[X] My Assistant

My small computer is currently dead. Best I can tell, a stick of ram failed sometime around 3AM Saturday night/Sunday morning. I noticed there was no video output, so I swapped the KVM back and forth, nada. Faffed around with cables including trying the hdmi on the video card, still nada. Connected to IRC from the big computer to confirm it wasn't connected still before I power cycled.

It was acting real weird and taking multiple tries to get beyond the biosor even boot at all, including refusing to respond to keyboard. Was able to try memtest a few times, including in failsafe mode, and it hung at 29% every time.


I do have another mobo, but only have one set of ram between them. Ordered 2x8GB of DDR3. Not 100% it's the RAM, but something hardware level is clearly hosed.

Insult to injury: it was around 250 days of uptime, the last shutdown only due to me physically moving the box and having to unplug it.

This post has been edited by Wayward_Vagabond: Oct 4 2021, 15:57

Assuming you tried it with only one ram stick already?

RIP.

Rest in peace

Mark Suckerberg must thoroughly check his servers, because his platform has been going down very often, although he is busy censoring and hiding information

Didn't bother yet, I probally will this afternoon. I was rather irate, so I just installed cgywin and irssi on the big computer, than daydrank and gamed mot of the day.

Facebook locking its employees out and requiring physical access to solve the problem reminds me of when that happened to me for a secure building.

Network went down and then keycards wouldn't work. Took half a day before we found someone that was able to get in. (They climbed through a window that was accidentally left open and opened the front door allowing us to get in and reset the server).


Another building, it took about 45mins procedure to get in manually as there were a series of secure doors and you had to go through. Five doors each time picking up a physical key needed to unlock a previous secure box to eventually get to the master key.

That wasn't too bad, only a few people knew the back up procedure if the keycards went down. It did work just took time. I felt like it was designed by someone that played old games like Doom or Wolfenstein with the colored keys for the doors and almost a maze to get through them.

Laptop batteries almost feel like a market monoprice could get into (if laptops still had modular batteries).
They could undercut OEM pricing by a lot, but still use better quality cells than all the random ebay batteries do. I'd pay more for a battery from monoprice (which I know has somewhat reasonable return policies and stands behind its stuff) that I knew would likely work properly for a decent length of time.

Didn't bother yet, I probally will this afternoon. I was rather irate, so I just installed cgywin and irssi on the big computer, than daydrank and gamed mot of the day.

My cygwin install process involves patching and compiling XChat (not hexchat).
Always try one stick at a time when computers act strange.
BTW, my laptop has frozen halfway through memtest86+ ever since I got it, but it never freezes or bugs out like that in normal operation. So I don't trust memtest86(+). My other (non-tablet) x201 thinkpad also freezes in memtest86+.

I felt like it was designed by someone that played old games like Doom or Wolfenstein with the colored keys for the doors and almost a maze to get through them.

(IMG:[i.imgur.com] https://i.imgur.com/CTKNXLq.png)

also insert that windows opengl 3d maze screensaver here

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 5 2021, 01:04

Facebook has just lost just over 7 billion dollars in what was down, thanks to a routing error it seems

I have also found that laptops with "mechanical keyboard" are more like a special membrane keyboard rather than a genuine mechanical one, it's not so appealing to me.

This post has been edited by RepStormy: Oct 5 2021, 01:49

Facebook has just lost just over 7 billion dollars in what was down, thanks to a routing error it seems

I have also found that laptops with "mechanical keyboard" are more like a special membrane keyboard rather than a genuine mechanical one, it's not so appealing to me.

And possibly a hack and a/or a whistleblower on a tv show.

I had some weird activity on random accounts I forgot I even had this morning XD


edit: re-activating old phone to change passwords on ancient accounts that used the same ancient password as facespook.

However it looks like it was sites that were still using my really really old password that I used on facebook before the last time it was breached.



This post has been edited by EsotericSatire: Oct 5 2021, 04:42

Facebook locking its employees out and requiring physical access to solve the problem reminds me of when that happened to me for a secure building.

Network went down and then keycards wouldn't work. Took half a day before we found someone that was able to get in. (They climbed through a window that was accidentally left open and opened the front door allowing us to get in and reset the server).
Another building, it took about 45mins procedure to get in manually as there were a series of secure doors and you had to go through. Five doors each time picking up a physical key needed to unlock a previous secure box to eventually get to the master key.

That wasn't too bad, only a few people knew the back up procedure if the keycards went down. It did work just took time. I felt like it was designed by someone that played old games like Doom or Wolfenstein with the colored keys for the doors and almost a maze to get through them.

(IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Wow, I am glad my office still use the good ol' manual keys (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I have also found that laptops with "mechanical keyboard" are more like a special membrane keyboard rather than a genuine mechanical one, it's not so appealing to me.

I have a laptop with a genuine mechanical keyboard.
Not my pic.
(IMG:[4.bp.blogspot.com] https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GD0ojlb9kHk/WNgqhVHuBMI/AAAAAAAAHZI/fP8sw4jKPGMJv7h8TsS7noLqksDjfpPdACEw/s1600/20170326_164203.jpg)

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 5 2021, 06:50

With one stick in it's original slot, the mobo wouldn't do anything. With it the stick in it's original slot, it acted like before, save for memtest hanging at 55% now. Hope the mobo is fine.
I can source another psu pretty cheap, but it's not just drop-in. I have to splice in a CPU 12V plug and the +4 section for it's ATX plug.

Edit: screw it, $20 shipped for the PSU, and $12 for cables to use for pigtails. It'd be nice to have on hand even if RAM fixes it. If the mobo is bad, I'll put the AMD 350 one in the case, and buuld another slightly higher spec, but still older + used parts small machine for web browsing and IRC. I see some nice cases that fit an SFX power supply, a single sideways 5.25" bay, and 2-4 full expansion slots.


Suggestions for CPUs I can find ala eBay on Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX motherboards with at least one physically 16x PCI-e slot? I see different Intel i5 chips, Xeons, and FX series AMD chips. Performance point is a decent bit better than the AMD 450D but doesn't need to be crazy- hence why I'm looking at old boards instead of socket AM4. A xeon would be neat just because..

This post has been edited by Wayward_Vagabond: Oct 5 2021, 16:45

Tempted now to do a Xeon E3-12(30/45/70) build w/ 16GB ECC ram and my old RX580 gfx card...

With one stick in it's original slot, the mobo wouldn't do anything. With it the stick in it's original slot, it acted like before, save for memtest hanging at 55% now. Hope the mobo is fine.

Could be the ram slot is busted/has cracked solder? Not super common on desktop boards, but it is on certain models of powerbook for instance.

I can source another psu pretty cheap, but it's not just drop-in. I have to splice in a CPU 12V plug and the +4 section for it's ATX plug.

Why do you need the +4 section? I remember powering my board with the older convention ATX plug/CPU plugs.

Edit: screw it, $20 shipped for the PSU, and $12 for cables to use for pigtails. It'd be nice to have on hand even if RAM fixes it. If the mobo is bad, I'll put the AMD 350 one in the case, and buuld another slightly higher spec, but still older + used parts small machine for web browsing and IRC. I see some nice cases that fit an SFX power supply, a single sideways 5.25" bay, and 2-4 full expansion slots.
Suggestions for CPUs I can find ala eBay on Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX motherboards with at least one physically 16x PCI-e slot? I see different Intel i5 chips, Xeons, and FX series AMD chips. Performance point is a decent bit better than the AMD 450D but doesn't need to be crazy- hence why I'm looking at old boards instead of socket AM4. A xeon would be neat just because..

450D? Do you mean E-450 or something?

Anyway, my recommendation is an asrock H77M with an i5-3350p, since that's my micro-ATX board/CPU combo that I've been driving for almost a decade now. Two PCIe slots (one x16, the other x4 electronically but x16 physically), two conventional PCI slots. Onboard serial and parallel port headers. Doesn't look overly gamer-y. the i5-3350p should be a decent step above the E-450. An i5-3470 would also be good.

Alternately, this motherboard looks significantly cheaper than my asrock on ebay right now. [www.ebay.com] https://www.ebay.com/itm/114886510170 . Same chipset, has PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. Second slot is only x1 rather than x4, though.

Looks like the 3350p can be had on ebay for $25-30 or so. It doesn't have integrated graphics, where the i5-3470 does. A 3470 looks to be just a few dollars more.

The motherboard would be the expensive part.

By the way if you don't mind an OEM sandybridge board I have an old Dell one (H67 chipset?) I might be able to make myself trade (or give, maybe). Seems to work with an i5-3350p/i5-3470 ivy bridge too.

Thought:
I want a [wiki.eth0.nl] lackrack (like was previously mentioned here). But first I'll need some rack mounted stuff that isn't heavy like CRT's.

(IMG:[i.imgur.com] https://i.imgur.com/didq1YK.jpg)

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 5 2021, 21:23

Found a neat little program that converts between kanji, kana, and romaji (I don't think it converts TO kanji necessarily, since that'd be tricky. But it attempts to decode them to phonetic forms).

Program is called 'Kakasi,' and it's in the Debian repositories.

I wrote a crap wrapper script around it for 'romajifying' stuff. I'm sure there are places where it'll fail on kanji, but it seems relatively good. Might be something I can combine with some sort of text hooking functionality to work on translating VN's or something.

CODE

#! /bin/sh
# note: dictionaries are in /usr/share/kakasi/
# see kakasi(1)
KAKASI_CMD='kakasi -rhepburn -iutf8 -outf8 -Ha -Ka -Ja -Ea -ka -s'
SPACE=''
if [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; then
  echo "$@" |$KAKASI_CMD
else
  $KAKASI_CMD
fi

example use:

CODE

$ romajify '実は、私は亀'
jitsuha , watashi ha kame
$ echo '実は、私は亀'|romajify
jitsuha , watashi ha kame

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 6 2021, 06:31

Could be the ram slot is busted/has cracked solder? Not super common on desktop boards, but it is on certain models of powerbook for instance.

Unsure, but made up my mind on retiring the optiplex as my daily computing box. Servicable, but ultimately a potato. It just sort of fell into a role I never built it for.

Why do you need the +4 section? I remember powering my board with the older convention ATX plug/CPU plugs.

Ah, I assumed I needed them if the board had them, but I suppose it is an 18W TDP CPU board with only one PCI-e slot and a 210W PSU.

450D? Do you mean E-450 or something?

I did; Maybe dead board is an E-450, backup board is an E-350D.


I might do a Supermicro X9SCL+-F board with E3-1270v2 CPU. I think I can get a pretty good price on one with 32GB of ECC RAM, CPU, and stock Intel LGA115(0/1/5) cooler. Found a small case I like too, that happens to have two 40MM fans in the space above the IO panel, so that should help with airflow between flat CPU cooler and small case. Looking into a 600W or so SFX platinum PSU. Case has a 300W PSU included, and that would run a Xeon by itself- but my RX580 wants some juice.

Supermicro board has some caveats though- I need a card for USB 3.0, and I either need a USB audio dongle or a sound card. There's also the very slight issue of having to knock the back wall out of a pci-e slot to fit a gfx card. Not commited to setting it up with a server/workstation board yet though, just feeling out options to get something with a moderate amount of ass for a good value. I'd also feel more comfortable with a used CPU if it were still socketed into the mobo it was last used with.

Tl;dr continuing my tradition of dumb weird desktop computers in any case.


On CPU and motherboard selection, learned some stuff about Intel last night- H/B/Z series chipsets only support non-ECC RAM regardless of what the CPU supports. For ECC, E3 Xeons non-registered RAM, and E5/E7 Xeons use registered RAM. It also seems the vX on the end of Xeon part numbers are different generations from different families, but at least according to Userbenchmark, there's not a profound difference in performance (especially when contrasted with any AMD Bobcat chip).

This post has been edited by Wayward_Vagabond: Oct 6 2021, 15:32

Yeah, you don't need a 24 pin PSU (or eight pin CPU power). I just tried my old Dell OEM PSU on a 24 pin board to verify my memories and it seemed to work just fine.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 6 2021, 18:27

I am doing the 4pin CPU due to the slot powered GFX card.

Replaced the glass screen cover/protector/bezel thing on my old DSLR (Nikon D40). I broke it a year or so ago and had basically not been using it since then. Glad to have it back.

Good to have it back in working condition. Now I just need to find a really good way to clean the sensor/mirror and such that doesn't involve getting robbed blind by Nikon.
It's clean enough for now, but on a narrow aperture long exposure shot it starts to become noticeable.

Also, both the aftermarket batteries I had for it have also swollen up and don't fit in the compartment anymore, so I'm down to the single OEM battery that I had before I had the aftermarket ones. It doesn't last long and there's no good way to provide external power except with a device that just does AC -> DC conversion and feeds power into the battery slot pins. I'd need to buy that, too.
Oh yeah, the official nikon version of the AC adapter? $47. And that needs to plug into another $30 device. Looks like the cheapest aftermarket AC adapter thing is $25 total. Either way, it sucks. But I still am happy to have a decent CCD camera again.

Also, my return key is binding/sticking a little bit on my model M keyboard if I hit it on the very innermost edge. I've swapped the stabilizer insert between the return key and numpad zero, which seems to have fixed it. But I'll need to get a new stabilizer insert I think. Nothing I've tried has really made the old one feel better. Thankfully they're around $1.50 from Unicomp, but it's still an annoyance.

Seen here with high-tech stabilizer insert removal tool (the hook on the end).
[i.imgur.com] (IMG:[i.imgur.com] https://i.imgur.com/eVvySbxg.jpg)

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 8 2021, 05:14

I sorta regret getting rid of my model m-keyboard in the 90s but modern mechanical keyboards are not bad these days.

my latest comp is the first one not to have a PS/2 port. OH there are adapters?

The retro beige is cool again but I disliked it back then.

If I went back in time, I'd punch the person that told me that new membrane keyboards were better.

I sorta regret getting rid of my model m-keyboard in the 90s but modern mechanical keyboards are not bad these days.

They aren't bad, but every Cherry switch (as in, actually manufactured by cherry) that I have tried barely feels tactile at all when used at high speed with earplugs in. Buckling springs really do have a snap to them; "tactility" and "clickiness" were bolted onto the design as an afterthought with the Cherry switches. Apparently some boutique vendors have fixed that, but I see so many broken keycap stems for Cherry switches and clones that I want nothing to do with them.

Some old Alps Electric and Mitsumi switches are also pretty nice. My Apple extended keyboard is one of the only apple products I actually like (orange alps switches; strongly tactile, but not 'clicky'). The Matias boards are supposed to be similar in feel, but I've never had the opportunity to try one. The Alps mechanism definitely has provisions for a good solid tactile bump/click in it.

my latest comp is the first one not to have a PS/2 port. OH there are adapters?

I hope I never have to buy a desktop PC without a PS/2 port. It'll probably happen, but I really don't want it to.
And yeah, there are adapters; I have a "blue cube" one sitting around somewhere, which was the old go-to active keyboard adapter for USB. It works nicely, but appears to be discontinued now, so people are recommending other kinds of adapters these days. I also have built tnem out of arduinos and such with the TMK firmware.

The retro beige is cool again but I disliked it back then.

Well, if you were nearby, I have four M's. And an F. If I'm ever in Oz I'll ring you up.

I don't love beige, either, but don't mind it. The industrial gray shell on this one is nice.

Also the new Unicomp M boards actually feel really good, for what it's worth. And they can have black shells and "bright white" keycaps (not beige, actually white). Looks kinda nice, too. And the prices aren't too shabby. If you really want a buckling spring M, I can recommend them.
I seem to recall someone telling me that most of the "Model M" boards they could find in Queensland were the rubber dome variety used in schools and such; I don't know if their experience is typical/how hard it would be to find a buckling spring board in Australia. Also I'm sure they're going for entirely too much money; even before covid they were too much here. They were around $20-30 in 2010, which was perfect.

If I went back in time, I'd punch the person that told me that new membrane keyboards were better.

On one hand, it's sort of cool that there's been a mechanical keyboard "renaissance" of sorts; on the other, I really don't like the "gamer gear" market that most of them seem to be trying to appeal to. I also think Cherry MX are the absolute lowest form of mechanical key switch I have ever used… both because the keycaps seem designed to crack at the stems and because they just don't feel too satisfying (the weight is good on some of them, but they just don't have any "oomph"). It's a shame that almost the entire market seems to be revolving around MX switches and their clones.
There are the Matias switches out there, but it seems like very few use them. And the prices on a lot of old boards would probably be lower if there were more diversity in switch design still in production.

I also know people who are frustrated trying to get keyboards for their classic IBM terminals and such, because all the boards they find have been hacked apart and modded for USB compatibility, making them totally worthless for the terminals they were originally designed for. The IBM 3101 has jumpers that control the operation of the terminal embedded in the keyboard; it cannot even boot without a keyboard connected. So this renaissance is a mixed blessing, IMO.

Disclaimer: I've heard tell that some of the newer MX clones actually do feel snappy; I hope they are, but I can't afford to even look at them at the prices they charge for the boutique brands.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Oct 8 2021, 08:38