The Computer Geek Thread

[Prog Snob]

You can find top of the line switches and routers for decent prices just by looking around the Internet. Couldn't you just put together your own DAS system by buying the parts? Though, I guess it depends on how big of a space we're talking about.

[orcus116]

Nah you'd need to get a carrier to install their own equipment. I'm sure there is a way to pull signal from a nearby cell site but if you want to do it right you'd need to get their own equipment put in. I'm not even sure if it's possible for an individual home owner to get something like that but I think it'd be neat. Hell I've seen full cell sites built on top of people's houses but that's a whole different thing.

[Prog Snob]

But it sure would be fun to try to install something ourselves.   

[Logain Ablar]

I must admit I've always had more of an interest in the hardware and software side of things, than the networking stuff. Seems like there's more network types here than I though there might be, which is cool too.

This might be of interest to fans of older PC games like Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake. It's a documentary on id software. Really fascinating stuff (for me, anyway  ). (Up until 6 months ago I always thought it was pronounced "I.D.", and not "id" - oops!   )

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7YreEwtV7D0

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Call me stupid but I never thought about the fact that Doom or Wolfenstein isn't actually 3D. Hearing how they tricked you into thinking you saw 3D depth is really interesting.

Doom WASN'T 3D!

[BlobVanDam]

Call me stupid but I never thought about the fact that Doom or Wolfenstein isn't actually 3D. Hearing how they tricked you into thinking you saw 3D depth is really interesting.

Doom WASN'T 3D!

Call me a huge nerd, but I always knew about these games being faux 3D with raycasting.
Doom was much more advanced, since it wasn't limited to the roof and floor being flat, and Duke Nukem 3D was a little more advanced again, cheating looking up/down using some kind of shifting or parallax, but I always think of Quake as being the first true 3D FPS on PC (unless there was another before it, my history of PC gaming isn't great).

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Call me stupid but I never thought about the fact that Doom or Wolfenstein isn't actually 3D. Hearing how they tricked you into thinking you saw 3D depth is really interesting.

Doom WASN'T 3D!

Call me a huge nerd, but I always knew about these games being faux 3D with raycasting.
Doom was much more advanced, since it wasn't limited to the roof and floor being flat, and Duke Nukem 3D was a little more advanced again, cheating looking up/down using some kind of shifting or parallax, but I always think of Quake as being the first true 3D FPS on PC (unless there was another before it, my history of PC gaming isn't great).

Yea I just never really thought about it but it makes alot of sense from the perspective of progressing from 2D to 3D and find away to fake 2D to look like 3D. It just makes sense and the way they did it is pretty impressive. You're right, Quake was the first real 3D game.

[Prog Snob]

I've never been much of a gamer, except the ones based on Lord of the Rings. Occasionally I'll put an emulator on my laptop and play some of the older Nintendo games.

[cramx3]

So went to my college roommates house in north Jersey today... cut down a tree, smashed a macbook with a sledgehammer (https://youtu.be/EavnvAfPhdQ}, and built his PC.

Specs from the PC thread

Rosewill Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case FBM-01
$23.26
You save:
$26.73 (53%)

Logitech Wireless Combo MK270 with Keyboard and Mouse
$27.95
You save:
$2.04 (7%)

ViewSonic VA2746M-LED 27-Inch LED-Lit LCD Monitor, Full HD 1080p, DVI/VGA, Speakers, VESA
$189.99
You save:
$142.01 (43%)

Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit System Builder OEM | PC Disc
$80.00
You save:
$29.99 (27%)

EVGA 500 W1 80+, 500W Continuous Power, 3 Year Warranty Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR
$39.15
You save:
$0.84 (2%)

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 04G-P4-1962-KR 4GB SC GAMING, 6.8 Inch
$189.99
You save:
$30.00 (14%)

Samsung Electronics 24x SATA Half Height DVD-Writer Internal Optical Drive SH-224FB/BSBE
$17.48
You save:
$41.60 (70%)

Crucial 8GB Single DDR4 2133 MT/s (PC4-17000) CL15 DR x8 Unbuffered DIMM 288-Pin Desktop Memory CT8G4DFD8213
$29.99
You save:
$30.00 (50%)

ASUS H110M-A LGA 1151 Intel H110 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro-ATX DDR4 Motherboard
$67.16

Intel Boxed Core I5-6500 FC-LGA14C 3.20 Ghz 6 M Processor Cache 4 LGA 1151 BX80662I56500
$203.99
You save:
$137.27 (40%)

Subtotal (10 items): $868.96
Total savings: $440.48

What is not listed here is that I will give him:

Intel 100GB 400GB SSD I have from work for the OS
2TB WD Cavier Green I also have from work for his Data
An old wireless USB network adapter I have (I think it was a NetGear, but not a big deal could have bought a new one for 15 but why not)

It came out real nice too! (also built the desk with him).

[ReaperKK]

That's a nice rig there.

No problems on first bootup?

Has anyone here done a water cooled PC? I did one for a little bit around 15 years ago but I've been thinking I may revisit it in a future build. I had a bunch of problems with my first build with condensation and a small leak but that was my first water cooled build so I was new to it.

[cramx3]

No real problems, I had some issues with powering it on at first, but that was just me being an idiot.  Once I got the power working everything worked just fine.  Didn't really test it though since I was running short on time.  I wanted to try out a game and see the graphics, but installing steam and downloading the free Tomb Raider game that came with the graphics card would have taken too long.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

No, the only thing I have is a liquid cooler for my CPU. Had some thoughts about it but to much of a hazzle for my taste. Would be cool though.

[Kotowboy]

So what is C# or C++ ?

How does it differ to BASIC ?

[Logain Ablar]

So what is C# or C++ ?

How does it differ to BASIC ?

C# and C++ are a different family of language, both being descendants of the original C language. This means that the syntax and keywords are both totally different than BASIC. The C family of languages let you work at a lower level of the computer hardware than BASIC, say for manipulating the content of memory, or messing about with network connections, and that kind of thing.

C# and C++ are also object oriented languages, which means you create code modules (classes) which model real world entities. E.g. you could have have a Car class that models both the properties of a car (make/model/colour), and actions that a car can take (accelerate/brake/change gear). You've also got fun stuff like inheritance which allows you to build classes on top of each other..

BASIC is more of a procedural language, meaning that you can create procedures (subroutines) to separate out and reuse common sequences of commands. These subroutines can be called from the "main" program to perform individual tasks, and then return control to the main program.

Here's a comparison table of languages for a laugh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_programming_languages


I'd say that there's very little commercial development done these days using BASIC, compared to C/C++/Java/C#.

[Kotowboy]

Imagine writing a program for a NASA launch using BASIC

10 CLS
20 input " Yo, you ready to go to space, dawg ? ";A$
30 if A$ = "yes" or "y" then GOTO 50 else GOTO 40
40 Cancel Launch
50 LAUNCH !

[Logain Ablar]

Imagine writing a program for a NASA launch using BASIC

10 CLS
20 input " Yo, you ready to go to space, dawg ? ";A$
30 if A$ = "yes" or "y" then GOTO 50 else GOTO 40
40 Cancel Launch
50 LAUNCH !

Ha ha - you've missed your calling!

I like the way you're checking for different input values, though you gotta allow for case sensitivity. If Mr Astronaut answered "Yes" instead of "yes", the whole thing would be called off, and there'd be a lot of explaining to do to Mission Control.. 

[Kotowboy]

waited my whole life to be an astronaut.


Should never have skipped caps lock class.

[Kotowboy]

I was great at BASIC back in the day - I used to write animations which were entirely ASCII code and then slight alterations between frames - which were basically clearing the screen between frames.

And I could make text scroll across the screen and stop at desired moments. I forgot the code for that of course

[Logain Ablar]

Very cool. I used to love messing about with that kind of thing on the Spectrum. You'd get a magazine with a program you had to type in by hand, to do something cool on the screen, or get you infinite lives in some game or whatever. It would take 20 minutes to type in a series of POKE and DATA statements, you'd hit "go", and the whole thing would reset on you, losing everything you'd typed!

Many happy hours! 

[Kotowboy]

haha. like when you're typing a massive reply on an web forum and you hit delete and for some reason instead of delete - the webpage reloads.

I usually copy and paste my text as I go now. If it's a really long reply.

[Logain Ablar]

Yeah, definitely been there. It's always the best and wittiest replies that get lost too.. 

Sometimes I'd type my reply in Notepad and then just copy/paste it in at the end. It's like typing a Word document - Ctrl-S every 10 seconds or sooner.

Never trust a computer!

[faizoff]

The new GTX 1080 has some nice specs on it, the embargo for reviews was lifted today so reviews are popping all over the place. This thing has 8GB of RAM. Though it won't be on sale just yet the  starting cost in the US is $700. I used to think that running a game on full 1080 resolution with maximum or ultra settings on a dual or triple monitor setup was as good as it got for gaming, now you can do 4K resolution and these cards power that which is insane. Not to mention also ready for VR kits. I think I will eventually upgrade my video card at some point.

[Kotowboy]

Sometimes I'd type my reply in Notepad and then just copy/paste it in at the end. It's like typing a Word document - Ctrl-S every 10 seconds or sooner.

i do that if i'm replying on DTF and i'm on my phone. It's just easier that way.

[cramx3]

The new GTX 1080 has some nice specs on it, the embargo for reviews was lifted today so reviews are popping all over the place. This thing has 8GB of RAM. Though it won't be on sale just yet the  starting cost in the US is $700. I used to think that running a game on full 1080 resolution with maximum or ultra settings on a dual or triple monitor setup was as good as it got for gaming, now you can do 4K resolution and these cards power that which is insane. Not to mention also ready for VR kits. I think I will eventually upgrade my video card at some point.

Yea, the 1080 is a BEAST. 

[cramx3]

I'm not sure how much mileage you're going to get from a discussion on fibre optics.

The whole telecommunications infrastructure fascinates me mainly due to my work (wireless telecommunications). I'm on the site planning/engineering side but I've done a lot of work with backhaul for the major cell phone carriers so I've worked with Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Lightower, etc. While not essential to my line of work I love knowing how fiber optics works with connections to switches, individual sites, and the like.

Not that I would get one but are there any feasible fiber connection cards directly to home computers or would that not even matter if the local provider doesn't offer something like that? Like could you ask them to install a fiber to fiber switch in lieu of a fiber to copper switch?

I don't know if there are any switches made that have direct fiber connections, though I could be wrong. The ones we use at my job use a transceiver which gets plugged into a special switch port. They look something like this:



I actually have a couple lying around the house that we weren't using at my job. No reason other than I thought they were cool.     I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that eventually fiber will come directly into the home, but again, I think there will be some kind of intermediary connection point, like a patch panel of sorts, before it gets to the routing/switching device.

I guess I missed this previously and stumbled onto it just now.  I just re-inventoried all of our SFPs (what you have pictured) yesterday at work.  Cool little gadgets. 

As for fiber to the home, already there.  My fios is fiber right to the Verizon box outside my house, from there it gets converted to coax.  When they installed it, I ended up chilling with the technician for the couple hours while he worked since it wasn't terribly different than something I'd have to do in the data center.  He also showed me how to install my own wall jacks, which I ended up doing myself instead of paying Verizon (or someone else).

[Prog Snob]

I know fiber goes to the home. I was referring to it actually going into the back of the router inside one's home. I can imagine the speed dips significantly once it gets turned to coax. Not that I'm complaining about speed since I've downloaded things at some nice fast speeds.

[cramx3]

I know fiber goes to the home. I was referring to it actually going into the back of the router inside one's home. I can imagine the speed dips significantly once it gets turned to coax. Not that I'm complaining about speed since I've downloaded things at some nice fast speeds.

Not really, at least not until we pass 1Gbps speeds to our homes (which google fiber offers and I believe comcast is starting to roll this out as well).  I could be wrong, but from my understanding a coax cable can reach over 1Gbps and maybe never actually be a problem honestly.  I think maybe splitting it inside your house could end up being more of a drawback than the actual coax cable itself.  Fiber is very expensive compared to coax so it doesn't make much sense to have fiber inside your home anytime soon.  But obviously in the future it will be too slow, when we get to 10Gbps... 100Gbps, the infrastructure will need to be upgraded for sure.

[Prog Snob]

I know fiber goes to the home. I was referring to it actually going into the back of the router inside one's home. I can imagine the speed dips significantly once it gets turned to coax. Not that I'm complaining about speed since I've downloaded things at some nice fast speeds.

Not really, at least not until we pass 1Gbps speeds to our homes (which google fiber offers and I believe comcast is starting to roll this out as well).  I could be wrong, but from my understanding a coax cable can reach over 1Gbps and maybe never actually be a problem honestly.  I think maybe splitting it inside your house could end up being more of a drawback than the actual coax cable itself.  Fiber is very expensive compared to coax so it doesn't make much sense to have fiber inside your home anytime soon.  But obviously in the future it will be too slow, when we get to 10Gbps... 100Gbps, the infrastructure will need to be upgraded for sure.

I probably could have just looked up the speeds myself.      I was just thinking out loud and being lazy. As far as the coax speed, I'm guessing it's the same as Cat 5,6,7 cables and there are probably different grades of it and it depends on what is being sent over the line.

[cramx3]

I know fiber goes to the home. I was referring to it actually going into the back of the router inside one's home. I can imagine the speed dips significantly once it gets turned to coax. Not that I'm complaining about speed since I've downloaded things at some nice fast speeds.

Not really, at least not until we pass 1Gbps speeds to our homes (which google fiber offers and I believe comcast is starting to roll this out as well).  I could be wrong, but from my understanding a coax cable can reach over 1Gbps and maybe never actually be a problem honestly.  I think maybe splitting it inside your house could end up being more of a drawback than the actual coax cable itself.  Fiber is very expensive compared to coax so it doesn't make much sense to have fiber inside your home anytime soon.  But obviously in the future it will be too slow, when we get to 10Gbps... 100Gbps, the infrastructure will need to be upgraded for sure.

I probably could have just looked up the speeds myself.      I was just thinking out loud and being lazy. As far as the coax speed, I'm guessing it's the same as Cat 5,6,7 cables and there are probably different grades of it and it depends on what is being sent over the line.

I actually had to google it myself, turns out no one knows the max speed of coax.  It's all about the way the signal is sent through the cable it seems.  Theoretically it can hit 1Gbps but no one knows yet how much more.  At least that's what I seemed to learn from my quick search.

[Prog Snob]

And we both know the theoretical and actual results are usually nowhere near each other. I'm sure there's a spec for it somewhere. There has to be. I'll do some more digging.  I had the 4 parts of the whole Ethernet spec downloaded to my phone at one point. It's like thousands of pages.   

[Prog Snob]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial_cable

https://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/coax-chart.htm

The Wikipedia article probably has lots of links to references and whatnot. I'm sure we can find more data through there.

[cramx3]

Well theoretically there is no limit to a coax cable  it depends on how the bits are being sent through it.

One of the standards is DOCSIS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

There are theoretical speeds there.  Someone can create a new way to transmit the data on coax and get better bandwidth theoretically as well.

[Prog Snob]

I'm going to read more about it when I get home. Right now, besides reading Wheel of Time and ASOIAF, I'm reading this book for the CCIE. It's the first of many books I need to read through and understand. Starting with how TCP/IP works, and knowing it thoroughly, is a must before getting involved in any networking topics. It's the foundation.

https://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Protocols-Addison-Wesley-Professional/dp/0321336313/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463514933&sr=1-1&keywords=tcp+ip+illustrated

[cramx3]

I'm going to read more about it when I get home. Right now, besides reading Wheel of Time and ASOIAF, I'm reading this book for the CCIE. It's the first of many books I need to read through and understand. Starting with how TCP/IP works, and knowing it thoroughly, is a must before getting involved in any networking topics. It's the foundation.

https://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Protocols-Addison-Wesley-Professional/dp/0321336313/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463514933&sr=1-1&keywords=tcp+ip+illustrated

I have that book... never read it though.  I should.  I got it many years ago after I think my first job when it was recommended to me by my coworkers.

[Prog Snob]

It's the first of three volumes, though the third volume isn't something I would need to read for what I'm doing.