New Computer.

It's been a couple of years since I replaced my main computer at home, so I decided to upgrade. In the end the only thing I kept was the case, and I may well replace that. Having measured the temperature with the case both open and closed, it's clear that the case has a severe airflow defecit.

I went with an intel QX6700 and an NVidia 8800GTS, I only went with the quad core because it makes testing some multithreaded ideas I have practical. I also recycled a 6800 card I had lying around to drive two additional monitors also lying around (great to have when developing).

I really wanted to go with Vista, but the fact that the Cisco VPN client doesn't run makes that impossible for the moment.

I still have a ton of software to install but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Frog Pad update.
I used the frog pad exclusively last week, I also swapped to using a conventional typing tutor (Stamina). I'm now up to about 20 words a minute and I can see getting to 30+ with enough practice. I'd recomend Stamina to anyone looking for a typing tutor.
I still can't see using the frog pad for programming, it's a pity there is no way around the sticky symbol key that would likely be enough to make it viable.