Random Tech Questions you want answered.

PaladinTom wrote:

On that topic: does anyone have an M1 Air and does it still get “warm” on the bottom? (The system I had that got hot was a 2016 Pro.) I’m genuinely considering a 12.9 iPad with a keyboard instead of a laptop when I next upgrade. There are other reasons, but with this setup there is no heat on your lap.

Yes, but only if I'm actually pushing it by pulling git updates, rebuilding everything in my IDE, and doing that while charging the battery--enough to push all 8 CPU cores over 70%. It has no fan, so the chassis has to act like a heat sink. While just idling Signal, Discord, Slack, Mail.app, a VNC view of another machine, and using Chrome with 311 tabs open? Not really. My iPad Pro running ProCreate and using the Pencil gets warmer.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

and using Chrome with 311 tabs open

I have a klipsch tv sound bar & subwoofer that I don't use anymore. Would the soundbar or soundbar + sub make for decent pc speakers? Not sure I know where the power supply, remote or any other parts might be, before I went to the effort of trying to dig them up, thought I'd see what folks opinion might be.

Based on the sound bar we just got, I'd say yes if perhaps a bit overkill depending on your setup.

We've only had our for a few weeks and my wife counts her blessings everyday. That sound bar is the gift that keeps on giving. And I am not a sound snob at all. I am typically fine with TV speakers but omg, the richness at every range and the fact that we don't need to use close captions at all anymore.

Clumber wrote:

I have a klipsch tv sound bar & subwoofer that I don't use anymore. Would the soundbar or soundbar + sub make for decent pc speakers? Not sure I know where the power supply, remote or any other parts might be, before I went to the effort of trying to dig them up, thought I'd see what folks opinion might be.

Here's a short, recent discussion on this:
https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/comme...

-BEP

What's a good (hopefully not too expensive) way to play a PS4 in the car? Is a standard inverter enough?

EvilHomer3k wrote:

What's a good (hopefully not too expensive) way to play a PS4 in the car?

Steer with your knees.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

What's a good (hopefully not too expensive) way to play a PS4 in the car? Is a standard inverter enough?

The type of wave the inverter produces (square, trapezoidal, sine) may impact whether it works or not. I see with a cursory search that a bunch of Reddit threads pop up with people struggling with using PS4s on inverters that aren't pure sine wave.

Most modern electronics convert AC to DC, and theoretically should work with non-sine wave AC power, but in practical terms, it seems to be very easy to run into corner cases with such setups.

I have zero hands-on experience with any of this, so I'm mostly talking out of my ass here.

Can anyone offer advice on what to do about my home WiFi?

I have a fairly new WiFi 6 router (which I'm quite pleased with) at one end of my house and want to extend the range to fully cover the bedrooms at the other end (which currently get a fairly weak signal) as well as into my backyard a bit.

I've looked at mesh systems, but all of those seem to replace a router - which I do not want to do if I can avoid it. I notice in my router config there seems to be an easy option to set up an identical (or similar) router as an access point so I'm leaning in that direction for now. I'm just not sure if there are any better options available.

My bedroom is the back corner of my house, and has wired ethernet so I think I would only need one additional access point to cover this end of the house and reach out into the backyard a bit.

Am I on the right track?

There are two solutions other than mesh. Run ethernet and setup an access point (so yes you have the right idea) or go with a wifi range extender (many of which can also be used as bridges or as access points). I have a couple of TP-Link Range Extenders and they have been great. Literally just set them up and forget about them.

I had a Netgear range extender a few years ago and it worked well too.

If you have the new FIOS router, it's mesh-ready and they sell an extender that is just push-a-button to set up. Works well, a friend got one.

Rykin wrote:

There are two solutions other than mesh. Run ethernet and setup an access point (so yes you have the right idea) or go with a wifi range extender (many of which can also be used as bridges or as access points). I have a couple of TP-Link Range Extenders and they have been great. Literally just set them up and forget about them.

Another reason to setup an access point via ethernet is because using a repeater can cut the bandwidth in half for those devices access it via the extender/repeater.

If that doesn't matter to you, setting up a repeater can be easier because you don't have to worry about running a cable to the access point. But it sounds like you already have the ethernet cable run to the back room.

Yeah, I have two separate wireless access points, connected via Ethernet backhaul, covering my house's footprint. Same SSIDs on both. Modern devices don't have any problem seamlessly switching between them.

I am eventually going to move to a mesh system, but the first Wifi 6 mesh system I tried installing drastically underperformed compared to my existing setup. In a couple years, I'll circle back around and try a Wifi 6E mesh.

PaladinTom wrote:

I notice in my router config there seems to be an easy option to set up an identical (or similar) router as an access point so I'm leaning in that direction for now.

That sure sounds like the simplest and most compatible path to me, and it makes it sound like you already have ethernet to where you want to use this.

I am eventually going to move to a mesh system, but the first Wifi 6 mesh system I tried installing drastically underperformed compared to my existing setup.

Me too. I was less than impressed with the Deco X20. The speed was great but it was extremely flaky on both new and older devices.

I just installed two TP Link extenders to complement my TP Link router. Damn, that was easy. All done within the same app and the two extenders cost less than half of a router. Now I'll have some sweet sweet wifi on the back patio this summer.

Thanks all for the recommendations!

fangblackbone wrote:
I am eventually going to move to a mesh system, but the first Wifi 6 mesh system I tried installing drastically underperformed compared to my existing setup.

Me too. I was less than impressed with the Deco X20. The speed was great but it was extremely flaky on both new and older devices.

Curious to hear more about your experience. I switched to Deco X20 a while ago and have been really surprised at how smooth it’s gone. I’m using them as APs behind an Asus router so I have no experience with their router features. Before that I’d been avoiding mesh systems and just using extenders and APs with wired backhaul for everything.

*Legion* wrote:

Yeah, I have two separate wireless access points, connected via Ethernet backhaul, covering my house's footprint. Same SSIDs on both. Modern devices don't have any problem seamlessly switching between them.

I am eventually going to move to a mesh system, but the first Wifi 6 mesh system I tried installing drastically underperformed compared to my existing setup. In a couple years, I'll circle back around and try a Wifi 6E mesh.

What would be the appeal of mesh versus the access points via Ethernet?

ccoates wrote:

What would be the appeal of mesh versus the access points via Ethernet?

Part of it, for me, was to get better coverage in areas where my existing home Ethernet wiring doesn't reach. I get OK signal in my garage, but being able to drop a mesh node in there that connects to the next nearest node (which would have Ethernet backhaul) would be more ideal.

Beyond that, simpler device management. APs I need to handle/update on an individual basis, on a mesh network I can maintain all of the nodes from one place. Right now that's not a big deal given I'm using just two (big, ugly) wifi routers flipped to AP mode, but I would prefer my network instead to consist of a higher number of smaller footprint devices, each trying to cover a smaller area than my two big uglies are covering now. I have to be particular with where I put my two APs in order to ensure they blanket the whole house as best as possible, but with a bunch of smaller devices, I'd have a lot more flexibility in placement.

Ultimately though, yeah, there's not a whole lot of difference between a fully wired mesh network and a set of wired APs.

ccoates wrote:

What would be the appeal of mesh versus the access points via Ethernet?

Not running ethernet in the first place. They're supposed to use dedicated radios and channels to relay amongst themselves.

There are a few other options beside ethernet and mesh. You can use existing coaxial cable (MoCa) or the power cables (Powerline) in your house as well. Neither are as good as ethernet or mesh (MoCa is close though with new gigabit options), but they aren't terrible and in certain situations are more flexible.

I used MOCA for years for several TiVos and it worked great - especially considering we already had coax all over the house.

It’s been so long since I’ve quit TiVo that I completely forgot about and didn’t even consider it. I don’t even know what I did with the adapters.

Kurrelgyre wrote:
ccoates wrote:

What would be the appeal of mesh versus the access points via Ethernet?

Not running ethernet in the first place. They're supposed to use dedicated radios and channels to relay amongst themselves.

Sure! I can see that appeal, but in this scenario he already had the ethernet run, ha.

Them being easier to manage/maintain/being able to be more exact with your coverage makes sense. My home is very small so I didn't think as much about random gaps.

I have been told that my audio, when using discord and playing Apex Legends, is passing some of the game audio, instead of just my voice.

Teammates assumed I was using speakers and a mic, but I have a HyperX Cloud Alpha gaming headset. So I don’t think the mic is picking up the audio from the headphones.

Any ideas on what this might be? Or how I can fix it?

It could be any number of things. Bad drivers, sh*tty audio components. What is your audio setup? Or is it a usb headset mic? It could be the headset. I wouldn't rule anything out.

Check your audio input device in Discord to make sure it's directly using the headset as input, and not some weird piece of software that might be muxing audio streams together.

Ok I can check those things.

It’s not USB. There is a single cord from the headset, that splits into two mini-stereo plugs: one for the mic and one for the audio to the speakers in the headset.

Question: Is it possible for me to record myself so I can hear the issue? Basically so I can troubleshoot the problem without needing someone else on Discord?

5000brians wrote:

Question: Is it possible for me to record myself so I can hear the issue? Basically so I can troubleshoot the problem without needing someone else on Discord?

Open Discord in your browser and join as a guest.