{"id":3660,"date":"2012-11-16T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T07:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=3660"},"modified":"2012-11-10T23:41:50","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T06:41:50","slug":"adios-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=3660","title":{"rendered":"Adios PC"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time since I began writing, I no longer have a dedicated PC, one that I use only for writing.
\n
\nSome history: Back when I got my first computer, it was my only computer. Duh.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I had a second computer, a Macintosh. I used the Mac as my graphics workstation, but I also did my outline on the Mac because the PC lacked good outlining software. (My Mac outline was a program called ACTA.)<\/p>\n

As I wrote more and more books, it eventually dawned on my to sport a “test computer.” That’s because it was too risky to run beta software on my main writing computer. Even with a multitasking utility like DESQview, it was near impossible to write about software or hardware without a second PC.<\/p>\n

Since that time — about 1989 or so — I’ve always had two PCs: One for writing and another as a test. Normally I would use my older computer as the testbed, and the newer one for writing.<\/p>\n

That setup changed this past week.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, I like to retire PCs after five years. Some of them last longer. My writing computer “Ming” was purchased in 1998 and lasted until 2008. That’s a long time for a PC, but then again I just ran Microsoft Word on that system — no games, no Internet, nothing but Word.<\/p>\n

I purchased Boxer to replace Ming. Both systems were IBM\/Lenovo, and very reliable, though Boxer did have some issues: IBM came out and replaced his motherboard due to a manufacturer’s defect. (Ob-site service is one reason I buy Lenovo.) Its graphics adapter also took a dump and was replaced.<\/p>\n

Recently, Boxer was experiencing major glitches, random crashes, and software woe that caused me concern. So I new that even though he was just five years old — and I’d like to push a PC as far as I can — it was time to buy a new system.<\/p>\n

But I didn’t!<\/p>\n

Instead of buying a new PC, I purchased Parallels software for the Mac.<\/p>\n

Parallels allows you to run a Windows virtual machine on your Mac. I simply sucked the life (Windows and Word) out of Boxer and installed it on my Mac using Parallels. Works like a charm. Even includes some of the glitches on the Windows machine, such as the damn Spooler SubSystem App error that prevents Windows Vista from printing to any HP printer. Love that.<\/p>\n

Oh, and I expanded my Mac with a second Apple monitor. Boxer’s old keyboard and mouse are used with the second monitor so it’s kind of like I have two systems, but only one computer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

It’s a Mac! It’s a PC! It’s both! Parallels “Windows PC” on the right.<\/p><\/div>\n

I may write something specific to using Parallels in the future. Until then, adios PC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time since I began writing, I no longer have a dedicated PC, one that I use only for writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3660"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3668,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660\/revisions\/3668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}