• Tag Archives digital archaeology

  • Digital Archaeology: Dell Inspiron 530s

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Physically, the Dell Inspiron 530s is identical to the 531s which I have looked at previously. Both are slimline systems. The difference is entirely with the internals. While the 531s is AMD based, the 530s is Intel based. The 531s I have has a Athlon X2 5000+ while this 530s has a Pentium Dual Core E2200.

    Hardware in this machine includes:

    • CPU: Pentium Dual Core E4600 @ 2.2 GHz
    • Memory: 3 GB DDR2-666 MHz (PC2-5300)
    • Video: Intel 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics

    For more complete hardware info, check out the output of HardInfo.

    The E2200 is a low-end CPU. For some reason, Intel decided to co-opt what was once their flagship CPU name and relegate its usage to bargain CPU choices. Core 2 Duo era Pentiums were basically Core 2 Duos with less cache (1 MB of L2 instead of 2 MB in this case). It is significantly slower than the Athlon X2 I have, on the other hand, it can be upgraded to a significantly faster CPU. The Intel based 530s has far more of an upgrade path than the AMD based 531s.


    The integrated graphics of the Intel based 530s is not as good as the AMD based 531s but they are both so low end it doesn’t really make much of a difference. Like the 531s, the 530s has a slot for a video card so it is upgradeable but the limited power supply limits your choices. The best you can probably put in this is something like a GT 1030 which is actually pretty good for the CPUs this supports. A significantly faster card would be bottlenecked by the CPU. However, if you do want to push it a little further you can upgrade the power supply. While the TFX form factor is somewhat more obscure than ATX, it’s still a standard and you can still find them. I’ve seen ones up to 500 watts. Then you are limited only by what will fit and that you can reasonably cool in the small case.


    There are four slots for memory which is pretty good for a slimline system. I might have expected only two. You can upgrade this machine to 8 GB (up to 2GB in each slot) which is better than some Core 2 Duo based systems.

    The motherboard is a fairly standard Micro ATX board. However, the 530s does not have a removeable backplate making an upgrade a bit more of a challenge. The case is actually fairly nice and uncluttered for a small case. However, if you really want to reuse it with another motherboard, be prepared to do some surgery.

    At the end of the day, sticking a Core 2 Duo E8600, an SSD, and 8 GB of RAM is probably the best that is reasonable to do. That would actually make it useable in Windows 10 or Linux. I’m using Linux Mint now with an SSD and only 3 GB and it performs ok though I wouldn’t try to open 100 tabs or do anything else terribly intensive.

    Like all the machines I use, this one has BOINC installed and connected to various projects including Einstein@home, Asteroids@home, Universe@home, MilkyWay@home, Rosetta@home, and World Community Grid. You can see how it is doing at FreeDC.


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  • Digital Archaeology: Floppy Disk #14 – LORDMHM.DOC

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    A summary for those that haven’t been keeping up with this series:

    I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago (sometime in the late 1990s to the best of my recollection). I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a several years back. Since then, I have been occasionally posting the content here.

    Based on the contents, most or all of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.

    The following description of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: “This SIG, known as ‘Close Encounters’, is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships.”

    This service was text based and was accessed via a modem and whatever terminal program you had available for your computer to dial in with. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I am not aware of any archives in existence today that contain what was on Delphi in the 1980s.

    This post includes the contents of LORDMHM.DOC. It contains a single e-mail dated January 27th, 1985. It’s from somebody with the handle of JOHNWG (presumably JWG are his initials). It refers to a prior conversation and seems to be about promoting the Close Encounters Special Interest Group. I have no idea if any of the items mentioned here ever came to fruition.


    =-=
    LORDMHM.DOC
    =-=


    —
    "MINDSPEAK" by GRENDEL, Aug.  2, 1984 at 23:26 MT about WHAT
*DOES* HAPPEN ON THE GREEN SCREEN? (66 notes)

66 (of 66) LORD TORGARTH Dec. 25, 1984 at 11:50 MT (1068
characters)

There is another aspect of teleconferencing that I have heard
pointed out elsewhere, but I haven't seen stated here.

The green screen acts as something of a buffer, a shield if
you will. In person, when you meet someone new, you always
have a bit of a guard up; you are wary, and worried about
their reaction to you.  Via the green screen, you feel "safe",
so you are more open.

Also, superficiality is reduced.  You cannot see the person 
you are talking to, so are not distracted by physical
appearance, etc.  You converse with the *person*, not the
body.

I know I am not expressing myself as well as I usually do -
chalk that up to inaction; I haven't been online for 6 months
or so.  But I hope that I am getting my meaning through;
teleconferencing is a great aid to meaningful communications.

Of course, some people misuse this tool, and hide behind false
facades, but then, people do that in the analog world as well
 - whereever you go, you will find phonys.  A sad fact of
human nature.

                                Sincerely;
                                Lord Torgarth of Imroth-Aenor

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  • Digital Archaeology: Dell Inspiron 1545

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Dell Inspiron 1545 was Dell’s mainstream laptop circa 2009. There were a variety of CPU options including Celeron, Pentium Dual-Core and Core 2 Duo models. Memory configurations included anywhere from 1 GB to 4 GB with 4 GB being the maximum amount officially supported. Likewise there were various hard drives available ranging in size from 160 GB wo 500 GB (all 5400 rpm models). There were two screen resolutions available including 1366 x 768 and 1600 x 900 though the higher resolution screen was not very common. One option not available though was a discrete GPU. All models used Intel’s GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics.

    My particular model currently includes:

    • CPU: Pentium Dual Core T4500 at 2.4 GHz
    • RAM: 4 GB DDR2-800 (PC2-5600)
    • Hard Drive: 320 GB
    • Screen: 1366 x 768

    Mine is also black though it came in a variety of other colors including blue, red, pink, and purple. Check out the report from HardInfo for more details.

    Depending on your configuration, this model made for a decent general use laptop though the lack of a discrete GPU option meant that it wasn’t useful for gaming. Also, if you wanted a higher resolution screen, then there were better options. A lot of people seem to like the keyboard on this model. It isn’t anything as fancy as a mechanical keyboard but it does have a more tactile feel and is less mushy than most laptop keyboards.


    There are several possible upgrades depending on you specific configuration. The two most important are probably to upgrade the RAM and replace the hard drive with an SSD. While 4 GB is the max officially supported, this laptop will actually support up to 8 GB. You can also upgrade the CPU though whether or not it is worth it depends on what you are starting from. the fastest CPU supported is the Intel Core 2 Duo T9900.

    My laptop had a single 2 GB SO-DIMM. Whether it was configured like that originally or was cannibalized I don’t know. The only upgrade I’ve really done is to expand it to 4 GB and install Xubuntu. It runs pretty well with this configuration. Even web browsing is ok if a little sluggish. Like all the hardware I use, I installed BOINC on this laptop and attached to several projects. It is currently crunching tasks for Einstein@home, Milkyway@home, Asteroids@home, and World Community Grid. You can check out how it is doing overall at FreeDC.

    Even though there isn’t anything particularly interesting or special about this laptop, I’ll probably hang on to it. It’s in nearly mint condition which for a laptop this old is pretty special in itself. I don’t upgrade the CPU in laptops very often but this one may be a good candidate. The CPU is easy to access on this laptop and there is a fairly significant upgrade path.


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