Laptop news :-)

[sally_maria]

Whenever I get a new computer I'm always surprised by just so much setting up it needs to work just like the old one. Usually I have four or five years to forget, but this time it has only been a year. On the other hand, this one is does have a different operating system.



After the basics, like installing the wallpaper randomiser and vital software like my media player, the first step was to copy my Firefox profile, so I could carry on using the extensions I'm used to. On the other hand, the Vista look is very different, so I decided I needed a new Firefox theme. Mostly Crystal looks great with Luna, the XP theme, but is too cartoony for Aero. I looked at various dark themes and settled on Red Shift. Combined with the mirror effect of this monitor, it is a lovely glossy black, with red highlights - a choice of colours that won't surprise most people who know me in RL. :-) Of course, I was influenced in my choice by the fact that I don't actually use any of the standard icons in my browser - mouse gestures are a wonderful thing.

Then it was time to edit a couple of the extensions that do put icons on the top bar, as they had dark outsides that got lost against the backing. I haven't used icon editing software since Windows 3.x, but the current versions do enable transparent and translucent colours, which makes matching them to the background much easier. Probably not worth paying the shareware fee, as I may never use them again, but very useful on this occasion.

I took advantage of the Microsoft website to download various desktop gadgets for the new Vista sidebar and decided to go for a calculator, sticky notes and a handy "Standby" button, the easiest way of shutting the system down quickly.

The wireless internet took practically no setting up at all, at least once I realised that the undocumented wi-fi sticker was actually a button that needed pressing before the wireless card would work. >:-( Now it does, though, I can join the rest of the family in watching the Giro (the Italian version of the Tour de France), rather than being banished upstairs. :-)

Since the laptop only(!) has an 80Gb hard drive I have had to be a bit more selective in my choice of media. Picking only 100 vids was a bit of a struggle, but hopefully I've got enough music to keep me going. TV shows will play quite happily full screen off the DVD drive, so I shan't worry about copying those across, and I have still got 40Gb or so left for those vital system functions. My first hard drive had 100Mb, so it still seems to be a ridiculous amount of space to play with.

So, I'm pretty much set for the moment, though I'm sure there will be times when I notice the lack of something I hadn't realised I needed. At least the old system is fully functional, so I can continue to go back to it as needed. :-)

Comments

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

You could get yourself one of those low cost small USB2 drive caddies from (say) Maplin and find a suitable 2.5" drive - I think that up to 160G is now available at less than a kings ransom.

I use 7200 RPM 100G Seagate Momentus drive, chosen for the 8M cache and the fast rotational speed. I paid about £64+VAT FWIW.

With something like that you can carry much more vids with you.

[sally_maria]

Thank you - that's a very good point. To be honest, at the moment I have got room on the hard drive, I just thought I ought to have some kind of self-control, as they are an easy way of filling up large amounts of space. :-)