A Geek Goes Flying

Playing around with my P4460 Kill-A-Watt ; picked up a couple of short cables that let me insert it into the AC circuit just before it goes into the computer (monitor, whatever), for much more convenient measuring: IEC 320 C14 to NEMA 5-15R NEMA 5-15P to IEC-320-C13 Ancient iMac Core i3 My first test subject was a 2010 iMac 21.5" (Core i3, 12GB RAM, 500GB SSD, Ethernet networking, Bluetooth running for a wireless mouse). At first boot, waiting for login, it’s drawing about 80W. Immediately after login, when Activity Monitor shows 4 “CPU” units all spiked to 100%, it draws a maximum of about 120W. Not too shabby. Back to mostly idle (~2% System, ~4% User, ~94% Idle, with 1424 threads and 313 processes), it’s back to drawing about 80W (bouncing between about 78 and 82 watts). If I left it online 24/7 but mostly idle (which I used to do), it would consume 1 kWh over about 12.5 hours of operation. Over a 720 hour month, that would be about 58 kWh, which SCE charges from $.27–$.47 for...

It’s that time of year again: The weather is so nice, you just kinda have to work out on the balcony. Except, the sun can be an issue. Sometimes the heat. Solutions (or at least mitigations) have been found. The balcony “workstation” and my ever vigilant rescue mutt The computer is the “ not-an-iMac ,” with the matte screen. I added an inexpensive headset hanger to the back to hold the “used - like new” SHP-9600MB , and picked up a carrying case (meant for an actual 27" iMac, but works perfectly) to make it easy to move the whole setup (including keyboard and mouse) inside. The umbrella works quite well at holding back the worst of the direct sunlight, and was cheap. (I had to make a small wood wedge for under the table, for the clamp to hold well - there’s a bit of a “lip” around the bottom edge.) The little rechargeable ‡ Holmes fan ( Target ) works better than I expected. (Same is true of the USB-powered fan I have indoors – though I doubt it’s actually made of beskar .) ...

My not-an-iMac wasn’t going to sleep, despite the power settings being properly configured under the Control Panel. Activity Monitor to the rescue; right-click the column names row in the interface and add “Preventing Sleep” to find the culprit: In this case, Firefox had a tab open with video, and Mail was running some interminable search. Closing the offending tab, and quitting Mail, allowed the machine to nap when it wasn’t being used.

My “mid-2010” iMac is getting flaky, and with its HD 4760 GPU, wasn’t a great contender for a Big Sur update, even with OpenCore Patcher. The 2012 Mac Mini occupies a sweet spot on eBay, selling for around $100-150 (depending on configuration), and can run Big Sur quite well, patched. The GPU in the iMac can be upgraded, but it’s still an old, underpowered machine witth splotches on the screen, etc. Newer iMacs aren’t that expensive by themselves, but once you factor in shipping, they’re spendy. Still, for dragging out onto the balcony to enjoy our reliably nice SoCal weather, you can’t beat the form factor. I decided to hack together a machine that met my specifications (including relatively low cost). I started with the highest spec inexpensive Mac Mini I could find, a late-2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz with 16GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive ($150). I swapped the hard drive for a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD ($90). I got a VESA mount ($15) so I could bolt it to the back of a monitor; for that I we...

The balcony iMac has moved inside for the winter. The Labrador is, at 2 ½  years old, still not to be trusted. The combination has my dining room table sharing space between the tree and the iMac. I just set everything up to be as comfy as possible. Pictured: The  Bose QC35 II  headphones, a very competent wireless headset for calls, Zoom meetings, etc. (Though of course, now apparently superseded by the QC45 model.) Minor annoyance: After about 3 years of light-to-moderate use, the leather on the earpads is starting to flake off. I have Wicked Cushions replacements on the way.  Keychron K8 with Kailh Box Jades (swapping to Boba U4 RGB 62g switches in an RGB / Aluminum K8 , as soon as they get here). Got this monitor stand with built in USB hub and wireless phone charger on a Black Friday sale. Cheap Bluetooth laser mouse (a $20  Insignia NS-PNM3B8BK , works surprisingly well; side button functionality enabled with SensibleSideButtons ). Noble Fir 5'...