Category: Uncategorized

The Dell Latitude 5491, An Excellent Work Laptop

  • July 16, 2023
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The Dell Latitude 5491 is arguably old, having been released in 2018, but variations of this laptop came with a FHD display, an 8th generation Intel processor, NVME storage, a full size Ethernet port and USB C port that can be used for charging the laptop. It is also easy to open and replace the storage or RAM and supports Ubuntu meaning full Linux compatibility. By today’s standards, these are still pretty decent specs and features. When the Dell Latitude 5491 was released, it was selling for $1000+. Some models were even in the $2000+ range. While this was quite expensive in 2018 and probably a bit high compared to its competitors, in 2023 this laptop can be found on Ebay and other sites for less than $200. If you are looking for a workhorse (not a gamer) with decent specs, easily upgradeable, good support and at a reasonable price, don’t bother looking at the latest $400+ laptops until you’ve checked out the refurbished market for this great all-around model. I picked this one up for $100 on Ebay and then added a 16 GB stick for $29 giving it a total of 24 GB of ram. It came with an i5-8300H, 8GB Ram and a 256GB NVME. It runs super smooth and for $130, how could you go wrong? Here are some useful links: https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell/latitude-5491 https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/latitude-14-5491-laptop/lat5491_setup_specs

Keep on Learning

  • September 5, 2021
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If you are in a technical field you may already do this and if you don’t then you need to or you’ll quickly lose relevance in your specific discipline. If you are not in a technical field the advice still applies as things are always changing. Keep learning. I am an Electrical Engineer and with a four year degree I was often told by professors that this qualifies me to do absolutely nothing. What you are qualified for is learning. I had to be mentored by another engineer for two years before I really knew how to do anything, and then had to complete some projects working with others that knew more than me and from whom I could grow my skills. This was a huge advantage early on in my career. Without these mentors I might never have grown. Over time I have moved from job-to-job and doing this has caused gaps where there was no one to learn from. Technical design work can fall into an echo chamber, where inspiration is stifled. When this happens it is imperative to find others who know more than you or other resources of knowledge from outside the organization. This can be accomplished via professional organizations and clubs if you have the time to commit to this. With the internet, the resources for learning online are endless and available when you are. So much of it is absolutely free. Although the quality can vary greatly, it takes very little effort to find some pretty decent resources. If you are interested in something a little more structured to hone your skills, I recommend services like Udemy. The courses are so inexpensive, but very structured. Like anything, what you get out is directly proportional to what you put in, so keep learning.

Changed the Theme of My Blog Page

  • April 12, 2014
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Today, I updated the theme of my blog page to something a little more appealing to me.  I had no idea how easy that was going to be.  I even locked myself out of the account at one point and figured out how to get into the MySQL database and change the password from the SSH access.  This took some piecing together from different forums and online manuals.  I have learned a lot, but now it is getting late.

First Steps into WordPress

  • April 6, 2014
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One man, steps into Word Press and says, “What the hell is this?”  He begins blogging.  This could be the start of something or a dead end.  He still isn’t sure which.  Only time will tell. Well, anyway, it’ll be a good place to put stuff I guess.  We’ll just have to see.  Maybe a good place to rant about stuff that nobody wants to listen to.  At some point I’ll probably have to give this thing a domain name, but for now I’ll just let it go.