Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

[nixiefreqq]

bought a laptop to replace a lenovo 11e yoga with wonky hinges.

never heard of this brand before. it is a new in the box geobook 240.

pentium n5030 with 8gb ram and 128gb ssd. meh. guess it will be ok for researching ordinances, writing up meeting minutes, and connecting usb to TE (analog discovery, rf explorer sa and sig gen, sdr play, gps receiver, etc).

145 bucks free shipping. but it still bothers me that no one ever heard of this brand.

did i get a bargain....or raped?

usps lady just rang the bell. had to sign for the laptop. will know in a couple of minutes how big a pos i just bought.

[25 CPS]

@25 CPS: Sometimes one needs the right friends.

Absolutely. Especially in the nasty town we live in. The people here are so backwards you'd honestly get the impression that having a Simpson 260 is a wasteful excess in having the unnecessarily top of the line, latest and greatest in electrical troubleshooting equipment and that colour is just a scam to make you go out and buy a new TV set. I have a running joke with the college friend about, "Am I allowed to have a spectrum analyzer?"

[mnementh]

bought a laptop to replace a lenovo 11e yoga with wonky hinges.

never heard of this brand before. it is a new in the box geobook 240.

pentium n5030 with 8gb ram and 128gb ssd. meh. guess it will be ok for researching ordinances, writing up meeting minutes, and connecting usb to TE (analog discovery, rf explorer sa and sig gen, sdr play, gps receiver, etc).

145 bucks free shipping. but it still bothers me that no one ever heard of this brand.

did i get a bargain....or raped?

usps lady just rang the bell. had to sign for the laptop. will know in a couple of minutes how big a pos i just bought.

Most common matchup I've found pits it against a Core i5-4200U which it just beats out because 6W vs 15W, newer graphics and DDR4 support vs DDR3.

The i5 4200U is a 10-year-old processor.

The GeoBook 240 is selling for aboot $80 used on fleaBay; in that config it's essentially a ChromeBook with Win10 on it.

You didn't screw yourself; it's a perfectly serviceable eMail/shopping/streaming machine. And getting it new means you know it hasn't had the hinges beat to death by the prior owner.

mnem
Welcome back to the age of "good enuf" computing.

[tggzzz]

@25 CPS: Sometimes one needs the right friends.

Absolutely. Especially in the nasty town we live in. The people here are so backwards you'd honestly get the impression that having a Simpson 260 is a wasteful excess in having the unnecessarily top of the line, latest and greatest in electrical troubleshooting equipment and that colour is just a scam to make you go out and buy a new TV set. I have a running joke with the college friend about, "Am I allowed to have a spectrum analyzer?"

There are places in the UK (and presumably elsewhere) which feel like they've never progressed beyond the 60s - and I don't mean the interesting/fun bits of the 60s. Fenland, Head of the Welsh Vallies, and the Forest of Dean are some that are familiar to me, but no doubt there are others. While OK to visit for a day, I definitely wouldn't want to live there.

Is there a unifying characteristic? Not sure, but decline/death of the industrial base is a good option, as is a pure unchanging aggie culture, or just being at the end of the land with no reason to go there.

I imagine the US rustbelt qualifies. I've known people living temporarily in the Canadian midwest benoning that the only topic of conversation is the price of wheat. I believe Newfoundland and Nova Scotia also qualify.

[bd139]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

[tggzzz]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

[bd139]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

Enjoy the lack of competition as I won't be there this year. Have other priorities for the weekend

On that matter, hello from bd140 and myself, lurking in The Devil's Cauldron in Dartmoor

bd140.jpg

[tggzzz]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

Enjoy the lack of competition as I won't be there this year. Have other priorities for the weekend

On that matter, hello from bd140 and myself, lurking in The Devil's Cauldron in Dartmoor

bd140.jpg

I wasn't aware of that place; thanks.

It reminds me of two other places: the waterfalls upstream of Pontneddfechan, and the Stakkholtsgjá gorge in Þórsmörk on the flanks of Eyjafjallajökull.

Being dragged up in Surrey, waterfalls have long had a fascination for me. (For the unaware, a major river near there is the aptly named River Mole.)

[bd139]

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

Enjoy the lack of competition as I won't be there this year. Have other priorities for the weekend

On that matter, hello from bd140 and myself, lurking in The Devil's Cauldron in Dartmoor

bd140.jpg

I wasn't aware of that place; thanks.

It reminds me of two other places: the waterfalls upstream of Pontneddfechan, and the Stakkholtsgjá gorge in Þórsmörk on the flanks of Eyjafjallajökull.

Being dragged up in Surrey, waterfalls have long had a fascination for me. (For the unaware, a major river near there is the aptly named River Mole.)

Ah yes very nice morning out that was. I'd leave it a bit if you decide to go though as the gorge itself was closed due to a landslide. They're sorting it out at the moment! www for anyone interested: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/ ... ford-gorge

Couple more photos

IMG_5142.JPG

IMG_5139.JPG

[Specmaster]

Ah yes very nice morning out that was. I'd leave it a bit if you decide to go though as the gorge itself was closed due to a landslide. They're sorting it out at the moment! www for anyone interested: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/ ... ford-gorge

Couple more photos

IMG_5142.JPG

IMG_5139.JPG

Very nice, but the first photo had me scratching my head for a bit, I thought how the hell did gate get there and why as it appeared to be just hanging there in mid air, then it dawned on me that when I clicked it had become rotated sidewise (palm on face)

[nixiefreqq]

bought a laptop to replace a lenovo 11e yoga with wonky hinges.

never heard of this brand before. it is a new in the box geobook 240.

pentium n5030 with 8gb ram and 128gb ssd. meh. guess it will be ok for researching ordinances, writing up meeting minutes, and connecting usb to TE (analog discovery, rf explorer sa and sig gen, sdr play, gps receiver, etc).

145 bucks free shipping. but it still bothers me that no one ever heard of this brand.

did i get a bargain....or raped?

usps lady just rang the bell. had to sign for the laptop. will know in a couple of minutes how big a pos i just bought.

Most common matchup I've found pits it against a Core i5-4200U which it just beats out because 6W vs 15W, newer graphics and DDR4 support vs DDR3.

The i5 4200U is a 10-year-old processor.

The GeoBook 240 is selling for aboot $80 used on fleaBay; in that config it's essentially a ChromeBook with Win10 on it.

You didn't screw yourself; it's a perfectly serviceable eMail/shopping/streaming machine. And getting it new means you know it hasn't had the hinges beat to death by the prior owner.

mnem
Welcome back to the age of "good enuf" computing.

you got it exactly right. nothing special about the geobook 240. it just works.

unboxed it and hooked up the power supply. it started to boot but then failed every time. SHIT! walked away and let it charge for 15 minutes and then it booted. (guess it had been in the box a while and was unhappy with the battery). did all the brand new set up crap and then did updates for a while. expunged "s mode".........all TE related apps run just fine.....even an ancient version of lady heather.

it is a minimalist machine. the charging and power on leds are so tiny that you have to really eyeball them to see the status. the speakers are shit. the power plug is tiny and bound to break the first time the fox hound trips over the cord (weird that the power supply is 12V). not having a fan is a blessing......or maybe a curse (it will never suck up cat hair, but the bottom of the case does get slightly warm to the touch).

but the display is nice and the keyboard is tolerable.

it suits my intended use case and i am tempted to buy one of those used 80 dollar ebay units as a backup.

ran the pc health app and it does qualify for win11. should i upgrade or leave it alone?

[MED6753]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

Enjoy the lack of competition as I won't be there this year. Have other priorities for the weekend

On that matter, hello from bd140 and myself, lurking in The Devil's Cauldron in Dartmoor

bd140.jpg

A redhead. Figures.

[bd139]

A redhead. Figures.

Yeah yeah yeah I know. I did it again

[Robert]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

Me Too

[tggzzz]

Sticking my head in for a quick catch up. Laptops, dead TE, comments about the popululation of the Fens and no one dead. All good!

Zenith and I expect to be at Dunstable Downs RC boot sale on Sunday. Looks like good weather, so see you there

Me Too

Excellent

Look out for the '03 red Toyota Yaris Verso.

[tggzzz]

Enjoy the lack of competition as I won't be there this year. Have other priorities for the weekend

On that matter, hello from bd140 and myself, lurking in The Devil's Cauldron in Dartmoor

bd140.jpg

I wasn't aware of that place; thanks.

It reminds me of two other places: the waterfalls upstream of Pontneddfechan, and the Stakkholtsgjá gorge in Þórsmörk on the flanks of Eyjafjallajökull.

Being dragged up in Surrey, waterfalls have long had a fascination for me. (For the unaware, a major river near there is the aptly named River Mole.)

Ah yes very nice morning out that was. I'd leave it a bit if you decide to go though as the gorge itself was closed due to a landslide. They're sorting it out at the moment! www for anyone interested: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/ ... ford-gorge

Couple more photos

IMG_5142.JPG

IMG_5139.JPG

I'd also wait for plenty of water! Judging by the cost of entry, I suspect repairs will be self-funded.

Here's a photo of one of the Welsh falls. People braver than me were jumping off the top and into the pool.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.77151 ... 2!1b1!2i42

Here's a bigger waterfall, close up and from a distance. The first photo was taken at the red dot; you can just make out people walking there, but doubt you can get there anymore. Now the snowflakes have even put railings for the path to the green dot

iceland0002.jpg

And the gorge on the flank of that volcano, on the same day as the above photo.

iceland0004.jpg

Apologies for the quality; digital cameras were lab curiosities, my better pictures are stereoscopic slides, and so I've merely scanned the prints.

[mnementh]

...You didn't screw yourself; it's a perfectly serviceable eMail/shopping/streaming machine. And getting it new means you know it hasn't had the hinges beat to death by the prior owner.

mnem
Welcome back to the age of "good enuf" computing.

you got it exactly right. nothing special about the geobook 240. it just works.

unboxed it and hooked up the power supply. it started to boot but then failed every time. SHIT! walked away and let it charge for 15 minutes and then it booted. (guess it had been in the box a while and was unhappy with the battery). did all the brand new set up crap and then did updates for a while. expunged "s mode".........all TE related apps run just fine.....even an ancient version of lady heather.

it is a minimalist machine. the charging and power on leds are so tiny that you have to really eyeball them to see the status. the speakers are shit. the power plug is tiny and bound to break the first time the fox hound trips over the cord (weird that the power supply is 12V). not having a fan is a blessing......or maybe a curse (it will never suck up cat hair, but the bottom of the case does get slightly warm to the touch).

but the display is nice and the keyboard is tolerable.

it suits my intended use case and i am tempted to buy one of those used 80 dollar ebay units as a backup.

ran the pc health app and it does qualify for win11. should i upgrade or leave it alone?

Ehhh... depends on how much you need to be current on this machine. If it's the only one you have that's Win11-compliant, Yeah, I'd prolly do a image backup and let it upgrade once you have things working the way you want, just so you can get some worktime/basic competence on 11. Or pick up a cheap SSD and install on that so you can just swap back if 11 bloze goatze and you can't make something work right that did before.

Don't install to some old spinning rust disk just cuz you have it, even if it has the space to do it... I made that mistake several times with Win7-Win10 before I realized Win10 just doesn't perform worth a fuck on spinning rust.

mnem
*sick dwagon... again*

[mnementh]

A redhead. Figures.

Yeah yeah yeah I know. I did it again

Yeah... this one's either not barking mad *looks askance at bd139* , or she's going to wait until she has his bank accounts before she boils his bunny and harvests his kidneys...

mnem
"Honey, did you pack the rubber pants and chimpanzee repellent...?"

[Specmaster]

A redhead. Figures.

Yeah yeah yeah I know. I did it again

Yeah... this one's either not barking mad *looks askance at bd139* , or she's going to wait until she has his bank accounts before she boils his bunny and harvests his kidneys...

mnem
"Honey, did you pack the rubber pants and chimpanzee repellent...?"

Well I certainly hope that's not going to happen, There's always the exception to the rule and maybe bd140 is that person, we'll just have to wait and see. At least bd139 is currently having fun, so that's a bonus.

[25 CPS]

Here's a bigger waterfall, close up and from a distance. The first photo was taken at the red dot; you can just make out people walking there, but doubt you can get there anymore. Now the snowflakes have even put railings for the path to the green dot

Oh brother, this sounds so Canadian. You won't believe what they did where I live to every park that has a waterfall in it. You have to reserve online in advance. You have to pay admission. Entry is time limited. Everything is fenced off and there's huge tickets if you veer off the approved pathways. COVID-19 provided the perfect cover to ratchet this garbage way up. It has not been ratcheted down since, to nobody's surprise. To go enjoy - truly enjoy - natural sights, you need to get out of southern Ontario and off the beaten path.

Apologies for the quality; digital cameras were lab curiosities, my better pictures are stereoscopic slides, and so I've merely scanned the prints.

I was just about to ask if you were scanning prints. I used to scan prints a lot before I switched to slide film. Digital cameras were either not available, not that good, or wouldn't take Canon FD mount lenses which meant my lenses didn't move forward so for serious photography, I still use 35mm or 120 film. I enjoy it and I don't want to replace all my equipment.

59 minutes to go and then the Victoria Day long weekend begins.

[Robert]

This muppet, mjtronix who according to his ebay listings breaks up working test equipment has now stooped to breaking the edge connectors off and stripping tantalums and TO100 ICs from PCBs before trying to sell them on ebay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115809887346?

[tggzzz]

This muppet, mjtronix who according to his ebay listings breaks up working test equipment has now stooped to breaking the edge connectors off and stripping tantalums and TO100 ICs from PCBs before trying to sell them on ebay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115809887346?

Here's the other half https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115639341822

[bd139]

I wasn't aware of that place; thanks.

It reminds me of two other places: the waterfalls upstream of Pontneddfechan, and the Stakkholtsgjá gorge in Þórsmörk on the flanks of Eyjafjallajökull.

Being dragged up in Surrey, waterfalls have long had a fascination for me. (For the unaware, a major river near there is the aptly named River Mole.)

Ah yes very nice morning out that was. I'd leave it a bit if you decide to go though as the gorge itself was closed due to a landslide. They're sorting it out at the moment! www for anyone interested: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/ ... ford-gorge

Couple more photos

IMG_5142.JPG

IMG_5139.JPG

I'd also wait for plenty of water! Judging by the cost of entry, I suspect repairs will be self-funded.

Here's a photo of one of the Welsh falls. People braver than me were jumping off the top and into the pool.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.77151 ... 2!1b1!2i42

Here's a bigger waterfall, close up and from a distance. The first photo was taken at the red dot; you can just make out people walking there, but doubt you can get there anymore. Now the snowflakes have even put railings for the path to the green dot

iceland0002.jpg

And the gorge on the flank of that volcano, on the same day as the above photo.

iceland0004.jpg

Apologies for the quality; digital cameras were lab curiosities, my better pictures are stereoscopic slides, and so I've merely scanned the prints.

Oh now that's pretty amazing. Thanks for posting. bd140 did a trip to Iceland in 2019 and wants to go again. Will certainly be doing that with her

[bd139]

A redhead. Figures.

Yeah yeah yeah I know. I did it again

Yeah... this one's either not barking mad *looks askance at bd139* , or she's going to wait until she has his bank accounts before she boils his bunny and harvests his kidneys...

mnem
"Honey, did you pack the rubber pants and chimpanzee repellent...?"

We're all barking mad to some degree. She is in all the right ways

[bd139]

This muppet, mjtronix who according to his ebay listings breaks up working test equipment has now stooped to breaking the edge connectors off and stripping tantalums and TO100 ICs from PCBs before trying to sell them on ebay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115809887346?

Someone should pay that rancid cuntsock a visit and glue his hands to his arse.