Macbook Air M1 - Anker 7-Port Dock/Hub On The Way

I ordered an Anker 7-port dock/hub from Amazon today, as I've several external hard drives that I plan to use with my Macbook Air M1.  

This dock will allow me to connect drives to the MBA using USB-A connections.

I've also been closely monitoring how my MBA uses memory, just to understand how it performs.  I've yet to see the memory pressure rise to the point where the graph is yellow, but it does use swap (very little, actually - maybe 100 MB, infrequently).  I'm close to not worrying about it any longer.  I'm pretty sure the system will let me know (by throttling down components) if memory usage gets bad.  Life is too short to be constantly worrying on if your Mac MI is swapping...if it is, so be it - I highly doubt swapping is going to cut my drive's life in half.

New M1 user? Get the correct version of Chrome!

 Just so you know:

If you just got a new M1 Mac, make sure you’re using the right version of Google Chrome.

If you're wondering if you've the correct one, you can check the following:

• Open Chrome browser after it has installed, Go to the three vertical dots and click them.
• Select Help.
• Select About Chrome.  
• You should see "arm64", which is the M1 version.  See below recording.

Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 and Dell XPS 8930

2-3 years ago, I bought my daughter a Dell XPS 8930.  It was nothing special but was a good base in case she needed to expand the system a bit.

Not long after purchase, the motherboard went bad.  I had on-site support for it but never got around to getting it repaired until maybe a month before support expired.  A contractor showed up and replaced the mainboard. 

My daughter only used it a few months then decided to build her own.  The XPS was sitting in a corner, barely used.

I've a cheap system I bought from TigerDirect that is running Ubuntu.  It is currently running Ubuntu Desktop 18.04.  I'd installed Owncloud on it, but the install got jacked up.  it's all out of sync now, package-wise.  I'd attempted to update Owncloud and it choked.  I've not been able to get it running again and it has crucial data on it (it has two drives and the Owncloud data is on the 2nd non-system drive).

I decide to run Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 on the XPS.  I'd initially installed LTS 22.04 but at this time that version has issues with systems that have Nvidia cards and I didn't want a headless system (I already have several of those), so I opted for Desktop.  The Desktop install was seamless.

Desktop 22.04 already has a cloud-based system included in the default install - Nextcloud.  I'm still playing with it but I'll more than likely use that since it's within the Ubuntu repository (Owncloud wasn't when I last checked).

Some things I don't like about these latest Ubuntu versions (noticed this will LTS as well):

• vim wasn't installed by default.  vi is installed by default.  I think this is a licensing thing (I don't believe vim is POSIX).  As well, if vi is already installed, I guess vim wouldn't need to be.  If anyone needs vim, they can use apt to install it post-install.
• ifconfig was not installed by default.  IMO, ifconfig should be essential to a default install.  You might need to troubleshoot a network issue immediately after installing the distro and if you don't have a network connection, you're screwed.  ifconfig is included in the net-tools package.  That package shouldn't be excluded from the base install.

Everything else seems to be good with this distro version, but I'm sure I'll find something amiss as I use the system.

Macbook Air M1 and RAM/Swap research

 Last night, after 3-4 days of the MBA running (mostly hibernating but I did use it maybe 10 hours or so), I took at look at the kernel_task process and it was at around 16TB of writing. (!!)

I didn't have a ton of apps open but did have 15 tabs in an open Firefox browser.  I'm thinking that was the culprit...many days of running without killing the process, when Firefox is notorious for memory leaks.

I shut it down then decided to remove the whole program since it was migrated from my old iMac.  It was almost certainly running an Intel version, which meant that it was being translated by Rosetta2 before being used by the M1's ARM chipset.  

I installed the Mac version but decided to also look into Microsoft Edge, which has some memory leak protections built-in (it hibernates inactive tabs, I believe).  I initially looked for it at the App Store but it wasn't there.  It was the same for FF for Mac - had to go to the FF page and download it, so I went to Microsoft's page, found the Mac M1 version, downloaded and installed it.

The plan is to start using Edge in place of FF so that I can take advantage of it's anti-leak properties, but still have FF on-hand in case I need it.  Yeah, I can use Safari, as well, but I've grown used to FF and Safari doesn't have the anti-leak protection.

I also ensured that the other software I migrated from the iMac (GarageBand, iMovie, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, etc) was using versions native to Apple silicon.  They are all running versions designed for the M1 chipset.

I then restarted the MBA so that the kernel_task writes could be watched after my changes.

So far, my kernel_task writes are low (437 MB) and I'm not swapping (I'm at 2 GB of unused RAM currently).

As well, I've researched the RAM and swap issue.  Even if I start swapping, even if it was heavy swapping, the life of my SSD should last well over 10 years.

I've also thought of creating extra swap files/partitions to a 2nd SSD I have, and redirecting the swapping to those locations (if possible for the latter).  I can always replace the 2nd SSD since it's not embedded into the MBA.  This may be an option later on, but I'll not worry about it now.

Had to Rearrange My Desk

 I've rearranged my desk so that I can use the Macs at one end of the (long) desk.  

This resulted in moving my 27" iMac, placing it next to my Mac Mini.  The enables me to use the iMac as a monitor for my Mini, using Target Display Mode (TDM).  I had to buy a USB-C to mini-Displayport cable and use the one of the Thunderbolt slots to connect to the iMac.

Even though I can use TDM, there's the issue of having two sets of keyboard and mice between both systems.  I don't think there's a worthwhile way around that issue.

I'm also using a bluetooth mouse and keyboard with the Mini.  The mouse is a Corsair Harpoon that has a bluetooth mode.  I'd been using that mouse with my work laptop until I found that it had BT functionality, then I repurposed it for use with my Mini.  The keyboard is a Seenda ISJ-ZXKB01.  It has mapped controls for MacOS.  It works well, but tends to take a few seconds to reconnect when it is hibernating (I've to tap a button and wait maybe a second or two for it to awaken before I can use it).

Since I took the iMac from my work setup, I am mow using my Dell 27" monitor as my second screen for work.  I'd previously been using it as a second monitor for use when I'm streaming gameplay, but since that system has a 34" UW display, I really didn't have an excuse to use an additional monitor.  It did make things a bit more simple, as I could use OBS on that screen while the main screen was outputting gameplay.  I may buy another 27" screen from Dell if I want to go back to that setup, but I'd have to rearrange the desk or get a wallmount for it (or the iMac).  We'll see.

The Macbook Air (MBA) is doing well.  I've been using it to do light things such as blog posts, research, and note-taking (using OneNote).  I'd heard folks with M1 Macs using the MS Edge browser because it's less resource-intensive than Firefox and Chrome.  I've been using Firefox as my main browser, but I've to watch it closely because it tends to consume lots of memory.  I might try Edge soon.

Macbook Air (2020) M1 Base On the Way!

 I'd been torn on whether to get a mobile Mac, especially so shortly after I'd bought the M1 Mini (a few weeks ago).

I want to spend time on the Mac but also be near family.  The Mini is in the basement, which is where my office desk is.  I'd tried remoting into the Mini from the den while logged into my Dell G7, but there's some lag that takes away from the experience.  So, I decided to buy another Mac.

I mentioned I was torn on whether to make another Mac purchase.  Well, I was doubly torn with this purchase, as I couldn't decide on the Air or the Pro.  The Pro is a bit more expensive, but the specs between the two are almost identical.  I think the Air has 7 GPU cores while the Pro has 8 (note that there's an 8 GPU core option for the M1 MBA).  Also, the Air is fan-less while the Pro has a fan.  The Air doesn't have the touch bar but the Pro does.

I decided on the Air Base model because of price.  The Air was $150 less and has the same exact specs as the Macbook Pro 13" (2020 M1).  This Air is Space Gray in color.  That's a rather trivial difference but I'm trying to cut costs.  As well, there was $60 sales tax on this purchase!  If I could've found a Pro that was open box, it would've been as cheap as a new Air, but they had no open boxed Pros.  They also didn't have any certified used ones in this area.

I'm excited.  The only thing I'm missing now is the Apple Watch.  That one can wait until next year.

UPDATE:  I picked it up from Best Buy maybe an hour ago.  It is sweet. I think I should've bought this before I bought the Mini, but that's OK because they're both low-end Mac systems and I'm not under a financial burden.  I can use both.  The Air is pulling the new update (12.4) that was released last night.  The Mini is pulling the same update.  I'll have more to report over the next week or so.

UPDATE 2:  Three weeks later, Apple notified the public of two new incoming models - the Macbook Air M2 model and the Macbook Pro M2 model (which is basically the M2 SoC within the M1 shell - shitty "refresh", in my opinion)

I Have Another iPhone; Airpod Pro Earbuds; Mac Mini M1

iPhone 13 Pro Max 256 GB 

Back in March (2022), I decided to let go of my LG smartphone.  I've been using LGs since the V20 (used the V30 and had been using the V60 (which I still have) up until March).

When LG decided to get out of the smartphone business, I began my look for a different phone.  None of the other brands held my interest.  Yes, other companies make phones that have similar specifications, but most do not have expandable memory (micro SD) or physical audio ports (or even DAC).  LG's V60 was innovative, in that you could also use dual screens (docks with screens) with them.

I did not want a Chinese phone (no OnePlus or similar).  I did not want Samsung (used their phones awhile back...was NOT impressed and had several issues with two phones where I had to return both of them and one of the replacements experienced the same issue 1.5 years after the exchange).

Several things about iPhones that will never go away: Their resale value.  They also have a very good ecosystem.  The software and security is good.  They've long support.  If I have an issue with a phone, I can visit the local Apple Store.  Their peripherals work great (even when using them with non-Apple products).

I decided on, and bought, an iPhone 13 Pro Max 256 in Alpine Green.  The phone looks great and feels great in the hand.  It has an elegant look to it.

Right off the bat, I hated the fact that logins are tied to Apple IDs and iCloud.  I also hate the fact that I can't change the UI. (With Android, we use launchers to change the look of everything.)  The phone has no fingerprint reader. (Face ID works great, though!)  It came with no ear phones, nor did it come with a power adapter, which is mandatory for usage of the Fast Charging feature.  It's all glass but comes with no phone case (WTF).  Luckily, I ordered a case when I ordered the phone.  I also ordered a 32W power adapter.

It is now May and I've used the phone a few months.  I've grown accustomed to it.  There's less of an issue with me fighting with iCloud now. (I found that a large part of my issues stemmed from the fact that I somehow have two Apple IDs.)  

I've begun using the phone to listen to music.  Most of my music collection consists of raw MP3s, but it is a royal bitch to use raw MP3s with iPhones.  I had to import the raw files into iTunes on a PC so that I could import/link/sync them to the iPhone.  Some of my music was tied to one of the two Apple IDs, and for a while I had issues where I couldn't access the content I paid for ten years ago. (Yes, I got that sorted.)

Apple Airpod Pro Earbuds

I even bought a set of Airpod Pros.  I tried a pair of my daughter's corded Airpods but they would never stay in my ears.  Even Airpods slipped out, as they are similar to the corded variant.  The Pros have rubber pieces that help keep the pods in the ear canal, and they stay put better than regular AirPods, but they're still not all that secure when in my ear.  I foresee these falling out of my ear at inopportune moments.  They've great sound, with noise cancellation and sound pass-through and text-to-voice features.  The rechargeable case is great (although slick).

Mac Mini M1 (2020) Base - Space Gray

I'd been using my 27" iMac lately to access the music and files on it when using the new iPhone, but it is OLD (late 2009 model).  So, I bought a Mac Mini M1 to replace it - that was the best decision I've made in quite a while, as this Mini is very powerful.  I bought the 8GB RAM & 256GB SSD version.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money on another Mac, so I focused on the lower end (after doing research, the lower end will be fine for non-professional things and even some professional tasks).  As well, I bought a dock that gives me several more ports (for less than $100) - it fits under the Mini and has the same profile.  The dock also had a port for an SSD card, so I mounted a 500GB SSD to it, so the system now has a 500GB data drive.  The dock is a Quiizlab USB-C Hub.

I'd been using the iMac as a dedicated monitor for work, but I think I'll use it with the Mini instead.  I'm currently using a Dell SE2719H 27" monitor with the Mini but love the 1440p screen of the iMac.

What's also cool is that I'm remotely administrating the iMac from the Mini using the Screen Sharing tool.  This is somewhat new to me, as the iMac was previously the only other working Mac in the house.  Note that I've two old (2005ish) Macbooks that aren't being used, as well as a G4 PowerMac that's sitting in a corner.  The Mini may spur me to get another (modern) Mac system.  UPDATE - Yup...bought a Macbook Air M1.

I've also bought my first real app for the Mini: iStatistica Pro, a system monitoring tool.  I used to use iStat and was going to purchase it but saw that it hadn't been updated in awhile (and other issues).  iStatistica Pro was the same price ($10), and didn't seem to have any bad reviews, so I bought it.  I've already used it to pare down some files. (I copied the files from my iMac to the Mini when setting it up, so there's a bit of files on the Mini already.)

So, I'm happy.  I won't promise to document my experience with the recent Apple purchases since my life is pretty fragmented right now, but I'll document the experience when I remember I've things to share.

My daughter bought me a 1 TB WD Black SN750 SE NVMe SSD for Christmas. 

Wasn't able to install it until today. It took maybe an hour of investigating/researching, maybe 20 min of cloning the drive, then another 30-40 min of troubleshooting when Windows' Disk Management wouldn't extend the C: to use the rest of the unallocated drive space (I had to install a 3rd party disk manager tool).

Also, when I copied the partitions from the old M.2 to the new M.2, it broke Bitlocker on my data drive, but that was easily fixed by copying the drive's BL key from my Microsoft account and using it to re-establish access to the data drive. 

It feels nice to have 2 TB of space in a laptop!  The data drive is a mechanical drive - it'll suffice for now but I do have a spare 500 GB SSD that I can use in it's place (I actually have two of them but only one will fit in the laptop).

Post-Christmas post - December 2021

 I received the following as Christmas presents:

Thrustmaster TWCS Throttle

M.2 2280 1 TB Solid State Drive

Cargo Area Weather Mat for my 2018 Jeep Wrangler

I got a few other things as well, but the top two are things I'll definitely be using as soon as I can.

That SSD will be replacing what's currently in my Dell G7 laptop (it came with a 128 GB M.2 SSD).

The Thrustmaster throttle system will be replacing my Saitek X-52 Pro throttle.  The Saitek throttle works, but I've been having issues with it's matching stick, which has a loose PS/2 port (connector keeps falling out during gaming, so I switched to a 1st Gen Thrustmaster T.16000M stick.  I didn't want the HOTAS combo since I already have a T.16000M stick; plus, I prefer my CH Pro rudder pedals over the Thrustmaster TWCS pedals, which are too close together for my preference.

The Jeep's cargo mat isn't a tech item but it's pretty cool.  I already have Mopar weather mats for the seating area.  This particular mat is from Quadratec (cheaper product)...looks every bit as nice as the Mopar mats, though.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Windows 11 & TPM 2.0 Requirements; Radeon Software Issues

I just wanted to speak a bit on the Windows 11 TPM 2.0 and SecureBoot requirements.

I spent a bit of time trying to understand why TPM 2.0 was needed.  When I investigated, I found that SecureBoot is also a requirement for upgrading to Windows 11.

I suggest enabling it if you have it.  If your system was built 3-4 years ago, it should already be TPM 2.0 capable (you may need to enable it within your BIOS or use a discreet TPM).  If your system is older, your system will more than likely not be capable of using TPM 2.0.

SecureBoot is also a requirement, as both TPM 2.0 and SecureBoot will keep rootkits from starting before the OS boots up.  I'm not sure on if SecureBoot will interfere with dual booting systems (if you've configured your systems to boot both Windows and Linux, for example)...it shouldn't but I'd test first.

The below video has a lot of information about TPM and SecureBoot.

Now, for a different subject.

So, as you know, I've upgraded my GPU to an AMD Radeon RX 6600.  While I love that it's a lot more capable than my prior GPU, I'm finding that I do NOT like certain things about it.  Well, it's not a card issue, specifically, but it is a driver and software issue that I've been experiencing the past few days.

If I right-click on my desktop, I should be able to pull up the AMD Radeon software console.  Well, it hasn't been working.  I've followed several tutorials explaining how to fix this issue, but none of them work.  It's always explained that the issue is due to conflicting drivers and that you have to remove the driver installation folders, safe boot, then use DDU to remove all GPU drivers, then boot back into the OS normally, then reinstall the drivers.  I've done that at least 3 times, back to back and the software still doesn't start.  This is problematic because the software should be checking for driver updates and notifying me.  If the software can't start, it can't check the drivers and notify the system owner.  Apparently this is a known pain point with AMD cards.  I'm not sure how long it'll be before I find a real solution to this issue, but I'll manage, a guess.

Upgrades Performed, New System is Functional!

 I posted earlier in the week that I'd bought parts for a new system.  

I'd said that I'd wait for the weekend to strip down my current system and replace the motherboard and supporting parts (GPU, CPU, memory).  Well, I couldn't wait.  The CPU HSF and memory arrived yesterday and waited an hour or two after they arrived to begin the rebuild.

I'd not done this in awhile but it wasn't all that difficult, but was sort of a pain in the ass.  I basically had to strip down the old motherboard while leaving the rest of the system attached to the case, then remove the motherboard, then attach the new CPU to the new motherboard, then attach the CPU HSF to the system, then attach the RAM to the motherboard, attach the back IO panel to the case, then mount the motherboard to the case, then plug in the motherboard power connectors and the rest of the cabling.  I also had to try to ensure wires and cables weren't interfering with the cooling fans.  Some of the wires are very long and some are also very short, so I spent some time trying to route things...I'm probably going to have to revisit this, as I could spend a whole day trying to route and secure cabling using zip ties.

The PowerColor video card was a beast!  I thought my GTX1060 was big.  This one is a bit bigger.  I didn't know it had blue lighting, which enhances the blue lighting I already have in the case.

When I booted up the system with the new parts, I honestly thought it wouldn't boot because of something I'd forgotten.  At least the PSU is sufficiently powerful.  It immediately booted up but was complaining because it couldn't control the CPU fan - I'd plugged it into the wrong outlet, so I had to fix that.  It was a bit of a pain because I'd used a hot glue gun to secure the wires to the frame of the HSF - I had to remove the glue to reroute the cabling and then reglue the cabling so that it wouldn't get caught in the CPU fan.

The system is ultra quick now.

I played a few matches of War Thunder last night and noticed that the system was complaining that Windows wasn't activated.  I'd saved my product key from when I'd upgraded to Windows 10 but the damned key wasn't working.  Apparently, I'd nullified it when I added the new hardware.  It took me maybe 15 minutes to fix that.

I also downloaded and installed the latest RX 6600 drivers.

At some point, I'll probably wipe the drive and reinstall Windows and all of my games and hardware, but for now everything works.

I still need to do some things like find another area to mount my SSD drives, as they're in the way in case I want to add additional USB 3.0 ports in back.  I may end up buying a new case, though...this one is a bit cluttered.

Here's to another seven years!  :D

Gaming Desktop Upgrade

I came into a bit of money and instead of doing what I normally do (spend extra money on firearms or ammo or anything supporting firearms), I decided to upgrade my video card in my desktop system, since I've been having issues playing a particular VR game, a light flight sim called VTOL VR.

What started the desktop system upgrade process was the fact that I couldn't upgrade my video card to the latest-greatest, since my current motherboard only supported PCIe 3.0 x16.

This meant that I wouldn't be able to upgrade the video card to the RTX 2060 or any RTX card above 2060, as most current graphics cards are PCIe 4.0.

The motherboard that I'm currently using is the MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate, which is a motherboard that supports the following:

• Supports 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 / Core™ i5 / Core™ i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® processors for LGA 1150 socket.
• Uses the Z87 Express chipset.
• CPU currently being used: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz

I also just now realized that this particular system is 7 years old!  And when I bought the above MSI motherboard, that motherboard wasn't cutting-edge.  In fact, there will be no Microsoft Windows 11 support for the i5 CPU I'm currently using. I will probably move it to another system and use it with Linux.

So, what started out as a GPU upgrade developed into a motherboard, CPU, and GPU upgrade, since I would need to upgrade the motherboard to use a PCIe 4.0 GPU and since I would need to buy a new CPU to use with the new motherboard.

I spent this weekend looking at motherboard/CPU packages at NewEgg and Microcenter (which is local to me).  I also looked and found an ideal GPU.

The problem with shopping for computer parts during Covid-19 times is that nothing stays in stock for long.  Also, there's a shortage of chips for GPUs, so GPUs are very expensive right now.  I could've waited but Covid is 2+ years long-in-the-tooth right now...could be a very long wait, while prices could keep climbing.  Microcenter isn't allowing online purchases of GPUs so I'd have to physically purchase the product.  NOTE:  While I hate that stores aren't selling GPUs online and that to buy them, you've to visit the brick/mortar store, it does lessen scalping and folks mass buying GPUs for cryto mining.  Also, I found that what was showing as in-stock was showing as out-of-stock after several hours of checking, and this occurred with the motherboard/CPU and GPU items I'd bookmarked (was researching so that I knew what to buy when I visited Microcenter the next day.

So, on Sunday, I did another quick search and found that NO i5 CPUs were in stock, which meant that I had to re-search for another combination that wasn't i5-related.  So, I stepped up to an i7 CPU.  

Also, there were no more Nvidia GPUs within my price range and I was NOT going to spend $800 on a card!  So, I changed up after doing a bit of research and decided to get an ATI video card instead.

Here's what I ended up getting:

• PowerColor AMD Radeon RX 6600 Hellhound Dual-Fan 8GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card
• Intel Core i7-10700K Comet Lake 3.8GHz Eight-Core LGA 1200 Boxed Processor - Heatsink Not Included
• ASUS Z590-P Prime Intel LGA 1200 ATX Motherboard

Because of the issue of every single part I selected repeatedly going out of stock over the course of two days, I ended up going over budget by like $250!  I was very close to just calling the whole thing off...it was an extremely frustrating situation.

I also realized before going to purchase the parts that I'd also need to buy new memory, as the new motherboard required DDR4.  I decided that I could buy that online via Amazon.com and would probably be able to find good bargains, so I held off on buying that at Microcenter.

I bought the parts and when I got home, I looked at the CPU.  The damned thing didn't come with a HSF (heatsink/fan).  Looking online for a HSF for an 11th gen i7 was daunting.  I'd selected to buy either the:

• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo v2
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition.  

I wanted to see how large they were before purchasing and I'm glad I checked because both of those were EXTREMELY large.  These two HSFs are overkill for someone who won't overclock.

I actually settled on the Intel BXTS15A HSF assembly air cooled instead.  It should arrive in 2 days.

For RAM, I bought the following:  NVTEK 16GB DDR4-2933 Desktop PC RAM Memory.  It should arrive in 2 days, also.

About the only thing I haven't had to buy is a new power supply unit (PSU) and a new case.  I already have a good display, a Samsung 34" UltraWQHD 1440p screen (LS34J552WQNXZA).  There's the possibility that I'll have to buy a larger PSU but I'll do that only when I see that I'll need to do it.  Hopefully, I won't have to upgrade the PSU.  The current PSU I'm using is a Corsair CX750M, which may well be sufficient for the CPU and GPU I bought.  If I need to upgrade, I'll probably buy the PSU locally, as I bought the Corsair from Best Buy locally seven years ago.

I'll begin the build this coming weekend, which will give me a bit of time to backup important things to my NAS.

So, what I thought was going to be a simple $400 GPU upgrade will probably end up being a $1000+ upgrade of 5 essential (and expensive) parts. :/

At least I won't have to worry about this for another 7 years.  :)

Yearly (LOL) update!

OK,  I've neglected this page, I'll admit, but there are some new toys I've received.

But first, my last post mentioned that I got an LG V60.  

How is it?  It's a great phone!  I also love the dual screen (I got that via the promotional offer).  It's camera is awesome.  I was able to capture some pictures of Neowize with it (the pictures were without a tripod, so there's some motion that was captured).  My wife also bought me a Bamboo pen for it.  Oh, and we now have 5G (we're on the edge of range)...when it works, it works well.

The bad?  The dual screen sometimes glitches out.  Since the dual screen isn't under warranty, I'm SOL with that.  Another con is that the dual screen's back is made of glass...WTF were they thinking?  There are many folks who have cracked or shattered their dual screen, and apparently, it doesn't take much effort to damage the glass.  The phone itself has a nagging issue of the screen not always staying dark when I have it between my shoulder and head.  What ends up happening is my ear ends the call or dials someone else, or puts the phone on speaker mode...whatever icon my ear touches will activate that feature.

I still love the phone, though.

For Christmas 2020, I got a monocular (Gosky 12x55 HD) that I plan to use for star gazing.  It has a tripod mount as well as a part that will mate my smartphone to it, so that I can take pictures with the phone.

Another Christmas present was another head-tracking system, the Delanclip Fusion with the LED clip.  For now, I'm just going to use the LED clip with my TrackIR setup (it appears to track more accurately than the passive hat clip I have).

For working from home during the Coronavirus pandemic, I bought a Samsung 34" UltraWQHD monitor that's 21:9!  I also bought a Skull Candy Venue headset, for work.  Work actually paid for that equipment (I bought and they reimbursed).

Also, this week, I found that my mouse was dying.  I've heavily used it the past 4-5 years as a gaming mouse.  It is the Logitech G700 (the original one, not the S model).  The primary left button works intermittently, which is sad because I love the G700 so much.  It's been acting up awhile now, and I bought an G700S two years ago in case the G700 died on me, so I've been using both.  

Now that the G700 died, I bought a new mouse to replace it, although I'll admit right now that I'm not liking this mouse.  

The replacement mouse is the Logitech G502 Hero.  There's a variant of the G502 that is $140!!  I wanted it but did not want to pay $140 for a freaking mouse, so I compromised and bought the Hero version.  

There are some things I had to compromise on (even compared to the G700):  

• My G502 is not a wireless mouse. Since I rarely used the wireless feature on the G700, I was OK with having a wired mouse.  
• The G502 has 11 programmable buttons, which I think is similar to the G700.  
• What's cool is that I can add weight or lessen the weight of the mouse, as it comes with metal ballast pieces.  
• This mouse also mated fully with G HUB, which the G700 would not do.  

What do I not like about the new mouse?  The scroll button.  I like the option of a notched scroll button (the G700 has this).  This mouse also has the option of a notch-less scroll button (the G700 has that, too).  The notched feature feels like a caveman designed it....it's lumpy as gravel lot (and noisy when it's used, too).

I'll continue to use the mouse, though, as I think it's an OK compromise in price and design.

A good comparison of these two mice is here.

I'd love a metal mouse, though...I'm tired of all the plastic, cheesy, and cheap mice.  That's why I didn't want to spend $140 on a mouse...that's some expensive plastic.  Metal is also recyclable...plastic is eco-friendly nor is it recyclable.  And, with a metal mouse, there's be less of a need for adding additional weight.

I'll try to be better at updating this page.

Fathers Day - LG V60

My wife asked me what I wanted for Fathers Day.  I told her I wanted another handgun.  She didn't bite.  Instead, she suggested a new phone.  I'd been using an LG V30 the past 3 years.  It's been working fine.  Before then, I'd used an LG V20.

What'd I get this time?  An LG V60.  Verizon is my carrier.

I'd wondered if the V60 would come with the dual screen case.  It does not (although you can purchase it separately if your carrier is AT&T.  I'd read that you could get a promotional offer of the dual screen case but no literature came with the phone that stated it.  I had to hunt it down on the internet.  Even then, the URLs were bad...it took me a while to find a functional URL that would let me submit for the dual screen case.  I submitted for it the same day I bought it (3 days ago).  It will take 4-6 weeks for me to receive it.

The phone is definitely an upgrade for me.  Everything about it is better (not that I had any major complaints on the V30).  The speakers are far better than the one on the V30.  The camera is better.  The V30's screen is better (but smaller).

I bought a cheap clear gel case for the V60.  I'll use it when I'm not using the dual screen case.

One thing about the dual screen case that I see people complaining about is the fragile front of the case (when closed).  It's made of glass.  While it will protect the phone, it destroys itself in the process.  I hear that LG will replace broken glass for you for $35.  That's not bad.  It would be better if they refined the case by making the front cover plastic instead, though.

I also have an active stylus coming (a Wacom Bamboo Ink Plus).

It also syncs well with my Samsung Galaxy watch (I didn't have an issue with the V30 connecting to it, either).

The V60 is a 5G phone and I don't live anywhere near a location that has 5G (closest area is Pentagon City and DC area).

The phone also is using Android 10, which is new to me.

One thing I have to get used to is using gestures instead of the home row keys that are usually at the bottom of the screen (home key, back key).  I can disable gestures to regain access to the home row keys but I thought I'd try to use the gestures for a bit to see if I can learn something new.  If I don't like it, I can always go back to what I'm used to.

I'll probably give the V30 to my son.  I've to remove the 256 GB microSD card first (he doesn't need that) and then ensure that my Google Authenticator entries have been migrated to my new phone.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad

I've purchased both IL-2 Sturmovik:  Battle of Stalingrad and IL-2 Sturmovik:  Battle of Bodenplatte. 

I purchased the premium version for both, meaning I also have the premium (ie, collector) planes for those two modules.

I've been flying IL-2 the past 3 weeks, off and on.  I'm also flying War Thunder in Simulator Battles mode.  I probably shouldn't be mixing the two, but the concepts are pretty much the same between the two games.  I can use the same tactics in both games.

I'll be posting on these two games as I learn more about them.

PC Gaming

During the pandemic, I've not been able to do my normal hobby (visiting the local range to shoot my firearms).

I've been trying to do things that are different.  One example is that I've been delving in using Python (the programming language). 

Another thing that I've been doing is playing different PC games than I'm used to.  I've recently been playing Cold Waters, a submarine warfare sim.  I've also been playing Arma 2.  I'd install Arma 3 but I probably have to uninstall a few other games before I do that.  Arma 2 has a smaller footprint.

I also recently bought Steel Beasts Pro PE, a tank/armor simulator that uses sandboxes (similar to Arma 3).  I bought the original version maybe 20 years ago and thought I'd have fun with the latest version.  It is fun but something that you have to keep playing to get used to.

Lastly, yesterday, I bought a set of rudder pedals and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM (to add to my gaming desktop, which already has 8 GB - I needed to add another 8).  The pedals I bought are CH Pro pedals.  It took me two weeks to decide which pedals to buy.  I didn't want to buy anything super-expensive...I just need a decent set to use to play War Thunder SB or even DCS with (I've the first version of Black Shark as well as A-10C Warthog, which I've rarely used).  If I end up flying SB within War Thunder or DCS a lot more, then I'll invest in a very nice set of pedals.  I plan to use the CH Pro pedals with my X52 Pro HOTAS.

I'm finding myself playing less War Thunder RB.  I think I'm bored.  I've been playing it hardcore a bit over a year and it's getting redundant.

I'll keep you all updated the next few weeks.

TrackIR and FPS

I bought a TrackIR (version 5) a few years ago but hardly ever used it. I wanted to try to use it for flight sims but never got around to using it. Well, I dusted it off and used it to play some Arma 2 this past weekend. All I can say is....WOW! I should've been using this a long time ago. While I realize that not all games allow for head-tracking, Arma does (I've many of the Arma variants, including Arma 3). I also used it a bit to play some War Thunder. It was awesome there as well, allowing for a very immersive bit of gameplay (although I just used the test drive feature to test the hardware). To use TrackIR with War Thunder will also, for full immersion, require the use of HOTAS, which I do have (I've the Saitek X52 Pro throttle and stick combo), as well as rudder pedals, which I do not yet have (I'm in the process of deciding which to buy...I'm not looking for Gucci equipment...just some decent pedals to facilitate gameplay). I'll be testing other FPS games to see if they allow for head-tracking. I may also delve into other flight sims such as DCS and the IL2 series. Stay tuned.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

I bought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare last year, but haven't played it much.  A friend reached out to me via Battle.net to ask if we can play a few games and I told him I had CoD:MW.  

I started playing  the campaign to get familiar with it, but noticed that the game kept crashing after a few minutes of play.  

Initially, I tried dialing back the graphics, in case my system couldn't cope with it, but I play a lot of other resource-intensive PC games on this system, so I knew that this wasn't a hardware issue.  I had the game redo the shaders, as well.  Neither helped.  I reinstalled the game (as someone suggested) but that didn't help either.

Today, I fixed the issue.  It wasn't related to software or hardware.  This was a networking issue.  I went into my router's configuration and added some port fowarding entries using this resource.  It worked.  The game hasn't crashed and I've played maybe 1.5 hours.

My gaming system's specs:

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Motherboard:  MSI MS-7850
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Monitor: Dell SE2719H (27" LED)
Video Card: ZOTAC GTX 1060 6GB
Memory: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM
Mouse: Logitech G700S
Keyboard: Logitech G213 Prodigy
OS: Windows Version 7 Professional
Web Cam: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam
Headset: Logitech G935

SSD Fever

Maybe 5 years ago, I bought a 750GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD drive for my Alienware 17" laptop.  It's still going strong (I don't use it as much as I used to).  3 years ago, I bought 2 x 500GB Samsung 750 EVO SSD drives for use in my gaming laptop.  2 days ago, I bought 2 x 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSDs.

Why so big?  Why not?  Especially since they're super-cheap now.  The 1TB drives were $139 each.  The 500GB drives were around $170 each.  The 750GB was around $400.

I now need to determine how to use them.  I can sacrifice my two 500GB drives and put them into RAID0 for craps and giggles.  Or, I can put the two 1TB drives into RAID0 or RAID1...again, for fun.  I now have more SSD drives than I do mechanical drives.  I know many people buy small SSDs and put their OS on those drives.  Some put the OS and a game or three on the drive.  They would also have several mechanical drives for storage of files, images, and things like that. 


I've no idea how I'll use them, as I mainly bought them because they were on sale, but I'll find a way!  :)

UPDATE - 12/2/2018:

I decided to only use one of the SSDs.  I will probably put the other in another system or wait for a bit to use it.  For now, it's sitting bare but installed.  I could use it as a storage drive.  We'll see.

I reisntalled Windows 7 instead of cloning a different and older (and degraded) install.  I spend the Saturday installing Win7 and all of the required drivers and such, then attempted to install Win10 (I've an upgrade license).  The install hung at 63% and stayed there for 4 hours until I intervened and rebooted the system.  It did not like that but I had no choice.  I waited overnight for the rescue portion of the install disk to fix the errors.  I'll continue with Win7 and clone it, so that when I attempt to upgrade to Win10 and the process breaks, I'll have a fresh copy of Win7.

New Phone! LG V20!

I got rid of my shitty Samsung Galaxy Note Edge.

My daughter and I had been having boot loop issues.  I don't think it's an app or battery issue.  I think it's an OS/firmware issue.  Why?  Because there was nothing in common with my daughter's installed software and mine.  She's a teen and I'm almost 50 years old...we used totally different software across the board.  It wasn't a battery issue because I actually had my daughter's phone replaced (at $200, that was NOT a cheap "fix")...2 months later, the exact same issue started occurring again on her new phone.  The battery and phone were new.

So, I got tired of running the battery down to 30% where the phone would automatically shut down and reboot, go to the red Verizon screen, then reboot again, then again, then again, and again, and again.  The only way to stop it is to remove the battery.  Many times when removing it, the phone shows no battery power left to restart the phone...you usually have to plug the phone in to let it fast charge for awhile to get it to where it'll have enough power to restart.  Bottom line is that I now think that Samsung has quality control issues.  Everyone I know that has or has had a Samsung phone has had some type of issue that had hindered their phones in major ways.  I won't be buying another Samsung anytime soon.

Nor would I be going back to Apple.

I was eligible for an upgrade but it took me a long time to decide between the LG V20, the LG G5, the Google Pixels  (Pixel and Pixel XL), and the HTC 10.

I wanted a removable battery, expandable storage, and a large screen (at least as large as my Note Edge).

I almost settled on the Pixel XL, but wanted something more than just stock Android.  I'd had also had to give up both a removable battery and expandable external storage in getting that phone.  Yes, I know that with the Pixel, you get unlimited cloud storage via Google, but if you are not near a wireless AP and you don't have unlimited data, unlimited cloud storage is not going to be a good solution.

I've had the HTC One M8 as a work phone...my daughter had one as well.  It was a solid phone.  It had expandable storage but a built-in battery.  It had forward-facing speakers that sounded awesome.  The phone never gave me or my daughter issues.

I've never owned an LG phone and was eyeballing the G5 because I'd considered it awhile back, before I got the Note Edge.  I decided against the G5 because it isn't a recent phone and always seem to get phones that are not top-tier.  Two years ago, the G5 may've been top-tier, but not now.  I'd never heard of the V10 (for some reason).  I'd not even heard of the V20 until I began to search for Pixel competitors.  When I looked at the V20's specs, it compared to the Pixel very well, but was also cheaper, while also having expandable storage and a removable battery.  It is very much a top-tier phone.

I bought the LG V20.

There's a ton to like about the V20.  Basically, if you like the Pixel, you'll like the V20.  Like I said, they're very much comparable to each other.

The things I don't like about the V20:

The USB-C cable.  I can't stand it.  The cable that it comes with is way too short.  I had to go to Best Buy and get a Belkin car charger kit (5' cable) and what I did was swap the OEM cable for that one so that I can use the 5' cable to charge the phone and still use it while in bed.  The OEM is just long enough for me to use to charge the phone while it is mounted on my dash.  As well, with all my other Android phones, I always had spare micro-USB cables around the house that I could use to charge my phones (I also had a bunch of power adapter bricks).  I bought this phone and only had ONE USB-C cable.  I could not use any other of my cables.  I went to my sister's house and the phone needed to be charged...she had a ton of spare cables but no USB-Cs.  So now I have to ensure I have spare USB-C cables (one for my bedroom, one for my car, one for my Jeep, one in my wife's car)...they're not exactly cheap, either.

The V20 also has a feature that's called Smart Settings.  You can automate some things on the phone, like configure the phone to enable wifi when you get home, or turn off wifi when you leave home...things that you might do manually to save battery power, for example.  Well, Verizon removed that feature from Verizon V20s for some reason.  That was one of the features that drew my attention to the phone.  Yes, I can use 3rd party software to automate processes on this phone.  For example, I can use Tasker to do the same things.  Tasker isn't exactly easy to use...it's powerful but it's not intuitive.  Plus, I had created some tasks when I had my Note Edge.  The app maintainer upgraded the app, and all of a sudden my apps disappeared, never to be found again.  I wouldn't have to deal with that if Verizon hadn't removed the Smart Settings.  :/

Oh, and my damned Samsung Gear S won't work with this phone.  That's not an LG problem...it's another Samsung issue.  Samsung appears to be unwilling to enable this phone to work with non-Samsung phones.  When smart watches cost as much as they do nowadays, they should NOT be made to refuse communication with phones that are not the same make.  So, I won't be buying any more smart watches for awhile.  I'll await a neutral wearable maker before I spend my hard-earned cash on another watch.  I suppose I could use my Pebble but after taking calls from my Gear S, I refuse to step down to a Pebble...sorry.

The speaker could stand to be louder (it would be nice to have a forward-facing speaker on this phone, too).

The screen is very vivid and bright.

The phone doesn't feel bogged down and the interface isn't laggy.

The OS out-of-the-box is v7.0 (Nougat)...the only other phones that are using Nougat are the Pixel (naturally) and the HTC 10 (only just last week did that make the news).

As with my other phones, I'll keep you all updated on any glaring issues and will share any praises.

UPDATE - I replaced the LG V20 with the LG V30 (three years after I created this post).  Two years sfter that, I replaced that phone with the LG V60.  The V60 also came with a separate offer for a (free) dual screen case, which makes it very versatile - I ordered the dual screen case.  My wife also bought me a Wacom Bamboo Plus stylus for use with the V60 and dual screen.  All three were great phones.  I still have the V30 and V60, and actively use the V60 - the V60 is my backup phone.