Dear TinkerTry Readers: Today May 8 2023 is my very first day at Pure Storage! As a "Systems Engineer - Commercial", it's a return to a role that's more similar to what I was doing at VMware than at Dell, but with an even greater focus on customers right here in Connecticut and the rest…
Many of my articles have been centered around themes of efficiency lately. This is true for IT infrastructure, and in my home, and on my road to the electrification of everything, my cars and my home included. Given this gradual shift in my focus areas, it seems 2022 is time to update TinkerTry's…
Today marks my 10th year anniversary since launching TinkerTry. Many good things in life and career came to me as a direct result of me sharing my experiences and thoughts with my readers, and I'm so glad to have this outlet for my excess energy. It's fair to say a lot has happened in my life and…
I took this photo above while parked at the top of Mount Washington in New Hamsphire. Beautiful clear skies ahead is the vibe I'm going for by choosing this pic. Yes, 2020 was memorable for some pretty terrible things. In this technical article, I'm focusing on the positive tech that impacted my…
Here are the launch windows: The instantaneous launch window opens at 4:33 p.m. EDT, or 20:33 UTC, with backup instantaneous launch opportunities available on Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT, or 19:22 UTC, and on Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, or 19:00 UTC. Wed May 27 2020 04:17pm ET The…
Taken in Wethersfield Connecticut on Oct 23 2019 by Paul Braren with an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I like the outdoors, and I like our planet. It seems fitting to write this post today to give this decade a bit of closure, especially since I created TinkerTry back near the start of this decade. It was June…
Dear TinkerTry Readers: Today, October 28th of 2019, is my very first day at Dell! To be more precise, I'm now an Advisory vArchitect at Dell Techologies, and I'm quite glad to finally be able to share the news. Dell EMC, Rocky Hill, Connecticut. As a 21-year IBM veteran with a background in…
This article is a work in progress, having told several people here in Prague that I'll publish full resolution of my iPhone photos as soon as possible, as the blurring that Twitter does really doesn't show what phones are capable of these days. I had promised to share full resolution images of…
It's a special kind of awesome when you find a company who needs your strengths. Even better when there's meaningful work to be done that will likely have an even greater positive impact that my prior roles, coupled with an opportunity for career advancement. NVMe, baby! Yes, I've mentioned NVMe…
In late May of 2019, I gave polite 2 weeks notice to VMware management that I had an outside offer and that I had just accepted it. I also emailed my resignation at that moment. Yes, June 12 2019 was my last day as an employee. The separation was amicable and completely cordial, which is about as…
Luck would have it that TinkerTry passed several milestones, all in the past week! I've always been rather transparent at TinkerTry, and figured I'd share some private stats that aren't really easy to determine from public sources. May 31 2019 - How to build your awesome virtualization home lab…
I had to miss Eric's live broadcast today, but I just heard the news moments ago, apparently TinkerTry IT @ home has broken in to the Top 25 vBlog list. It's quite and honor, I'm super happy about this, and very grateful to the vCommunity who voted. Special thanks to Eric Siebert (@ericsiebert) at…
You can see them all at: TinkerTry.com/archive Let me confess that articles like "TinkerTry's Fifth Birthday, June 1, 2016 - momentary pause for self-congratulatory backslapping and prognostication" tend to be my least popular of all. That's just as well, since my focus and my joy in…
Wondering what's the hopper? Wonder no more, here you go! TinkerTry Studio Stock photo of workbench for now, with plans to share actual photos of my work bench. My dedicated space now includes a 4 foot by 8 foot Global Industrial Maple Butcher Block Workbench that I sanded and stained, adding…
TinkerTry is not a news site, but I have written a lot of how to articles about Supermicro systems based on Intel's versatile Xeon D-1500 SoC motherboard. They all have a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) for management, as do most servers. The particular BMC chips used for Xeon D-1500 is the…
Falcon Heavy Animation Click the infographic to view it full size at space.com Caption from SpaceX Channel's YouTube Video above: When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons…
VMware EPIC2 What's the 2nd C in the VMware acronym EPIC2 stand for? Community Give More. We are all connected. We approach each other with open minds and humble hearts. We serve by dedicating our time, talent, and energy, creating a thriving community together. I was at an internal meeting in…
Dear TinkerTry Readers: Today, January 9th of 2017, is my very first day at VMware. As a Commercial Systems Engineer, my role will include demonstrating the benefits of a Software Defined Storage strategy, specifically focusing on vSAN for eastern US commercial customers, with a mix of travel to…
Today, December 31 2016, is my last day at IBM. It's been quite an adventure! It's fair to say I don't change jobs all that often. That said, IBM has afforded me numerous opportunities to dramatically change my job roles inside the company, and this article highlights some of the (hopefully) more…
TinkerTry Highlights New tech evolves quickly, TinkerTry's agility reflects that reality My ongoing home tinkering tends to bring new insights to previously published topics. As I explained here, when the technical updates below articles are significant, I'm pulling together a curated list of those…
TinkerTry Highlights New tech evolves quickly, TinkerTry's agility reflects that reality My ongoing home tinkering tends to bring new insights to previously published topics. When the technical updates below articles are significant, I'm pulling together a curated list of those changes in this…
Backstory Last year, I wrote: I do hope TechSmith goes forward with plans to develop a truly 64 bit version of Studio Finally, it's here, Camtasia video editing, in 64 bits! OKEMOS, Mich. – October 12, 2016 - TechSmith Releases New Version of Camtasia: A Powerful Platform for Making Remarkable V…
There's a lot of great content coming up soon. To keep up to date, subscribe to the TinkerTry Weekly digest. My home's ecobee3 smart thermostat, 1 year later After Nest, what came next? The ecobee3 thermostat, with remote room motion and temperature sensors. Here's my latest updates on my 1 year…
The title of this retrospective post is inspired by this long-time listener of David McCabe's Home Server Show and Jim Collison's Home Gadget Geeks podcast. It has to do with a bit of hilarious listener feedback they received about one of their celebratory milestone episodes, stating that it…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
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After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
