computers
ATX Power Supplies – Negative Voltages
Computer power supply units (PSUs) provides all the voltages the computer needs to function. Most computers use the ATX form factor, a standard that describes which voltages and connectors a PSU should have to be compatible with other hardware.
The ATX standard has three main voltages (3.3V, 5V, and 12V), and two, almost never used, negative voltages (-5V and -12V). Recently, I was thinking about how I could make a computer power supply that accepted a 12VDC input, while still providing the range of voltages needed. Indeed, regulating 12V down to 5V and 3.3V is not so difficult, but obtaining negative voltages along side these positive ones was a challenge for my mind.
Looking online I found that almost all examples of dual polarity power supplies involved the use of a center tapped transformer and AC voltages. This was not the most practical method if my input were to be a DC source. So, rather than begin complicating the idea, why not find out if these negative voltages are even needed at all.
Photo Blog – Serious Server Setup
The next many pictures will go through transferring good old BIGBLUE to a new 4U Rosewill RSV-R4000 case, and the installation of two new Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB Drives!
From start to finish:
Font Gone Missing: Arial
The other day, while helping a friend set up his new computer, I came across a bizarre and irritating problem. I installed Google Chrome, and was on the internet, and noticed that everything was in italics. It was difficult on the eyes. I tried to change some settings in the Page Font menu in Chrome, but to no avail. I found other people had this problem, and after digging in the system’s Fonts folder, I found the issue.
Video Arcade: Build Log
The video arcade is complete! To be fair, it was complete when I posted the introduction article on the 28th… Anyway.
There it stands, in all its glory.
Read on for the whole build story.
Ooh… that was clever.
Video Arcade: Intro
The youth entertainment business has always been a matter of evolution. They get bored easily, and what was fun last week is obsolete the next. But what about for the older crowd? Their attention spans are higher, and some of these obsolete, youth-targetted trends become timeless classics and passtimes; hobbies and business.
You’ve seen me post before about pinball machines, the collection, the reparation, of these machines that long ago lived in arcades, abused and unmaintained. When technology began to evolve, and interest declined, there was a successor that pushed the bounds of existing entertainment, that captivated the youth, helped children reach bankruptcy hundreds of times before the age of 16. This phenomenon, ladies and gentlemen, was the video arcade.
Domain name!
Well, I finally did it: this website has moved from BIGBLUE to a dedicated host, and along with that, it has its own domain name! https://blog.danjoannis.com. Feels good to say it. I have signed up for 6 months, so we’ll see how it goes. If I like it, I’ll keep it here (the site is so much more responsive now).
Any comments or problems with the site? Let me know!
Edit: The link was updated to reflect the final, official address.
Upgrades to BIGBLUE (server)
Sorry to anyone who’s been trying to access the server the last 24 hours, I’ve had to take it down a couple times. I’ve just installed two new 1TB hard drives (RAID 1), and split the previous 750GB RAID 1 into two separate drives, giving me a total usable capacity of… 2.5TB! Seems like lots of storage now… but in a year I am quite certain it will be almost full, yet again.
I ordered the 750GB (x2) drives last November, and in a year I managed to almost fill them.
Of course, here is a lovely photo of the server, filled to the brim with hard drives! Beautiful, and awful at the same time.
6 drives, and not enough plastic rails to slide them securely in place (the bottom drive is just sitting there upside down). I’m out of SATA ports, but there’s still connections for IDE RAID!
Moved, new song!!!
The move is now complete. The server is back up and running, and hopefully there won’t be any issues for the next long while, thought if I move the server around in the room it may go down for a couple minutes. Good news: the internet here is faster than the last neighbourhood! Upload is around 540kbps, vs. the 280kbps I got at the last place. Upload is now 4.5mbps, vs. 1.8mbps. Nice!
I recently began a new song, and it has evolved into something of intricate instrumental interaction that is enjoyable to listen to. It is long, however I have always been a fan of long songs with many faces. My music, being instrumental, does not follow a pattern such as radio-bound music. A pattern of intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus simply becomes too boring in an instrumental. Therefore, the music I write often does not have such defined sections, and instead takes advantage of multiple alterations of notes and instruments in order to keep it interesting and enjoyable.
Head on down to the music section to hear the new song!
Note: Server Downtime
Just a note: the server will be down, likely beginning sometime Saturday afternoon, though possibly either sooner, or later, than that. Once down, it will not be back until AT LEAST Tuesday, Feb 22. Reason: I’m moving, and as such, so is the server. The Internet connection will need to be transferred to the new house, and though we’ve notified them already in advance, well, I will never be one to vouch for quick response time from any of the involved companies…
Thanks in advanced for the patience, and hopefully the connection will be faster at the new place!
Update: it is.
Nostalgia: Windows 98
Last weekend I tried to install Windows 98 on the oldest laptop of mine. It didn’t work, it gave an error, “Insufficient system memory”. Funny, I had 2GB of RAM…
After all, it is a laptop. Why doesn’t Windows XP ask these questions? Maybe it just knows.
I wonder if it’s any better than Justin TV?
Dial-up server!!!
23 minutes remaining, no, I mean, 14 minutes, no, I mean, 3 hours 27 minutes!
I miss this… Sort of, not really. It’s so much nicer to have it all shut down on its own.
I’ve got a video of it trying, and failing, to boot, however, bad quality, and not all that important.