Personal computing discussed

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by srg86
Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:05 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Something's different...
Replies: 1628
Views: 328169

Re: Something's different...

Ars has essentially been "Wired with a slightly more technical slant" for quite some time now. Not a bad site, really... but nothing like it was back in the day. It does have some good articles, but I'm trying to get away from Ars as best as I can, too much focus on politics, and not enou...
by srg86
Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:16 am
Forum: Processors
Topic: AMD Zen 2: Ryzen 3000 series
Replies: 97
Views: 24653

Re: AMD Zen 2: Ryzen 3000 series

Looks like there's some issues with newer Linux distros. Something slightly older, like Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is fine, but newer distos (I generally use what ever the latest Kubuntu version is) such as Fedora, Manjaro, Arch etc are seeing a nasty Kernel/User space issue with the new Ryzen 3000/X570 syst...
by srg86
Sun Jul 07, 2019 4:29 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: AMD Zen 2: Ryzen 3000 series
Replies: 97
Views: 24653

Re: AMD Zen 2: Ryzen 3000 series

Looks like there's some issues with newer Linux distros. Something slightly older, like Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is fine, but newer distos (I generally use what ever the latest Kubuntu version is) such as Fedora, Manjaro, Arch etc are seeing a nasty Kernel/User space issue with the new Ryzen 3000/X570 syst...
by srg86
Sun Jul 07, 2019 4:20 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: AMD Zen 2: Ryzen 3000 series
Replies: 97
Views: 24653

Re: AMD Zen 2: Ryzen 3000 series

Looks like there's some issues with newer Linux distros. Something slightly older, like Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is fine, but newer distos (I generally use what ever the latest Kubuntu version is) such as Fedora, Manjaro, Arch etc are seeing a nasty Kernel/User space issue with the new Ryzen 3000/X570 syste...
by srg86
Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:57 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: For movies on disc (yeah), do you ever register your "digital copy?"
Replies: 32
Views: 5631

Re: For movies on disc (yeah), do you ever register your "digital copy?"

Meh seems more hassle than it's worth, I just put the disc in. Changing Discs simply isn't a hassle to me. That said, if we have something on disc, but it's still available on Netflix, Amazon Prime etc for no extra charge, we may watch that, but I wouldn't go out of my way to redeem though. To me, w...
by srg86
Mon Jun 10, 2019 12:53 pm
Forum: Storage
Topic: Blackblaze's 2018-2019 HDD stats
Replies: 206
Views: 27850

Re: Blackblaze's 2018 HDD stats

Sounds like HGST's seem to be the best reliability wise (at least based on Backblaze). Since HGST was sold off, how do you spot an HGST drive? Are all Toshiba's HGST? What about WD? Are all Toshiba 3.5" drives based on HGST designs? Yeah, good luck. Even if they are one company's design, WDC i...
by srg86
Mon Jun 10, 2019 10:50 am
Forum: Storage
Topic: Blackblaze's 2018-2019 HDD stats
Replies: 206
Views: 27850

Re: Blackblaze's 2018 HDD stats

Data hoarders anonymous! I have 24TB of storage in my primary desktop: 1TB SSD, 2x8TB HDDs, 1x4TB HDD, 1x3TB HDD. I'm changing over the 4TB and 3TB drives to 8TB soon, and that's before getting into the NAS I'm building. Just waiting for deals on 12TB HGST Ultrastars so I can pick up like 5 or 6 of...
by srg86
Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:21 am
Forum: Storage
Topic: Blackblaze's 2018-2019 HDD stats
Replies: 206
Views: 27850

Re: Blackblaze's 2018 HDD stats

Extremely low capacity 1-2TB? That's still a decent sized hard drive to me. I was mainly thinking of 4TB as a new drive to back up to (with separately bought enclosure), and that includes plenty of "growing into" room. I never was a huge data hoarder. Though this would also go for replaci...
by srg86
Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:51 pm
Forum: Storage
Topic: Blackblaze's 2018-2019 HDD stats
Replies: 206
Views: 27850

Re: Blackblaze's 2018 HDD stats

Unfortunately, the price premium of WD Blacks makes it harder to justify not going with a SSD instead. And in general, a HDD is gonna be less reliable than a SSD with the same warranty under normal use. Not that I really disagree on the reliability part, but beyond the extremely low capacity HDDs (...
by srg86
Thu Jun 06, 2019 11:15 am
Forum: Storage
Topic: Blackblaze's 2018-2019 HDD stats
Replies: 206
Views: 27850

Re: Blackblaze's 2018 HDD stats

EDIT: https://skinflint.co.uk/seagate-barracuda-compute-4tb-st4000dm004-a1627258.html That page marks the line as SMR, and additionally has the DMZ04 as a new model of the same line. I'd say SMR for sure unless there's evidence to the contrary. So the rumors of consumer SMR drives being discontinue...
by srg86
Wed Jun 05, 2019 8:40 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Almost 20 years
Replies: 120
Views: 19849

Re: Almost 20 years

I remember reading TR for a number of years, switching from Toms Hardware and Anandtech, while mainly posting on the AMD forums (before I basically switched everything to Intel after the Phenom flop, and not trusting Asmedia in AMD's current chipsets either). After that, I switched to here more (tho...
by srg86
Thu May 23, 2019 1:35 pm
Forum: Storage
Topic: Format ext4 from Windows
Replies: 44
Views: 17477

Re: Format ext4 from Windows

I haven't tried this myself (yet), but supposedly the command line format utility will format FAT32 partitions >32GB. Also, another reason to use exFAT is if you need to support files >4GB on the drive. It's a PITA when they release a new Windows 10 or Windows Server ISO that has an install.wim tha...
by srg86
Wed May 08, 2019 8:10 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: Did you know Win95 could run on 386?
Replies: 55
Views: 9560

Re: Did you know Win95 could run on 386?

If you were able to amass 32MB, I'm slightly jealous of that system. Any idea on whether AMD chips played nice with Intel 387 co-processors? Yeah, this was in the early 2000s that I built this machine, 16 or 32MB of RAM bought from ebay, I can't exactly remember how much. I've only run Cyrix FasMat...
by srg86
Mon May 06, 2019 8:07 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: Did you know Win95 could run on 386?
Replies: 55
Views: 9560

Re: Did you know Win95 could run on 386?

Yep, I've tried Windows 95 OSR2 on my second hand Am386 DX 40MHz, and it did run. I think I had something like 32MB of RAM in there at the time (only 8MB now). It does crawl on a 386, but it does run. I run DOS/WFW 3.11 on that machine normally. Windows NT 3.51 should also run on a 386. Actually Win...
by srg86
Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:21 am
Forum: Linux, Unix, and Assorted Madness
Topic: Ubuntu 18.04.. no input
Replies: 21
Views: 7367

Re: Ubuntu 18.04.. no input

So after staying away from Linux for a while because of less than stellar experiences I thought I'd give it a shot again so I got the 18.04 .iso, burned it to DVD and booted off of it for a test drive. First thing, the mouse is completely dead. Then I realize, so is the keyboard. I pressed the comp...
by srg86
Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:55 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: UWP is dead? Wither Surface Andromeda?
Replies: 28
Views: 4691

Re: UWP is dead? Wither Surface Andromeda?

It's ok EU. You don't have to worry. I'll stay here and sit with you if you need it. I see Win32 as the Microsoft equivalent of POSIX on Linux/UNIX, and is the most stable base. I think you're right about that. I doubt Microsoft will be successful on anything we might call a reasonable timeframe of...
by srg86
Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:36 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: UWP is dead? Wither Surface Andromeda?
Replies: 28
Views: 4691

Re: UWP is dead? Wither Surface Andromeda?

I have no issues with the existence of Windows on ARM, but I do with that both .NET and UWP etc would go the way of the dodo. I see Win32 as the Microsoft equivalent of POSIX on Linux/UNIX, and is the most stable base. That's what I target the few times I need something to run of Windows (usually so...
by srg86
Thu Aug 23, 2018 2:25 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: "Foreshadow" speculative execution attacks outlined
Replies: 53
Views: 7270

Re: "Foreshadow" speculative execution attacks outlined

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/2 ... e_license/

It appears Intel caved and is removing that clause from the License. Apparently the mitigation which hurts the most is disabling Hyper-Threading.
by srg86
Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:28 pm
Forum: General Software
Topic: How bad is Windows 10 Really?
Replies: 381
Views: 79682

Re: How bad is Windows 10 Really?

The UI of Win 10 though feels like a thousand little paper cuts compared to older versions of Windows, irritating. Many of those sharp edges are disappearing with each major Spring/Fall update. Settings, for example, was barely at an Alpha state in Windows 8 and a Beta state in the earliest release...
by srg86
Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:14 pm
Forum: General Software
Topic: How bad is Windows 10 Really?
Replies: 381
Views: 79682

Re: How bad is Windows 10 Really?

How bad is Windows 10 Really? It's not. I have been using it since launch and I have installed every one of the updates within a week of it's release. Perhaps I've just been lucky, but I don't think so. I will tell you this, I am apparently much more open to change than the average person commentin...
by srg86
Fri Jul 13, 2018 11:52 am
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Old PCI card in modern PC
Replies: 31
Views: 7950

Re: Old PCI card in modern PC

A PCI graphics card, should work just fine, if the card, PC and bridge are all properly spec compliant, which they should be. The spec takes all this into consideration. To software, a PCIe to PCI bridge looks like a PCI to PCI bridge, so your GPU may be on another Bus number, but it will still wor...
by srg86
Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:48 am
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Old PCI card in modern PC
Replies: 31
Views: 7950

Re: Old PCI card in modern PC

I'm sure it has that setting, but only for IGP or PCIe. I'd be willing to take most any ridiculous bet that it won't work with standard PCI via a bridge chip. A PCI graphics card, should work just fine, if the card, PC and bridge are all properly spec compliant, which they should be. The spec takes...
by srg86
Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:06 am
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Old PCI card in modern PC
Replies: 31
Views: 7950

Re: Old PCI card in modern PC

Don't know if you've got any interest in doing so, but you might be able to get it to run halfway decently under Linux. That said, getting a PCI-based ATI Rage XL (from the same general era as that Matrox card) to work in a modern Linux distro wasn't as straightforward as I expected. The OS install...
by srg86
Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:47 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: Intel Speculative Execution - yet another flaw
Replies: 7
Views: 3308

Re: Intel Speculative Execution - yet another flaw

Compared to Meltdown and Spectre, this one is a non-issue, as most modern OSs (Windows and Linux 4.9 and later) already use Eager FP state save/restore anyway. I wouldn't let this one hold off a purchase. Lazy FP save/restore comes from an age of separate Math Co-processor chips where most of the ov...
by srg86
Thu May 24, 2018 8:57 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: How to reset no boot W10
Replies: 56
Views: 8017

Re: How to reset no boot W10

I think there seems to be a lot of confusion here about these partitions. First of all the EFI system partition. This is a mandatory partition on UEFI systems. This is a FAT32 partition with a special flag which tells the firmware that it is a EFI System partition. UEFI OS loader applications (among...
by srg86
Wed May 02, 2018 7:46 am
Forum: General Hardware
Topic: NT6 drivers for PCI modem?
Replies: 21
Views: 5475

Re: NT6 drivers for PCI modem?

Back in the day I avoided WinModems like the plague. I think all full hardware internal modems are ISA, I don't think there are any PCI or PCIe based ones. I still would also recommend an external unit. I prefer having the lights, because they give actual useful information, plus it's not a WinModem...
by srg86
Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:51 am
Forum: Motherboards, Chipsets, & RAM
Topic: ASUS Z-97-A No planned BIOS Update Spectre
Replies: 12
Views: 5996

Re: ASUS Z-97-A No planned BIOS Update Spectre

Am I overreacting? Waaaayyy overreacting, but it is understandable. I have the same motherboard and the last BIOS (which I sill need to upgrade to anyway) was from 2015. But I'm not too worried, as your Operating System should be able to load the new microcode as well. I've just switched to openSUS...
by srg86
Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:31 pm
Forum: General Software
Topic: How bad is Windows 10 Really?
Replies: 381
Views: 79682

Re: How bad is Windows 10 Really?

Why couldn't they just kept the old Windows 7 UI with maybe a few improvements instead? Some of us wish Windows UI development had stopped with Win2K. Might explain why I gravitate toward KDE or Xfce. Agreed, for me the most usable and best looking version of Windows ever was Windows 2000. I loved ...
by srg86
Mon Dec 18, 2017 11:32 am
Forum: General Software
Topic: Stupid and terrible software.
Replies: 82
Views: 15529

Re: Stupid and terrible software.

I remember way back in the day there were some installers that got confused once HDDs got bigger than 4GB. The free space calculation would blow up and no matter how much you had it would think you didn't have enough. One of the super-old installers (installshield?) used to do a 'system check' of s...
by srg86
Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:29 am
Forum: General Software
Topic: Stupid and terrible software.
Replies: 82
Views: 15529

Re: Stupid and terrible software.

In my day job I deal with a lot of software written by engineers for engineers (not the software kind), and it's the rule rather than the exception that the software is doing something boneheaded like storing data files with the application. The sad thing is none of this is new. The concept of a li...
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