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A little over a week ago, the cooling fan on the laptop I am using for EPG gathering gave it up.

The laptop was still running, but the processor temperature shot up to 90-95C and the speed of the processor was throttled.  EPG collection took more time than before.

 

This laptop is an ASUS K95V with an Intel i7 processor.  This processor has 4 cores, and 8 CPU's.

It is 7 years old.

 

I looked into repairing this thing.  Although the fan is not expensive,  The laptop has to be completely dismantled to get to the fan.

And I destroyed already another laptop by doing this.  (Broken the keyboard connector on the main board).

Getting it fixed will cost me between €200 and €250.

I will not do this.

 

So I got a laptop cooling pad.(€25)  Removed the back of the laptop and stuck the laptop on the cooling pad.

Limited the amount of EPG I collect at the same time (see further) and the CPU temperature stays now between 70 and 75 C.  Still high, but workable.

 

As a consequence the gathering of the EPG will take longer.  Where the full update was ready each morning around 6h30, it is now around 8h30.

 

A word of explanation:

 

There are 69 different XMLTV files.  These files are arranged into 9 groups.  8 normal groups and one special group with only 2 files in it.

Previous I started all 8 groups simultaneously.  Observing the CPU load, it showed that doing so all 8 CPU's were working around 95 % load.

I do not know what the processor temp was at that moment.  (Never looked at it)

The special group was collecting info from websites which need a lot of pausing between each grab.  This group did not have a big effect on the processor load, since most of time it was idle.  But it runs for a long time.

 

Now I cannot start anymore the 8 threads at the same time.  Only start 3 threads now.  And start the next batch when the first finishes.

 

I will keep this up as long as it goes.

But when this laptop dies on me, I can move some data gathering to my other PC.  But definitely not the whole list.

And I will not buy a new PC just for this EPG.

Edited by doglover, 11 September 2022 - 10:42.

Crowdfunding?

Good idea!

 

Or someone willing to sponsor replacement hardware. Does it have to be a laptop? Or will other hardware do as well?

It does not have to be a laptop.

In fact, the battery in the existing laptop is shot.  The laptop runs on main power.

 

Myself, I would go for something with a small footprint. 

The main thing is a fast processor,  Something similar as the intel i7 with 8 processors (or better)

And capable of running Linux (the laptop is running Linux - and the processing scripts are Linux based)

 

An SSD for the operating system.  All the rest is on the NAS.

Of course a decent network connection.  Wifi will do, but preferable networkcable

 

Everything else is optional.  Even a 12 inch screen will do.

 

I am 72, and I would welcome if somebody would take at least part of the EPG collection of my hands.

If a crowdfunding, I will contribute. I think many people could donate 5-10 euro .

I would.

why not?

Location? I have two servers i could donate.

doglover is located in Belgium.

Hmmm... Considering that he's "looking for something with a small footprint", maybe a proper server is a bit much. Something like a Lenovo Thinkstation E31 (minitower, 32GB RAM, Xeon E3-1235v2 (four cores, eight *threads* (not "CPUs")) then? I also have an ASUS... something minitower, Haswell-gen but with a crummy Pentium CPU (replaceable with any i5/i7 LGA1150).

There's also a Fujitsu server (minitower, quad-core/8t, 16GB RAM). The ASUS weighs the least, followed by the Fujitsu and postage to WaffelLand/"All your regulations are belong to us" isn't that much, but better get the man himself to chime in here. If the postal service will take too long: maybe others can pitch in for shipping through DHL?

Also: wouldn't an Rpi4 be perfect for this?

I don't think a RasPi has the processing power for the required data crunching, but perhaps doglover can specify his requirements? I can imagine, given the fact he uses a laptop, that noise and power usage for example may be an issue.