Personal computing discussed

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by sjl
Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:02 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Terminator Genisys
Replies: 23
Views: 2854

Re: Terminator Genisys

#1 was a good film (if you can get past the bad-by-modern-standards special effects - I must admit that I laughed when I saw the stop motion animated naked Terminator skeleton towards the tail end of the film. In fairness, though, that was the 80s; no CGI.) #2 was a rare sequel that exceeded the lev...
by sjl
Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:15 pm
Forum: Graphics
Topic: CHALLENGE: New Geforce 970 breaks Ethernet
Replies: 111
Views: 13642

Re: CHALLENGE: New Geforce 970 breaks Ethernet

I'm reminded of some fun I had with a Via Eden mini-ITX system, some years back. The on-board Ethernet wasn't working for me. Turned out that, if there was an issue with insufficient power making it to the system, the on-board Ethernet would be the first thing that would drop out. I'm with the other...
by sjl
Thu Nov 06, 2014 10:01 pm
Forum: Graphics
Topic: So what GPUs are entirely obsolete now?
Replies: 85
Views: 15040

Re: So what GPUs are entirely obsolete now?

A GPU is obsolete (for gaming) if you can't run games on it anymore. I'd go a step further. It's obsolete if you can't run the games you want to run on it. I have a Radeon HD 5770. I don't do much by way of gaming; Deus Ex: HR and XCOM: Enemy Within are the two most recent games I've played to any ...
by sjl
Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:41 am
Forum: General Software
Topic: Couple questions about Windows 8.1
Replies: 20
Views: 4057

Re: Couple questions about Windows 8.1

My oldest game on my system now is Return To Castle Wolfenstein (lol) [...] Daaamn those were the old school days for me...anyways ill stop rambling =P Return to Castle Wolfenstein is old school? Daaaaang. I'm getting old. (Cut my teeth on Apple Panic and Montezuma's Revenge. Now get off my lawn. :...
by sjl
Sat Aug 23, 2014 6:56 am
Forum: Apple Sanctuary
Topic: What is a good beginning Mac?
Replies: 52
Views: 9277

Re: What is a good beginning Mac?

So anyway - Hackintosh. That's the beginner's Mac. *snort* Yeah ... no. If you want to go Hackintosh, there's nothing wrong with that per se, but I definitely wouldn't rate it as a beginner's option. If you're experienced with building your own PC and are comfortable with the idea of modifying the ...
by sjl
Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:33 pm
Forum: Apple Sanctuary
Topic: What is a good beginning Mac?
Replies: 52
Views: 9277

Re: What is a good beginning Mac?

Speaking as a Mac user (I don't even have a standard PC for games), you're asking the wrong question. As others have pointed out, the operating system is exactly the same, no matter which piece of hardware you buy. So your choices basically boil down to: ⋅ The iMac: an all-in-one that has ...
by sjl
Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:33 am
Forum: Motherboards, Chipsets, & RAM
Topic: RAM went from 12GB to 8
Replies: 2
Views: 1713

Re: RAM went from 12GB to 8

I'm going to hazard a guess without seeing anything about your system configuration, that you're running a triple channel setup with three sticks of RAM. I've had similar issues with my system (quad core Xeon, three banks of RAM, lost one third of my RAM without warning). The symptoms suggested that...
by sjl
Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:12 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Any Doctor Who fans read the leaked scripts?
Replies: 10
Views: 2135

Re: Any Doctor Who fans read the leaked scripts?

I'm avoiding them. I'd rather enjoy the show when it airs. Ditto. The scripts are only half the story; I enjoy the show as much for the way the actors portray the characters as for the script. Reading the scripts misses out on the portrayal; I'm happy to read them, but only after I've seen the epis...
by sjl
Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:27 pm
Forum: General Hardware
Topic: Good, affordable NiMH charger
Replies: 46
Views: 23839

Re: Good, affordable NiMH charger

Hmmm, I've heard that at least once before somewhere else, maybe I'll pick some up (and trash the rest of my collection of Energizers and Duracells). Thanks! Do it. I haven't used Duracells enough to comment on their reliability, but to be blunt, I wouldn't touch Energizer NiMH with a forty foot ba...
by sjl
Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:58 am
Forum: General Hardware
Topic: Good, affordable NiMH charger
Replies: 46
Views: 23839

Re: Good, affordable NiMH charger

I have a nice Maha charger but my problem with NiMHs is their self discharging... In a word: Eneloop. They've consistently held their charge well for me; in contrast, the high capacity Energizer NiMH batteries are useless after a few months - great when you first get them, but they lose their charg...
by sjl
Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:11 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Washing Machine Thuds
Replies: 4
Views: 2113

Re: Washing Machine Thuds

+1 for water hammer. Not good for your pipes. If the hammer arrester doesn't help, you may need to get a plumber in to sort out the issue. There are a few tips online on ways to try to deal with it without calling a plumber (something to the effect of turning off the mains, turning on the taps that ...
by sjl
Thu May 29, 2014 12:14 am
Forum: General Software
Topic: Steam SUCKS!
Replies: 115
Views: 52944

Re: Steam SUCKS!

Steam on the other hand has the right to remove all your games from you for no reason. If Valve goes under and doesn't provide a patch, you're SOL all you games are gone. If the steam servers are down...well too bad you cannot play your games ATM. In the end, you're just borrowing something from th...
by sjl
Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:32 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up
Replies: 46
Views: 9659

Re: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up

Splitting hairs here, but Windows NT for PowerPC was actually designed for PReP. It was ported by Motorola and not Microsoft. Due to the lack of actual PReP hardware (ie Apple backed down from releasing Mac OS), it was dead in the market with just Windows NT being the sole major platform to get any...
by sjl
Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:15 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up
Replies: 46
Views: 9659

Re: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up

Unless you can find an old version of Windows NT for PowerPC, the POWER8 won't run any commercially released version of Windows. Not even then. The PowerPC port of NT was designed for CHRP; I don't believe that PowerVM provides a CHRP-like base (I don't know for certain, mind, and I'm happy to be c...
by sjl
Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:05 am
Forum: Processors
Topic: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up
Replies: 46
Views: 9659

Re: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up

I must be phrasing the question too indirectly, let me retry: Is there any point getting excited about these new chips if you need Windows Server (representative of a majority of all companies) or is this niche hardware for datacenter/specialised environments? The article is headlined with "In...
by sjl
Thu Apr 24, 2014 6:12 am
Forum: Processors
Topic: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up
Replies: 46
Views: 9659

Re: IBM reveals Power8, opens it up

Interesting. 24 cores/192 threads and 1 TB of RAM at the high end, at least to start - compared with up to 256 POWER7 cores/1024 threads and 16 TB of RAM in a p795. Wonder if IBM plans on scaling up, and hence this is just the "early" high end option - I'd be very surprised if not. No grea...
by sjl
Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:18 am
Forum: TR Sports
Topic: Test Cricket
Replies: 27
Views: 11030

Re: Test Cricket

I've been surprised how competitive Australia have been, riding high from the Ashes. About the only good thing that I can bring myself to say about the Australian cricket team - and bear in mind that I'm an Australian, born and bred, with only eight months in Auckland to point at as long-ish term o...
by sjl
Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:21 pm
Forum: Visual Haven
Topic: I'm PERPLEXED! Focal Length and angle of view on Sony A57
Replies: 14
Views: 4131

Re: I'm PERPLEXED! Focal Length and angle of view on Sony A5

Thanks for the help guys. I promise I am not as ignorant as I came across in my post with such a goofy question. For some reason I thought that the focal length for a lens varied with sensor size, when in fact the focal length for a lens doesn't change if you put it on a camera with a smaller or la...
by sjl
Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:27 pm
Forum: Visual Haven
Topic: HDMI Cables
Replies: 10
Views: 2374

Re: HDMI Cables

I've had some bad experiences with cheap cables not being able to transmit the signal sufficiently cleanly, with some rather bad artefacts as a consequence. But, that said, with HDMI being a digital signal, it will either work, or be pretty obvious in its failings (and I was able to get a refund, th...
by sjl
Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:44 pm
Forum: Visual Haven
Topic: DSLRs
Replies: 59
Views: 8248

Re: DSLRs

Didn't the OP ask about a DSLR? The Sony A7r/Nex and Fuji X aren't really SLRs... (Though they are examples of very cool new consumer camera tech) True. However, "what DSLR options are good?" is frequently code for "I want something better than a standard point and shoot", rathe...
by sjl
Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:05 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Sci-fi Book Recommendations
Replies: 26
Views: 4383

Re: Sci-fi Book Recommendations

I'd also very much recommend The Forever War (Haldeman). It is about space travel, war and the societal effects of faster than light travel. This. Definitely this. Anything that was published in Orion's SF Masterworks series is worth a look (which covers quite a few recommendations from this thread...
by sjl
Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:25 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Sci-fi Book Recommendations
Replies: 26
Views: 4383

Re: Sci-fi Book Recommendations

I'm a big fan of Charlie Stross; he's a former pharmacist, turned computer geek (he has a CS degree, although woefully out of date), turned writer, and I'm yet to find a book of his that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. He has a blog , if you want to peruse his list of works (some of which - the shorte...
by sjl
Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:29 am
Forum: Storage
Topic: NAS recommendations
Replies: 19
Views: 5317

Re: NAS recommendations

The reason I brought up iSCSI and SATA was that I was under the impression that iSCSI was big in the server space, and supported fast transfer speeds, multi-user access, more reliable, and the like. I could be (and probably am) wrong about that. iSCSI is basically a way of sending SCSI commands acr...
by sjl
Sun Dec 29, 2013 5:22 pm
Forum: Storage
Topic: NAS recommendations
Replies: 19
Views: 5317

Re: NAS recommendations

I'm happy with my Synology (DS2411+, which is overkill for most people; I have specific needs that mean that I like having lots and lots of shiny storage to play around with). It's loaded with twelve WD30EFRX drives, for 30 TB (approximately) usable space (in a RAID 6 configuration), and if I should...
by sjl
Wed Dec 25, 2013 4:29 pm
Forum: Gaming
Topic: The Steam Holiday Sale
Replies: 28
Views: 6253

Re: The Steam Holiday Sale

Yeah, the store seems to be offline at the moment. Annoying; looks like DX:HR is 66% off, so I was hoping to pick up the upgrade to the director's cut for $1.70 instead of $5 (I'd bought the DLC separately), and if L4D2 is free, I'd like to snap it up as well. *shrugs* It either comes back or it doe...
by sjl
Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:35 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Staking a patent claim
Replies: 38
Views: 5518

Re: Staking a patent claim

Obvious thoughts: you need to be able to track the head (and, probably, the eyes) in real time, to adjust the positioning of the objects on the display. Not having a glow outside the vehicle is likely to be Too Damn Hard. Powering the thin film without introducing visible (even if faint) lines is hi...
by sjl
Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:52 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Feeling Blue
Replies: 77
Views: 15737

Re: Feeling Blue

My work has been suffering. I've been falling behind on my plans. But work is one of the reasons why I ended up like this in the first place. I have been suffering burnouts and near-burnouts for the past few months, with no time to take a few days off before pushing myself to work again, almost no ...
by sjl
Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:56 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Feeling Blue
Replies: 77
Views: 15737

Re: Feeling Blue

Honestly man, the next thing you need to do is go find someone that you can talk to about this. It doesn't sound like your wife is that person right now; maybe she will be at some point, but right now she is not. And as much as folks here might want to help, when you come right down to it there is ...
by sjl
Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:13 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Would like some more details on bitcoin and mining
Replies: 105
Views: 32675

Re: Would like some more details on bitcoin and mining

The FBI doesn't extract the records. They seize the whole bloody server, bit-image the drives for chain-of-custody purposes, then load the boxen in a moving van. I've witnessed it first-hand. Whatever they do in their labs after that is unknown to me. I do know, though, that they're leaving with th...
by sjl
Thu Sep 26, 2013 4:15 pm
Forum: General Software
Topic: Huge VLC update
Replies: 3
Views: 1507

Re: Huge VLC update

Looks like they've ironed out the last major kinks in interlaced VC-1 support. This is a Good Thing(tm). By all accounts, XBMC will have similar improvements with the Gotham release.
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