Re: CAS attack

On 6/24/22 23:18, VanguardLH wrote:
> 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.

Thanks for the detailed response!

 
>> 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.

That technology is what I need. Backlighting is useless 
for my money but a white keyboard with black letters 
works just fine in low light and "I" never do anything 
in blacked-out (non) lighting. 

So on my g73 the minute the backlighting crapped out 
I imediately replaced the keyboard but it was one 
of the cheapos that the printed letters wear off of. 

As for the size of lettering, I find it pathetic that 
a 1.x cm keycap should have 6mm thin lettering on it 
in the center, but a lot of them do just that. 
Artificial-Stupidity will never be competitive.

>> easy to change keyboard
> 
> They are all easily changed.  They plug in using PS/2 or USB.

I meant the native keyboard, not an extra one :-)

> 
>> 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.

A laptop being thin means nothing to me other 
than difficulty in repair or expansion, a 
need for special tools doesn't either and I
put all such 'features' in tyhje eye-candy 
bin, 'selling features' in your words :-)

The Panasonic partial-ruggeds seem tempting 
except for the fact that the monitor edge 
is like an inch in from the lid edge. One of
the goofs I made with the g73 was not thinking
that a 17" is waaaaaay to big to take on an
airplane. So the next one will be 12-13" only
but I want that to be almost all monitor
and hardly less capable than my destop AMD 
deathstar.   

 
>> 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.

Talking laptops...  external quick-insertion 
ssd's are the future I hope but for now I was 
just referring to my g73 with 2 inetrnal ssd
caddys, there are few laptops with more than 1. 



> 
>> 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?

sorry, meant card-reader
 
> 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.

I meant i7 or the comparable performnance level 
AMD or MAC cpu's

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

Been using 5 Linux distros but it looks like 
one of them (Suse Leap) is gonna get axed so 
I might try 4 Linux and 1 MAC. This could be 
done on a MAC but I don't think that MAC-OS
is too installable (yet) on generic laptops.
Wife uses a MAC and I could help her out now
and then with 'issues' :-)

>> 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.

I need an accelerated GPU but ONLY because 
Google-Earth doesn't do too well with the
Nouveau drivers. Nvidia has lost me for good, 
for half a dozen reasons.

>> reliable easy to change mini audio jacks
> 
> Change them?  You plan on pulling them out?  

I plan on replacing them because the 1/8" 
laptop jacks that I have seen ALL wear
out or bercome loose and intermittent, total 
crap is the design itself and to top it 
changing them on a laptop is a PITA. I 
haven't seen one that's easily replacable 
yet BUT I know some people who use replacable
pigtails that they plug-in and fasten only 
once, then use the pigtail end jack for 
whatever they wanna plug-in and such 
adapters can even sport normal 1/4" jacks.  
 

> 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?

A laptop...

 
> 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 prefer them not charging for neither supplying 
any OS unless it's a MAC but I don't really know 
anything about them, my lasop apple was an Aple-II
in another life. 

 
>> 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.

I've been looking for a day now and it seems like 
I will never find what I want, the industry is
drifting in the opposite direction. For years I
thought mmy next one would be a Lenovo on account 
of references from friends but as I just looked 
up their lineup I saw that it too has been thinned
out no end. Some of the older but refurbished MAC's 
Lenovos might give me _temporary_ reprieve though :-)

Thanks again for your time, appreciate it!