Hosting bill due - Q2 2016 edition!

[Diddums 4,346]

It's that time of the year again folks. I'm going to start making these threads on a quarterly basis so I don't come across as a naggy twat but still keep the finances up to date.

 

If anyone's got any spare change down the back of their sofa, feel free to chuck a penny or two in the pot!

 

 

Cheerio! 

 

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

How much do you need and how?

[Diddums 4,346]

One billion pounds!

 

 

 

Nah, as I say every time I do these threads, only what people can afford to spare, every bit helps but I don't want anyone's money unless they can comfortably afford it. The way it works is that we have a forum Paypal account, where the payments towards the hosting and renewal fees go and any support stuff we need. The money that is required to keep the site up and running goes straight out of that but I've also got my bank card linked to it so if it runs dry the money is simply taken out of my account rather than being shut down. I don't mind paying for it at all, but some folks have suggested this way of doing things and it's worked fine so far. 

 

There's a link at the bottom of the main forum page, simply click it and follow the directions

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

Ok fine. I'll have a look. 

 

I was just thinking of having the corporation make a donation since I can write some of it off anyways

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

Hey Dave, for administration and nerdy reasons. What's the exact cost, of all services per year and how does that reflect monthly?

Domain, webspace and what else?

[Diddums 4,346]

The hosting is £8.99 a month. The actual domain is £39.99 a year (We're being ripped off here I think, loads of other places are like £10 a year, need to look in to that) and the software is $175 a year, although I don't pay this, so we're at the mercy of rogue agents when shit goes wrong, these guys charge about $10 an hour (I use Fiverr). It's not much really, I can stomach it no issue at all, but some folks like to chip in so hey, I ain't complainin'!

[Diddums 4,346]

Ok fine. I'll have a look. 

 

I was just thinking of having the corporation make a donation since I can write some of it off anyways

 

 

 

"Ah yes Mr Taxman, well, you see there's this videogame forum that I visit....."

 

 

 

I like your thinking Pat

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

"Ah yes Mr Taxman, well, you see there's this videogame forum that I visit....."

 

 

 

I like your thinking Pat

 

 

Hey, the technology that I work on is used to develop SDI. HDMI and Display Port broadcasting systems as well as to communicate over the internet. This card for example can   400 Gbps optical (about 10,000 times faster than most peoples connections these days). Fuck the BO3 lag 

 

 

Since video gamers are always looking for something faster, this is purely for promotional purpose  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please pay special attention to the eeyor  mouse pad in the picture

 

I still do not see a way to donate however. Perhaps my security software is blocking it

[Diddums 4,346]

Love the mouse mat Pat

 

What card is that? Looks a bit like an old graphics card!

 

 

I just saw that my ad blocker was removing the button too, I disabled my adblock and it's there again. Odd. 

 

Do you use Paypal?

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

Love the mouse mat Pat

 

What card is that? Looks a bit like an old graphics card!

 

 

I just saw that my ad blocker was removing the button too, I disabled my adblock and it's there again. Odd. 

 

Do you use Paypal?

 

 

It's a Xilinx (my former employer) evaluation board that I use to prototype designs for customers.  The edge connector is PCIE GEN3 (which most graphics cards use these days) and it's capable of the PCIE GEN4 (However I would need to write the chip design to do it and my PC isn't capable of handling GEN4 anyways).  That's why it looks like a Graphics card. 

 

The metal cage is where the optics go. The metal is a heat sink because the things gets real hot. 

 

The DDR4 memory is below the device with the fan so again it looks like a graphics card. 

 

The chip under the fan is what is called a Field Programmable Gate Array. It's essentially an ASIC which can be reprogrammed at will. Specifically this one is an XCVU095-2FFVA2104E which is a 20 nm device. 

 

This is the class of device that you often find in communications equipment from people like Cisco, Alcatel, Nokia, Ericsson. 

 

They have to be programmed using either VHDL or Verilog which are known as HDLs (Hardware description logic). 

 

There's two main Vendors Altera which was acquired by Intel and Xilinx . I've worked for all 3 companies

 

The devices are now a staple in most commercial electronics equipment. The main reason is that they are re-programmable so they can be adapted to regional standard (Video signals for example are different between Europe, Asia and America). They can also be used on emerging standards and upgrading the field when a standard changes. 

 

 

And I have paypal, however I think the last time I used it was 2013 because that's when my credit card expired

[Diddums 4,346]

That's pretty interesting Pat, I love learning stuff like that! 

 

Sounds like a pretty universal card then, can be used for loads of applications. Must get a lot of use then.

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

The FPGAs are used everywhere. Even in TVs (in order to make them regional and to control Digital rights managements). It's about 3-4 Billion dollar industry.

 

The card is an evaluation card so it doesn't get that much use. People use it to prototype designs and get an early software start while the proprietary hardware is being design. It's also useful to develop software and drivers because the form factor isn't important for software development. 

 

The part on that board would be big enough to write the Chip design for an older generation Graphics chip. 

 

Because of their flexibility and capabilities these chips are quite expensive so a lot of people end up designing ASICs instead. For example AMD and nVidia GPU designs are believed to be on the Samsung process at 16 nm using FinFet (a weird 3D transistor).