- Joined
- Mar 17, 2019
If you have a PC with a legit Windows install, a USB key and a bit of time, you can always just do an entirely clean install of Win10 at no cost. Less of a problem than this was previously.
'No Stupid Questions' (NSQ) Internet & Technology Edition
- Thread starter Arm Pit Cream
- Start date
NoSpiceLife
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2019
I need some sort of direction, as I keep going around in circles. The last devices I've bought were from 2014, and both my phone and tablet have died at the same time.
My idea of replacements was instead of another phone and tablet, I would get a phone and portable monitor.
I've bought a POCO X3, which unfortunately only has a 'Type-C USB 2.0, USB OTG' port.
My understanding is that this means I need an adapter that has it's own video card, i.e. Displaylink, which can then plug into any portable monitor I buy.
Where I'm confused is in the converting as to what adapter I actually have to buy.
I have read so many articles, and product information pages, half the time it appears that no one knows what they are talking about. No one talks about the fact that Type-C USBs come in different types, just like the older USB ports. As I said 'appears', because I don't know that I have any idea either as I can't seem to work it out.
The Type-C USB 2.0 only does 480 Mbps, so if I have a 4k adapter and monitor, is it actually possible to get anywhere close to what is needed for that display, and besides that is there actually a 4k adapter that is backwards compatible to Type-C USB 2.0, everything I've seen so far only talk about 3.+?
My idea of replacements was instead of another phone and tablet, I would get a phone and portable monitor.
I've bought a POCO X3, which unfortunately only has a 'Type-C USB 2.0, USB OTG' port.
My understanding is that this means I need an adapter that has it's own video card, i.e. Displaylink, which can then plug into any portable monitor I buy.
Where I'm confused is in the converting as to what adapter I actually have to buy.
I have read so many articles, and product information pages, half the time it appears that no one knows what they are talking about. No one talks about the fact that Type-C USBs come in different types, just like the older USB ports. As I said 'appears', because I don't know that I have any idea either as I can't seem to work it out.
The Type-C USB 2.0 only does 480 Mbps, so if I have a 4k adapter and monitor, is it actually possible to get anywhere close to what is needed for that display, and besides that is there actually a 4k adapter that is backwards compatible to Type-C USB 2.0, everything I've seen so far only talk about 3.+?
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- Joined
- Feb 13, 2020
If you're talking about products like these, they should support USB 2.0, at USB 2.0 speeds. The connector type - USB-A or USB-C - doesn't affect bandwidth.
Which isn't nearly enough for 4k, I'm afraid. 1080p should be good.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2019
i'm not sure that phone displays out. Video out? | Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC (xda-developers.com). samsungs have dex that work like a desktop
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2019
I stopped being tech literate around 2012 and since then my rig has just been a revolving door of old parts from friends when they upgraded to the new shiny. My motherboard is going to implode any day now and I'm trying to figure out what would be optimal for my needs and am prepared to just build a new set up from the ground up. I want to do video editing, digital painting and play some games (but I prefer performance over playing in Ultra). What should I be looking for in a motherboard, gpu and processor? Is it better to build custom or pre-made? Are laptops viable for video editing (I mean without taking 10 hours to render)?
NoSpiceLife
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2019
1. ...
2. Custom, pre-made will always have issues due to whoever building it adding what they deem as necessary, even the best builders have that issue. Plus, it's so easy to build your own these days, sure there are things to be careful with, but ultimately the 'scary' shit isn't as scary as what it used to be, or that people make a bit deal about.
3. No, don't even bother going anywhere near one. Sure there will be plenty of people that say 'I do x, I do y, it's all good, I never have trouble'. Just the fact that you are questioning it, means that you already know the answer.
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
An expensive laptop with a large SSD hooked up via the lightning port works well. It's not cheap. Long rendering times can be solved by going out drinking after starting it.
Unless you really have to edit on the go a stationary will get you more for the same price. Plus, if you're using a laptop for video editing at home you're likely to hook it up to a better screen and use a better keyboard and mouse so what's the point? Instead of paying $1200 for a good laptop, build a nice dekstop for $750 and buy a competent Dell laptop for $450.
The desktop is expandable as well and if you find yourself needing way more RAM that's easy (and cheap right now) to do.
If you want a smaller footprint there's tiny USFF cases that allows for huge graphics cards.
@Ginger Piglet can probably tell you all about the joy of building one.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
Hello! That's exactly the same case I have! The Kolink Rocket. Though I've widebodied mine with spacers to I. take advantage of the fact that the only RTX 3080s you can actually buy are third party versions that are 2.5 slots, and II. so I can strap additional fans to the CPU cooler.
The Kolink Rocket and Dan A4. What to say about them. Don't know about the Dan case because it's an expensive, low-volume product. But the Kolink Rocket is roughly the same layout and only a slightly bit larger. It also has two frontal USB ports rather than a single USB-C port. But its cooling is utter dogshit (though apparently the Dan's is quite good).
It is a bastard to build in. The first thing you need to do is take out the included PCIe riser cable and massage it so it'll bend under the motherboard without clogging up the only case fan (an 80mm jobbie at the top). You then need to take off both side panels and the back panel (you'll never get your motherboard in there without the back panel coming off and then being parachuted back on one you've installed the IO plate) and make sure you have an SFX power supply. That gets installed by taking out a plate near the front and inserting a right-angle power lead from the rear power socket to its socket, screwing it in, then reinserting the plate. Then you find that the included power lead extension is slightly too long so you have to twist it and jam it so it stays flat along the roof of the case.
Ignore all concerns about cable management. The case is too small to do anything other than bundle everything up and jam it in a corner.
Now, install your CPU, RAM, and cooler on the motherboard. Also any M.2 SSD. If you aren't widebodying it your cooler choices number exactly two - Noctua L9a (or L9i for Intel), and Alpenfohn Black Ridge. I went with the latter. Or possibly the Intel stock cooler. None of the AMD stock coolers will fit. Once that's done, you need to remove the back panel, insert the IO plate into it, plug in the PCIe riser, and then "parachute" the motherboard down onto the standoffs making sure it is on top of the riser cable. You might also want to plug in the front panel power and LED connectors here, or you'll have to fumble around later trying to put them on. Also the USB 3.0 front panel connector. Oh, and if your motherboard has right angle SATA sockets and you're using a SATA drive of any variety, connect those at this stage.
Have you ever seen a video of a heart surgeon trying to perform an aortic graft by suturing the graft to the patient's gaping aorta and then pulling on the loose strings at the end to make it slide down properly into place? That's the effect we're going for here.
There is a slide out drive tray in the bottom of the case for 2.5" drives. I binned mine and twisty-tied a spare fan into the space. Then found it was jammed against the bottom panel with no air coming in. So I bought some thicker rubber feet and drilled some holes into the bottom.
Once you've done all that, and connected everything into place, just shove all the loose cables into the lower front corner and tie them up. Then it's just the graphics card to go in. It can take cards up to 300mm in length but no more than 40mm in thickness. Which means you'll not be able to fit anything that isn't strictly dual slot, unless you want to widebody the case.
Then, power it on and set it up. Good luck.
Word of advice - widebodying this case with spacers on the side panels is heartily recommended so you can strap an extra fan to the CPU cooler or use a 2.5 slot GPU.
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2018
A vague question merits an equally vague answer. Find stuff that looks cool and try to build it. In the process of building it you'll web search multifarious guides. Every time you see a term or description in a guide that you don't fully recognize but looks important do a search and start reading about it. Read the related terms. Keep reading until you understand not just the guide for whatever you're building but the ramifications of building it via x method and not y. Once you have a better understanding of computers you'll be able to ask precise questions.
And install linux. Not because it's hard, installing and running an idiot-proof linux distro is actually easier than using windows nowadays, but because pretty much all of the cool stuff requires linux implicitly and more importantly the freedom provided will allow you to better explore and understand your computer if and when you want to. Installing an OS, especially with manual partitioning is also a great learning experience in-and-of-itself.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
For the love of God, at least mention that if you're going to fool around with partitioning and Linux, you're giving up all hope of doing anything else useful with the machine until you wipe the drive again. Especially if you're using UEFI
I recommend just installing Linux in a VM, it's the computing equivalent of a containment thread with "PLAGUED" stamped on it.
@Maskull - there was a discussion a while back in the programming thread about what beginners ought to know, it might interest you.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2019
I 100% agree. When I was setting up 486s by manually copying packages over on floppy disks from an internet connected machine, this was EASY. You could run a DOS utility program to resize your existing FAT partitions, add one for root and one for swap, and install lilo or grub on the MBR and be dual booting easily. Nowadays it's just too easy to screw things up irreparably, unless you're totally fine with just blowing away your existing install, which is easy enough but even that can be harder in some ways than it was before all this UEFI nonsense.For the love of God, at least mention that if you're going to fool around with partitioning and Linux, you're giving up all hope of doing anything else useful with the machine until you wipe the drive again. Especially if you're using UEFI
@Maskull - resources identified already are good. What I find useful for motivation is doing something you want/need to do- whether that's modding games, or making changes to existing business processes to increase automation and reduce user error. Learning VBA is not a good way to become a l337 h@x0r, and it genuinely could hinder the speed at which you would grasp academic programming concepts later, but if you're having trouble getting motivated to read long thinky stuff and that sort of thing can save you time at your job, it could be helpful.
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- Joined
- Dec 1, 2018
For the love of God, at least mention that if you're going to fool around with partitioning and Linux, you're giving up all hope of doing anything else useful with the machine until you wipe the drive again. Especially if you're using UEFI
I recommend just installing Linux in a VM, it's the computing equivalent of a containment thread with "PLAGUED" stamped on it.
@Maskull - there was a discussion a while back in the programming thread about what beginners ought to know, it might interest you.
There's no better way to learn the value of data and (physical and logical) system compartmenation than the first time you break your shit. Better to get it out of the way sooner, before you have anything actually worth keeping. It's just one of those things where you can't see someone touch the hot stove, you have to touch it yourself.
@Maskull[/USER]]
buy spare drives
buy external drives
buy drives for your drives
storage is cheap
data is expensive
buy spare drives
buy external drives
buy drives for your drives
storage is cheap
data is expensive
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
I was going to suggest VBA because it is immediate, easy, visual and right there, directly working on something you already know AND it's easy to go back and check the data(if using Excel at least).
CLI programs solving problems aren't sexy but if you find the motivation and purpose to make one that will go a long way in showing how useful programming is as a tool. I used to habitually play Keno(~50 cents per weekday back then) and it always felt like the numbers fell just around the ones I picked, so my first "real" program that I wrote was a CLI that took the winning numbers and "shook" my numbers around to adjacent cells on the betting form. Then it ran through a user specified number of random "shakes" spreading my numbers to adjacent cells to see what wins and losses would be if I had spent $50 daily on a hundred bets instead of 50c. Fools errand, I was just curious.
Trying to accomplish something or solve a problem is what's important if you ask me, if you don't have a problem then invent one.
A fun challenge is creating a chess bot to play against with a set limit of seconds it can "think" using your crappy algorithm before having to resort to whatever move it considered the best before the time runs out. You will beat that dumb bot, then improve it, over and over again without giving it more time to think.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2019
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
I saved a file just now and examined it in a text editor, and the only identifying elements seem to be the exact version of Photoshop I'm using, and the model of printer I have (?!)
If you have some obscure brand of printer and a lot of custom settings, that might be a consideration.
I haven't gone through any of the non-human-readable stuff either, so take this as limited advice.
The official file format is here:
Though be aware that it can be extended.
Bongocat
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2020
I find books a lot easier to learn from than online tutorials. Books usually have longform progression that somebody was paid to make coherent, complete and correct in the details. Online tutorials can be very hit or miss, or missing critical tidbits that can be hard to piece back together. When you're just starting out, that can result in some pretty serious hitches.
For a beginner, try to find a book where you follow along with one or more projects. Pick something you're interested in. Most anything I've ever picked up from O'Reilly or Wrox has been good.
I wouldn't think of it as 'climbing the ladder' from beginner to advanced. Pick a pet project that you really want to make and study how to make it. You'll become more advanced in time because of that. Each problem you solve will teach lessons and bleed into other areas.
EDIT: Re: Linux ... yeah you can use Linux for programming but I didn't find doing that to be overly beneficial vs windows. There's cool stuff on there but I don't know how relevant that is for a beginner. A lot of the linux tools are for really industrial strength stuff that you probably won't use starting out. The only MAJOR advantage linux has over windows programming is that windows API is fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckin garbage holy shit. If you have to interface with windows API, just grab an intermediate library off github to deal with that bullshit for you. DO NOT ENGAGE.
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- Joined
- Sep 26, 2019
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2020
Not really, nothing more than the actual stuff and the edits you did in the PSD. One's work could potentially be identified through the Photoshop version though, especially if you're on some old version that people rarely use now.
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2020
Okay, cooling questions.
The AMD Wraith Spire provides adequate cooling so far. However, it has bad harmonics, making its noise... unsettling. Not really loud, but under load, it sometimes sounds like it's about to blow up, while still providing adequate cooling. I'm going to replace it with "back-up" Deepcool Gammaxx 400, rated for 120W with AMD CPUs.
Questions: the pre-applied fan isn't specified, but I suspect it's a Deepcool Wind Blade, optimized for airflow. Would replacing it with a static pressure fan be preferable? I've also thought about a push-pull configuration, but ultimately decided against it, as the fan is blowing air at the top case outtakes (Zalman Z3 Plus), and according to tests, the gain would be minimal.
The AMD Wraith Spire provides adequate cooling so far. However, it has bad harmonics, making its noise... unsettling. Not really loud, but under load, it sometimes sounds like it's about to blow up, while still providing adequate cooling. I'm going to replace it with "back-up" Deepcool Gammaxx 400, rated for 120W with AMD CPUs.
Questions: the pre-applied fan isn't specified, but I suspect it's a Deepcool Wind Blade, optimized for airflow. Would replacing it with a static pressure fan be preferable? I've also thought about a push-pull configuration, but ultimately decided against it, as the fan is blowing air at the top case outtakes (Zalman Z3 Plus), and according to tests, the gain would be minimal.