Re: CAS attack

bad sector wrote:

> Computer Acquisition Syndrom
> 
> My trusty old Asus g73 has finally given up the ghost, it was a VERY
> capable laptop but I hated every minute of its 10+ year reign. Now
> I'm free, looking for what could be described as a DIY'ers choice
> award candidate:
> 
> Nothing black 

Get whatever color or finish you want.  Look at your favorite online
sellers to see what cases they sell to pick a color you like.

> prefer rugged, not essential

Get an all-metal case although the front bezel might be plastic.  For a
good seller, or by looking at the mfr's site, you can see if they say
the mils of thickness for the metal.

> large black letters on non-wearing light keycaps

Does "light" keycaps mean lighted keys?  Look for laser etched keys that
pour in a different dyed plastic (aka dual injection molding).  Those
will wear off a lot slower.  The size of the keys depend on the size of
the keyboard.

> easy to change keyboard

They are all easily changed.  They plug in using PS/2 or USB.

> NO backlit nothing

When reading the candidates of keyboards you like per the above
criteria, they'll note if the keys are lit.  To them, that's a selling
feature for which they can charge more.

> NO slim-slim, special-tools, eyecandy

Don't know what is "slim-slim".  Is the size of the case?  If so, you'll
want a medium tower case, or even a tall tower which should have more
drive bays (some only internally accessed) to allow for future
expansion.

> dual ssd bays for easy removal

Do you mean bays, as in openings in the front bezel to allow you to use
removable drive hardware?  Bays are openings in the front bezel.  Not
much point in exposing the SSDs to the outside since there's nothing to
see on them.  Bays are usually used for removable media, so you can
insert and eject media from the drive, like CD/BD optical drives,
diskette drive (they still exist), Zip drives, or other removable media.
Cages inside the case can have multiple drive slots.  The top cage is
usually sized to handle 5-1/4" drives while the bottom cage is for 3.5"
drives.  SSDs are 3.5" drives.  You'll need 3.5"-to-5.25" adapters to
put them into the top cage.

> 4 usb, 1 card, 1 hdmi, 1 eSata, etc. ports

Look at the mobo for the number of USB ports on the backpanel.  Also
check if it has headers to let you connect to front USB ports in the
front bezel, but the case will need to have the wire harness already
attached to the front ports.

"1 card" of WHAT?

HDMI has been around so long that you'd have to buy a really old mobo,
if you can find one, that doesn't have it.

Don't bother with eSATA.  Get a mobo with USB3 headers to the backpanel
and optionally to the front panel.

"etc" includes all hardware other than mentioned, so no way to address
all of that.

If you are a gamer, you'll want a mobo that has a backpanel PS/2 ports
for keyboard and mouse.  They are still faster since they work using
interrupts instead of USB that works via polling.  If not a gamer, you
don't care about the keyboard and mouse other than PS/2 keyboards
support more N-key presses (more keys can be concurrently pressed with
all them recognized versus USB keyboards that have just a handful of
concurrent keypresses recognized).  Rarely do you go beyond 3 keys in a
combo press, but games can often use multiple concurrent keys,
especially when using both hands for a key combo.

> 16+ GB non-soldered RAM

System RAM had hardly been soldered onto the mobo for over a couple
decades.  There may be a little bit to support the BIOS/UEFI firmware,
but system RAM has you buying DIMM modules to use in slots.  If you
think you'll never need more than 16GB, get a mobo with 2 slots, and put
8GB modules in each.  Else, get a mobo with 4 slots, insert either 1
16GB module, or 2 8GB modules.  In the past, dual-mode was touted as
being faster by spreading writes across paired memory modules, but
nowadays it is a non-issue.  You might want more RAM slots on the mobo
that you initially consume to provide for later expansion.  No mention
of what you plan to run on the computer, but you might find software, or
lots of it that you want concurrently loaded, and hit the RAM wall
sooner than you planned.

> i7 or better/equivalent AMD or Apple cpu

AMD doesn't make Intel's i7 CPUs.  i7 means an Intel CPU.  Check prices
on CPUs.  You may find there is little different in i7 to i9 CPUs, but
which you get depends on the mobo you buy.

Unless you're planning on iOS, why would you want an Apple CPU?

> no nvidia drivers

Then get an AMD video card.  My recollection on nVidia is that it was,
at one time, preferred to AMD, because nVidia has better support for
Linux which seems where you are going with the OS although you didn't
make mention of which OS you want.

> reliable easy to change mini audio jacks

Change them?  You plan on pulling them out?  Look for a mobo, or
ancilliary software that comes with the mobo that lets you reassign the
jacks to different functions.

> 12"-13" screen 1920x1080 or 1920x1200

Wow, that's a tiny monitor for that resolution.  Are you building a
totable PC?  That could conflict with a desire for future expansion by
having more storage slots in the cages to increase your storage
capacity.

> 12+ hour battery

Just what are you trying to build?  A smartphone or tablet?

Ah, I did a Google Image search on "Asus g73".  You have a laptop.
You're trying to build a new laptop from scratch?  Not likely, so buy a
new laptop that matches on your list of features rather than worry about
you trying to find hardware for a frankenjob laptop you build.

> Nothing microsoft

Just because Windows came pre-installed on the laptop does not preclude
you from wiping the drive(s) to put whatever OS you want on them.
Although few, there are some laptops that come with Linux.

> I'll think of a few others..

Make up your criteria list, but you should really research what you can
find rather than getting others to make suggestions that would either
understimate what you should get, or overestimate to be safe giving you
features you don't want or won't use.  If you're going to build your
laptop (don't know anyone that has despite being in the computer
industry for decades), compile your list to then hunt around for the
best match.  If you're buying a pre-built laptop (the mostly likely
scenario), go to the online sellers you trust with your criteria.  Some
let you walk through a checklist that will narrow your search there.