I got my replacement SSD (a 1TB Western Digital SN770) and installed MX Linux on it, even though nobody uses that distro anymore. There's some little stuff left (like getting my data drive to automount and figuring out why random folders are read-only on every drive I connect to it), but it's going well so far. I got more read errors when transferring the last few files from the old SSD to the new one (I forgot to back up my VM disk image files).

Then I installed the old Samsung in the second NVMe slot so I could switch back to Windows if needed (I decided that Windows doesn't deserve to be installed on the new drive - when that old SSD totally fails, I'll get a cheap one to replace it). Now my motherboard lights the "VGA" error LED continuously, even though it completed POST and runs totally fine. Gigabyte is the king of BIOS bugs.

Moved our family home "server" into a new, much smaller and more convenient, home.

Found a cheap ($25 on sale) no frills Micro-ATX case on Amazon. Much smaller than the ATX tower I had taking up room on my floor. Now, I was able to cram the server in my desk cubby right next to my EPIA-800 Win95 retro gaming system.

The server is nothing fancy, just some spare hardware I had on hand. Ryzen 2600, 16GB RAM, 512GB NVME, and running Ubuntu. More than enough for hosting family game servers for things like Minecraft, Ark Survival Evolved, etc. 😀

StriderTR wrote on 2024-07-14, 19:27:

Moved our family home "server" into a new, much smaller and more convenient, home.

Found a cheap ($25 on sale) no frills Micro-ATX case on Amazon. Much smaller than the ATX tower I had taking up room on my floor. Now, I was able to cram the server in my desk cubby right next to my EPAI-800 Win95 retro gaming system.

The server is nothing fancy, just some spare hardware I had on hand. Ryzen 2600, 16GB RAM, 512GB NVME, and running Ubuntu. More than enough for hosting family game servers for things like Minecraft, Ark Survival Evolved, etc. 😀

Neat, care to share the case model? I might want one or two, especially if it can be vertical or horizontal.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-07-14, 19:46:

Neat, care to share the case model? I might want one or two, especially if it can be vertical or horizontal.

Absolutely. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHPRKW18 (No longer on sale. Normal price is $33)

It can indeed sit vertical or horizontal. If it didn't fit vertically, like I have it now, horizontal just under my desk was the next option.

Here are a few things to note...

Like I said, it's a cheap no-name/no-frills case, but it gets the job done for a small simple setup like this. There is some limited mounting for 3.5 & 2.5 drives, but I haven't utilized it yet since I'm currently running off NVME.

The listing also said the case doesn't come with any fans, but mine did have a single 80MM cheap exhaust fan installed on the rear and has an old-school 4 pin molex connector for power.

There is room on the front for two 120MM fans, but depending on their thickness and the orientation of the SATA ports on your motherboard, it may interfere with access to those ports. My motherboard has right-angle ports that face the front of the case, if I was to install a fan in that bottom section, it would be a pain to get to those ports, even with 90 deg connectors. So, if I do put a 120 in there, I'll put in the front top area and leave the bottom open for easy access in case I have to add a SATA drive.

Lastly, being as cheap as this case is, the back panel slot covers are the break-away kind that you twist off. It has one of those brackets used to hold in expansion cards as well, but it's also break-away and is more of a cover than anything else, you still have to use screws to hold your cards in place. There are also tabs on that cover you have to bend to the proper angle to get the cover to fit properly into place should you decide to use it.

You get what you pay for. That being said, for what this is and what I am using it for, I'm very pleased with it. Then again, I didn't grow up with all the "amenities" of modern cases. I don't mind having to make modifications and am thus more forgiving than some people. 😀

Thanks, yah, I understand the cheap case thing. I'll stick a white and a black in my cart for a bit and see if I get offers/promos on them.

After a failed CPU a few weeks ago, now I got some failing RAM. First bad DDR4 for me (at home, I mean). I had experienced bad DDR, DDR2, DDR3 in recent years and bad SDRAM and FPM back in the day.

Thanfully, DDR4 is very inexpensive. I probably won't be switching to a DDR5 machine any time soon.

MX Linux turned out to be pretty buggy and broken, so I went back to booting Windows off the old (failing) SSD on Monday. I spent this morning wiping the new SSD and cloning the old one onto it.

If I picked a better distro, I don't think I would have switched back. Lubuntu is the one I've used the most, and the only problem I've had with it is screen tearing on Intel graphics (not that difficult to fix once you have some Linux experience - maybe not something for a first-time Linux user). I've even installed Tiny Core on a laptop to use as a web browsing machine, and it went better than this. I thought I should try a heavier distro since I was installing it on a decent computer this time.

Built a modern Intel i7-3770 (4C/8T/3,4/Turbo 3,9Ghz/77W) 1155 machine with new 16GB DDR3-1600 RAMs, SATA2 SSD, USB 3.0 PCIEX1, a new Intel Arc 310 card on a light LxQT - Linux running latest kernel and even Steam on it where both HL2 and Doom (2016) runs great. Also using a compact 80-Gold iTek SFX 550 PSU into a micro ATX case using a metal adapter that works really well. No OC everything at stock freqs/vcores. Not really a bad everyday machine and quite powerful. Thanks to the PSU efficiency and low power vga card it stays idle at 41 watts (with -2W display meter backlight count).

I recently started experimenting with different DVD upscaling methods, and am really pleased with the results. So pleased, in fact, that I've managed to convince myself to begin the insane job of upscaling my entire Star Trek DS9 box set. This is something I've been wanting to do since 2020, when excited whispers of how awesome upscaled DS9 can look started appearing on the internets.

I know that upscaling an entire 7 season box set sounds like a ton of work, but I actually don't think it'll be that much of a hassle. First, it helps immensely that I still have the full MPEG2 rips on my server. My grand plan is to perform one upscale a day, then watch the finished episode in all its 10-bit 1424x1080 glory at night. Easy peasy, right? Second, I haven't watched DS9 in absolute ages, so now would be the time to rewatch the entire series anyway. Taking on a huge re-encode project in this way just makes perfect sense.

So after playing around with a compendium of buttons and sticks, I believe I've found the perfect mixture of quality and speed. And check it out! As expected, images that are easy to upscale, such as text and star fields, receive the biggest boost:

But even Quark gets a significant uptick in clarity after he passes through the bazillion and one transistors of a GPU. I mean, just look at this sexy master of acquisition. Don't you just want to reach into your screen and massage his incredibly detailed ears? Those aren't 480i lobes anymore baby! Rawr!

Admittedly, it's a tad ridiculous that it takes this much computing power to make DVD-res video look better on a modern digital display than it did on a progressive-scan CRT television. But better than DVD-on-CRT it finally is, which makes me very happy indeed.
---

Oh, and here's a somewhat unrelated modern activity: A few months ago, I upgraded my home network to 10 GbE and it is, without a doubt, the frickin bomb.
When it's running off the 4TB NVMe caching partition (and the receiving computer can keep up, which thankfully, my Ryzen 9 desktop can), my server can blast more bits per second across a LAN than a Pentium III can fetch them out of main memory using SSE burst-reads! Just check this out, this is the absolute nuts:

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2024-07-21, 19:17:

I recently started experimenting with different DVD upscaling methods, and am really pleased with the results. So pleased, in fa […]
Show full quote

I recently started experimenting with different DVD upscaling methods, and am really pleased with the results. So pleased, in fact, that I've managed to convince myself to begin the insane job of upscaling my entire Star Trek DS9 box set. This is something I've been wanting to do since 2020, when excited whispers of how awesome upscaled DS9 can look started appearing on the internets.

I know that upscaling an entire 7 season box set sounds like a ton of work, but I actually don't think it'll be that much of a hassle. First, it helps immensely that I still have the full MPEG2 rips on my server. My grand plan is to perform one upscale a day, then watch the finished episode in all its 10-bit 1424x1080 glory at night. Easy peasy, right? Second, I haven't watched DS9 in absolute ages, so now would be the time to rewatch the entire series anyway. Taking on a huge re-encode project in this way just makes perfect sense.

So after playing around with a compendium of buttons and sticks, I believe I've found the perfect mixture of quality and speed. And check it out! As expected, images that are easy to upscale, such as text and star fields, receive the biggest boost:

But even Quark gets a significant uptick in clarity after he passes through the bazillion and one transistors of a GPU. I mean, just look at this sexy master of acquisition. Don't you just want to reach into your screen and massage his incredibly detailed ears? Those aren't 480i lobes anymore baby! Rawr!

Admittedly, it's a tad ridiculous that it takes this much computing power to make DVD-res video look better on a modern digital display than it did on a progressive-scan CRT television. But better than DVD-on-CRT it finally is, which makes me very happy indeed.
---

Impressive result. More info the methods, softwares, encoding acceleration or whatever suggestions?

Fixed Mom's Skylake i5-6400 that refused to POST by simply replacing its single strip of DIMM.

Two caps of the second chip were blown; one of them simply disappeared, while the other was smokey. I wondered what would have caused this…… 🙄

That is very unusual. Any chance of condensing humidity being involved? Like being near kitchen or washroom steam, or left near an open window at night and it blew when turned on in the early morning?

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-07-23, 10:21:

That is very unusual. Any chance of condensing humidity being involved? Like being near kitchen or washroom steam, or left near an open window at night and it blew when turned on in the early morning?

Ah, that would be possible: in spring time the hometown of TSMC's foundry could be so darn humid that floor tiles "wet itself." 😓

darry wrote on 2024-07-16, 06:15:

After a failed CPU a few weeks ago, now I got some failing RAM. First bad DDR4 for me (at home, I mean). I had experienced bad DDR, DDR2, DDR3 in recent years and bad SDRAM and FPM back in the day.

Thanfully, DDR4 is very inexpensive. I probably won't be switching to a DDR5 machine any time soon.

Darry, Were these failed memory modules third party? Like Corsair, Kingston etc? I had few fail in past and these were third party. OEM quality is Micron/Crucial, Hynix, Samsung, and some few others, I have not seen any issues on my computer except for one that is very rare one that failed and that was on customer's computer.

Just curious.

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2024-07-23, 23:50:

Darry, Were these failed memory modules third party? Like Corsair, Kingston etc? I had few fail in past and these were thi […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2024-07-16, 06:15:

After a failed CPU a few weeks ago, now I got some failing RAM. First bad DDR4 for me (at home, I mean). I had experienced bad DDR, DDR2, DDR3 in recent years and bad SDRAM and FPM back in the day.

Thanfully, DDR4 is very inexpensive. I probably won't be switching to a DDR5 machine any time soon.

Darry, Were these failed memory modules third party? Like Corsair, Kingston etc? I had few fail in past and these were third party. OEM quality is Micron/Crucial, Hynix, Samsung, and some few others, I have not seen any issues on my computer except for one that is very rare one that failed and that was on customer's computer.

Just curious.

Cheers,

The DIMMs were TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 32GB Kit (2x16GB) rated for 3200MHz . AFAICR, the memory chips are from Hynix .

There is a lifetime warranty. I just haven't gotten to RMAing them yet.

I replaced them with TEAMGROUP T-CREATE EXPERT overclocking 10L DDR4 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) 3600MHz (PC4 28800) CL18 . These definitely have Hynix memory ICs.

I have never run DDR3 or DDR4 above its rated clocks or timings (I use an XMP profile and leave it at that).

386SX wrote on 2024-07-21, 19:25:

Standard Def Steve wrote on 2024-07-21, 19:17:

I recently started experimenting with different DVD upscaling methods, and am really pleased with the results. So pleased, in fa […]
Show full quote

I recently started experimenting with different DVD upscaling methods, and am really pleased with the results. So pleased, in fact, that I've managed to convince myself to begin the insane job of upscaling my entire Star Trek DS9 box set. This is something I've been wanting to do since 2020, when excited whispers of how awesome upscaled DS9 can look started appearing on the internets.

I know that upscaling an entire 7 season box set sounds like a ton of work, but I actually don't think it'll be that much of a hassle. First, it helps immensely that I still have the full MPEG2 rips on my server. My grand plan is to perform one upscale a day, then watch the finished episode in all its 10-bit 1424x1080 glory at night. Easy peasy, right? Second, I haven't watched DS9 in absolute ages, so now would be the time to rewatch the entire series anyway. Taking on a huge re-encode project in this way just makes perfect sense.

So after playing around with a compendium of buttons and sticks, I believe I've found the perfect mixture of quality and speed. And check it out! As expected, images that are easy to upscale, such as text and star fields, receive the biggest boost:

But even Quark gets a significant uptick in clarity after he passes through the bazillion and one transistors of a GPU. I mean, just look at this sexy master of acquisition. Don't you just want to reach into your screen and massage his incredibly detailed ears? Those aren't 480i lobes anymore baby! Rawr!

Admittedly, it's a tad ridiculous that it takes this much computing power to make DVD-res video look better on a modern digital display than it did on a progressive-scan CRT television. But better than DVD-on-CRT it finally is, which makes me very happy indeed.
---

Impressive result. More info the methods, softwares, encoding acceleration or whatever suggestions?

I second that.

Bought and setup a 12 inch display for my tiny workspace so I can use my Hantek 6022BE Digital Oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and view schematics/blueprints right at my workspace instead of having to turn around to look at my PC. All hooked up to an Ubuntu powered ZBox Nano Cl320. It's not much, it's not pretty, but it works. 😀

I'm getting the itch again to upgrade to something less than 10 years old... mostly from seeing cheap stuff turn up on local listings, like dirt cheap 1st gen Ryzens, the only board I see that's anywhere reasonable, (IDK ppl want RETAIL for their used motherboards round here it's cray cray.) in money that is, is an Asus GL10DH, it's from the prebuilt of same model number and they actually print that on the board. Supposed to be a dumbed down version of their B450 mATX board. I am not getting much detail about how dumbed down though. The retail board would support 1st gen, but I'm only seeing 2nd and 3rd mentioned in relation to this, so a bit nervous about taking a chance on it. Anyway, for the moneys involved it would be a good deal even if it's pretty basic and not very tuneable.

Yah, I know everyone can build me a nice ryzen system for only $900, but I'm talking TWO figure prices here, what costs 1x moneys is not gonna have me spending 5x moneys as an alternate, so reign in the enthusiasm to spend my next month's food budget. Though if I had to buy a board, I'm eyeballing an MSI B450 that's below $100, just, new.

So does anyone know anything about that GL10DH potential turkey and whether it takes anything outside of what the prebuilt came with?

Also seeing an FX8350 super cheap, and I think I gotta get that because it makes intel fanboys mad. 🤣 .. Though that would push the 1090T and 955 down the motherboard ladder, and I am not sure the 3rd rung can support the 955, not enough power, I've only been running it a couple of months and haven't really pushed it.

Edit: Did actually make a deal for Ryzen 5 1500x and FX 8350, for something like half what the shadiest looking ones on eBay are going for. Posted that in the
"what modern hardware did you buy" thread. Might spring for an MSI B450M Pro-VDH if nothing else turns up. Gotta pay the CC down tho, all the renewals and CCpay expenses land in Jun and Jul and it adds up. (I think I am vaguely aware of actually having planned it like that so it slots between high winter heat bills and the higher AC bills)

Started writing another SwiftUI app for my mac 😀

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-09-20, 21:34:

Plugged a dollar store "gaming mouse" into my main laptop, I have hammered a Verbatim cheapy to death over 3 or 4 years, and got fed up with it's glitchy buttons. It's the Dollarama "Tech 1" brand. Initial impression is that it was very light, but that's not entirely a bad thing for strain in long term use, if it survives to long term use. It doesn't feel that flimsy despite that. You only get the standard left right and middle scroll. Left and right seem like low tension microswitches, click reliably. Scroll wheel is plastic rather than rubberised, feels odd at first. I could also regard this as a benefit having had so many rubber ones go sticky or even full on "gooey" on me. Wheel felt stiff and hard to click at first, but after a day it either wore in or I got used to it. Resolution seems about twice what the verbatim one was but not sure what that was in the first place, so 800-1600, 1000-2000, 1200-2400??? IDK tracks well. Cord has that woven mesh jacket so feels very slightly premium. USB plug however is twice the length it needs to be, like thumbdrive size almost, which is probably bad for leverage on your USB ports if you're clumsy. Yah, and it glows, cycles through colors, I don't know why but I thought there would be an apparent method to disable that, nope, nor a pause button if you just wanted it to stay one color, so yah, a bit puh-sychodelical. Wouldn't recommend leaving it plugged in where you're trying to sleep. Doesn't feel flimsy, but neither does an egg clasped in your hand, drop it on the floor and crack, not sure if this would take many drops, but then again it's light, so not a lot of momentum to arrest, just don't drop it then step on it I guess. Overall, it's a mouse, it mouses adequately. Good value for money I guess, but you can see where they saved you every cent. Pros, wouldn't add much heft to your laptop bag, you can lose it and not care, 7 year old kids will be green with envy. Cons, plug sucks, long term durability in question, but if you got a year out of it you couldn't really complain. Bad scrollwheel feel initially. Final score, silver ratio out of pi platypuses. (A star being lofty, heavenly, a guiding light, a platypus being the prime natural example of WTF)

Edit: subsequent beating of google with a rubber hose has revealed highly similar offbrand cheapo mice claiming 1600 DPI.

And the long term test results are in... replacing it today, left button got a bit glitchy and the pointer wanders round a bit, tried blowing it out in case it was fluff, but still does it.... anyway, guess I would have replaced it a month or two ago, but didn't come across anything.

So I am replacing it wiiiiithhhhhh.....

Another dollar store mouse, they restocked this model (Tech 1 brand) ... I figured two and a half years was good enough lifetime for the price, have hammered theoretically more premium mice to death in less time. So about a buck fiddy CDN per year of daily abuse, not terrible, and it's still working enough for a spare.