Fuck Thermaltake! :tickedoff:
So, I've been upgrading my desktop PC but had a two-week setback due to having to return a DOA MB... that may not have been DOA after all. At the time that I got the first MB installed and tried to power up there was no response and everything was dead. In renovating the system I did a stupid thing that really should not have been a stupid thing. Since the new PSU was just an ARGB version of the same Thermaltake 850W PSU that was being replaced, and because I'm a lazy fuck, I didn't change all the cables. Both units used modular cable sets and I figured I could reuse the set already installed without having to rewire the case. When there was no power indication on the MB the very first thing I did was dig out my PSU tester and unplugged the cables from the PSU and plugged in the unused new cables and used them to connect the PSU to the tester. And of course it tested as good. I then did the whole process of getting an RMA, taking out the "bad" MB and packing it up to send, unboxing it again and removing the M2 drive and water cooler mount that I forgot to take off, rebox it and ship it back to Newegg then wait for a replacement. Today, replacement in hand, I was getting ready to install the MB but something in my head told me to test the PSU with the cables in the case... DOA.
W.T.F???
So I plugged in the cables that came with it... tests good. The problem was in reusing the old cables. Even though the old PSU was also a Thermaltake 850W modular PSU, just like the new one (only differences being new was a platinum and the old a bronze, and the new being ARGB vs the old having built-in RGB) and even though the old cables plugged right into the same spots on the new PSU, there was a difference between them. Sure enough, looking at the PSU end of the 24 pin MB cable showed one empty connection on the new cable. The bastards obviously made changes to the wiring of the cables and how they connected with the PSU, but didn't change or key the Molex connection on the PSU so you couldn't use an older cable.
Weeks of waiting and all the hassle of returning what was probably a working high dollar MB that will now be scrapped, all because Thermaltake couldn't be bothered keying a changed connector. Fuck 'em. I'm pissed enough right now to avoid all their products in the future.
(https://i.imgur.com/xO438JZb.png)
So something that happened to me, bought my girlfriend a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 9020 from Amazon. I play a few games and for together time she likes the one game Valheim. It got delivered Friday, then Saturday i set it up. Open box had bubble wrap around it had a keyboard and mouse, and wires ( HDMI and power ). Plugged the power cord into an outlet and other end into PSU port. It came to life, and i let go of the power cord it died. The plug in port on the computer was loose and wobbled, it only ran when i held the plug just right. Then the HDMI cord would not go into the ports at all. I looked at the ports and they looked different to what i have seen before like a dull gray. So Sunday spent time with Amazon's support member to get it fixed.
Now a week for the new refurbished computer to show up, she was/is kinda disappointed with not having her own computer to play with.
Quote from: NT2C on November 15, 2021, 04:38:49 PM
Fuck Thermaltake! :tickedoff:
I've been through similar shit with a variety of supposedly "high end" PSUs and have entirely changed to
be quiet! as a consequence. Three years and running. No issues yet.
Quote from: Rednex on November 15, 2021, 06:02:55 PM
So something that happened to me, bought my girlfriend a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 9020 from Amazon. I play a few games and for together time she likes the one game Valheim. It got delivered Friday, then Saturday i set it up. Open box had bubble wrap around it had a keyboard and mouse, and wires ( HDMI and power ). Plugged the power cord into an outlet and other end into PSU port. It came to life, and i let go of the power cord it died. The plug in port on the computer was loose and wobbled, it only ran when i held the plug just right. Then the HDMI cord would not go into the ports at all. I looked at the ports and they looked different to what i have seen before like a dull gray. So Sunday spent time with Amazon's support member to get it fixed.
Now a week for the new refurbished computer to show up, she was/is kinda disappointed with not having her own computer to play with.
Stored in a humid environment, oxidation in the ports, then overly aggressively cleaned during refurbishment?
Because the Dell all-in-one stuff usually uses decent components, I've never heard of shenanigans like that...
Well it was refurbished by Amazon , which means the cheapest they can find. It was $400 USD. Here's a copy and past of its features, not sure how decent they are. The keyboard and mouse it came with were both wireless.
【KEY FEATURES】
-Dell OptiPlex 9020 Small Form Factor (SFF)
-Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Processor
-32GB Ram
-1TB Solid State Drive (SSD)
-WiFi & Bluetooth Adapter
-Includes Wireless Keyboard And Mouse
-DisplayPort to HDMI
-Windows 10 Professional (64Bit)
-DVD Drive
-Onboard Intel HD Graphics
-Sound Integrated
-Network: 10/100/100 Gigabit Ethernet
-Microphone
-Headphone
-Audio Line In/Out
-Expansion Slots & Bays:
-(1) Low-Profile PCI Express x16 Slot
-(2) Low-Profile PCI Express x1 Slots
-(1) External 5.25" Drive Bay
-(1) Internal 3.5" Drive Bay
-(1) External 3.5" Drive Bay
-1x VGA
-2x Display Port
-1x Serial Port
-10x USB: Front-panel's USB ports
Still strange, because desktop PC don't go through enough insertion cycles (Giggity) to wear out the ports (Giggity), and the Dells are usually made with decent components. Huh.
Anyone know anything about connectivity issues in Linux? I'm running Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon x64 on my laptop, and the damn WiFi is acting up.
It's a Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter (2.4 GHz only), and I will just spontaneously and without any reason lose internet access, but not WiFi or connection to the router. The router (or cable modem, really) does in fact claim that I'm still online.
It must be a software problem, because it doesn't appear when the same machine is running Windows, and it's completely cool, so it's not a heat issue, either. And signal strength is like a million dB, so that's not it.
I'm stuck with either constantly manually dis- and reconnecting, or putting "sudo service network-manager restart" into the terminal every few minutes, and it's starting to damage my calm. I've got work to do. :headbang:
Quote from: mzmc on November 15, 2021, 06:53:08 PM
Still strange, because desktop PC don't go through enough insertion cycles (Giggity) to wear out the ports (Giggity), and the Dells are usually made with decent components. Huh.
Anyone know anything about connectivity issues in Linux? I'm running Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon x64 on my laptop, and the damn WiFi is acting up.
It's a Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter (2.4 GHz only), and I will just spontaneously and without any reason lose internet access, but not WiFi or connection to the router. The router (or cable modem, really) does in fact claim that I'm still online.
It must be a software problem, because it doesn't appear when the same machine is running Windows, and it's completely cool, so it's not a heat issue, either. And signal strength is like a million dB, so that's not it.
I'm stuck with either constantly manually dis- and reconnecting, or putting "sudo service network-manager restart" into the terminal every few minutes, and it's starting to damage my calm. I've got work to do. :headbang:
I could swear I saw a YouTube video about this just yesterday. It came up in my feed and caught my attention because I have a Mint distro installed on one of my laptops but I haven't played with it in a few months so I didn't watch the video. Might come up if you Google it.
Quote from: mzmc on November 15, 2021, 06:13:09 PM
Quote from: NT2C on November 15, 2021, 04:38:49 PM
Fuck Thermaltake! :tickedoff:
I've been through similar shit with a variety of supposedly "high end" PSUs and have entirely changed to be quiet! as a consequence. Three years and running. No issues yet.
I swear, at a dozen points tonight I was ready to spend the money and get what I need to make my own cables. It's not just the change they made that has me aggravated, it's dealing with flat cables that have to be routed through places no flat cable should ever have to traverse and, seemingly inevitably, the connector is
always facing the wrong way, sometimes on more than one axis.
Quote from: NT2C on November 15, 2021, 09:12:44 PMI could swear I saw a YouTube video about this just yesterday. It came up in my feed and caught my attention because I have a Mint distro installed on one of my laptops but I haven't played with it in a few months so I didn't watch the video. Might come up if you Google it.
Googling it was not really helpful, but apparently it fixed itself by setting the adapter from wlan0 (Linux default) to wlp2s0 (Ubuntu) and back.
I swear, I'm a proponent of open source, Linux in particular, but everyone claiming it "just works" needs to stop drinking.
On the Mint issue - Just a heads up if you use a sandbox - I saw a couple of reports that firejail may not be playing nice with 20. I use Mint in Vbox
I don't.
The only good explanation I have found is that many Realtek Onboard WiFi adapters have two antennas, and both Lenovo and HP usually only connect one. So if the operating system doesn't know which one it is, it might pick the wrong antenna. If you set antenna_sel to 0, which should be default in Ubuntu & Mint, the adapter should be set to auto and recognize that one antenna is not connected, based on high SWR.
Fiddling with that seemed to help. Which is all kind of weird, because I always had good signal strength & SNR, and never lost connection to the router. I only lost internet access. I could have sworn it was a package routing issue.
Ah, screw this, I gotta stop messing with that and go back to work.
My PC lives again!
(https://i.imgur.com/dhSf0p1.jpg)
Need advice. DFU here.
I have a really old laptop HP Elitebook 6960p running Windows XP. [yes I know]
A couple of years ago I bought a 1TB external drive to back up my PS4 and that laptop and for some other stuff. Plug and play, worked great, backed up everything fine. Then I connected the external drive to a newer PC running windows 7 to do some other stuff.
But right after I connect it to windows 7, the old HP computer will no longer see the drive. It looks like the external is running exFAT. Which IIRC is for the extra large HDD's. [school me please]
Pretty much any PC computer I connect that drive to can see the drive except the one HP I bought that drive for.
Why did it work at first but stop being seen by the HP after being connected to Windows 7 machine? The file system is the same. Is there a fix that doesn't require reformatting the drive?
Quote from: MacWa77ace on November 19, 2021, 09:56:33 AM
Need advice. DFU here.
I have a really old laptop HP Elitebook 6960p running Windows XP. [yes I know]
A couple of years ago I bought a 1TB external drive to back up my PS4 and that laptop and for some other stuff. Plug and play, worked great, backed up everything fine. Then I connected the external drive to a newer PC running windows 7 to do some other stuff.
But right after I connect it to windows 7, the old HP computer will no longer see the drive. It looks like the external is running exFAT. Which IIRC is for the extra large HDD's. [school me please]
Pretty much any PC computer I connect that drive to can see the drive except the one HP I bought that drive for.
Why did it work at first but stop being seen by the HP after being connected to Windows 7 machine? The file system is the same. Is there a fix that doesn't require reformatting the drive?
The easiest fix might be to just "upgrade" the XP machine to Win 7, though I can't think of any reason the XP machine isn't seeing the drive. The Win 7 machine didn't convert it to NTFS, did it?
Quote from: NT2C on November 19, 2021, 10:58:09 AM
Quote from: MacWa77ace on November 19, 2021, 09:56:33 AM
Need advice. DFU here.
I have a really old laptop HP Elitebook 6960p running Windows XP. [yes I know]
A couple of years ago I bought a 1TB external drive to back up my PS4 and that laptop and for some other stuff. Plug and play, worked great, backed up everything fine. Then I connected the external drive to a newer PC running windows 7 to do some other stuff.
But right after I connect it to windows 7, the old HP computer will no longer see the drive. It looks like the external is running exFAT. Which IIRC is for the extra large HDD's. [school me please]
Pretty much any PC computer I connect that drive to can see the drive except the one HP I bought that drive for.
Why did it work at first but stop being seen by the HP after being connected to Windows 7 machine? The file system is the same. Is there a fix that doesn't require reformatting the drive?
The easiest fix might be to just "upgrade" the XP machine to Win 7, though I can't think of any reason the XP machine isn't seeing the drive. The Win 7 machine didn't convert it to NTFS, did it?
Nope it says exFAT in the properties. I can't figure it out either. IIRC for the TB sized HDD NTFS won't work, has to be the exFAT which is standard.
I was thinking the USB firmware got changed on the external somehow?!? Old HP has 1 and 2.
I hardly use the laptop anymore, its set up to record PVR's from my PS3, do some video editing, and I was using the external for direct storage of the video files but haven't done anything with PS3 for a while. But I also have itunes on the laptop and direct converted a ton of CDs to the external also with playlists etc. The itunes has the files in its library but can't see the HDD either so while some MP3s are on the internal and play fine, the newer stuff is on the external and are 'file not found'.
I don't think the laptop is hardware compatible with WIN7. And not worth it $$ wise. I don't have a licensed copy.
I have another question on another laptop.
I guy at work gave me his old laptop, said it didn't work, wouldn't boot. I ran some diagnostics on it found that somehow he erased the HDD. Long story short I recovered a bunch of photos for him but kept the laptop because he didn't have the Toshiba recovery discs. It was also a WINXP and I do have a couple of liscenses for WINXP PRO. So I formatted the drive and did the install from the disks but the disks didn't have the drivers for the networking so after the install I couldn't connect to the internet to register the software license.
I searched the intraweb and found a couple of drivers and installed them but wasn't 100% sure they were even the drivers I was missing. They weren't labeled network driver if you know what i mean. That didn't work. Anyhow. Why doesn't the licensed disk have all the drivers for all the hardware to get a new system install going?!? I'd never tried that before so expected it to just go after a full install of the new system software.
ETA: I had removed the HDD from the Toshiba and put it in an external case, connected it to the HP laptop to run the diagnostics and the data recovery software. :greenguy:
Quote from: MacWa77ace on November 19, 2021, 12:14:00 PM
I don't think the laptop is hardware compatible with WIN7. And not worth it $$ wise. I don't have a licensed copy.
I have another question on another laptop.
I guy at work gave me his old laptop, said it didn't work, wouldn't boot. I ran some diagnostics on it found that somehow he erased the HDD. Long story short I recovered a bunch of photos for him but kept the laptop because he didn't have the Toshiba recovery discs. It was also a WINXP and I do have a couple of liscenses for WINXP PRO. So I formatted the drive and did the install from the disks but the disks didn't have the drivers for the networking so after the install I couldn't connect to the internet to register the software license.
I searched the intraweb and found a couple of drivers and installed them but wasn't 100% sure they were even the drivers I was missing. They weren't labeled network driver if you know what i mean. That didn't work. Anyhow. Why doesn't the licensed disk have all the drivers for all the hardware to get a new system install going?!? I'd never tried that before so expected it to just go after a full install of the new system software.
ETA: I had removed the HDD from the Toshiba and put it in an external case, connected it to the HP laptop to run the diagnostics and the data recovery software. :greenguy:
Win 7 hardware:
Processor:
1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64)
Memory:
1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)
Hard disk:
16GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit)
Display:
A screen resolution of at least 1024x768 pixels.
Graphics:
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
Buy it here: https://www.electronicfirst.com/wind%D0%BEws-7-professional-oem/?c=USD Current price is $5.99
I shall have to reexamine my cooling setup on my desktop machine. The coolant pump thrums and the fans are sounding like someone a few houses over using a leaf blower. :smiley_chinrub:
Picked up a new Dell laptop from BestBuy for one of the ladies at work. Decided I'd plug it in so it was fully charged when the IT company comes to pick it up. Blue Screen of Death, straight out of the box. It restarted, checked its memory, and said it's fine, but I'm not dealing with that. Return. Ordered straight from Dell with the nonprofit discounts and got a much better deal. IT will just have to wait until next week to pick it up.
Ok so got the second refurbished Dell Optiplex computer from Amazon. It is the same style model as before, this time the port for the power cord works. The HDMI cord it came with don't fit the damn HDMI port. So I ordered a DVI to HDMI adaptor because i thought the DVI was the screw on old computer type connector , it's what it looks like to me. So it comes and its bigger then the same looking female connector on the computer. I'm ready to use it as an expensive target by now. But first let me google stuff like " what looks like HDMI but ain't" . Well I learned something this computer uses Display Ports.... and the DVI well it's a VGA connector.
So order a HDMI to Display Port cable and it works.
Being dumb/ ignorant on a subject can get expensive.
Now, understand that with Display Port connections they lock in place and there's a button to release them.
It pays to prepare. :awesome:
Early this morning, around 0500, I decided to stop putting off the OS upgrade on my NAS. I'd been meaning to do it for some time now and kept putting it off because it was going to be a PITA with some apps getting merged into the OS, some getting removed, and some getting merged together into one, with all kinds of dire warnings regarding how superbly it all could get fucked if it all wasn't done correctly. The biggest warning was not to shut down the unit while it was updating.
0500 on a Sunday morning. What could possibly go wrong? :icon_crazy:
My first hint that shit was gonna go sideways was when every UPS in the house (we have five) clicked and bleeped about 5 minutes into the update. Uh-oh... :eek1: Well, it's alone on its very own UPS with a fresh battery update, so it should be fine. Ran my entire system, routers/modem/phones/etc. for 30-40 minutes. Should be fine for this if the power goes out. And it did, and it was. It only went out for a minute or so, and the NAS never even noticed.
Then the cable internet went out. That it noticed. It had been in the process of downloading updates for all the apps and was only up to 9/18 and now it was bitching about being unable to connect. Thinking quick I setup my phone as a mobile hotspot and used that to connect my PC to the internet (love that new cell booster I installed - 5G is fun!) and fed that connection to the NAS. It still failed some of the updates to apps, but only because they needed to be manually handled. Right now our internet has been back about 30 minutes and the NAS is now chugging along, reindexing all my photos and videos to work with the new app for them (combined two previous gen apps). All the updates are downloaded and installed and nothing went down the shitter.
UPS/5G/Cell booster for the win! :smiley_clap:
Quote from: NT2C on January 30, 2022, 02:39:04 PM
It pays to prepare. :awesome:
Early this morning, around 0500, I decided to stop putting off the OS upgrade on my NAS. I'd been meaning to do it for some time now and kept putting it off because it was going to be a PITA with some apps getting merged into the OS, some getting removed, and some getting merged together into one, with all kinds of dire warnings regarding how superbly it all could get fucked if it all wasn't done correctly. The biggest warning was not to shut down the unit while it was updating.
0500 on a Sunday morning. What could possibly go wrong? :icon_crazy:
My first hint that shit was gonna go sideways was when every UPS in the house (we have five) clicked and bleeped about 5 minutes into the update. Uh-oh... :eek1: Well, it's alone on its very own UPS with a fresh battery update, so it should be fine. Ran my entire system, routers/modem/phones/etc. for 30-40 minutes. Should be fine for this if the power goes out. And it did, and it was. It only went out for a minute or so, and the NAS never even noticed.
Then the cable internet went out. That it noticed. It had been in the process of downloading updates for all the apps and was only up to 9/18 and now it was bitching about being unable to connect. Thinking quick I setup my phone as a mobile hotspot and used that to connect my PC to the internet (love that new cell booster I installed - 5G is fun!) and fed that connection to the NAS. It still failed some of the updates to apps, but only because they needed to be manually handled. Right now our internet has been back about 30 minutes and the NAS is now chugging along, reindexing all my photos and videos to work with the new app for them (combined two previous gen apps). All the updates are downloaded and installed and nothing went down the shitter.
UPS/5G/Cell booster for the win! :smiley_clap:
(https://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/head-shaking-gif-13.gif)
My power and internet only go out when doing updates. Only!
It's like when you wash the car or add water to the pool to make it rain.
I'm bummed. My mouse is dying and it's a discontinued model.
I'm very fond of the Logitech Performance MX mouse due to the four side buttons and large form factor that fits my large hand (99% of the mice I've tried are too small for my hand and cause finger cramping), and also that it's rechargeable. Amazon Basics makes one that's very similar to it in size/shape and button layout but it isn't rechargeable (I can live with that since it has long battery life) but I cannot reprogram the side buttons to emulate the way I have the Logitech setup. I've tried X-Mouse and, while it allows me to reprogram the "forward" and "back" buttons (it calls the "button 4" and "button 5") it has no functions for the other two buttons. That's a deal breaker for me. I need that 4th side button (guess that would be "button 7") reprogrammed as a carriage return/enter key. Amazon has it as a Windows key which I feel is rather stupid. Why make it emulate the Win key and not allow reprogramming it? I can hit the Win key with my left hand without releasing the mouse. To hit the "Enter" key I have to let go of the mouse and move that hand to the keyboard, then back to the mouse.
Any suggestions? I've tried the replacement Logitech came out for the Performance MX, called the MX Master 2S and it's crap. The "thumb scroll wheel" constantly hit against my thumb and caused blisters.
Quote from: NT2C on February 13, 2022, 07:53:15 AM
I'm bummed. My mouse is dying and it's a discontinued model.
I'm very fond of the Logitech Performance MX mouse due to the four side buttons and large form factor that fits my large hand (99% of the mice I've tried are too small for my hand and cause finger cramping), and also that it's rechargeable. Amazon Basics makes one that's very similar to it in size/shape and button layout but it isn't rechargeable (I can live with that since it has long battery life) but I cannot reprogram the side buttons to emulate the way I have the Logitech setup. I've tried X-Mouse and, while it allows me to reprogram the "forward" and "back" buttons (it calls the "button 4" and "button 5") it has no functions for the other two buttons. That's a deal breaker for me. I need that 4th side button (guess that would be "button 7") reprogrammed as a carriage return/enter key. Amazon has it as a Windows key which I feel is rather stupid. Why make it emulate the Win key and not allow reprogramming it? I can hit the Win key with my left hand without releasing the mouse. To hit the "Enter" key I have to let go of the mouse and move that hand to the keyboard, then back to the mouse.
Any suggestions? I've tried the replacement Logitech came out for the Performance MX, called the MX Master 2S and it's crap. The "thumb scroll wheel" constantly hit against my thumb and caused blisters.
I've been using the Logitech M720 for the last few years, but it doesn't have all of the features you're describing. Two regular buttons and the scroll wheel can either be smooth or have the detents (there's a button to mechanically switch between the two options). Three side buttons, with the two forward/back buttons being programmable. The third allows you to switch between up to 3 different computers, so that you can use just the one mouse and switch which one it is talking to.
Quote from: EBuff75 on February 13, 2022, 03:16:27 PM
Quote from: NT2C on February 13, 2022, 07:53:15 AM
I'm bummed. My mouse is dying and it's a discontinued model.
I'm very fond of the Logitech Performance MX mouse due to the four side buttons and large form factor that fits my large hand (99% of the mice I've tried are too small for my hand and cause finger cramping), and also that it's rechargeable. Amazon Basics makes one that's very similar to it in size/shape and button layout but it isn't rechargeable (I can live with that since it has long battery life) but I cannot reprogram the side buttons to emulate the way I have the Logitech setup. I've tried X-Mouse and, while it allows me to reprogram the "forward" and "back" buttons (it calls the "button 4" and "button 5") it has no functions for the other two buttons. That's a deal breaker for me. I need that 4th side button (guess that would be "button 7") reprogrammed as a carriage return/enter key. Amazon has it as a Windows key which I feel is rather stupid. Why make it emulate the Win key and not allow reprogramming it? I can hit the Win key with my left hand without releasing the mouse. To hit the "Enter" key I have to let go of the mouse and move that hand to the keyboard, then back to the mouse.
Any suggestions? I've tried the replacement Logitech came out for the Performance MX, called the MX Master 2S and it's crap. The "thumb scroll wheel" constantly hit against my thumb and caused blisters.
I've been using the Logitech M720 for the last few years, but it doesn't have all of the features you're describing. Two regular buttons and the scroll wheel can either be smooth or have the detents (there's a button to mechanically switch between the two options). Three side buttons, with the two forward/back buttons being programmable. The third allows you to switch between up to 3 different computers, so that you can use just the one mouse and switch which one it is talking to.
Ya, I've looked at the M720 and it may not do what I need. I need to see how one fits my hand and may order one from Amazon for $40. Right now I've got my remaining MX working again, but who knows for how long? Meanwhile, the G604 from Logitech looks promising if I can retrain my muscle memory to not go for that hidden thumb button to save stuff (how I have mine programmed).
Boy, when you're half asleep and just want to head off to bed but have a couple of chores to do first, NOTHING will wake you up faster or more completely than having a fresh, full, laser printer toner cartridge slip out of your fingers and go bouncing across your desk. :smiley_shock:
Quote from: NT2C on February 21, 2022, 04:25:32 PM
Boy, when you're half asleep and just want to head off to bed but have a couple of chores to do first, NOTHING will wake you up faster or more completely than having a fresh, full, laser printer toner cartridge slip out of your fingers and go bouncing across your desk. :smiley_shock:
I know that there's a new Windows Dark theme, but this is taking things a bit too far...
Quote from: EBuff75 on February 21, 2022, 04:33:54 PM
Quote from: NT2C on February 21, 2022, 04:25:32 PM
Boy, when you're half asleep and just want to head off to bed but have a couple of chores to do first, NOTHING will wake you up faster or more completely than having a fresh, full, laser printer toner cartridge slip out of your fingers and go bouncing across your desk. :smiley_shock:
I know that there's a new Windows Dark theme, but this is taking things a bit too far...
I agree. It was cyan.
I have a personal computation machine too. I turn it on, type stuff on the key board, look at things online, I delete the browsing history, then I shut it down when I'm done.
.
OK Masterminds.
I think it's the lack of caffeine impeeding this.
I Just upgraded to fiber 1k/1k.
WIFI pulling 700Mbps
Direct connect only getting 370d / 800 up.
All tests done through beta.speedtest....
Tried different ports in the router. Different cables (bought a new one, just in case)
Thoughts before going through the (ugh) official support??
Quote from: SCBrian on February 22, 2022, 04:36:30 PM
OK Masterminds.
I think it's the lack of caffeine impeeding this.
I Just upgraded to fiber 1k/1k.
WIFI pulling 700Mbps
Direct connect only getting 370d / 800 up.
All tests done through beta.speedtest....
Tried different ports in the router. Different cables (bought a new one, just in case)
Thoughts before going through the (ugh) official support??
How's the firmware on the router? Up-to-date? Ports on both devices rated for gigabit speeds? Router properly configured?
I personally think it's obscenely indulgent, but I now have a mouse that cost as much as my first three cars... combined. :icon_crazy:
Okay, two of the cars were free but the third one cost me about half what the MX Master 3 mouse (in grey no less) sitting in its custom case on my desk, relaxing and sipping a delicate trickle of 5VDC nectar cost me.
Quote from: SCBrian on February 22, 2022, 04:36:30 PM
OK Masterminds.
I think it's the lack of caffeine impeeding this.
I Just upgraded to fiber 1k/1k.
WIFI pulling 700Mbps
Direct connect only getting 370d / 800 up.
All tests done through beta.speedtest....
Tried different ports in the router. Different cables (bought a new one, just in case)
Thoughts before going through the (ugh) official support??
What testing server are you using? Maybe that is the slow end of your hyper speed. try a different server, maybe not as close. Mine always tests slower on WiFi than direct connect. And changing test servers can make a difference. Your not over your data limit are you? :smiley_crocodile:
Once I put instant coffee in a microwave...
I almost went back in time.
~ Steven Wright
So I threw my watered down drink in his face, and walked out of there. And they banned me... for being to good.
~Bill Blaze
Quote from: NT2C on February 22, 2022, 04:44:38 PM
I personally think it's obscenely indulgent, but I now have a mouse that cost as much as my first three cars... combined. :icon_crazy:
Okay, two of the cars were free but the third one cost me about half what the MX Master 3 mouse (in grey no less) sitting in its custom case on my desk, relaxing and sipping a delicate trickle of 5VDC nectar cost me.
I had to look that particular mouse up and it's a nice one. Bit expensive for me, but aside from that, it's a nice looking piece of equipment.
And now I'm wondering what the most expensive computer mouse out there is.
ETA: Just looked it up and the most expensive computer mouse is 35K and is made in Ukraine. :eek1:
Quote from: NT2C on February 22, 2022, 04:44:38 PM
I personally think it's obscenely indulgent, but I now have a mouse that cost as much as my first three cars... combined. :icon_crazy:
Okay, two of the cars were free but the third one cost me about half what the MX Master 3 mouse (in grey no less) sitting in its custom case on my desk, relaxing and sipping a delicate trickle of 5VDC nectar cost me.
So what does that get you? Besides needing to get out of the house more. ???
.
Quote from: NT2C on February 22, 2022, 04:40:25 PM
Quote from: SCBrian on February 22, 2022, 04:36:30 PM
Thoughts before going through the (ugh) official support??
How's the firmware on the router? Up-to-date? Ports on both devices rated for gigabit speeds? Router properly configured?
Yea, went through the 15 min update on installation. All ports rated for gig, and one rated for 5 gig. Tried them all.
Seems properly configured... :(
Quote from: MacWa77ace on February 22, 2022, 04:46:28 PM
What testing server are you using? Maybe that is the slow end of your hyper speed. try a different server, maybe not as close. Mine always tests slower on WiFi than direct connect. And changing test servers can make a difference. Your not over your data limit are you? :smiley_crocodile:
No limit, not even a reduced one... Trying multiple servers provides similar results.
It has me bouncing off of the Raleigh server... Lemme see about grabbing something and doing a real life test to see if it's maybe just the server :/ though it works fine on wifi...
Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 22, 2022, 05:48:19 PM
And now I'm wondering what the most expensive computer mouse out there is.
ETA: Just looked it up and the most expensive computer mouse is 35K and is made in Ukraine. :eek1:
It's that special gift for the arms dealer that has everything...
Quote from: NapalmMan67 on February 23, 2022, 02:55:11 PM
Quote from: NT2C on February 22, 2022, 04:44:38 PM
I personally think it's obscenely indulgent, but I now have a mouse that cost as much as my first three cars... combined. :icon_crazy:
Okay, two of the cars were free but the third one cost me about half what the MX Master 3 mouse (in grey no less) sitting in its custom case on my desk, relaxing and sipping a delicate trickle of 5VDC nectar cost me.
So what does that get you? Besides needing to get out of the house more. ???
.
Gets me a mouse that fits my hand pretty well, not perfect, it's still too small, but not that bad, and it gives me a programmable button that I depend upon.
Well, a mere three years after getting a new computer, I finally finished migrating all my data from the old one. It had been sitting here in my office that entire time, I had just been putting it off. When I originally bought the new one, I didn't have a USB drive which was large enough USB drive to move all the files in one go, so I just moved the ones that really mattered and then stopped.
Yes, I tried to migrate the data over a network connection, but I gave up after many, many, MANY frustrating hours of failed effort. The NAS refused to work with the new computer (I've still never gotten it to connect properly, maybe because it's so old that WD has discontinued support for it). I even consulted with our IT guys from work and two friends of mine who are programmers, but no luck. Since then I'd picked up a 2TB Sandisk pocket drive, so I used that to finally copy the remaining files.
One more thing off of my list, as the old computer joins the rest in my computer "pastureland". It's not really a graveyard, since they all still work the last I checked!
I've had surprisingly good luck over the years, as my entire computer history since 1993 consists of five desktops and two laptops (inclusive of the two that I use right now). The only one missing from the pile is the Compaq desktop that I gave to my aunt some 20 years ago when she retired and no longer had a work computer to use. Just for giggles, I should pull out the old 386 to see if it still works, as I haven't tested that one in the last 6-8 years. :icon_crazy: Ah, memories!...
Need a new battery for the laptop PC. Mfg. date of the old one is 2009.
Where's a reliable source to get a new one that will last? When I did a search, I saw them range in price from like $23.00 up to $145.00 per for the same/equivalent type. FWIW- It's an HP computer.
.
Quote from: NapalmMan67 on April 13, 2022, 04:07:55 PM
Need a new battery for the laptop PC. Mfg. date of the old one is 2009.
Where's a reliable source to get a new one that will last? When I did a search, I saw them range in price from like $23.00 up to $145.00 per for the same/equivalent type. FWIW- It's an HP computer.
.
Oddly, I've had good results buying through Staples in the past.
So any generic brand battery? I ask because I never had luck with generic types in my cell phones.
I saw a generic one at NewEgg for $23.00, I'm sure just a knockoff brand. Then there are the HP ones, but I didn't see those at much under $90.00/per.
.
I have an older laptop so it doesn't really make sense for me to buy brand name batteries for it. HP wants over $100 for theirs. So I just buy the aftermarked ones for $18, and they last about 3 years. The only thing I can see that doesn't work well is they are not totally compatible with the HP battery monitoring software. It will display the charge and the battery life correctly, but the battery health is blanked out. But you can tell its health pretty much by how long a charge lasts anyhow.
Its been many years since I built my PC. And I honestly don't use it alot. Maybe half a dozen times a week. It works fine. But I've been thinking about replacing it for awhile. Its really just an internet portal, place to store and manage photos, occassionally watch a movie, that sort of thing. I spend most of my time on my android phone.
But when I saw rednex post above about the renewed dell he bought. And the specs. Which coming from someone that hasn't built a PC in several years. I was impressed with what you could get for $400. I thought why not look? And I found the one below for $340.
The reviews are 64% 5 star. Out of 1000 reviews. Not that I trust Amazon reviews. But the reviews tend to be units that are great out of the box. And ones that immediately needed to be returned. So it sounds like their automated renew process isnt that great. But I dont expect much for $340. And don't mind swapping out the first one if it comes to me bad.
The only things I would like to connect to it are my old dx(?) sound card and logitech speakers. And a small external drive i have. I'm fine with windows 10 pro. Running windows 10 now. I have a good gaming keyboard and mouse. But I dont game. If i ever did or wanted to edit some video I would probably add a cheap video card. I'm using a 32" tv as a monitor. Which will be my next upgrade. I used to run three monitors off of this. Which reminds me - I wonder if I could salvage my old video card and put it into this?
Anything better I should be looking at?
(Renewed) Dell Optiplex 9020 Mini Tower Desktop PC, Intel Core i7-4770-3.4 GHz, 32GB Ram, 1TB (1000GB) SSD Drive, WiFi, DVD-RW, Windows 10 Pro https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082QMTGW8/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_E6T8XZK6WMMQB3F97KTR
You shouldn't need the soundcard, just the speakers. That MB has pretty good sound built-in. Ditto for graphics. I'm not saying they're bleeding edge, more like blunt trauma edge, but good enough for what you want.
When it comes to Internet portals though you might want to consider a Chromebook. My wife replaced her Dell laptop with one and has been thrilled with it. Her computer needs are similar to your's and the Chromebook meets them with plenty to spare.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YKBYP62/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Quote from: NT2C on April 14, 2022, 02:04:44 PM
You shouldn't need the soundcard, just the speakers. That MB has pretty good sound built-in. Ditto for graphics. I'm not saying they're bleeding edge, more like blunt trauma edge, but good enough for what you want.
When it comes to Internet portals though you might want to consider a Chromebook. My wife replaced her Dell laptop with one and has been thrilled with it. Her computer needs are similar to your's and the Chromebook meets them with plenty to spare.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YKBYP62/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YKBYP62/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1)
The only reason i wanted to use the older sound card is it has outs for all 7(?) Speakers. I think the integrated one on this computer only has two. But i could be mistaken. And yes, I'm sure the integrated graphics are fine. Even when i rarely edit video its some small family thing using the microsft editor.
I have highly considered a chromebook. But i do have a tablet. So it sort of meets those needs
Really the only reason I orefer the desktop in is I use it in my office. Which gives me an excuse to get away some. Lol. And I can tyoe alot faster on a fullsize keyboard. But honestly in the last dew years I've soed up my texting skills pretty fast. So i can write at a pretty acceptable level.
Thanks for the advice. I had olanned to build another PC. But at these prices that seem ridiculous for what i need
.
I just rebuilt mine back to at least cutting edge and it only ran about $2k, and that's with reusing a lot of stuff, like the case and PSU.
Quote from: NT2C on April 14, 2022, 07:38:59 PM
I just rebuilt mine back to at least cutting edge and it only ran about $2k, and that's with reusing a lot of stuff, like the case and PSU.
Mine was not cutting edge even when i built it. I used to build a new every few years. Using last years "best homebuilt pc under $500" parts list. I used https://pcpartpicker.com/ (https://pcpartpicker.com/) for the list. And then built my system out on there. Upgrading where i could afford to.
But if your not gaming or editing video it seems like the industry has built past pcs necessary speed and abilities. I don't recall being able to buy a pc anywhere near these specs without spending a couple grand. I mean if your just going online, watching movies, video messaging with family and listening to music. The normal stuff. Not that gaming isnt normal. Lol
I used to game alot on pc. I remember the first call of dutys on pc. While i was recently cleaning my garage i came upon the cd with call of duty on it. And an old ps3. I also found a few games i played with my son. When he was young. It brought back somany memories. We used to play this racing game called Jax iirc. Wr loved that game. Funny how it used to be an old baseball mitt. But now its an old game disc. :)
Our Xerox laser printer has been showing signs of needing some repairs in the near future, which may just mean replacing it. To take some of the load off it I decided to buy a dedicated shipping label printer, a well-regarded thermal model. We do a lot of shipping here and I felt this would put less wear on the laser printer and actually speed up the process.
The day after I ordered it I was making room for it in my office and suddenly remembered all my network ports on the router and the 8 port switch were in use already. Without hesitation, I hopped on Amazon and purchased a 16 port gigabit-speed unmanaged switch. It wasn't until I actually unpacked the printer and went to hook it up that I realized it was a USB printer... oopsie. Well, I now have 8 open ports on the 16 port switch, and a spare 8 port.
(And then I remembered that a friend in IT had gifted me a 24 port rackmount switch that was sitting behind my office door, under my battery chargers. Double oopsie.)
(https://ufozs.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FWjBoPEe.jpg&hash=9598cb659ca3cae290415adf405a4432410243ad) (https://imgur.com/WjBoPEe)
I really need to clean up that rat's nest, but I'm lazy.
(https://ufozs.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fw9w6iw4.jpg&hash=12e285e99ddda5764754600f53315f55475ae584) (https://imgur.com/w9w6iw4)
(It's attached with industrial Velcro)
Screenshot 2022-07-21 163933.jpg
Yay me... :headbang:
I have Win11 on my work laptop and I'm not particularly a fan, just because of a variety of minor annoyances that I have with it. About 98% of it is just like Win10. It's that 2% that gets me: auto-combining taskbar buttons with no way to change the setting; no option for large taskbar icons for active programs; shrinking down the right-click context menus which forces me to expand the list every time for the things that I actually need; not being able to drag a file onto one of the taskbar icons and have Windows switch to that program - this is mainly when I need to email files in Outlook; and I know there are others that aren't coming to mind right now.
The forced auto-combining of icons in the taskbar (and the lack of making the icons larger/wider for active programs) is an ongoing annoyance for me, as I frequently have multiple versions of the same program open and this forces me to hover, then pick the one I want out of the pop-up list, rather than just clicking on the damn icon (I know it's the 3rd of seven that I need, just let me click on it!!).
A few of those issues have workarounds which I could implement on my personal computer, but can't on my work computer. The auto-combining taskbar icons one is supposed to be "fixed" by MS at some point, as they got a lot of complaints when that functionality was taken away. For now, I'm steering clear, despite both my personal desktop and laptop being eligible.
Two of my 5 laptops have Win 11 (a newer HP Pavillion and an ancient Toughbook) while the rest have other somethings (pretty sure one is still Vista, one might be Win 10, and one an old distro of Linux). I've been liking it well enough on the laptops to go ahead and get my PC updated.
Note to self: Next time, disable your damn AV before trying to upgrade Windows unless you don't mind the upgrade failing after three fucking hours.
Quote from: EBuff75 on July 21, 2022, 04:34:08 PM[...] not being able to drag a file onto one of the taskbar icons and have Windows switch to that program - this is mainly when I need to email files in Outlook; and I know there are others that aren't coming to mind right now.
[..]
Great, I do that all day long at work when I have to take and attachment from one open email and drag it to another email of the 10-15 I already have open. It's difficult enough to find the right one in the icons that pop up. And impossible if I have to many open and it turns into a list. :headbang:
Question for the Elder Geeks,
@NT2C in particular:
Do any of you still use IRC for anything?
Maybe it's just me missing the glory days of the internet (pre walled garden) and my growing disdain for Discord...
Quote from: mzmc on September 29, 2022, 09:05:46 AMQuestion for the Elder Geeks, @NT2C in particular:
Do any of you still use IRC for anything?
Maybe it's just me missing the glory days of the internet (pre walled garden) and my growing disdain for Discord...
If I could still remember my password I could have sold my 5-digit member number for big bucks years ago.
That does, strictly speaking, not answer the question. :greenguy:
Ok y'all smarter then me I need direction on buying the miss a new to her desk top computer ( refurbished is fine ).
So we paly games Valheim, 7 Days to Die, WoW with no problems. However 2 new games for us , her computer crash's on launch , games are Small World and Grounded. I need something low cost-ish but useable. I don't know computer stuff , so any recommendation's on a new to her computer would be appreciated.
Her current computer specs are:
Processor 3.4 GHz core_i7
RAM 32 GB
Hard Drive 1 TB SSD
Graphics Coprocessor Intel HD Graphics 4600
Chipset Brand Intel
Card Description Integrated
Wireless Type 802.11g
Number of USB 2.0 Ports 4
Number of USB 3.0 Ports 6
Ground system requirements below:
Minimum system requirements:
CPU:
Intel Core i3-3225
RAM:
4 GB RAM
GPU:
Nvidia GTX 650 Ti
OS:
Windows 7 (SP1) 64bit
STO:
8 GB available space
Small Land Requirements
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7 SP1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90GHz or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or equivalent
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: Connecting to Epic EOS is required for online multiplayer
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700 CPU @ 3.00GHz or equivalent
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or equivalent
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: 1080p 60 fps on Ultra settings
There are some good deals to be had on systems based on AMD's Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors. But clearly the lack of a discreet graphics card is the biggest roadblock to playing modern games on your wife's current system.
What's your price range?
Quote from: majorhavoc on November 17, 2023, 01:02:50 PMThere are some good deals to be had on systems based on AMD's Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors. But clearly the lack of a discreet graphics card is the biggest roadblock to playing modern games on your wife's current system.
What's your price range?
Meh $500.00 USD is about the top which is low for a gaming computer I know. We don't need top of the line ,her current computer was like less $200 on amazon refurbished Dell OptiPlex 9020 and has worked for most things.
Quote from: Rednex on November 17, 2023, 02:31:21 PMQuote from: majorhavoc on November 17, 2023, 01:02:50 PMThere are some good deals to be had on systems based on AMD's Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors. But clearly the lack of a discreet graphics card is the biggest roadblock to playing modern games on your wife's current system.
What's your price range?
Meh $500.00 USD is about the top which is low for a gaming computer I know. We don't need top of the line ,her current computer was like less $200 on amazon refurbished Dell OptiPlex 9020 and has worked for most things.
The problem with refurbs in that price range is that they tend to come with integrated graphics or really outdated discrete GPUs. My info might be out of date, but my understanding has been that AMD Ryzen systems have better integrated graphics than systems built around an Intel CPU. But you'd have to do some research to see where the various integrated GPUs currently found in sub $500 systems stack up against an RTX 650 Ti, the minimum your wife needs to play Grounded. But the RTX 650 Ti is a really old card, so for all I know more modern integrated graphics might blow it away.
The CPU on your wife's OptiPlex seems more than up to the task. Have you investigated installing a discrete graphics card? You'll need an open PCI-e slot, an adequate power supply (probably 550 watts and up), and room in the case to accommodate it.
FYI:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PcBuildHelp/comments/11tcqf4/what_gpu_should_i_add_to_this_dell_optiplex_9020/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/PcBuildHelp/comments/11tcqf4/what_gpu_should_i_add_to_this_dell_optiplex_9020/)
If you were more computer savvy I'd be happy to send you some stuff to help you build a decent system. I like my computer to be cutting edge so I end up with stacks of parts that are still pretty good which would work for your purposes. Cases, cards, power supplies, you name it, I have piles of it. I just replaced my Special Edition Sapphire RTX 580 card which, while not quite up to the minimum listed, would still run the game fairly well, albeit at lower resolution. (Might surprise us though, given it's an 8GB card that consistently beat out "better" cards in the ratings.)
Thanks majorhavoc i did try to upgrade it with another DDR3 8GB Single 1600MHz but it already had one in it and no open slots.
I will look through the link more closely and see if i can find the parts they list.
Thanks for the offer NT I forgot to mention it's also the small form factor case so tiny at 18 x 14 x 6 inches.
I'm checking out what GPU is equal to or better then the GTX 1650 on this site.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-AMD-RX-5500-XT/4039vs4060
Quote from: Rednex on November 18, 2023, 08:30:59 AMThanks for the offer NT I forgot to mention it's also the small form factor case so tiny at 18 x 14 x 6 inches.
I'm checking out what GPU is equal to or better then the GTX 1650 on this site.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-AMD-RX-5500-XT/4039vs4060
Just for shits & giggles, I ran my desktop machine through it:
UserBenchmarks: Game 198%, Desk 102%, Work 228% (https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/65700337)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/AMD-Ryzen-9-5900X/Rating/4087) -
102.4%GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070 (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Nvidia-RTX-4070/Rating/4148) -
197.5%SSD: WDC WD20EZBX-00AYRA0 2TB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1506725/WDC-WD20EZBX-00AYRA0) -
39.2%SSD: WD Black NVMe PCIe M.2 256GB (2017) (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/237667/WDC-WDS256G1X0C-00ENX0) -
138.8%SSD: WD Blue 500GB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/192687/WDC-WDS500G1B0A-00H9H0) -
93.6%SSD: TOSHIBA-TR200 240GB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/377893/TOSHIBA-TR200) -
78.1%HDD: WD Black 1TB (2013) (https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/WD-Black-1TB-2013/Rating/1822) -
63.7%HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB (https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/324/SAMSUNG-HD204UI) -
63.9%RAM: Team Group Inc TEAMGROUP-UD4-3600 2x31.5GB (https://ram.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1558985/Team-Group-Inc-TEAMGROUP-UD4-3600-2x315GB) -
118.5%MBD: Asus ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO (https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Asus-ROG-CROSSHAIR-VIII-DARK-HERO/210158)
It surprised me on how well it did because that CPU is several years old. Not sure what's up with that one SSD but I'll be looking at it later today.
Quote from: NT2C on November 18, 2023, 11:11:43 AMQuote from: Rednex on November 18, 2023, 08:30:59 AMThanks for the offer NT I forgot to mention it's also the small form factor case so tiny at 18 x 14 x 6 inches.
I'm checking out what GPU is equal to or better then the GTX 1650 on this site.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-AMD-RX-5500-XT/4039vs4060
Just for shits & giggles, I ran my desktop machine through it:
UserBenchmarks: Game 198%, Desk 102%, Work 228% (https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/65700337)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/AMD-Ryzen-9-5900X/Rating/4087) - 102.4%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070 (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Nvidia-RTX-4070/Rating/4148) - 197.5%
SSD: WDC WD20EZBX-00AYRA0 2TB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1506725/WDC-WD20EZBX-00AYRA0) - 39.2%
SSD: WD Black NVMe PCIe M.2 256GB (2017) (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/237667/WDC-WDS256G1X0C-00ENX0) - 138.8%
SSD: WD Blue 500GB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/192687/WDC-WDS500G1B0A-00H9H0) - 93.6%
SSD: TOSHIBA-TR200 240GB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/377893/TOSHIBA-TR200) - 78.1%
HDD: WD Black 1TB (2013) (https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/WD-Black-1TB-2013/Rating/1822) - 63.7%
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB (https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/324/SAMSUNG-HD204UI) - 63.9%
RAM: Team Group Inc TEAMGROUP-UD4-3600 2x31.5GB (https://ram.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1558985/Team-Group-Inc-TEAMGROUP-UD4-3600-2x315GB) - 118.5%
MBD: Asus ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO (https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Asus-ROG-CROSSHAIR-VIII-DARK-HERO/210158)
It surprised me on how well it did because that CPU is several years old. Not sure what's up with that one SSD but I'll be looking at it later today.
In an effort to speed up this old machine, I just pulled the trigger on a new SSD to replace that 6-year-old (and tiny) WD Black NVMe PCIe M.2 256GB drive. I stayed with WD Black, but bumped the capacity up a notch or three with this WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X NVMe Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280 (https://a.co/d/gmhrqvS) drive.
I plan to use it to replace my C: drive and my M: drive (M: is my music drive and it was almost full anyway) and speed up my Windows load times a little.
Quote from: Rednex on November 17, 2023, 11:20:40 AMOk y'all smarter then me I need direction on buying the miss a new to her desk top computer ( refurbished is fine ).
So we paly games Valheim, 7 Days to Die, WoW with no problems. However 2 new games for us , her computer crash's on launch , games are Small World and Grounded. I need something low cost-ish but useable. I don't know computer stuff , so any recommendation's on a new to her computer would be appreciated.
Her current computer specs are:
Processor 3.4 GHz core_i7
RAM 32 GB
Hard Drive 1 TB SSD
Graphics Coprocessor Intel HD Graphics 4600
Chipset Brand Intel
Card Description Integrated
Wireless Type 802.11g
Number of USB 2.0 Ports 4
Number of USB 3.0 Ports 6
Ground system requirements below:
Minimum system requirements:
CPU:
Intel Core i3-3225
RAM:
4 GB RAM
GPU:
Nvidia GTX 650 Ti
OS:
Windows 7 (SP1) 64bit
STO:
8 GB available space
Small Land Requirements
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7 SP1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90GHz or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or equivalent
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: Connecting to Epic EOS is required for online multiplayer
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit versions)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700 CPU @ 3.00GHz or equivalent
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or equivalent
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 20 GB available space
Additional Notes: 1080p 60 fps on Ultra settings
Don't know if you've solved your wife's computer dilemma yet, but came across this (https://slickdeals.net/f/17158936-hp-victus-15l-gaming-desktop-tg02-0325m-ryzen-5-5600g-6-core-12-threads-3-9ghz-up-to-4-4ghz-8gb-ddr4-radeon-rx-6400-4gb-gddr6-256gb-nvme-wifi-windows-11-home-429-99?src=SiteSearchV2Algo1) and thought of you.
You'd have to do a bit of research to verify if it meets your needs, but you said you're on a limited budget. To my untrained eye, it looks like a good deal for what you're getting.
The discussion about it at Slickdeals.net looks like it's pretty informative, too. HTH.
Well since her case is to small to shoehorn much in there, i got her this. It meets specs when i googled them and she is playing the games she wanted to play and is happy with it. In a little bit ima get a 2 or 3 TB SSD memory thingy and stuff in there for her.
(https://i.imgur.com/QBOMfdZ.png)
Quote from: Rednex on December 14, 2023, 06:25:01 PMshe is playing the games she wanted to play and is happy with it.
And that's really the only important part. :awesome:
Quote from: NT2C on November 18, 2023, 11:11:43 AMQuote from: Rednex on November 18, 2023, 08:30:59 AMThanks for the offer NT I forgot to mention it's also the small form factor case so tiny at 18 x 14 x 6 inches.
I'm checking out what GPU is equal to or better then the GTX 1650 on this site.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-AMD-RX-5500-XT/4039vs4060
Just for shits & giggles, I ran my desktop machine through it:
UserBenchmarks: Game 198%, Desk 102%, Work 228% (https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/65700337)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/AMD-Ryzen-9-5900X/Rating/4087) - 102.4%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070 (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Nvidia-RTX-4070/Rating/4148) - 197.5%
SSD: WDC WD20EZBX-00AYRA0 2TB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1506725/WDC-WD20EZBX-00AYRA0) - 39.2%
SSD: WD Black NVMe PCIe M.2 256GB (2017) (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/237667/WDC-WDS256G1X0C-00ENX0) - 138.8%
SSD: WD Blue 500GB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/192687/WDC-WDS500G1B0A-00H9H0) - 93.6%
SSD: TOSHIBA-TR200 240GB (https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/377893/TOSHIBA-TR200) - 78.1%
HDD: WD Black 1TB (2013) (https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/WD-Black-1TB-2013/Rating/1822) - 63.7%
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB (https://hdd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/324/SAMSUNG-HD204UI) - 63.9%
RAM: Team Group Inc TEAMGROUP-UD4-3600 2x31.5GB (https://ram.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/1558985/Team-Group-Inc-TEAMGROUP-UD4-3600-2x315GB) - 118.5%
MBD: Asus ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO (https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Asus-ROG-CROSSHAIR-VIII-DARK-HERO/210158)
It surprised me on how well it did because that CPU is several years old. Not sure what's up with that one SSD but I'll be looking at it later today.
Why so many drives installed? Running servers?
As for those parts you mentioned previously, are you keeping them in case you need them for something or because you don't want to see them trashed? My kids are always looking for spare parts to upgrade their machines and everything here is pretty Frankenstein's monster. Essentially, any time their dad bought or built himself a new computer, the kids got his old one as a hand-me-down until everybody had a computer and then they've just been upgrading bits and pieces here and there, but some of those parts are pretty old now. IF you're looking to unload some parts where you know they'll probably get some use, feel free to send some this way and I'll let my little vultures at them.
Different drives for different purposes. One just for music, one for email, five for porn, one for documents, etc
Quote from: NT2C on December 14, 2023, 10:23:40 PMDifferent drives for different purposes. One just for music, one for email, five for porn, one for documents, etc
Any one of those would be a lot of space for documents alone, but you do you.
Quote from: Anianna on December 14, 2023, 11:10:19 PMQuote from: NT2C on December 14, 2023, 10:23:40 PMDifferent drives for different purposes. One just for music, one for email, five for porn, one for documents, etc
Any one of those would be a lot of space for documents alone, but you do you.
Several are split into multiple logical drives.
Wish I had the extra dough. This is almost 30% off today. $287 normally $399. My last pc purchase was a small Dell workstation. And I really like the small form factor. I've built several pcs. And am kind of over it. I don't edit video or game. And I'm honestly over the towers. And rarely upgrade them. So a small, quiet pc that I can just sit on my desk has been very nice. I mainly just listen to music with headphones and sometimes speakers, use the internet and basic software.
I've been eyeing this brand for some time. Any drawbacks I am not thinking if - besides the relative lack of being able to upgrade?
Limited-time deal: Beelink Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 5 5560U(7nm, 6C/12T) up to 4.0GHz, Mini Computer 16GB DDR4 RAM 1TB NVME SSD, Micro PC 4K@60Hz Triple Display, Mini Gaming Computer WiFi6 BT5.2 HTPC https://a.co/d/0TckTuU
(The stats on this pic are not correct for the model I would buy.)
Screenshot_20231215_154325_Amazon Shopping.jpg
Well, it's a nice CPU (ignore that 4.0GHz unless you run it in turbo all the time), slow but adequate memory, smaller SSD than I'd want but probably sufficient for your needs, okay graphics, and okay connectivity. Personally, I'd want more USB ports but 5 is adequate, storage that is expandable beyond just 2TB, and Win 11 home (if not Pro) instead of Win 10, but I'm not you and what suits me may not fit your needs.
Quote from: Moab on December 15, 2023, 05:55:03 PMWish I had the extra dough. This is almost 30% off today. $287 normally $399. My last pc purchase was a small Dell workstation. And I really like the small form factor. I've built several pcs. And am kind of over it. I don't edit video or game. And I'm honestly over the towers. And rarely upgrade them. So a small, quiet pc that I can just sit on my desk has been very nice. I mainly just listen to music with headphones and sometimes speakers, use the internet and basic software.
I've been eyeing this brand for some time. Any drawbacks I am not thinking if - besides the relative lack of being able to upgrade?
Limited-time deal: Beelink Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 5 5560U(7nm, 6C/12T) up to 4.0GHz, Mini Computer 16GB DDR4 RAM 1TB NVME SSD, Micro PC 4K@60Hz Triple Display, Mini Gaming Computer WiFi6 BT5.2 HTPC https://a.co/d/0TckTuU
(The stats on this pic are not correct for the model I would buy.)
Screenshot_20231215_154325_Amazon Shopping.jpg
Keepa says it has bopped down to $295.20 at the end of September and the end of October. If you use something like Keepa or CamelCamelCamel to track the price, you may find that it drops down when you have the money.
I don't see any reason to believe it wouldn't meet your needs. It may even be a little overkill for what you do, but better too much than too little.
Quote from: NT2C on December 16, 2023, 11:35:31 AMWell, it's a nice CPU (ignore that 4.0GHz unless you run it in turbo all the time), slow but adequate memory, smaller SSD than I'd want but probably sufficient for your needs, okay graphics, and okay connectivity. Personally, I'd want more USB ports but 5 is adequate, storage that is expandable beyond just 2TB, and Win 11 home (if not Pro) instead of Win 10, but I'm not you and what suits me may not fit your needs.
Thank you both for reaponding.
I don't see anything in the listing about which version of windows it comes with. But I agree I want win11 not win10. But in the questions section mutliple answers say win11. But I'll msg the seller for sure. My current used dell has only win10 and can not be upgraded. Its turned into pretty much a pos. I should have bought one of these. Its the same price.
As for the 500gb drive I use external drives anyway. I was looking at the 1tb units. But really 500gb is fine.
I hear you about usb ports. But I don't run that many peripherals. And if I needed more I have a few multi usb hubs. Just for charging stuff.
The pic says 4.0 ghz. But the listing said 4.4 ghz. But now that particular unit is not listed on that page. Must have sold out. I have several different models set up in camelcamelcamel. I at least wanted 4.4 ghz and 16gb ram. 500gb drive or 1tb would be fine.
I'll look for one with faster ram. What would he a good "enough" speed?
Interestingly enough it came up in this link. And the questions section says win11 pro. The specs listed at bottom says only 3 usb ports.
2*USB 3.2 Gen2, 1*USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0+DP 1.4, 1*Type-C (video&data), 1*RJ45 1000M, 1*3.5mm Audio Jack(HP&MIC), 1*DC Jack, 1*CLR CMOS Reset
But iirc the pic showed 4. But nt2c you said 5. Was that including the usb c? Or using an adaoter for hdmi to usb etc?
Either way I would confirm specs before buying.
Camelcamelcamel shows an even lower price via 3rd party. But I can not find any other sellers. This has happened a couple times to me recently. Anyone know whats up with that?
Quote from: Moab on December 16, 2023, 04:09:15 PMQuote from: NT2C on December 16, 2023, 11:35:31 AMWell, it's a nice CPU (ignore that 4.0GHz unless you run it in turbo all the time), slow but adequate memory, smaller SSD than I'd want but probably sufficient for your needs, okay graphics, and okay connectivity. Personally, I'd want more USB ports but 5 is adequate, storage that is expandable beyond just 2TB, and Win 11 home (if not Pro) instead of Win 10, but I'm not you and what suits me may not fit your needs.
Thank you both for reaponding.
I don't see anything in the listing about which version of windows it comes with. But I agree I want win11 not win10. But in the questions section mutliple answers say win11. But I'll msg the seller for sure. My current used dell has only win10 and can not be upgraded. Its turned into pretty much a pos. I should have bought one of these. Its the same price.
As for the 500gb drive I use external drives anyway. I was looking at the 1tb units. But really 500gb is fine.
I hear you about usb ports. But I don't run that many peripherals. And if I needed more I have a few multi usb hubs. Just for charging stuff.
The pic says 4.0 ghz. But the listing said 4.4 ghz. But now that particular unit is not listed on that page. Must have sold out. I have several different models set up in camelcamelcamel. I at least wanted 4.4 ghz and 16gb ram. 500gb drive or 1tb would be fine.
I'll look for one with faster ram. What would he a good "enough" speed?
The video with the image section shows Win 10
Quote from: Moab on December 16, 2023, 04:24:42 PMInterestingly enough it came up in this link. And the questions section says win11 pro. The specs listed at bottom says only 3 usb ports.
2*USB 3.2 Gen2, 1*USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0+DP 1.4, 1*Type-C (video&data), 1*RJ45 1000M, 1*3.5mm Audio Jack(HP&MIC), 1*DC Jack, 1*CLR CMOS Reset
But iirc the pic showed 4. But nt2c you said 5. Was that including the usb c? Or using an adaoter for hdmi to usb etc?
Either way I would confirm specs before buying.
Camelcamelcamel shows an even lower price via 3rd party. But I can not find any other sellers. This has happened a couple times to me recently. Anyone know whats up with that?
There's a pair of USB 3.2 ports and I thought it said a pair of 2.0 ports, plus the USB C.
The 4.0 or 4.4GHz speed is in turbo mode, which would typically only kick in for gaming, otherwise it's a 2.3GHz processor. For what you're using it for you'd likely never see a difference. The memory is older DDR4 memory. That'll slow it down some but again, with what you do you'd likely never notice.
Quote from: NT2C on December 16, 2023, 05:29:49 PMQuote from: Moab on December 16, 2023, 04:24:42 PMInterestingly enough it came up in this link. And the questions section says win11 pro. The specs listed at bottom says only 3 usb ports.
2*USB 3.2 Gen2, 1*USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0+DP 1.4, 1*Type-C (video&data), 1*RJ45 1000M, 1*3.5mm Audio Jack(HP&MIC), 1*DC Jack, 1*CLR CMOS Reset
But iirc the pic showed 4. But nt2c you said 5. Was that including the usb c? Or using an adaoter for hdmi to usb etc?
Either way I would confirm specs before buying.
Camelcamelcamel shows an even lower price via 3rd party. But I can not find any other sellers. This has happened a couple times to me recently. Anyone know whats up with that?
There's a pair of USB 3.2 ports and I thought it said a pair of 2.0 ports, plus the USB C.
The 4.0 or 4.4GHz speed is in turbo mode, which would typically only kick in for gaming, otherwise it's a 2.3GHz processor. For what you're using it for you'd likely never see a difference. The memory is older DDR4 memory. That'll slow it down some but again, with what you do you'd likely never notice.
I think the most strenuous thing I use my pc for is media apps -playing videos on like youtube or netflex etc.
I chose the larger 4.4ghz for that very reason. I figured whatever they were advertising it woukd be actually slower.
I think its two 3.o usb ports and one 2.0. Plus the usb c. But either way. I think the only other thing I use is my external drive and a cheap sound card thing. But the sound on this is probably good enough.
There's a Pornhub joke in here somewhere. Lol! But I can't find it. ;) Maybe; Does Pornhub have a recommended pc stats page? Lol.
Quote from: Moab on December 16, 2023, 06:12:17 PMQuote from: NT2C on December 16, 2023, 05:29:49 PMQuote from: Moab on December 16, 2023, 04:24:42 PMInterestingly enough it came up in this link. And the questions section says win11 pro. The specs listed at bottom says only 3 usb ports.
2*USB 3.2 Gen2, 1*USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0+DP 1.4, 1*Type-C (video&data), 1*RJ45 1000M, 1*3.5mm Audio Jack(HP&MIC), 1*DC Jack, 1*CLR CMOS Reset
But iirc the pic showed 4. But nt2c you said 5. Was that including the usb c? Or using an adaoter for hdmi to usb etc?
Either way I would confirm specs before buying.
Camelcamelcamel shows an even lower price via 3rd party. But I can not find any other sellers. This has happened a couple times to me recently. Anyone know whats up with that?
There's a pair of USB 3.2 ports and I thought it said a pair of 2.0 ports, plus the USB C.
The 4.0 or 4.4GHz speed is in turbo mode, which would typically only kick in for gaming, otherwise it's a 2.3GHz processor. For what you're using it for you'd likely never see a difference. The memory is older DDR4 memory. That'll slow it down some but again, with what you do you'd likely never notice.
I think the most strenuous thing I use my pc for is media apps -playing videos on like youtube or netflex etc.
I chose the larger 4.4ghz for that very reason. I figured whatever they were advertising it woukd be actually slower.
I think its two 3.o usb ports and one 2.0. Plus the usb c. But either way. I think the only other thing I use is my external drive and a cheap sound card thing. But the sound on this is probably good enough.
There's a Pornhub joke in here somewhere. Lol! But I can't find it. ;) Maybe; Does Pornhub have a recommended pc stats page? Lol.
Not sure if they have that, but I do know Forgotten Weapons from YouTube was posting their gun videos there for a bit when YouTube was going through their "Gun channels bad" phase a couple years ago.
You know you've been a geek a long, long time when you hit one button to close apps and your phone reports that it just freed up more memory than your first nine computers had combined, and that was just about 1% of the total in the phone.
Would appreciate your opinions?
https://ufozs.com/smf/index.php?topic=2063.0
Quote from: NT2C on March 06, 2024, 06:54:09 PM
:smiley_beard:
Interesting on several levels: subject, presenter, the advertised course.
Quote from: Ever (Zombiepreparation) on March 07, 2024, 06:32:07 PMQuote from: NT2C on March 06, 2024, 06:54:09 PM
:smiley_beard:
Interesting on several levels: subject, presenter, the advertised course.
Sabine is a great presenter and a respected scientist in her own right. I follow her channel and enjoy what she discusses.
Right! So I've now bookmarked her channel! (ON MY NEW COMPUTER! Thank you again for MY NEW COMPUTER!)
btw- as you can see I'm trying to use up UFoZS's allotment of exclamations marks! LOL
Now this is off topic but I'd like to collect more things like this that would be enjoyable. Do we have a dedicated thread where we post things like favorite YouTube channels?
Quote from: Ever (Zombiepreparation) on March 08, 2024, 08:48:57 PMRight! So I've now bookmarked her channel! (ON MY NEW COMPUTER! Thank you again for MY NEW COMPUTER!)
btw- as you can see I'm trying to use up UFoZS's allotment of exclamations marks! LOL
Now this is off topic but I'd like to collect more things like this that would be enjoyable. Do we have a dedicated thread where we post things like favorite YouTube channels?
https://ufozs.com/smf/index.php?board=108.0
Quote from: NT2C on March 08, 2024, 08:54:03 PMQuote from: Ever (Zombiepreparation) on March 08, 2024, 08:48:57 PMRight! So I've now bookmarked her channel! (ON MY NEW COMPUTER! Thank you again for MY NEW COMPUTER!)
btw- as you can see I'm trying to use up UFoZS's allotment of exclamations marks! LOL
Now this is off topic but I'd like to collect more things like this that would be enjoyable. Do we have a dedicated thread where we post things like favorite YouTube channels?
https://ufozs.com/smf/index.php?board=108.0
Thanks! Going there now
The skatez (feet) on the bottom of my main mouse (Logitech MX Master 3) were getting to the point the mouse was having trouble gliding even on the hard surface mouse pads that I prefer (VicTsing 3D plastic or 3M Precise (https://a.co/d/etMo5IA)) so I bought replacements (2 sets) from Hotline Games and I just installed them.
I'm having trouble convincing the mouse it's not an air hockey puck. :panic:
I'd been getting issues with one of my oldest SSD having trouble booting and developing errors in Windows. I took it off the boot cycle since it was just a backup of music and games that were already on other drives and my NAS. Went to see its capacity today and found it's almost completely dead, just gives its brand and type. It's a Toshiba 240GB that I tossed in when I purchased some other stuff a decade ago. I think I paid $150ish for it.
Just replaced it with a 2TB Silicon Power for $84.
So, we now have this Velop WiFi 7 mesh system with 3 nodes in the house. Parent node in my office on one end of the house, and child nodes in the living room area and another in the pantry close to the door into the garage. I had hoped this would make it easier to connect with the cameras on that end but, because it's an insulated firewall and fire door it's hard to get a signal through it, even with the node that close. It's literally about 15" from one camera that gets barely 2 bars if I leave the house door ajar. The firewall blocks that much signal.
Then I saw a Velop WiFi 6 two node system for sale, refurbished, $24.99 and I grabbed it, even though I was unsure it would connect with mine. It's still in transit but I found the exact same model on Amazon (for $100) and was able to confirm that it will mesh perfectly with my existing system. Even better, I can stick one of those nodes in the garage and connect it to the parent node via ethernet cable and it will have an excellent signal on that end of the house. WIN! :awesome:
Got the new internet installed week and a half ago in the new house. Its the mesh with 2 nodes. Router/modem is in office, 1st node is next to router,2nd node is in living roo( center of first floor. Got the garage camera picking it up, and the doorbell camera. So far so good had 2 times now I got up at like 7 am and internet was out , first time I unplugged router and it came on second d time nothing. We had ice/ snow during both issues.
I remember my grandparents and parents talking about the marvels invented in their lifetimes. My maternal grandfather spoke of crossing the Atlantic on a steamship and how while there were still some sailing ships they all gradually got replaced by coal-powered steamers, and later oil-fired and then nuclear. My father spoke of the early biplanes when he was a boy, transitioning to jets like the Concorde that flew faster than sound.
Myself, I've seen the quest to explore space go from Sputnik to SpaceX, but what amazes me most is computer storage.
I started with computers when 200k tapes were new and replacing punch cards. I just bought a micro SD card that's 2TB. It's the size of my fingernail and weighs almost nothing. 2 trillion bytes of information vs 200,000 on a cassette tape. That is mind-blowing. And it's not even the highest capacity, just the highest that my new phone can take.
I put an 8TB M2 drive into a laptop the other day (installed for a friend). 8TB in a package slightly bigger than half a saltine cracker.
My first HDD was a 10MB Wang. It weighed around 40 lbs. and was the size of a medium hiking pack. Cost new about $3,200 (1980s) but I got it free when a sysadmin friend gave me one that was being replaced at his work. One of my early jobs was working selling business computer supplies, mostly 8" floppies and greenbar fanfold paper. You young pups will see such wonders of your own long after I'm gone. Don't let Skynet fuck it up.
Well i remember senior year in high school, my first time using a computer. It had a green and black screen, used the smaller hard disk. We played Oregon Trail, and typed our senior projects. About the same time at home we had the first gen Nintendo to play on. I didn't get " modern" technology into my life as young as as some my age.
Now I use a cell phone that has more power and storage , and can do more than both of them. They said they were fads back then and look at where we are now. Everything needs a computer you fridge get an app to use it, your bank get an app, deer hunting get an app to check your deer in, our lives now need technology, with our it we wouldn't all be here at UFoZS.
Commadore VIC-20 here with 3k of RAM and a tape drive...
A Radio Shack TRS-80 with 1 8.5 inch floppy drive as storage and I belive 32k of memory was my first work computer. I used Visicalc and prepared consolidated FS on it.
It saved me literally hours of time.
We then networked through a Xenix server to a whopping 20 mb hard drive...I thought we would never fill it up since our data library was about 100 8.5 inch floppy drives up to that point in time.
8" was what David used in Wargames. Standard desktop was 5.25"?
(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpc-museum.com%2F046-imsai8080%2Fwargames-01.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=af6cdd7b7e87848a1fec9e249821f87f00cc37b989ce66520034150556236636&ipo=images)
Didn't they offer single and double sided for additional capacity? And production disks [video games/programs] were copy protected by laser drilling a hole in them at a specific spot on the physical disk IIRC.
"FLOPPY DISKS ARE KINDA EXPENSIVE" >> www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQQv9yva924&t=128s
(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fids.si.edu%2Fids%2FdeliveryService%3Fid%3DNMAH-JN2014-3401&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=89098806fccbf350137d4d0f55dacd2dd600d37c3757583f697cd0ec88541143&ipo=images)
I used to keep and 8" floppy disk around for when someone asked me to give them a document or report.
Started on a commodore 64, then an HP48sx (try programming assembly in nybbles), then Amiga then on to the dos/win until after trying XP and it was a steaming pile after windows 2000 I moved over to linux and never went back.
Quote from: MacWa77ace on February 25, 2025, 03:06:37 PMDidn't they offer single and double sided for additional capacity? And production disks [video games/programs] were copy protected by laser drilling a hole in them at a specific spot on the physical disk IIRC.
Yes, sort of. I dug out some old floppy discs in my basement to show you (yes, I've got about 40 years worth of computer software and 30+ years of hardware stashed down there).
In this picture, you can see that on the upper right side of the blank Verbatim floppy disc that there's a notch. That notch tells the drive that the disc can be written to. However, on the MS DOS disc on the left, there is no notch, which makes it a read-only disc. If you saved something to a floppy disc and wanted to make sure that it didn't get erased, most package of discs came with a sheet of foil stickers that could be wrapped around the side of the disc to cover the notch up. Alternatively, anything that would physically cover that notch worked, like Scotch tape or even a scratch 'n' sniff sticker!
Also, if you didn't care about the contents of a disc like the MS DOS disc below, you could simply use a hole punch to notch the disc casing right there. The disc is circular inside of the protective cover, and the notch is outside of where the actual magnetic disc is inside, so it wouldn't hurt it (as long as you got the position correct). If the disc itself was physically damaged in any way, good luck recovering anything on it, short of having specialized software and possibly hardware to do the recovery, and even that might only get you a tiny fragment of it.
FloppyDiscComparison.jpg
Also, if you look at the label on the Verbatim, you can see that it's a 2SHD disc (Double-Sided, High-Density), which means that it was capable of up to 1200 kb (vs the 2D - Double-Density that was only 640kb). Here's a table of all the logical disc types: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_floppy_disk_formats#Logical_formats
The 3.5-inch "floppy" discs had a similar hole through the hard plastic case. If the switch was moved so that the hole was open, the disc could be written to. If you slid it down to block the opening, the disc was protected. Again, software that was never intended to be overwritten would sometimes come with the hole permanently blocked. While it might have been possible to drill out a hole there, you would be risking leaving debris inside that would damage the disc. Besides, by the time that 3.5" floppies were becoming common, the price was fairly low and it probably wouldn't have been worth the risk just to save $1 or less.
Left disc - switch on the upper right is engaged to protect the contents. Middle disc - switch on the upper right is open, allowing data to be written to the disc. Right disc - rear view of the disc, with the data protection switch open on the upper right corner, which would allow the disc to be written to.
FloppyDisc3.5Comparison.jpg
Hope you've enjoyed my Ancient Artifacts of Computer History! :smiley_blink:
I graduated in 91 so I had my commodore in the 80's. School had apple II's with green screen monitors that they let us play Oregon Trail on. Then later some IBM PC Jr's which didn't do anything useful either.
I used a type in from a magazine word processor called speedscript on my c64. I did an assignment for 9th grade English then re-printed it and turned it in again in 12th grade ad then again in college. My handwriting was/is really bad so typing assignments was faster for me despite never having a typing class.
Quote from: MacWa77ace on February 25, 2025, 03:06:37 PMDidn't they offer single and double sided for additional capacity?
Also quad density. One of my early jobs was selling them.
Quote from: eugenenine on February 25, 2025, 05:38:46 PMI graduated in 91 so I had my commodore in the 80's. School had apple II's with green screen monitors that they let us play Oregon Trail on. Then later some IBM PC Jr's which didn't do anything useful either.
I used a type in from a magazine word processor called speedscript on my c64. I did an assignment for 9th grade English then re-printed it and turned it in again in 12th grade ad then again in college. My handwriting was/is really bad so typing assignments was faster for me despite never having a typing class.
I remember Speedscript.
I might need to declutter my PC stuff.
DBCA5D0F-20FA-4006-B9DB-9BFCBE8B050A.jpeg
Edit: Or not. I just found streetfighter on floppy. Now I just need to find my external floppy drive.
Quote from: tirls on February 26, 2025, 01:15:45 PMI might need to declutter my PC stuff.
DBCA5D0F-20FA-4006-B9DB-9BFCBE8B050A.jpeg
Edit: Or not. I just found streetfighter on floppy. Now I just need to find my external floppy drive.
Copy it to an internal drive
still need an external floppy drive to be able to copy it to the internal
Neither does an internal drive make adorable floppy noises. :smiley_nah:
I´ve found Metal Gear Solid and more importantly sheep.exe. Now I only need to find that annoying singing hamster email.
Quote from: tirls on February 26, 2025, 03:21:01 PMNeither does an internal drive make adorable floppy noises. :smiley_nah:
I´ve found Metal Gear Solid and more importantly sheep.exe. Now I only need to find that annoying singing hamster email.
This one ?
https://youtu.be/WEH2fk0ONag?si=D1oIfIHp3v6URpSe
do dah do da do da do do
Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 26, 2025, 03:37:48 PMThis one ?
YES!!! My mum send this to me daily as a mail for years, so everytime I opened my mails I had that song start up. I have yet to return that favour.
Sheep.exe is up and running. I currently have a little sheep sleeping in the corner. Screenshot 2025-02-27 202755.png
Quote from: tirls on February 27, 2025, 01:29:39 PMQuote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 26, 2025, 03:37:48 PMThis one ?
YES!!! My mum send this to me daily as a mail for years, so everytime I opened my mails I had that song start up. I have yet to return that favour.
Sheep.exe is up and running. I currently have a little sheep sleeping in the corner. Screenshot 2025-02-27 202755.png
You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find that Hamster Dance thing on YouTube. There's remixes galore, but only a small handful of the original video.
Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 27, 2025, 01:55:31 PMQuote from: tirls on February 27, 2025, 01:29:39 PMQuote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 26, 2025, 03:37:48 PMThis one ?
YES!!! My mum send this to me daily as a mail for years, so everytime I opened my mails I had that song start up. I have yet to return that favour.
Sheep.exe is up and running. I currently have a little sheep sleeping in the corner. Screenshot 2025-02-27 202755.png
You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find that Hamster Dance thing on YouTube. There's remixes galore, but only a small handful of the original video.
Y'all are gonna hate me... :greenguy:
baby shark...
Quote from: NT2C on February 27, 2025, 03:27:48 PMY'all are gonna hate me... :greenguy:
I'll see your really annoying repetitive brain number, and raise you the silver shamrock commercial with epileptic seizure inducing flashing:
Quote from: NT2C on February 27, 2025, 03:27:48 PMQuote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 27, 2025, 01:55:31 PMQuote from: tirls on February 27, 2025, 01:29:39 PMQuote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on February 26, 2025, 03:37:48 PMThis one ?
YES!!! My mum send this to me daily as a mail for years, so everytime I opened my mails I had that song start up. I have yet to return that favour.
Sheep.exe is up and running. I currently have a little sheep sleeping in the corner. Screenshot 2025-02-27 202755.png
You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find that Hamster Dance thing on YouTube. There's remixes galore, but only a small handful of the original video.
Y'all are gonna hate me... :greenguy:
Still less annoying than that "Gummi Bear" song.
Quote from: NT2C on February 27, 2025, 03:27:48 PMY'all are gonna hate me... :greenguy:
Perfect! Now I just need to find a way to rig my mums PC so this starts playing everytime she starts it up and vengance is mine. :smiley_chinrub:
So i work from home and stuck with a so so provider. Using there equipment for now. So i was working and internet went out, used phone as hotspot for work. Called provider paid them said it should be on in 10 minutes. 5 hours later im on the phone with them trouble shooting it. During this the modem wont turn over just has power and flashs. I tried my old one that was a tank but the guy said theirs is a 3.1 or something and my and older 3.0 and won't work with there stuff. Its coax cable 1000MB a second blah blah. I can get it off amazon what's some points to look for or a good modem, we run 2 desktops hardwired, 1 lap top wifi, 2 phones, 4 TV's and a PS5.
Quote from: Rednex on April 17, 2025, 04:19:57 PMSo i work from home and stuck with a so so provider. Using there equipment for now. So i was working and internet went out, used phone as hotspot for work. Called provider paid them said it should be on in 10 minutes. 5 hours later im on the phone with them trouble shooting it. During this the modem wont turn over just has power and flashs. I tried my old one that was a tank but the guy said theirs is a 3.1 or something and my and older 3.0 and won't work with there stuff. Its coax cable 1000MB a second blah blah. I can get it off amazon what's some points to look for or a good modem, we run 2 desktops hardwired, 1 lap top wifi, 2 phones, 4 TV's and a PS5.
Do you run a separate router for the wifi?
Not right now there modem does it all i think. There modem has 1 ethernet plug that plugs into a pod then run a cord from it to a internet splitter, then from that i got cords to the 2 desktops. I can run a dedicated modem then run a seperate WiFi router if that's better. have another pod down stairs.
Okay, just pick up an Arris surfboard DOCIS 3.1 for about $30 and replace the bad one with it. You'll need to call them so they can configure it for your account.
Well they just left, had a crew, replaced the wire from the pole across the street to the house and ran new wire in house, new connections new ground everything. So it wasn't the modem like the lady on the phone thought.
Quote from: Rednex on April 18, 2025, 03:17:31 PMWell they just left, had a crew, replaced the wire from the pole across the street to the house and ran new wire in house, new connections new ground everything. So it wasn't the modem like the lady on the phone thought.
Still, if you're running an older modem you won't be getting as much speed as you could be with the new wiring. A DOCSIS 3.0
can hit 1GB per second D/L speeds, a DOCSIS 3.1 is rated for 10 GB per second, so 10x faster under ideal conditions. Even under less than ideal conditions it will still greatly increase your speeds.
Shopping around I see that the chip shortages have driven the prices up fourfold, but you can still find them around the $100 mark.
Here at HQ we pay for 2 GB per/sec but with the old modem we were stuck with we barely hit 1 GB. Switched out the modem as soon as we could and now we often hit above 2 GB per/sec, which makes a huge difference with streaming, Teams, etc.
Added the Arris 8200 3.1 to amazon cart.
Quote from: Rednex on April 19, 2025, 08:41:59 AMAdded the Arris 8200 3.1 to amazon cart.
Same one that's sitting on my desk. :smiley_bril:
Annnnddd...my laptop died. This after I already promised
@12_Gauge_Chimp the better of my three spares. The remaining two were just not good for much more than email and lite browsing so I told the wife that the next SS check I was buying myself a good factory refurb.
She turns around and tells me to get something better and gives me a $2k budget. :eek1:
I'mma going shopping! :icon_crazy:
Edit: So I bought a thing...
MSI Raider GE68HX Gaming Laptop, 16in. FHD+ 144Hz Display, Intel 24 Core i9-14900HX(Up to 5.8 GHz), GeForce RTX 4070, 32GB DDR5 1TB SSD, Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, RGB Keyboard, With 512GB SSD, Win11 Home (https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000C-0J1E5?Item=9SIAMRPKDV2677&_gl=1*1cshjhw*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3NDY5ODMyNjguQ2owS0NRandsWUhCQmhEOUFSSXNBTFJ1MDlvbVA2eGt2OTFSbjdRWkF4N3RIWHVNYVN6dXAwSk1sUDZWaUV2QVpmRGctVzJjRHVJSzBob2FBdWFTRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3NDY5ODMyNjguQ2owS0NRandsWUhCQmhEOUFSSXNBTFJ1MDlvbVA2eGt2OTFSbjdRWkF4N3RIWHVNYVN6dXAwSk1sUDZWaUV2QVpmRGctVzJjRHVJSzBob2FBdWFTRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTMwMDA5OTM3NS4xNzQ2OTgxNzk0*_ga*OTE5MzcwODc2LjE3NDY5ODE3OTY.*_ga_TR46GG8HLR*czE3NDY5ODgzMTIkbzIkZzEkdDE3NDY5ODg3NDgkajAkbDAkaDcyOTMwNjkxNA..)
Dang, that's a nice laptop. :smiley_clap:
Quote from: NT2C on May 11, 2025, 11:37:39 AMEdit: So I bought a thing...
MSI Raider GE68HX Gaming Laptop, 16in. FHD+ 144Hz Display, Intel 24 Core i9-14900HX(Up to 5.8 GHz), GeForce RTX 4070, 32GB DDR5 1TB SSD, Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, RGB Keyboard, With 512GB SSD, Win11 Home (https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000C-0J1E5?Item=9SIAMRPKDV2677&_gl=1*1cshjhw*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3NDY5ODMyNjguQ2owS0NRandsWUhCQmhEOUFSSXNBTFJ1MDlvbVA2eGt2OTFSbjdRWkF4N3RIWHVNYVN6dXAwSk1sUDZWaUV2QVpmRGctVzJjRHVJSzBob2FBdWFTRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3NDY5ODMyNjguQ2owS0NRandsWUhCQmhEOUFSSXNBTFJ1MDlvbVA2eGt2OTFSbjdRWkF4N3RIWHVNYVN6dXAwSk1sUDZWaUV2QVpmRGctVzJjRHVJSzBob2FBdWFTRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTMwMDA5OTM3NS4xNzQ2OTgxNzk0*_ga*OTE5MzcwODc2LjE3NDY5ODE3OTY.*_ga_TR46GG8HLR*czE3NDY5ODgzMTIkbzIkZzEkdDE3NDY5ODg3NDgkajAkbDAkaDcyOTMwNjkxNA..)
And double dang, you don't leave any room for tax and shipping in your 2K budget. :eek1:
Quote from: MacWa77ace on May 12, 2025, 08:10:42 AMQuote from: NT2C on May 11, 2025, 11:37:39 AMEdit: So I bought a thing...
MSI Raider GE68HX Gaming Laptop, 16in. FHD+ 144Hz Display, Intel 24 Core i9-14900HX(Up to 5.8 GHz), GeForce RTX 4070, 32GB DDR5 1TB SSD, Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, RGB Keyboard, With 512GB SSD, Win11 Home (https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000C-0J1E5?Item=9SIAMRPKDV2677&_gl=1*1cshjhw*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3NDY5ODMyNjguQ2owS0NRandsWUhCQmhEOUFSSXNBTFJ1MDlvbVA2eGt2OTFSbjdRWkF4N3RIWHVNYVN6dXAwSk1sUDZWaUV2QVpmRGctVzJjRHVJSzBob2FBdWFTRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3NDY5ODMyNjguQ2owS0NRandsWUhCQmhEOUFSSXNBTFJ1MDlvbVA2eGt2OTFSbjdRWkF4N3RIWHVNYVN6dXAwSk1sUDZWaUV2QVpmRGctVzJjRHVJSzBob2FBdWFTRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTMwMDA5OTM3NS4xNzQ2OTgxNzk0*_ga*OTE5MzcwODc2LjE3NDY5ODE3OTY.*_ga_TR46GG8HLR*czE3NDY5ODgzMTIkbzIkZzEkdDE3NDY5ODg3NDgkajAkbDAkaDcyOTMwNjkxNA..)
And double dang, you don't leave any room for tax and shipping in your 2K budget. :eek1:
It was a $2k budget for just the machine itself. Shipping, accident insurance, and tax were expected to be additional.
(About $500)
Edit: Shipping was $150 to get it in enough time before I leave on my trip that I can configure it and install all the things I need on it. Added also an accident protection policy that, for three years, covers all damage to it ($270), and the Commonwealth of Virginia had to get it's share, so another $120
The accident coverage is important when you're sharing a hotel room with a chimp, right next door to Sea World. I could easily see a sea lion wanting to borrow it.
Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on May 11, 2025, 02:24:05 PMDang, that's a nice laptop. :smiley_clap:
When we're in our hotel room in San Antonio... you can touch it. :smiley_happy_thumbup:
Quote from: NT2C on May 12, 2025, 01:56:14 PMWhen we're in our hotel room in San Antonio... you can touch it the new laptop. :smiley_happy_thumbup:
FIFY^
Quote from: MacWa77ace on May 12, 2025, 02:21:41 PMQuote from: NT2C on May 12, 2025, 01:56:14 PMWhen we're in our hotel room in San Antonio... you can touch it the new laptop. :smiley_happy_thumbup:
FIFY^
But I'm naming it, It.
Well, this should prove interesting...
Newegg says the laptop shipped via UPS. UPS says a label was created but they don't have it yet, nevertheless, they insist it will be delivered to me between 15:00 and 17:00 tomorrow. It's shipping UPS Ground.
From Oregon.
Must be those new "Q-Drive" powered trucks that go interdimensional. :smiley_shrug:
1ZB797B74221786324
Quote from: NT2C on May 12, 2025, 05:31:11 PMWell, this should prove interesting...
Newegg says the laptop shipped via UPS. UPS says a label was created but they don't have it yet, nevertheless, they insist it will be delivered to me between 15:00 and 17:00 tomorrow. It's shipping UPS Ground.
From Oregon.
Must be those new "Q-Drive" powered trucks that go interdimensional. :smiley_shrug:
1ZB797B74221786324
Edit: Evidently, someone at UPS noticed the divide by zero error in their calculations and they've decided to now wait until they actually have the package in hand before estimating a delivery date/time.
Annnnddd... I canceled it. It was paid for on the 11th with an extra $149 for expedited delivery. They printed a label for it Sunday night, yesterday, Monday the 12th, they never gave it to UPS. UPS says if it does ship it's shipping ground, not air, and will take 5 days at the minimum.
Sorry but that's unacceptable. That's the same amount of time that was showing before I paid the extra $149
I want a refund and I'll buy it locally.
Quote from: NT2C on May 13, 2025, 10:50:36 AMAnnnnddd... I canceled it. It was paid for on the 11th with an extra $149 for expedited delivery. They printed a label for it Sunday night, yesterday, Monday the 12th, they never gave it to UPS. UPS says if it does ship it's shipping ground, not air, and will take 5 days at the minimum.
Sorry but that's unacceptable. That's the same amount of time that was showing before I paid the extra $149
I want a refund and I'll buy it locally.
(https://i.imgflip.com/9tsugj.jpg)
At the very least, refund the $149 and and give an apology
If they were shipping UPS then they would just drive past your house and mark it as "recipient not available" anyway.
Quote from: eugenenine on May 13, 2025, 01:54:58 PMIf they were shipping UPS then they would just drive past your house and mark it as "recipient not available" anyway.
Our UPS driver is a ham radio buddy so he takes good care of our stuff.
Quote from: NT2C on May 13, 2025, 04:57:44 PMQuote from: eugenenine on May 13, 2025, 01:54:58 PMIf they were shipping UPS then they would just drive past your house and mark it as "recipient not available" anyway.
Our UPS driver is a ham radio buddy so he takes good care of our stuff.
Wish I'd have had him when I ordered an AK part from PSA and somehow it went from being in Dallas to ending up in Commerce City, Colorado.
Like I know my AK was made in Commerce City, but it lives in Texas now. :smiley_crocodile:
So, I stepped up my game and found the same laptop, but with twice the memory (64 GB vs 32 GB) and 4x the storage (4 TB vs 1 TB) for $50 more than the first one... on Walmart. And the topper? Got a 4-year insurance plan for half the price ($119 vs $270)
MSI Raider GE68HX Premium Gaming Laptop 16in. FHD+ IPS 144Hz Intel 24-core i9-13950HX 64GB DDR5 4TB SSD GeForce RTX 4060 8GB RGB Backlit Thunderbolt4 USB-C Dynaudio FHD Privacy Webcam Win11 Black (https://www.walmart.com/ip/MSI-Raider-GE68HX-Premium-Gaming-Laptop-16-FHD-IPS-144Hz-Intel-24-core-i9-13950HX-64GB-DDR5-4TB-SSD-GeForce-RTX-4060-8GB-RGB-Backlit-Thunderbolt4-USB/5199678519?sid=2ced6fc1-1640-42ea-b8df-d055e638dd7e)
Edit: just noticed that the 4 TB drive bumped the machine to $2,269.00, but with the cheaper insurance plan the total isn't much more than the original ($2,514.56 vs $2,478.44 = $36.12 more) but it significantly upgrades the machine. And Walmart promises delivery on Friday.
New to me (used Ebay purchase :clownshoes:).
I'm happy with the hardware. Though I never use it in tablet mode, it might as well not have a touch screen.
I love Linux Mint.
Not sure where this belongs, but I figured since it has to do with electronics, I'd post it here.
Made a bit of a mistake today. I went to Walmart to pick up a USB charger hub because I've got a bunch of stuff that uses USB cords to charge and ended up buying a USB-C charger hub instead.
I meant to pick up the Anker USB charger, but grabbed the USB-C one by mistake. Now I'm screwed because I don't feel like driving 30 minutes to return it and get the right one instead today.
So I'll have to wait until the next time I have to go to that particular Walmart and hope they have the regular USB one.
Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on May 21, 2025, 04:03:28 PMNot sure where this belongs, but I figured since it has to do with electronics, I'd post it here.
Made a bit of a mistake today. I went to Walmart to pick up a USB charger hub because I've got a bunch of stuff that uses USB cords to charge and ended up buying a USB-C charger hub instead.
I meant to pick up the Anker USB charger, but grabbed the USB-C one by mistake. Now I'm screwed because I don't feel like driving 30 minutes to return it and get the right one instead today.
So I'll have to wait until the next time I have to go to that particular Walmart and hope they have the regular USB one.
I'm trying to mentally picture what the problem is, and what I can bring with me next week to correct it.
Can you text me a picture of what you got vs what you need?
Quote from: NT2C on May 21, 2025, 06:08:02 PMQuote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on May 21, 2025, 04:03:28 PMNot sure where this belongs, but I figured since it has to do with electronics, I'd post it here.
Made a bit of a mistake today. I went to Walmart to pick up a USB charger hub because I've got a bunch of stuff that uses USB cords to charge and ended up buying a USB-C charger hub instead.
I meant to pick up the Anker USB charger, but grabbed the USB-C one by mistake. Now I'm screwed because I don't feel like driving 30 minutes to return it and get the right one instead today.
So I'll have to wait until the next time I have to go to that particular Walmart and hope they have the regular USB one.
I'm trying to mentally picture what the problem is, and what I can bring with me next week to correct it.
Can you text me a picture of what you got vs what you need?
Texts inbound.
Added to laptop case.
@NT2C A while back we had a discussion about printers and you encouraged me to go laser, but Handy Kid ended up fixing my ink problem with the old inject printer I had and I never did get a new one. It has now gone to the great scrap heap in heaven and I apparently need a new printer. Prices on some of these laser printers is looking really nice right now, but, holy shit, the toner!
If I only print every now and then, the toner lasts, right? Like a long damn time? I'd like to maintain an ability to print in color, but that's four toner cartridges which, together, cost more than the printer costs. Is there any problem putting different brand toners in it and do they generally still print B&W if the color toners are not inserted or have run out?
Quote from: Anianna on May 23, 2025, 05:31:32 PM@NT2C A while back we had a discussion about printers and you encouraged me to go laser, but Handy Kid ended up fixing my ink problem with the old inject printer I had and I never did get a new one. It has now gone to the great scrap heap in heaven and I apparently need a new printer. Prices on some of these laser printers is looking really nice right now, but, holy shit, the toner!
If I only print every now and then, the toner lasts, right? Like a long damn time? I'd like to maintain an ability to print in color, but that's four toner cartridges which, together, cost more than the printer costs. Is there any problem putting different brand toners in it and do they generally still print B&W if the color toners are not inserted or have run out?
My Xerox WorkCentre 6027 is about 9 years old now, has printed just shy of 72,000 pages (according to its permanent job memory), gets about 2,000 pages from one of the three color cartridges, and about 4,000 from the double-sized black cartridge. It's currently in desperate need of a drum cleaning/replacement but my Xerox service agreement on it ended when Xerox itself did. I suspect it will need replacing this year and I'm currently considering a Brother printer.
We purchased a Brother DCP-L2640DW monochrome laser printer for my wife a few months ago and it impresses me. Gets about 3,000 pages per cartridge and accepts generic replacements (though Brother, like most manufacturers, would prefer you use their own toners at 4x the cost) which is currently $60 for a two-pack. The printer itself was $199. Brother has color lasers starting around $250 for a home unit, though I do suggest going for a business-class unit around $100 more.
Quote from: NT2C on May 23, 2025, 08:36:20 PMQuote from: Anianna on May 23, 2025, 05:31:32 PM@NT2C A while back we had a discussion about printers and you encouraged me to go laser, but Handy Kid ended up fixing my ink problem with the old inject printer I had and I never did get a new one. It has now gone to the great scrap heap in heaven and I apparently need a new printer. Prices on some of these laser printers is looking really nice right now, but, holy shit, the toner!
If I only print every now and then, the toner lasts, right? Like a long damn time? I'd like to maintain an ability to print in color, but that's four toner cartridges which, together, cost more than the printer costs. Is there any problem putting different brand toners in it and do they generally still print B&W if the color toners are not inserted or have run out?
My Xerox WorkCentre 6027 is about 9 years old now, has printed just shy of 72,000 pages (according to its permanent job memory), gets about 2,000 pages from one of the three color cartridges, and about 4,000 from the double-sized black cartridge. It's currently in desperate need of a drum cleaning/replacement but my Xerox service agreement on it ended when Xerox itself did. I suspect it will need replacing this year and I'm currently considering a Brother printer.
We purchased a Brother DCP-L2640DW monochrome laser printer for my wife a few months ago and it impresses me. Gets about 3,000 pages per cartridge and accepts generic replacements (though Brother, like most manufacturers, would prefer you use their own toners at 4x the cost) which is currently $60 for a two-pack. The printer itself was $199. Brother has color lasers starting around $250 for a home unit, though I do suggest going for a business-class unit around $100 more.
I feel a little better about getting a few thousand pages out of a cartridge, especially if it doesn't dry up like inkjet can if only used sporadically.
I was looking at Brother, but some of their wording on their listings was throwing me. "Digital Color All-in-One Printer with Laser Quality Output" instead of "All-in-One Color Laser Printer". What's up with the odd double-speak. Is it not actually a laser printer?
I'll probably get either a Brother model or a Canon model designed for small business.
Thanks for the info.
I was looking at a pair, each going for $399. The Canon went on sale for $299, but the Brother didn't, so I snagged the Canon.
This thing is huge. :eek1:
Also, it came with a part carefully packaged with the power cord that is not mentioned anywhere in the set up guide and I have yet to find it in the 699 page manual. I don't see anywhere that looks like it needs a part or even anywhere that looks like it would fit.
ETA: Oooooh, I found it on page 113! It's a cover if extending the paper drawer for legal paper.
This printer is pretty damn fancy.
Quote from: Anianna on May 28, 2025, 05:31:03 PMThis thing is huge. :eek1:
Also, it came with a part carefully packaged with the power cord that is not mentioned anywhere in the set up guide and I have yet to find it in the 699 page manual. I don't see anywhere that looks like it needs a part or even anywhere that looks like it would fit.
ETA: Oooooh, I found it on page 113! It's a cover if extending the paper drawer for legal paper.
This printer is pretty damn fancy.
I think you'll be happy with it.
Quote from: NT2C on May 28, 2025, 05:53:41 PMQuote from: Anianna on May 28, 2025, 05:31:03 PMThis thing is huge. :eek1:
Also, it came with a part carefully packaged with the power cord that is not mentioned anywhere in the set up guide and I have yet to find it in the 699 page manual. I don't see anywhere that looks like it needs a part or even anywhere that looks like it would fit.
ETA: Oooooh, I found it on page 113! It's a cover if extending the paper drawer for legal paper.
This printer is pretty damn fancy.
I think you'll be happy with it.
The print is so crisp. No more annoying slightly off-kilter lines. And it automatically printed double-sided without having to put the single-side printed stack back in to print the other side. Now I wish I needed to print more frequently.