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And Then There Were Three |
| FTLComm - Winnipeg - Thursday, July 4, 2002 |
One could compare the ongoing struggle with technological change with some sort of epic journey which almost certainly will never end. Each step of the way we are gradually seeing and experiencing changes but every so often their are milestones. Points that are dramatic departures from the progress of the past. Interestingly enough these milestones are not always actual progress but sometimes are retrogressive. Over three years ago when I moved from a G3 Macintosh to my G3 Pro Blue and White I discoverd my new computer was not functional as it was almost six months before the peripheres that made it do the work I needed done could be performed on that machine. Over a year ago I reported to you about the coming of Apple's new operating system Mac OSX but as it has turned out the process of matching hardware with the software has been slower than expected. Today is my first day of full function OSX. Though I have had it running in the past the cards in my machine were incompatible with the system and yesterday the video card that has since 1996 provided me with a second monitor was replaced with the rather inexpensive ATI Radeon 7000. |
For more than a decade the Apple Macintosh operating
system permitted the user to be more productive and required a lower level of technical
know how. The Mac had always handled networking and had gained the reputation as
a graphics machine. But the edge over the Microsoft based computers has been
receding as the primative Windows 95 and 98 gave way to more function
and capabile operating systems. With Windows 2000 Pro a user has a computer
that can compete with a Macintosh for productivity,  connectivity and ease of use. The only edge
the Mac retained was with its display capability. From its beginning in 1986 the Mac could handle multiple monitors and professionals found this a tremendous boost to getting their chores done. It was not until 1996 that two screen became the standard in front of me and I can't imagine doing this website without the advantage in productivity they provide me. Windows 98 gave PC users this capability but the way Microsoft incorporated two or more monitors is less than desirable, however it does still afford a huge jump it the ability of the user to accomplish more in less time. Mac OS X has evened things up once more as it has the abilities that Windows 2000 provide with some additional things like the ease of using several monitors but its real capabilities are in connectivity and doing so much for the user that even more reduces the skill needed to have a real computer that really works. In time, after I have had more than a few hours experience with this new system I will let you in on both its up and down side. For me the up side that is most obvious is allowing me to use modern software like PhotoShop 7 and iPhoto. |
 Windows XP and ME are excellent examples of retrogressive progress. Though intended to provide the user with added capabilities neither do the job easily however the concensus among graphic professionals is that sitting up to a Windows 2000 Pro machine is as close in capability and performance as you are going to get with a PC to the Mac platform. The added speed in many tasks and the lower price of the Windows 2000 Pro based machine give them an edge for some things. I recently saw one graphics professional sitting at his Macintosh G4 dual processor reach over and flip a switch that activated his monitor switching to a PC running Windows 2000 Pro as he slid out a drawer with the PC keyboard and mouse. For him there was a need to have both platforms available as he produces multimedia material that must run in whatever machine the user has but his simple switch back and forth from one system to the other was impressive and shows the progress the industry has made in making things really work. |
| Now what about
three monitors? It is just a matter of screen real estate. The more data you can display in front of you the less you have to remember and the less you have to move around to get that story, that picture, that composition together.  The Xclaim VR card that worked in my computer for so long provided me with a second monitor and could digitize video (to a degree). The new ATI Radeon 7000 is not the high end card but the low end and allows me to have a second monitor or a third monitor. The "or" part is that instead of a third monitor I could instead be pumping a signal to a television or VCR. The card has video out, VGA out and the ability to drive an LCD flat screen. This same card or a similar model fits in a PC and does the same work the only advantage I am enjoying is the Macintosh interface and the slick use of the screens. I would remind you that the Mac OSX is a UNIX based system so my 300mhz machine has is jogging where it used to walk. The speed is quite dramatic when you consider this Mac is the age that it is. |
| The Achilles
Heel! Last night as we were putting the final touches on the installation process of the video card, the new OS and bringing the software back to life we were able to humble the very stable OSX in a magnificent crash. The operating system has protected memory and to bring it down the problem has to be truly nasty. As it turned out I discovered that what is an absolute godsend to the computer industry and computer users is also the source of almost all crashes that are now being experience on computers of any platform. The PC, Microsoft based machines always connected to their peripheries with either a parallel or serial connection while the Macintoshes have used serial and SCSI connections. Four years ago USB came on the scene. Simple and much easier to install peripheries with the USB (universal serial bus) meant that cameras, printers, scanners and all manner of other devices are now only a couple a minutes to install and work better than ever. Good stuff right? The reason the USB connection is so good is because its simple direct access to the main core of your computers operating system which simply means that if things go wrong with the USB connection you can move from elation to  dispair in a fraction of a second.Just over a week ago I went to print off some business cards, the inkjet cartridge was in need of replacement, I installed a "clone" cartridge, the printers spotted the clone and informed the system on my computer in a few seconds the core of my computers operating system was destroyed, the hard drive would not mount and only because I had a back up operating system on another partician allowed me to get things back up and running. Last night's crash was related, we were testing the card reader that handles pictures from the digital camera and mounts them on my desktop. In a series of moves as we attempted to mount the card reader the system was killed. Fortunately no damage was done, we restarted and solved the minor problem but the warning is clear. The very powerful and great success that the USB connection gives a periphery is the surest and most effective means of blasting your computer's system. Today, back in 1999 I reported to you the amazing capabilities of FireWire. Since then a whole range of products have been produced that use this means of connection. The stories on Canada Day were made using a Sony Digital Camcorder that simply moved the images into my machine with the simplest of software. Two hard drives and a CD burner are hooked to this machine right now and are completely amazing. To demonstrate this a technician showed me what those drives could do, he set the computer to work copying a 6GB collection of files from one drive to the other then reached down and ripped out the plug from the back of one of the drives. There were not complaints then he plugged the drive back in and the copying process resumed as though nothing had happened. Firewire cards are now available for PC machines and are supported by Windows and most modern Macs are Firewire capabile. My hope is that we will see the USB go the way of the floppy disk and the tough smart Firewire replace it instead. |