tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99768212024-03-12T21:55:20.301-07:00Rich Teer's BlogRich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-1401090467259393122011-06-12T19:41:00.000-07:002011-06-12T19:42:09.989-07:00Vinylphile issue 6 is ready for download!Hi all,<br /><br />I know it's a little late, but I wanted to let you know that the sixth issue of Vinylphile is now available for download! This issue is a bit special for us, because it marks our first birthday! Yes, it was one year ago this month that we published the first issue of Vinylphile, and we're very happy with what we've achieved so far. If nothing else, it sets the bar for next year even higher!<br /><br />Here's a direct download link to the current issue:<br /><br />http://www.vinylphilemag.com/pdf/vinylphile-006.pdf<br /><br />Enjoy, and as always, thanks for reading!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-73531991526725824092011-03-15T11:20:00.000-07:002011-03-15T11:21:13.272-07:00Vinylphile issue 5 is ready for download!Just a quick heads-up that issue 5 of Vinylphile is now available! You can download it for free from here:<br /><br />http://www.vinylphilemag.com/pdf/vinylphile-005.pdf<br /><br />Thanks for reading, and enjoy!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-66837411213604496502010-12-31T19:29:00.000-08:002010-12-31T19:30:17.041-08:00Vinylphile Issue 4 is now available!Hi all,<br /><br />Just in time (literally!) for New Years, Issue 4 of Vinylphile is now ready for download! This issue contains more gear and music reviews than our previous issues, our RMAF 2010 photo essay, and more!<br /><br />Here's a direct link to this issue:<br /><br />http://www.vinylphilemag.com/pdf/vinylphile-004.pdf<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br />As always, thanks for reading. I hope you and yours have a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!<br /><br />Cheers,Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-5109830283492752262010-08-28T21:23:00.001-07:002010-08-28T21:23:52.597-07:00Issue 2 of Vinylphile is now out!Just a quick line to say that Issue 2 of Vinylphile is now available for FREE download! Here's a direct download link (it's a 36 MB PDF file):<br /><br />http://www.vinylphilemag.com/pdf/vinylphile-002.pdf<br /><br />Enjoy, and thanks for reading!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-15831530510467595902010-08-23T08:24:00.002-07:002010-08-23T08:33:43.853-07:00OpenSolaris: RIPI've just finished participating in the last ever (in its current guise, anyway) OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) conference call. Due to Oracle's (arguably) criminal neglect of the OpenSolaris community and continued ignorance of requests for a conversation with the OGB, the latter felt that they had no option but to resign en masse, handing control of the community back to Oracle. I thought it ironically appropriate that I was wearing my "Pilot Member" limited edition OpenSolaris T-shirt for the call.<br /><br />I'd like to thank everyone who's made contributions to OpenSolaris the past few years, especially those working tirelessly behind the scenes. Way to go guys; it's been a fun ride and I'm sad it's over.<br /><br />And a big thanks to Oracle for screwing up what could have been the best open source collaberation on the planet.<br /><br />OpenSolaris: June 14th, 2005 - August 23rd, 2010. RIP.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-52080395625525303002010-06-04T14:06:00.000-07:002010-06-04T14:07:55.779-07:00Announcing Vinylphile: a freely-downloadable, vinyl-centric audio magHi all,<br /><br />As some of you know, I lost my computer programming job late in 2008. About a year ago I decided to put my (ahem) writing talent to use and publish a magazine about something I've loved almost my whole life: high-end audio and music (especially on vinyl). After a lot advice and encouragement from friends, acquaintances, and industry contacts--not to mention a LOT of hard work--I'm pleased to announce that today my dream has become a reality: I have just posted the first issue of Vinylphile! You can download it--for FREE--from here: http://www.vinylphilemag.com/pdf/vinylphile-001.pdf<br /><br />I hope you enjoy reading the mag as much as I did putting it together!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-5451356161003430022010-04-05T14:32:00.003-07:002010-04-05T14:35:55.891-07:00Mad TV's iPad sketchHow prophetic this (almost) 3-year old sketch about the iPad from MadTV was!<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lsjU0K8QPhs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lsjU0K8QPhs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-64027406513121514732010-02-28T15:30:00.004-08:002010-02-28T15:39:22.658-08:00Vancouver 2010: What an amazing Winter Olympics!I'm not really into sports, so I'm kind of surprised by how into the Olympics I got over the last two weeks. Of course, being on home turf just 4 hours away helps a lot! :-)<br /><br />Prior to this Olympics, Canada hadn't won a single gold medal on home soil. Now, two weeks later with 14 gold medals, we've smashed all sorts of records:<br /><br />* Canada has the most number of gold medals of any winter Olympics.<br /><br />* We also have the most number of gold medals on home turf of any winter Olympics.<br /><br />* We have the most gold medals of the XXI Winter Olympics, which means that according to the IOC, Canada won the 2010 Winter Olympic games!<br /><br />Jenny and I spent a few days in Vancouver last week soaking up the atmosphere. Although we didn't attend any actual events, the buzz there was incredible!<br /><br />I know this might sound kinda corny, but I have never been more proud to be a Canadian. Go Canada Go!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-73593778619480218782010-02-01T10:24:00.002-08:002010-02-01T10:33:10.613-08:00Apple's iPadApple recently announced their long-awaited iPad. Here's a very brief summary of my thoughts of this cool new widget:<br /><br />* No camera for taking photos<br />* No iSight camera for visual comms (e.g., Skype)<br />* No built-in mic<br />* No multitasking<br />* No support for Java or Flash<br />* No phone capability<br /><br />In other words,<br /><br />* No thankyou!<br /><br />It seems I'm not the only one disappointed by the iPad:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnT0zp8Ya4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnT0zp8Ya4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-78670022606241206812010-01-01T13:48:00.002-08:002010-01-01T14:33:20.629-08:00A New Year, A New Beginning...First things first: I'd like to wish my readers a very happy and prosperous New Year. Here's to 2010!<br /><br />A new year is a great time for making changes, and 2010 is no different. To get straight to the point: I've had enough of being a technology professional, so (as Monty Python would say) it's time for something completely different. Yep, I no longer intend to try to earn a living as an IT professional (but I will always remain a geek; I'm changing my vocation, not losing my mind!).<br /><br />I've been a geek for pretty much my whole life and computers have played a big part of that. From my Commodire PET 2001 in my early teens (like, 13 I think!) to my BBC Micro, I've nearly always had one or more computers at home. I never did get on the DOS/Windoze PC bandwagon (thankfully!), but it was only in the last 15 years or so I really got into real computers in a serious way.<br /><br />Way back then, I acquired my first real computer, a Sun 3/80 workstation. I still have that machine here (ahh, nostalgia!), but I've gradually worked my way up through Sun's offerings as cash and my chosen career permitted/demanded. So for almost 15 years I've been a Solaris nut and specialist, but unfortunately since moving to Kelowna 11 years ago, paying Solaris gigs have been few and far between.<br /><br />I love living here in Kelowna and don't like the idea of commuting to a big city to ply my trade. I did it for a while, but while the $$$ were great, the strain on my personal life wasn't worth it. I found a great job here in Kelowna 2.5 years ago, doing embedded systems development. But even that came to an end just over a year ago when the economy went into the shitter. :-(<br /><br />It's taken me a while to admit this to myself, but earning a decent living as a Solaris specialist in Kelowna just isn't a realistic proposition. If I wanted to join the whoreds (sic) of Windoze-weenies, I could become a Windoze guy. But that just isn't going to happen: my loathing of all things Microsoft is far too strong for that!<br /><br />Fortunately for me, there's something that I've loved for even longer than computers: music, especially music on vinyl. I've been a music lover my whole life. I've also been a long-term hifi nut (one of my first "dates" with Jenny was taking her to a hifi show in England!), and so I've decided to put the writing skills I learned courtesy of my book, <span style="font-style:italic;">Solaris Systems Programming</span>, and the technical articles I've written over the past few years to work. I've decided to publish my own magazine. That's right: I'm in the process of starting up a freely-downloadable, vinyl-centric audio magazine called <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;">Vinylphile</span>.<br /><br />Vinylphile will contain reviews of records and everything needed to listen to records: turntables, tonearms, cartridges, amplifiers, speakers, cables, and various other audio accessories. Although it'll definately be vinyl-centric, the mag will not be vinyl-exclusive. It will contain some reviews of CD players and other digital gear--but the primary focus will be vinyl. The magazine will be free for everyone to download and read (it'll be distributed as a PDF file); the intent is that the ads that I sell in the mag and on its web site will enable me to pay the mortgage and put food on our table.<br /><br />The business is very much in the start-up phase, but I've built the mag's web site at www.vinylphilemag.com. It's light on content at the moment, but interested people can sign up to the mailing list. I'll be adding more content in the weeks to come and plan to publish my first issue in April. If you're at all interested in music and/or hifi, please check out Vinylphile, and I hope you become a regular reader! And if you're going to CES or THE Show in Las Vegas next week and you want to get together, why not drop me a line?<br /><br />I plan to blog a lot more about Vinylphile, but that's all for now folks! Stay tuned...Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-85722117468875569392009-12-19T17:07:00.003-08:002009-12-19T17:31:42.478-08:00Enough of the PC BS! (And, Merry Xmas)And for once, I'm not referring to Personal Computers running Windoze!<br /><br />This is the time of year when my (admitedly small) tolerance for political correctness is pushed past its bursting point. Just about anyone who says anything about this time of year (at least here in North America) refers to it as "the holidays", because they're worried they might offend others by referring to it by its proper name. For most people, its called Christmas, so call it Christmas!<br /><br />Now, before I get accused of any religious bias or be called out for pushing my Christian views on the world, let me get one thing absolutely clear: I am an atheist, so I have no Christian views to push! (Anyone who does even a little research that Christmas was originally a pegan festival.) The point of my rant is this: call this time of year whatever is the correct thing for your beliefs; if you're a Jew, Hanukkah is obviously the correct term, and so on.<br /><br />If someone wishes me a happy Hanukkah am I going to be offended? Absolutely not, for I will take it in the spirit in which it was meant. Why would I be offended by somone wishing me well?<br /><br />Political correctness was invented to avoid offending people. Well guess what, nothing offends me more than political correctness! So call this time of year its correct name, and don't wimp out by calling it the holidays! Call it Christmas or Hanukkah, or anything else; anything but the holidays!<br /><br /><br />For me, this time of year is about peace on earth and goodwill to all men. So allow me to wish my readers a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year! I hope that you will be spending time with your loved ones and sparing a thought or two for those less fortunate. Peace...Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-14720889206182630092009-10-28T10:43:00.002-07:002009-10-28T11:07:16.620-07:00The World's Most Advanced OS?A while ago Jenny bought herself a new laptop. There was no way we consider wasting money on a laptop running Windoze (you try buying a non-Apple laptop without paying Windoze tax!), so a MacBook Pro it was (I had some say in the machine's specs).<br /><br />The Mac has some interesting features, and I like the way everything Just Works. MacOS is a bit different from Solaris, but it's really easy to pick up. So what's the point of this post? Apple touts Mac OS as "the world's most advanced OS", and that patently isn't so. Don't get me wrong: I like Mac OS (although I still find the idea of paying for an OS to be a bit grating), but the world's most advanced OS it isn't.<br /><br />I'll raise just a couple of points to support my view.<br /><br />1. Until the recent release of Mac OS Snow Leopard (10.6), Mac OS was a 32-bit only OS (Snow Leopard is apprently 64-bit--I can't confirm this cause I haven't got round to installing it yet). Colour me unimpressed: Solaris has been 64-bit clean the launch of Solaris 7, well over a decade ago! Also, Solaris' 64-bit kernel is quite capable of running brand new 64-bit apps and ancient 32-bit apps side by side. I don't know if Mac OS supports that.<br /><br />2. Mac OS is based on (IIRC) FreeBSD. Not exactly the first OS that comes to mind for multithreaded scalability. How scalable is Mac OS? I guess we won't know because the biggest machine Apple sells is a piddly dual-socket, quad-core desktop. Big deal! Solaris scales from tiny single-core tiny laptops to massive 64-socket, quad-core behemoths that supports up to 4TB of RAM. And that's from the same OS binary.<br /><br />3. Apple recently announced the dropping of ZFS, arguably the world's most advanced file system. If your OS doesn't support an adavanced file system like ZFS, then it is not a contender for the world's most advanced OS. It's just that simple.<br /><br />4. Solaris has support for HW hot swapping that Mac OS can only dream of. In the right machine, if a CPU board dies, you can just replace it on the fly. No downtime, no interruptions.<br /><br />I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Mac OS is a fine OS and is leagues ahead of Windoze, but the world's most advanced OS it isn't. That crown belongs to Solaris.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-42181204269803846712009-09-10T12:48:00.005-07:002009-09-11T09:04:44.654-07:00Wither Solaris x86 (again)?So, there's a message to <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/NordicMan/resource/Oracle_WSJ.pdf">Sun's customer's</a> in the Wall Street Journal, highlighting some of Oracle's plans should their acquisition of Sun be approved (at this writing, the deal is pending EU approval). The ad states that Oracle plans to:<br /><br />1. Spend more money developing SPARC than Sun does now;<br /><br />2. Spend more money developing Solaris than Sun does now;<br /><br />3. Have more than twice as many hardware specialists selling and servicing SPARC/Solaris systems than Sun does now;<br /><br />4. Dramatically improve Sun’s hardware performance by tightly integrating Oracle software with Sun hardware.<br /><br />Notice that mention of Sun's AMD and Intel x86 systems is suspiciously absent (and has been absent from all public words I've seen from Oracle). Does this mean anything? Sun tried to can Solaris x86 (concentrating on big SPARC systems) a few years ago which resulted in a massive backlash which forced them to reverse their decision, so one would hope that Sun's new owners wouldn't duplicate <span style="font-style:italic;">that</span> mistake...<br /><br />Rhetorical questions are fine, but let me ask a direct question to those in the know: <span style="font-weight:bold;">What are Oracle's plans for Sun's x86 hardware support if/when they take over?</span> Given their silence on this issue (as far as I've seen, anyway), I don't think it's an unfair question.<br /><br />If Oracle has no plans to drop support for x86 (hardware or software), perhaps they should be a bit more vociferous about it.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-41238401180316459962009-09-01T16:56:00.002-07:002009-09-01T17:14:02.405-07:00Lots of old Sun stuff free or cheap to a good home!Well, the time has come for a long-overdue clear out and tidy up of my office, and regretably some stuff has to go. :-( It would be much easier to just chuck this stuff away, but given that at least some of it might have some historical curiosity, I wanted to see if anyone was interested in it. I don't want much, if anything, for this stuff (although I ask that interested people pick up the tab for shipping), provided it's to a good home.<br /><br />Here's a partial list of the stuff I'm disposing of (there are still boxes of stuff I need to sort through). If interested, drop me an email!<br /><br />* Insignia Solutions SoftPC 1.1 for Sun 3 systems. Complete package as far as I can tell.<br /><br />* Pretty much complete SunOS 3.5 manual set. No binders, and most of it is still shrink-wrapped. Still in it's original shipping carton!<br /><br />* SunOS 3.5 Export for the 68020, on 5 QIC 24(?) tapes.<br /><br />* UK Sun Express catalogues, Issue 2 to Issue 20.<br /><br />* SunOS 4.0.3 Export Upgrade, on 2 QIC24 tapes.<br /><br />* Various old SunSolve and Catalyst CD ware CDs.<br /><br />* Various Solaris media kits (mostly different Solaris 9 releases IIRC).<br /><br />I'd really like the SunOS 3.5 tapes and manuals to go to a Sun museum if at all possible. I'll be listing more stuff in the coming weeks/months, so stay tuned!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-44779435959240940892009-05-26T13:30:00.003-07:002009-05-26T13:40:39.160-07:00Alas poor Orac (I knew it well)Wow. I can't believe it's been 18 months (give or take) since I last posted to my blog. What a slacker!<br /><br />Much has changed in the last 18 months: I found a great programming job here in Kelowna only to be downsized about 18 months later (damned economy), and Sun is in the process of being acquired by Oracle! And to top it off, my beloved shiny red Acer Ferrari 3400 laptop died last Thursday. I tried all sorts of reset incantations, removed the battery, etc., etc., no no avail. I am now the proud owner of a shiny red brick (whose hostname was orac, hence the title of this blog entry).<br /><br />I started looking at various laptops, with the intent of buying one to run Solaris. Windoze is still not an option for me! Finding an appropriate one was kinda hard, but the problem was solved when The Boss (that'd be Jenny, my wife) mentioned that she was hankering after a Mac so that she could hook her iPhone up to iTunes. She had some birthday money to spend, so (to cut a long story short) last night we ordered a 15.4" MacBook Pro with a 2.66 GHz CPU, 4 GB of RAM, and a 128 GB SSD (the speed increase of my Ferrari was phenominal when I installed an SSD into it, so there was no way I was going to order a new computer without one!). It should be here in the next week or so...Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-65373971647580510872007-10-14T12:32:00.000-07:002007-10-14T12:33:44.988-07:00Third PAM article publishedMy <a href="http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/user_auth_solaris3.html">3rd article</a> about PAM on Solaris was recently published. I'm currently working on the fourth (and final) part.<br /><br />Enjoy!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-12026015207604965492007-09-18T11:44:00.000-07:002007-09-18T11:53:28.744-07:00Happy Birthday to me!Well, today I reached the big four-oh. Yep, it's my 40th birthday today. To celebrate, Jenny and I treated me to a shiny new 80GB Playstation 3, plus accessories (i.e., an additional SixAxis controller and the Bluetooth Blu-ray remote control).<br /><br />I also got a bunch of movies on Blu-ray, a couple of movies on UMD (for my PSP), and the game <i>Ridge Racer 7</i>. I'm addicted to Ridge Racer on my PSP, so the latter should provide endless hours of entertainment! :-)Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-86573493907453074272007-09-11T21:02:00.001-07:002007-09-11T21:27:53.285-07:00I have a new job!A couple of weeks ago, I started a new job at a company called <a href="http://www.signalink.com">Signalink Technologies</a>. It's a bit of a departure from my more recent Solaris sysadmin gigs--I'm back to my C programmer roots!<br /><br />The stuff I'm working on is about as far away from Solaris servers and workstations as one can get: I'm developing software for embedded systems, where resources are scarce (the chip I'm working with has a massive 6K of RAM!), and bit twiddling and register shuffling are the order of the day.<br /><br />So far, it's great. I'm working with a great bunch of guys, doing some interesting work (which will only get more interesting as time passes), in an environment that suits me just fine (think Silicon Valley style start up). The job is well paid, and best of all, it's a mere 10-minute drive away in my own town of Kelowna! No more travelling to God knows where to earn a few shekels; hurrah! :-)<br /><br />Despite being far removed from the Solaris world in my current professional capacity (though I hasten to add that I'm running build 70 of Nevada on my desktop--no Windoze for me!), I'll still be involved with the OpenSolaris community as much as I can. And I intend to keep writing articles for SDN, so it's good job the days are getting shorter (relaxing in the sun becomes less of a temptation when it's dark out!)...Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-26637800861121386002007-08-17T14:51:00.000-07:002007-08-17T16:42:20.062-07:00Blu-ray Disc vs HD DVD: End the format war now!I really like watching movies, especially in the comfort of my own home, so I received the arrival of DVD with open arms. Although the picture and audio quality (PQ and AQ respectively) is much better than those available on VHS, DVDs are still a low-res format (here in North America, they have 480 lines of resolution). Add to that the fact that the DVD market is pretty much saturated, and it seems clear that a new generation of home video is called for.<br /><br />Enter <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Blu-ray" rel="tag">Blu-ray Disc</a> and <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/HD-DVD" rel="tag">HD DVD</a>, the two competing next-gen formats. Blu-ray is driven by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), and HD DVD is driven by Toshiba. Given that on the surface both seem to be the same (both offer up to 1080p resolution and 7.1 channels of high def sound), why would one choose one of the other? (N.B., in this article I'm only considering playing movies; other stuff like data archival is out of scope.)<br /><br />This blog article explains my rationale for picking one, in what is intended to be an objective manner. To that end, I'll get my biases out of the way: I am not a gamer (though I will admit to owning a PSP), and I have no feelings either way towards Sony, Toshiba, or any other consummer electronics (CE) company out there. The only company I despise is Microsoft. At the time of writing, I have neither a Blu-ray nor an HD DVD player: I have invested $0 in either format.<br /><br />In the interests of fairness here are links to the Wikipedia articles about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_disc">Blu-ray</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDDVD">HD DVD</a>.<br /><br />Right, with that out of the way, let's take a look at the pros and cons of each format. I'll start with the technical stuff because it's the least disputable objective stuff, and because I'm a techie. :-)<br /><br />We've already dealt with the resolution and audio availablity (despite all Blu-ray players being 1080p and some entry-level HD DVD players being only 1080i, I think we can pretty well call this one a tie), so what else is there?<br /><br />The most obvious criteria is storage capacity: Blu-ray has a 25GB/layer capacity whereas HD DVDs is 15GB/layer. Dual-layer machines are universal, so we have a practical limit of 50GB for Blu-ray and 30GB for HD DVD. More space means that there's more room for extras, and, from a videophiles point of view, that lower compression ratios can be used for better PQ. IF you think compression ratios don't matter, take two big pictures with your digital camera: one at the lowest compression and one at the highest. Now compare them; the picture with the most compression will be noticably worse than the other one. So, advantage Blu-ray.<br /><br />Not so obvious to the non-techie, but just as important as capacity, is the available bandwidth. Put simply, bandwidth is a measure of how much data the format handle per second. The higher the bandwidth, the better the potential PQ and AQ is. Audio and video information must be presented at a certain rate, otherwise it wouldn't be TV! Given the finite amount of time available to show each frame, it follows that a format with higher bandwidth can use a smaller amount of lossy compression, resulting in better quality.<br /><br />Compared to DVD (which has a peak audio+video bandwidth of 10.08 Mb/s), both HD DVD and Blu-ray offer much better bandwidth: 30.24 Mb/s for HD DVD and 48.0 Mb/s for Blu-ray (dedicated video bandwidth is 29.4 Mb/s and 40.0 Mb/s respectively). So, Blu-ray handily has the upper hand here, too.<br /><br />Arguably less important technical features include support for Picture in Picture (PIP), and Internet connectivity. Support for these features has been mandatory for HD DVD since day one, but only option for Blu-ray. That said, PIP support will be mandatory for all Blu-ray players launched after October 31 2007. Internet connectivity will still be optional for these so-called Profile 1.1 players, but is mandatory for players claiming to be Profile 2.0 compliant. So, advantage to HD DVD, although that advantage will be much reduced starting in November. Note that although HD DVD players must have an Ethernet port, nothing requires that these players are actually connected to the Internet. (I don't have network connectivity in my TV rack; do you?)<br /><br />Blu-ray also mandates the use of a hard, anti-scratch coating on discs, making them very durable. Advantage Blu-ray.<br /><br />Blu-ray unfortunately carries the idea of "Regions" over from DVD; all HD DVD platers are Region free. Advantage HD DVD, although it should be noted that several studios demanded support for Region encoding which is why it is part of the Blu-ray feature set. Also, the BDA has stipulated that only the first pressing of a movie can be region coded. Subsequent runs must be region free; many older titles are also region free, so (much as I hate region encoding) the situation on Blu-ray doesn't seem as dire as it could be.<br /><br />Summarising the above: each format has its pros and cons, but purely from a technical point of view, Blu-ray is indisputebly the superior format. I don't think anyone who compares the technical specs with an open mind can think otherwise.<br /><br />Of course, home movie viewing requires two things: a player and a disc to play. In other words, a format needs support from CEs for the players, and studios for the discs (movies) themselves. A player without movies is as useless as a disc without a player. This is where it starts getting interesting.<br /><br />At the time of writing, HD DVD players are available from Toshiba and Microsoft (the latter being an add-on for the Xbox360). Onkyo has announced an HD DVD player due out in the next couple of months, but that is reportedly a rebadged Toshiba... Blu-ray players are available from Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Philips, and Panasonic. Models from Denon and Sharp have been announced. So, consumers have much more choice when it comes to Blu-ray players than they do HD DVD players. I'm always a fan of competition, so advantage Blu-ray.<br /><br />But what about the movies? HD DVD is supported by Warner Bros., Paramount, and Universal (the latter is an HD DVD exclusive). Blu-ray is supported by Warner Bros., Paramount, Disney, Fox, and Sony Pictures, of which Disney, Fox, and Sony (and their subsidiaries) are Blu-ray exclusive. So advantage Blu-ray, which arguably has more content availablity.<br /><br />Blu-ray is technically superiror, has a greater choice of players, and has the support of more studios. So why is there a format war (at least in North America)?<br /><br />HD DVD players were available months before the first Blu-ray player, which was also plagued with problems. Some of the early Blu-ray releases (most notably The Fifth Element) were also less than ideal, so Blu-ray got off to a shakey start while HD DVD justifiably started out well. (Sony have since redemed themselves by issuing a much-improved remastered version of The Fifth Element, and will replace all earlier versions for free.)<br /><br />Early Blu-ray players were also very much more expensive than HD DVD players (even today, HD DVD players are cheaper than their Blu-ray counterparts), the cheapest one being $1000 US. Then, in November 2006, the shit hit the fan. Sony released their much-anticipated PS3, which used Blu-ray as its software medium. The PS3 also had the distinction of being hundreds of dollars less than other Blu-ray players, so it quickly became the biggest selling Blu-ray player. By February 2007, total Blu-ray movie sales passed HD DVD's, and so far this year, Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD every single week.<br /><br />This is where I start getting speculative. People only have so much disposable income, so early adopters who bought into HD DVD don't want to see that investment go to waste. Hence they continue to support HD DVD (though many have also acquired Blu-ray players, senseing the end for HD DVD is nigh). Other factions, mostly gamers it seems, support HD DVD because they detest Sony. Fair enough, but if they like movies, why don't they buy a Blu-ray player from one of the other CEs? Admittedly, Sony still get some royalties on those players, but I'm pretty sure that those Sony bashers listen to CDs. Are they even aware that Sony co-developed CD, and therefore gets royalties on every CD player and disc sold?<br /><br />So, Sony hatred is one reason that the format war drags on. Some people have suggested that the format war is a good thing, because it encourages competition and gets prices down. I agree: the format war was useful. But the time of its utility has passed: many potential high def player buyers are waiting for the war to end before they purchase, for fear of buying into the losing format. IMO, the format war is now harming the market by keeping it artificially small.<br /><br />Some people advocate that both formats can survive side by side. I think this is wrong. There has recently been a (lower profile) high def audio format war, with SACD on one side and DVD-A on the other. The situation was much the same as it is now (although the split was nearer 50:50 for software and hardware, and universal players became quite prevalent): neither side wanted to give up, and most people sat on the sidelines until a winner was declared.<br /><br />The result was that neither format gained mass-market acceptance, and both have essentially been relegated to niche status. In other words, neither format won, they're both dead, and consequently we're still listening to low res 16/42 CDs when we could be enjoying a high def 24/192 format. I really don't want the same thing to happen to high def video, so the sooner the war is declared over, the better. With the onslaught of titles coming up between now and Christmas, Blu-ray has a very good chance of winning. If you're considering getting into high def movies, I strongly recommend you buy into Blu-ray. Yes, HD DVD is much better than DVD, but why settle for second best? It's rare than the best technology wins, but in this case, the best technology (Blu-ray) has a real chance of winning!<br /><br />If you bought into HD DVD in the past, you have my condolances. You probably bought them when the outcome of the war was truely up in the air, so you made your best bet. But I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would buy into HD DVD now. Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD by more than 2:1 (and that ratio is increasing), and I'd say the former has a 99% chance of winning the war, so why buy into the losing side? Buy into Blu-ray, and lets get this stupid war over and done with! (Incidentally, Blu-ray sales are even further ahead of HD DVD's elsewhere in the world, almost to the point that as far as their concerned there is no format war (Blu-ray has already won), or if there is, it's a State-side phenomenom only.)<br /><br />Some pro-HD DVD people point to the cheaper players, claiming that HD DVD is the cheaper format. Bit of a shame the average HD DVD movie price is more than the Blu-ray one, isn't it? Over time, HD DVD is the more expensive format!<br /><br />Well, FWIW, I've said my piece. I've no doubt that this article will get ripped to shreds by HD DVD FUD spreaders. In case it isn't obvious, when funds permit, I'll be buying a Blu-ray player.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-69440852874461494452007-08-13T11:43:00.000-07:002007-08-13T11:47:42.704-07:00Second PAM article publishedThe <a href="http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/user_auth_solaris2.html">second article</a> in my series about PAM has been published on SDN. In it, I introduce PAM and some of the API functions.<br /><br />[Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Solaris" rel="tag">Solaris</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/OpenSolaris" rel="tag">OpenSolaris</a>]Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-41996345300719650612007-08-13T11:24:00.000-07:002007-08-13T11:42:41.786-07:00Why I hate watching movies on TVI love watching movies, but I (as a rule) hate watching them on TV. Why? There are three reasons (in no particular order):<br /><br /><nl><li>They're not shown in their original aspect ration (OAR), which means that I miss almost half the movie. To add insult to injury, many channels put up the disclaimer "This film has been reformatted to fit this TV". Well, the last time I checked, I had a widescreen TV, so reformatting the picture to 4:3 does nothing for me. I want to see the movie as the director originally intended. If that means I get some black bars, so be it.<br /><li>Adult language is altered, or just dubbed out. If I'm watching an adult-orientated movie, I want to hear everything, OK? Hearing Samual L. Jackson calling people "Melon Farmers" just doesn't cut it for me! Worse, many channels put up warnings "This show contains scenes of violence and course language. Viewer discretion is advised", and <i>still</i> delete the swearing. Now, I think those warnings are great, because they let viewers know that they might not like the content. But having issued the warnings, the least the networks can do is show the movie sans dubs.<br /><li>Adverts really get on my nerves. Not only do they interrupt the flow of the movie, the also mean that most films are edited for time. Fortunately, I watch most stuff in "time slip" mode (think Tivo), so the commercials are easily skipped.<br /></nl><br />The above are the main reasons why I tend not to watch movies on TV, and have a reasonably large DVD collection. But I've more or less stopped buying DVDs now because I see a high definition player in my (hopefully not-too-distant) future. I'll expand on my reasons in another post, but for now, suffice it to say that I'll be getting a <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Blu-ray" rel="tag">Blu-ray Disc</a> player.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-65771820493811970212007-07-29T13:16:00.000-07:002007-07-29T13:19:23.670-07:00New article publishedMy latest article, <a href="http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/user_auth_solaris1.html">User Authentication on the Solaris OS</a>, was recently published on Sun Developer Network. It's the first in a short series of articles I'm writing on this subject. Give it a read!Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-41874953396726175712007-07-29T13:08:00.000-07:002007-07-29T13:13:24.948-07:00Sysadmin stuffWell, it's been aeons since I last updated my blog, and a lot has happened (most of which probably isn't of interest to you, gentle reader). Friday July 27 was Sysadmin day, so hello fellow admins everywhere!<br /><br />I received my August copy of Sysadmin Magazine a few days ago, and I wondered why it felt a bit thinner than usual. The answer was to be found in Amber's editorial: Sysadmin Mag has ceased to be. It is bereft of life, it's pushing up the daisies. It is an ex-magazine! I'll miss it--I've been reading Sysadmin for years, and I've even had an article or two published in it.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-66195964526090949722007-04-17T15:11:00.000-07:002007-04-17T15:23:27.565-07:00Close, but no cigarA while ago I lamented that Sun's low end storage offerings were somewhat lacking. Well, today Sun announced the <a href="http://www.sun.com/storagetek/disk_systems/workgroup/2500/">StorageTek 2500 Array</a>, which looks like it might be a great product. But it's still a way-too-expensive overkill for entry level needs. (In fact, it looks very much like the big brother of what I envisioned in my original posting.)<br /><br />Sun, <i>please</i> release two truly entry-level, inexpensive, 1U high JBOD storage array: one using SAS disks, and the other using SATA (by inexpensive, I mean costing less than the entry-level servers one would connect the arrays to!). I'm talking about the modern day equivelent of the Netra D130 storage array: just a metal box, a power supply or two (hot swappable preferably), and any necessary relatively dumb interface electronics. No cache, no hardware RAID.<br /><br />I think the combination of an entry-level server using ZFS on <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Solaris" rel="tag">Solaris 10</a>, plus one (or more) of these arrays would be a competition killer.Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9976821.post-31694555648210566932007-04-16T09:12:00.000-07:002007-04-16T09:39:08.628-07:00Behind every great man...... there's an even greater woman.<br /><br />I'll leave the question of my greatness (or lack thereof) for others to ponder, but the woman behind me, my wife Jenny, really is great. She supported my dreams of writing my first book <a href="http://www.rite-group.com/rich/ssp">Solaris Systems Programming</a> by being the only bread-winner in our family for more than 3 years, despite the enormous stress it placed on her, and the huge pile of debt it (writing SSP) got us into.<br /><br />More recently (when I got back from my 7-month contracting stint in Edmonton), she has supported us while I spent the last 18 months or so working on my latest business, <a href="http://www.myonlinehomeinventory.com">My Online Home Inventory</a> (MOHI). I look forwward to the day that MOHI and my other business ideas are successful enough to be able to repay her (she's always wanted to take a vacation in Hawaii, and that seems to be more than fair compensation for what she's done)...<br /><br />Today is her birthday. I won't tell you how old she is, but let's just say she's celebrating the 11th anniversary of her 29th birthday. :-) Because it's her birthday, I thought now would be a good time to say a very public "thank you", so here it is: Jenny, many thanks for your love and support over the last few years. I couldn't have achieved all that I have without you, and I can't wait to be able to repay you.<br /><br />If any of my readers wants to send her a thank-you note (or wish her happy birthday), please send her an email at: jenny dot teer @ rite - group dot com.<br /><br />[Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/OpenSolaris" rel="tag">OpenSolaris</a> : <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Solaris" rel="tag">Solaris</a>]Rich Teerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13715111745738198209noreply@blogger.com3