summitlake
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/05/03
Posts: 878
Loc: Castro Valley CA
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Ron, I agree I would never cheapen quality to "cut corners" or save a buck. My thinking is that, for this project, I don't need a power supply that can support 4 to 6 HD's, a USB chain of 6 devices and two or three burners and players. The quality brand names that I know about start at 400-420 watts and work their way up: Vantec, and PC Power & Cooling. I do have a perfectly good PC Power & Cooling 400W in the closet. My hope was for something a little quieter with a lower current drain and heat buildup.
Slam, those DashPC's certainly look intriguing! Are you driving today, or do you want to be navigator?
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Alex
Meade LX90 8" SCT
Orion 127mm Mak
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NuroSlam
sage
Reged: 10/02/03
Posts: 241
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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I've been following the dashpc project for about a year, i've tried it out on a laptop and other then a few pieces of code that were specific to his drive layout it worked very well. I have a 12" touch screen thats just waiting for a car to go in.
Slam
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Ralph
Telestar 60mm, 395 EQ Mount, WeeCam
You fear me now don't you?
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NuroSlam
sage
Reged: 10/02/03
Posts: 241
Loc: Carrollton, TX
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Just spoke to a freind on IRC and hes currently using mythtv on his home entertainment center
www.mythtv.org
Slam
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Ralph
Telestar 60mm, 395 EQ Mount, WeeCam
You fear me now don't you?
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summitlake
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/05/03
Posts: 878
Loc: Castro Valley CA
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V. impressive. I must say that this technology is so far beyond my needs and interests that you could just as well call me a TV Luddite. Recording three or four download threads at once is, for someone like me, like dropping quad Cummins diesels into Noah's Ark.
I do know the coding and GUI end of the business well enough to say that the mythtv product would be a challenging programming project. The screen shots and description looks awesome.
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Alex
Meade LX90 8" SCT
Orion 127mm Mak
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Bigger is better - especially in power supplies. PC Power & Cooling won't let you down - regardless of the noise
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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summitlake
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/05/03
Posts: 878
Loc: Castro Valley CA
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Household computer #2 is up and running, another Cooler Master/ASUS/AMD 3000+ combo. It is now running fine, still needs a lot of W2000 updates (already has SETI of course). Have to call CRU on a bad DataPort - fan failure alarm is "always on" though the fan runs fine. I had a spare on order so that saved the day.
By the time I figure out how I want to set up this little black Silverstone music center PC toy, and do it, I will be ready to give the computer building business a rest.
The Atlas mount for the 10" Orion has been here since before Christmas, and I haven't even set up THAT yet (though there are space issues in this little apartment -- a serious case of telescope size and space misjudgement).
Somehow photos of computers are not as exciting as photos of telescopes, but I will try to take and upload a small one in the next few days. I sure appreciate all the help I've gotten on this forum - Mac, harrumph (hey, I'm still considering, aren't I?) - so thank you all.
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Alex
Meade LX90 8" SCT
Orion 127mm Mak
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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If you be considering a Mac, I hope it's not a laptop - Apple just agreed to a major warranty extension on notebooks due to major mobo and display problems...
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39764
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Quote:
If you be considering a Mac, I hope it's not a laptop - Apple just agreed to a major warranty extension on notebooks due to major mobo and display problems...
To clarify, it's only the iBook line and it's only for one component exhibiting a certain failure mode. The link below has the gory details.
http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/
Sounds like they got burned, like the hard drive manufactures do from time to time, by a third party component failing.
The warranty extension is for three years from the original purchase date and does not cover any other Apply products.
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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summitlake
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/05/03
Posts: 878
Loc: Castro Valley CA
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My laptops demand a USB keyboard/mouse connection but my Wintel desktops vastly prefer old fashion PS/2 ports. Oh yeah, sure, I know you can plug keyboards into the USB ports, but the ports have a bad habit of going to sleep and never waking up. Soyo had a dedicated USB keyboard slot, but even that wasn't reliable, and try to bat 50% booting into BIOS with a USB keyboard.
Oh sure, I know Apple dropped the ADB and serial ports for USB-only I/O, and not only that but they got their act together on USB drivers. I have not heard of any problems with Apple USB.
All of which makes a KVM switch an interesting exercise. I have a Belkin 4-port that supports USB only, so I have some direct keyboard connections to the desktops, which partially defeats the whole purpose of having a KVM, doesn't it?
So I ordered an Avocet SwitchView 4-port which supports both USB and PS/2. Best of both worlds. Cross platform and everything. It arrived today. Started hooking everything up.
The Belkin had all male VGA output ports. The Avocet has all female. Wouldn't you just know it! I already have enough cables to start a store - like Rusty has retail CPU cooler fans - and now I need adapters. Or use my old long VGA male-males and -- what the heck did I do with that raft of serial cables I used to have? Oh, lordy.
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Alex
Meade LX90 8" SCT
Orion 127mm Mak
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I've used USB-to-PS/2 adaptors with nary a problem. The sleepy USB ports can generally be cured with a little BIOS tickling. Make sure that wake-on-keyboard and wake-on-mouse are enabled; some mobos need that feature (if onboard) enabled. Also "enable" USB (don't use the auto feature) id that's a choice.
Naturally, none of this will help, as you have already substantiated that you are cursed due to the gender problems with the KVM switches.
You need serial cables? I got'em. 
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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summitlake
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/05/03
Posts: 878
Loc: Castro Valley CA
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I'll check them there BIOS's again. I was wondering about the USB to PS/2 adapters in a pinch ... thanks!
You got cables? AND retail box CPU coolers? Man!
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Alex
Meade LX90 8" SCT
Orion 127mm Mak
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29817
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Sometimes, the best thing you can do to a system that isn't working quite right is to go into the BIOS setup, set the CMOS defaults, save 'em and reboot.
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Tom 
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Real Men don't do BIOS defaults.
And of course, I got serial cables - and floppy cables for 5.25" drives (of which I still have 2). And I also got 2x350 watt redundant AT P/Ss and a few ISA I/O cards, and one lone VESA video card (which I don't think is alive).
But I ain't an accumulator, as all my Commodore 64/128 and PET 64 stuff is gone (I think).
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39764
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Step One; I have a problem.....
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29817
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Quote:
Real Men don't do BIOS defaults.
Nope, only professionals! 
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I DON'T have a problem
I DON'T have a problem
I DON'T have a problem
I DON'T have a problem
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
|
rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39764
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Quote:
I DON'T have a problem
I DON'T have a problem
I DON'T have a problem
I DON'T have a problem
I'd tell what step 2 is, but I've never gotten beyond step one myself. 
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Huh? There IS a Step 2? when dis happen?
--------------------
N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29817
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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When the slave drive on the secondary IDE controller stopped working because the CMOS bit controlling the number of heads got corrupted by a rogue poke to that byte in CMOS.
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16419
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I don't be permitting that to happen...so far
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
|
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