Aside an Intel 386-20MHz PC back in 89(gasp a Northgate; the case still remains in use, running an AMD K6 since past several years), I have always used AMD chips..... it all began with K5, then on to K6, K6-2, K6-III, Slot A Athlon, Slot A TB Athlon, and most recently Socket A 266FSB Athlon. Every single of these CPUs are still up and running and being used either by myself or my relatives around the world....
Shameless self promotion aside, I think AMD, like rest of the tech sector, has been feeling the pain. Hence why the business restructuring. I think they're just hunkering down so to be able to focus better on their bread and butter products. I don't think, given the overall slowness in corp buying, AMD is yet threatened directly by Intel. BTW, remember, a lot of dot-gone equipment is floating about the market a siginificantly low prices as well. I think AMD CPUs still remain darlings for the DIY masses: most of us.
Oh and I have 6 Slackware systems, located in different parts of the world, yes Linux, especially the Slackware distro, is widely used outside of North America.....
As mentioned in one of the replies, Slackware is indeed the least "fix after all" prone, and one always knows what and where the configuration files are... And yes, my experience with other distros been quite the opposite, which is that trying to tweak/secure distros like RedHat, SuSe and Debian can cause major frustration....
I have been using Slackware since.... well since 95 or so. Even though I have installed other distros: RedHat, SuSe, Debian, TurboLinux, its just not the same and raw as Slackware! Yup, where do I send the $$$? I just subscribed to the latest distribution.... Its sad to see the demise of no frills players like Slackware....
I have been a Covad/SlipNet(gobbeled by Firstworld) customer eversince I dumped my ISDN two point five years ago or so.... At first I had the IDSL connection, then upped it to a 768/768 (xlate 680/680) bridged connection few months later. My experience has been nothing but great with both Covad and Firstworld. The outages, none lasting more than few hours, have been minimal, a number less than 10. Firstworld's tech support, based out of Fresno, has been great in resolving problems rather immediately. These problems ranged from accidently re-allocation of my IP-block, to an "accidental" deletion of my DNS entries etc..... Each and every time, a call to their DSL hotline was answered by a live person (they even answered at 3:00 AM one morning!). Once the problem was resolved they called back, each and everytime, and made sure that my service was up-n-running. And no I am not some ISP or mission critical customer, I am just a run-o-the-mill-broadband-junkie with couple of Linux servers and play/learn network at home. It is due to this reason that I have refused to move out of my place unless I find a place, something of a rarity in Silicon-No-Decent-Housing-Valley, where FirstWorld/Covad provides a similar rated connection. Maybe I am just lucky, or some karma thing, I just can't imagine life without DSL.... And for sure, never, ever, a 56K dial-up connection.... Covad's just been great for this PenguinHead.....
I have the following:
Marantz SR5000 Receiver
NHT 2.5 Front
NHT SuperOne Rear
NHT VC-1 Center
Harman/Kardon 8450 CD Player (Digital-Optical output)
Toshiba 2109 DVD Player
Sony KV35XBR48 XBR 35" TV
With this setup I have no problem annoying the hell out of my neighbors, specially when I watch something like "Saving Provate Ryan" etc...
Also, for music listening this setup serves great. The NHT 2.5's have a nice and tight BASS along with well placed High and Mid range frequencies. These speakers are great for any type of music. I like the "optical" interconnects for my CD player. The sound just seems more "warm" and "clean". To my ears "digital coax" interconnects sounded rather bland. Anyhoo, my two cents.
I access my 2 Linux boxes, keyboard-less, using Exceed 6. This, IMHO, is painless, with complete access to both ASCI and X environment. Even though Exceed costs a tad bit more than a digital switch box solution, it saves on the hassles of finding a location for the boxes and the cabling mess. My Linux boxes sit, 50 feet away, in a corner with only Cat 5s going into a hub.... Using Exceed, I have never missed having input devices on the Linux boxes....
Slashdot Mirror
Another stream....
http://www.live365.com/play/272180
Can't go wrong with the following:
Amon Tobin
Black Star Liner
Muslimgauze
Talvin Singh
Cheb-i-Sabbah
Photek
Aside an Intel 386-20MHz PC back in 89(gasp a Northgate; the case still remains in use, running an AMD K6 since past several years), I have always used AMD chips..... it all began with K5, then on to K6, K6-2, K6-III, Slot A Athlon, Slot A TB Athlon, and most recently Socket A 266FSB Athlon. Every single of these CPUs are still up and running and being used either by myself or my relatives around the world....
Shameless self promotion aside, I think AMD, like rest of the tech sector, has been feeling the pain. Hence why the business restructuring. I think they're just hunkering down so to be able to focus better on their bread and butter products. I don't think, given the overall slowness in corp buying, AMD is yet threatened directly by Intel. BTW, remember, a lot of dot-gone equipment is floating about the market a siginificantly low prices as well. I think AMD CPUs still remain darlings for the DIY masses: most of us.
Oh and I have 6 Slackware systems, located in different parts of the world, yes Linux, especially the Slackware distro, is widely used outside of North America.....
As mentioned in one of the replies, Slackware is indeed the least "fix after all" prone, and one always knows what and where the configuration files are... And yes, my experience with other distros been quite the opposite, which is that trying to tweak/secure distros like RedHat, SuSe and Debian can cause major frustration....
I have been using Slackware since.... well since 95 or so. Even though I have installed other distros: RedHat, SuSe, Debian, TurboLinux, its just not the same and raw as Slackware! Yup, where do I send the $$$? I just subscribed to the latest distribution.... Its sad to see the demise of no frills players like Slackware....
I have been a Covad/SlipNet(gobbeled by Firstworld) customer eversince I dumped my ISDN two point five years ago or so.... At first I had the IDSL connection, then upped it to a 768/768 (xlate 680/680) bridged connection few months later. My experience has been nothing but great with both Covad and Firstworld. The outages, none lasting more than few hours, have been minimal, a number less than 10. Firstworld's tech support, based out of Fresno, has been great in resolving problems rather immediately. These problems ranged from accidently re-allocation of my IP-block, to an "accidental" deletion of my DNS entries etc..... Each and every time, a call to their DSL hotline was answered by a live person (they even answered at 3:00 AM one morning!). Once the problem was resolved they called back, each and everytime, and made sure that my service was up-n-running. And no I am not some ISP or mission critical customer, I am just a run-o-the-mill-broadband-junkie with couple of Linux servers and play/learn network at home. It is due to this reason that I have refused to move out of my place unless I find a place, something of a rarity in Silicon-No-Decent-Housing-Valley, where FirstWorld/Covad provides a similar rated connection. Maybe I am just lucky, or some karma thing, I just can't imagine life without DSL.... And for sure, never, ever, a 56K dial-up connection.... Covad's just been great for this PenguinHead.....
I have the following: Marantz SR5000 Receiver
NHT 2.5 Front
NHT SuperOne Rear
NHT VC-1 Center
Harman/Kardon 8450 CD Player (Digital-Optical output)
Toshiba 2109 DVD Player
Sony KV35XBR48 XBR 35" TV
With this setup I have no problem annoying the hell out of my neighbors, specially when I watch something like "Saving Provate Ryan" etc...
Also, for music listening this setup serves great. The NHT 2.5's have a nice and tight BASS along with well placed High and Mid range frequencies. These speakers are great for any type of music.
I like the "optical" interconnects for my CD player. The sound just seems more "warm" and "clean". To my ears "digital coax" interconnects sounded rather bland. Anyhoo, my two cents.
I access my 2 Linux boxes, keyboard-less, using Exceed 6. This, IMHO, is painless, with complete access to both ASCI and X environment. Even though Exceed costs a tad bit more than a digital switch box solution, it saves on the hassles of finding a location for the boxes and the cabling mess. My Linux boxes sit, 50 feet away, in a corner with only Cat 5s going into a hub.... Using Exceed, I have never missed having input devices on the Linux boxes....
Two cents...