I finally got around to upgrading one of my Supermicro servers that runs my virtual environment. So in a round about way, D'Bridge is now running on a dual Xeon Gold 6230 2.1Ghz (20-core each) with 1TB of RAM.

I also upgraded the RAID controller to a 9361-8i. To keep these CPUs cool and the server from being too loud, I tie-wrapped a Nashua 60mm fan to each of the passive coolers. It worked like a charm.

- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

On 06 Oct 25 08:03:06, Mark Hofmann said the following to All:

I finally got around to upgrading one of my Supermicro servers that runs my virtual environment. So in a round about way, D'Bridge is now running on a dual Xeon Gold 6230 2.1Ghz (20-core each) with 1TB of RAM.

How goes things lately, stranger?

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

How goes things lately, stranger?

All good over here, how about you? Anything new in your world up north?

At the moment, I'm taking a break from paying bills, drinking a Budweiser, and listening to some music. You can't pay bills without drinking beer. It just makes it easier. :)

I had to get a new (used) truck a few months ago after the old 2001 Durango had a lifter fail in one of the cylinders, which then screwed up the timing chain. It was undriveable and sadly was the end of the road for it.

But, I did find a good deal on a 2022 Ram 1500 Laramie from a dealership that was selling it way under bluebook due to a dent in the bumper, and damage to one of it's mirrors.

I bought it, replaced the mirror and bumper myself for under $400. The $6k under blue book for $400 parts was a great deal. So I still have a fleet of vehicles and my two Harleys.

We also went through the pool project from hell, but it is all good in the end. It is getting closed next week since it is getting cold here now. Last night went in the upper 30s and the pool is still open. :) A bit chilly for a dip to say the least at this point even with a solar cover.

On the tech side of things, I upgraded my Supermicro servers finally. I still have one to complete the build, but I bought new motherboards, memory, controllers, and even used some tie wraps to tie quiet fans to the passive CPU coolers to keep the noise down but keep them cool.

I ended up getting Xeon Gold 6230 2.1Ghz CPUs (dual in each), which are 20-core processors. I also picked up 1TB of DDR4 ram - splitting 512GB in each. Newer LSI 9361-8i controllers with battery backup. They do RAID rebuilds much faster and I/O has improved. I also added 10TB of SSD in the server.

I'm still doing lots of smarthoem stuff with Home Assistant, and switched all our media centers using Nvidia shields over to Jellyfin. That is a really awesome media center that also supports streaming to any device. Very cool.

- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

On 25 Oct 25 18:59:59, Mark Hofmann said the following to Nick Andre:

All good over here, how about you? Anything new in your world up north?

At the moment, I'm taking a break from paying bills, drinking a Budweiser, listening to some music. You can't pay bills without drinking beer. It ju makes it easier. :)

Life is good up here for the moment. I moved out of Toronto in January to the suburbs. Enjoying a house and been busy with work. Kiddo is in university.

I'm still doing lots of smarthoem stuff with Home Assistant, and switched our media centers using Nvidia shields over to Jellyfin. That is a really awesome media center that also supports streaming to any device. Very cool

I've been an Emby fan for quite some time now...

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

At the moment, I'm taking a break from paying bills, drinking a
Budweiser, and listening to some music.

How does one take a break from drinking Budweiser?

You need to start drinking it first. Does anyone with half a brain (and a mild taste for beer) actually do?

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

Life is good up here for the moment. I moved out of Toronto in January to the
suburbs. Enjoying a house and been busy with work. Kiddo is in
university.

Nice, congrats! Do you have any home project plans in the works or not enough time with work?

Man, time flies! University?

I've been an Emby fan for quite some time now...

I like the fact that I can stream music from my home server to the Jellyfin app on my phone, then bluetooth to my car/truck. That wasn't possible with Kodi.

We also got an English Cream Golden Retriever puppy back in March since we finally have a fenced yard. I always wanted a polar bear looking dog to sit by the pool with and drink a beer after work. :)


- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

How does one take a break from drinking Budweiser?

When one is empty, you have to walk to the fridge to get another.

- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

How does one take a break from drinking Budweiser?

When one is empty, you have to walk to the fridge to get another.

It makes you pee so much ...

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

On 26 Oct 25 09:49:34, Mark Hofmann said the following to Nick Andre:

Nice, congrats! Do you have any home project plans in the works or not eno time with work?

I built a home gym, set up my music collection... a pool table... going to start purging many boxes of useless tech crap that can "go".

We also got an English Cream Golden Retriever puppy back in March since we finally have a fenced yard. I always wanted a polar bear looking dog to si by the pool with and drink a beer after work. :)

Hhahaha nice!

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

I built a home gym, set up my music collection... a pool table... going
to start purging many boxes of useless tech crap that can "go".

Sounds like my garage when I started cleaning it. You want some of my stuff? I guarantee it's useless, but you can have it.

If you come across a vintage Tandy-200 laptop, I'll have it.

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

On 27 Oct 25 14:30:16, Ward Dossche said the following to Nick Andre:

Sounds like my garage when I started cleaning it. You want some of my stuff guarantee it's useless, but you can have it.

Its all gotta go here, theres crap here been lugged around since early 2000's.

One parent who came to visit was impressed with the "storage space", until I explained that its not for that parent's hoarded collection of crap for me to store after the grand-departure.

If you come across a vintage Tandy-200 laptop, I'll have it.

I already have a Tandy 1000 and a 2500... both in great shape,

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

If you come across a vintage Tandy-200 laptop, I'll have it.

I already have a Tandy 1000 and a 2500... both in great shape,

I'm especially interested in a Tandy-200 laptop.

I got mine around 1990 I think. It has a serial modem connector, basic communication tools which in that era were "Wow", a text-processor with a maximum file-space of 64KB. Also a spreadsheet. I used it on business and colleagues were also like "Wow". On planes returning from meetings typing-out my reports and sending them via a payphone in an airport...

Then I loaned it to some female friend of mine for some university work and that was the last I saw of it. Small. Lightweight. Worked on an adaptor or 4 AA-batteries.

I'm aware about your Tandy-1000, which I considered a great machine (provided it had a hard-card), but I fear the power-supply would blow here with the 220V (actually 227V) and 50Hz.

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

On 27 Oct 25 14:56:27, Ward Dossche said the following to Nick Andre:

I already have a Tandy 1000 and a 2500... both in great shape,

I'm especially interested in a Tandy-200 laptop.

Any luck on Ebay?

I'm aware about your Tandy-1000, which I considered a great machine (provid it had a hard-card), but I fear the power-supply would blow here with the 2 (actually 227V) and 50Hz.

Its a slimmer model Tandy with VGA graphics and a 40 megabyte hard drive... and slimer power supply. I think theres a volt switch or some way to make it work on Euro power

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

I'm especially interested in a Tandy-200 laptop.

Any luck on Ebay?

There are some still around but I don't intend to prostitute myself to make enough money to pay for it.

Just to say ... there are limits, plus I've had some negative eBay-experiences...

Its a slimmer model Tandy with VGA graphics and a 40 megabyte hard
drive...
and slimer power supply. I think theres a volt switch or some way to make it work on Euro power

Eventually I was planning to come and have look at it but Icelandic Play Airlines into Hamilton Airport from Reykjavic closed shop some weeks ago killing a few good ideas which I had.

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

On 27 Oct 25 18:49:40, Ward Dossche said the following to Nick Andre:

Eventually I was planning to come and have look at it but Icelandic Play Airlines into Hamilton Airport from Reykjavic closed shop some weeks ago killing a few good ideas which I had.

Theres always YYZ and I could make the trip there.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

Theres always YYZ and I could make the trip there.

I know, but Icelandic Play was flying at 50% of what YYZ costs ...

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

On 28 Oct 25 00:16:17, Ward Dossche said the following to Nick Andre:

I know, but Icelandic Play was flying at 50% of what YYZ costs ...

What about YTZ?

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

I know, but Icelandic Play was flying at 50% of what YYZ costs ...

What about YTZ?

Just checked ... depends ... it's always a connection in the east like Boston, DC, Montreal ...

AC gets me to Billy Biship. I just made a few fake bookings to see what it was going to cost me. So I don't know if I like you 'that' much to pay "that" amount ... Maybe if I become smashed I will start to care less ...

All the others get me to YYZ. Don't know about Porter airlines ...

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

On 28 Oct 25 01:20:49, Ward Dossche said the following to Nick Andre:

AC gets me to Billy Biship. I just made a few fake bookings to see what it going to cost me. So I don't know if I like you 'that' much to pay "that" amount ... Maybe if I become smashed I will start to care less ...

I'm not that sexually-frustrated....

All the others get me to YYZ. Don't know about Porter airlines ...

Porter I think is a Canuck-only airline.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

All the others get me to YYZ. Don't know about Porter airlines ...

Porter I think is a Canuck-only airline.

They are indeed and offering an interesting deal via YYC ... but they seem to be worse than Ryanair for charging extras...

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

It makes you pee so much ...

Exactly, which is another bonus. Keeps me from getting kidney stones.

- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

I built a home gym, set up my music collection... a pool table... going
to start purging many boxes of useless tech crap that can "go".

We added a pool table here last fall as well! We turned the basement into a fun space with wall mounted TV, fish tank, fake fireplace, pool table, and several full sized retro arcade games - one being virtual pinball.

I try to do regular old tech purges now and then, too. I can't believe how expensive the old tech stuff has gotten this year. The 1TB of DDR4 ECC memory I bought back in February for $645 now goes for well over $2k. Not the normal price action you see on old gear. It normally gets cheaper. Even my 14TB drives I bought 5 years ago for $110 each are $199 now.

We also got an English Cream Golden Retriever puppy back in March

since we MH> finally have a fenced yard. I always wanted a polar bear looking dog to si MH> by the pool with and drink a beer after work. :)

Hhahaha nice!

I really like all the seasons here, but really looking forward to spring/summer again now that we have the pool. Floating around with a beer while the dog chills in the yard is the exact picture I have in my mind when I eventually retire.

- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

Sounds like my garage when I started cleaning it. You want some of my stuff? I guarantee it's useless, but you can have it.

If you come across a vintage Tandy-200 laptop, I'll have it.

If it wasn't for the shipping, I have at least 20-30 2TB enterprise drives that could go to a good home. They are just taking up space and I'll never use them, but have yet to toss them.

I had pulled them many years ago from my Supermicro servers. They came with those drives and I replaced them with 8TB drives at the time, and now 14TB drives and some SSDs.

- Mark

--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (1:261/1304.0)

Mark,

If it wasn't for the shipping, I have at least 20-30 2TB enterprise
drives that could go to a good home. They are just taking up space and I'll never use them, but have yet to toss them.

I'm going full-SSD here ... but ship'm to Nick ... he loves that and soon he'll have more space...

\%/@rd

--- DB4 - 20230201
* Origin: Many Glacier - Preserve / Protect / Conserve (2:292/854)

Hey Mark!

On Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:24:10 , you wrote:

If it wasn't for the shipping, I have at least 20-30 2TB enterprise
drives that could go to a good home. They are just taking up space and
I'll never use them, but have yet to toss them.

I had pulled them many years ago from my Supermicro servers. They came
with those drives and I replaced them with 8TB drives at the time, and
now 14TB drives and some SSDs.

Those 20-30 2TB drives aren't by chance 2.5" and come with caddies, hmm? :)

I've been poking around Ebay and Amazon looking for something older/renewed like a Dell 730xd or an HP DL380 (2U) that wouldn't break the bank, and just so happens the cost goes up quite a bit when storage is included in them. ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/10)

On 03 Nov 25 20:13:02, Ward Dossche said the following to Mark Hofmann:

If it wasn't for the shipping, I have at least 20-30 2TB enterprise
drives that could go to a good home. They are just taking up space and I'll never use them, but have yet to toss them.

I'm going full-SSD here ... but ship'm to Nick ... he loves that and soon he'll have more space...

I have 16tb drives in my servers and already shoeboxes of 2tb's that will never be used again.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

Re: Upgrade.
By: Nick Boel to Mark Hofmann on Mon Nov 03 2025 05:38 pm

I've been poking around Ebay and Amazon looking for something older/renewed like a Dell 730xd or an HP DL380 (2U) that wouldn't break the bank, and just so happens the cost goes up quite a bit when storage is included in them. ;)

I'm looking for a leftover Thinkpad to host my homelab, but the new ones apparently only have those short little NMVe drives. Bummer.
--- SBBSecho 3.30-Win32
* Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)

On 03 Nov 25 17:38:02, Nick Boel said the following to Mark Hofmann:

I've been poking around Ebay and Amazon looking for something older/renewed like a Dell 730xd or an HP DL380 (2U) that wouldn't break the bank, and jus so happens the cost goes up quite a bit when storage is included in them. ;

I had HP DL360's and 380's and although they're nice... they need HP drives.

Non-HP drives appear to be missing a temperature sensor which causes the backplane controller to run the fans at full blast... jet-engine full blast.

Ended up getting rid of them and going with two Dell R510's for storage, 24 hard drives total, and a R610 for Vmware EXSI.... the hard drives are a mix
of different brands and the controller doesn't complain at all.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

Hey Nick!

On Mon, 03 Nov 2025 23:49:20 , you wrote:

I had HP DL360's and 380's and although they're nice... they need HP
drives.

I wouldn't mind a 24SFF 380, and there's quite a few listed /with/ drives, but I need to be patiend to find the right combination. There might be one with 16TB 10k SAS drives, but only 2x 2.0ghz 6 core processors, and then another with no HDDs, but 2x 2.6ghz 20 core processors.

Sumsabitches know what they're doing. ;)

And on the other hand, if I were to come across a 24SFF Dell 730xd that had exactly what I'm looking for, I'd jump on that, too. They're both about the same as far as price range and age is concerned.

Non-HP drives appear to be missing a temperature sensor which causes the backplane controller to run the fans at full blast... jet-engine full blast.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want that.

Ended up getting rid of them and going with two Dell R510's for storage,
24 hard drives total, and a R610 for Vmware EXSI.... the hard drives
are a mix of different brands and the controller doesn't complain at
all.

I don't really need a ton of storage, but I wouldn't want to run out of it, either. I have 8TB in a raid 1 now, so 4TB usable, and I'm not even close to filling it. I'd go so far as doubling what I have if the price was right, of course. I could definitely get away with one unit.

Heck, if I went with a 12LFF 730xd I'd think I would be able to use the drives I currently have, after I migrate all the VMs to the new drives. So I guess I kinda answered my own question there.. heh, get 4 more 2TB 3.5" drives and just add the ones I already have to the mix.

I'm in no rush, but I'll keep my eye out.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/10)

On 04 Nov 25 17:14:08, Nick Boel said the following to Nick Andre:

I wouldn't mind a 24SFF 380, and there's quite a few listed /with/ drives, I need to be patiend to find the right combination. There might be one with 16TB 10k SAS drives, but only 2x 2.0ghz 6 core processors, and then another with no HDDs, but 2x 2.6ghz 20 core processors.

Sumsabitches know what they're doing. ;)

I see the cost of 16tb drives fluctuating lately... seen them go for $200Cdn to sometimes $300Cdn here... Canuck seller mind you.

Heck, if I went with a 12LFF 730xd I'd think I would be able to use the dri I currently have, after I migrate all the VMs to the new drives. So I guess kinda answered my own question there.. heh, get 4 more 2TB 3.5" drives and just add the ones I already have to the mix.

I started down the rabbit-hole of NAS storage with those WD-Mybook things, of which I quickly outgrew... which led to acquiring the servers from a local chop-shop in Toronto.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

Hey Nick!

On Tue, 04 Nov 2025 19:37:06 , you wrote:

I started down the rabbit-hole of NAS storage with those WD-Mybook
things, of which I quickly outgrew... which led to acquiring the servers from a local chop-shop in Toronto.

I'm not interested in any of that. I don't have a massive collection of anything that would require extra hardware or anything. I ditched my plex server awhile back as the wife and kids didn't use it enough for me to warrant keeping it running. That was probably the biggest space hog out of anything. Hell, I allocate 500gb to my BBS VM (of which only about 46gb is used). Then a few other random VMs that are anywhere from 200-500gb as well, probably not even 10% full on any of them. :)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/10)

On 04 Nov 25 22:28:38, Nick Boel said the following to Nick Andre:

Hell, I allocate 500gb to my BBS VM (of which only about 46gb is used). The few other random VMs that are anywhere from 200-500gb as well, probably not even 10% full on any of them. :)

Yup, I never had to mess around with the VM storage settings, theres plenty of space to archive whatever BBS debauchery.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)