So, anyone going to be buying any cheap Chinese electronics before.....

[neurosis]

I got myself two mini-pc's to toy around with before they become unaffordable.

Making a Plex server out of one and possibly a router out of the other. 

[CNCAppsJames]

I only buy Chinese when that is my only choice. Ever.

[neurosis]

I only buy Chinese when that is my only choice. Ever.

I've been surprised by how many things I didn't know were made in China.  A lot of it has been electronics.

[RobertELee]

Newp

[CNCAppsJames]

I've been surprised by how many things I didn't know were made in China.  A lot of it has been electronics.

I look at EVERYTHING I buy. Some things you just don't have a choice, but others...

A LOT of stuff is made in China. I blame Nixon and Congress and Clinton in the 90's for what we have today. The foundation was laid then.

Speaking of made in China... anyone see their F-22 and F35 "comparable" fighters? I wonder how much of our Defense tech was given to them during the Clinton and Obama Administrations. I KNOW with absolute 100% certainty that President William Jefferson Clinton himself ordered Loral to provide engineers to help Chinese engineers with their ICBM guidance systems. The could not launch successfully to save their country. Clinton says it was for "satellite launch platforms", but it's the SAME launch platform! He should have been tried and publicly executed for it. It was literally treason he committed.

[Newbeeee™]

I look at EVERYTHING I buy. Some things you just don't have a choice, but others...

A LOT of stuff is made in China. I blame Nixon and Congress and Clinton in the 90's for what we have today. The foundation was laid then.

Speaking of made in China... anyone see their F-22 and F35 "comparable" fighters? I wonder how much of our Defense tech was given to them during the Clinton and Obama Administrations. I KNOW with absolute 100% certainty that President William Jefferson Clinton himself ordered Loral to provide engineers to help Chinese engineers with their ICBM guidance systems. The could not launch successfully to save their country. Clinton says it was for "satellite launch platforms", but it's the SAME launch platform! He should have been tried and publicly executed for it. It was literally treason he committed.

Russia too....obvious couple of examples were the Space Shuttleski and Concordski. Although in copying the prints the machine wasn't set to 1:1....
 

[Jeff]

I got myself two mini-pc's to toy around with before they become unaffordable.

Making a Plex server out of one and possibly a router out of the other. 

Rumors are that a lot of those have malware embedded in there.
Be careful.

[neurosis]

Rumors are that a lot of those have malware embedded in there.
Be careful.

I've read that but there are people a lot smarter than I using some of these devices for their home labs. I usually buy the ones that are recommended by people working on pfsense routers or similar. That, and it's not difficult to monitor nefarious network activity these days.

The first thing I do is remove the drive and replace it with my own, then install what ever o/s I'm planning on using.

[Jeff]

I've read that but there are people a lot smarter than I using some of these devices for their home labs. I usually buy the ones that are recommended by people working on pfsense routers or similar. That, and it's not difficult to monitor nefarious network activity these days.

The first thing I do is remove the drive and replace it with my own, then install what ever o/s I'm planning on using.

Logan from Tek Syndicate has videos of them. (formerly from Tiger Direct back in the day).
He has a lot of neat videos on stuff that we wouldn't normally buy.
https://www.youtube.com/@teksyndicate

[Newbeeee™]

Rumors are that a lot of those have malware embedded in there.
Be careful.

He'll be fine - if there aren't any, MS or Google will soon ensure there's plenty installed!

[neurosis]

He'll be fine - if there aren't any, MS or Google will soon ensure there's plenty installed!

 

Yeap.. I'm already walking around with my hand held malware device every day. 

[Newbeeee™]

Yeap.. I'm already walking around with my hand held malware device every day. 

Glad you realise your Gov is protecting you....

[Rstewart]

Speaking of made in China... anyone see their F-22 and F35 "comparable" fighters? I wonder how much of our Defense tech was given to them during the Clinton and Obama Administrations. I KNOW with absolute 100% certainty that President William Jefferson Clinton himself ordered Loral to provide engineers to help Chinese engineers with their ICBM guidance systems.

When I was working on the airfield in Okinawa F-22's were flying every day.  It was awesome to see how fast they get gone off the runway.  I'd give anything to ride in one of those, or any fighter for that matter

[neurosis]

Glad you realise your Gov is protecting you....

You know that they make smart phones now that you can run a completely open source operating system on with no google (or apple) at all?  Even a google pixel  Wait, what?

I think I framed that wrong because there has always been phones that allow you to unlock the rom. It's the o/s that are getting better.

[YoDoug]

Not cheap electronics, but my employers buys a lot of small Swiss cnc style parts from China. Every time we have the discussion about bringing it in house we never get to a good cost justification. However tariffs could change that calculation.