Tag: computers

Upgrading Mac Pro 2010 With New Graphic Card and SSD Drives

Seth Anderson0 comment

New expensive cheese grater

My beloved desktop Mac – a Mac Pro 5,1 – started exhibiting signs of an impending graphic card failure. After a few hours of use, patterns of visual artifacts made of little squares would fill the screen, the mouse curser would be replaced with text, and then the computer would become unresponsive. I could still use the various shared hard drives via other Macs on my Local Area Network, but eventually I would have to do a forced reboot1.

Mac Pro graphics card failure (probably)

A hard reboot like that is not ideal for many reasons, including potentially corrupting databases like my Lightroom catalog or my DEVONThink database or other issues. Luckily, I don’t think that happened, but it certainly was a risk. Eventually the graphic card probably wouldn’t recover after a failure, so I purchased a new2 card with a GPU.

The Mac Pro 5,1 aka The Cheese Grater, is a beloved Mac because it was engineered to be opened up and upgraded. The whole side panel pops off smoothly, the internal components are accessible, and some slide out if you need them to. I miss that era, to be honest, when computers were designed to be tinkered with. The current version of Apple locks away most components from casual tinkerers like myself, which is probably why I didn’t invest more money and upgrade the entire machine to a newer, in warranty, model, but instead just repaired the soon to be broken part.

I attribute this to Steve Jobs being involved in the design of the original Mac Pro, who knows, maybe even Jony Ive gave useful ideas? Whatever, the Mac Pro 5,1 is a delightfully engineered computer.

Opening Mac Pro Step 1

While I was in the mode, I decided to also replace one of the four internal “spinning” hard drives with a newer SSD style drive. My plan is to use it as the boot drive, once I’ve used Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper! to copy all of the files from my current boot drive. This is taking forever and a day because I’m a digital packrat, and foolishly started copying before culling out some fluff that I don’t need on either drive. Oh well…

Again, the new part installed in minutes because the Mac Pro 5,1 was engineered to make installing and/or replacing hard drives easy – there are drive bays which just pop out when you toggle a physical switch, then just 4 little screws to put in the new SSD, push it back into the drive bay, and Bob’s Your Uncle…

The plan is also to upgrade the Mac’s OS to Catalina3, maybe, or even just Mojave4 from High Sierra5, the currently installed OS sometime later this week. I have another SSD to install, this will hold my digital photography files and work files, replacing a “spinning” hard drive that currently is the repository for those.

Mac Pro opened

Final thought, my dual monitor setup isn’t going to work right away as I have to buy yet another dongle, a somewhat rare MiniDisplay Female to HDMI Male connector. I ordered one, reluctantly, knowing I’ll probably find a dongle somewhere in my messy office a day later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—–

Update 2/21/22

This turned out to be a more complicated project than anticipated because I didn’t follow the correct steps in order. I had to start over. Projects like this really makes one appreciate all the helpful information available on the internet. I was not a trailblazer in figuring this complicated process out, I’d bet most of the information was 5 or 10 years old, but still useful for me!

Here is what I did yesterday:

  1. Take out the Metal-supporting new graphics card, and install the old OEM card.
    1. The old card was a weird design for a factory installed card. It has an elongated plastic ring to the side which makes it too long, almost, to fit into the designated space. I really had to struggle to get it to fit, and as far as I can tell, there is no purpose for this design, at least for a Mac Pro 5,1. Maybe for some other computer? But weird because the card itself is short, only the sled holding the card was super long.
    2. the new card takes more power, luckily, there is an extra source of power just for this reason. Thanks Apple!
  2. Put a new HD (spinning) in sled, format, and do a fresh install of High Sierra from this Apple page. I don’t know if I really needed to do this, but I had a spare hard drive, and an empty slot to install it, so why not.
  3. Turn off SIP – this is where I got stuck earlier because the new graphics card doesn’t include a boot screen
    1. Reboot, holding ⌘-R6 to boot into Recovery Mode. This takes a moment, but eventually worked
    2. Load Terminal under the Utilities Menu
    3. Type: csrutil disable
    4. Reboot
  4. Install openCore following the simple steps7
  5. Remove old card, put new graphics card back in
  6. Update to OS Mojave via this Apple page on the new SSD drive
    1. Required updating firmware
    2. Load Install Mojave app
    3. Shut down
    4. Hold the power button for 2-3 minutes until the power light started to flash, and then a loud beep meant the firmware was updating
    5. I walked away, when I came back, I was at the High Sierra login screen
    6. Loaded the Install Mojave app again, and initiated the upgrade, easy peasy!

Right away after my first few moments in Mojave, 9 apps from the Apple App store wanted to update, plus several other apps not purchased from the Apple App store also. Yayyyy…

I may stay in Mojave for a while, looking at the Wikipedia chart of what Apple apps are included, I want to keep using iTunes instead of updating to Music. I’ve used both apps for a while now, and I still think iTunes is the better, more stable app. There is a hack to enable iTunes to be run on a newer MacOS, but I’ll wait a while for that.

Spending hours on a project like this is not wasted time, if the end result is successful. One feels a sense of satisfaction when the job is finished.

Footnotes:
  1. by holding the power key for 30 seconds [↩]
  2. better, newer, faster, more capable [↩]
  3. 10.15 [↩]
  4. 10.14 [↩]
  5. 10.13 [↩]
  6. Command and R [↩]
  7. What is openCore? “OpenCore is an advanced boot loader program that expands the hardware compatibility of macOS by injecting key data into memory” [↩]

1984 Business Computer Prop – Commodore PET

Seth Anderson0 comment

Watched the new D.C. comic superhero film, Wonder Woman 1984 last night, and in a tiny scene with an actor without a speaking part, there was this shot of an office, complete with a computer that made me giggle.

A Commodore Pet1, complete with a built in cassette deck, presumedly for programs as the floppy disk technology wasn’t advanced enough. The computing power in my old iPhone is leaps and bounds more powerful than that desktop. I wonder if this prop was working, or if the green text on it was just printed directly on the screen. Who would know?

By the way, my quick, pointless review of Wonder Woman 1984: meh. Gal Gadot is beautiful2, but superhero films are empty calories. I watch many of them, but I agree with Martin Scorsese that the genre is not great art. Also, the golden suit of armor complete with angel wings was eye-rolly. Graded on a curve, Wonder Woman 1984 was a solid B. Better than Shazam!, the last superhero film I sat through, but that’s not high praise…

Footnotes:
  1. probably [↩]
  2. I kept imagining what she was like as a soldier in the Israeli Defense Force [↩]

US Spend Billions To Run Ancient Technology

Seth Anderson0 comment

G3 case open

Modernization of technology is not always the most urgent task: sometimes the newest innovations are more trouble than they are worth. But as time passes, older technologies become harder to maintain and find parts for. I speak from experience, as my office has an older computer kept around just to run legacy software that has been defunct for about ten years. Not ideal, but I realize eventually, I won’t be able to rebuild the old computer without learning how to solder and program. 

The US government has a much greater budget than my humble office, yet doesn’t seem concerned that the nuclear arsenal is controlled by floppy-disk era computers, and even more ancient COBOL routines.

The government is squandering its technology budget maintaining museum-ready computer systems in critical areas from nuclear weapons to Social Security. They’re still using floppy disks at the Pentagon. In a report released Wednesday, nonpartisan congressional investigators found that about three-fourths of the $80 billion budget goes to keep aging technology running, and the increasing cost is shortchanging modernization.

…

GAO says its estimate of at least $80 billion spent on information technology in 2015 is probably low. Not counted were certain Pentagon systems, as well as those run by independent agencies, among them the CIA. Major systems are known as “IT investments” in government jargon.

 …

The White House has been pushing to replace workhorse systems that date back more than 50 years in some cases. But the government is expected to spend $7 billion less on modernization in 2017 than in 2010, said the Government Accountability Office.

“Clearly, there are billions wasted,” GAO information technology expert David Powner told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at a hearing.

Although lawmakers of both parties say they are frustrated, it’s unclear whether Congress will act.

(click here to continue reading Report: Feds Spend Billions To Run Ancient Technology – Tech Trends on CIO Today.)

Unclear. Right, meaning, Congress has no intention of doing anything between now and election time, other than demagogue and raise money.

Computer Repair LED
Computer Repair LED

America’s nuclear arsenal depends on a surprising relic of the 1970s that few of us may recall: the humble floppy disk.

It’s hard to believe these magnetic, 8-inch data storage devices are what’s propping up the most fearsome weapons humanity has ever created. But the Department of Defense is still relying on this technology to coordinate key strategic forces such as nuclear bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to a new government report.

The floppy disks help run what’s known as the Strategic Automated Command and Control System, an important communications network that the Pentagon uses to issue launch orders to commanders and to share intelligence. And in order to use the floppy disks, the military must also maintain a collection of IBM Series/1 computers that to most people would look more at home in a museum than in a missile silo.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the military’s reliance on seemingly archaic tech: back in 2014, the U.S. Air Force showed CBS’s “60 Minutes” one of the top-secret floppy disks that helps it store and transmit sensitive information across dozens of communications sites. So to hear from the Government Accountability Office that the Pentagon has still not phased out the technology – and doesn’t plan to until the end of fiscal year 2017 – is remarkable.

(click here to continue reading The real reason America controls its nukes with ancient floppy disks – Chicago Tribune.)

Computer Consultants
Computer Consultants

For the record, here are some of the systems we are spending $80,000,000,000 a year on:

Among the vintage computing platforms highlighted in the report:

— The Defense Department’s Strategic Automated Command and Control System, which is used to send and receive emergency action messages to U.S. nuclear forces. The system is running on a 1970s IBM computing platform, and still uses 8-inch floppy disks to store data. “Replacement parts for the system are difficult to find because they are now obsolete,” GAO said. The Pentagon told GAO it is initiating a full replacement and the floppy disks should be gone by the end of next year. The entire upgrade will take longer.

— Treasury’s individual and business master files, the authoritative data sources for taxpayer information. The systems are about 56 years old and use an outdated computer language that is difficult to write and maintain. Treasury plans to replace the systems but has no firm dates.

— Social Security systems that are used to determine eligibility and estimate benefits, about 31 years old. Some use a programming language called COBOL, dating to the late 1950s and early 1960s. “Most of the employees who developed these systems are ready to retire and the agency will lose their collective knowledge,” the report said. “Training new employees to maintain the older systems takes a lot of time.” Social Security has no plans to replace the entire system but is eliminating and upgrading older and costlier components. It is also rehiring retirees who know the technology.

— Medicare’s Appeals System, which is only 11 years old, faces challenges keeping up with a growing number of appeals, as well as questions from congressional offices following up on constituent concerns. The report says the agency has general plans to keep updating the system, depending on the availability of funds.

— The Transportation Department’s Hazardous Materials Information System, used to track incidents and keep information regulators rely on. The system is about 41 years old, and vendors no longer support some of its software, which can create security risks. The department plans to complete its modernization program in 2018.

(click here to continue reading Report: Feds Spend Billions To Run Ancient Technology – Tech Trends on CIO Today.)

Nothing important to see here, move along sheeple, there are Benghazi hearings to attend…

Generation PC, 1964-73

Seth Anderson0 comment

G3 case open

Never really liked any of the names for my generation, but Generation PC is not bad. I first used a computer in 6th grade, learned a little BASIC and Fortran in high school, even owned a Timex-Sinclair that used a cassette player to store programs on, etc. I started writing college papers on a typewriter, but by the end of my time at UT, was using a computer and a dot-matrix printer. In other words, computers were growing up at the same time I was

We PCers were in our teens and 20s in the Eighties (1984-93; not to be confused with the ’80s); and in our 20s and 30s in the Nineties (1994-2003; not to be confused with the ’90s). Our immediate elders — the OGX — managed to squeak through the Seventies without being noticed by lifestyle journalists, management consultants, marketers, and pop demographers — because, according to the statistics, they were the tail end of the baby boom. This made OGXers feel neglected, and they preferred it that way; in fact, they built a negatively-charged generational identity around their non-Boomerness.

…

A 1993 New York Times story described “the postboom, pre-millennium set” as baby busters, baby boomerangs, New Lost Generation, twentysomethings, Generation X, slackers, 13ers. (All of which were actually attempts to name the cohort I’ve called the OGX.) The NYT writer went on to list some harsher labels — latchkeys, technobabies, videos, cyborgs, posties, protos (for proto-adults), borders, downbeats, mall rats, nowheres, burnouts, remotes — before settling for blanks. All very confusing.

If you ask me, these various latter terms were attempts (by frightened and resentful older Americans) to capture two unique aspects of PCers.

1) PCers were the first American generation to grow up with PERSONAL COMPUTERS.

Personal computers — which were less powerful, and cost much less than (first-generation) business, scientific, and engineering-oriented desktop computers — entered the market in 1977, with RadioShack’s TRS-80, Commodore’s PET, and Apple’s Apple II, all sold for purposes of education, game play, and personal productivity use. In 1981, when the oldest PCers were turning 17, IBM introduced its PC; in ‘84, when the youngest PCers were turning 11, Apple introduced the Apple Macintosh. Although my family had a personal computer, I brought a typewriter to college in ‘86; the following year, the school’s new computer lab opened, and typewriters suddenly became obsolete.

As Time would point out in a “Whoops! We were wrong!” cover story in 1997, we PCers (no longer called twentysomethings, by the perennially confused magazine, but Generation X; this error is compounded by the fact that — this time — Time was lumping together PCers and older members of the Net generation) weren’t slackers, after all. In fact, we were “flocking to technology start-ups.” During the dot-com boom of the Nineties (1994-2003), PC-savvy PCers founded Yahoo!, Google, eBay, Amazon, Razorfish, The Silicon Alley Reporter, CNET, Excite, Hotmail, theGlobe.com, Feed, Suck, Netscape, PayPal, and Tripod (full disclosure: I worked at Tripod), among other pioneering outfits. More recently, PCers have founded or developed: MySpace, Wikipedia, Gawker Media, Second Life, Blogger.com, Fark.com, plus KaZaA, Skype, Joost, others. Oh yeah, PCers also started Linux.

(click here to continue reading Generation PC, 1964-73 – Brainiac – The Boston Globe.)

Apple Logos

A few of my cohorts:

Spike Jonze, Christy Turlington, Rick Perlstein, Philip Rosedale, James Frey, Marilyn Manson, Jason Bateman, David Grohl, Jason Priestley, Bobby Brown, Jennifer Aniston, Chastity Bono, Donnie Wahlberg, Mariah Carey, Arthur Phillips, Paul Rudd, Sarah Vowell, Renee Zellweger, RZA, Everlast, Susan Choi, Aimee Bender, Rebecca Odes, MC Ren, Kelly Link, Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Elliott Smith, Daniel Radosh, Edward Norton, Noah Baumbach, Wes Anderson, Christian Slater, Jack Black, Alison Smith, Dweezil Zappa, Kevin Corrigan, Gwen Stefani, Elizabeth Gilbert, Trey Parker, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Matthew McConaughey, Ellen Pompeo, Jay-Z. Elsewhere: Sophie Okonedo, Cate Blanchett, Edwidge Danticat, Matthew Perry, David Mitchell, Rachel Hunter, Marjane Satrapi, Pankaj Mishra, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hari Kunzru, Julie Delpy, Linus Torvalds.