The Marvelous Patric - Post a comment

dear blog,

It's been a busy week for me computer-wise. This week, I achieved a long-held goal of getting a cintiq. I found a 21UX model used on ebay. For like really cheap. (Well, far, far cheaper than a new one.) I had been contemplating buying the 12WX, which is the 12 inch cintiq. I found this 21 inch version for only slightly more than an new 12WX. (for those not in the know, a Cintiq is a wacom tablet that is also a LCD monitor. Thus, you draw, with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity right on the frakkin' screen.)

My cintiq arrived on Monday. I got home from band and set it up right away. It works so well! It took a little adjusting, but now I feel like it's really sped up my workflow for drawing. I also feel that drawing on a 21 inch surface vs the 6x8 intuos while looking at the monitor is really improving my drawing.

The only issue I was having was where to put it to be comfortable. I already had two monitors, a 23 inch Apple Cinema Display and a 17 inch, both from the short-lived period of ADC (Apple Display Connector). ADC was cool, because it was one cable that went to the computer and provided power and USB to the monitor. Of course, Apple switched to DVI which is better in the long run for resolution. So, my problem, with the cintiq, came in that where I wanted to put it, on my left, is also where I like to have my menu bar, dock, etc. I also usually use my left monitor as my main monitor, thus the right one contains palettes, instant messages, radio, etc. Well, I like to draw with the cintiq reasonably flat. So, now if I want to use it while not drawing, I have to constantly readjust the thing. I don't care for that. I want to find a comfortable position and leave it there.

I moved the cintiq to the left, putting my palettes on the right. That's just awkward. Now my mouse and keyboard are on my left while drawing. That isn't working. I came to the conclusion that I need to use my 17 inch monitor again and have a three monitor set-up, the 23 for basic computing, the cintiq in the middle, and the 17 inch for palettes on the right. I looked on ebay and found a PCI graphics card for my mac. Most graphics cards that work with a powermac g5 are AGP. That slot already has a card in it, driving the cintiq and 23 inch. I need an additional card. (In theory, I could have four monitors...). This was thursday by the time i found and purchased a card online.

Thursday night, after drawing a bit of Fun Factory, I shut down my computer, unplugged it (lots o' thunderstorms 'round here these days) and went to bed. I woke up early friday morning because the siding and shingles for my house were being delivered. I plugged in and hit the power on my computer and went to take a shower. I expected to walk back into my office after the shower to find my computer happily running, like it did every other day for the past 5 years.

That did not happen. In fact, not much happened. The G5 was sucking power, the fans were all going inside, lots of noise, but no actual computer going on. I thought maybe the monitor card I had went bad, since I got nothing on my screens. I had upgraded my monitor card years ago, so I pulled out the original and tried that. Nothing. I unplugged every device that wasn't a the monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Nothing.

I have taken my G5 Powermac to a repair center. They think they might get to looking at it monday. I am not optimistic. The good news, I still have my laptop, everything was backed up to external drives thanks to Time Machine, and I'm ahead on my comics. The bad news is I may be looking at needing a new desktop machine in the near future.

I've had that machine for 5 years, and model-wise, the machine is 6 years old. It was hot, noisy, and big, but man I loved it. I upgraded the RAM to 3 gigs, put in a video card with 256 MB of VRAM, and was very gentle to it. I had contemplating selling it a few weeks ago. It wouldn't be worth much, due to the Power PC architecture, but if not now, then never. I ultimately decided against it because at this point, relying on only one computer makes me a little nervous.

While I certainly was not planning on buying a new computer any time soon, I now may. The PCI graphics card I just bought will most likely do me no good, so I'll have to return it. If I maintain my dream of 3 (or 4!) monitors, the iMacs are out. I'll need a Mac Pro for that sort of set up. I probably could adjust to using the cintiq and one extra monitor (the wireless mouse I use with my laptop and the cintiq the other day helped). Assuming I get accepted into grad school, apple has a decent student discount, plus they're giving away free iPods with computer purchase. I could sell that, since I have an iPhone, or give someone a really nice gift.

I don't have to make a decision right now, luckily. But, it will weigh heavily on my mind.

Current Location: work
Current Mood: scared