Yrae Chronicles

I MADE A COMPUTER. I'm very proud of myself. I've been toying with the idea for a few months, figuring my old graphics card was on its last legs and also wanting a shiny new 4k monitor. My second monitor has for YEARS had some sort of a loose connection inside it which means having to go desk diving every time I'd turn the computer on, unplug and replug the monitor until it stops with the alarming light show and just shows desktop. So I was going to ditch that one and downgrade first monitor to second monitor... then first monitor started getting horizontal grey pixel lines across the whole screen, and I decided stuff it, let's just upgrade the whole damn system.

I had no freaking clue what I was doing except that I know what parts a computer requires to function (processor, motherboard, etc and so on), and I can Google. So. Started with a swanky 12th gen Intel Core i7 processor, under the assumption this thing will last for a solid decade like the last one has done and, honestly, continues to do. Googled to find a motherboard from MSY's stock list (MSY is a computer bits shop in the city) which would support the processor while going 'I don't know what I'm doiiiinnnnng but this looks fine, right?' Then the only 8GB graphics card they had for less than a grand because holy shit graphics cards are expensive, but they have been since a) covid destroyed supply lines and also b) data mining has made them a thing data miners buy to run into the ground and make money off them till they're dead. So. I hate crypto. Anwya. 2x 16GB of ram, which was the most I could get for said motherboard, and... frig what else. Power supply and a new case. Figured I'd need a new power supply, since the last time I got a new PC (which brother built, I just paid for it) and we tried reusing the power supply from the old one, it didn't have the guts. Got a new case because I didn't trust myself to put it together right and still wanted the old machine functioning in the inevitable case I screwed it up. Also new case is WAY smaller and cuter.

Thing to know about MSY: they are famously zero service. You go in with your list, if what you want isn't in stock they won't give a recommendation of an alternative so it's up to you to pick one, no advice if the bits your buying will actually function and if you fuck it up, that's totally on you because you picked the wrong thing. This is fine, this is what they are, you expect it. I took my list in and dude looked it over and went 'yep, all looks pretty good, but how about this motherboard instead because [reasons]? Oh and I think we've got this other graphics card which is cheaper but actually technically better than that one... no wait they dropped the price of this one, you're good! Also how about this RAM for another $10? It's more stable than the one you've picked.' DUDE SO HELPFUL OMG. I was not expecting that, so so grateful.

Went to Hardly Normal to get screens, only to see them pulling the security door down just as I got there. So. That sucked. Officeworks was out of the same screen and JB HiFi was also closed, so called that a bust and figured I'd pick them up tomorrow.

So I took all my bits home, found a manual online for the motherboard and set about plugging everything in, sticking all the teeny weeny little plugs in the case onto the teeny weeny little pins on the case, trying to figure out the difference between 'Audio' and 'Sound' plugs and generally having NO idea what I was doing but being excited when the CPU fan made a satisfying click. Also discovered my old machine actually had four disks, not the two I anticipated--three SSDs and a monster 3TB hard disk. So, added a 1TB and a 500MB SSD to my list for tomorrow.

Hardly Normal put the price of the monitors up by $300 each overnight, arseholes, so got them from JB HiFi instead, stoll $150 each more than what I'd seen on Hardly Normal the previous night but whatever. Two new SSDs, took them home and opened them up and they are tiny. It's literally just a chip, like, twice the size of a USB stick. No cables or anything it just plugs straight into the motherboard and clips in there. So weird. How long have they been that tiny for? Idek.

Plug in one monitor, plug in power, turn on power and LIFE HAPPENED. The LED on the keyboard turned on and the laser on the mouse and all its power LEDs on the case and the sodding RAM lit up with rainbows, which I wasn't expecting and I DID IT I MADE A COMPUTER AND IT FUNCTIONS. The screen didn't turn on at first, but Sallie helped me find out I needed to plug it into the graphics card, not the motherboard, so did that and the monitor, too, turned on! My thinking was that you'd want as few connections as possible when you're testing the thing out to make sure it works, but nope, works on the graphics card, not the motherboard. Whatever it's fine, this was the only error I made on my FIRST PC BUILD I'm so proud.

I did need some extra bits. Fans, because the case didn't come with fans and it was overheating in the beginning. HDMI connector, because the new, smaller case puts the back of it far enough away from the backof the desk now that the 2m cables which came with the monitors aren't QUITE long enough to reach and a connector is way cheaper than a 3m HDMI cable. HDMI to... DisplayPort convertor. Because three of the four outputs on the graphics card are DisplayPorts. So many new things. And they look almost identical to HDMI ports so I was trying to shove the cable in and wondering what I was doing wrong and it just would not go. Anyway. Got that in.

AND NOW GLORIOUS. 4k monitors are SO BEAUTIFUL. I can barely see the pixels. And they're smart monitors, too, so they've got their own apps in the sodding screen, so I put the cricket on Foxtel on monitor two while I was installing drivers and software and rebooting the computer a dozen times on monitor 1, while monitor 2 just keeps on with the cricket.

When I went back to get the fans and the cable bits I talked to the same dude and he was so impressed I did it first time on my first build and I just alkjshghklajshd I'm stoked. I already drew a thing, which have previously been getting drawn at 900x900 because that'd fit perfectly on my old screen in Photoshop. For the redraws I've been making them 300dpi for printing at around A4, making them a tad over 2000x2000. It almost completely fits in the window without any zooming, and with my refs off to the left so I can still have videos on monitor 2.

I'm so happy. I MADE THIS and it WORKS.

Frig, over a month again, damnit. I'm 33 now! Yay! Also we have a new PM. Again. In the past eight years we've had two elections but six Prime Ministers. Wtf.

August has been my month of getting shit done. I made a big list at the beginning of the month of all the stuff that's been piling up to get done, some big and some little, and I've just about crossed it all off. I've cleaned the oven, washed the kitchen walls (I have no exhaust fan, so the smoke and steam from cooking congeal and drip down the walls. It's great), cleaned and reorganised the fridge and cleaned and reorganised the pantry. Fixed a shelf in the studio that Rory broke by jumping on it too many times, so he's not allowed in the studio anymore.

I've organised for more quotes for turning my cupboard into a display cabinet, this time contacting glaziers, because the only quote I managed to get out of cabinet makers was over 5 grand. So. Emailed ten glaziers, five said it's outside their scope (of whom two said I should go to cabinet makers), three didn't get back to me and the other two came around on Tuesday morning to get measurements. I've got one quote back so far, which is a titchy smidge over 2k so that's aaaalmost within my 1.5-2k budget. I'm just waiting on the other quote then I reckon I'll make a move and get this thing installed. Woo!

I bought a duster and dusted, turned the posts on the cat tree upside down so he can scratch at the top of the posts again (he's all but destroyed what was previously the tops) and swapped over the hard disks in my laptops. Shwiggy, which had a shiny new solid state disk installed about 2 years ago, no longer charges so it's exclusively used for Foxtel now. And then there's N00b, bought at the beginning of the year, which had only a regular 1TB hard disk because it was $300 cheaper and I already had a shiny SSD. So finally I got around to swapping the disks over.

Dry cleaned my coat, wherein they lost one of the buttons that made me buy the thing in the first place and then tried to blame me for it. Thankfully I had a spare, but I'm totally going to leave them a Google review on this =| Not happy. On that note, did some clothing maintenance and sewed up holes, reattached other buttons, chucked out some beyond repair stuff.

Done weeding, swept the shed, swept the cobwebs out and sprayed it over with surface spray, cleaned and vacuumed the car interior (not exterior cos it'll get rained on within the week), done my taxes, done the last bits for getting my home loan refinanced and reopened a bank account that had closed itself due to inactivity.

I have an outline for the Tsayth NaNo which I'm pretty happy with, though I'll revisit that in a month to see if I'm still happy.

Finally, and I mean that in every sense of the word, I finished Kate Hawtin's website! She's currently in Greece so haven't been able to see it, but I'm pretty stoked. Still a bit of back end stuff, like obviously getting her domain/hosting and then converting it to a Wordpress site she'll be able to update herself, but this is the beginning of my portfolio of websites. It's been a looong time coming. I'd like another one, maybe two websites, then I can pretty confidently prove to prospective employers that yes, I can design a goddamn website you blind arseholes. Now I've got this one, though, I'm going to start applying again. Never know, that one could be enough to prove myself.

Two things yet to cross off the list, but I'll get them done this weekend, I hope. I'm so excited for the glasses cabinet! It actually feels doable now! I was so close to giving up and either leaving it as is or halfarsing it somehow, but now I feel like it's going to happen really soon. WOO!

And then I impulse bought a second monitor and a phone.

Well, not QUITE impulse. I've been casually wanting a second monitor for years, and my phone's lack of space has been bugging me for ages, so at work today I researched phones and screens. And Samsung had a white screen. And no reviews anywhere could say a bad word about the Moto G. And Officeworks had BOTH so I headed around there after work.

The phone requires a micro SIM card, so can't actually use it as yet. Still, all the more reason to switch networks, since TPG moved from the Optus network to Vodafone's. Also there are lime green covers for it. Just sayin'.

I set the monitor up as soon as I got home 8D SO PRETTY. It's 3 inches bigger than the other one but the same resolution, which is funny. Also seems to be brighter. And white! Slowly my digital stuff is getting to match the room ♥ The webcam, speakers, scanner and printer are all still black, along with of course the 'old' monitor, but they all still function perfectly and are too expensive to replace just for colour. I just realised these speakers are the only thing from the original computer that I haven't replaced. I inherited them from Colin over a decade ago, and he'd owned them for a while before then. Welp, they'll stay a long while yet.

YAY TECH.

IT WOOOOOORKS <3 <3 <3 Turns out the graphics card had just been dislodged on the way back down the hill. So literally required a bit of poking to get it working. YAY. Now I get to INSTALL ALL THE SHIT. ALL OF IT. Big huge pieces of poo first, like, CS6 and GW. Anything that needs cracking... yep :D

I'm a happy 'narti.

Also my tablet seems to be better at scrolling than it was before, so that's nice. Must be the new driver.

SO. My phone sounds like this when I get a message, and this when I get a call. Yes, I am a geek. But also awesome, I think you will agree. I wanted Zoidberg's 'whoop whoop whoop' but failed miserably in finding that, and gave up when I found the Professor's 'good news everyone!' (as part of a longer clip, but I have Quicktime Pro and could cut that bit out :D).

Surprisingly, Yoshi's Island theme tune was much easier to find, after sifting through heaps of pages with only midis, but yay~ Yoshi <3 I love Yoshi a lot, you mighta gathered. Faaavourite game on the SNES *^^*