MacPro 2006 memory - PC2-5300F vs. PC-5300 ?
▲ 1 r/macpro

MacPro 2006 memory - PC2-5300F vs. PC-5300 ?

I'm working on getting my old MacPro 2006 back into daily service after being stored away for a decade. It currently has 10GB memory - two 4GB and four 512MB. I'd like to bump the total up if I can find the right ones. I see some available on FB that are labeled as PC2-5300. I know I can use PC2-5300F and can't or shouldn't anything with a letter other than F on the end. But when no letter is printed on the label or advertised on the listing, is that a different animal from all the others including F?

My existing memory (see photo) is the original Apple logo'd Micron, some Crucial, and some Nanya. The Micron and Nanya are labeled as PC2-5300F. The Crucial says PC2-5 and then adds a circular arrow. I will assume it is the F variety because it always worked and I'm feel that when I bought it in 2013 that it was listed as the F type.

For buying used memory, should I be concerned about PC2-5300 (with no letter) ? It does have the big heat sinks.

https://preview.redd.it/m2phjl5fs3uh1.jpg?width=2695&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c47dcfeb18536f15c4349ce4396ffbc3246af11f

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u/EricHearble — 8 days ago
▲ 6 r/macpro

MacPro 2006 - possible to upgrade OSX past 10.7 Lion?

I recently did a firmware update to my MacPro 2006. System profiler now reports it is a MacPro2,1 (the 2008). With the 2006/2007 maxing out at OSX 10.7, I hoped this would allow me to go as far as 10.11 like a real 2008 model. But the Mountain Lion installer balked saying it would not run on this machine.

Clearly, the installer checked more than the firmware level to determine what my machine was. Perhaps if I swapped the CPUs to two quad-core Xeon, it might then recognize the machine as a 2008.

Has anyone with a MacPro 2006/2007 done the firmware update and CPU swap and successfully installed an OSX 10.8 through 10.11 ?

Edit: I now understand the 2,1 designation is the 2007, which is also limited to OSX Lion like the 2006. Working on the Pike's boot.efi method.

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u/EricHearble — 10 days ago
▲ 1 r/Ubuntu

exfat disk will not mount writeable

I'm running Ubuntu server 26.04.1 on a old HP box (Intel CPU). I have a 6TB SATA drive which I had connected by USB to a Mac with a SATA dock. I copied about 5 TB of music files to the disk with the intent of installing it in the HP box and running Samba to share it with my Sonos audio system. I did a proof of concept using an old Raspberry Pi and got it working.

Before I can install it in the HP box, I need a SATA cable. In the meantime, I connected the SATA dock to the HP. I mount the drive and can view it's contents. But it's mounted read-only. No matter what I do, I can't get it to mount read-write.

The mountpoint $HOME/6TB is set as rwxrwxrwx but after mounting it is rwxr-xr-x.

The latest incantation was

sudo mount -t exfat -o uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/sdb2 6TB --rw

I've run fsck.exfat and gotten no errors. The syslog says this:

2026-09-30T20:10:29.624400+00:00 hptower 55-scsi-sg3_id.rules: WARNING: SCSI device sdb has no device ID, consider changing .SCSI_ID_SERIAL_SRC in 00-scsi-sg3_config.rules
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625410+00:00 hptower kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Very big device. Trying to use READ CAPACITY(16).
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625415+00:00 hptower kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] 11721045168 512-byte logical blocks: (6.00 TB/5.46 TiB)
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625415+00:00 hptower kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625416+00:00 hptower kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 10 00 00 00
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625416+00:00 hptower kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625419+00:00 hptower kernel:  sdb: sdb1 sdb2
2026-09-30T20:10:29.625420+00:00 hptower kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk

I'm hoping that this won't be a problem when I have the SATA cable and the drive is inside the cabinet instead of connected by USB. But it will be about a week before the cable is delivered. In the meantime, I would like to try and get it working by USB. Any ideas?

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u/EricHearble — 15 days ago

New Device Quarantine functionality on Firewalla Orange ?

The Firewalla help says quarantines can block access to local networks if using a Gold or Purple. Is this also true for an Orange and the help is just out of date?

What can I do with New Device Quarantine?

New Device Quarantine creates a Quarantine Group with two pre-defined rules to block new devices from accessing the internet and other segments of your network.

  • Block Traffic from & to Internet
  • Block Traffic from & to All Local Networks (Gold/Purple Only)
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u/EricHearble — 17 days ago

CUPS has no printer drivers !

I trying to set up an old Pi B+ (v1) to be a print server. Printer plugged into the Pi by USB, and a USB Wifi dongle to make it available to computers and tablets around the house. I've tried to get it working about 10 times now. Every time, I wind up in the same place - no drivers. I can get the cups service running and I'm able to access the CUPS web console on my Mac at https://<Pi IP address>:631

But if I try to add the printer from the console, it says "Unable to get list of printer drivers". If I try to do it at a command line on the Pi, it tells me "lpadmin: cups-driverd failed to get PPD file - see error_log for details".

The log says "Unable to open \"/usr/share/cups/model/M3015DW\" - No such file or directory". I wasn't certain what driver name to use because the "lsinfo -m" command just runs for a few minutes and returns nothing. But seeing the folder name in the error log, I looked to see the driver names in the directory but found /usr/share/cups/model was empty.

I've made attempts to install drivers with these commands:

  • apt install printer-driver-all
  • apt install printer-driver-gutenprint
  • apt install openprinting-ppds
  • apt install hplip (I don't have an HP printer, but attempting to get any driver)

While these commands seem to be accessing the net repositories and extracting files, nothing is ever actually installed.

I've tried to set this up in Raspberry Pi OS Lite (both Trixie and Bookworm), Alpine Linux, and DietPi. Each time, I end up in the same place - no drivers. I've tried the instructions for setup from several different web sites / blogs. In the end, they all take me to the same place: a CUPS server that cannot set up a print queue.

I'm now wondering whether it is related to the 32-bit ARM11 CPU. Perhaps no one has developed an arm32 driver and the package managers just aren't finding any?

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u/EricHearble — 2 months ago

which Linux to run NUT server on old Mac Mini ?

I have an old 2006 Mac Mini that is virtually useless since it can't upgrade past OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard). I figure I will install Linux and NUT on it. Now the question is which Linux? Which distribution would you recommend for ease of installing NUT to monitor a UPS? I intend to run the Mac headless.

Background:

I started using Home Assistant a month ago. After a proof of concept in a VM on my Mac desktop and a ZWave switch installed, I've got it working to control our bedroom ceiling fan and lights. The next step before setting up more fans and lights around the house was to set up a dedicated HA platform. I had an unused HP mini-PC with an i5 processor, so I installed HAOS on it. Now that is running and the VM is shut down.

My next step was to get a small UPS to power the cable modem, firewall, router, and the HA box. We have a generator, but I wanted to cover the short outages that occur during the transfer. I chose a model that was supported by NUT. I thought that I could just run the NUT server on the HA box. But I've been having trouble getting it to work. After reading all kinds of documentation and blogs, it seems there are a million ways to get it work or not work. So I decided I would not run it on HAOS.

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u/EricHearble — 2 months ago
▲ 7 r/stihl

storing chainsaws - vertical or horizontal ?

In my workshop, I've previously stored my gasoline powered chainsaws horizontally on a shelf. I'm planning on reorganizing my landscape equipment storage. I was going to hang the two 16" saws (MS170 and MS181C) by their handles. Not so sure about that now ...

I recently used one of the saws to clean up storm tree damage and I hung it vertically on my rear cab brush guard of my ATV while working the property. When I was done, I parked the ATV in its garage, leaving the saw hung vertically. The next day, I went to put the tools away and found the shed had a fuel smell. I guess gravity fed the gas into the carburetor?

I've seen hangers like this advertised, so it seems that hanging should be OK. Is that not true for Stihls?

https://preview.redd.it/sj5105arizdh1.png?width=708&format=png&auto=webp&s=51857311404c21e803ac5ea43bb5ab70678fde41

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u/EricHearble — 3 months ago
▲ 5 r/stihl

Stihl retail display parts sourcing?

I'm a homeowner with a number of Stihl products. I have a Kombi power head and about six attachments for it. Every time I'm in the local hardware store in the Stihl display area, I see the racks that they have where tools like Kombis snap into a holder that grips the tubular frames and I wish I had something like that in my storage area. For now, I cobbled something together out of wood scraps and hooks but it's awkward.

If I knew a Stihl dealer that was closing up, I'd try and scoop up on some of the display parts. I don't expect that Stihl makes those available to anyone but dealers.

Are there any rack systems that professional landscapers use to hang their tools on trailers that may be affordable to homeowners?

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u/EricHearble — 4 months ago
▲ 5 r/stihl

Resale prices on old chainsaws?

I have a MS170 saw that I bought new in 2015. I also have a MS181C that I got in 2017 when I couldn't get the 170 started after a hurricane and couldn't wait on the shop. Both of them hadn't been run since about 2020. I have a non-urgent need for them now. I pulled them out of storage, cleaned them up, drained the old fuel and put in fresh. Wouldn't start, so I ordered some new carburetors. Put them on today and they started right up. I was pretty pleased with myself getting these running again (with the help of youtube).

I had been thinking that if I could get them running, I could sell them and buy a battery powered MSA220 and avoid the hassles of fuel. I took a look on ebay to see what any may have sold for and found that a lot of used 170's have sold recently for more than what I paid for mine in 11 years ago. Does the MS170 have some kind of cult status among Stihl users?

The MS181C doesn't show as many cases in ebay, but still sold for more than I would have expected.

The sale prices I saw for 10+ year old used machines don't make sense even accounting for inflation. What's going on?

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u/EricHearble — 4 months ago
▲ 4 r/Tools

Full face respirator recommendations?

I need better lung and eye protection when I'm mowing 6 rural acres - creating a lot of dust clouds. I've been using a combination of a half face respirator and safety goggles, with good ear muffs and a hat for sun. It gets really cumbersome.

I'm considering this 3M product that Lowe's sells. I suppose I can wear a ball cap backwards over this. Any suggestions for some other brand?

https://preview.redd.it/c9qyw1l59h6h1.jpg?width=1038&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7099398ea52d87729f9cd2d0fc6a376c6c47e06

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u/EricHearble — 4 months ago
▲ 2 r/stihl

Any quantity limitations on free battery promotion?

I am planning on buying a battery powered pole pruner and chainsaw. I see on the Stihl site that they have a promotion going (at least in the US) that after registering a purchase of an AP powered tool, they will ship an AP330S battery in 4-6 weeks. They don't provide much details on limitations.

I wonder if buying two AP powered tools, would I qualify for two free batteries? I would buy one battery and charger at the time of the tools purchase. Would be nice to wind up with three batteries.

I guess the dealer might be able to answer, but just wondered if anyone here knew.

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u/EricHearble — 4 months ago

Looking for suggestions on simpler noise/dust/sun protection when mowing

I frequently mow about 7 acres. The front acre is fenced with lawn grass. The back six is a former grazing pasture and grows all kinds of wild grasses and weeds. I mow with a zero turn. When I mow the back six, it gets really dusty. So in addition to noise protection, I wear a respirator and googles to keep the dust out of my lungs and eyes. I'm also bald on top so I wear a hat to keep from getting sunburned. Pictured here is my rig. It's cumbersome to get it all to fit.

https://preview.redd.it/ouqlcjgotp5h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=966642f9167a0fd77db09859ba9b7343fbffc834

I was looking around for something that combined some of these things into a single unit. There are those lumberjack hard hats with integrated ear protection and face masks, and I could wear the respirator under it, but the shield will only stop debris nad not help keep dust out of my eyes.

Then there are full face respirators:

https://preview.redd.it/pdsyz0jkkq5h1.jpg?width=288&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b873f2b2ac7ef193cc9aabf6dd1bad1ed6db27f

This might interfere with a ball cap bill, but I suppose I could put the hat on backwards first, then the respirator, then the earmuffs.

Anyway, I just wonder if anyone has a better idea. If you use one of these full face respirators, is there one you would recommend?

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u/EricHearble — 4 months ago
▲ 1 r/stihl

Is hearing protection still needed for electric models?

I am considering getting a Stihl pole pruner and leaning toward an AP battery powered version. I'm curious what anyone who's used one of the HTA models thinks of the noise level of the electric motor and does it still need hearing protection?

Edit after several replies: I currently use a 3M earmuff for hearing protection when I run my gas powered mowers and yard equipment. I used to use bluetooth noise cancelling over the ear headphones for music while working until I learned a few years ago that it didn't really eliminate the decibels. Now I use bluetooth earbuds under the 3M earmuffs. I was hoping I could go back to my old headphones for at least some electric tools. It sounds like I can do that for the pole pruners. I also thought it might be a good way to get a foothold into the AP battery platform because I would like to get an AP powered Kombi.

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u/EricHearble — 4 months ago

Ad Block on reddit ?

I often browse some subs on reddit and even after installing a firewalla, I get ads. Same for youtube. I figured there are limitations to what firewalla ad block can do. But for reddit ads, I often see ads that tell me what my wife is shopping online for. She buys a new dog bed, I see lots of ads for dog beds until she moves on to something else. It's not a big problem, but it's creepy.

How does this happen? Is there any setting in firewalla to stop entities from doing this? I have Ad Block set to strict.

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u/EricHearble — 5 months ago
▲ 2 r/Reverb

Is there a difference between creating listings on web vs. a phone app?

After listing a guitar for sale, I did some test searches to see how it showed up to potential buyers. I found that if I set filter values for "Model Family" or "Series", my guitar doesn't show up in search results while other guitars exactly like mine (brand, model, year) do show up. When I look at those sellers' listings, their listings have metadata set for Model Family or Series.

When I attempt to edit my listing, I can't find any place to set those values. I had created my listing on the web page, so I installed the phone app to see if it had more features. While it looked different, I could not find any place to set those values.

Chat support wasn't very helpful. I'm new to selling on Reverb. Any other seller have any idea how to set all the filterable fields?

Edit: My title was asking about the differences. I started to ask this question here when I figured I should just try it. I've already confirmed that the IOS app doesn't help. But I forgot to reword my title question before posting here. So my question is really about how some sellers can set metadata like "Model Family" or "Series".

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u/EricHearble — 5 months ago

Clogged water lines?

We live in a rural area of Virginia - lots of pastures with cows. Our water comes from a county service authority, sourced from aquifers. There is no water tower anywhere around. Our pressure is lower than when we lived elsewhere. Our home was built in '97 and we've owned it for three years. It has a pump and pressure tank in the crawl space to boost pressure. When we run water long enough, we can hear the pump kick in. Once it builds up pressure, it cuts off.

When we bought the place, I contacted the water authority to set up our account. They didn't tell me when on the phone, but I needed to replay to an email to confirm. It went to a spam folder, so I didn't know I needed to confirm. So on the cancellation day that the former owners gave the authority, they came out and turned the water off. We showed up the next day and the pressure pump was running continuously. I turned it off and called the water folks and learned about the snafu. Fixed that and they came out and turned the water back on. That was three years ago.

We came home yesterday afternoon and the pressure pump was running continuously like that time three years ago. Opened a sink faucet and just got air. I went into the crawl space and switched off the pump. Called the water folks and learned that there was a break in a main about 2 miles from us. They had already fixed it. So I opened up hose spigots outside and they spewed lots of air until getting water. Took turns at each faucet indoors. When all were clear of air, I turned the pressure pump back on.

So that's a lot of background, but we still have a problem ... two faucets don't run at full volume anymore. One in the hall bathroom, and one of the two faucets on a double vanity in the master bathroom. The faucets flow as before when turned to the hot water, but only flow at a trickle on the cold side. Could there be some silt introduced into the system from the water main break and it would up clogging the two cold water supply lines at these tow sinks?

I'm considering closing off the supply valve, removing it from the faucet, and then using a union to attach a flexible supply line to run into bucket to wash out any clogs. If that doesn't work, maybe swap out the faucet. Am I on the right track?

And I think I will hire someone to add some kind of switch to that pump to turn it off when no pressure is detected upstream.

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u/EricHearble — 5 months ago
▲ 6 r/Reverb

Sold a guitar with free shipping - question about Reverb label

I'm new to selling on Reverb. Not a business, just downsizing my gear. Already sold a bunch of stomp boxes with buyer paid shipping, so I just used Reverb labels. I listed a guitar with free shipping to generate interest. Now it's sold and I need to decide on how to save cost on shipping label. I've got proper packaging and will pack it using Reverb's guidance.

I figured that if I buy the label myself, UPS is cheaper than FedEx or USPS. But would I be better off buying the label from Reverb? The only way I could figure what it might coast was to clone the listing as if I was selling another one. I put in the package size and weight and it came back with a range of $48.51 - $71.32 (I guess depending on zip codes). When I used the UPS site to calculate cost, it was $132 with $1000 insurance.

Is that $48.51 - $71.32 range legit? And they don't say what the Safe Shipping insurance would be other than "small fee". I saw on UPS site that the cost of insurance over the base $100 was only $16, so I guess Reverb won't scalp for their insurance?

Edit: After receiving helpful comments (all of them), I decided to go ahead and buy a UPS label through Reverb. I did consider Pirateship, creating an account and pricing a label for this guitar sale. It was about half the cost of buying directly from UPS. But after learning that labels bought on Reverb could be cancelled and refunded as long as not scanned by carriers, I checked the price. Buying the label on Reverb was only slightly more than Pirateship. I decided to spend a little more and get the Reverb label. This way if there was any damage or loss in shipping, I would be dealing with Reverb insurance and not Pirateship. I figure that Reverb might have more concerns for damage to a guitar that Pirateship might minimize. Hopefully, I won't find out if that is the case.

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u/EricHearble — 5 months ago
▲ 1 r/Tools

Magnetizing a metal bar ?

Previous owner of our home installed a couple of interior barn doors. I removed them and put normal swing doors back in. Thinking of what I can do with the track. Selling as scrap isn't worth the drive to the scrap dealer. No interest on FB marketplace.

In my shop, I've already repurposed some magnetic knife holders that were in the kitchen before we remodeled, using them over my workbench for lightweight tools like screwdrivers. So I'm thinking if I could magnetize the barn door tracks, it could be more tool racks over the bench. The tracks are basically long flat steel bars, about 2 inches wide and about 1/8 inch thick.

Is there a feasible way to magnetize the bars? I could cut them shorter if that helps. But if I need to buy some expensive equipment, it might just be cheaper to buy more of those knife holders. I read something about magnetizing nails by coiling copper wire on it and hooking it to a transformer. I do have an old transformer that I use to power a car stereo in my shop.

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u/EricHearble — 5 months ago

I have a 1997 American Standard Roadhouse that I bought new back in 1998. I'm planning on selling it - maybe on FB or ebay, or maybe take it to a local shop to see about consignment or outright sale. First, I was trying to settle on a price.

A search on Reverb for Roadhouse's between 1995 and 2001 some up with nine of them. The cheapest one at $500 is actually Mexican made, though it was tagged as made in USA. All of the others are listed at over $1100. Now I understand those are just asking prices. But is there some rule of thumb you might recommend on how much to discount from those asking prices? I certainly didn't pay four figures for it new, and wouldn't have expected to see it appreciate that much, though I won't complain if it did.

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u/EricHearble — 6 months ago