Today's Purchases: MicroSD, Lighting Umbrella, Tripod

Today I bought:

* 1GB MicroSD card from Buy.com: $20 minus $17 rebate = $2.95! The rebate for this was really hard to find afterwards. Thankfully Dealnews.com had it linked: US Modular 1GB microSD Card $17 Rebate

* 2 Lighting umbrellas from Handhelditems.com for around $50 a piece

* Tripod from RadioShack.com for $20

* Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1K 5MP Compact Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) for $190 - this one I'm excited for because it has a leica lens!

Chip PC Thin Client

I bought this from Techforless.com for $75:



What is it good for? Well it runs IE 6. So we'll use it for testing. Supposedly has a VNC server, but I can't get it to work.

New APEVIA Computer Case

This APEVIA case arrived from Newegg.com two days ago:







I bought two of them, and I'm going to install VIA c7 motherboards in them.

Upromise.com HP.com Purchase

I just bought 4 t5135 hp thin clients through Upromise.com -> hp.com, total of $597, resulting in a contribution of 4%, or approximately $24. Not bad! Let's hope they make the contribution!

Upromise.com / HP.com Typo

This is kind of funny:



"Buy a free 19" monitor and get a 19" LCD Monitor free!"

Buy 3 thin clients, get 1 free

HP is running a promotion right now where you get a free thin client when you buy 3 of them. This applies to several different items, so the value goes from 199 up to 450. Check hp.com for details.

I plan to buy 4 of the t5125, add a usb flash drive and run debian on them. These devices use about 15 watts of power!

nokia n800

If you can afford a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet PC - buy one. They rule! About $370 for one, but you'll want some sd cards too, so add another $20 to the price.

CD-ROM enclosures

Just picked up a couple of CD-ROM enclosures from Newegg.com:

SABRENT SBT-ESU52 Aluminum 5.25" USB 2.0 External Enclosure - Retail

Figured I'd buy a CDR while I was at it:
LG Beige 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE / ATAPI CD Burner - OEM


I bought the Sabrent because it uses a standard power cord. Too many adapters (wall warts!), know what I mean?

Amazon Tools Arrival

I just bought these tools from Amazon last week and they arrived today:






Stanley 60-060 6-Piece Screwdriver Assortment




Stanley 30-485 12 x 1/2-Inch Tape Measure




Weller BP645MP Battery Powered Soldering Iron with Batteries

Linksys NSLU2 price drop at Amazon.com

The Linksys Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives NSLU2 is only $75 now at Amazon.com. It comes with free shipping too! Lowest on pricegrabber.com is about $85.

The NSLU2 runs debian with ease!

Directron.com return

I just returned a Shuttle Barebones to Directron.com but had to pay for shipping:

Paid: $194.39
Refunded: $-179.99

My experience with the device was that it was DOA, so I'm surprised they didn't refund the full amount.

Woot!

I finally bought something from Woot.com. Actually 3 things, three 4GB SD cards, $27 a piece, plus $5 for shipping.

Atomic Clock

I searched for good looking atomic clocks and here's what I found:

LaCrosse Technology WT-3122A 12-Inch Wood Atomic Analog Clock

Oregon Scientific Travel Clock with Calendar

Big-Digit Atomic Alarm Clock

Atomic Wall Clock with Temperature & Moon Phases

I like the idea of atomic clocks. Its kind of like the network time protocol which can keep machines in synchronized time.

As far as the clocks themselves, I bought three of the above, all but the one from Brookstone. I wanted one for my desk, one for the wall in my office, and one on the wall in the office entrance.

NewEgg.com PayPal Promotion

I just bought the following items at newegg.com, and the shipping total came to $10.03, but with the "PAYPAL10" promotion code, the shipping was only $0.03! Thanks PayPal! (You have to pay with PayPal to get the discount.)

MOUSEPAD|BELKIN WAVEREST F8E244-BLK - Retail Item #: N82E16817114117 $3.39

FLASH 1G|A-DATA SD SDC-1G0 R - Retail Item #: N82E16820211309 $6.19

FDD 1.44MB NEC|FD1231H-302 BK % - OEM Item #: N82E16821152005 $6.49

MOUSE SUNBEAM|OPT BLK MS-2011-BK-BL - Retail Item #: N82E16826178003 $5.99

Subtotal $22.06
Tax $0.00
UPS Ground $0.03
Order Total $22.09

Nokia n800

This thing feels very nice!

Wacom Tablet and Nokia n800!

My new Wacom tabley arrived:

Macbook iSkin

I'm typing this post with a brand new iSkin installed on my Macbook. Its actually not bad. I could get used to it. I think it would have been better to install on a new Macbook as opposed to one that's been used for awhile.

4GB Compact Flash Card at Frys.com

I've been meaning to get one of these:

4GB CompactFlash Photo Hard Drive, CF+ Type II (Micro Drive) Seagate ST64022C-RK (old model#ST6240211C-RK)

I know they aren't the best, but for a low power setup, it should be perfect.

Only $29.99 at Frys.com with free shipping. Good deal! I would have bought two but they limit 1 per address.

External Hard Drive Enclosures and Mousepads

Since my sister's iMac G5 hard drive died, she wants to get an external hard drive. I suggested a Seagate internal hard drive and a USB external enclosure. We went with the Metal Gear drive enclosure. The price was right and the reviews were decent. While I was at it, I also bought a couple for myself, another SATA and two IDE.

Good stuff!

Oh yeah, and since I was shopping at newegg.com and Amazon isn't going to ship my mousepads for a month, I bought a couple of performace, ultra-thin, mousepads.

CompUSA.com

CompUSA has some good anniversary deals going on, I just picked up some canned air ($3.50 a piece, with a $3.50 rebate for one of them) as well as a Burton flash drive: 1GB for $15.99. Since the order total was over $23, the shipping was free!

RAM Deals at Newegg.com

N82E16820220078 87.99 Patriot 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SO-DIMM EMC315RIOT1GB Rebate $20

N82E16820146219 $52.99 Mushkin 512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM DIMM EMC315MUSH512 Rebate $10

N82E16820145048 69.99 Crucial 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory EMC315SHP1GB
$210.97

I passed on these deals because newegg.com only lets you use one promo code at a time and it would be too much work otherwise.

Tool Deals from Amazon

Here's a list of things I just bought from Amazon.com:

Shipping estimate for these items: April 20, 2007 - May 8, 2007
Delivery estimate: April 27, 2007 - May 21, 2007
1 "Jorgensen 3201-HT 1-Inch Pony Spring Clamp"
Tools & Hardware; $2.11

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Stanley 55-045 7.5-inch Wonder Bar II Pry Bar"
Tools & Hardware; $3.99

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Stanley 46-123 Contractor Grade Combination Square"
Tools & Hardware; $12.99

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Dremel 750-02 Minimite 13,000 RPM 2 Speed 4.8-Volt Lithium Cordless Rotary Tool"
Tools & Hardware; $27.99

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "General Tools 1216 12-Inch Flex Stainless Steel Rule"
Tools & Hardware; $8.29

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Stanley 30-485 12 x 1/2-Inch Tape Measure"
Tools & Hardware; $4.95

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "IRWIN 2085200 Pro Touch Retractable / Fixed Blade Utility Knife Combo with 20 - IRWIN Bi-Metal Blades"
Tools & Hardware; $8.09

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Black and Decker LI3000 Cordless Screwdriver with Internal Lithium Battery"
Tools & Hardware; $35.55

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Felo 0715750176 Set of 6 Insulated Slotted & Phillips Screwdrivers, 513 Series"
Tools & Hardware; $29.09

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Gerber 22-41506 Clutch Mini Pliers Keychain Tool - Special Ops Gray"
Tools & Hardware; $11.42

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Weller BP645MP Battery Powered Soldering Iron with Batteries"
Tools & Hardware; $14.99

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Samsung NV7 7.2MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom"
Electronics; $262.49

Sold by: Amazon.com


Shipping estimate for these items: March 23, 2007
Delivery estimate: March 30, 2007 - April 5, 2007
1 "Stanley 34-793 200 Open Reel Fiberglass Long Tape Rule"
Tools & Hardware; $17.91

Sold by: Amazon.com


Shipping estimate for these items: March 23, 2007
Delivery estimate: March 30, 2007 - April 5, 2007
1 "Stanley 60-060 6-Piece Screwdriver Assortment"
Tools & Hardware; $4.55

Sold by: Amazon.com
1 "Custom LeatherCraft 1101 3 Multi-Purpose, Clip-On Zippered Bags"
Tools & Hardware; $3.74

Sold by: Amazon.com

I'm especially excited about the Samsung NV7 with the Schnieder Kreuznach lens - it looks big and clear.

And the tools - tools are always very helpful and worth their expense. The important thing is to know how they work, keep them organized, and accessible.

Missing Funds from FatWallet

Since FatWallet has been a real pain in the you know what about missing cash back I am owed, I've decided to use upromise.com instead. However, they don't have a "note" system, so its easy to forget what you bought through their affiliate links. Just to make sure I don't forget, I bought:

* Nokia n800 through buy.com via upromise.com
* A bunch of stuff from newegg.com (Wacom tablet, 3Ware Raid card, ethernet cables, etc.)
HC/F DELONGHI | DAP110F3M - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$9.99)
H/B DELONGHI | DAP130 PURIFIER - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$69.99)
LINKDEPOT 25FT CAT6WHT C6M-25-WHB R - Retail (Qty=2, Price=$9.58)
ACC CAMERA DNJ DJC-003 CLEANING KIT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$7.99)
FAN SPEED CONT| ZALMAN FANMATE-2 RT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$3.99)
CLEANER ROSEWILL RCN-SC206 RT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$14.49)
HD_CTRL 3WARE|9650SE-2LP SATAII RT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$189.99)
MOUSEPAD|BELKIN WAVEREST F8E244-BLK - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$3.39)
MAC ACC ISKIN|ISK-PTMB-AR RTL - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$15.99)
TABLET WACOM|PTZ630 USB 6x8 RTL - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$299.99)
DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #28930 (Qty=1, Price=$-9.99)

FatWallet stores the "notes" in your "Cash back click history". And I'm wondering why they make it so difficult to get any information beyond what you put in yourself. But at least you can see your click history. I don't think that is possible through upromise.com, but I could be wrong.

Nokia n800

I had to do it - I just bought the new-ish Nokia n800 from buy.com for $362 + $18 tax. I already have a Nokia 700 and I love it. I do have a couple of complaints though which will hopefully be fixed in the new version: short battery life, slow speed, and keyboard issues. Unfortunately, they again decided not to make the unit chargeable via USB. (BAD IDEA NOKIA!!!)

I'm getting more used to the keyboard typing on the 700 - I use it at the gym to update my wikis. I would like to format some control panels specifically for the Nokia's 800x400 pixel screen so I can be more productive.

iSkin XT Keyboard Cover

I just bought 5 iSkin keyboard covers from Mac-Pro.com, they had the best price: $19.99 each, plus about $6 total shipping. I actually only have 3 Apple keyboards, but will likely get more in the near future.

I'm also going to get a couple of iSkins for Macbooks.

Citcuit City Deals

Just picked up a couple of goodies from CircuitCity.com:

* Oregon Scientific Clock with Thermometer
* Canon Business Calculator
* Sharp Basic Calculator

SYBA SD-SA2PEX-2IR PCI Express SATA II Controller Card

I bought a couple of SYBA SD-SA2PEX-2IR PCI Express SATA II Controller Cards from Newegg.com based upon the great reviews they were getting there. For cheap money, it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, I had a hell of a time getting it to work.

In fact, its still not working. The problems were many and could have been caused by a mutlitude of causes: motherboard (KN1 Lite), funky linux drivers, who knows? I still have hopes that I will be able to get it to work for a hi-po testing machine, but for practical purposes I'm going with the leader in SATA RAID cards: 3Ware. Newegg has the 3ware 9650SE-2LP PCI Express x1 SATA II Controller Card for $189 as of March 16, so I figure that is a safe bet.

Although, I have a couple of VIA C7 PC Chips motherboards coming in I could use, but they don't have PCI-Express slots. :-(

I do have an AOpen XCube which has a PCIe slot, that might be the right choice for this idea.

http://lathiat.livejournal.com/37143.html

Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional

Note Bene: This is not a tech "deal" - its an expensive item, but SO COOL!!!

My HHKB Professional came in yesterday! I love it already, and I haven't even tried it yet. First thing I noticed: it's tiny!

Cheap 2.5" SATA drives

I like 2.5" SATA drives (notebook drives) for use in full size computers over PATA drives because they use the same interface, no need for an adapter. I went searching for cheap 2.5" SATA drives and found a great deal at geeks.com:

Cheap 2.5" SATA drives - from $35+ for refurbished drives!

Since these are refurbished, I don't want to use them in mission critical items, but they'd be great for testing machines, portable drives, and other non-critical setups.

Remember, notebook drives only use about 2 watts of power, where 3.5" drives use up to 10 watts. For more computer power consumption information, check out docunext.com.

Pertelian X2040

I searched high and low for a good mini LCD character display and this is the best I could come up with:

Pertelian X2040 at Directron.com for $47.

Although I bought one I'm pretty annoyed that they cost as much as they do. LCD components are pretty darn cheap, but getting them to work can be a serious challenge. I bet Pertelian will sell a bunch of these. This will be a nice add-on for the second NSLU2 I just picked up.

Its amazing that an NSLU2 costs as much as an ASUS Terminator T1 barebones. The benefits of the NSLU2 are its size and low energy consumption, while the ASUS has a lot more power, but uses about 8 times the energy, at least.

The one thing I have a decent amount of at this moment is space, I would like to use it to setup more servers, but I don't want to drive up my energy bill. Hmmm, what to do? I also bought a couple of Via C7 motherboards because they use so little energy. Combined with a SeaSonic power supply I should be able to setup a very efficient server.

Refurbished iMac

Just got my refurbished iMac but it has crud on the front panel! Argh. Oh well, guess that's what you get for buying refurbished. Its also an excuse to jazz it up some - I'll get something to stick on the front to cover it up. I've actually got some extra window tint that might look cool.

Happy Hacking Professional Keyboard

I did it. I bought the Happy Hacking Professional Keyboard. Yes, the one with blank keys. I spend enough time in front of a keyboard to warrant the expense: $275. Ouch, that smarts, but I am confident it will be well worth it.

eWiz.com

I'm giving eWiz.com a try on some PC Chips VIA C7 boards - they are only $55 ($10 less than newegg.com). The shipping is higher but so I bought 2 and some RAM as well to make it worth while.

They have great ratings, so hopefully the purchase will go smoothly.

Shuttle XPC DOA

My Shuttle XPC arrived from Directron.com last week but it was DOA! So I've requested an RMA and am just going to return it. I'm disappointed it doesn't work and already spent enough time on it. Time to move on.

I bought some other gear I like better anyway, like the ASUS Terminator. Its cheap, small and efficient. The case is wackier than anything I've seen in a long time, but it works to some degree. The power supply blocks the IDE ports above 2 inches so I can't use my direct insertion compact flash to IDE adapter there. Instead, I bought an indirect insertion adapter from newegg.com for $10. It has a female IDE slot for connecting to a cable instead of plugging right into the mobo.

On the ASUS Terminator, I'm going to try booting directly off an internal USB flash drive. To do so, I bought some USB adapters for the motherboard from ituner.com called EPIA-USB-Adapter. Hopefully they'll work, as USB flash drives are cheaper and more widely available than CF and IDE drives. USB drives will undoubtedly have more booting issues because the IDE interface is so mature. Also, I am going to try setting up RAID0 on CF IDE drives to boost performace. That will be pretty awesome.

eCost.com lets me down

eCost.com cancelled my order - that's annoying. Same thing has happened to me with PC Connection and PC Microstore. Thanks for wasting my time, I won't bother shopping at your site again.

I instead purchased the Intel Pro 1000 GT Desktop Adapter at PCsForEveryone.com. The items cost about $10 more each, but at least I know they have them in stock and will actually deliver. For what its worth (FWIW), I have have very good experiences with PCsForEveryone. They recently closed their retail store in Cambridge, MA, but I'm actually closer to their warehouse in Norwood, MA. I've got to take a trip over there to check it out, but in the mean time I had them ship the ethernet cards.

WOW! What a turn around twister this purchase has been. eCost.com actually came through with the cards, but PCsforeverone.com hasn't! In fact, they shipped one, but charged me for eight. I've contacted them for a refund. I'm not happy about how this has gone at all.

Where's my stuff?

Two orders I made recently have not arrived and I'm wondering where they are. The orders were through buy.com (a 2GB CF card) and ecost.com (6 gige ethernet pci cards) over a week ago.

My email to buy.com:

No sign of this flash card, wondering where it is. Tracking link keeps saying information is unavailable. I was billed for this on the 28th and am considering contesting the charge because its been over a week with no delivery.

I also emailed eCost.com earlier today asking what the status is on my order, because it is still listed as processing at their website. Maybe the acquisition by PFS Web has not helped as much as I thought it would.

Almost forgot because its been so long, but PCConnection has yet to fulfill one of my orders as well. Here's what I just sent them:

My order was supposed to include a notebook messenger bag. Your website reported this item in stock and would ship the day of my order. That was over two weeks ago.

When will this product be shipped?


Contour Cargo Notebook Messenger, Black
In Stock
Ships: Today
$24.95
$24.95


Kensington Technology Group
Item#: 6782613
Mfr#: 62905
Ship Weight: 2.24 lbs.

They responded back and said this:

Thank you for contacting PC Connection. According to our records that item was canceled off the order before it processed.
If you would like to re-order please call our sales line at 1-800-800-5555 and we will ship your order freight free ground,
simply reference your order number.
I apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Website CS

I tried calling that number but it was busy, so I'm going to forget about it. I also ordered some Duffle Bags from Modell's in the meantime, so I guess its not a big deal. I think this is yet another example of a "drop ship" supplier gone bad. Drop shipping is when an e-commerce store does not hold the inventory or even control the fulfillment of the product. That is handled by another "distributor". I love this concept and truly believe it to be the wave of the future, but it obviously has some kinks to be worked out.

FatWallet Cash Back Problems

Lately I've been having some cash back problems with my purchases from Newegg.com, namely none of them are coming through. That is troublesome because FatWallet makes it a serious pain to fill out the trouble tickets, requiring you to fill out way more information than should be necessary.

Oh well, hopefully they'll figure it out. If it becomes an issue, I'll switch to Upromise which seems to have better service and faster reporting. However, they don't have click tracking which is somewhat of a pain.

CPT400 Targus Laptop Case Failure

This picture shows how the zipper grip has broken off the zipper, making it near impossible to use this bag. What I didn't show is that both zipper grips have fallen off. I've attached a keyring to replace them, but it doesn't work. I bought this less than a year ago so maybe they will honor the warranty.

They have a "Ask a question" form for warranty replacements. This is what I submitted:

The zipper tabs fell off my Targus laptop case. Please instruct me how to fulfill the warranty on my bag for a repair or replacement. The case is less than one year old.

This is the Targus Laptop Case I bought from Compusa.com in July of 2006.

Newegg and Centrix Purchases

Just picked up more goodies from Newegg and Centrix:

Newegg
(2) SeaSonic power supplies - they get 85% + efficiency ratings! $50 each
(1) ASUS Terminator with motherboard and Via C3 chip to work as a PBX phone system $74
(1) RAM chip for $90 with a $40 rebate

Centrix
(1) Slimline CD-ROM - $10
(1) USB Slimline CD-ROM case - $
(1) Intel Pro ethernet card PILA8461 - $3.49
(2) Floppy drives - $1.99 each
(1) 5 1/4 CD-ROM - $2

Good stuff.

AOpen XC Cube EX761 AMD Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64/Sempron SiS 761GX 2 x 184Pin SiS Mirage 1 Barebone

Just bought one of these from newegg.com:

AOpen XC Cube EX761 AMD Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64/Sempron SiS 761GX 2 x 184Pin SiS Mirage 1 Barebone

Only $99 with free shipping! My plan is to build a low-power NAS device: RAID0 with IDE drives instead of SATA. Supposedly they use less energy. We'll see!

Antec Case NSK4400

I just picked up the Atec NSK4400 from Fry's Outpost for $69 with free shipping and a $30 rebate. I'm pleased because I almost bought this from Newegg.com a week ago for $25 more. Phew!

Everex NC1500 Laptops

Two refurbished NC1500 Everex notebook computers arrived from Walmart.com yesterday. At $398 + tax & s/h, the price was right. These puppies feature 512MB ram, a 60GB hard drive, a Via C7-M processor, a build-in ethernet card, DVD burner, and a 15.4" screen.

Installing Linux on the Everex NC1500

S3 Unichrome Graphics
I immediately installed Xubuntu (my now favorite linux distro) on one of them, and had a little difficulty getting the display to work properly (the booting framebuffer is still buggered up), but it looks amazing now. I followed the Ubuntu Community Documentation Howto on setting up OpenChrome for use with the VIA / S3® Unichrome Pro integrated graphics processor (IGP). It took about 5 minutes and worked exactly as described. I manually set the screen size in /etc/X11/xorg.conf: 1280 x 800, rebooted, and smiled.

ACPI
Other than that, I haven't tried to get too many things working on the laptop. ACPI seems to work fine, though the processor fan seems to blow even when the CPU is very cool. There is a thermal zone, and the processor seems to have some impressive frequency scaling capabilities.

Fan Problems
The fan won't shut off at all, and I think it is impossible to make it do so with the current DSDT from the BIOS. I am totally surprised I was able to do this, but I was able to make the fan work. Here are some notes on a DSDT fix for the Exerex NC1500 DSDT ACPI fan on and off controls.


Ethernet, Wireless
Ethernet worked fine, haven't tried wireless, though ath0 does show up with an "ifconfig".

Review of the Everex NC1500

BIOS
The bios are very limited but one of the options is to boot off a USB flash drive - very cool - but I haven't tried it yet.

Battery
The battery is tiny and I have my doubts about its longevity. But it is light, which is great. In fact the entire laptop is very light for its size. I actually bought this machine to be a server so the battery is not important to me.

Energy Consumption
This machine is the most efficient I've ever seen. It runs at about 14 watts with the display on. With some tweaking, I'm sure I can get it under 10 watts. Amazing!

Via C7-M CPU
The C7-M also features the Via Padlock technology for accelerating AES encryption, for applications like IPSec vpns, ssh connections, and scp transfers. Nice. This could be a quality server after all! See the related links section at the end for benchmarks.


Case
The case seems flimsy, but its actually quite good looking and as I mentioned earlier the machine is lightweight.

Software
The machine comes with one software restore CD. I haven't checked the contents, but I imagine it comes with Windows Home. Upon initial boot, I saw some multimedia software and CD/DVD burning software.

Documentation
The notebook comes with a photocopied warranty! And the manual is pretty skimpy.

At $398 - this laptop rocks. Especially if you run an efficient operating system like Xubuntu, you've got an incredible machine for super cheap. I am tempted to buy a couple more of these.

Everex NC1500 Related Links:
VIA C7-M CPU Review at HardwareSecrets.com
OpenChrome Documentation at Ubuntu
VIA Padlock ACE benchmarks on the VIA C3 Nehemiah

Too Many Printers

With all the "free" inkjet printer offers, I somehow end up with way too many printers. Right now I have two laser printers, a photocopier, three inkjet printers, and two scanners. Pretty good huh!

KVM and Video Extenders

I'm looking for a video extender / kvm extender / video amplified for a monitor that has a native resolution of 1680x1050. Unfortunately, I can't find one, and don't understand how VGA connections work to make a guess.

The best one I've found is the IOGEAR GVE120 Cat5 Video Extender Kit - Retail $160 @ Newegg.com. It says it supports 1600x1200, but what about 1680x1050?

Sound familiar:

http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/thinkpad/2005-08/0327.html

USB Drives

Had to pick these up from Newegg.com because of the great rebates they came with (1GB was $1 and the $2GB was $5! AR + S/H).

Mac Mini

The Mac Mini arrived today and I opened the box and plugged it in, really quite a nice looking machine, and so small! The only complaint I have so far is the power supply. If this one dies I can only imagine how much a new one will cost. Hopefully it will have a nice happy long life. :-)

I don't have a keyboard handy so I can't fire it up yet. I'm going to use it for the following services:
* print server
* DVD player
* iTunes server
* file server
* and so much more!

Here's a really bad picture of the box getting opened (it is refurbished and all):

Great Tech Post at Slickdeals

This is an awesome post about how to build a super-fast computer on a budget:

Build a Cheap and Speedy Intel E4300 Computer

I especially like this thread because I almost just built one! The E4300 caught my eye for its low price and efficient power consumption, IIRC it only uses about 65 watts of power under load.

I instead opted for the much cheaper Celeron for my NAS.

Network Attached Storage

What are the qualities of a good Networked Attached Storage device?

• Size
• Ease-of-use
• Protocol support: Samba, AFP, sshfs, NFS
• Energy effciency
• Price
• Performance!

Performance is key, and savvy tech masters can forego the ease-of-use mumbo-jumbo, go to the command line, and wreak havoc, figuratively.

Item	Price
intel e1000	$16
Celeron D Processor 331 LGA775 2.66GHz 256K 90MN XD 533MHz Box	$35
Shuttle XPC SS30G2 Barebone System + Kingston 256MB PC2 4200 Memory Combo	$179

This thing should be screaming, and tiny, and energy efficient. I'm going to put two 500GB Samsung spinpoints which I bought for a thecus n2100.

As for cost efficient, absolutely. With a total of under $250, it is cheaper than most NAS out there.