Seymour Digital Consulting, LLC

Category: Blogging

  • It has been 10 days with Loong

    It has been about 10 day, since I first started setting up this machine (Loong), and I thought I would give you a quick update on what has been going on.

    In the early morning hours of August 5th, I placed my order with Amazon.com…

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    and went to bed.

    Later on in the morning, my inbox was full of confirmation emails telling me when to expect the various packages over the course of the next few days.

    Wednesday morning, the 7th, the first set of boxes arrived, and when I checked my email, it suggested that the rest of my shipment would be at the house by the end of the day!

    Talk about excited!

    I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon, reviewing various videos on how to build your machine from scratch, taking particular interest in the application of the CPU thermal heat paste amount. (One of my nervous points)

    Between picking up the kids from play dates, and getting dinner on the table, I was not able to finish my build until early evening, and that is when my first hopes were dashed.

    The machine would not boot.

    After doing my basic troubleshooting, and communicating with several people online, it was determined that the most likely culprit, was the motherboard.

    A replacement board was ordered immediately and confirmation notices suggested that by late Friday afternoon, I might be able to begin again.

    Now all I could do was wait…

    Tick tock… Tick tock…

    All I could hear in my head, was Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” song…

    FINALLY, around 4 PM the new motherboard arrived!

    It was easy for me to reassemble the machine in record time, since I’d had so much practice only hours before…

    Then it was the moment of truth… Pressing the on button, I saw the motherboard LED codes change in the CPU fan fire up!

    It was finally a success in getting the hardware to work, and I was off for a long night of installing software!

    Configurations

    I tried two different configurations, especially since I had nothing to lose.

    SSD for operating system only –

    In this configuration, the goal was to set up the SSD with only the Operating System (Win 7 64-bit), and using the HDD for Applications and Data.

    In theory, this would be the fastest configuration on this box, but as I thought about it, and read reviews of the possibly quiet and deadly malfunctions of SSD drives, I decided to reconfigure the box for something a little bit more practical in the event of a failure.

    I did not want to rebuild this machine anytime soon.

    That being said, and since it was so early in the morning, I decided to download the various patches from Windows update, and returned to the machine when I woke up later.

    Saturday – My eagerness to play with my new machine woke me early, and I scurried down stairs to my office with a pot of coffee.

    I woke up the box, and was happily greeted with no error messages, but I rebooted the machine, and in standard Microsoft fashion, more updates needed to be installed.

    More patching ensued, and the only bottleneck was my access to the Internet, and my kids streaming their various shows from YouTube.

    It was amazing that once the files were downloaded, their installation screens zipped across the monitor to the point of not being able to be read the dialog box titles; what use to take minutes on my old machine, now took seconds!

    Playing a little more, and seeing the incredible “zippy-ness”, I finally ran the benchmark again, and was very surprised to see it only ranked in the mid-fives.

    Now I was on to creating a new configuration that offered more reliability in case the SSD failed.

    Hybrid SSD-HHD –

    One of the technologies included in the Intel Z87 chipset, is the ability to take advantage of Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology, in which you use both a SSD and HDD drive in conjunction to form a hybrid of the two technologies.

    Basically, you install your operating system, in a normal manner, onto the HDD, and after all the RST RAID drivers are installed and operating system is updated and rebooted, you are ready to play.

    There was a little catch that I did not pick up on when I was initially configuring my purchase, but I have been able to take advantage of it, as I will describe later.

    When configuring the RST RAID drive (or cache drive), there is a limit of 64 GB, which left me with 50% my SSD drive still unused, which initially had me irritated for over purchasing the 128 GB SSD drive in the first place.

    After quickly configuring the RST RAID, and rebooting I was now able to “see” the technology in action.

    At first, it was definitely faster than running on the HDD alone during the initial set up, but not as “snappy” as the pure SDD OS install.

    It does seem to be getting quicker as I move along, and that is what is to be expected in this type of configuration.

    The SSD drive, will slowly “learn” about the most commonly used files and cache them to disk. The HDD is now termed “enhanced” on the motherboard’s RAID controller.

    In regards to reliability of this configuration, the thinking is, that if the SSD drive fails, the only files that are lost are cached files.

    The main “live” data still resides on the HDD drive!

    Simple! – (I am keeping my fingers TIGHTLY are crossed now!)

    As an amusing little side note, in both configurations, after I installed the base OS, without any Drivers or Updates, the built-in Microsoft App only rank the machine as a 1, but eventually did reach a 7.4.

    Current Configuration

    As I set off into this new adventure, I have configured my storage drives as follows:

    • SSD1 (128 GB) – RST drive
    • HDD1 (1.0 TB) – Enhanced (WDC Black) (Internal)
    • HDD2 (1.5 TB) – Seagate Barracuda 7200 – Backup 01 (Internal)
    • HDD3 (1.0 TB) – WDC Green – Backup 02 (Internal)
    • HDD4 (2.0 TB) – WDC Green – Backup 03 (External)

    And (2) ODDs, which should hold me over for a while..

    As it stands now, I only have about 500+ GBs of “live” data that I’m worried about, and this is the first time that I’ve actually had the space on one drive to put everything!

    Consolidation of files – It should now be very easy since I’m only dealing with one main directory, and this will make writing a Robocopy backup script incredibly easy!

    Installed Software

    Google Chrome –

    I have not mentioned this until this point, but this is the first time I’ve been able to install the Microsoft operating system, without using Internet Explorer!

    Why?

    It is because the Asus Z87-Pro mother support DVD, includes and installs Google Chrome, which is VERY nice!

    Yes, when I ran Windows update, I did patch, to the best of my knowledge, Internet Explorer, but I have yet to launch it in any way shape or form.

    Mozilla Thunderbird –

    Talk about installers dream!

    I was able to quickly download install the Thunderbird application, and after an initial launch, I exited the program in hopes of establishing the base directory structure.

    On a whim, I thought I would try to take my existing Thunderbird email directory from Dragon, and copy it across the network, into the same location in Loong.

    Being an old Microsoft Outlook 2007 user, I thought there would be no way this would work, and I’d have to spend time reconnecting my POP accounts and individual PST mailbox files.

    To my amazement, when I relaunched Thunderbird the second time, everything popped up right where it should!

    That was about an hours worth of configuration and headaches that I didn’t have to encounter!

    Adobe Lightroom 5 (64-bit) –

    Adobe Lightroom 5 (64-bit) was the first major application that I installed onto Loong.

    Since I had already been running LR5 on Dragon, there was nothing really new or interesting yet, I still had not transferred my catalogs or images files, which were still on a backup hard drive.

    Adobe Photoshop CS6 (64-bit) –

    This was the application I had built this machine for.

    You don’t get an Intel i7-4770 for basic word processing.

    With that being said, Adobe has made it rather difficult to actually find CS6 for download on their site, which makes sense, when you consider that they are really pushing their new Cloud Computing environment.

    In the final hours of configuring the system for software, I thought about CS6 vs CC many times, and it came down to what do you have at the end of your expenditure of money.

    Basically, once you stop your subscription to the Adobe cloud, you can’t Open your files, whereas in the purchase of CS6, I still have an application “locally”, and I can do what ever I want with my images. I am not potential held ‘hostage’.

    I do plan in the future, to look at and use their single application subscription, but for an application like Photoshop, I feel far more comfortable having a local installation of the software application.

    Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 –

    I have been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking since the late version 10 days, and have always had a sort of love-hate relationship with the software and the company.

    Originally, I wanted to try to use my existing version 11 license, but was thwarted when I could not find the 11.5 upgrade file in my backups.

    One would think, it would be a simple matter of going to Nuance’s Support page, and download the update, especially as a registered user, but I had forgotten that you lose all support after the initial 30 days of owning the software, and there was no way for me to download the patch.

    So I spent several days lamenting on whether I should ‘bite-the-bullet’ and purchase a new license for Loong.

    Searching the internet, I was able to find an online deal where I got a new seat for only $75 after various rebates!

    After the software arrived, I eagerly installed it, only to find that I had to download a service pack, which is no big deal, per se, if the service patch was in 500 MB to be downloaded!

    I also made sure that I backed up the Service Pack file this time, and at the moment, I have not registered.

    Once I had Dragon finally patched, I started a new user profile, and I have been using it to create this blog entry, and so far it has been working out very well in terms of speed and accuracy, and as I use it more, it should get better.

    Final tweaking

    As the title of this blog entry suggests, I’ve been playing around with my system for about 10 days.

    I still have not gotten into some of the deeper aspects of the fine tuning of the OS, mainly because the machine is very quick and responsive.

    I have copied all my 500GBs of live data from Dragon onto the C drive of Loong, and reestablishing connections in my Lightroom catalogs.

    Moving in and out of the various image directories and watching the thumbnails snap up on the screen is very exciting.

    I have opened a few of bigger 800+ MB files into Photoshop, there is no hesitation as they jump up on the screen, as I zoom in and out!

    Crunching HDR files together is very quick, and should save me countless hours in the future!

    WOW!

    Then it occurred to me while playing, but I still had some of my SSD disk available to me.

    I opened up Disk Manager (diskmgmt.msc), and initialized the remaining SSD partition.

    Going back into both Lightroom in Photoshop, I set their cache options to the newly created SSD partition, and relaunched the applications.

    Now that it’s fast!

    Conclusion

    In reading the various manuals, how-to guides, tips and tricks, there is still a lot of things for me to explore and learn on this new machine.

    I will continue to post new tidbits as they become available, so do stay tuned!

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  • Banana Bread Kids

    So starts the second week of Summer Vacation, and it is raining…

    Since vacation has started, my kids have eaten more bandwidth than food!

    What to do?

    Well, being the frugal person that I am, and seeing that we had 5 ripe bananas…

    I Googled three recipes, printed them up, and had the kids review the recipes, and create a common ingredient list:

    5 Ripe Bananas
    2 Cups Flour
    3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
    2 Large Eggs
    1 Stick Melted Salted Butter
    1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
    1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
    1 teaspoon Cinnamon
    1 teaspoon Vanilla

    Preheat Oven to 350ºF. In large bowl, mash the bananas; Mix in the Eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, baking soda/powder, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour mixture into buttered loaf pan, and bake until center is cooked and crust is deep brown (60+ mins).

    This helped Logan with this reading, while Madison learned more about units and measurement conversions!

    What was also fun, was to comparing ingredients, such as white vs brown sugar, and deciding which one to use.

    They also gotten to use a mortar and pestle to ground the fresh cinnamon, which was finished off in a coffee grinder.

    I encouraged them to taste it, and explained why it was not a good idea to try the fad trick of trying to swallow a tablespoon!

    And let us not forget the mashing of the bananas!

    During clean-up, we also had the chance to “test” the classic Baking Soda vs Power with vinegar trick!

    As I set up and measured, the kids kind of knew what was going to happen, but they were still very eager to see what would happen!

    Finally, as the bread pan went into the oven, we used some of the leftover flour, to test our drinking glasses for fingerprints!

    Update

    I have since started this post, and the lights in the house flicker off and on because of the storm passing over us.

    The house is beginning to smell good!

    Update 2

    The loaf is out and the smell!

    The kids don’t seem to understand ‘cool down on a rack’…

    Homemade Banana Bread
    Homemade Banana Bread

    Update 3

    “I like the taste, but the texture is weird…”

    All the more for ME!

    A belated Father’s Day ‘gift’ to myself!

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  • Skip’s 30th Reunion

    It is the Monday after Skip’s BIG 30th High School Reunion, and unlike Las Vegas, things do not stay there!

    He could not afford to spend much time, but he did manage to visit some of the more cherished places.

    It is hard to believe that over 30 years ago, Skip first walked down this same slate path into his future…

    Looking at the Main Entrance
    Looking at the Main Entrance

    As he walked through the doors and passed the various announcement boards and into the common room, where he paused and looked.

    There it was, at the other end of the dining hall.

    The mural of the school’s foundation, that stared at him, during all his meals those many years ago.

    Dining Hall Mural
    Dining Hall Mural

    He walked down the small set of stairs, and moved into the room, where he took this picture.

    In the back of his mind, he heard a little voice saying he was about to receive three marks.

    He scampered the rest of the way into the hallway, turning right and headed out to to the lawn.

    Garth and Steeple
    SAS Garth and Steeple

    While taking this picture, the clock bells chimed, triggering a distance memory of days gone by, and reminding him that his time to leave was closely approaching.

    He walked back across the lawn, reentering the building, looking for that room where he made another cameo appearance several years back.

    O Captain! My Captain!
    O Captain! My Captain!

    Snickering to himself, he knew he had to get back to his boat.

    He stayed just long enough for the Class Reunion photo…

    The Class of 1983 Reunion Photo
    The Class of 1983 Reunion Photo

    With that, he was off.

  • Hot Dam Night

    I have always enjoying looking up into the night-time sky, and following the rhythms of our solar system is something I follow daily online.

    Lately, I have been keeping my eye on the rare alignment of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in the west-northwest about 30 minutes after sunset. The next time this will happen, is in 2026.

    Being Friday night, I had to go out and try to see this!

    The whole week has been hotter than normal for this time of year, and I hoped the cover of night would help.

    The dam parking lot had two other cars when I arrived, and as I unpacked, a jogger going downhill, turned and entered the park.

    MCSP Sunset & Fishing
    MCSP Sunset & Fishing

    Because of the heat and humidity, I packed my equipped vest into the daypack, and threw it over my shoulder, along with my camera and tripod, and headed into the park.

    Heading down the hill, it got darker because of the overhanging trees and leaves, but the light grey colored maintenance road made it easier to follow with the ambient light.

    When I got to the opening at the bottom of the dam, and I could see I was a little late in getting there, but I still had time.

    I took the steep dirt path through the tall grass to the south-eastern corner area of the lake. The ‘flea and tick season’ phrase kept repeating itself in my head.

    I finally reached the dirt road at the top, panting heavily and thinking that I should have brought along a second water bottle, while the jogger I had seen earlier, passed by me, and off into the increasing darkness.

    Once setup, I could see that most of the sky was clear, but there was a thin bands of clouds, hovering in the distance, just above the treetops, in the northwest sky, right where my compass was aimed at 300°.

    I was a little bummed, but as the 30 minute mark began to approach, I did see a bright spot right where it should be, and not moving. Could this be one of the planets?

    I took numerous pictures of the sunset, and rising ‘planet’, and then started to focus my attention on the various fishing boats with lights, motoring silent around the lake.

    Light Fishing at MCSP
    Light Fishing at MCSP

    As one boat crossed in front of me, I heard –

    “You can not take his picture. He is in the witness relocation program.”

    Followed by chuckles from the boat.

    Responding back, with a smiling tone, I said that my camera did not have the resolution, and that they were going to fast.

    Little do they know… Tee hee…

    I also followed the various airplanes crossing my vision. It did not seem like a very busy night, especially compared to other times I have stood in the boating parking lot, staring up into the night sky on other photography expeditions.

    As 9:30 approached, and fending off the mosquitoes was becoming impossible, I packed up, crossing over the rest of the dam, turning sharply to my left, and down the diagonal road.

    Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park
    Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park

    Walking next to the marshy area, I saw fireflies signaling their presence, and at the bottom, I could see that I was going to need my headlamp, as I started back into the darker section of the road. I had not been here before at night, so I did not know what I might encounter.

    When the light flashed on, I was greeted by a thin fog that reflexed back the bright light, making it more difficult to see. I turned the lamp down, be it did not help. Maybe next time, I’ll get the headlamp with multi-colors.

    Finally, I reached the brown swinging gate at the top of the trail, and headed into the parking lot, where I threw my gear into the car, and headed home.

    Note to Self – Next time, bring two water bottles and bug spray…

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    Updates

    After processing several series of images, it seems that I might have ‘caught’ Venus and Jupiter in my captures, with Jupiter being just too faint to see with the naked eye.

    We’ll try again in 2026!

  • A Time I Logged Off the Internet 001

    I wish to dispel a myth…

    For years, folks have accused me of NEVER logging off the internet…

    I DO!

    At LEAST once a week, during the spring, summer and fall!

    You want Proof?

    A Time I Logged Off the Internet 001
    A Time I Logged Off the Internet 001

    How is that?

    I setup my camera in the far corner of my yard, and used my iPod Touch and TriggerTrap to record the “session”…

    Then in Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1, I combined over 30 individual images into a composite, which you see above.

    This was very painful, and required a lot of RAM and numerous files… and ‘Yes”, I’m still 32-bit…

    But the end result, I have ‘proof’ that I have done ‘work’ outside of the internet!

    I am still working on a proposal to ‘off shore’ this task to non-terrestrials…

    Details to follow…

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