Picked up some drill bits from Amazon for AU$30: Bosch Accessories 91-Piece V-Line Titanium Drill Bit and Screwdriver Bit Set with Ratcheting Screwdriver (For Wood, Masonry, and Metal).
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Category Archives: Asset
New computer ‘verve’ installed
My new computer ‘verve‘ has been installed. You can see it driving its two monitors. So far so good. Up next: I install OBS Studio and see which of my cameras work. Fingers crossed!
AliExpress Shopping
Spent AU$50 picking up some bits and pieces during AliExpress’s latest sale.
In The Lab With Jay Jay – November 21, 2023 – Mail Call! Cheap Stuff From China!
This post is part of my video blog: In The Lab With Jay Jay.
Silly Job Title: Science Officer
Support this channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JohnElliotV
Today we’re gonna take a look at what arrived recently from AliExpress. They were having a sale so I purchased some natty tools and a few consumables. Details below. I made some notes at the time of purchase if you’re interested in what I paid for this stuff.
In the video I refer to the workstation I am planning to buy for the studio. When I get this new computer I should be able to improve the quality of my YouTube videos. If you’re interested in the details the new computer I’m planning is ‘victory‘. In the video I say this new computer will cost me AUD$6,000, but it’s looking like it will cost more like AUD$7,500 (roughly USD$5,000), so I will have to save my pennies! The Dell OptiPlex computer that I am presently using is ‘wonder‘.
In the video I refer to “box openers”. If you know what these things are actually called, please do let me know!
The spider who popped up on my bench during the recording of this video was found later. He, um, didn’t make it…
Following are some links to where you can buy any of the equipment seen in this video. These are not affiliate links because AliExpress doesn’t support affiliate links for this merchandise. So you get these links for free and from the bottom of my heart. :)
New motherboard: ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR
Ordered myself a new motherboard today, the ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR. This new board will replace my ASUS PRIME B550M-A in my new/upgraded computer ‘lore‘ (which is replacing ‘longing‘).
This new board has 2x M.2 PCIe 4.0 (as with the old motherboard), 2x 2.5Gbps Ethernet (compared to 1x 1Gbps Ethernet in my old motherboard), and 3x PCIe 16x slots (compared to 1x PCIe 16x slot in my old motherboard).
I will put in 2x M.2 PCIe 4x adapters and 2x M.2 PCIe 1x adapters which will mean I am able to install 6x M.2 drives: 2x Kioxia 256GB, 2x Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, and 2x PNY 1TB.
I will also put in a quad 2.5Gbps PCIe Ethernet adapter which will give me six 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports in total (two onboard and four on PCIe 16x).
When I’m done all four RAM slots will be full (4x Corsair Vengeance 32GB 3200MHz DDR4), both the M.2 slots will be full, all three of the PCIe 16x slots will be full, all four SATA ports will be full (3x Western Digital WD Ultrastar DC HC550 16TB and 1x ASUS BW-16D1HT PRO 16X Blu-ray burner), and both PCIe 1x slots will be full too. Also there will be a bunch of high speed USB ports available on both the front and the back of the case. I feel like I have really squeezed a lot of juice out of this system, it’s operating very close to capacity.
I’m kinda dreading plugging in the USB attachments to the front panel, but I guess if I RTFM and apply some thought I will be able to figure that out.
AliExpress sale
Today there was a promotion/sale on at AliExpress, so I picked up some consumables and a few natty tools. I paid the promotion price AU$63.46 for stuff on sale at AU$142.82 which normally sells for AU$326.12.
In The Lab With Jay Jay – November 4, 2023 – Uboxing of Sudake SDK07 and SKD08 IC Clip SMD Gripper Test Probe
This post is part of my video blog: In The Lab With Jay Jay.
Silly Job Title: Hack In Residence
Support this channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JohnElliotV
Today: another unboxing video! This time we’re taking a look at the Sudake SDK07 and SKD08 IC clips / SMD grippers / test probes.
Originally I was going to demo these things in this video too, but the test circuit took like two hours to make, and then when I turned it on it didn’t even work, so I cancelled that and now this is just an unboxing video and not a demo. Stay tuned for the demo which I will do, just when I can find some more time.
These test clips are really great, they let you attach a probe to the foot of an integrated circuit or a surface mount device.
Be warned: there’s a bit of swearing and bad language in this video. What can I say? I’m just a passionate individual, ya know? :P
Here are some affiliate links to where you can buy these test clips if you’re interested:
| Equipment | Affiliate Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
 Sudake SDK07 test clips |
10X Universal Chip clamp micro IC clamp SOP SOIC TSOP MSOP SSOP SMD IC Test Clip pin Socket Adpter Programmer for logic analyzer | notes |
 Sudake SDK08 test clips |
10pcs x Universal Chip IC clamp SOP SOIC TSOP MSOP SSOP SMD IC Test Clip Socket Adpter Programmer for logic analyzer | notes |
And here is a table of products I use which may appear in my video with affiliate links to vendors if you would like to buy. The link given here won’t necessarily have the best price so please do shop around to see if you can find a better deal. If you have thoughts or questions please feel free to let me know. Let’s go shopping!
Loot from WeAct Studio
You might remember that last month AliExpress had a sale and I ordered a bunch of stuff. That stuff has started to arrive and I wanted to show you the things I picked up from WeAct Studio.
I don’t know anything about WeAct Studio, I have never heard of them before. But I like what I see so far!
Here’s my WeAct Studio kit which arrived today:
In The Lab With Jay Jay – October 31, 2023 – Uboxing of Mini Classic Game Console
This post is part of my video blog: In The Lab With Jay Jay.
Silly Job Title: Power Provider
It’s the In The Lab With Jay Jay Halloween Special! This evening: another unboxing video! This time we’re taking a look at my retro gaming console: The Mini Classic Game Console. Complete with 620 odd games!
I picked this thing up at Vinnies (the thrift store) for fifteen Aussie buckaroos.
The main circuit board looks like this:
I found the S71PL256NC0HFW5U2 which is a 64Mb flash memory. The details of the other circuitry was obscured.
Here is the list of games on this thing:
And this is the manual:
I managed to get this thing wired through an AV to HDMI adapter, then a HDMI to USB adapter, so in the last half of the video you can see me demoing a few of the games and scrolling through the full list of games.
Oh, and in this video I read “NTSL” on the manual and say “they got that wrong, it’s NTSA”, but *I* got that wrong, and it’s “NTSC”. The American video standard. In Australia almost everything is PAL.
In The Lab With Jay Jay – October 31, 2023 – Uboxing of FILCO Majestouch 2SS Edition 104-key and tenkeyless keyboards
This post is part of my video blog: In The Lab With Jay Jay.
Silly Job Title: Sparky
Happy Halloween! Today: another unboxing video! This time we’re taking a look at my two new mechanical keyboards from FILCO (affiliate links):
- Full size 104-key: FILCO Majestouch 2SS Edition FKBN104MSS/ECSP2B-RKL Full Size English Layout Cherry MX Speed Silver Axis with 3 Red Key Locks, Black
- Tenkeyless 87-key: FILCO Majestouch 2SS Edition Tenkeyless English Layout Cherry MX Speed Silver Axis with 3 Red Key Locks, Black FKBN87MSS/ECSP2B-RKL
As I mention in the video I usually like to purchase my mechanical keyboards from WASD Keyboards in California. They make excellent keyboards but just a bit too pricey for me at the moment. Instead of purchasing from WASD Keyboards I picked these keyboards up from Amazon Australia and I paid AU$202.55 (US$130) for the 104-key keyboard and AU$188.89 (US$120) for the 87-key keyboard which was roughly half of what I would have had to pay if I purchased from WASD Keyboards.
Both of these FILCO Majestouch 2SS Edition keyboards come with Cherry MX Speed Silver switches. If you’re into mechanical keyboards definitely give these switches a try; now that I’m used to them I will accept nothing less.
It was a bit disappointing that while doing the unboxing I discovered some of the keys had fallen loose during shipping. I have since plugged in and tested the keyboard (I’m using it now in fact) and everything seems to be working okay, so no harm no foul.