The '09 Mini3,1 is extremely maleable and reliable, the CDR bay can hold a second SSD w/DiskDoubler. All versions need at least 6GB RAM for best results. Years back we swapped our office G5s for '09 Mini3,1 refurbs from Apple. Check out the signatue for examples. Too many.
With one of these, 2560×1600 via Screen Sharing should be attainable.
Tonight, as I trawl the megahertz with the SDR on the A1261 running gqrx on 10.6.8 (did anyone see what I did there?), I decided to go low and low(er). What I got was a real mixed bag of fascinating, comforting, and also trash. For the first time, I tried a feature calling “direct sampling”, which made it possible with gqrx to pick up AM radio and some shortwave signals (using the rtl=0,direct_samp=3 setting). I was somewhat surprised by how weak local AM radio was, which may have something to do with my antenna setup.
View attachment 1832618
Getting the trash out of the way, I found a frequency (4.8401 MHz) which sounded like a possible repeater of either some TV, FM, or AM broadcast. The signal, which faded in and out, was just strong enough to decipher and it managed to get clear enough at times to parse what was being said. I listened for maybe 45 seconds when I could hear the dude on the mic (clearly some kind of radio talk show) started making inflammatory, revolting remarks about trans women, then segued instantly into some “new world order” spiel, followed by something-something about illiteracy, followed by some conspiracy theory that the pandemic was planned or something along those lines. About the only noteworthy thing about this geyser of garbage is he managed to do all of that in the span of about 120 seconds.
Soooo… I went on to the next find:
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This one, at 56.860 MHz (the thin red bar, about 35 per cent in from the left) was also unidentifiable (ignore that bright beam on the right; that has to do with some harmonics with the crystal in the SDR, I think), but I was able to parse that it was playing Chicago’s “Make Me Smile” (I think just the 7-inch single, not the full, two-part version from the album), so that was fun.
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Then, at 29.540 MHz, more music, some station, possibly also a repeater or echo, was playing hardcore-yacht pop, which is right up my alley: Player’s “Baby Come Back”, followed by Kenny Loggins’ “This Is It” (with Michael McDonald), but when voice-over emerged, it was too distorted beyond my guessing it was some syndicated show from the U.S. But hearing yacht pop on a distant radio station in the middle of the night always warms my heart.
Finally, the surprise of the night, just before shutting it all down.
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After switching back to standard, rtl=0 mode, this signal at 133.4 MHz, took me by surprise — both because I wasn’t expecting it and I wasn’t expecting it to be so strong: a pilot from a jet aircraft, either taxiing for takeoff or just airborne, saying good-night to the tower. I only caught the very end of it, but it was crystal-clear, much like the railway stuff the previous night.
Aaaaand I think this will be the last time I bore y’all and derail this thread any further with stuff which probably belongs on a radio hobbyist forum which isn’t MR.
Hook up an eGPU via Thunderbolt and rock the boat!
I’ve thought about it and will likely do it in the future, but my efforts are to hopefully provide a benefit to all who are trying to use these older machines for much longer.Hook up an eGPU via Thunderbolt and rock the boat!
It was (sort of) intended as a joke. A laptop should be usable by itself.
lol. If anyone is going this far you might as well ensure all options are available!
I had a SE Xperia X1 (which was actually built by HTC) back in 2009 or so, and flashed custom ROMs on it so I could get HTC's TouchFLO 3D interface, because its default UI sucked.Using the MacPro, connected to a D-Link USB 2.0 hub to keep my 2009 HTC Touch Pro charged - so I can use the TP as a clock.
I never flashed a ROM, except for a Sprint upgrade at one point. But the stock appearance of the Sprint TP drove me crazy. I saw that others had a flipclock, so I wanted that…which led down a (very) long road of customization using Windows Mobile CAB files.
This is the exact UI I flashed my X1 to. Back then it was called TouchFLO 3D iirc.
Using the MacPro, connected to a D-Link USB 2.0 hub to keep my 2009 HTC Touch Pro charged - so I can use the TP as a clock.
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LOL!
I'm actually posting this comment on Snow Leopard in SpiderWeb browser.
Those pictures of the HTC Touch Pro put a finger into the wound coming from my time with a Palm Treo Pro.
I got it last year simply for nostalgia. Same reason I picked up a 3GS. I'm not expecting to use either phone for anything serious.Amen to that.
IIRC there was an app called "Remote Display" for Windows CE/Mobile. I last used that in 2000 or so though.
Fortunately, because that counts as torture under UN regulations...
IIRC there was an app called "Remote Display" for Windows CE/Mobile. I last used that in 2000 or so though.
Fortunately, because that counts as torture under UN regulations...
As for what I've just done... I've managed to catch a very rare big cat!
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The nearly extinct Triple-Headed Tiger
Hardware: 2007 17" MacBook Pro -> Atlona AT-DP400 (to go from dual-link DVI to DisplayPort) -> Matrox DualHead2Go Digital ME (to split one 3840×1080 DisplayPort signal into two discrete 1920×1080 single-link DVI signals and drive two monitors from them).
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RAWR!
More fun with the DualHead2Go...