Miss me?
I thought you might have.
So I’ve decided to throw off my cloak of secrecy and reveal life details to all of you.
Why not start with a tie-in from my last post? I haven’t come close to purchasing an EEE (not that I’ve got the money at the moment, but more on that later), but I did get my Dad to buy one (with Xandros). The man’s first ever computer, and, after some initial discomfort with having to remember passwords (and some on my end getting it to remember our WEP key), he now dutifully checks his own email, and plinks out replies all on his own. A major improvement from getting my mom to print out all his email, writing replies on those sheets, and then getting her to type out and send the replies.
Now, the few of you who have met my father will probably find yourself asking, why on earth would the man suddenly decide to get a computer in his mid-50s? Well, my dad isn’t having a mid-life crisis or anything, nor is he worried that he’s slipping behind the times or something like that.
One day he opened our mailbox and found a check for $1000. Seriously. Apparently a show that he was in a long time ago (my father is a musician, by the way, employed by the only business in this city that you might think would employ a cadre of professional musicians) is being restaged somewhere in the States. I guess they were using a recorded soundtrack and my dad was on it. So, anyway, this royalty check came his way and he was sitting around with some of musician buddies talking about what he should do with it.
Of course, almost instantly one of them said
(Cleverly seguing into the next part of my post)
“Terry, you should buy a Mac!”
And that’s exactly what he did. Almost.
Luckily after going to some place in town that sells Macs, he was confused enough that he needed to come home and regroup. When I got home from work later that day I was greeted with my introduction to the entire idea, “Liam, help you need to help your father buy a Mac”.
Now, I’ve never really written anything about Macs. I’m not really interested in talking about it. I also don’t really want to kick up any dust with the resident Mac lovers in these parts, mostly because I enjoy picking my battles. But here goes anyway (for the fanboys, this is your cue to get agitated and leave me big comments. In fact if you’re pressed for time you can just skip to the end and leave me a comment explaining that I don’t ‘understand’):
My initial reaction was cold refusal. And disdain. Seriously, I didn’t even want to hear about it. The last thing I needed was another annoying layer of home-tech-support added to my pile, let alone one that came wrapped in immaculately shiny white plastic.
But, my better instinct took over. After all, I’ve been called ignorant on the subject before, and I took it on the chin. Maybe it was just time to dig a little deeper and see if my innate prejudices were really in my fathers best interests.
My job involves being very social with a large number of people every day, and many of them are elderly. All of the old folks love their Macs. Why? They’re easy to use. My father certainly isn’t elderly, but he’s never owned a computer before. Maybe it was worth the time to take a serious look at what Mac had to offer. Not to me, but to my father. So I asked what had happened at the Authorized Apple Dealer that morning.
The options were buy or lease. Simple enough. My father was leaning towards the lease, because it works out better for tax purposes (the self-employed are able to claim things like computers against income tax. If the machine is leased you just discount the ammount you’ve paid to the lease that tax-year. If you buy it outright, you can still claim it, but you have to factor in depreciation of the asset). I thought this was a grand idea as well. “Great, so if he doesn’t like it, he can just end the lease.”
Actually, no. Leasing a Mac is actually buying a Mac. You just spread it out over a number of months. If my dad had wanted to drop the lease and buy another computer, he would have had to buy out the lease and then sell the Mac himself. How fucking useless it that? And as far as I know, that’s the standard across the board, not just something that was happening around here.
But still, his buddies were pretty confident that he’d like it. I didn’t want to let those leasing shenanigans get in the way of my judgement. So I soldiered on to the Mac website. Now, I’m looking for a laptop. I’m also not looking to kill myself on the price as this is a starter machine. Now, let’s try and look past the fact that Mac has a staggering variety of 3 desktops and 3 laptops to choose from. Like I said, I’m looking at the low-level laptops, which takes me to the MacBook. Luckily, again I’m not being confronted with too much dangerous choice here. Just 3 laptops with incremental price differences. The last one being an extra $200 for a black shell and some more hard drive.
Speaking of hard drive though, let’s get into the specifics. After all, I’ve been bitching about a lack of choice, but once one selects a system (the MacBook 13-inch White 2.1GHz, if you’re following), you’re taken to a pretty standard ‘trick out your computer’ type page.
In spite of being overpriced to begin with, this is apparently where Apple actually makes its money:
RAM: $100 for an extra gig
HDD: $150 for 140 gigs. In case that doesn’t set of warning bells for you, my computer has 1000 gigs and that only cost me $200
Want an external display? of course you do! It’ll only cost you $600 for a 20inch display, and at an additional $100 per inch, it’s a real fuckin bargain to go all the way for a 23 incher. Oh wait (and not to keep holding up my computer as a paragon of awesomeness or anything), I got a 24 inch monitor at the same resolution as Apple’s 23 for less than the 20 inch on offer here.
Oh, what? You don’t just want the monitor to sit on your desk and look pretty? Then you’ll need to throw down for an adapter, sold separately. Yes, it’s the next item on the list, but do you seriously want to nickel and dime your customers like that? You just persuaded someone to shell out enough money to buy another computer somewhere else — just on a screen — and then you tell them that it’s gonna be $20 extra for an adapter? (although, to their credit I was browsing the desktop section and I saw that the Mouse-with-More-than-1-Button is now shipping stock)
So, at this point, I navigated away from the Mac site. And you should too (if only to keep up with my story).
Now, here I was caught in a bind. I was now back where I’d started. I had no desire to help my dad with this purchase. But I knew that if I took the time and built him a nice non-Mac laptop on some other site, or at some other store in town, I’d never hear the end of it if anything went wrong. I’m not saying that anything would, either. I’ve got a 6-year-old Dell connected to my living room television (came with an adapter, incidentally) thats never needed service of any kind, even after years of abuse by all my siblings, my mother, myself, and even Ben. I’ve never even cleaned the damn thing. My mother’s laptop is similarly 4 or 5 years old. Windows has never failed her. She’s replacing it this year because all the keys are falling off and the battery is shot. Not to mention that her ‘unfillable’ 20 gig drive… isn’t.
Now, I’ve never claimed to be the smartest man alive, and I must give credit to Ellen (sadly no longer blogging) for suggesting the EEE. I believe her exact words were “what about that little computer you were telling me about in [that local computer store]?”
And what a perfect solution it was. The EEE is relatively easy to use, and totally adequite for any of the tasks my father will set for it (that exclusively being checking email and Googling things at this point). But beyond all that, its so friggin cheap its OK to be wrong. I mean, seriously! Macs are expensive! The old people tell me that their customer service is second to none, but what first-time user should be forced to take that chance? I’m not interested in starting a revolution. I just want my dad to be able to check his email.
But on that note, I’m sure you might like to know why I dislike Macs so. I mean, I started this little story by stating that I wasn’t a big fan, so my resultant disappointment could easily be explained away by that. Now, I tried to be truthful and really give the Macs a chance there, but perhaps that doesn’t come across through the vitriol hindsight has granted me (or perhaps the hindsight vitriol has granted me… hmmm).
I mean, now that I’ve started, I really might as well say my whole piece and just take what comes my way. So, for your perusal, here are some other things about Apple (not just their personal computers) that rub me the wrong way:
Price: I already mentioned this, but if anyone can give me 5 good and broadly applicable reasons why I should pay so much more for a good Mac, I’ll maybe consider buying one. In fact, since its only about double the price, I’ll settle for only 2 good and broadly applicable reasons.
Monopolizing Nonsense: I’ll admit freely that Macs are decent products, and that Apple carries this decency to its other products, namely the Ipod. But here’s the thing: You manufacture almost all of the hardware yourself . You use proprietary software and file formats, designed by you. If the shit didn’t work well you’d have to be ruthlessly incompetent. Am I missing something here? It’s not like Apple has to consult with other hardware or software companies before it launches a new product. If the stuff doesn’t work when they put it out, then who else is there to blame?
The other disgusting facet of this policy is the way power is now leveraged against Apple customers. Say you want an Ipod, because they kick ass. You just don’t want to use Itunes, for whatever reason. Maybe you like Winamp better. Is that a crime? Apparently yes. Say you have a strange perverse attachment to WMV files. Sorry, out of luck if you want to play those on an Ipod. Where are the snorts of derision and outrage from the people who were happy to paint Microsoft as a monopolizing bully for the same behaviour 10 years ago? At least I’ve always been free to install something other than IE to browse the web. Every time someone comes up with an alternative to Itunes, Apple just sends out a new patch to stop your Ipod cooperating with it. So you can either never again update your Itunes (and encourage piracy by being unable to use the store) or stay under Apple’s soft white iJackboot.
Let me give a more personal example: I’d love to watch the Watchmen trailer. In fact, there are plenty of trailers I’d like to watch. However, if I want to download Quicktime, I can’t just get Quicktime. It’s been a while since I tried to do it, but as I recall, I was forced to accept Itunes and something called Bonjour. Who even knows what the hell that is? Having just started reading the blogs again, I see that Binks was facing a similar problem not too long ago. (although, thank goodness, someone has finally been given rights to show the trailer on Youtube)
The Hipster Bullshit: I don’t want to offend anyone here, but a company that has to invent a mythos to sell its product probably isn’t selling the best product. Don’t even bother claiming that Apple didn’t invent the hype and doesn’t continue to fuel it as strongly as it can. Its a pathetic marketing ploy to bring in people who weigh the ‘coolness’ of their computers equally against performance, and are therefore willing to pay up to get both.
I like the adds. They’re funny. The one with the cart that I linked to above is really funny. As long as you know nothing about computers. Have you ever encountered a syntax error when doing something other than coding a program? I haven’t. And the part where they imply that a ‘fatal error’ will brick your computer? Priceless! Almost as funny as implying (or downright stating) that evolution’s status as a ‘theory’ puts it on equal footing with Intelligent Design. Really hilarious, except for the part that it is incredibly stupid, not to mention disingenuous.
Of course, I can prattle on and on about how I find Apple’s popular image to be total bullshit, but I guess I don’t need to when things like this are happening.
However, I should probably add a personal spin, just so that I’m making myself clear. The problem that I have with Apple’s spin is the same problem I have with lots of things: If the hype is ‘up in my grill’ when I see a product for the first time, then I’m either going to believe it or I’m going to be turned off and actively pushed away. Am I cool enough to own a Mac? Every add I see seems to ask just that. Is it so much to just ask for some proof? All Mac add campaigns are either targeted at making Mac users seem cool (successfully?), or users of every other possible computer system seem retarded.
I mean, maybe my problem is that I already have an identity, one I’m pretty secure in. You know? So when I see Mac adds with douchebags hand-talking and trying to explain whats so awesome, I’m immediately turned off. 1) it’s like the Stepford wives. It’s great that the meaning of life for you is owning a Mac, but I’m just not sure that that will be the case for me. 2) As I said, I already have my own identity when it comes to computers/technology. Mac adds that imply that that identity is stupid are not likely to make me buy a Mac.
To cap it off, just let me say that the adds are important. I could just ignore the adds and buy the product if I like it. But actually, I can’t. Apple is a huge corporation, and their advertising division are pretty important to them. So, bear with me here, but all Mac advertising is directed towards a specific audience. The fact that all Mac advertising brings bile to my throat leads me to conclude that I’m not in that audience. If the marketers have serious control over everything Apple does and says, I can only assume that they’re not wasting their time selling Macs to the wrong people, and that the product is tailored towards the audience the adds are aimed at. So why would I buy one if they aren’t meant for me (and cost a fortune)?
But who cares about Macs anyway? Let’s move onto something more important.
I said I had no money before, and that’s true. You may remember that I was employed full-time in a concrete box. That was all well and good during the winter, but I found myself going a little squirrely once sping and summer began to set in. So I arranged a leave of absense for myself for July and August, the two months easiest to cover for me since all the highschool employees would be able to come in during the day.
But in order not to be totally destitute I did have to take on another job.
So I’ve taken up an active role in the erection business. My erections are huge. Seriously. They go up for days on end, and they usually service hundreds of people in that time. The only real drag about my erections is keeping them clean. If my erection goes down and I put it away when its even a little wet, then you can bet the next time I bring it out it’ll be covered in mold.
I put up tents, by the way. Up to 4000 squarefeet. I work with my 50-something boss, 2 wellfare bums, and a 17-year-old dropout. I’m always in the sun (except when it rains) and it’s always a good time.
But I never get hours. I worked 3 times last pay period, for a total of 11 hours. That was it. The trouble is that the above-mentioned bums take all the hours. Only the biggest tents need all 5 of us working together, and the boss likes to be called in as little as possible. There are other tens that should have 3 or 4 people working them, but sometimes the guys just mysteriously go off and put them up without calling in anyone else.
But this doesn’t piss me off too much. It’s left me open for plenty of Xbox and other pursuits. Of course, the best way to have fun with no money still eludes me, but who has time for that?
So what else can I tell you about?
I installed Ununtu on my computer yesterday. It was a good time… But I’m not sure that its all its cracked up to be. This is just a few observations after using it for all of an hour, but there were a few things that irked me. I’m sure that these issues can be resolved, but I may not be interested in the effort it will take to do that.
1) Dual screen support. When I was setting Ubuntu up, it just cloned my large monitor onto my small monitor. This was annoying, obviously, because cloned monitors are useless, and because my small monitor couldn’t even display the whole picture. Ubuntu asked me if I wanted to download and run some Nvidia drivers, but warned me that that placed me in the hands of Nvidia, who don’t place a priority on updating their linux drivers very often I guess. Upon rebooting, the small monitor recieved no signal, and stubbornly refused to be discovered in the display manager. But I did consider it an improvement over the clone.
2) Media player. Seriously, 19 times out of 20 all I do when I turn on my computer is open Firefox and Winamp. Now, maybe I’m spoilt by the fact that all I need to do with Winamp is drag tracks into the playlist, save the playlist, and listen to my music. The fact that I have Winamp globally hotkeyed is just icing on the cake. The first thing I had to do was download codecs. This was cool. It was far from the only thing I’d needed to download, and even then the whole installation process was still far faster than Windows. But it didn’t support my playlist files, so I had to import all the music. And then I realized that I actually needed to transfer the music to the linux partition and stick it in my Music folder (I also took this time to transfer my pictures into their equivalent folder in order to generate my ridiculous screen saver) because otherwise it all disappeared every time I rebooted the system.
3) Remember how Firefox is my other most-used program? I decided to check my email, and saw a blog comment from Wolfgang. I replied, and ended up going on a blog-tour to see how things were going (So you could say that Wolfgang is responsible for my return). And I just can’t get the fucker to play videos. I wanted to watch the ‘ground rainbows’ video, and I downloaded all 3 of Firefox’s suggested plugins. None of them worked. I decided to soldier on, until I got to The Box. Now, Granite and I have had disagreements in the past. I think we both handled them well. But apparently my computer is holding a grudge. Opening The Box caused my entire system to shudder to a halt. I’m not kidding. The music stopped, the mouse froze… and then there we were. And this nonsense repeated itself every time I opened another page in The Box. Click, wait, freeze, new page. it was at that point that I rebooted back to Windows.
I didn’t even bother trying 4) which was to see if I could get on Xbox Live through Ubuntu. Currently my Xbox goes into my LAN port and then it and my computer communicate with my router through onboard wireless. This is done simply using ICS (internet Connection Sharing), and then I switch my big monitor over to its analog input and start playing. After everything else, I figured it would just be asking for trouble.
So what do you people think about that? What are the advantages to using Ubuntu? I was looking forward to a more secure browsing experience, but if I can’t watch videos or listen to music while browsing, then I’m not sure that its worth it. Also, my computer has serious muscle, and aside from a better boot time, that really wasn’t showing here. I tried to go through every single system and admin option to see what I could figure out, but nothing was really coming through. Yes it has 2 desktops, but that’s kind of offset by its not recognizing my 2 monitors…
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Three and half thousand words is enough to be starting back with.
Until we meet again.
The Conversation {20 comments}
To start off, the idea of “leasing a computer” is just retarded. This is because computer deprecate in value faster than… well never mind that, just know that your computer will be $50 cheaper in a week. Who would want a 1 or 2 year old computer after the lease is up? They could just get a newer, better one for cheaper. So Your comment on that is of no surprise.
Secondly, Mac upgrades. 1) laptop parts cost more than desktop parts. $100 is a little steep for a gig of RAM, but hard drives don’t shock me.
And Mac doesn’t built all of their own hardware (anymore? Dunno if they ever did, too lazy to look). They now use Intel chips (hurray X86) and I just can’t see them making their own HDDs, as well as I pretty sure they also don’t make their own graphics cards.
Your audio is WMV (windows media video)? WTF?
I agree in hating Mac ads. For the most part, I find they bash Windows like an opposing political party, where as Microsoft tries to sell their products.
All in all, I don’t think Macs are bad, per say. Their products are physically stunning with good quality. From my experiences, their OS is “simple” in the term of easy if you have no idea what goes on, or even what you want to do. In short, Macs are for people like, my sister.
As far as the EEE goes, I hope your dad is happy. However, I regret to inform you that Acer has a netbook which is cheaper and fast then it (based on the new Intel atom).
PS. Damn right I brought you back from the fiery gates of hell! Bitch.. now who wasn’t posting.
Well Wolfgang,
-Don’t tell me leasing is retarded. I’m not the one contemplating it. It makes sense if you want to trade in for a new computer every 2 years, but I don’t know what the suppliers would do with all the shitty old computers…
-The is steep too as far as I can tell. Check Dell, pick out the cheapest laptop and look at the price difference to move from the stock 120G to a 250G. The Dell and the Mac are both using 5400rpm SATA drives, but the Dell only costs $80 to upgrade.
-I’m sorry. You are right. A quick Google has confirmed for me that Apple no longer owns factories. However, much of their hardware is made to Apple specific specs, and the details are not released to prevent people copying them. As well, OSX is designed only to recognize the Apple-specific hardware (as far as my googling sources tell me).
-I know that in your day Ipods only played audio files. But they now handle video as well. Although if you’re attached to WMA files then you’re also fucked (Not that I am at all, I was just pulling a format out of my ass).
-I love your sister
-When did that Acer come out? It’s nice. Although the hard drive seems to be its best point by far. And a full $20 cheaper.
PS… What?
Tiger Direct’s selling a 340 GB notebook drive for $130.
They’re also selling 1 GB of laptop RAM (DDR2) for $30.
Apple’s prices look steep indeed.
If I remember correctly, Bravado ran into the same RAM pricing issue as you, and actually installed third party RAM at the place of purchase for a huge savings.
Mac never built all their own hardware, IIRC their processor was made by IBM in years gone by.
I’m generally impressed by Mac’s laptop build quality though. They feel really solid, like they can take a good beating. If you’re comparing on price, a good business grade Thinkpad and an Apple system aren’t that dissimilar if I recall correctly (though I think Thinkpad’s upgrades are more reasonably priced in general).
I find Apple’s preference for all sorts of proprietary add-ons really tends to pump up the price - their little dongles to connect monitors or other things can certainly start to add up quickly. If I want to run a simple video signal out of my iPod I need to buy $60 proprietary cables.
Frankly, I think that a lot of people are buying themselves really deep into Apple’s ecosystem (so that it’ll all “just work”) and in a few years they’ll feel quite silly, just like people felt a few years ago about Microsoft. I mean, Microsoft took a lot of heat a few years ago for packaging unwanted software in with software that was basically required (for example, Windows Messenger and its associated Live account with XP), but Apple’s doing the same thing by using iTunes as a doorway into Windows systems all over the place. I think they deserved to get smacked on the nose for it, same as we’d do for Microsoft.
I’m surprised your wireless networking works - that used to be next to impossible on Linux operating systems. Nowadays I’m not sure what advantages Linux gives to the average home user… although I tend to use Linux more like a utility then an OS (I use live CDs for data recovery and the like).
Acer’s Aspire One only comes with a bilingual keyboard in Canada, which moves around keys and apparently makes it generally difficult to type. Since typing is the primary goal of this system, I think sticking with a standard english keyboard was a good call. As for “cheaper”, I flipped through the prices and they don’t look much different from the EEE. We’re talking about a web and email machine - specs other then keyboard, mouse, and battery life don’t make much of a difference.
Well, this was a hell of a post. So I’m going to have to leave on hell of a comment for all that was said.
Allow me to preface my response with the comment that what you read below are my only arguments for what was said above. Anything I don’t touch on can logically be extended to mean that I agree.
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APPLE COMPLAINTS:
Price: Most people really shouldn’t be buying Macs for that price. Most Mac product lines, (all of them actually) are specifically designed to handle intense graphic/video and other multimedia work environments that the average PC can’t handle without being a comparable price. If you look at why a Vista machine is so expensive, it’s because Microsoft made the change to Aero. A much more pleasing and graphically intensive interface that is comparable to the Mac Interface.
I agree entirely that the price is outrageous in many respects. I would never buy an Apple monitor.
Monopolizing Nonsense: I must point out that not all of those bloopers in that keynote video were computer errors. Some of it was non-apple products and people who don’t work for Apple struggling to make a coherent sentence.
However, there were computer issues in that keynote. What is not mentioned is how old most of those bugs were. That was back when Apple was still using PowerPC chips and the OS was nearly 7 years older than it is now. Don’t make me compare all of the issues that XP had on launch date with what you saw there.
Still, I agree that since Apple is the sole producer of nearly every facet of their products, problems should be at a minimal. And I think that this is mostly truthful. I have no more problems with my Mac than I would my car. (I think that’s a fair comparison to make, but I may be ignorant on the subject.)
“Where are the snorts of derision and outrage from the people who were happy to paint Microsoft as a monopolizing bully for the same behaviour 10 years ago?”
What do you mean 10 years ago? Try playing an AAC file in today’s Zune. Or have MOV support in Windows Media Player. They both play the same games. Apple and Microsoft are equally guilty of this. The only difference is that Apple offers their codecs and players on Windows. But Microsoft doesn’t offer their codecs or players for Mac users.
“all Mac advertising is directed towards a specific audience.”
Unfortunately, you’re absolutely right. The audience that Apple’s marketing division seems to target is the people who are already aware of the Apple experience. They’re not selling many new Macs to new customers as a result of these ads. They are just having a laugh with the people in the loop already. It’s really a poor decision on their part.
@Wolfgang: “Macs are for people like, my sister.” This is all very true for the beginner. Macs are incredibly simple to get into and most people will attest to this. However, I would like to add that there is a duality in this experience that is not often talked about. As easy as it is to get into as a beginner, it’s also awesome for advanced users like myself in that I can do things that I can’t do on any other OS.
At this point I’d direct you to software like Quicksilver, Automator, Applescript and file system support like ZFS. It’s an amazing OS to please users of all experience levels. It’s more than just a “fisher-price computer.”
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LINUX COMPLAINTS:
Dual screen support is rather easy to fix. There is a checkbox within the resolution manager that allows you to turn off screen cloning. As for the NVidia drivers, you should only have to enable the restricted drivers package in the Hardware manager and it should work upon reboot.
As for video playback in Ubuntu, that’s not Firefox’s fault. It’s Adobe Flash. You would have needed to go and grab the RPM package from Adobe’s website and install it that way. Then upon restarting Firefox, the video would have played. Not sure what’s gone wrong with Granite’s blog though for you. It works fine for me in Ubuntu.
And it’s interesting that you mention that ICS is simple in Windows. As a broader term for the same thing, we call that Ad-hoc networking and it is exceedingly easier to set up in both Linux and Mac compared to a Windows system.
As a final note, I’d like to add that you made the right decision with your dad. He’d never get the full potential of a Mac and the Eee is far easier to use. It is for most of the same reasons that I’ll be getting my parents one as well in the coming months. Though I may opt for the new Eee Box desktop platform.
I’m glad you were trying out Ubuntu, I’ve really been enjoying my experience with it so far on my Shuttle PC and my Eee. If you’ve ever got any further issues, I’d love to help.
Brendon, are you sure that’s ad-hoc networking? I usually associate ad-hoc networking as strictly a wireless network with no central router. It sounded to me like he was basically using his PC to take his wired-ethernet-only X-Box and connect it wirelessly to his router through his computer. I’m not disagreeing with you, just seeing if you read it the same way I did. (In the case of a wireless X-Box connecting wirelessly to his PC, then connecting to the internet through a wired connection, I’d call that an ad-hoc network)
Applescript has always struck me as being really cool - the ability to do up decent, useful programs with no fancy tool installs or anything. Seems like absolutely the perfect thing for the power user and I wish MS had something similar (Yes yes… batch scripts - but they’re not nearly as powerful as applescript so far as I can tell).
I wish they’d get their licensing issues figured out so that they can finally put ZFS in Linux. Right now the hangup is that all ZFS stuff has to live in userland and not directly interface with the kernel, because of the way the linux kernel is licensed.
Wow.
It is good to see you back and posting.
I’d almost forgotten about your erections. I bumped into Wolfgang a few months back and he told me about your big erections, and I had a good laugh.
Please make a habit of posting again, as they traditionally make for an enjoyable read.
@Binks, Yes, technically we’re both right. In either case, that is ad-hoc networking. Creating a computer to computer connection. The only difference is that one computer happens to be sharing an internet connection as well as files and other similar protocols.
And I’m with you, ZFS in Linux is something I’m really looking forward to. Also looking forward to native support in Snow Leopard.
Well, I’m glad I’ve generated a storm of useful dialogue instead of a storm of bickering.
Binks: The wireless networking is flawless. It detected my network immediately and (after trying to input the Hex key as a password several times like an idiot) then I was online (the shared connection for my xbox I will get to later).
You make a good point with the Aspire. Another thought that crossed my mind is that in order to be 120G the drive must be platter instead of solid-state, thereby making it more delicate than an EEE as well.
Brendon: On the Macs, I appreciate your level tone and refusal to rise to my baiting. Also, thank you for being the first person who has actually shared interesting and relevant info on Macs with me (The last one was a girl who said she was sad I would never be able to “swoosh”, in the same tone of voice an evangelical christian would tell me they were sad I’d never know god’s love). Quicksilver sounds like the coolest program ever, more of a UI extension than an app. Given my love affair with Winamp’s hotkeying abilities, having something that just allowed me to hotkey my entire computer would be both balls-out and extreme.
On Ubuntu, first let me say that I haven’t given up on it. I’m just extremely comfortable with the things I can do in XP and the ways that I do them. I was thinking about it, and moving onto Vista would probably cause me at least 80% of the same difficulties. AND, thanks for the tip about Flash Player. Now videos load properly and (for whatever reason, the Box open without issue). Anyway, first I guess I didn’t explain my display woes properly. I mean, its just really weird.
In detail:
-When the system booted for the first time, screens were cloned (with the smaller one just showing the top left 1280×1024 pixels of the big one)
-It also immediately notified me that the restricted drivers package was available (I didn’t do this immediately because I assumed I would need to reboot and wanted to poke around some more)
-I went into the display menu and the “Clone monitors” box was not checked. Checking the box results in my 24inch monitor being pulled down to 1280×1024, which makes me die a little bit inside
-When I first open system->preferences->screen resolution, both monitors are there and are shown with the small one stuck into the top-left corner of the big one. But no matter where I move the small one (like, actually into its own territory orbiting the big one), it doesn’t change the output in the slightest. And then it won’t go back inside the big one. it just lies and tells me its displaying some other pixels somewhere like its ashamed
-So then I activated the drivers and had to reboot
-No second display. Just the big one at 1920×1200
-system->preferences->screen resolution shows only an ‘unknown’ monitor and ‘detect displays’ gives me no change
-Oh, and as a small update, with the Nvidia drivers enabled The Box won’t load without stalling my computer again!
So even though its preferable to just having the display cloned it still has its disadvantages. Unless I can fix it there’s no way I’m gonna put time into getting my xbox to play nice with Ubuntu either, which in turn really really limits the system’s usefulness to me.
Anywhoo, speaking of ICS, it was really easy. Wolfgang directed me to a forum “like this one” and held my hand through it, but it was all straightforward (except for the fact that I’d never installed the drivers for my ethernet because of the MoBo’s onboard wireless. But he figured that out eventually.) Perhaps its just that they’re both MS products, or that I’m only connecting the two computers, but of all the things I’ve done on my system it had probably the best ratio of ease to payoff.
Granite: I’ll try. When you get a box, send me a friend request. We’ll play mad Halo (hahaha).
Oh, and as an update, installing the rpm package actually hasn’t fixed video playback. I was seeing the video window load in Wolfgang’s blog (which was better than the blank white box that appeared before), but the clicking on it took me to Break instead of playing the video, and then it didn’t play anyway.
Poor me. I want Ubuntu to work. I really do.
The Apple Cinema Displays are some of the highest quality monitors on the market in terms of their colour reproduction ability. They are actually the most affordable choice for graphics professionals considering the fact that other monitors in the same class (Eizo, Kodak, etc). Just sayin’
Other than that, you are mostly right and yeah Linux multimonitor support for asymmetric configurations is fucking brutal. Never want to deal with that.
I will read the post over more thoroughly when I get home from work.
Oh yeah, if you are using Rhythmbox or whatever the shit is that comes with ubuntu for your media files and what not, switch to something that doesn’t suck. And you can leave stuff on your windows partition as long as you set that partition to mount automatically in your fstab. Get at me on gtalk later and I can help you out with that.
More stuff to say:
Install the proprietary Nvidia drivers. The main reason not to would be if you’re an open source hippie and demand that everything you use is open source. The proprietary drivers for both ATI and Nvidia cards are both miles ahead of the open source drivers. Although I think the Nvidia drivers replace some essential Xorg libraries or something that make it so that you can use 3D apps with a compositing manager like compiz, which might not be good after you uninstall them.
Dan, have I mentioned that every time you speak to me my heart flutters and I get weak in the knees?
no homo
Oh yeah. Based on your computer’s configuration I would recommend upgrading to, or at least trying, Vista x64. Aero is way snappier and more responsive than the traditional method of rendering the desktop. The 64-bitness will let you use your 4 gigs of ram to the fullest (and if you are using XP x64 at the moment, you’ll find that Vista x64 has much better driver support). The driver support for your video card is much better in Vista (even over 32-bit XP), speaking from personal experience (I can hook you up with a legit Vista Ultimate key if you please).
I also noticed I didn’t finish my thought about Apple monitors. “…considering the fact that other monitors of the same calibre like Eizo and Kodak and NEC monitors cost
significantly more than the comparable Apple displays.”
To put it into perspective, your monitor can display 262,144 colours (not exactly true, since it uses interpolating methods to simulate colours it can’t actually produce). The Apple displays can display 16.7 million. Granted, I paid $330 for a 24 inch monitor during boxing week that can display the 16.7M colours, but I got punished for cheaping out with shitty blacks and backlight bleeding and poorer viewing angles. Basically your monitor has the advantage in price, and response time, but not much else.
Oh, and your comment about the hard drives in Macbooks is a bit unfair, as your hard drives are desktop drives which are tons cheaper. Right now that best price per GB for a desktop drive is probably WD and Seagate 640GB drives for $80 (Fun fact: not only are these the cheapest, these are also the fastest drives currently on the market other than the 10K RPM drives and SSD drives).
The biggest notebook drive you can get right would be 320GB and I think I’ve seen it on sale in the past few weeks for $110ish? A way better price than Apple’s, but your comparison is not totally kosher.
The memory upgrade is by far the worst thing there. A 2 gig stick of DDR2 notebook memory will run you like $40-50 right now. Even less on sale.
Anyways, I would tell you more about why you should upgrade to Vista x64, but I need to sleep.
Sorry about my delayed response. I’ve been meaning to comment on the Mac stuff…
Price
Brendon said that Macs are designed for intensive graphics compared to windows machines at comparable prices. I have a few comments on this, so try to stay with me.
The first stupid thing about Macs is that you cannot (legit-ly) install their OS on any computer you want. It can be done, but is actually illegal, where as Windows may run on any computer, including a Mac. However, when running on a Mac, Apple’s “Boot Camp” “technology” is required, whatever that means. Apparently Apple needs to feel special even though they now meet the hardware standard. In this sense, Microsoft is like Google, promoting diversity and expansion of their products, where as Apple is more like (I know this isn’t along the same lines, but its the only way it works) Hitler. This is because everything is done the Steve Jobs way, new ideas are rejected and their products become very linear (if that makes sense… not wide spread). Its a bit of exaggeration but u see my point.
Now, considering that stupid point, we consider what a “comparably priced Windows machine” is. For most people, it is the Dell you can buy at the same price. This circle being above that, lets consider reality. If you build your own computer & know where to buy parts online (newegg coming to Canada!), you will know that for the price of a Dell or Mac, you can get a better computer with higher quality parts in some cases. Windows users are laughing, Mac users are crying.
Also, Vista machines are not expensive. Boxed computer capable of running Vista smoothly are not old, meaning expensive as shit at big box stores (as they carry end-of-life crap that I will never buy). I went to Apple’s site & configured a Mac Pro desktop (the only desktop they offer other than the Mini). It started at $2900, and the only advantage it has to the computer I am looking at buying for around $950 is that it has 2 Quad core Xeon’s ($500 to down grade to one). Otherwise its worse. RAM was the same; 2gigs of DDR2 800Mhz (Although mine will probably have better latency), and its $500 to go to 4gigs. Hard sucks hard at only 320GB SATA2; Mine has 500GB for OS & 2 1TB drives for storage in RAID 1 (mirrored). Graphics; they have Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB (upgradeable to 8800GT for $150. I would like to point out that the 8800GT is $130 which means they give u the Radeon for a price of -$20), I have 8800GT 512MB. I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point.
Monopoly
I would like to point out, yes they are trying to be a monopoly. The problems they were having were with no-Apple products (like the camera), so it should be ok, right? I thought Macs were “just supposed to work”? Even though it isn’t the case in real life, this suggests that you need to buy an Apple camera, Apple speakers/keyboard, Apple external drive, Apple router, etc. Whats next, an Apple internet? This sounds like a monopoly to me. I’ve even heard rumors that Apple has a specific external drive for the MacBook Air, whereas normal Apple drives won’t work.
All in all, Macs are great for beginners (I’ve heard) and for video editing. The problem is that the advertise to a hip crowd, most of which probably don’t do all that editing, they just want to fit in with their Starbuck’s latte. But lets look at what the average computer is used for:
-email
-surfing
-gaming
-homework/essay/slide show
Now, although a Mac gets 3/4, you can’t game worth a shit on a Mac. Think about why there might be no games for Macs. Windows, can do it all, and offers you choice while doing it. granted Apple can make a mean slide show, if you have ever been in a real business meeting, the CEOs don’t give 2 shits about shadows under textboxes. They want to see the information, they want things to be concise. In fact, there are cases where pretty graphics may be distracting in a meeting.
But back to video editing & the like. I’m sure Macs have great software to do this. Stock Windows software probably sucks the big one in comparison. But there is alot of software out there, but take a look at this. If you don’t see the point I’m making, go buy a Mac.
I’m not saying Macs are bad, they’re just kind of like a frat-boy douche-bag who is really full of himself. I will never buy one because of their proprietary soft/hardware, they’re overpriced, can’t play games and limited in choice of software, but most of all, because of other Mac users.
Most Mac users I come into contact with (I knew some people before they got their Mac, and they aren’t this way) and they are like chickens running around with their heads cut off.
On this move in day for school last Fall, I was an RCC, and so I had to wear my ResNet shirt that day. I was at the SLC for something when a man and his young daughter approached me with questions. He started by asking me where they could buy an Ethernet cable. I told them to go to V1 ResNet desk and they could borrow one for free. At this point, to my demise, he kept talk to me. He noticed the Apple logo on my mandatory shirt and asked if I was a Mac guy, like a secret cult handshake. I told him no, and that I really didn’t like Macs. (This here is why I do not like Mac (users). And he wasn’t the only guy to do this.) He then proceeds to tell me how great Macs are and how the just always work. That I was really missing out & should jump aboard the ‘Mac train.’ I politely tell him to go shove a pineapple up his ass and he moves on to his next order of business with me. He needs help with his daughters printer, the new drivers made it stop working or something like that. I told him I didn’t know or care & to ask ResNet people about it. I needed to get away from him fast before I broke out with a serious case of laughter.
“Macs just work” he tells me, “help me, my printer isn’t working.” Idiots. Maybe it wouldn’t be an issue if he had an Apple printer….
Display
I have a Dell 2407WFP (non-HC, I had it before it was out.). I didn’t actually know that it doesn’t produce all the colours. Do I care or want to upgrade? No. I believe if produces more than the 200-some-odd-thousand that Dan mentioned, but not 16.7 million. That 16.7M is 92% of the colour gamut, where as average monitors only produce 72%. I would like to point out that humans can only see about 7 million colours, half of what the monitor shows.
Now a days, 92% is standard. A couple years ago though, when it wasn’t, I can now reason spending the extra money for the Apple monitor. Now I can’t, because common technology has improved, but Apple’s prices haven’t.
64 Bit
Ah, the 3/4 Gigs of RAM debate. As far as I understand it, He is using his full 4 gigs. It being a 32-bit OS, it can address up to 4 Gigs of memory. Not all of it is usable by applications, however. As far as I understand, somewhere around 3GB, memory is used for device IO. Granted it doesn’t really help with having more applications in main memory at the same time, thats not to say it isn’t being used. Like I said, I’m a little unsure, I’ll try to ask my OS prof.
@Dan: If i get my new PC, I might be interested in the 64-bitness.
Almost forgot, check out these comparisons between 92% & 72% colour. There isn’t a lot of difference, although %92 appears to show more details in black areas. The first photo I think is altered tho. With the Dells you can change the transparency if the menu (which it looks like he did) and there is also some camera blur in the 1st photo. I have the non-HC Dell & my VGA pic in the menu looks just as good as the 16.7million colour one. I can understand professionals needing that standard, but not at the consumer level.
Neat.
Your Dell 2407 has an 8-bit panel I believe. Even 72% colour gamut is miles ahead of what you can get on low response time TN film panels.
And about the 3/4GB thing in 32-bit. Windows XP and Vista x86 can only address slightly over 3 gigs of memory, because other address space is reserved for other stuff including your video cards (So if you have an SLI system with 2 512MB video cards you wouldn’t even be able to address a full 3 gigs). I’m not exactly sure what the exact amount is, but if Liam checks his task manager’s Performance tab, his total physical memory will only be a bit more than 3 gigs.
I don’t know much about Wide Colour Gamut and what not, so this might not be exactly right, but I believe that the 72% and 92% gamuts indicate the range of colours that can be covered, rather than the number. I think both the 2407 and 2407 HC can both display 16.7M colours. It’s just the special backlight in the HC version allows for the range that those colours fall in to be increased.
Oh and to make my thing about memory more clear, that extra address space for devices and stuff is not in his physical system memory, but elsewhere. That’s why when you put in 2 gigs of ram in a system you can address the full 2 gigs. If he installs a 64-bit OS, the full 4 gigs will be available.
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