Friday Fritters

Okay it’s a strange title but as I start to write today I have no idea where I’m going. So hang on or jump off at any time!

One thing about SW2009 that really interests me is the Custom Properties tab and the ability to customize it. One thing that really irks me is when I have to go behind someone revising his drawings and find that he hasn’t filled in a single custom property. Hopefully this will make it easier to manage thus making him more apt to use them.

What’s going on in my life? I mentioned that we had replaced all the PCs at the company I work for. I struck up a deal with the owner where as I would remove all the old ‘junk’ and take care of a fitting disposal. This process included general cleaning (you’d be surprised at how filthy a PC can get) with 100PSI compressed air and several bottles of Mean Green Cleaner. Then I did a complete wipe of the hard drive using KillDisk and finally a re-install of an operating system. Most of the systems had COAs (certificate of authorization) for one version of Windows or another so they were set up again. I’m only going back as far as Windows 2000 Pro, anything older will get some flavor of Linux installed. So far I have four Dell Optiplex GX150s, two custom built CAD stations with Athlon 64 3400s, Quadro FX500s and 2GB RAM. There are a few more machines with Pentium 4s and then a slew of Microtel machines that have AMD Durons and 256MB RAM. The Microtels were bought with Lindows installed which was replaced with Win98. I’m not sure what to do with these machines. I’ve tried Xubuntu since it is a scaled down version of Ubuntu designed to run on low end hardware but I haven’t had much luck with it yet. I don’t have COAs for Win98 so that’s out of the question. Are there any suggestions from the hardware geeks out there?

I also have 15 20” Dell CRT monitors (anyone need a monitor?) that are stacked in my garage. Yeah it’s been a dirty hard job with late hours and no promise of any monetary reward but it has been fun. I already managed to sell the Optiplexs with monitors. One of the CAD workstations went to my co-worker who helped move all the stuff to my house. Some of the guys here at Byers have expressed interest in a computer and anything that is not sold will be going to the Shelby HAM Fest (which incidentally is being held in Dallas NC this year) on Labor day Weekend. But the sooner I get rid of all this stuff the sooner the wife will be speaking to me again. Wait a minute, let me think about that.

Thrown into the pile-o-junk will be a couple of SpaceNavigator PEs and one of the FX500 video cards so if you have any need for them or a 20” monitor leave a comment with contact information.
From the Wikipedia:
A fritter is any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried. The word comes from the Latin *frīctūra ("frying") by way of Old French and Middle English. It can refer to a dessert, a side dish or a main course food.
I hope you enjoyed your batter coated, deep fried side dish of useless verbage on this fine Friday. The only other question that begs to be asked…was it a desert, a side dish or a main course?