I’ve had a lot of problems with my cd/dvd burner ever since I setup my current desktop. A while back I finally isolated the problem to burning in TAO mode instead of DAO/SAO. I’ve found that since upgrading to Kubuntu 8.04 the problem persists. I have not found a way to configure K3b to only use DAO/SAO and for K3b “Auto” mode seems to always mean TAO. So I have to change the mode each time I burn a CD. I’m not sure if this is a hardware or software problem but it is frustrating.

I need to build 1 or 2 systems to do some testing of virtualization technologies. They need to be as cheap as possible and there is no need for them to be particularly powerful. I decided to document my search here.

Prices on SSDs are coming down and performance is going up. It may not be time to be buying yet, but that time may be sooner than people think.

• 64GB SSD on the Desktop: Samsung and OCZ go mainstream
• Memoright SSDs: The End of Hard Drives?

A couple of friends have some Actiontec GT701-wg DSL modems and I wanted to get their DSL modems flashed. The latest firmware (which was released in 2004) fixed a number of issues with those modems. These friends have simply gotten used to rebooting the modem fairly frequently to get their internet connection working properly. So I found some links to the firmware and some supplemental information:

• gt701-wg firmware from Qwest
• New firmware out for Actiontec GT701-WG

WD’s new 10,000 RPM drive has been sent to various hardware websites for testing. The drive has an unfinished firmware but so far seems to score at the top of performance tests, especially for multiuser benchmarks. However it suffers 2 flaws: low capacity and high price. For the same price one could buy 2 750GB Seagate 7200.11 drives and run them in RAID 1 or RAID 0 in order to match the performance of the VelociRaptor and have 2.5 or 5 times as much capacity. I think the only use case is for a large disk array where performance is important but larger number of disks is impractical. I would think a 16-disk array of VelociRaptors might be a better setup than a 32-disk array of 7200.11 drives. I am happy about the low power consumption of the new drives due to their 2.5” design. I’ve compiled a list of reviews and further comparisons below.

I’ve been liking barebone servers more recently. Sure they’re still a little more expensive than purchasing parts separately but when it comes to a 1U or 2U the convenience and security that comes with knowing all the parts are going to work together is often worth the price. I have a couple of projects where these servers might be needed but some of the architectural details still need to be resolved and as such a couple of models might work well given the different contraints.

I've been noticing that a lot of cases do not have speakers these days. I find this to be an unfortunate trend as the PC speaker is the only way to diagnose certain hardware problems on the majority of motherboards. In dealing with some problems today on a system without a speaker I finally pulled a speaker from an old system marked for donation to use to diagnose the problem. I plan to keep this speaker in my toolkit from now on. Of course, the speaker was only so useful as when I looked up the beep code (long short short) I was told the problem was video. The problem ended up being the RAM. But at least once I had gotten the memory issue resolved I was rewarded by the sound of a post beep.

I’ve made some more recommendations for a couple of clients. I had to research rack-mountable managed gigabit switches and an 8-port rack-mountable kvm switch. For the details read on.

I’m building a low-cost fileserver for a client. It needs to be under $1000. The case needs to be rack-mountable and the smaller the form-factor the better. Here’s what I came up with.

For a while I’ve been considering that a SATA backplane would really make server work easier. But for an inexpensive server an inexpensive backplane is needed. I decided to look again tonight and see what I could find. I included 3-in-2 (3 3.5” drives in 2 5.25” bays), 4-in-3 (5 3.5” drives in 3 5.25” bays), and 5-in-3 (5 3.5” drives in 3 5.25” bays) models.

I was considering recommending a cheap quad-core server for a client. Here’s what I came up with:

• AMD Phenom 9500 (Agena core, 2.2GHz, Socket AM2+, 95W) ~ $200
• ASUS M3A (Socket AM2+, AMD 770, ATI SB600) ~ $100
• 4GB DDR2 1066 (4x1GB) ~ $200
• 2x WD Caviar RE2 500GB ~ $250
• Total (not including Case. PSU, 2nd Nic, Video Card) ~ $750

I suspect once I pick the rest of the parts I can purchase a quad-core system for less than $1000. Pretty nice.

I remember when I first saw the keyboards with both a number pad and another set of arrow keys. I thought they were too wide then and I think so even more now. For my desk the extra width on the right side of the keyboard doesn’t fit. So I’ve been trying to find a good replacement. But it seems like most smaller keyboards are very small, laptop size, which is smaller than I would like. Anyway here’s some things I found.

I often get asked for recommendations on monitors. These days I’m a fan of widescreen LCD monitors. I think 20 and 22 inch are generally the sweet spot for best price. I was doing some research on the status of different types of panels (IPS, PVA/MVA, TN) and came across these:

• LCD Panel Technology Explained
• TFT LCD (Wikipedia)

It seems like xbitlabs.com currently has the best reviews for LCD’s for 20”, 22”, 24”, and more.

So far it’s been a real pain to own. Ok, to be fair, it must be more suited to a different set of users, those who want a cross-platform (well between Mac and Windows anyway) encrypted drive. For me I just want 1 large partition that I can setup the way I choose including encryption and filesystem choices. Unforunately there are only 2 ways to do so: 1) remove the hard disk and format it in another system which is a pain to do and voids the warranty. 2) use a windows only utility to remove the “CD” partition. I plan to do the latter. Here are some links that helped me to learn more:

• acomdata external hard drive
• Removing Acomdata HybridDrive CD PART
• AcomData E5 HybridDrive External Hard Drive

Since my current 500GB storage and back hard disk is dying (clicking sounds, other sounds, failing to read and write data) I decided to get another drive. I think 500GB drives are still the sweet-spot for price per GB. I wasn't sure if I wanted a new enclosure or to reuse an existing one. Then I came across a deal for a 500GB AcomData E5 HybridDrive for $110. I'm not sure if it will be any good, but given the unimpressive life of my last drive my expectations are not high. I will try to get one tomorrow and transfer data from the old drive to the new. Afterward I may have some thoughts on the product.

• http://www.cdrlabs.com/
• http://www.cdrinfo.com/
• http://www.cdfreaks.com/
• http://www.cdr-zone.com/

I bought a Samsung Writemaster (SHL-183) for a computer I put built over the summer. It has never burned a cd or dvd correctly. I worried at first that maybe it was an issue with using Ubuntu but after further testing it became clear that the drive was defective. I plan to return it for repair or replacement soon, though I've not heard particularly good things about Samsung's RMA process. My last DVD burner was a Benq and I'm starting to wish I had just kept it because it was the best burner I've ever owned. Benq and Lite On merged in 2006 so I think I may choose Lite On optical drives in the future.