What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)

[DQuaN]

Yeah I'm sure a Pi can do it. It can be a wol device too.

 

[sesselpupser]

Yeah I'm sure a Pi can do it. It can be a wol device too.

Interesting. Would there be a way around the port forwarding, I wonder? Just in case I can't convince the landlord to let me poke around in the router.

 

[DQuaN]

Upnp possibly.

Most routers can't forward magic packets anyway. If your pc is wireless I don't think you can wol either.

 

[David]

I ended up ordering another 16 gigs of ram when I got paid last week as I intended, so I installed that last night after work. So now it's 32GB of DDR4 3000mhz Corsair Dominator Platinum. When I built the system a few weeks ago I had reinstalled my copy of Windows 7, but I went ahead and upgraded to Windows 10 last week as well. So far so good.

 

[sesselpupser]

Well I've taken a break from thinking about how to do... Networky stuff with various tinkerer's toys (the Pi and ESP8266) and instead spent today working on other things. I converted a PL2303TA-based USB to RS232 cable into a more robust USB dongle with female headers instead of the flimsiest cable known to man, so now I can not only switch between 5 and 3.3V more easily (and actually use both at once), I can also use the RTS, DCD, DTR, DSR and CTS pins that were previously not connected. I have yet to find a use for them, though.

Then I tried to get the dongle that doesn't officially support Arduinos (not sure why, I'm guessing it's the wrong logic level) to program an ATMega 328P-PU, which didn't work. Then I tried an Arduino Nano which has the same MCU, it worked twice and then it didn't, even with simple FET level shifters.

Then I got bored and decided to see if I could read RS232 data with an oscilloscope which turned out to be very straightforward but a little laborious because you have to remember that RS232 always precedes a byte with a 0 and always follows them up with a 1, so you can adjust your 'scope for a one-shot trigger, then move the captured signal across so you split the 10-bit message across the vertical line, that way you can ignore the first 0 and last 1, write the byte down, remember it'll be backwards (LSB first) and then convert it into hex so you can look that up on an ASCII table.

"sudo" is:
0 1100 1110 1 (0x73, s)
0 1010 1110 1 (0x75, u)
0 0010 0110 1 (0x64, d)
0 1111 0110 1 (0x6F, o).

Did I mention work is slow at the moment?

 

[sesselpupser]

Really minor but satisfying:

(note the near-identical free space, which is incidentally left free as overprovisioning)

 

[Lain]

I just recieved my Casetopia order containing hundreds of empty cases for various game systems, so now I'm going through the enjoyable process of printing & cutting out inserts for all of them.

15 out of 30 Vita cases done... then onto PS3, PS4, 360, XB1, DS, etc.

Vita cases are easy, but all the rest are going to involve some trickery to get them to fit onto 8.5x11" paper due to my printer's margins. But that's easy enough, I just tell it i'm printing on 8.5x14" paper! The printer freaks out about having the wrong kind of paper after printing each page, but it gets me the extra couple mm to print the full cover without any cropping.

 

[Nexus]

I finally installed Windows 10 on my computer. I screwed up the installation the first time (10 refused to install on my system partition I created when I had installed 8) so I had to reinstall 8 and upgrade from there. After that, I spent over an hour trying to get my wireless adaptor working again.

I then proceeded to download the latest version of AMD Crimson for my video card, only to find out that 10 had downloaded and installed the old Catalyst Control Centre by itself! I just hope that this automatic driver installation won't cause any problems in the future.

Apart from those problems, 10 seems pretty good. It feels a lot nicer to use than 8 did on a desktop.

 

[Swagger897]

Yeah my AMD card had issues on the upgrade so I had to rollback. Aside from that, 10 also deleted a few fonts used from 7 so if you have any programs installed that use 7 fonts, or they just go blank, that's the cause..

 

[sesselpupser]

I need some help with PCI wifi card selection because our landlord has just upgraded our router to a dual band ac thing and I'm still using a 2.4GHz n card. As is pretty typical of any consumer hardware, the Amazon reviews of everything I've looked at paint a pretty dismal picture of constant disconnects, drivers causing BSODs, things working then not working... I'm also considering just getting a cable instead, it's much cheaper after all.

But, before I do that, does anyone have any suggestions? I've looked at the TP-Link Archer T9E AC1900 and T8E AC1750 but apparently the drivers don't work with Windows 7 64-bit, the ASUS PCE-AC68 and... That's all.

I'm quite far from the router (same floor but probably 20 metres or more through three (thin, drywall) walls so I was looking at 3-antenna models.

 

[Ibonibo]

After a bit more then 7 years in service, my old trusty i7 goes into the second row.
In those years I only upgraded the gfx card twice, and it essentially is still rocking, but the CPU begins to bottleneck and a faster rendering editing and overall performance is welcome now,

The specs :

I7-920 OC' 3.6Ghz
XFX 280GTX -> EVGA 570gtx -> Gainward 970GTX Phantom
HDD no SSD
8GB RAM
...

The 970 will find it's way into the new setup, the 920 getting the 570 back. Till Nvidia releases Pascal...

I long taught about Haswell-E vs Skylake vs Broadwell-E
The entry Haswell E is strong, but only slightly outperforms the Skylake in rendering. Skylake takin the crown in fps in games.
The entry broadwell e will be strong, but it's rumored it's more focused on efficency and not a huge leap from the Haswell.

Either way, for me it will be a huge jump forward, considering a first gen i7...

So here is my list.

RAM x2
120 Fans x2
140 Fans x3

Can't wait to start on this

I guess stuff like rendering in Premiere will be cut by 4. Minimum

 

[JohnBM01]

This week, I've started mostly been using OBS (Open Broadcast Software) and trying to find ways to make videos with it. What I was recently able to accomplish was to make 1280x720 resolution videos but without pillarboxing. Videos I made previously were saved at 720p resolution, but I couldn't get rid of the pillar boxing on the sides. So I learned you can stretch the sides of a video so that it fills the preview screen. I made a test video of one testing session in rFactor. The raw video I created properly took advantage of the full 720p-type video size. After editing the video, I was able to retain the 1280x720 resolution even with the video being stretched out. The next thing I want to test using OBS is in video capture from a USB capture device. So I'm using my old MyGiga Capit to test out capturing video from a multi-out source. I am hoping to have equal success trying to capture video and be able to stretch it out to 720p type resolution. Now before anyone tells me otherwise, I don't have the finances to get the HDMI-capable capture devices from Elgato and Hauppauge. And even if I did, I'd probably get the Elgato based on one video I seen.

I had VideoStudio X6 installed on my PC since 2013, and I have never made a video with it until I started further editing my OBS-made videos. There are a good number of effects I can use and utilize if done properly- which is more I can say as someone who used to use the Sony Vegas Movie Studio series. My only issue is that VideoStudio is slower. However, a lot of the effects and such can really make for some interesting and creative videos. One thing that got me a bit interested is that you could import Flash animations into videos. My creative side wants me to use a program or two to design custom Flash animations to make more interesting videos and add interesting effects. I don't have a Flash suite, but I think something like Vectorian Grotto can make Flash material. So I'll explore my options.

My ultimate goal in all of this is to make more videos and add to the diversity of material of I've published. Most of my recent interest in returning to making videos was in watching all the different racing series using NR2003, rFactor, and GTR2. I haven't yet had success trying to make any GTR2 videos since I'm using Windows 10 and have to Run as Administrator and use WinXP SP3 compatibility... even though I specifically wanted GTR2 to run at 800x600 windowed. Maybe that is the next thing I'll try to tackle- how to get GTR2 to run windowed so I can look at making GTR2 videos potentially.

 

[Darla Starch]

According to Task Manager, I have virtualization enabled. If only I had more RAM (or even the capability to upgrade on this current laptop) and a larger hard drive....

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Well, ladies and gentlemen. Today I managed to fit a R9 280 and a Kuhler 1250 into a Thermaltake V3 case.

 

[Swagger897]

yikes... I'd probably look into a new case, as things should be super toasty in there..

 

[Lameonade]

It was my laptop. I initially wanted to 'clean the keyboard,' but that led to 'I want to paint the lid and housing a different color.' So here it is without the lid. Although I forgot I had work to do still, so I pieced it back together, and it still works like normal. Pretty neat that it's a touchscreen, so I just removed the keyboard because I can't use it with the screen situated like so.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

yikes... I'd probably look into a new case, as things should be super toasty in there..

Actually my CPU is only 49C under load, so temps aren't bad, but I really want a new case. Any ideas? What about used cases? I don't want to spend more than $100 CAD.

 

[Lameonade]

Painted and reassembled my laptop. Looks a million times better, although there's one part that doesn't quite fit the frame. I'll have to deal with that later.

Stock photos for reference of what color it was before painting.

 

[Terronium-12]

So I cleaned my keyboard yesterday and now I want another one; a K70 RGB to be exact. The only issue with that is the RGB flavor is no longer available with Blues, which leaves me with having to get them with Browns...

Oh that isn't the issue at all because I've yet to pick up a keyboard with Brown switches. The issue is I'll still want a full-sized keyboard with Blue switches (I have my Mid 87 but the fact I still haven't picked up an wrist rest for it means I haven't given it much love) and that'll leave me eyeing a Das 4 Ultimate (blank keycaps).

I'll get both no questions asked, I just... I need help.

 

[TenEightyOne]

The kids wanted a version of Minesweeper on their iPhones. I made a baby one for our home intranet in HTML/JS, all runs from the single HTML with no external sources required.

It still needs a few tweaks, CTRL+Click to set flags, feel free to give it a go

The file's attached as text, it'll need to be renamed to an HTML.

 

[sesselpupser]

So I cleaned my keyboard yesterday and now I want another one

It can't have been that dirty, surely?

I've just tested the 30m flat Cat6 Ethernet cable I bought because of our recently updated router (200Mb/s to the house and an 802.11ac radio and I was still using an 802.11n card that got ~50Mb/s with a ton of latency and connection issues) and it's stupid fast. I can do Steam streaming from my PC to laptop (which has 802.11ac) with latency less than 10ms, though that was only a quick test, so that's cool - maybe I can play MGS V on the TV now. I wonder if there's any way to get 1Gb LAN on a MacBook Air, not that it's actually necessary, 100Mb would be sufficient I think.

Anyway, very impressed, tomorrow evening will involve me, a hammer, a ladder and a load of cable clips because it's a bit of a hazard as it is now, draped across the kitchen and in front of two bedroom doors before it gets to mine...

 

[Terronium-12]

It can't have been that dirty, surely?

No. One thing lead to the other.

 

[eran0004]

I decided to test the Monty Hall problem: There are three doors, behind one of the doors is the grand prize. The game show host asks you to pick one door. Once you've done that, the host opens one of the other two doors and reveals that it's empty. There are now two doors remaining and the host asks you if you want to stay with the one you picked or if you want to switch to the other door. Do you switch or do you stick with your first choise?

I wrote a Python script that generates 10,000 (by default, it can do more if you'd prefer that) instances of this problem and records the outcome in each case.

Spoiler: The code

from random import randint

def door(switch = True, p = False):
  
    def eliminate(doors, win, guess):
        for item in [guess, win]:
            if item in doors:
                doors.remove(item) 
        r = randint(0, len(doors)-1)
        eliminated = doors.pop(r)
        for item in [guess, win]:
            if item not in doors:
                doors.append(item)
        doors.sort()
        return doors
      
    doors = [1, 2, 3]
    win = randint(1, 3)
    guess = randint(1, 3)
    doors = eliminate(doors, win, guess)
  
    if switch:
        doors.remove(guess)
        guess = doors[0]

    if guess == win:
        return 1
    else:
        return 0

def doors(switch = True, n = 10000):
    wins = 0
    for i in range(0, n):
        wins += door(switch)
    return '%d:%d' % (wins, n-wins)

The outcome is that if you switch you win in 2/3 of the instances and if you don't switch you win in 1/3 of the instances:

>>> doors(switch = True)
'6738:3262'
>>> doors(switch = False)
'3255:6745'

 

[Rallywagon]

Got a case from my bro in law Saturday, so I've slowly swapped over all of my components to the new case. My old case was on the skinny and short side. The graphics card effectively created two chambers making proper cooling a head ache. I ended up with 2 case fans and 3 large server fans. It sounded a bit like a jet spoiling up when I powered on and I was getting some high temps still on my GPU, up in the 70°c range. The new to me case came with a nice little AIO liquid cooler attached to an old Intel core 2 quad. Glad for that. I attached that to my GPU, and placed the radiator on the side wall with the fan blowing into the rad. I have another fan in the front blowing ambient air into the lower area and out the back, clearing the warmed radiator air. While playing Subnatica on the highest setting, I peaked at 69° but the temp fell and settled around 54-57° after that. Only rose to 60° a time or two when rendering deep ocean, which seems to really work the GPU.
There is also a fan in the back blowing outside air in at the cpu, which has the stock, slim heat sink with the fan in top. Then a fan onbtop pulling the air out of the top that is controlled by the case. It has a temp sensor, but the fan is quiet so I keep it at 100%. I also have one more fan in the front where the floopy drive was. This is set to fire up once the cpu hits 60°. I don't think I heard it the whole time. Once I had the fans adjusted I got the cpu to sit at about 47-52° under full load, under 19° at idle. Very happy with how this worked out . Now I can focus a bit more on my server build. The ol' 2950's just can't hang with some game servers anymore. Anyway, the specs and some pics.
Mobo: Asus M5A99 FX v2 Pro
CPU: AMD 8350 8 core 4Ghz Black Edition
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 380
PSU: Rosewill Gold Certified Photon 750w
Currently have 12gb of mixed matched RAM, and a sound blaster card that I will be using for tactile feed back.
Here it is, in not so much glory, but the form follows the function. Don't mind the cables, I need to get some Velcro from work.

Update: Checked the temps before leaving for class. The idle temp sits at 14° for the cpu and 30° for the GPU.

 

[David]

So I cleaned my keyboard yesterday and now I want another one; a K70 RGB to be exact. The only issue with that is the RGB flavor is no longer available with Blues, which leaves me with having to get them with Browns...

Oh that isn't the issue at all because I've yet to pick up a keyboard with Brown switches. The issue is I'll still want a full-sized keyboard with Blue switches (I have my Mid 87 but the fact I still haven't picked up an wrist rest for it means I haven't given it much love) and that'll leave me eyeing a Das 4 Ultimate (blank keycaps).

I'll get both no questions asked, I just... I need help.

I haven't tried one with blues but I've had a K70 with browns for almost 2 years now and love the way it feels. I kind of want to get an RGB too because I've got one of the regular K70s with the bad batch of blue LED's that started going out within the first few months of owning it. It's the only letdown I've ever experienced with Corsair but the keyboard is amazing otherwise and only 15 key lights are out now . I didn't want to RMA lest I be without my precious mechanical for weeks.

 

[JohnBM01]

After seeing two YouTube videos on how to rig a car in Blender, I took one of my voxel model cars and tried to follow the model to make a proper rig. This was all part of an experiment of thinking of something to maybe one day offer rigged vehicles as well as making them available for Unity3D. The only difference is that this rigging didn't involve using armatures/bones. Instead, it mostly involved parenting the wheels to the car body, then involved parenting the wheels and the car body to an empty. Using various restraints was also added to the experience. Needless to say, I felt like I created something cool that I could possibly use in future projects. As of this post, though, I haven't yet attempted to import my work into Unity3D. The project was designed to be very simple, so I didn't use anything extravagant of mine. I now have a new vision that I may want to try out for future projects. This all makes me feel a good bit accomplished.

 

[Korza]

So I cleaned my keyboard yesterday and now I want another one; a K70 RGB to be exact. The only issue with that is the RGB flavor is no longer available with Blues, which leaves me with having to get them with Browns...

Oh that isn't the issue at all because I've yet to pick up a keyboard with Brown switches. The issue is I'll still want a full-sized keyboard with Blue switches (I have my Mid 87 but the fact I still haven't picked up an wrist rest for it means I haven't given it much love) and that'll leave me eyeing a Das 4 Ultimate (blank keycaps).

I'll get both no questions asked, I just... I need help.

You can get the Straife RGB with Cherry MX Blue switches which is basically the same as the K70 RGB.

Or just get the K70 RGB with Browns and be happy with it.

 

[tarnheld]

I decided to test the Monty Hall problem:

Couldn't resist generalizing to n doors:

Spoiler: Code

import random

def door(switch = True, nd = 3):
  def choose(doors, exclude):
      cdoors = []
      # add non-excluded doors
      for x in doors:
          if x not in exclude:
              cdoors.append(x)
      # randomly choose between remaining doors
      return random.choice(cdoors)
  
  def eliminate(doors, exclude):
      e = choose(doors,exclude)
      doors.remove(e)
      return doors

  # setup instance
  doors = list(range(1, nd+1))
  win = random.randint(1, nd)
  guess = random.randint(1, nd)

  # montys move
  doors = eliminate(doors, [win, guess])

  # our move
  if switch:
      guess = choose(doors, [guess])
  
  # let's see if we won
  if guess == win:
      return 1
  else:
      return 0

def doors(switch = True, nd = 3, n = 10000):
  wins = 0
  for i in range(0, n):
      wins += door(switch,nd)
  return '%d:%d' % (wins, n-wins)

print ("3 doors, switch", doors(True))
print ("3 doors, keep  ", doors(False))
print ("4 doors, switch", doors(True,4))
print ("4 doors, keep  ", doors(False,4))
print ("5 doors, switch", doors(True,5))
print ("5 doors, keep  ", doors(False,5))

Seems like switching is also better with more doors, here is the output of my run:

3 doors, switch 6669:3331
3 doors, keep 3407:6593
4 doors, switch 3740:6260
4 doors, keep 2475:7525
5 doors, switch 2680:7320
5 doors, keep 1958:8042

It's an intriguing problem as it's so unintuitive at first that switching would make a change. 👍

 

[Lain]

Discovered that File Explorer does not like 175% scaling in Win 10.

150%, just fine. 200%, works like a champ. 175%? Crashes immediately upon launch every single time, even after logging out or completely restarting the computer.

 

[Darla Starch]

Toying around with the idea of building a computer for the family in general. Not even sure if it's gonna happen yet.