I'm not sure how hard it would be to put something like that together yourself, but I can offer one suggestion in case you decide to try.
National Control Devices has been offering a video switcher for a few years now that will handle up to video 16 inputs, for only $150. It looks really impressive. I've been considering getting one for ages, just to play around with. It's controllable through an RS232 serial port.
If you've had 3 hard disks die on you in 2 months, the problem may not have been with the disks themselves. The first thing to check is if you're getting adequate ventilation to the area where the hard disks are at. You might also want to test the voltage your power supply is putting out.
Questions like this about hard disks are really better answered here.
There was a previous "Ask Slashdot" question (December 2000) similar to this one that generated a lot of helpful comments. I realize the earlier question was aimed at what to do for a youngster, but many of the replies are equally useful for people of all ages interested in astronomy:
I've often said that if China ever planned to conquer the world, they wouldn't use something as expensive, messy, and overt as nuclear weapons. They'd simply release masses of cheap, defective electrical products.
I have a whole bunch of computer screws in a junk tray in my desk.
As you no doubt know, different parts of your computer take screws with different thread spacings. For some systems, you can't use the screws from the computer case to install the hard disk (for example). For hard disks, the screws on the underside of the drive don't necessarily have the same threads as the screws used on the sides.
So I always pick the screws I need based on thread spacing (duh). As a result, I had developed a habit of ignorning length. Given any thread category, the screws always seemed to be the same length. Any differences in length were always very minor - there was no way those tiny differences in length could make a difference, right?
Not so. I once realized (fortunately before powering it on) that the screws I had chosen to install a 10K RPM SCSI drive were slightly longer than they needed to be. The holes for the screws on the sides of the drive have no positive stop - they are drilled straight through the edge of the hard disk's shell. The screws I had chosen, being a bit longer than what the drive manufacturer evidently considered "normal", went right through the shell of the drive, and were just barely touching the edge of the circuit board. Perhaps something like this is happening to you.
Just a guess... and a long shot at that... because I've never of a problem like yours before.
What made you think that the STBMX1030's are no longer being manufactured? I checked the company site you posted a link too, and I couldn't find any comments about that (did I just miss it?).
Either way, instead of that AllWell site in Taiwan, try checking out the GCTGlobal site that's posted in the original LinuxDevices article.
Is an SBC with NTSC outputs, plus Audio and Ethernet. It would make it alot easier to start up or maintain a homebrew TiVo project.....
What about this GCT-Allwell system? You know, the one mentioned in the article posted for this story?
Or were you really looking for just the board? If it were me I'd go for the whole system anyway, and scavenge the board if I had too. Only $299 for the whole unit makes it awfully tempting.
Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space...
So, they don't want nuclear power in space, do they? What are they going to do... blow up the sun?
I know that's not the type of nuclear power these people are referring to, but I think it unintentionally illustrates the point that many people don't understand that radiation is not always a product of human activity.
...so I can't even guess at their quality, but "Fedders" seems to be an air conditioner company name that turns up at Home Depot stores quite a lot. They have what they term "portable" air conditioner models.
The company's main page doesn't seem to list any of their specific products, but the link to their refurbished items store (via Yahoo) seems to have an idea that might work for you.
...but that Packard Bell system might be more upgradeable than you think. I have a painful amount of experience with Packard Bell systems from that era.
The PB 75 MHz systems I've dealt with were all upgradeable to 166 MHz with no fuss, and upgradeable to 200 MHz if you updated the BIOS. Pentium 233 CPU's are still surprisingly easy to find... worst case you could install one and underclock it to 200 MHz. As for hard disks, we still have several PBs kicking around for use as print servers that were upgraded to 1.6 GB disks. I'm not sure what the maximum HDD size is, but at least we're not limited to below the 1 GB barrier. And finally for RAM, the systems we've got can all be upgraded to 128 MB.
For complete manuals, BIOS updates, FAQ's and other support documents on older Packard Bell systems, take a look here:
I mean, who the heck is "Pudge"? Has anyone seen an article posted by him/her before?
And would the real Slashdot editors keep up these (insert choice expression here) April 1st stories for this long? Surely even they would be tired of it by now, no? Or are they exacting revenge against the trolls, whiners, and loser story submitters? Is this their way of saying, "See all you Slashdot readers... us Slashdot editors don't just deal with this crap on April 1st, we deal with this sort of stuff year-round, 365 days a year!"
Maybe I've just seen one too many cheezy martial arts movies, but a quick search with Google showed that there apparently really are some religious groups out there who hum low-frequency sounds while meditating (there are tons of really wacked-out new agea types clouding the search results though... anyone here an expert on ancient Asian or Indian religions?).
In part, I think the Egyptians lucked out. They happened to be in a good climate for preserving material: the desert.
These days, isn't it acid rainfall that causes the majority of disintegration of stonework? If so, my advice would be to step up your personal campaign against pollution and acid rainfall, and then arrange to be burried somewhere in a really, really dry desert area that's likely to stay that way for the next thousand years or so. Try the Sahara or something.
What's 19.5 inches long, bright yellow, flexible, and rubber? Wait, don't answer that. To be be more precise, let me rephrase: what's 19.5 inches long, bright yellow, flexible, rubber, and equipped with a 7-foot PS/2 cable?
I'm not sure how well the average computer-related item rates for avoiding excess packaging. Some do ok, but I guess it's a result of trying to keep costs down more than any regard for the environment. And yet it's still kind of annoying when we get a shipment of 100 computer-related items, unpack them all, and wind up with a pile of plastics and other packaging that is 3 times the size of all the actual components put together.
Yet another reason to go for the cheaper OEM products and picking them up locally yourself, I guess.
What I'd like really like to see are more creative, environmentally friendly packaging developments. Real popcorn was trendy for packaging during the late 1980's early '90's, but not really practical for delicate items or those that don't like dust. Why can't someone develop something creative out of food products (or whatever) that disintegrates in harmless stuff after a few days of exposure to natural elements?
Slashdot Mirror
Now Delaware is about to be Slashdotted!
;-)
I imagine someday that, when you buy a phone card, the card itself will double as the phone.
I'm not sure how hard it would be to put something like that together yourself, but I can offer one suggestion in case you decide to try.
National Control Devices has been offering a video switcher for a few years now that will handle up to video 16 inputs, for only $150. It looks really impressive. I've been considering getting one for ages, just to play around with. It's controllable through an RS232 serial port.
If you've had 3 hard disks die on you in 2 months, the problem may not have been with the disks themselves. The first thing to check is if you're getting adequate ventilation to the area where the hard disks are at. You might also want to test the voltage your power supply is putting out.
Questions like this about hard disks are really better answered here.
There was a previous "Ask Slashdot" question (December 2000) similar to this one that generated a lot of helpful comments. I realize the earlier question was aimed at what to do for a youngster, but many of the replies are equally useful for people of all ages interested in astronomy:
Getting Kids Started In Astonomy?
I've often said that if China ever planned to conquer the world, they wouldn't use something as expensive, messy, and overt as nuclear weapons. They'd simply release masses of cheap, defective electrical products.
... wait a minute...
Umm
Bork bork bork!
;-)
These guys were mentioned in a previous AskSlashdot article. Looks kinda neat, doesn't it?
Another simpler option (USB only) can be found at Antec's site.
I have a whole bunch of computer screws in a junk tray in my desk.
... and a long shot at that ... because I've never of a problem like yours before.
As you no doubt know, different parts of your computer take screws with different thread spacings. For some systems, you can't use the screws from the computer case to install the hard disk (for example). For hard disks, the screws on the underside of the drive don't necessarily have the same threads as the screws used on the sides.
So I always pick the screws I need based on thread spacing (duh). As a result, I had developed a habit of ignorning length. Given any thread category, the screws always seemed to be the same length. Any differences in length were always very minor - there was no way those tiny differences in length could make a difference, right?
Not so. I once realized (fortunately before powering it on) that the screws I had chosen to install a 10K RPM SCSI drive were slightly longer than they needed to be. The holes for the screws on the sides of the drive have no positive stop - they are drilled straight through the edge of the hard disk's shell. The screws I had chosen, being a bit longer than what the drive manufacturer evidently considered "normal", went right through the shell of the drive, and were just barely touching the edge of the circuit board. Perhaps something like this is happening to you.
Just a guess
Take a look at the discussion forums over at StorageReview.com. There have been several discussions about the 75GXP (and 60GXP) over there.
Case in point, some of their readers are currently running an unofficial survey.
What made you think that the STBMX1030's are no longer being manufactured? I checked the company site you posted a link too, and I couldn't find any comments about that (did I just miss it?).
Either way, instead of that AllWell site in Taiwan, try checking out the GCTGlobal site that's posted in the original LinuxDevices article.
Is an SBC with NTSC outputs, plus Audio and Ethernet. It would make it alot easier to start up or maintain a homebrew TiVo project.....
What about this GCT-Allwell system? You know, the one mentioned in the article posted for this story?
Or were you really looking for just the board? If it were me I'd go for the whole system anyway, and scavenge the board if I had too. Only $299 for the whole unit makes it awfully tempting.
Sorry about that:
Upgrading Quantum Snap Server Capacity?
I think the general consensus was it's not worth it.
You mean like the ones covered by a previous Ask Slashdot? http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/00/12/17/003255_F. shtml
Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space...
So, they don't want nuclear power in space, do they? What are they going to do
I know that's not the type of nuclear power these people are referring to, but I think it unintentionally illustrates the point that many people don't understand that radiation is not always a product of human activity.
IBM is one of Time Domain's chip suppliers. Here's the news release from IBM.
...so I can't even guess at their quality, but "Fedders" seems to be an air conditioner company name that turns up at Home Depot stores quite a lot. They have what they term "portable" air conditioner models.
The company's main page doesn't seem to list any of their specific products, but the link to their refurbished items store (via Yahoo) seems to have an idea that might work for you.
...but that Packard Bell system might be more upgradeable than you think. I have a painful amount of experience with Packard Bell systems from that era.
... worst case you could install one and underclock it to 200 MHz. As for hard disks, we still have several PBs kicking around for use as print servers that were upgraded to 1.6 GB disks. I'm not sure what the maximum HDD size is, but at least we're not limited to below the 1 GB barrier. And finally for RAM, the systems we've got can all be upgraded to 128 MB.
The PB 75 MHz systems I've dealt with were all upgradeable to 166 MHz with no fuss, and upgradeable to 200 MHz if you updated the BIOS. Pentium 233 CPU's are still surprisingly easy to find
For complete manuals, BIOS updates, FAQ's and other support documents on older Packard Bell systems, take a look here:
Packard Bell support (via Priority One)
They make you register, but doing is worth it (it was for me, anyway, given how many of these hateful things we have lying around).
I mean, who the heck is "Pudge"? Has anyone seen an article posted by him/her before?
... us Slashdot editors don't just deal with this crap on April 1st, we deal with this sort of stuff year-round, 365 days a year!"
And would the real Slashdot editors keep up these (insert choice expression here) April 1st stories for this long? Surely even they would be tired of it by now, no? Or are they exacting revenge against the trolls, whiners, and loser story submitters? Is this their way of saying, "See all you Slashdot readers
Perhaps Rob and crew have finally snapped.
Take a look:
The Free Object-Oriented License
Maybe I've just seen one too many cheezy martial arts movies, but a quick search with Google showed that there apparently really are some religious groups out there who hum low-frequency sounds while meditating (there are tons of really wacked-out new agea types clouding the search results though ... anyone here an expert on ancient Asian or Indian religions?).
In part, I think the Egyptians lucked out. They happened to be in a good climate for preserving material: the desert.
These days, isn't it acid rainfall that causes the majority of disintegration of stonework? If so, my advice would be to step up your personal campaign against pollution and acid rainfall, and then arrange to be burried somewhere in a really, really dry desert area that's likely to stay that way for the next thousand years or so. Try the Sahara or something.
...right here.
What's 19.5 inches long, bright yellow, flexible, and rubber? Wait, don't answer that. To be be more precise, let me rephrase: what's 19.5 inches long, bright yellow, flexible, rubber, and equipped with a 7-foot PS/2 cable?
That'd be my favorite packaging option.
I'm not sure how well the average computer-related item rates for avoiding excess packaging. Some do ok, but I guess it's a result of trying to keep costs down more than any regard for the environment. And yet it's still kind of annoying when we get a shipment of 100 computer-related items, unpack them all, and wind up with a pile of plastics and other packaging that is 3 times the size of all the actual components put together.
Yet another reason to go for the cheaper OEM products and picking them up locally yourself, I guess.
What I'd like really like to see are more creative, environmentally friendly packaging developments. Real popcorn was trendy for packaging during the late 1980's early '90's, but not really practical for delicate items or those that don't like dust. Why can't someone develop something creative out of food products (or whatever) that disintegrates in harmless stuff after a few days of exposure to natural elements?
...that will fit 32 MB onto a regular floppy disk...
According to many Slashdot readers last October, this is not a good idea.