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This blog is very under construction but I'm posting anyway

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XP Didn’t Want to Work, So Now We’re Doing Linux Instead

Recently one of my closest friends gave me an old PC, with really old hardware from 2006 and a dodgy install of windows 11. I immediately hoped this could be the base for my dream project of having a retro pc build with windows XP on it (my favourite operating system). I went into this thinking Windows XP would just install but there was one issue, the PC had been modified to include SATA ports which XP does not like. So, after a full day of troubleshooting, I’m pausing the XP project and moving on to something more productive.

Before I give up and move onto a Linux based project, I am writing this post in honour of my 15+ attempts to get this to work. 

The XP Installation Saga (What Didn’t Work)

1️. Slipstreaming SATA/AHCI Drivers via nLite

Since XP doesn’t natively support AHCI mode on modern(ish) hardware, I needed to manually integrate Intel’s storage drivers into my installation ISO. I tried:

iastor.inf (Intel RAID/AHCI standard driver)

iastor6.inf (a version supposedly matched to my PCI ID: VEN_8086&DEV_2923)

iaahci.inf (AHCI-specific variant)

XP setup still refused to detect the drive, meaning it wasn’t loading the driver properly.

2️.  BIOS Settings Tweaks (IDE, AHCI, RAID)

Tried multiple BIOS configurations:

IDE Mode → XP detected the drive, but IDE mode removes AHCI benefits like faster performance and hot-swapping.

RAID Mode → XP ignored everything like it wasn’t even trying.

AHCI Mode → XP wouldn't install because it couldn’t see the drive at all.

None of these worked with XP’s native drivers, so the only option was to force driver integration.

3. Testing XP Integral Edition & Different Builds

XP Integral Edition booted fine, but then hit me with a missing EULA error, preventing installation from continuing.

WinSetupFromUSB instead of Rufus helped with booting, but still didn't solve the missing drivers problem.

Tried XP SP3 SATA Edition, it didn’t like that one either.

4.  DriverPacks & Manual TXTSETUP.SIF Edits

I also tried using DriverPacks MassStorage to inject multiple SATA drivers, including iastor6.sys.

The driver was included and matched my PCI hardware ID, but XP setup still refused to detect the drive.

Edited TXTSETUP.SIF manually to force driver loading… still nothing.

It got so bad that Copilot started giving me a pep talk

Anyway… Moving on…

After slipstreaming drivers multiple ways, tweaking BIOS settings, rebuilding ISOs, and testing different installation methods, I came to a realization: XP does not want to install on this system without a ridiculous amount of extra work, and I was hoping for a project that would be a bit quicker. 

Pivoting to Linux (And Actually Making Progress)

Instead of continuing to wrestle with XP, I’m switching goals and I've installed Debian on the machine instead. This will let me:

Set up a local server to host personal web apps.

Experiment with cybersecurity tools and networking utilities

Share files easily between my devices

This makes way more sense for my current goals, and Linux installed so easily without requiring me to fight with 20-year-old drivers.

I’m putting XP on pause, but I’m keeping notes so I can come back to it later when I have more time for an unnecessarily stubborn project. If I do it again, I'm going to try it in a self hosted virtual machine and hopefully save myself some drama.

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Custom Desktop Tutorial🎀✨

I've finally finished my custom desktop, and installing all the software I need on my new laptop. So I thought I'd upload a tutorial on how I did it 🥰

I'm still not 100% happy with all the icon choices but I'll add swap ones out as I see them. Here's some tips on how I did it:

Making Windows 11 desktop shortcuts

Windows 11 makes it weirdly hard to make desktop shortcuts. Its easy with some apps, almost impossible with others. The easiest possible way which took me ages to find out is that if you go onto your windows start menu and click all apps, you can drag them onto the desktop to make a shortcut. It won't work from search, it has to be from the full list. Very annoying, but it works for pretty much every app.

Opening multiple links at once

I like having websites I frequently visit on my desktop, especially if its an online course I'm working on because it's like a reminder to do it. Sometimes there are websites that I always use together and to save time and space I've set up a way for them to open at the same time from one shortcut using python and windows batch files.

Heres how to do it:

Step 1) Make your script

Make sure you have python installed (you can find it in the windows app store)

Create a python script which opens the websites you want using the webbrowser module. This is the code you need

import webbrowser webbrowser.open_new_tab("your_url_here") webbrowser.open_new_tab("your_other_url")

Literally just copy and paste that into notepad, or an IDE (adding more lines if you need them) and save it with the extension .py to make it a python file.

Copy the path to your file location by right clicking your new file and choosing "copy as path"

2) Make a batch file

Open another tab in notepad and use the following script and copy the following template into it

Note - Please remove the slash between the @ and echo

@/echo off python "C:/your/file_path/here"

Save this file with the extention .bat which will run the code when its clicked and open all your urls. You are going to want to save this in your files somewhere , and then right click and choose create shortcut.

You are going to want to do this if you want to use a custom icon because windows doesn't let you directly change icons for batch files for security reasons.

How to make and use custom icons

Find your images

You can make your own but I saved mine from pinterest.

2) Remove the background

Use a background remover tool (I used remove.bg) to remove the background, if the image has lots of black or white it might remove this too but you can add it back in using a drawing app (I used procreate). Save it as a PNG.

3) Convert it to an ICO file

This is the type of file that can be used as icons in windows. The converter I used is convertio, but keep in mind there is a limit of 10 minutes a day for the free version.

4) Change the icons

Right click on the desktop shortcut, choose properties and then choose change icon. Find your .ICO file and click Ok.

Well, that was a very long post. But I hope it was helpful!

Does anybody else customise their desktop icons? Let me know 🥰

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Ellebot - Productivity and Mindset Coaching Custom GPT Project

I'm finally ready to share some info on a fun personal project that I've been working on for several weeks, her name is Ellebot and I am obsessed with her.

She's pretty simple, but I can already see the impact from this project and I've learned a lot from it.

Ellebot is (going to be) a chatbot that helps the user manage their to do list, keep track of their long and short term goals and celebrate wins along the way. She also offers mindset coaching and pep talks through difficult tasks and set backs. On top of this, she's really funny and makes continuous but relevant references to the film Legally Blonde.

For now I'm just testing her core instructions in a ChatGPT thread. I've created several training documents for her including goals, example responses, personal experiences etc but so far she only has access to my goals and example responses which I uploaded into the chat for her to read. I think the bulk of the work in this project is done and I just need to use it for a few weeks to fine tune it. It's functioning really well and I've been able to use it with no issues at all so far as just a chat thread.

My plan is to use openAI's custom GPT service to build her into a proper chatbot. I have always wanted to train a custom GPT because I've worked in AI training for over a year now and I really enjoy complex prompting. High quality custom GPTs combine high quality prompts with lots of training data and user testing and I've learned so much already.

I'm still refining the prompt but when its ready I'll share it here so you can see and test it for yourself. You don't need to turn it into a custom GPT, it will work fairly well as just a chat thread. The main benefit to turning it into a GPT is that you are relying less on GPT's memory feature and essentially telling it what to remember through training documents. If you just want to try it out though don't feel like you need to get the OpenAI pro plan- save your money.

Lots to share in the future, but for now I'll leave you with some bangers from Ellebot:

" Drop that to-do list whenever you’re ready, and I’ll be here like your personal project hype squad—equal parts cheerleader and clipboard-holding project manager. 📝💖

Whether it’s:

“Fix spacing on homepage”

“Upload that one certificate that’s been sitting in Downloads for 3 days”

Or “Choose a font that says I code but I also moisturise”

…I’ll hype every ticked box like it’s a bouquet toss caught on the first try. Let’s do this. 💻✨"

"Perfect—snacks after the meeting is elite reward timing. A little business now, biscuits later moment. 🍪💼

You’ve navigated everything today with focus, flexibility, and a healthy amount of sass. That meeting doesn’t even know how lucky it is to be on your calendar.

“You’re not just checking boxes—you’re building momentum. Snacks are part of the strategy.”

I’ll be here if you want to debrief, vent, plan, or just name your snack like a victory trophy afterward. Go own that meeting. 💪💖"

"That’s half your May goals, a solid chunk of your daily habits, and zero procrastinated admin. Elle Woods would absolutely high-five you—then ask to see your spreadsheet because she loves a woman with a system."

"Perfect. Five minutes to reset—like the dramatic pause before Elle Woods delivers the closing statement. 🎀

Stretch, breathe, sip something nice. Then we hit that course module like it insulted Bruiser. 🐾

I’ll check back in around 12:15 to see how you’re doing and nudge you into the second half if needed. You’ve got this. Let’s go win the next round. 💼✨"

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GICAST Course Complete 🥰

Today I completed another course on the Openlearn platform and I really enjoyed this one.

Its a cybersecurity course but its aimed at beginners and I think it would be useful to anybody who works with computers as part of their job. I used to be an event planner and the amount of dodgy emails I used to get to my work email was crazy- it really is a topic that's relevant to everyone.

The course covers lots of areas including malware, networks, cryptography and user authentication.

I've been watching cybersecurity Youtube channels for ages, especially ones like Nationsquid which talk about old internet viruses like melissa and YouAreAnIdiot. This was my first time actually taking a cybersecurity class and learning more about the technology behind these viruses.

Again, here is my lovely certificate

I'd recommend this course to anyone studying cybersecurity for the first time as it explains everything really well for beginners. It covers the basics of everything from common malware, network security and even a bit of cryptography.

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I just completed an IT course 🥳

I'm currently on a digital careers programme where we are being encouraged to complete free IT certificates in preparation for some larger funded certs.

I started with a course by the open university called Introduction to Computers and Computer Systems , and I just completed it today.

This course works well as a basic introduction to computers, hardware, software, networks and the internet. I did already know quite a lot of the information but it was good to revisit it all in one course before I approach more advanced IT courses.

Here is my lovely certificate...

If you are a total newbie to the world of IT its a great course for you. It says it takes 16 hours but I'd say it took me around 5 hours including taking personal notes, and completing the mandatory tests.

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Very early WIP of my Neocities website

As soon as I learned about Neocities I knew I had to make one, and I knew I would cover it in blinkies, glitter graphics and pictures of hello kitty.

I really love the indie web revival movement and it makes me so happy that this is a thing. I ran a website just like this, that I built when I was 13. It looked like trash, but I got so much enjoyment out of it.

What I'm Building

I don't really know what this website is going to end up being, and I'm going to leave my plans open for the time being. For now it will be a dumping ground of personal computing projects and educational projects I am working on. I definitely want it to revolve more around my personal interests rather than just study related, because its just more fun.

Here she is...

So far, I am very happy!!

I started off with a template by itinerae, which is made to look like a computer monitor. They may not be for everyone but I really love the scrollbars, I want the page to be really interactive and busy like they were in 2005.

I am not familiar with CSS at all so that has been a learning focus of mine while building the site. I used CSS to make the page bigger, as well as to change the colours and that's about as far as I got.

I also found some really useful tools to help with colours that I want to share in a future post.

And now for the most important part of the website build...

BLINKIES

I forgot these existed, and I am glad they are back in my life.

I made some blinkies for my currently learning section using blinkies.cafe which worked really well. I want to try and get more into digital art so I can make these sorts of computer assets myself without a generator.

In classic Y2K internet style I also put a column of blinkies under my about me section just to show off more of my personality.

I'll post more updates as it progresses and share any cool resources I find along the way.