Random Question Thread: Tech

[Isiolia]

Was contemplating making a thread, but figured I'd ask here first.

Anyone here familiar with cheap/mid-range joysticks for PC that'll be suitable for entry level, but built well enough to not break after a few months of use? I've been wanting to play me some TIE Fighter lately (amongst other dogfighting games), and figured I'd get one so I have my left hand free to hover over the keyboard while my right hand controls all of the maneuvering.

I took a look at Logitech/Saitek's website (only manufacturers for them that I know of), and their low-end starts at $40-50, which have all I need as far as functionality goes, but I'd like to see what else there is first, or recommendations. I don't need anything too crazy, although I know these are like steering wheels where you get what you pay for.

A couple other manufacturers would be Thrustmaster and CH Products. Personally, I've been very happy with CH Products stuff I've owned...but the ones I have were ADB, if that gives you an idea of how long ago it was XD
Still, the company is still around, and still manufactures actual aircraft and simulation controls. I think their cheapest stick is about $70 (Flightstick Pro), but you can get the F-16 style sticks for not much more. Main thing is they might be a little weaker on features, since they have rudders and throttles to complement them, whereas other sticks might have that built into the stick somehow.

[Zalrik21]

Thanks for the help Niya, now is there a way to figure out if its just the backlight or the inverter? called around to repair shops and was told around 100 or so if its a backlight problem, they didnt mention how much it would be if it was an inverter though.

[Caiyuo]

I had a really similar problem with my laptop last year. There wasn't any way I found to determine one or the other, so I replaced the inverter just to try since it was all of $10. That was purchasing it myself and replacing it, though, so if you're not comfortable trying it or can't find clear enough instructions, I'm not sure how much you'd be looking at.

For what it's worth, once I found out it was the backlight I ended up just buying an external monitor for the laptop and leaving it at my desk.

[Zalrik21]

Im doing the external monitor idea for now but for me its not a long term fix since I have to move my laptop from home to work five days a week or so. Besides this light issue I dont think ive had any major issues with it, and I dont really want to just go out and buy a new one.

[Niya]

Like Cai already said, i think there is no easy way to find out whether it's the inverter or the backlight. The inverter powers the backlight, so if the inverter is broken the BL won't work, but if the BL is broken and the inverter still ok it still doesn't work.
When i read around the internet back when my parents laptop had the problem everyone said it's far more likely for the inverter to break than the backlight itself. Those CCFLs don't die that easily.
For your M1530 it seems to be quite easy to replace the inverter, see here: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replac...-m1530-laptop/
The how-to also has a link to the inverter on ebay, auctions start at <5$. So it might be worth a try to replace the inverter yourself and see if it fixes the problem. Otherwise you would have to replace the entire display since the backlight is included in the panel, but that's way more expensive (75$+ on ebay).
Or you ask at your repair shops again if those 100$ would be just the inverter or a completely new panel. But i'd still try replacing the inverter yourself first ^^

[Isiolia]

Usually if it dies all at once it's the inverter, since the backlight tends to have multiple bulbs in it - it's possible they'd all die at once, but not especially likely.

[Draygon]

Was there a guide to correctly installing an OS onto an SSD? Something about enabling / disabling certain features in the BIOS before installation? I believe it might have been posted a few pages back in either this thread or the PC Build thread, but I can't find it myself.

[Niya]

Other than setting your SATA controller to AHCI mode, there's nothing that i know of that would be important for SSDs. But AHCI is recommended for ALL SATA disks, no matter if it's a classic magnetic HDD or a SSD.
AHCI is important because it enables the use of NCQ (native command queuing, disk can re-order commands for more efficient work) and ATA-TRIM (OS can tell the SSD which blocks are no longer used, makes it easier for the flash controller to manage data and helps lengthening the life time of the flash chips due to less unnecessary write cycles)

[TSFFXI]

Is there a quick way to test if a hard drive is fritzed? I had a computer 5-6 years ago that I played ffxi on and I'd like to pull the screenshots off of it, but it no longer functions. I'd just pull it out of the computer and put it into another one, but I'm not sure if that could damage anything.

[hey]

I'd just pull it out of the computer and put it into another one, but I'm not sure if that could damage anything.

It can't.

[Boyiee]

Was there a guide to correctly installing an OS onto an SSD? Something about enabling / disabling certain features in the BIOS before installation? I believe it might have been posted a few pages back in either this thread or the PC Build thread, but I can't find it myself.

For BIOS, nothing other than AHCI is needed to be changed.

For the operating system, lots of things can be changed. Making sure trim is active, defrag off, hibernate, stopping certain processes that make a ton of writes to the ssd, etc. http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/s...-for-ssds-hdds is one I found, although I use a different one for my SSD's this one seems pretty similar.

[Ratatapa]

Is there a lot of Resolution difference for a PC between HDMI and DVI?

[hey]

Hdmi is basically just dvi with sound, so no.

[Ratatapa]

Ok great i'll use HDMI then due to sound

[CleverJ]

hey, you guys/gals think playing a mmo like Tera for about 16hrs a week would be too much for a 10gb mobile data plan? It would be strictly to play Tera no streaming or downloading etc. I usually have a lot of downtime at work but no wireless hotspots unfortunately..

[Senji]

10gb would be plenty.

[Niya]

Hdmi is basically just dvi with sound, so no.

almost ^^ HDMI can transport sound, but DVI (just like DP) supports higher resolutions. HDMI caps at 1920x1200, DVI can go up to 2560×1600.
So, unless you have a 30"+ screen the sound option is probably more valuable. But your GPU and your monitor have to support it.

[hey]

hdmi can do 2560×1600 and higher too.

[Niya]

oh, true. they raised the limit with HDMI 1.3... So you can use more than 1920x1200, but GPU and monitor have to support HDMI 1.3 or higher.
(DVI and DP are so much easier specification-wise... they support something, period. not like HDMI where they change half of everything with each revision <.<)

or... ok, they changed some stuff on DP with revision 1.2, but that was back in 2009 and it has been stable since then.

[achira]

Any drupal experts here? I'm trying to code a custom module and I have a multivariable array problem that is making me throw up my hands and want to give up the whole thing.
I have a list of areas in which a user can complete a task. It's 15+ items long and each area is different. With that area, there are the tasks to complete- each task list within the area is the same set of 15 items to be completed, all just within a different area.

I have the database normalized, but I just cannot.figure.out. how to write a multivariable insert query. It's killing me because I feel like I have all the pieces but can't put them together.