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Hangout for experimental confirmation and demonstration of software, computing, and networking. The exercises don't always work out. The professor is a bumbler and the laboratory assistant is a skanky dufus.
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2006-07-19Pimping up Scampo: From Media Center to Media ProducerMedia Centers and the Slippery Slope Toward Media Producers: The Sneak PlayI’ve mentioned how I acquired Scampo, my Gateway 831GM Media Center PC, as an emergency replacement for a cratered Tablet PC while in the midst of developing my (now-abandoned) M.Sc in IT dissertation project. For my simple demands, this is a hot machine. But its on-board Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, doesn’t help me see full rendering of Second Life (which is painfully sluggish even with my generous broadband access). But I was pleased and quite content with the system. As a recovered on-line community addict (think CompuServe CB Simulator back when it was still called MicroNet), I am relatively immune to Second Life anyhow. I think. Maybe. Sure. {tags: E-MU digital audio Media Center Screencasting Vlogging orcmid} Then Robert Scoble started looking ahead in anticipation of his new career at PodTech. Robert’s enthusiasm for the possibilities of enthusiast video and multimedia on the Internet is contagious. I have DVD recording capability on Scampo and on my Toshiba Satellite Tablet, so I figure I already have a decent foundation for becoming a multi-media producer too. I also need new gear to off-load the audio-creation and MIDI support currently installed on a Windows 98 SE box that I want to recommission as a simple Windows XP peer server for my development web site. In conversation at the Naked Conversations launch, I was marveling at how much the hot new Pentium machines have led to the prevalence of soft synthesizers and software audio solutions without use of co-processor boards. But Scampo is a low-end Media Center, though, and that has to figure into my considerations. The machine has only two PCI slots, one with an unused but important-to-keep modem (for the occasional fax transmission), and an additional odd-looking black slot with a locking tab on the end. On Centro, the faithful Windows 98 desktop, My Soundblaster Live! with daughter card is all old-style ISA bus with old audio technology too. I love Robert’s vision of how we can all become video producers and content creators. He also keeps mentioning an unmet need for hands-on, multi-media tutorials and demos around programming (and check out the comments on that post too). That’s something that inspires me too, and I have the urge to swim in those waters. I know there are ways to make videos from the Windows display, and this should work for a lot of programming work (no video camera required). I also want to make a web-/CD-based book on information technology and programming anyhow. I hadn’t realized that I should be thinking DVD, not CD. When Robert pointed to this demonstration (scroll down and wait for it to load), I was hooked. The hard-to-watch demonstration of how to connect a MIDI controller to a PC and synthesizer lash-up reminded me that I don’t have any keyboards and I want one. I buy an electronic keyboard instrument every 5 years or so and then give it away or sell it, under-used. This demo tipped me over into MIDI controller hunger. I wanted to be able to do what that guy and others can do. It was time for another run at it. Guitar Center having a July 4th sale, and a conversation with my musician son, Doug, had me wanting to see how cheaply I could get an E-MU MIDI/USB Controller. Thanks to a link from Sara Ford, I wandered around the improved Port 25 and realized that this technology could also be used to put together how-to drill-downs from desktop videos. I wasn’t ready to explore the full import of OneClick video-how-to downloading, but this possibility sticks in my mind. Pimping Out the RigSo, where am I in all of this?
Nail-Biting TimeNow, the combination of (2) and (3) could well slag poor little Scampo and a power-supply upgrade may be called for. I am also uncertain that (3) is enough to have Windows Vista Aero working. I’ll run the Vista Readiness program after I get the upgrades working. There may be many compatibility issues too. I also don’t know how much trouble I’ll have with (3) and then (2) with regard to my Media Center settings, conflicts with existing DVD recording and player software, codecs, and whatnot. Then I have to get (4) on there without creating conflicts with all of the different LE versions of packages that will already be installed. I don’t know how well my Pevey Studio Mix control surface will work with Sonar 5. I’ll do the installs with (1) connected because of a bizarre driver story that I will save for later, (3) done and verified first, then (2) followed by (4) at a later date when I am comfortable with everything else that is operating. Thanks to Jon Udell, I also know where to download the video authoring and production software that I will need beside what comes with my Media Center PC. Taking the BlunderDome to new heights of [update 2006-07-16T03:40Z: adding in a link to Scoble’s continuing hints about programming instruction.]
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