Bloody technology

Emp_Fab

So, I've spent the past 24h rebuilding my old Xbox because I tried to enable 720p output.  I'll spare you the details but at one point I had no fewer than 18 tabs open on my browser - all with different guides on how to do it, many of which were completely wrong !

My ex-drummer emails me to meet up, but I don't get the email for hours because of god only knows what.  I try to reply but it just keeps saying 'sending', so I text him, but can't get a signal indoors.  By the time he gets my reply, he's made other plans.

I managed to get a 230V whack off the Xbox (first time in decades I've had a shock), none of my USB keys work in it, my laptop only reads the buggers if they're half way out, none of the recovery DVDs I burned are recognised by the Xbox... blah blah blah blah.... and so on.

Why is technology these days not the perfect automated utopia it should be, but instead is a pile of half-cocked lumps of untested code bolted onto shit hardware, supported by people with no training who couldn't care less.  Trying to work your way around the endless bugs in most stuff these days means that instead of enjoying technology, you just end up inventing new swear words for it and getting redder in the face.  Even the bluetooth in the car won't work properly unless you make a dummy call first after starting the engine, then the conversation will involve you ringing the other person a dozen times per call as you keep getting cut off with no signal - in the middle of a city.

The number of times I've rolled my eyes and exclaimed "Oh... For F***KS SAKE !!" in the past week or so..... oh look, and this bloody editor has suddenly changed font and spacing for no other reason than it hates me.

PolarityMan

Bottom Line: People dont want to pay for things

Myranda

I too have had a really hard time with technology.

The front USB 3 ports on my case stopped thinking they were USB 3, and were acting all high and might USB 2. Well, short story long, the driver that came on the motherboard CD did that every now and then if the PC had gone into sleep mode, new driver (which was on their website so really easy to find) and it works fine.

That's it really.

OK so not the disaster I made out, but for about a minute it was pretty harrowing

chrispy108

I'm not sure you can really call you trying to use a 12 year old games console as a media streamer as an example of modern technology being shit...

Go spend £50 on a Roku and be amazed

monquixote

Or spend £30 on a Pi

 

Works perfectly costs next to nowt.

Myranda

I still say the Pi has issues as a media streamer thanks to there being no silverlight compatibility so Lovefilm and Netflix are not yet an option for many... But otherwise for that money there's not much that can even compete, let alone better it

monquixote

Myranda said:

I still say the Pi has issues as a media streamer thanks to there being no silverlight compatibility so Lovefilm and Netflix are not yet an option for many... But otherwise for that money there's not much that can even compete, let alone better it

I think that's more of a problem with Lovefilm and Netflix than it is with the Pi

I've got Lovefilm free with my Amazon Prime and there is absolutely bugger all to watch on there other than Disney films. 

Myranda

It is, and it isn't just down to the Providers... there are apparently issues with Broadcom releasing info on parts of the chip that have hindered programmers... so the Android OS for Pi (and Android can do Netflix) is still not fully working

monquixote

The Broadcom wasn't really an ideal choice as it isn't really as open as you would expect for a project of this type, but I expect it was all that was on offer because of the founders relationship with the company. 

The fact that it's ARM6 with hardware floating point means you have to recompile everything which is also tedious.

digitalscream

For what it's worth, there's a solution to the Pi problem:

http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone+Black

Far superior product, and not much more expensive.

monquixote

Looks interesting. 

I like the Pi because of it's ubiquity. 

Pretty much whatever you want to do someone else has done it first and provided an image.

chillidoggy

I like chicken and mushroom pi.

digitalscream

monquixote said:

Looks interesting. 

I like the Pi because of it's ubiquity. 

Pretty much whatever you want to do someone else has done it first and provided an image.

True, but the standard ARM build of Ubuntu works on the Black, which means that it's a lot more mature as a platform.

Still, I'd like to see someone come out with one of these that had 1GB or more of RAM. Maybe a dual-core CPU as well.

Emp_Fab

So, these things you speak of....  would they have the ability to let me watch Iplayer, ITV, 4OD etc "catch up" services, as well as stream movies from my NAS box in the kitchen ? and have some kind of remote control like my old Xbox ? - because that's all I really use the old Xbox for - running XBMC.  It would be so much easier if such a thing existed for my 360, but, alas, it appears not.

I also like chicken and mushroom pi.

stickyfiddle

What you need is a PS3...

monquixote

I use mine for iPlayer, Spotify, TV Catchup, Youtube, Tune In Radio and as a NAS. 

I think 4OD works, but I don't think I've tried it. 

You use RaspBMC you can use just about anything on XBMC.

Emp_Fab

...oooh I can feel another project coming on !!!  The things I'll do to avoid laying laminate flooring.

What about a remote control ?  Can you control a Pi with a remote ?

Emp_Fab

Err.... I've just been googling and ebaying... sod that for a game of soldiers...  that "next to nothing" suddenly becomes over £60 when you tot up the cost of the Pi, the SD card, the remote etc etc.  Nice idea though.....  when the old Xbox dies, I'll probably go down the Pi route.

digitalscream

Emp_Fab said:

Err.... I've just been googling and ebaying... sod that for a game of soldiers...  that "next to nothing" suddenly becomes over £60 when you tot up the cost of the Pi, the SD card, the remote etc etc.  Nice idea though.....  when the old Xbox dies, I'll probably go down the Pi route.

You don't need a remote - there are remote apps for any Android phone (I use Yatse, but there's an official XBMC remote app too). All you really need is an SD card, the Pi and a USB power supply with micro-USB lead (I use the USB socket on the back of our TV). I think it came to about £40.

EDIT: If you've got a desktop PC, you can just keep all your media files on there and use Windows file sharing over the network (RaspBMC does this). That way, you can get away with a 2GB SD card because you're not storing anything on the Pi itself.

Jalapeno

Had a day like that last week. My audio in/out had developed a loud transformer hum that was being amplified.

2 hrs later - one dodgy lead, a duff Behringer RX1602 line mixer, and a broken mac mini*.....   not a good day.

* Boot just gives a flashing Folder Symbol with a "?" in the middle - which I'm guessing means "I can't find a boot disc"

Myranda

digitalscream said:

monquixote said:

Looks interesting. 

I like the Pi because of it's ubiquity. 

Pretty much whatever you want to do someone else has done it first and provided an image.

True, but the standard ARM build of Ubuntu works on the Black, which means that it's a lot more mature as a platform.

Still, I'd like to see someone come out with one of these that had 1GB or more of RAM. Maybe a dual-core CPU as well.

Like http://www.digikey.com/product-highlights/us/en/texas-instruments-pandaboard/686?