the joys of having a real keyboard again

[jazzfish]

Godot is up and running again, for the most part. Still haven't finished installing all the software I need but that's going to be a continual work in progress.

Also, the nice new speaker set I got secondhand from my parents has some serious bass buzz going on when there's nothing coming over the speakers. Oh well. I can just turn them on when I feel like listening to something.

The KVM switch I got is useless because running the trackball through a PS/2 connector and then running that through a USB converter to hook it to the laptop renders it incapable of talking to the Intellipoint software. The USB hub is useless because the cable is way too short. Stupid technology.

This weekend didn't really involve much chance to recuperate, but it was all worth it. Well, except for having to get up early to get uilos's car inspected. But other than that. ABG, jonny_law's housewarming (featuring big-screen Guitar Heroism, and also cheese), and more Race for the Galaxy with elf and company. Good times.

I came home today and napped for well over an hour. I think I must have actually been tired.

Goodnight Gracie.

Comments

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

I have had some success cutting down on speaker buzz by adjusting the speaker volume down and the software/master OS volumes up. YMMV, of course.

[jazzfish]

A possibility, but then I can't use the volume knob on the speakers themselves, which is a lot more quickly accessible than the software control.

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

Well, you *can* (depending on how bad the system is)... it just requires accepting that your volume control goes nowhere near 11. ;-)

[jazzfish]

"This . . . this goes to 1.1."

[absolutliz.livejournal.com]

Is Guitar Hero better on the big screen? We have it (on the wii, which rocks, because you can tilt the guitar to do star power) and I think I would get motion sickness on a bigger tv.

[jazzfish]

The tilting the guitar to Rock Out is part of the controller, I think. At least, it works like that for PS2.

It's not really any better or worse on a big screen, just bigger. Well, except that GH1 doesn't support progressive scan, so I was consistently doing Really Really Badly on that one. I guess it might be easier to see notes in multiplayer with a larger screen.

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

The MIT SGS group, including xaolo, tend to take the "Race" part of Race for the Galaxy literally. Since it's basically a solo game, everyone flips at turn start, and it's assumed that you should finish your turn and select your next turn act as quickly as possible. I'm not sure I've done anything but come in last yet, and I keep trying to figure out if it's the frantic pace, or just that I'm bad at the game.

[jazzfish]

That . . . sounds insane. I mean, the only way to reasonably select your action is to see what everyone else is (likely to be) doing, and you can't do that if you're speeding through your own turn and not paying attention to theirs. Yecch.

[rbandrews]

They do make USB KVMs, but they cost a lot more.

[jazzfish]

The one I saw on NewEgg actually wasn't all that much more (maybe $20 instead of $15). I'd not thought about using the PS2-to-USB converter /before/ the KVM instead of afterwards, or I would have gotten that variety instead.

[rbandrews]

Dude. The one I got when I got the G4 was like $120.

[jazzfish]

Um. Either yours can do all kinds of awesome that this one can't, or you got pretty seriously ripped off.

(Or, do Macs have some sort of weirdly specialised monitor connection, maybe?)

[rbandrews]

Mine was four-port, and I did buy it several years ago. Maybe they're just cheaper now. I did shop around and get a fairly cheap one.