As those of you who have read between the lines of my previous posts may infer, my computer's video graphics card recently suffered a catastrophic failure. My venerable GeForce 6200 AGP finally bit the dust, and I was rather saddened, as I knew that the integrated VIA/S3 UniChrome VGA graphics provided by my motherboard would not cut the mustard with any application that requires 3D acceleration. This meant that I was stuck in a world without Minecraft. Quite frustrating, as I knew that my Youtube subscribers were going to be stuck without content for a while, especially as I had just launched my Let's Play series (With actual gameplay, mind you!).
As luck would have it, a good friend of mine had some spare AGP cards floating around. He didn't need them, and was gracious enough to let me pick through what he had and decide if I could use any of them. The first card I selected was a GeForce FX 5500, which is a solid GPU, only one generation behind my old card. It had the same amount of VRAM, and I imagined that with it I would be able to get back business. However, I noticed that one of the capacitors on the card was bulged and leaking, and the card would not display anything, even during POST. So, the only other functioning AGP card with 3D support was a GeForce2 MX 200. Over 10 years old, this card was not my first choice when it came to graphical performance, but I figured anything would be better than nothing, right? So, I brought it home, installed it and set everything up. The verdict?
Success! Minecraft actually runs, albeit between 10 and 15 frames per second. Certainly not glamorous, but playable. I have to admit that I was impressed. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can say that I was almost afraid that Minecraft would peak at 5FPS, and tank every time a sheep walked past. Special thanks to the guys who make Optifine, or else I might have had that issue.
With the bottleneck suddenly shifted from CPU to GPU, I know well that Fraps wouldn't provide me with acceptable performance when recording. So, unfortunately, my Let's Play, and any other Minecraft video content will continue to be on hiatus until I can figure something else out. However, there is another bonus I almost forgot to mention. The friend that gave me my glorious little GPU also offered me something else that I just couldn't refuse. A Hauppage WinTV TV-tuner card. Those who don't quite grasp what that is, let me explain: It's an add on for my computer that allows me to watch and record video from analog and digital TV sources. Meaning, I can now connect a VCR, DVD player, Sega Genesis, N64, Xbox/360, PS1/2/3 or any other device that normally would connect to a TV produced in the past 10 years (With the only exception being HDMI devices, but that's what adapters are for.). Retail, this device would cost at least $50, but my friend was kind and generous enough to let me walk out the door with it for absolutely nothing. Words cannot express my excitement. So, once I have it configured, don't be surprised to see me making some classic console-game videos. Gotta do something, right?
I've also taken the opportunity, since I had to reformat my computer anyway, to revisit an old friend. Ubuntu Linux has been a favorite piece of software since I was introduced to it in 2005. While I hadn't used it for nearly two years, I decided that I would take a look at the most recent release, 11.10. I have to say, I'm quite impressed with the way Ubuntu has evolved over the years. While I'm not sure about all of the particulars, it seems that GNOME, the desktop environment I was used to in previous releases, has been replaced/modified/mutated by a slick new interface known as Unity. Taking design cues from both Windows 7 and Mac OS X, Ubuntu 11.10 is stable, fast, and easy to use, even if you have never tried free software before. So, here's a tip, go to www.ubuntu.org and download the latest release, and burn the ISO to a CD, or you can use the Universal USB Installer from www.pendrivelinux.org to "burn" the image to a USB thumb drive. The great thing about Ubuntu is that you can boot from the CD or USB without installing anything on your hard drive. You can test out the new interface, browse the wide variety of tools and applications found both pre-installed and in the Ubuntu Software Center, and make sure all of your hardware and devices are working properly, before you decide to take the plunge and install Ubuntu as a dual-boot option.
So, that's what's going on in my weird little world. Please, feel free to visit again sometime soon! :)
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