So, yesterday night, I finally decided to take some time to recreate the crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. I have previously create a similar campaign to try and raise US$35,000 for another custom workstation by 8Pack, but after thinking about it and see that it didn't quite get any backers, I've decided to let it run finish its duration and will eventually delete it from my list of available campaigns.
So, since there wasn't any backers for that campaign, you might be wondering, "Why are you creating yet another one? Yet, with a much hefty amount to raise."
My answer is simple really. I believe in what onlinelabseries is trying to achieve as a learning platform. Secondly, I know that I am being absolutely genuine about trying to raise those funds, in spite of the possibility that some people might think otherwise. Last reason, I have been doing a lot of research online in the recent months, trying to find the most cost-effective way to get an all-in-one solution for onlinelabseries.
As part of my past working experience, I have worked as a content creator and product trainer before, and thanks to my past working experience, I have had the opportunity of working in a fully equipped studio environment. Thinking back to my experience there, I remembered how the whole entire setup (2 separate workstations + 1 NAS) would actually cost a lot more than just US$42,000 (easily).
So, over the past few months, I have looked at some of the most notable custom PC & workstation makers around the world. I've tried to compare brands that make PCs and workstations that meet the hardware specifications that I would require and then I also tried to find anything that is better within the price range.
Sonox G4 | Utopia Computers
So, after ranking all of the different brands and models on the market, I found one brand that actually makes a custom workstation that beats all other brands within the same price range - Utopia Computers. The other two brands that actually come close behind includes the Aventum 3 Pro by DigitalStorm PC, and then followed by the orionx by 8Pack.
When I say "beats all the other brands", what I am referring to is, at the same level of hardware specifications as well as pricing comparison, which brand makes the most cost-effective custom workstation? When everything is compared in terms of their configurations side-by-side, the Sonox 4 came out as the clear leader.
So, why such a Powerful Workstation if it's only for Content Creation?
For many people that do not understand the vision and goals of onlinelabseries, they will find it hard to comprehend, but it's not their fault really. In their minds, they only see me as a content creator, nothing more. For some people, they will see me as a software engineer, some will see me as an Agile-UX practitioner, some will recognise me as a STEM educator, some will recognise me as a cybersecurity consultant, some will see me as an AI researcher and developer. Fact is, in everybody's minds, they each see a different version of me. And in reality, I am all that they see in totality.
When you take all of the knowledge, fields, experiences, skills and things that I know and put it all together, I can tell you with certainty that my currently Macbook Pro is not going to be enough to support all of those tools and softwares. What is even more clear is that my Macbook can't even install some of those tools.
So, here are all 8 categories of operations & tools that the workstation will be used to support:
1. Video Streaming
For the first category, which is video streaming, surely, it doesn't exactly seem like the best reason to why I need a 42,000 dollar workstation. But it is also one very clear reason why my Macbook just isn't capable enough of supporting it. Every time I try to run a live video session on my Macbook, the fan and system would go straight into hyperdrive. And this is not even in the Windows VM mode. In the Windows VM mode, my VM ended crashing before and I had to basically reinstall everything again. And it won't be a matter of if it will happen again, but only a matter of when.
Another reason why I believe it is necessary for an upgrade is because when I try to use the OBS software (Open Broadcast Software), my Macbook just slows to a halt entirely when I try to run it in Windows VM mode, so that is such a bummer.
Okay, off to the second reason.
2. Video Production
Now, for this category of content work, I can definitely speak with a lot more confidence. From my experience of working with a production workstation that only has 32GB of ram at that point in time, I know for a fact that 32GB is really not quite enough. Most content creators and famous YouTubers will tell you this, if you are running a video production for a 4K video content, and if you are using tools like Adobe Premiere Pro, the minimum amount of memory you will need is 64GB. Now, even if I don't end up producing 4K-level video content (which is unlikely because of how 4K monitor screens are going to be mainstream in the near future), need to run other VMs on the workstation like Linux means I will need to also install the same tools I have on the Windows OS onto the Linux OS. So, for mobile workstations, 64GB would be the perfect sweet spot for all of the workload that is intended for onlinelabseries.
So, I thought it would be nice to just insert a good Adobe Premiere pro screenshot here. Unfortunately, this is just a sample screenshot that someone else has created. I don't have Adobe Premiere Pro installed on my MacBook Pro currently. Frankly, it really doesn't have the necessary hardware specs to support the software anyway.
3. 3D Modeling (Autodesk)
Another set of skills and tools that I am not just familiar with, but have also taken courses on it in the past, bundled with some level of working experience as well. And that is the 3D modeling category. Where 3D Modeling is concern, most people will be familiar with the brand and tools involved. In fact, in the 3D Modeling software space, there is only one brand that you will hear most professionals referring to - Autodesk.
Personally, and professionally speaking, I have been using Autodesk ever since I was 19 when I studied my Diploma in Engineering Informatics. I basically fell in love with the 3D modeling software and I scored full marks on my 3D Modeling project that semester.
When I left school and eventually entered the workforce, though I ended up in software engineering, I never stopped learning about AutoCAD. In fact, there was a few years during my career that I sort of took a detour from IT and ended up in engineering for a little while. During which, I also took up a course for learning AutoCAD, so technically, I am certified y'all.
But there is more to 3D Modeling than just AutoCAD, and I would love to be able to have a workstation that can install the whole entire Autodesk Product Design & Manufacturing suite. Those are the products that I will be able to share and educate others about.
4. Game Design & Development
Since the last point was on 3D modeling and Autodesk, I thought it would be fitting to touch on the subject of Game Design & Development next. For a very long time, I have always been a PC gamer, I love PC games from when I was old enough to play my first PC game on the old i486. Most of you younger folks probably have no clue what I am talking about anyway. But that was one of the very first computer games that I played with. I loved game development and design.
I took a programming course when I was only 8 years old and I created my first snake game in MS-DOS. I think some of you might actually be scratching you heads now wondering what I am referring to. But point is, my days of learning and applying game design and development has been developed in secret for years.
My love for PC games was the perfect marriage to my interests in game design and programming. Over the years, I have worked with OpenGL rendering, DirectX programming in .NET, and then I also learned about Maya and 3DS Max Studio.
In the recent years, I have also been considered one of the pioneers in the fields of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in the Asia Pacific region. Largely thanks to my experience of working on an AR-capable mobile app in 2012 right after AR was introduced to the world. In that space, people would be talking about the Unity Framework.
5. IoT, Electronics, Robotics & STEM Education
Next, this is particularly a field that I have anticipated in the past will become a trend one day, Internet of Things (IoT). I started my love for IoT about 4.5 years ago when a friend first introduced me to my first Raspberry Pi (1st generation). After that, I found Arduino and I have practically fallen in love with electronics and embedded systems ever since.
Truth is, with all of my knowledge, skills and experiences combined over the last few years, the software and tools that can be installed and used would cause my MacBook to scream, "I don't have enough memory to support what you like to install!! Please stop installing."
With everything that onlinelabseries aims to do, the various partnerships with brands like Silicon Labs, STMicroelectronics and potential even more semiconductor manufacturers, more and more software tools are going to be needed to install on the intended workstation. With all the different range of products as well as their necessary configuration files and libraries, it is becoming absolutely clear that my MacBook Pro is not capable of support the operations of onlinelabseries.
6. Software Engineering & Development
The next category of tasks, operations and education that I want to do will be related to a majority of my working experiences - software development.
Anyway, I thought the best way to explain and share what sort of tools and skills my experience covers, the list above will provide a good idea for you. But know this, the list is not complete either. There are more tools and platforms that I know and have picked up on over the years and the ad simply doesn't have enough space for me to put all of them in.
So, if I am going to do software development and to conduct lessons to teach people about programming in the different languages and with different frameworks, you know that I will need a lot of hard disk space.
7. Artificial Intelligence (Deep Learning, NLP, etc)
Another area of software engineering that I am also recognised for within the industry is Artificial Intelligence research & development. Where AI is concerned, most industry professionals will know that if order to do intensive AI-related operations, you are going to need dedicated GPU computation capabilities, and that is where the NVIDIA Quadro GPU Graphics card come into play. And for the intended workstation, I intend on investing in 3 24GB Quadro P6000 graphics card. And those 3 GPU graphics card will be dedicated to GPU intensive computing operations.
With onlinelabseries, I plan to share and teach people about artificial intelligence related applications as well as showcasing simulated real-world use-cases. In otherwise, I will be using really large data sets that can be downloaded from various organisation's website. (They tend to dump their old data publicly for researchers & scientists to use)
I thought I would share this amazing article that shares about the performance of the Quadro P6000 Graphics card that I so intend on installing into the custom workstation.
8. Big Data & Data Mining
Another area that I have a very deep passion for in terms of technology is "Big Data and Data Mining". No, this is not bitcoin mining. But rather, I am referring to the field of technology that is now also trending around the world. Big Data has grown in its value over the last few years. But for many people, trying to learn or research about Big Data in their own homes is a challenge because where can you find a system or workstation that would allow you to do that.
With onlinelabseries, my goal and hope is that through the live video streaming experience, viewers can see the technology concept at work, and not just reading about it from a book they picked up at a local bookstore.
And ofcourse, with a high-end workstation, I will be able to do video streaming while at the same time run data mining operations in the background. Another thing that I will also be able to do is to do data mining operations locally on my workstation thanks to the large hard disk space that is available with the intended workstation.
Closing
With that, I like to close this article by saying that this post is in no way an attempt at trying to convince you about whether or not you should be backing the crowdfunding campaign that you will see on our homepage. But however, my hopes is that I have in some ways help you to better understand what the workstation will be used for should you decide that you want to help back the campaign.
I have also listed all of those activities and operations above because I think it is usually easier for people to visualise why there's a need for workstation instead of just a standard, normal PC.
Sure, as a learning platform, I plan to continue growing our team and eventually create a network of online educators around the world. But I take the growth seriously and I only want to make sure I include just the right kind of people, so in other words, I will not be rushing into any decisions where the future of onlinelabseries is concerned.
If you are interested in making a contribution and to back the fund-raising campaign, you can click on this link here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/raising-funds-for-sonox-g4-by-utopia-computers-pc/x/19076155#/