My new toy!

[QT]

This afternoon I went out to pay bills and ended up coming home with a little more than I left with...

My new toy (http://66.139.74.160/not_so_random.jpg)

I had to have knightfoos help to get it dual-booting properly.. so that'd be him hiding behind his Dell. ;)

Here is My son, Ryan (http://66.139.74.160/beggar.jpg) begging to play with it.


I hope that the next time I have to go out and pay bills, I can home with something a little less expensive...:dizzy: ...like a soda or something.

But so far I'm loving it!

[knightfoo]

*cough* Who builds a laptop without a floppy drive anymore? I know floppies are annoying, but they are useful for starting installations. I never thought I'd wind up installing Debian over a USB SD Memory Card reader. :D Glad I got that 256MB SD Memory card for my Zaurus now ..

-knightfoo

[raider]

you guys live together?! :eek:

[GLJones]

Yeah,

I went out this week and bought a Mac Powerbook 17". The screen is huge!

The Dells look cool guys!

Jerry

[QT]

Originally posted by raider
you guys live together?! :eek:
Actually, the majority of my neighborhood (geekhood) is Rackspace and ServerBeach crew.:laughing:

It's a small world....


GLJones:

I've had my eye on those powerbooks for quite some time now. I've always loved a Mac. My old Quadra and Performa still putt along nicely. :emlaugh:

[knightfoo]

It really is a small world .. I lived in the same apartment complex as 4 of my coworkers and didn't know it until 6 months later. Even after moving a couple times I still live in the same complex as 2 coworkers (yeah, we're all ghetto). Half the company lives within a 5-mile radius of here. :D It's not surprising that there are a lot of geeks in the area, some people say the only reasons to come to San Antonio are military, medical research, or cheap bandwidth.

-knightfoo

[QT]

Originally posted by knightfoo
(yeah, we're all ghetto).

Haha...you're going to give people the wrong impression about the people behind The Beach! When I read that, the first thing that came to mind was trashy landscaping, paint chipping off of the outside of the buildings, and the roof sunk in on random spots...:rofl:
Of course, those who have visited this city know different. San Antonio is a very well kept city..and the people are very proud of it from what I've seen the past (going on) 2 years that I've lived here.
For those who haven't seen it yet, if you're ever planning on visiting...you may never want to leave.

Now...back to my toy! Eh, I'm becomming not so happy with it after a night of struggling. It's become one thing after another...bad iso's, can't find the network, can't this...can't that...and now we're stuck on getting a network card driver that is actually going to work/build.

Of course, leave it to me to not leave things the way they came and are supposed to be....but I just couldn't leave XP on it.

Must...run...Debian...


:mad:

[JoshPet]

Cool new toy! :)

[Infopro]

Wow what is that thing? A portable drive in movie theater? :beer:

[raider]

what are the specs for it? :thumbsup:

[Einewton]

Sweetness Dood!

[brent]

I'd take it back for service. The LCD panel makes it look like you are running Windows!!!!! :)

[QT]

Originally posted by brent
I'd take it back for service. The LCD panel makes it look like you are running Windows!!!!! :)

Hahah! That picture was taken while we were in the midst of fighting with getting a dual-boot going. Now the big fight is wireless network. First, after purchasing a NetGear card (because I was being cheap)..fighting with it (and having knightfoo fight with it).. it just wouldn't work with Linux. So I picked up a Belkin today from CrapUSA because I knew the chipset works with Linux ... but I didn't know that they changed the chipset in the last revision.:mad: So....now I'm back to square one with the wireless. :bang:

This spur of the moment purchase (a Dell Inspiron 1100)...I'm beginning to regret.

[QT]

Multi-tasking at it's finest (http://66.139.74.160/multitask.jpg).

He's going to kill me if I keep posting pictures of him... :eek:

[brent]

If you regret it too much, I'll give you my shipping address. :) I bought a few SMC wireless cards and they work great with Linux. Requires a kernel patch, but thats easy peasy. The best thing about them though... they were cheap (40 bucks a piece!).

[brent]

Originally posted by QT
Multi-tasking at it's finest (http://66.139.74.160/multitask.jpg).

He's going to kill me if I keep posting pictures of him... :eek:
Looks like knightdude is ready to get himself a secretary. :)

[QT]

Originally posted by brent
If you regret it too much, I'll give you my shipping address. :) I bought a few SMC wireless cards and they work great with Linux. Requires a kernel patch, but thats easy peasy. The best thing about them though... they were cheap (40 bucks a piece!).

I've never used SMC, but thank you! After all this frustration, I'm going to go check 'em out. I've bought two cards already, one more isn't going to hurt..hah.

[raider]

if you ever feel like donateing...holla :D

[knightfoo]

Originally posted by brent
I bought a few SMC wireless cards and they work great with Linux. Requires a kernel patch, but thats easy peasy. The best thing about them though... they were cheap (40 bucks a piece!).

Is it the SMC2835W with the prism54 (www.prism54.org) chipset? It retails for $60, but thats the same price as the one that doesn't work. It used to be so easy to get these things to work because they all used the old Prism2/Intersil chipset. I got the equivalent Belkin CF Wireless card for my Zaurus and all I had to do was plug it in to get it working.

-knightfoo

[brent]

Originally posted by knightfoo
Is it the SMC2835W with the prism54 (www.prism54.org) chipset? It retails for $60, but thats the same price as the one that doesn't work. It used to be so easy to get these things to work because they all used the old Prism2/Intersil chipset. I got the equivalent Belkin CF Wireless card for my Zaurus and all I had to do was plug it in to get it working.
Mine are older (2632w). Yeah... it used to be easier. I haven't checked out wlan-ng in a while so I don't know the state of development. She has the *same* card as you do? And it no-worky?

[knightfoo]

No, I have a Belkin CF 802.11b card for my Zaurus .. the old Belkin PCMCIA 802.11b was identical, but the latest version (ver.3000) has a newer rtl8180 chipset. Whoever wrote the rtl8180 drivers apparently never checked to see if they actually compiled. My Dell Latitude C840 has the built-in Dell TruMobile, which uses the orinoco_cs module.

I think that Inspiron 1100 is pushing its luck now .. ;)

BTW, what driver does the SMC2632W use?

-knightfoo

[brent]

Originally posted by knightfoo
BTW, what driver does the SMC2632W use?
I use the atmel driver. SMC digs linux, and has drivers on their website (comes on CD as well). My cards are older 802.11b cards. From what I hear the new G cards work well too, but thats just hearsay.

[QT]

Brent, you have saved my sanity! If you were near I'd give you a great big hug (providing the mrs. allowed it)!

The SMC works just peachy and I'm wireless, I've got Debian running smoothly, and I'm enjoying my new toy now!

Thank you again for the suggestion, I really appreciate it.

[brent]

Originally posted by QT
Thank you again for the suggestion, I really appreciate it.
Not a problem; I'm glad to hear you are rockin' with it. :)