All about my workstation(s)

I spend a lot of time on my computer(s), so why not talk about it on this little page. Each computer has a picture of its case. Nothing really special; I don't have time to get into case modding.

nala - image

Nala is my latest machine and absolutely blows all the others away. It is an Apple Titanium Powerbook G4. Nala is named after Nala the lioness from The Lion King. Here are the specifications:

This machine consistently pegs the fps meter in Quake 3 Arena at over 100 and is one of the slickest laptops I've ever used, period. }:)

duchess - image

Duchess was retired, probably temporarily, when hushpad had a CPU failure and needed its motherboard+processor. Since I acquired Nala, Duchess'  purpose in life has minimized almost completely, so my incentive to resurrect it is minimal. I'll eventually find a CPU for it, though, since Windows comes in handy once in a blue moon. To play Grand Theft Auto.

Ahh yes, Duchess. The former creme de la creme of my computers. This machine replaced Sarabi in mid-2000. I was going to keep the name Sarabi originally, but since the machine was undergoing a complete overhaul, I figured I'd rename it. (Plus, I'd seen _The Aristocats_ recently and thought Duchess (the fuzzy white persian kitty (who has those cute kittens) was adorable, so why not.)

So anyway, here's the stats as they were when it was gutted:

This used to be a gaming box. I used it for web-browsing too, since it was so DAMNFAST!, but if it WEREN'T a gaming box, it would be running Linux, just like Hushpad.

hushpad - image

Then there's hushpad. Hushpad is my Linux box. That's all it ever runs; Linux. It serves mail and web for zorin.org, stores vast amounts of data, and looks good in its stunning beige exterior, as well.

Hushpad was named after a cat (did you guess?) in Tad Williams' book _Tailchaser's Song_. It has been upgraded lately (as of July 2001).

When hushpad first came to be in 1996, it was named Milva, which was the online name of my significant other at the time. When that fell to pieces, though, I couldn't bear to have a machine named after her anymore, I renamed it. (Besides, I liked the book!)

Hushpad suffered a CPU failure in May 2003. The CPU and board were replaced with the ones from Duchess. The result was a memory upgrade (to 512MB) but the CPU speed stayed the same.

So here's them stats!

sarabi - image

(Sarabi is gone. I gave it away. May its new owner find it useful.)

Ahh yes, Sarabi. Sarabi was my Windows box before Duchess came into my life. It ran NT 4.0 back then, but now it's been cursed to a life of running Windows 95. I haven't used it in months, but I might as well name it for completeness sakes.

Sarabi has had that name ever since it was a 486DX2/66 back in early 1995. I still have that 486DX2/66, but it is nameless so it is not on this page.

Sarabi is named after Simba's mom in The Lion King. It is a lovely name, and I hope to give it to a more important machine someday...

spyro - image

Spyro is a SPARCClassic. It runs Solaris (did you guess?) and has one purpose in life: Backing up important stuff on hushpad. Every now and then I run dumps to it. It stays off most of the time, since the machine is less vulnerable to lightning and other catastrophic events in the off state.

And that's it. It's used entirely over the network, or on its serial console. And to think this plaything was once a $5000 workstation...

Well, not anymore. It's sitting on a shelf now.

cleo - image (retired 8/2002)

Cleo is my laptop! It's a quaint lil' K6/450 with 160MB of RAM and an 800x600 passive matrix display. It was graciously provided to me by my employer, and I love them for it! Cleo is named after Cleo the cat in the old Heathcliff cartoon.

Cleo was retired when I acquired kitten. Cleo sucked, mostly becuase the screen was crappy, it could only run Windows 2000 well, and had lethargic battery life. Kitten solves these problems.

kitten - image

Kitten is my new laptop! Well, it's not really new, it's three years old, but it's way better than cleo was. You see, kitten runs Linux properly, and has a TFT display! The CPU is a bit slower (P2-366) but you can't win them all. Of course, the three hour battery life (as opposed to Cleo's 45 minutes; one hour if lucky) is an amazing plus. Li-Ion battery technology rules.

Kitten isn't used much anymore since I got Nala. (top of this page)

Deceased Hardware

We remember people when they die, right? Why not remember deceased hardware? Here is a list of hardware I have that currently have a place in hardware heaven, and have served me well: Well, when you're done drooling over my computer system (yeah, right.), you can return to my home page.