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Ever Buy Stuff That You Probably Don't Even Need?


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  • 3 months later...
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I think we have lost @The Fat Unicyclist to the VR world?  Come baaaack to us TFU!

I recently picked up a Dell 1U server for cheap ($400 CDN) to play around with.  It's about 3-4 years old, and it still looks to be in brand new condition - not a speck of dust.  It has two CPUs with 12 cores and 16 GB of ram. :dribble: Those small fans are modular and pop right out.  I've installed Windows 7 pro on it to do some testing. It came with two 750 watt platinum power supplies and a H710 RAID card.  I have small business server software, but for my needs I really only need Windows 7.  Yeah, I know, this server is a bit overkill, but it's quite cool!  It's also surprisingly quiet for a server.  I installed some SSD drives in RAID 10 to test it, and wow it flies!  The onboard video isn't too bad either considering other servers I've played around with usually have just the bare minimum of video capabilities.

It's a Polycom OEM server, but I was able to flash it to the latest Dell firmware update fine.  I think Google also has customized yellow Dell servers which Dell rebrands for them.  This baby is capable of I think 1536 GB of memory with the two processors.  I bet I won't even use up the whole 16 GB ever unless I do some heavy duty video editing in the future.  I'm not sure what would use up 1536 GB of ram.  :huh:

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2 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I think we have lost @The Fat Unicyclist to the VR world?  Come baaaack to us TFU!

It is interesting that he has not appear in any posts recently! Ya..I miss the guy as well! 

2 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I recently picked up a Dell 1U server for cheap ($400 CDN) to play around with.  It's about 3-4 years old, and it still looks to be in brand new condition 

That is an awesome purchase and should be posted under a new topic 'Ever buy stuff you probably need'! 

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On ‎14‎.‎10‎.‎2016 at 9:43 AM, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

That thing looks cool.  Get it!  Over here we can't fly over public spaces, airports, parks... All the interesting places so why bother???   :(

Finally, Mavic is available here. So I got myself one. Now I am off to read that DJI Mavic pro topic :)

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On 13.3.2017 at 8:45 PM, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

 This baby is capable of I think 1536 GB of memory with the two processors.  I bet I won't even use up the whole 16 GB ever unless I do some heavy duty video editing in the future.  I'm not sure what would use up 1536 GB of ram.  :huh:

Large databases, all sorts of caching, ramdisks, complex scientific calculations, virtual machines... you can get relational databases really fast with lots of memory & proper configuration, as they're mostly I/O- and not CPU-bound in terms of performance.

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5 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

So basically a super fast secret porn stash server!  :dribble: My thoughts exactly!  :innocent1:  I could probably multitask a 10,000 user game app server on it as well... hmmm the possibilities!

In case you're interested in more "heavy weight" server hardware, in some months we'll be getting rid of two rack-mounted server Blade-chassises (Intel Modular Server MFSYS25 & MFSYS25V2), other has 3 cards with dual 4-core Xeons (8 physical cores, 16 hyperthreading cores) and 16GB of RAM, 3 cards with single 4-core Xeon. The other chassis (MFSYS25V2) has 6 cards with dual 6-core Xeon (12 physical cores, 24 hyperthreading cores) and 48GB RAM each. Don't remember the specific Xeon-models etc, but if you're really interested I can dig them up next week. If memory serves, both have dual power supplies and a disk-stack configured as RAID-6, not sure on the disks (not SSD, probably 10K RPM? RAID-6 requires at least 4 disks).

Intel%20modular%20MFSYS25V2.png

 

No idea on the pricing really, and the shipping to other side of the world might be somewhat expensive, as those things weight a lot.

 

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I was eyeing some of those blade servers as they have a bunch on sale over here every now and then for cheap, but really I don't even know why I bought the 1U server to begin with.  With the blades you need the chassis for power I think as they can't run on their own?  I didn't look into them that closely as I don't even have room for a blade chassis.  I usually do local pickups so no shipping charges for these large items for me!  :thumbup:

I've already got a $140 Dell T410 and free T310 a friend gave me.  He got hit with cryptolocker on it, and he just wanted to get rid of the server.  I said I could wipe the drives no problem (and zero fill them if he was really paranoid), but I think his IT guy recommended moving to newer hardware which is shame as it's a perfectly good server.  Most people I hear want to upgrade after 4-5 years to all new stuff, and that's fine if it's in their budget.  I just think it's a bit wasteful of good tech which is still working.

With the 1U, it's meant to sit in a rack of course, but it can also run propped up against a wall or sitting around somewhere as it's flat as a pancake.  It's really quiet too even with the tiny fans. I guess I just like messing around with hardware, and it was relatively cheap.  I wonder if a blade setup would be good for bitcoin mining?  I was reading up a little about it, but cashing it out is still a little cryptic to me.

I still remember visiting the university mainframe floor when I was a kid.  They were running PDP-11 or Vax VMS or something like that.  The mainframe occupied a vast room, and the air conditioning to cool it was quite noticeable.  I think they had those reel to reel tape drives you see in some of the old Sci-Fi movies.  Pretty cool.  It's funny how we now have (well except you ;)) smart phones with so much more processing power than the good ol' days.  People don't appreciate where we came from.  I think I started at the bottom, and now I'm here...

 

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18 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

With the 1U, it's meant to sit in a rack of course, but it can also run propped up against a wall or sitting around somewhere as it's flat as a pancake.

I have new SKB component cases! I believe the smallest is a 2U. I also have a few 4 and 8U cases. If you need one just pay shipping and it is yours!

I have both you and @esaj beat! Check out the size of this computer! It was my son's when he owned his computer business. I have tried to sell it on EBay but no interest. 

 

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30 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I was eyeing some of those blade servers as they have a bunch on sale over here every now and then for cheap, but really I don't even know why I bought the 1U server to begin with.  With the blades you need the chassis for power I think as they can't run on their own?  I didn't look into them that closely as I don't even have room for a blade chassis.  I've already got a $140 Dell T410 and free T310 a friend gave me.  He got hit with cryptolocker on it, and he just wanted to get rid of the server.  I said I could wipe the drives no problem (and zero fill them if he was really paranoid), but I think his IT guy recommended moving to newer hardware which is shame as it's a perfectly good server.  Most people I hear want to upgrade after 4-5 years to all new stuff, and that's fine if it's in their budget.  I just think it's a bit wasteful of good tech which is still working.

Yeah, while I've never had to deal with the hardware directly, I'm pretty sure the cards won't work without the chassis, as for example, the cards don't have their own PSUs, the disks are separate from the cards, there's an internal configuration software on the chassis for setting them up and allowing the cards to access them and the cards have no mass storage on their own. At one point, my boss asked me if I want the servers, but I don't know what to do with them... That's 132 CPU-cores (physical) in total and 384GB of memory, I have no idea where would I need it :D  And with something like 2 x 1kW PSUs each, maybe I could use it for (noisy) heating in the winter while they crunch away scientific research or something :P    

It's pretty crazy, companies constantly throw away stuff that's pretty valuable actually... Of course, in this case, the resale value isn't very high (but up to several thousands, if you can find a buyer), and finding buyers may not be easy (apparently there's a lot more offer vs. demand for such hardware).

 

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With the 1U, it's meant to sit in a rack of course, but it can also run propped up against a wall or sitting around somewhere as it's flat as a pancake.  It's really quiet too even with the tiny fans. I guess I just like messing around with hardware, and it was relatively cheap.  I wonder if a blade setup would be good for bitcoin mining?  I was reading up a little about it, but cashing it out is still a little cryptic to me.

Well, there's lots of computing power there, but with the advent of GPU-calculations and purpose-built mining ASIC-systems, stuff like bitcoin-mining has become more "economical" (as economical as you can call solving mathematical puzzles to create virtual currency? ;)) with such, as in electricity bill vs. computing power. CPUs beat GPUs in more general computational tasks (as in, where they need to do more than just one simple task like "solving" bitcoins), but when it comes to (relatively) straight-forward calculations that get a large advantage from huge parallelism (such as bitcoin-mining) offered by the GPU/ASICs, the GPU/ASICs win hands down.

 

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I still remember visiting the university mainframe floor when I was a kid.  They were running PDP-11 or Vax VMS or something like that.  The mainframe occupied a vast room, and the air conditioning to cool it was quite noticeable.  I think they had those reel to reel tape drives you see in some of the old Sci-Fi movies.  Pretty cool.  It's funny how we now have (well except you ;)) smart phones with so much more processing power than the good ol' days.  People don't appreciate where we came from.  I think I started at the bottom, and now I'm here...

I'm a luddite :P

Actually, if anyone has a 19" rack they don't need...  x)

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29 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

I have new SKB component cases! I believe the smallest is a 2U. I also have a few 4 and 8U cases. If you need one just pay shipping and it is yours!

I have both you and @esaj beat! Check out the size of this computer! It was my son's when he owned his computer business. I have tried to sell it on EBay but no interest. 
 

I think that case miiiiight work out better for @roofus4 to place his wheel into than my rack server.  Might be overkill, but he could seal up the seams, drill a vent hole, attach some tubing, and channel it to some exhaust port somewhere on his plane?  I wonder what's the best way to dampen an exploding battery pack in a confined space.  Did you guys see this new article on exploding headphones?
 

http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/15/14938788/headphones-explosion-airplane-sleeping-woman

That bouncy computer looks like fun.  Is the air inflator supposed to be the mouse?  :lol:

 

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36 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I think that case miiiiight work out better for @roofus4 to place his wheel into than my rack server.  Might be overkill, but he could seal up the seams, drill a vent hole, attach some tubing, and channel it to some exhaust port somewhere on his plane?  I wonder what's the best way to dampen an exploding battery pack in a confined space.  Did you guys see this new article on exploding headphones?
 

http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/15/14938788/headphones-explosion-airplane-sleeping-woman

 

I glimpsed it some day this week, just what this world needs, more exploding cheap electronics  :facepalm::P

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  • 2 months later...
35 minutes ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

Just bought some of this...

I definitely didn't need it, but I think it may be my new favorite rum! 

20170601_182336.jpg

Good call! One can never have enough of quality alcohol!

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Not booze or smokes, but I recently picked up a Brother MFC all in one laser printer/fax/copier/scanner for $10 as is.  Ended up it seemed to print fine with only about 1500 pages printed in it's history.  On closer examination all the pages were embossed with a strange repeating pattern which was something I've never seen before.

Of course I had to take it apart,  but luckily there were instructions online.  That fuser assembly is a slight pain to get at.  Sure enough the cause of the embossing was the fact that the fuser had melted pieces of the opposing roller onto it!  Something must have gotten stuck to allow that to happen.  After 20 minutes of scraping with various tools and fingernails later, I managed to get most of it off, and now it works as good as new.

It probably wasn't worth having it sent to a repair place so the business just got rid of it.  For about 40 minutes of work I was able to save it from the landfill or recycle depot and working again.  I wish we could do that with more pieces of equipment as they have just become way too disposable when something simple can fix things.  It makes me wonder how much waste is going to the electronics graveyards every year.  :efefb6a84e:

 

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3 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

It makes me wonder how much waste is going to the electronics graveyards every year.  :efefb6a84e:

I'm guilty!  :facepalm: Sometimes is cheaper to buy another unit. The E graveyard must have tons of LED TVs. Everytime I would take a TV in for repair the technician always says it would be cheaper to buy a new one. So the unit ends up in my company dumpster.

I did find a company recently that recycles old tvs and computers in my area. Funny, they make money on recycling but still charge you for disposal.  :confused1:

I did send @esaj my old ACM board. Do I get a 'Save The Planet' award?:innocent1:

 

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2 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

It probably wasn't worth having it sent to a repair place so the business just got rid of it.  For about 40 minutes of work I was able to save it from the landfill or recycle depot and working again.  I wish we could do that with more pieces of equipment as they have just become way too disposable when something simple can fix things.  It makes me wonder how much waste is going to the electronics graveyards every year.  :efefb6a84e:

Nice! Seems that most companies just replace stuff nowadays, repairing anything but the most expensive items might be more expensive than buying new. But businesses throw away a lot of stuff that's still working just fine, since storing it takes up space which they might not have. A neighbor of mine had to fight with his boss (or just the company, not sure which) to get a specific electrically adjustable workdesk, for a price difference of something like 20€ vs. what they were going to get him... He offered to pay the difference himself, but in the end didn't need to. Fast forward a couple of years, and the company was going to send the desk to landfill, as they were redecorating and it didn't "fit" with the new furnishing, so he brought it home.

At least some companies do sell for a low price or give away the stuff they're going to be throwing away. I've got office chairs from the company I work for when we moved to smaller office after a round of layoffs. My newer desktops and monitors are leftovers from work (HP Z400 & Z600) Could have gotten some pretty good desks and such too, but didn't have the space, they were all large "corner-models", as in L-shaped, with solid decks, so hard to fit them anywhere for storage.

The aftermarket for electronics is a bit harder, especially if it's broken. Using surface-mount technology saves a lot on space & production cost, but makes it harder to repair, and with the prices of electronics having come down a lot over the past few decades, it's usually cheaper to just buy new than have it serviced. Also some companies (like Apple) make their devices purposefully difficult / near impossible to repair.

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With computers and peripherals and software, everything gets outdated and hard to patch after a while, sometimes while the equipment is still in perfect shape and actually more reliable than what you are going to replace it with.  I hate throwing away perfectly good stuff.  Gotta do it sometimes though, or problems start up and continue to multiply.

I've never gotten any outdated furniture from one of my workplaces, but that sounds like a nice benefit!  A lot of the stuff out of cubicle farms is huge, though.  

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15 minutes ago, Dingfelder said:

With computers and peripherals and software, everything gets outdated and hard to patch after a while, sometimes while the equipment is still in perfect shape and actually more reliable than what you are going to replace it with.  I hate throwing away perfectly good stuff.  Gotta do it sometimes though, or problems start up and continue to multiply.

Depends on your needs. While these desktop computers pack a punch, they're relatively old (circa 2011 I think). The other one started to have issues like randomly freezing maybe once a week, but the other one's still working and kicking. Quad-core Xeon, 16 gigabytes of memory and 512GB SSD is more than enough for my use.

Outside actual computers, I have an industry-level programmable power supply and a benchtop multimeter, that I got used at a relatively good price (120€ for the PSU, 240€ for the multimeter, both including shipping). The design's something like over 20 years old, and the PSU has been obsoleted (HP6632A, the slightly better HP6632B is being discontinued this June) but last I checked they were still available new (about 1400-1500€ + shipping + VAT for each) and the reliability & accuracy is in a class of it's own. I heard that some years back, some Finnish companies were selling the used B-models en masse at around 50€ + shipping/piece.

 

15 minutes ago, Dingfelder said:

I've never gotten any outdated furniture from one of my workplaces, but that sounds like a nice benefit!  A lot of the stuff out of cubicle farms is huge, though.  

I would have had use for the desks if I could fit them. Looks like I'm going to have to build my own, as I have some "special needs", like space for a 19" rack mounted devices, measuring devices, soldering station, parts bins, sockets & lighting wired directly into the desk etc, meaning I need to make a lot of shelves and sturdy structure as a lot of weight could be placed on top (19" linear PSU's tend to weight between 10-20kg each).

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On 7/23/2016 at 2:19 AM, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Anyone else have any interesting buys they want to share?

Yup sure do.........................................

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-6550-12-5-Inch-Benchtop-Thickness/dp/B0106XD60Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496800145&sr=8-1&keywords=wen+surface+planer

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