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    1. How to build a desktop computer (tower) for Linux with pieces that are easily available worldwide (most especially South-America)?

      This post is related and in some part a repetition of my other topic on how to buy a laptop for Linux. Because I'm in Brazil, many brands and stores that do not ship to my country are out of the...

      This post is related and in some part a repetition of my other topic on how to buy a laptop for Linux.

      Because I'm in Brazil, many brands and stores that do not ship to my country are out of the question, and even the ones that ship usually cost more than I can pay due to currency exchange rate and shipping costs themselves. What are some universal stores, brands and models that I can probably find on my location, that won't give me much trouble running Linux?

      I don't require playing games or top performance (8GB RAM and i5 processor would be the minimum requirements). And SSD would be nice, but, for my budget, it's a plus.

      I just need something that is durable and works reliably under Linux, especially when it comes to audio and HDMI output, video graphics adapter support, booting from USB, hibernating, sleeping and power management.

      Thanks!

      6 votes
    2. Apple Keynote Discussion Thread [September 10, 2019 @ 10:00 am PDT]

      The Apple Keynote is on September 10th, at 10am Pacific Daylight Time (daylight savings is in effect). I'm making this thread as a place to discuss the announcements here on ~tech. TIme: 10:00am...

      The Apple Keynote is on September 10th, at 10am Pacific Daylight Time (daylight savings is in effect). I'm making this thread as a place to discuss the announcements here on ~tech.

      TIme:

      • 10:00am PDT (California / Apple time)
      • 5:00pm GMT (Greenwich time)

      Livestream Links


      Tl;Dr of actual announcements (updating right now)

      • Apple Arcade announced
        • $4.99 / month and one month free.
        • 100 indie exclusives on launch
      • Apple TV+ announced
        • $4.99 / month, launching November 1
        • New originals every month! 100 countries at launch
        • Including 1 year free with device (iPhone, iPad, or mac) purchases starting today.
      • New base model iPad
        • 10.2 inch display, Runs A10 Fusion chip, (optional) smart keyboard
        • New iPad is made from 100% recycled aluminum (like the new MacBook air)
        • Starts at $399 (competing with chrome books). $299 for education customers.
        • includes Apple Pencil support
      • Apple Watch Series 5!!!!
        • Health and Fitness video
        • 3 New health studies!!!
          - Apple Hearing Study
          - Apple Women's Health Study (How cycles affect various health conditions)
          - Apple Heart Study
          - Enrollment is voluntary. OPT-IN by downloading the app and getting enrolled.
        • Apple Watch Series 5
          - ALWAYS ON LTPO OLED display, with Dynamic Refresh Rate (1Hz - 60Hz VRR)
          - Same 18 hour battery life
          - International Emergency Calling on all cellular models
          - 100% recycled aluminum.
          - Stainless Steel, Titanium, Ceramic
          - Series 3 watch starts at $199, Series 5 starts at $499
      • iPhone 11!
        • Aluminum and Glass, comes in a bunch of colors
        • Spatial audio + Dolby Atmos for next level smartphone sound
        • New Camera -- 120º FOV Wide angle camera, 12MP with 100% Focus Pixels
          - 0.5x Optical Zoom out :)
          - New Image processing pipelines, with semantic rendering and adaptive tone mapping
          - Portrait mode improvements (wider portraits, and more) (yay, now for pets!)
          - Night Mode has adaptive image slicing and fusion for reducing blur in long exposure.
          - 4K HDR video at 60fps (was previously 30fps!)
          - Front Camera is now 12MP wide angle
          - 4K 30fps HDR video, Slowmotion Video for front facing camera! :)
        • A13 Bionic processor
          - fastest GPU and CPU ever in a smartphone
          - Game demo showing off Metal 2 Shaders, Bloom, and AA in realtime at 60fps
          - Battery is now 1 hr longer than the previous XR
          - U1 Chip? (on slide, not mentioned)
        • Wifi 6 support!
        • 2m water resistance for 30 minutes
        • 6.1 inch Liquid Retina display
        • Priced sanely at $699
      • iPhone 11 Pro
        • 3 camera array
        • Matte Textured Glass
        • Super Retina XDR Display.
          - 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio
          - 1200 nits of brightness
          - 426 ppi
          - Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
        • A13 Bionic Chip Design
          - Machine Learning Matrix Multiplier Accelerators make matrix operations 6x faster on iPhone
          - Best ML platform of any Smartphone
          - Lower power design using 7nm+ lithography
          - 8.5 Billion Transistors
          - 4 High Efficiency CPU cores
          - Hundreds of Voltage domains and clock domains
          - Each region of the chip is at least 20% faster, and uses at least 20% less power
        • 3 camera system
          - 4x zoom range (0.5 to 2x)
          - 53-13mm focal lengths, and f1.8 to f2.4
          - Deep Fusion camera system - stitches together burst photos + long exposure to maximize detail and reduce noise.
          - Filmic Pro demo -- allowing multiple camera use at the same time.
        • iPhone 11 Pro at $999, Pro Max at $1099
        • iPhone 11 at $699 and XR at $599 and iPhone 8 at $499 to complete the lineup.
      • Apple Store Updates
        • Apple Watch Studio - pair any watch with any band of your choice. Configure as you want
        • iPhone trade ins can now be used for a lower monthly rate if you buy an iPhone, rather than simply taking off the purchase price.
        • 5th Ave Store is being redesigned and re-opening Sept 20th!

      Other miscellaneous / fun stuff


      Edits:

      • fixed part about browsers with HLS support, and added a table showing compatible browsers.
      • remved "what we're expecting" section, and started updating the event live feed.
      26 votes
    3. Advice for first home server?

      Hello, I have a few questions. I didn't want to wast money so I wanna use what I have in terms of hardware, only the PSU and storage if needed. PC: CPU AMD 5 1600 RAM 16G SSD 125 GB for OS...

      Hello,

      I have a few questions. I didn't want to wast money so I wanna use what I have in terms of hardware, only the PSU and storage if needed.

      PC:

      • CPU AMD 5 1600
      • RAM 16G
      • SSD 125 GB for OS

      Services I think of running:

      • Node Tor middle relay
      • Node Bitcoin
      • Node XMR
      • Gitea or Gitlab
      • Maybe some service to host files or make a share for lan or a could service
      • Maybe a TS Server or Minecraft

      Questions:

      1. Do I have enough power to run all of this or I am being to greedy? I have raspberry(not pi 4) stopped at home doing nothing I could run some of this services on them if the computer can't handle everything.
      2. Should I virtualize? Can you explain me your response on this?
      3. I thinking of buying a good PSU since I am running this 24/7, should I invest in gold platinum or something like that?
      4. Should I have multiple disks if yes can you explain how much and for what.

      This is will be my first server at home so I would like to hear tips if you think I am forgetting something.

      Thanks in advance.
      Edit: visualize > virtualize

      17 votes
    4. Less than ideal router strength, curious what my Tech Tilderinos would recommend

      I just moved, and my new apartment is set up a little weird - gotta love old construction. As a result, the router has to be in the other end of the home from my PS4 which is my primary internet...

      I just moved, and my new apartment is set up a little weird - gotta love old construction. As a result, the router has to be in the other end of the home from my PS4 which is my primary internet consumption device. The way I see it I have four options:

      • Hot spot from my cell phone - not ideal because I pay per gig of data and it's not fast enough for gaming

      • Run a really long Ethernet cord - possible but would be a little bit of a project. I looked into it a little and I'm curious if there is any appreciable difference between Cat 5, 6, 7, or 8 from a home user perspective. Also, what's a good resource for buying one, since Amazon is not really trustworthy anymore?

      • Use a WiFi booster - I don't really have any experience with these. Would it be as fast as using the router, and if I used an Ethernet cable to connect my PS4 to it would it still be limited to wifi speeds?

      • Get a stronger router - considering I technically rent my router from Verizon this is probably the most cost effective way to go in the long term, any suggestions for brands?

      10 votes