Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

I have a KVM...the convenience is wonderful !

Right now it switches between an i3-3245 HTPC (Mythbuntu 12.04 I think) and my main AMD 8150 system (Win7 / Mint 18.3).

EDIT: I just realized I'm probably "preaching to the choir" here.

Missed this.

The idea behind the KVM was more for "I need to test something but don't want to clutter my bench with another LCD and the like" more than anything. Generally, if something I own deserves it's own setup, it gets it's own dedicated setup. Then again, when you have a garage and a parents' basement full of spare LCDs, that's easy to say .

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

Topcat is loaning me his... given the severity of the issue I think I need old trusty here.

...and today it came in the mail. Here she is:



Holy **** that's a big one. Just what I need. A few circles with such and we have:



Much better. I ran the internal degaussing to make sure it will stay, and it did. Must have been something with moving it in the back of pick truck for a 7 hour drive . Oh well, it's fixed now, yay.

___


FYI: the failed build has moved to this thread:

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=74328

Go there to see me actually build it as a stand-alone build.

[Topcat]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

Glad it worked out! I bought out an old retired TV repair guy back in the early 90's when I first started....that coil was amongst the haul from that shop. It was worth its weight in gold for my repair business back then.....and it was 30 years old when I got it.

FWIW, that tape was on it when I got it too....

[momaka]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

Dang, that is one BIG degauss coil!

The GDM-FW900 looks good now. Honestly, though, I think you'd like that monitor better for gaming (if you do any, that is.) I find that for reading/typing and CAD, LCDs may be easier on the eyes - especially in a bright room (as the glass from CRTs tends to reflect too much and make it hard to see the screen.) But with games / moving picture / videos, that CRT will absolutely trump any LCD.

I finally built a computer last month good enough to play some CS Source @ 85 Hz v-sync'd to one of my 21" CRTs and... it's absolutely surreal. I've tested expensive gaming monitors at my previous job (several grand worth some of them), but they still had pretty noticeable image jaggedness (and terrible colors, when it comes to black levels - even worse than the regular non-gaming LCDs, actually.)

Anyways, good to hear it's properly running again.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

workbench for doing what?

[Curious.George]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

I have a KVM...the convenience is wonderful !

Right now it switches between an i3-3245 HTPC (Mythbuntu 12.04 I think) and my main AMD 8150 system (Win7 / Mint 18.3).

EDIT: I just realized I'm probably "preaching to the choir" here.

I found problems with many of the KVMs I'd tried "locking up" (keyboard) apparently due to switching power on/off for the PCs.

I now use the A/B (or A/B/C/D/E!) switches in the monitors to select the input source and have physically separate keyboards/mice for the different PCs (one on top of the workbench and the other in a "keyboard drawer" beneath). I've tried to standardize on one particular make/model of keyboard so my hands don't have to adjust to different key spacings, layouts, "feel", etc.

This actually works out better as I can now interact with "both" machines at the same time (I have multiple monitors "shared" on each machine so I set monitors 1&2 to machine X and 3&4 to machine Y). So, I can be viewing a schematic/circuit board I've laid out on machine X while typing up a description of the circuit on machine Y.

By choosing wallpaper appropriately, there's a persistent visual cue in each monitor to remind me of which machine is sourcing that video.

The only "trick" is then remembering which keyboard to type on to get keystrokes to the monitor you're interested in! (This is most difficult when a Sun workstation and a PC share a monitor as the Sun keyboards are arranged differently than PC keyboards)

[In some cases, I have spare inputs on monitors wired to keyboardless appliances so I can quickly check to see what they're doing without having to drag out a spare monitor just for that purpose! (I have a nice little 7" monitor that is handy in those cases)]

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

workbench for doing what?

Workstation builds, soldering, etc. Half the bench wasn't shown, all that was shown was the PC repair half.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

Awhile back I found an upgrade for this setup... a NOS Tripp-Lite B006-VUA4-K-R 4 port KVM... this is a "pro" model compared to the Iogear unit I was using before with an entire OSD system and the like. It also provides a front USB port and audio hookups (which many of my workstations aren't flush with). $6 at goodwill, heck yeah.

Installed along with a beefier gigabit switch:




The idea here is that it has two short cables and two long cables. I ran the long cables down under the bench so I can run two systems down there...




(my eATX builds tend to get a bit bulky)

...and two on top for servicing things. I swapped switches because my 5 port wasn't enough to do all this and also run anything else I add (print servers, etc.) and besides, what's a PC workbench without an overkill amount of LAN? Hell I could run a LAN party off of this if I really wanted to

All I need now is a proper bench-mount mini rack to replace the zip tie setup... may make it myself if I can't find what I want for a decent price.

Good start at least?

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's computer workbench... and epic fail build

Tried to upgrade the KVM firmware over serial, but it wouldn't show up (using my venerable Dell Latitude D630 using it's XP side of the triple boot)... only to discover it has newer firmware than what tripp-lite has listed. Oh well

Played with the OSD a bit... this is not your cheapo KVM:



Has keyboard and mouse support... you really don't need the buttons on the front... double-tap scroll lock and you're in. It has independant control of the VGA, USB, and audio... not that such helps me (other than if I want to jam music while working on another rig).

Nice?