Category Archives: tech tips

Best Ethereum mining GPU [Sep 20th, 2016]

Currently, as of September 20th 2016, the best GPU for mining Ethereum is the AMD RX 480. The criteria are cost, hashrate (in MH/s) and power usage. My current top pick is the Sapphire Radeon NITRO+ RX 480 8GB model with 1342 Mhz core clock speed, for approx 27-29MH/s. At current rates this $279 card should mine about $750 USD of Ethereum a year. 4GB or 8GB? 4GB models of the RX 480 offer a lower initial cost, but resale value

Lenovo X230 Memory Upgrade to 16GB [HOWTO] [VIDEO]

[Scroll to the bottom for a quick video of the upgrade process!] The Lenovo X230 (and its predecessor the X220) are absurdly easy to upgrade. Here is the X230 memory upgrade process: Power off laptop (fully OFF, not hibernate) Remove battery Remove two screws from memory access panel Remove existing RAM by releasing retention clips Securely install new upgrade RAM Replace cover & screws Replace battery and power ON! For the upgrade, I chose Crucial’s excellent 16GB DDR3 RAM kit

NanoStation Loco M900 default IP address (192.168.1.20)

Recently I setup a point-to-point (Layer 2, transparent bridge) using two Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M900 wireless (900MHz) devices. For reference purposes, here is the default IP address as well as the default username/password: Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco Default Login Info: Default IP address: 192.168.1.20 Default username: ubnt Default password: ubnt Overall, the performance and link quality has been excellent. Range and resistance to interference has also been superior to most 2.4GHz/5GHz implementations. 🙂 If you have experience with NanoStations, feel free to leave a comment!

Printer connected to WiFi but shows offline [SOLVED]

Q. I have a printer that is connected to my home wifi network. It has an IP address and I can access its web interface from my PC. Sometimes I can print just fine from my Windows PC but other times it reports the printer is offline even when I know it is online. Can you help me? -email from Evan Thornton A. Hopefully! It sounds like a Windows printer driver configuration issue. Specifically, if your printer is getting its IP from a

Residence Inn Marriott, Springfield MO [business WiFi review]

I regularly stay in Springfield MO and Branson MO for business. I normally test the speeds at every hotel I stay in. Recently I stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Springfield MO and here are the results: ~2.0Mbps D/L* ~0.9Mbps U/L* *average of multiple tests throughout stay. Max D/L was 3Mbps, min was 1Mbps. Max U/L was always around 0.9Mbps. Overall, these are some of the worst speeds I have seen in southern Missouri. You can pay $8.95 a day for higher speeds,

Neverware CloudReady VM (for VMWare/VirtualBox) [FREE]

Recently several tech sites ran article about using Neverware’s customized version of Chrome OS to turn old PC hardware into Chromebooks. That is of course very cool 🙂 However, would like to be able to easily test Chrome OS on modern (relatively) high-end hardware. Preferably without having to dual boot. Virtual machines to the rescue! Here is the download link for Neverware’s VM, it works with both VMware and VirtualBox: http://go.neverware.com/freeVM44 Here are screenshots I took of the installation process

HDCP stripper – HOWTO remove HDCP from HDMI signal

I recently encountered an issue where my DirecTV HDMI output was unusable on my new LCD. Thankfully, the following HDMI HDCP stripper allowed me to watch on my monitor 🙂 NOTE: The best price I could find was $19.95 on Amazon with free shipping and if you need the extra HDMI cable, they have them for ~$5.49. The process is very simple: Connect power to the HDCP stripper Connect first HDMI cable from DirecTV receiver to “HDMI INPUT” on the stripper Connect second HDMI

JPS300V 5V DC power supplies for LED signs

The JPS300V DC power is a robust option for powering LED signs and other products that require relatively high amperage 5V output. 60A at 5V = 300 watts which is pretty hefty for a DC power supply. Out of approximately 80 PSUs, we have had around 2-3 fail. This is a roughly 3.8% failure rate in some fairly difficult situations (withstanding fairly intense heat, cold and moisture). Overall I would rate them as a good low-cost option especially if you can