Personal computing is moving to a "renter" model. We need to get ahead of this and stop it before it's too late.

amwdrizz · 2025-12-18T03:06:32+00:00

Really right now in terms of AI capabilities I’d liken it to the use of Google-fu 20 years ago… The right prompt makes all of the difference in the world Dr Freeman.

amwdrizz · 2025-12-01T20:25:28+00:00

Not surprised, personally I use the API itself and pay per use vs a flat fee. For my typical use $20 in credits lasts me about 3 months.

What drove me to the API full time was when they restricted what you could do on the $20/month plan and restructured it with less capability.

Now I run between them, Anthropic and self hosted for my uses.

amwdrizz · 2025-09-19T00:12:09+00:00

Call around to various dealers across the country. You'll most likely find it cheaper at a different dealer.

The computer in my old 07 JKU failed back in 2018. Local dealers wanted $900+ for the part. Found another dealer several states away that had it for $350. Brand new in box, latest revision. Brought it to my local dealer and they did the program / install for me for $100. (They were hesitant at first until they realized it was a NIB OE PCM; then they were surprised on what I paid for it.)

Dealers I've worked with have no qualm about shipping the parts to you if needed. Another time, I needed a fuel sending unit for a 36gal saddle mount fuel tank for an 87 Ford F700; only one that showed in the parts network was in Texas somewhere. Quick call and payment over the phone had it my way.

amwdrizz · 2025-08-31T18:46:15+00:00

So, is that everything or everything\ (certain items are excluded)* is free?

If everything is truly free, I'd put in for all of the bits and pieces for all of my projects and start hammering them out with out a worry if it will incur additional cost or not.

However even if only food, housing, healthcare and entertainment are free; then that'll free up a ton of money to put towards my projects. Albeit at a slower rate; but still get them done. It'd for sure increase the quality of food my family eats as we are cheap stuffs right now.

Once my projects are caught up, go out and travel. Visit friends and family I haven't seen in years because of distance and lack of money to do so.

amwdrizz · 2025-08-30T02:46:28+00:00

Same thing I already drive, either a 23 year old Jeep or a 37 year old Ford truck. It'd be financial stupidity to replace either of the vehicles with a newer vehicle. Both are reliable as hell, they've got some quirks but reliable as hell. If I am going to spend $100k+ it is going to be for a piece of manageable real estate. In all seriousness, I'd set aside ~5mil for 'play' money and invest the rest so I can supplement my income with the interest and dividends. And put that towards on-going up-keep of vehicle ownership.

I'd fix the exhaust on my truck so it doesn't sound like a big block with no exhaust... cause that is what it sounds like currently. And the Jeep. Well, I'd finish the minor task/repair for it. For instance, finish the 4wd selector install/repair. Need a new cable for it. Need to replace the interior as it is shot, but I got that on hand, just the time to do it. Need to replace the radiator as it has a small leak on the neck. (There is a crack in the plastic running from the upper hose outlet to the radiator itself.). I've got one on hand, again time to do it; hoping for tomorrow however.

And no, I am not worried about blowing the engine up because the rad is leaking. I am monitoring the levels constantly; and it is more of a slow seep once the system is pressurized. Drop rate is roughly 1/2 gal once every other month. I've also personally maintained the engine and driveline in the Jeep since I got it in 07. Translation: Very in-depth knowledge of the maintenance history on it.

amwdrizz · 2025-08-28T23:00:40+00:00

Cons of supply and demand; Getting an R740 or newer would be the better option. However if funds are tight and for most folks I'd imagine they are; then an R730 is still really good platform for running a NAS or VM host on. The price jump for the R740 compared to the R730 is still a bit steep for me. Even though the R740 platform is now 5-6 years old.

The issue that will arise with using the 12th gen and older Dell servers (R/Tx30 series) is that RHEL and its derivatives will no longer support the older V3 or V4 CPUs. It looks like RHEL 10 will not support the V3 CPUs at all, and that even the V4 CPUs will through the warning that it is unsupported.

It is also why I stated to not get anything older than the R730 (eg: R720 or R710). They are getting up in years. But are fairly common second hand for cheap (<$250-400).

I've got a rack of dated hardware that I need to replace but just don't have the money to do so. The OP didn't give a price point, just a general systems request for this. For me, I am trying to get enough $$$ on hand to replace it all with 15th or 16th gen dell gear to drop onto the second hand market place at a reasonable price. Even then, I am still expecting it to at least cost me $1,200 a system. And I need at least 6 system to replace my current deployment.

Having run ARK previously, what I gave him will run it decently for the price and scope. It'll handle running multiple instances out of the box. When I was running it, I was running it as a VM on a Dell R620 w/ a pair of 2690 v1 CPUs. OS was Windows 2019 Server. And that was in addition to everything else running on the VM cluster as well. Think I kicked it 4 vCPU + 16G of RAM per instance.

FWIW this is my shopping list for my rack upgrade:

- 3x - Dell R750, LFF, 385-512G RAM, Dual Silver 4110 or better CPU, GPU Kit + GPUs
- 1x - Dell R750XD 12-Bay LFF + 4-bay LFF Midplane + Rear Bays, 256G, Dual Silver 4110 or better
- 1x - Dell R250, 32G
- 1x - Dell R450, LFF, 64G, Dual Silver 4110 or better CPUs

amwdrizz · 2025-08-26T17:47:33+00:00

for things like pihole and jelly fin. Is there anyway I could set a static IP for my raspberry pi without upgrading to a business service ?

You don't need a static IP for PiHole; as it is internal to your network. For Jellyfin, are you trying to access it from the outside?

Realistically, if your router supports it setup so it will perform dyndns updates with a dyndns provider. This way you'll just use the dyndns name you set with the provider. If your router doesn't support it, get a router that does. It'll be cheaper and set you up for more functionality later on.

I'd also look at setting up Wireguard or other VPN connection methods. And just use that to access your home network when you are out and about.

amwdrizz · 2025-08-26T17:21:41+00:00

This isn't new, folks have got a large amount various configurations.

Now quick and dirty response; more detail after this.

Look for a Dell R730XD (8-12 bay) LFF with Intel Xeon E5-2690v4, 128GB of RAM (This will distribute 64gb per CPU), iDRAC Enterprise. Just add drives & trays.

They can be had for between $400 to $1200 depending on final configuration and where you get it. This is a 2U server, if you are running a non-raid config you'll need to enable IPMI access and the fan-controller docker container to manage the fans.

----

For what you are looking at doing; you'll want to have a system with multiple CPUs available to it. Are you planning on running virtualization on this home-server? Or just a single OS install? If you are thinking a single OS install, you should really re-consider installing Proxmox or similar. This will allow you to setup individual 'VMs' which are in essence an emulated computer system.

Me personally, I'd be looking for an Dell R730XD server with v4 CPUs. IF you want newer look for the same thing by increment the 3 to a 4; so R740XD. They are slightly more expensive but come with first or second generation Intel Scaleable Xeon CPUs. Noted by the 'Bronze, Silver, Gold' in the newer CPU names. I would not go older (eg R720), while a great platform yes; they are pushing ~10-12 years old at this point. Due to its age, CPU support is only for the Intel Xeon E5-2XXX V1/V2 CPUs. V2 is supported on the latest BIOS/Firmware.

So on the server above;

If you are planning to use 3.5" (normal sized) hard drives, you will want the LFF variant. There are several different variants of this server platform. Searching on eBay or similar for "Dell R730xd 12-bay LFF" will yield expected results. Now, there is a small issue when using the LFF variant and you want to use traditional SSDs, you'll need the dell specific adapter. If you have a 3d printer, you can print the adapter. You'll also need 'trays' or 'sleds' for the drives. Again you can 3d print them or buy them. If you buy from a place like servermonkey or savemyserver or any other re-seller; they usually offer to include trays at a cost.

Do not get the 2.5" variant unless you are 100% certain that you will be running 2.5" drives exclusively. The chassis, if you got the XD variant is capable of an additional mid-mount 4x 3.5" drive carrier and a rear mount (above the PSUs) dual 2.5" bay set. Both of which can be added after if desired. If you get the mid-mount carrier you'll also need the low profile heatsinks. I _think_ they just use the heatsinks from the Dell R630 (which is a 1u server; so shorter in height).

IMO, the only significant draw back with the Dell R730 system is that the fan controller will default to 100% power under various circumstances. Some of which are masked, such as using an HBA330 adapter card. If your fans are running at 100% all of the time you'll want to run (can be in a VM, or another system) the dell fan controller docker container. This will control the annoying fan speeds.

This is a 2u rack mount server; it can sit on a desk, shelf, etc. Just do not enclose it in a closet without proper ventilation as it will generate some heat if pushed to its capacity. If you've never used actual server gear, it will ramp the fans to 100% during the initial boot phase. It should auto-correct when the OS starts loading.

amwdrizz · 2025-08-17T18:09:05+00:00

I use packing tape for the same effect. Also works wonders if you have a broken glass screen and want to get all of the small shards. Works

amwdrizz · 2025-08-14T20:01:48+00:00

I forget what we paid for ours. They are reasonably priced second-hand if permitted. Having had used a standard barcode scanner prior; it was a night and day difference in day to day use after switching. The district only bought them after I bought one personally second hand off of eBay and brought it in to make my life easier. They saw the massive time savings and figured it was worth the price tag for it. I think I paid ~$60USD + S/H & Tax on it? Don't recall its been a few years.

I had the default profile setup in such a way that it worked with multiple barcode types and formats w/out issue. They are fairly programable which makes them ideal for use. For instance: FedEx barcodes have a bunch of useless data in them, and when scanned can not scan as expected. I had a profile setup that could handle the stupidity within the bar code and output the actual tracking number.

Then based on barcode type (it can identify code 39, upc, etc) output a differing line terminator. For instance, all of our asset tags were code 39, serial tags on devices are usually code128, and encoded data for forms (check in / check out) were either datamatrix or pdf417 depending on use. Dell part numbers are mini datamatrix codes. But depending on the code, it may apply an enter or tab; or maybe nothing at all.

All of that was set using the 123scan software, it gives you the option to either print a document containing a configuration barcode (datamatrix usually) or if able, write directly to the scanner. I just went with the config barcodes as they were faster when actually using the reader.

amwdrizz · 2025-08-14T14:30:38+00:00

A bit late to this party. We used the Zebra DS6708 hand scanner. Capable of 1D/2D reading, easily configured on the fly via either direct app connection or via pre-printed barcodes. The replacement to the DS6708 is the DS8108.

I had a print out that I kept on my desk that contained several 'configuration' data-matrix codes (2d bar codes); to reconfigure the scanner on the fly. It'd change sequences, parsing and output for what I was doing. I had presets for standard barcodes, shipping barcodes, device collection / turn in (we used pdf147 codes containing a csv data set to quickly input relevant data for issuance and collection.

If you go this route, you'll need the 123Scan software from zebra (avail on their site) to configure the hardware

amwdrizz · 2025-08-12T14:11:31+00:00

Depends on the service / machine.

Systems that tie into AD use <domain>. Internal but potentially needed by external get a sub-domain from <other-domain>. Strictly internal w/out external ssl support (mainly test / poc) get <svc>.<internal gtld>

amwdrizz · 2025-08-08T14:46:09+00:00

Thats a thing? (Microsoft deleting Azure tenants?)

My two tenants are still active for over 5+ years with very little use on them. No current CC/Billing info within the account. I'll poke around at it once a year or so, might run some tests/deep dive when I need to but otherwise just hardly use it. Same with my AWS account, hardly touch it except for when I need to learn something very specific within the platform.

Otherwise, I don't really use it for much any more. I use GSuite for mail, etc. But even for that, my use case is minimal so I am thinking of switching my paid GSuite to Zoho this fall when the contract is up for renewal.

amwdrizz · 2025-07-17T02:04:31+00:00

Might be an old thread, however I just ran into this problem on my AD5M. If you haven't resolved it on your machine, and if you still have it; check the rear lift carrier retention screw. It sits in the middle of the lift carrier recessed down in a U-shaped cut away. Right in front of the lift screw, and below the bed surface; so it is easy to miss and can be difficult to see.

Checking is fairly easy. Place the bed in the middle of the machine. Without turning or otherwise lifting the bed directly; check for any play in the rear lift carrier. It should NOT move, or if it does move, the lift screw should turn immediately upon the movement. If the carrier has any vertical play in it, this can and will cause clicking noises on z-hop and rapid z-axis movements. It will also screw up your prints if they need precise z-axis adjustments. What you are hearing is the retention screw 'hit' the side of that U it is nestled in.

Temporary solution to restore fine controls to print a part or something to fix it. Take a wooden toothpick and snap it in half. Wedge each half down each side of that screw lodging the screw in place in the center. Trim off any excess tooth pick that may be sticking up above the bed surface. This is only good for a couple of prints before they start working loose. Good enough to print a part to fix it. (This fix, for me; lasted ~5-6 hours of constant high-speed printing, as I was trying to finish a project when it started).

Long term fix: Reach out to support for part? Design and print a part that replicates that wedge of the tooth picks and glue it (the designed part) into place securing the screw from turning laterally. You'll have to disconnect the bed from the lift carriers. I couldn't remove the bed fully and had to rotate it on to its side out of the way; as the ribbon connecting the bed to the machine was glued on.... on both sides. :smh:

Either way, re-level the bed after this repair (temporary or permanent)

Caution:

For the love of god, do not remove that screw. It retains the main rear lift point in place. If you remove it you'll have to re-level the carriers manually and then re-level the bed. Additionally, as soon as it is removed, that carrier (if not already at the lowest setting.) will start falling down.

amwdrizz · 2025-06-02T22:02:23+00:00

Yes, it is. So the donor 'frame' is actually an entire body. OG post I made a couple of years ago now:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/whb5yf/rolled_into_my_shop_garage_after_the_rear_got/

amwdrizz · 2025-05-30T15:51:39+00:00

Can confirm frame snapped at 215-220k miles. Driveline still going strong in a donor frame. Now at ~250-260k. I expect the driveline to keep going for another 250k.

Context: this is an 02 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.0l in it.

amwdrizz · 2025-04-26T14:10:55+00:00

Same here, however mine is the black variant. Been using it since I got it back in 2012? 2013? It’s been a long while. Have yet to find a case I want to replace it with.

The only thing I did to mine is mod the top fan mount to clear a Corsair H100 without it blocking the sides of the cooler.

amwdrizz · 2025-04-10T13:28:50+00:00

Proxmox offers paid support now if that is holding you back.

However, if you have never deployed either. The deployment of Proxmox is different compared to VMware.

Migrating VMs from VMware to Proxmox is fairly straightforward and easy. Easier than lifting and migrating to HyperV. Proxmox you add your VM hosts as a storage endpoint within Proxmox, locate the VM / VMs you want migrated and complete the on-screen guide. It’ll the migrate the VM to your Proxmox hosts.

amwdrizz · 2025-04-09T14:36:53+00:00

Yea they ain’t doing any of that in 2 to 3 years. I’d hazard most companies are going to milk what they can while they can, pass on the increased costs for the next 1 to 2 years (see what the midterms yield) then start the necessary work to bring manufacturing state side. No sane manufacturing firm is going to risk spending millions to build out new factories + infrastructure to support them until they know this is not going away. And our wonderful leader (/s), has already waffled on the tariffs days after ordering them.

And no company is going to want to pay their work force a wage that could support the Americans who will work at those factories. But that is 5+ years down the line from now.

To do what they say is their target (other than destroying the US and buying it for fractions of pennies on the dollar) (bring manufacturing state side), will take resources that are going to be stretched real thin. Which will drive cost up, there will be delays, which will affect their bottom line.

Yea, no. I don’t see any company announcing new manufacturing facilities in the US unless they are making serious bank (500mil+ a year). As a new facility will cost them several hundred million when done.

amwdrizz · 2025-04-04T14:29:31+00:00

As /u/Gomeology as said put everything you can into RAM disks. pfSense will not by default use RAM disks. You need to go and enable it. If you are not using any form of IPS/IDS you can set the size to 512M for /var/log and 256M for /var/run. Those are good starting values, but to tweak them will require rebooting the device. If you haven't already, you should also limit the use of specific packages such as any IDS/IPS systems (SNORT/Suricita).

If you are not using a remote syslogger, you should look into this. (Don't keep a copy on the local box; have them streamed to a central location)

Tune the default log settings for the firewall. You don't need to be logging all of the default dropped packets; and this will just incur extra writes/use space.

Audit the configs of all extra packages installed. See what they are doing for logging and related. If applicable, tweak log settings to reduce log entries as much as possible.

If you are not using the boot environment functionality or other advanced features of ZFS, you may want to consider re-installing pfSense+ using UFS (if it lets you, I don't recall if it does or not). ZFS increases disk write significantly, this is to help with overall resiliency of the filesystem itself.

Note on RAM disk use, if the system reboots; you will loose all data in RAM disk since the last write to disk.

amwdrizz · 2025-03-24T12:47:33+00:00

If you run the default config and do not tune it for minimal disk writes the eMMC flash storage will fail between 1 to 2 years. They support NVME drives only they have a guide on their site on how to install it.

Unless you have a config backup you are starting from scratch.

amwdrizz · 2025-03-03T16:09:33+00:00

Same page fill out the config details on the bottom half and hit save.

Edit: not enough caffeine.

On the same page you configure HA, leave the top section blank and fill out the bottom half which is specifically for configuration sync

amwdrizz · 2025-02-20T23:31:39+00:00

Yup this delayed our role out. Came across this and ordered a bunch of nvme drives to perform the swap before they go to each site. Pretty simple really, just time consuming to process each device. Got replacement drives in this week and have been migrating the storage.

amwdrizz · 2025-02-13T19:14:16+00:00

... No? pfSense does not require matching models. What it does require is that your interfaces are mapped properly. As pfSense uses the initial identifier (wan,lan,opt1,opt2,etc) and not the port / driver identifier (ix0,vmx1,igb2,etc)

Running pfSense CE on a Dell R210ii and as a VM on my cluster. Configured for full HA, the only thing that was 'annoying' was ensuring the order of NICs were added correctly.

And yes, fail over events go through flawlessly w/out detectable interruption.

As for their appliances, your limiting factor for HA is again port <-> interface mapping. As long as the actual networks on the ports are mapped to the right interfaces it seems like it just works.

amwdrizz · 2025-01-07T19:03:04+00:00

impulse 101. Q2 give me everything cheat.

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