Linux vs. Vista

Not fair... you're right, Microsoft doesn't stand a chance. I picked up a new home PC (my pc died on July 4th with a light and smoke show that morning) recently from Tiger Direct. I ordered off their site during the black Friday sales - Gateway GT5408 refurbished Desktop PC for $329. In actuallity, I received a refurbished 5412 for the same price and a much greater value. Anyway, the PC came with Vista Home Premium. Since receiving the PC about 5 days after ordering, I've been speding some time trying to get Vista running just so, and working to get all the files in their proper places. In Windows this is no small feat... yes, Windows is easy to install - especially when pre-installed on the PC you purchase. But configuring any version of Windows to access shared files on another computer, setup printer, connect to Internet etc. can become a lot of work quick. On top of that the number of apps you have to go find and keeping track of license keys etc., what a pain.
At the same time, I've been installing, removing and installing various flavors of Linux on an old Toshiba Satellite laptop (Celeron 1.2GHz, 512MB RAM). I'm in no way a Linux guru but I am very familiar with technology and have 20 plus years with the Windows Operating Systems. Right now while writing this I'm getting Xandros' desktop version setup on my laptop. I've had PCLinuxOS 2004 and 2007 installed, as well as Open SuSe 10.x, Linux Mint 4 and now Xandros. I suppose the biggest difference is that for the most part no cost is involved outside of my time. I have the opportunity to try out these various offerings on the Linux front - where Microsoft wants me to pay for every version of Windows I may install. Another difference - I've installed and tried out all of these various versions on my laptop in less time than it takes to setup Windows once.
Something that maybe suprising - I've had very little problem with any of my hardware. Except for Linux Mint which I couldn't get my Wireless PCMCIA card working - I've had no more trouble than what it takes in WinXP with my laptop.

Nikon Coolpix S4 - the good and the bad

A few years ago I purchased my first Digital camera, Olympus C-2040 Zoom. Although the camera is only a 2.1 megapixel camera with 3x optical - it takes beautiful pictures and provides many features that allow you to control your shots. The biggest draw back to the camera is the media it uses - SmartMedia.
If you're new to digital devices, you probably don't even know what SmartMedia is. It originally was developed by Toshiba to replace floppy drives in 1995 (that didn't seem to happen) but was then picked up for use in digital cameras especially by Olymus and Fuji until they dropped it for SD and then later xD. Not only is the IO slow (no controller on the chip), but the maximum size you can get a SmartMedia card in is 128MB. What does all this mean - the wait time from one picture to the next is brutal.
So as I prepared to replace my slow but worthy camera, I made a list of what features I wanted to improve on:
- zoom: so many times 3x zoom just didn't get me close enough to take a decent shot; I decided to go for a digital camera with 10x or greater optical zoom (never pay attention to the digital zoom on a camera, you never want to use it)
- image stabilization: I like to shoot in low light, which requires a steady hand or tripod or both
- speed: fast startup (the Olympus takes a while before it is ready for you to take the first shot) and relatively quick shot to shot times
- media: SD or xD support
- LCD viewfinder: I wanted to make sure the LCD was at least 2.5" or bigger and bright
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Here are some features that my Olympus had that I should have paid more attention to:
- electronic viewfinder: there are times that the LCD washes out when shooting outdoors
- file formats: besides JPG the Olympus shot TIFF, and other cameras offer RAW
- manual controls: ability to drive the camera through aperature, shutter or ISO priority
- lcd viewfinder: how well can you see the viewfinder in the sunlight
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After reading and researching many different models I was leaning towards the Sony Cybershot DSC-H2, a 6 megapixel 12x optical camera with Sony's Super SteadyShot® optical image stabilization system. My one big concern with this camera was the reviews always pointing out that they found high noise levels when shooting in low light.
In fact, I found in general from the reviews that no matter which Ultra-Zoom camera I chose there would be compromises to be made. I just wanted to be sure that I could live with them.
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How I wound up buying a Nikon Coolpix S4:
I becmae aware of this model because a friend of mine at work has one. He liked it very much and is quite the camera guy. The camera is a 6 megapixel 10x optical camera with a 2.5" lcd and very cool swivel design. It is also able to shoot video and though it's not a video camera replacement the results for such a small compact camera are impressive. Additionally, the camera was very fast (I should have done more testing against cameras in its class, since everything compared to my Olympus would seem fast).
Another friend at work has a Nikon compact digital camera that I helped her pick out and it is a very good performer and takes beautiful pictures (plus since in the 80's when I owned a Nikon F2 SLR until hard times forced me to sell it - I've been biased towards all things Nikon)
One night browsing across ebay I found a Coolpix S4 that was factory refurbished with a 1 year warranty - cost including shipping $170. I made an immediate decision and hit the buy now button. All my research and lists and looking and weighing done in by the little buy now button.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things about this camera that I absolutely love. But the camera does come with a few downsides (which I'll explain below). What suprises me about this purchase is that I had a list of must haves that I didn't keep to, in addition to the fact that in previous purchasing or recommending situaltions I always went to a camera store and held the different models and talked to the experts. (note: if you want to talk to experts about cameras don't go to Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. go to Sammy's Camera or actual local camera shops. Besides giving you good advice some of them will try and be competitively priced with the Internet or provide better value in your purchase).
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Features that are missing from the Coolpix:
- image stabilization: I like the way this camera handles low light, but often I can't hold the camera still enough to keep it from shaking. The camera does have a feature where it informs you (image of a little red hand in the viewfinder) that the settings will require a tripod, and it will tell you that you're image is blurred once you've snapped the picture giving you an immediate option to review and choose to discard. Image stabilization really should have been a must have feature, not only for use with ultra-zoom cameras but for anyone who wants to shoot in low light without flash.
- electronic viewfinder: the last couple of days my wife and I have been in Death Valley mostly driving through and just being blown away by the beauty, strangeness, extremes that this National Park has to offer. The Nikon does not have an electronic viewfinder and when outside in the sun (thank God it's December and not July - temperatures ranged from 34 to 64) I couldn't see a thing on the LCD screen. It was like: I think that's where she is, click.
- manual controls: the Nikon provides a lot of different scene modes to assist you in finding the best settings for each shot. However, I find that some of those modes force flash or some other setting that I wouldn't choose myself.
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Bottomline:
It is absolutely amazing how much camera you can get today for under $200. I am very happy with this camera and have been very impressed with the pictures I've been able to take even when I'm not too sure what I'm doing. I have run into some situations that have caused me to have to deal with the shortcomings of the camera - but expecting one camera to do everything well is a little naive. The next question to be answered: do I continue to look at the ultra-zoom compact cameras or should I really be moving up to digital slr for what I'm trying to do?

The only way to describe it is Wiiiiiiiiii

For this Christmas I got our house the Wii console from Nintendo. When I say our house I mean to say me or myself, but our house sounds better therefore we'll stick with our house. How did I find one of these little white yuletide scarcities? I made a straight trade with a gentleman through an add I placed on Craig's list in Santa Barbara. What was I willing to trade that would cause the owner of a brand spanking new Wii to part ways with his little box of joy? A 6 month old Xbox 360 with games and extras.
It may seem to some that as we held our clandestine meet in the parking lot of a neighborhood IHop that I was cheated or taken in the deal. But I'll have you know that I wasn't (though in the parking lot I was having second thoughts myself). If you do the math, the deal seems problematic $400 Xbox + $150 for the games in trade for a new Wii $250. You must remember that at the time I made this trade Wii's were going for over $400 on ebay and some way over $400.
But let's not confuse this post - I wasn't looking at this from a fiscal perspective. I wasn't even looking for a Wii. I was already tired of the Xbox, and tired of the same old gaming experience. I've owned a Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 - the game titles have changed the graphics have improved but the gaming experience hasn't. Gaming in our house is isolating - when you go to hand someone else a remote and ask them to join in - they are immediately confused by the array of buttons and sticks and how to make the guy do this or that. No one is ever willing to play along - they look at me as though I've figured out how to split an atom and surely they'll never be able to do it. The last time I was able to get my wife to play a video game with me was the Nintendo 64 and we shot ducks together. It was simple point and pull the trigger on the gun shaped remote. We had a lot of fun.
I brought the Wii home and set it up - immediately I started playing tennis and within a few minutes my wife popped into the room. Looking and laughing watching me as I performed the simple act of swinging the tennis racket. She quickly realized there were no buttons to push - just swing this way or that. Before I knew it she wanted the controller and was hitting the ball here, there and everywhere. I almost think I heard her say Wiiiiii as she swung.
Ahhh, this is what I was looking for - a game system that would become part of the family. If you're reading this and haven't read all the reviews that call the Wii a revolution in gaming - believe me, the Wii is what a console is suppose to be about and once availability improves - you'll be able to get them at the price consoles should cost $250.
For me, this was one of the best trades I ever made.

Eislandish DVD Boutique back on-line

Our movie site is back and hopefully better. We've changed from a static site to dynamic via blogger. Another improvement provided by blogger - movie reviews. We have some more experimenting to do - since we want to be able to allow members to add to oursite via comments and posts but we are not sure about the public.

Cheers.

Blogger and Lynda.com

I've been trying to get this site up and running for some time. I felt that a blog would be the best format; however, I wasn't sure what product to use and I just had more questions than answers.

After reviewing several blogs which tackled blog products, I was contemplating blogger or radioland. My wife let me know there was a tutorial on Lynda.com that covered blogging. I'm usually not one for directions, but I could use the help.

What do you know - the tutorial was actually a walk thru of blogger and exceptionally done at that. I'm very pleased since one of my main conditions was that I wanted to be able to post to my own domain and not some blog site.

I give much cudos to Lynda.com and to Molly E. Holzschlag (trainer) for the tutorial and all the other excellent content on Lynda's site.

Welcome