What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)
- Thread starter tlowr4
- 4,211 comments
- 289,501 views
- 9,171
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
Last night I installed Shairport (AirPlay) on my older Raspberry Pi and I was about to install it inside an old obsolete iPhone dock but it turns out the 5V rail in the thing is dead. That's ok, though, I wasn't sure if I wanted to dedicate the entire Pi to that one job forever and in the process of installing it I was going to remove the micro USB in favour of soldering it in place permanently. I still need a USB DAC because the built-in analogue audio is awful but I can't believe how well Shairport works, it's more reliable than the super expensive Bose Soundtouch my parents bought... It's a shame the iPod dock sounds roughly one tenth as good as that does, though.
- 9,171
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
So I got my "homemade" Airplay device working, turned out the on-board audio sounds a lot better than it used to, I have no idea why but it doesn't pop and hiss like it did last time I tried it. As I said last time the dock the Pi is plugged into doesn't sound too great - though it is at least a hi-fi with two point one channels (even if they are about three inches apart!), tweeters as well as woofers - and I can't power the Pi with the dock directly, but since I don't have the Pi connected wirelessly (might try that at a later date, if I ever fix the dock's 5V supply) I don't care too much about having to use an external power supply. I mean, we have so many iPhone wall chargers kicking around now it really doesn't make a difference if one goes missing.
Such an easy project and it has saved that dock from the bin, so if anyone else has an old hi-fi with an aux in port destined to be chucked away I'd recommend looking into making it Airplay-friendly. I think I'll move this one to my room and add a Pi to the home cinema speakers for Airplay and maybe more, if I think of anything it needs.
Edit: Oh yeah, I had an old MacBook (2006 Core Duo version - i.e. totally obsolete and mostly useless) that I was going to try to turn into an iTunes home sharing server. It was pretty dead and would've been absolutely awful in the role - the battery died so it didn't even have the natural UPS it should've - so I didn't care too much about it. I figured out that it wouldn't POST if I removed the display connector, but I didn't want to have the display attached, I wanted it to be more compact than that and for it to run headless. Naturally the only solution was to separate the (knackered, by the way) display from its controller board by slicing through the connecting ribbons with a razor. I plugged the Magsafe in and before I could power it on something went pop - quite brightly and loudly - on the logic board. So naturally I removed the speakers, keyboard and trackpad and binned the rest. I would say it's a shame but frankly I'm glad I can use the keyboard for something else, I think it's USB so once I've worked out what's what I should be able to use it with a Pi or something.
Such an easy project and it has saved that dock from the bin, so if anyone else has an old hi-fi with an aux in port destined to be chucked away I'd recommend looking into making it Airplay-friendly. I think I'll move this one to my room and add a Pi to the home cinema speakers for Airplay and maybe more, if I think of anything it needs.
Edit: Oh yeah, I had an old MacBook (2006 Core Duo version - i.e. totally obsolete and mostly useless) that I was going to try to turn into an iTunes home sharing server. It was pretty dead and would've been absolutely awful in the role - the battery died so it didn't even have the natural UPS it should've - so I didn't care too much about it. I figured out that it wouldn't POST if I removed the display connector, but I didn't want to have the display attached, I wanted it to be more compact than that and for it to run headless. Naturally the only solution was to separate the (knackered, by the way) display from its controller board by slicing through the connecting ribbons with a razor. I plugged the Magsafe in and before I could power it on something went pop - quite brightly and loudly - on the logic board. So naturally I removed the speakers, keyboard and trackpad and binned the rest. I would say it's a shame but frankly I'm glad I can use the keyboard for something else, I think it's USB so once I've worked out what's what I should be able to use it with a Pi or something.
Last edited:
- 6,146
- Germany
👍
- 1,085
- Concord MA
- DiGiTaL_
- Digital_L30
I packed up my new PC and sent it back to Dell. Brand new Alienware X51 spec'd to the max; shutting off every 5-10 mins, GPU temps exceeding 200F and HDMI connector was faulty. What a shame. I had no idea where they got that specific PC that made it the biggest brand new piece of junk I have ever seen. (Sigh) So frustrating.
- 8,447
- Rockay City
The result of my latest labor:
The Fractal Design Node 605 case is just brilliant. Heavy brushed aluminium front, looks gorgeous. The contents are nice too: Core i5-4460 combined with 16GB of RAM and a GTX970 from MSI. Kept cool by 2x120mm and 2x80mm. Hardly any noise either, since the 970GTX is not a hothead at all. 👍 No more consoles for me (moved PS3 to my sons room).
The Fractal Design Node 605 case is just brilliant. Heavy brushed aluminium front, looks gorgeous. The contents are nice too: Core i5-4460 combined with 16GB of RAM and a GTX970 from MSI. Kept cool by 2x120mm and 2x80mm. Hardly any noise either, since the 970GTX is not a hothead at all. 👍 No more consoles for me (moved PS3 to my sons room).
- 4,464
- Azle, TX
- supermanfromazle
- SanjiHimura
Spotted a hacking attempt on one of my email accounts (my Yahoo one). Stopped him in his tracks. Going to see about doing some computer clean up tomorrow.
- 1,231
- Dublin, IRL
- PR1VATEJ0KER
- na
Figured out how to extract the byte array from a monochrome bitmap and display it on an old phone screen using an arduino.
- 12,298
- Ealing-London
Used an html screensaver to set the ISS live earth viewing stream as my wallpaper.
I'm trying to use VLC to set it as my desktop background but haven't been able to as yet.
I'm trying to use VLC to set it as my desktop background but haven't been able to as yet.
Last edited:
- 895
- Limbabwe
- DDDsprayshop
My orginal 1TB hdd from my Acer Aspire M7720 got the "click of death" after 5 years.
lucky me it was not a 100% click of death.
Shut down computer, got in the car.
Bought my first SSD 120GB for windows and a 3TB to replace the 1TB.
My documents and email are on a seperate HDD, so no problems there.
But there was other data i needed back.
Old hdd in the freezer to cool, installed both new ssd and 3tb.( yes in the freezer, not my first click of death, hdd cooldown can help to retrieve data)
Got the cold hdd out of the freezer, connect, dos backup/clone program and cloned the windows partition to my ssd.
bios recognized the 3TB as a 810GB ( allready the latest firmware but is from 2009)
, i installed the 3TB in windows, and started to copy all data from the old one, to the new one.
yay, all works fine, performance index is now 7.3 due to my old GTX VGA, ssd is indexed 7.8, so runs great.
Lucky the old hdd did not 100% clicked to death....
This is the 5th time i got a click of death harddisk in the 20 years i'm using computers.
lucky me it was not a 100% click of death.
Shut down computer, got in the car.
Bought my first SSD 120GB for windows and a 3TB to replace the 1TB.
My documents and email are on a seperate HDD, so no problems there.
But there was other data i needed back.
Old hdd in the freezer to cool, installed both new ssd and 3tb.( yes in the freezer, not my first click of death, hdd cooldown can help to retrieve data)
Got the cold hdd out of the freezer, connect, dos backup/clone program and cloned the windows partition to my ssd.
bios recognized the 3TB as a 810GB ( allready the latest firmware but is from 2009)
, i installed the 3TB in windows, and started to copy all data from the old one, to the new one.yay, all works fine, performance index is now 7.3 due to my old GTX VGA, ssd is indexed 7.8, so runs great.
Lucky the old hdd did not 100% clicked to death....
This is the 5th time i got a click of death harddisk in the 20 years i'm using computers.
- 9,171
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
After trying to transfer some music I bought this morning to my phone and being told I don't have enough room I performed a well-overdue spring clean, managed to free up nearly 3GB. Considering I have a 16GB iPhone 4S that's actually quite a big deal... Oh, but it's just managed to transfer the same album twice. Considering it's a 3-disc set that's a hell of a lot of music. Grr. I'm actually looking forward to getting an Android so I can do this manually again.
Edit: After manually deleting all the duplicates half of the not-duplicates have also disappeared. I was able to re-download most of these but there are two tracks that refuse to download no matter what. Gotta love that auto-sync iTunes cloud technology that 'just works'.
Oh and I can't get a non-DRM version of the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack because it has since been removed from iTunes after I bought the DRM version. In fact I think if I were to delete it I wouldn't be able to download it from iTunes again. That's now how you do cloud technology, Apple! Steam lets me download any game I've bought regardless of whether it's still for sale or not, why is this so convoluted and mysterious?
Edit: After manually deleting all the duplicates half of the not-duplicates have also disappeared. I was able to re-download most of these but there are two tracks that refuse to download no matter what. Gotta love that auto-sync iTunes cloud technology that 'just works'.
Oh and I can't get a non-DRM version of the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack because it has since been removed from iTunes after I bought the DRM version. In fact I think if I were to delete it I wouldn't be able to download it from iTunes again. That's now how you do cloud technology, Apple! Steam lets me download any game I've bought regardless of whether it's still for sale or not, why is this so convoluted and mysterious?
Last edited:
- 652
- Dallas, Texas
- TEHGAMER13
- Man of Mister
Well, today I freed up approximately 30GB of space on my primary hard drive.
Why is 30GB such a big deal? Well, I currently have a 120GB hard drive installed, and I'm too lazy (poor) to afford one of them there new 1TB HDDs or whatchamacallits. Also, 30GB of space is important, especially when you have this:
Yes, my Steam library consumes a quarter of my hard drive. Better than what it was before I started cleaning up, because previously, it weighed in at 90(ish)GB. And that's just the Steam library itself. Just think about it, Gaben taking half of your hard drive and living there.
Why is 30GB such a big deal? Well, I currently have a 120GB hard drive installed, and I'm too lazy (poor) to afford one of them there new 1TB HDDs or whatchamacallits.
Also, 30GB of space is important, especially when you have this:Yes, my Steam library consumes a quarter of my hard drive. Better than what it was before I started cleaning up, because previously, it weighed in at 90(ish)GB. And that's just the Steam library itself.
Just think about it, Gaben taking half of your hard drive and living there.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
Today, I finally joined the HD realm as I am enjoying the new monitor I bought recently. I have an Acer S240HL; and to my surprise, this version is NOT HDMI compatible. I was to get an Acer S230L, but I found this S240HL and was tempted to go get the S240HL when I was at a Wal-Mart. I will need to get an HDMI to DVI cable or adapter so I can take advantage of the HD-quality devices I have. The Acer S240HL has a DVI-D Dual Link DVI jack. So I'll need to get either an HDMI-to-DVI cable or adapter that has a DVI-D Dual Link connection. I know I'll need a cable or adapter with a DVI-D Dual Link end to it because that is how the DVI port on my new monitor looks after doing some research online. Getting a cable or adapter of this kind will allow me to use certain HDMI stuff in my room such as my satellite receiver, my PS3, and some other stuff.
Otherwise, I am enjoying the crazy resolution and size of this 23-inch PC monitor. I even tried watching a few videos from XBMC/KODI and was awed over the widescreen quality. I actually am viewing everything in SD quality, but I may tempt the HD waters of certain HD video and pictures through this program.
Otherwise, I am enjoying the crazy resolution and size of this 23-inch PC monitor. I even tried watching a few videos from XBMC/KODI and was awed over the widescreen quality. I actually am viewing everything in SD quality, but I may tempt the HD waters of certain HD video and pictures through this program.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I bought an HDMI-DVI cable today to connect HDMI devices to my PC monitor. It was so cool to watch some of the HD-quality material on my new monitor.
More importantly, getting the HDMI-DVI cable allows me to take advantage of a device I also got earlier this month- the OUYA gaming console. I played two different games and want to eventually try to develop games for the OUYA. "Potential" is often times the key word if people were doing Word Association with the OUYA. I'm hopeful to try to study the OUYA and its capabilities to imagine what I could do in the future to create some sort of games for it. Those are more like long-term goals with it. Otherwise, having this HDMI-DVI cable has played a big role in what I've been up to lately technology-wise.
More importantly, getting the HDMI-DVI cable allows me to take advantage of a device I also got earlier this month- the OUYA gaming console. I played two different games and want to eventually try to develop games for the OUYA. "Potential" is often times the key word if people were doing Word Association with the OUYA. I'm hopeful to try to study the OUYA and its capabilities to imagine what I could do in the future to create some sort of games for it. Those are more like long-term goals with it. Otherwise, having this HDMI-DVI cable has played a big role in what I've been up to lately technology-wise.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
The past few days have mostly been about learning and developing material. Recently, I used a tutorial online to learn how to make a game with Unity3D and push it to my OUYA console. Even more recently, I begun the tutorial process on building an Android app. I'm hopeful something great will develop from my work.
- 9,171
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
There are a lot of people who would disagree with you on that, look up any sales figures for Ouya games and you'll see what I mean. The best things the Ouya has going for it are:
- Emulators and streaming clients, i.e. programs that allow you to use the Ouya to do anything but play Ouya games
- Open controller support because the Ouya's own is an abomination
- The Tegra 3 processor
- Ethernet and HDMI
- ...
I bought an Ouya and you're the first person I've encountered who bought one after me, everyone else bought in to the Kickstarter or got one shortly after that. Many of them don't have theirs any more. I don't even know where my Ouya is right now but it did get used as a streaming client for a whole load of things like Steam, iTunes, Netflix (though it was poor quality because it was a side-loaded phone app) and as an emulator, I did have a few Ouya store games on it - Super Crate Box and No Brakes Valet were great - but the majority of them were pretty awful.
I still think the main reason mobile games sell as well as they do is that they're incidental to owning a phone, you can do other things with the phone and the games are accessible at any time. When you put those games or games made for the same hardware but a different controller in an immobile box connected to a TV and call it a games console, you remove all those benefits and suddenly the whole concept makes no sense. It was an experiment, it failed but at least others have learned from it.
So basically if you want to get into Android app or game development, don't target the Ouya! That would be limiting your audience. My advice would be to develop it for touchscreen devices first and port it to the Ouya afterwards.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I bought a cable this past weekend that converts from HDMI to VGA, and I tried to use it today. Initially intended to try to get sound from the OUYA while also being able to listen to regular headphones, it failed on the sound front. It failed when I tested trying to get HDMI input from my satellite cable receiver to the HDMI to VGA cable. Only thing that worked just fine was when I connected this cable from my PlayStation 3 to my current monitor. So I basically am using this cable to listen to sound from my PlayStation 3 while also being able to listen to the PS3 with a pair of regular headphones. I intend to buy a different HDMI to VGA converter which I heard actually DID work with getting sound from the OUYA and being able to listen with regular headphones. I'm hopeful to give this a try. If this fails, I'll just stick to using my Bluetooth speaker for sound playing with the OUYA. I may also try to buy Bluetooth headphones of some kind as an alternative.
By the way... I tried to get this HDMI to VGA cable to work with my former monitor, and while it worked- sound and all, the old monitor says "Cable Signal Low" or something and ends up going to sleep after a minute or two. Maybe it doesn't pick up the HDMI signal as strong as I thought it would. Another possibility is that I could use two monitors- one for developing games for the OUYA, and the other for simply using my PC. The latter is basically the more realistic scenario unless I want to constantly alternate between VGA and DVI inputs on my lovely 1080p-capable PC monitor.
By the way... I tried to get this HDMI to VGA cable to work with my former monitor, and while it worked- sound and all, the old monitor says "Cable Signal Low" or something and ends up going to sleep after a minute or two. Maybe it doesn't pick up the HDMI signal as strong as I thought it would. Another possibility is that I could use two monitors- one for developing games for the OUYA, and the other for simply using my PC. The latter is basically the more realistic scenario unless I want to constantly alternate between VGA and DVI inputs on my lovely 1080p-capable PC monitor.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
What I've done today is become ticked off because the cheap HDMI to VGA adapter I bought on Amazon decided to fail on me. I had NO video output to my monitor with this HDMI to VGA adapter I bought recently. Not even using it for my PS3 worked. So this was a failed purchase as I simply wanted to enjoy my HDMI devices on my PC monitor. The adapater and the accompanying stereo cable are where they belong- back in the package they came from. I may even throw the whole thing in the trash never to be found again. Failed purchase.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I may have found a long-term solution to my sound issues with the OUYA. I bought an HDMI to VGA adapter with audio. I decide to only use this to get sound and audio from my OUYA. When I tried to use this adapter for my PlayStation 3, I did not get any audio or video feedback from the adapter. So rather than suffer the living nightmare I endured with the other HDMI to VGA thing, I'm going to use this for my OUYA and only my OUYA. Maybe I play-test using this on my satellite receiver, but I don't think the VGA cord is long enough.
The HDMI to VGA adapter I bought over the weekend online offers HDMI to VGA with sound. The sound doesn't skip like with the Bluetooth-capable speaker I have. I can comfortably put in some headphones and privately listen to material from my OUYA. This is what I was looking for in quite a while- a proper adapater to enjoy sound without having to feel like I need to have an HDTV to simply use the OUYA. This 1080p monitor is working just fine though it doesn't have an HDMI port. It has VGA and DVI. And speaking of DVI, I am using the HDMI to DVI cable I got from Radio Shack to jack into my PC. I can freely change the video output from DVI to VGA with two button presses on the monitor.
In case this adapter decides to fail on me, I'll be sure to rant on it here on this fine message board so that no one else will be pressured into the same misfortune.
The HDMI to VGA adapter I bought over the weekend online offers HDMI to VGA with sound. The sound doesn't skip like with the Bluetooth-capable speaker I have. I can comfortably put in some headphones and privately listen to material from my OUYA. This is what I was looking for in quite a while- a proper adapater to enjoy sound without having to feel like I need to have an HDTV to simply use the OUYA. This 1080p monitor is working just fine though it doesn't have an HDMI port. It has VGA and DVI. And speaking of DVI, I am using the HDMI to DVI cable I got from Radio Shack to jack into my PC. I can freely change the video output from DVI to VGA with two button presses on the monitor.
In case this adapter decides to fail on me, I'll be sure to rant on it here on this fine message board so that no one else will be pressured into the same misfortune.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
Well, the adapter has a male HDMI port and a female VGA port. The adapter jacks into the HDMI output port and takes the sound from there. The VGA input offers the video signal to go to the VGA monitor. Of course, if my monitor had an HDMI port, I wouldn't need these adapters. I can still comfortably use the HDMI while viewing on my PC monitor. More importantly, I am finally able to hear what I am playing using my OUYA. Only problem with it is just that I wish more games I played had better volume control options so that they aren't too loud playing some games.
[UPDATE] I did try to hook this adapter into my satellite receiver last night, and it didn't work. I put it back into the OUYA thinking I blown another HDMI to VGA cable. Fortunately for me, the adapter still works just fine hooking it back into the OUYA.
[UPDATE] I did try to hook this adapter into my satellite receiver last night, and it didn't work. I put it back into the OUYA thinking I blown another HDMI to VGA cable. Fortunately for me, the adapter still works just fine hooking it back into the OUYA.
