Sunday 26 October 2014

Hal 9000

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the computer controlling the ship, HAL 9000, does everything in it's power to keep a secret it has been told to keep.

The humans would find that task impossible, so it did the only logical thing.

Given some settings on my POS, it did the only logical thing.


A tip for new players and old: Ensure your that the alt pilot's corporations are friendly for your POS's shoot on site settings.  Pilot settings are not good enough.

I am not the first pilot to do this.  I won't be the last.

At least I know that my tower shoots pilots from neutral corporations.

Monday 20 October 2014

4K monitor and multiple sessions

I have recently purchased a 4K monitor (the Samsung U28D590).  The monitor itself is very nice, but has contributed directly (and not in a good way) to my recent lack of posts.


Firstly the good:
  • A crystal clear picture, very high resolution monitor.  It is better than my eyesight.
  • Ability to have 6 Eve sessions on the same screen all at the same time.  I am successfully running 4 sessions at the same time on the same monitor without any overlap.

These are very good things.

I normally don't do high resolution graphics on the web, but this is what I look at, on a 28" monitor.




Edit(again): Raw image at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ite5qzmwavw6chs/4ksettings.png?dl=0

The not so good:
  • I needed a motherboard bios upgrade to even boot while the monitor was plugged in.  My motherboard is from October 2012 http://foo-eve.blogspot.com/2012/10/beer-induced-afk.html
  • I needed a new graphics card to display anything when the monitor was plugged in. (swapped out a GTX 9800 for a GTX750)
  • The GTX750 is 4k rated and displays the screen at 3180x2160 @ 30Hz, or I can split the screens into 2 and have each half running at 1960x2160 @ 60Hz, I have a colour difference at the boundary of the two virtual monitors.  If I had purchased a display port graphics card I could have the entire monitor as a single screen @ 60Hz.
  • Most programs are optimized for less pixels on screen, and don't allow you to upsize selectively.   I find myself faceplanting my monitor to read some things. Reading things like the graphics display settings window that is shown top right is an example. (Tweaking the UI scaling does help for Eve).
  • Getting advice on these monitors was hard.  There was only one 4k monitor stocked at our local shops, and while I looked as well as I could online, I missed that it would not run my preferred frame-rate. I live in a minor Capital City in Australia.
I would recommend 4k monitors for those buying new gaming or work PC's, where you have someone to help resolve any technical issues.

Things to consider when moving to a 4K monitor:
  • These monitors are bleeding edge.  How will you cope when you metaphorically cut yourself?
  • None of  the local shops knew much about 4k monitors.  Do your own research online.
  • Not all 4K graphics cards are created equal, even when you purchase one specifically. Ensure your card runs the resolution at the required frame rate.
  • When you finally get it running, enjoy your multi-boxing.