A few days ago, I decided to look into the open-source Radeon driver more, and found a way to check for it and install it.
I first tested it out with Sae-chan, since it was easier to do so, and found that one package out of three wasn't installed, and after installing, nothing happened (well, technically, I cleared up an error message for the driver).
I was thinking about using the 30GB hard drive to test Taiga out, but after running the check, Taiga wasn't any different from Sae-chan (missing that same package), so I decided to just do a blind install.
I shut Taiga off and spent a few minutes reconnecting the connector (the thing was annoying to try to plug back in), booted her up and tested out the power save after enabling the screen. Unfortunately, it changed nothing in that aspect, so I shut her down again to unplug the screen again.
It's kind of a shame it didn't make a difference, but I really prefer using the monitor since I get more screen space (although the monitor takes up that much more space). I'm not exactly sure what could possibly be wrong, but I don't care too much, since I still solved the problem in a different way.
31 October 2014
Raspi 2
A couple months or so ago, I decided to try openSUSE ARM on the Raspi, but only got to a command line, so I gave up on that.
The other thing that happened was that the fan controller no longer worked properly, and the fan was much too loud at full speed. I decided to use USB power instead of Firewire (5v instead of 12v) to slow the fan down, but the fan didn't want to spin after that, so I had to use a different fan and redo the mount.
I had to play around with a bit, but I got it to work, mounting the fan to two of the brackets, then using the other two brackets to keep one bracket from sliding around. While I could've properly mounted the fan, I didn't feel like doing any extra drilling, so this was the easier solution. I also used a zip-tie (blue) to secure the cord to the case where the fan controller used to be.
The other thing that happened was that the fan controller no longer worked properly, and the fan was much too loud at full speed. I decided to use USB power instead of Firewire (5v instead of 12v) to slow the fan down, but the fan didn't want to spin after that, so I had to use a different fan and redo the mount.
I had to play around with a bit, but I got it to work, mounting the fan to two of the brackets, then using the other two brackets to keep one bracket from sliding around. While I could've properly mounted the fan, I didn't feel like doing any extra drilling, so this was the easier solution. I also used a zip-tie (blue) to secure the cord to the case where the fan controller used to be.
Dell 2
About a week after putting the X1950 into the Dell, I noticed the X1950 was running quite hot - almost scalding hot - and decided to remove the cover to the heat-sink:
Yep, It was pretty much clogged with dust. I cleaned it out and put it back in, and it was running a lot cooler afterwards.
Recently, the Dell's been taking time to boot again, like when the X300 was in it, so maybe it is the power supply? Then again, I also did remove the PCI wireless card to put into the G5, so that my best friend can connect it to the internet to install stuff, and it's after that when it started doing it, so maybe that's it (as weird as it would be). I'll find out once I get the wireless card back.
One of the other things I've done is attached a couple of the tear-off 5.25" bay covers to the hard drive to elevate it, positioned the front stock fan at the back to blow onto the hard drive, and attached another fan (from the retired ASUS Triton 77) to the front to blow the air out. I haven't really checked the temperature, but I'm sure it keeps it under 60C.
Yep, It was pretty much clogged with dust. I cleaned it out and put it back in, and it was running a lot cooler afterwards.
Recently, the Dell's been taking time to boot again, like when the X300 was in it, so maybe it is the power supply? Then again, I also did remove the PCI wireless card to put into the G5, so that my best friend can connect it to the internet to install stuff, and it's after that when it started doing it, so maybe that's it (as weird as it would be). I'll find out once I get the wireless card back.
One of the other things I've done is attached a couple of the tear-off 5.25" bay covers to the hard drive to elevate it, positioned the front stock fan at the back to blow onto the hard drive, and attached another fan (from the retired ASUS Triton 77) to the front to blow the air out. I haven't really checked the temperature, but I'm sure it keeps it under 60C.
Articles 2 / Apple Products Poster
I suppose it would be less restricting if I find an article that allows me to share my thoughts and feelings, rather than just talking about something interesting.
The article I read today is a short article about an infographic: 534 Apple Products On One Giant Poster
About the article itself, there's nothing to talk about, but the article did remind me of my history with Apple computers.
The earliest Mac I used was some purple-cased Apple that had a 5.25-inch floppy drive (unfortunately, I can't remember what it was called, and I don't have enough info to search for it... maybe the case wasn't purple, but it's been at least 20 years, so maybe I'm remembering wrong) back in elementary school; I also used some other Macintosh that was a little more modern at the time.
In middle school, it was the early iMacs (the translucent, aqua-colored ones).
At home, I grew up with the Performa 550, which was replaced in 1998 with some HP computer. After moving into a new house in 2000, I still used the Performa 550 for some of the games and to sort of mess around with, but once I broke the registry with too much tinkering, I decided to retire it. I was also going to reinstall Mac OS 7 to see what was on some old floppies, but the monitor wouldn't turn on - wouldn't doubt if a spider died in the power supply and shorted the power for the monitor, or if it was just old age - so it finally went to get recycled.
Sae-chan was the next Apple I owned, followed by Shizuma.
What I'm getting at is that I used to be quite the Apple fan (I excluded the iPods, since they're not proper computers), but after Shizuma, that began to fade. After the PowerMac G5 and iBook G4 Debian PPC projects, I've really lost the appreciation for Apple that I used to have, because of a few reasons.
The first reason is that old architectures that are no longer supported. Sure I can update Mac OS X 10.4 to the final version of 10.4.11, but that's as far as the updates will go. Even major software (like Firefox) has officially stopped supporting the PPC architecture (it's unofficially supported with TenFourFox for OS X or in any PPC Linux).
Another reason is that some of the up-front quality is nice, but some of the lesser parts (namely the built-in FTP service) isn't as quality. I'm sure Apple never meant the file-sharing service to be used as an actual FTP or to transfer gigabytes of information, and I'm sure they never imagined it being used in that way either. It was a feature that was just quietly in the settings that (probably) not too many people used. In 10.7 (Lion), the graphical way to toggle the FTP service on/off was removed, but still accessible via command line. Again, I'm sure it's because not too many people used it, so they (Apple) figured it'd be better to remove the graphical option.
I used 10.6 for quite a bit of time, but it wasn't all that great. The 64-bit kernel did make most things a bit faster, but the cost was that certain 32-bit support was finicky - I had to switch between the 32 and 64-bit kernels until I gave up and just used the 32-bit kernel. I think that was the only time I saw something "broken" of Apple's, even though their products are usually quite fluid - the result of fine-tuned code for a small pool of hardware.
The prices are another reason, but I probably don't need to really explain it all that much.
And I turned this into a rant (LOL), but again, my point is that I've lost quite the appreciation for Apple even though I've pretty much grown up with Apple.
The article I read today is a short article about an infographic: 534 Apple Products On One Giant Poster
About the article itself, there's nothing to talk about, but the article did remind me of my history with Apple computers.
The earliest Mac I used was some purple-cased Apple that had a 5.25-inch floppy drive (unfortunately, I can't remember what it was called, and I don't have enough info to search for it... maybe the case wasn't purple, but it's been at least 20 years, so maybe I'm remembering wrong) back in elementary school; I also used some other Macintosh that was a little more modern at the time.
In middle school, it was the early iMacs (the translucent, aqua-colored ones).
At home, I grew up with the Performa 550, which was replaced in 1998 with some HP computer. After moving into a new house in 2000, I still used the Performa 550 for some of the games and to sort of mess around with, but once I broke the registry with too much tinkering, I decided to retire it. I was also going to reinstall Mac OS 7 to see what was on some old floppies, but the monitor wouldn't turn on - wouldn't doubt if a spider died in the power supply and shorted the power for the monitor, or if it was just old age - so it finally went to get recycled.
Sae-chan was the next Apple I owned, followed by Shizuma.
What I'm getting at is that I used to be quite the Apple fan (I excluded the iPods, since they're not proper computers), but after Shizuma, that began to fade. After the PowerMac G5 and iBook G4 Debian PPC projects, I've really lost the appreciation for Apple that I used to have, because of a few reasons.
The first reason is that old architectures that are no longer supported. Sure I can update Mac OS X 10.4 to the final version of 10.4.11, but that's as far as the updates will go. Even major software (like Firefox) has officially stopped supporting the PPC architecture (it's unofficially supported with TenFourFox for OS X or in any PPC Linux).
Another reason is that some of the up-front quality is nice, but some of the lesser parts (namely the built-in FTP service) isn't as quality. I'm sure Apple never meant the file-sharing service to be used as an actual FTP or to transfer gigabytes of information, and I'm sure they never imagined it being used in that way either. It was a feature that was just quietly in the settings that (probably) not too many people used. In 10.7 (Lion), the graphical way to toggle the FTP service on/off was removed, but still accessible via command line. Again, I'm sure it's because not too many people used it, so they (Apple) figured it'd be better to remove the graphical option.
I used 10.6 for quite a bit of time, but it wasn't all that great. The 64-bit kernel did make most things a bit faster, but the cost was that certain 32-bit support was finicky - I had to switch between the 32 and 64-bit kernels until I gave up and just used the 32-bit kernel. I think that was the only time I saw something "broken" of Apple's, even though their products are usually quite fluid - the result of fine-tuned code for a small pool of hardware.
The prices are another reason, but I probably don't need to really explain it all that much.
And I turned this into a rant (LOL), but again, my point is that I've lost quite the appreciation for Apple even though I've pretty much grown up with Apple.
30 October 2014
Network Attached Storage 2
As I'm going through all the old posts on EDBv1, I'm realizing that there are things I just haven't updated about - my NAS being one of them.
Earlier this year (2014) Synology released DSM 5.0 for most of their NAS products (some of their products did not fit the DSM 5.0 requirements), and while there were quite a few changes, there is one main one that I was pretty ecstatic about after reading it.
The update was the "QuickConnect" feature that was added, which allows an even easier set-up to access the NAS from the internet. Basically, you register for a MyDS account (which is free) then register a QuickConnect ID (also free), then use the link of "http://QuickConnect.to/[QuickConnect ID]" to connect to the NAS.
The only problem with QuickConnect is that it is based off of the NAS's external IP address, so if your modem's external IP is DHCP and is leased a new IP address after a reboot or disconnect (like I used to have), the QuickConnect link will stop working until you reset the QuickConnect link. So after testing it out, I turned it off, since I didn't really need to access my stuff outside of my house.
It was about mid-September when the phone company came to fix the phone and also fixed the internet connection as well (supposedly, the wires for the internet was loose), and so I decided to turn QuickConnect back on, since it's nice to be able to get files when I'm at my best friend's place (provided the files are on the NAS XD).
QuickConnect is very nice and so much easier than the alternative way - thank Synology for their hard work.
Earlier this year (2014) Synology released DSM 5.0 for most of their NAS products (some of their products did not fit the DSM 5.0 requirements), and while there were quite a few changes, there is one main one that I was pretty ecstatic about after reading it.
The update was the "QuickConnect" feature that was added, which allows an even easier set-up to access the NAS from the internet. Basically, you register for a MyDS account (which is free) then register a QuickConnect ID (also free), then use the link of "http://QuickConnect.to/[QuickConnect ID]" to connect to the NAS.
The only problem with QuickConnect is that it is based off of the NAS's external IP address, so if your modem's external IP is DHCP and is leased a new IP address after a reboot or disconnect (like I used to have), the QuickConnect link will stop working until you reset the QuickConnect link. So after testing it out, I turned it off, since I didn't really need to access my stuff outside of my house.
It was about mid-September when the phone company came to fix the phone and also fixed the internet connection as well (supposedly, the wires for the internet was loose), and so I decided to turn QuickConnect back on, since it's nice to be able to get files when I'm at my best friend's place (provided the files are on the NAS XD).
QuickConnect is very nice and so much easier than the alternative way - thank Synology for their hard work.
Trying something new / HP Sprout
While reading Forbes article on HP's Sprout computer, I decided I would give writing my thoughts and feelings on any technology articles that I find interesting enough to talk about. It's something to try out, but it should make my blog a bit more active, seeing that the only active part would be Linux testing/tinkering.
Without further ado, let's begin!
The article I've read is Forbes' "If Da Vinci Had A Desktop, It Would Be HP's $1,899 Sprout".
While I was scrolling through articles on Google Play Newsstand, the image caught my eye, as it depicts (presumably) an artist writing in cursive with his finger on a white mat (I later found out that it was an artist while viewing the article on the desktop). The article title was probably next to capture my attention, as I was wondering what the author meant.
I got a better understanding of the Srout as I began to read the article - the Sprout is an all-in-one computer that uses a combination of touch-screen and a special mat. The mat sits in front of the Sprout and has sensors inside it to capture input (fingers/styli), while also being the area for the embedded projector to project the digital workspace.
Above the monitor is a fixture that houses the camera and projector that scans and displays the workspace, respectively.
The two main sources of input for any digital artist is a mouse and/or graphics tablet (using either or both); I, myself, have a graphics tablet made by Wacom, so I'm pretty familiar with how it feels to use the graphics tablet as a source of input.
I thought it is a pretty interesting concept, and thought the price was a bit steep for something of that sort, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that bad of a price. More specifically, it has a touch-screen all-in-one computer, a "scanner", a projector, a "graphics tablet", and a customized version of Windows 8.1 (presumably) all into one package (technically two counting the mat); I'm sure building something similar would come out to around the same price, which is why I call it a fair price.
I don't particularly like the fact that the projected display and the monitor is a mirrored view, although I do understand why it is, and while most of the things can be done with the touch-screen, the touch-screen doesn't have the pressure sensitivity that the mat does.
While I do like the ideas, I feel that I'd rather stick with a graphics tablet (most of Wacom's tablets have touch capability) and all-in-one, as it pretty much would be the same thing. I'd definitely like to play with it, but I wouldn't buy it and probably wouldn't recommend it either.
It's impossible to say how the sales will go, but I think it'll be a niche market - artists looking for a new computer and technology-collectors being the presumed main buyers.
The video (as stated in the article) shows the system in action, and is why I think it's not much different from using a graphics tablet (that accepts touch input), though the "scanner" is something different from the usual flat-bed scanners that can only scan 2D objects.
Again, it's an interesting idea, but I think it could definitely be improved to become "truly new", but it just seems slightly gimmicky to me.
Without further ado, let's begin!
The article I've read is Forbes' "If Da Vinci Had A Desktop, It Would Be HP's $1,899 Sprout".
While I was scrolling through articles on Google Play Newsstand, the image caught my eye, as it depicts (presumably) an artist writing in cursive with his finger on a white mat (I later found out that it was an artist while viewing the article on the desktop). The article title was probably next to capture my attention, as I was wondering what the author meant.
I got a better understanding of the Srout as I began to read the article - the Sprout is an all-in-one computer that uses a combination of touch-screen and a special mat. The mat sits in front of the Sprout and has sensors inside it to capture input (fingers/styli), while also being the area for the embedded projector to project the digital workspace.
Above the monitor is a fixture that houses the camera and projector that scans and displays the workspace, respectively.
The two main sources of input for any digital artist is a mouse and/or graphics tablet (using either or both); I, myself, have a graphics tablet made by Wacom, so I'm pretty familiar with how it feels to use the graphics tablet as a source of input.
I thought it is a pretty interesting concept, and thought the price was a bit steep for something of that sort, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that bad of a price. More specifically, it has a touch-screen all-in-one computer, a "scanner", a projector, a "graphics tablet", and a customized version of Windows 8.1 (presumably) all into one package (technically two counting the mat); I'm sure building something similar would come out to around the same price, which is why I call it a fair price.
I don't particularly like the fact that the projected display and the monitor is a mirrored view, although I do understand why it is, and while most of the things can be done with the touch-screen, the touch-screen doesn't have the pressure sensitivity that the mat does.
While I do like the ideas, I feel that I'd rather stick with a graphics tablet (most of Wacom's tablets have touch capability) and all-in-one, as it pretty much would be the same thing. I'd definitely like to play with it, but I wouldn't buy it and probably wouldn't recommend it either.
It's impossible to say how the sales will go, but I think it'll be a niche market - artists looking for a new computer and technology-collectors being the presumed main buyers.
The video (as stated in the article) shows the system in action, and is why I think it's not much different from using a graphics tablet (that accepts touch input), though the "scanner" is something different from the usual flat-bed scanners that can only scan 2D objects.
Again, it's an interesting idea, but I think it could definitely be improved to become "truly new", but it just seems slightly gimmicky to me.
Triela 2
I found that I never wrote about the Intel Wifi+Bluetooth card that I talked about a while ago. I did order it and tested it out, but was still unable to get the wifi to work. I think the Mini-PCIe slot for the Wifi is just locked to two modes - on and off - since I remember reading something about having to use the function key to toggle the Bluetooth on, which never happened.
Another thing I never wrote about was the Mini-PCIe to USB 3.0 converter that I wanted to use to hide the Logitech USB dongle and free up one of the USB ports. After getting it, I was unable to get it to work at all, and since I was at my best friend's house, I didn't feel like doing any extensive testing (along with the fact that I was already tired from the testing I already did).
After getting home, I used an Intel Wifi+Bluetooth card that he gave me (it didn't work in his Lenovo, and it was too late for him to RMA it) to test out the extra Mini-PCIe slot. It didn't appear, even with taking the stock Wifi card out of it's slot; I even tried the stock Wifi card in that extra slot, which still didn't work. I'm guessing the slot is disabled by the firmware or by the controller, seeing as that it doesn't work; the only other possibility is that it's actually a mSATA port, but I did quite a bit of research to disprove that, so I highly doubt it.
While I wanted to RMA it, I had already broken off part of the adapter so that it would fit into the slot, and I don't think Amazon would like me returning it in that condition. I'm sure the card works, but I just don't have anything to test it with. For now it'll just occupy that extra Mini-PCIe slot in Triela.
Another thing I never wrote about was the Mini-PCIe to USB 3.0 converter that I wanted to use to hide the Logitech USB dongle and free up one of the USB ports. After getting it, I was unable to get it to work at all, and since I was at my best friend's house, I didn't feel like doing any extensive testing (along with the fact that I was already tired from the testing I already did).
After getting home, I used an Intel Wifi+Bluetooth card that he gave me (it didn't work in his Lenovo, and it was too late for him to RMA it) to test out the extra Mini-PCIe slot. It didn't appear, even with taking the stock Wifi card out of it's slot; I even tried the stock Wifi card in that extra slot, which still didn't work. I'm guessing the slot is disabled by the firmware or by the controller, seeing as that it doesn't work; the only other possibility is that it's actually a mSATA port, but I did quite a bit of research to disprove that, so I highly doubt it.
While I wanted to RMA it, I had already broken off part of the adapter so that it would fit into the slot, and I don't think Amazon would like me returning it in that condition. I'm sure the card works, but I just don't have anything to test it with. For now it'll just occupy that extra Mini-PCIe slot in Triela.
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