is located right next to the heatsink fan. The heatsink fan is quite noisy and the noise is amplified through the power supply grid openings.

At this point, I'm unwilling to spend any more on upgrades. This machine was put together a few years back and has finally reach its full potential. Adding anything more would be foolish.

So I started looking for a new desktop machine…

I just bought a Shuttle G4 8500G. They are offering a good closeout deal right now.

I have no experience with Shuttle's XPCs, but I'm pretty familiar with their motherboards. We use them in most of our 1U servers.

I wanted something small, because I am so tired of the mess of CPUs that is currently sitting on and under my desk. Having something portable is really not a bad idea, especially if I decide to take it with us when we move to Spain.

I should be receiving it sometime next week.

I'll also need to get some more memory and some kind of USB hard drive enclosure for my secondary internal drive. I'm leaning toward the Vantec NexStar model 2 or 3.

On Sunday night, I installed Vik's new Maxtor OneTouch II which I really like too. The only drawback, apart from the weight (it's not too heavy, but not extremely light either), is that the OneTouch functionality is only available via Firewire.

This has been an interesting weekend, that's for sure.

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Erik's Pulse has been published.
Free Daddy GoDaddy is offering free SSL certificates to qualified open source projects. A project qualifies if it is released under an OSI approved license. No strings attached. Neat.

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Shopping Spree

We went shopping over the weekend.

I was mostly looking for a small bag for my new laptop, which is not an easy task. The laptop is too big for cases made for 12-inchers, and too small for the ones made for 15-inchers.

On Friday, we stopped by Staples and CompUSA. I couldn't find anything even close. Vik suggested trying a luggage store at the mall. No much luck there either. Not everything was lost though, Vik did find some nice lingerie.

On Sunday, I went to Costco, and picked up a SanDisk 512MB Memory Stick Pro which I am now using to transfer files between my desktop and laptop. I've created a briefcase on the stick to facilitate synchronization.

Later in the afternoon, we stopped by Fry's. I bought a mediaGear 8 in 4 flash memory reader/writer, since my old card reader doesn't support the Memory Stick Pro format.

We also grabbed a new Uniden TRU-8860 5.8GHz Cordless Phone System. Vik was getting tired of our 2.4GHz handsets interfering with WiFi connectivity.

Finally, yesterday, we went to Office Depot and found a Targus CVR600 Groove Backpack that will do the trick. It's a lot bigger than what I was really looking for, but is also extremely light. It'll have to do for now.

I also received and installed (2 screws!) the extra memory I purchased from eWiz. Once again, they offered the best price around.

Vik also just ordered an Iogear GBP201 USB Print Adapter w/ Bluetooth, as well as a Samsonite Ultima Tote for her laptop.

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Sony VAIO VGN-S360 Yesterday afternoon, Rick and Matt asked me to pick them up from the Microsoft Campus. We decided to stop by Fry's on your way to dinner. It sounded like a good idea since Matt had never visited one.

Little did I know that it was also a ruse to get me something… As a thank you gift for working on the The Pulse, they decided to buy me a Sony VAIO VGN-S360 laptop. Wow… I'm still in shock! This is undoubtedly one of the nicest gift I ever received from someone. Thanks! I just love it. 4.2 pounds of joy. Perfect size, perfect weight. A workhorse too. Finally a laptop I won't mind carrying around. I've spent part of the morning setting it up. I just couldn't stay away; it was calling my name. The more I use it the more I like it. A totally blissful experience. Of course I immediately ordered some extra memory, a neoprene carrying case, and a Belkin F8T001 Bluetooth USB adapter. [I've chosen a Bluetooth dongle that supports the headset profile in hope of being able to connect my Jabra BT800 through it. So far I've not been able to use it with a PC or Mac.] There's nothing much else to say, except thanks once again. This really made my week. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Rick & Matt I spent yesterday's afternoon with Rick & Matt of Javalobby. We even took a few pictures. They're in the area for the Microsoft Summit, staying at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville. We also had a very nice lunch at the Barking Frog. We'll hopefully be able to hook up again later this week, although Microsoft is keeping them pretty busy. Hostage

We went to see Hostage over the weekend. We both very much liked it.

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Jabra BT800 mini-review

Since I've gotten so much mail & IMs regarding my Jabra BT800 Bluetooth headset, I figured I'd post a mini-review to answer most of the questions I've received. The package comes with a leather holster, a power charger and a standalone USB cable. The socket on the headset itself does not work with the standard USB connectors; you must use the provided cable if you want to charge it over USB on your PC. [Read More…] Thanks to Darla for helping proofread the review.