Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you but... honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall. Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but I know its not cause at night there's voices so... please please can you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman, or...
Back in a moment.
Thank you Santa.
Back in a moment.
Thank you Santa.
Friday, April 18
Choices...
The contenders to replace my old Dell 27" monitor:
The contenders to replace my old Dell 27" monitor:
Samsung 28" 3840x2160 TN display for $749.Dell 24" 3840x2160 IPS display for $1199.*LG 34" 3440x1440 IPS display for $1299.
The Samsung is cheapest by a good margin, but it's a TN panel, and I've been using IPS screens on my desktop since I first moved away from CRTs.
The Dell is a very high-quality screen, but it's the smallest, and runs exclusively at 3840x2160. So it's not great for gaming unless you have something like the new Radeon 295X2, a $1500 500W liquid-cooled monster.
The LG is actually lower resolution than the others, but it's huge and wide enough for three workable documents side-by-side.
I think there's no bad choice here; they all look like excellent monitors. Unfortunately, I don't really have the money or space to buy one of each.
* It was A$1699 at the start of the year. That price is coming down fast.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
03:09 PM
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Wednesday, April 09
Dodging Bullets
First Apple's SSL library had a serious security flaw, but that's okay because I don't use Apple's SSL. (I have an iPad, but it mostly just sits there.)
First Apple's SSL library had a serious security flaw, but that's okay because I don't use Apple's SSL. (I have an iPad, but it mostly just sits there.)
Then GnuTLS had a worse security flaw, but that's okay because I use OpenSSL.
Then OpenSSL had the worst security flaw of them all... But that's okay because the version of OpenSSL we're using here is older than the bug.
I will wipe and reinstall a couple of virtual machines that don't have user data on them yet, just in case.
Of course, while mee.nu was secure* Amazon, Google, and any number of other providers have been exposed to this bug to varying degrees for two years.** And the nature of the bug is such that attacks would not show up in normal server logs; it's a silent, pseudo-random data leak.
* Entirely because I've been too busy to migrate to a newer version of Linux and install proper certificates, not because of any specific virtue.
** It's been a busy two years. Seriously. I don't want to talk about it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
02:50 PM
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Sunday, April 06
Get With The Program!
I mentioned recently how iiNet have been periodically upgrading my internet plan for free for eight years.
I mentioned recently how iiNet have been periodically upgrading my internet plan for free for eight years.
This leaves me with this "problem":
daily usage trendsanytime:8,325MB
suggested daily usageanytime:125,024MB
I'm not sure that my connection is actually fast enough to download 125GB per day. Never mind finding that much content that I want. I just downloaded every current version of Linux Mint because it was there and I might want to try it some day. There's only so many Linux distros and podcasts out there...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:27 PM
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Thursday, April 03
U28D590D
I almost bought a new monitor (or two) last year. I have a Dell U2711, and while it's adequate, it's not a perfect monitor (and mine has a few flaws that have developed over the past couple of years).
I almost bought a new monitor (or two) last year. I have a Dell U2711, and while it's adequate, it's not a perfect monitor (and mine has a few flaws that have developed over the past couple of years).
So I've been looking closely at Dell's 4K monitors. The 32" model at around $3000 is simply too expensive; I might be able to afford it, but I have better things to do with the money. The 28" model is a lot cheaper ($829), but it's a TN panel rather than IPS, and it's limited to 30Hz.
The 24" model falls in between - it's IPS and a full 60Hz, but half the price of the 32" model ($1449). But it's not all that big, smaller than my current screen. Also, it doesn't have a scaler - the only resolution it accepts is 3840x2160. I have a Radeon 7950, which isn't a bad graphics card, but it's not up to playing the latest games at 4K resolution. I don't really care about playing games at 4K - I played Mass Effect 1 and 2 on my current monitor at 720p, and that was just fine - but if I have a monitor that only accepts 4K, I'm kind of stuck.
So, none of the Dells are ideal. But Samsung just announced their catchily titled U28D590D, a 28" display most likely using the identical TN panel as the Dell model, but with different electronics. Samsung provide 4k@60Hz via DisplayPort, and dual HDMI inputs for 4K@30Hz - or 1080p@60Hz. Or, for that matter, two side-by-side displays of 1920x2160, if for some strange reason you wish to do that. It can also do scalable picture-in-picture with the alternate inputs.
It has a fairly nice, minimalist industrial design.
And it costs $749. Australian. Including sales tax.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
07:01 PM
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