Excursions with C++

Learning and serendipity with and about C++

My computer park

Through the years I have collected a bunch of computers of the PC class. Some of them I bought from new, getting the fastest I could afford when it was time for a new one. Some of them I bought second hand because I needed one in special situations. And some of them just ended up with me, when they were abandoned by other people.

NumberCPUClock
Rate
CoresThreadsRAMYearOSStatus
#6Ryzen 9 5950X4 GHz163232GiB2022Win 11 24H2
dual boot with:
Q4OS 5.7 64bit
Desktop
#5Intel Core i5-10310U3.5 GHz488 GiB2020Win 11 24H2Laptop
#4Intel Core i7 4820K4.7 GHz4816 GiB2013Q4OS 5.7 64bitDesktop
#3Intel Core i5 45703.2 GHz448 GiB2014Win 10 64bitDesktop
#2Intel Pentium 4 HT3 GHz123 GiB2005Q4OS 5.7 64bitDesktop
#1Intel Celeron M 4401.8 GHz112 GB2007Q4OS 5.7 32bitLaptop

For those computers that no longer can support Windows 10 or 11, I have chosen to use the Q4OS Linux distribution. It is Debian based and fairly light weight, so it can run on older computers. More info here. Currently I don’t have much day to day experience using it for regular work, but I have succeeded making it run on all of the above mentioned PCs and have been able to install compilers and libraries, so I could compile and try my programs on different platforms. It will be noted in my individual posts, when the the different PCs and OSs are in use.

I am using a StarTech.com 4 port KVM SV431DPUA switch to switch between the different computers. This switch has DisplayPort inputs and outputs, USB switching and audio switching. It is a bit old, but still works fine. I have found that support for DisplayPort connections is not very widespread, mostly supported by HP hardware. I ended up with using that because I found the KVM switch for free; my main PC #6 has miniDPort outputs; and the HP screen I have supports it. I would have gone with HDMI if I wanted to splurge the money for a new setup from the bottom up.

In particular adapters from HDMI output on a PC to DPort input on the switch are expensive, it is not enough with just a cable adapter.