HardwareMusic thingummy

  

Press Ctrl+Enter to quickly submit your post
Quick Reply  
 
 
  
 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    22 Jun 2019 06:45 
 To:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)      137 of 168 
42301.137 In reply to 42301.134 
I've taken a false step there and I haven't worked out how to get around it. Tried a couple of VNC viewers and a couple of other remote desktop type apps. None were especially good. It's a combination of factors. Basically it's far easier to control from a laptop than from a small tablet,, especially one with a low res, laggy screen.
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)   22 Jun 2019 10:44 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       138 of 168 
42301.138 In reply to 42301.137 
Vnc viewers can be finicky, and servers idiosyncratic so there is some trial and error to find the right combo of ip address and port. Then you're shoehorning a desktop display into a small screen.
“making satanism appear normal”
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    22 Jun 2019 11:07 
 To:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)      139 of 168 
42301.139 In reply to 42301.138 
It's easy to forget that Android, iOS etc were designed specifically for touchscreens. You connect to a Windows box and straightaway you're faced with text entry boxes that don't automatically resize, links that are too small to tap reliably and so on. Switch Windows to tablet mode and after the pain of setting things back up so that you can find stuff it's not much better. Combine that with a painfully slow tablet and it's all but impossible. 

Trying to improve the memory situation with the tablet by adding a swap file/partition, but it's proving bloody hard to even root the damn thing.
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)   22 Jun 2019 13:05 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       140 of 168 
42301.140 In reply to 42301.139 
Oh, your server is running Windows. I missed that. Windows RDP is actually far more bulletproof than VNC (IME) -- for seeing Windows on other desktops (Windows, OS X and 'mainstream' Linux distros). There is an rdp client for android iirc.

Ubuntu over vnc is pretty usable, even on a 7" tablet (1280x800), but I'd rather use JuiceSSH + Hacker's Keyboard for configuring stuff, because it's basically a full-screen terminal, and the keyboard gives a Ctrl key and other essential functions lacking in the onboard android keyboard.

I was able to 'unlock' my tablet, but not root it and after further investigation decided it isn't worth the bother. I did install a better recovery mode than stock, "team win recovery project," which enables a number of advanced recovery, backup and restore functions, mounting volumes etc. Otherwise it's the same old, lame-ass tablet.

I can see if you are trying to get a really simple setup for non-technical users this is all a complete non-starter.
“making satanism appear normal”
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  ANT_THOMAS   22 Jun 2019 13:17 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       141 of 168 
42301.141 In reply to 42301.133 
Very glad to see you're happy with the results!
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    22 Jun 2019 13:23 
 To:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)      142 of 168 
42301.142 In reply to 42301.140 
It's like this: some people are perfectly capable of using, say, an iPod or mp3 player. They'll happily flip around a television remote on a smart TV. However, when faced with a tablet or even a Windows PC they start to get angry really fast. Instead of saying 'that didn't work, let's think about it a bit' they seem to get into a 'that didn't work, let's do stuff at random to get deeper in the shit' frame of mind.

My FIL is typical. I've seen him sitting at his laptop clicking away (no such thing as a single click. He learned double-click so uses it everywhere) as his laptop opens program after program and stores away actions to complete, draining every last ounce of memory and performance until nothing is working. Still he clicks, because obviously 'something will work' eventually. Then, he slams the lid and stamps off to do something else. 

Mrs WilliamA is not nearly as bad as that, but she is easily frustrated by computers in general, and I don't want her getting fed up because she can't turn 'the record player' on. She may get the hang of AnyDesk which is on her laptop, in which case that's fine.
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    22 Jun 2019 13:23 
 To:  ANT_THOMAS      143 of 168 
42301.143 In reply to 42301.141 
I am, indeed :)
 
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)   22 Jun 2019 13:27 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       144 of 168 
42301.144 In reply to 42301.142 
You've just described ~90% of the tech users I typically encounter. Actually most are far more competent on Office, twitter, facebook (etc) than I'll ever be, so I give 'em that.
“making satanism appear normal”
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  ANT_THOMAS   22 Jun 2019 20:12 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       145 of 168 
42301.145 In reply to 42301.142 
Oh god, the double clicking when it's not needed. All the time at work

"why did it open 4 windows?"
"because you're double clicking when you shouldn't be, and the system is slow, which you know, but you double clicked twice"
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    22 Jun 2019 20:34 
 To:  ANT_THOMAS      146 of 168 
42301.146 In reply to 42301.145 
Him: it looks like it's stuck
Me: you don't need to double-click when the cursor turns into a hand with a pointy finger - usually
Him: oh, really?
Me: and some other times as well
Him: oh, right. I'll have to look for that
Him: click click
Computer: dies (stage left)
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  Manthorp   24 Jun 2019 22:18 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       147 of 168 
42301.147 In reply to 42301.133 
Very nice indeed.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked."
James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
 
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    4 Jul 2019 15:38 
 To:  ALL 148 of 168 
42301.148 In reply to 42301.147 
Well, very last thing to do I hope (with the hardware anyway) was to put antennas onto my M.2 Intel 9260 wifi card and install it instead of the USB thing I was using.

Dear God! Is there any reason at all that they make MHF4 connectors so damn nearly impossible to fit? They are seriously tiny, made of incredibly thin, soft metal, lacking in a nice positive click if you do eventually fit the buggers. Lining the little fuckers up needs three hands and a magnifying glass. Then you need nerves of steel, because you have to push really, really hard - preferably with something like a flat screwdriver blade. For the first few goes I was nowhere near and I was beginning to think I'd bought the wrong bloody antennas again. Then I examined the fittings with a jeweller's lens and I could see that they should fit together (after some micro-surgery to reshape the bits I'd squished with previous attempts). 

All done.
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  ANT_THOMAS   4 Jul 2019 15:43 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       149 of 168 
42301.149 In reply to 42301.148 
They are pretty shit to attach. And they're pretty much one time only.
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)   4 Jul 2019 15:50 
 To:  ANT_THOMAS      150 of 168 
42301.150 In reply to 42301.149 
That's good to know as I will likely try to avoid them.
“plants may not have consciousness”
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    21 Oct 2019 09:45 
 To:  ALL 151 of 168 
42301.151 In reply to 42301.150 
This snippet isn't necessarily about a music player, but it could be. I know there are a few of teh people who play with the Raspberry Pi* sometimes. My son was running a Plex server from his laptop which wasn't especially convenient. He has an early Pi which definitely can't run Plex successfully, but was wondering whether the Pi4 was up to the task. He's been pretty low of late, so, being a kind dad I thought a little project might at least cheer him up a bit, so I bought him all the bits to give it a try.

Turns out that it works a treat. 

I'd read all kinds of reports that it runs hot when it idles, reaches horrific temperatures under load and can't manage really heavy lifting such as video transcoding. I know that recent firmware changes have tried to address the temperature issues, but again, reports I've seen have said that the difference is substantial, but maybe not enough to safely use the Pi4 for demanding roles. However, I did invest in one of these coolers to give him the best chance. I still thought it would have problems, especially doing something like streaming to a remote client.

It idles in the mid 30s Centigrade. I can direct stream from it at 1080P to my phone across t'web (he lives about 50 miles away) and it's incredibly smooth. Transcoding to 720P or lower is also perfectly acceptable without stutters of any kind. Temperatures when transcoding/streaming sit comfortably in the low 50s. That's better than my water-cooled desktop manages when transcoding.

So if you're wondering whether it's worthing trying the Pi4 for something demanding, there you go.

*I thought that suggesting teh peeps sometimes play with Raspberry Pis was taking the Pis a little.
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
+1/1
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  ANT_THOMAS   24 Jun 2020 12:59 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       152 of 168 
42301.152 In reply to 42301.151 
So, how is the music player after a good number of months?
Still using it as you had envisioned?
Does the wife use it?
 
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)   24 Jun 2020 14:26 
 To:  ALL 153 of 168 
42301.153 
On an audio-related note, I've been taking zoom calls on my pc + cell phone, because my mic & headphone inputs are at the back of my own-build pc and my generic 'house brand' headset doesn't have a long enuf cord to reach ... long story even longer, I borrowed MrsD.s logitech usb headset, which has an improbably long cord (and apparently also has a built-in sound card in a lumpy bit on the cord), plugged it in, faffed around with sound settings in Fedora, and looks like that's going to work. It will get its first road text this afternoon.
“Pointing the finger about reality TV suicides is irresponsible”
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)   24 Jun 2020 14:48 
 To:  ALL 154 of 168 
42301.154 
How come this thread has 1286 views? What. The. Fuck.  8-O
“Pointing the finger about reality TV suicides is irresponsible”
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  william (WILLIAMA)    24 Jun 2020 17:26 
 To:  ANT_THOMAS      155 of 168 
42301.155 In reply to 42301.152 
Yes - still use it most days. My wife can use it - it isn't difficult - but she prefers not too. This is odd since about a third of the music on there is stuff she's bought. She's quite happy to listen and does ask me to put it on.  I've put a second cable to the aux input on the amp so she can attach her ipod straight to it.

It's set up in the worst possible place in the sitting room: pointing across an extension with plasterboard over block-work. On the left is either nothing (outside) or glass because of the bi-fold windows and on the right is a sitting room. Because of this the bass is a bit bloated and I've had to tone it down by stuffing the reflex ports (nj).

Otherwise great. 
never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're dead
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

 From:  milko   24 Jun 2020 20:45 
 To:  william (WILLIAMA)       156 of 168 
42301.156 In reply to 42301.155 
my wife maddens me, I rig up nice interfaces so you can search and select and whatnot, she just wants my old iPod plugged into a portable speaker and anything else is not it.
milko
0/0
 Reply   Quote More 

Reply to All  
 

1–20  …  81–100  101–120  121–140  141–160  161–168

Rate my interest:

Adjust text size : Smaller 10 Larger

Beehive Forum 1.5.2 |  FAQ |  Docs |  Support |  Donate! ©2002 - 2025 Project Beehive Forum

Forum Stats