What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)
- Thread starter tlowr4
- 4,193 comments
- 281,790 views
- 3,920
- Null Island
- 5,562
- The US of A
I'm a bit of a memory freak myself. For a long time I have always tried to get the highest capacity of just about anything and while it may be more expensive, I feel it will all pay off in the long run. For instance, I got my 160GB iPod Classic back in 2010 and I think it was one of the highest capacity iPod's at the time and I later got a 64GB 5th Generation Touch, which is the highest for it's generation. More recently I got a 120GB flash drive, I would have gotten a 256GB, but I was tight on money and 120GB was the next best thing for me. If I had any chance to get a 16TB SSD for a decent price, i'd be that one crazy person to go for it! 
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- 2,515
- London
- nowcontrol
I have a 240GB SSD and 10TB over three HDDs internally on my main computer all on hot-swap bays, and 3.3TB of external HDD. All are more than 50% full, I spend a lot of time moving files around and organizing folders.I have a 250Gb SSD, a 1TB for programs and games and a 2TB for my movies and they're almost full.
In two other computers I have a 120GB SSD with a 640GB HDD and one with a 320GB HDD.
EDIT: Forgot to add that I have two 256GB flash drives for use with my CDJs and also close to 200GB in assorted microSD cards.
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- 3,920
- Null Island
- 9,149
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
That depends on what you use your PC for, thanks to cloud and streaming services more storage for me just means I can store more games that I won't play. That has meant I haven't needed HDD levels of data density so I've slowly built up a collection of SSDs instead, it's super quiet and fast.
In other news, I'm technically developing a game now - just a Pong clone, and I do mean clone, because our old analogue Pong game at work died so the replacement has to be as faithful as possible to the original. I'm doing it in Python with pygame and it's going quite well so far, I just need to:
- Work out how to get the ball to start in the middle,
- Create a sprite font for the scores and refresh them properly (the scores are currently done with vectors and draw over the top of the old score...)
- Add game logic so the game resets when a player scores then serves the ball toward the scoring player, and
- Set up a joystick with two analogue axes so two players can use knobs to play, instead of using the X and Y mouse axes. For simplicity I'll probably just make an Arduino Micro-based mouse emulator instead though.
It's fun, I want to make more stuff!
- 1,641
- Belfair,Wa
- edawg456
- edawg456
- 7,689
- Michigan
- Rallywgn81
I just installed an AIO liquid cooler onto my AMD 8350. I had a stupid large air cooler on there before, it worked great, keeping my temps below 70c while gaming, even overclocked to 4.3ghz. But, the thing was so big (AMDs old FX chips could heat a bedroom in the dead of winter) that i couldnt properly close the case. Still on the same overclock tune at 4.335ghz and i think i topped out at 63c for a brief moment while playing subnautica. For the most part though it just hung out between 42 and 52c and about 17-25c at idle. Very happy I finally got around to installing this. Might even consider messing with my OC tune.
- 1,949
- Adelaide
I decided to wipe Fedora on my laptop and once again install Ubuntu. The installation failed because Fedora had done something weird with the partitions, resulting in my laptop booting to Grub Rescue. I ended up fixing the MBR so that I could boot back into Windows, then deleted the Linux partitions so that I could install Ubuntu on a fresh partition.
I was originally planning on just sticking with the default Gnome DE, because I had assumed that it would be snappier than KDE. Surprisingly though, it seems to be slower. I'm not really a fan of the default Gnome look anyway, so I think I'll just download another DE.
I was originally planning on just sticking with the default Gnome DE, because I had assumed that it would be snappier than KDE. Surprisingly though, it seems to be slower. I'm not really a fan of the default Gnome look anyway, so I think I'll just download another DE.
- 9,149
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
Pong is coming on well, I decided I was biting off more than I could chew by making everything a class so I unwrapped everything and made a ton of progress, but I still need to display the scores (it tracks the scores already and ends the game when someone reaches 15 points, like the original), play beeps and boops when the ball touches something, pause the ball briefly when it's reset after someone scores and redraw the background because it's annoyingly uneven. Oh and I still need to make the controller.
After that I think it'll be a close enough copy of the original to go into service on gallery, but I'll keep working on it to change the ball angle depending on where it hits the paddle and automatically reset and stop tracking the score when it hasn't been used for a while (then resume tracking when someone moves the controls again).
Then I'll make a Minecraft rip off and retire a millionaire.
After that I think it'll be a close enough copy of the original to go into service on gallery, but I'll keep working on it to change the ball angle depending on where it hits the paddle and automatically reset and stop tracking the score when it hasn't been used for a while (then resume tracking when someone moves the controls again).
Then I'll make a Minecraft rip off and retire a millionaire.
- 7,689
- Michigan
- Rallywgn81
- 1,949
- Adelaide
I don't have anything important on this laptop and rarely use Windows on it anyway, so I don't mind if the Windows installation gets ruined.
- 9,149
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
Oh of course, it's battle royale games now, isn't it? That's an even easier second project for a bedroom dev, perfect.
Since my last post I've added the score display, so now it's just sounds and pausing the ball. So I need to get the sounds from somewhere or make my own and read up on how to make a timer. So far everything I've read is about timing how long something takes rather than specifying a time delay (while allowing the main loop to still run, I mean). Oh and yeah, redraw the background, which is just a dotted line...
- 7,689
- Michigan
- Rallywgn81
I think battle royale is nearing the end of its run. Retro gaming seems to be getting into its stride though, maybe you can move up a generation from pong and start building 8 bit games.
Edit: also, if you are interested in some background music, i have a friend that can knock out some killer tunes for a really good price.
Edit: also, if you are interested in some background music, i have a friend that can knock out some killer tunes for a really good price.
- 9,149
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
I've discovered a really strange bug in Windows 10, or at least my installation of it... I use Bluetooth headphones whenever I'm using my PC, and a few months ago they just wouldn't stop popping, like they were constantly dropping the audio stream, picking it up again then dropping it, it was driving me mad. I couldn't find any info on it, couldn't fix it by uninstalling, updating or repairing any combination of drivers and was out of ideas so I disabled the Bluetooth radio on my combination WiFi/BT card and plugged in an old Asus BT400 dongle which fixed it completely.
Then a couple of nights ago it started again, so I unplugged the dongle and re-enabled the BT on the card, and it's fixed again... I don't understand it but as long as I can always fix it in this manner I can deal with it, I think.
That said, does anyone know of any Bluetooth headphones that look like normal headphones but also have the option of connecting via a proprietary dongle instead of generic Bluetooth? Sounds weird but that's a thing with some keyboards and mice...
Then a couple of nights ago it started again, so I unplugged the dongle and re-enabled the BT on the card, and it's fixed again... I don't understand it but as long as I can always fix it in this manner I can deal with it, I think.
That said, does anyone know of any Bluetooth headphones that look like normal headphones but also have the option of connecting via a proprietary dongle instead of generic Bluetooth? Sounds weird but that's a thing with some keyboards and mice...
Flex0r
Premium
- 2,013
- The Netherlands
- Flexman
Bought Far Cry 5 yesterday and decided I'd start playing it tonight.
Tried starting up pc, but alas nothing happens.
Tried to start it without videocard, tried it with one dimm, tried it with the other one again nothing.
Fans do not turn on.
Removed and reinserted bios battery again nothing, reset the bios with the button on the mainboard, nothing.
Tried to bypass the power switch absolutely nothing.
The mainboard seems to get power as the LEDs on the mainboard work.
I think the mainboard just died.
Tried starting up pc, but alas nothing happens.
Tried to start it without videocard, tried it with one dimm, tried it with the other one again nothing.
Fans do not turn on.
Removed and reinserted bios battery again nothing, reset the bios with the button on the mainboard, nothing.
Tried to bypass the power switch absolutely nothing.
The mainboard seems to get power as the LEDs on the mainboard work.
I think the mainboard just died.
- 5,562
- The US of A
Found out one of my songs had a glitch in the audio yesterday, so I dug up my sisters old MP3 player from 2010 and plugged it into to my laptop. Surely enough I found what I was looking for, so I copied it to my computer and in the process I rediscovered a song from 2008 I had long forgotten about that I didn't even know I was missing! 
I didn't even remember the song by name until I listened to it again and the artist was one I had also forgotten about by name until about 2 weeks ago and I usually am not one to forget these things.... I went through the device a few months back looking for songs of a specific genre and I am sure I saw it, but since I didn't remember it, I guess I glossed over it and mistook it for something else rather than what I was looking for. Good thing I checked again because after looking on my laptop, I did not have it!
Moral of the story, it helps to check your music library more than once, especially when it's quite large, because sometimes you never know what you could be missing.
I didn't even remember the song by name until I listened to it again and the artist was one I had also forgotten about by name until about 2 weeks ago and I usually am not one to forget these things.... I went through the device a few months back looking for songs of a specific genre and I am sure I saw it, but since I didn't remember it, I guess I glossed over it and mistook it for something else rather than what I was looking for. Good thing I checked again because after looking on my laptop, I did not have it!Moral of the story, it helps to check your music library more than once, especially when it's quite large, because sometimes you never know what you could be missing.
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- 9,149
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
Well I think I discovered the cause of my Bluetooth problem and managed to fix it, too. I used a WiFi spectrum analyser app to see what's going on around me and found that if I put my phone next to my PC (which is against the wall, which is a dividing wall between our flat and our neighbours') one WiFi network had a huge spike above all the others, so I assume my neighbours have either moved or installed a WiFi router or repeater on the exact opposite side of the wall. Annoying, but what can you do? I found that if I sit in my usual position the headphones would constantly pop and cut out (to the point where if I was watching Doug DeMuro I'd get every other syllable), but if I sat forward a bit more it was about twice as good, if I sat uncomfortably forward and tilted my head it was fine.
So I've put my dongle on the end of a USB extension cable and it seems to work fine now, it's not really much closer to me than it was but maybe it was the wave polarisation that was the problem, or maybe the drop-off is just that bad. In any case, I think it's ok.
So I've put my dongle on the end of a USB extension cable and it seems to work fine now, it's not really much closer to me than it was but maybe it was the wave polarisation that was the problem, or maybe the drop-off is just that bad. In any case, I think it's ok.
- 3,920
- Null Island
Beginning the task of sorting my bookmarks in Vivaldi into folders, grouped by site.
The folder for How To Geek currently stands at 535 items and the scroll bar's barely shrunk. Hold me
The folder for How To Geek currently stands at 535 items and the scroll bar's barely shrunk. Hold me
- 1,971
- Seattle, WA
Brought my Alienware R2- i5 6400t, GTX-960 8gb Ram Alpha to work today, we are going clone and then swap the 500gb- 5400 rpm HDD to a Samsung Evo 850 SDD (which is also 500gb). I was just going to create a w10 boot file on a usb thumb drive, but the IT guy suggested we clone the drive instead, he already has the cable, said it would be cleaner that way.
It didn't have the Hivemind installed, only windows 10 so I found it at Dell's site and Dl'd the software. I am using an Xbox One controller which works (mostly) but I can't get the hotkeys to function at all, would like to use the 'analog stick as a mouse' function but it won't work. The d-pad does work to navigate the menus so all is not lost. I also tried out to change the external LED light colors using the appearance menu but that function also does not work. After we get the drive swapped I'm thinking about uninstalling the Hivemind UI and trying something else like Gopher360 for the controller functionality. As for the lights issue I think dell/Alienware has a command center program for Windows 10 that might work in it's place.
It didn't have the Hivemind installed, only windows 10 so I found it at Dell's site and Dl'd the software. I am using an Xbox One controller which works (mostly) but I can't get the hotkeys to function at all, would like to use the 'analog stick as a mouse' function but it won't work. The d-pad does work to navigate the menus so all is not lost. I also tried out to change the external LED light colors using the appearance menu but that function also does not work. After we get the drive swapped I'm thinking about uninstalling the Hivemind UI and trying something else like Gopher360 for the controller functionality. As for the lights issue I think dell/Alienware has a command center program for Windows 10 that might work in it's place.
- 5,562
- The US of A
So lately I have been listening to all 965 songs on my iPod Classic to root out any songs that didn't play properly, had bad audio quality or were just duplicates and making a list of any that were as I went, like an "integrity check" on my music library. Well I just finished that today (finally) and spent some much needed time reorganizing my music library, replacing any of the bad songs on my list, a few of which I had to get from my brothers Mac, deleting unnecessary duplicates and making small fixes to some of them. Did the same for my iPod as well along with adding a bunch of new songs I had bought lately, but hadn't added yet. I now have 1018 songs on my device and it's only going to keep growing. 
Now I just need to play through the ones I added and make sure they all work fine.
Now I just need to play through the ones I added and make sure they all work fine.
- 5,562
- The US of A
Spent some time compiling a list of every video game I have because I plan creating a thread for this type of stuff later on. Man I had more than I realized! 
I also finally stopped being lazy and finished backing up the important things on my laptop. Did the reset I mentioned earlier and I chose the one that didn't erase my files, didn't work.
So I did the other that erased nearly everything on my PC and now my games are working properly again! 
(Thank goodness) I restarted my computer multiple times and I used Star Wars Battlefront II to test it out and it's showing no signs of the minimizing problem I had earlier.
I feel pretty stupid for having to nuke my entire computer just to fix it, but I tried to find solutions to it and had no luck. However I can't sing enough praises knowing knowing I can play some of my favorite games again, and to think I was contemplating on using my families computer for them. (Which I REALLY did not want to do) Now I just need to reinstall everything of importance again.
I also finally stopped being lazy and finished backing up the important things on my laptop. Did the reset I mentioned earlier and I chose the one that didn't erase my files, didn't work.
So I did the other that erased nearly everything on my PC and now my games are working properly again! (Thank goodness) I restarted my computer multiple times and I used Star Wars Battlefront II to test it out and it's showing no signs of the minimizing problem I had earlier.I feel pretty stupid for having to nuke my entire computer just to fix it, but I tried to find solutions to it and had no luck. However I can't sing enough praises knowing knowing I can play some of my favorite games again, and to think I was contemplating on using my families computer for them. (Which I REALLY did not want to do) Now I just need to reinstall everything of importance again.
bluemoon_19
Premium
- 1,177
- England, Yorkshire
- bluemoon_19
I checked the filters on my pc and was surprised how LITTLE dust was inside the front intake had some dust build up but had nearly none on bottom psu intake. Also added another power plug for my gpu instead on just using 1 cable with 6 and 8 pin on it. Some games are starting to hit my cards power limit so didn't want to push 180 watts down 1 cable.
