As anyone who follows the blog will have realised, I haven’t been posting much on the blog. This isnt because I have forgotten about it, its just that when you spend every day not spending money, you do very little that’s worth discussing in a public forum. Sure we go on a daily walk in the countryside, and we keep the business ticking over, but now I’ve made all the cutbacks in spending I can, and tend not to buy anything, even food most of the time, there is very little to talk about. I’m glad I’m still carrying out the experiemnt, but with the exception of the odd free daytrip I’ve been like a hermit, working alot from home and saving money to pay off my numerous student debts.

I’ll try to come up with good stuff to post, that won’t bore the pants off you, I just need some time to do something notable

Hall Street Depot - Transport Museum

Well I’m as good as a month into the project and it’s already getting a little tough. I need new socks badly, which I should have bought before starting the project. I’ve read most of the books I had backlogged so it’s a library job for them. We are also getting a little bored not spending money. Vicki by default isn’t spending, probably in sympathy, but as a result we have become like hermits, only leaving the house to go for a walk or to grab groceries. There is our daily journey to the post office to post out orders from Koolbadges but apart from that we do nothing. We where going to start going swimming as we live oposite a huge park with a leisure centre in the middle, however they have a problem with the filters int he pool and refuse to fix it so that is out of the question.

We also spotted the St Helens Transport Museum when we went to the walk in centre a few weeks back. We where going to go along today to see the old cars and buses ad have a small day out, but alas the website says they only open at the weekend so that will have to wait. If you want to check out the museum it definitely looks worth a visit.

In other news, the not spending whilst boring and not ideal, has improved our bank balance no end, and whats more we seem to be earning more money now we aren’t spending than we ever have. Our balance seems to be staying well in the black as they say, and I really do attribute this to the not spending. The money seems to be snowballing now which is positive, especially for me the eternal student

Also, after reading about my escapades and the running out of DVDrs, My cousin Adam donated 25 blank discs to me. I’m using them wisely at the moment as I don’t know when the next batch will be donated/stolen/borrowed.

We have a day out to Liverpool planned for tommorow which should be good. Go and see some free museums, Tate (the free exhibitions) and enjoy a picnic down by the docks. Will post up some pictures tomorrow. Also, if you not already on Twitter, get your arse over there and sign up! I’ll be closing my Facebook account shortly as it has come to my attention that they are selling data to third parties. So sign up to Twitter and follow me at http://twitter.com/jodsclass

iBook G4 - Still a damn nice machine!

Well I managed to source an iBook 1.33Ghz 12″ for the grand total of £0.00. Our friend Emma had been having trouble with the iBook rebooting and freezing, and the guys in the so called “Genius Bar” had suggested that the Logic Board was faulty and it would be a better idea to upgrade to a new Macbook. So she offered the faulty iBook to me to break up for parts.

I received the iBook and after looking at the thing (it’s pristine, a great size and too good to break up) I decided to have a go at fixing the thing. Out came the screwdrivers and tweezers and apart came the laptop. After a few hours and a few attempts to diagnose the logic board (checking for loose connections and corrosion) I decided to take a look at the RAM. I know I should have really checked this first, but I kind thought the Geniuses at the Genius Bar would have done that in the first place.

Without the 1GB add on SODIMM the laptop seems a lot more stable, with less freeze ups. On closer inspection, some of the memory slot pins where corroded (probably due to liquid on the keyboard). I cleaned up the corrosion, and ordered a brand new 1GB SODIMM online. 2 days later the SODIMM arrived from Play.com and I slotted the ram in place. The iBook booted no problem and even with a hard core burn in test managed not to crash. In instantly formatted the drive and installed OSX 10.5. Within an hour the iBook was configured with my .MAC details and was up and running.

I am pleasantly surprised with this laptop (typing this entry from it as we speak). it is small and lightweight, fast enough for any daily web/blogging/writing stuff, and runs Photoshop & Dreamweaver pretty well. Whats more it was 100% free! Now for the specs :-

  Model Name: iBook G4

  Model Identifier: PowerBook6,7

  Processor Name: PowerPC G4 (1.5)

  Processor Speed: 1.33 GHz

  Number Of CPUs: 1

  L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB

  Memory: 1.5 GB

  Bus Speed: 133 MHz

  Boot ROM Version: 4.9.3f0

My current iBook 12" Desktop

This laptop kicks the arse out of most of the crummy net books available, and still manages to run on battery for around 3.5 hours (although I’m trying to source a new battery this month). The size is ideal for everyday browsing, and I tend to use this laptop more than my more expensive and more powerful Laptops & Desktops due to its size, battery life and good performance as an internet machine. I’m currently running OSX 10.5.6 without issue and the speeds are very good. Everything works as it should, and iLife (iPhoto) runs fine. I play my tunes from my iPod via itunes so the 40GB Hard Drive isn’t a problem (soon to be upgraded to a 250GB drive).

For anyone requiring a friendly all round computer, I’d really recommend grabbing one of the ultra portable G4 12″ iBooks. they have plenty of life left in them and are ideal for everything except really processor intense usage.

The iBook Keyboard is great. Very Clicky and white