It's a new year! I have new computer problems! ;-)

Thanks to all who have helped with previous ones, which I posted on:

• March, 2005: Sat 05 Mar 2005, Sun 27 Mar 2005


• April, 2005: Sat 16 Apr 2005, Sat 29 Apr 2005


• May, 2005: Sun 15 May 2005, Sat 28 May 2005


• June, 2005: Sat 11 Jun 2005, Sat 25 Jun 2005


• July, 2005: Sat 09 Jul 2005


• August, 2005: Sat 13 Aug 2005, Sat 20 Aug 2005


• September, 2005: Sat 03 Sep 2005, Sat 17 Sep 2005


• October, 2005: Mon 03 Oct 2005, Sat 15 Oct 2005, Sat 29 Oct 2005


• November, 2005: Sat 12 Nov 2005, Sat 26 Nov 2005


• December, 2005: Sat 10 Dec 2005, Sat 24 Dec 2005

Special thanks to twinbee, who helped via AIM, and to zaimoni.

Here's my fortnightly update:

• 1. Locked out of Orkut: I still haven't been able to get back in.


• 2. iPAQ batteries: The loss of battery life seems to have abated, though it hasn't gotten perceptibly better either. I did notice that it doesn't drain quite as fast as I thought when it's on. I'd guess that it can still go a goodly 4 hours without wireless. It's mainly that it can last at most 5-7 days on standby and that the 802.11b CompactFlash card is a huge drain (about an hour).


• 3. Erasing the background of an icon: I was able to do this using the magic wand tool of Fireworks MX. I now have Studio MX 2004 and am getting Studio 8; I will be installing Studio MX 2004 on Laurelin (my COMPAQ Presario SR1010NX) and Studio 8 on Hirilonde (my Dell Inspiron 6000), later to be moved to Ulmo, the new ubercomputer.

Now for the new questions:

The Case of the Hobbit Ubercomputer

What kind of case to you recommend for my state-of-the-art desktop system? My overall budget is about $4000, not including the monitors. I definitely want at least a dual-core 64-bit system with 4Gb RAM and a large SATA HD. I already bought a 300Gb PATA HD and will probably get one more.


Wireless PC on $1 a day

Does anyone have a really cheap wireless PC solution? To wit, is it cheaper to use a dinky notebook computer or a desktop and monitor with a PCI adapter?

I have too few hubs and too little patience running Cat-5 cable all over my house, but I love my ability to roam. I personally have Numerramar and Hirilonde, so I'm pretty much set; but I'd like to know whether I should junk my (2) Celerons and (2) Pentium IIs.

"Heck yeah!", I can hear taiji_jian and zengeneral saying, but here's the thing. I am having second thoughts about dual-booting the Ubercomputer, and I really don't want to give the Ubercomputer over to the half dozen wikis I have planned for my home. In my mind, therefore, it's really a matter of whether I can make decent file servers and wiki servers out of the dinkiness that are my 4 middle systems. The iMac G3-333 is getting close to becoming an aquarium, and the P5-120 surplus computer and P5-75 firewall are nearing the break-even point of "more valuable as scrap metal".


Alas, Kementari: best course of action for a G4-350

What should I do with a PowerMac G4-350 with a 10Gb HD and 256Mb RAM? I was thinking to put Tiger (MacOS 10.4) on it, but if it won't work for gondhir, it surely won't work for my 2000-era G4 desktop.

I have MacOS 9 on Yavanna right now, uselessly dual-booting with Linux for PowerPC 2000. Do you think it can take Jaguar (10.2)? Panther (10.3)?


--
Banazir