The computer thread

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Joined 2017
So anyway. After mulling it over I've decided to take (yet) another leap into the realm of GNU/Linux operating systems. This time I decided to shoot myself in the foot with "Lubuntu 18.10"

Let me first mention my issues with installing it on this Ryzen board, nothing really of critical failures to mention, just the fact that I had to burn the Lubuntu ISO to a DVD then hit 'e' at the GRUB menu and add "nomodeset" to the grub config for it to even give me a display when I first initially went into the live installation. It is also important to use Rufus if you are going to try the USB flash drive route as other tools will give you sketchy performance. Dare I say it that FOSS talent is spread too thin, do we really need several USB flash drive iso tools?

Anyway, moving on.

I can say for certain that 18.10 needs some improvements. For one thing I couldn't get Lubuntu to play nicely with my RX 580 (no fault with the graphics card) because whenever I would plug in my HDMI display into the HDMI output port, I would get the login screen on my DVI port, on a second monitor which wasn't even turned on for the entire duration of the installation of Lubuntu.

Let me say that again. I installed Lubuntu on my HDMI display, which is my television, which I have zero issues with Windows displaying on it as a primary display for many years now. I then did a reboot and I was wondering why I would get a blank screen on my HDMI television. So I did some fiddling and discovered that my graphics card was outputting a signal on the DVI output.

So Lubuntu in their infinite wisdom decided that it was a good idea to use a not-even-activated, disconnected, unplugged, DVI display as the primary video output and completely ignore the currently-plugged-in HDMI display.

To make matters worse when I did figure out what was going on, there is no documentation on the internet regarding the problem, or a method of fixing it so that the login screen will display on the correct monitor. I hope to rectify that.

But no matter. Lubuntu is a nice system over all, so far. I have my password manager installed, it comes with Firefox 63 preinstalled, that is all that I need really.

There is something to be said about using a lightweight window manager on a supercomputer such as this Ryzen 7 2700 8 core 16 thread CPU with 16GB of DDR4 ram and a RX 580 Graphics card. It is rather refreshing knowing that I am using all of the resources available to me without any of the fat.

or any of the botnet that is Windows 10.

Where I go from here will be really telling with what and how I use a computer, I will be attempting to install Steam and/or playing a few videogames and then setting up a RAID6 partition and saying goodbye to Storage spaces. Why? Microsoft screwed up an update and nuked my partition, and they removed the option to create ReFS partitions in Windows 10 Pro last year... too.

Whenever I tried to mount the storage spaces partition it would lock up the system and peg the drive activity to 100% but wouldn't move any data, it would then crash explorer.exe until such time as I shut down the PC. To fix this I had to first go into my BIOS and setup SATA hotswapping then disconnect the drives, then drop into a powershell and set the storage spaces partition as read only, then and only then could I set it as online, and then recover the files off of it. A lot of files.


It is somewhat telling of where the future is going when Microsoft is on the board of the Linux Foundation and they write such poor software that they cannot even sell us a usable operating system without something nuking data every now and again, and that the OS is now a datamining botnet, it is giving me the heeby-jeebies.


tl;dr Microsoft and GNU/Linux is like the movie Mean Girls and I'm Lindsay Lohan.
 

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Venus , the future is a thin client /cloud. Desktops and the facade of "owning"
your OS is over.
Your data is their data , read the EULA.


The only other option is recycled hardware , HDD's from server pulls , and

the D:DARK WEB.


I am a "dark" PC user , NO software or hardware issues. No activation or eula's.
It is such a divergence from the typical consumer experience I become very
irritated using typical consumer PC hardware/software.


If that was the experience I was forced into , I would not even have a PC. The difference is that great.



The Internet started out free , It will end up like cable TV (on steroids).
IOT is ridiculous , if the toaster /microwave / fridge ends up like W10
and the modern internet/ cloud BS.... I'll cook outside on the grill,:deerman:
OS
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2017
Speaking of which. I'm soon going to be buying a rocket stove so that I no longer need to buy fuel or pay a utility bill to feed myself, in stead all I need is a free source of sticks/twigs to cook a meal for myself and others each day, which I can find for free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfBKBvTFgXo


I have been recently making my own small stoves but none of them have yet so far been a good enough design for me to want to keep. I made one out of a coffee can and I put too many holes around the top of it. I should've only put a couple down at the bottom. But because I put like 6 holes up at the top of the can the flame just consumed the fuel too quickly and I kept on having to fill it up fast.


Only a fool would spend $1,000 a quarter on electricity just to feed and warm themselves from fossil fuels/coal. The utility companies/corporations/governments are treating us like we are fools/slaves and cannot do basic maths.
 
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Speaking of which. I'm soon going to be buying a rocket stove so that I no longer need to buy fuel or pay a utility bill to feed myself, in stead all I need is a free source of sticks/twigs to cook a meal for myself and others each day, which I can find for free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfBKBvTFgXo


I was introduced to these type stove while living raw out west. They are so cool.
You can even heat yourself to stay alive.

Many DIY their own out of stainless steel , pilfering the designs of a store bought one.


OS
 
ostripper, I agree on the Hitachi HDD's and the Samsung SSD's, also the part about crap peripheral components, psu etc.

But the AMD vs Intel CPU bluescreen thing is outright false in my experience. Most of the issues I've run into with Intel has to do with low level API, and you'd need some "fix package" with a Intel (c) hidden in the code. I have nothing against that, just saying that Intel is better at covering their bacon and putting up a legal wall, or throwing money at the problems than AMD when SHTF.

It is my experience that AMD has managed to be slightly better at avoiding the need of these "fix packages" to begin with. Not saying one is better than the other, and the Intel parts work fine, they just seem a little bit "rushed" is all.

And regarding Linux: I've always kind of had a thing for the Sabayon distro, it's really nice.
Sabayon Linux

Edit:
Fun thing I remember about the HDD production: IBM had a really nice run of manufacturing HDD's, but when they originally released the Deskstar series they had all kinds of issues. The IBM Deskstar drives where quickly dubbed "Deathstar" by users :D IBM decided to take the issues very seriously and spent a lot of time and effort to fix the issues, then sold the production line to Hitachi as soon as possible. I really like the Hitachi drives.
 
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There haven't been too many bugs in micros over the years.
I remember the first Intel 65535/-1 bug in the co-processor.
I know as a software developer the output is only as good as the testing.
As a under graduate we were always taught to specialise, generalise, conjecture then convince something was working right.
-1 is a special occurrence so really should lave need tested for.

The latest Intel bug seems to be a security issue being able to read a cache from another thread. Sadly the fixed turned out to slow down machines was a bit of a poor show.

What is Linux and what is a Mac ?
Been using one at work but running Windows on it, heracy I know !

Always been a Windows fan despite its faults.
 
...
The latest Intel bug seems to be a security issue being able to read a cache from another thread. Sadly the fixed turned out to slow down machines was a bit of a poor show.
...

Those two latest bug's that hit the papers only hit the papers because they where blown up because of security issues, Intel had a good opportunity to fix the issue before it hit the media, but they swept it under the rug instead. Interesting that M$ assumed the very same faults influenced AMD systems, but had to backpedal a bit because it was not the case, and they ended up pulling back some packages.

There is a number of fixes that have been provided for HW faults over the years, for all sides, hardly ever gets in the media if it's an Intel based chip, but they are quick to dig up/make up dirt about others.

And Nigel, It's all x86 is what it is (but hardly that anymore, we're getting to x86 emulation because x86 is a waste of die space now, extensions are more useful than the original instruction set), ARM is not quite there yet.
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2017
Those exploits require root to sufficiently execute anyway. Overblown is the understatement of the year, but it did the job of giving Intel a black eye. Dare I say it but I believe that AMD may have helped/aided/secretly funded the research into the exploits just to get even with Intel for Intel helping/aiding/secretly funding the skewing of decades of performance results by messing around with the compiler and stealing company secrets from AMD.

And I say, good on them, its about time the playing field was levelled a bit, Intel is corrupt to the bone and it is only a matter of time before they are taken down for good.

Speaking-of performance tests. Intel has also been consistently sabotaging (aka cheating) and picking specific tests to make sure that Intel looks the best all the time, and they are STILL doing it even to this month, to this year.
Intel Stands Behind Controversial Tests That Favored Its CPU Over AMD's
Intel'''s New Low: Commissioning Misleading Core i9-9900K Benchmarks [Hardware Unboxed] : intel

I've always known/felt since 2001 that they've been doing something shady because I've always felt that AMD had the snappier response time in applications and when booting Windows 2K/XP, 2001 is a long time ago and it was only ever single thread and memory bandwidth performance back then that bottlenecked you, you can imagine just what sort of things Intel was doing to keep AMD underneath them.
Content Creation Performance - AMD's Athlon XP 2000+ vs Intel's 0.13-micron Northwood


Qualcomm points the industrial espionage finger at Apple | Telecoms.com
Its suggested by Qualcomm that Apple leaked trade secrets to Intel to overcome performance of Qualcomm chips. If they are doing this to Qualcomm, why couldn't they have done so to AMD?

Then we have anti-trust and bullying tactics done by Intel against OEM manufacturers like DELL, worldwide. Where they would up the price of Intel CPUs delivered to Dell if Dell even thought about providing an AMD CPU for sale.
Intel still hasn't paid AMD the 1.2 billion USD anti-trust fine | PC Perspective
https://www.extremetech.com/computi...for-unfair-and-damaging-practices-against-amd

This is what I mean by Intel being bad for the world. I've mentioned that before. If they are willing to do this to a corporation, a competitor, and risk everything including being canned by the US Senate for the sake of a few percentage points in synthetic benchmarks, then surely you couldn't trust them as a consumer at home with your hardware and software? Surely?

This is nothing new AMD have been (sucessfully I might add) suing and more importantly winning each and every court case against Intel since 1992!!!
https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-and-amd-a-long-history-in-court/

In summary. intel have always produced a crappy chip and they have simply been stealing secrets from AMD to keep afloat. Dump them, now. Or do you still trust them to not backdoor the crap out of their chips & drivers?

The reality is, you can run any OS on any hardware and it will be secure as long as you don't connect it directly to the internet but instead use a firewall such as pfsense, even if you have to run it in a virtual machine. No network exploit needed, just filter out everything, NAT everything and keep your antivirus up to date. You'll be fine.

If you still feel insecure then run a virtualmachine just specifically for browsing the internet AND firewall it AND monitor it from time to time with Wireshark. Then if you feel paranoid, nuke it and start over.

The only serious threats to your privacy are coming from Microsoft and Windows 10 and its dyslexic cortana spyware and keylogging software. Don't know about you but I don't trust an OS that asks me with voice prompts what I want to do next during the installation.

No really, download the latest Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, grab the ISO file, and boot the ISO inside of a virtual machine and Cortana will start asking you questions. The Windows we once could trust with our personal lives no longer exists. Its now a Google-like spying bastard!


An OS we once held dear and used sucessfully for decades is now a product to sell not to the consumer but to the advertiser and corporations that vacuum your PC and keyboard for any and all information that they can get their hands upon.
 
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AMD "fanboy" ??


I had athlon 2 (4 cores) and various AMD FX's. Even as the FX's bench faster,
the Intel xeon's seem to be snappier with W7-64bit.
As this is sort of subjective , I will say the intel's are more stable with small
inf's and driver packages versus a larger AMD package.


And , I am down to 1 out of 4 AMD's vs. 5 out of 6 Intel's from 2008-2018.
All with corsair or antec PS's. The AMD processors blew , the VRM on the one
Intel failed , that core duo is still working .... so 0 ! blown intels.


The new amd's run very cool (cold) , can't see why they would fail so often versus
very hot core duo's ... the core duo quad is a "heat beast" , but still does not fail.
The longest AMD I had survive was a Athlon II 3400+ 7 years , might still
work , gave it away.


PS - I see the same thing on tom's hardware and other PC sites , AMD vs.
Intel - stupid.... just get em' cheap and see how many years you get.
Sort of like solid state VS.tube or vinyl vs. digital.
OS
 
Well I can't speak for Intel's longevity.

But I've run an AMD Phenom x4 9950 (the ridiculous 140W one) which can get stinking hot, for....over 11 years. Still going strong.

I have apparently just lost my GFX card, after an unexpected shutdown. Reinstalled driver etc, and the card remains invisible, so I think that has expired. (Asus en9800gtx+) but then that has lasted 11 years too, so not a bad life.

Now the search is on to replace the GFX. Maybe GTS250, GTX260 or GTX710 as yet undecided. (Suggestions are welcome if the collective have any haha)
 
Regarding temperature: Cool does not always result in stable, there is A LOT of different properties and characteristics to consider.
In classic HDD's, they are more stable in general if they run between 34-40 degrees c, and either store them in a stable environment for archiving, or run them 24/7, but avoid lots of heat up/cool down cycles, as that can seriously affect reliability in the long run.

Mondogenerator, are you talking about the GT 710 (LP?) or the GTX 750?
Either way, if there's an option to run a newer graphics card, I see no problem, as long as the PCIE slot will take it. The GT 710 LP is cheap, but maybe look at the GT730 or the R7 240?
I see theres a PNY Quadro K420 DP 2GB for not much money, considering it's a PRO card, a bit dated but still.
 
Hi Kaffiman,

I may have recalled the model incorrectly (it may be GT710...it's a silent fanless card)

Really I have been looking at what I can get Vista drivers for, and buy used for cheap, which will be at least as good as the 9800gtx+ was (an old card, but surprisingly good)

I was initially looking at Nvidia cards, as Motherboard is Nvidia Ski chipset, but then I never used Ski anyway, so started looking at ATI (I think these had an edge in performance at the time, if I recall correctly)

He just gone a bit blind with all the model numbers!
 
Oh yeah, the model numbers are insane, and trying to compare performance across a few generations is not always easy.

If you want just a tiny little bit of "Oomph" look at the GTX 750, get one of the 2GB versions, good power consumption/performance ratio.
I guess you'd have to look at HD7850 (uses more power) or R7 260X (should be almost equal in power use in relation to performance today) for somewhat comparable numbers from the AMD side.
 
I think I have my eye on a cheap GT710, GTX260, HD4570, HD7750.

I think they're all 1GB, I'm not sure there much point going far beyond PCIE 2.1 seeing as the M/B is PCIE 2.0 only haha.

It's like I could upgrade to Phenom AM2+ CPU (from the 9950) but not much point without Win7, loads more memory, and new HDDs too :rolleyes:
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2017
mondogenerator:
I see you live in a country where the electricity is sanely delivered at 240-250 volts AC.

You should replace your power supply very soon as even Seasonic do not use sufficiently high enough voltage MOVs to protect the components in your PC. With the Seasonic's S12II that I just retired the MOVs were only rated for 250v AC, when at the very least 350v MOVs are required on a circuit that delivers 240v/250v AC.

I had to replace mine after 10+ years of operation, no really, date coded inside from 2009.

I would recommend a Seasonic PSU again but Corsair is ok too, I would stick with Seasonic.

As for a new graphics card.... The GTX 260 is a nice card, Had one myself back in those days bit of a gas guzzler though. If you can find one for cheap that would be awesome. But if you want to stick to AMD then I would go for the R9 200 Series.

You can get drivers for the R9 200 Series of ATI/AMD cards: AMD Radeon™ R9 290X Drivers & Support | AMD
You can also still get drivers for the GTX 750 Ti for Vista/XP: GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 Driver & Tools | Graphics Cards | ASUS USA

Up to you really. Do you want a GTX 260 or a 750 Ti? Or do you want to stick with ATI and go with a R9 290X? The 290X still performs very respectably: YouTube

Though you will want an SSD and gobs of ram to run a game like GTA IV.
 
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