This page covers what electronic devices, equipment and software I’m running right now.
Time since last update: 9 months.
What’s New?
Honestly, after almost a year, not much new stuff is the answer! I just don’t have much need for new things, so most of this is replacing aging parts, and adding capacity.
- After almost 13 years, I replaced the old Ivy Bridge era Intel i5 3470 in the Linux archive server. The upgrade was to a 65W Ryzen 5 5500GT - that’s minus 12W from the Intel i5 predecessor. The 5500GT also has a built in GPU - something of a rarity in the 5000 series.
- Went for the ASRock Steel Legend mobo as it has decent capacitors, decent power phasing and 2 x PCI x16 slots.
- Put in 16GB of Team DDR4 RAM.
- Added in an Intel I225-V (B3 Stepping) based NIC from Kuroutoshikou for better throughput and WoL support.
- Upgraded the archive server from Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS to 24.04 LTS.
- Added yet another drive to the desktop PC - a Crucial T500 M.2 - so it’s back to being a dual boot Windows / Linux machine - but mainly Linux.
- Replaced the battery in the Dell XPS 13 after over 6 years.
- Bought a Meta Quest 3 VR headset.
Hardware
Desktop PC
My Frankenstein’s monster of a desktop box is mainly for audio and video editing, encoding, gaming and some work. It generally gets updated piecemeal.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (December 2019) with Scythe Mugen 5 cooler (2020/02)
- RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 (2019/12)
- Mobo: Gigabyte B550M DS3H (2023/02)
- Graphics: ASUS Dual GTX 4060 8GB (2023/07)
- Sound: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (2019/05)
- PSU: Antec EarthWatts 650 Green PSU (2013/01)
- Drives: Windows 11 on a 1TB Silicon Power A80 NVMe (2019/12), Linux Mint on a 1TB Crucial T500 (2024/12), photos on a Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD (2018/12), and some misc. data on a 4TB Western Digital Red drive (2018/09).
- Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (July 2013) - a heavy but quiet box.
- Monitor: LG UltraWide 34WN750-B (2020/07)
- Speakers: Audio Engine A2+ (2015/01)
- Headphones: AKG K371 (2021/01)
- OS: Mint Linux and Windows 11.
Archive Server
Another self built machine mainly used for file serving and media storage.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT (2024/12) with a Scythe Choten air cooler (December 2020)
- RAM: 16GB Team DDR4 (2024/12)
- Mobo: ASRock B550 Steel Legend (2024/12)
- NIC: Kuroutoshikou 2.5Gbps NIC (Intel i225-V-S3) (2024/12)
- Graphics: On CPU (headless)
- PSU: Fractal Design ION Gold 550W (2024/01)
- PCIe SATA III Board - Area SD-PE4SA-6L (2023/01)
- Drives: Samsung 870 EVO 500GB SSD (2022/12) for OS, 2 x 6TB Seagate IronWolf (2021/07 & 2022/01) for personal data & 2 x 8TB Seagate Barracudas (2019/11 & 2019/12) and 2 x Seagate IronWolf for media backups (2022/11).
- Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (2013/11) with Scythe Flex 140 fans.
- Monitor: N/A
- Speakers: N/A
- Headphones: N/A
- OS: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS.
Dell XPS 13
This is a 9360 model from mid 2018. Battery replaced in 2024/10.
- CPU: Intel Core i5-8250U
- RAM: 8GB
- Graphics: UHD 620
- Drives: 256GB NVMe
- Monitor: 13" 1080p
- OS: Endeavour OS.
GMKtec NucBox 5
A small form factor mini PC purchased in 2023/09. This runs my home ‘always on’ services such as Pihole, Syncthing and Tailscale. Almost silent and very small, but much quicker than the old Raspberry Pi’s it replaces, especially on the web UIs.
- CPU: Intel Celeron N5105 CPU & chipset
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage: 256GB M2 SATA SSD.
- OS: Debian 12.
Software
Backups are handled via iDrive, using a private key for a little more security, since living in a wooden house in an earthquake zone does make me think about off-site backups quite a lot. For folder sync between machines I use Syncthing, and that’s only on LAN.
Most of the things I do are text based, so I try to keep it simple, using editors like Obsidian for most general stuff, as it helps organise things too. Photo management is mainly via digiKam and sometimes DarkTable.
I keep passwords in a Bitwarden vault and sensitive documents in VeraCrypt files.
Video editing
BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve 19.x is great for video editing, if a little overpowered for me, and I use both YouTube and Vimeo for video availability when I do put something online, though most is family videos. I use LosslessCut for hacking away unneeded footage from my video excursions.
The Audio and the Visual
I have a FujiFilm X-T200 mirrorless camera (2020/05) with the 15-45mm kit lens, a 23mm weather sealed prime, a 16-80mm travel zoom and a cheap 60mm Macro lens from 7artisans.
For an action cam, I have a DJI Osmo Action 4 along with the DJI Mic 2. I like to use action cameras on the snowboard, bicycles, motorbikes and at beaches.
In mid-2019 I indulged a long time interest in audio recording, and invested in a Rode NT1 microphone and a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface. Still loving them both.
Audio Editing
Since buying a proper microphone and audio interface, I went for Reaper6 as a cheap but easy to understand DAW. For the small fee it’s difficult to say how much nicer, fast and easier Reaper is than other options.
Gadgets
- Google Pixel 6a smartphone (2023/10).
- Kindle PaperWhite 2015 (2015/09).
- Raspberry Pi’s of various generations (1-4) doing various things.
- Arduino Uno and other electronics kit (2013 onwards).
- Zoom H1 audio recorder (2012/03).
- Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones (2020/02).
- Flexispot EQ5 Pro standing desk (2021/12).
- Sony Playstation 5 for gaming (2023/02).
- Meta Quest 3 VR Headset (2024/12)
Hosting
This site and my email is housed on some space at Pair Networks.