My next 'workstation' is going to be the AMD Athlon once the 1Ghz+ CPUs arrive. Both of my Linux boxes have AMD K6-2 CPUs in them, and perform beautifully. My workstation has an overclocked Celery because it runs Win98 and all of my games, er, productivity apps... Now that the Athlon performs so well, I don't need Intel for anything.
That brings me to the point that I made in the subject line. If you do not like Intel's current vapour marketing (taking a page from the Microsoft playbook?) or their overclocked Pentium Pros, make sure your next computer has "Athlon Inside". Returning AMD to profitability is the best way to bring Intel back to reality.
The Yamaha 4416S will write "GD-ROMs" no problem... All you need is the software!:-) I know the 4416S, 6416S and above will do it, I'm not sure about the IDE drives though. Non-Yamaha drives will not write GD-ROM. I'm expecting GD-ROM support in software like CDRWIN this fall... Viv.
My first "real" computer was the good old Amiga 500, way back when it was brand new. Kickstart 1.3 had just been released, and all my friends had C64s or TRS-80 CoCo 2s. When I see some sort of evidence that the nextgen Amigas aren't just vapor, it gets me real excited. Even though I sold my Amiga 3000 to buy a 486, the Amigas still have a very large piece of my heart. I'll be first in line to buy one of the new Amiga desktops!
The author makes an excellent arguement. MP3s are an excellent first step into the world of Internet music. However, the author obviously has never downloaded an MP3 encoded at more than 128K. Sound quality at 160K or 192K is much better - even in cheap PC speakers. Now that everyone and their dog (in North America anyway) has a cable modem or DSL line it is increasingly easier to transfer 256K MP3s - which are near CD quality.
Also, many of us have good quality home stereos connected to their computers. We enjoy the MP3 format for what it is. Most of us have an encoder, and those on the Winblows platform enjoy an excellent quality decoder - WinAmp. I've been using MP3s for almost 3 years now, and will continue to enjoy them for years to come. The size and quality of my collection will ensure that. I'm willing to bet that others feel the same.
There will be newer, better audio formats than MP3. However, they will not replace MP3, they will augment it. MP3 created the revolution, but it's up to others to continue the tradition.
I'm glad to see Red Hat finally embrace KDE after flip-flopping on the issue so much. After all, KDE is the only truely usable GUI for Linux. Gnome, Englightenment, whatever may be nice but they have a long way to go yet. KDE is usable now, and has an interface that users will be comfortable with.
I just wish that Red Hat would become more concerned about security and make Red Hat 6.0 as solid as possible. Perhaps they could fund a project to close security holes in the Linux code?
Cameras on every streetcorner, in your homes, in parks... This is intolerable. Worse yet, face recognition systems that will allow some mystical computer *somewhere* to record where you go... Could you imagine getting back from lunch and having a meeting with your supervisor, who asks "Why did you go to (place "undesirable" location here)? We do not allow our employees to go to ("undesirable" location) during work hours. Please clean out your desk." It *will* happen. Locating criminals is the first step, corporations tracking employees is next. Then, before you know it, the government feels that they need to know where everyone is all the time. Even though I am not gay, I sometimes go to gay bars with friends who are. Do I want to be classified as gay because I sometimes visit gay establishments? No. The problem is that cameras cannot get inside of your head... Which is the next step. Governments will feel the need to control thought because they cannot make sense of certain "eccentric" individuals otherwise. Corporations already try to do this through marketing. If you drink a certain brand of beer you're going to be popular and have lots of friends. XYZ blue jeans will make you look attractive to the opposite sex. You'll be a great kisser if you chew our new brand of gum. Smoking cigarettes makes you look mature, which every teen wants. We get pummelled with this sort of crap all the time, and it is very pervasive. The government is next (*especially* organizations like the E.U.)!
The bottom line is that privacy is costly for corporations and government. It's up to us to decide what level is tolerable, which may be no government cameras in homes. It'll probably be our last island of privacy, at least until we turn our television on or use the Internet...
Slashdot Mirror
My next 'workstation' is going to be the AMD Athlon once the 1Ghz+ CPUs arrive. Both of my Linux boxes have AMD K6-2 CPUs in them, and perform beautifully. My workstation has an overclocked Celery because it runs Win98 and all of my games, er, productivity apps... Now that the Athlon performs so well, I don't need Intel for anything.
That brings me to the point that I made in the subject line. If you do not like Intel's current vapour marketing (taking a page from the Microsoft playbook?) or their overclocked Pentium Pros, make sure your next computer has "Athlon Inside". Returning AMD to profitability is the best way to bring Intel back to reality.
Viv
The Yamaha 4416S will write "GD-ROMs" no problem... All you need is the software! :-) I know the 4416S, 6416S and above will do it, I'm not sure about the IDE drives though. Non-Yamaha drives will not write GD-ROM. I'm expecting GD-ROM support in software like CDRWIN this fall... Viv.
My first "real" computer was the good old Amiga 500, way back when it was brand new. Kickstart 1.3 had just been released, and all my friends had C64s or TRS-80 CoCo 2s. When I see some sort of evidence that the nextgen Amigas aren't just vapor, it gets me real excited. Even though I sold my Amiga 3000 to buy a 486, the Amigas still have a very large piece of my heart. I'll be first in line to buy one of the new Amiga desktops!
Vivarium.
The author makes an excellent arguement. MP3s are an excellent first step into the world of Internet music. However, the author obviously has never downloaded an MP3 encoded at more than 128K. Sound quality at 160K or 192K is much better - even in cheap PC speakers. Now that everyone and their dog (in North America anyway) has a cable modem or DSL line it is increasingly easier to transfer 256K MP3s - which are near CD quality.
Also, many of us have good quality home stereos connected to their computers. We enjoy the MP3 format for what it is. Most of us have an encoder, and those on the Winblows platform enjoy an excellent quality decoder - WinAmp. I've been using MP3s for almost 3 years now, and will continue to enjoy them for years to come. The size and quality of my collection will ensure that. I'm willing to bet that others feel the same.
There will be newer, better audio formats than MP3. However, they will not replace MP3, they will augment it. MP3 created the revolution, but it's up to others to continue the tradition.
Michael.
I'm glad to see Red Hat finally embrace KDE after flip-flopping on the issue so much. After all, KDE is the only truely usable GUI for Linux. Gnome, Englightenment, whatever may be nice but they have a long way to go yet. KDE is usable now, and has an interface that users will be comfortable with.
I just wish that Red Hat would become more concerned about security and make Red Hat 6.0 as solid as possible. Perhaps they could fund a project to close security holes in the Linux code?
Michael.
Cameras on every streetcorner, in your homes, in parks... This is intolerable. Worse yet, face recognition systems that will allow some mystical computer *somewhere* to record where you go... Could you imagine getting back from lunch and having a meeting with your supervisor, who asks "Why did you go to (place "undesirable" location here)? We do not allow our employees to go to ("undesirable" location) during work hours. Please clean out your desk." It *will* happen. Locating criminals is the first step, corporations tracking employees is next. Then, before you know it, the government feels that they need to know where everyone is all the time. Even though I am not gay, I sometimes go to gay bars with friends who are. Do I want to be classified as gay because I sometimes visit gay establishments? No. The problem is that cameras cannot get inside of your head... Which is the next step. Governments will feel the need to control thought because they cannot make sense of certain "eccentric" individuals otherwise. Corporations already try to do this through marketing. If you drink a certain brand of beer you're going to be popular and have lots of friends. XYZ blue jeans will make you look attractive to the opposite sex. You'll be a great kisser if you chew our new brand of gum. Smoking cigarettes makes you look mature, which every teen wants. We get pummelled with this sort of crap all the time, and it is very pervasive. The government is next (*especially* organizations like the E.U.)!
The bottom line is that privacy is costly for corporations and government. It's up to us to decide what level is tolerable, which may be no government cameras in homes. It'll probably be our last island of privacy, at least until we turn our television on or use the Internet...
Michael.
Could someone let us know what the OEM pricing is in Canada?
Michael.