Linux

I'm going to assume most of you are aware of what GNU/Linux is, but for those here who do not know it is I'll try to give you a brief introduction. GNU/Linux is an operating system (OS for short), some other operating systems you may know of include: Windows, Mac OSX, IOS and Android. The Linux kernel was created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds as an alternative kernel for the MINIX OS that was used in educational facilities at the time. Linux was later adapted to be used as the kernel for the GNU operating system. GNU/Linux is going to be the focus of my post and what most people tend to mean when they refer to Linux, there are also several non-GNU Linux distributions, in fact you probably have one in your pocket as both IOS and Android use the Linux kernel.

I personally like Linux, it offers a much greater amount of flexibility than OSX or Windows, the other two main desktop OSes. You can make Linux look and feel exactly how you want it to with large variety of different desktop environments and window managers being available for the platform, just check out r/Unixporn to see what you can do with a little tweaking. Linux is also very hard to get a virus on with 90% of software being distributed via the software channel and installable with a simple command as opposed to using an installer provided by people with external motives, there are also security focused Distros with advanced protection features for those that need it or just like to feel safe. That's not to say that Linux is perfect, far from it, if anything it has just as many or more drawbacks as it does advantages. Application support is simply not as good as Windows, it's improving all the time but it still not quite in the same ball park, Linux is also more complicated than Windows or OSX for the most part, some distros like Mint or Ubuntu are almost as simple and totally useable by the average Jane or Joe without ever having to touch a command line or edit configuration file but for those that dare a world of advanced functionality and understanding await.

If you do feel like trying it out you can use Virtualbox, a piece of software for running a second operating system in a window without having to change anything on your computer. I would recommend trying out an Ubuntu based distro with an alternate desktop as the Unity desktop that comes with Ubuntu isn't very nice out of the box (IMO) and takes a bit of tweaking to be good enough for everyday use. Try Ubuntu Gnome or Kubuntu with the Gnome 3 and KDE desktops respectively or if you want something even simpler go with Linux Mint.

I Wall Mounted My PC (And Upgraded It Too)

I've had my desktop for a while now, about a year now if my memory serves me correctly. It was a very boring computer, so boring that I didn't even bother to take a picture, it was the kind of build you see in YouTube videos claiming to "beat the consoles for the same price" (Something that's only possible for the people fortunate enough to live in USA), it's specs were a follows:

• AMD FX-6300
• AMD Radeon R9 270
• Kingston HyperX 1866 Blue 2X4
• Asus M5A78LM-USB3
• Samsung 840 EVO 128GB
• WD Black 1TB
• Cooler Master Thunder 500 Watt
• Crappy $25 Cooler Master Case (I don't remember what model any more, all you need to know is that it was bad)

A perfectly normal, reasonable gaming PC, but boring as all heck. One day while I was playing around with overclocking my processor I ran into some instability caused by the extra heat from the CPU causing my graphics card to overheat. Being a logical fellow I decided that the best thing to do would be to get some more airflow going on inside my case. Unfortunately as I have previously mentioned my case wasn't very good and so airflow was a tad limited and even the addition of some more fans left my temperatures higher than I would have liked. This is where most people would give up and just turn down their overclocks to get the computer back into the magical zone of safe temperatures, but I was feeling adventurous. Spurred on by the builds I had seen around the internet I hatched a plan to wall mount my rig using a piece of plywood and some ingenuity.

I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the early parts of the build process as I started before I knew I would be writing a blog so you'll just have to make do with my descriptions. The build process started with a trip to Bunnings to pick up a a sheet of plywood and a couple of cans of spray paint. I then laid out all of my components on the board in some kinda order (I didn't really plan ahead at all, this was a bit of a mistake as you'll see later).

I then used a jigsaw to cut out some holes near where the cables would need to go (Near the 24 pin connector, the EPS connector and the PSU etc.).

A lick of paint later it was looking a whole lot better. Hard drives and SSDs could be attached with some screws through the wood. The motherboard was almost as easy, drill some holes for the to put some bolts through, find something to use as a stand-off (I found some small rubber cable management grommets worked well), bolt it on and you're set. The power supply and graphics card however would prove a tad more difficult. To hold the power supply I fashioned a simple bracket out of some metal bits (Kinda like the big plates with the holes in them that you find in a Meccano set except bigger and more solid). A few coats of black paint and it looked a million bucks (or at least fifty, I mean, it's not made of solid gold or anything).

I haven't actualy got around to mounting my graphics card yet, I only really have time to do things on the weekend so I haven't had time to work on my computer for a while. I have however given it a matching blue paintjob. The graphics card in question was a new (used) R9 290X TriX from Sapphire Technology, it's a great card for the $330 price tag I got it for second hand, but it had the one small problem, it was bright orange. Now this would have been fine for most people, but I was already going to lengths to make sure that my rig was using a blue and black color scheme and having a bright orange graphics card at the heart of the build just wouldn't do.

To take the shroud off for painting I had to disasemble the whole card.

That GPU is shiiiiny.

Aaaand painted.

Got it back together again without too much difficulty.

That's really all I've done so far, next weekend I should be able to find time to work on getting the graphics card mounted and sleeving the power supply cables with some paracord that I bought online. But that will have to wait until another time, so for now goodbye.

Lord Stawberries.

What this blog is and what to expect.

Hi I am Lord Strawberries and I'm writing a blog because I am in my high school's blog writing class. As you may have guessed this is that blog, you're very astute, you are. I'm gonna write about technology that interests me as well as just some of the things that happen in my personal life with computers (like my recently wall mounted computer soon to have a 290X). The blog will probably only run for a few weeks because that's how long the elective subject goes for (although if someone out there in the wilds of the internet likes it I might just continue, we'll see what happens in ten weeks or so).
That's about all I wanted to say for now. The next time I post something it'll actually be proper content (a novel idea, I know) so for now have a nice fruit filled day.