Fandom
Okay, I really have to replace the fan in this power supply. Anyone out there have something from their computer graveyard that would help?
I need Apple part #661-2303 (power supply for a G4 AGP Sawtooth Power Mac). Sometimes the part # 614-0108 can also be seen on said power supply.
Of course, all I really need from it is the internal fan. If someone has a dead supply with a working fan, or already has the fan lying loose and still functional, that would be just fine too 🙂
I canna give you any more power!
For the past year, the fan in the power supply on my G4 has been making a grinding noise. This week it got loud enough to drive raininva to distraction, so she asked me to please fix it. (Frankly, I was sick of listening to it too.) Replacement Apple power supplies run $130 – $230 on the web, so that was right out. Besides, it was only the fan itself.
I pulled the power supply out, then the fan, and took it to CompUSA. They had a wide variety of fans, but although several were exactly the right size and shape, they had three-pin connectors instead of two-pin, and the amperage ratings were different, which worried me. The technical guy there strongly suggested I just get a new power supply. (Fans are $10, power supplies $40. Hmm.)
Apparently, my G4 can use a standard ATX power supply, but the motherboard connector pinouts are slightly different, and I’d have to splice some wires (and me without a soldering iron or, indeed, much soldering practice). Also, my power supply is 237 watt. I think I can use a 250 safely, but I don’t know that.
On a better note, we played Plague and Pestilence and Dork Tower at Card Night last night, and both games went over well. Dork Tower even came with a free 8-page mini version of Dork FRAG, which means that by taking advantage of the Dragon*Con sale, I got two games for the price of half of one. Not bad!
Soooo tired.
Parallel computing universes
Damn.
Turns out all the web rumors were true. All Macintoshes will be Intel-based by the end of 2007. This is from Steve Jobs’ own lips at WWDC.
Just checked the calendar… it’s not April 1st.
My job’s just gotten more interesting.
Fwip!
I got a forwarded email about ip addesses today. The subject line was “fwip”. This is brought to you by the Easily Amused Association.
I saw the screener for the new Doctor Who this week, and really liked it. The episode was fun, and avoided Fox’s mistake of trying to cram too much continuity down a new viewer’s throat – though there were a few tips of the hat to we long-term fans. I was going to post some specific opinions behind a spoiler cut, but I can wait until after Technicon to do that. I imagine that TV torrent sites are getting more queries on “rose” right now than the last time “The Bachelor” got pre-empted. I’m looking forward to more!
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately reading the archives at http://www.randi.org/ – some of the anecdotes are pretty wild. I can’t honestly say I’m likely to attain the level of skepticism displayed by Randi or the late Carl Sagan, but I did work out at an early age that there are a lot of charlatans out there waiting to take advantage of anyone they can. I’m a tongue-in-cheek adherent of Discordianism partially because it doesn’t want my money and would be disappointed in me if I started doing everything it told me to 🙂
Part of the fun of being Tech Support here is getting to play legitimately with the Developer Preview of OS X 10.4. Shiny beta plaything!
MacWrite? What’s that?
It’s quite trying to have to find 15-year-old install floppies so one can access archived stuff in an obsolete format. (And find a floppy drive while I’m at it.)
I should just thank Eris that the old software even runs. I need one of those Federation tricorders that can access 1000-year-old alien logs in 20-30 seconds of thinking.
Phase One complete
Yes, Virginia, you can fit a futon, mattress and all, in a Hyundai Elantra.
Spent my first night in the new house. The room I’ve slept in for the past three months had crappy A/C, but this morning I woke up a bit chilly – raininva will be pleased. Glad I found my bathrobe in the move. This week I start unpacking what I have with me of my office, which is little more than a mess of boxes at the moment. The commute is easier (it seems so far) than the previous commute, which is nice. I have to find out why the smoke alarm emits random stifled beeps all day, but last night I was far too tired to notice.
Had the sense to take some ibuprofen before bed, so didn’t wake up too sore.
So, it seems a Mac shareware developer released an app which, if you enter a pirated serial number, erases your Home directory – your system and applications survive, but every personal document, music file, movie, e-mail, website, password, etc. is GONE. So, is this just desserts for pirates, or equivalent to burning someone’s house down for punching you in the nose? Discuss.
My body needs a better firewall
Yesterday started good. I didn’t feel well when I got up in the morning, but I never feel well if I get up before 10am, so I didn’t think twice about it. In the first half of my work day, I completed the resurrection of a dead Titanium PowerBook with a broken hinge and sheared display wires, which was nice bit of ego-boost.
By lunchtime, I realized that my throat was super sore, and I was pretty dehydrated. I took a break and went to the tiny pharmacy a couple doors down, and came back to work. My nose had started running too, so I grabbed some tissues.
By mid-afternoon, there was no doubt that I was sick. I was coughing, blowing my nose, had a nice headache and serious nausea. Throw in some light-headedness and chills, and you know I was really enjoying myself by that time. I had to reassemble an iBook in that condition, too, which as I’ve mentioned has 50 screws in about 10 different sizes. Literally. I figure it was sinus brought on mostly by over-exerting myself over the weekend and the crappy weather on Saturday.
Finally, work was over, but there was an event I had to attend yesterday evening, to insure I’d be properly prepared for something else happening Saturday. I’d have blown it off, but that would have screwed up the next month’s worth of planning. Only problem? No one had sent me directions yet.
I drove to two places where this group had met before, but they weren’t at either place. In desperation, I did my first bit of intentional wardriving: cruising slowly around the residential neighborhood seeing if my iPaq would pick up an open wireless access point. I actually found one, and confirmed that no one had sent me e-mail, so I gave up and headed home.
The good side of that was that I really shouldn’t have been around all those other people when I was sick, and I was able to head to bed early. On top of that, I got home in time to catch a phone call from raininva before I dropped off, and we talked for a good long time, which cheered me up a lot. On the other hand, my upcoming plans are trashed.
I’m still not well, but I’m better than I was yesterday. I can function, and my throat and stomach are mostly okay. If my nose and head would follow suit, I’d be fine. I might even go down to see Tom at the pub tonight.
*snort*
