In the event that I have not mentioned this before, I am a huge music fan. I have all sorts of music in my collection, which was one of the earliest drivers for creating the database. In fact, in prehistoric times (when I was in high school [gymnasium]), my music database was on paper. At one point, I even conducted a few music polls. I got many folks to vote for their favorite song, group and album, but no one liked the results or my methodology. Oh, well, I guess you can't please everyone.
The title of today's blog is a song from Electric Light Orchestra's most excellent 1981 release, Time. Time is one of those albums you can just sit and listen to. That probably sounds a bit odd, but its a concept album, and the songs tell a story- try it, you just might like it.
In the wonderful world of data, I've been schlepping along in my Bricklink powered Excel spreadsheet that will be the home to all of my Lego data. I have around 32% of what will be my primary key field filled in, or about another 165 days of work assuming 100 records are done per day. Once the primary key fields are all filled in, there's a lot more work, but it may be ready for export into the database.
Since the last entry, I haven't really done much with the actual database. Most of my "serious" computer time has been spent on getting the Lego spreadsheet ready to export to the database, and on HTML. Speaking of HTML, I'm trying out a new text editor, PSPad. I found it on Majorgeeks. Well, its new for me at least- it was first released in 2001. As I just downloaded it today, I have very little to say about it, as I haven't really had time to play with it. One feature that it does have that I had been looking for is line numbers. I'm not certain if anyone else cares about line numbers, but there are times when one is writing code that this simple little feature can be a life saver!
That's all of the news for now.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Timehack 1725 062113 (1)
Monday, April 29, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tag... you're it!
I've been working pretty hard to get some better utilization of time into my days. I'm still in hot pursuit of a full time day job, but am also keenly interested in amping up my technical skills and moving my database project forward.
The past few days we've been keeping an eye both on the local conditions (water level) and the forecast, as the Des Plaines River officially crested at 10.92 ft (3.3284 m)- a new record. It's been pretty dry, with some light rains the past day (Tuesday). In the "Official News" department, Jennifer and I made our way to the township offices to appeal our real estate assessment. For whatever reason, our property is consistently over-assessed in comparison with other properties in our neighborhood, so every six months we have to file an appeal. In all honesty, I have to give a shout out to the Assessor's staff of Maine Township- they are friendly and helpful.
I've made time to do a bit of HTML work over the past few
days, and working on the laptop has become a bit of a challenge, as the keyboard is not full-sized. Not a huge issue, as it is a very nice keyboard, but a problem arises whenever I need to use a shifted character: on the compact keyboard layout, the SHIFT key is approximately 50% the size of a standard keyboard, and it is directly above the left arrow key. Not much of problem so far. On the bottom row, however, directly next to the left arrow is the CTRL key. Because of this arrangement, I've rediscovered a plethora of <CTRL+> commands that are quite useful when one actually intentionally executes them. So, after a few days worth of research, I almost purchased the Logitech G105 keyboard. Amazon was offering it at $56.97 USD, which is not too bad of a price for an illuminated keyboard. Upon further searching, though, I found the same keyboard, but with the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 logo for $27.95 USD. The only difference in the the two models, apart from the logo, is green lighting vs. blue for the full-priced model. So, I went with the less expensive one.
All of this leads me to the title of this post.
So there I was, happily plugging away on the new keyboard. I decided it was time to do some coding, so I went to HTML DOG and opened up my project. I was all set to start typing when I discovered that my code did not look like the example code. It took a bit of comparing three or four pages before I discovered that my code was okay- the website was using an earlier bit of code to continue with the lesson. Problem solved- I pressed on, entered the code from the new lesson, and posted it. It worked, but one of my headers was tabbed out of line. Back to the three or four pages of their code vs. mine. The error, of course, was mine, and it was in the form of a missing tag: once I added the </u> tag, my errant text popped back into place. It made me happy.
Last of all, I got a bit of work done on the database. I got about 200 rows in the spreadsheet updated; only ~19K to go! The fact that there is absolutely no way to automate this part of the process is what is making it so slow going.
Timehack 06.15.13 1030
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
The past few days we've been keeping an eye both on the local conditions (water level) and the forecast, as the Des Plaines River officially crested at 10.92 ft (3.3284 m)- a new record. It's been pretty dry, with some light rains the past day (Tuesday). In the "Official News" department, Jennifer and I made our way to the township offices to appeal our real estate assessment. For whatever reason, our property is consistently over-assessed in comparison with other properties in our neighborhood, so every six months we have to file an appeal. In all honesty, I have to give a shout out to the Assessor's staff of Maine Township- they are friendly and helpful.
 |
| The new keyboard |
days, and working on the laptop has become a bit of a challenge, as the keyboard is not full-sized. Not a huge issue, as it is a very nice keyboard, but a problem arises whenever I need to use a shifted character: on the compact keyboard layout, the SHIFT key is approximately 50% the size of a standard keyboard, and it is directly above the left arrow key. Not much of problem so far. On the bottom row, however, directly next to the left arrow is the CTRL key. Because of this arrangement, I've rediscovered a plethora of <CTRL+> commands that are quite useful when one actually intentionally executes them. So, after a few days worth of research, I almost purchased the Logitech G105 keyboard. Amazon was offering it at $56.97 USD, which is not too bad of a price for an illuminated keyboard. Upon further searching, though, I found the same keyboard, but with the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 logo for $27.95 USD. The only difference in the the two models, apart from the logo, is green lighting vs. blue for the full-priced model. So, I went with the less expensive one.
All of this leads me to the title of this post.
So there I was, happily plugging away on the new keyboard. I decided it was time to do some coding, so I went to HTML DOG and opened up my project. I was all set to start typing when I discovered that my code did not look like the example code. It took a bit of comparing three or four pages before I discovered that my code was okay- the website was using an earlier bit of code to continue with the lesson. Problem solved- I pressed on, entered the code from the new lesson, and posted it. It worked, but one of my headers was tabbed out of line. Back to the three or four pages of their code vs. mine. The error, of course, was mine, and it was in the form of a missing tag: once I added the </u> tag, my errant text popped back into place. It made me happy.
Last of all, I got a bit of work done on the database. I got about 200 rows in the spreadsheet updated; only ~19K to go! The fact that there is absolutely no way to automate this part of the process is what is making it so slow going.
Timehack 06.15.13 1030
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Potpourri
I think today's post has a lot of little things, so potpourri is a good title. There were others I could have selected- miscellany, odds 'n' ends, and melange came immediately to mind, but I settled pretty quickly on potpourri because of the warm connotation it seems to carry.
Today started off with a National Weather Service (NWS) flood advisory. Although we've seen some serious flooding in the time we've lived here, so far we have been blessed to not have suffered more than inconvenience by waters gone wild. So, we take these things seriously- Jennifer made a quick breakfast and we got everything that needed to get done accomplished by noon. It's been raining on and off, accompanied by impressive thunder and lightning ever since. It is supposed to stop some time Thursday (tomorrow).
I was able to get a bit more straightening done in the basement as well today. The problem I've discovered with organizing is that, in the middle of it all, the mess is really horrendous. Still, there are a few areas where the progress is marked- the Secret Underground Lair, for example, is a bit neater.... The Dungeon, though- I've got weights in there, somewhere, under a lot of boxes that are staging areas for stuff. That's the area where all of the work is occurring, so it will be the last to be neat.
I mentioned in my last communique from my command chair behind the NOC that I was taking the HTML plunge. To be honest, the first few days have been rough, but this morning I had an epiphany regarding code. I had been having some brain cramps with getting the code to post as something that actually looked like a web page rather than just code. I finally figured out that my file name needed to end in .html to display properly. Once I got this, I was happy, but then.... Well, then I discovered that once I saved the code as an HTML file, it was not editable in the plain jane text editor I was using. So, I sat in front of the keyboard this morning, doing a lot of copy/paste and proofreading code to see why it didn't work. I finally figured out that I needed two files: one .txt to write and modify code, and one .html to actually display.
Lastly, I got a bit of database work in tonight. I added a few records to the Publisher/Manufacturer table, and also added a few URLs. I also added a few movie titles, and noticed that the ISBN seems to be going away from movies; that doesn't bother or surprise me, but it is one of the pieces of data that I track. The final piece of good news is that my DBA honey do list is a bit smaller tonight.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Today started off with a National Weather Service (NWS) flood advisory. Although we've seen some serious flooding in the time we've lived here, so far we have been blessed to not have suffered more than inconvenience by waters gone wild. So, we take these things seriously- Jennifer made a quick breakfast and we got everything that needed to get done accomplished by noon. It's been raining on and off, accompanied by impressive thunder and lightning ever since. It is supposed to stop some time Thursday (tomorrow).
I was able to get a bit more straightening done in the basement as well today. The problem I've discovered with organizing is that, in the middle of it all, the mess is really horrendous. Still, there are a few areas where the progress is marked- the Secret Underground Lair, for example, is a bit neater.... The Dungeon, though- I've got weights in there, somewhere, under a lot of boxes that are staging areas for stuff. That's the area where all of the work is occurring, so it will be the last to be neat.
I mentioned in my last communique from my command chair behind the NOC that I was taking the HTML plunge. To be honest, the first few days have been rough, but this morning I had an epiphany regarding code. I had been having some brain cramps with getting the code to post as something that actually looked like a web page rather than just code. I finally figured out that my file name needed to end in .html to display properly. Once I got this, I was happy, but then.... Well, then I discovered that once I saved the code as an HTML file, it was not editable in the plain jane text editor I was using. So, I sat in front of the keyboard this morning, doing a lot of copy/paste and proofreading code to see why it didn't work. I finally figured out that I needed two files: one .txt to write and modify code, and one .html to actually display.
Lastly, I got a bit of database work in tonight. I added a few records to the Publisher/Manufacturer table, and also added a few URLs. I also added a few movie titles, and noticed that the ISBN seems to be going away from movies; that doesn't bother or surprise me, but it is one of the pieces of data that I track. The final piece of good news is that my DBA honey do list is a bit smaller tonight.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
A World Without Love
*I started this on the 04.14.13, and the title has absolutely nothing to do with Monday's event.
No, I'm not going all soft and stuff here. Or oldest son works at Sam's Club, and he asked me for a ride home after work today (Sunday). As Sam's is pretty close, I agreed, and we did a bit of shopping together. As we were getting close to the end of our shopping, we stopped to look at the Blu Ray selections. A number of James Bond movies were on the shelf- older 60's and 70's titles, and for some strange reason the Paul McCartney-penned "World Without Love" which was recorded by the British duo of Peter & Gordon popped into my mind and just would no leave. Getting a song stuck in my head is no big deal, but this song had absolutely no association with any of the James Bond films, as far as I know.
On to html, which is looking more and more like rocket science every day. This is partly my fault, as I've been trying to make progress, but using three different computers with three different operating systems, I don't know all- I do know for certain is that the progress has been slow.
I need to turn briefly to Windows 8. At this point, I'm neither a fanboy (and the likelihood of that happening is small) nor a hater. I actually had to look up the correct spelling of likelihood as my first spelling earned me a red squiggly underscore. Who knew that a spelling error would lead to the following-
"In statistics, a likelihood function (often simply the likelihood) is a function of the parameters of a statistical model, defined as follows: the likelihood of a set of parameter values, θ, given some observed outcomes, x, is equal to the probability of those observed outcomes given those parameter values." Thanks, wikipedia.
Who knew? Well, I suppose any statisticians that may be reading this blog. But, other than those? I digress... back to Windows 8. There are some things I really do like about it, like the really fast launch and shutdown. It's also pretty easy to move between applications, similar to Windows 7. Applications also launch pretty quickly, and I'm okay with using the touchpad like a smartphone screen. One thing Microsoft missed the mark on is the display, though. If it's designed to work as a touch interface, but most PCs don't have a touch interface, why not just enable the mouse to emulate touch?
Now for the unpleasantness. Everything is hidden. I'm not going to get into the whole "Start" button debate, but I had this experience: I was doing something a few days ago and wanted to make a quick calculation. Normally, the sequence of events would be something like Start>Programs>Accessories>Calculator. In Windows 8, the sequence is something like this: look for the calculator. Fail. Search the entire HDD. Ah- there it is! Now, what did I need the calculator for?
I just now tried to locate it again, and again had to go through the same search the whole HDD procedure. I give up- I put a shortcut on the real desktop. On the plus side, it's really nice calculator.
I think that, with that, I'm going to put this post to bed (figuratively speaking, of course, as it's ~1230 and the sun is being cheerful. Too bloody cheerful for my faux sour mood).
Have a joy joy day. Me? I'm off to look at pictures of kittens on Facebook, although I'm not certain that even kittens can bring me out of my faux funk.
No, I'm not going all soft and stuff here. Or oldest son works at Sam's Club, and he asked me for a ride home after work today (Sunday). As Sam's is pretty close, I agreed, and we did a bit of shopping together. As we were getting close to the end of our shopping, we stopped to look at the Blu Ray selections. A number of James Bond movies were on the shelf- older 60's and 70's titles, and for some strange reason the Paul McCartney-penned "World Without Love" which was recorded by the British duo of Peter & Gordon popped into my mind and just would no leave. Getting a song stuck in my head is no big deal, but this song had absolutely no association with any of the James Bond films, as far as I know.
On to html, which is looking more and more like rocket science every day. This is partly my fault, as I've been trying to make progress, but using three different computers with three different operating systems, I don't know all- I do know for certain is that the progress has been slow.
I need to turn briefly to Windows 8. At this point, I'm neither a fanboy (and the likelihood of that happening is small) nor a hater. I actually had to look up the correct spelling of likelihood as my first spelling earned me a red squiggly underscore. Who knew that a spelling error would lead to the following-
"In statistics, a likelihood function (often simply the likelihood) is a function of the parameters of a statistical model, defined as follows: the likelihood of a set of parameter values, θ, given some observed outcomes, x, is equal to the probability of those observed outcomes given those parameter values." Thanks, wikipedia.
Who knew? Well, I suppose any statisticians that may be reading this blog. But, other than those? I digress... back to Windows 8. There are some things I really do like about it, like the really fast launch and shutdown. It's also pretty easy to move between applications, similar to Windows 7. Applications also launch pretty quickly, and I'm okay with using the touchpad like a smartphone screen. One thing Microsoft missed the mark on is the display, though. If it's designed to work as a touch interface, but most PCs don't have a touch interface, why not just enable the mouse to emulate touch?
Now for the unpleasantness. Everything is hidden. I'm not going to get into the whole "Start" button debate, but I had this experience: I was doing something a few days ago and wanted to make a quick calculation. Normally, the sequence of events would be something like Start>Programs>Accessories>Calculator. In Windows 8, the sequence is something like this: look for the calculator. Fail. Search the entire HDD. Ah- there it is! Now, what did I need the calculator for?
I just now tried to locate it again, and again had to go through the same search the whole HDD procedure. I give up- I put a shortcut on the real desktop. On the plus side, it's really nice calculator.
I think that, with that, I'm going to put this post to bed (figuratively speaking, of course, as it's ~1230 and the sun is being cheerful. Too bloody cheerful for my faux sour mood).
Have a joy joy day. Me? I'm off to look at pictures of kittens on Facebook, although I'm not certain that even kittens can bring me out of my faux funk.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Post XXV
Twenty-five is one of those things that just looks good in Roman numerals. There's a fair amount of geeky yuks and thrills going on at Ye Old Secret Underground Lair, so I thought an update was appropriate.
So, I guess starting with last night... well, actually, early Friday morning... yup. Friday morning. I've got this quote (I think it's from Larry-Boy and the Fib from Outer Space), "HTML, good buddy!" At the beginning of this particular VeggieTales episode, we find Bob the Cucumber trying to explain some fairly ordinary technology to Bob the Tomato. Bob, of course, is a technophobe, and Larry is trying to encourage him to get with the program and stuff. In the course of the conversation, Larry spouts off some geek terminology, and "HTML good buddy!" has ever since stuck in my mind. And this, one may wonder, has just exactly what to do with a blog which has the unifying theme of a database?
Well, while data is certainly the muscle and substance of the internet, HTML and a few other languages are its skeleton. I finally took the plunge, at around 0230 Friday 12 Apr 2013, into HTML. I'm starting at the very beginning of HTML 5- the moral equivalent of "HELLO WORLD". And this starting point is somewhat humorous, because for the relative briefest of moments- sometime between 2000-2002 - I was a webmaster. I'm not going to mention the firm, but it was small and privately held, and dead set on NOT doing business on the internet. I think they still are, as even though the information on the site is up to date, it still has the same pre-2000, very non-interactive design that it had while I maintained it.
So, I'm starting from scratch. After a fair amount of casual research over the past few weeks, I sat down last night at the laptop and started going through the first tutorial on htmldog.com. I also have a book in my tech library HTML5 for Masterminds by J.D. Gauchat. I skimmed the first chapter of the book, and it looks like it will be helpful.
Next news is that Big Kitty (officially known as Schwarz) breached the defenses of the Secret Underground Lair on two fronts. The second will be dealt with this weekend, but the first, main breech was the door. The door is old, and the door knob is also old. Some inner part gave up the ghost earlier this week, and the door would no longer stay shut. Fortunately Wonderwoman (officially known as Jennifer by most and Mom to a select few) removed the defective workings and put in a gently used but functional new latch-thingey.
And finally, as I've mentioned that XXV is something of a special number, I'd like to take a moment to thank my world-wide audience for virtually hanging out with me for a bit and taking the time to read my meandering musings. Although I know very few of my readers by name, I hope that a shout out to your country will suffice as far as thanks goes. After all, readers are the driving force of blogs.
Thanks to the kind folks of: Australia, Austria, China, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. I guess I'm a bit naive at times, but having readers in seventeen countries is pretty cool- and a bit humbling. So thanks again, everyone! I promise not to go all maudlin again until post fifty.
So, I guess starting with last night... well, actually, early Friday morning... yup. Friday morning. I've got this quote (I think it's from Larry-Boy and the Fib from Outer Space), "HTML, good buddy!" At the beginning of this particular VeggieTales episode, we find Bob the Cucumber trying to explain some fairly ordinary technology to Bob the Tomato. Bob, of course, is a technophobe, and Larry is trying to encourage him to get with the program and stuff. In the course of the conversation, Larry spouts off some geek terminology, and "HTML good buddy!" has ever since stuck in my mind. And this, one may wonder, has just exactly what to do with a blog which has the unifying theme of a database?
Well, while data is certainly the muscle and substance of the internet, HTML and a few other languages are its skeleton. I finally took the plunge, at around 0230 Friday 12 Apr 2013, into HTML. I'm starting at the very beginning of HTML 5- the moral equivalent of "HELLO WORLD". And this starting point is somewhat humorous, because for the relative briefest of moments- sometime between 2000-2002 - I was a webmaster. I'm not going to mention the firm, but it was small and privately held, and dead set on NOT doing business on the internet. I think they still are, as even though the information on the site is up to date, it still has the same pre-2000, very non-interactive design that it had while I maintained it.
So, I'm starting from scratch. After a fair amount of casual research over the past few weeks, I sat down last night at the laptop and started going through the first tutorial on htmldog.com. I also have a book in my tech library HTML5 for Masterminds by J.D. Gauchat. I skimmed the first chapter of the book, and it looks like it will be helpful.
Next news is that Big Kitty (officially known as Schwarz) breached the defenses of the Secret Underground Lair on two fronts. The second will be dealt with this weekend, but the first, main breech was the door. The door is old, and the door knob is also old. Some inner part gave up the ghost earlier this week, and the door would no longer stay shut. Fortunately Wonderwoman (officially known as Jennifer by most and Mom to a select few) removed the defective workings and put in a gently used but functional new latch-thingey.
And finally, as I've mentioned that XXV is something of a special number, I'd like to take a moment to thank my world-wide audience for virtually hanging out with me for a bit and taking the time to read my meandering musings. Although I know very few of my readers by name, I hope that a shout out to your country will suffice as far as thanks goes. After all, readers are the driving force of blogs.
Thanks to the kind folks of: Australia, Austria, China, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. I guess I'm a bit naive at times, but having readers in seventeen countries is pretty cool- and a bit humbling. So thanks again, everyone! I promise not to go all maudlin again until post fifty.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A Red Letter Day In History
No, not November 5, 1955, which of course, is the day Doc banged his head on the sink and came up with the idea for the flux capacitor. No, in fact my red letter day in history ( as far as this blog is concerned, anyway) is March 13, 2011- the day Forty-Two was born.
In two+ years, this database hasn't grown a great deal, but it sure has matured. It started out with a simple basis of some basic tables, and, as experience grew and normalization was constantly (I hope) applied, it grew to where it is today. As I am the chief cook and bottlewasher of this database, it's been grown slowly and hopefully with a great deal of precision. I am completely responsible for garbage in/garbage out.
I took a look today, and was surprised to see t was over two years old! In that time it has actually shrank, as one of the tables with fixed data was cut down by ~84%. This is good and bad- good, in that the database is smaller and more efficient; bad, in that I have a smaller dataset to brag about!
So, today's blog is pretty much all database... what a concept for a blog based upon a database! I spent about ninety minutes on data entry today, concentrating on updating Blu Ray movies which we own. In the ninety minutes I counted as data entry, I was able to enter twelve movies into the database. Let's see, that's one movie every 7.5 minutes. For what it's worth, I do type quicker than that. There was more than one reason for the high average input time. Access gave me some fits on some data that had been previously entered, but which was now not recognized. Two or three of the records experienced this glitch, where a value (record) in one table was not recognized in another table. This was disconcerting, as I could open the originating table and clearly see the value, but when I tried to enter it into target table, it did not show up as a valid value. I do not know how I fixed this, however, as I rapidly deleted, closed, opened, saved, etc. until something worked. The only thing the "problem" records had in common was spelling similarity. I was updating movies, and the two that gave me issues were "Red" and "Paul". Both of these were entered after similar titles, "Red Dawn" and "Paulie". I think in the end I deleted all of the problem records and reentered them. I think I've seen a glitch similar to this in Excel before, but it was a first in Access.
My main table now has 843 records, which is twelve more than my last count. I'm not a huge fan of (doing) inventory or data entry, but today's work was quite satisfying. Additionally, I've added a URL field to one of the tables, which looks to be quite the promising addition.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
In two+ years, this database hasn't grown a great deal, but it sure has matured. It started out with a simple basis of some basic tables, and, as experience grew and normalization was constantly (I hope) applied, it grew to where it is today. As I am the chief cook and bottlewasher of this database, it's been grown slowly and hopefully with a great deal of precision. I am completely responsible for garbage in/garbage out.
I took a look today, and was surprised to see t was over two years old! In that time it has actually shrank, as one of the tables with fixed data was cut down by ~84%. This is good and bad- good, in that the database is smaller and more efficient; bad, in that I have a smaller dataset to brag about!
So, today's blog is pretty much all database... what a concept for a blog based upon a database! I spent about ninety minutes on data entry today, concentrating on updating Blu Ray movies which we own. In the ninety minutes I counted as data entry, I was able to enter twelve movies into the database. Let's see, that's one movie every 7.5 minutes. For what it's worth, I do type quicker than that. There was more than one reason for the high average input time. Access gave me some fits on some data that had been previously entered, but which was now not recognized. Two or three of the records experienced this glitch, where a value (record) in one table was not recognized in another table. This was disconcerting, as I could open the originating table and clearly see the value, but when I tried to enter it into target table, it did not show up as a valid value. I do not know how I fixed this, however, as I rapidly deleted, closed, opened, saved, etc. until something worked. The only thing the "problem" records had in common was spelling similarity. I was updating movies, and the two that gave me issues were "Red" and "Paul". Both of these were entered after similar titles, "Red Dawn" and "Paulie". I think in the end I deleted all of the problem records and reentered them. I think I've seen a glitch similar to this in Excel before, but it was a first in Access.
My main table now has 843 records, which is twelve more than my last count. I'm not a huge fan of (doing) inventory or data entry, but today's work was quite satisfying. Additionally, I've added a URL field to one of the tables, which looks to be quite the promising addition.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Who does that, anyway? (Part 2)
The saga of Jennifer's PC continues.
When we had last visited this beastie, HDD issues were the order of the day. I honestly don't remember what happened, but that the issue is gone. For the moment. This week's disaster du jour was something along the lines of The A+ Team Nightmare From Elm Street. Two weeks ago I had installed Nero, and on the slate for this past week was the installation of a graphics card. As we had some running around to do, we accepted the offer of assistance from our younger son. Upon returning from our errand, he informed us that a PSU (power supply unit) with more power than the stock HP unit would be necessary. Not a problem, I thought, as we have more than a few spares. I selected one, then prepped the machine. I laid down some old newspaper on the table, brought the box in and laid it on its side. I pulled the cover off and proceeded to disconnect the 24-pin main power from the mobo, followed by the 4-pin power and the SATA connectors. Then, I unscrewed the mounting screws from the rear of the old PSU, and grabbed the cables and removed it from the case. I replaced the HP unit with an Antec Earthwatts 380W unit.
Um, that would be a no-go... the graphics card needs a minimum of 400W. So, Mr. T and I made a trip to our local Tiger Direct store and picked up a very reasonably priced 500W ThermalTake unit and returned home. I unboxed it, and placed it in the case.
It did not fit properly; when the mounting holes were lined up with the holes on the rear of the case, the fan faced up. As this PSU is mounted in the topmost part of the case, this was not an acceptable solution. I pulled it out, and grabbed another- a 600W Rosewill. Same story. Then, it hit me: the problem was not the PSUs, it was the mobo. I took a quick inventory of PCs in our house (living and dead), and discovered
that- other than a gaming Dell that belongs to Mr. T- every other PC in the house had the I/O mounted on the opposite side of the case. So, if you ever find yourself in possession of an HP DC7800, expect a fairly painful video upgrade. Jennifer looked at me, and she had that odd twinkle in her eyes when she said, "Can't we just mod the case"? Ack! I think Bill the Cat was in accord with me. Ack!
I did what any self-respecting spouse would do at that point: "Sweetheart, if you want to mod the case, go for it." For anyone who
does not know us, we have a fairly eclectic collective skillset. Generally, I am in charge of all things I.T. I do purchases, upgrades, and installations.
However, Jennifer is in charge of craft and construction. And where installation and construction intersect, we brainstorm. She thought about this for some time, and tried a few solutions out on me; I had to tell her that I just couldn't see what she was describing. We tried several different approaches: the only thing we knew for sure was that the PSU was going in upside down, and that at least one piece of sheet metal was coming off the rear of the box, a blank that was blocking a good part of the power plug.
The only thing I had to offer was something she actually incorporated in her solution- Erector. Remember Erector sets? They're bloody difficult to search for these days, as the French firm Meccano owns Erector. I think. In any event, many years ago, I had purchased one or two small pre-Meccano Erector sets. The really, really old Erector was a shiny stamped steel- not an I-beam, but stiffened by having the edges rolled 180 degrees, sort of like this: n__n. Very strong on one axis, but weak on the other, and when they were bent, they were useless. The sets I had purchased as an adult (pre-Meccano, I think) were simpler flat stampings. They are visible in "The Finished Product" picture above. She used three 2-hole "beams" from the Erector parts, and a pair of 6-32 screws (PC standard), with lock washers and hex nuts from Menard's (a U.S. hardware chain of stores). It looks like the PC has Frankenstein terminals from above!
With the PSU installed, the ball was now back in my court. I checked the sparse XFX instructions, and installed the graphics card in the PCI slot. I made sure the card did not require power from other than the bus, and after double-checking that everything was seated and connected properly, I closed up the case.
I picked it up and put it back in it's home. I connected the DVI cable to the new video card, as well as all of the other cables. I pushed the power button.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nichts. It was dead.
After that bit of panic, I remembered that the new PSU has a power switch. Okay- we're back in business. I flipped that, and the box booted right up. I go to login...
...and the keyboard does not work.
Now, this is an HP box, and the reseller sold it with a Dell keyboard, mouse and recovery disk. Whatever- I ask Mr. T to grab another keyboard, and he comes up with ANOTHER Dell. No go. Bring me something other than Dell. He does.
Apple compatible.
No go.
At this point, I tell him, "Bring me a PS2 keyboard- round purple connector." He chafes at this, wanting to try something else. I am at my wits end, and inform him that I want a PS2 keyboard, which he finally produces. Progress- I reboot, and the keyboard works. I go to install the video card software, and finally get all of that working, and am left with... no sound. After several restarts, I am mucking around in the startup menu where I discover that internal sound (*somehow*) has been disabled. I *enable* internal sound, and the PC starts normally, complete with Windows XP welcome sound.
The PC works just fine now. Now, I need to do some cable housekeeping.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
When we had last visited this beastie, HDD issues were the order of the day. I honestly don't remember what happened, but that the issue is gone. For the moment. This week's disaster du jour was something along the lines of The A+ Team Nightmare From Elm Street. Two weeks ago I had installed Nero, and on the slate for this past week was the installation of a graphics card. As we had some running around to do, we accepted the offer of assistance from our younger son. Upon returning from our errand, he informed us that a PSU (power supply unit) with more power than the stock HP unit would be necessary. Not a problem, I thought, as we have more than a few spares. I selected one, then prepped the machine. I laid down some old newspaper on the table, brought the box in and laid it on its side. I pulled the cover off and proceeded to disconnect the 24-pin main power from the mobo, followed by the 4-pin power and the SATA connectors. Then, I unscrewed the mounting screws from the rear of the old PSU, and grabbed the cables and removed it from the case. I replaced the HP unit with an Antec Earthwatts 380W unit.
 |
| Looking down @ OEM PSU |
It did not fit properly; when the mounting holes were lined up with the holes on the rear of the case, the fan faced up. As this PSU is mounted in the topmost part of the case, this was not an acceptable solution. I pulled it out, and grabbed another- a 600W Rosewill. Same story. Then, it hit me: the problem was not the PSUs, it was the mobo. I took a quick inventory of PCs in our house (living and dead), and discovered
 |
| Jennifer and her Mototool |
I did what any self-respecting spouse would do at that point: "Sweetheart, if you want to mod the case, go for it." For anyone who
does not know us, we have a fairly eclectic collective skillset. Generally, I am in charge of all things I.T. I do purchases, upgrades, and installations.
 |
| The finished product |
However, Jennifer is in charge of craft and construction. And where installation and construction intersect, we brainstorm. She thought about this for some time, and tried a few solutions out on me; I had to tell her that I just couldn't see what she was describing. We tried several different approaches: the only thing we knew for sure was that the PSU was going in upside down, and that at least one piece of sheet metal was coming off the rear of the box, a blank that was blocking a good part of the power plug.
The only thing I had to offer was something she actually incorporated in her solution- Erector. Remember Erector sets? They're bloody difficult to search for these days, as the French firm Meccano owns Erector. I think. In any event, many years ago, I had purchased one or two small pre-Meccano Erector sets. The really, really old Erector was a shiny stamped steel- not an I-beam, but stiffened by having the edges rolled 180 degrees, sort of like this: n__n. Very strong on one axis, but weak on the other, and when they were bent, they were useless. The sets I had purchased as an adult (pre-Meccano, I think) were simpler flat stampings. They are visible in "The Finished Product" picture above. She used three 2-hole "beams" from the Erector parts, and a pair of 6-32 screws (PC standard), with lock washers and hex nuts from Menard's (a U.S. hardware chain of stores). It looks like the PC has Frankenstein terminals from above!
With the PSU installed, the ball was now back in my court. I checked the sparse XFX instructions, and installed the graphics card in the PCI slot. I made sure the card did not require power from other than the bus, and after double-checking that everything was seated and connected properly, I closed up the case.
I picked it up and put it back in it's home. I connected the DVI cable to the new video card, as well as all of the other cables. I pushed the power button.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nichts. It was dead.
After that bit of panic, I remembered that the new PSU has a power switch. Okay- we're back in business. I flipped that, and the box booted right up. I go to login...
...and the keyboard does not work.
Now, this is an HP box, and the reseller sold it with a Dell keyboard, mouse and recovery disk. Whatever- I ask Mr. T to grab another keyboard, and he comes up with ANOTHER Dell. No go. Bring me something other than Dell. He does.
Apple compatible.
No go.
At this point, I tell him, "Bring me a PS2 keyboard- round purple connector." He chafes at this, wanting to try something else. I am at my wits end, and inform him that I want a PS2 keyboard, which he finally produces. Progress- I reboot, and the keyboard works. I go to install the video card software, and finally get all of that working, and am left with... no sound. After several restarts, I am mucking around in the startup menu where I discover that internal sound (*somehow*) has been disabled. I *enable* internal sound, and the PC starts normally, complete with Windows XP welcome sound.
The PC works just fine now. Now, I need to do some cable housekeeping.
As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.
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