Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "graphics"

Still not sorted my problems out with Lulu, I’ve been force to move my query to the Escalation forum. I don’t hold out much hope of them getting back in touch but have to give them a couple of days to see. It hasn’t stopped me finishing Bublos though, so that one good thing. My wife is reading through it checking for those little errors that I have missed. While she does that I’m trying to design the cover. With a couple of idea’s to play around with, I don’t think it will take me to long. I’ve got my graphics pad to help make the whole process easier, there’s nothing worse than trying to draw on a computer with a mouse. I know from experience because that was how Teddy the Bear was done and I did have to fight with the mouse to get it to do anything. Don’t get me wrong the pad makes it easier but you still have to learn to use it. It’s not like when you drew at school with pencil and paper. Then you looked at the paper and your hand was there, unlike with the pad where you aren’t watching your hand; as what you are sketching is appearing on the monitor screen, with your hand out of view. You quickly adjust which is good; leaving everything down to how good you are as well as how good your ideas are.

I thought my job had come to an end yesterday after finishing the last order. Last night though while playing Civ 4 I got a phone call to tell me I was needed next week after all, which is great news. I was so dreading having to back on unemployment benefit. What makes it worse is that the staff, who is supposed to be there to help, make you feel as if you are something they have stepped in. I know that is unfair as some are helpful but just too often I have had to deal with those that treat the client badly. Well I don’t have to worry about that for at least another week and I have a long weekend to add to the good day it has been.
I still have a touch of the cold I had last week. It seems to just want to hang in the background, but I seem to be over the worst of it now. It really ruined my weekend last week though it had shifted mostly by the start of the new week, that is something to be grateful for. Nothing worse than working when you have a cold weighing you down.
I ordered a new graphics tablet as since my computer upgrade last year my old one doesn’t work with my new system, no serial port. Anyways I have a new one on the way, and I am looking forwards to using it to create the cover for Banshee 2. Talking of which my wife is still reading through it but there will be some editing to some areas near the start before passing it onto my son to read. In the mean time I will soon be able to work on the front cover though I haven’t worked out what I will do for it. Still that is part of the joy of self publishing, isn’t it?

So glad this is the weekend again. It’s been a stressful week at work, you know it goes but at least it is over now and next week is a few days rest away to recharge the old battery. It didn’t help much when my new graphics card didn’t come. When I phoned the business that I was buying it from they admitted that their order of the 6670 HD hadn’t arrived in. I subsequently decided to upgrade to the 6770 HD which arrived today while I was at work. Of course fitting it went well but getting the latest drivers proved a little confusing. I’ve always went to the ATI website for the drivers in the past but of course now you have to go to AMD’s site for them. Yes it would have been easier for me to go to the XFX (manufacture) site for them yet I had to do it the harder way. That is mainly because I thought that it would be like any other time I have bought a ATI card though they aren’t ATI cards any longer but AMD’s cards as they bought up ATI a few years ago. Though it is only recently that the dropped the ATI brand name to their graphics cards. I got there in the end and I was pleased that the company that I got the card from sent out the 6770 HD on the next day delivery to make up for my wait. I’ve always had good service from Dabs.com where I have been going for years for my tech equipment. Anyway it is in and ready for the big test with The Witcher 2 tomorrow though I must admit to giving it a quick test after installing the drive. I just couldn’t resist the temptation, it did look a lot better though. It will be a good way to kick back and relax.
My lawnmower troubles continue. I think it may be a build up of carbon on the valves or something like that. You used to get something years ago that decarbed the engine though I don’t know if you still get that these days or what it was called. Magz had a search on the web for it but couldn’t find it. It was something that you put in the fuel and burned the build-up out of the engine. Failing finding that I’ll need to strip the engine right down to clean it. I have a Google for something tonight to see if I can find anything. If not I’ll need some gasket sealer to put it all back together. It would help if I knew what was wrong with it though or at least more about petrol mowers. Well at least it’s a learning experience.

That is me back on holiday for the next nine days, which brings a big grin to my face. Time to spend some time in the garden and with any luck I should also get my replacement graphics card in the next few days. Yes I am finally to get my card replaced after they admitted that it had fail as I told you last week. Well this week they told me I should get my replacement within a week. That was on Tuesday so I am watching the for the mail man closely.
Magz has been cleaning up around my tubs this week. There has been a multitude of dead slugs and snails. The pellets that I put down seem to be doing the trick and my plants are now starting to show signs of recovery from the infestation. While the rest of my plants are now going from strength to strength my cherries have suffered. Yeah like last year I don't think I will get any fruit from them now. Over the last week it was cooler, more autumnal than early summer. Though it was only for a very short spell it was enough. Both trees cast there fruit very readily so Magz will have to wait till next year. Hopefully then we might get something from them. On the good side she did get the first strawberry of the season. More should be ready over the coming weeks. Maybe she'll make more strawberry jam, yum.

I have been plagued with computer problems this week. I thought it was down to the memory but it turned out to be a little more than that. My PSU died. It was delivering some power to the main board but not enough to power the system. Of course I thought it must be a graphics problem when the fans in the case began to spin up yet there was no signal to the monitor. In my frustration I may have made things worse and damaged either the graphics port or my card. I found this out a few days later when my daughter bought me a new power unit. Looking on the brighter side of things I have now got my system up and running. Sadly though I am working with a very basic I7's built in graphics which real rules out gaming. I tried to play solitaire on it last night but even that seemed stuttery to me so I gave up. I can still use the computer for job searches and other internet related things as that doesn't really require a great deal of power.
I suppose though my problems are minor compared to what is happened in Paris. Though they don't feel so minor to me. Rather the weather outside seems to reflect my feelings well, dark stormy and wet. I don't enjoy relying on my kids buying stuff for me just because I haven't got the cash. I suppose that is due to the fact that it is my job to provide for them not the other way around.
Old fashioned, yes it maybe but that is just me.