So, I recently came into possession of a rather large merchandise card for Office Depot. This was to replace a chair that broke a month after I bought it. I long since replaced that chair with an even more expensive one (which, oddly enough, didn't cost me anything), so I had no need to use the card to buy another chair. So, what do you think I did with it? That's right... I bought monitors! I now have 2 new Acer V223 Wbd 22" widescreen flat panels on my desk at home. This replaces the 22" widescreen Dell I had previously. Don't get me wrong, the Dell is a better monitor, but when I go dual screen I am very particular about matching my monitors. So, I've moved the Dell off to my other computer (which is currently stuck with dual 15"), and I set up the new monitors on my gaming/dev rig. So far, I really like it. The new monitors aren't quite as crisp as the Dell, even though they are on a DVI connection, but it's not enough to bother me. Also, the bases are much lighter, which means the monitors are very wobbily if I bang into my desk... fortunately the desk is pretty solid and I don't move the monitors, so again, I don't see a problem. If it bugs me, I'll get a couple of arm mounts and be done with it.
Anyway, I think I'm going to to leave both 15" on my other computer and insert the 22" in between, meaning I'll have 3 full monitors on that box. I use that machine for bill pays, music streaming, torrents, and general office type work. I have to install a spare PCI video card I found while packing up my computer room last month before the move, and I need to get a beefier power supply for that computer, but I think I can make it work. When I'm done, I should have the 22" monitor in the center, as my primary monitor, and the matching 15" on either side of it, as peripheral monitors. I think I will like it.
I still don't know what to do with my Poweredge server. It's got a brand new install of Server 2008 on it. I've thought about putting it in my living room as a Media PC connected to my TV, but that seems like a waste. I've also thought about making it a virtual server, to host my various VMs for personal dev project, school work, or the Ride Yellow site. Actually, that might not be a bad idea... if I can punch the right holes in my router, I could let Sharron connect to that machine to work on the ride yellow code directly.... I'll have to think about it. I also wanted to make that box my Domain controller, and get my network on the domain. I should do that *before* I install the Windows 7 RTM on my workstations and laptop though, so I don't have to set up my environments twice.
Either way, I'll probably still set that machine up in the cubby behind the TV. I wonder if I can run media center on server 2008...? Oooooh, there's an option... screw WMC, I can use XBMC on Server 2008, or even Boxy, now that it's got a windows client.
http://xbmc.org/download/
http://www.boxee.tv/
A quick search reveals that Boxee and XBMC will both work on 2008. So, here's my shopping list to finish my home network madness:
1. PSU for Workstation
2. Wireless Draft N card for Server
3. Inexpensive wireless Keyboard/Mouse for Server
4. TV-Out card for Server
I'm pretty sure I'm using onboard video for the server, so I'll have to buy a cheap TV out card. I don't really care about turning it into a DVR machine yet, but that might change. It's only got a 320 gig hd in it right now, and I want to use it as a server too... I'll have to play around with it. I don't want to spend too much money on the project anyway. I'll start with the NIC and PSU tonight and get the basics working, I'll worry about making it a media PC after I get my domain built.
I should probably get back to work now...
Rich
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