hehe, it is your first mod. Some hints; get used to unfair moderation, don't feed the trolls, don't fret about karma, it's just a number, and only post if you have something to say.
OK. I can admit I was wrong, at least about the DSP thing.:-)
I still would argue that you don't need tons of prossesing power to get good results though. A dual Athalon sounds like a bit of overkill. Of course audiophiles _are_ prone to overkill. $200 dollar a foot speaker cables, anyone? Extensive multitasking is of course another story.
Since I'm replying to my own post, I'd like to add that the original poster should just get a good audio package with software synth, like Reason. It'll sound far better than the MIDI on your sound card, and you can start exploring from there. It's not about the equipment, after all.
From looking at the list of what's included in this package, these people have done a lot of work. The complete package is made up of common linux audio utilities plus a bunch of stuff they've made.
It'd be cool to have packages like this for different things. A complete graphics package with Gimp, blender, driver install, and a collection of scripts would be cool. It'd be cooler if it was a deb package.
There are two posts in this thread stating that the software in question is the enlightenment window manager. I think someone's confused.
The poster link links to a company, Complysite, that 'provides businesses with products that make
documentation and training easier and more affordable'
I think that kind of mentality is common in all cultures, China not the least. The Japanese, after all, have a marked appitite for the newest and greatest.
I think it's a universial trait, that manifests itself diffently is every culture and sub-culture.
I share a drive on my network with NFS and Samba. Because I have few users the I didn't worry about the lack of shared locks. I should have.I guess it's time for an upgrade.
Anyone know if this gets rid of the (dot).files created by window clients? very annoying.
One of the press releases on the linked page answers 'why?'.
"GEEK.NZ defines a distinct community of interest, just as other second-level domains do," explains Andy Linton. "However, GEEK.NZ also provides an opportunity for deploying additional, more experimental services such as DNS Security (DNSSEC) and IPv6, which are many years away from deployment in other registries, like CO.NZ." Linton sees GEEK.NZ performing a role for DNS service which is analogous to the role the high-speed, optical research network, "Internet2", provides for ISPs.
Cool! I want one. It would be cool to have an 'anything goes' kind of area on the net. No production servers, just experimental services, protocols, etc. Or how about a domain in which hacking (cracking) was allowed/expected? We would learn a lot about security.
I'm all for freely distubuted works, but this seems like the kind of thing that if you could use it, you already have it. I don't think there are many students struggling to get their reactor finished, but cant afford the textbook.
Totally OT, but interesting none the less. (I hope)
The introdution of MIDI can largly be credited to Herbie Hancock, the jazz musician. He was the one who kept bugging manufatures to make synths connectable, and had input into technical design issues. A nice example of creativity pushing technology.
As much as I would like to be able to suggest an Open solution, it's simply not possible to do the things comercial packages can do with OS.
For hardware, you don't need a very fast machine. A 600ish MHz PC will do fine. The sound card does most of the work. A pro sound card with ASIO drivers and a breakout box is important. I have experience with the Delta44 from M-Audio, a lower end option (about $250 US)for these features. The ASIO drivers allow the card to use it's DSP for sound synth, so the CPU can handle other tasks. The breakout box does the digital to analog conversion outside of the computers case, to lessen noise and interference. It also lets you use 1/4 inch phono jacks.
Software choices largly depend on what you want to create. I think Reason by PropellerHead Software is awesome for electronica, and very capable for more analog sounding stuff. It intergrates well with Cakewalk. Acid is great for loop/sample based stuff.
As for midi keyboards, Roland makes a really cheap and capable unit, the PC-160, that is fine if you're a one finger player and just need a way to get notes into a sequencer. Keyboardists will want something bigger, though.
With the hardware mentioned above, you can throw around 20+ tracks, all with hardware DSP effects, and not see the CPU load go above about 20-30%. Lots of room.
To really get great results you'll need to spend more money, of course. Quality studio monitors are very usefull, but not cheap. Good microphones for input. Headphones. Good cables. A mixing board, etc. All of this stuff can wait untill you get some royalties.
Last but not least, I would recomend educating yourself about some of the tech aspects of digital music creation. Digital cross-talk, aliasing etc, are hard to pin down if you don't know what causes them.
I never had any problems with the debian installer, and I sure like what it left me with. I have Debian running on i386, mips and sparc. The sparc and mips platforms both have NFS root installs. In both cases I found myself pleased with the ease of install, although I did have to muck around with scripts, etc. But I expected that with 'weird' arches and installs.
I have heard disses about it though, mostly from newbie types. As distrubutions go, I would like to see it easier to use for people who might not know their way around a linux box.
Most of the complaints I've heard (and identified), deal with documentation, though. As I don't feel like doing a new install of Deb to test it, can anyone offer any insight as to what kind of improvments have been made? The article is kind of weak on that point.
I can see the usefulness of this device, but it's price performace ratio is not quite what I want.
I would love to have something about this size, with USB, two 100mb ethernet ports, netboot in prom, 128 to 512 megs of RAM, a gig of hard drive and about the performance of a 300 MHz PIII. A G3 would be nice for the power requirements. That's it. It seems like you could do it cheaply.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhggggggggg!!! What a stupid, useless, contribution to a useless chat about pi.
Thank you. I really like the bit where he says 'If you want to calculate more digits, you can add more plus signs at the obvious place in the file.' Yeah, right. My head hurts.
Slashdot Mirror
You set yourself up for that one, though. :-)
hehe, it is your first mod. Some hints; get used to unfair moderation, don't feed the trolls, don't fret about karma, it's just a number, and only post if you have something to say.
I entirely agree that traffic should include the letter 'k', and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
I still would argue that you don't need tons of prossesing power to get good results though. A dual Athalon sounds like a bit of overkill. Of course audiophiles _are_ prone to overkill. $200 dollar a foot speaker cables, anyone? Extensive multitasking is of course another story.
Since I'm replying to my own post, I'd like to add that the original poster should just get a good audio package with software synth, like Reason. It'll sound far better than the MIDI on your sound card, and you can start exploring from there. It's not about the equipment, after all.
It'd be cool to have packages like this for different things. A complete graphics package with Gimp, blender, driver install, and a collection of scripts would be cool. It'd be cooler if it was a deb package.
The poster link links to a company, Complysite, that 'provides businesses with products that make documentation and training easier and more affordable'
I read the OP as 'should have (considering the audience)' rather than 'should have (because rms said so, and 'Linux' is just a kernel, anyway.)
I think it's a universial trait, that manifests itself diffently is every culture and sub-culture.
My roomate has a mac. Last week he clicked on a Bonzi banner, again. Mac's attract those types :-)
Now if only I could use mac apps on a thin-client. Digging through config files leads me to belive that it might be possible.
Anyone know if this gets rid of the (dot) .files created by window clients? very annoying.
That said, I better get to work on a new packet filter. ;-)
I'm all for freely distubuted works, but this seems like the kind of thing that if you could use it, you already have it. I don't think there are many students struggling to get their reactor finished, but cant afford the textbook.
I want two so I could use it as a firewall/router/NAT type thingy.
The introdution of MIDI can largly be credited to Herbie Hancock, the jazz musician. He was the one who kept bugging manufatures to make synths connectable, and had input into technical design issues. A nice example of creativity pushing technology.
For hardware, you don't need a very fast machine. A 600ish MHz PC will do fine. The sound card does most of the work. A pro sound card with ASIO drivers and a breakout box is important. I have experience with the Delta44 from M-Audio, a lower end option (about $250 US)for these features. The ASIO drivers allow the card to use it's DSP for sound synth, so the CPU can handle other tasks. The breakout box does the digital to analog conversion outside of the computers case, to lessen noise and interference. It also lets you use 1/4 inch phono jacks.
Software choices largly depend on what you want to create. I think Reason by PropellerHead Software is awesome for electronica, and very capable for more analog sounding stuff. It intergrates well with Cakewalk. Acid is great for loop/sample based stuff.
As for midi keyboards, Roland makes a really cheap and capable unit, the PC-160, that is fine if you're a one finger player and just need a way to get notes into a sequencer. Keyboardists will want something bigger, though.
With the hardware mentioned above, you can throw around 20+ tracks, all with hardware DSP effects, and not see the CPU load go above about 20-30%. Lots of room.
To really get great results you'll need to spend more money, of course. Quality studio monitors are very usefull, but not cheap. Good microphones for input. Headphones. Good cables. A mixing board, etc. All of this stuff can wait untill you get some royalties.
Last but not least, I would recomend educating yourself about some of the tech aspects of digital music creation. Digital cross-talk, aliasing etc, are hard to pin down if you don't know what causes them.
Seriously, I want to belive in this as much as anyone, but that doesn't mean I can. I want to see that space heater.
I never had any problems with the debian installer, and I sure like what it left me with. I have Debian running on i386, mips and sparc. The sparc and mips platforms both have NFS root installs. In both cases I found myself pleased with the ease of install, although I did have to muck around with scripts, etc. But I expected that with 'weird' arches and installs.
I have heard disses about it though, mostly from newbie types. As distrubutions go, I would like to see it easier to use for people who might not know their way around a linux box.
Most of the complaints I've heard (and identified), deal with documentation, though. As I don't feel like doing a new install of Deb to test it, can anyone offer any insight as to what kind of improvments have been made? The article is kind of weak on that point.
I was going to ask, but was too embaressed.
Honestly, I never could understand how any scientist would even consider using Imperial for calculations. I'm glad to hear it wasn't NASA.
Ouch. OS in flash ROM is cool, but what are people going to be buying these for? Are there legacy apps in RISC OS that people need to run faster?
I want one, anyway.
I would love to have something about this size, with USB, two 100mb ethernet ports, netboot in prom, 128 to 512 megs of RAM, a gig of hard drive and about the performance of a 300 MHz PIII. A G3 would be nice for the power requirements. That's it. It seems like you could do it cheaply.
Anyone know of something like this??
I would encourage you to bookmark the site, and keep trying. They are very, very, cool.
ps. turn up your sound, lots.
Thank you. I really like the bit where he says 'If you want to calculate more digits, you can add more plus signs at the obvious place in the file.' Yeah, right. My head hurts.