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This is my development/main workstation. The computer in place is actually newer than the one pictured (on the right). It is now a P4 3.4 with 1gig ram and dual 120gig ATA150 drives in a SATA Raid 0 configuration. The sound is standard on-board and it drives a nice set of Creative Labs 2.1 speakers. Super sound is not crucial on this box as you will see later. I have a preference to Kensington Trackballs so I use them everywhere, as well as the Microsoft Natural cordless keyboards. The cornerstone here is the Matrox Parhelia triple-head video card driving three 19“ KDS LCD Monitors. My usual .NET configuration involves a browser on the left monitor and .NET on the center and right monitor. I undock the tool-window, server-explorer, solutions-explorer, index-help, and property-list; then I dock them all next to each other in one giant window and move that to the monitor on the right. The center monitor then becomes a pure code window and I don't have to deal with auto-hide slowness. This PC has a DVD-ROM and a NEC 8x DVD Burner, as well as a 6in1 media card reader. The PC and the monitor on the right (where the 'Start' button is) are plugged into a UPS that also connects to the PC via USB. |
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This machine (the black one on the left) is my game box. It is a P4 2.8 with 1 gig ram and dual 120 gig ATA150 drives in a Raid 0 configuration. The video is an ATI 9800XT with 256 Meg drive driving a 21“ Samsung Syncmaster LCS monitor mounted to the wall. The sound is driven by a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum powering a set of Creative Labs 7.1 speakers. The picture shows the front speakers, but there are side and rear ones mounted above on the wall. There's a Microsoft Force Feedback joystick there as well. This is still the only force feedback joystick I see out here where you can defeat the auto-centering - which is crucial for helicopter flying. I use this PC for DVD watching as well so it serves as a mini-home-theater. I use the Intervideo platinum DVD player software which also gives you a remote control and a USB receiver. There's a Pinnacle break-out box back there that I use to stream video that I want to transfer to DVD. This PC has a DVD-ROM and a NEC 8x DVD Burner, as well as a 6in1 media card reader. You can see my Laser Printer to the far left sitting on a rolling file-folder/drawer cabinet. As you can see, I still have to hide wires and clean things up. The PC and the monitor are plugged into a UPS that also connects to the PC via USB. |
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To the right of my dev box is the docking station for my HP Pavilion zt3000 wide-screen laptop (I love this thing). It's a Centrino (not pictured) 1.7 with 1gig ram and a 60gig drive. It's also loaded with a DVD burner, SD card reader, and an ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 for some great resolution (1920x1200 - great for Visual Studio development since I'm spoiled at home with the triple head setup). Up on that little shelf is a VCR player that I use to either play videos (on the Game box) or stream tapes to the PC - and yes, that's Tony Montana in the picture to the left, with the caption - The world is yours. The shelves on the right contain stationery and hanging file folders. |
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I know, I know, my server closet needs some organizing. Actually, that is almost done (thanks to Staple's plastic shelves). I have to update the pictures after I am done with that and all the wire hiding. The picture shows two servers, but there are now three servers and a standup UPS which connects to the servers via USB. All the servers go into a Belkin KVM switch which then connects to the 17“ KDS LCD Monitor and the keyboard and mouse that is mounted to a wall bracket. This is a stand-up station since I don't spend too much time on the servers. The main server is a P4 2.8 with 1gig RAM and a 60gig drive for the OS (Windows 2003). It also has dual 120gig drives in a Raid 1 (mirroring) configuration. Video is an NVidia GE-Force card and sound is a Sound Blaster Live-value card. The second server is a P3 1.0 with 512 meg ram. It also has a drive for the OS (also Windows 2003) and dual 120 gig drives in a Raid 1 configuration. This machine has a regular video card and no sound. I have my server apps split between these two machines: one machine has SQL Server, IIS, and file-serving while the other has Exchange, SharePoint, Crystal Enterprise, and also file-serving. All the data I use in the workstations is stored in one of these servers' raid arrays. There is a Western Digital exernal fire-wire 120gig drive connected to each box which is used for occassionally (once a week) backing up the entire 120 gig array in each server. I also keep a lot of backups on DVD as there is a DVD ROM and a DVD Burner on each of the two servers. The third box is currently a third Windows 2003 server but I have not decided if it is going to stay that way. I'm back and forth between building a beta-box or a Linux box - hey, maybe I'll just get a fourth and do both. My eventual goal is to repackage these servers in rack-mount cases and put a rack in this closet. There is a 24 port Linksys 100mpbs switch, a Linksys 54g wireless access point/cabledsl router, and of course my cable modem here too. |
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Most of these are actually .NET books, but there is plenty of other technology reading material here too. Believe it or not, there is organization here: The center area has the Framework Class Library Reference set along with my MCSD training material. The top is mostly asp/asp.net and ado/ado.net stuff. The left side is VB.NET while the right is C#. To the bottom is where things get a little mixed: design patters, uml, refactoring, general .NET, etc. Many of these books are reference material while many others are cover-to-cover reads (yes, I have read most of them). A close-up will reveal many bookmarkers sticking out of most of the books. Obviously I was a big Wrox fan, but there's plenty of APress, Addison-Wesley, O'Reilley, etc. here as well. |