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Griffin Technologies has this add on for your iPod. It broadcasts your music in FM, allowing you to tune it in on your stereo. It looks great AND it's only $35. (OK, it's not available just yet, but they're taking pre-orders.)

Bonus: you don't have to run into the computer room to change the song!

then try here for a cheap price. The Griffin Technologies iMic has both input and ouput options superior to your laptops built-in soundboard.

then try here for a cheap price. The Griffin Technologies iMic has both input and ouput options superior to your laptops built-in soundboard.

I enjoy the Griffin Technology "PowerMate"

They are these litte cast steel scroll volume deals that you can alias out to anything. They have a slick ass breathing like glow under them that will make everyone that walks by stop and say "What the hell is that thing?!".

I got 5 of these things for my friends for x-mas and everyone loves them. They work on pretty much everything as far as I can tell. They have drivers for every flavor of windows, osx, and os9 on the mac. I did not see any linux drivers but I am sure they are out there somewhere if you can get it to run on osX. You can give the spin a key to send when you use it, say "send left-arrow" when you spin it to the right, right-arrow to the left...send alt-cntrl-del when you click it. One of the guys uses it to scroll web pages and the click to switch tab in pheonix...the perfect porn browser...err game site...whatever..

Anyway check em out.

I saw EyeTV at Macworld NYC during the summer. I had my credit card out to buy one, but saw the MPEG1 quality, and put the card away.

I have a couple of Tivos and the EyeTV quality is well below even the lowest quality I can get on my Tivo. I would rate it at about the same level as a decent telesync of a film...no better. I asked why no MPEG4/Divx compression and didn't get a decent answer.

Also, I don't want to watch TV off my Mac, even on a Cinema Display. I could stream it to my tv using Qcast but then what's the point? Might as well just buy a Tivo.

I'm the most gullible of early adopters and I didn't buy EyeTV. Hopefully it'll improve in time.

I did however buy the very cool Powermate volume knob that they were using to control EyeTV. That's turned out to be a neat gadget, and really nice for film editing.

Final Vinyl 0.6 - beta Free OS X audio recording application for use with the Griffin family of audio products. Has several advanced features including equalization and built in RIAA curves*.

Put all the files on an old laptop with an 802.11 access point. Connect it to my stereo through an Edirol UA-1A or Stereo-link USB audio converter, which should give much better sound quality than a typical PC sound card. The Griffin Technology IMIC is another possibility. Run a web server on the laptop that allows selecting and playing songs from a remote web browser. Then use my Sharp Zaurus Linux-based PDA with an 802.11 CF wireless card to control the system using its built-in web browser to pick out songs and play them. If I get really fancy, I can scan all the CD liner pamphlets and put them on the laptop too. Then the browser can display them and I can read the lyrics while the music is playing.

This is all done with simple stuff that I have kicking around the house already (crappy old 300 mhz laptop etc.), so except for the wireless cards which I don't have yet, will cost less than buying stereo stuff and give far more functionality and flexibility, plus of course use entirely free source code. It will be sooooo cool. I just couldn't see doing it any other way.

Is this what the image scanning does? I'm just sure that slashdot lot must have heard of the imic.

I know where I can get a USB version today!
Hope your company's not IPO'ing soon!

It's the Griffin PowerMate, but at the time I couldn't remember the name of it (and I'm at work, so it isn't in front of me).

I thought iKnobbiething was a good stand-in under the circumstances... In fact, maybe there's a market for a device with that kind of name!

Can you substantiate the charge about Griffin Technologies? It is interesting to read their press release for a product that they clearly don't ship. What makes you certain that this was withdrawn due to pressure from Apple and not due to a more innocent reason?

I would bet there's a large sub-population of musicians that would really appreciate a relatively simple 4-track audio recording/editing/mixing app. Creative people often want to get right into the creating, not knob-twiddling

I must have been unclear in my above statements because I am one of those people! and anything I might have said which leads one to think the contrary is in error :)

My wife bought me a new Martin a few months ago. I bought Deck LE and an iMic hoping to amuse myself doing some recording...but what I really want is iMovie for audio!

For Mac users, the Griffin Powerwave has the following features:
RCA input and outputs, 1/8" inputs and outputs, built in USB hub and DSP, digital audio amplifier.

Wintel folks will want to check out the Telex device. Edirol UA-1A (44.1 kHz only), Edirol UA-3, GriffiniMic, Opcode DAT-/SonicPort (optical), Onkyo MSE-U33(HB), Onkyo SE-U55 and Roland-ED UA-30.

How many of these have drivers for Linux is anybody's guess.

For Mac users, the Griffin Powerwave has the following features:
RCA input and outputs, 1/8" inputs and outputs, built in USB hub and DSP, digital audio amplifier.

Wintel folks will want to check out the Telex device. Edirol UA-1A (44.1 kHz only), Edirol UA-3, GriffiniMic, Opcode DAT-/SonicPort (optical), Onkyo MSE-U33(HB), Onkyo SE-U55 and Roland-ED UA-30.

How many of these have drivers for Linux is anybody's guess.

The fact that you mention a bluetooth connection is interesting. Apple hasn't any products that make use of Bluetooth, other than the USB adapter. So far it only has two uses:
1) To connect to a cell phone to use it as a modem (I'm a not a big fan of 9Kbps connections but maybe someone, somewhere, is) or
2) to sync a bluetooth PDA, but when most come with a USB docking station - or failing that a usb connection cable (that'll suck less power out of your palm than a bluetooth module) I don't see any real benefit - pther than one less cable on the desk

Bluetooth would be a pretty useful feature on the iPod, it could be used for sending small chunks of data to it from your Mac (or PC once windows support arrives) such as vCards. Or it could be used for a remote control - such as the one that Griffin (http://www.griffintechnology.com) recently previewed.

Better yet would be a remote of the variety supplied with some Kenwood audio equipment - featuring a large LCD status display and a few buttons. It's what users that connect their iPod to a hifi system really need. I'd be quite happy with what would, in effect, be a second screen for my iPod acting as a remote control via bluetooth - maybe it's just a pipe dream, or maybe someone with greater technical skills than me (and solid financial backing) will make it a reality...

That the Powermate is also a blinkenlight - you can adjust the pulse rate from stroboscopic, to a nice slow pulse of about 30 seconds for a cycle.

I have one - it rocks. In addition to it being a cool looking blinking object on my desk, I use it for scrubbing through video in iMovie, and scrolling through text in project builder.
It is also, I admit, a great volume control for iTunes...

Griffin Technology makes an adapter.

You may want to get one of the laptop amps that Thinkgeek sells and preamp your iPod before it hits the cassette adapter. Granted, I've only experimented with my boyfriend's POS Subaru tape deck in his car, but we seemed to get very quiet output.

A bit (lot?) more capable is a couple of USB Digital Audio Processor's from Onkyo, a MSE-U33HB and a SE-U55

I don't have any direct experience with these, but a quick Google search should turn up several reviews.

Works perfectly. I think this is a great value.

USB audio is the way to go.

-andy

I want to get a MOTU 828 or 896 audio interface at somepoint, but for now, the Cube and the iMic work great!

Have you ever looked into the iMic which is a great little USB in/out for about $40. 24bit, great for hooking up a mixer to record to the Mac or even PC.......

There's a couple of USB audio-in technologies out there, For example, there's
Oh yeah, and Viavoice comes with a USB haedset microphone

You can use many 3Dfx cards and Voodoo2 cards in a mac using Griffins NE3D adptor and drivers

Ok, I can't really say a lot that wasn't already here. However, I have an old 16" Sun (Sony) monitor that I wanted to use. I did much research and came to a final decision. I'll start at the beginning.

Google was great for giving me the information I needed. One big problem is that there is no one page that tells you everything or has links to everything.

So here's some stuff:

Special video cards (good ones, recent acceleration technology) are available. They're more expensive than regular cards, but you're pretty much guaranteed that they'll work. They are specially designed to display text modes on those monitors, which is a huge plus.

Here's a link:

http://www.si87.com/

There are more companies. A search will find them quickly. I remember seeing one that used S3 chipsets. A good thing because they're very supported. Many of these companies explicitly state Linux support. That's another good thing.

If you want to use a regular video card, be mindful of the specs on your monitor. I found an exellent source of monitor data here. There are DEC fixed frequency monitors in there, among many, many more.

If you have sync-on-green, you probably have 3 BNC connectors on the back of your monitor. Any Matrox card will drive this. There's a "sync-on-green" option in the XF86Config file for that. VGA-to-BNC cables can be bought fairly cheaply.

If you have composite sync, you probably have either four BNC connectors or a 13W3 connector (3 large coax pins and 10 regular pins). Don't bother looking for a bare connector to make a cable with. It's a very special kind of cable due to the mixture of coax and regular multiconductor cable. If you want to hack an existing cable (or just buy one to go straight) IBM sells them for US$27.00 compared to everyone else (including Sun) that sells them for ~US$80.00.

ATI cards support composite sync. It's an option in the XF86Config file.

To do composite sync on any other card, you can build a little logic circuit, but I *really* don't recommend that because 13W3 cables are relatively hard to hack, plus you'll get a lot of signal loss. For the price of a card you don't have to screw with, it's worth it.

Having looked at these options, I looked at what came with the monitor: a very old pizzabox Sun 3/80. I only wanted an Xterminal anyway and there is some software called XKernel that turns an old Sun into one. Get it here.

This is the option I'm going with. No major screwing around, plus I get what I want. I bought a cheap ethernet transceiver from D-Link (I had to slice off some of the plastic on the back of my Sun to get it to fit), and I am now waiting for my 13W3 cable to come in from IBM Canada (It *is* a special order, after all).

These old Sun's are easy to find, and tend to have very nice monitors on them. I saw a couple of old Sparcs here for sale for ~CAN$50 each. You can't beat that. They had monitor cables too. :-)*

So that's my little experience. It's not exactly tuned to the question, but I'm sure there are many others (I *KNOW* there are) that are watching this question with interest.

Fixed sync isn't a problem, all you have to do is find a good modeline (and for text mode, use fb or svgatextmode). But, most of these monitors are nastier - composite sync or sync-on-green. Then you'll have to find a video board that supports these sync modes, or build an adaptor. These are the links I found:

• Sun GDM-1962-B Specifications
• Drivers for fixed frequency monitors, linux, metheus and other graphics cards.
• SUMMARY:Ye Olde Monitor
• Bookmarks for Teemu Laine (look for "sun")
• ! Sun: GDM-1962-B # 365-1130-01 or # 365-1113-01
• http://www.synergetech.co.j p/html/hal9000/display/1.txt
• SUN 20" Premium (SONY) GDM-20D10 monitor to a PC with Windows 95/98/NT
• SUN 19" monitor GDM-1962 (color, build 1991) with a PC with Windows 95 or 98
• ! Drivers PC Graphics Card (QUANTUM Fixed Frequency and MultiScan).
• Using a fixed-frequency monitor on a PC

One of these pages claims that the MACH64 can work with my monitor, but I have a VLB one and it doesn't (the modelines given in the page give me "illegal mode according to MACH BIOS" or something). I'll try to exchange it for a PCI. Otherwise, if anyone can send me more modes I'll be very grateful :-)

Their website is here, or jump straight to the video adapter info.

Their adapters are a bit pricier ($20.00) than some other vendors, but they're worth it. If they can't make your monitor work, nobody can.

Their website is here, or jump straight to the video adapter info.

Their adapters are a bit pricier ($20.00) than some other vendors, but they're worth it. If they can't make your monitor work, nobody can.

>IMacs suck, let me count the ways :

Let's! Can I count with you? Oh, goody!

>13" monitor... really guys, don't you know bigger IS better...

I'm pretty sure Apple sure does. After all, they included a 15" monitor with my iMac...damn nice one, too. Very clear, very crisp. Not the best one ever made, but definitely not the worst.

>The mentality of the average PC owner is that
>their computer is a progressive fun adventure
>that only get better as you add nifty toys to it...

Sure is. After all, I can add another monitor with a cool little gizmo called the iPort that lets me use an external monitor. It's about $79, and from what I hear, it works great. Also has a couple of serial ports, so you can hook up non-usb and ethernet printers.

>Heat disipation with regard to cutting edge
>technologies.

Nonissue. The iMac isn't *targeted* at those who continually tinker with the innards of their computers. That's what the G3 minitowers are for.

>limited options... non-standard (no, USB isn't
>standard yet) internal equipment

It *isn't*? Wow...then all the PCs, new Macs with usb ports, and all the usb devices I've seen (including the usb Zip drive and scanner currently attached to my iMac) must have been figments of my imagination. Same with all the IDE hard drives in existance...after all, the iMac uses one, and if the iMac uses one, it can't *possibly* be a standard...

>Asthetics... I DON'T LIKE THE IMAC DESIGN THEME...

Then GET OVER IT. Unclench that lump of coal up your ass. Hope some other manufacturer makes a cooler-looking case. Or make one yourself. Lots of folks (myself included) seem to like it, otherwise Apple wouldn't have sold so many of the machines.

>Thanks for providing a case that doen't allow me
>easy access to hack and thinker with the hardware

Since you'll never own an iMac, why in blazes is this such an issue? If you want a computer you can open up and stick new stuff into, buy a PC, a PowerMac tower, or build your own. I'm sure you're capable of this, else you probably wouldn't be reading /. in the first place. Correct? Correct.

The iMac isn't meant to be a work-in-progress. It isn't meant to have other bits of hardware kludged into its innards. It's meant to be a self-contained, inexpensive, speedy little machine, which just happens to look cool.

>The list goes on and one... IMacs just plain suck
>and represent a last ditch marking ploy from a
>company on it's well diserved trip down the down
>the tubes.

Oh, of course. Definitely a last ditch marketing ploy from an ailing and decrepit (and yet, quite profitable...hmm) company which sold record numbers of iMacs and G3s in the last few months. Yep, Apple's really gasping for air and clutching at straws. Purely a fluke, no doubt about it.

And if you're interested, I have this bridge for sale...very nice view of Brooklyn.