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The general hardware torture thread

Meh, I enjoy 3D Printing, when I started on the stock Mega Zero it was practically unusable and I figured either I enjoyed the process in it's own right or I didn't bother at all. As it turns out I enjoyed it & the upgrade process became a hobby in it's own right. I don't see it as any worse a hobby than anyone else's.
 
P.J. Denyer said:
Meh, I enjoy 3D Printing, when I started on the stock Mega Zero it was practically unusable and I figured either I enjoyed the process in it's own right or I didn't bother at all. As it turns out I enjoyed it & the upgrade process became a hobby in it's own right. I don't see it as any worse a hobby than anyone else's.
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Oh, I’m not knocking your hobby, I’m just amazed at the amount of mods and your depth of involvement :)

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting my own printer, but I cannot really justify it currently.
 
EvilBiker said:
Oh, I’m not knocking your hobby, I’m just amazed at the amount of mods and your depth of involvement :)

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting my own printer, but I cannot really justify it currently.
Click to expand...

The standard v1 Mega Zero needed a it of modding to make it usable, an unheated print bed just isn't viable on any but the smallest printers and most of the changes flowed naturally from that. Plus, you know, Covid, it was that or make another dozen guitars which would have annoyed my wife even more!
 
Hardware was working fine. But my virus program kept telling me the website tried to access my camera. I suppose someone is out there trying to get pictures of you doing whatever you do at your computer.

It was not the problem. I don't care if the website wants the camera on. The laptop lid is down nearly always. It was the endless notifications the antivirus program kept sending. I tried browser settings. Finally found the antivirus setting for THAT notification: use of the camera.
 
The cameras themselves are always a pain in the butt to find for every app. I don't zoom on my phone, so I add the camera to whatever laptop I am using. In Zoom I can find it, Google meetings I have no idea where the camera menu is so we end up using the laptop camera, default.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Charger cables.
No way to know if they support fast charging or not until you try them out.
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Yep. The amount of copper in that cable is impossible to detect. The Blue USB A 3 also seems to be completely random. Blue means fast, right? So some manufacturers make it blue.

You could just pay AU $40 for a USB cable that's worth $10. Or $15 for a cable worth $5.
 
:( USB-C. A trip into hell. Oh, we've been here already.

USB 1, 2, 3. It's USB. Buy a cable, it works. USB 3 get's a little complicated. Just buy the cable with the blue bit at the end and it's fast.

Now USB-C offers speed and power....but......

The USB-C connector and USB-C speed and USB-C power are all different things. You can get a cable that doesn't do much and cables that do more but how to tell.

The USB-C power distribution has a protocol it negotiates. How do you know what it's negotiated or rejected? You can buy a $100 gizmo that will track it all and tell you why it's not working. Cheaper devices will tell you what power being carried is.

The USB speed only seems to have lab grade equipment available.

After days of poking around I found USB-tree that tells me the speed protocol it is using, not the actual speed it is operating at. Normal or super speed. At least I know now what it is capable of.

www.majorgeeks.com

Download USB Device Tree Viewer - MajorGeeks

USB Device Tree Viewer is a small application designed to display detailed information on the USB device tree. This utility quickly displays information for all the USB hubs and ports, beginning with connections status, device information, and all relative connection information.
www.majorgeeks.com

Microsoft has usbview but it is cryptic and doesn't list all the information.

Cables that do both cost a lot more and are a lot thicker, which makes sense.

A high power cable by default will only operate at USB-2 speeds. In fact USB-C off the shelf with no labelling will only run at USB-2 speeds despite being a USB-C connector. If you want higher speed you have to get super speed cable that's also high power but that's still got to be negotiated by the power supply or docking station itself.

Don't confuse high speed with super speed.

Connecting the list of ports that you can see to the ports on the report can be tricky.




=========================== USB Port3 ===========================

Connection Status : 0x01 (Device is connected)
Port Chain : 1-2-3
Properties : 0x01
IsUserConnectable : yes
PortIsDebugCapable : no
PortHasMultiCompanions : no
PortConnectorIsTypeC : no
ConnectionIndex : 0x03 (Port 3)
CompanionIndex : 0
CompanionHubSymLnk : USB#VID_2109&PID_0817#MSFT30000000000#{f18a0e88-c30c-11d0-8815-00a0c906bed8}
CompanionPortNumber : 0x03 (Port 3)
-> CompanionPortChain : 1-18-3

========================== Summary =========================
Vendor ID : 0x2109 (VIA Labs, Inc.)
Product ID : 0x2817
Manufacturer String : "VIA Labs, Inc. "
Product String : "USB2.0 Hub "
Serial : *ERROR* iSerial=3 but String Descriptor not found
USB Version : 2.1 (480 Mbit/s)
Port maximum Speed : High-Speed (Companion Port 1-18-3 is doing the SuperSpeed)
Device maximum Speed : High-Speed (Companion Hub at 1-18-3 is doing the SuperSpeed)
Device Connection Speed : High-Speed
Self powered : yes
Demanded Current : 0 mA
Used Endpoints : 2
 
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