Beginning build of new PC

Beginning build of new PC, originally uploaded by eschulz.

This morning, I'm taking advantage of one of my five consecutive days off to build a new PC. If you want the complete parts list, you can see it here.

New PC

After being prompted by this article in Computer Shopper, I decided to upgrade my Dell Dimension 2400. I bought it in December of 2003, so that’s really old by PC standards. I decided to purchase most of the products they recommended, as I’ve been out of the BYO (Build Your Own) market for a few years.

I’m really just replacing my desktop with this PC, but I will use the existing drives and other accessories from the Dimension. So, here are the parts that I purchase (all ordered via Newegg.com)

Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330
Power Supply: Thermal Master TM-350-PMSR
Motherboard: Asus M2N68AM
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200
RAM: A-DATA 2GB DDR2 SDRAM

They also added a hard drive and a memory card reader, which I didn’t need. I do need to add a number of IDE devices to the PC and this motherboard only has one IDE controller, so that’s two devices and I have two optical drives to add to the system. I also need to add 3-4 IDE hard drives, so I ordered the SYBA SD-ATA133I PCI IDE Ultra Controller Card, which adds two more IDE channels. My boot drive will be an 80GB 2.5” SATA drive that came in my Inspiron 6400 laptop when I bought it in December of 2006.

I will be using MythBuntu as the operating system (at least initially). Not a bad deal for $200.

Virtualization and AMD

AMD has some resources on their website (Virtualization and AMD) regarding virtualization. You can even download a copy of “Virtualization for Dummies” (PDF, 1.58MB).

Typing About Technology – Treo Replacement

I’ve spoken many times about my cell phone, the Treo 600. It’s a multipurpose device which I carry daily. It provides the following functions for me:

• Phone
• PDA
• MP3 Player
• Web Browser
• Camera
• Games

Some of the above tasks are performed better than others.

• The phone is not great. When using it without a headset or headphones, the phone gets warm against your ear after 20 or 30 minutes. If using headphones, the sound is OK, but the sound quality that the other person hears isn’t great.
• The PDA is excellent; it is as good as Windows Mobile. The problem is that the synchronizing software (HotSync/Pocket Mirror) is not nearly as good as ActiveSync which is what Windows Mobile uses. For example, all my Outlooks contacts are categorized and when I sync them to a Windows Mobile device, those categories are honored. All my contacts, calendar, tasks are included here and are sync’d daily to my desktop PC.
• The MP3 Player is good. I use it to listen to podcasts, almost exclusively. I listen on my commute and usually at lunch. This gives me 2 or so hours of entertainment that I can’t get without carrying an MP3 player. I use an application called Pocket Tunes, combined with a 2G MiniSD card. This gives me enough capacity for several days worth of podcast listening. I do have to manage moving the data to it manually, but I have a pretty good system for that which has been perfected over the last couple of years (I was using the same system pre-Treo)
• The web browser that ships with the Treo is called Blazer. It is quite elegant, especially when using sites that are made for tiny screens. It is reasonably fast. There are some websites which make this browser even more valuable which I will talk about in a later article. I have a plan which allows unlimited data transfer, so I can use this feature as much as I want.
• The camera is lousy, but almost always available. Even though my Canon SD-450 can take nuch better pictures, having this camera around has been great for the blog, I have posted quite a few pictures taken with the Treo (even to my Flickr account).
  

Now comes the fun part. On April 22, 2007, I will be eligible for a $100 discount on a new phone. I would like the new device to provide all of the above functions and clear up some shortcomings. These include:

• Better screen – The resolution on this one is 160x160 and even when the characters are big enough to read, they’re sufficiently blocky to make reading it difficult.
• Larger screen – In addition to wanting a screen with a higher resolution, I also want a larger screen.
• Bluetooth – When the Treo 600 came out, this was not something that was available to any real extent. When I bought the 600, I could have gotten the 650 (which includes Bluetooth), but it was $150 more.
• Camera – I believe that any device I would be considering would have a better camera.
• Ability for the media player to sync with desktop, so that my manual process can go away.
• Wifi – If the phone I choose has WiFi, I might be able to do without the data plan, saving me $40-$50 per month. 802.11b will be sufficient for connectivity
  

These are only the options and prices that are available today. Chances are that in the next 7 months, these options will change.

• Motorola Q – This device is closest in physical appearance and spirit to the Treo. Runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone OS, so it doesn’t include a touchscreen, something I like about the Treo. It doesn’t have 802.11b. It has better resolution than the Treo 600, and the screen is slightly larger. Cost to upgrade: $ 319
• Verizon VX6700 – This is larger than the Treo. It has much better resolution (320x240) and a larger screen. It also has 802.11b wifi, so I would have Internet service where wireless service is available. The screen is large enough to watch videos as well. It has a full slide-out keyboard. Cost to upgrade: Cost to upgrade: $ 419

New DVD Burner on the way...

I am finally getting a DVD burner. I have decided on the Black NEC ND-2500A. Here's a review of the drive. I ordered it about an hour ago from NewEgg along with some media. It should be here by the end of the week. I plan to use it with DeepBurner or CDBurnerXP Pro. I also use ISO Recorder Power Toy and I may also use DVD Shrink.