First video from the Great Beast build

For my blog regulars, first video from the Great Beast build.

Thanks once again to everyone who donated money to make this happen. I think you’ll see it was well spent. And there’s more video coming.

Published
Categorized as General

24 comments

  1. I had forgotten that I had threatened to configure you for a Dvorak keyboard. HedgeMage would have been proud. ;-}

    Wendell, Logan, and Albert – very nice job on the video! I’m looking forward to the rest of them.

  2. John, your avatar pic simply does not do your Beard of Awesome its due justice.

    I’m also eagerly awaiting the rest of the video series.

  3. Thanks for the video. I’m not good on sizes in videos, the next time you shoot one can you show something as a size reference? Like for the primary ssd drive a credit card would work. But I was most interested in the case, it looks small with the cover closed, but the open shots give the impression that your average 4 year old could use it as a play space.

    I like the shot through the monitor cluster seeing only the eyes and nose, very si-fi. Can we get a bonus shot of the other side? Remember to turn off minesweeper first.

    I also got the Dvorak reference, the first few moments of typing and the panic look of “wtf my new computer is broken” would have been good.

    So the Great Beast has been the work horse for over three weeks, is it still more than you expected?

    1. >But I was most interested in the case, it looks small with the cover closed, but the open shots give the impression that your average 4 year old could use it as a play space.

      …and bring friends. Yeah, it’s pretty roomy. I like that; no barking my knuckles when I have to tinker.

    2. >So the Great Beast has been the work horse for over three weeks, is it still more than you expected?

      It’s quiet, rock-solid, and awesomely fast.

  4. I want to echo a sentiment expressed at the end of the video – lurking on this blog has been a big inspiration to me to understand coding better. I’m an artist who taught himself some programming and have huge gaps in my mathematical and technical knowledge, but reading your reports on the projects you’re working on makes me want to close them. As far as I’m concerned, you’re doing more to make the world a better place than a lot of people who think of themselves as trying to make the world a better place. Thank you and all best to you and your efforts.

  5. > Dvorak

    Keyboards are for wimps!

    A real hacker ought to be using a chording puck, like Charles Moore…

  6. “Keyboards are for wimps!

    A real hacker ought to be using a chording puck, like Charles Moore…”

    Humbug!! Develop a pistol target interface! (To start with, you could probably develop keyswitches that can withstand multiple hits from a .22 short, or maybe .17 pellets.)

  7. @ESR:
    > I like that; no barking my knuckles when I have to tinker.

    My second job in the IT field was doing Macintosh Hardware and OS support for a Chicago based magazine.

    If I ever meet the guy who designed the case for the 8600 I’m going to jail. It didn’t wait until you got it all the way open before it started fighting back.

  8. @ESR
    > If I ever meet the guy who designed the case for the 8600 I’m going to jail. It didn’t wait until you got it all the way open before it started fighting back.

    I right behind you brother, after him we can go after the rest of the case designers.

    1. >Do you have any idea when the follow on videos will be going up?

      No firm date, but I’d be surprised if you didn’t see another within 2 weeks or so.

  9. ESR,

    Can we get the specs on the hand gun on the shelf over your left shoulder? It looks like a beaver tail safety so I’m thinking 1911-ish?

    1. >Can we get the specs on the hand gun on the shelf over your left shoulder? It looks like a beaver tail safety so I’m thinking 1911-ish?

      Yup. Kimber Ultra II Carry. 45ACP with a 3.5″ barrel. Pretty similar to the Colt Officer’s Model.

  10. Thanks for linking to the video. How would you say The Great Beast has effected your non-reposurgeon workflow?

    1. >How would you say The Great Beast has effected your non-reposurgeon workflow?

      Regression tests are faster. Compiles are much faster. I think the reduction in noise is being good for my concentration, an effect I didn’t expect.

  11. That’s interesting. I never prioritized noise reduction in a machine build but it may be a criteria I add.

  12. ESR, is the speedup in regression tests and especially compiles most likely due to building and tuning the Beast for sheer single-thread straight-line speed?

    1. >ESR, is the speedup in regression tests and especially compiles most likely due to building and tuning the Beast for sheer single-thread straight-line speed?

      Hard to tell whether it’s that or running off an SSD. I know which parts of cvs-fast-export are genuinely processor-bound, so it’s easier to tease out the effects of faster single-thread speed on that load.



  13. And gentlemen in England now a-bed
    Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That has a Noctua NH-D15 SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler!

  14. Re: More videos. TekSyndicate said in a recent podcast more would be coming after CES, which was this week. I’m hoping for another video next week.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *