Category: Hardware

О “железе” и программах

Neo Geo MVS

Post author By Aleosha
Post date May 22, 2022

Today was a historical day. I put together a working Neo Geo MVS. Something I was dreaming for 20 years. And that’s not an exaggeration. I wanted to have Neo Geo since 2002, when I first played Metal Slug and Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
But then there’s the reality. The console was expensive, and each game was super-expensive. Until consolized MVS came around.
I learned about its existence 2 years ago, although some people say those were around for at least 10 years. This is still the same ’99 hardware. Just packed into a 3D-printed case, and with a proper inputs and outputs attached.
Then there are games. Neo Geo didn’t have that many games. Around 100, probably, in all its history. Each game was around 40 megabytes at most. So, there are now cartridges that have all Neo Geo games there are (and some bootlegs, unfortunately).
There there’s the joystick. Since this isn’t a home console, you have to buy one separately.
Finally, there’s the issue of outputing retro signal to modern TVs. I had RetroTink 2X, but that didn’t support SCART, the only format all MVS’ output. But I wanted to upgrade to RetroTink 5X anyway. So I did.
So, it took me time to source all those components: consolized system itself, joystick, gamecard, RetroTink and SCART cable, which was the easiest part. But now I have it. And it works.

Tags Neo Geo

Hardware

Asus ROG Strix X570-E Motherboard

Post author By Aleosha
Post date May 15, 2022

I’ve been planning to upgrade my PC since November, when my motherboard started to act, and stopped booting with RAM in two DIMMs.
I knew I wanted Asus motherboard with X570 chip, so I could install the latest AMD CPU.
At first I was looking at the TUF version, which is lower tier than Strix. But then I noticed that there was just a minor price difference between TUF and Strix.
Been using it for a month now.

What I liked so far:
You don’t need to look for a M2 screw for an SSD anymore. This board has a quick latch that fixes SSD in place.
There is a setting for LEDs in the BIOS that is called “Stealth”, I think, which completely disables all LEDs. This is really great, since I’m sleeping in the same room with my PC.

Things I don’t like:
It is still very hard to get to that NVMe SSD. You have to remove the videocard anyway to get to it.

Tags Asus

Hardware

Contigo Transit Autoseal Travel Mug

Post author By Aleosha
Post date May 15, 2022

Bought my first travel mug some 8 years ago. My first requirement for such a mug would be autoseal button. Which is not that hard to implement, to be honest, but most producers avoid.

After some time I bought another Stanley Trigger Action travel mug, which turned out to be a disappointment: the paint started to peel off, then I think the button also snapped, so I ended up throwing it away.

I almost bought a third mug from Stanley, but they had some stock issues, so I decided to go with Contigo instead, the only other brand that reliably produces autosealing mugs.

Learning from Stanley’s disaster, I chose stainless steel option. For that reason, by the way, I decided to go with Transit model, and not the Luxe model. The later was available only in 350ml size in stainless steel.

What I like about this mug so far:

First, it has a silicone base, so it shouldn’t slip like Stanley does.

Second, the safety ring on the top that blocks the button so it doesn’t get pressed accidentally feels more solid than in Stanley.

We’ll see how well the silicone holds with time, though.

Tags Contigo

Hardware

Be Quiet case

Post author By Aleosha
Post date April 30, 2022

Received the replacement front door for my Be Quiet PC case already. Instead of replacing just the from door, they actually sent me the entire front panel.

Tags Be Quiet

Hardware

Windows 11

Post author By Aleosha
Post date April 19, 2022

To install Windows 11 you need your Windows 10 to boot in UEFI mode.
And to boot in UEFI mode you need your boot drive to be formatted in GPT.
And to format drive to GPT you need a few hundred megabytes of unallocated space. So I had to shrink my system partition as well.

Windows 11 installs tons of junk. Facebook, Spotify, Instagram, you name it.
Also, they screwed search. Again. It will search Internet, but won’t find local files.

By the time I finished installing Windows 11, I already forgot why I wanted it in the first place.

Hardware

Building my gaming PC

Post author By Aleosha
Post date April 15, 2022

Later I’ll describe all the process of building my new PC, but today just a fun fact.
I hoped that all the parts will arrive before Friday, so I could assemble it during Easter.

Case, cooler and CPU were all available for next day delivery on either Amazon or Scan. But not the motherboard. It was due to arrive only next week, 22th instead of the 15th. But I ordered it anyway.

Imagine my surprise that it actually has arrived yesterday, in under 2 days, and a week ahead of the schedule.

Hardware

Be Quiet Dark Base 900 PC case

Post author By Aleosha
Post date April 12, 2022

I was very happy with the Thermaltake case for probably 10 years. But it was time to move on.
And I knew I wouldn’t want anything but a full tower.
I wanted something without plexiglass window this time. Plexiglass is more noisy, and I also don’t really like all the light coming out of it.
Quite quickly I set my eyes on the Be Quiet Dark Base 900 case.

The previous case had a few issues. It didn’t support 2.5″ drives.
Here every basket can support one 3.5″ drive or two 2.5 drives. You can choose how many HDD drive baskets to leave in the case, and remove others for easier access and better ventilation.

The regular version, unlike the Pro V2 one, doesn’t have the PSU shroud. But I didn’t know those were a thing until a week ago anyway.

First time that I see non-extractable screws. Which is nice, no chance of loosing them.

Thermaltake had a snap side panel. This one has a regular one.

No matter how large the case is, there will never be enough space. Part of it is due to motherboards still staying compact. So the RAM is covered by the CPU cooler, NVMe SSD is covered by GPU, which also prevents access to RAM, and there are still thick cables everywhere.
The main problem I encountered was that one of the screws that fixes the PSU had a bad thread. Took me a lot of time until I managed to get it out.
The door is quite heavy, and is held just by some magnets, as far as I can tell. At some point during the assembly it opened, and one of the hinges just snapped.

Tags Be Quiet

Hardware Travel

DeLonghi Icona

Post author By Aleosha
Post date March 31, 2022

My first coffee machine which I bought many years ago was the Rancilio Silvia. In that way I have skipped the really entry-level espresso machines that were out there on the market. And after trying out DeLonghi Icona, I’m really glad I did.
First, the quality of the espresso coming out of a half-plastic portafilter is simply meh. No crema, and quite weak. What’s even worse, this machine is extremely messy, spraying coffee muck all around the kitchen. I wish I have just brought the Bialetti moka pot with me.
It works better with the coffee pods (not to be confused with the plastic capsules), but I couldn’t find those in Santorini.

Hardware

PS3 HDD upgrade

Post author By Aleosha
Post date January 28, 2022

It turns out you can’t upgrade your PS3 HDD without an original Dualshock 3 controller, which I never had.
System just goes into “safe mode”, and won’t accept any input from a third-party controller or Dualshock 4.
The not so funny part is that even if you put the original HDD back, the system still won’t go out of the safe mode.
But, if you pull it out, let the system complain that no HDD was detected, and then put the original HDD back in without turning off the system – it suddenly works!

Consoles are fun, they said. No hassle upgrading, they said.

Hardware

Колонки vs наушники

Post author By Aleosha
Post date January 18, 2022

Понял для себя, что когда я за компьютером, то никогда не пользуюсь колонками.
Даже если я в квартире один, все равно использую наушники.
Так что теперь у меня ПеКа стоит вообще без колонок, чтобы место на столе не занимали. А Klipsch еще и огромные были, к тому же.

А вы колонками пользуетесь, когда одни за компьютером?

Hardware

OLED vs QLED

Post author By Aleosha
Post date January 8, 2022

Непонятно, зачем переплачивать за OLED телевизор, когда в топовых LED’а нет никакой проблемы с черным цветом.
К тому же, LED’ы не выгорают, в отличие от OLED’ов. И с яркостью у них все отлично.

Hardware

NeoGeo Arcade Stick Pro

Post author By Aleosha
Post date December 30, 2021

Упустил момент, теперь только у перекупщиков.

Tags Neo Geo

*.BAK Hardware

Expert installation

Post author By Aleosha
Post date December 21, 2021

Не могу не поделиться, думал такой развод для лохов уже не в моде, но похоже лох не мамонт.

USB хард за 75GBP предлагают “установить” за еще 60GBP.

“Установить” USB хард, Карл! Карл, ты уже пошел устанавливать?!

Hardware Nintendo WII

Nintendo Wii

Post author By Aleosha
Post date December 12, 2021

Каждый раз поражаюсь, как много разницы между Composite и Component кабелями.

Composite:

Component:

Hardware

Shure Aonic 50

Post author By Aleosha
Post date December 10, 2021

Взял себе новые bluetooth ANC наушники от Shure.
Что тут можно сказать? Shure есть Shure, конечно. Звук и удобство бесподобные. Шумоподавление тоже прекрасное. Кнопки физические, слава Аллаху.
Из недостатков: коробка гигантская и неудобная. Впрочем, я уже два года как и все почти никуда не летают и даже не езжу. Так что транспортабельность не так важна сейчас, как когда-то.
Посмотрим теперь, в каком состоянии они будут через год.

Tags Shure

GC Hardware Nintendo WII

Взлом Wii

Post author By Aleosha
Post date December 2, 2021

Взломать Wii оказалось на удивление просто. За исключением того, что приходится много махать дурацким пультом.
Но кроме этого, получаешь MAC приставки, генерируешь letterbomb. Записываешь на карту памяти. Wii поддерживает только SD, но microSD adapter тоже работает. Letterbomb по началу подвешивал систему. Оказалось, что нужна последняя прошивка, 4.3, а у меня 3.4.
Прошивку можно достать только у Nintendo. WiFi на консоли очень нестабильный, подключается через раз. Но в итоге, мне это удалось. После установки апдейта letterbomb заработал. Ну а дальше там только Homebrew Browser установить остается.
Теперь можно играть в GameCube игры на оригинальном железе.

Hardware