Random Developments

I just found out that there is, in fact, a public library in the Melbourne CBD. Two weeks ago I went to the State Library, and the attendant gave me a list of public libraries nearby; the closest one was in Carlton. It turns out that her information was outdated: a new library opened barely a month ago.

The City Library is at 253 Flinders Lane, for anyone who’s interested. It is not open on Sundays (which is why I didn’t go there today), but tomorrow I’ll stop by. I guess my “currently reading” list will finally see some more action…

So, after so much silence, finally a somewhat technical posting. Some two weeks ago, I bought a new computer.

This is relevant because the last time I bought a computer was in late 1999; it was a Pentium II with 64MB of memory (8 of which were used by the video card), and the most “advanced” peripheral was a CD-ROM. I later added some memory and two USB ports to it, and sold it for less than US$100 two months ago.

For the new one, the main concern was the budget; since I am technically unemployed, I would feel bad if I spent a lot of money on things that are cool but, honestly, of limited use. Like a DVD burner, for example, or high-end speakers. So, after going to a lot of stores, both online and on foot, I ironically found out that the best place to buy it was in a little store (called H. Huang Digital) less than 50 meters from my building; their website lets you mix-and-match parts and assemble your own configuration.

I started from their basic configuration, with an Intel Celeron 2.6Ghz processor, motherboard with everything included (video, audio, network), 256MB of RAM and a 40GB disk, and added a Samsung 17″ monitor, a CD burner + DVD reader, a floppy drive and a 56k modem. Oh, and WindowsXP Home Edition. The whole package cost me A$971 (some US$660). Interestingly, the most expensive add-on was the operating system (yes, more expensive than the monitor). Later, I bought a very cheap printer, a Canon S200SPx, for less than A$70.

The interesting part was configuring the system the way I wanted it… I brought my old HD with me, with lots of data and software but, predictably, most software had to be reinstalled in the new system. So I spent quite some time installing Cygwin (including Perl and gcc), Spybot S+D (this is Windows, after all), Firefox and Thunderbird, Subversion, syn, Trillian, Ethereal, Becky, AVG etc. etc. The Java SDK is downloading as I write this. Now it’s ready for use!

Yes, I am still alive! And in Melbourne!

Things are finally settling down. I have an apartment (rented), a phone line and ADSL should be installed within a week. More details to come.