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2024 Update MrChromebox.tech had a major update a few month ago, so I decide to move on as well. But before that, use Clonezilla or rsync -aHAXS to back up the 32 GB emmc first. Run in terminal, install “Full UEFI Firmware” cd; curl -LO mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh After reboot, a full version of coreboot is installed, by replacing the previous SeaBIOS which is partial and limited. This makes this laptop now with a free firmware. A free GNU/Linux distro is needed to be reinstalled. ...

Last year, I bought a Metro locked Oneplus Nord N30 5G (CPH2513/CPH2515) for $60 during a very slick deal. However, this phone was completely unusable due to it is haunted with tons of bloatware and spyware. So I decided to let it sit in a drawer for 180 days and then see what I can do with it. A few days ago, I unlocked it by simply go to About Phone then click Unlock. ...

A Deep Dive into Voice Cloning with SoftVC VITS and Bert-VITS2 In the previous post, I have tried a little bit of TTS Generation WebUI and found it’s interesting. So, I decide to train a usable model with my own voice. This voice cloning project explores both SVC for Voice Changing and VITS for Text-to-Speech. There is no one tool does all jobs. I have tested several tools for this project. Many of the good guides, like this, this and this, are in Chinese. So, I thought it’s useful to post my notes in English. ...

Cheapskate’s NAS Migration from Unraid to Openmediavault For decades, I come across a lot of abandoned computers and recycled parts out of them. This article is about the recycled Dell Vostro 220s with LGA771 to LGA775 Mod I mentioned in the last post. It was running Unraid with a low power Xeon L5410 and 2 GB of RAM for many years. The only repair was a PSU replacement two years ago. ...

Old Stories The computer hardware used to be more playful and worth tinkering. My favorate platfom from a decade ago, Sandy Bridge on LGA 1155, can still be powerful even today. Back in the days, I used to repair people’s electronics for free. Because of that, I also received a lots of spares and e-waste in exchange. One of the best was a LGA 1155 motherboard with i5-2300 on it. Then, I bought a cheap E3-1245 and GTX 750 Ti to make it a gaming rig. I played a lot of games on that, such as Dark Souls series and Metro series. Before it was sold, last games I played on this build was Metro Exodus and Elden Ring. ...