Coconut Monkey Cornerclub

[Frag Maniac]

@Colif, Warmth isn't necessarily a bad thing, could just mean it's healing and there's better blood circulation now. As long as you keep the swelling down, I wouldn't worry. When it starts itching then you'll know the healing process is mostly over the hump.

 

[BeardyHat]

For as much as I don't use my desktop for gaming, I'm kind of dying without it. I really rely on it heavily as my file server and AI thingy-majigger. My Laptop can do the AI stuff, but the GPU has half the RAM and is significantly slower, so stuff takes longer and I really gotta make sure I exit out of LM Studio before I run a game.

But really it's the file server stuff. I was adding some files to a handheld today and realized I would have to redownload them or find them on my laptop, because I just didn't have access to my file server. Ditto with a show that I want to watch. I'm also eating up my bandwidth limit with my ISP because I don't have my desktop there to act as my Steam local disk and transfer games over my network.

I'm thinking about just grabbing my newer surge protector I have on my 3d printer and using that to get my desktop going again. I mean, it might crash if the power goes out since I don't have the battery backup, but at least it would be mostly safe? Or at least, I don't necessarily care about the data on the OS disk (aside from many of the games that exist there, which I'd have to redownload) and it's unlikely anything would take out the spinning disk in there. But I am worried about something killing the motherboard, since I can't necessarily afford a new one of those right now.

Anyway, I'm installing Stable Diffusion on my laptop and redownloading my models to see if it works ok on there and I can at least goof off with image generation, even if it takes twice as long.

 

[neogunhero]

Also it's funny about that leaving the house thing; I need to go out and do stuff most days, but sometimes think wistfully about the early days of 2020 where I couldn't. But back then, I definitely went stir crazy.

Been seeing a lot of people being nostalgic for the COVID lockdowns. I kind of am too, it was quite nice staying home doing absolutely nothing but playing video games for a while. Then after about a week or so it got too much to handle. My work allowed us to come back to work fairly early under restrictions, so my lockdown only lasted about three weeks, but still after that first week I was ready to reintegrate with society.

 

[BeardyHat]

Been seeing a lot of people being nostalgic for the COVID lockdowns. I kind of am too, it was quite nice staying home doing absolutely nothing but playing video games for a while. Then after about a week or so it got too much to handle. My work allowed us to come back to work fairly early under restrictions, so my lockdown only lasted about three weeks, but still after that first week I was ready to reintegrate with society.

I absolutely wouldn't want to do it again, at this point in my life. It was easier at the time, because my oldest was only 3 and my youngest having only been born. So I didn't have to do the remote school like I saw my Nephew and Sister in Law doing (they lived with us at the time) and it felt easier to entertain the 3-year old, because we have a big backyard; which we still do, it's just my kids are now more likely to come over and tell me they're bored.

I guess they're at least old enough that they mostly play with each other now, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but I dunno.

I still ended-up not going out much until probably early 2021.

 

[BeardyHat]

(Should I say it? They were confused last time. That's ok, I'm going to say it anyway)

So, I'm getting a wild hair up my butt again.

No idea how I landed on the research topic, but I'm thinking about "upgrading" my laptop screen. When I bought the thing, I got it for cheaper because it has some weird bright spots on it. A couple in the lower right and one that almost looks like a thumb print in the upper left. They honestly don't bother me in the slightest; I can only see them on a dark screen, but even when I do, they just kind of fade into the background for me and I'm not at all bothered.

Anyway, I discovered the next generation version of my laptop (Thinkpad P1 Gen 4 is mine) has the option to get a 166hz display. The only problem is that it would be going from the following:

3840x2400
600nits
1500:1
100%
Adobe®
RGB
60hz

to

2560x1600
500nits
1200:1
100%
sRGB
165Hz

So, less resolution, less brightness and contrast, but much higher hz. It would technically give me a small performance boost as well, given I'd be running at a lower native res. Buuuut, do I really want to go with lower resolution, lower brightness and contrast? Plus, I'd have to spend something like $130 to get the new screen.

I'll probably put it off for the time being, but it's tempting.

 

[Pifanjr]

Been seeing a lot of people being nostalgic for the COVID lockdowns. I kind of am too, it was quite nice staying home doing absolutely nothing but playing video games for a while. Then after about a week or so it got too much to handle. My work allowed us to come back to work fairly early under restrictions, so my lockdown only lasted about three weeks, but still after that first week I was ready to reintegrate with society.

I never went back to working at the office and I don't miss it. I'm supposed to go in once a week, but I probably average about twice a month nowadays and only until 2 PM. I'm happy our kid can just go to school though, not just for my sake but also for hers and my wife's. Our apartment isn't big enough to be cooped up inside with three people all day. Two is already pushing it sometimes.

 

[Zloth]

We all got sent home in March 2020. I've only been back to get hardware updates.

My blood pressure went down at about the same time and, even when I had those nasty back issues a couple months ago, blood pressure remained normal. Coincidence? I think not!

 

[Colif]

@Colif, Warmth isn't necessarily a bad thing, could just mean it's healing and there's better blood circulation now. As long as you keep the swelling down, I wouldn't worry. When it starts itching then you'll know the healing process is mostly over the hump.

ankle was itchy today but its hardly the part being healed, its just wrapper up and along for ride. I can itch most of my foot since the sides of the boot are foam. Glad I don't need a cast on it as scratching that would be harder. Downside is no one can really sign my boot... I wonder if they want it back when I am healed...

So, less resolution, less brightness and contrast, but much higher hz. It would technically give me a small performance boost as well, given I'd be running at a lower native res. Buuuut, do I really want to go with lower resolution, lower brightness and contrast? Plus, I'd have to spend something like $130 to get the new screen.

do you use it for windows? As well, it already downsizes a 4k image to 2k (aka 1440p) for the desktop so would you really notice lower resolution? refresh rate is a nice boost.
16:10 is an odd resolution... WQXGA - Wide Quad eXtended Graphics Array - I see they stretched for that acronym. Mostly used for productivity

https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/glossary/wqxga/

The last few days I thought I could hear the fans in my PC. Tonight I worked out its actually Cicadas in trees in the neighbourhood. Less obvious at night time.

 

[BeardyHat]

So I got Stable Diffusion up on my laptop yesterday, but also swapped some of my surge protectors around and put my Desktop behind one that's only about a year old (apparently, they "go bad" after about 5 years or so) so I could grab some files off of it and mess around with SD on it as well. I also configured my desktop to force itself to shut down at midnight, since it's no longer on the stable battery backup and I'd like to limit it's exposure to potential damage until I have another UPS.

So I was generating on both my desktop and laptop at the same time; I remoted into the desktop on my laptop and then would copy my prompt over and just try to click both of them within a few seconds of each other and they're roughly the same speed, the laptop finishing a few seconds quicker because I clicked it first. But I guess it shows the disparity between NVIDIA and AMD when it comes to this stuff, given the desktop is working off the 6700XT 12Gb and my laptop is an RTX A3000 6Gb.

Anyway, I still suck at prompting, but it's also fun to play around with. I do wish Stable Diffusion was a bit better at generating text, which usually ends-up garbled. But maybe I should see if FLUX might run on my systems, as I think that might be a little better?

 

[BeardyHat]

do you use it for windows? As well, it already downsizes a 4k image to 2k (aka 1440p) for the desktop so would you really notice lower resolution? refresh rate is a nice boost.
16:10 is an odd resolution... WQXGA - Wide Quad eXtended Graphics Array - I see they stretched for that acronym. Mostly used for productivity

https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/glossary/wqxga/

The last few days I thought I could hear the fans in my PC. Tonight I worked out its actually Cicadas in trees in the neighbourhood. Less obvious at night time.

I very much doubt I'd notice the difference in resolution and PPI. I have a 27" 1080p screen for my desktop and I can't really tell the difference between that and the 3840x2400 on my laptop at 16", I'm just not that discerning. If I look closely, I can see some blurriness compared to my second 1080p 24" secondary screen, but I really need to be pixel peeping to notice.

And yeah, Thinkpads are most often 16:10. But the question is, do I want to spend the money for the increase in hz? Honestly, that's another thing I don't really notice all that much. That 27" screen of mine is also 165hz and it looks good on the desktop and it's definitely smoother than 60hz, but I don't really notice it ever. If I'm honest, switching between it, my 60hz secondary and the 60hz of the laptop doesn't phase me, I just don't even notice. Seems like the hive mind though is probably convinced 60hz is unusable.

So I'm probably better off not spending the money unless the bright blotches start annoying me more (unlikely).

Over the summer here, we had the cicadas out. I had our screen door open when suddenly I hear the panicked clicking from a cicada by the screen and after a few seconds, it went totally silent. I went over to check it out only to find my cat munching down on a fresh snack.

She's not much of a cuddly cat, but she is an excellent huntress.

 

[Colif]

is the desktop on the laptop set to run at 165? It doesn't default to it unless you change it in advanced display settings. Otherwise it runs at 60hz
I had to look it up as although I have set monitor to run at 144, I wasn't sure if the desktop ran that speed or if it just used that setting in applications. Variable refresh rate monitors would allow them the option. Games can run them slower so why not windows.

 

[BeardyHat]

is the desktop on the laptop set to run at 165? It doesn't default to it unless you change it in advanced display settings. Otherwise it runs at 60hz
I had to look it up as although I have set monitor to run at 144, I wasn't sure if the desktop ran that speed or if it just used that setting in applications. Variable refresh rate monitors would allow them the option. Games can run them slower so why not windows.

It's definitely set to run at 165hz and you can tell it's smoother that way, but again it just doesn't seem to make a huge difference to me.

I was actually just messing around with a tablet that I think is a 120hz screen, versus my Surface right next to it which is 60hz and I can see the difference. 60hz feels way more choppy just on the desktop, so the 120hz feels nicer, but jumping over to my main laptop which I'm thinking about replacing the screen on feels just fine. I can tell it's slower and "choppier", but it doesn't necessarily really bother me.

I'm a little more concerned about a loss in definition going to a smaller resolution with less PPI for a 16" screen, but I do doubt it would be that obvious to me, given I'm relatively unobservant in these things.

 

[BeardyHat]

Using my laptop, I noticed my fans were cranking pretty hard just posting here and there wasn't really anything running in the background that would cause this. Took a look at the bottom and the fan intakes were just choked with dust; it's only been a couple of months since I cleaned it out, but I do use it pretty frequently, so I guess that's not surprising.

Took it apart and cleaned it out and for the first time in my life, I used a stiff plastic brush to scrub the fans after blowing them out and I was kind of shocked how much additional dust came out, which had been attached to the fan blades.

 

[Colif]

It feels wrong to have to ask someone else to grab a coke each time I am thirsty, so last time I thought I get it myself, and as I was getting up and about to get on scooter, mum says "where do you think you are going?" and I started laughing as here I was thinking I was doing the right thing and she is acting like... a parent talking to a 5 year old.
So I said... I am running away and she says... I want to see you get down the stairs on the scooter...

I am trapped... starts writing Help signs to stick on windows.

One month since I went anywhere apart from a medical facility. Get a little crazy but there really isn't anywhere I can go easily. World mostly designed for people with working feet

foot starting to dislike the arch inside the shoe. Could be swelling is coming down more. I know I hadn't felt it as much until the last day or so. Kept me awake last night for a few hours.