Computer woes

One computer is never enough. One might think that having a desktop and a laptop would be more than enough for one person, but, this is apparently not the case.

Today at work, I formalized a plan to step up my game. However, I was somewhat unwilling to spend $150 to get it set up. Then, I realized that Ardith could very well have the necessary parts in her basement, left over from her last computer upgrade.

Upon getting home, I checked the situation out, and it turned out that all the parts were there. Computer case, motherboard, power supply, hard drive, video card, CPU & memory. Ardith was rather dubious about the hardware's working status. So, I went into this project with fingers crossed.

After getting things together, and establishing the fact that the individual parts seemed to work, it was time to boot up, wipe the hard drive, and install Linux. This, of course, entails using a keyboard. And, I happily had an extra wireless keyboard & mouse, which were currently going unused. However, I then realized that I had a problem. It was a USB keyboard, which meant it was going to be fun getting it going for the first time. You have to get into the BIOS, and make sure it knows to actually use a USB keyboard. And you need a keyboard to get into the BIOS in the first place. You can see the situation I was in.

So, after unsuccessfully trying to get into the BIOS, it was obvious that I needed to get a PS/2 keyboard. Neither Ardith nor I had one (I could have temporarily cannibalized Ardith's computer for some necessary parts, but I deemed that a somewhat unwise decision). So, I hopped into the car and rushed off to Wal-Mart. Of course, being the cheap store that it is, it didn't actually have a PS/2 keyboard. Or any sort of cable that could do the necessary conversion. Ok, well, I needed some things at Wal-Mart anyways, so it wasn't a total loss.

Next stop was across town at Best Buy. After all, they have all sorts of computer equipment and peripherals that Wal-Mart can only dream of. However, I was rather shocked when they didn't have it either. Especially after I found a PS/2 extension cord. I consulted with one of the extremely knowledgeable Best Buy workers, and was pointed to Radio Shack.

So I called up Ardith, as I did not know where a Radio Shack was located. I was rather disturbed to hear that the one she knew about was in the Lindale Mall. I doubt many of you know this about me, but I...hate...malls. However, to get my project up and going, I was willing to do what was required. So, I entered the mall, located Radio Shack, and stopped in.

Once again, things did not quite turn out as expected. They don't actually sell the little convertors. I had to buy a mouse that had one with it. Not a huge deal, but another expense. So, I happily traveled home, and proceeded to finish hooking everything up. And then I realized something. The USB keyboard I had did not have batteries in it. I quickly put them in, and on a hunch, hooked it up and turned on the computer without the USB to PS/2 converter. Oh yeah. It worked perfectly. 

So, I ended up driving all around town, and got a piece of hardware which I didn't need. And of course, this was made all the worse when I actually found a USB to PS/2 convertor in my possession.

Oh well. I did get quite a few miles on the car, which is always a good thing.

And, I'm one step closer to my end goal. I now have a server up and running, and I just have to install Subversion and get everything set up for my own personal source control.

Now, I'm in business.