More geeking ahead of me.

[nolawitch58]

Pete brought over some more monitors and cases containing various parts. He's coming back on Friday all day to put together some more Frankensystems and eat meatloaf. Corpsman's system is configured to his liking and he'll be on it all night playing poker online no doubt. He might even venture over to User Friendly where I made him an account (because I forgot my freaking password again). Considering the additional computer stuff we just got in, I'm thinking about building him a new one that will run faster than the 233 MMX Pentium he's got. His will then be rotated off to another needy person. I've got a short list of three people who would like a computer.

I helped Nancy pin and cut out my dress today. I hope March 20th isn't cold; the material is pretty thin.

I updated my resume to include basic networking as a skill.

Comments

Too bad you're so far away...

[apweiler.livejournal.com]

I have a spare box standing around at 'home' (which, incidentally, is about 850 km from where I am now) that might be useful. It's a K6-2 550 MHz, lots of RAM and disk space, decent video card, sound and network, running XP Pro, fully configured and functional apart from some sound issues (that are unlikely to ever be solved - I've changed sound cards, video cards and operating systems, and none of that solved them. Seems to be a motherboard problem).

Ah well. I'll probably find a use for it soon enough (i.e. next time I'm there). Maybe give it to my grandmother for e-mail and such. I think I also have *several* P200-class systems. Well, enough parts to build them, anyway...

Re: Too bad you're so far away...

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

We've got a large pile of parts and such already. Friday, we're going to weed out the bad stuff and put together working systems from the good stuff. I always enjoy delivering a working system to someone who doesn't have enough money to buy a new one. I'll probably start weeding through the pile today and getting a little ahead of the game so that I can haul a system over to a friend's for delivery on Saturday.

You could probably find others in your area to geek with for similar ends. Gather all your parts together in one place and start building systems. I get to host our geek sessions because I have a test bench and an attic in which to store excess parts.

Re: Too bad you're so far away...

[apweiler.livejournal.com]

Well, I know a few geeks and potential recipients for Frankensystems back home, and I have quite a stockpile of parts. Although to be honest, I don't know a lot of people who can't afford new computers. My family is quite well off, and most of the people we know are even richer...

The problem here in Exeter is that I'm a student and so are most of the people I know here. This means that we all live in student houses, i.e. little space and short-term tenancy agreements, so we all have our stockpiles back home at our parents' homes.

Anyway, I did the weeding-out job this summer. Threw away several boxes of completely broken parts. Still have huge heaps of stuff, much of which is too old to be of any use.

OK. Better get back to my exam revision...

What's the project all about?

[real-skeptic.livejournal.com]

It sounds as if you're continuing an old discussion, but I know for a fact that you are only here for a few days... So what is this all about?

Re: What's the project all about?

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

What project? Building Frankensystems? We've been building Frankensystems for several years now. We pool our spare parts and cobble together machines that we can give to some poor person or family who cannot afford a computer. I never have problems finding someone who wants a free computer. A few of my friends are recipients of the first Frankensystems until their financial situations improved enough for them to afford new ones. I've noticed that as soon as they have mastered their free computer with older technology, the access to the internet provides enough incentive for them to strive for better. When they get new systems, they either pass their old one on to someone else or give it back to me to be refurbished for someone else.

I've talked about Frankensystems so often on User Friendly, I figured there was already context. I don't have anyone read my LJ who isn't also a UFie (or ex-UFie).

Ah, now I get it

[real-skeptic.livejournal.com]

It sounded a bit like you were turning your home into a computer laboratory from the descriptions.

It looks like an excellent kind of charity. Both interesting and useful. But I swear I never heard that word before. I guess I was off UFie planet for too long.

Frankensystems: built from dead or assumed dead parts.

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

I love horror films and one of my favorites is "Young Frankenstein". Pete, my friend I geek with the most, also loves that film. When we put together our first one, we called it a Frankensystem in honor of our favorite flick. I swore off building them after a particularly difficult one rolled off the test bench. I couldn't resist the urge for more than a year.

Utterly off topic:

[saminz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the candle, NOLA, I sure can use some extra witchcraft ;-)!