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When does it ever end?
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote: Eeyore wrote: I'd like to see reliable CD-ROMs first. Do you mean life wise? Yup. And ones that don't have defects. Graham |
When does it ever end?
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When does it ever end?
Keith G wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060082.stm No, forget that. The next 'Nature Journal' reported innovation will be electrodes directly interfacing computers with the real organic brains of an animal bred specifically for having a long term memory. Er, how many classical concert recordings could be stored in an elephant? :-) -- Adrian C |
When does it ever end?
On Thu, 21 May 2009 20:22:49 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060082.stm The trouble is that the more you cram into less room, the more fragile it all gets. It is starting to approach the point at which random quantum tunnelling events and the like can change the state of a bit here and there. So discs like this will need higher levels of error correction than less dense ones. This will inevitably compromise read and write speed. And the idea of making it removable (hence handleable) just has to be wrong. Remember the early days of the CD ROM, when you had to put the thing in a caddy before it went in the drive? d |
When does it ever end?
"Don Pearce" wrote in message news:4a1cb918.388669125@localhost... On Thu, 21 May 2009 20:22:49 +0100, "Keith G" wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060082.stm The trouble is that the more you cram into less room, the more fragile it all gets. It is starting to approach the point at which random quantum tunnelling events and the like can change the state of a bit here and there. So discs like this will need higher levels of error correction than less dense ones. This will inevitably compromise read and write speed. And the idea of making it removable (hence handleable) just has to be wrong. Remember the early days of the CD ROM, when you had to put the thing in a caddy before it went in the drive? It was only a year or two since we were handling double sided Panasonic DVD-RAM disks (4.7 Gb?) that never left their caddy, but now I'm handling 'nude' 25 and 50 Gig BD-REDL disks on a daily basis - the technology rises to match the technology (IYSWIM) - scratchproof layers... If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Bothers me - I'd sooner not be reminded of it.... |
When does it ever end?
Keith G wrote:
If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Great video but I find the colour wheel thingy harder to get my head around than the chip. The video makes it look very crude indeed. |
When does it ever end?
On Thu, 21 May 2009 22:11:11 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote: "Don Pearce" wrote in message news:4a1cb918.388669125@localhost... On Thu, 21 May 2009 20:22:49 +0100, "Keith G" wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060082.stm The trouble is that the more you cram into less room, the more fragile it all gets. It is starting to approach the point at which random quantum tunnelling events and the like can change the state of a bit here and there. So discs like this will need higher levels of error correction than less dense ones. This will inevitably compromise read and write speed. And the idea of making it removable (hence handleable) just has to be wrong. Remember the early days of the CD ROM, when you had to put the thing in a caddy before it went in the drive? It was only a year or two since we were handling double sided Panasonic DVD-RAM disks (4.7 Gb?) that never left their caddy, but now I'm handling 'nude' 25 and 50 Gig BD-REDL disks on a daily basis - the technology rises to match the technology (IYSWIM) - scratchproof layers... If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Bothers me - I'd sooner not be reminded of it.... You mean how much it's going to irritate when just one of them sticks. d |
When does it ever end?
"Anton Gÿsen" wrote in message ... Keith G wrote: If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Great video but I find the colour wheel thingy harder to get my head around than the chip. The video makes it look very crude indeed. Yep, for all its 21C technology, I still think it's all a bit *Logie Baird*..!! The answer of course is 3 (dedicated RGB) DMD chips but that wouldn't be cheap and there's not even too many movie theatres with that technology yet - according to my 'digital source'! (Oldest son!) |
When does it ever end?
On Thu, 21 May 2009 22:30:51 +0100, Anton Gÿsen
wrote: Keith G wrote: If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Great video but I find the colour wheel thingy harder to get my head around than the chip. The video makes it look very crude indeed. We've gone full circle - back to the Baird scanning system... d |
When does it ever end?
"Don Pearce" wrote in message news:4a1dc827.392515421@localhost... On Thu, 21 May 2009 22:11:11 +0100, "Keith G" wrote: "Don Pearce" wrote in message news:4a1cb918.388669125@localhost... On Thu, 21 May 2009 20:22:49 +0100, "Keith G" wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060082.stm The trouble is that the more you cram into less room, the more fragile it all gets. It is starting to approach the point at which random quantum tunnelling events and the like can change the state of a bit here and there. So discs like this will need higher levels of error correction than less dense ones. This will inevitably compromise read and write speed. And the idea of making it removable (hence handleable) just has to be wrong. Remember the early days of the CD ROM, when you had to put the thing in a caddy before it went in the drive? It was only a year or two since we were handling double sided Panasonic DVD-RAM disks (4.7 Gb?) that never left their caddy, but now I'm handling 'nude' 25 and 50 Gig BD-REDL disks on a daily basis - the technology rises to match the technology (IYSWIM) - scratchproof layers... If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Bothers me - I'd sooner not be reminded of it.... You mean how much it's going to irritate when just one of them sticks. Knock on wood, we've got two 720p PJs on the go with about 900,000 mirrors on the chips and no sign of any failure yet...?? (And I suspect they'd be out of warranty now, or headed that way!) |
When does it ever end?
"Keith G" wrote in message
... The answer of course is 3 (dedicated RGB) DMD chips but that wouldn't be cheap and there's not even too many movie theatres with that technology yet - according to my 'digital source'! (Oldest son!) All Digital Cinema projectors use 3 DMD chips, but it's certainly true that few cinemas as yet are equipped for D-Cinema. Not only is the equipment expensive, but there are relatively few "films" available in digital, compared to good old 35mm film. David. |
When does it ever end?
Keith G wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060082.stm I'd like to see reliable CD-ROMs first. Graham |
When does it ever end?
In article ,
Eeyore wrote: I'd like to see reliable CD-ROMs first. Do you mean life wise? -- *Dance like nobody's watching. Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
When does it ever end?
"Don Pearce" wrote in message news:4a1dc827.392515421@localhost... On Thu, 21 May 2009 22:11:11 +0100, "Keith G" wrote: If you want summat to nag away at your brain - think of the *2.1 MILLION* mirrors on a 1080p DMMD chip twinkling away all the while you watch the latest blockbuster: http://www.dlp.com/includes/demo_flash.aspx Bothers me - I'd sooner not be reminded of it.... You mean how much it's going to irritate when just one of them sticks. At the risk of tempting providence - we haven't had a single instance of a 'stuck mirror' on any of 6 different DLP projectors in the last 3 years. Even better is that, according to the 'family AV expert' just now, no-one has mentioned anything like it on the various AV forums in the same period - IOW, it's a non-issue. Visible effects of dust on LCD panels is a common problem, on the other hand! I am also advised that if a mirror did stop working it wouldn't be out of action 100% of the time and it would supply the colour range that would apply to the appropriate *on or off* state of the affected mirror. The reality is not to worry about it - for instance, I can usually go about 10 minutes before I have to get up and ping the screen to shift the various 'movie moths' that start to appear about now and last throughout the summer! (Note that *I* have to get up to do it!!) |
When does it ever end?
"Keith G" wrote I am also advised that if a mirror did stop working it wouldn't be out of action 100% of the time and it would supply the colour range that would apply to the appropriate *on or off* state of the affected mirror. Sorry, that isn't very well-worded - it is the screen pixel that wouldn't be out of action 100% of the time due to the 'stuck mirror'! (Not sure that's any better wording...??) |
When does it ever end?
Keith G wrote:
The reality is not to worry about it - for instance, I can usually go about 10 minutes before I have to get up and ping the screen to shift the various 'movie moths' that start to appear about now and last throughout the summer! (Note that *I* have to get up to do it!!) Isn't that why people have cats? |
When does it ever end?
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote: Eeyore wrote: I'd like to see reliable CD-ROMs first. Do you mean life wise? Yup. And ones that don't have defects. Are you talking home recorded ones or 'factory'? Can't say I've had problems with mass produced ones - but home recorded seem to have a limited life. Although it seems to depend on make of blank. CDRs really. And I don't know if it's the make of the blank alone ( I usually use 'name' ones of some reasonably quality reputation ) or the drives pack up early. I've thrown out more CD drives than any other piece of PC kit. Graham |
When does it ever end?
In article ,
Eeyore wrote: I'd like to see reliable CD-ROMs first. Do you mean life wise? Yup. And ones that don't have defects. Are you talking home recorded ones or 'factory'? Can't say I've had problems with mass produced ones - but home recorded seem to have a limited life. Although it seems to depend on make of blank. -- *You can't teach an old mouse new clicks * Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
When does it ever end?
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Are you talking home recorded ones or 'factory'? Can't say I've had problems with mass produced ones I've had loads of factory ones, about thirty CDs purchased in the eighties manufactured by PDO. Thankfully they replaced them :-) - but home recorded seem to have a limited life. Although it seems to depend on make of blank. Yup. -- Adrian C |
When does it ever end?
On Sat, 23 May 2009 00:04:47 +0100, Eeyore
wrote: CDRs really. And I don't know if it's the make of the blank alone ( I usually use 'name' ones of some reasonably quality reputation ) or the drives pack up early. I've thrown out more CD drives than any other piece of PC kit. The first generation of CD drives certainly seemed to have about a 3 year life. A lot of my failed CD-Rs date from days before I realised that burning at the manufacturer's maximum rated speed was NOT a good idea. The better burn utilities prominently feature a choice of burn speeds. Unfortunately many of the consumer-aimed programs hide this setting. |
When does it ever end?
In article ,
Eeyore wrote: Are you talking home recorded ones or 'factory'? Can't say I've had problems with mass produced ones - but home recorded seem to have a limited life. Although it seems to depend on make of blank. CDRs really. And I don't know if it's the make of the blank alone ( I usually use 'name' ones of some reasonably quality reputation ) or the drives pack up early. I've thrown out more CD drives than any other piece of PC kit. Is that on the burning side or reading them afterwards? Finding one reader that is universally perfect might be difficult. I recently had a PC data disc that wouldn't read on any of my PC drives - but would on an ancient Acorn one, so I managed to copy it. -- *Two wrongs are only the beginning * Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
When does it ever end?
In article , Laurence Payne
wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2009 00:04:47 +0100, Eeyore wrote: CDRs really. And I don't know if it's the make of the blank alone ( I usually use 'name' ones of some reasonably quality reputation ) or the drives pack up early. I've thrown out more CD drives than any other piece of PC kit. The first generation of CD drives certainly seemed to have about a 3 year life. A lot of my failed CD-Rs date from days before I realised that burning at the manufacturer's maximum rated speed was NOT a good idea. I've often had a situation where a newly-burnt CDR would not play properly in a specific device or drive. Like the above, I have found that lowering the write speed can help. I've also found it helps to use a particular brand, TDK in my experience works well. But this does seem to vary both with choice of writer, and with the playback/reading devices. *As yet* I've not encountered any examples of a CDR that used to play fine but seems to have aged or deteriorated. Now approaching a decade for the oldest. So although I suspect problems may show up eventually, I've been OK thus far. The better burn utilities prominently feature a choice of burn speeds. Unfortunately many of the consumer-aimed programs hide this setting. I've found that some writers may also simply ignore a speed slower than they can be bothered to accept. For example, the CD writer I have in my day-to-day-use home machine won't go any slower than x4 even if the software tells it to. The DVD writer seems to totally ignore any speed instructions when used to burn a CDR, and what it produces is useless for my purposes. Fortunately, the CDR writer seems to do a decent job. Alas, this all seems a minefield in my experience as it seems impossible to predict which burner/disc brand/speed combination will give the best results in terms of how well some other specific player can then cope with the resulting discs. At one level you can just experiment. The snag is - what happens X years later when you change playing device, and the discs that played fine on old devices don't play correctly on it? So far, this has been OK in my experience, but is this just luck?... Slainte, Jim -- Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html |
When does it ever end?
On Sun, 24 May 2009 12:23:30 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote: I've found that some writers may also simply ignore a speed slower than they can be bothered to accept. For example, the CD writer I have in my day-to-day-use home machine won't go any slower than x4 even if the software tells it to. The DVD writer seems to totally ignore any speed instructions when used to burn a CDR, and what it produces is useless for my purposes. Fortunately, the CDR writer seems to do a decent job. I'm not sure it SHOULD let you go slower than 4X with the media available today. The trick is to find an optimum speed, not "slower is better". Doubtless a shop-bought computer will come with the cheapest possible burner hardware. And, of course, the fact that you have one unit that burns ONLY CDs (not DVDs) gives a clue as to its age - it's as hard (and as pointless) to buy a CD-only burner these days as it is to search out a CD-only player for your hi-fi stack :-) But you can slot in something like a Pioneer 115-D (or whatever their current model is) for so little money, it can hardly be considered a problem. |
When does it ever end?
In article , Laurence Payne
wrote: On Sun, 24 May 2009 12:23:30 +0100, Jim Lesurf wrote: I've found that some writers may also simply ignore a speed slower than they can be bothered to accept. For example, the CD writer I have in my day-to-day-use home machine won't go any slower than x4 even if the software tells it to. The DVD writer seems to totally ignore any speed instructions when used to burn a CDR, and what it produces is useless for my purposes. Fortunately, the CDR writer seems to do a decent job. I'm not sure it SHOULD let you go slower than 4X with the media available today. The trick is to find an optimum speed, not "slower is better". Whilst that may be a useful generalisation, I've tended to find that such generalisations often go awry. :-) FWIW with exactly the same batch of discs, the above writer produced less reliably readable discs than another that wrote more slowly. I agree, though, that writers that refuse to go slower may do so because they are incapable of working well at lower speeds. TBH The best CD writer I ever used was a SCSI interface Plextor. If I wrote TDK CDRs with that for CDDA at x1 or x2 speed then they played on all the audio and computer drives I could find. Can't say that for *any* writer/disk combination I've found since. Doubtless a shop-bought computer will come with the cheapest possible burner hardware. And, of course, the fact that you have one unit that burns ONLY CDs (not DVDs) gives a clue as to its age - it's as hard (and as pointless) to buy a CD-only burner these days as it is to search out a CD-only player for your hi-fi stack :-) Again, not quite my experience. I've found that a deliberately chosen CD writer can work more reliably than a later CD/DVD writer, also specially bought. However a factor in this is the point I make below... Also, the CD writer made a much better job of reading some faulty commercial CDDAs I had than the CD/DVD drive. The CD writer got better results until the point it admitted it couldn't read any more and gave up. The CD/DVD drive basically read garbage from parts of the disc and gave no sign it hadn't read correctly to the end. But you can slot in something like a Pioneer 115-D (or whatever their current model is) for so little money, it can hardly be considered a problem. Can I? erm... You may not know what machine I use for most domestic computing... Hints are that it doesn't run Windows, nor MacOS, nor Linux (usually), and doesn't have 'IBM PC' type hardware. :-) That said, I've been playing with a new linux box in recent weeks. This came with a CD/DVD writer, but I've not yet tried it for disc writing. Spent more 'drive time' installing various OS to see which I prefer. ;- Slainte, Jim -- Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html |
When does it ever end?
On Sun, 24 May 2009 17:36:58 +0100, Jim Lesurf
wrote: Can I? erm... You may not know what machine I use for most domestic computing... Hints are that it doesn't run Windows, nor MacOS, nor Linux (usually), and doesn't have 'IBM PC' type hardware. :-) No, I don't. Are you an enthusiast for something esoteric or something retro? But whatever it is, if it takes a CD/DVD drive at all, what can it use other than an ATA or SATA unit? |
When does it ever end?
In article ,
Jim Lesurf wrote: TBH The best CD writer I ever used was a SCSI interface Plextor. If I wrote TDK CDRs with that for CDDA at x1 or x2 speed then they played on all the audio and computer drives I could find. Can't say that for *any* writer/disk combination I've found since. Yes - I got one of those as part of a package that included CDBurn. At one of the RISC OS shows - Epsom, IIRC. Still in use. ;-) -- *If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.* Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
When does it ever end?
In article ,
Laurence Payne wrote: Can I? erm... You may not know what machine I use for most domestic computing... Hints are that it doesn't run Windows, nor MacOS, nor Linux (usually), and doesn't have 'IBM PC' type hardware. :-) No, I don't. Are you an enthusiast for something esoteric or something retro? But whatever it is, if it takes a CD/DVD drive at all, what can it use other than an ATA or SATA unit? The snag is suitable RISC OS drivers ain't available for every drive. And no two makes of drive seem to be identical. -- *Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
When does it ever end?
On Mon, 25 May 2009 10:11:27 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote: No, I don't. Are you an enthusiast for something esoteric or something retro? But whatever it is, if it takes a CD/DVD drive at all, what can it use other than an ATA or SATA unit? The snag is suitable RISC OS drivers ain't available for every drive. And no two makes of drive seem to be identical. What's he on then? An old Archimedes? Can't argue with religion I suppose :-) |
When does it ever end?
In article ,
Laurence Payne wrote: On Mon, 25 May 2009 10:11:27 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote: No, I don't. Are you an enthusiast for something esoteric or something retro? But whatever it is, if it takes a CD/DVD drive at all, what can it use other than an ATA or SATA unit? The snag is suitable RISC OS drivers ain't available for every drive. And no two makes of drive seem to be identical. What's he on then? An old Archimedes? Can't argue with religion I suppose :-) Think Jim uses an Iyonix. Newer and more powerful than this machine. ;-) They can do all the common tasks like handling news and email, simple browsing, word processing etc just fine. Things that need a deal of number crunching like video, not. But ok for audio. But I have a PC for tasks it can't handle so well. The beauty of using a non standard OS is there's no need for sophisticated firewalls and anti virus etc systems which cause so much grief on a PC. -- *If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible? Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
When does it ever end?
In article , Laurence Payne
wrote: On Sun, 24 May 2009 17:36:58 +0100, Jim Lesurf wrote: Can I? erm... You may not know what machine I use for most domestic computing... Hints are that it doesn't run Windows, nor MacOS, nor Linux (usually), and doesn't have 'IBM PC' type hardware. :-) No, I don't. Are you an enthusiast for something esoteric or something retro? Call that either way you like. :-) For most of my day-to-day computing I use RISC OS on an Iyonix. I simply find it easier and more convenient for the tasks I do, in general. But whatever it is, if it takes a CD/DVD drive at all, what can it use other than an ATA or SATA unit? The problem is that most units need specific driver details. Alas, in general the info isn't available. So a few have been determined to be workable, but most others, not. Ditto for a range of other types of device. Afraid accessibility of hardware where the makers only talk to MicroSoft or Apple about the workings can be difficult at times. Fortunately, enough of us have got enough items working for this not to be a shutout. But t'aint as simple as with Windows. The situation is similar to linux where some hardware doesn't work as it does with Windows as the makers won't release the driving details and no-one has (yet) worked them out to do an open driver. The good news is that the number of programmers using linux is higher, so they can fling more effort into sorting such problems. Slainte, Jim -- Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html |
When does it ever end?
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote: In article , Jim Lesurf wrote: TBH The best CD writer I ever used was a SCSI interface Plextor. If I wrote TDK CDRs with that for CDDA at x1 or x2 speed then they played on all the audio and computer drives I could find. Can't say that for *any* writer/disk combination I've found since. Yes - I got one of those as part of a package that included CDBurn. At one of the RISC OS shows - Epsom, IIRC. Still in use. ;-) Mine is on a RiscPC at the anechoic chamber. I still use it for some purposes. That said, the CD writer in my Iyonix is OK. But the DVD writer is somewhat flakey. Not worried as I've not needed to write DVDs, and if I do, can probably use something else. Slainte, Jim -- Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html |
When does it ever end?
In article , Laurence Payne
wrote: On Mon, 25 May 2009 10:11:27 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote: No, I don't. Are you an enthusiast for something esoteric or something retro? But whatever it is, if it takes a CD/DVD drive at all, what can it use other than an ATA or SATA unit? The snag is suitable RISC OS drivers ain't available for every drive. And no two makes of drive seem to be identical. What's he on then? An old Archimedes? Can't argue with religion I suppose :-) No, I stopped using Arcs well over a decade ago. Nothing to do with religion though. I just use what allows me to do what I want as fast and as well as I find convenient. BTW Yes, I have routinely used a variety of other types of machine and OS for many years, when they seem more suitable for the task. I did start with ICL1900s yonks ago, but have used Windows, Macs, and all sorts since. Main preference was Solaris, although I largely stopped bothing with that when I no longer needed to do the things it did neatly. So my preference isn't based on not having used a range of systems. But if you've not used a more modern RO box than an Arc you may not have much idea what they can do well. For some jobs it isn't what I use. But for others it is superb in my view. in particular for technical document production of the kinds I do. I stopped trying to 'advocate' RO for non-users years ago. Decided that I didn't have any real urge to do so when I found I could often do the tasks I was working on done faster or easier than than others using Windows or Macs. To paraphrase Napoleon, never disturb your competitors when they are making a mistake. ;- But yes, I'd agree this is a 'colour of socks' personal preference. We each work in the way we find suits us best. Slainte, Jim -- Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html |
When does it ever end?
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote: In article , Laurence Payne wrote: What's he on then? An old Archimedes? Can't argue with religion I suppose :-) Think Jim uses an Iyonix. Yes, for most day-to-day desktop work. But have other machines also for other tasks. They can do all the common tasks like handling news and email, simple browsing, word processing etc just fine. Yes, and in terms of being a responsive GUI, one that I find is quick and flexible. Things that need a deal of number crunching like video, not. But ok for audio. Alas, the Iyonix suffers from a problem which also afflicts some IBM PC hardware. The idiotic 'sound card' (actually on the motherboard) persists in converting everything into 48ksample/sec. So I ignore that for any work. The machine works neatly for processing sound data, though. Hence the '!Track' applications on my website for RO users. Easy enough to import and export sound files in other ways - CDRW, USB stick, etc. TBH I've tended to prefer decent external recorders or replay systems anyway. Although my current experiments with Linux may eventually change that a bit. May even eventually install ROX rather than Gnome or Xfce to help get the GUI into a sensible shape. :-) That said, Xfce is quite OK in my view. Reminds me of the ancient Solaris wm's I've used in days of yore. Whereas Gnome gives me the same "nice eyecandy to hide everything and not frighten the user" feeling I tend to get with Windows and MacOS. Presumably this is to make people who've previously mainly used Windows feel more comfortable if they give it a try. :-) But I have a PC for tasks it can't handle so well. Similar here. I did keep a tame Windows laptop for the 'ten mins or so per month' times I wanted it to do something for me. [1] Otherwise I'd use Solaris or some other box at (ex-)work. Tool chosen as appropriate for the job. That said, I wiped the XP virus off the laptop a few weeks ago when I installed Xubuntu. Decided it wasn't worth keeping. Waste of disc space. Slainte, Jim [1] The only significant use I made of XP in the last few years was to drive a mini-VNA for the cable measurements due to appear in HFN in a week or so. But even that VNA has a linux driver/software so I could have used that if I'd decided. Beyond that, the only use has been to reformat the occasional memory device or to search the AES CDROM set since they only come with compiled executables for searching. And there they have a *nix version as well. Though heaven knows why the AES were so daft as to allow someone to do the search routines for them and *not* provide the source code! If they had, we could use any old OS we liked. However this is all terribly OT. So I'll stop... :-) -- Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html |
When does it ever end?
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message ... In article , Laurence Payne wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2009 00:04:47 +0100, Eeyore wrote: CDRs really. And I don't know if it's the make of the blank alone ( I usually use 'name' ones of some reasonably quality reputation ) or the drives pack up early. I've thrown out more CD drives than any other piece of PC kit. The first generation of CD drives certainly seemed to have about a 3 year life. A lot of my failed CD-Rs date from days before I realised that burning at the manufacturer's maximum rated speed was NOT a good idea. I've often had a situation where a newly-burnt CDR would not play properly in a specific device or drive. Faulty recordings seem to follow you around somewhat, don't they? I don't remember more than the very occasional 'coaster' back in the CDR days but it's been many a year since I was involved with them - thankfully, not more than a small few (probably less than 3 altogether) DVDR coasters back in those days either. With DVDs, it wasn't just a question of the disks and the drives used to burn them; the player came into the equation also - there was a time that any disk with the purple Rytek dye (irrespective of manufacturer or brand) would play in any of the DVD players we had at the time. Then it all seemed to go off the fang and replay difficulties manifested themselves even on a few Rytex disks - stuttering, 'hanging', picture break-up, thise dreadful 'digital squeaks' occasionally and machine lock-up! It was as if the players had evolved away from the media! I've also found it helps to use a particular brand, TDK in my experience works well. But this does seem to vary both with choice of writer, and with the playback/reading devices. I have also found TDK to be reliable and don't think I've ever had a failure with them. Now that it's Bluray, with prices up to £25 for a *single* 50GB BD-REDL atm, dodgy disks/replay problems are definitely not desirable, but the TDK disks work well and appear to be reliable as does another disk I have - a single 5 quid cheaper Maxell which has TDK also. While, OTOH, the 25 Gig 'LG' BDRE bundled free with the LG 'Super Multi Blue' drive (can't remember the model number) is not TDK dye and is not useable in either of the Samsung or Sony players we have! Hardly surprising that the TDK disks should be OK though, as they were members of the original BDF group: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Founders |
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