Who's treated themselves to some new hardware recently?

[Mike Walsh]

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The old Compaq tower turned up its toes and died last week, following nothing more onerous than its annual spring-clean.

She was fast approaching her 16th birthday. It's a respectable age for any piece of 'tech'.

I've spent my entire computing 'life' using other people's second- (or third-, or fourth-) hand 'throwouts'. For the most part, I've been happy (the anciente Dell lappie is approaching its 18th this year.....and it's still chugging along).

---------------------------------------------

But just for once, I fancied something new. So I've splashed out on something modern, for the first time ever (following a bit of a 'windfall' in the UK's midweek National Lottery draw).....and to say I'm gobsmacked is putting it mildly. This is an HP Pavilion 'mini-tower'; non-ATX - mobo is a 'custom' HP job - making use of a 14 µm 'Coffee Lake'-gen dual-core Intel Pentium G5400 w/HT, running @ 3.7 GHz, and with 'built-in' GPU. A basic, single 4 GB stick of DDR4; two slots, giving the possibility of 16 GB at some point in the future.....though I shall probably never go above 8 GB. For a Puppy box, that's tons.

Storage is taken care of by a 1 TB Toshiba SATA3 HDD.....and the external 3TB Seagate is still doing the honours with my personal data & Puppy 'stuff'. And the visuals are now provided by a 22" 1920x1080 HP 22w HD monitor, through an HDMI connector. Nice to have a decent amount of screen real estate, for once.....even with a higher DPI setting, there's still loads of space.

(I'm a bit concerned about the relatively low-powered 180W PSU. I don't think the new-ish 500W CoolerMaster B50 from the old tower will fit, unfortunately.)

However, it is eye-wateringly fast with Puppy. I thought the old Compaq was relatively quick, but I reckon I was viewing things through rose-tinted specs. CPU technology has made great strides in recent years.

The Compaq's dual-core Athlon64 X2 was over $1000 at introduction, and wasn't much better than a doubled-up P4.....pulling nearly 100W TDP on 90 µm construction. This thing was $64 at intro, year before last, and will run rings round it, while sipping a fraction of the power on 14 µm....

That is, of course, progress for ya. I also like the fact that this is the first desktop I've ever used with wireless built-in, as an addition to Ethernet (which on this machine is of the 'Gigabit' variety). And it works, too, connecting without any drama at all via SNS.

Since it's relatively new "tech", I shall concentrate on the newer Pups from now on; the Bionics, the Xenials. Though I will keep my Slacko 560 install; "old reliable"!

The reams of info provided here on the Forum about UEFI/legacy booting over the last couple or three years stood me in good stead; setting the BIOS to boot from the 'legacy' side of things was so fuss-free as to be almost humdrum. I booted to a LiveCD of Slacko 570, and proceeded to eradicate the HDD's Redmond-based 'infestation' before it even had a chance to draw breath..!

We'll see how it goes.


Mike.

[Terry H]

(I'm a bit concerned about the relatively low-powered 180W PSU. I don't think the new-ish 500W CoolerMaster B50 from the old tower will fit, unfortunately.)

These newer CPU's don't require a lot of power, that CPU has a TDP of 35 W including graphics, so you've got lots of capacity there.

[Mike Walsh]

(I'm a bit concerned about the relatively low-powered 180W PSU. I don't think the new-ish 500W CoolerMaster B50 from the old tower will fit, unfortunately.)

These newer CPU's don't require a lot of power, that CPU has a TDP of 35 W including graphics, so you've got lots of capacity there.

I should say you're right, Terry. On closer inspection, I now realise that what HP appear to done here is to build a small-scale desktop using quite a few laptop parts.....for instance, the HDD 'rack', although having space for 3 or 4 drives, is set up for all 2.5" drives, rather than the 'normal' 3.5" desktop variants. And the DVD-RW optical drive is almost identical to the one in the nearly 18-yr old Dell lappie.....it'll eject automatically on a signal from the machine, but you've got no option but to push it back in manually. The disc even 'clips' to the spindle in the manner of a laptop optical drive!

It's an interesting 'hybrid', in that respect.....though for a budget machine, it'll knock the socks off the old Compaq tower in terms of performance, and what it can do (which, for its time, was a top-end piece of kit). I'm certainly not complaining.


Mike.

[Flash]

Mike, will that laptop optical drive save more than one session to a multisession Puppy CD or DVD?

[Mike Walsh]

@ Flash:-

Mike, will that laptop optical drive save more than one session to a multisession Puppy CD or DVD?

Erm.... Pass..!

I wish I could tell you, Flash. Multisession is not something I've ever tried, so I have absolutely zero experience as to how it works, I'm afraid.

Tell you what; I'll do some experiments. I'll have a go at saving back to a Puppy disc - more than one session? - and let you know what happens. It'll be new territory for me, too, so I'll soon find out what the pitfalls are.


Mike.

[backi]

Flash wrote :

Mike, will that laptop optical drive save more than one session to a multisession Puppy CD or DVD?

Somehow confused .Why it shouldn't save more than one Session ?
How do you come to this Conclusion ?

[Mike Walsh]

Flash wrote :

Mike, will that laptop optical drive save more than one session to a multisession Puppy CD or DVD?

Somehow confused .Why it shouldn't save more than one Session ?
How do you come to this Conclusion ?

@ backi:-

Sounds daft, I know, but it's actually a relevant question. If you use multisession, that is....

I stated above that (with my new desktop) it appeared to me HP have built a smaller-than-normal desktop using a number of laptop-sized parts. The DVD-RW drive, rather than being the conventional, motorised, slide in / slide out type found on most desktops, works the same as any laptop optical drive; the machine will control the eject side of things, though you need to manually click it shut yourself. It even has the same, 'snap-in-place' type of spindle as found on laptop variants.

Flash's question stems, I believe, from the info given at first shutdown for saving back to a CD/DVD; it quite clearly states that it won't work with a laptop optical drive. I suspect, however, that this is one part of Puppy that hasn't been updated for some years....

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@ Flash:-

To answer your question, yes. This drive happily saves multiple sessions, and re-loads them again at the next boot.

I'm in a LiveCD of Xenialpup64 7.5, running from a multisession disc; two save/shutdown cycles, and this is the 3rd boot. Posting from it now, via my Opera-portable browser.

Interesting experience for me, doing this stuff..!


Mike.

[bigpup]

I recently needed new ink cartridges (black & color) for my Cannon printer.
This was during the time of Christmas sales.
Ink cartridges were around $40->$45.
Found a new Cannon printer that used the same ink cartridges. Slightly newer model.

Printer with ink cartridges was on Christmas sale price $19.
YES! $19

Now have a two year newer printer with new ink cartridges!

This is crazy pricing for printers.

Just buy a new printer with ink for less than the cost of the ink

[infromthepound]

The trouble with new printers is the cartridges are special and contain reduced amounts of ink
I can mostly print in B/W, and bought a cheap Brother laser printer. It cost less than the black ink for the HP and lasts 20 times as long; generic toner is about the same as an inkjet cartridge.

JB

I recently needed new ink cartridges (black & color) for my Cannon printer.
This was during the time of Christmas sales.
Ink cartridges were around $40->$45.
Found a new Cannon printer that used the same ink cartridges. Slightly newer model.

Printer with ink cartridges was on Christmas sale price $19.
YES! $19

Now have a two year newer printer with new ink cartridges!

This is crazy pricing for printers.

Just buy a new printer with ink for less than the cost of the ink

[artsown]

Hi Bigpup
Buying a Canon printer is like voting for a compulsive liar. They don't
tell ya that the starter ink cartridges in a new printer hold far less ink
than the standard ones.

The truly big lie is their reporting of ink level remaining. With new
cartridges the reported levels drop from 100% to 0 in practically no
time. You can keep on printing many, many pages with 0% showing.
They obviously do this to scare people into very prematurely replacing
the cartridges. So the liar, in his greed, is also encouraging waste and
degradation of the environment.

The liar no longer supports drivers for Linux. Doesn't matter to us now,
but it may matter in the long run.

My next printer will be one that doesn't lie about remaining ink.
Anyone have a recommendation? Or are they all big liars?

Art

[Mike Walsh]

Well, I've made one slightly disappointing discovery. Brand-new hardware seems to mean I have no choice but to run all 'new' Puppies...

I'd intended to set up the kennels with all new save-files anyway, but it appears that on this machine, any Puppy not possessed of the 'efi' stuff won't work with Xorg. Oh, they'll boot.....but Xorg appears to be looking for something called 'Vesa BIOS extensions'. This, of course, is pure bang-up-to-date UEFI. No 'Vesa BIOS extensions', so.....no Puppies prior to Tahrpup.

I'm weeping here over the loss of 'old reliable'; my 'perfect' Slacko 560. But on this hardware, it's not to be.....unless anybody knows different.

So; I'm confined to Pups from Tahrpup onward. Not that I mind the Xenials & Bionics, DPup 'Stretch', etc.....but I liked playing around with older Pups. Apparently I can't do it on this machine.

Rats!!! Ah, well; never mind...


Mike.

[rcrsn51]

Does this apply to your situation?

[sheldonisaac]

...but Xorg appears to be looking for something called 'Vesa BIOS extensions'. This, of course, is pure bang-up-to-date UEFI. No 'Vesa BIOS extensions', so.....no Puppies prior to Tahrpup.

I'm weeping here over the loss of 'old reliable'; my 'perfect' Slacko 560. But on this hardware, it's not to be.....unless anybody knows different.

Ah, I just looked for 'Vesa BIOS extensions', and got to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions; beyond my ability to understand.

Reminds me of when I tried to install good old Windows 98SE on newer hardware; it didn't work. At that time, more knowledgable people said it could be done; I gave up.

So Mike Walsh: I think/hope someone can help you with this.

[Mike Walsh]

@ rcrsn51:-

Does this apply to your situation?

Quite possibly, Bill. Reading the article Sheldon linked to about VBE (Vesa BIOS Extensions), it appears that my monitor's resolution is too high to be covered by VBE anyway (1920x1080), so I'll take a closer look at your link. It'll be after the weekend, though; 'real life' is intruding (again), and there's lots of family stuff planned for the next 2 or 3 days.

I'll get to it as soon as possible.


Mike.

[davids45]

G'day Mike W.,

Unless I'm mistaken (again), time to update something else .....
..or too hard to say 'Goodbye'?

David S.

[Mike Walsh]

Point taken, David..!

Yes, I shall have to have a re-think on that one, too. Thanks for reminding me; it simply hadn't yet occurred to me. I've been familiarising myself with the hardware, this last few days; haven't had that much time to do owt else thus far.....


Mike.

[p310don]

Mike - boot up a modern Pup, install Virtualbox, and then play with the older ones in that. Voila, best of both worlds

[Mike Walsh]

Mike - boot up a modern Pup, install Virtualbox, and then play with the older ones in that. Voila, best of both worlds

Yah, that's an idea. This does support VT-x, etc, so I might try that, too. Decisions, decisions.....


Mike.

[greengeek]

I'm weeping here over the loss of 'old reliable'; my 'perfect' Slacko 560. But on this hardware, it's not to be.....unless anybody knows different.

I have been buying pre-UEFI hardware (ie Vista era) in the hope of forever escaping the need to upgrade beyond Slacko 5.6

Maybe there is a way of upgrading S5.6 to a newer kernel?

I know it is not as easily done as kernel swaps in newer puppies, but still, maybe someone already achieved this?

[nic007]

Easy. I've done some fairly recent kernel swops for older Puppy's. Only inconvenience was first startup and time lost waiting for x to load. You should get good results after the swap by booting pfix=nox and then running xorgwizard and xwin. Once your settings are saved the delay at starting X to desktop will be shorter.