[X] My Assistant

If you know the right incantations you can even make systemd fast.

(but yes, the correct incantations mostly mean remove most of it)

(but yes, the correct incantations mostly mean remove most of it)

That's the only way I was able to make DNS resolution work when a friend of mine decided to try ubuntu on his macbook.

So I had previously sprayed white lithium grease in a playstation CD drive's spindle motor. Today I decided that was probably too thick of a lube and it'd likely just attract loads of dust, so I sprayed inside it with contact cleaner (CRC QD) and after it dried put in some oil from a hobby shop (actually meant for small model train motors). Here's hoping I didn't just kill it dead. So far seems to be running quietly and smoothly.

I have a few spare spindle motors, but positioning one vertically at the correct height might be challenging if I have to replace it. As is removing the old cd spindle hub piece without breaking it (it's ceramic). Hubs are pretty easy to get on aliexpress and the like, but I'd really rather not and I don't know if I have any spare things with optical drives to pull an equivalent from.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Dec 19 2019, 04:36

I was able to get files migrated to the CF-18's new SSD and it boots (literally just dd the drive to it). It booted ub xubuntu live, and I found workarounds for the touch screen and buttons.
Now I need to add another partition, and make everything boot properly.

I was able to get files migrated to the CF-18's new SSD and it boots (literally just dd the drive to it). It booted ub xubuntu live, and I found workarounds for the touch screen and buttons.
Now I need to add another partition, and make everything boot properly.

I've done all of that, including the touch screen/button stuff. Even made a little mini-toolbar widget thing for additional soft buttons (for launching/killing an on-screen keyboard, switching between windows, re-calibrating the digitizer, changing screen brightness, volume, and hiding the mouse cursor).
The re-partitioning is annoying but doable; /etc/fstab is your friend.

I've done all of that, including the touch screen/button stuff. Even made a little mini-toolbar widget thing for additional soft buttons (for launching/killing an on-screen keyboard, switching between windows, re-calibrating the digitizer, changing screen brightness, volume, and hiding the mouse cursor).
The re-partitioning is annoying but doable; /etc/fstab is your friend.

I was looking into a way to make win7's bootloader stay the primary, and it does appear there's a way. Windows 7 is the main os on there, the linux is mainly cause I have extra space, and so I have an OS safe to use for internet stuff and linux-only.
I suppose there's a big boon to how I did it though- if I hose anything, I can just throw the image back on and have a good config.
Also of note, the 2.5" IDE SSD is actually a cradle for an m.2 SATA 80mm SSD with a plastic shell. If I want more space, it'd be very easy. But 128gb is plenty for this thing.

Eddy: I blanked the new drive, then did dd from the old- so I have ~60gb of unassigned and two ntfs partitions.

This post has been edited by Wayward_Vagabond: Dec 20 2019, 20:34

I was looking into a way to make win7's bootloader stay the primary, and it does appear there's a way. Windows 7 is the main os on there, the linux is mainly cause I have extra space, and so I have an OS safe to use for internet stuff and linux-only.
I suppose there's a big boon to how I did it though- if I hose anything, I can just throw the image back on and have a good config.
Also of note, the 2.5" IDE SSD is actually a cradle for an m.2 SATA 80mm SSD with a plastic shell. If I want more space, it'd be very easy. But 128gb is plenty for this thing.

Eddy: I blanked the new drive, then did dd from the old- so I have ~60gb of unassigned and two ntfs partitions.

Wait, so you're using NTLDR as your bootloader?
That's a lot less flexible. In GRUB and some others you can get an interactive "shell" for manually booting.

If you're using (U)EFI it might be less of an issue though.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Dec 21 2019, 09:15

Good thing my web server (for my personal website) uses unencrypted HTTP and is thoroughly a traditional web 1.0 experience; otherwise this mixed content disallowal Google's trying to push might have annoyed me in two ways instead of only one.

I technically do support SSL, with a self-signed cert (signed in 2015; prior to Let's Encrypt even being an option) that expires sometime in the 2030's I think. There's pretty much nothing to worry me about MITM attacks because nobody fucking cares about my personal site. And if you use HTTPS Everywhere, you've brought the "UNTRUSTED CERTIFICATE" warning on yourself.

I didn't even bother changing the background color or the font; it's just the default font in the browser's default size on white background, with <hr/> tags for separating kinds of content.

Also fuck Google/Mozilla for thinking it's worth the pain in the ass of automating certificate renewal every 90-odd days or spending money.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Dec 21 2019, 09:38

Can't add [www.ekoru.org] Ekoru to Fennec Fdroid's list of search engines. I believe the virtual keyboard popping back up after clicking Ok is somehow the culprit. Mozilla couldn't have found a much more intuitive way for users to add custom search engines?!

"Ah, forgot to turn animated gifs back off after watching a single animation".
Also "I should really go back to that Pre-Quantum add-on source code allowing to toggle gif directly on page, and find out how to implement it with userchrome.js tricks, logically it should be possible"

Debating between building or buying a pre-built for mid-range desktop

Does my maxtrac have a bad connection inside? It's actimg awfully strange, and I suspect the radio more than the power feed.

Debating between building or buying a pre-built for mid-range desktop

Never buy pre-built unless you're getting some ridiculous deal (like on an open-box item that gets marked down by $400 or something).
Built my own low-mid-range desktop and couldn't be happier (well, I probably could, but I'm satisified with the price).

I just got a gotek floppy drive emulator and a PC duster. Looking forward to flashing the Gotek with FlashFloppy and hopefully not having to worry about my Amiga 500 as much anymore (once I can finally get it installled nicely, which will be a little tricky with the internal DF0 replacement).

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Dec 28 2019, 03:45

Regretting not getting a bigger HDD

Regretting not getting a bigger HDD

I really need to write something to search for duplicate files so I can do some symlinking or hardlinking and free up space.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Dec 28 2019, 05:46

@dragontamer8740

how much did you spend on your build and what are your key components (eg: cpu, gpu, etc.)?

I tend to use Newegg and Amazon, mostly because I'm not savvy to where to get the best prices

HP inks sucks due to the company's attempted enforcement of ink spoilage to force me to buy more. Old time ink cartridges had print heads and were sealed inside airtight foil wrappers so that they cannot dry out before the printed spoilage date. The newer HP printers let the ink dry sooner so there is an increased chance the print heads clog up if the printer isn't used every 2 weeks or so. And with some of their "pro" printers, the print head was removed from the cartridge and was now an integral part of the printer. This forced a new printer to be purchased once the print head wore out or clogged up whereas with older or non-pro printers, a new print head was obtained simply by buying a new ink cartridge.

Yesterday, I went to buy a replacement ink cartridge and the sealed foil wrapper had small holes stamped in it. That is a dirty scheming way to make sure the ink cartridges can expire if they aren't purchased by the "best used by" date printed on the cartridge container.

@dragontamer8740

how much did you spend on your build and what are your key components (eg: cpu, gpu, etc.)?

I tend to use Newegg and Amazon, mostly because I'm not savvy to where to get the best prices

I started with an older ~2006 Pentium 4 HT Dell Dimension that was free, so I can't really give exact numbers, but I'll do my best.

At first, I kept the case of the dell (Micro ATX), as well as the original PSU, HDD (500GB), and the sound card (Audigy 2 ZS).

I got an ASRock H77M motherboard, an i5-3350P CPU, and a GTX 750 Ti, as well as 16GiB of DDR3 RAM. I'm guessing I spent around $300 to $350 on that stuff but I don't remember anymore as it was several years ago when that stuff was current (the 750 Ti was a later purchase; originally I used the GT 630 card I'd already had in the P4 dell).

It's no powerhouse, and I initially had built it around a desire to continue using the original PSU, so it's very low wattage for what it is and doesn't run too warm. The PSU has now been replaced but I didn't pay much at all for the new one (I got it barely used but with a broken [noisy due to a failing bearing, but working] fan. Replaced the fan with one that I run from the motherboard, with the BIOS configured to keep it on maximum speed). It does what I need, which is emulating wii games or running Waifu2x at most.

Some stuff was from newegg, some stuff was from ebay. I try to avoid amazon as a matter of principle.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Dec 29 2019, 22:11

Nice. That's a pretty good deal for those parts now, even more so in the past. I struggle to get nice GPUs for cheap; there are so many fakes out there listed at low prices and the major/reputable sites I go to tend to sell not much lower than listed retail price.

I know Amazon can have some pretty shit deals at times, but why do you entirely avoid it?

I tend to use Newegg and Amazon, mostly because I'm not savvy to where to get the best prices

Depending on where you live, there may be many alternative parts suppliers. Big cities will have recycled PC parts suppliers and they typically buy used PCs that corporations are upgrading from or which corporations being downsized are dumping. Those places will often sell some new items too. It's up to you to google for various things such as:
<your city name> recycled PC
<your city name> used PC parts

As an example of a recycled/used PC seller, RE:PC buys and sells gear to corporations. Small companies often come to these places to get their starting gear cheap. As an example, they were selling official HP952XL black ink cartridges at $18.75. Unopened new of course.
[www.repc.com] http://www.repc.com/

Some used PC sellers refurbish older used PCs to have a modern operating system and then resell those. So if you want a used PC with the latest Windows 10 operating system, that's the way to go. Refurbishers can buy bulk packs of windows as cheap as $30 per license. Google "microsoft registered refurbisher" to get a list of sellers that have registered with microsoft as a refurbisher. Most refurbishers are charity groups using this as a way to get cheap (or free) operating systems from Microsoft to then give out to section 8 housing social welfare recipients. BUT some refurbishers are businesses that sell to normal consumers and that is what you are looking for in that directory.
[www.msregrefurb.com] https://www.msregrefurb.com/RRPSite/OnlineDirectory.aspx (click on Directory)

Instead of amazon, newegg, also check out overstock and refurbished unit distributors such as:
[evertek.com] https://evertek.com/
[www.outletpc.com] https://www.outletpc.com/

I buy a lot of my stuff at FRY's Retail storefronts, but you can also find them online. Sign up at their website for the daily Promocode special prices sent to you via email. Many of them sell by mail order, but many are also storefront-only so it is like a treasure hunt. Fry's does sell refurb computer units that has everything but the monitor sometimes for a pretty low price such as $175 to $249 or chromebook laptops at $99 (prices seen in 2019 at my stores).
www.frys.com

Fry's stores are sometimes eye-opening as they may stock some items almost like a joke such as that laptop with the 20-inch screen. You'd have to send to Willow or some other custom laptop case maker to house that monster.