Fix My Bugs

Only one post in May, crikey, sorry about that but I’ve been so insanely busy at work that it’s really hard to find the time to add to the blog. I would humbly compare my bloginess to that of Jeff Minter. His blog is updated often with charming photos of sheep and days out in Wales, when he’s not busy crunching code.  When he’s working, blog updates become few and far between, but who can blame him? In my case, I hope the massive Map-Reduce article makes up for it a bit though, and I thought I’d follow up on my new PC build too.

Building a new PC -Update

I don’t usually class myself as an early adopter in most areas, but when it comes to a building a new PC, one might as well get the latest kit. I thought I was following a recommended list of hardware but it turned out the RAM I ordered wasn’t exactly the same as the set Custom PC magazine had listed. After two sets of the Corsair 6GB kits wouldn’t work with the Gigabyte motherboard, but an uber cheap Dabs value 1GB stick booted fine, I knew the memory wasn’t compatible. So, after browsing some forums, I plumped for the somewhat more expensive, but known to work, Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB kit, and everything works a treat now. I also bought a second 1TB Samsung hard drive since they are such good value, and have a RAID 0 configuration for performance. Ubuntu Linux 9.04 installed from my USB drive without a hickup and it runs like a demon. I love the fact that the Gnome CPU speed taskbar applet opened up 8 tabs for all the CPU cores, bonkers! The flashing lights on the RAM also provide a nice ambience where they shine out of the case vents and fan holes.