== It feels good to have a fallback option for home computing Earlier this evening, I had [[a close call https://twitter.com/thatcks/status/967950326459453440]] with [[my now increasingly aged home machine ../linux/HomeMachine2011]]; the fan noise went to 'very loud' and the CPU temperature started climbing. After I hastily shut it down and blew out all of the dust, I was able to determine that the actual problem was a dying case fan, which has a simple workaround (just take the side of the case off). Until I worked this out, though, I was facing the prospect that my home machine might be effectively dead for a while. Unlike [[last time PCBuildingProblem]], this was a lot less distressing and nerve wracking, because these days I have a fallback option for home computing. My PC remains my sole actual machine at home (I still haven't done anything about replacing it for reasons that deserve an entry of their own), but over the past while I've made two important changes that give me an additional option. The first change was that I have a smartphone that can [[provide Internet access when my main Internet connection is out ../linux/DHCPForBackupInternet]]. The second is that this fall I got a tablet (from [[the company you'd expect SmartphoneWhyIPhone]]), and more than that, when I got it I was smart enough to talk myself into getting the keyboard for it. The tablet lets me browse around on the Internet, and with the keyboard and [[a SSH client https://www.termius.com/]] I can actually do meaningful remote work. It's not anywhere near as nice as my actual desktop for various reasons, but I can get by, and knowing that I wasn't helpless in the face of a dead desktop was a real relief when I was facing the prospect that that's what I had. (Unfortunately my Internet goes out when my home PC does, because it's where I do DSL PPPoE. In theory I could probably reconfigure my 'DSL modem' to do it, because it's really [[a DSL router MyDSLRouterNoFirmwareUpdates]] that I'm having act as a bridge, but it looks like I can't do this from the tablet for no readily apparent reason. It may be an inconvenient security feature that my DSL router refuses to let itself be reconfigured over the wireless interface.) The tablet is not as nice as [[my work laptop ../linux/DellXPS13FedoraReview]] and if I was going to be without my home desktop for any significant length of time I would definitely be taking the laptop home with me, but it is good enough to be okay to good over the short term. Also, being confined to the tablet probably would have the useful side effect of encouraging me to get off the Internet for once. PS: As an experiment, I've written much of this entry from my tablet to demonstrate to myself that I could and that it wasn't too irritating (and to work out how to do it). It is irritating and limiting enough that I'm not going to do it unless I have to. PPS: The two worst things about the keyboard are that it has no physical escape key and that I don't think I can remap the mostly useless 'caps lock' key to be a Control key. At least [[my SSH client http://www.termius.com/]] uses Cmd + ` as Escape, which is not too far from actual Esc. As far as the feel goes, it's okay but it's not up to a real keyboard. (This is not the entry that I planned to write today, but sometimes life intervenes and suddenly this issue is on my mind.) === Sidebar: What I'll likely do with my home PC I don't like running with the side of my case off for various reasons, so I want to replace the dying case fan. My motherboard supports PWM case fans so that's what I'm planning to get (the current fan is not hooked up to the motherboard at all, just directly wired to power). [[Someone I know online https://twitter.com/LordScavamungus/status/967967552109359104]] has basically persuaded me to [[probably replace the CPU fan too https://twitter.com/thatcks/status/967968599641133056]], although that's more annoying and also more expensive if I get a good CPU cooler. I could get a basic 120 mm case fan and a basic LGA1155 CPU cooler at one of the local hardware stores, but if I want good ones (from, say, Noctua), I'll have to order them online and wait a bit. On the one hand, a good new fan and CPU cooler should help prolong the life of [[my home machine ../linux/HomeMachine2011]], since the current ones are more than five years old. On the other hand, that will tacitly encourage me to continue sitting on my hands about replacing the whole machine, partly because it won't feel as urgent and partly because I will get the irrational urge to keep using the current machine to get my money's worth from the new parts. (Probably I will throw money at the problem in irritation and get, say, the Noctua NF-S12A or NF-P12 120 mm case fan and a Noctua L12S CPU cooler.)