Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Give us a seminar, lecture or lesson on what your 'thing' is. Now with our exclusive ASK-A-NERD!!!
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Gawdzilla Sama
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:04 pm

Pappa wrote:
Gawdzilla wrote:
Pappa wrote: :hehe:

It might be some kind of Assassin Bug.
Fuck me!
:biggrin:

I used to keep asassin bugs as pets.
That link is from the state just south of me. The one I saw didn't have wings, or they were folded carefully. :dono: It t'were fugly, I know that.
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Animavore » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:08 pm

Wow. It even has a cool name. Assassin bug. Why don't we have a cool name? Human is a very neutral sounding word. It doesn't stick out.
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Pappa » Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:39 pm

Gawdzilla wrote:
Pappa wrote:
Gawdzilla wrote:
Pappa wrote: :hehe:

It might be some kind of Assassin Bug.
Fuck me!
:biggrin:

I used to keep asassin bugs as pets.
That link is from the state just south of me. The one I saw didn't have wings, or they were folded carefully. :dono: It t'were fugly, I know that.
I think all assassin bugs have wings that fold away. They are cool animals, watching them feed is nice. They jab their proboscis into their prey and slurp out the juices. Apparently it hurts a great deal if they jab you in the hand or something.
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Mr P » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:16 pm

Gawdzilla wrote:
Bella Fortuna wrote:Looks like a souped-up dead leaf mantis.
The head is too small for a mantis, as far as I know.
DSCF0008a.JPG
HOLY CRAP!!!!! SELL THE HOUSE AND GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THAT THING AS YOU CAN!!


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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:18 pm

But I just put six in my mom's bedroom. Can't leave until this plays out. :coffee:
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Mr P » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:30 pm

Gawdzilla wrote:But I just put six in my mom's bedroom. Can't leave until this plays out. :coffee:
Only if you post a video of the proceedings :biggrin:

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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:35 pm

Mr P wrote:
Gawdzilla wrote:But I just put six in my mom's bedroom. Can't leave until this plays out. :coffee:
Only if you post a video of the proceedings :biggrin:
I haz camcorder! :tup:
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by FBM » Thu Oct 22, 2009 2:31 am

Dear Nerds,

I have a 200GB/7200rpm/8M Samsung SATA 1.5Gbps hard drive sitting here. I haz no particular skillz or desire to build a whole system around it. Is there any way I could hook it up to my current system and use it as an external HDD?

Sincerely,


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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:46 am

FBM wrote:Dear Nerds,

I have a 200GB/7200rpm/8M Samsung SATA 1.5Gbps hard drive sitting here. I haz no particular skillz or desire to build a whole system around it. Is there any way I could hook it up to my current system and use it as an external HDD?

Sincerely,


Idjit
http://peripherals.about.com/od/removab ... intext.htm
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by FBM » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:25 pm

Gawdzilla wrote:
FBM wrote:Dear Nerds,

I have a 200GB/7200rpm/8M Samsung SATA 1.5Gbps hard drive sitting here. I haz no particular skillz or desire to build a whole system around it. Is there any way I could hook it up to my current system and use it as an external HDD?

Sincerely,


Idjit
http://peripherals.about.com/od/removab ... intext.htm
Ah. Yeah, I found that page earlier. Problem is that I've got a Samsung Sens G25 http://www.itechnews.net/2007/07/21/sam ... tebook-pc/, which is a mutant. It's made like a huge-mongous laptop, but it's only semi-portable, in the sense that it doesn't have a battery like a laptop. Is there any way to make the necessary connections w/out breaking into the case? I'm thinking not...
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:28 pm

FBM wrote:
Gawdzilla wrote:
FBM wrote:Dear Nerds,

I have a 200GB/7200rpm/8M Samsung SATA 1.5Gbps hard drive sitting here. I haz no particular skillz or desire to build a whole system around it. Is there any way I could hook it up to my current system and use it as an external HDD?

Sincerely,


Idjit
http://peripherals.about.com/od/removab ... intext.htm
Ah. Yeah, I found that page earlier. Problem is that I've got a Samsung Sens G25 http://www.itechnews.net/2007/07/21/sam ... tebook-pc/, which is a mutant. It's made like a huge-mongous laptop, but it's only semi-portable, in the sense that it doesn't have a battery like a laptop. Is there any way to make the necessary connections w/out breaking into the case? I'm thinking not...
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Um, yes, very nice. Quite fucking nice. Sure you don't want to break into the case? :naughty:
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by FBM » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:32 pm

Gawdzilla wrote:Um, yes, very nice. Quite fucking nice. Sure you don't want to break into the case? :naughty:
I'd love to dive into that laptop. :tup:

But am I right in assuming there are no adapters that could make the external ports on this thing serve to hook up the drive?
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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Calilasseia » Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:03 am

Temporary derail ...

Having found out about the bug photos purely by accident, this creature (which someone else has identified as Arilus cristatus is known as the Wheel Bug, courtesy of that strange thoracic protrusion which resembles a gear wheel. That bug is begging for a Photoshop steampunk makeover. :mrgreen:

Now, back to our scheduled thread.

As to the internal hard drive to external hard drive conversion, it would require a lot of work. I don't know about SATA hard drives, but I suspect that with regard to power input, internal drives intended to live inside a desktop PC case have the same power connector as the older PATA drives (the ones that used to be called IDE or EIDE in the days before SATA existed). The power connectors for hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives have 4 wires attached to them, and each wire carries a different voltage. Which means you'd have to replicate that power supply to the drive, and the only way I know of doing that is to buy yourself a full-blown PC power supply unit and plug it into that. Then, you have all the fun of finding a way of interfacing the data connector to the outside world in such a way as to enable you to plug it into a USB port. Now, if SATA ports are compatible with USB ports signal wise, then this might not be a problem, but if they're not, you're looking at designing some fairly intricate electronics to provide the interfacing. Possibly involving putting together your own circuit board (and designing the thing from scratch using appropriate software), interfacing a brace of interesting ICs together to provide the signal conversion, and then testing the damn thing to make sure it doesn't blow up on you, preferably using a drive that you don't intend to use long term. Then, you've got to parcel the whole thing into a box, and provide it with an external power cable to run the PSU. If the drive is a fast spinning one, you might consider sticking a big fan on top of it to keep it cool, and building some nice ventilation slots into the box the whole setup will live in.

Frankly, it's so much work that I'd wait until you find yourself needing a second PC to put it in, and save it for that.

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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by FedUpWithFaith » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:13 am

Gawdzilla wrote:
Bella Fortuna wrote:Looks like a souped-up dead leaf mantis.
The head is too small for a mantis, as far as I know.
DSCF0008a.JPG
Have your seen/read The Mist? They look like they could be the baby version of the bugs in that story. Collect a few and see if they grow and kill you.

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Re: Dear Ask-a-Nerd.

Post by Xamonas Chegwé » Wed Dec 09, 2009 10:49 am

Calilasseia wrote:Temporary derail ...

Having found out about the bug photos purely by accident, this creature (which someone else has identified as Arilus cristatus is known as the Wheel Bug, courtesy of that strange thoracic protrusion which resembles a gear wheel. That bug is begging for a Photoshop steampunk makeover. :mrgreen:

Now, back to our scheduled thread.

As to the internal hard drive to external hard drive conversion, it would require a lot of work. I don't know about SATA hard drives, but I suspect that with regard to power input, internal drives intended to live inside a desktop PC case have the same power connector as the older PATA drives (the ones that used to be called IDE or EIDE in the days before SATA existed). The power connectors for hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives have 4 wires attached to them, and each wire carries a different voltage. Which means you'd have to replicate that power supply to the drive, and the only way I know of doing that is to buy yourself a full-blown PC power supply unit and plug it into that. Then, you have all the fun of finding a way of interfacing the data connector to the outside world in such a way as to enable you to plug it into a USB port. Now, if SATA ports are compatible with USB ports signal wise, then this might not be a problem, but if they're not, you're looking at designing some fairly intricate electronics to provide the interfacing. Possibly involving putting together your own circuit board (and designing the thing from scratch using appropriate software), interfacing a brace of interesting ICs together to provide the signal conversion, and then testing the damn thing to make sure it doesn't blow up on you, preferably using a drive that you don't intend to use long term. Then, you've got to parcel the whole thing into a box, and provide it with an external power cable to run the PSU. If the drive is a fast spinning one, you might consider sticking a big fan on top of it to keep it cool, and building some nice ventilation slots into the box the whole setup will live in.

Frankly, it's so much work that I'd wait until you find yourself needing a second PC to put it in, and save it for that.
Sounds like an awful lot of work to me when you could just buy something like this... :whistle:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149273
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