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I am in recovery from an assault on Fry's
- the electronic toy store for engineers. Software upgrade time!
Adobe Illustrator 8.0!
Acrobat 4.0!
PhotoShop 5.5!
Astound! Image Ready! Clip Art!
Yeah! Go nuts!
Get three cookbooks on CD (All use MasterCook).
Get three more for my co-author.
Get three books on C programming (my son has
a class - I need to refresh my memory!)
Stress the need for multiple references. Keep
saying that. Justifies things.
Go back for another shot at the other Fry's
- tried a Jazz drive.
Cartridges for the Jazz.
Games - for the PlayStation.
My son succumbed - PlayStation stuff.Memory
cards. A target gun.
Well - he is taking art. Three classes worth.
And I have another $1,000+ bill.
The IIci is going down - finally.
And the 3400C, due to go to Toronto, is stuttering.
The G3 notebook waits like a pregnant guppy.
Needs to be loaded. Need to do back-ups. Need
to get the 3400C into service (it is covered in Apple Care - ever since
it had its original fiasco of a repair cycle.)
The G3 notebook will come on-line now.
I tried the Jazz.
Ooops. They packaged the CD folded in half.
They don't load too well that way.
Back to Fry's. Third trip. Focus. Focus. Just
an exchange. Do not get loose on the floor again!
Next version, down a connection SCSI cord.
I have extras - I will make do.
Then, I notice that the cartridges are IBM
formatted.The IIci can "see" it. Can't reformat.
Gak!
I give up.
I am also annoyed.
The IIci can "see" the jazz but not reformat
the cartridges. The 3400C can't "see" it at all. Can't get data
to the Jazz, why do I have it?
So I will have to go back to Fry's once again.
Again, I stay focused.
Of course, by now I have tried to put the
6Gig harddrive onto the 3400C - the backup for the IIci. The 3400C cannot
see the 6Gig either.
So, in the midst of this, I consulted ComputerWare.
They suggested the Orb - a new 2.2Gig removable
drive.
So I take back the Jazz to Fry's. I now have
the Orb in the truck.
The 3400C can "see" the Orb - it is now backed
up.
But I need to switch the operating system
on the IIci (7.5.2) to 7.5.5 so the Orb can see it. Or visa versa. ComputerWare
will help me. Maybe.
And the 6Gig drive will be reformatted for
the 3400C or the G3. Newer format.
The Orb will back up.
The Orb costs 1/3 what a Jazz drive does and
the cartridges are also 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of a Jazz cartridge.
The Orb is SyQuest-like reliability - SyQuest
being the company that the Iomega Zip drove out of business.
Meanwhile, while at ComputerWare, it struck
me.
You know what.
The same fugue that had me bidding on a tall
blond one last year.
Man, not computer.
I felt compelled to acquire not one but two
G3 minitowers. One 400MHz for my son (an opened box) and one new (due
in 4 weeks). I also ordered my 21" monitor. I have been drooling long
enough. Tuesday I picked up the G3.
Of course the minitowers are USB and the new
Epson printer I just bought my son (replaced by the company because the
first one did not work) will not hook up directly to the towers. They
need a special hub or some kind of translation. Ethernet local network.
Guess I now learn networks. I have been avoiding them. Makes sense to
me. Somewhere in here. You need a diagram. We also need to diagram the
house.
But then, we have 3 printers and if we have
a local net chain, they will all fit on it.
My son is as happy as a hog in slop by the
time I pick him up at college on Tuesday and spends all evening setting
up the G3. In his room. Loading software. Petting it.
Somehow he got his G3 first. I made a note
of that. It always works out that way.
He can't wait to brag to his older brother
- who also wants one.
But wait. It gets better.
On booting, the question mark came up and
flashed 17 times before the system loaded.
Hmmmm.
And there are cables and a video connection
and a CD missing. We are not having good luck with previously opened boxes.
He gets the modem up. He gets on-line. He
is up for hours.
Ready for the C compiler I have now also ordered.
The C compiler was what drove the computer
purchase. Remember?
On discussing this the next day with ComputerWare,
we are made aware of the G4. Which was announced the day after we ordered
the G3s. Or y es.
And the fact that the model of G3 we bought
will flash because the SCSI card (internal) won't find the internal boot
drive right away. Takes 1 1/2 minutes. Boo!
A built-in bug. And mine will do this too.
When it arrives. (Actually, I am then informed that I can't get my model
anymore. I have to go G4.)
So we can bring my son's G3 minitower back.
(Repacked of course.) And cancel my order. My son is distraught that evening
when we decide to do this and feels like he has lost a family member.
It was only here 24 hours! He packs it up. He does a good job. But he
waits until the very last minute.
And I drive back in, return it, and I order
two brand-new G4s instead. They are faster, wider bus, bigger hard drives
(20 and 29 GIGABYTES!). DVD. Rage accelerators built in.
My son will, in 30 days, have the G4 minitower
- 450MHz, lots of RAM (356MB - I bought extra), big hard drive, Zip drive,
DVD, 56K modem, fast bus.
The wait will kill him.
And it's not in blue. It's in graphite. We
have now seen the new ad - "It's the first computer to be declared
a weapon" - and the little G4 is surrounded by tanks to protact it.
The Pentiums? Who cares.
I've just bought a Cray computer in a smaller
box! We techies know what I just said.
I will loan him my pristine G3 notebook.
For the C compiler I now have.
So he can do his homework.
Which is what started all this.
The G3 notebook (a mere 300MHz) will drive
the printers.
Now myself, I will have the top of the line
G4 - 500+ MHz, 21" monitor, black and silver. 
Sit down, buckle up and fly!
Last computer I will ever buy.
Time to publish. Build websites. Write a cookbook.
And all those things I like to do on the Fabio website.
I've promised myself this machine or an upgraded
machine for four -five years! YOu can color me happy now.
It's how the fugues attack me.
They lurk.
They wait.
They know my mind.
Happy as a pig in slop.
Should never have figured out how to get to
Fry's.
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