Current Computers
My flagship machines are those that I rely on for my day-to-day computing needs. For many years I relied on a single flagship desktop, and for a few I relied on a single flagship laptop, but in recent years I have adopted a ‘dual flagship’ arrangement where I have both a reasonably powerful desktop and a reasonably powerful laptop.
My typical upgrade cadence is that I perform a major upgrade to my flagship desktop when it is five years old, and then replace it entirely when it is ten years old. I replace my flagship laptop every five years. Of course I can adjust this schedule as-needed, and perform an upgrade early if a machine dies or late if it holds up better than expected.
Each hardware upgrade iterates my ‘revision’ number. For laptops, this is a simple two digit number (beginning with revision 01, as originally built). For desktops, revision numbers are prepended with an A (for revisions of the initial build) or B (for revisions following the major mid-life refresh).
Excelsior
Excelsior is my home powerhouse. It maintains my music collection, manages photos, edits videos, runs various operating systems in virtualization, and serves as my development machine for web and mobile applications. And I built it myself!
- Model: Intersanity Transwarp (IECT-00021-AB02)
- CPU:
- Intel Core i7-2600, quad 4.0ghz (x86-64)
- Geekbench 5 scores: 722 single, 2,866 multi
- Novabench 4 score: 826
- RAM:
- 32gb DDR3 1866
- Novabench score: 283
- Storage:
- 2tb (SSD) + 1tb (7200rpm) + 256gb (SSD)
- Novabench 4 score: 80
- Operating Systems:
- Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (20H2) (native)
- Ubuntu Linux 20.10 (via Windows Subsystem for Linux)
- Apple MacOS 11.0 (via VMWare Workstation Pro)
- Haiku R1/beta2 (via VMWare Workstation Pro)
- Linux Mint 20.1 (via VMWare Workstation Pro)
- GPUs:
- Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, 2gb
- Geekbench 5 Vulkan score: 17,222
- Novabench 4 score: 653
- Displays:
- Dual Asus VS-239H-P 23″ LCDs at 1920×1080
- Dell S2009Wb 20″ LDC at 1600×900
- Input Devices:
- Logitech G Pro Hero mouse
- Logitech T650 touchpad
- WASD V2 Custom Mechanical Keyboard (Cherry MX Blue switches)
- Name Meaning: Reference to the fictional Star Trek starship Excelsior (NX/NCC-2000). Excelsior was a large, fast, experimental ship that became the prototype for a long series of Excelsior class starships. It appeared in the films Star Trek III, IV, V, and VI, and the Star Trek: Voyager episode ‘Flashback.’
- Revision History: Upgrades from the initial specifications iterate the revision number.
- Cycle A (ended at revision 07 with these specifications)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-2600, quad 3.4ghz (x86-64)
- RAM: 12gb DDR3 1600
- Storage: 256gb (SSD) + 1tb (7200rpm) + 1tb (7200rpm)
- GPUs: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460, 2gb + Nvidia GeForge GT 520, 1tgb
- Cycle B
- 01: Initial build/upgrade
- 02: Updated optical drive and chassis fans
- Cycle A (ended at revision 07 with these specifications)
Phoenix
Phoenix is a mobile workhorse, which is capable of doing much of what Excelsior can do, but it can do it anywhere. It is a lightweight 2-in-1 that can keep up with pretty much anything I throw at it.
- Model: Microsoft Surface Book (revision 02)
- CPU:
- Intel Core i5-6300U, dual 2.4ghz (x86-64)
- Geekbench 5 scores: 676 single, 1,668 multi
- Novabench 4 score: 431
- RAM:
- 8gb DDR3 1866
- Novabench 4 score: 202
- Storage:
- 256gb (SSD)
- Novabench 4 score: 69
- Operating Systems:
- Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (20H2) (native)
- Ubuntu Linux 20.10 (via Windows Subsystem for Linux)
- GPU:
- Intel HD Graphics 520
- Geekbench 5 Vulkan score: 4,122
- Novabench 4 score: 179
- Display: Built-in 13.5″ HiDPI LCD at 3000×2000
- Input Devices:
- Built-in touch screen
- Microsoft Surface Book keyboard and touchpad dock (keycaps relabeled to Dvorak layout)
- Name Meaning: Reference to the fictional Star Trek starship Phoenix (NCC-65420). Phoenix was a Nebula class starship that was commanded by Captain Benjamin Maxwell, who turned vigilante and destroyed a number of Cardassian outposts and ships without provocation. It was featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘The Wounded.’
- Revision History: Upgrades from the initial specifications iterate the revision number.
- 01: As manufactured
- 02: Upgraded anti-slip base
Other Machines and Peripherals
- Server
- Eelserver 3 (Intersanity Toaster IECT-00024-AA01; CentOS 7.9)
- Additional Systems
- Challenger (Apple Mac Mini; Mac OS 11.1)
- Excalibur (Intel NUC 7; Windows 10 Pro)
- Nautilus (Dell Latitude 3190; Windows 10 Pro)
- Valiant (Asus VivoPC VM40B; Linux Mint 20.1)
- RPi1 (Raspberry Pi 2; Raspberry Pi OS 10)
- Peripherals
- Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 cablecard receiver
- Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Pro M148dw printer/scanner/copier
- Logitech C910 HD webcam
- Logitech F310 gamepad
- Logitech K380 wireless keyboard
- Logitech M585 wireless mouse
- PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 audio I/O device
Computer History
Flagship Desktops
These are the machines that served as my main, day-to-day, stationary workhorse.
- Nadia (Power Mac G4, 733mhz; Mac OS X 10.3)
- Maurice (Compaq Presario, AMD K6-II 266mhz; MS-DOS 7.1/Windows 98)
- Ziggy 3 (Acer 486, 90mhz; MS-DOS 7.0/Windows 95)
- Ziggy 2 (Gateway 2000 386, 25mhz, upgraded to 486 75mhz; MS-DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11)
- Ziggy (IBM PC-AT, 286 6mhz; MS-DOS 5.11)
Flagship Notebooks
These are the machines that served as my main mobile workhorse. Generally they augmented a flagship desktop, although occasionally they stood on their own.
- Intrepid (Asus UL80J; Core i3 1.2ghz; Windows 8.1)
- Katia 2 (MacBook Pro, 15″ 2.16ghz; Mac OS X 10.6)
- Katia (PowerBook G4, 15″ 1.67ghz; Mac OS X 10.4)
- Kitka (Apple iBook G3; 500mhz, Mac OS X 10.3)
Servers
Not long after Melissa and I were married, we discovered that we had a need between the two of us for a server to back up our data, share files back and forth, and generally keep our home network under control.
- Eelserver 2 (HP MediaSmart EX490, Celeron 2.2ghz; Microsoft Windows Home Server)
- Eelserver (Dell OptiPlex GX300, Pentium III 667mhz; Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Server LTS)
Other Computers
Because I’m a nerd, it is rare that I limit myself only to my flagship machines. These other machines have floated in and out of my life as-needed, serving as backups, ‘coffee-table’ machines, and other ancillary purposes. Some are desktops, but most are laptops.
- Thebe (Asus Chromebook Flip C302CA; Chrome OS 78)
- Europa (Asus Transformer Book T100; Windows 10)
- Equinox (Apple MacBook Pro; Core 2 Duo 2.26ghz; OS X 10.10)
- Selina (Google Cr-48; Atom N455 1.66ghz; Google Chrome OS 0.13)
- Kitka 3 (Asus Eee PC 900A; Atom N270 1.6ghz; Ubuntu Linux 10.10)
- Kitka 2 (Asus Eee PC 4G Surf; Celeron M 900mhz; Ubuntu Linux 8.10)
- Robin 2 (Custom, AMD Athlon XP 1.8ghz; Ubuntu Linux 10.10)
- Dinky Thinkum 2 (Apple PowerBook G4; 550mhz; Mac OS X 10.3)
- Robin (Dell Dimension 4100, 1ghz; Ubuntu Linux 8.04)
- Bloomaroo 2 (Apple iMac DV SE, G3 500mhz; Mac OS X 10.3)
- Bloomaroo (Apple iMac, G3 233mhz; Mac OS X 10.2)
- Dinky Thinkum (IBM Thinkpad 770; Pentium MMX 233mhz; Ubuntu Linux 7.04)
- bbMac (Apple Power Mac G3, 266mhz; Mac OS X 10.2)