[Chris Hornbeck]

On 29 Oct 2008 20:47:36 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

If it's an x86, it's not cool.

Intel HAS made some really cool processors, including the i860 and i960.
And I still think the 8051 is cool, and there's probably one in your
TV set or toaster.

My TV set was made in 1986, but it does have an internal processor.
I can actually see the pins; that's how old it is. 8051's have been
around a pretty long time though - could be literally true (it,
typically, has a proprietary marking). (IIRC - been more than a
decade.)

No toaster, but someday... arf!


Both come with usable amounts of memory and! TADA! Windows XP. And
for very small bux. It's a whole Second Front.

The x86 is just not a very elegant architecture overall, but we're stuck
with it, and such huge amounts of money have been put into getting the
best possible speed out of it that it's driven everything else out of the
market. I think that's a shame, but it _is_ fast and cheap anyway, and
there is a lot to be said for that.

The stuff for which I need a portable computer (pardon my participle)
tends to be software from smaller manufacturers who aren't into Vista
yet, and don't expect to be soon. It's day-job stuff, but probably not
too different a case from recording (by anybody bold enough to record
to a laptop - and I might soon; what tangled webs).

So, for my gig, it's XP or go home, and x86 or an exact simulation. As
enamored as I am of elegance, possibly even as much as you are, above
some threshold we can move to another level of compulsion.


This Summer I spent more money than I shouldda on a nice Lenovo
laptop, custom configured, yada-yada, days under the wire to get
one with XPpro factory installed. I really love it, but I dread
carrying it around, using it as a laptop! It mostly sits in its fancy
Lenovo dock, digitally connected to its fancy Lenovo 22" monitor
(so I can see it! - otherwise can't) with a real keyboard and a
real mouse.

Short story long, been trending towards a less compulsion-inducing
consumer product. It's mostly (well, almost entirely...) just me,
but we peasants do have very different interactions with three-figure
as opposed to four-figure widgets.

Peasant stock, like me, have considerable trouble with the latter.
(Even cars! arf). The Asus widgets worsen our guilt, but raise our
hopes for the next generation. "We are peasants; they'll be doctors."
As it has been, so shall it ever be - but I hope not guiltily forever.
Arf.

Much thanks, as always,
Chris Hornbeck