So a lot, and I mean, A LOT has happened in the past year. I've gotten a job, lost a good bit of weight thanks to the job, got hooked onto a game called Minecraft, finally got around to getting my drivers permit at the age of 19, gotten hooked onto mechanical keyboards, and a bunch of computer upgrades! Of course the computer upgrades are always fun.

So I guess to start off, I got a job at UPS over peak season, starting out on the Ramp as thats where they needed people during peak. That was fine up until they hired me on after peak, at which point they would have required me to have my license, which, at the time, I did not have, so they instead move me into the hub in Small Sort. BUt, having that job during peak had allowed me to do a a few upgrades to my PC. I had upgraded to a Phenom II x4 925, an ATI Radeon HD5750, and also got a new 520W Seasonic Power Supply.

I might as well go into some of the other upgrades I've gotten throughout the past year as well. I've finally gone to 8GB of Kingston RAM. Was going to go for 8GB of Patriot, but, I couldn't find a single matching kit to what I had, so I said hell with it and sold the 4GB kit I had, and bought an 8GB kit of Kingston. I also got myself a 1TB Hitachi hard drive to go along with the 500GB WD Caviar Black that is in my system, because I felt like I needed to get more storage. I replaced the optical drive due to that was giving me issues, had to replace both my 120mm case fans, and I am now buying a new case in the upcoming week so I could throw a larger CPU cooler into my system.

Now onto the subject of Mechanical keyboards. After having played with a mechanical keyboard somewhere, I really enjoyed the feeling of typing on one so I decided to start looking for an IBM Model M. First off I ordered a Model M off of eBay, with the seller neglecting to tell in the description that it was the rubber dome version of it, but that was still a strong keyboard.Then in March I went to a Hamfest in Southern Kentucky with one of my friends, and out of the corner of my eye at one of the booths I had seen two IBM Model Ms. They were the Silver Square logo Model M's, with no indicator LEDs, both manufactured in early 1986. I have been using them since I have gotten them and they are amazing to type on. Since then I have also acquired a Dell AT101W, which uses Black Alp Sliders, which aren't as tactile, but nice as a backup keyboard.

I guess thats enough rambling on for now, isn't it? I'll probably be posting more, especially now that I got around to updating WordPress. OH! I also do plan on getting a new computer case at some point soon, so expect to see pictures of a new case up soon, PLUS a review of it. Probably sometime not this week, but next week as I can't order one till Friday. Thanks for reading, if anybody even bothers to check anymore.

- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)

So in the past month I've probably used Ubuntu 10.04 95% of the time, and Windows Vista about 5% of the time. So, I'm definitely using Linux hell of a lot more than I have in the past, which is definitely a good thing! Yes, I have gotten used to the buttons being on the left side of the titlebar, and even Ubuntu's new Ambiance Theme (although I changed it to something else eventually anyway).

So, around a week and a half ago I decided to order a new 500GB HDD. I wasn't running dangerously low on space, but I figured I might as well order one just to have the extra space, have one nice really large drive, and for performance too (the 32MB of cache is pretty nice). The drive I ordered was a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black. Absolutely amazing drive. Boots up into Ubuntu 10.04 much quicker than the 40GB I previous had Ubuntu on. And just to bring it, my previous drive configuration was 1x120GB for Vista, 1x80GB for Storage, and 1x40GB for Ubuntu 10.04. Now its 1x500GB for Ubuntu, 1x120GB for Vista, and 1x80GB for Storage. I'll include the unboxing video of the HDD below. I gave the 40GB SATA to my younger brother to use as an extra drive, which brings up the next topic.

My younger brother having had suffered 2 months on a A8N-SLI board (after trading motherboards with my other younger brother) which wouldn't work with his video card or Processor correctly (it detected his Socket 939 Athlon x2 as a Single Core), he finally got a new motherboard/CPU with 3GB of DDR2 RAM included. He's now finally able to use his 512MB 8600GT again, and his new CPU is an Athlon II x3 CPU at 2.7GHhz. Of course, because that boards only IDE channel would have been taken up by his Optical Drive, we had to order ANOTHER 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black drive. The pure fact that it was on sale AGAIN when we realized he needed another drive was some pretty good luck, otherwise we would have had to go with a 320GB or 250GB drive instead. But basically we set up a dual-boot on his system w/ XP and 7, plus a partition to store games. My youngest brother also got an upgrade out of this, including an upgrade to 2.5GB of RAM, Socket 939 Athlon x2 2.4GHz, and an extra 80GB IDE HDD.

Another thing I would like to mention is I have an extra Pentium D + a Board laying around I am actually considering doing something with. I just need to get a case, HDD, an optical drive for it (and maybe just a little bit more RAM). What I was thinking is I could possibly set that up to do videos on AND I will also probably use that as a machine to setup and do distribution testing and reviews on.

Anyway, I did mention I was getting used to Ubuntu's Ambiance Theme, well, thats when I decided to install the Elementary Theme Package, including The Elementary Modification of GNOME's File Manager Nautilus. I absolutely love this theme, and its actually going to be the Default theme of a Ubuntu-based distribution coming out called "Elementary OS". I think I might do a review on that in the future. That, along w/ Installing the AWN Dock, and using GNOME-DO, I can definitely say this UI is heck of a lot better than Window's UI.

So to continue on with my aimless rambling (is it really aimless?), while I kind of didn't go through with my blog every day in June, I definitely plan on doing more blog posts this month. I have been messing around with some pretty interesting software packages lately, mostly ones I found via Ubuntu's Software manager, that I would probably like to talk about, including an application I'm using to type this blog post in right now. So thats what I might focus my blog posts on in the next week, and I might even include videos. So, I would recommend keeping your eyes glued to this blog.

Anyway, thanks for reading this rambling blog post just updating a few things. Please subscribe to my Blog so you can keep on reading the next series of posts reviewing certain pieces of software, and I would definitely love some Constructive Feedback/Criticism in the comments section.

~ Tyler J. Brown

After graduation, we went straight home, but didn't stay there long. Probably about 15-20 minutes before we left and headed out to Golden Carrol for Lunch. Had a few plates of food, mainly the Roast Beef with some potatoes, and some dessert.

Sooo..... now that I'm done with High School, got my Diploma, etc. What am I going to do now? Well, considering I'm coming down with a cold, I'm probably going to rest for a day or two. I may end up having a graduation party, and I will probably end up going to those of a few friends as well over the weekend. Starting next week, I will definitely start looking towards getting a job. I have a couple places in mind that I'm seriously considering. This fall I will go to Jefferson Community College to start off my first two years of college, and I also plan on taking the test for my Network+ Certification this Fall (After studying over the Summer).

And yeah, Todays post was out a little later as well. However, Today was also one hectic of a day. I was barely on the computer until later in the day. With graduation, eating out, spending time with family, I definitely bugged a few people that felt like I was ignoring their messages, whether it be on any IM service I'm on or through IRC. Thanks for reading this short post, and check back tomorrow for another, hopefully tech related, blog post. And don't forget to subscribe using services or software like Google Reader, Thunderbird, in-browser RSS readers that are built into browsers such as Firefox or Opera, etc.

- Tyler Joseph Brown (Condoulo)

PRP Class of 2010 Graduate!

So far I've made it two weeks without booting into Vista. Pretty good accomplishment, of course. hehe. Of course, I haven't watched Hulu in a couple weeks, since Flash for Linux is still crappy, and would probably perform like crap when full-screen. So when I get a PC to use as a Media-center, I'll probably use Windows on it for that purpose. Otherwise, I have no other reason to boot into Windows. I'm not much of a gamer, I found a Ventrilo client for Linux that actually works called Mangler (Which I'll blog about in a later post), I'm having no performance issues, etc.

I have yet to setup Zen Walk on the Pentium 4 HT, just been kind of busy/crazy lately. Hopefully I'll be able to do that later this week and blog about it.

So in terms of whats going on in my life? Tomorrow, June 1st, I will have Graduation practice. I can't believe I've made it to this point, and I can't wait for graduation which will be this Wednesday on June 2nd. Last Tuesday I took the Second A+ Exam and passed it, meaning I am now A+ Certified (Although it took CompTIA Nearly a week to process it and send me a confirmation e-mail). I'm still waiting for the Strata certificate for the Strata Exam I took and passed over a month ago, which they're sending via Snail-mail. hehe.

Starting after graduation I'll definitely start looking for a job. I mean, I need a way to pay for  all the computer upgrades I want to do. That, and I need to find a way to pay for school this fall, as well as many other things. I already have a couple places in mind that I will be applying to.

Anyway, be sure to look for a new blog post tomorrow. Don't forget to subscribe to this blog, and make constructive comments on this and my other posts! And don't be afraid to provide constructive criticism too. Anyway, thanks for reading!

- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)

I was just randomly thinking, the first month of the year is already over, of the new decade too. Its real hard to believe how much has changed just in the past month in terms of what I do online, and how I do things. I'm also thinking of the changes that will be occurring in the next 11 months as well.

So, lets just start off with the changes that have occurred in just the past month, which has gone by way too fast. To start off, the Downstairs furnace we had failed. Since then we've been trying heat at least the main areas of the main floor with 3 to 4 different space heaters, which has been a real pain due to the Harsh winter we've been experiencing in the past month (with a nice little break of warm weather in between).

I also decided to take a leave from McInTEC at the beginning of the month, and pretty much had decided to leave at this point. I guess this is my official announcement on my blog of me leaving McInTEC? I won't go into the detail for the reasons why, but, I just felt things weren't really the same anymore. Just didn't feel like a "community" as it used to.

In the past month I've also been trying to bring a few people together to come up with ideas for a community project. In the end we decided to work with Dallin on creating a part of GeekLoop focused around the community. Theres more information here. If you want to do more to help, stop by #GeekLoop on GeekShed.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I have finally gotten a dual monitor setup! I absolutely love the fact that I can do so much more with a dual monitor setup, and I don't think I'll go back to a single-monitor setup, at all.

So with the first month of 2010 nearly gone, what changes lie ahead? Well, I plan on getting my A+ certification in the next couple weeks! On February 5th Portfolios are due, and February 12th marks the end of the Second trimester of my Senior Year. On the 26th of March I will be turning 18, which will definitely open up a lot of opportunities for me. And of course, in May in graduation and I hope to get a job in late May or early June.

I guess when I try to do posts I don't do many personal blog posts, but I really think I should plan on doing more personal posts in the future. I guess its just something I really ought to do. However, I also should start doing more technology posts and opinion posts as well, just to keep things interesting. Got any suggestions on what I should possibly do a video or blog post on? Leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do. Anyway, thanks for reading.

- Tyler

P.S. Just a little extra edit before I publish this, I would like to encourage you all to check out Constant-Hosting if you need a host for your web site, blog, or whatever!

Thats just one of many examples of Karma though, which is very recent. I myself have seen my parents do a good deed via Craigslist or Freecycle, and later on either something good happens or we avoid something bad.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna close it off. A short blog post, yes, but something I've had on my mind. It all goes back to the golden rule, really, treat others as you would like to be treated, especially if you were in their predicament, because life can take unexpected turns, and irony can be pretty damn cruel.

Anyway, thanks for reading,

~ Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)

As the usual goes, Thanks for reading, and please subscribe

~ Tyler J. Brown

Lets see, in December I ended up reviewing and keeping a B-Gears B-Envi Case and moved my second desk into another corner, in March I got a 22" Envision LCD, looks great, got it for $100 used, works as the day I got it (though, could be cleaned,) in May I had to replace my Keyboard due to an accidental spilling.  Just within the past week, I ended up getting another table that would be specifically used for my iMac (a couple pictures below.)

Now, what I plan on doing in the next couple days would be swapping out the Hard Drives in my secondary Linux Box and my iMac G3, so that the Linux box will have an 80GB HDD, and the iMac will be downgraded to a 20GB HDD. Why? I have recently run into a couple family members needing to access the iMac on the network, and they seemed to have issues, but managed to find my main Ubuntu PC just fine, so I figured, since Linux is better for network storage anyway, why not put the larger drive into the Dell. Does that mean I will use my iMac G3 less? No, since I don't run too much on there that takes up too much space in the first place, I don't think I have to worry.

Also, another note. Due to WordPress being kinda weird with inserting media into posts on Opera, I will continue to use Opera for my daily browser, but I will use another browser for working on my blog. Kinda of a weird solution until Chromium is officially released, but it will have to work for now.

Anyway, Thanks for taking the time to read this personal blog post. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please subscribe, its free, all you need to do is click on this orange button thats on the top right corner of the page.

Also, if you are in need of a good web-host, to host your own blog, website, community, RP forum, whatever, I recommend using Constant-Hosting! They have been Constantly Stable for me, and I have had a great experience in terms of support!

Anyway, Thanks for reading!

~ Tyler Brown (Condoulo)

Well, I guess, to start off with. Congrats to the President-Elect Barack Obama, I hope you do a good job as President. 

I will also like to say, maybe now that McCain has lost, maybe we can finally get rid of the Neo-cons in the Republican party, and maybe somebody who can help the party go back to its conservative, small-government roots? Well, I honestly don't feel like going on too much about politics, so thats all I'm gonna say.

So anyway, onto the next subject of the blog post. As of November 3rd, I have been a staff member at McInTEC Communications. Thank you Jason, and JazzGuru, and everybody else at McInTEC. I am glad to be a part of this great community. 

Well, I also got a case to review this weekend. Should do it tomorrow because I finally got my camera working. UPS also damaged it slightly when shipping. 

New Trimester starts this week in school. Fun. I honestly can't stand this trimester system, I much preferred the Semester system there was last year. Hopefully I can get better grades during the second Trimester though. 

Anyway, I don't think I have much more to talk about now. Thanks for reading, subscribe to the blog, and check back leader! 

Adios!

~ Tyler Brown (Condoulo)

On November 1st, 2007, as I have learned in McInTEC History 101, was the day in which the McInTEC community was born. Now, Today, happens to be November 1st, 2008, a year later, and I have been a part of the McInTEC community since January 2008. 

Since I have become part of the community, McInTEC has grown tremendously. When I became part of the community, they had already gotton a Ventrilo server, had an interactive stream page, and still had their channel on Wyldryde. Now, at the start of November, the stream page is stil as amazing, we still have a Ventrilo server, but we have since in the past couple months, the amazing staff at McInTEC has created an IRC network of their own. Nothing has shown the independence of McInTEC as creating our own IRC network has. 

Although those things make McInTEC great, McInTEC would be NOTHING without the amazing people in which I have met, especially the staff, and without their hard work, McInTEC would not be where it it Today, and below, I will mention four of the staff members that stand out in my head.

Jason - The Commander in Chief of McInTEC, head of operations, CEO, founder, etc, is the very person who started this community, and has been able to group people Together. Very energic most of the time, his tendence to have fun is what attracted quite a few people to this great community, and without him, McInTEC wouldn't exist. Jason also works hard for what he has, and what you see on the stream, including what you can't see, including his Quad-core PC, which helps Jason with a lot of what he does for the community.

Scootz - Scootz has done a lot for the McInTEC community, whether its creating a script for the IRC Bot, helping with the live page, there is no doubt that this guy is amazing at what we does. When many need help with some programming or designing a webpage, they will look up to Scootz. Scootz also runs the community Unreal Tournament server. For all the work Scootz has done for the community, Jason recently has awarded him with a brand new Jason-built PC. Thanks Scootz for all you've done, and keep it up! 

Batty - Batty happens to be one of the most intelligent, and possibly random people I have met online. Whether its his amazing setup for cooling, or his many CRT monitors, or his love for old hardware/software, Batty is amazing. Whenever I want to do something crazy or do a mod to my setup, I always refer to Batty. One of the many things people probably love about Batty, if they could look up to him for hardware knowledge, and is probably one of the most amazing geeks they've ever met.

JazzGuru - JazzGuru is also another very intelligent, amazing person I have met. One of the thins that stands out to my about JazzGuru, is just like Batty, his opinions stand out, and also believes older hardware can still be useful. JazzGuru, despite many other people I have met online, is quite open to trying different operating systems and/or software if available to him, and although after running lets say Leopard, is perfectly fine running OS X Tiger (something I wouldn't be able to do with XP after using Vista). 

Something I have not included in all of these, is the fact they all help make the IRC network and community great, and do a lot of work to keep it up and running, along with TXBRad, Justin (umpc), Will, Aeiz. I would also love to give mention to non-staff members such as jasperdett, cooldude, JurassicJon, cb14, and many others. 

I will end this blog post with saying, the McInTEC community has helped me a lot when needed, great people, great IRC network, and overall, great community. I will give you the three most important links you should know to help you become a part of this amazing community, and maybe a couple extra links as well;

• McInTEC Website (mcintec.net)
• Live Page (live.mcintec.net)
• IRC Network (irc.mcintec.net)
• McInTEC youtube Channel