Maui Makers Having Fun Making and Learning Together in Paradise!
Acer7736 that was running Epilog Laser and Silhouette Paper cuttter, now dead.
So that Acer 7736 that was recommended for Fab Labs died on me. First it would not read USB flash drives – they wouldnt insert and when inserted were not recognized. It refused to recognize any USB devices plugged in. Then after I’d gotten a couple test articles done on the Epilog Laser Cutter, it refused to wake up. The power button lights up, fans run, but no display. Zilch, zippo. And of course support over here on Maui is not so great. Acer wants me to ship it back to them for testing. Great. Thats $100+ to ship and a couple weeks without a computer. And the software installed, and artwork already tweaked up, etc. Ugh.
I need a Windows PC here now, this week so I can work with the Helix!! I did a bit of hunting and found there are not many places to buy a computer here. Walmart, Office Max, CostCo were the best I could come up with. Ugh. So yesterday I went down the hill and checked out those three shops. I needed a printer/fax/scanner so I picked up a simple Lexmark at Office Max. It was about $100 and I understand the Lexmark printers are nicely modular in internal design – great for take-apart and reuse. So when this one dies (or new ink costs more than a new printer) it will become a parts box.
New HP desktop starting up. Yep old paint, junk and Fire Extinguisher at hand
Costco had a fairly decent HP desktop (HP 6367C-B) with 25″ monitor for under a grand (barely!). It comes with 2yr warrantee and 90day return. And my amex membership card gets me a some $$ back. So I bought it, and some rice, pasta, case of beer and an Emergency Food Supply box – it is after all costco! By the time I got it home and basically set up it was after 6pm. I’d promised the wife we’d go out to dinner, so off we went to Hali’imaile General Store. Great dinner (if a bit pricey). It was too late to get any work done afterwards so today I get to re-install Corel Draw, the Epilog drivers, etc and recreate the work I did last week.
And here’s a last couple pics showing my work area… from horse feed, saddle, and yard tractor to laser cutter. Messy isnt it….
 Hay, Painting supplies, Gas and tractor on left side |
 Mid shot of garage work area |
 Epilog and new desktop on right (solar H2O tank too) |
