Ax0n's Den

DNETC CUDA Fun

Ax0n — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:14:47 +0000

[May 18 03:12:38 UTC] RC5-72: using core #6 (CUDA 4-pipe 64-thd).
[May 18 03:12:57 UTC] RC5-72: Benchmark for core #6 (CUDA 4-pipe 64-thd)
0.00:00:16.66 [40,841,187 keys/sec]

morcant@ember:~$ ./dnetc -cpuinfo
…
Automatic processor identification tag: 8192

Name: GeForce 8600 GTS (4 MPs)
Estimated processor clock speed (0 if unknown): 1450 MHz
Number of processors detected by this client: 4
Number of processors supported by this client: 128

compare that to

[May 18 02:59:50 UTC] RC5-72: Benchmark for core #1 (KBE-64 3-pipe)

0.00:00:17.63 [10,020,273 keys/sec]

[May 18 02:59:50 UTC] RC5-72: Benchmark for core #1 (KBE-64 3-pipe) 0.00:00:17.63 [10,020,273 keys/sec]

for

Automatic processor identification tag: 10006176

name: Intel Core 2 Extreme/Xeon

features: MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 EM64T SSSE3 SSE4.1

Estimated processor clock speed (0 if unknown): 3000 MHz

Number of processors detected by this client: 2

Number of processors supported by this client: 128

So basically, my quad core 1.4 GPU does around 4X the keys my dual core 3GHz CPU does…

CUDA Fun

Ax0n — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:03:02 +0000

So while looking at some of the cool new things the latest NVIDIA drivers do for Compiz performance in Linux, I got caught up in the CUDA documentation.

With pyrit, on my lowly 8600 GTS I am seeing a 3X throughput increase over my Dual Core 3GHz CPU.

Computed 2592.26 PMKs/s total.
#1: ‘CUDA-Device #1 ‘GeForce 8600 GTS”: 1880.0 PMKs/s (Occ. 99.9%; RTT 2.9)
#2: ‘CPU-Core (SSE2)’: 738.8 PMKs/s (Occ. 96.6%; RTT 2.2)

Google Voice

Ax0n — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:57:00 +0000

So I just got a Google Voice account!

PS3

Ax0n — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:37:49 +0000

So after my Sharp Bluray player died, i’ve decided to break down and just get a PS3. I already have a HTPC, so it took a bit to rationalize getting one, but I’ve finally decided.

It’s suppose to arrive tomorrow: http://bit.ly/13UxpU

Aside from Folding@Home and Bluray playback, what is there to do with the PS3? I have a 360 for games, and a HTPC for video/audio playback. It’s going to get Linux on it because I put Linux on everything. What else?

2nd Street Bar and Grill

Ax0n — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:21:44 +0000

So I went out with some friends Friday night, and who do I run into? Tito Ortiz AND my 7th grade biology teacher.

The world is too small, and Yakima is even smaller.

Test Post

Ax0n — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:32:52 +0000

Test post to check linkedin.com and morcant.net goodness.

Clock: inserting leap second 23:59:60 UTC

Ax0n — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:39:37 +0000

Yay!

Dishwasher Repair

Ax0n — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:40:43 +0000

So about a week ago, my dishwasher decided that it was no longer going to drain. This was a minor inconvience at the time, as it still washed dishes… it just didn’t drain. It turns out that you can only do a few loads before to water is no longer fit to drain into the public sewer system, let alone come in contact with your dishes.

Google told me that the most likely problem was the piston and nut assembly. Upon inspecting it, the washer/gaskey on the piston was severely worn. For around $15+shipping I could get a whole new assembly. But I didn’t need a new assembly… just the washer.

So I called my local dishwasher repair dudes. They also would not sell me a single washer thinggie, but wanted a completely new piston and nut assembly… for $30.

I went to Lowes hoping that maybe they sold some sort of generic thinggie that might work. The high school kid there told me they didn’t sell appliance parts and that I should contact an appliance repair person.

After wandering a bit, I found myself in the plumbing section. I was eyeing the faucet gaskgets. The 1/2L gasket looked like an awfully close fit.

I pulled out my pocket knife in the middle of the store and cut the old gasket off the piston and nut assembly. I then cracked open the package for the new gasket. After a little bit of gental massaging, it fit almost perfectly. It is slightly larger in diamater than the old gasket and thusly wont let the piston fully compress. For less than a dollar I was willing to give it a shot.

I took it home, put all my screens and filters back in and ran an empty cycle. Within minutes I could hear the machine draining.

If you have the same problem, don’t spend $20+ on a complete new assembly. Go to your local hardware store and get a faucet washer/gasket.. 1/2L for less than a $1 and spend the rest on some beer and kick back and relax!

FOX ATSC

Ax0n — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:27:57 +0000

So I emailed our local fox station, after find out that we only have a low power repeater here in Yakima, and that LP repeaters are not governed by the same set of regulations regarding implementation by Feb ‘09 that the full power stations are. Here is his response for those in Yakima whom are interested:

From: Lonnie Eaton
To: Morgan Collins
Subject: RE: Digital Conversion
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:57:04 -0700

Hello; our company is going ahead with our digital conversion, even though we are not held to the Feb ’09 deadline; our engineering department says we will be digital and HD before the end of this year; I’m trying to hold them to their word!! The sooner the better, so we can at least see the college bowl games, NFL post-season and the start of NASCAR in all their digital/HD glory!

Thanks for watching;

Lonnie Eaton

Station Manager

509-574-4141

EDIT: According to this post on Fox’s website, they will be converting the KCYU-LP transmitter to digital the week of Dec 15th.

EDIT: As of Dec 15th, KCYU is now being broadcast digitally!

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid

Ax0n — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:09:13 +0000

So, after reading a post about NTSC tuner support in 2.6.26 I decided to upgrade my HTPC to Ubuntu 8.10 which is the development release of Ubuntu. So, after a seamingly smooth upgrade, I found out that Ubuntu 8.10 comes with 2.6.27 not 2.6.26… even better.

Nvidia drivers have previously required kernel headers, but not source. The new DKMS build system tells me that they now require source. I should have known better and not listened to it, but I spent I dunno how long trying to get a compiled kernel source tree to match my running system. After complaints about not being able to run under Xen, and misaligned struct_module and various other issues, I realised that I needed to apt-get install kernel-headers-2.6.27-2-generic, not kernel-headers-2.6.27-2. This is very important. Without the -generic bit, you don’t get a configured header tree, just a stock one. After realising this, I have had no problems with the development release. Everything works at lease as good as it did before, or better. The new X+nvidia drivers are WAY FASTER than on 8.04. My ATSC tuner is at least recognised now, but still isn’t really working.