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Last post Author Topic: Interesting "stuff"  (Read 1309441 times)

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #925 on: August 28, 2015, 06:14 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #926 on: August 29, 2015, 07:47 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #927 on: August 29, 2015, 07:50 PM »

bit

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #928 on: August 30, 2015, 11:41 PM »
Fanless Mini PC HTPC Intel Pentium J2850 Quad Core 2.41GHz Micro PC Barebone - ebay $150 USD w/$50 s&h
My comment: It's a Pentium, quad-core, 2.41GHz.
One (empty) ram slot (probably doubles the total cost including a separately purchased 4GB ram stick).
Spec sheet beneath picture gives more details:
-supports Win 7 & 8, up to 256GB SSD HD, & etc.
I wonder if this means it will not accept my external 200GB EIDE HD, or 500GB & 750GB SATA HDs?

edit: 'Compatible with Win 7 & 8' implies 'incompatible w/Win 10 & etc'.
-bit (August 26, 2015, 11:25 PM)

Even though it is a "small" PC, put in as much RAM as you can afford (8GByte or 16GByte) as that will extend its useful product life significantly. The problem is that your EIDE hard disk cannot be connected to this main board at all. Actually, EIDE isn't supported on any new mother boards for several years now.

Your SATA hard disks could be connected and would work if these didn't have too much storage capacity for the onboard SATA controller. Also, it is highly likely your SATA hard disks are 3,5" models. This model requires a lot more power to operate than the 2.5" model. In other words, your hard disks are too big in size (both physically and in capacity) and too power consuming. The power supply that comes with this device isn't able to cope with those power requirements.

Low power devices always sacrifice (a lot of) capability to get those low power numbers.

You should buy the biggest SSD hard disk this board supports, again to extend the product's life.

If you do all of this, you will be very pleasantly surprised about this device for a long time to come. However, it won't be cheap to buy. It will be quite cheap to run.

Or buy a cheap PC case with power supply, transfer your old main board into this case, including your EIDE hard disk. Sell it / donate it / use it as a NAS server (you should get decent power supply if you do this).

Add new main board with new processor and DDR3/DDR4 RAM to your old PC case. A decent Asus main board with decent Intel i5 processor and 8GByte of DDR3 RAM will set you back around 300 USD here in Paraguay. And in the U.S. hardware is cheaper anyway. You can still use your SATA hard disks on this new main board, the onboard SATA controller can slow down to SATA 1 speeds if your SATA hard disks are SATA 1 models (which is very likely in an old PC as yours is).
 
If you can do the labor and hunting for deals on computer parts yourself, building is usually the cheapest option to buy, but not necessarily cheapest to run. And if not, you'll pay for the labor someone else did in getting parts and assembling them for you.

While I do understand why someone buys an off-the-shelf PC for home use, you won't see me do that. I (still) like to build my own machines from scratch. Mainly because I don't want to be stuck with a sub-par PC that someone else deemed good enough. And that is even more true for laptops, if you talk about sub-par computing (but that is a rant for another day).


-Shades (August 28, 2015, 08:59 AM)
Do you know if the mini-pc would support an external DVD burner?

Shades

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #929 on: August 31, 2015, 12:51 AM »
For the OS that is usually not a problem (with an enclosure that supports the burner you want and has support for USB 2.0 or better).

How your preferred burner software handles such devices, that is another matter. Again, it shouldn't be a problem, especially when you use updated versions of your burner software. But if you happen to like an old(er) version, there might be an issue. Don't expect these devices to be as fast to burn DVD's or BD's than the ones you put in a proper PC case. Information throughput of USB 2.0 ports looks like a lot in theory, but in practice rarely achievable. USB 3.0 devices can handle a lot more information throughput in comparison, but the USB standard isn't known to sustain information throughput for longer periods of time.

If you would get a new PC, you might want to consider converting whatever CD/DVD/BD collection you have to portable hard disks. In the end that is cheaper, consumes a lot less storage space and it is seriously faster than burning CDs/DVDs/BDs. These portable hard disks will definitely work with, well, any type of PC.   

bit

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #930 on: September 01, 2015, 03:49 AM »
^I like my DVDs; they're not electronic and have no moving parts and are not likely to suddenly go DOA and lose all my backup data.
But I also like the mini-pc; unitized & modular, little to go wrong, portable, relatively inexpensive (not counting peripherals) and easy to replace with a functional up-to-date unit (unless it no longer handles an older OS).

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #931 on: September 01, 2015, 11:36 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #932 on: September 01, 2015, 11:59 PM »

Shades

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #933 on: September 02, 2015, 08:26 PM »
^I like my DVDs; they're not electronic and have no moving parts and are not likely to suddenly go DOA and lose all my backup data.
But I also like the mini-pc; unitized & modular, little to go wrong, portable, relatively inexpensive (not counting peripherals) and easy to replace with a functional up-to-date unit (unless it no longer handles an older OS).
-bit (September 01, 2015, 03:49 AM)

Since I live in Paraguay I have noticed that the hardware you can buy for PC's is of lesser quality. Manufacturers do not send their best products to the South-American market. This is very clear with DVD players and burners. I wish I was kidding, but when you burn a dvd here it is not a given that the same burner is able to read it next week...and strangely enough after 6 months the section that gave read problems before, moved on the disc.

This happens with original discs as well. Alignment and calibration varies because of shoddier build quality, temperature and humidity.

The whole system is so unreliable that in the store room more than 20 different dvd burners are lying there without a job. Whenever I need to restore a backup I had burned to disc I take 4 or 5 of them and try if the backup is retrievable with that set of drives. 

A stark contrast with hooking up an portable hard disk enclosure and start working right away at speeds DVD's only can dream about. And with hard disk prices as they are, DVD's barely beat the price/storage-capacity ratio of the hard disk.

Just sayin'. 

bit

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #934 on: September 03, 2015, 01:09 AM »
^I'm really sorry to hear of your DVD problems in Paraguay.
Since reseating my ram, my DVD burner & disks work perfectly.
But if I could afford to trade my mid-tower pc and DVD burner & disks for a mini-pc setup with 4-8GB ram and whatever peripherals I needed, I do believe I would be tempted to make the switch.
For a basic noninclusive list of mini-pc peripherals, I would need 3 duplicate HDs and cloning unit, 2 thumb drives, and I think I would actually try for an external DVD burner anyways.
Also to be able to plug in my vintage 286 key-click keyboard.
My DVD backup burning activities typically come in the 5MB to 10MB range, rarely 20MB or 30MB or more.

edit: Come to think of it, generically speaking, a DVD and a thumb drive are both 'removable media' with 'no moving parts'; so a set of 2, 3, or 4 identical large capacity, high data-rate transfer thumb drives would make a suitable upgrade/replacement for DVD disks.
To avoid virus hits or other hazards, the thumb drives would need to normally only be plugged in just long enough to write or read the backup data, and be unplugged all the rest of the time.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2015, 03:00 AM by bit »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #935 on: September 04, 2015, 02:25 AM »
« Last Edit: September 05, 2015, 01:45 AM by Arizona Hot »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #936 on: September 06, 2015, 09:08 AM »
LG Unveils Double-Sided, Tri-Folding OLED Display.jpgInteresting "stuff"

LG Unveils Double-Sided, Three-Panel, Folding OLED Display

Porn App Snaps User's Photo, Demands Ransom.jpgInteresting "stuff"

Porn App Snaps User's Photo, Demands Ransom

Has anyone here seen these pictures online? Could this be the next Ashley-Madison?
« Last Edit: September 08, 2015, 11:40 AM by Arizona Hot »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #937 on: September 08, 2015, 01:27 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #938 on: September 08, 2015, 09:44 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #939 on: September 08, 2015, 09:50 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #940 on: September 11, 2015, 02:07 PM »

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #941 on: September 12, 2015, 02:16 PM »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #942 on: September 12, 2015, 02:26 PM »
How oldschool graphics worked Part 1 - Commodore and Nintendo - YouTube
-Arizona Hot (September 12, 2015, 02:16 PM)

I gotta take exception to this one.

Commodore 128.

Combine the "hardness" of C64, with passage of time as a child, into the stunningly easier C128 overlay that *still included a C64 backbone for compatibility*, and I STILL ponder about making a "twenty years later" version of my "avoid the people" game, except this time with NY City streets and people looking at their cell phones while Doing Stuff.

At about age nine, I found the C64 completely un-programmable. At about age twelve I made a low-digit bunch of games, typed in more before that croaked (and that's how I learned to type!), and lived life before it blew up on me about three years ago.

Poke 16380,0: Poke 16381,6: New

Ready.

RIP Commodore. It matters "which old skool you go to" at which age.

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #943 on: September 12, 2015, 03:50 PM »

ewemoa

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #944 on: September 13, 2015, 01:27 AM »

tomos

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #945 on: September 13, 2015, 03:15 AM »
Tom

ewemoa

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #946 on: September 13, 2015, 05:38 PM »
(I cant find any comments there) can you quote?
-tomos (September 13, 2015, 03:15 AM)

Feel a bit silly doing so (but see spoiler).  Is there no result for searching the page for "Gary Matthews"?

Spoiler
Awesome

tomos

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #947 on: September 14, 2015, 08:45 AM »
Feel a bit silly doing so (but see spoiler).
-ewemoa (September 13, 2015, 05:38 PM)
thanks ;D

using my brain a bit more today, I see they are blocked by Adblock Latitude (PaleMoon)...
Tom

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #948 on: September 14, 2015, 01:36 PM »
Carly Rae Jepsen.jpgInteresting "stuff"    Katy Perry.jpgInteresting "stuff"

These 18 Artists Got Their Start on YouTube

Arizona Hot

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Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Reply #949 on: September 15, 2015, 02:11 PM »
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