Category Archives: Ask J.D.

White USB-C cables ($6.99)

After upgrading from a Samsung S6 to a Nexus 6P, one of the few changes needed was new USB-C cables! Thankfully, Amazon has a nice assortment. I especially like the white USB-C cables here: They are usually available for around $6.99 and they allow easy connection to USB-A (“regular” USB) devices like most existing PCs, Macs and laptops. After purchasing a two pack, I’m a happy camper 🙂

AMD Radeon R9 M375 2GB, with DDR5 and specs

Some exciting news about the Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 14″ laptop, its GPU uses DDR5 memory. Woot! NOTE: For best performance I highly recommend upgrading the standard HDD to a SSD. You can find complete steps here: Lenovo IdeaPad Y700-14 SSD Upgrade Here is the DDR5 GPU memory screenshot: My specific Lenovo Y700-14 model: PS thanks to commenter Fee for asking the great question whether it utilized GDDR3 or GDDR5 🙂 PSS as the specs show, I have the 2GB version

Exede Liberty Pass speed tests [RESULTS]

Here you will find real world speed test results for ViaSat’s Exede Liberty Pass internet plan. These results are from AFTER the monthly allotment is downloaded. These are also with their latest modem which features “up to” 25 Mbps downloads. Here is verification that the monthly allotment has been used, and the Liberty Pass is in effect:   A quick note regarding units discussed in this post: Unit symbol The ISQ symbols for the bit and byte are bit and B,

Lenovo X220 (X230, X240) disassembly & SSD upgrade guide

Please find below photos showing Lenovo ThinkPad X220 disassembly and mSATA SSD upgrade. WiFi is also easily upgradeable (make sure to get whitelisted card or modified BIOS) Lastly, 2.5″ SSD is upgradeable without even opening up the case 😉 NOTE: I recommend the Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD for the mSATA SSD. This drive costs < $90 at Amazon with free shipping. For the 2.5″ drive I recommend a larger SSD like the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB which is roughly $160 on Amazon.

Yoga 2 Pro SSD Upgrade [HOWTO]

Please see photos below, with these simple steps you can upgrade to a faster and higher-capacity mSATA drive. NOTE: I used a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD for the upgrade. This drive costs < $90 at Amazon with free shipping. Performance has been exceptional and the 500GB and 1TB drives also work well with the Yoga 2 Pro. 🙂 TIP: Click any photo for a larger view.

Enable mod_rewrite on TurnKey Linux Apache2

How to enable mod_rewrite on TurnKey Linux: a2enmod rewrite root@lamp ~# a2enmod rewrite Enabling module rewrite. To activate the new configuration, you need to run: service apache2 restart root@lamp ~# service apache2 restart [….] Restarting web server: apache2apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName … waiting .apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName . ok root@lamp ~# 🙂 [end]