First of all, be aware that it is always your fault, and you are wrong. 100%. For whatever reason.
Secondly, if you have kids, kiss your geek hobbies good bye. All I do now is house repair, kid herding, and wife appeasement. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but my home computer is old and neglected. I have games that are years old and still in shrink wrap because I've got more important things to do.
I think this is probably your best solution too. If you can lease a server from a service provider then all you need it some way to reach it remotely. Then the environmental factors all disappear.
If that's not an option then consider Sun's telco grade stuff which can take the heat. Ain't cheap though.
A lot of Federal employees have a 9/80 option. It works well because it puts less stress on the mass transit and roads in the area. I always notice that its easier getting around town on Fridays here in DC.
For IT folks I don't think its a good option. Even though I have a 9/80 option and a telecommute option, my work culture where I am prefers warm bodies in chairs. I'm a sysadmin though, and people expect me to be able to yank out parts and cables or whatever on a moments notice.
I don't see that ever happening. The veterans like AIX and Solaris provide a consistency and stability that Linux cannot. Linux is a chaotic and anarchistic mess that I find difficult to maintain on an enterprise level. Having the OS developed in a controlled environment and tightly coupled to the hardware makes for predictability and a limited set of variable that allows for refinement.
Don't get me wrong. GNU is awesome. I've had to put up with too much crap from the linux distros that ends up making things less productive.
I'd go even a step further and suggest that you choose an internship that gives you an opportunity to build your skills and get some real experience so that you can be competitive when going for the real employment.
Forget the pay. Good skills will pay you back later. Get in, and take all the shit jobs nobody else wants where you're at and you'll find them begging you to come back as an employee... and pay for it too.
There could be some security advantages to powering off certain servers when they aren't being used. Can't hack 'em if they're off (unless you exploit Wake on Lan functionality).
But really, why buy a server if you aren't going to use it? Sounds like you need some virtualization to consolidate underused services.
You should at least consider adjusting any power saving abilities the hardware.
Seriously though. Get Cygwin for your Windows box and then write a PERL script to generate an MD5 (or SHA) hash of your file, then encrypt it using AES, and then upload via FTP which is PERL scriptable. That's all!
I'm particularly upset about the use of the term "HD Radio" which people may associate with High Definition. The fact is that HD stands for Hybrid Data which actually sounds quite crappy. I prefer analog FM for it's higher fidelity. Ain't that sad?
Two things are going to make Blu-Ray successful. Picture quality, and Marketing. If you own an HDTV, especially a 1080p model, you want Blu-Ray. Sure standard DVD's look pretty darned good, but if you didn't care about quality you wouldn't have bought and HDTV in the first place right? Everyone else are just suckers for good marketing. I'm talking about the folks who really can't tell the difference between analog NTSC broadcast and ATSC 1080i. They are convinced that if they don't buy a 42" HDTV they won't be able to watch their Rosanne reruns when in fact all they need are cheapo DTV converter boxes. Likewise Blu-ray. It's new and your DVD's are poo so you'd better upgrade... like going from Windows XP to Vista. You need it! You need it! Now quit whining and give in! Arrrrrgh!
Ahem. So who exactly is going to stream 50GB of video over the internet? Uh... Yeah. I can see it happening just like the ignoramuses who think that mp3's are high quality and the obsessive compulsives who insist on 24bit/96KHz audio. Sure you can stream a movie over the internet... love that 320x240 picture full of artifacts and such. Do you really think the ISP's aren't going to flip us over and do us dry? Sure we'll have streaming, but you'll pay their Super Ultra Premium Video plan prices first. I think Blu-Ray has a strong case for many years to come.
No doubt. You ever been around a big power supply cap let it's magic smoke out? POW! Exciting! I could just imagine the result of a bank of these puppies giving up the ghost on an nice hot day in summer. 1,000 Farads wanting to be free! Yeah! Big explosion and just a pile of dust where your car used to be.
This has been a long time coming. The music industry has been hosing over it's customers for decades and now folks are hosing them back. I'm not saying stealing is right, but from poor quality vinyl records to over priced CD's and more recent crappy or inconvenient formats like DRM or SACD and DVD-A's, the big labels have created fertile ground for music industry anarchy. Reap what you sow.
I like supporting my favorite entertainers, but I don't feel that the music industry gives them a fair shake either.
I think you're right. I love my Vinyl, but I spend most of my time listening to my portable "soundtrack" or as music as a background distraction. I would need a small trailer to haul my tube amp, turntable, and folded horns with me to work. Ain't happening.
If I can't buy something in SACD format, I buy Vinyl. I can make a great copy to mp3 if I want to get portable.
Most people would have negative experiences with Vinyl. It takes careful and trained listening to appreciate the difference. There is no way a fifty buck boom-box with a turntable is going to sound better than a CD. You'll need to either have expensive new equipment or be very talented at finding and repairing oldie but goodie stuff from estate sales. Then there's the upkeep of the Vinyl and turntable. I have a lovely Rega P3, with a busted tonearm and worn out cartridge. I can't afford to replace the expensive-ass parts. Most folks won't maintain their stuff and the sound will go to heck.
To Vinyl's credit, I can pick up used records for dirt. I must of bought 70 lbs of LP's for twenty bucks once! The library sells great condition LP's for a buck each! Forget iTards. Turntables are extremely good at reproducing high frequencies if you have good clean equipment, but struggle with bass. Thus we have the RIAA equalization.
My point is that I enjoy my Vinyl, but I just don't have a lot of time to fuss with the upkeep, so I prefer the SACD format for being less hassle. I think less hassle will win the day for anyone.
What a bunch a whiners! Hello. Download tools,./configure; make; PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH; export PATH
New toolset! Wasn't that easy?
There's a good reason why there are 'old tools' laying around. It's called consistency. Something that Linux is completely missing as a community. Solaris is about getting it done right without any crap.
That's about my experience too. I've only recently begun collecting vinyl after a 17 year hiatus. It is fun. It's a very active process that demands more attention than queuing up 2 weeks of endless MP3's or whatever. Listening to music becomes more than a background distraction. There is just something that is really cool about pulling a record out of it's sleeve, spinning it up on a huge platter and dropping a needle on it. You can watch the tonearm as is progresses across the disk and prepare to hop up and flip the disc when the time comes.
It can be frustrating at times too. I've got a sweet setup. Marantz 8b, tube preamp, full range speakers, Rega P3. Nice. But I have wash the mold off older records and constantly wipe off the dust. Gotta clean the needle. The battery in the phono preamp needs changing. The tubes need biasing and replacing over time. On and on. My other setup is a bunch of cheapo Sony stuff. You hit the power, and drop in a CD. All done with no hassles (and no 60hz hum). But not as much fun. The old stuff is more romantic.
I've got a wide collection. New Vinyl and old. I've concluded that anything needing a wide dynamic range just won't work on vinyl. Classical for example. It sounds very flat. Of course there are some excellent exceptions. But Jazz, Rock, and R&B often sound alright on vinyl cause they can get away with it. But that's all about my own tastes. That all.
Quite frankly, one of my favorite music sources is my Sansa e260r. I replaced the headphones with some better, but cheap JVC earbuds. It sounds great. Why? Who cares. It sounds good. Sometimes it makes me angry that my fancy home stereo that is worth 20X as much doesn't always sound as good. Simple is sometimes better.
One thing that audiophiles often stress is to enjoy the music! That's what it's all about. If you're happy with what you've got, then that's what matters. It's too easy to get caught up with all the measurements and statistics, etc. Just enjoy the music.
With regard to the NPR article. I don't get it. Why would anyone want to use a cheapo turntable to make MP3's? Ugh. It's because these old farts are too cheap to buy the CD's! Vinyl sales are up? Yeah. It would seem that there is a strange group of people, including myself, who are getting into vintage amps, and records. You can get some really great stuff for pennies if you look in the right places! I just sold some beautiful Marantz amplifiers from the 70's. They sound and look nice and are still relevant today and are a great bang for the buck! I also picked up a big pile of vinyl from an estate sale. I could have loaded up my van with all the stuff I could carry for just a couple bucks, but I have nowhere to put it all.
In the end, I think that the tube amp and vinyl thing isn't just about music. Its about being a hobby. That's why I do it. It doesn't have to make sense. It's like the whole unix vs. mac vs. windows thing. We all choose different things for different reasons. Everything has it's advantages and disadvantages.
And for the naysayers, top quality doesn't have to be expensive either. Enter the Frugalphile. An old spare PC and a good audio card are a good first step. Dumpster diving, thrift stores, and estate sales, etc, can turn up some real gems for pennies.
Sorry about the Cornwall's man.
Until then its my Marantz 8b, chinese 7c knockoff, a smokin' hot solder iron and a whole lot of DIY (diyaudio.com)
That is certainly true for older recordings where recording and reproduction techniques were crude. We've come a long way. By the 1950's vinyl reproduction had really improved. One of my best sounding albums was recorded in the late 1950's, but pressed more recently into Vinyl. The quality was stunning. I've got Coldplay, Postal Service, Norah Jones, all on fresh Vinyl. No clicks. No pops. Compared to the digital equivalent... no contest. Just have to have good equipment and keep your records clean.
Statistically digital media and such should be better, but listening is a very subjective experience. Of course cheap worn-out records and record players are going to sound horrible compared to cheap cds and cd players.
Perhaps not, but since most ATSC channels are UHF it is better to have a UHF optimized antenna. I recommend something like the Channel Master Model 4221 or 4228 UHF bowtie antenna for folk in the city. My 4221 really pulls in the channels and cuts down on a lot of signal reflections. It's very directional though which is fine if most of your TV stations are in roughly the same direction.
If you're gonna do terrestial ATSC DTV here in the States, check out http://www.antennaweb.org/ It can make a huge difference having the right antenna!
Be careful at the TV shops too. Most of the sales people don't know jack about what is the right antenna. I've tried a TERK TV55, which isn't a shabby antenna, but it couldn't hold a candle to my $25 Channel Master 4221.
I think eldavojohn nailed why I'm still buying CD's. DRM sucks. I've bought a couple songs, but my DRM got messed up. No more songs for me. The CD goes into the computer and gets ripped. And I don't share. As an ex-musician I understand ya gotta get paid or you'll end up working in a used book store the rest of your life.
The CD does come out occasionally when I want to get better than mp3 quality from my custom Audio Nirvana (commonsenseaudio.com) speakers and 41Hz amp4 (41hz.com) amplifier. But for everyday portability (Palm T5) mp3/wma is it.
Quite frankly I think that thanks to services like Rhapsody, or Yahoo Music I'm buying even more CD's. I will spend an extra buck or two to get my hands on a hybrid SACD or DualDisc version, because I do appreciate 24bit-ness.
Traditional CD's are overpriced though. Manufacturing should be a whole lot cheaper for the media these days.
Slashdot Mirror
First of all, be aware that it is always your fault, and you are wrong. 100%. For whatever reason.
Secondly, if you have kids, kiss your geek hobbies good bye. All I do now is house repair, kid herding, and wife appeasement. I wouldn't trade it for anything, but my home computer is old and neglected. I have games that are years old and still in shrink wrap because I've got more important things to do.
I think this is probably your best solution too. If you can lease a server from a service provider then all you need it some way to reach it remotely. Then the environmental factors all disappear.
If that's not an option then consider Sun's telco grade stuff which can take the heat. Ain't cheap though.
Otherwise, one of the tiny
Poo bots? Hiiideee ho!
A lot of Federal employees have a 9/80 option. It works well because it puts less stress on the mass transit and roads in the area. I always notice that its easier getting around town on Fridays here in DC.
For IT folks I don't think its a good option. Even though I have a 9/80 option and a telecommute option, my work culture where I am prefers warm bodies in chairs. I'm a sysadmin though, and people expect me to be able to yank out parts and cables or whatever on a moments notice.
I don't see that ever happening. The veterans like AIX and Solaris provide a consistency and stability that Linux cannot. Linux is a chaotic and anarchistic mess that I find difficult to maintain on an enterprise level. Having the OS developed in a controlled environment and tightly coupled to the hardware makes for predictability and a limited set of variable that allows for refinement.
Don't get me wrong. GNU is awesome. I've had to put up with too much crap from the linux distros that ends up making things less productive.
I'd go even a step further and suggest that you choose an internship that gives you an opportunity to build your skills and get some real experience so that you can be competitive when going for the real employment.
Forget the pay. Good skills will pay you back later. Get in, and take all the shit jobs nobody else wants where you're at and you'll find them begging you to come back as an employee... and pay for it too.
There could be some security advantages to powering off certain servers when they aren't being used. Can't hack 'em if they're off (unless you exploit Wake on Lan functionality).
But really, why buy a server if you aren't going to use it? Sounds like you need some virtualization to consolidate underused services.
You should at least consider adjusting any power saving abilities the hardware.
Power off workstations, not servers.
I say head on over to one of those kinds of sports bars will all the TV's an see if they're broadcasting it. Stream the beer instead.
I don't agree about Blu-Ray, but I will agree that you need some horribly expensive Hi-Fi rig and the hearing of a dog to notice the difference.
Frankly a good CD player beats a ho-hum SACD any day.
Linux user eh?
Seriously though. Get Cygwin for your Windows box and then write a PERL script to generate an MD5 (or SHA) hash of your file, then encrypt it using AES, and then upload via FTP which is PERL scriptable. That's all!
I'm particularly upset about the use of the term "HD Radio" which people may associate with High Definition. The fact is that HD stands for Hybrid Data which actually sounds quite crappy. I prefer analog FM for it's higher fidelity. Ain't that sad?
Two things are going to make Blu-Ray successful. Picture quality, and Marketing. If you own an HDTV, especially a 1080p model, you want Blu-Ray. Sure standard DVD's look pretty darned good, but if you didn't care about quality you wouldn't have bought and HDTV in the first place right? Everyone else are just suckers for good marketing. I'm talking about the folks who really can't tell the difference between analog NTSC broadcast and ATSC 1080i. They are convinced that if they don't buy a 42" HDTV they won't be able to watch their Rosanne reruns when in fact all they need are cheapo DTV converter boxes. Likewise Blu-ray. It's new and your DVD's are poo so you'd better upgrade... like going from Windows XP to Vista. You need it! You need it! Now quit whining and give in! Arrrrrgh!
Ahem. So who exactly is going to stream 50GB of video over the internet? Uh... Yeah. I can see it happening just like the ignoramuses who think that mp3's are high quality and the obsessive compulsives who insist on 24bit/96KHz audio. Sure you can stream a movie over the internet... love that 320x240 picture full of artifacts and such. Do you really think the ISP's aren't going to flip us over and do us dry? Sure we'll have streaming, but you'll pay their Super Ultra Premium Video plan prices first. I think Blu-Ray has a strong case for many years to come.
No doubt. You ever been around a big power supply cap let it's magic smoke out? POW! Exciting! I could just imagine the result of a bank of these puppies giving up the ghost on an nice hot day in summer. 1,000 Farads wanting to be free! Yeah! Big explosion and just a pile of dust where your car used to be.
This has been a long time coming. The music industry has been hosing over it's customers for decades and now folks are hosing them back. I'm not saying stealing is right, but from poor quality vinyl records to over priced CD's and more recent crappy or inconvenient formats like DRM or SACD and DVD-A's, the big labels have created fertile ground for music industry anarchy. Reap what you sow.
I like supporting my favorite entertainers, but I don't feel that the music industry gives them a fair shake either.
So good riddance.
I think you're right. I love my Vinyl, but I spend most of my time listening to my portable "soundtrack" or as music as a background distraction. I would need a small trailer to haul my tube amp, turntable, and folded horns with me to work. Ain't happening.
If I can't buy something in SACD format, I buy Vinyl. I can make a great copy to mp3 if I want to get portable.
Most people would have negative experiences with Vinyl. It takes careful and trained listening to appreciate the difference. There is no way a fifty buck boom-box with a turntable is going to sound better than a CD. You'll need to either have expensive new equipment or be very talented at finding and repairing oldie but goodie stuff from estate sales. Then there's the upkeep of the Vinyl and turntable. I have a lovely Rega P3, with a busted tonearm and worn out cartridge. I can't afford to replace the expensive-ass parts. Most folks won't maintain their stuff and the sound will go to heck.
To Vinyl's credit, I can pick up used records for dirt. I must of bought 70 lbs of LP's for twenty bucks once! The library sells great condition LP's for a buck each! Forget iTards. Turntables are extremely good at reproducing high frequencies if you have good clean equipment, but struggle with bass. Thus we have the RIAA equalization.
My point is that I enjoy my Vinyl, but I just don't have a lot of time to fuss with the upkeep, so I prefer the SACD format for being less hassle. I think less hassle will win the day for anyone.
What a bunch a whiners! Hello. Download tools, ./configure; make; PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH; export PATH
New toolset! Wasn't that easy?
There's a good reason why there are 'old tools' laying around. It's called consistency. Something that Linux is completely missing as a community. Solaris is about getting it done right without any crap.
Good job! Now solve the problem.
Ain't so simple after all huh?
That's about my experience too. I've only recently begun collecting vinyl after a 17 year hiatus. It is fun. It's a very active process that demands more attention than queuing up 2 weeks of endless MP3's or whatever. Listening to music becomes more than a background distraction. There is just something that is really cool about pulling a record out of it's sleeve, spinning it up on a huge platter and dropping a needle on it. You can watch the tonearm as is progresses across the disk and prepare to hop up and flip the disc when the time comes.
It can be frustrating at times too. I've got a sweet setup. Marantz 8b, tube preamp, full range speakers, Rega P3. Nice. But I have wash the mold off older records and constantly wipe off the dust. Gotta clean the needle. The battery in the phono preamp needs changing. The tubes need biasing and replacing over time. On and on. My other setup is a bunch of cheapo Sony stuff. You hit the power, and drop in a CD. All done with no hassles (and no 60hz hum). But not as much fun. The old stuff is more romantic.
I've got a wide collection. New Vinyl and old. I've concluded that anything needing a wide dynamic range just won't work on vinyl. Classical for example. It sounds very flat. Of course there are some excellent exceptions. But Jazz, Rock, and R&B often sound alright on vinyl cause they can get away with it. But that's all about my own tastes. That all.
Quite frankly, one of my favorite music sources is my Sansa e260r. I replaced the headphones with some better, but cheap JVC earbuds. It sounds great. Why? Who cares. It sounds good. Sometimes it makes me angry that my fancy home stereo that is worth 20X as much doesn't always sound as good. Simple is sometimes better.
One thing that audiophiles often stress is to enjoy the music! That's what it's all about. If you're happy with what you've got, then that's what matters. It's too easy to get caught up with all the measurements and statistics, etc. Just enjoy the music.
With regard to the NPR article. I don't get it. Why would anyone want to use a cheapo turntable to make MP3's? Ugh. It's because these old farts are too cheap to buy the CD's! Vinyl sales are up? Yeah. It would seem that there is a strange group of people, including myself, who are getting into vintage amps, and records. You can get some really great stuff for pennies if you look in the right places! I just sold some beautiful Marantz amplifiers from the 70's. They sound and look nice and are still relevant today and are a great bang for the buck! I also picked up a big pile of vinyl from an estate sale. I could have loaded up my van with all the stuff I could carry for just a couple bucks, but I have nowhere to put it all.
In the end, I think that the tube amp and vinyl thing isn't just about music. Its about being a hobby. That's why I do it. It doesn't have to make sense. It's like the whole unix vs. mac vs. windows thing. We all choose different things for different reasons. Everything has it's advantages and disadvantages.
Right on bro.
And for the naysayers, top quality doesn't have to be expensive either. Enter the Frugalphile. An old spare PC and a good audio card are a good first step. Dumpster diving, thrift stores, and estate sales, etc, can turn up some real gems for pennies.
Sorry about the Cornwall's man.
Until then its my Marantz 8b, chinese 7c knockoff, a smokin' hot solder iron and a whole lot of DIY (diyaudio.com)
:)
Marantz 8b
Hilarious! Even better. Sit next to the fire while listening to a CD. FEEL the warmth too.
That is certainly true for older recordings where recording and reproduction techniques were crude. We've come a long way. By the 1950's vinyl reproduction had really improved. One of my best sounding albums was recorded in the late 1950's, but pressed more recently into Vinyl. The quality was stunning. I've got Coldplay, Postal Service, Norah Jones, all on fresh Vinyl. No clicks. No pops. Compared to the digital equivalent... no contest. Just have to have good equipment and keep your records clean.
Statistically digital media and such should be better, but listening is a very subjective experience. Of course cheap worn-out records and record players are going to sound horrible compared to cheap cds and cd players.
I've given up on CD's. The sound quality is ho-hum. I'm only buying Vinyl these days. If I can't find it in Vinyl, I'll look for SACD or DVD-A.
Otherwise it's Rhapsody for me.
Perhaps not, but since most ATSC channels are UHF it is better to have a UHF optimized antenna. I recommend something like the Channel Master Model 4221 or 4228 UHF bowtie antenna for folk in the city. My 4221 really pulls in the channels and cuts down on a lot of signal reflections. It's very directional though which is fine if most of your TV stations are in roughly the same direction.
If you're gonna do terrestial ATSC DTV here in the States, check out http://www.antennaweb.org/ It can make a huge difference having the right antenna!
Be careful at the TV shops too. Most of the sales people don't know jack about what is the right antenna. I've tried a TERK TV55, which isn't a shabby antenna, but it couldn't hold a candle to my $25 Channel Master 4221.
I think eldavojohn nailed why I'm still buying CD's. DRM sucks. I've bought a couple songs, but my DRM got messed up. No more songs for me. The CD goes into the computer and gets ripped. And I don't share. As an ex-musician I understand ya gotta get paid or you'll end up working in a used book store the rest of your life.
The CD does come out occasionally when I want to get better than mp3 quality from my custom Audio Nirvana (commonsenseaudio.com) speakers and 41Hz amp4 (41hz.com) amplifier. But for everyday portability (Palm T5) mp3/wma is it.
Quite frankly I think that thanks to services like Rhapsody, or Yahoo Music I'm buying even more CD's. I will spend an extra buck or two to get my hands on a hybrid SACD or DualDisc version, because I do appreciate 24bit-ness.
Traditional CD's are overpriced though. Manufacturing should be a whole lot cheaper for the media these days.