Unfortunately price is pretty much all that matters. Look what happened to the Neo Geo. Nobody wanted a $400-$500 console with $70-$80 games. The only place you see it now is in the arcades. (or more recently resurrected on PC's using emulation)
Hi, I am the author of this project, and would like to share my opinion about this whole MP3 audio-quality issue that a lot of people have brought up:
In short, for me it isn't one.
In the interview I stated I built this machine to replace my *analog* equipment. I don't think anyone can argue that a 256kb/s MP3 (on a digital output) sounds worse than a cassette tape. Perhaps if you bought a $1000 tape deck, but if this is the case I am sure you could care less about MP3.
Yes, if you listen for it, you can hear the compression of the audio. Especially in the rear channels if you place your receiver in a surround mode. If this distracts you to the point you cannot listen to the audio, fine. Don't use MP3. I encoded most of my MP3 at 160kb/s, and my classical music and ambient music at 256kb/s. As far as I am concerned it sounds *close* enough to a CD, that I don't mind if there is a little swishy-ness in the cymbals. The advantages of having all my music at at the touch of a button far outweigh this.
How many people do you know record TV shows at SLP speed on their VCR? Probably a lot. For them the advantage of being able to record 6 hours of video on a 2 hour (SP) tape makes up for the loss in video/audio quality.
Now, I don't have kids atm, but I know I wouldn't want these people making moral judgements for my children. I remember in my highschool, we were not allowed to read certain books in English class. That really pissed me off. But if you complain, you are marked as a trouble maker. That only leaves pulling your children out of that school, and many people don't have that option.
I was sent to a very, very small High School operated by Benedictine monks. We could read any books we wanted. Senior year (as class assignments) we read "The Handmaids Tale", "The Last Picture Show", "Native Son" and other books you would never, ever see in a public high school. We were proud that the faculty believed us mature enough to handle these novels.
When students are treated as adults, they tend to act as such. By using filtering software, you are telling the students they are not mature enough to be trusted. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Since I write almost all of my GPL software under the influence of Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) it is only fitting that he has used software under the GPL as well. The circle is complete. The similarities between Aphex Twin and Linux are too numerous to mention. It is a symbiosis I could not live without. I could not sleep without Linux. I could not sleep without "Sel. Ambient Works II." I could not code without Linux. I could not code without "I Care Because You Do" It goes on and on... (sorry about the ramble just happy to see Aphex Twin mentioned, albeit indirectly, on slashdot!) If you have not heard of Aphex Twin, I suggest you stop what you are doing immediately and go purchase the above two albums.:)
I also remember reading this article last week. The date on the article could be the last revision date.
Re:Open Standards and Closed Failures
on
DIVX is dead
·
· Score: 1
Yeah, and the best thing about beta is that it is completely unaffected by macrovision! For awhile we were stuck with a TV that did not have a composite input, only a VHF one. This meant the DVD had to be sent through the VCR. The (VHS) VCR would pick up the macrovision and the picture would fade in and out. Replaced it with a beta machine, and voila the problem was gone:)
Speaking of ASCII/ANSI art, does anyone know of a program that will convert.gif or whatever to plain ASCII? I found a couple for windows that only did 640x480 gifs. I would like something that would be able to print out something huge that I can print on our dot matrix printers for a poster in my office..:) A big giant TUX and linux logo that are 6 feet wide would be awesome..
Digital optical outputs, and can play from just about any medium. There are actually a lot of these projects around the web.
How much would someone pay for one of these? I can make aluminum cases like this one (mind you JUST the case) for about $225. (lots of labor involved) but I don't think people would pay that.
This is really neat and all, but since it uses such an ungodly frequency and is cable modem compatible I assume it can achieve some decent bandwidth. What I would really like is a little transmitter with an ethernet jack, and a configurable IP address. The tablet would be a portable VNC client. This way you could access any desktop in your house, be it a Mac, Linux, or Windows machine without it going away when you shut off the tablet... also the VNC client would take hardly any OS at all.
For the unitiated, here is a link to VNC which has saved me more times than I would like to admit.. (left ICQ running at work)
Slashdot Mirror
I saw on cable awhile back a grainy black and white film of the last living tasmanian tiger, just walking back in forth in its cage.
Had to be one of the most depressing things I ever saw.
I can't imagine anyone saying that it is not worth bringing this animal back after watching this video.
Unfortunately price is pretty much all that matters. Look what happened to the Neo Geo. Nobody wanted a $400-$500 console with $70-$80 games. The only place you see it now is in the arcades. (or more recently resurrected on PC's using emulation)
Hi, I am the author of this project, and would like to share my opinion about this whole MP3 audio-quality issue that a lot of people have brought up:
In short, for me it isn't one.
In the interview I stated I built this machine to replace my *analog* equipment. I don't think anyone can argue that a 256kb/s MP3 (on a digital output) sounds worse than a cassette tape. Perhaps if you bought a $1000 tape deck, but if this is the case I am sure you could care less about MP3.
Yes, if you listen for it, you can hear the compression of the audio. Especially in the rear channels if you place your receiver in a surround mode. If this distracts you to the point you cannot listen to the audio, fine. Don't use MP3. I encoded most of my MP3 at 160kb/s, and my classical music and ambient music at 256kb/s. As far as I am concerned it sounds *close* enough to a CD, that I don't mind if there is a little swishy-ness in the cymbals. The advantages of having all my music at at the touch of a button far outweigh this.
How many people do you know record TV shows at SLP speed on their VCR? Probably a lot. For them the advantage of being able to record 6 hours of video on a 2 hour (SP) tape makes up for the loss in video/audio quality.
It is all a matter of personal preference.
Now, I don't have kids atm, but I know I wouldn't want these people making moral judgements for my children. I remember in my highschool, we were not allowed to read certain books in English class. That really pissed me off. But if you complain, you are marked as a trouble maker. That only leaves pulling your children out of that school, and many people don't have that option.
I was sent to a very, very small High School operated by Benedictine monks. We could read any books we wanted. Senior year (as class assignments) we read "The Handmaids Tale", "The Last Picture Show", "Native Son" and other books you would never, ever see in a public high school. We were proud that the faculty believed us mature enough to handle these novels.
When students are treated as adults, they tend to act as such. By using filtering software, you are telling the students they are not mature enough to be trusted. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Since I write almost all of my GPL software under the influence of Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) it is only fitting that he has used software under the GPL as well. The circle is complete. The similarities between Aphex Twin and Linux are too numerous to mention. It is a symbiosis I could not live without. I could not sleep without Linux. I could not sleep without "Sel. Ambient Works II." I could not code without Linux. I could not code without "I Care Because You Do" It goes on and on... (sorry about the ramble just happy to see Aphex Twin mentioned, albeit indirectly, on slashdot!) If you have not heard of Aphex Twin, I suggest you stop what you are doing immediately and go purchase the above two albums. :)
I also remember reading this article last week. The date on the article could be the last revision date.
Yeah, and the best thing about beta is that it is completely unaffected by macrovision! For awhile we were stuck with a TV that did not have a composite input, only a VHF one. This meant the DVD had to be sent through the VCR. The (VHS) VCR would pick up the macrovision and the picture would fade in and out. Replaced it with a beta machine, and voila the problem was gone :)
Speaking of ASCII/ANSI art, does anyone know of a program that will convert .gif or whatever to plain ASCII? I found a couple for windows that only did 640x480 gifs. I would like something that would be able to print out something huge that I can print on our dot matrix printers for a poster in my office.. :) A big giant TUX and linux logo that are 6 feet wide would be awesome ..
go to davesvgc.com
I've tried nearly all the .com, .edu, .net, and .ca servers listed on redhat's mirror page, and all I see is redhat-5.2.
I have a similiar project here
Digital optical outputs, and can play from just about any medium. There are actually a lot of these projects around the web.
How much would someone pay for one of these? I can make aluminum cases like this one (mind you JUST the case) for about $225. (lots of labor involved) but I don't think people would pay that.
This is really neat and all, but since it uses such an ungodly frequency and is cable modem compatible I assume it can achieve some decent bandwidth. What I would really like is a little transmitter with an ethernet jack, and a configurable IP address. The tablet would be a portable VNC client. This way you could access any desktop in your house, be it a Mac, Linux, or Windows machine without it going away when you shut off the tablet... also the VNC client would take hardly any OS at all.
For the unitiated, here is a link to VNC which has saved me more times than I would like to admit.. (left ICQ running at work)
http://www.orl.co.uk/vnc/