mos6507's Blog - New Year's Resolution?

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I've just not been the kind of person to be on the quick upgrade treadmill so every time I do the upgrade I feel this pang of guilt, and this secret hope that this time is going to be the last time. But it never is. Something better always comes along. But in the meantime, I try to be content with what I have for as long as I can stand it. I wait around for a sweet spot on the progress curve before I buy stuff. When I buy stuff, I immediately fret over the instant obsolescence. Like when I blogged about the GP2X. I put that off and put that off. Finally I bought one and quickly got frustrated with the joystick, and now they have a NEW GP2X with a fixed controller, and the EEE would probably work just as well and be a better overall value. Screw me, right? Before that I got a Pentium IV system. Stupid me, I bought into a motherboard at the very tail end of the AGP/PCI era. Now I have a multichannel DAW card for PCI that I want to hold onto in the eventual migration to my next motherboard (probably a Penryn board, hopefully with a legacy PCI slot).

 

I waited around to see if the Mac Mini was going to be put out to pasture or not. When they decided to speed-bump it, I finally decided to get one for my daughter. Spent way too much money for it, but at least so far I'm satisfied with it. Now I'm waiting to see if Apple will enable Blu-Ray playback on it. I've got my doubts.

 

I was running an old Linksys wireless G router for ages but when that died (or at least I think it died) I got the Airport Extreme with the N networking. Unfortunately I found out that the wireless in the Mac Mini is only Wireless G, so the only way to play higher-bandwidth videos without stuttering was to wire in the gig ethernet. So far that's my only beef with the Mini, but I never intended on using the wireless as a permanent solution with the desktops.

 

I waited for LCD technology to get cheap enough to afford a 1080P monitor. Then I jumped the gun and got a 24" Gateway floor model. The thing has like 3-4 bad pixels and is driving me up the wall due to its nagging imperfections. I almost wish I had gotten a smaller monitor and waited around for OLED or something, anything less trouble-prone.

 

I've been waiting for projection technology to mature also. What I really want to see is 1080P laser projection. It will be a LOT more energy efficient than current LCD/DLPs, and it won't have an expensive bulb that burns out all the time.

 

I've also been watching mobile technology progress through the years. I almost got a Zaurus back in the day. Years later I wind up getting a Cingular 8125 which has a processor about as fast as the original Zaurus. It didn't take me long to realize how piss-poor the 8125 was at rendering web pages or playing back movies.

 

I passed on the iPhone because of the lack of 3G, and I've been waiting on the sidelines for a laptop for many many years now.

 

When Microsoft started their "Origami" project, later to become UMPC, I waited with baited breath. When the UMPCs came out, all underpowered and overpriced, the bloom was off the rose.

 

Now the EEE PC is selling like hotcakes, but me? I'm waiting for it to have a larger screen. The main reason is I do NOT want to constantly horizontally scroll webpages and I want to be able to remote-desktop into my work computer with enough real-estate to get some work done. Why not get a fullblown laptop? I just never liked the heft of even a small 12" laptop. I'd much rather have something closer to the size of a paperback book. I can deal with the small fonts. So this time around, I won't be the foolish early adopter. I have to wait for the EEE screen res to hit the minimum 1024 horizontal resolution sweet spot. Even then, if I buy into it, odds are they will not have a faster processor and driving that larger res will slow the whole system down, with stuttering movie playback and poor Skype video performance. So I'm crossing my fingers on that one. I'm just waiting to be able to get a tiny machine like that with all the minimum specs for <$500.

 

Also, the last console I owned was the PS2 when I was still married, and only had a couple games for it. I haven't bought anything newer. I wanted to use my PC for gaming, but even when I built out my system, I knew the ATI 8500DV card wasn't going to really cut it for games. I was still going through my divorce so I had to exercise some restraint. When I upgrade to Penryn I will make sure I get a much better card.

 

I also never got a Tivo. I tried to use my ATI card but the ATI software completely sucks. No amount of upgrading changed the situation for me. Now I've been waiting on the PVR situation for so long that we're well on the way towards the DTV switchover. Now I'd like to be able to record HD but with all the DRM (broadcast flag) I don't know what's going to be possible.

 

I've also been waiting on the home theater front. The projector (see earlier) as well as the surround sound speakers. I have a set of special digital studio monitors that I have for music recording. They sound very good, but it's still just stereo. Eventually I'd like to be able to hear the tie fighters whizzing by. I've been waiting on the HD formats, of course. Talked about that earlier.

 

I live in a small 1BR apartment so "waiting" isn't so much of a bad thing. I just don't have the room for a stack of gear. In my last apartment move I wound up trashing all my old Amiga stuff except one of my 1200s and my editing system. I wound up saving all the important chips first, but it still felt bad chucking that eWaste into the dumpster. I had an A2000 and an A2500. Those things weighed a ton. I also have a fullsize Death Race machine that I just don't have the ability to fix. I want to give it to Chris Wilkson but he doesn't have the space yet for it. But I am probably going to move over the summer so I have to figure out whether to hold onto it or not. I'm actually considering getting rid of all my old Atari 8-bit hardware (including my 1400XL prototype) since I just never power it up. I had recently gone on a buying spree for my A8 stuff thinking maybe I would set up a BBS or do some coding. I'm just not going to do it. I love the A8, but I am just too damn lazy to physically hook it up again and get involved with the platform. When it comes to classic systems, I think I'm going to have to draw the line on original hardware to just the 2600 and the Vectrex. Emulation is just too good and too convenient.

 

On the audio gear front, I've been in the pursuit of the ultimate guitar rig for some time. In addition to the Les Paul my dad got for me as a teenager, I have a Switch MIDI guitar and a custom doubleneck I had built. I also have a Roland VBass, a VG-88, and the new VG-99 and footcontroller combo. Something is going to have to give there too. I really should auction off the Les Paul but my dad I think would feel offended if I got rid of it. The Switch is a good knockaround guitar my daughter might grow into. I bought the VBass thinking I would commission a boroque doubleneck bass for it at one time. But now the VG-99 does a good enough JBass and PBass sim for regular guitar that I just don't need the VBass anymore, or the VG-88 or that matter. I really hate selling stuff, though, because of the hassle of having to find boxes and pack stuff up. I wound up giving away an acoustic guitar and bass to Goodwill for the last apartment move.

 

Anyway, I'm kind of changing the topic here but I do think as you get into your 30s, like George Carlin says, you have to start to deal with what to do with your "stuff". There is a certain amount of stress or claustrophobia that comes from having too much stuff around. Believe me, it gets a lot worse when you have a kid. (I think half of the stuff in my apartment is a souvernir from Chuck e Cheese or a McDonalds Happy Meal.)

 

I still have a bunch of old cards of various form-factors, an old salvaged CRT monitor, an RGB monitor for my Amiga, old computer books that I'll probably never read again. I've got to let go of some of this stuff. I'd just assume give this stuff away because it's just not worth the shipping. And if I trash it, it's got to be recycled somehow. It's going to be tough when I upgrade my PC because the PIV and the motherboard are going to still be perfectly good stuff. But without a case for it, I'm not sure who would want it anymore. I just want to hold onto my case, memory, and drives.

 

So I guess that's my new year's resolution, to prioritize my stuff and challenge myself to pare my possessions down to the bare essentials.

 

I guess one could have worse problems in life, like an adjustable rate mortgage.

 

 

 

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