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For a linux-centric solution, check out the VoipBlaster, or more specifically, voip.ring.org and Fobbit.

For a ready-made setup, checkout Multitech's MultiVOIP

These units aren't the cheapest VOIP solution, but among the easiest. They come in FXO and FXS flavors, which means (check me on this) you can hookup one end to a phone company provided POTS line (FXO?) and extend that to a remote location (FXS?), or hookup one side to your PBX and another to a POTS phone at the remote office (both FXS?), or PBX-to-PBX (??), or whatever.

The have a demo. You call a toll-free number which rings into a MultiVOIP device co-lo'd at some ISP in Chillicothe, OH (I've been to Chillicothe - it's sufficiently remote to convince me that it would work beautifully over a half-decent connection). That device connects you to a (very nice, I might add) sales rep at Multitech.

Their number for product Information (non-technical issues only) is: 1-800-998-5227 (non-technical issues only, please) or FAX: 1-405-624-6780. Operating Hours (Central Time) 9AM - 6PM, Monday - Friday, Closed Public Holidays.

They have a contact page here: http://www.nomadworld.com/scripts/selectCountry.as p?t=ps - just click on that, then select "MP3 players".

It looks like that just dumps you into their customer support page, at: https://www.americas.creative.com/youraccount/sign in.asp?gstrAccountWay=2&c=True.

Please, if you mean it, contact them and ask for Ogg Vorbis support. Most companies will listen if large numbers of potential customers call up and say "I will buy this if you add feature X." It only makes sense!

And the price is the same as the IPod after "rebate" read 8 months to get your money.

The 20GB iPod is $499.

The Jukebox Zen 20GB player is $349 before the rebate, and $299 after.

Cant really tell from the "specifications".
Most people dont know or forget that the iPod can recharge its batteries over firewire. And what the heck is SB1394?
Creative going out on a branch and doing god knows what.

It costs $349.00 US, and there is a $50 rebate, bringing the price down to $299.00 once you wait for that rebate check to come.

Of course, it's Windows-only. You'd think they would include an iTunes plug-in to try and get some of the Apple users.

Price from Creative is $299+s/h after rebate.

guac-foo.

per Creative, it is $299+s/h after a rebate.

The price info is pretty well buried. Had to "find a retailer" to get it.

guac-foo

For companies to produce portable Vorbis players, they need to be made aware that there is a market for them. Every day, I hear the same thing from Vorbis listeners; 'I'm not buying a hardware portable music player unless it supports Ogg Vorbis.' It's nice to hear, but we can't do anything about it (we're not a hardware company). So, this page is here to let you send that message to people who can. Remember, be polite!

The Companies:

Frontier Labs - URL - has told a lot of people that they're considering implementing Vorbis support for the NEX II machine. Here's their information:

Frontier Labs
Unit 2206 - 8, Cyberincubator, Kodak House II
No. 321 Java Road
North Point, Hong Kong
Telephone: 852.2527.3322
Fax: 852.2528.5277
E-mail: techsupport@frontierlabs.com

iRiver - URL - has said they are planning to support Ogg Vorbis in the future via firmware upgrade, but the schedule is not yet finalized. Here's their information:

iRiver America
1716 Ringwood Avenue
San Jose, CA 95131
Telephone: 1-408-452-7940
Fax: 1-408-452-9944
E-mail: contact@iriveramerica.com

UPDATE: Forwarded E-mail from iRiver America

The engineers have Ogg Vorbis under consideration to support. However, at this time, there is no decision whether it will be supported in the future or not.

Regards,

Erica L. Briggs
Customer Service Representative
iRiver America, Inc.
Direct: 408.452.7940

Wouldn't you like to see Vorbis on the super-sexy iPod? We would, too. Here's some contact information for Apple Computer (URL):

Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
Telephone: 408-996-1010

UPDATE: Don't forget to drop a note to Apple about the iPod at http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipod.html!

Other companies producing audio hardware:

Archos Technology Inc. - URL
3-A Goodyear
Irvine, CA 92618
Telephone: (949) 609-1400
Fax: (949) 609-1414

ReQuest Multimedia - URL
435 2nd Ave.
Troy, NY 12182
E-mail: bizdev@request.com

Evolution Technologies - URL
118 Kitty Hawk Drive
Morrisville, NC 27560
Telephone: 919-544-3777 / toll-free: 866-848-8070
E-mail: info@nowevolution.com

UPDATE: Note from Evolution Technologies

Evolution Technologies, Inc. is committed to support our consumers music appetite. We will support the formats that are consistent with both their desires and good business practices. While we have not ruled out supporting "open source" formats, we must first evaluate the acceptance levels with the buying public so that our organization can justify the expense of developing a new compatible CODEC. When the demand is sufficient, we will support the technology.

Sonic Blue - URL
2841 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054-1838
Telephone: (408) 588-8000

I-Jam Multimedia LLC - URL
1092 National Parkway
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Telephone: 847-839-1233
Fax: 847-839-1277
E-mail: ehamnett@geltzerpr.com

Alaris, Inc. - URL
44061 Nobel Drive
Fremont, CA 94538

Creative Labs, Inc. - URL
Developer Relations
1901 McCarthy Blvd.
Milpitas, California 95035
Telephone: 408-546-6425
Fax: 408-432-6717
E-mail: devmusic@creativelabs.com

Daisy Technology, LLC - URL
111 N. Market Street, Suite 624
San Jose, CA 95113
Telephone: 408-286-7697
Fax: 408-351-3330
E-mail: info@daisytech-usa.com

Procell Media - URL
69 Wrexham Road
Whitchurch, Shropshire
SY13 1HT
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 (0)1948 665048
Fax: +44 (0)1948 667099

G-NET Canada Headquarters - URL
11 Sinclair Court
Cambridge, Ontario
N1T 1K2 CANADA
Telephone: 519-623-4901
Fax: 519-623-3229

When updating my soundcard drivers recently, I discovered a notice of Digital Rig^H^Hestrictions Management from Creative Labs. Apparently copy protected "intellectual property content" causes the digital output of the sound card to be shutoff. Of course this only works on WMAs, so I believe this fits in the context of this article. For more information visit this URL Creative Labs: DRM with WMA

You're wrong there. A friend and I did a club-style radio show for 8 years, mixing with Denon CD Players and vinyl. We brought approximately 250 CDs every week, which at roughly 50MB/CD once converted, which comes out to 12.5GB. However, our complete collection of DJable music is much closer to 1500 CDs, which comes out to 75GB. I think it'll be a while yet before you can fit that in two off-the-shelf, unmodified ipods, much less one.

You'll also notice I've made no mention of the 18 crates of records we own which have not been ripped yet.

I'm currently experimenting with a mobile unit that includes a Fujitsu P-2110 Laptop, PCDJ, A 120GB firewire drive (for now), and a Creative Labs Extigy. Complete mobile DJ solution for under 10 pounds.

Let me know when you can beatmix with iPods. :D Oh wait, you can't!

You're right, you can't beatmix with an iPod.
with a laptop, and two usb soundcards like this offering from CreativeLabs you can do beatmixing, and quite well I might add.
There are plugins available for winamp for pitch/temp control (run multisession, each out to a different soundcard) or even better use professional mixing software, i.e. something from SonicFoundry (like Acid, or Vegas)
You setup the two extigys as separate buses and you can do mixes straight to your board (at which point you add your analogue filters and panning). You use the internal built-in soundcard on the laptop for your monitor. You can do some really amazing stuff.
Don't knock it till u've tried it... although I'm assuming since you're completely clueless on the available digital alternatives, you haven't even tried oldskool vinyl.


-----

Video games don't affect childrens' minds... If Pac-Man had affected us, we would all be running around in darkened rooms and hallways, eating magic pills, and listening to repetetive electronic music now, wouldn't we?

You're also right about the lack of competition. Two products come close: the Kanguru kit (which has power consumption issues, or so I'm told), and the Creative Jukebox 3, which would actually be the better product (more disk space, more audio features, an obscene number of inputs and outputs) if it weren't so damned big.

I'm really puzzled. With such a hot product category, and nice off-the-shelf hardware to build it with, why isn't everybody jumping on this bandwagon?

actually... now that I take the time to spider their site.. I can find many things having issue, not just this product. It appears that the Creative web team must be messing with the image path, or system there in. It seems to mainly be the images.

For some reason the link I posted above doesn't work for me now, but when I click here I get to the site. But it doesn't have the "buy now" button, and the drop-down menu for the single or two-fer deal. However, many other pages don't have that image, and the ones that do have it all seem to have a different face to the image... like the price is $99, or $45 on others. So my guess is they ahve to recreate the button whent he price changes... however, that does't explain the other issues the site is having with the other images on the site.

Anyways, I'm glad that I got to purchase mine, and that I can confirm they are in transite. I did get mine after, like two days, the slashdot article. I got 2 kits of 2 each, 4 in all for under $40 USD.

The VoIP Blaster had huge potential, IMHO, because it was easy for non-internet-telephony-experts to plug in their POTS telephones and place a call. I was preparing to buy more when I discovered there were no more available.

In a desperate effort to find out how to buy more VoIP Blasters, I called Creative Labs. Yes, it's official, they have discontinued sales of this product. That explains why they were blowing them out at $10 a pop. But, it goes deeper than this.

I discovered that Creative Labs didn't manufacturer the VoIP Blaster. They were value added resellers of the InnoMedia InfoAccel USB. I decided to send a message to InnoMedia to find out who else resold their units.

My Question to InnoMedia, made through their "contact us" page:

"Creative Labs has now officially discontinued the VoIP Blaster (the repackaged InfoAccel USB). Are there other OEM partners who are repackaging the InfoAccel USB I can purchase from? Is InnoMedia considering releasing a consumer version of the InfoAccel USB?"

Short yet concise response from Kelly Zhang, Director of Sales, InnoMedia:

"We do not intend to release any more version of InfoAccel USB."

Now that the VoIP Blaster party is officially over, what other inexpensive hardware platforms look promising to allow Grandma to pick up a phone and place a call without a Ph.D in Internet Telephony?

I was looking around on the creative site, and I could only find a link to voip from the US site. Also, the call charges are all in dollars and only from calls originating from the US.

Can voip be bought and used in Europe? If not, can an american version be bought in the US and used in Europe?

To me, this sounds really good. It sounds way better that normal PC-PC calls, since you can make PC-Phone calls.

I'm just waiting for the day I can hook up a normal phone to my computer, pick it up and get a dialtone, and dial a normal number... that would be cool... wouldn't it? :)

The Creative Video Blaster Digital VCR card itself does MPEG2 encoding:

• High-quality MPEG-2 recording for crisp colors, sparkling audio and smooth frame rates
• ...

Looks like there is an update, dated 4/18/2002, for the application software that shipped with the card. Not a driver update but DVRExport.exe is updated, which is the export program. I haven't had a chance to install the update yet, working, but plan to later.

"...while it's pumping a GB/hour to disk."

The creative videoblaster digital vcr card has a built-in MPEG2 codec. Available on the web and at your local compusa.

It has a remote and has pvr software that lets you program shows, lets you view recorded programs while recording, lets you pause live tv, select recording bitrate and resolution, etc. It's currently still missing an interactive TV guide though (bad bad).

A $500 PC with this $100 card will easily be able to handle MPEG2 streams.

i said, "it's firmware upgradeable, right?"

he said "yes, it's firmware upgradeable and can support future formats."

so if someone can convince creative to release enough technical info to be able to port the vorbis decoder to the unit (fat chance), it should be possible to do. the question is (as one of the replies to the parent post points out), is the hardware capable of doing the decoding fast enough as-is, or is an ASIC absolutely necessary? based on the "support future formats" bit i'd guess it shouldn't need a new ASIC, but i'm not sure about that.

anyway, if you care about seeing vorbis in this thing at some point, a phone call wouldn't be a bad idea.

-fp

The system's also got optical outputs, so while it won't work for 3d-sound-enabled games, it'll do for just about anything else. It may not be an extigy, but it's not going to kill you to shelve the SB Live if you need the PCI slot. So you could get by with two PCI slots, if you had USB 2.0 and Firewire, couldn't you?
I've got an Abit NV7-133R sitting in the box that comes with what is probably the same audio setup they talk about, sitting here by my desk. I'm still waiting for the case, so admittedly I have not listened to it, but if it is as I'm told it is, you won't complain. Mine has optical input and output, minijacks for mic and line-in and one each for front left/right, rear left/right, and center channel/subwoofer. I'm going to have to buy another set of speakers, because my SB Live Value card only does front/rear left/right, so I don't have a center channel. So you're down to your TV Card.
Even though I'd rather not use their drivers for the sound card, I still hope your TV card's this: Creative's Video Blaster Digital VCR
That TV card encodes mpeg-2 in real time, and you can schedule record times. I bought one of those and a couple of 80gb HDs I'm going to stipe together--the board's got built-in RAID via HighPoint HPT372! (And the thing was only $137 w/second day air!). I figure at 1.1mbps, I can fit over 300 hours of TV shows. Or if I figure out a way to convert to divx via a batch file, I might pull 500 hours. And then there're CDs.
Did you ever just want to have your own library of TV at your fingertips? South Park, Saturday Night Live, Movies, MST3k(saturday mornings!!), MTV, a complete season of Broncos Football, whatever flips your cookie. And it's not even unethical. Total cost to me: $300 for TV card and HDs, plus CDRs, which are cheeeep.
I'm building the full system for $900, Monitor and all, and it's got an Athlon XP 1800+ and GF2 video. while I could easily pay more for things such as an Extigy, it's not worth so much more money when these new motherboards are so good.

If you go to the member companies page on the openal site: Here
It lists Creative Labs and Loki Entertainment Software.
My guess is that Creative Labs will maintain this.
They have been good with opensource in the past

One of the things which makes the Linux VDR project slightly easier (?) to implement is that the DVB card they're using as a tuner outputs MPEG-2 to the system. Thus, no messy (and cpu intensive) video input and number crunching. This Digital VCR product from Creative has an MPEG-2 encoder chip on-board, and outputs MPEG-2. It can either use it's own tuner OR it will control your cable box/sat receiver via IR commands. And it's only $99. That's not a typo. I'm not claiming it's output will be as good as a Tivo/DVB/whatever, but at 640x480 resolution, it's a step in the right direction.

And it's no longer vaporware -- I picked one up at CompUSA last week (in NYC - 38th & 5th location).

Now, who's up for tearing this thing apart and creating some linux drivers?!

The sound blaster audigy has a built in IEEE 1394 port.

My roommate has one of those cards, and it works. Don't know if all the fancy features is supported, though.

--
Tore Anderson

Well, it is a way to convert your notebook to a luggable. 8-) .From the specification i cannot see how big this toy is. but to "Experience high-definition audio with 24-bit multi-channel performance with 100dB SNR clarity" you need a damn big stereo. [slow picture alert]

By the way what is "100dB SNR clarity". good sound? or good golden ear sound? ^g^g

The review doesn't mention how the Audigy works under any open source operating systems, though.

If you're interested in helping Creative develop open source drivers for the Audigy, go to their Open Source Page. Get the emu10k1 source and thumb through the mailing list archive to find out how to get the Audigy branch of the tree.

Don't do heavy wizardry? They also need lab rats for the drivers they're building, so sign up.

The review doesn't mention how the Audigy works under any open source operating systems, though.

If you're interested in helping Creative develop open source drivers for the Audigy, go to their Open Source Page. Get the emu10k1 source and thumb through the mailing list archive to find out how to get the Audigy branch of the tree.

Don't do heavy wizardry? They also need lab rats for the drivers they're building, so sign up.

The review doesn't mention how the Audigy works under any open source operating systems, though.

If you're interested in helping Creative develop open source drivers for the Audigy, go to their Open Source Page. Get the emu10k1 source and thumb through the mailing list archive to find out how to get the Audigy branch of the tree.

Don't do heavy wizardry? They also need lab rats for the drivers they're building, so sign up.

Indeed, you won't have a problem deciding which driver to use, because there aren't any.

(at least according to this and this)

Is there a reason you aren't using Creative's regular drivers for Windows XP?

http://www.creative.com/support/winxp/

Audigy Specific Drivers for XP are here.

Why you couldn't find these yourself is beyond me.

If the drivers still don't work after using these, I think there might be a problem with your installation or some other hardware....

I'm a contractor doing some programming work at WorldCom. The department I work in is not bad at all. No company-sponsored beer bashes or anything, but pretty nice. I haven't been pressured to put in excessive hours and the pay has been quite good. This job is a dream compared to my last job at Creative Labs.

I tried to stay out of this, but the iPod bashing seems to continue.

Seems to be a lot of talk about the iPod being dead-in-the-water (or nearly so) as an MP3 player. I, as a NJB owner and occasional Apple owner (my G3 has been powered up twice in the past year), find the iPod quite appealing, and would gladly exchange my NJB plus two hundred dollars for one. Here's why the iPod will, IMHO, kick the NJB's butt.

#1 - Size. The NJB is exactly the wrong size, as are all the other HD-based MP3 players I've seen. Too big to be really carry-in-on-you portable, too small to hold a useable display or enough buttons to properly save/name playlists, manage files, explore your collection etc.

#2 - Data storage. The NJB didn't used to do this, and even now barely does.

#3 - Speed. USB. Slow. Firewire. Fast. Swapping out even a 6GB NJB MP3 library takes a LONG, LONG time, like many hours. Assuming the software doesn't time out on you, which, ten firmwares later, it still does. Often.

#4 - Reliability. PB5300s be damned, Apple makes decent stuff. I'm on my second NJB, and its starting to die too. Creative puts a *90-day* warranty on the things, they're so flaky. Really.

#5 - Battery life. The NJB gets 2 hours IME from a set of NiMH AAs. There are also issues with overheating, failure to charge, and improper charge status reporting on the units. What good is 1000 hours of music if you can only enjoy it two hours at a time? Many NJB owners are resorting to $50-$70 ratpacks worth of bulky NiMH D-cells to get to the 10hr battery life the iPod advertizes as standard. Bring on the lithium polymer.

#6 - Support. 1-800-SOS-APPL vs. we-wont-even-give-you-a-number-to-call-unless-you- go-through-this-web-wizard and "we think you dropped it". Worse if you're outside the US. Sign me up for some iPod Applecare - after two dead Rios and two dead NJB's, I could use some warranty love.

#7 - Output level. Based on the Reg's comment about the iPod sounding good, and based on the fact that NJB owners everywhere are opening up their units (voiding their 90 day warranty) to try to solder in a reasonable output level.

#8 - Aesthetics. 'nuff said.

#9 - Price. The iPod is cheaper ($400USD) than the NJB was when I bought my first one at $759CAD ($499USD), less than a year ago. If this 1.8" drive format is standardized, then bigger drives should be able to be shoehorned in, as NJB owners have been doing.

#10 - Drive letter (or the mac version, mount-it-on-the-desktop) support. Try using cheeseball banner-ads-galore gotta-use-it-to-load-the-device-whoops-i-crashed-a gain Creative Playcenter and you'll see what I mean.

#11 - Boot times. Even with the latest firmware, its still 20+ seconds from powering the unit up to getting a sound out of it. For those with bigger HDs, older firmware, or less-than-perfect ID3 tags, startup times of two minutes or more are the norm. I can't imagine the iPod would be worse than THAT.

#12 - Proprietary file system with no repair / diagnosis options. There's no way to do a "real" format on an NJB. As in one that actually looks for bad sectors. One bad sector on your fragile fujitsu 2.5" HD? Count on lockups, freezeups, and untold general annoyances. There's no defrag, either.

There's plenty more, but I think the point is made. 'nuff of the pooh-poohing. As soon as someone can get this thing to accept MP3s from a PeeCee running Windoze and/or Linux, it will be the next big thing. (and save the archos jukebox praise, unless you've actually used one - or at least fondled a dead one).

Would you give up 15 gigs?

Nomad makes a 20 gig version, same form factor. Same price ... as the iPod. See this this page.

Steve M

First of all good call on the Santa Cruz, it's a really decent part; It costs much, sounds fantastic and it takes up far less resources on Windows boxes (lay off you bastards, I like ALL the games).

I just built another game box using the SC and pulled myCambridge Soundworks DTT3500s (5.1 digital) off the other box that was using the SoundBlaster Live! Platinum. Even without the optical out the versa jack/din digital worked great and really sounds magnificent. I would hazard to say that the DTT3500s sound better for music and games on the Turtle beach part then did on Creative Labs part.

Now the other part of the story... so since Klipsch is releasing 500watt ProMedia 5.1s, the 400 watt 4.1 version is much cheaper, so I lit out to BestBuy (of all freaking places) and picked up a set. The Klipsch ProMedia 4.1s are the best speakers I have ever heard for the money. Yeah, you can get some Polk Audios or B&Ws or whatever and spend $600 per speaker and have sound engineers come over and dance a little audio geek dance or whatever...

But I am telling you this; find a store that has a good return policy on Klipsch ProMedia 4.1, after listening to them you will not be taking them back. Or you could wait and check into the ProMedia 5.1s that, from what I understand, take the product to an entirely higher stratum.

I would have to reckon that due to the availability of high quality soundcards, soft synths, and amazing software studios for cheap, more and more people are doing it everyday, if only as a hobby.

Okay, but I don't understand where the problem is. Apple has been shippining standard audio hardware for 17 years, and all other computer manufacturers now do the same. But there's nothing that prevents people from selling aftermarket sound cards. For example, SoundBlaster Live for the Mac.

I guess I don't understand why Apple is bad for including standard audio hardware.

- Scott

As mentioned in another post there is a fix available for this. Take a look at this post emu10k1 mailing list.

The user-tools can be download here

This update adds support for the 5.1 cards (including the IR remote, though it's still being reversed-eng'd), AC3 passthrough, multichannel playback (for AC3 pre-decoded in software), sequencer support, dsp effects (flanger, chorus, etc), and much more.

This is the first sync with CVS in almost a year (development was idle between Nov-April). Report any problems with the driver on the emu10k1 mailing, here: emu10k1-devel@opensource.creative.com

Anyway, if we could "figure out" more about it, adding linux support and breaking it's need for a phone provider would be sweet.

Oh yeah -- calling Hong Kong is cheaper than calling in the US! (.04/min vs .05/min)

Don't you think that as long as there are no products like Creative Jukebox or the Rio players that play Ogg-Vorbis files, this format is going to have a really tough time gaining wide-spread use? Why would I want to store my music in two formats: Ogg-Vorbis at home because its cool, and MP3 because it's the only way to listen to it on the road? (Sure the manufacturers all promise support of future audio-formats, but will these include Ogg-Vorbis?)
--

"I challenge someone here to rough up some specs for a US$140,000 general purpose PC rig, running whatever OS is appropriate for its purpose."

Alright, I'm bored, I've got some time to kill...let's see how close I can get.

[A couple hours pass]

Alright, I suppose I could keep adding things onto this, but I won't. I got it up to $10,103.46, though. It's a multimedia workstation designed for graphics and digital video editing, high-performance gaming, DVD playback, and DVD authoring, with all the accessories.

• Case: PC 60 Aluminum w/3 Case Fans and Window Kit, $229.99
• Power supply: Antec PP403X 400W Power Supply $84.10
• Motherboard: ASUS CUV4X-DLS w/SCSI $333.62
• Processors: 2 x Intel Coppermine PIII 933mhz $398.00 ($199.00 ea)
• Processor fans (x2): Antec Heavy Duty CPU Fan $33.54 (16.77 ea)
• RAM: 256mb Kingston PC133 DIMM $156.64
• IDE cable (x2): Rounded $25.98 ($12.99 ea)
• Floppy drive: Compaq LS-120 internal IDE $127.99
• DVD/CD-RW Drive: HP CD-Writer 9900ci 12x10x32x DVD 8x $349.99
• DVD Decoder: Creative Labs Dxr3 $79.99
• CD Drive: Creative Labs CD-ROM Blaster 52x $49.99
• DVD-RAM Drive: Panasonic LF-D201U SCSI-2 $649.00
• SCSI Cable (x3): Rounded $38.97 ($12.99 ea)
• SCSI Hard drive (x2): Seagate Cheetah73 73GB U160 $1576.00 ($788.00 ea)
• RAID Controller: Asus PCI-DA2100 SCSI RAID $609.00
• IEEE 1394 Card: Belkin F5U501 PCI $79.95
• Video: VisionTek GeForce3 64mb AGP $389.99
• Monitor: Samsung 18" Syncmaster TFT LCD $1891.00
• Sound: Creative Labs SBLive X-Gamer $99.99
• Speakers: Creative Labs/Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 Dolby 5.1 Digital $299.99
• Printer: Epson Stylus 2000P Inkjet Printer $869.99
• Scanner: HP ScanJet 6300Cxi 1200dpi $387.36
• Mouse: Razer Boomslang 2000 $82.99
• Mouse Pad: 3m Precise Mousing Service $8.49
• Keyboard: IBM Preferred 104-key Black $59.00
• Joystick: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 $109.00
• Steering Wheel: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel USB $159.00
• Game Pad: Gravis Eliminator GamePad Pro $26.99
• UPS: APC Smart-UPS 1000 XL $577.92
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional $319.00

That's right, Win2K. I know we all love linux in here, Win2K is actually a decent OS, especially for all of the tasks I've specced this out for.

--

"I challenge someone here to rough up some specs for a US$140,000 general purpose PC rig, running whatever OS is appropriate for its purpose."

Alright, I'm bored, I've got some time to kill...let's see how close I can get.

[A couple hours pass]

Alright, I suppose I could keep adding things onto this, but I won't. I got it up to $10,103.46, though. It's a multimedia workstation designed for graphics and digital video editing, high-performance gaming, DVD playback, and DVD authoring, with all the accessories.

• Case: PC 60 Aluminum w/3 Case Fans and Window Kit, $229.99
• Power supply: Antec PP403X 400W Power Supply $84.10
• Motherboard: ASUS CUV4X-DLS w/SCSI $333.62
• Processors: 2 x Intel Coppermine PIII 933mhz $398.00 ($199.00 ea)
• Processor fans (x2): Antec Heavy Duty CPU Fan $33.54 (16.77 ea)
• RAM: 256mb Kingston PC133 DIMM $156.64
• IDE cable (x2): Rounded $25.98 ($12.99 ea)
• Floppy drive: Compaq LS-120 internal IDE $127.99
• DVD/CD-RW Drive: HP CD-Writer 9900ci 12x10x32x DVD 8x $349.99
• DVD Decoder: Creative Labs Dxr3 $79.99
• CD Drive: Creative Labs CD-ROM Blaster 52x $49.99
• DVD-RAM Drive: Panasonic LF-D201U SCSI-2 $649.00
• SCSI Cable (x3): Rounded $38.97 ($12.99 ea)
• SCSI Hard drive (x2): Seagate Cheetah73 73GB U160 $1576.00 ($788.00 ea)
• RAID Controller: Asus PCI-DA2100 SCSI RAID $609.00
• IEEE 1394 Card: Belkin F5U501 PCI $79.95
• Video: VisionTek GeForce3 64mb AGP $389.99
• Monitor: Samsung 18" Syncmaster TFT LCD $1891.00
• Sound: Creative Labs SBLive X-Gamer $99.99
• Speakers: Creative Labs/Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 Dolby 5.1 Digital $299.99
• Printer: Epson Stylus 2000P Inkjet Printer $869.99
• Scanner: HP ScanJet 6300Cxi 1200dpi $387.36
• Mouse: Razer Boomslang 2000 $82.99
• Mouse Pad: 3m Precise Mousing Service $8.49
• Keyboard: IBM Preferred 104-key Black $59.00
• Joystick: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 $109.00
• Steering Wheel: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel USB $159.00
• Game Pad: Gravis Eliminator GamePad Pro $26.99
• UPS: APC Smart-UPS 1000 XL $577.92
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional $319.00

That's right, Win2K. I know we all love linux in here, Win2K is actually a decent OS, especially for all of the tasks I've specced this out for.

--

"I challenge someone here to rough up some specs for a US$140,000 general purpose PC rig, running whatever OS is appropriate for its purpose."

Alright, I'm bored, I've got some time to kill...let's see how close I can get.

[A couple hours pass]

Alright, I suppose I could keep adding things onto this, but I won't. I got it up to $10,103.46, though. It's a multimedia workstation designed for graphics and digital video editing, high-performance gaming, DVD playback, and DVD authoring, with all the accessories.

• Case: PC 60 Aluminum w/3 Case Fans and Window Kit, $229.99
• Power supply: Antec PP403X 400W Power Supply $84.10
• Motherboard: ASUS CUV4X-DLS w/SCSI $333.62
• Processors: 2 x Intel Coppermine PIII 933mhz $398.00 ($199.00 ea)
• Processor fans (x2): Antec Heavy Duty CPU Fan $33.54 (16.77 ea)
• RAM: 256mb Kingston PC133 DIMM $156.64
• IDE cable (x2): Rounded $25.98 ($12.99 ea)
• Floppy drive: Compaq LS-120 internal IDE $127.99
• DVD/CD-RW Drive: HP CD-Writer 9900ci 12x10x32x DVD 8x $349.99
• DVD Decoder: Creative Labs Dxr3 $79.99
• CD Drive: Creative Labs CD-ROM Blaster 52x $49.99
• DVD-RAM Drive: Panasonic LF-D201U SCSI-2 $649.00
• SCSI Cable (x3): Rounded $38.97 ($12.99 ea)
• SCSI Hard drive (x2): Seagate Cheetah73 73GB U160 $1576.00 ($788.00 ea)
• RAID Controller: Asus PCI-DA2100 SCSI RAID $609.00
• IEEE 1394 Card: Belkin F5U501 PCI $79.95
• Video: VisionTek GeForce3 64mb AGP $389.99
• Monitor: Samsung 18" Syncmaster TFT LCD $1891.00
• Sound: Creative Labs SBLive X-Gamer $99.99
• Speakers: Creative Labs/Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 Dolby 5.1 Digital $299.99
• Printer: Epson Stylus 2000P Inkjet Printer $869.99
• Scanner: HP ScanJet 6300Cxi 1200dpi $387.36
• Mouse: Razer Boomslang 2000 $82.99
• Mouse Pad: 3m Precise Mousing Service $8.49
• Keyboard: IBM Preferred 104-key Black $59.00
• Joystick: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 $109.00
• Steering Wheel: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel USB $159.00
• Game Pad: Gravis Eliminator GamePad Pro $26.99
• UPS: APC Smart-UPS 1000 XL $577.92
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional $319.00

That's right, Win2K. I know we all love linux in here, Win2K is actually a decent OS, especially for all of the tasks I've specced this out for.

--

"I challenge someone here to rough up some specs for a US$140,000 general purpose PC rig, running whatever OS is appropriate for its purpose."

Alright, I'm bored, I've got some time to kill...let's see how close I can get.

[A couple hours pass]

Alright, I suppose I could keep adding things onto this, but I won't. I got it up to $10,103.46, though. It's a multimedia workstation designed for graphics and digital video editing, high-performance gaming, DVD playback, and DVD authoring, with all the accessories.

• Case: PC 60 Aluminum w/3 Case Fans and Window Kit, $229.99
• Power supply: Antec PP403X 400W Power Supply $84.10
• Motherboard: ASUS CUV4X-DLS w/SCSI $333.62
• Processors: 2 x Intel Coppermine PIII 933mhz $398.00 ($199.00 ea)
• Processor fans (x2): Antec Heavy Duty CPU Fan $33.54 (16.77 ea)
• RAM: 256mb Kingston PC133 DIMM $156.64
• IDE cable (x2): Rounded $25.98 ($12.99 ea)
• Floppy drive: Compaq LS-120 internal IDE $127.99
• DVD/CD-RW Drive: HP CD-Writer 9900ci 12x10x32x DVD 8x $349.99
• DVD Decoder: Creative Labs Dxr3 $79.99
• CD Drive: Creative Labs CD-ROM Blaster 52x $49.99
• DVD-RAM Drive: Panasonic LF-D201U SCSI-2 $649.00
• SCSI Cable (x3): Rounded $38.97 ($12.99 ea)
• SCSI Hard drive (x2): Seagate Cheetah73 73GB U160 $1576.00 ($788.00 ea)
• RAID Controller: Asus PCI-DA2100 SCSI RAID $609.00
• IEEE 1394 Card: Belkin F5U501 PCI $79.95
• Video: VisionTek GeForce3 64mb AGP $389.99
• Monitor: Samsung 18" Syncmaster TFT LCD $1891.00
• Sound: Creative Labs SBLive X-Gamer $99.99
• Speakers: Creative Labs/Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 Dolby 5.1 Digital $299.99
• Printer: Epson Stylus 2000P Inkjet Printer $869.99
• Scanner: HP ScanJet 6300Cxi 1200dpi $387.36
• Mouse: Razer Boomslang 2000 $82.99
• Mouse Pad: 3m Precise Mousing Service $8.49
• Keyboard: IBM Preferred 104-key Black $59.00
• Joystick: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2 $109.00
• Steering Wheel: Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel USB $159.00
• Game Pad: Gravis Eliminator GamePad Pro $26.99
• UPS: APC Smart-UPS 1000 XL $577.92
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional $319.00

That's right, Win2K. I know we all love linux in here, Win2K is actually a decent OS, especially for all of the tasks I've specced this out for.

--

The dxr2 project does subtitles really well, but that is a hardware card. Of course I can start a 2 hour build and kick back and watch a movie with out stealing CPU cycles from my build.
--

Creative soundcards are only adequate. There is no competition, and as a result there have been no really great developments. I would like to see soundcards with support for proper 3dimensional sound - this would do for sound what 3d graphics cards have done for graphics, add a whole extra dimension.
Sounds like you want a Creative SB Live! card, which has support for Dolby Digital.
Creative make good card with GPL'd drivers, and as such I have no problem in buying their products. nVidia make products that might be good, but with binary-only drivers I don't intend to find out. My 16mb Matrox G400 does me fine, good 3D performance (Quake3 runs very well)and proper open-source drivers. I don't intend to buy an nVidia card unless they change their driver release policy.

--

It may very well be that Creative knows absolutely nothing about the Nomad Jukebox except how to rebrand it and market it.

You can have a look over at linuxdvd.org for a hardware mpeg2 encoder that works under linux. This should make at least 1/2 of the PVR work easier. (the other half could be done in software, or hardware if you have say a dxr2 based decoder.

Ok, here's the specs:

333 K6-2 evergreen upgrade processer,
8MB ATI All-in-Wonder Pro,
Creative DXR3 DVD Decoder,
USR 33.6 modem w/ voice,
Creative 64 Gold value,
2 hard drives,
1 CDRW,
1 DVD,


I have been using the comp. for 5+ months and must say it works great. Only problem is due to the fact that most of my episode files(I did see the show when it was brodcasted, and did tape on VHS when it did) are a mixture of Divx, MPG, Quicktime, and ASF. To play two out of the three I need to have Windows installed.

I love my DVD drive and Decoder and recomend it to everyone I know. The only problem is due to fact that only one person is currently developing for the EM8300 chip on the card in Linux/FreeBSD, the drivers are only in 0.82 release. If you want to run DVD decoding in Linux, Buy a god damn . Creative has opened up the source on the drivers somewhat and do support an Open Source project for those drivers. One question that I am sure that has poped up on few geeks minds that own a DXR3 is "Why isn't Creative suporting DXR3 when it's supporting DXR2?" The reason is due to the fact that Creative didn't make the chips for DXR3, Sigma did. They say that they support Linux selectively, but having spoken with the developers themselves, I know that they didn't have any plans as of 10-00. Also, I do know that the DXR2 did have many problems, and I had one upuntil it died on me.

The Video card works great at 800X600 due to the work of the Gatos Project. If you do have a DXR2 and ATI, you can use the Pro to use the DXR2 to display on Monitor. I don't know if the video does work.

Soundcard and others: if it's linux compatable, buy it and use it. If a soundcard is linux compatable and has 5.1 sound, why haven't you bought it yet?!!!

Pros for my system:
1) I don't need cable, just need to go to mom and dad's place to record episodes.
2) Set your own TV network up and delete the comercials except for at the superbowl. Then you watch the commercials and skip the game. Especially this year. (where's my buck Lucas?)
3) Playlist is a very good feature.
4) who need a 19" monitor when I have a 32" TV?
5) It gives me something to tweak everyday.
6) If you have a "copy" of a movie on your comp, why do you have to go to the theater to find out that it sucked?
7) It's what made me adiment about re-learning C++ and memory calls
8) Preview homepages to see how much it would suck if I had a WebTV

Cons:
1) Windows based. I want someone to come out with an ASF 2 MPG converter that actually works, and does not do it real time. (I would do it, and have tried to learn, but I'm about 3years to late to do machine code anymore) 2) Only 800X600 may sound great on a tv, but I'm going to have to upgrade when I get an HDTV.(Oh please, please, please santa. Bring me one small one, like say 27") 3) I can't think of another one other than the mess of cables.(hahahahhahahaahahahaha!!!!!!!!!)

if anyone really wants to talk to me, (bubbles@nospam.rea-alp.com) mail me, and we'll talk. If anyone has a similer situation or a problem, ask, and if I don't know it, then I'll ask around. And if I have a problem, we can talk and I can figure out wtf Microsoft is thinking to not open up asf.

Also, Taco, Divx is just as good as ASF, and there v2.0 site is even cooler.

Sincerly,
Mark W. Wallace

PS: I also have owned all of these thing for 2+years, so don't tell me that it's not fast enough!!!!!!!

DVD Player TV Tuner MP3 Ripper/Player CD Player

video capture and playback infrared receiver for standard remote control

It's clear from its press release that Creative Labs is a patent aggressor. CREAF boasts that "EMU's ... patent was upheld and found to be valid and enforceable," and pledges to appeal (or buy Aureal, whichever comes first).

I can't find any details on Aureal's lawsuit.