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[Printable version] [Send me a message] [SPIFF Search] [Background]

Sharon Apple used to be called Samsavvy and was assembled of parts bought at H.K. Automation. I wanted it as a cheap media player, so it was based on a 1433MHz Athlon, 256MB PC133 RAM, 120GB Maxtor harddisc, MX400 card with TV out, ASUS DVD drive, and all the other little bits that go to complete a computer, except for the keyboard and mouse because I already had a wireless set, and the monitor, because I use an old IBM 12", with the intention of adding a TV or video monitor at some future date.

But due to circumstances it swapped a lot of stuff with Wintermute and had a DVD-writer added, so it became a 900MHz Duron on an ASUS motherboard with 384MB PC133 RAM, the same harddisc and graphics card, NEC DVD-drive and mostly a 19" monitor.

At approximately the same time it recieved a much more appropriate name.

That wasn't the end of it though, when Wintermute got a processor upgrade to an XP 2400+, the XP 1700+ came back to Sharon where it originated, along with an Audigy 2 card new out of the bag. However wrestling the cooling ribs away from the motherboard turned out to be too much for the poor ASUS (I haven't definitely trashed it yet, but for now it's resting), so I got a new MSI board for Sharon, complete with ATA 133, S-ATA (I need that N drive) and more advanced onboard sound, that I won't be needing, seeing I just got the Audigy. There's also onboard Ethernet, so I've got a spare 10/100-card now. The processor is cooled by a new set of circular copper plates and a reasonably quiet hoover-like fan. The new motherboard only takes DDR RAM, so the block I had got for Wintermute only the day before went into Sharon bringing it down to 256MB, and the old 384MB from Sharon went into Wintermute. Fortunately I'd bought faster RAM than Wintermute needed, because Sharon's new motherboard can make use of the full 400MHz the RAM can handle.

So there's the current status of Sharon Apple, XP 1700+ running at 1469MHZ and 57-60 degrees Celcius, 256MB DDR RAM, Audigy 2, a couple of harddisks, DVD and a few odds and ends.

It's running Windows 2000, so it's also used for some of the few application I have that need Windows such as Messenger in Microsoft's version. Thus Wintermute will be free to run as a pure Unix workstation.

Like the rest of my computers, Sharon used to be looking for aliens, it still is, but is now also spending some time on a more introverted task of creating beautiful mesmerizing patterns, in the dreamily named Electric Sheep project.

The Frankenstein Factor

When I described some of the above mentioned procedures for swapping processors, motherboards, cooling and RAM, one of my friends mentioned Frankenstein without knowing my previous use of the word - need I say more?

Sharon Apple is a slightly psychotic A.I. based virtual pop superstar in Macross Plus.

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