The Comcast folks showed up on Tuesday, and installed the cable modem. However, on Wednesday I was having trouble getting an IP address from their server. One quick call to Comcast got everything straightened out. The Comcast service seems pretty good so far. It’s fast (4 Mb download), and pretty low latency.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my main computer blew up right before I had to move. I ordered a power supply from Directron hoping that would solve the problem. Trouble is Directron’s systems didn’t register my change of address from Visa, so they held up my order.

I didn’t find out about this until Wednesday morning when I was finally able to check email again. Ugh! I had Directron cancel the order, since they ship from Texas. Instead, I ordered a power supply from Newegg — they are in LA, so stuff gets to me in two days.

Today the Fedex guy showed up with my new power supply. The power supply I got from Newegg is a “Thermaltake W0014RU”:1 that was on sale for $54.00. I didn’t do a lot of research on power supplys when ordering it, but it looked like it would do the trick.

Installing it took about 15 minutes. I simply removed the old unit and replaced it with the new one. After plugging it in, I crossed my fingers, and hit the power button. Yippee! All is well with my computer again. Here’s some boring shots of the box and the install.

[1(Newegg W0014RU page)]http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=17-153-007&DEPA=0

More OEMs are finally supporting Microsoft’s “Tablet PC”:1 software… by this I mean that IBM is _finally_ releasing a Tablet PC called the “X41″:2. IBM makes absolutely bomber notebooks, so hopefully the X41 will continue in this tradition. Some details on the X41 include:

bq.. The ThinkPad X41 offers a 1.14-inch writable slate and full-size keyboard weighing in at only 3.5 pounds.

“ThinkPad X41 Tablet is nearly 20 percent lighter than its closest competitor and delivers the longest standard battery life of any 12-inch convertible tablet,” promises the company.

Users can either use the tablet with a digital pen, or as a traditional notebook PC.

“Equipped with the ThinkPad signature full-size keyboard, the ThinkPad X41 Tablet provides 170-degree viewing, an optional integrated fingerprint reader for unsurpassed security, the latest ThinkVantage Technologies for reliability and convenient wireless connectivity, and flexible one-step expandability through the optional new ThinkPad X4 Dock,” states Lenovo.

ThinkPad X41 Tablet PCs will start at $1,900.

p. You can read more about the X41 at “TabletPCBuzz”:3 or “TabletPCTalk”:4, and “here’s”:5 a video podcast from TechEd that demonstrates the IBM as well as a couple of other Tablet PCs.

Hum… my old Compaq laptop is getting a bit slow lately. Perhaps it is getting time to upgrade?

[5(Video demo of some new Tablet PCs form TechEd)]http://casting.dlservice.microsoft.com/download/2/9/A/29A568B5-C6B0-464A-B54B-0610E4371AB5/Expo_Floor_TabletPC.wmv

[4(Tablet)]http://www.tabletpctalk.com/

[3(TabletPCbuzz.com)]http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/

[2(IBMs new Tablet PC)]http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/thinkpad/tablet/

[1(Microsofts Tablet PC home page)]http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/default.mspx