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Man, I wish the Gnu folks would build their own hardware card rather than the card they are currently using - it's quite expensive.

I'd love to see them put a decent FPGA, an Intersil 50216 4 channel digital downconverter, and a nice 60 Msample/sec 12 bit flash A/D converter on the card - they could do that for a bill of materials of about US$200, and have enough power to do the capture properly.

Before you say "Fine - why don't YOU design it?": I'd love to get more involved in GnuRadio, but I'm afraid of potential conflicts of interest both ways - contaminating GnuRadio with my professional work and possibly exposing my employer to problems with GPL infringment.

Also, is anybody big in the Gnu Radio project going to be at IWCE (International Wireless Convenention and Exposition) March 10 - 14? If so, where? I'm getting in on an exhibitor's badge - maybe I could get pictures?

There is an article on Electronic Musician called Follow the Money: Who's Really Making the Dough? that breaks down exactly where that $18 goes and how the system works. (In case anyone's interested in facts and not speculation.)

The areticle is here

Try this one.

The correct link is here

The Article

As far as I know is that they get the software and hardware at very discounted prices, particularly from SGI, Alias/Wavefront and Pixar. With Pixar it seems that one of the conditions for Lucas to sell it to Jobs was to have early access to Pixar's technology, mainly PRMan (and I could guess also RAT now). From SGI they get early access to hardware thanks to their JEDI agreement (Joint Environment for Digital Imaging), I think it's JEDI III at the moment. According to some rumors is that part of the agreement is that ILM doesn't mention other platforms. They get the gear and give feedback to SGI along braging rights. From Alias/Wavefront they are also among the beta testers for all new versions. But in the end they wouldn't give it away as an incentive. Even if it was free if it didn't fit their pipeline it would be pointless.

There are plenty of articles detailing Linux increasing use in VFX. Here are a some:

Linux Helps Bring Titanic to Life
The Little Engine That Could
Penguin Power
Linux Invades Hollywood
VESTECH 2000
Linux takes Hollywood by storm
Linux goes to the movies
Nixed for Linux
DreamWorks Feature Linux and Animation
Industry of Change: Linux Storms Hollywood

As far as I know is that they get the software and hardware at very discounted prices, particularly from SGI, Alias/Wavefront and Pixar. With Pixar it seems that one of the conditions for Lucas to sell it to Jobs was to have early access to Pixar's technology, mainly PRMan (and I could guess also RAT now). From SGI they get early access to hardware thanks to their JEDI agreement (Joint Environment for Digital Imaging), I think it's JEDI III at the moment. According to some rumors is that part of the agreement is that ILM doesn't mention other platforms. They get the gear and give feedback to SGI along braging rights. From Alias/Wavefront they are also among the beta testers for all new versions. But in the end they wouldn't give it away as an incentive. Even if it was free if it didn't fit their pipeline it would be pointless.

There are plenty of articles detailing Linux increasing use in VFX. Here are a some:

Linux Helps Bring Titanic to Life
The Little Engine That Could
Penguin Power
Linux Invades Hollywood
VESTECH 2000
Linux takes Hollywood by storm
Linux goes to the movies
Nixed for Linux
DreamWorks Feature Linux and Animation
Industry of Change: Linux Storms Hollywood

Here's a good piece on the battle this bill faces in the Senate. Those of us in the broadband industry don't expect T-D to survive.

Apparently, Konqueror renders this page funny. At least on my machine. Here is a link to the printer-friendly version.

For all you Lynxers out there

• The magician working the Sun booth was great. Forcing a card into the deck is nothin', but stapling it to another card was pretty cool.
• Bought a GNU Make book from the FSF folks, just to help 'em out. Got lectured (by Bradley Kuhn, I believe) on why Vim is inadequately free.
• Was pleased to see some old-school trade show action goin' on: Two hot blondes in front of a Lamborghini. Of course, I have no idea what the company was.
• Recruiting like crazy. Booths from upstate NY, Florida, Singapor and Irvine, CA urging us to move to their part of the world. Headhunters abounded.
• Tchotchkes were definitely smaller this year. The coolest was a flashing superball, but that was about it.
• I REALLY wanted to swap badges with someone and go check out the Waste Age show across the hall, but the coworker I went with wasn't interested. Still, I got some great trade rags: Journal of Solid Waste Management; The Hauler; etc.