Re: CAS attack

bad sector wrote:

> 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!

Since you mentioned "DIY" (Do It Yourself) in your starter post, I
figured you were going to do the build, not buy a pre-built, so it seems
you were going to building a desktop.  I haven't seen anyone selling
parts for a DIY build of a laptop.  I've only seen folks selling off
broken laptops for parts.  Yes, you can find some repair parts, like
mobos and key panels, backpanel LEDs for the monitor, etc, but not
entire build-it-yourself kits to build a laptop from scratch.
Especially when you mentioned drive bays led me to believe your DIY
build was for a desktop where the system case would have cages to hold
multiple drives with one cage at the top where the front bezel has
openings to access the drives and the bottom cage is for drives to which
you don't need external access.  Maybe there are laptops with multiple
drive compartments, but I haven't seen any.  Just the ones where there
is only 1 drive compartment.  Laptops are small and thin, so they aren't
designed to contain the bulk of multiple drives.  You get one
compartment for a storage drive, and maybe another with external access
for an optical drive.

I didn't realize the DIY build was to create a laptop from scratch.
Seems you're really looking for a pre-built laptop that matches your
features list.  For pre-builts, you're stuck researching the sites or
stores where you trust buying the products, and then see what they offer
for sale.  Some sites are easier than others in that they give you
filters to narrow down the match list.  Sorry, I can't suggest where to
find a "laptop" that has multiple bays for storage drives.  There are
USB-attached drive stacks you can buy to add more capacity to the
laptop, or to any computer with USB ports.