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476

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 30, 2015, 01:07 PM »

stoic bassists...lol.  Yeah, that is a thing.  It's true about the listening thing, maybe that's why it seems the bassists are better at explaining stuff to the other members, because they listen better?  I also struggle with any kind of extra ornaments when I play because it's hard enough for me to listen to everything and process it all.  Maybe when I'm more of a pro I can let that go and do more intentionally interactive things.
regarding pianists, I'm sure you've seen those players that hum or make more obnoxious sounds as they play (Keith Jarrett, Oscar P, etc).  Well, I've often been given advice that humming is a good way to learn or develop as a player. But it's never worked for me.  Then I was reading a book that basically said DON'T do the humming thing, just play it.  The humming really doesn't help, and it's best to avoid developing the habit.  And everything else the author explains hit home to me so I'm in that camp now.
It just seems hard to do all the extra stuff without affecting the quality of the music.  Often times, the best performances I've seen were pretty stoic all around.  I'm talking about the quality of the music...it definitely would be considered boring to those who don't have the ear for it.
I really love and laugh a lot when I watch Count Basie.  So extremely minimal and subtle.  An eyebrow raise here and there, a look, perhaps a small gesture.  lol.
here's a video of Jimmy Forrest blowing his brains out on Night Train.  Basie approves...you can tell with his emphatic nodding @1:32 (emphatic for basie, that is, hardly noticeable to normal people).

477

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 30, 2015, 12:35 PM »

So maybe Tal is Jeff's good luck talisman these days? Her now famous 2007 performance with an uncharacteristically considerate Jeff Beck at the Crossroads Festival did more for Jeff's career (most people were already fairly tired of him) than it did hers. Or so I think. But I could well be wrong about all this. My long standing dislike of all things 'Jeff Beck' (the 'whys' of which are not worth going into) sometimes tends to cloud my normally more rational thought processes.

-40hz (January 30, 2015, 10:47 AM)

I remember this!  And i think you are exactly right!  That crossroads performance had me thinking about jeff beck more so than anything else i can think of.  I have to go back and watch it.

I know "underrated" can be used to describe any instrument in a band, but a great bassist does typically tend to be underrated.  I've probably learned more from bass players than any other instrument.  They tend to explain things better.
It's interesting that as pop music continues to evolve, it's the bass that is getting louder and louder, while everything else is fading away, along with  melodies, songs with more than two chords or measures (lol).

478

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 06:10 PM »

^ She is a pretty sweet person to say nothing of being rather nice to look at too. Her CV is extremely impressive. So much so I make it a point not to say "young" or "female" in the same sentence with her name and the term "bass player." She not a fine <fill in the blank> bass player. She is a superb bass player. Period.

And at the ripe old age of 28, she has a long career ahead of her.

-40hz (January 29, 2015, 05:42 PM)

It's funny you mention that, because I actually had to go back and edit the phrase "Wilkenfeld chick lady" for the same reason.  Yea, no question...she's the real deal.  I'd very much like to hear this thing she's done with Jackson Browne.

479

Living Room / Re: everyday life revolution

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 05:32 PM »

There was a time in my life where computers, automation, programming, etc. was considered uber-nerd activity, wouldn't get any girls, the opposite of jocks.

-superboyac (January 29, 2015, 04:36 PM)

I was quite the freak in school, it seems: leader of the computer club (Pascal, FTW) (nerd), high-ranking member of the Air Force JROTC squadron (nerd-ish), and captain of back-to-back state championship hockey teams (jock).   

Still programming...and still playing hockey...at age 41.  Love it.

-skwire (January 29, 2015, 05:24 PM)

I love it!  You are ahead of your time!  I was friendly with the Air Force ROTC ladies...I didn't realize it was nerd-ish.  I thought I was jocking it up!  But now that you bring it up, they were more nerdy than the Army folk.  But seriously, your life balance is admirable, especially being familiar with your programming work.

480

General Software Discussion / Re: Evernote Desktop v2.2.1.386.0 appreciation thread

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 05:07 PM »

By the way, for those who are very passionate about the old desktop Evernote, i really do highly recommend Wiznote as a worthy successor.  It has a very flexible importing/exporting feature, which is an important feature for software like this; perhaps even the best existing implementation of such a feature right now.  It works on the web, iphone, android, and desktop.

481

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 04:59 PM »

@Tomos - Yeah. He's botching the friggin' beat too... And she seems like such a nice kid. That little happy smile she flashes when she gets that smattering of applause is adorable.

What a dork to be working for. (Nice dye job or wig you got there Jeff! Even kids in the third world, who never saw so much as a TV set, would take one look and say: "Look Mommy! Man wearing rug! Rug!")

As you may have guessed, I'm not a fan of Jeff Beck.

(BTW: He's playing G-G <beat> F^G - not F#. My bad. )

-40hz (January 28, 2015, 01:31 PM)

I am really enjoying your animosity towards Jeff Beck, 40.
I didn't know about this Wilkenfeld lady.  Let me just say this personally...she is soooooo attractive.  holy cow.  The first girl i fell in love with as an adult had hair like that.

482

Screenshot Captor / Re: extract pics from MOV.video

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 04:42 PM »

Did you try using GOM Media Player?

How-to here

Alternatively, you could use the multiplatform command line tool ffmpeg.

ffmpeg is a powerful and complex tool that can do just about anything when it comes to video. It's well worth spending some time with it to get an idea of all the things it can do. But to cut to the chase, here's how get it to do what you're asking without getting into too many details about all the options ffmpeg supports. The how-to is from a Linux perspective, but the command works the same in Windows so just follow along.

Luck!

-40hz (January 29, 2015, 04:37 PM)

That looks pretty easy.  Media Player Classic is also quite popular for this sort of thing:

Certain *seedier* parts of the internet use MPC a lot for this.

483

Living Room / Re: everyday life revolution

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 04:36 PM »

At any rate, if you automate all aspects of your life, what do you have left?  Not much.  That's what.  And, if you say something like, "Just automate the mundane things in life so you have more time for the fun things," I would tell you that that just goes hand-in-hand with the "immediate gratification" paradigm that we see more and more in the world (especially with the younger generation).  It's not healthy, in my opinion.  I'd rather feel like I've earned my so-called fun time by taking care of the mundane things that need to be taken care of.  That's called delayed gratification and I find that a much healthier paradigm (especially for children).

-skwire (January 29, 2015, 01:44 PM)

^this - Bravo!! 

-Stoic Joker (January 29, 2015, 02:34 PM)

There was a time in my life where computers, automation, programming, etc. was considered uber-nerd activity, wouldn't get any girls, the opposite of jocks.  So if you were into those things, you kept it on the down low and did your best to emphasize your more muscular activities such as auto repair, sports, berating people, etc. The muscular community would often tote the delayed gratification line to emphasize the negative aspects of the nerd world, thus proving the wonderful qualities of their slower, mundane methods.

Then the iphone came out and it was soooo cool.  Fascination with numbers and statistics soon followed in the previously muscular community.  Now that these things were considered hip and profitable, the musculars need to adopt it somehow.  So they start implementing these previously undesireable things in their lives.  Statistics start flying around a lot.  Proofs and "facts" and "truths" become subjects of normal conversation.  but they are not trained in these affairs.  However, they are skilled in rhetoric and berating from the previous era's practices.  So they berate the public with these newfound ideas, incorrectly.  Now, we are all caught up in this transitional period.  Assholes trying to be nerds; nerds trying to be assholes.  Oy.  And it all has to do with this internet; the great equalizer.  It sure is getting harder to keep secrets now, is that good...bad?  I dunno, but it is.  My personal hope is that it becomes harder to be an asshole and everyone can be a nerd in whatever category they are inclined towards.  But who knows...it can also lead to a new breed of uber, ebola resistant assholes.

484

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 as an Internet service?

« Last post by superboyac on January 29, 2015, 04:16 PM »

I will be sooooo happy once I get completely out from under the Windows/Mac/iOS/Droid virtual reality containment dome.

-40hz (January 29, 2015, 12:51 PM)

Me too.  Although there would be some windows withdrawal symptoms I'd have to be prepared for.

485

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 26, 2015, 11:13 PM »

@SB - really interesting article. Didn't know some of that. Thx!

Ray knows he has something special. Over the years he has it appraised a bunch of times, and he hears English, Italian, Scotch, etc. Then it turns out it’s a match for a bass known to be an Amati in England. The bass becomes reputed to be a circa 1640 Amati.

Postscript: The Amati assertion has always been controversial. I’ve talked to at least one guy who says the twin to Ray’s bass in England is now believed to be a Glassel, made in Marknukeurchen

*Mini very rational 40hz rant follows. Please feel free to ignore.*

So typical with orchestral basses.  The disputes that break out over exactly what a given bass is. 

My GF's Mom is a very good violinist who played with several local orchestras. She had (allegedly - although they were both appraised and blessed off as being genuine by some big name string instrument appraisers in New York City) a Ceruti (who was a famous student of Amati) and a Guarneri. They're both fine violins with lovely but very different characters. Not the most beautiful I've ever heard. But they're up there. Especially the Guarneri. However, I've heard some modern instruments I've actually liked better. And those had neither the fancy pedigree - nor the nose-bleed inducing price tags - her two violins had. And let's not even get started on the bows - which are a whole other business and arena for debate!

I guess I just don't get it. Either when it comes to Cremona violins - or '57 Stratocasters for that matter. As long as something sounds good, is responsive, and plays well, I could care less who made it or when or where. But that's me. Which is to say I'm a working musician rather than an investor in rarities or an instrument collector.

Probably the only thing (besides transportation hassles) that I was actually glad to get away from, when I got away from playing string bass, was the mystique and nonsense surrounding the instrument itself. Sure, better instruments made by better makers (using better materials and construction methods) sounded better than those that were not. But I can't really see or hear anything that justifies the some of the reputations or astronomical prices many of these "fine instruments" fetch. I have heard one or two (played by some famous players) that were amazing. But there weren't that many. Certainly not enough to create the industry that exists to buy and sell these things.
 (see attachment in previous post)
Sad thing is, that same nonsense is coming to the world of electric bass. There's already the 'collectable instrument' feeding frenzy starting to develop around the '60-'62 Fender Jazz and '58-'60 Fender Precision basses along with Gibson Thunderbirds from the early 60s...

I mean what is with these people? These are mass-manufactured production instruments. In the case of Leo Fender's instruments, they were acknowledged (by Leo himself) to be designed to be as easy and cheap to manufacture as was humanly possible. Even those vintage paint jobs so prized by Fender collectors were the result of his using automotive paints purchased in odd lots from a company that was conveniently located just down the road from the Fender factory. There's a half-joke at Fender that says if house paint was as readily available, and a nickel cheaper a gallon, Leo would have used that instead.

Maybe I'll follow Carol's lead and just switch to cello.

In the case of Ray Brown, I think it wasn't so much the bass itself as it was the bass + Ray Brown. Because the "thing" isn't the instrument (which is just an inert pile of metal, wood, and potential) OR the player (which is heap of DNA, biomass, and spirit) but the combination that really makes whatever magic there is happen.
 (see attachment in previous post)
Ok, I'm done! Carry on.

-40hz (January 26, 2015, 04:18 PM)

Good read man!  glad to hear it coming from an experienced bass player, too.  It's so hard for me sometimes to deal with these kinds of music pseudo-science debates!  It's even hard to ignore...once the question is raised, you start to wonder, lol!  Why shouldn't a new bass sound better than an old one?  Because it wasn't hand crafted by the one master that ever lived?  Man, so many of these kinds of conversations with musicians.  I know for sure I've run a couple past you...regarding digital vs analog, recorded vs samples, etc.
And great point...the bass is good because ray brown preferred it.  Not because it's the best...it could be very average!  Like Willie's guitar, Trigger.  He didn't even give that up when the IRS came knocking.

486

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 26, 2015, 03:24 PM »

Cello is inconvenient for travelling but pales into insignificance with double bass hassles (I used to play bass years ago)

-Carol Haynes (January 26, 2015, 09:48 AM)

Couldn’t agree with you more about travelling with the double bass. And I never humped anything bigger than the 3/4 size. I can only imagine what a nightmare carting the awesome 4/4 would be like. In my "union member" days we used to get a flat "cartage" fee  on top of the hourly session fee if the client insisted on hiring someone to play the "doghouse." Needless to say, Leo's Precision and Jazz basses got very popular with booking agents once their clients realized they could save some coin by not automatically insisting on a "real" double bass.

-40hz (January 26, 2015, 11:08 AM)

I'm one of those guys that insists on a real bass!  Lol, that's always a tense discussion.  Here's a very nice story about the most famous bass I know of: Ray Brown's bass.  It happens to be right here in town, being played by his hand-picked protege, John Clayton (and I take lessons from his pianist!).  A bass player told me this instrument was referred to as "The Truck" for its size.
I've clipped the story below, it's a good read, from here:
(actually, reading this story, it sounds like the large original bass is with someone else.  Ray must have given Mr. Clayton his working bass, I'm guessing the smaller one.)
http://www.talkbass....s-bass.168111/page-2

Spoiler

Ok, Here goes:

http://www.brentnuss...n_bass/RBbass1cr.jpg
I was so excited I forgot to comb my hair!
http://www.brentnuss...own_bass/RBbass2.jpg
http://www.brentnuss...ass/RBbassfront1.jpg
http://www.brentnuss...ass/RBbassfront2.jpg
http://www.brentnuss...bass/RBbass_back.jpg
http://www.brentnuss...ss/RBbass_scroll.jpg

The scans are a not so good, unfortunately. Somehow there’s too much blue in there. The wall behind the bass should be just off-white, but it’s kinda bluey. And they’re kinda blurry, compared to the (very sharp) real photos. Unfortunately, when I try to compensate for it, the pictures get weird artifacts. Maybe someone knows how to fix it… Oh well, I hope you get the idea. If I ever figure out how to make better scans, I’ll put them up.

I include the picture of me playing the bass for reference, I’m 170cm (5’7”) tall. The shoulders were really big and hard to get around, as Mr. Brown said. I played the bass with the pin all the way in, and it was still tough. But what a sound. Playing this bass was maybe the first time I understood that even though some basses had great recorded sounds, what you hear in the room as another thing entirely.

Mr. Lauder told me that when Ray moved to Toronto in the early 60’s, he’d had some close calls (damage) touring with the bass, and so they struck up a deal where Ray would take Murray’s bass on tour (“which was also a good bass, but not this good”) and Murray would play Ray’s bass around town. He did studio and pit work etc. When Ray would come back into town, and Murray got his own bass back, all the producers would ask him “Where’s that bass with the holes (in the tuners)?” Eventually, Ray bought another bass, by a guy named Silvestre, from a classical teacher of his, which he then traveled with. When Ray moved to LA in 1964, he called Murray towards the end of the year and asked if he wanted the big bass. According to Murray, Ray said that it didn’t work well in the studios, it was too loud and bled into the other mics, and was a PITA to carry around. So Murray bought her from Ray. He said when he got her she had all 4 gut strings. Eventually Mr. Lauder changed to metal and had a c-extension added. About a year after these pictures were taken, the bass was sold to Mr. Longenecker. Murray had told me he was going to sell it, and how much he was asking, but told me he wanted to sell it only to a member of the TSO, and that there was “a young fellow” in the TSO who needed a good bass. The last time I saw the bass in person was just after that sale, and the new owner had put a bridge with really long legs and very little wood above the heart on it. I don’t know Mr. Longenecker, but by all accounts he’s a great player and a nice guy, so maybe I’ll see the bass again someday socially.

So between my conversations with Mr. Brown and Mr. Lauder, the history of the bass is:

circa 1950: Ray finds the bass, with no bridge or strings, in a pawnshop or Mom&Pop music store in NY. He buys it for about 200 bucks (good money then) and takes it to a bass shop in the city, where the guy’s eyes light up, and Ray knows he has something special. Over the years he has it appraised a bunch of times, and he hears English, Italian, Scotch, etc. Then it turns out it’s a match for a bass known to be an Amati in England. The bass becomes reputed to be a circa 1640 Amati.

1959/1960: Ray moves to Toronto. Nervous about having his good bass damaged or destroyed in travel, he begins to trade basses with Murray Lauder when on the road. Eventually he buys another bass, by Silvestre, which he travels with.

1964: the Silvestre takes over as Ray’s main bass. Reasons are mainly that the big one is too big and difficult to play. Also, he thinks this bass sounds better with the new metal strings. In interviews at this time, Ray still refers to the big bass as “my best bass.” Ray moves to LA, to get off the road and become a studio musician. The big bass is more trouble to carry around, and to play, harder to record, and just plain sounds better with gut strings. Ray has decided to use metal. So for these reasons he decides to sell the bass to someone who already loves it, his old friend Murray Lauder.

early 1992: Murray, in semi-retirement, sells the bass to TSO bassist Dave Longenecker.

2002: Ray passes in July. Murray passes in September.

Postscript: The Amati assertion has always been controversial. I’ve talked to at least one guy who says the twin to Ray’s bass in England is now believed to be a Glassel, made in Marknukeurchen (sp?). To me that’s actually great news, there’s much more chance of finding another big Markneu…. bass than another Amati  But it doesn’t matter anyway. Mr. Brown always said to pick a bass, close your eyes and listen. If that’s the sound you like, then that’s the bass for you.

Brent

487

Living Room / Re: everyday life revolution

« Last post by superboyac on January 26, 2015, 03:06 PM »

 
I don't mind the shower so much (I love showering, lol!)...give me the machine that irons dress shirts.  That will be the greatest invention since the washer/dryer.

488

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by superboyac on January 25, 2015, 01:57 PM »

Jake Shimabukuro!  Wow!  Damn that was so good.

489

General Software Discussion / Re: Evernote Desktop v2.2.1.386.0 appreciation thread

« Last post by superboyac on January 24, 2015, 04:29 PM »

lol...I totally sympathize with your feelings.  That version of evernote was pretty killer, hit all the sweet spots just right.

490

General Software Discussion / Re: Storage Spaces talk

« Last post by superboyac on January 22, 2015, 03:42 PM »

Good article. Thx for sharing!

I pretty much agree with his opinions on Storage Spaces even if I don't quite share all his concerns about some other things. Especially ZFS.

-40hz (January 22, 2015, 02:39 PM)

Seems like his main complaint is the high RAM requirement of ZFS.  I don't know if it's true, but I have heard that from others.  And also, I feel like it's a "who cares?" issue...RAM is cheap.  And people that need stuff like ZFS, I can't see skimping on RAM a big deal.

491

General Software Discussion / Storage Spaces talk

« Last post by superboyac on January 22, 2015, 01:19 PM »

I have a lot of threads about storage and servers here.  As a windows guy, the thing that I've been most fascinated with in recent years is Storage Spaces.   The idea of tossing a hodge podge of drives into a box and creating pools is very awesome to me.  Storage Spaces, as a built in option now in the windows OSs, is something I've been keeping my eye on.  Not much is out there as far as good info regarding it.  Right now, I found a great article for it, so here it is:
http://betanews.com/...ditch-raid-for-good/

Disks are bundled into Pools, which are then divided into Spaces. Individual Spaces can then be doled out for complex storage scenarios. It's a pretty straightforward approach in the land of Storage Spaces, and actually works as advertised, I've found. (Image Source: TechNet)

You can't use a Storage Space as a boot volume... yet, of course. I am hoping that day will come, but for now, it's a mechanism for data storage sets only.

But just like RAID, you have a few options for how you can format your Storage Spaces to work. The three options you have include:

Mirror Space: This is the equivalent of a RAID-1, and my favorite Spaces flavor. Exact copies of data is mirrored across two or more drives, giving you the same redundancy that RAID-1 has offered for so long.  Needs at least 2 disks.
Parity Space: This is the equivalent of a RAID-5 array, using parity space to prevent disaster and recover data in the case of failed drives. I personally don't like this Space type as it has given me very poor write speeds in my testing (shown below). Needs at least 3 disks.
Simple Space: Just like a RAID-0, where you are striping data across multiple drives for raw speed but zero data redundancy. I would never use this production systems. This is good for temporary scratch spaces like video editing scenarios. One disk is all you need for this, but using two or more is really where this would shine.
As anyone who reads my work here knows, I'm not interested in marketing success stories. If I'm going to use Storage Spaces for my own company needs, and more importantly, for my clients, I need proof that this tech works.

492

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 as an Internet service?

« Last post by superboyac on January 21, 2015, 10:00 PM »

@40hz
Can you please explain further what leads you to the Linux line you posted? How it relates to today's news?
Serious question, I am not trying to be funny, may be I should read again but don't see the actual connection to something MS said today.

-rgdot (January 21, 2015, 04:57 PM)

It's not in the statement from Microsoft I quoted.

But many times in the past Microsoft has alleged that Linux/GNU violates in excess of 200 of its software patents. And although the company has waffled around acting upon it (and refused to say exactly what those patents are) no person in a position of authority at Microsoft has ever ruled out a future lawsuit or series of lawsuits. At this point in time, Microsoft seems to have contented itself with spreading enough FUD that many companies (and a few big Linux distros such as Redhat and Suse) have purchased licenses from Microsoft for supposedly infringing their IP. Unfortunately, those licenses are (by contractual agreement) a secret between Microsoft and those who signed them. So nobody in the broader FOSS community knows what the specific claimed IP violations are, or is able to re-code or change things in order to be non-infringing. Assuming they actually are. Cute move huh? It's basically saying: "You're infringing - but we're not going to do anything to let you know what or where."

When Linux began to look like it had a shot at becoming the next dominant desktop OS, Microsoft upped it's posturing and threatening. Including threatening corporations that adopted Linux. It's true that once Windows 7 became the success it became, and some major players in the FOSS community caved in and bought questionable licenses, Microsoft ramped their threats back down. But again. they never ruled out legal action in the future.

From Microsoft's past rhetoric and behavior, I suspect if they get a lot of pushback on where Windows 10 seems to be going - and Linux again starts looking like a good replacement - they'll start up their legal bullying and FUD machine again. Or possibly invoke the nuclear option and actually file a lawsuit against someone. Most likely Linux (i.e. the kernal) itself, which they claim has something like 65 infringing pieces in it.

Hope that clarifies. It's a long story. And it's been going on for the last 10 or so years. This is an older article that gets into the nitty -gritty of the thing. It'll give you some background as to what it's all about.

-40hz (January 21, 2015, 09:01 PM)

You amaze me...often.  That was a damn fine read.

493

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 as an Internet service?

« Last post by superboyac on January 21, 2015, 04:39 PM »

I'm guessing (since you can't do much else when it comes to Microsoft licensing) that they mean it in the same way OEM licenses work. Which is to say it's non-transferable to another PC. It's only licensed for the original machine it's installed on. Otherwise, everyone and their cousin would claim a freebie and use it on everything else they buy until Windows 12 comes out.

I suspect they're mostly trying to speed up adoption by the Windows 7 users (remember XP?) without making the Windows 8 users feel like they got taken for a ride like the Vista users did. It's clever too in that because it's free for the first year, corporate IT departments will have a huge amount of trouble justifying to their upper management any decision to stick with 7 if they let the opportunity for that freebie to slip by.

Microsoft certainly isn't doing any of this out of kindness, that's for sure. This is a typical Redmond squeeze play they're making. Just like the hardball offer they tried with Windows 8 - except that upgrade wasn't free. And the early adopter discount offer only lasted a very short time in comparison.
'
I don't like any of what I'm seeing. It feels like the a major 'set-up' is about to go down. And I just hope I end up being wrong about that.

-40hz (January 21, 2015, 04:18 PM)

It does feel that way.  I'm confused as well.  For the last few years, all of microsofts products and innovations seem to be underwhelming, from an end-user standpoint.  They have been criticized and it's clear they have lost a lot of market share to smartphones and tablets.  Yet, most of the news about microsoft from the business end is very positive.  Which could be just strategic marketing...BUT, the moves microsoft is making also seems to indicate that they are quite brazenly confident about the future.  So it's a weird situation (in my eyes at least) where MS is very confident as a business, but all their products are kind of sucking.

And furthermore, I feel the zeitgeist of today is prematurely pushing for the eradication of the desktop pc.  I don't understand why we are so eager to get rid of them as a society.  For the longest time, desktop pc's were the territory of the super nerds and geeks...like from the 80s until the iphone era.  With the smartphones, all these people that were not computer people all of a sudden had their eyes opened up to the possibilities they present.  And now we're all over apps and phones and internet of things...but they all still pale in comparison to the desktop.  And the other weird thing is that despite how little talk there is for the desktop and the fascination with the mobile stuff, most people still have a desktop in their home somewhere.

494

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 as an Internet service?

« Last post by superboyac on January 21, 2015, 12:41 PM »

I was about to say "and my postponed transition to the LInux world edges closer" until I read your last line!  So the linux world is threatened as well?  Is there any hope for the computer hobbyists?? 

495

Living Room / Re: issues with uefi, more than 6 drives, ahci, windows 8.

« Last post by superboyac on January 20, 2015, 03:53 PM »

Home Server for the multi drive tower I'll build.  I like storage spaces, it's easy to use for a windows guy like me.  I also like the idea of the linux servers and ZFS, but that experiment will have to wait for when i have more time.  There are some complaints with storage spaces regarding expansion and reliability, but after seeing it in action I can't really see myself running into such issues at my small scale.  Home server is just easy.

-superboyac (January 20, 2015, 03:05 PM)

AFAIK, they've discontinued Home Server. They created Foundation as one replacement. The main drawback is it's single-CPU and with no Hyper-V virtual machine support plus it has to be purchased installed on a server. No retail copies available. It's also fairly brain-dead when it comes to management tools. So skip Foundation. Essentials is a better deal. Better tools, better features, supports 2 physical CPUs...and you can install it on anything you want that will run it. And Essentials RC2 (the current version) now allows for one virtual machine to be hosted on it. Very handy at times that is.

-40hz (January 20, 2015, 03:42 PM)

ok thanks for the heads up.  Looks like the price of essentials is a little more expensive to what home server used to be, ~$250.  Not too bad, but anything more would make me think twice to moving to freenas.

496

General Software Discussion / Re: Uploading attachments from inside directly to a cloud drive

« Last post by superboyac on January 20, 2015, 03:20 PM »

I'm not exactly sure what the question is, but I'll try to discuss it from what I  understood.

You seem to be talking about opening emails (client software, or web client like gmail?) and saving attachments to the cloud.  And you also mention not storing or storing it first on the pc.  Well, if it's a client like Outlook, then most likely the attachment is already on your hard drive in some form or another.  It might be encrypted inside the outlook pst file, or just straight up stored in some obsucre program folder.  So whether you drag/drop it to another folder, it's already on your computer (but possibly inaccessible).

If it's a web client like gmail, the attachment is not on your computer.  You can probably save it directly to the cloud if that feature exists ( i think it does in gmail).  You might be able to save it directly to the cloud using a smartphone also, depending on the apps you are using.

I think the more common way with normal computer users is to place the file in your Dropbox or googe drive directory, which is an actual directory on your computer, and the software will sync it to the cloud.  So in that case, yes you are first saving the file on your hard drive with drag/drop or whatever.

With zip files, you should also be aware that there are middlemen temp folders used during the extraction.  So let's say you want to just open a document in the zip file through the email client...well, that has to first be extracted, and it most likely takes place in some temp directory on your hard drive.  And it may also get deleted automatically when you're done with it.

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Living Room / Re: issues with uefi, more than 6 drives, ahci, windows 8.

« Last post by superboyac on January 20, 2015, 03:05 PM »

There may also be an issue with how many drives the desktop version of Windows can realistically support. Especially with the controllers supplied on a workstation-class mobo. The server versions of Windows now support drive pooling. Or in Microsoft-speak: Storage Spaces. If you're in a total Windows environment, considering something like the Windows Essentials Server might be one viable - and easy - solution for home use. There's a lot to like. (Even I have to admit that much. ) And it's affordable. Especially if you buy it with an inexpensive server from somebody like Dell.

Alternatively, a (possibly FOSS) NAS solution, as has been previously suggested by xtabber, would also be an excellent (and likely less expensive) alternative.
 

-40hz (January 20, 2015, 10:24 AM)

i think you're right.  After 6 drives, I have consistently encountered problems, and every time I seem to figure out and solve the problem, the next time it occurs, it is slightly different.  So yeah, maybe windows just has problems with it at a certain point.  I know I've had threads discussing these before.

I'm definitely going with the Home Server for the multi drive tower I'll build.  I like storage spaces, it's easy to use for a windows guy like me.  I also like the idea of the linux servers and ZFS, but that experiment will have to wait for when i have more time.  There are some complaints with storage spaces regarding expansion and reliability, but after seeing it in action I can't really see myself running into such issues at my small scale.  Home server is just easy.

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Living Room / Re: issues with uefi, more than 6 drives, ahci, windows 8.

« Last post by superboyac on January 19, 2015, 10:06 PM »

i thought i learned that you need uefi for large drives (>2tb)

-superboyac (January 18, 2015, 11:36 PM)

You can use non-system drives >2TB if the partition table is GPT and not MBR. You must also be running a 64-bit operating system because a 32-bit OS cannot address more than 2.2TB.

UEFI is a replacement for the system BIOS, not a drive partition manager. You only need UEFI if your system drive is >2TB because a BIOS cannot boot from a GPT partition table.

Windows can support up to 24 drives (C through Z), but your motherboard will limit the number of internal drives your system can support.   If you have more than 4 drives in a PC, you really should be looking at offloading them to a NAS box.

-xtabber (January 19, 2015, 01:14 PM)

I believe you are correct.  All my large drives are GPT, it is a 64 bit system.
Interesting point, you say I only need uefi if I use the large drive for my system drive.  I am not!  My system drive is a small SSD drive, about 200GB. 
I'm going to reinstall the OS using a different method and see if it works.

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Living Room / Re: issues with uefi, more than 6 drives, ahci, windows 8.

« Last post by superboyac on January 19, 2015, 10:04 PM »

What you said at least about large drives is one of the "draws" of UEFI, IIRC -- perhaps number of drives too, not sure. I happen to not have drives that exceed 1 TB, nor simultaneously connect that many so have "escaped"...What I was lured by was the support for a large number of the same type of "first-class" partition -- i.e. MBR only supported up to 4 primary partitions and with UEFI you get many more of the "standard" partition.

It turned out though that there is an additional headache taking a drive from one machine to another if using UEFI -- I found the drive wasn't enough (at least for what I tried), it was also necessary to modify something that is stored in the PC.  With MBR / legacy setups, I could take a drive from one machine and use it on another without any other "state" that needed to be transferred -- with some caveats regarding hardware.  This additional complication was enough of a turn-off for me that I now look for motherboards that support MBR / legacy mode.  I don't know how much longer this approach will be viable though...

-ewemoa (January 19, 2015, 12:49 AM)

Yes!  I remember this, it may even be a thread on here from a few years ago.  It's true...I had moved a desktop to my living room, and switched a couple of the hard drives around.  And the computer wouldn't boot after removing one of the drives.  Also, I moved a large drive from the working computer into the new one, which didn't yet have a large drive.  Well...I had to do all sorts of things with Intel RST, and there was a point where it kept asking me to format the whole drive.  Man, it was messy.
I think someone here explained that with uefi or something, there is boot information that is stored and distributed on all the connected drives, so if one is disconnected it won't boot anymore because info is missing.  Anyway, it was a big headache and I don't even remember how I solved it.  I think i just didn't use the large drives for the problem pc.

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Living Room / Re: issues with uefi, more than 6 drives, ahci, windows 8.

« Last post by superboyac on January 18, 2015, 11:36 PM »

Not helpful for your situation, but I have not had good luck with UEFI (too many glitches and at least one additional administrative burden that seems to arise from its use) and these days I avoid it.  IIUC, the quality of UEFI implementations varies considerably.  At least the glitches might get ironed out eventually...may be?

-ewemoa (January 18, 2015, 06:30 PM)

i think my experiences have been similar, quite painful.  however, somewhere during all these headaches, i thought i learned that you need uefi for large drives (>2tb) or more than 6 drives.  I really am not sure.  But I want to say I've encountered this issue like 3 times before.