Redwood Asylum (emeritus)
...by the inmates...for the inmates...
Sunday, December 22, 2002
New Toys
[Post backdated to 12/22/02]
Ordered Dell Dimension 8250 for January 2003 delivery using Dell's Employee Purchase Program. The configuration selection appears a bit more limited than their standard offerings, but I receive a better discount. I found everything I needed, which is all that mattered.
Why now? I want to start editing old 8mm and VHS family footage. The laptop I use every day, provided by my company, is an inappropriate place to do that, even if it had sufficient CPU horsepower and hard disk space. The iMac (1999) and Powerbook (2000) we bought for Maria were possible candidates, but are too slow (iMac) and out of disk space (Powerbook). I plan to upgrade the Powerbook drive so she can use iPhoto with her new digital camera. However, the PC systems in the house were the most out-of-date and thus first in line for upgrade. Other than my company-owned ThinkPad, the fastest PCs in the house are all 200 MHz antiques. Even someone of my limited brainpower would not attempt to run Pinnacle Studio 8, or any other video editor, on such a platform. Thus, onward and upward, again.
Yes, I could build my own system again, but I'm getting old and lazy. Over the years I've tossed out piles of motherboards, floppy drives, hard drives, and other junk from my old systems. If you set the Wayback Machine far enough, I was no stranger to a soldering iron, building an Imsai 8080 in the old MITS Altair 8800 days. However, this time, I wanted a commercial system with manufacturer's warranty and tech support. As I said, I'm getting old and lazy. Not a pretty site, but facts are facts. I'd rather spend time learning to edit old family videos than assembling and debugging another system.
[begin rant] What operating system will I use on the new machine? Our son, the lovable Linux geek, insists that real men don't run Windows. Every version of Windows I've used, from Windows 2.0 to Windows XP Pro, crashed regularly, though each version was marginally more stable than the previous. The Windows 2000 I use daily on my Thinkpad is hardly a stable platform, and Windows XP Pro on another Thinkpad is nowhere close to the stabilty of Linux. The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is still a familiar site to Windows XP users. So, why use Windows? Because IT people in the business world, such as myself, have been willing to settle for "good enough". If Microsoft's 200 biggest customers told them to go fuck themselves and switched to Linux, the security and stability of Windows would improve in more than just baby-steps. That ain't gonna happen, and Microsoft knows it. Thus, we get "good enough". I have Linux installed on a ThinkPad for testing, but have not spent any time with it. It continues to call to me. Until I heed the call, maybe I'm not a real man. Do real men settle for "good enough"?[end rant]
Bought Pinnacle Studio 8 at Fry's. Also picked up a 128MB secure digital (SD) memory card for Maria's HP Photosmart 850 digicam. I downloaded the Studio 8 evaluation copy in the past and played with it on and off (mostly off) for a few weeks. I learned enough to find it worth the purchase price. I installed Studio 8.3 from the CD on a Windows XP/Thinkpad testbed, then updated to the 8.5.5 beta from the Pinnacle website.
...by the inmates...for the inmates...
Sunday, December 22, 2002New Toys
[Post backdated to 12/22/02]
Ordered Dell Dimension 8250 for January 2003 delivery using Dell's Employee Purchase Program. The configuration selection appears a bit more limited than their standard offerings, but I receive a better discount. I found everything I needed, which is all that mattered.
Why now? I want to start editing old 8mm and VHS family footage. The laptop I use every day, provided by my company, is an inappropriate place to do that, even if it had sufficient CPU horsepower and hard disk space. The iMac (1999) and Powerbook (2000) we bought for Maria were possible candidates, but are too slow (iMac) and out of disk space (Powerbook). I plan to upgrade the Powerbook drive so she can use iPhoto with her new digital camera. However, the PC systems in the house were the most out-of-date and thus first in line for upgrade. Other than my company-owned ThinkPad, the fastest PCs in the house are all 200 MHz antiques. Even someone of my limited brainpower would not attempt to run Pinnacle Studio 8, or any other video editor, on such a platform. Thus, onward and upward, again.
Yes, I could build my own system again, but I'm getting old and lazy. Over the years I've tossed out piles of motherboards, floppy drives, hard drives, and other junk from my old systems. If you set the Wayback Machine far enough, I was no stranger to a soldering iron, building an Imsai 8080 in the old MITS Altair 8800 days. However, this time, I wanted a commercial system with manufacturer's warranty and tech support. As I said, I'm getting old and lazy. Not a pretty site, but facts are facts. I'd rather spend time learning to edit old family videos than assembling and debugging another system.
[begin rant] What operating system will I use on the new machine? Our son, the lovable Linux geek, insists that real men don't run Windows. Every version of Windows I've used, from Windows 2.0 to Windows XP Pro, crashed regularly, though each version was marginally more stable than the previous. The Windows 2000 I use daily on my Thinkpad is hardly a stable platform, and Windows XP Pro on another Thinkpad is nowhere close to the stabilty of Linux. The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is still a familiar site to Windows XP users. So, why use Windows? Because IT people in the business world, such as myself, have been willing to settle for "good enough". If Microsoft's 200 biggest customers told them to go fuck themselves and switched to Linux, the security and stability of Windows would improve in more than just baby-steps. That ain't gonna happen, and Microsoft knows it. Thus, we get "good enough". I have Linux installed on a ThinkPad for testing, but have not spent any time with it. It continues to call to me. Until I heed the call, maybe I'm not a real man. Do real men settle for "good enough"?[end rant]
Bought Pinnacle Studio 8 at Fry's. Also picked up a 128MB secure digital (SD) memory card for Maria's HP Photosmart 850 digicam. I downloaded the Studio 8 evaluation copy in the past and played with it on and off (mostly off) for a few weeks. I learned enough to find it worth the purchase price. I installed Studio 8.3 from the CD on a Windows XP/Thinkpad testbed, then updated to the 8.5.5 beta from the Pinnacle website.
11:00:00 PM