Techtopia
Published July 7, 2008 | 
So the Righteous Brothers sang, “time goes by so slowly”. Boneheads! As I took my turntable off the shelf and stacked it on top of the VCR, I realized time goes by a might faster than one would think.
This weekend I had to run over to my son’s apartment. While there he showed me his new media PC that he built for about a hundred bucks. A media PC (if you’re out of the technoloop) is a computer that brings your digital world together in one spot. These days of course almost everything is digital. The web, photos, games, music, movies and television are all digital. Having one centralized hub sends shivers up any geeks spine, but it also makes good sense. . and takes up a lot less space. After seeing Julian’s system I realized it was time to bite the bullet myself.
Being a bit older I am able to run out and buy a budget PC as opposed to building one. These days of course even the ‘budget’ models are faster than the top of the line systems just a couple years ago. So after a bit of looking around I found a nice system with Windows XP still on it. (If you are into your computers you’ll know what a stroke of luck that was). Our TV is an older HD model so we needed an DVI plug. This meant getting a better graphics card as well. So with boxes in hand we headed back to build the system.
Of course computers are time thieves. It took a good day to get everything working properly. However in the end we were able to get everything running properly and sharing the network and talking to the other 3 computers in the house. Now from a wireless keyboard and mouse as the new remotes we not only have our stereo and DVD player but also access to digital video, our photos & internet access. Gryphon and I also get to play video games to our hearts content. Now what to do with all that new shelf space. . .
Now the downside of this sort of thing is realizing the waste of a consumer society. I’m guilty of course. Suddenly my nice 10 year old stereo, the DVD player, the VCR and even the XBoX are all redundant even if working and in good condition. The hardest part of the whole operation was accepting the loss of the turntable. Sure I hadn’t used it in years. All my music is mp3 these days. It was a relic. A relic from MY youth. Did that make me a relic???. As a former dance club DJ taking down the turntable caused a bit of a twinge.
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5 Responses to Techtopia
Which hatch does it fit into. And, what are you using for a water proof monitor on the deck of your kayak? I think my iTouch with one of those waterproof Otter boxes will work.
I’ve been thinking about getting a digital turntable, we still have so many records that we’d like to digitize. Hmmm. . .
I’ve got two old PCs sitting around, plus XP Media Center–I’m better than 1/2 way there!
Wow., I didn’t know you could do that with WinXP?
Everyone I know does it with Linux.
I guess Windows makes sense for those of us that have Unix phobias and can afford to pay for software that would otherwise be free:-)
Yeah, actually we are pretty much into open source software here too but I’ve always stuck to XP as an operating system. Networking is simple and XP is really stable these days. Just when they get it working, they move onto a new version!! It’s worth noting that we did NOT want the media center edition of XP though.
We didn’t have to purchase any software. We did load a few things but all open source stuff. FireFox, WinAmp, etc.,
Good grief Derrick, don’t get rid of the turntable yet! I just got myself a new one recently. Vinyl still sounds great!
)
Yeah I know you’re right too. You can EQ the hell out of a CD and still not quite get it right. I’ll probably keep the turntable in a closet somewhere for that day I just need to touch that old spirit.