Re: My lunch with Microsoft

[J R FOX <jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Kari,

I had not really considered a DIY retrofit option, based on some existing off-the-shelf system, 
but it is an idea worthy of consideration.  When I said "custom", I basically meant that virtually 
every component would be specified by me.  That had to start with the main board, which was 
the most confusing item (as there seems to be a new generation of them every few months), and 
with the most research required.  This involved walking a line between certain legacy support 
features and more current ones.  Tradeoffs would need to be decided on.  It also involved which 
MB might best support Arca-OS as well -- although that was something of a secondary factor -- 
which happens to be a tricky matter.  (This is one thing that ultimately pulled me back to the older

Shuttle XPC models that I was already familiar with, as being more of a sure-fire default.)  

A further complication is that almost everything now -- including the MBs -- seems to be Made in 
China.  And that is all about chasing the lowest possible manufacturing and market cost.  In my 
years of experience with various types of electronics, "reliability" and "quality
control" do not really belong in the same sentence with "Made in China."  (I could elaborate, 
and there have been some exceptions.)  

Long ago, when the '386 CPU was new, I got my first all-specified, custom-built system from 
a custom builder, so my history with this sort of thing goes way back.  But of course, since then 
PCs have become pretty much commodities, along with a lot of other things that were once more 
premium or "special", so this niche market may have gone all but extinct. 

Some examples of custom components: 
I never liked lightweight, flimsy computer cases -- something easily dented by the cleaning staff 
while vacuuming.  Or the predominant use of plastic.  I like rugged, industrial grade gear, and am 
more than willing to pay extra for it.  (A similar reason to why I hate particle board / MDF / now 
alternately being called "engineered wood", or the use of Pine for furniture.  It is crap, whether 
inexpensive or not, and won't last very long.  Real, quality hardwoods only, please !  But maybe 
that's just me, and I've gotten accustomed to being out-of-step with the times . . . . ) 

I always liked the cases from these folks:  http://www.calpc.com/catalog/full_tower.html
which definitely met the attributes I mentioned above.  Very solid, high quality.  I used the same 
case of theirs three times, changing out everything inside.  That's durability, and obtaining real
value from a purchase, even if it costs more initially !  But three times was plenty, and I'd go
with a contemporary model this time around.  I also had some reason to believe that their plug-in HDD 
options wo0CI00A30.POPuld be of a top industrial grade.  

   http://www.calpc.com/catalog/drivecarrier.html
   http://www.calpc.com/catalog/sata_hddcarrier.html

(This is after having inspected a whole lot of flimsy, plastic ones on the market.  Are they fit to
survive a large number of connect -- disconnect cycles, over time ?  Or does the tray have its own built-in
cooling?) But I would certainly want to check out the one you mentioned.  

Anyway, this principle extends to most of the other components, at least for me.. If a project is
worth doing at all it is worth doing YOUR way -- especially if you are willing to cover the cost. 

   Jordan

--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 2/26/19, Kari Eveli  wrote:

 Subject: Re: My lunch with Microsoft
 To: xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 1:58 AM
 
 Jordan,
 
 I think you could easily build this kind of
 system with off-the-shelf  parts. First, buy
 a second-hand (or if money is no object, a new) HP or 
 Dell (engineering) workstation (e.g. at Ebay) and equip it with a 
 suitable removable drive unit (e.g. https://www.cru-inc.com/hp/). Xeon 
 workstations are also great for virtualization, so you could easily run 
 e.g. Linux Centos (https://www.centos.org/) or any legacy
 virtual  machine on this unit.
 
 Best regards,
 
 Kari Eveli
 LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
 lexitec@xxxxxxxxxx
 
 *** Lexitec Online ***
 Lexitec in English: http://www.lexitec.fi/english.html
 Home page in Finnish: http://www.lexitec.fi/
 
 > I was going to have a*custom*  tower built with all slide-in, slide-out HDDs, for multiple OSes
 > and greatly facilitating backups or drive cloning.