Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Zucca]

Real man and Saskia needs a real ETH cable, for all the others they deserve WIFI/5G or other Marconi invention based systems... 

[capt bullshot]

That's just some Ethernet cables at (and under) my desk ...

As one can easily see, there's always too few RJ45 holes at the switches.

[tonyalbus]

yes i see u use those splitter ...brrrr

[Robert763]

Apparently work are sending me a laptop. No idea what will turn up, I've not even bothered asking. Been RDP ing to the Dell precision workstation in the office for over a year.

[mansaxel]

That's just some Ethernet cables at (and under) my desk ...

As one can easily see, there's always too few RJ45 holes at the switches.

No, but the structural cabling is always insufficient. I'm running two printers off WiFi because there's an access point and a camera needing PoE taking the two outlets in that area of the house. The long-term plan for printer placement has two (free) RJ45 outlets and a 4x power socket in the right spot, but there's a model railway occupying that area right now...

[tonyalbus]

Or like this

[dl6lr]

As one can easily see, there's always too few RJ45 holes at the switches.

Same applies to USB ports. $Company sent me a docking station with 4 USB ports: 1 front, 2 back USB-A and 1 back USB-C. What the hell are they thinking? 
Connecting a mouse and a keyboard will just occupy two of the back slots, so you would have only one remaining for $AllElse Where the hell do they expect to connect the cam and the headset? 

So I found a 4-port-USB-3-hub in the monitor (gladfully my model has it, the later model "optimized design" just forgot to have this feature) to connect the desktop, and a 7 port USB-3-hub with USB-C connector to the back of the dock. And I 'm still running out of ports...

Next rant: $Company send me two latest mobile gadgetsdevices made of finest Chinesium. They differ in some aspects but are just two versions of the same product line. And guess what: One has a Micro-USB connector, the other a USB-C  What the hell are they smoking all day long? So I have to use two different cables for the charger and for firmware updates

[tonyalbus]

Has been 9 months sens my last lab pic...
this is the current.

[med6753]

Oh, can I play too? My "Lab" is more of a spread out and multi-room affair. And I haven't hit the ceiling yet but I've come close. 

[nixiefreqq]

nixie counters in the bedroom???

damn......you are a kinky smirf!

[bd139]

Now that’s what I call Feng Shui!

K320 number two arrived...

[mansaxel]

Or like this

That is very tidy, and looks to be borderline quiet too! My machine room (not the one pictured above) is NOT quiet. One 7200VXR, one 4948, and one 4500X (all retired Cisco gear). Plus a PE 710 for VMWare, a Supermicro chassis for storage, and the UPS which of course also has fans. Add to that the pretty large tangential fan in the water cooling add-on, and there's a drone symphony.

The 4948 and, I hope, the 7200VXR, are going, but the rest certainly make enough of a noise. I probably need to replace the 7200VXR with something else, like a 892 or somesuch. And I should put another firewall up, a pfSense or something.

[mnementh]

These were the last thing unpacked from today's Thrifting... A Casio EFA-120 Edifice in ~80-85 Points condition, and a genuine Nixon RotoLog in probably 70 points condition if I'm generous...

   Ugghhh. Looks like the RotoLog is a leaky battery victim.

"Renata" battery that looks very likely fake, comparing against pics from one of those "Spot a Fake" websites. Probably bought off fleaBay or Amazon. 

Time to put the G1200 Microscope to work, I reckon. 

Looking for 399/SR927W cells for the Edifice, it seems impossible to find any that aren't obvious fakes... so do we blame the prior owner, or the sea of shite s/he was forced to wade through...? 

mnem
I think I'm going back to bed.

[AVGresponding]

nixie counters in the bedroom???

damn......you are a kinky smirf!

Let's not ask what they trigger on...

[tonyalbus]

Or like this

That is very tidy, and looks to be borderline quiet too! My machine room (not the one pictured above) is NOT quiet. One 7200VXR, one 4948, and one 4500X (all retired Cisco gear). Plus a PE 710 for VMWare, a Supermicro chassis for storage, and the UPS which of course also has fans. Add to that the pretty large tangential fan in the water cooling add-on, and there's a drone symphony.

The 4948 and, I hope, the 7200VXR, are going, but the rest certainly make enough of a noise. I probably need to replace the 7200VXR with something else, like a 892 or somesuch. And I should put another firewall up, a pfSense or something.

Yes that machine room you have is hard to get quiet, those PE are noisy but very reliable for sure..  nice

[bd139]

I always go for silence and low power here. Amazing how much the electricity bill doesn’t cost now I’m not running a data centre in the house 

[Zucca]

Sold my Quadro K6000 for 340 (because the moron did not pay the PayPal fee), and got my M6000 24GB for 676 Euro.
I call it a resonable upgrade for a poor man.

Still I hope to not get scammed with the K6000, the buyer does not insipire me too much confidence.

[Zucca]

I always go for silence and low power here. Amazing how much the electricity bill doesn’t cost now I’m not running a data centre in the house 

It is also less power involved... you know what can happen...

[AVGresponding]

Effing PorkelFarce.

Ordered some new runners from JD Sports, shipped direct from Reebok, on March 3rd.

Attempted delivery March 4th, then returned to depot. No card left, so I'd no idea they'd been. Last night I clicked the tracking link to find all this out, naturally they were closed by then.

The website tracking page states they'll try to redeliver the next day, which they didn't do, and that the package would be returned to the supplier if held for 7 days.

Phoned them tonight, and it's not easy to get to a human I can tell you. Seems you have to deliberately fluff the phone number entry in the automated menu to get put through...

Redelivery now promised for Saturday. My feet are waiting in eager anticipation...

[AVGresponding]

This might be useful to someone:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-service-manuals-various/154361101381

[Zucca]

in the automated menu to get put through...

It seems that next year ONU is pushing an international agreement to ban those phone call automated menu on planet earth forever.
Reason: those systems are against basic human rights und decency in society.

[mnementh]

   Ugghhh. Looks like the RotoLog is a leaky battery victim.
(SNIP)
mnem
I think I'm going back to bed.

Argghh...

Got everything cleaned up both spic and span; my cheap Chinese LED magnifier was plenty of magnification, and I was very lucky to find no perforated traces.

Then, while picking the part up off the cloth to place it back in the movement, my tweezers go sproing and the battery contact flicks past my ear into oblivion. 

After 3 failed attempts down on hands & knees, I've given up the search.



Fortunately (maybe unfortunately for my future sanity...? ), this watch uses the ubiquitous Miyota 2035 movement... so I've got one (probably a cheap Chinese knockoff of this cheap Japanese movement) coming for $3; I'll rob the battery contact out of it in a month or two. Meantime, I guess I need to seal this thing up in baggies and stash it all somewhere safe-safe... 

mnem
*currently being stalked by a wild Thing #1, who wants me to build PC with him*

[med6753]

Gee, am I missing something here? Other than a cable modem (not shown) to convert from RG-6 to CAT 5/6 this is the extent of my "data center" requirements. 

KISS principle in full effect. 

[med6753]

Then, while picking the part up off the cloth to place it back in the movement, my tweezers go sproing and the battery contact flicks past my ear into oblivion. 

After 3 failed attempts down on hands & knees, I've given up the search.



mnem
*currently being stalked by a wild Thing #1, who wants me to build PC with him*

Don't worry. The sweeper bar on the Hoover will find and you'll hear it being ripped to shreds.     

[mansaxel]

Gee, am I missing something here? Other than a cable modem (not shown) to convert from RG-6 to CAT 5/6 this is the extent of my "data center" requirements. 

KISS principle in full effect. 

And, two of Tautech's finest Siglents would suffice to keep your waveform graphing needs in check. But where's the fun in that?

(Although, anything Netgear is more like those chinesium USB oscilloscopes, functionally challenged crap that needs a broken computer (With windows, that is) to even start. I avoid Netgear like the plague. )

My boat anchor collection is a bit more in the information processing field. I once had a full tower of (very slow) IBM SP/2 narrow nodes with control workstation and all standing waiting for me. I did let it go to scrap, as I could not house it anywhere. I did salvage the high quality Amphenol BNC cabling and couplers for the control Ethernet.