Observation: Graphics Cards Are for Everyone

Due to a shortage of work assignments this January (schools where I teach are snowed in), I decided I was overbudget for my new PC. For now, it was best to sell my GTX 770 graphics card and buy a better one later. I didn't wish to bother bringing my old Radeon 6850 out of retirement however.

Afterall, my CPU is still a state of the art i7! Surely taking away her pet graphics card won't make a difference to my general computing, right?

Right?

Turns out I was wrong.
~Meet my Happy Intel i7 (and her pet GTX 770)~

 A central processor, as is communally known, is an extremely busy device responsible for the heavy burden of giving life to your computer. They can do the duties of a graphical processor on top of running things in the background, but unsurprisingly, they really, really, really, don't like doing more than they have to if it can be helped.

Upon removal of its 770 puppy, my Intel i7 CPU essentially treated me with the passive aggression of a woman scorned, slowing to a state (too) similiar to my laptop.

~My i7's Mood Before~

Happy to Serve

Happy To Serve

 ~My i7's Mood After~

Um, still happy to serve?

Do these eyes still say "Happy?"

Procrastination when told to turn on.
Her head in the cloud when asked to retrieve things from the Cloud.
Feigned sickness when showing video.
Such were the tactics of her protest.

The message was clear: So long as she didn't have her helper to fetch display information, she wasn't happy. And if she wasn't happy, I wouldn't be happy.

Thus, in surrender to her strike, this morning I summoned the will to bring my old card out of retirement. The pouting, unsurprisingly, immediately ceased upon installation.

~My Old CPU's Old Companion to the Rescue~

An Old Hat is still better than no hat.

Smaller Doggie, but Still Loyal Doggie means...

 =  

...a Happy CPU Again!

The Moral: It's advisable that give your CPU a GPU to keep them company. Even if its cheap and obsolete.  Even if you do not play games. It does indeed make a difference in bottomline performance.

Yes, even when all we ask is to simply render some cat videos.channel some basic Youtube videos.

So the next morning I finally summoned the will to bring my old graphics card out of retirement to keep her company. Suddenly, my CPU is happy again.

Installing Your (Android) Code Software on Windows 8.1 - Part II

After you have your environment set up for Eclipse, Java, and Maven in this manner, you'll need to install Android drivers to your Windows environment if you actually want to test your apps with your phone. The general instructions on how to do under these web pages:

http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html
http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html

Unfortunately for yours truly, I hit a snag about here. My android is of the HTC sort, and HTC has not released proper drivers to support Windows 8.1.

After a number of finagling, I finally found the solution to this, and felt like keeping it here for posterity.

As of this writing, if one is testing with an HTC, follow the directions here for steps on how to do so with Windows 8. Otherwise, the HTC Sync Manger should enable you to work.

~Happy Coding~

Installing Your (Android) Code Software on Windows 8.1 - Part I

One of the first things one needs to start coding for android is a IDE and a android device.

Getting my android development environment reset up motivates me to write about it here, on how to set up your environment when working on Windows 8.1.

After downloading and installing the initial Eclipse IDE and Java SDK and JRE, ensure that your PATH is set correctly.  This can be done by....

1. Right Clicking the Start Button.
2. Click on System
3. Go to Advanced system settings (look to the left-hand side of this screen)
4. Go to environment variables.
5. Ensure that something along the lines of your JRE is added to the path. For example: C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin;

While you are at it, if you want to install Maven, be sure to also add something along this with it:

C:\Users\[YOUR USER NAME]\[KEEP GOING TO WHERE YOU PUT YOUR MAVEN STUFF]\Maven\bin;%PATH%

The total line should look like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin;C:\Users\[YOUR USER NAME]\[KEEP GOING TO WHERE YOU PUT YOUR MAVEN STUFF]\Maven\bin;%PATH%


~Continued with Part II~

Chronicles of a PC Parts Shopper - Introduction

Hello again bloggers! In the updating hiatus, this author has gained many insights into the world of computing and programming. Extremely exciting understandings of UML, Analysis, Testing Principles, Design Patterns, and more! It's sometimes difficult to find time to bring all back here, but this New Year of 2014, your author intends to do just that!

On that note, lets talk about something other than pure coding:

Hardware.

Yes we're talking about how to build your own computer.

For yours truly it was simple enough. As a gaming enthusiast, one of my favorites is the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Not only for the gameplay itself mind you, but for the ability to create your own spin on it via its excellent mod community and tools. Let me tell you, such a hobby will teach you a thing or two about testing discipline, watching out for inter-dependencies, and having a clear plan and backlog to discipline yourself with; a crucial aspect of system design once one graduates to the level of incorporating formal patterns and engineering concepts into their software.

But I digress.

I've never been much of a hardware kind of guy; I learned how to install a graphics card two years ago and that was it. Yet the need to continuously test eventually won me over into doing my research into the matter.  My, the things I have learned!

Where to begin this chronicle? As with any project, perhaps it best by dividing things into manageable chunks first, and working on it from there.

Between so I hope to share what I've also learned of advanced code concepts; ultimately reaching the point where I may present videos on a variety of different topics. Such is the sky to which this blog aims for. In time perhaps.

For now, let this post be our prospective preview into the Chronicles of a PC Parts Shopper.

Chronicles of a PC Parts Shopper

Where I Was With My Computing 
The First Graphics Card
Research Sites Best Found
Two Years Later - The Need to Expand
The Second Graphics Card
Attitudes to Take in CPU Shopping
Priorities Part I- The Foundation: Case and Power Supply
Priorities Part II- The Structure: Motherboard and CPU.
Priorities Part III - The Storage: RAM, HDD, SSD, and SSHDs?
Priorities Part IV - The Furniture: Operating System and Video Card

~David Noble Morris~

Growing a PC is like Growing a Plant, or a Slow Cooked Meal. So Enjoy the Journey and Take Pictures.

Where I Was With My Computing

In 2011, I would be the surprised windfall recipient of my very first PC, an HP Pavillion p7. A relative purchased it originally as a replacement to his dying old computer from late 2004, but grew unsatisfied by it due to it lacking a TV Turner as his old machine had. Since I'd been victim to the recent death of my laptop (twas killed by a power surge), rather than send it back, he decided to ship it my way as a psuedo-holiday present and get himself a fancy laptop instead.

Truthfully, he remarked, laptops are all the power a typical, non-power user such as himself needs these days. A good point. For an aspiring developer such as myself though, it represented a wonderful opportunity to learn, .

So would begin my exciting entry into the land of PCs. As my only experience had been with laptops for college and work related reasons, among the first things I was curious about was what was meant by "PC Gaming," as my work-laptop experience never allowed me to really understand what all the fuss was about concerning this computing function.

So I tried installing a game demo that my old laptop couldn't really play.

To my unimpressed chagrin, this new PC couldn't really play a game either, as it was designed as a workstation. To allow it to play games, I'd need to install that which is known...as a graphics card?

More on that later, but for now I'd just like to say this.

If you are thinking of getting your very first PC, one often asks if they should buy one, or build one themselves.

In my opinion, I'm now an advocate for simply buying your first computer, complete and assembled, and concentrate on how to handle a single upgrade, such as how to install a graphics card or TV Tuner without overwhelming yourself. Its a confidence builder to know you taught yourself how to do at least that much

So at least, it will go for this person's story.

Next - The First Graphics Card