zogthegreat

Hi @beninu Thanks for the reply and the information. Dropbox really tries to hide shutting this feature off!

I picked up an Asus TUF 15 gaming laptop as a temporary desktop replacement and I'm looking for a docking station for it. The laptop comes with a USB C with DisplayPort but no Thunderbolt, so I need a dock that supports DisplayPort over USB C. I would like to keep the price to under $100 USD if possible. I need USB port on it for my Corsair Strafe keyboard, (2 ports) and my Anker Vertical Mouse, (1 port). I also want a RJ-45 and audio out port. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hi everyone! I'm receiving a new laptop in the mail on Monday and I want to clone the internal 512gb SSD to a 2TB SSD without starting up the laptop and setting up Windows. This is so that if I'm not happy with the laptop, I can just put the original back in and send it back. I want something that works by booting off USB or something like that, this way I don't have to do a system restore. Best Buy can be real a-holes about returning computer hardware in my area. They say "30 no hassle returns", but the reality is that they try to find reason not to. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hi everyone! I found a UPS backup on the street today. No battery, (of course!), but that isn't really a problem, any 7ah SLA will do. My problem is that it uses a proprietary connector to connect the batteries to the unit: This has three wires, red/pos, black/neg and a yellow wire that I don't know what it is for. I'm thinking maybe some type of sensor. Does anyone have any experience with units like these? Can I ignore the yellow wire and just use the red/black? Thanks! zog [EDIT] I forgot to mention that the unit is a APC Back-UPS NS 1050

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to give test disk a try.

Hi everyone! I'm trying to help a friend that accidentally deleted his "D" drive partition and then reformatted the drive. He setup his system with a "C" drive for his OS and a "D" drive for data. The D drive came with his laptop and had a Windows setup partition form Lenovo. I've tried the demo versions of a couple of partition recovery software. They see the partition the he created, plus the original partitions from Lenovo, but for some reason, nothing can see the deleted partition. Anyone have any suggestions as to what is the best way to proceed? He is will to pay for software to recover his data. Thanks! zog

Hi @An0maly_76, I guess a smoke detector, if I wait for the fire alarm, it would be somewhat late!

Hi everyone! I'm building a cabinet for my 3D printer and I want to add a fire alarm connected to a on/off relay that will shut down the entire electrical system if the fire alarm goes off. Anyone have any suggestions or links that might help? Thanks! zog

Hi @mariushm Do you happen to have a link for a good converter? I only need two , so I don't feel like filling my electronics box with more components that will just sit there.

Thanks @fonzz1e! The case is a Thermaltake Snow. It's a work in progress. I've been holding off completing the build because I needed a 3D printer, However, I now have a nice and shiny Ender 3 Pro, so now I can get back to work on my desktop case, along with several other projects that I have on the back burner:

Hi everyone! I'm using some LM2596 DC-to-DC buck converters that I got off of Amazon and I'm having problems with getting an accurate voltages. I power up the converters and try to dial in the voltage that I need, but the voltage tends to bounce around. By that I mean if I try to set it for 12v, the current will bonce from 11.8 to 12.6v. Now, for what I'm doing, I can live with a .5 volt over/under, but I would prefer some buck converters that stay where I set them. Any suggestions? Thanks! zog

Hi @avTronic I "solved" this problem by moving my computer case to a shelf above my desk: I also added a piece of wood to deflect the cold air that comes in through the open door. There is also a heater on the wall under the window, so the hot air from the heater travels up and helps keep things warm. Now my system temps are usually around 30c. The nice thing about having it here is that in the summer, my air conditioner is in the window below the shelf, so I get cool air to keep things from overheating.

Thanks @shoutingsteve, I'll wait a month for them, but it's better than buy tips that I don't need. @James Evens, I prefer to crimp my connectors. I've always had problems with the wires getting bulky, even when I stagger the cuts.

Hi everyone! Well, like the title says, I'm looking for a source for 2 pin JST connectors. I don't want a kit with 1000 2pin / 3pin /4pin /5pin connectors, I just need 2 pin (male) connectors. Also, I'm not looking for pre wired connectors, I have a crimper to make custom cables. Any suggestions? Thanks zog

Hi @tikker Sorry it took me so long to reply, I have spent the last two weeks getting things working properly on the Ender 3 Pro. However, I'm now getting great prints like this: I still have some tuning to do, but in general, I'm pretty happy with my results!

So I went with an Ender 3 Pro. It set me back $340 CAD, but thus far I'm happyish. Getting the silly thing dialed in is somewhat of a PITA, but there is a good support community for this printer, so I should be putting out decent prints soon. Thanks for the advice everyone! zog

Thanks @LogicalDrm I wasn't sure where to post this! Is there any reason that the forum doesn't have a 3D printing thread?

Hi everyone! So I'm the proud owner of an Ender 3 Pro! I'm trying to tune it and I'm looking for a good forum for 3D printing. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks zog

I'm using an Anker Vertical Mouse and I love it. I was having wrist problems with a regular mouse so I made the switch to a vertical mouse. It takes a bit to get used to it, especially for gaming, but it's worth it.

Hi everyone! So I've decided to go ahead and get a 3D printer to make my builds easier. I found two printers on Amazon Canada. The first is Ender 3 Pro, going for $340 CAD: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07GYRQVYV/?coliid=I2LZFUAC4LMABN&colid=6TQRNOU9V2XI&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it The other is the Flashforge Foto 6.0 2K Resin Printer for $200 CAD: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B096K3YSP1/?coliid=I1OEF5YXMP461I&colid=6TQRNOU9V2XI&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it I've been reading the reviews and I understand the differences, including the different build sizes between the two printers. Although the resin printer is "cheaper" at $200, I will need other accessories like a wash station, UV lights etc. This make the price around the same as the Ender filament printer. Which would you go for and why? Thanks! zog

@Gunned Ninja Originally, I was planning to cast these parts in resin. However, I've been doing the math on the materials that I will need to complete the project and I've come to the conclusion that it would be best to wait another month or so and buy a 3D printer. The materials that I need, (resin mold making kit + the resin + this, that and whatever other little parts), are more expensive in Canada than in the US. If the border was open, I could order from the US to my mailbox across the border, however, it looks like it will be a while before that happens. I found a Ender 3 on Amazon Canada for $340 CAD, so I'm going to finish this project with the parts that I have made and wait to get the printer before building the other TrueNAS boxes that I'm planning. So I will finish this with what I have now and save the coin for the 3D printer.

Hieveryone! Due to boredom, I've been playing around with thin clients. Their essentially a Raspberry Pi on steroids. Here's the quick specs: AMD GX-217GA dual core CPU, (SOC) 4 external USB 2.0 2 external USB 3.0 2 internal USB 2.0 16 gb DDR3L, (max RAM) 1 M.2 1 mSATA 1 mPCI-E Passive cooling I found a seller on eBay that's selling them for $10 USD each. Fairly good deal when you consider that a Raspberry Pi goes for between $35 to, (WTF??), $100 USD! The seller seems to be a rather nice person, when I asked about some M 1.6 screws for the M.2 and mPCI-E holders, he was nice enough to go searching for some for me... on an item that he made $10 on. He's selling these without the power adapter, so be sure to ask if he has any in stock. If he doesn't, here's the HP part numbers for the PSU: F5A54AT TPC-LA58 902990-001 751889-001 I have on as a print server and another that I'm doing a TrueNAS build on and another one that I'm planning on turning into a pfSense box. Fairly flexible and actually a lot of fun to play with. (Full disclaimer) I have no connection with this seller other than he sold me the thin client. Here's the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/193759139640

Yes, the setup that you listed will work. Be careful what RAID card you get. If you gong with EXT4, then you can use a "real" RAID card, I.E. one that is considered hardware RAID. If your going with ZFS, you need a RAID card that is flashable to IT mode or a card that you buy with IT mode already flashed. Here's my server for an example: Supermicro X9DR3-LN4F+ 2 x's Xeon E5-2620 128gb DDR3 ECC 2 x's Intel DC S3700 200gb - mirrored for OS 1 Intel DC S3700 400gb - ZFS SLOG drive 2 x's Seagate Enterprise ST8000NM0065 8TB - ZFS mirror for data Proxmox for system OS The nice thing about the X9DR3 motherboard is that it comes with onboard SAS that can be flashed into IT mode, so I don't need a separate RAID card. [EDIT] I did a quick Google search and it seems that you can cross flash the Fujitsu RAID card. [EDIT 2] Not sure what type of deal your getting on your hardware, but @AbydosOne is right about your not being clear on what your trying to accomplish. The hardware that you list is rather high end for a simple at home NAS. You can get a prebuilt NAS for a lot less cash than what this setup will cost you. If you really want a small home setup that you build yourself, I would recommend lower end hardware.

Some AMD motherboards need to have their BIOS updated to handle the Ryzen 7 5800x. Put your old CPU back in, boot you system. Then download the proper BIOS from here: https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/X570 Phantom Gaming 4/index.asp#BIOS

Whilst awaiting for some parts to be delivered, I went back to work on the mount. If I was doing a "one and done", I would have decided that the mount was good enough as is. However, since two more of my friends have expressed interest in this setup, I decided to put in the extra work in making it look nice. Now, I know that this is a piece that will never be seen by the end users, but I would know that it's not as good as I could do, so..... JB Weld is really nice to work with, however, it does seem have a problem with warping when used in this manner. I needed everything to be level before I make the mold, so I got out my mini drill press and some router bits that I had in my tool bin: And then I started hand milling the top to get it mostly even. I did this by slowly going over the surface in lines, gradually adjusting the depth by about .5mm each pass: Then I decided that it was safe to use the larger bit, which made things go a little faster Once the top had a level enough surface, I flipped the mount over and started on the bottom. However, I first sprayed the bottom with black primer to show me any low spots: To finish the bottom surface I needed some spotting putty, but I don't have any and for some reason, I'm disinclined towards running out to the store to get some today: So I used some regular two stage epoxy to fill in the holes and divets on the bottom surface: Once the epoxy cures, I'll go over it again with the router bit. I'll pickup some spotting putty later to give it it's final surface before I make the mold. A quick side note, if you try hand milling something like I'm doing here, be careful how deep you set you router bit. I found that if I'm getting dust, I'm making good cuts, but if I'm getting chips like in the picture below, I'm going to deep: My experience is that JB Weld, when used in this manner, is that it is actually rather brittle and will snap easily if your not careful.