Posts by Jim Baker 7 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Sep 2007
The PS3 does a rather fine job of upscaling regular DVD, the Cell processor allows it to do more or less whatever video post-processing it likes without breaking sweat.
DVDs through the upscaler look much better than they do through a regular SD player and PS3 streamed recordings from my MythTV back end server look rather better than my Samsung telly's built in digital tuner.
The PS3 is getting fairly close to XBMC these days. It talks quite happily to my MythTV back end over UPnP and it'll already play back all the recordings and music that it indexes. Granted, most of my stored video is Xvid, so it won't do that yet, but the codec is coming in a firmware update quite soon. XBMC still has a considerable edge on file type support and navigation, but the gap's narrowing - and the PS3 can play back full HD content. I've got a dedicated front end HTPC as well, but it's usefulness has been eroded somewhat by Sony's recent firmware improvements.
On games, the Xbox360 undeniably has a better range for now, but the exclusive titles for next year don't make brilliant reading for the Microsoft evangelists. The PS3 may yet come good - the previous generation consoles shifted something like 125M units over their lifespan (and the PS2 is still selling well) - no vendor has got much of a share of the likely final install base just yet.
The Wii is a lovely device, very well thought out - but I think it is likely to have expanded the overall size of the console market as much as taken sales away from the more traditional units. Most of the "serious" gamers I know with a Wii have got at least one other console as well.
I really don't see the point of putting Windows on the EEE. A killer app question maybe? It plays nicely enough with Windows out of the box, you get RDP and CIFS in the standard OS.
I've tried a few different configurations but I'm happiest with the Xandros distro it ships with plus some minor tweaks and additions. It's hard to beat for the remarkable speed with which it boots, the low resouce usage and the slick integration of the desktop components. There's the odd Windows program that I have to have on there - but that's what wine was invented for.
I'm neither a fanboy or a novice with Linux, it's coexisted quite happily with the various Microsoft offerings in my home network for years. Just a tool for a job question - and on the EEE I've ended up deciding that the factory OS ain't broke.
Went up the TCR today for a play with a demo model - and it looks perfect for what I want it for. It's a remote access weapon I can take to the pub when I'm on call. A real laptop is too heavy, too bulky and too much of a "mug me" sign in SE1, and if I lose or break a machine that costs £200 I'll just buy another one.
Only slight problem is that nobody has any left. But I've put my name down for the next batch of stock.
You have to laugh at the apologists claiming that the hugely expensive tariff is justified by the outrageous data charges that O2 bilk their other users for.
T-mobile do "unlimited" data for £7.50 a month as an add-on to your contract, 3 do it for a fiver. I believe Vodafone also have something similar. If you have a phone which supports a current data standard then HSPDA makes membership of a service like the cloud more or less an irrelevence.
Dell's core business depends utterly on Microsoft. For the foreseeable future the vast majority of their business will be Windows, regardless of how they position any Linux offering. They doubtless have an excellent relationship with Redmond on both price and support, given the huge number of OEM licenses that they shift. If that relationship was to deteriorate it would inevitably hurt their margin.
Tokenism to stay friendly with a minority is one thing, but is anyone honestly expecting Dell to allow customers to opt out of the Microsoft tax in the standard purchasing web flow? Really?
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