Delays, delays... and memory swapping.

So, spent most of yesterday helping my roommate debug wireless router issues. Short version: he had somehow put a version of the firmware on it that had not yet been issued. I'm thinking... zombied!

Still, I managed to do a little bit: I think I perfected the WinXP Tablet install. Did a bunch of tweaks from here that were referenced on tabletpcbuzz.com. Updated and registered the Franklin-Covey PlanPlus software, which looks really good and I wish it was on Linux. Also installed AVG, so the "YOU'RE GONNA DIE FROM EVIL VIRII" message would stop. I forgot how annoying all that stuff is. Gosh I love Linux, even when it tries to make my mind melt.

Later, I took the case apart and swapped the memory modules. I had a 256mb chip in the non-user accessible slot and a 1gb in the other. I've ordered a new 1gb chip from eBay (approx. $30) and it'll be easy to pop it in. There's a cool video here for guided disassembly of the TC1100. Mine is so new and virgin, it still had a heat shield over the wireless card, which wasn't shown in the video. Makes me tingly, just to write that...

I've also gone ahead and ordered an HP stylus with an eraser (DM685A), designed for the TC1100. If you look quickly on eBay, you may still find an auction here of the same stylus by the same seller.

I've been holding off with the Ubuntu install, as I want to use the drive that's in my main desktop-notebook. It was originally bought for an old Fujitsu Lifebook P2120 that I had a few years ago, when I was trying to improve its performance. It's a Hitachi 100gb 7200rpm drive, and is the drive that I kept reading about as a good choice for the TC1100 -- for exactly the same reasons that it was a good choice for the Fujitsu.

Now the desktop-notebook is an NX9600, with a desktop-quality 3.2GHz P4 H-T in it. Removing the drive will probably cause a slight difference in speed, but nothing like what it'll probably do to improve speed in the TC1100, or what it did for the P2120. But I don't want to put a 4200rpm 40gb drive in my desktop-replacement, so I can't use the current drive from the slate. Plus, now that XP is basically fully installed, I can just pull the drive and archive it for possible later use, say, if I need to sell the TC1100.

Which meant that I needed a new drive for the NX9600. I tried Craigslist, but I was getting the runaround, and the prices were too high, especially for used, which may have something to do with where I live being sort of remote, both due to availability and relative nuttiness. Another long story short, I ended up buying a new 5400rpm 250gb Western Digital drive, one of only two left in the local Best Buy. IDE is getting pretty rare, I guess, even though BB is advertising the drives on their website. Price was $80, not terrible, and it was available now, which was when I wanted to have it.

So, at the moment, my laptop partitions are being copied to the WD drive. I'll boot and run for a while, and if all is good, I'll wipe the Hitachi and install it in the TC1100 -- and we'll be off to the races.

BTW, I'm using Ultimate Boot Compact Disc, v5beta, which has the Parted Magic distro on it. It's pretty darned awesome, you should try both of them. Whoever you are.

m a r