Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Old computer issues

This is topic Old computer issues in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 06-14-2003, 03:39 PM:

This is a bit of a follow on from a similar post regarding projectors.... but.. bear with me.

I notice that DTS are going to stop supporting the older DTS 6.

Now while that is clearly a real shame it is inevitable. The technology of computing has moved on at a pace that cinema projection technology can only dream of.

I'm sure many of us have a computer of our own, clearly if you are using Film-Tech you have the use of one. If like me you constantly upgrade your home system to have the latest and best you will appreciate the irony of dropping support for 'older' technology purely to drive the nee for newer and better.

We all own computers that can do things that were unimaginable only a few years ago. Our computers only use a fraction of what they are capable of, like the humble human brain!.

And yet here we are facing the possibility of writing off perfectly servicable equipment when it suffers a minor failure.

This is not a dig at DTS in anyway. They want and need to be seen to be keeping up with the times. But the latest and fastest is not always better. How many of us suffer constant crashes as our wonder computers fall over. DOS computers may be slower but their software is very tightly written and in general very robust. Its still in use many years after the writer thought it would be just a memory.

Yet here we are forever being 'persuaded' to move onto the latest unit with it's go faster stripes. Ever chasing our tails for what? Does a 2mhz processor give any benefit over the humble 386 system used in the DTS6.... Lets ne honest the answer is clearly no.

OK we get a nice user interface with lots of bells and whistles.... but does Joe Public notice while sitting watching the latest block buster.

We are all being pushed down the promising and enticing yellow brick road only to find at the end of it a smoke screen that promises everything yet in reality delivers little.

I'm no ludite.... I love new technology and spend the gross national product of a small country on new gadgets.... but I'm just chasing my tail.... like a cat, once I've got it I'm not too sure what I'll do with it.... (Let's keep all the smutty remarks out of it please!)

[ 06-14-2003, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Ken McFall ]

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-14-2003, 04:17 PM:

"Let's keep all the smutty remarks out of it please!"
why thats no fun

As for Dos I still use it daily with the R2 program
As even Bill Gates once said years ago
"Dos will not be dead until Lotus will not run"

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 06-14-2003, 04:31 PM:

Go on then Gordon...it's a boring Saturday evening so let the smutt flow... I would be very interested in anything you have to say about chasing tails... [Eek!]

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 06-14-2003, 04:50 PM:

My old 8 Mhz XT running DOS boots MUCH faster that my 1.3 Ghz system running Windows, and is much more stable. The only progress here seems to be in how fast Bill Gates can transfer your money into his pocket. And if you want to load his lastest crash prone software into your two computers, you have to pay for two copies of it. That's like the music industry telling me that because I own four CD players, I have got to buy four copies of every CD I want. We need people in goverment that care about THE PEOPLE, and not just the big greedy corporations. Right now we are all getting [sex]

and not even enjoying it.
Sorry about the rant, just getting fed up with goverment that is letting us all down (except for the rich that paid for their campains).
Anyway, I think that years ago there was more of an interest in product, and today the only interest is profit.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-14-2003, 05:08 PM:

Ken, could you please change the name of this subject to something more descriptive? As it is now, it looks like you opened a new topic trying to reply and adds confusion to the index page.

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 06-14-2003, 05:24 PM:

Now I'd thought about that but don't know what to name it.... any suggestions would be appreciated.

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 06-14-2003, 10:28 PM:

How bout "Old PC Technology versus New PC Technology"

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 06-15-2003, 09:27 AM:

Take your refrigerator. Just a few years ago, General Electric used a compressor (the football) that would easily run for 35+ years. A few years ago, they dropped this unit in favor of a less-expensive unit. These will barely last for the warranty duration. Our society has been conditioned to think that old is bad, and new is cool.

Well guess what, kiddies? Things besides projectors,used to be built with a long-life in mind. My mother had a Maytag washing machine and dryer that was used 4-5 days a week for over 30 years. If my memory serves me (which it doesent sometimes) we replaced 3-4 drive belts on the washer, and a couple on the dryer, and thats it. 18 years ago, I bought a pair of Maytags for my house. They have only had belts replaced on them, also

Around 10 years ago, Maytag 'improved' the transmissions in their washing machines. Being in the service industry, I am seeing an awful lot of newer Maytag washers--that are still VERY expensive--going to the junk yard. The ones that I have personally checked out had jammed transmissions.

Back in the 'olden days' people replaced things when they finally just rusted out and couldn't be fixed again. It was rarely due to a failure of a major component.

My mom's old washer is still running. It was bought in 1962 and washes for a friend of mine today. The dryer drum got damaged by rocks (dont ask) and started leaving rust marks on clothes and was junked.

Give me quality consumer goods, and I'll be happy. I'm one of these people that can keep a product forever. It's the way that I was raised.

Bruce (using a 1975 GE fridge)

EDIT: Sorry for the appliance rant. This is not the Washer/Fridge forum. [Smile]

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-15-2003, 09:50 AM:

Now, call me crazy...
(Audience: "You're Crazy!!")

...but I have noticed that when you first get a new windows-based computer, it seems really fast, everything loads quick, it's just cool. Then after a while, it slows down, and down, and down until it's time to "get a new one."
Now, I assume this is from use and the registry getting cluttered and temporary files cached god knows where, and all that jazz, but I never had a problem like that with the three DOS based computers I've had.
True, DOS doesn't feel the need to load anything and everything on startup, just what you tell it to do. That's what I liked about it. YOU had full control over your computer! The hard drive didn't load until YOU did something.
The first time I installed and used Windows 95, it freaked me out that the hard drive was actively loading *something* when I wasn't even moving the mouse!
The computer I'm using now I bought in February took about 45 seconds to a minute to fully boot up. Now in June, without any hardware upgrades or major software installations, it takes almost a minute longer! Programs take a bit longer to load, too. Not much, but noticable. Any explanations, or is this just another CONSPIRACY?? [evil]

=TMP=

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 06-15-2003, 04:41 PM:

Thomas,
You may want to try running defrag (if you have not run it lately). You can find it under acc\sys tools. Windows [sex]

's with the hard drive a lot, and after some time the drive can be come fragmented, that is your files and programs are split up into pieces on the hard drive, and it takes more work to get them off the drive and into memory. If this does not work, try installing a crank on the side of the computer, and give it a few spins now and then.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-15-2003, 08:13 PM:

Bruce -- Yeah, I do all the Defrag, Ad-Aware, clear the cache, cookies, etc. even more than most people. [Smile]

=TMP=

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-15-2003, 08:19 PM:

I strongly agree about a lot of new hardware and software being complete junk seemingly marketed just to make a buck instead of providing any real reason to upgrade (such as making your computing tasks faster, more stable and more efficient). For instance, I don't upgrade many of my graphics apps nearly as often as in the past. In many respects a lot of the upgrades are actual downgrades loaded with bugs and slower performance. Hopefully the dot-com bust and struggling computing industry in general will do more to make the developers create products worth buying.

There are some positive notes on the horizon in terms of new hardware. I see Serial ATA as being a potentially fantastic improvement. The old, fat IDE ribbon cable is replaced by a small thin cable with only one kind of connector. Hard drive performance is beefed up. The best thing about SATA is that if you hook up two identical drives in the machine you'll get RAID 0 striping all without the need of some expensive SCSI RAID controller. That kind of thing will make PC-based video editing far more efficient and give many users with DV cameras a good reason to upgrade. Dell and Gateway have new systems available with SATA hard disc systems now.

An even bigger development is something IBM and other competitors are racing to finish. A new kind of motherboard memory system will be introduced that effectively stores your OS in special high capacity ROM chips and allows your computer to boot instantly. I don't know when PCs or Macs featuring this new technology will hit the market, but I'm sure that factor will boost hardware sales whenever it does become available.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 06-16-2003, 06:30 AM:

Run msconfig to see which programs autostart themselves and deactivate those which you don`t really need. And of course, check the autostart folder in the start menu.
There are also programs which help you clean the registry. Funny, I never had these problems. My computer(s) always start(ed) as quickly after a long time as at first.

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 06-16-2003, 10:55 AM:

I agree with Thomas's idea, a conspiracy. It seems like when you buy a computer it is super duper fast. Then by next year it is slower than molasses. Yes loading programs will cause slow down, but I've seen machines a few years old have trouble open solitaire.

I think the makers somehow inter grate a time clock which will slow down the processor. Not sure how this is legal but I know it's there. [Mad]