Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Doesn't Columbia have zillions of mosquitoes that are carrying the Zika disease?
Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
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Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Several SF members have agreed to throw some cash toward a High School graduation gift for sed. If you want to kick in a little, PM me by Saturday. Depending on where we land on a final amount, I'm hoping we can hook sed up with some kind of decent portable computer-thing.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Stereodude
Not really a
YGPM
sedrosken
Florida Man
Thanks a bunch guys, you don't know just how much I appreciate it.
Motherboard came in today, chip and RAM came in Tuesday. Put it all together, it all works fine. Windows thinks it's pirated again, just what I needed. But the hardware works great, temps are fine, everything's good. It's eerily quiet, I get more noise from the hard drives than from the fans. This is the quickest, most painless build I've put together so far.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
SF members have been amazingly generous this week. Seriously.
sedrosken
Florida Man
So I've been using my rubber dome Model M (circa 94) on my desktop for a while now, used SharpKeys to reassign ralt to start, rctrl to play/pause, and rshift to mute. Works beautifully. I didn't think I'd like it so much, being rubber dome, but the tactile feel is like nothing else you'll ever find in a rubber dome board. I could honestly forgo a mechanical board entirely for this, it just feels... right somehow.
sedrosken
Florida Man
Just tried emulating a GameCube on a whim tonight, last time I tried it was like 5 years ago when I was still running an E2200 with the G31 express chipset (and got a whopping 6FPS) and was shocked to find it working just fine. Played Wind Waker for almost an hour tonight on the G3900. At 640x480 it was butter smooth at the native 30FPS. Not great, but playable, and this is on the lowest end current offering with the lowest end current integrated graphics. I was stunned. I still remember when I got my first GameCube in 2003 or thereabouts and being in awe of just how good the games looked.
As a bit of a side note I can also apparently push N64 emulation to 1080p and still have frames to spare. Without the frame limiter at 1440x900 I was getting something crazy like 344FPS I think.
These posts might get annoying after a while, but I'm feeling like a kid on Christmas right now. I can't believe just how much my (this generation's bottom of the barrel!) machine can do.
As a bit of a side note I can also apparently push N64 emulation to 1080p and still have frames to spare. Without the frame limiter at 1440x900 I was getting something crazy like 344FPS I think.
These posts might get annoying after a while, but I'm feeling like a kid on Christmas right now. I can't believe just how much my (this generation's bottom of the barrel!) machine can do.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Not that this will make you feel any better, but an overclocked Rpi can also manage some Gamecube stuff at the intended 480p resolution. Something with a Broadwell Atom, however, can step up to Wii levels. And the Wii controller is just a Bluetooth device, which is hardware anything that a Broadwell Atom PC will probably have.
sedrosken
Florida Man
It just puts things into perspective for me, last time I tried was pitiful. On OpenGL it would stutter if a lot was going on, Direct3D12 (experimental, probably because of this) it was worse, but Direct3D9/10 or whatever it was works even better than OpenGL. I should be able to take it up to 720P or something without any trouble.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
It's not any sort of surprise at this point since we've widely discussed it, but sed's official, I-just-paid-for-it graduation present is a new Thinkpad T450. i5 / 250GB SSD / 8GB RAM / Windows 7. I'm going to see if I can upgrade the RAM and/or SSD before I pass it along, but I also purchased an extra AC Adapter for it since out of all the other stuff I could have done with the extra donated funds, having an extra power cord probably helps more than anything.
ddrueding
Fixture
Sweet. Thanks for running that project, Merc. Much appreciated.
sedrosken
Florida Man
Sweet jesus, 8GB/250GB SSD and you still want to upgrade it further? It already dwarfs every laptop I've ever used, much less owned! Not saying I wouldn't appreciate more, just don't beat yourself up over it if you can't add more, it's already far more than capable of meeting my needs. Just out of curiosity, Merc, you said it was an i5 -- according to Lenovo it could have the 5300U or 5200U, which is it?
Checking benchmarks, the HD 5500 this is supposed to have also beats the HD 510 in the Celeron, bonus. The only thing I'm losing out on (though, considering I'm running the lowest speed grade of DDR4, not really) is the higher bandwidth of DDR4 RAM, but DDR3L at 1600 is still very quick compared to what I'm used to.
If you're wondering where I'm getting my specs, they're from notebookcheck.net. Let me know if they aren't accurate. Screen res is 1366x768, which while not spectacular, is way more than adequate. With those specs, it could have a screen of 800x600 and I'd live with it.
Again, thanks everyone.
It's official on this end too, just did my credit recovery (that early college program screwed me out of credits and I had to make them up) and all that. I am counted among the seniors, and unless I tank every class I have (pretty much not possible at this point) I am graduating this year. Got my tickets for my 10 family members to attend (stupid rule but whatever).
Yeah, the second adapter helps a lot, now that I think about it. Moving the adapter for my C2D around is a major PITA. Having one to leave in my room plugged in and one to take with me saves a lot of trouble and lessens the likelihood that I will ruin the only adapter I have in transit, leaving me without a laptop. Not that I even expect to use the charger that I'll take with me much, seeing as this thing gets, what, 15 hours of battery life according to what I've read? I know to manage my expectations when it comes to batteries, so even a conservative estimate of 5 hours should last me through my daily classes provided I don't go crazy about putting this thing under load.
Debating whether to take my desktop with me or not. No matter what, I'm taking a second monitor and probably a full-size keyboard and mouse, but if I have enough storage on the laptop (I may just use an external drive, to be honest) I'll just run my "server" (really just a broadcast read-only network share for my movies and setup files) off my laptop while I'm in school and over the summer just sync my stuff back to the desktop. My storage needs are still relatively modest, I have maybe 600GB used out of 1.25TB on the desktop and that's with everything I've accumulated over the course of 5+ years.
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Absolutely. Thanks Merc.
Stereodude
Not really a
So I decided I need the ability to jam tunes in my master bathroom while showering and getting ready in the morning. Speakers have been ordered. :bglaugh:
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
That seems unsanitary.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Naw man. Throw a cheap XBMC/Plex client + some bluetooth speakers in there and set it up so you can run it from other Plex/XBMC systems. It's fantastic. Mount it on a wall in the back of the shower or something.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Are you sure Howell wasn't replying to Lunar?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Good point. And I guess if that's his fetish and he has a dentist who is cool with it, more power to him.
Stereodude
Not really a
I'm going with something a bit more structured and less sucky. I'm using 2-way co-ax marine / car audio speakers mounted in the ceiling in a sealed backer box of sorts, or at least that's the plan. The speakers are en route.
My team and I installed six new Dell servers (R730) in our lab this week and out of six of them, one wouldn't power on and another ramped up fans very quickly then powered off after 30 seconds only to blink an amber light for a temperature issue. After opening up the server and removing the fan shrouding, I poked the closest heatsink only to have it fall off in surprise. That was a first for me with a new server. I didn't bother reapplying the paste and just screwed it back on. I'll let Dell decide if they want to go that extra mile and reapply thermal paste.
The other server I have no clue why it wont turn on. Both PSUs light up from the back and I inspected everything inside making sure more heatsinks weren't missing. Since it's new I'll let Dell send someone to deal with it. The other four seem to work great so far.
The other server I have no clue why it wont turn on. Both PSUs light up from the back and I inspected everything inside making sure more heatsinks weren't missing. Since it's new I'll let Dell send someone to deal with it. The other four seem to work great so far.
Stereodude
Not really a
I spy Haswell-EP...
You're correct. They are E5-2640 v3 @ 2.60GHz. Future deployments will have Broadwell-EP E5-2640 V4. They also have 2 x 1.6TB Samsung SM1715 NVMe SSDs, 192GB RAM, 2 x dual port Emulex LP160002 FC, 1 x quad port 1GbE, 1 x quad port 10GbE.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
That sucks. Did you buy them from a VAR?
Endodontists. They are like the Torquemada of dentistry with assistants.
If this does not work I need implantation.
ddrueding
Fixture
I've had a half-dozen or so root canals, probably should be in line for another 4 or so but I can't be bothered. When the nerve endings cause enough pain to prevent sleep or eating I'll have them killed off. Haven't bothered with crowns either, eventually I'll just get a set of implants and be done with it.
No, Dell direct. It's not a huge deal; things happen. I was laughing when it popped off. Maybe this speaks to the quality of being made in Mexico.
ddrueding
Fixture
Years ago, I once configured a server and then shipped it halfway across the country. It was handled so roughly during transport that a heatsink snapped off and tumbled around the inside cracking boards and breaking parts off components.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Same as DD, I bet something happened during shipping.
It's certainly possible. I feel like if that were true the mounts would be stripped. I was able to screw it back down securely. In this case it wouldn't have jumbled around inside because the plastic shroud would have kept it mostly in place.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Oh no, not this again! At least tell me it's 4x8GB modules plus 4x16GB modules per CPU, not 6x whatever per CPU. E5-26xx all have quad channel memory, not triple channel.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
You're putting them in a bathroom though, where you're unlikely to want or need a prefect listening experience. How long are you spending in there?
This is the memory config. I tried making the case to balance the memory given our prior discussions from years past. My concerned was ignored for a while but they tried to balance the quantity of RAM modules. We didn't want to bump it to 256GB for other reasons mainly cost and it won't be used for a while.
Code:
[root@cds0 ~]# dmidecode -t memory | grep Size
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: No Module Installed
Size: No Module Installed
Size: No Module Installed
Size: No Module Installed
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 16384 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: 8192 MB
Size: No Module Installed
Size: No Module Installed
Size: No Module Installed
Size: No Module InstalledStereodude
Not really a
Not that long, but I'm not going to mess around with some rechargeable Bluetooth crap.
I put a TV with a external speaker system in one bathroom, but found that it wasn't very practical.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Who said anything about rechargeable? I have an MPOW Bluetooth receiver and a pair of monoprice Monitors rigged up.
I use my old 8.9" Samsung tablet as a display/control system for it if I'm not running it from my phone. It more or less lives on a dock on a shelf above my towel rack. It's not pretty but it works really well.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Oh and also, I got sed's laptop today. Amazon sent me a Thinkpad L with a mechanical drive rather than a T with an SSD, so that thing is going back on Monday.
sedrosken
Florida Man
That sucks. One time I ordered a Verizon prepaid Moto G off of Amazon, it still had the PIB lock on it and I couldn't get it removed. I ended up giving it to my cousin who used it like an iPod touch.