Scribbled by Matt Wilkinson

Yes, yes, Christmas is about giving. Well, I gave a little to myself today. You see, I’ve been a good boy, and I deserve a few new toys. Namely:

• a Viewsonic VP201s 20.1″ LCD Monitor
• a Linksys WET54GS5 54Mbps Wireless Ethernet Bridge with 5 Port Switch
• an IOGEAR GCS104U MiniView 4 port USB KVM & Peripheral Sharing switch
• a Benq x700 Multimedia Keyboard (you have to see this thing, it’s a work of art)
• a Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse (gesture like Dr. Evil when you say ‘Laser’)

I’ll give myself until after Dec. 26 to download my AMEX transactions into Quicken, then I’ll wonder what I was thinking. So, to help keep my buyers remorse to a minimum, let me explain the necessity of each item.

The monitor was a bit much, I admit. My old Princeton 17″ LCD Display had developed two ugly horizontal lines earlier in the year, and it sucked for gaming. I wanted something with DVI input. This Viewsonic has pivot capability plus integrated 4-port USB 2.0 hub. I’m not sure if I’ll try to sell the old 17″ LCD on eBay, or post to Craigslist.org and offer it to the first taker willing to come pick it up.

Next up, the Linksys WET54GS5 (don’t you love their part numbering scheme?). I stumbled across this thing by accident in a local CompUSA, and it addressed something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. My workspace, which I’ll write in more detail about in another installment, doesn’t have any means to connect to my LAN and broadband except wirelessly. For my desktop and laptop, not a problem… But when I’m rebuilding PCs for clients that only have regular Ethernet NICs, I have to put them on a USB Wireless adapter to run updates. Plus I have an old Dell box I’ve installed SUSE LINUX on, and as far as I can tell, driver support for USB 802.11 adapters is non-existent. As a band-aid, I put it on a Linksys WET11 I had laying around, but it caused some problems with my 54g clients, so I turned it off. Then I have an old PowerMac G3 that a client gave me that I brought back from the dead with a new IDE controller card and hard drive. I found a Wireless USB adapter with Mac OS X Drivers, and it’s running strong. But what a hassle to have all those things with their own adapters, when they all have Ethernet NICs. The new Linksys will let me clean all that up.

The 4-port IOGEAR USB KVM switch will let me drive my Dell Linux box, my PowerMac G3 and an old Compaq Armada M700 laptop from one console. The fourth port will remain open for when I’m rebuilding client PCs. This will be a big time saver.

The Benq x700 Keyboard will replace an old Logitech wireless keyboard that is just plain tired. And the Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless mouse will likewise replace a tired Logitech cordless optical trackball. I’m a trackball kind of guy, have been for years, but this mouse seems like a winner.

Props to the fine folks at Newegg.com. I’m always impressed by their selection, prices, and order processing speed. I submitted the order, watched a DVD, and came back to my PC to find I already had FedEx tracking numbers. I should have nearly everything the Monday or Tuesday following Christmas, and I’ll have the whole week to tear apart my desk, rewire things (neatly this time), and get all the new stuff up and running. I’ll report the results when I do. Well, that about does it. I’ve explained away my remorse, at least until I see the charges downloaded. At least I will get some membership miles!