#windows gpu server

[cloudministertechnologies2]

WINDOWS GPU SERVER BY CLOUDMINISTER TECHNOLOGIES

The Best High-Performance Computing Solution: GPU Windows Server

1. Overview of Windows Server with GPU

GPU-accelerated Windows servers are now essential as companies and sectors require greater processing power for AI, machine learning, gaming, and data analysis. GPU Windows Servers, in contrast to conventional CPU-based servers, make effective use of Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) to manage intricate and parallel computing workloads.

At CloudMinister Technologies, we provide cutting-edge GPU Windows Server solutions, ensuring faster performance, scalability, and reliability for businesses and professionals working with AI, deep learning, video processing, gaming, and more.

2. Why Opt for Windows Servers with GPUs?

GPU servers' exceptional capacity to handle massively parallel computations makes them indispensable for today's workloads. Businesses favor GPU-powered Windows servers over conventional CPU-based servers for the following reasons:

High-Speed Processing: With thousands of cores built to handle several tasks at once, GPUs are perfect for data analytics, simulations, and AI/ML applications.

Parallel Computing Capabilities: GPUs allow complex algorithms to be computed more quickly than CPUs, which handle operations in a sequential manner.

Enhanced visuals Performance: GPUs are ideal for 3D modeling, gaming, and video editing applications because they dramatically improve the rendering of high-resolution visuals.

Reduced Processing Time: By cutting down on processing time in computational simulations, data mining, and deep learning, GPU servers help businesses save a significant amount of time.

At CloudMinister Technologies, we provide high-performance GPU Windows servers that cater to the needs of businesses looking for speed, efficiency, and reliability.

3. The GPU Servers Offered by CloudMinister

Best-in-class GPU servers from CloudMinister Technologies are available with solutions specially designed to meet the demands of different industries. Among our products are:

Newest GPU Models: Known for their exceptional performance, we offer NVIDIA Tesla, RTX, Quadro, and A-series GPUs.

Custom Configurations: Select from a variety of setups that are enhanced for video processing, gaming, AI, and ML.

Flexible Pricing Plans: We provide reasonably priced, high-performing solutions to companies of all sizes through our pricing plans.

On-Demand Scalability: Adjust your GPU resources to suit the demands of your project, guaranteeing both cost effectiveness and performance enhancement.

GPU Windows Servers are completely tuned, all crucial applications can benefit from increased processing speed, high availability, and dependability.

4. Sectors Gaining from GPU Servers running Windows

The GPU of CloudMinister Technologies Several industries that need real-time data processing and high-performance computing are served by Windows Servers:

1. Machine learning and artificial intelligence

quicker neural network and deep learning model training.

supports frameworks such as PyTorch, Keras, and TensorFlow.

Perfect for predictive analytics, picture recognition, and natural language processing.

2. Virtualization & Gaming

improves fluid gameplay and real-time rendering.

supports game studios' virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI).

guarantees excellent frame rates and minimal latency for cloud gaming systems.

3. Rendering and Editing Videos

speeds up the rendering and processing of 4K and 8K videos.

Perfect for programs like Blender, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Premiere Pro.

supports live broadcasting and multiple streams.

4. Analytics and Data Science

aids in real-time processing of large datasets.

uses AI-driven insights to improve Big Data analysis.

cuts down on the amount of time needed to calculate financial models and stock market analyses.

5. Scientific Studies and Models

helps with molecular modeling, genomic sequencing, and drug discovery.

beneficial for astrophysical simulations and weather forecasting.

supports extensive computational and mathematical models.

The processing power, effectiveness, and scalability needed to support these sectors are offered by CloudMinister's GPU Windows Servers.

5. Benefits of the GPU in CloudMinister Servers running Windows

One of the top suppliers of GPU-based Windows servers, CloudMinister Technologies provides organizations with strong and effective solutions. What makes us unique is this:

Dedicated & Cloud GPU Solutions: Depending on your workload needs, select between cloud-based GPU instances or dedicated GPU servers.

Round-the-clock Expert Support & Monitoring: Our committed support staff provides round-the-clock help to guarantee seamless server functioning.

High Security & Reliability: We provide cutting-edge security features including firewalls, encrypted data transmission, and DDoS protection.

Smooth Cloud Integration: Our GPU servers are easily integrated with private cloud environments, like Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure.

Low Latency & High-Speed Connectivity: Take advantage of quick data transfers and little lag, perfect for real-time rendering, AI processing, and gaming.

Windows GPU servers, businesses can scale their infrastructure, optimize performance, and maximize efficiency without compromising on quality.

6. How Do I Begin?

It's easy to get started with CloudMinister Technologies' GPU Windows Server:

1️. Pick a Plan: Based on your requirements (AI, ML, gaming, or rendering), pick a GPU Windows server plan.

2️. Customize Configuration: Choose the model of RAM, storage, and GPU according to the needs of your project.

3️. Fast Deployment: Our staff makes sure that everything is set up and deployed quickly so that your server is operational right away.

4️. 24/7 Support: Take advantage of unbroken service with our knowledgeable support staff at all times.

5. Scale Anytime: Depending on your workload requirements, you can scale up or down while maintaining cost effectiveness.

Are you prepared to use Windows servers with GPUs to boost your applications? To fully realize the potential of high-performance computing, get in touch with CloudMinister Technologies right now!

FOR MORE VISIT:- www.cloudminister.com

[nornities]

How to use DXVK with The Sims 3

Have you seen this post about using DXVK by Criisolate? But felt intimidated by the sheer mass of facts and information?

@desiree-uk and I compiled a guide and the configuration file to make your life easier. It focuses on players not using the EA App, but it might work for those just the same. It’s definitely worth a try.

Adding this to your game installation will result in a better RAM usage. So your game is less likely to give you Error 12 or crash due to RAM issues. It does NOT give a huge performance boost, but more stability and allows for higher graphics settings in game.

The full guide behind the cut. Let me know if you also would like it as PDF.

Happy simming!

Disclaimer and Credits

Desiree and I are no tech experts and just wrote down how we did this. Our ability to help if you run into trouble is limited. So use at your own risk and back up your files!

We both are on Windows 10 and start the game via TS3W.exe, not the EA App. So your experience may differ.

This guide is based on our own experiments and of course criisolate’s post on tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/criisolate/749374223346286592/ill-explain-what-i-did-below-before-making-any

This guide is brought to you by Desiree-UK and Norn.

Compatibility

Note: This will conflict with other programs that “inject” functionality into your game so they may stop working. Notably

Reshade

GShade

Nvidia Experience/Nvidia Inspector/Nvidia Shaders

RivaTuner Statistics Server

It does work seamlessly with LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch.

LazyDuchess’ Launcher: unknown

Alder Lake patch: does conflict. One user got it working by starting the game by launching TS3.exe (also with admin rights) instead of TS3W.exe. This seemed to create the cache file for DXVK. After that, the game could be started from TS3W.exe again. That might not work for everyone though.

A word on FPS and V-Sync

With such an old game it’s crucial to cap framerate (FPS). This is done in the DXVK.conf file. Same with V-Sync.

You need

a text editor (easiest to use is Windows Notepad)

to download DXVK, version 2.3.1 from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/releases/tag/v2.3.1 Extract the archive, you are going to need the file d3d9.dll from the x32 folder

the configuration file DXVK.conf from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/blob/master/DXVK.conf. Optional: download the edited version with the required changes here.

administrator rights on your PC

to know your game’s installation path (bin folder) and where to find the user folder

a tiny bit of patience :)

First Step: Backup

Backup your original Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path! The DXVK file may overwrite some files! The path should be something like this (for retail): \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located.)

Backup your options.ini in your game’s user folder! Making the game use the DXVK file will count as a change in GPU driver, so the options.ini will reset once you start your game after installation. The path should be something like this: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 (This is the folder where your Mods folder is located).

Preparations

Make sure you run the game as administrator. You can check that by right-clicking on the icon that starts your game. Go to Properties > Advanced and check the box “Run as administrator”. Note: This will result in a prompt each time you start your game, if you want to allow this application to make modifications to your system. Click “Yes” and the game will load.

2. Make sure you have the DEP settings from Windows applied to your game.

Open the Windows Control Panel.

Click System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.

On the Advanced tab, next to the Performance heading, click Settings.

Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

Select 'Turn on DEP for all programs and services except these”:

Click the Add button, a window to the file explorer opens. Navigate to your Sims 3 installation folder (the bin folder once again) and add TS3W.exe and TS3.exe.

Click OK. Then you can close all those dialog windows again.

Setting up the DXVK.conf file

Open the file with a text editor and delete everything in it. Then add these values:

d3d9.textureMemory = 1

d3d9.presentInterval = 1

d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60

d3d9.presentInterval enables V-Sync,d3d9.maxFrameRate sets the FrameRate. You can edit those values, but never change the first line (d3d9.textureMemory)!

The original DXVK.conf contains many more options in case you would like to add more settings.

A. no Reshade/GShade

Setting up DXVK

Copy the two files d3d9.dll and DXVK.conf into the Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path. This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located. If you are prompted to overwrite files, please choose yes (you DID backup your folder, right?)

And that’s basically all that is required to install.

Start your game now and let it run for a short while. Click around, open Buy mode or CAS, move the camera.

Now quit without saving. Once the game is closed fully, open your bin folder again and double check if a file “TS3W.DXVK-cache” was generated. If so – congrats! All done!

Things to note

Heads up, the game options will reset! So it will give you a “vanilla” start screen and options.

Don’t worry if the game seems to be frozen during loading. It may take a few minutes longer to load but it will load eventually.

The TS3W.DXVK-cache file is the actual cache DXVK is using. So don’t delete this! Just ignore it and leave it alone. When someone tells to clear cache files – this is not one of them!

Update Options.ini

Go to your user folder and open the options.ini file with a text editor like Notepad.

Find the line “lastdevice = “. It will have several values, separated by semicolons. Copy the last one, after the last semicolon, the digits only. Close the file.

Now go to your backup version of the Options.ini file, open it and find that line “lastdevice” again. Replace the last value with the one you just copied. Make sure to only replace those digits!

Save and close the file.

Copy this version of the file into your user folder, replacing the one that is there.

Things to note:

If your GPU driver is updated, you might have to do these steps again as it might reset your device ID again. Though it seems that the DXVK ID overrides the GPU ID, so it might not happen.

How do I know it’s working?

Open the task manager and look at RAM usage. Remember the game can only use 4 GB of RAM at maximum and starts crashing when usage goes up to somewhere between 3.2 – 3.8 GB (it’s a bit different for everybody).

So if you see values like 2.1456 for RAM usage in a large world and an ongoing save, it’s working. Generally the lower the value, the better for stability.

Also, DXVK will have generated its cache file called TS3W.DXVK-cache in the bin folder. The file size will grow with time as DXVK is adding stuff to it, e.g. from different worlds or savegames. Initially it might be something like 46 KB or 58 KB, so it’s really small.

Optional: changing MemCacheBudgetValue

MemCacheBudgetValue determines the size of the game's VRAM Cache. You can edit those values but the difference might not be noticeable in game. It also depends on your computer’s hardware how much you can allow here.

The two lines of seti MemCacheBudgetValue correspond to the high RAM level and low RAM level situations. Therefore, theoretically, the first line MemCacheBudgetValue should be set to a larger value, while the second line should be set to a value less than or equal to the first line.

The original values represent 200MB (209715200) and 160MB (167772160) respectively. They are calculated as 200x1024x1024=209175200 and 160x1024x1024=167772160.

Back up your GraphicsRules.sgr file! If you make a mistake here, your game won’t work anymore.

Go to your bin folder and open your GraphicsRules.sgr with a text editor.

Search and find two lines that set the variables for MemCacheBudgetValue.

Modify these two values to larger numbers. Make sure the value in the first line is higher or equals the value in the second line. Examples for values: 1073741824, which means 1GB 2147483648 which means 2 GB. -1 (minus 1) means no limit (but is highly experimental, use at own risk)

Save and close the file. It might prompt you to save the file to a different place and not allow you to save in the Bin folder. Just save it someplace else in this case and copy/paste it to the Bin folder afterwards. If asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes.

Now start your game and see if it makes a difference in smoothness or texture loading. Make sure to check RAM and VRAM usage to see how it works.

You might need to change the values back and forth to find the “sweet spot” for your game. Mine seems to work best with setting the first value to 2147483648 and the second to 1073741824.

Uninstallation

Delete these files from your bin folder (installation path):

d3d9.dll

DXVK.conf

TS3W.DXVK-cache

And if you have it, also TS3W_d3d9.log

if you changed the values in your GraphicsRule.sgr file, too, don’t forget to change them back or to replace the file with your backed up version.

OR

delete the bin folder and add it from your backup again.

B. with Reshade/GShade

Follow the steps from part A. no Reshade/Gshade to set up DXVK.

If you are already using Reshade (RS) or GShade (GS), you will be prompted to overwrite files, so choose YES. RS and GS may stop working, so you will need to reinstall them.

Whatever version you are using, the interface shows similar options of which API you can choose from (these screenshots are from the latest versions of RS and GS).

Please note: 

Each time you install and uninstall DXVK, switching the game between Vulkan and d3d9, is essentially changing the graphics card ID again, which results in the settings in your options.ini file being repeatedly reset.

ReShade interface

Choose – Vulcan

Click next and choose your preferred shaders.

Hopefully this install method works and it won't install its own d3d9.dll file.

If it doesn't work, then choose DirectX9 in RS, but you must make sure to replace the d3d9.dll file with DXVK's d3d9.dll (the one from its 32bit folder, checking its size is 3.86mb.)

GShade interface

Choose –           

Executable Architecture: 32bit

Graphics API: DXVK

Hooking: Normal Mode

GShade is very problematic, it won't work straight out of the box and the overlay doesn't show up, which defeats the purpose of using it if you can't add or edit the shaders you want to use.

Check the game's bin folder, making sure the d3d9.dll is still there and its size is 3.86mb - that is DXVK's dll file.

If installing using the DXVK method doesn't work, you can choose the DirectX method, but there is no guarantee it works either.

The game will not run with these files in the folder:

d3d10core.dll

d3d11.dll

dxgi.dll

If you delete them, the game will start but you can't access GShade! It might be better to use ReShade.

Some Vulcan and DirectX information, if you’re interested:

Vulcan is for rather high end graphic cards but is backward compatible with some older cards. Try this method with ReShade or GShade first.

DirectX is more stable and works best with older cards and systems. Try this method if Vulcan doesn't work with ReShade/GShade in your game – remember to replace the d3d9.dll with DXVK's d3d9.dll.

For more information on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX, see this article:

https://www.howtogeek.com/884042/vulkan-vs-DirectX-12/

[mistytpednaem]

late last year I had a dude my dad's age transplant my CPU, GPU and RAM into essentially a whole new chassis complete with all the other shit a PC needs to function and I have many regrets for a variety of reasons, but one baffling thing about the process that I only discovered recently is the wallpapers folder that this man left behind

like, it starts out normally enough,

but. you might notice.

oddities.

let's look at some of them more closely.

I'm not sure what img1 is supposed to convey. Is it supposed to be like, a virus thing? This is a boomer building PCs in a small town so I'm sure he's been paid for basic virus cleanup and maintenance many, many times. This is an EXTREMELY generous guess on my part, though, because there are far more inexplicable things coming.

ok this one isn't that weird, I just want you all to know how bad this dude's sense of graphic design is. also wait it IS kind of weird, what's windows 7 doing here??? this man was totally ready to install windows 11 (though when I said I'd rather stay on 10 for now he was like "oh yeah that's smart 11's no good for gamers yet"). that's his logo below the windows logo. I feel like I'm also being generous when I call it a logo.

is this just an intel marketing image that he slapped the name of his business on in MSPaint??? also my CPU's AMD but lbr this man made a "wallpapers" folder a decade ago and he just drags and drops it to every new windows install he's made since

HUH????????

IMG6 IS JUST A BLURRY JPEG OF SPEEDY GONZALES????????? I DON'T wait is it supposed to be like a metaphor. "i made your pc fast, like speedy gonzales, you're welcome"?? is this how the mind of a man in his late 50s works

I. frankly I should have saved this one for last because it doesn't get any more baffling than this, but I've been going in order so it'd feel wrong. this image is the only thing justifying my tentative interpretation of the stickman with the syringes sticking out of it, but that's all I can get from it. I don't know why this man apparently kins Dr. Wily, and the Simpsons, uh. The, the Simpsons,

look I'm going to translate the barely legible text because you might think it helps make sense of what's going on here

daaaaaaaamn it's alex!?! ... he fixed our PC and this is how we ended up !!!

BUT IT DOESN'T.

imgs 08, 09, 10 and 12 are all F1 cars with a crude MSPaint i5 GAMING Intel Racing by Windows 10 on top. I don't need to go over why this makes no sense again.

img11 raises a question, asks it, and in the end, provides no answer.

img13 is just the penguin doctor image from earlier, sans Dr. Wily, so I'm not posting it again. img-- ok no I know what I said earlier about going out of order but I AM going to save img14 for last because otherwise this post is going to end on a wet fart.

imgs 15 and 19 are identical except he wrote "Servidor" (server) on the latter.

these three i can see actually being MINORLY tailored to my build because my motherboard is Asus, but it isn't ROG, it's TUF and-- christ sorry I just realised he also crudely wrote "Asus" on the last one. that's the only difference between img16 and img18

and finally. left this one for last because I remembered that there IS one image in this folder that baffles me almost as much as "this pc repair job made us get naked, thanks dr. wily"

img14 is stolen Doctor Who fanart with the name of this man's business and Windows crudely written on top, and frankly, the second most surprising thing about it is that he didn't ALSO write the name of his business in Comic Sans.

[glowcircuit]

I built a miniature Va11 Hall-A Bar inside of my PC!!

Va11 Hall-A PC Parts & Build list

PC:

CPU : Intel I9 14900k

GPU: Intel Arc A770 16gb

Ram: Corsair Dominator 64gb 5600

Mobo: Maxsun Terminator Z790 D5 wifi

Hard drives M.2: Samsung 990 pro 2tb, Samsung 970 evo plus 1tb, CT 1tb,                                 Adata 500gb

PSU: ROG Thor 850 P2

Cables: Cablemod.com custom shortened and sleeved

Water loop distro : EKWB FLT 120 reservoir + D5 pump

Water loop cpu block: ThermalTake Pacific Mx2 Ultra 

Water loop radiators: Alphacool HPE 20 x 2

Water loop hardware: 15 Alphacool, 3 EKWB, 2 Alphacool soft, 2 granzon    

Water loop tubes: EKWB Acrylic tube 14mm, Alphacool 13/10 soft

Air Cooling : ThermalTake Toughfan 120mm x 3  + Controller

Air Cooling : Noctua 40mm pwm server fan x 2 (non visible)

Additional RGB Control : Coolermaster controller

Case:

Lian Li PC V600, left side mount, released in 2006, I acquired it in 2015 from PC Recycle in sodo Seattle.

I had to track down a new foot, one had been missing since I acquired the case (ebay)

Mods:These are the case mods I did personally

Cut a hole for the cpu mounts in the Motherboard mount plate as this case was designed for older hardware 

Cut two 120mm blowholes and added aluminum covers (Dremel)

Cut Front and rear windows into side panels (Dremel Max)

Moved PSU from vertical placement in the lower right side of the case in front of the CPU  to horizontal placement in the top left in old drive bays. 

The PSU bracket had to be cut to show the OLED on the side. 

Modded the side panel rail slide to accommodate the PSU, I used the original aluminum stand the psu was on, cut in half and epoxied with JB weld. 

Changed and moved Power/ Reset switch to the back of the case, shortened and spliced the cable

I cut and bent my own 14mm acrylic tubes (hobby miter, heat gun). 

Cut and made two way mirror for the front panel

Plastic "truss" is both functional and aesthetic. It came from a Gunpla accessory kit and has two cables passing through it and it acts as the GPU support. I could only get red and had to paint it.

Notice that some logos are missing/ covered, I dislike having a case as an advertisement. The Rog eye on the PSU is mostly covered but iykyk, most of the word "Intel" on the ARC GPU, Two of the Thermaltake logos on the fan edges, the Paint on the Thermaltake Mx2 Ultra and Maxsun terminator heatsink. (I will eventually cover the visible SSD with a heat sink, cover the fan info on the rear and work a cover for the word "dominator"). the one logo explicitly unchanged is the LianLi case badge, if I think of a perfect replacement, maybe then.

Mod I did not do:

I did NOT shorten and sleeve my own cables, I used cable-mod.com. I am not confident in my ability to do this.

BAR:

"Bar Tiny" Re-ment sets from Japan, 17 sets involved. 

 I customized the color of the bar and chairs and shortened one table for the mezzanine. The whole bar, minus barback- is on a removable 7 inch piece of black acrylic for cleaning.

Jill Stingray Nendoroid

Jils Cat, it sleeps on the GPU

Jill Stool: Jill is glued to a cute doll stool to see over the bar

Jill Accessories non-Nendoroid: cellphone, purse, coat (ebay)

Dorothy Haze Nendoroid

will be added on release.

Bar Back:I made this myself

Black acrylic sheet, and frosted acrylic rods.

Doll Light power kit: 8 Led lights, 4 incandescent lights

USB Doll light power strip

Other Bar Accessories:

Overhead Hanging farmhouse light

trash, mop, broom, pan, mop bucket, 

2 blue fuzzy chairs 

Miniature plants

Miniature Microphone

Mini bottle Dom Perignon, an xmas gift from my friend nemo, it's

 on the top shelf 

Problems and changes:

1. ARGB, pretty pretty pain in the ass. 4 pieces of software........

2. The water loop was changed extensively as hardware came in and space limitations were discovered. The biggest change is that I originally planned to have one radiator on the front of the case, the tubes running over Jills head and to light the tubes as lighting for the bar, to do this the fan would have been in the case proper pushing the whole bar to far into the mobo, it didn't work, so the loop was moved to the top of the case and caused me to have one complex bent tube 

 Second, I had planned the loop to use one sideport on the distro, but space limitation moved both ports to the top causing the complex fittings setup in that corner.   

3. The MOBO, sigh. This has been clearly the most challenging choice I made in this build, I really wanted it to work perfectly too, but I rolled those dice because: Aesthetic+function, the board I wanted (https://en.colorful.cn/en/home/product?mid=84&id=400d19bc-5655-49e1-b391-df00b60935ef) was to great a risk for the cost. This was a silver medal. 

I generally dislike the design options I had in the Z790 series of the big board makers (I  HATE big logos), especially the full ATX, there was one M that interested me, I should have picked it . This board has potential, but the BIOS is underdeveloped and compatibility has been problematic, I had to do a tricky outdated style BIOS update right from the box, and have had to reset the cmos a couple times. It skips BIOS on general boot and though stable, it will have to be addressed eventually, it doesn't have a proper sleep because of some issue between uefi & legacy. It may end up replaced, which will require a full build teardown.

the Turbo fan built into the board doesn't seem to function

Alos, the two argb connections on the mobo dont work, or I can't get them to recognize anything, necessitating the Coolermaster controller for the PSU and Distro. it is shoved behind the distro along with a Noctua 40mm

[callmearcturus]

@vmprsm replied to your post “Raw MKV rip of Mission Impossible: Fallout:...”:

Theoretically, if one wanted their own copies of the MI movies safely on a hard drive....where would one go?

​I mean, there is a site where you can acquire a lot of movies via torrent. I tend to use (rot13) 1337k.gb and I got a heavily discounted Windscribe VPN subscription that I use on almost all of my devices.

But my thing is that... I want commentary reels and special features, and sometimes you'll download a movie but the fucking subtitles are either bad or they become desynced over time and I haaaaate it.

So I've been gathering bits and pieces over the past year to get a Plex system going in my house and it works like a fucking DREAM. But it requires some investment. If you just want to have a few local copies of your favorite movies, this is way overkill. But me, I am canceling all of my family's streaming services and pivoting to our Plex.

So what I have for actually getting the files:

I don't have this model but it's similar to this, a Pioneer External Blu-ray Reader. It sits on a little shelf and is connected to my PC by a USB cable. (I think I got mine for around 68 bucks so you can wait for a sale.)

I use MakeMKV which will rip the big honking raw files from a Blu-ray and leave them as matroshka (.mkv) files.

Because these raw files are ENORMOUS, I compress them in Handbrake. Handbrake is wildly powerful, can convert file formats and make them super small. I have my Handbrake set up special to dump all the non-English language subtitles and audio tracks to save space.

(SUPER BONUS TIP FOR HANDBRAKE: If you have a dedicated GPU, you can give Handbrake permission to use it, and it'll compress shit literally 10x faster, love it.)

At the moment, I am using a Western Digital portable 5TB external harddrive because it was one sale and I couldn't beat the price. Eventually, I want to upgrade to two 10TB HDDs so I can keep a full backup of everything I'm ripping. Because this is a bit of a time and energy commitment and I don't wanna lose all my progress here!

At first I was running Plex off my desktop PC and that worked totally fine, but my family hates having to touch my desktop to wake it up every time, so I very recently grabbed one of these guys:

This is a Beelink Mini PC S12 Pro. It is small enough to fit in my hand but it is a speedy little demon that runs Windows 11. (And eventually I am gonna use it to firewall out ads from our entire home network, I'm pumped for that project but ANYWAY.)

The upside of these mini boys is that instead of being a hefty workhorse like my main computer, this is small and has a low-power draw.

So I moved my Plex Media Server to the mini PC, plugged in my 5TB drive of movies, and now everyone in the house can easily stream anything I have added to the library.

This is what it looks like, if you're curious. Any device in the house that runs Plex and is signed in can select any movie or TV show I have and just watch it like it was Netflix or something.

A month ago, I has like.... 65 movies? Now I'm ripping a few and we're gonna break 100 soon.

"But Arc, where do you get so many blurays!"

My local library.

When I lived in Broward County, FL, I had an extravagantly wonderful library system. Tax dollars at fucking WORK, y'all. Now I live in Georgia and the library system is not nearly as good, but I have still gotten my hands on a frankly ridiculous amount of blurays. Every week I'm picking up 3 to 10 movies or shows, taking them home, making good copies, and returning them.

All of this is an investment and it is work. But as someone who built my computer, built my keyboard, cracked my 3DS and PS Vita-- this is fun to me! This is what I love to do. And through doing it, I've seen more movies in the past year than the last ten years put together.

So yeah, I can't recommend this to everyone, but if you wanna get out of your subscriptions and to just have high quality shit on demand, this is what I'm doing.

Cannot stress this enough tho, if this seems interesting to you: wait for sales. All the components here go on steep sale if you wait patiently. Take your time assembling the parts and keep in mind that shit is modular, you can upgrade parts later.

[heartpulseproject]

Since you don't see many edits here, and i am a dumbass in editing, could you make a tutorial on it? Like: what apps should we use, what should or shouldn't do, devices, etc. Since i personally worship your editing prowess, i couldn't help myself but ask for your guidance sensei. 🙇‍♀️

I don't use a "special device" to make my edits, just a computer which can run a videoediting software and Wallpaper Engine correctly (in my case it's an Apple Mac Pro 4,1 from 2009 with upgraded RAM and GPU, and also with Windows 10 installed on it, but that's not important). My server pc build out of my spare parts, and it's serves as a network bridge, and a file storge (like a NAS, or something) to store my personal files, like the assets for the edits on HPP. The way I make my edits, is a different story. I like to put the charaters in different scenarios to make the edit more enjoyable. I usually chose one image from my pre-granarated ones, or I use (if i see a, as i call an edit "suspicious" image here on Tumblr or X) an image from my "Likes", or if I can't find any which is good for the scanario in my head I generate one using PixAI's Ebora Pony XL AI model. Than if I have an image, I put together a static version of the edit in Paint.NET (PaintdotNET). Here I cut down the unnecessary and the broken (weirdly generated hands, .etc) parts of the image, and I remove the background if I'd like to use a different one. Than I chose a stethoscope png what are suitable for the edit, but I recently using the hand with stethoscope one which you can see in my recent edits. I also make some barely visble changes to the main image and the stething image. If it's done, and looks good I save them (the base image, the background, and the steting png separately) in a folder. After that it's time to "animate" the edit, which is just using the Wallpaper Engine's built in Shake effect, if that part is done, I record the animated soundless edit using OBS, which is usually a 5-6 minutes raw mp4 file. Than I put the raw recording into the video editor which is my case is the Wondershare Filmora X. I chose one of the heartbeat and bearthing audios from my server (if it's needed I modify it a bit in Audacity), and speed them up to mach with the animation. I make the breathing way quieter to have the heartbeat in focus, also i duplicate the hb sound to make a stereo effect, which means the I make the left side a bit louder and add more bass to it than the right side, which make a really good heart pulse effect (ROLL CREDITS). Also in here I add some video effects, cut down the unnecessary parts, I cut down the video to 2 minutes to become uploadable for X, than it's time to export it. After I exported the final edit, i check it for mistakes and I fix them if i find any, and the fixed version gonna be uploaded to Tumblr and X. This whole process is 2+ hours usually, but it's could be more for longer and more complex edits. But you doesn't need to follow my way to make edits, if you ever used a photo editor and a video editor before, and you know how put a transparent png on an image, and a greenscreen video on another one, you good to go. There is a lot of ways you can make an edit, so you can chose one which are suitable for you. If you still need help, you can join the Cardio Editor's Hub, there are lot of other people who gladly gives you some tips and tricks. Good luck, have fun! :D

[allaboutkeyingo]

What is the most awesome Microsoft product? Why?

The “most awesome” Microsoft product depends on your needs, but here are some top contenders and why they stand out:

Top Microsoft Products and Their Awesome Features

1. Microsoft Excel

Why? It’s the ultimate tool for data analysis, automation (with Power Query & VBA), and visualization (Power Pivot, PivotTables).

Game-changer feature: Excel’s Power Query and dynamic arrays revolutionized how users clean and analyze data.

2. Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

Why? A lightweight, free, and extensible code editor loved by developers.

Game-changer feature: Its extensions marketplace (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Docker, Python support) makes it indispensable for devs.

3. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Why? Lets you run a full Linux kernel inside Windows—perfect for developers.

Game-changer feature: WSL 2 with GPU acceleration and Docker support bridges the gap between Windows and Linux.

4. Azure (Microsoft Cloud)

Why? A powerhouse for AI, cloud computing, and enterprise solutions.

Game-changer feature: Azure OpenAI Service (GPT-4 integration) and AI-driven analytics make it a leader in cloud tech.

5. Microsoft Power BI

Why? Dominates business intelligence with intuitive dashboards and AI insights.

Game-changer feature: Natural language Q&A lets users ask data questions in plain English.

Honorable Mentions:

GitHub (owned by Microsoft) – The #1 platform for developers.

Microsoft Teams – Revolutionized remote work with deep Office 365 integration.

Xbox Game Pass – Netflix-style gaming with cloud streaming.

Final Verdict?

If you’re a developer, VS Code or WSL is unbeatable. If you’re into data, Excel or Power BI wins. For cutting-edge cloud/AI, Azure is king.

What’s your favorite?

If you need any Microsoft products, such as Windows , Office , Visual Studio, or Server , you can go and get it from our online store keyingo.com

[daemonhxckergrrl]

chat, am I futureshock ?

occasionally I get people say stuff like this, and I'm glad they like my blog, I'm glad they enjoy the surface-level vibes. nonbinary matrix header, soft retro-vibe colourscheme, posts appearing as shell commands, etc.

but I'm not an aesthetic blog

I'm what happens when an autistic tranny who is A Bit Too Much Computer witnesses the realtime enshittification of everything.

first up, i wanna be clear that i'm not trying to shit on the person who sent me this or discourage people who enjoy these aesthetics (or what they perceive as my personal brand) for enjoying them, or from diving deeper. in fact, i would encourage it - please !! go look into things !! discover !! fuck things up !! fix them !!!

now i wanna talk about aesthetics. i love the design language of a lotta late 80s hardware, vehicles, physical interfaces. i love the design language of a lot that in the 90s, as well as software, early GUI stuff etc. and tbh a lot of that right up until the mid 00s. if we wanna play deeply unserious but whimsical visual signifiers for fun and silly reasons, sure then i'm webcore, i'm hackercore, i'm retrofuture and cyber, i'm cassette futurist, i'm cyberpunk or whatever. i'm cute glittery gifs of windows 95 slate dialog boxes and big standing racks full of das blinkenlights. i'm the cave shadow of a CD Walkman i'm that big chonky 80s red 7-segment alarm clock.

but i'm not just aesthetics. i'm not doing all this purely for the bit. up until a couple years ago i was sacrificing a ton of convenience for my principles. now i'm sacrificing certain specific conveniences and a buncha anti-consumer nonsense for my principles and a shit ton of other, better, conveniences.

this wasn't meant to be a long post, and may well end up influencing some of my cyberpriestess posting when i get my website going, as there's a lotta good jumping-off points here.

let me show y'all how i live. at least some of it.

daily driver ? 11-year-old gaming pc w/ some recent era-appropriate upgrades (well, the gpu is pushing it but like is reasonable someone would've done that upgrade).

this is what i mean. this is pluug2, my daily driver. and she still runs games. and yes i'm using arch rn bc i did a reinstall and for whatever reason the version of the void installer i had was corrupted and arch was the only other diy distro i had laying around. she'll end up running something infinitely more cursed in the future once i get s6 stuff figured out.

i spent like half an hour configuring fastfetch (the backend i'm using for hyfetch) bc the default kinda sucked. that's how this works.

i do dumb shit, i have fun, i live by my principles as much as possible...fuck idk

oh right, my thinkpad is a t61 from 2008. her graphics suck enough she literally can't load games. not anything made past idk DX9 ?? however her discord experience is about on part w/ my envy 360 from over 10 years later. she's kinda sick tho. idk. will probably turn her into a media pc or some kinda server since she's got a 2600U w/ 8 threads.

i don't get youtube ads. i don't get tempted by the comments section, i don't have my watch history profiled. i have a local database of playlists (the video tab on a channel counts as a playlist btw) that i can sync and fuzzy search in the terminal and it'll play via the video player on my system. however, i don't get stuff recommended which makes finding stuff entirely active.

i gotta test and tweak games i wanna play bc old hardware and also usually running via compatibility layer (proton my beloved) on account of..well no linux-native version. or the native version has issues.

discord and screenshare don't pay niceys all the time. this is partly a discord enshittification issue but also the discord devs don't care about linux as a platform. they "support" it bc hey electron works there. because it's the fuckign chrome browser. audio support in screenshare is an unofficial feature added by volunteer devs and that's a breach of TOS bc that's the world we live in now.

my brain is full of init system trivia, audio services and routing frameworks, a ton of incomprehensible nonsense that marks the difference between nostalgia-bait and Actually Being Like This.

come on in, by all means ! let's learn the semantics behind vim's actions/keybinds, let's discover old parts of the net, build up an environment from its component pieces. let's suffer together as the separation of accounts forces the use of several different email addresses, a TOTP app, and renewed access tokens to play one (1) game online w/ friends.

i'm not futureshock cybercore cassette retropunk, i'm stubborn and refuse to engage in as much of the bullshit forced on us these days as i physically can.

[bjsmall]

On the 9th of January 2025, I saw an article in my latest copy of Computer Active which explains about mastering Linux distros.

It suggested using a website called 'Distrosea' which hosts free virtual machines of various flavours of the Linux operating system, all of which can be ran within a browser window.

Visit the site here:

https://distrosea.com/

Here is a list of the Linux distros I had a go at running with their desktop environments:

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS - GNOME

Ubuntu 8.10 - GNOME 2 (old, 2008)

Linux Mint 22 - Cinnamon, Ubuntu base

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS - Cinnamon

Fedora Linux 40 - MATE

OpenSUSE Leap 15.5 - KDE

Alma Linux 9 - GNOME

Debian Linux 12.5 - LXqt (lightweight)

Zorin OS 17 Core64 - GNOME (configurable)

There are a total of 71 Linux operating systems to try on the website at the time of this write up.

To install, update and manage software on Linux using a package manager, the distros mentioned on this list based on Debian & Ubuntu use the APT (Advanced Package Tool) and the distros based on Fedora & Red Hat use the DNF (Dandified Yellow-Dog Updater Modified) package managers.

Their are many other types of package managers for Linux. Since Windows 11, users can choose to install software using UnigetUI (a.k.a Winget commands).

About Distrosea:

When you click on any of the distro entries before selecting a desktop environment, you can read a great description of the background information for each.

I think this website is amazing as it allows you to test distros in your browser without the need to plug in a USB or use virtual machine software. basically it gives you a live install copy of Linux to try online for free. It profits from ads shown on its homepage.

Some of the distros have a 'popular' badge, to show which ones are most likely to have more online traffic. Most of these distros are updated to latest versions available.

When you run the operating systems the system information dialogue will contain the server CPU information and displays the virtual graphics card called Red Hat, Inc Virtio 1.0 GPU.

However the site uses limited user traffic to reduce load on the servers, so when you select a version of Linux, there is a queue system. Each session is free, however it is timed when idle to create space for another user. Also the server connection, which is based in India, can disconnect you from your testing frequency, so whilst it works well you have to reset your VM which will continue where you last left off.

Also some of the Linux distros didn't automatically scale to full screen, and so leave bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The old Ubuntu remains surrounded by a large bar around itself as no modern drivers will work with this old version of Ubuntu.

You can sign into your Google account and gain internet access in your VMs as well.

Read the developers notes on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/139sj6z/distrosea_test_drive_linux_distros_online/?rdt=33513

I would recommend trying this out on a large computer screen as the distros take advantage of hardware acceleration, scaling and look great in full screen mode!

Watch this Distrosea video on YouTube to see it in action!

Remember that this is another way of testing Linux through the internet, the experience will be different if it is installed on an actual computer.

[wayfire-official]

one of my favorite features about X is the fact that, just by typing in "DISPLAY=..." I can launch basically any application as if it was running natively on a different machine, including using the other machine's GPU.

this means that if I'm at work, and I type the magic command, I instantaneously can run any application on my desktop computer from my netbook, regardless of where it physically is, and the large monitors and beefy (in comparison) GPU on my work computer makes it really nice.

and I don't even have to install anything besides an X server (because my work computer needs to run windows, boo).

My favourite feature about X is that it has a much better alternative in Wayland

[cloudministertechnologies2]

WINDOWS GPU SERVER BY CLOUDMINISTER TECHNOLOGIES

[pes2013indir]

PES 2013 Indir How to Download and Enjoy Pro Evolution Soccer 2013

Introduction

If you’re a football gaming enthusiast looking to relive the excitement of classic soccer gameplay, PES 2013 remains one of the most beloved editions of the Pro Evolution Soccer series. Whether you want to play on your PC or laptop, learning how to PES 2013 indir (download PES 2013) safely and efficiently is key. In this article, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know about downloading, installing, and enjoying PES 2013.

What Is PES 2013?

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 is a football simulation game developed by Konami. Released in 2012, it’s praised for its realistic gameplay, improved AI, and authentic football experience. Despite newer editions, many gamers prefer PES 2013 for its smooth mechanics and nostalgic value.

Why Download PES 2013?

Even years after its release, PES 2013 holds a special place due to:

Classic gameplay that is simple yet deep.

Realistic player animations and ball physics.

Strong community mods and patches that keep the game fresh.

Light system requirements, perfect for older PCs.

How to Download PES 2013 (PES 2013 Indir) Safely

Downloading PES 2013 requires caution to avoid viruses or malware. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you:

Find a Reliable Source: Use trusted websites or official platforms known for hosting game files. Avoid random download links from unknown sources.

Check for Legitimate Files: Look for files with proper descriptions, user reviews, and safe download indicators.

Download the Setup File: Choose the correct version for your system (usually PC).

Scan for Viruses: Before installation, scan the downloaded file with antivirus software.

Install the Game: Follow the on-screen instructions to install PES 2013 on your device.

Apply Patches or Mods (Optional): If you want updated teams or features, look for popular community patches.

System Requirements for PES 2013

Before downloading, ensure your PC meets these minimum requirements:

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or AMD equivalent

RAM: 2 GB

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better

Storage: 8 GB free space

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Meeting or exceeding these specs guarantees smoother gameplay.

Installing PES 2013: Tips and Tricks

Run as Administrator: This helps avoid installation errors.

Disable Antivirus Temporarily: Some antiviruses block game files mistakenly. Remember to enable it after installation.

Update Graphics Drivers: Make sure your GPU drivers are current for the best performance.

Use Compatibility Mode: If you face issues on newer Windows versions, run the installer in compatibility mode for Windows 7 or 8.

How to Play PES 2013 Online

Many PES fans enjoy multiplayer matches. To play online:

Set up a stable internet connection.

Use third-party platforms like PES League or eFootball.net (if supported).

Join community servers or use VPNs if direct matchmaking is unavailable.

Always update the game and patches to ensure compatibility.

Popular Mods and Patches for PES 2013

Enhance your PES 2013 experience with community-created mods:

Updated team rosters and kits.

New stadiums and crowds.

Improved graphics packs.

Gameplay tweaks and fixes.

Look for popular patches like the PES 2013 Data Pack or SMoKE Patch for the latest updates.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Game crashes on startup: Update drivers, disable background apps, or reinstall.

Lag or low FPS: Lower graphic settings or close other programs.

Multiplayer connection problems: Check firewall settings and ensure ports are open.

Conclusion

Downloading and enjoying PES 2013 indir is still very much possible and rewarding for football game lovers. With the right sources, proper installation, and optional mods, you can bring back the excitement of one of the best football simulation games of its generation. Follow the steps above, and get ready to score goals, make incredible passes, and experience the thrill of classic PES gameplay!

FAQs

Q1: Is PES 2013 free to download? Usually, you’ll find free downloads for demo or trial versions, but full copies might require purchase or use of legit platforms.

Q2: Can I play PES 2013 on Windows 10? Yes, with proper compatibility settings and updated drivers, PES 2013 runs fine on Windows 10.

Q3: Are mods safe for PES 2013? Most popular mods are safe, but always download from trusted sources and scan files for malware.

Q4: Can I play PES 2013 on Mac? PES 2013 is primarily for Windows; running on Mac requires additional software like Bootcamp or a virtual machine.

Q5: Where can I find patches for PES 2013? Community sites and forums like PES Patch or Evo-Web are great places to start.

[krisp-xyz]

Found your work. You inspired me to take another shot at technical art and graphics programming. Do you recommend any specific resources for getting started and beyond?

Thanks so much! Really glad I could inspire you to do that bc graphics and tech art things are so much fun :D

(Also sorry for the late response. I've been a bit busy and was also thinking about how I wanted to format this)

I'm mostly self taught with a lot of stuff and have done lots of research on a per-project basis, but Acerola and Freya Holmer are two of my favorite channels for learning graphics or technical art things. Shadertoy is also an amazing resource to not only create and view other's shaders, but learn about algorithms and see how people do things!

While I don't have many general resources. I'll steal these resources for graphics programming that Acerola shared in his discord server:

For getting started with graphics engine development: DX11: https://www.rastertek.com/tutdx11s3.html OpenGL: https://learnopengl.com/ DX12: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3d12/directx-12-programming-guide Vulkan: https://vulkan-tutorial.com/

For getting started with shaders: catlikecoding: https://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/rendering/ the book of shaders: https://thebookofshaders.com/ daniel ilett's image effects series: https://danielilett.com/2019-04-24-tut1-intro-smo/

For getting started with compute shaders: Kyle Halladay: http://kylehalladay.com/blog/tutorial/2014/06/27/Compute-Shaders-Are-Nifty.html Ronja: https://www.ronja-tutorials.com/post/050-compute-shader/ Three Eyed Games (this one teaches ray tracing AND compute shaders, what a bargain!): http://three-eyed-games.com/2018/05/03/gpu-ray-tracing-in-unity-part-1/

I also wanted to talk a little bit about I do research for projects!

A lot of my proficiency in shaders just comes from practice and slowly building a better understanding of how to best utilize the tools at my disposal, almost like each project is solving a puzzle and I want to find the most optimal solution I can come up with.

This is definitely easier said than done and while a lot of my proficiency comes from just doodling around with projects and practicing, I understand that "just practice more lol" is a boring and kinda unhelpful answer. When it comes to projects like my lighting engine, I came up with a lot of the algorithm stuff myself, but there were certainly lots of details that I learned about from past projects and research like ray marching (calculating the ray intersection of a distance function) and I learned about the jump flood algorithm from a tech artist friend (calculating distance functions from textures)

Each new algorithm you learn in various projects ends up being another tool in your toolbox, and each project becomes a combination of researching new tools and applying the tools you've learned in the past.

One last example. I made a Chladni plate simulation in blender (that thing where you put sand on a metal plate and play noises and it makes patterns) and it started with me researching and looking up chladni plates, I watched youtube videos related to why the sand forms the patterns it does, which ended up being due to how the sound waves displaced the plane. I googled some more and found the actual equation that represents it, and used it to simulate particle motion.

Figure out some projects you want to do and just do some googling or ask for help in game dev discord servers or whatever. Lot's of research on a per-project basis is honestly how you'll learn the most imo :3

[zeemakesthings]

To hell with Windows, hello Linux!

(Long, long 2 AM rant) I got an Alienware Area-51 Threadripper R6 from FB Marketplace last year. No, it's not my main machine, and don't hate me for it.

It was cheap, and it's nostalgic. I remember watching a bunch of tech videos growing up and this was one of my favorite computers. Did I understand any of the tech garble? No. But I thought it looked freakin' cool. So I saw it online and said why not. It'll make a good birthday present for myself, plus I can use it as a testbed of sorts for whatever computer projects I can think of.

It's treated me well despite my abuse. I've stress-tested it, done some rendering, ran some language models, and dabbled in crypto mining. One of the GPU's failed but i wasn't too surprised.

Throughout all of this, however, I've had three occasions where Windows decided to remove itself from the living realm. The first time I assume it was a driver error. I unplugged a device and it fully froze. After a restart, it would no longer boot. I'm not too worried since, it being a testbed, I don't have important stuff on it. So I reinstall Windows and move on. (Should I have had to do that in the first place, I don't think so.) The second time, it died after an update. A standard Windows update. Can't remember what exactly. But it stopped booting after the restart. This time, however, it appeared to also brick the firmware? Plugged in my installation media, turned on the computer, and I'm greeted with an empty drive list. It couldn't see the drives in my PC. Wack. Spent a few hours troubleshooting that one.

(I'm writing this at 2 AM, about to pass out, can't remember much details lol)

It's been smooth sailing for about four months. I'm having a blast, gaming, surfing, the like. I've started hosting a Minecraft server for my friends for the past two weeks. PC has been on for most of that time, with a few restarts to freshen up the system. Fast forward to yesterday (technically two days ago since it's past midnight). I do another restart, and before starting the server again I decide to check for any updated. Two pop up, I decide to let them install. Windows stopped booting. This time I'm stressed, since I'm hosting our server. I migrated it from Aternos so people can join whenever they want, so it has a months worth of progress on it.

I make an installation media (on a Macbook mind you, don't get me started on that process), and attempt to recover the windows install before I reset it. I spent four hours figuring it out on Tuesday, and couldn't even make it to the Setup screen. I gave up, hit the hay. Wednesday I got right back to it, going as far as to re-installing the BIOS. After that and some more, I finally get to the Setup screen, where I'm met with a new message: "Install driver to show hardware".

"awesome, a new challenge" the he sais to his self *he was then shot 74 times* I saw that message and knew this wasn't gonna end well. Luckily I had an NVMe adapter on hand so I could pull the server files from my drive.

Six hours were spent, wasted, on troubleshooting this error. I've gone through forums on at least half a dozen websites. Nothing worked. All hope was lost for Windows.

Then, a little penguin appeared in my head. I had to try. I've had Linux in the past, only temporarily. It's never given me any problems besides running games with anti-cheat. That's mainly why I haven't switched fully before. But developers have improved Linux support for games, and now Steam has their own Linux-based OS. So I said, why not. I created my Ubuntu flash drive, plugged it in and booted my PC. First try. It worked. Of course it would, it's Linux. It doesn't care if you install it on a literal potato fresh out of the ground. It's now Thursday midnight past, and I'm finally downloading my apps and programs.

At this very moment, I made a decision. I will never use Windows again, unless for the rare circumstance I need to run a Windows-only program. In that case, I'd rather dual-boot my machine than have it Windows-only. I've never had a bad experience with Linux. Is it challenging? Yes. Is it as user-friendly? It can be, as long as you don't need to do anything significant. But I'm fine with that. I'm willing to learn, and I have fun doing so. I'll finally rid myself of Microsoft's greedy and selfish products. And yes, I got the Minecraft server running on Linux. Only took me 15 minutes, and even that's because I've never done it before. It's a five-minute process.

[rootresident]

Self Hosting

I haven't posted here in quite a while, but the last year+ for me has been a journey of learning a lot of new things. This is a kind of 'state-of-things' post about what I've been up to for the last year.

I put together a small home lab with 3 HP EliteDesk SFF PCs, an old gaming desktop running an i7-6700k, and my new gaming desktop running an i7-11700k and an RTX-3080 Ti.

"Using your gaming desktop as a server?" Yep, sure am! It's running Unraid with ~7TB of storage, and I'm passing the GPU through to a Windows VM for gaming. I use Sunshine/Moonlight to stream from the VM to my laptop in order to play games, though I've definitely been playing games a lot less...

On to the good stuff: I have 3 Proxmox nodes in a cluster, running the majority of my services. Jellyfin, Audiobookshelf, Calibre Web Automated, etc. are all running on Unraid to have direct access to the media library on the array. All told there's 23 docker containers running on Unraid, most of which are media management and streaming services. Across my lab, I have a whopping 57 containers running. Some of them are for things like monitoring which I wouldn't really count, but hey I'm not going to bother taking an effort to count properly.

The Proxmox nodes each have a VM for docker which I'm managing with Portainer, though that may change at some point as Komodo has caught my eye as a potential replacement.

All the VMs and LXC containers on Proxmox get backed up daily and stored on the array, and physical hosts are backed up with Kopia and also stored on the array. I haven't quite figured out backups for the main storage array yet (redundancy != backups), because cloud solutions are kind of expensive.

You might be wondering what I'm doing with all this, and the answer is not a whole lot. I make some things available for my private discord server to take advantage of, the main thing being game servers for Minecraft, Valheim, and a few others. For all that stuff I have to try and do things mostly the right way, so I have users managed in Authentik and all my other stuff connects to that. I've also written some small things here and there to automate tasks around the lab, like SSL certs which I might make a separate post on, and custom dashboard to view and start the various game servers I host. Otherwise it's really just a few things here and there to make my life a bit nicer, like RSSHub to collect all my favorite art accounts in one place (fuck you Instagram, piece of shit).

It's hard to go into detail on a whim like this so I may break it down better in the future, but assuming I keep posting here everything will probably be related to my lab. As it's grown it's definitely forced me to be more organized, and I promise I'm thinking about considering maybe working on documentation for everything. Bookstack is nice for that, I'm just lazy. One day I might even make a network map...