Category Archives: Geek

Samsung 840 pro for my Mac mini

I have a 2011 Mac mini. It was initially a server model, but I’m not using it as a server anymore. These are the specs:

Processor 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB
Software OS X 10.8.3
2x500GB 7200RPM disks

840 PRO

I decided to replace the main disk with an SSD and now it literally flies!!! I feel like I updated to a new computer for just 200€! Be careful, don’t by the plain 840! even if it’s cheaper than the 840 Pro, it’s slower than the older model 830. I don’t know why but that’s what I found in many forums and benchmark sites. It’s worth spending a little bit more and get the 840 Pro Series. If’s faster than all the previous ones! I chose Samsung because a lot of people recommended it and because it seems to me that it was one of the most used as a disk replacement for Mac mini and MBP. There are other vendors. Do your research and pick up the one you like.

If you try to do this, remember that it’s not beginners stuff. You need confidence and some experience updating your computer hardware. Ask a friend or ask a professional. Don’t try to do this yourself if you don’t really know what you are doing, because the Mac mini is very fragile internally. It’s easy to brake something. Specially internal connectors are really tiny.

840 PRO

I followed the instructions of this video. This is one of the best step by step video tutorials I found so far. Anyway, even if you have some experience with this stuff, just be careful at the end, when you insert the motherboard back into place.

840 PRO 840 PRO 840 PRO

It’s easy to forget the existence of these metal brakes that can go outside the chassis and it’s really easy to bend them. And remember keep your screws separated because they are all different!

After you install your operating system, don’t forget to add TRIM control. It’s not yet supported for many third party vendors. So you have to do it manually. I downloaded Trim Enabler. After activating it and reboot, you should see in System Report the following configuration:

trim support

And that’s it!! I’m very happy with this disk, there is no way I will go back to install the OS on a traditional HDD.

In this video I show you the boot speed and loading of 10 applications.

Devobots available in the App Store!!!

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Finally DevoBots is ready for sale in the App Store. Download it here!!

DevoBots is a robot builder and a music synthesizer featuring unreleased Devo music & sounds from their archives. DEVO is an American New Wave band formed in 1972 and since then it has maintained a cult following throughout its existence. It’s not only for DEVO fans, it’s also a nice toy for adults and children, allowing you to create a huge number of robots accompanied with electronic loops recorded back in the 80′s with analog synthesizers. Continue reading →

Lego Wallpapers

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If you love LEGO as I do, I took some pictures using a macro lens. Feel free to use them as a wallpaper, if you like.
Pictures are in full resolution.
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iPad Lego stand

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I was checking the price for many iPad stands and after comparing models and prices, I couldn’t find the one I liked. So why not making it with Lego? Of course this is not new, but I find it much more convenient than a normal stand. Lego can by disassembled and stored easily. Also you can play with it while not using the stand. Perfect for traveling. You can use it also for many other purposes.

I have to improve it, this is just my first prototype. I did it in about 10 minutes.

TODO:

- Reduce pieces while keeping or increasing current stability
- Create an assemble/disassemble procedure to quickly mount it.

Beer & Mac

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A couple of pictures from Instagram :)

lol

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This picture is sooo funny! I can’t resist to share it here!

Source: Danny Choo

Really cheap DIY iPad stand

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Do you have an iPad and a book support? That’s what I had at home. I had one book support that I didn’t use, it cost 100 yen, it’s about 0.9€ or $1.3 then you need something to stick on it so the iPad won’t slide down.

That’s all :-)

When storage technology improvement will come?

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Just look at this screenshot from Apple and let me know what you think:

I’m not criticizing Apple. In fact it’s one of the few companies that is really trying to combine design, technology, usability and performance in their products. Even if storage improved during the last years, it’s still in the Neolithic Era compared with other technologies. Just look at that huge box. It’s bigger than the laptop next to it. For example, in the same place we can put an entire computer. Storage is only capable to put a hard mechanical drive, with a metallic disk, an engine and a head reading its surface… It’s just an evolution of the phonograph concept, using magnetic fields. On the right we have an early 1930s portable wind-up phonograph :)
I wonder when we will have a real improvement in storage. I mean having the same 4T of the picture, right in the same space of a 2.5inch disk for example.

The Star Trek legacy

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In the last 2 months I was going through all the episodes and movies of Star Trek the old series. I grew up with Star Trek, with Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk, and now I can look backwards and see how much it influenced my life. Star Trek was not an usual science fiction series. It was science fiction and morality and good values in action. Star Trek promoted friendship, cultural diversity, peace, understanding beyond oneself comprehension.
The series purpose wasn’t only entertainment. Star Trek was a carrier for ideas, meaning, good values and knowledge that was caught in the mind of kids and adults. It was a show that made you think about the reality and the ignorance we still have about this universe and about the possibility that something unusual could happen beyond our comprehension.

The series always tried to use scientific view of facts and, at the same time, it tried to make it understandable to everyone, it trained people’s minds to think that not only actual knowledge is the absolute truth. The characters always run into the possibility to go beyond their own believes to understand the amazing things that they found. Star Trek helped people to break those mental limitations indirectly.

I’m sure I got influenced when I was a kid and probably Mr. Spock stimulated my interest for science and mathematics. It was a show that offered entertainment, a dose of reasonable violence in terms of self defense and at the same time it was a carrier for moral values.

Dismantle a Sun E-250

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Before I throw away this wonderful machine, I will try to sell some pieces at Akihabara or give them for free. I just can’t see UltraSparc processors in the trash can. It’s a sacrilege for my moral principles.

The process:

A Sun E250 Machine. 2G Ram and 2xUltraSparc processors.

It has a nice front. To reduce that beautiful noise coming from the SCSI disks, it has a sponge in the front cover.

Removing the front cover door

It’s a beautiful interior. We can see the two UltraSparc processors and the memory modules on the right. See the good finishing of the metal. The hardware of this machines is not a crap as IBM xseries ones for example. The E-250 is good quality hardware. This is not related to a machine like this only. Almost all Sun hardware that I worked with until now is strong, good finished and good quality in every detail.

Don’t forget that it has a tiny screw in the back.

Ventilators group.

Memory modules. 2GB Ram

2xUltra Sparc processors

The two holes are for the power supply fonts. As you can see this machine power supply fonts are really huge. You can put two redundant power supplies.