You may have noticed a bit of downtime last weekend – this was due to a RAM upgrade I got my host to install on my server, and then an OS upgrade from Fedora 8 x86 (32bit) to Fedora 9 x64 (64bit).

The server now has 6GB of RAM; two 1GB and two 2GB sticks of reliable Corsair XMS2 DDR2

After I started a new job in the middle of last month, I decided to spend the half-month’s pay-cheque on two new Dell 2408WFP monitors!

It makes such a big difference, especially on my Mac, when comparing to what I had before (a nasty LG 17″)… Colours actually look right, and I don’t have to position my head dead-centre in order for it not to look inverted!

There have been several rumours flying round, saying that the 2408WFP’s have input lag problems. However, I don’t play games that much, and the few times I have (Half-Life 2: Death Match), I’ve noticed nothing. I do, however, watch a lot of (HD) movies on my PC: I’ve noticed no lag in these either. To be honest, a few milliseconds here or there really isn’t worth complaining about

All I need now is a new GPU so I can actually play modern games at 1920×1200!

I have finally upgraded my ageing socket 939-based computer to a new quad-everything (quad-core, 4GB ram, 4TB HDD… I’m sure you get the idea)

Some of the basic specs:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
• OCZ 2×2GB 1066MHz DDR2
• Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Motherboard
• 4×750GB, 3×500GB, 1×250GB Samsung Spinpoint F1
• Antec Quattro 850W PSU
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1

For the complete specs list, see the systems page. Thanks to Scan, eBuyer and CCL for selling all the components I wanted

I will be putting Fedora 9 on it (in 64bit of course) once it’s released.

I bought myself the new Dell 2407WFP-HC, a 24" widescreen monitor with a native resolution of 1920×1200 – 120 pixels more than a 1080p HD video has

The extra 5 inches make a pretty big difference in pretty much everything – working, chatting or browsing web pages

Gaming at 1920×1200 is also a big change, once I had configured the games to run at that resolution – newer games, such as Command and Conquer 3 and Counter-Strike: Source were easy, you just select the resolution in a dropdown list. In others, such as Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam, it takes a bit of config file editing – but once that’s done, it works really well. Being able to see further to the left and the right helps a bit too

If I had the money, I’d definitely buy another one, but I’m saving for my new PC and about to buy an iPod Touch, so I won’t be getting another one for quite a while.

If you’re looking for a new monitor, and can stretch to the price for this one, I highly recommend it!

I finally bought myself the new Apple Keyboard on Tuesday! I would’ve bought one when I got my new Mac Mini, but Micro Anvika didn’t have any of the new ones in stock at that time.

So far the keyboard has been great – as with all other Apple products, it “just worked”, even in Windows! It’s much lower on the desk than any other keyboard I’ve used, and seems to be smaller without actually looking smaller, which will let me push it further out of the way when I need to use my laptop on my desk.

I haven’t yet tried it in any games or doing any serious coding, but from my experience chatting with it, writing comments on blogs, and just “using” it, I would say it’s probably the best keyboard I’ve used to date – I highly recommend buying one if you need a new keyboard