computers    10/19/2024

December 2023 - Added a second Displayport to the 7050 as well as doubling the RAM to 32GB. Usually this almost always is used on Sonoma 14.2 on two LG43 monitors at 3840x2160@60Hz. A third can be added with the other LG43 on HDMI at 30Hz.

September 2023 - Bought 2TB Viper VP4300 Lite m.2 Gen4 NVMe SSD to replace the 1TB WD Black NVMe in BRIX. Did not transfer stuff over, so using it in a USB-C enclosure for backups.

December 2022 - Purchased another LG 43un700 monitor to replace the Dell u4320q which does not have a remote useful for audio volume and changing input sources. This will be sold on Craigslist.

December 2021 - For the last 2 years, we have gone back to the free Microsoft OneNote which I have used in the early 2000’s. This is just like pages in manila folders placed in a big filing cabinet. I can use the Surface Pen to sketch, markup, annotate, and convert handwriting to text. Everything is shared and synced to individual computers and the OneDrive cloud.

After trying to tune the Dell u4320q GRB monitor with the Dell u2717d RGB monitor on Windows 11, Microsoft’s ClearType and Better ClearType Tuner font tuners will set both to exactly the same - that is a Microsoft flaw. Better ClearType will allow you to view the subpixel rendering with a normal and zoom view. To fix this, after use of either program, requires editing the registry at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Avalon Graphics. DISPLAY1, DISPLAY2 have GammaLevel between 1000-2200 (base 10) and PixelStructure where RGB=1 and BGR=2. It looks a bit better.

November 2021 - Finally got Nancy’s 7050 up by just rebuilding it from scratch. Now it uses 65w or less, compared to the old 400w power supply.

October 2021 - Purchased 2 LG 43un700 monitors. Needing something compatible with my homebuilt Mac, I got a used $26 HP nVidia NVS510 graphics card capable of outputting four 4k@60Hz from its mini Displayports. I got another for $19 for Nancy’s computer as her old card only did 4k@30.

August 2021 - A Dell 5070 thin client with a J5005 quad core Pentium, 8GB, 250GB m.2 drive with Windows 10 Pro was acquired from eBay for $120. Unexpectedly, it runs three 4k monitors (3 DP or 2 DP + USB-C) at 60Hz! A Dell u4320q is used with this along with the LG.

June 2021 - Got 2 Dell 7050 micro computers, smaller than the Mac Mini, for about $178 each on eBay. One replaces Nancy’s old power hungry tower computer - that won’t be as sysprep cannot handle the transfer. One is defective as the CPU is stuck running at 800MHz, so the other has Windows 11 preview and MacOS Monterey installed.

August 2020 - Got rid of Mozilla Thunderbird email as they do not fix bugs and continually add features. On Ubuntu, Evolution works much better for searching messages and popup notifications work as new messages come in. On the Windows and Mac side, SeaMonkey works similarly to Evolution.

As there are fewer Microsoft Office keyboard shortcuts on the Mac version, I uninstalled Office from the PCs and Macs and installed LibreOffice on them. LibreOffice was already running on the Linux machines.

July 2020 - Bought a Raspberry Pi 4 B with 8GB RAM from Central Computers along with a 256GB Samsung micro SD card from Amazon. Even though it is an ARM 64 bit CPU, Raspberry PI OS 32 bit was installed for maximum compatibility. It is based on Debian 10 with a 4.19 kernel - now updated to 5.4. Java FX is separate from the runtime and obtained from Oracle. Still not able to run kmttg to download from the Tivos.

Added a Western Digital WN750 1TB Black NVMe M.2 SSD to the BRIX. This is one of the fastest 4 lane PCIe storage, but the BRIX is limited to using 2 lanes.

  

December 2019 - Bought a Surface Pro 7 bundle with Type Cover (keyboard) and Pen from Costco. The CPU is a quad core i5, 8GB RAM, and 128GB of storage. As it would be $200 more to go to 256GB, I bought a 256GB Samsung micro SDXC, but it will be slower than the internal memory. It would have been slightly cheaper with a better keyboard at B&H without sales tax, but delivery would have been delayed. It has a USB-C and a USB3.1 port and microSDXC slot. With a USB-C cable, designed for video and charging, plugged into the Surface, it will extend the workspace to the LG 43” monitor at 60Hz.

I was playing with USB-C docking dongles that have HDMI output, SD card reader, RTL8153 ethernet, additional USB3.1 ports, and a USB-C port for input power. I settled on a refurbished Vava VA-UC010 as it was only $16 on Amazon. All four I have tried had the ethernet drop and not recover when streaming >100Mbps. The Connected Standby (enhanced sleep mode) does not work with the RTL8153. Setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\CsEnabled = 0 fixes it. Power Options|USB selective suspend=Disabled & turning off Power Management for the RTL8153 may also be needed. There is no Sleep, but Hibernate works and only takes up to 15 seconds to restore. The dongle will not output HDMI on the BRIX as it does not have the DisplayPort Alt mode.>

July 2019 - Purchased an open box 4k (3840x2160@60Hz) LG 43” monitor model 43UD79B from buydig (Beach Camera) on ebay for $352.75 plus sales tax. It has 2 HDMI 1.4, 2 HDMI 2.0, USB-C (video or charging), DisplayPort, and USB3 ports. It even has a remote control. Software allows Picture by Picture, Picture in Picture, and several other configurations from up to 4 computers. I can watch the Tivo HD in one of the PIP windows and display 2 computers at 1920x2160 side by side.

During 2017, I purchased 2 Dell U2717d monitors that have HDMI, DisplayPort IN and DisplayPort OUT allowing daisy-chain with a single cable from a computer.

In July 2014, I purchased 2 Dell 27” U2713HM DVI-DL, HDMI, DisplayPort monitors with resolution of 2560x1440 on DVI-DL or DisplayPort. HDMI is 1920x1080 and is scaled. Like our old Viewsonic 20”, this has an IPS panel.

There are several TN based (common inexpensive panels) Gateway FHD2400 PC monitors with 1:1 pixel mapping and Picture in Picture plus HDMI (HDCP), DVI (HDCP), RGB, Svideo, progressive, and RCA composite inputs.

Most 21.5” and larger monitors 1080p. 1:1 pixel mapping means the input is not scaled and is displayed at the native resolution - 1080p will be displayed with black bars at top and bottom if 16:10. When the display ratio is 16:9, there will not be black bars if content is 1.85:1. With the Gateway, 720p will display with black bars all the way around unless you set the monitor to upscale. You have the choice to have the signal displayed natively or scaled to your monitor.

The Dell is one that will scale. A 1920x1080p signal will always rescale to fill the 2560 pixels and will not never be as sharp one that does not scale. A computer output at 2560 will not scale and that is its sharpest.

One Gateway has been used as an extended desktop with an 8½” PIP from a Tivo HD.

For video astronomy, I purchased a 1280x800 10.1” IPS display panel with HDMI, VGA, and composite RCA inputs. Now the Tivo Bolt is output to it. Most of the inputs have died. eWaste

An AMD 5200+ dual CPU encodes DVD video 4 times as fast as an AMD 3500+ CPU. Whatever took 2 hours on the slower machine was finished in less than 30 minutes on the dual. Critical things about Windows XP you need to know.


Nancy Jack PC / Mac / Linux spare / dead
CPU Dell OptiPlex 7050 micro with quad-core 4 thread i5-6500T CPU at 3.2GHz with 6MB cache

spare Intel Q8400 socket 775, Core 2 quad 2.66GHz

core i7-2600k quad core unlocked clocked at 3.5GHz vs. normally 3.4GHz

Asus VivoMini UN62 with dual-core, 4 thread i3-4030U CPU at 1.9GHz with 3MB cache

 Gigabyte BRIX GB-BLCE-4105 with quad-core, 4 thread Celeron J4105 CPU at 2.5GHz with 4MB cache, 10w Total Dissipated Power

 Wyse 5070 with quad-core, 4 thread Pentium J5005 1.5Ghz, up to 2.8GHZ burst with 4MB cache, using just 10 watts.

Dell OptiPlex 7050 micro with quad-core, 4 thread i5-7600 CPU at 3.5GHz with 6MB cache

Raspberry PI 4 B with 4 core Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortrex-A72 (ARM v8) CPU 600MHz to 1.5GHz, 8GB RAM

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 with quad-core, 8 thread i5-1035G4 CPU at 1.1GHz with 6MB cache

MacBook Air (Starlight) 13.6”, 256GB, 8GB, 1080p webcam, 35w power, 2 USB4/Thunderbolt, TouchID 		Athlon 64x2 5000+ Black Edition running at 2.8GHz $55 + $15 for heatsink/fan

Athlon 64 5200+ (2.7GHz) dual core in homemade case<

Dell e7450 14” laptop ran 2 external monitors via mini DisplayPort daisy chain and/or HDMI. Died late 2023 due to motherboard power problem.
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L rev 1.1 Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 rev 1.0 CPU & this was cheaper at Microcenter than online Asus A8AE-LE

ECS 6100PM-M2
Case 7.2 x 7.0 x 1.4” case with brick supplying 19.5vdc maximum of 3.4 amps

Antec TruePower TP3 430W power supply in an Antec mid-tower case		 OCZ 600w ModXStream-Pro with Active PFC in Antec Solo tower case, 17 x 18.8 x 7.8”

5.2 x 5.2 x 1.7” case with wall transformer supplying 19vdc up to 3.4 amps

 4.4 x 4.7 x 1.8” case with brick supplying 19vdc up to 3.42 amps

 7.2 x 7.2 x 1.4” case with brick supplying 19.5vdc maximum of 3.4 amps

7.2 x 7.0 x 1.4” case with brick supplying 19.5vdc maximum of 6.7 amps

3.6 x 2.3 x 1.2” glass, 12vdc 40mm fan, recycled circuit board, cardboard & glue

11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33”, 1.74 pounds. Type Cover adds another 0.2” in thickness and 11 ounces

12.0 x 8.5 x 0.44”, 2.74 pounds 		old Compaq mini tower 235w power supply

homebuilt case (recycled) 430w power supply

13.3 x 9.1 x 0.8” 3.6 pounds


pictures
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 SODIMM 2400+3200MHz

2 Corsair XM2 + 2 Corsair ?? = 8GB DDR2 PC6400 (800MHz)		 Patriot 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 G2 series PC12800 at 1600MHz

16GB (2x8GB) DDR3L SODIMM 1333MHz (2 max @ 1600MHz)

16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 SODIMM 2400+3200MHz

 8GB (4GB + 4GB) DDR4 SODIMM 2400MHz

 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 SODIMM 3200MHz runs at 2400MHz

8GB LPDDR4-2400 onboard

8GB LPDDR4Lx-3200 onboard

8GB Micron LPDDR5 onboard

 4 x 512MB DDR

1 x 2GB DDR2 borrowed from another

16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3L SODIMM 1600MHz
Ports 1 USB-C 3.1 PD, 5 USB-A 3.1, DisplayPort (4k60p), HDMI (4k30p), 1Gb RJ45

6 SATA, IDE, USB2
card reader with eSATA		 SATA, eSATA, IDE, firewire, USB2, USB-A 3.0, HDMI, DVI, VGA, 4x DisplayPort, USB2 card reader, 1Gb RJ45

2 USB-A 3.1 G1, 2 USB-A 3.0, DisplayPort, HDMI, 1Gb RJ45, SDXC read/writer

 3 USB-A 3.0, 1 USB-C 3.0, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, 1Gb RJ45

 1 USB-C 3.2 G1 PD DP, 5 USB 3.2 G2, 2 USB2, 3 DP, 1 VGA, 1Gb RJ45

1 USB-C 3.1 PD, 5 USB-A 3.1, 2x DisplayPort (4k60p), HDMI (4k30p)

1 USB-C power, 2 USB-A 3.0, 2 USB-A 2.0, 2 micro-HDMI, microSDXC slot

1 USB-C 3.1 G2 PD DP, 1 USB-A 3.1, microSDXC slot

2 Thunderbolt/USB-C 		2 SATA, 2 IDE, 2 firewire, USB2, Adaptec 2902 SCSI card

4 SATA, 2 IDE, USB2 trying to get 2902 SCSI to recognize LS2000

3 USB-A 3.0, HDMI, mini DisplayPort up to 4k@60Hz, SD reader, fingerprint reader, NFC, 1Gb RJ45, pointing stick.
Storage 256GB Samsung mSATA SSD (for now)
can put in m.2 NVMe or m.2 SATA

512GB Crucial MX100 SATA SSD
 480GB Crucial M500 SSD (win10x64), 256GB Samsung 850evo Pro SSD (MacOS), 1.5TB Hitachi, 750GB Samsung, 200GB Samsung SATA

250GB Samsung 850evo mSATA SSD

 1TB WD WN750 Black m.2 NVMe PCIe, 250GB Samsung 850EVO SATA

 128GB Sandisk X400 m.2 SATA, 32GB eMMC Sandisk DF4016 flash

256GB Sabrent SB2130 m.2 NVMe PCIe, 256GB Micron 1300 SATA

16GB Sandisk Mobile Ultra in micro SDXC slot

128GB Hynix SSD NVMe onboard, 256GB Samsung EVO Select microSDXC card in slot

256GB SSD NVMe onboard 		250GB Hitachi laptop HD

480GB Crucial M500 SSD

480GB Crucial M500 SATA SSD
Graphics Intel graphics HD530 4K60p + 4K30p

HP Nvidia NVS510 up to 4 DP monitors		 HP Nvidia NVS510 up to 4 4k@60 DP monitors

Intel HD4400 daisy chain DP, 4K60, HDMI 4k30

 Intel UHD600 daisy chain mDP 4k60 (1.2a), HDMI up to 4k60 (2.0a)

 Intel UHD605 - 3x 4k60 DP (1 shared with USB-C), VGA

Intel HD630 - 2x 4K60p DP + 4K30p HDMI

Broadcom BCM2711, two micro HDMI 4k@60Hz

Intel Iris Plus USB-C video

Thunderbolt/USB-C video

 onboard ATI Radeon Xpress 200

onboard nVidia GeForce 6150SE

Intel HD5500 @ 1920x1080, mini DP 4k@60Hz, HDMI

Operating System Windows 10 Pro x64

Windows 7 Pro x64 upgraded to Windows 10 Pro x64 needed for a work application.		 OpenCore bootloader 0.95 - Windows 10 Pro x64, MacOS Monterey 11.7

Windows 11 Pro N x64, Ubuntu 22.04LTS

 Ubuntu 24.04.1LTS on 6.8.0 kernel, XFCE4 desktop

 Windows 11 Pro x64, Ubuntu 24.04.1LTS on 6.8.0 kernel

OpenCore 1.0.1 - MacOS Sequoia 15.0, Windows 11 Home x64, Ubuntu 24.04.1LTS 6.8.0 kernel

Ubuntu 24.04.1LTS arm64, 6.8.0 kernel, XFCE4 desktop

Windows 11 Home x64

MacOS Sequoia 16.0 arm

 32 bit Windows 7 required for this SCSI card

as above

OpenCore bootloader 0.95 - MacOS Monterey 11.7, Ubuntu 22.04.1LTS
Monitor LG 42.5” 43un700 at 3840x2160 @ 60Hz up to 4x DP 3840x2080 at 60Hz

share Dell U4320q

LG 43ud79b (4k60 HDMI) + Dell u2713d (2560x1440@60 DP)

share Dell U4320q

2 LG 43un700b 4k60p DP; if needed 4k30 on HDMI

up to 2x DP 3840x2080 at 60 Hz via mDP

12.3” internal LCD, 2736x1824

13.6” internal LCD, 2560x1664

Tivo picture in picture on any of the 43” monitors. Surface, BRIX, and Raspberry can run 3840x2160@60Hz		 Viewsonic 20” WX2025wm 1680x1050, Viewsonic 19”

VA1912w 1440x900

Envision EN9250 19” 1280x1024, and many others

14” internal LCD, 1920x1280
Sound Realtek

Realtek ALC888 onboard, optical SPDIF. Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 USB speakers		 Realtek ALC889 onboard, optical SPDIF, 6 channel, Altec Lansing speakers

Realtek ALC283

 Realtek ALC255

 Realtek HD (SST)

Realtek ALC3234

Broadcom BCM2835
 Realtek ALC658c 6 channel onboard

Realtek 7.1 channel onboard

Realtek ALC293
Network Intel AX200 wifi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4/5GHz) + BT5.1

Wired to TP-Link RE350K wifi range extender which accesses Comcast VOIP router.		 Realtek R8111e gigabit, Realtek 8811CU USB AC600 wifi

Realtek RTL8111g gigabit, Intel N6230 wifi + BT3.0 PCIe

 Realtek RTL8111hs gigabit, Intel AX200NGW wifi 6 + BT5.2 m.2

 Intel AX200NGW wifi 6 + BT5.2 m.2, Realtek RTL8168 gigabit

Intel AX200NGW wifi 6 + BT5.2 m.2, Intel i219LM5 gigabit

Gigabit ethernet, wifi 802.11b/g/n/ac 2.4/5GHz + BT5

Intel AX201 wifi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4/5GHz) + BT5.1

Broadcom BCM4390 wifi 6E + BT5

Yuanley YS2080G-P 8 port gigabit PoE switch for security cameras and devices & D-Link TL-SG108 8 port gigabit switch
 Realtek 10/100 onboard

nVidia 10/100 onboard

Intel AX200NGW wifi 6 + BT5.2 m.2, Intel i218LM ethernet
Optical Drive LG GP08NU20 USB2 DVD writer

LG BP50N40 USB2 Blu-ray writer		 none

LG WH10LS30 10x Blu-ray writer

LG GGW-H20L 6x blu-ray writer, HD-DVD reader. eBay from Seoul with Korean manual. This cost $207 which is more than the cost of the other components!

Pioneer 105 4x DVD-R

Pioneer A106 8x DVD-R/+R
Printer, NAS, etc. HP M201dw wifi duplexing laser printer 1200x1200dpi wifi shared over local network

Logitech Unifying receiver with mini mouse, keyboard with number pad. Everyone has keyboard and mouse paired to these devices.		 Network Attached Storage - 10GB 7200rpm + 4GB 5700rpm Hitachi in D-Link DNS325 running Alt-F 1.0 Linux 4.4.86 armv5 Nikon LS2000 SCSI 2700dpi 35mm film/slide scanner

Used HP6MP Postscript laser printer 26MB RAM connected to an HP JetDirect 300x print server via the parallel port. Internal seals deteriorated resulting in gray streaks all over output.

1.5TB Seagate in older Vantec eSATA/USB case jumpered for SATA1 speed, 160GB WD in SATA case, 1TB USB Seagate Expansion, 320GB firewire/USB/eSATA Seagate, 300GB firewire/USB Seagate

Plextor PX716a dual layer DVD+-R16x (spare)

Old Toshiba 2x SCSI caddy load. It's 9 hours older than Jocelyn. USB Firestorm and USB Firestorm Dual Power game controllers.(recycled)

Old Nakamichi MJ-4.8s, an 8x 4 CD SCSI slot changer. It was in the P100 running Linux but is picky on certain CDRs. Yamaha 4x4x16 SCSI CD-RW (recycled)

20” Dell CRT monitor, Sony 128MB MO drive. (recycled)

Viewsonic 20” VX2025wm (spare), Airlink AGSW-501 gigabit switch (spare)

Asus RT-N65r router 802.11abgn (just failed)

500GB WD enterprise drive with 5 year warranty. After 2 year, it failed SMART test. WD replaced it with a new one. (spare)

Benq 17” FP71V+, Envision EN9250 19” LCD (spares)

BFG GT220 PCIe 1GB DDR2 (spare)

D-Link DES-1105 10/100 switch (spare)

Central Computer $13 generic Realtek PCIe gigabit card (spare)

PCI firewire card (spare)

Canon S450 inkjet printer (recycled)

Minolta 2300DL color laser printer networked 128MB RAM - transport roller pleats paper (recycled)

Samsung CLP-620d color laser printer networked (dead). Paper transport roller assembly failed. (recycled)

Sony R505TSK notebook with DVD/CDRW docking station was running Windows 2000 Professional until I upgraded it to Windows XP Pro and Debian Linux 2.6.8. It has a 850 Pentium III CPU, 20GB hard drive, and 384MB of RAM. It has a iLink (firewire) port for video editing of Digital 8 from our Sony TRV730 camcorder. March 2002 - Replaced with a 40GB 4200rpm drive as the old Hitachi was getting seek errors and finally died.

Hughes HD DirecTv and RCA DirecTv TiVos accessible via the network. DirecTv branded recorders are not Tivo anymore thus you cannot download shows to PC (all recycled)

Acer 15.4” laptop with dual Intel CPU 1.60GHz and replacement 320GB ATA hard drive, running 32 bit Windows XP. Some astronomy software needs XP. (recycled)

Dell mini 10v netbook 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 160GB HD, 2GB DDR2, 1024x600 LCD runs Mac OS X Snow Leopard dual boot with Windows XP. Another has a 320GB HD. The third is a testbed for OSes’ - currently Linux Mint.

Tom's Hardware, Anandtech, and cnet are very good sites.

Favorite site for PC computer info: ZDNet, PCMag, and even Amazon. All have hardware/software reviews and tips, along with utilities for the former two. This is my first step in evaluating hardware.

Mail order evaluation and survey is at resellerratings. It's worth the effort if you plan any online purchase.

Troubleshooting with POST codes http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index.htm

For an intriguing look at price wars and companies you've never heard of, try pricewatch or froogle

Malware
Get rid of fraudulent Antivirus popups with this procedure at Bleeping Computer. One of our computers had this. Symptoms include not able to create Restore Points, not able to change desktop wallpaper, fake Antivirus popups, and other things.Bottom line was the Windows Firewall was turned off.

Fraud - beware of solvusoft.com The free trial claims to open many different file formats, including .pak. I downloaded it and this also installed WinThruster without the user being able to declined it. When I dropped my .pak onto the program, it immediately brought me to the website for a payment of $39.99! It did not even notify me if the .pak archive was good. Some trial. Since WinThruster could not be uninstalled via Control Panel, I had to run uninst.exe from the installed directory. User beware!