Geek news With the newly installed luxury of broadband here, there was a need to make an improvement in the work station, which for too long has been in a cluttered corner of the dining room.
The initial hookup to our new status on the information super highway was in a spare room with one of the second hand OSX iMacs I bought for the family at $100 dollars each earlier in the year. These have been a great success, apart from one which died of an unspecified cause a couple of months back.
I decided from the outset that there should be one machine designated for general family use on the internet, and it was not to be the one which I use to knock up this journal.
I have a justifiable fear of little fingers experimenting with features of the earlier operating systems such as the OS 9.2 which is on my older machine. It works fine so long as no one tries to fix anything which ain't broke. That includes me.
However I decided that I should move it, and all of its associated hardware to the spare room. It could sit alongside the other machine, and theoretically be seamlessly linked into the new broadband system via an ethernet cable to the router. In fact this is what happened.
But there were a few settings which had to be changed manually in the old computer's 9.2 operating system first. The Westnet installation disk couldn't configure that system automatically, but there is a precisely detailed file on the disk on how to do it. Pretty simple when someone tells you how as well as it did.
Moving the old gear was a bit of a process. Connected to the computer was a maze of cables which led to other essential items in the geek repertoire - a laser printer, a scanner, an external hard disk, an external, CD burner, and an external floppy disk reader. Plus there are two USB hubs which interconnected all these gadgets, all of which have their own power cables. Five of these devices have their own external power pack transformers - two at 5 volts, one at 7.5 volts, one at 9 volts and one at 12 volts. Because these items are a bit bulky, two AC power boards are needed to accommodate them and the regular AC plugs from the computer and printer.
As if all this is not enough, there is a separate USB cable which plugs into the keyboard to accommodate image uploads from the digital camera. Mustn't forget the other device, the "jump drive" which can alternatively be plugged into the same socket.
I was a bit nervous about disassembling the collection yesterday. Would it ever all work in harmony again? Most of the gadgets needed a good wipe down. Years of accumulated dust in a tangled spaghetti jungle I had learned to fear disturbing. The thought crossed my mind that it was pity the whole lot couldn't be scooped up all at once by a forklift and moved.
Such was the clutter of cables that everything had to be disconnected. One by one the items were given a good wipeover in the kitchen, then moved to their new home. One by one they were reconnected in what I thought was the same order. Thankfully it was.
The street lights dipped as I flicked the main switch and everything fired up. Well perhaps 'fired up' is not the best description. But all the little lights came on as they should have as the old iMac went through it's handshaking routine. Another triumph for humanity - and an Apple computer.
The screen looks quite clear now since several years of detritus was wiped away - DNA deposits from countless sneezes I suppose - humans are disgusting creatures.
The ethernet connection works fine. I still can't get over it. The embarrassing aspect is that I am about ten years behind the times.
I still need to buy another USB cable to allow the other computer to access the printer. You can buy ones which have LED lights in the ends. This is great for figuring which is what in the inevitable tangles. But cables are on the way out. Wireless connection is a standard feature on new Macs. We'll get there one day.
In the meantime there are some more ethernet cables needed too. These are to run to the bedrooms of sons number four and three. By the end of the week at least one of them will be sharing our broadband setup.
© MMV Paul R. Weaver.
About the writerCheck out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days.
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