NTP66's thread of IT

Post by **Silentom** » Wed Aug 16, 2017 2:37 pm

Just had the display driver crash on my work PC. That was a new experience.

Post by **NTP66** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:36 pm

Just received an e-mail from CrashPlan informing me that they're getting out of the consumer backup business, and now only focusing on small business and corporate. ****.

Post by **columbia** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:44 pm

Deep in the weeds nerd action...

I ran across this this AM and warmed my heart to remember doing a Gentoo Linux install via compiling all of the user land software.

So, Chrome OS today is based on Ubuntu? Well, no... it's not. The first builds of Chrome OS had Ubuntu as its foundation, but it's changed over the years. In February 2010, Chrome OS started switching its foundation Linux distribution from Ubuntu to the older, and more obscure, Gentoo Linux.

This was done, as recorded in a Chromium OS developer e-mail list discussion, because "the need to support board specific builds and improve our tools has become more urgent. In order to get there more quickly we’ve been investigating several different build tools. We found that the Portage build tools suit our needs well and we will be transitioning 100% within the next week."

Portage is Gentoo's package management system. It's most noteworthy because, instead of using prepared program packages, such as those used in Red Hat's RPM or Debian's DEB, for installing software, it compiles programs directly from source code.

That's not the end of the story though. While Gentoo's Portage is still used for package management in Chrome OS, sources say that today's Chrome OS "kernel is a regular upstream kernel plus our own changes. We don't pick up anything from Gentoo in that area." So, today's Chrome OS is based on Google's own take on the vanilla Linux kernel while Portage is still used for software package management.

The secret origins of Google's Chrome OS
http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-secret ... chrome-os/

Post by **tifosi77** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 4:43 pm

NTP66 wrote:Just received an e-mail from CrashPlan informing me that they're getting out of the consumer backup business, and now only focusing on small business and corporate. ****.

Yeah, I just popped in here to say the same thing. Back to Carbonite, I guess.

Post by **NTP66** » Tue Aug 22, 2017 6:16 pm

tifosi77 wrote:
NTP66 wrote:Just received an e-mail from CrashPlan informing me that they're getting out of the consumer backup business, and now only focusing on small business and corporate. ****.
Yeah, I just popped in here to say the same thing. Back to Carbonite, I guess.

**** Carbonite. If I had to switch, it'd be to BackBlaze. That said, I signed up for CrashPlan Small Business. Free for the remainder of my current contract, and then $2.50/month for the following 12 months. I'll re-evaluate things in 2019 when the subscription goes to $10/month.

CrashPlan still allows unlimited file versioning, which is a must for me, as well as unlimited retention. I'm just annoyed that I may wind up paying twice as much for basically the same product.

Post by **count2infinity** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:48 pm

So remember back to my internet being sh*t? I found out what happened: wife spilled gatorade into cable modem. It wasn't on purpose, just an accidental spill, but she failed to mention it to me. She said she powered it off right away, and then it wouldn't power back up for a while, but eventually it did power back up so she figured everything was fine.

Went and bought a new modem, will give it a shot tonight.

On the bright side, the dude at best buy was great. I explained my internet situation and he pretty much straight up told me to get the cheapest modem they had because anything more would just be overkill. Didn't try to upsell me to the $200 fancy non-sense I don't need, which is a blast of fresh air from a best buy person.

Post by **NTP66** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:53 pm

So long as it's a DOCSIS 3.0 or better modem, then he's correct, generally speaking. If you bought a DOCSIS 2.0 modem and have higher than 40MB internet, go back and return it, as the max speed of those is 40MB. I've always recommended the Motorola/ARRIS SB6121 or SB6121, both being under $50 DOCSIS 3.0 modems.

Post by **count2infinity** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:25 pm

It was 3.0, so we're good.

Post by **robbiestoupe** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:13 pm

Recommendations for free DVD ripping software? I've tried WinDVD and Handbrake, and both have troubles with DVDs that are copy protected. I'm trying to get some of my kids' movies onto our Kindle for a flight we are taking next month, but only had success with 2 so far.

Post by **NTP66** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:21 pm

DVD Decrypter v3.5.4.0 will solve those issues easily, allowing you to then use Handbrake to encode.

Post by **robbiestoupe** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:29 pm

I was using DVD Shrink in conjunction with Handbrake but still didn't work. I'll try this one and see if it works.

Most of my issues were with not completing the movie. I'd get 30-45 minutes of the movie then it would abruptly stop.

Post by **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:44 am

@dodint (since you recently mentioned an Alienware)

Pros: Stunning performance, a beautiful display, and arguably the nicest laptop keyboard I've ever used
Cons: In order to replace the battery (which you will likely have to do at some point), you have to take apart the entire **** laptop. I am not exaggerating.

Post by **dodint** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:18 am

I decided not to go the laptop route in the end as I didn't want to fuss with a complicated triple monitor setup. I'm just going to buy a midline gaming laptop sometime next year and call it a day.

Ended up with this:
Alienware Aurora R6 Base
256GB M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 Processor (4-Cores, 8MB Cache, Turbo Boost 2.0, up to 4.2GHz)
16GB DDR4 2400MHz
460W PSU
Windows 10 Pro (64bit) English
8x DVD+/-RW 9.5mm ODD
Alienware Mouse/Keyboard

I already have triple 27" monitors in place so I didn't purchase anything new there.

$1,717.35 shipped with my student discount, I'm happy with the purchase. Only thing was I forgot to deselect the 'Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1' wireless adapter and they're supposedly garbage, doesn't play with Win10 and some routers very well. Might just move the one over from my old PC but then I'd lose Bluetooth, I think. Also I'm going to hold onto my 650w (non-modular, though) PSU in case the 460 doesn't seem to be enough.

Post by **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:35 am

That's a decent price for the components. I definitely could have built it with better hardware for a few bucks less, but it sounds like you weren't at all interested in going that route.

With regards to the Killer 1535, I have never really had issues with it. Range is good, and they're pretty good about keeping it up-to-date with driver releases.

Post by **dodint** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:41 am

I had some folks help me with an analysis on either building up a completely new system or reusing some of my existing components with a new CPU and modest improvements. It came out that the cost difference was negligible when you factor in buying a retail copy of Windows 10. At that point the only real advantage I saw to building my own was I could buy the case I wanted, but I just hit the easy button and now a complete system is sitting in my office at home waiting for me.

The system itself was $1,604, there was over $100 in taxes slavery. Boo.

Post by **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:46 am

W10 Pro is $140. Selecting the components from Newegg, I was under $1700 before taxes using an i7-7700K in the config. Using the one you selected, it'd be $40 lower. Still, being that close, it's a toss up. Alienware/Dell's support has gotten sloppy over the past year, which is the only reason I have soured on them. They no longer carry many replacement parts - like the damn battery I mentioned earlier - forcing you to find other resellers online. That makes zero sense whatsoever.

Post by **dodint** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:48 am

Sure, I'm not saying you couldn't. Just that when the analysis was done the costs were so close that buying the finished option made more sense for me. If you knock the $25 off for that wifi card I didn't want (Dell wouldn't change it even though my machine wasn't built yet, bad omen I guess) it comes that much closer.

This is like the credit card rewards thing for me, I just don't care for the hassle.

Post by **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:50 am

I agree with all but that last sentence.

Post by **dodint** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:54 am

I really had a nice expansive case picked out though. It was YUGE! Would've much preferred to have that instead of the Aurora with the swing out power supply. If I end up wanting to go back to my 650w PSU I might buy that other case anyway and migrate everything. Doubtful but who knows. It would completely undermine the CBA done on this purchase, too.

Now I just need to decide if I'm actually going to go the VR route or not. It's supposedly amazing in iRacing and Project Cars, less so with FM7.

Post by **columbia** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:56 am

dodint wrote: This is like the credit card rewards thing for me, I just don't care for the hassle.

https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/credit_car ... ards_terms

2.5%

Post by **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:58 am

If the look of the case matters, Alienware really does a superb job; they're just gorgeous. As for VR, I'd imagine that it depends on just how much content will be available to make the investment worthwhile. I gave up gaming a long time ago, so my requirements are much different. That said, I'd love to see what a VR flight simulator looks like.

Post by **dodint** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:01 am

Well, iRacing in VR is all the content I need. But my computer has a steering wheel, shifter, pedals with a load cell, button box, etc. An Oculus headset would be seen as part of that setup. If it also turns out to be great for porn, super (the wheel is fairly useless in this regard)!

Post by **NTP66** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:08 am

Post by **shmenguin** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 1:25 pm

I wish I knew someone with a VR rig. I'd love to dive into it - and go high end right away if I like it...but I just have no handle on the experience.

Post by **robbiestoupe** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 2:56 pm

Not sure where else to put this...

My wife has an old ipad with songs on it that she wants to access on her iphone. We also have some music on our computer and I have my own music that we'd both like to share through a common app/cloud/whatever. We want to be able to (hopefully) use this same cloud/app to store videos and photos that we take on our iphones.

Is there a good one stop shop app/cloud to do all this, or will I have to open an itunes music account and get an icloud account? Can this/these be shared across different users under a family plan or something similar?