Computers

Jan 2 2012

Keep it Clean – Regularly

Dirty computer

So, you buy a new car.

You take it home and, for the next few years you drive it every day.

In those few years, the only time it sees a servo is when something breaks.

No oil changes, no 10,000km service, nothing.

What sorta condition do you think you car would be in after those few years?

If you said “pretty crappy condition” then you’d probably be fairly close to the mark.

While a computer is clearly different to a car, some of the same things apply.

If you don’t do some regular maintenance on you computer you can quickly end up needing to do some expensive repairs.  The photo with this article is real.  It’s the inside of a computer recently in my workshop.  The build-up of crap was pretty serious, to the point that some components had failed.  Much more expensive to fix than just giving I a good clean.

Moral of he story?

Regular maintenance matters.

By admin • Computers • • Tags: , ,

May 26 2011

Digital Economy Awareness Program – Longreach

On 27 May I’m presenting at an information day in Longreach on the Digital Economy.

Presentations include introductions to email, twitter, skype and so on.

My presentations are on:

  • Web Pages
  • Mobile Data
  • Security

If you attended, and have follow-up questions or would like further information, please feel free to contact me.

By admin • Computers • • Tags: , ,

Jul 18 2010

Shhh! You’ll Wake Someone

If you’re wondering, I haven’t stopped writing stuff online.  It’s just that most of it is now being contributed elsewhere.

Mostly, now, I’m writing over at MacTalk.  Have a look at my work there.

By David • Computers • • Tags: , ,

Dec 27 2009

Sysprep for Mac OS X

I admit it, for the last fifteen years or so I’ve been almost exclusively Windows-centric.  I’m sure there’s a Mac-specific term for this but I haven’t found it yet.  So, I’ll use sysprep for now.

What do I mean?  In Windows there’s a set of tools available that lets you build a reference computer with all the latest updates, pre-installed drivers and software and your own configurations.  Then you strip out all the bits that make it a unique computer such as user profiles and their associated passwords, unique computer identifiers and so on.  At the end of this you have a reference install of Windows that you can take an image of and deploy to other computers.  The first time you boot on a new computer it goes through some basic setup stuff and away you go.

Because I run a computer business that sells (and services) Apple computers I’ve been looking for a way to achieve the same sort of thing.  What follows in this article is the results of a some in-depth research and putting together bits and pieces from various sources.

My result is a disk image (.dmg) file that I can use to restore on any current version of Mac hardware (laptop and desktop – although untested on a Mac Pro) that will have a user environment I’ve already configured and with additional software that I’d like available.  It hasn’t got any pre-existing users created but runs the standard Apple welcome/setup process when first booted up instead – that way you get to create a new user profile for the new owner of the computer. More →

By David • Apple, Computers • • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Sep 29 2009

Geek Porn

All geeks drool over various bits of kit and, knowing full well they are totally impractical for their own particular circumstances, still wish it was theirs.

Here are a couple of my recent geek porn moments.  Yes, I fully understand that they’re completely impractical for my requirements.  I also understand that they’d be wasted in any role I could find for them.  But, that doesn’t change the fact that they’re seriously cool bits of kit and if someone wanted to give me one I wouldn’t turn them down.

SGI Octane IIIFirst up, how about a super computer in your own home (or office)?  Enter the Silicon Graphics Octane III.  Look a bit blade-like?  Yep, it is.  Chunky?  Apparently dimensions are roughly 1ft x 2ft x 2ft so, yes, a little bit.  But check the specs:

  • Up to 20 Xeon Quad Core Processors
  • Up to 960GB (yes, that’s a G) of Memory
  • Up to 10 SATA hard drives
  • Graphics with your choice of NVIDIA® Quadro® FX1800, FX3800, FX4800, FX5800. NVIDIA® TeslaTM C1060
  • Up to 4 1000W power supplies

…and yes, it’ll run Vista and Windows 7.

In reality it looks to be set for three distinct roles with each role having different capabilities based on the way the slots are used – as a “deskside cluster” based around either Xeon or Atom processors and as a “graphics workstation” with fewer CPU cores but having graphics capabilities and other features.  I couldn’t see any mention of pricing but I’d hazard a guess this is in the category of “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it”.

For my second item of drool today, here’s a nice little number in red.  Stuff-all processing power but if you really need some storage for your warez and torrent downloads, this might just suit your requirements:

backblaze-cheap-cloud-server-storage2

Yep, serious drive storage and what is apparently a not so serious price.  It’s a full 4RU rack case storage unit designed to be stacked in a standard 19″ rack and provide OMG levels of storage space.  What’s really great in this case is that the guys who created it (BackBlaze) have released a complete how-to as open source hardware.  They include parts lists and instructions on how to put it all together.

What have they done?  Basically, they put a relatively standard computer (motherboard, cpu, etc) in a case together with up to fourty five 1.5TB hard drives and some software to tie it all together.  Seriously nice bit of kit, and, IT’S RED!!!

By David • Computers • • Tags: , ,

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