• Tag Archives digital archaeology

  • Digital Archaeology: HP Pavilion m7570n

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The HP Pavilion M7570N is a somewhat interesting machine. It was designed to be a multimedia hub and it certainly provided a lot of multimedia related functionality. It includes a DVD-ROM drive as well as a separate CD/DVD writer, a card reader that accepts a variety of media card formats, a TV tuner card, analog video capture capabilities, and of course firewire in addition to USB ports.

    Powering all of this was a Pentium D processor and 2 GB of DDR2 RAM. The one big deficiency was the lack of a dedicated GPU. However, that really only mattered for gaming and not the media oriented tasks this computer was designed for. Hardware in this machine includes:

    • CPU: Pentium D 915 @ 2.8 GHz
    • Memory; 2 GB DDR2 @ 266 MHz (533 MHz)
    • Video: Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME (integrated)

    Plus all of the above mentioned goodies. Check out the output of HWiNFO or CPU-Z for more detailed hardware info.

    The Pentium D was an interesting processor and it was a sort of interesting time for Intel in general. The Pentium 4 was nearing the end of its life as the Netburst architecture ended up being a bust (or burst?) because it couldn’t scale as much as Intel originally thought. At one time, it was thought that the Netburst architecture could reach speeds of 10 GHz. That didn’t happen and still hasn’t for that matter. the Pentium 4 HT and Pentium D were sort of stop gap measures as the Core 2 was being developed. The Pentium 4 HT mitigated the missed branch predictions of the long pipeline of the Pentium 4 modestly my adding an extra thread whereas the Pentium D stuck two Pentium 4 cores together. Both also added 64-bit extensions depending on the specific model.

    The motherboard is built by Asus. The HP model number is the Leucite-GL8E while the Asus model number is the P5LP-LE. It features the Intel 945G (Lakeport-G) chipset which was one of the earliest to use Socket 775. It was featured in a number of HP models including the Pavilion A1512X Desktop, Pavilion A1530N Desktop, Pavilion A1542N Desktop, Pavilion A1550Y Desktop, Pavilion A1560N Desktop, Pavilion A1613W Desktop, Pavilion Media Center M7500Y, Pavilion Media Center M7570N (this machine), and Pavilion Media Center M7658N. There does seem to be a fairly significant upgrade path. According to one random website, supported CPUs include:

    • Core 2 Duo E6x00
    • Core 2 Duo E4x00
    • Pentium D 9×0 Dual Core
    • Pentium D 8xx Dual Core
    • Pentium 4 6×1 series
    • Celeron D 3xx series

    There is a significant spread on possible front side bus speeds depending on the CPU including 533 MHz, 800 MHz, and 1066 MHz. It features a dual channel memory architecture with support for four 240-pin DDR2 DIMMs including PC2 3200 (400 MHz), PC 4200 (533 MHz), and PC2 5300 (667 MHz) DDR2 DIMMs.

    I recently looked at a 3.2 GHz hyperthreaded model and compared to that, this dual core Pentium D feels much snappier despite being clocked slower. The extra core really helps at least with more modern operating systems. You probably wouldn’t notice it as much with Windows XP for example. If this motherboard can indeed support up to a Core 2 Duo E6700 then that would nearly double its speed.

    The sticker on the front says “designed for Windows XP” and “compatible with Windows Vista”. Currently, Windows 7 is installed. As a multimedia center it was pretty nice at the time it was released, however, it became outdated pretty quickly both in terms of features and support. The TV tuner card is analog and doesn’t do HD. Driver support in Windows 7 was an afterthought and those drivers are hard to find. The applications that came with this PC for using the TV tuner card do not work in 64-bit Windows 7. I was finally able to find drivers and the card, at least for video capture, and it seems to work with VirtualDub. I can see how this machine would still be useful if you had any analog video capture needs. However, I doubt that the capture card that is in it would work with Windows 10/11 and I’m skeptical about it working in Linux as well.

    I’ll probably keep this computer around. It’s always nice to have a way to handle legacy media. In theory, I should be able to use this machine to capture VHS, 8mm, and other analog video formats. There are of course analog video options for modern systems, but what fun is that?

    Like pretty much any machine I turn on, if it is capably, I have it crunching tasks for BOINC. Despite the older hardware and OS, it can still crunch tasks for at least MilkyWay@home, World Community Grid, Einstein@home, Universe@home, and Asteroids@home and probably others. You can check out how it is doing overall via FreeDC.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Digital Archaeology: Floppy Disk #14 – DM0127.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 (we are talking late 1990s probably). 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, at least some 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.

    A 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 whatever terminal program you used on your computer to dial in to Delphi’s servers. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I don’t know if there are any archives in existence today of what was on Delphi in the 1980s. In any case, much of this stuff would have been private at the time and probably wouldn’t be in such archives even if they existed.

    This post includes the contents of DM0127.DOC. It contains what looks like an e-mail reading session with e-mails dated in late January 1985. There are only a couple of e-mails here including one from a new member of “TFC”, presumably referring to “The Friendship Circle” Special Interest Group. This was either another Special Interest Group run by “Connie” or it became “Close Encounters”.

    ===
    DM0127.DOC
    ===

                                                                   
     MAIL #1

From:   CSG01          27-JAN-1985 11:28  

To:     CABUYS

Subj:   JUST TO SAY HI!



Sorry I missed you ..chatted with Grey Wulfe..and he said

you were an extremely busy lady..Your who/is also

shows that..Catch you again..sometime..



Thanks for the TFC passwords..just getting started with

this hobby..and afraid am hooked on it!..



Warmest regards,

Sarah..



exit


MAIL> re

To:     CSG01

Subj:  RE: JUST TO SAY HI!

Enter your message below. Press CTRL/Z when complete, CTRL/C to
 quit:
Sarah, Iit's true that I'm busy, but I always try to make
time as soon as I can for new TFC members.

I'm glad you joined us.  But, beware! it is very addicting
and very exciting! <smile>

Talk to you soon!
-Connie
^Z


Press RETURN to return to reading your mail

MAIL> d
MAIL> 

                                                               
     MAIL #1

From:   DEOGBURN       27-JAN-1985 11:54  

To:     CABUYS

Subj:   RE: some suggestions



Some very good points connie.  Yes, no more sessions on Saturda
y I promise.

Please be aware that an a agenda was sent out to all of you 2 w
eeks ago, however

we did tend to jump around quite a bit, but we did cover everyt
hing I planned, some

a little to brief than I planned.



  Thanks for the suggestions, the one on using /Send for hellos
 and bye's I will enforce.



Chris
MAIL> d
MAIL>

    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Digital Archaeology: Getac S400

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Getac S400 is a ruggedized laptop. Ruggedized laptops have features that let them hold up better in more extreme environments (outdoors, industrial settings, etc.). They include things like a heavier duty case (thin and light they are not), shock absorbing hard drive caddy, port covers, etc. As far as the internals, this laptop includes:

    • CPU: i3-380M @ 2.53 GHz
    • RAM: 8 GB DDR3-1333
    • Video: Intel HD Graphics
    • Screen: 1366×768

    Check out more detailed specs from HardInfo. Getac continued to use the S400 model designation for subsequent laptops but this variation, introduced in October 2010, was the first.

    I can tell the the RAM has been expanded because the modules are two different brands/speeds. This laptop originally would have shipped with 2GB or 4GB. As far as I can tell, everything else is original.

    Specs for this laptop are relatively low end though this machine would not have had a low end price. When new, this laptop would have cost about double what a non-ruggedized model with similar stats would have cost. This laptop probably retailed in the $1800 range when new. The i3 CPU is on the lower end of the scale at the time it was released though it was still plenty fast. At the time, the advantages of an i5 or i7 over an i3 came down to multitasking. i3s were 2 core/4 thread, i5s were 4 core/4 thread and i7s were 4 cores/8 threads. For a laptop meant to be used in the field, battery life was probably much more important than heavy multitasking.

    Likewise, the graphics are low end as there is no dedicated GPU. This generation of Intel processors were really the first where the integrated GPU was moved from the motherboard chipset to the CPU iteself. AMD was the first to do this calling such chips APUs but by this time most consumer CPUs were really APUs. In any case, this laptop wouldn’t be something you would use for gaming anyway so it doesn’t really need anything more.

    The screen is nice and bright which is useful for a laptop for which many use cases would take it outdoors. However, resolution is only average. 1366×768 qualifies as high def and was a pretty typical resolution at the time though full HD would have been nicer. However, for a 14-inch screen meant to be able to be easily visible in sunlight, and 1080p screen might have done more harm than good.

    According to Getac, this model is actually classified as “semi-rugged” so there are even heavier duty models available. Semi-rugged system use cases include utilities, field service, public safety, as well as military applications and vehicle use among other things. In addition to the features that make it “semi-rugged”, it includes all of the typical features you would have expected in a laptop at the time including a PC Card Type II slot, ExpressCard slot, 4-in-1 card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB/eSATA port, Gigabit LAN, IEEE 1394, VGA, audio in/out, modem, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, and more.


    Like all of the hardware I use, this laptop is running BOINC and crunching tasks for various projects. It is attached to Einstein@home, Milkyway@home, Rosetta@home, Asteroids@home, Universe@home and World Community Grid. You can check out how it is doing overall at FreeDC.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged