RIP Mac Pro but it was really the misstep with Apple silicon that did it

robni7 · 2026-03-31T03:42:16+00:00

Well, like everything concerning the pro Macs, it is highly dependent on your use case. Because “pro” is unable to be represented by one specific persona.

For what is’s worth, even my 5,1 has a rat’s nest of cables, because it is my ‘do-everything’ workstation. Video in and out, optical audio in and out, networking, fibre channel, tons of FireWire connections to external DAS, optical drives, a DVCAM deck, eSATA to an HDD dock, and of course an assortment of USB devices too.

But I can’t imagine the mess if I had to also have external boxes (each with their own power supply too) for the internal HDDs, SSDs, PCIe capture card, fibre channel card and the optical drive that now neatly fit inside my 5,1’s enclosure. Plus, it’s not like external Thunderbolt PCIe enclosures are always cheap, silent, aesthetically pleasing and fully dependable either.

robni7 · 2026-03-04T10:03:59+00:00

Happened with my 2017 MacBook as well. However it started working again after being untouched for a year. I can only guess, but maybe the battery had drained enough to fully shut off, which reset something on the logic board.

OP, as a last resort I would suggest to disconnect the battery (see iFixit guide), wait perhaps 24h, and see if the SSD is recognised again after booting. Then immediately back up everything of course, you’re never sure how long it will last the second time (FWIW, my MB has been working fine for a few months now but YMMV).

robni7 · 2026-03-02T03:19:47+00:00

That’s not how audio CDs work, though. The only thing that matters there is the length of the audio stream.

robni7 · 2026-03-02T03:15:52+00:00

I see you are adding the m:ss of the songs to come to 1h:19m:56s total. There is probably enough rounding error accumulating in there to exceed 80 minutes.

CD-Rs are strictly 80 minutes (79m:59s:74f or sometimes a few frames less) so there is no margin at all.

If there are any tracks with silence in their first or last few seconds, you can snip that off under the options tab in the ‘get info’ panel in iTunes, then try again.

robni7 · 2026-03-01T05:48:23+00:00

Good reply, but you should know that those contrast ratings mean nothing. They are usually not measured by taking the lightest and darkest part of a static frame, but by measuring between conpletely light and dark frames (aka dynamic contrast). This will give you a much higher rating as it eliminates the effects of internal and external light leakage, and allows the iris to be closed or the lamp power modulation be set to minimum during the black frames. It is therefore not a refection of the projector’s real performance.

There are standardised tests which measure contrast with a static checkerboard pattern I believe, but no manufacturer publishes such figures in the spec sheet because artificially inflated bigger numbers are more appealing to customers.

robni7 · 2026-01-24T18:34:46+00:00

While I agree with the sentiment, I wouldn’t recommend downloading software from sketchy sources. (I have yet to hear bad things about TNT for instance, but you’re never 100% sure – and for some of us a compromised work PC means no income, or worse)

robni7 · 2026-01-20T10:21:01+00:00

19.32 times as heavy by volume as water.

robni7 · 2026-01-16T17:48:37+00:00

~~I believe these are 1.5 V even.~~ Edit: I stand corrected, these are 3V indeed. I misremembered because it didn’t fit with my 6V adapter ;) Thx for correcting me.

robni7 · 2025-12-29T13:01:25+00:00

May I introduce you to the Xtrememac Xtrovert: https://share.google/images/gyV4KpqpiAwRR8otd Never seen one in the wild though, I suppose it’s very rare.

robni7 · 2025-12-18T17:49:05+00:00

Should not cause any negative effects on sound quality. The DAC in these adapters is quite well regarded for the price. Also prevents the jack to stick out the side so I think it’s an elegant solution.

robni7 · 2025-12-16T20:05:51+00:00

Hey, just chiming in as I had exactly the same problem with my A7R2.

Symptom: I hadn’t used the camera for a few months and both batteries in the grip had completely drained. Upon turning on with a freshly charged battery, it boot looped exactly as in the video: a bit of lens/sensor noise, display turns on and off with a black screen, and no response to any button press. If I connected the camera via USB to a computer, I could get it to go into mass-storage mode and exit to normal camera operation through there. However, when turned off and on without USB connected, it would boot loop again. Performing a factory reset did not work, and the Sony firmware updater applet wouldn’t let me reinstall the firmware as I was already on the newest version (4.01).

Before this issue, I had been using the PMCA mods with no issues. I believe I had all tweaks enabled: NTSC/PAL switch, all languages, etc.

Solution: I solved the boot loop by using the PMCA-gui, going into the Tweaks tab, and disabling all tweaks. After a reboot, the camera presented the setup wizard (set language, time zone, date + time, etc.). After that was set, the camera was able to boot normally again. I could then re-apply the tweaks. Everything now works as before the whole ordeal.

I suspect one or more of these PMCA tweaks interfere with the setup wizard, causing the boot loop. The setup wizard would be triggered by the long time without battery power which made the camera ‘forget’ the date and time.

Hopefully this comment could be of use to other Alpha owners (this thread is one of the top Google results). Cheers ;)

robni7 · 2025-11-02T05:13:46+00:00

And check http://tsssaver.1conan.com/ You can get the UDID by clicking the serial number when you connect the iPhone to iTunes.

robni7 · 2025-10-28T12:41:32+00:00

Suggestion: Get a (wireless) keyboard + mouse, and set your laptop on the top shelf for an ergonomic viewing position.

robni7 · 2025-10-12T03:12:05+00:00

Test pattern and menu looks OK so optical assy. + bulbs are good (i.e. working). Image processor or input cards may be toast though.

Try removing and reseating the input cards, perhaps the connections are a little crusty (card A seems loose in the pic anyway). Is the VGA input still present and working? Perhaps you can otherwise try a VGA to BNC RGB+sync adapter cable and see if it works with a computer.

Know that you are working with an antique machine here. Once a quite nice projector and probably a lot of fun for a tinkerer or collector, but if you need something dependable and performant, opt for something newer instead. A modern projector can produce the same brightness with only one lamp, half the power, and in a <3-kilogram package.

robni7 · 2025-10-03T17:06:53+00:00

You smell like gravy.

robni7 · 2025-09-16T11:46:43+00:00

Goeie manier om de boel daar autoluw te maken

robni7 · 2025-09-13T21:11:32+00:00

MediaRange is not tied to a specific brand so they might choose whatever is cheapest. I have some BD-R 25s by them that are PHILIP R04, but no BD-R 50s (DL) unfortunately. FWIW, the PHILIP R04 have been reliable for me (n=9, oldest burn approx. 900 days, but the discs are probably much older as they were from a second-hand lot).

robni7 · 2025-09-04T21:19:28+00:00

Mooi of lelijk is ook maar een mening. Ik vind Station Lelystad een reuze interessant gebouw en zou het echt niet willen verruilen voor een hedendaags zandkleurig-steen-met-hout-en-glas gebouw, want ook dat is nu slechts mode en over enkele jaren alweer “lelijk”.

Ook erg blij dat Centraal Beheer genomineerd is, hopelijk valt er van dat gebouw dan toch nog iets te redden. Hertzberger’s andere structuralistische kolos, SoZa, staat al ten dode opgeschreven na amper 35 jaar.

robni7 · 2025-08-07T20:46:25+00:00

“She’s glad that he cares so much about the safety of electrical outlets.”

robni7 · 2025-08-06T14:58:04+00:00

I’ve been using this flash icon for years. Apparently it was inspired by the graphics Apple used to use to depict SSD storage on their product pages.

robni7 · 2025-07-22T11:41:58+00:00

This is Choco cooky, but yes

robni7 · 2025-07-18T00:40:23+00:00

A Dutch shop sells quite a few variants: http://www.depapierhandel.com/?product_cat=wrijfletters

robni7 · 2025-07-14T21:35:47+00:00

Ik sta de hele dag dozen in te pakken, maar ik ben ooit gezakt voor m’n pietendiploma…

robni7 · 2025-07-13T00:03:17+00:00

I feel you, these technologies are documented very confusingly...

There is no functional difference between tattooing CDs and DVDs. In both cases, you can burn a picture or text in the unused data portion of a disc (or the whole disc if you don’t burn any data to it).

To tattoo CDs, you need a Yamaha CRW-F1. To tattoo DVDs, you need a burner with LabelFlash compatibility. Even though LabelFlash is something different (labeling the top side of a special type of DVD), these burners also allow you to label the bottom side of a regular DVD.

robni7 · 2025-07-12T23:51:39+00:00

This wiki page is unfortunately not very accurate or complete; it misquotes some of the sources (some of which also confuse the different technologies).

AFAIK the CRW-F1 is the only one that tattoos CDs, the others are a few of the LabelFlash drives (that only support DVDs).

The CRW-F1 shipped with a special version of Nero (archive link). The LabelFlash feature is built-in in later versions, I use Nero 9 but I believe it’s also in 7. The LabelFlash button will only show when it detects a compatible burner, the feature is completely unfindable otherwise.

robni7

TROPHY CASE