Gyroscopic Investing

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:09 pm

dualstow wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 5:16 pm ...Sound Blaster

I remember when I first got into PC building (this was like 2005 or so), it was a serious faux pas amongst enthusiasts to use onboard audio. To be fair, those sound blaster cards were REALLY good at creating spatial audio.

The usual snide remark about onboard audio was "do you really want to hear data going across your USB bus when you put on your headphones?"

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:16 pm

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:09 pm

dualstow wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 5:16 pm ...Sound Blaster

I remember when I first got into PC building (this was like 2005 or so), it was a serious faux pas amongst enthusiasts to use onboard audio. To be fair, those sound blaster cards were REALLY good at creating spatial audio.

The usual snide remark about onboard audio was "do you really want to hear data going across your USB bus when you put on your headphones?"

When I first got into PC building around 1990, there was no such thing as onboard audio. The SoundBlaster really was revolutionary. The equivalent thing being built into motherboards was actually really convenient: most PC users don't really care about a bit of noise in their audio.

I remember that Altec Lansing (the speaker company) around 1998 came out with a line called "True Digital Audio". The idea was that the audio stayed digital and went to the speakers over USB, so your digital-to-audio was carried out in a dedicated audio device completely separate from your PC. That's the way to do low-noise, for sure. Frustratingly, the lowest-end "True Digital Audio" speakers, which I bought, turned out to only use the USB connection for volume control, and you still had to use a 1/8" cable for the actual audio, which of course is not "True Digital Audio" at all. False advertising and I've hated them with a passion ever since.

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:37 pm

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:16 pm

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:09 pm

dualstow wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 5:16 pm ...Sound Blaster

I remember when I first got into PC building (this was like 2005 or so), it was a serious faux pas amongst enthusiasts to use onboard audio. To be fair, those sound blaster cards were REALLY good at creating spatial audio.

The usual snide remark about onboard audio was "do you really want to hear data going across your USB bus when you put on your headphones?"

When I first got into PC building around 1990, there was no such thing as onboard audio. The SoundBlaster really was revolutionary. The equivalent thing being built into motherboards was actually really convenient: most PC users don't really care about a bit of noise in their audio

Great story. I remember reading somewhere (maybe an article in Maximum PC?) that much of the noise reduction advantages of the dedicated audio card literally just came from the fact that the card was elevated off the motherboard and physically distant.

I used that audio card to hook up my first set of 5.1 speakers to play Counter-Strike: Source. Sigh. I miss being a teenager.

Hal wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 3:56 pm

Well, you can reminisce here! https://books.google.com.au/books?id=w_ ... ues_anchor

FWIW, My first PC was a Commodore PC10.

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 4:04 pm

- After that I started to earn some of my own money as a teenager and at one point I'm pretty sure I had like half a dozen machines in my room alone lol

yankees60 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 6:28 pm

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 4:04 pm
- After that I started to earn some of my own money as a teenager and at one point I'm pretty sure I had like half a dozen machines in my room alone lol

As a teenager!!!!

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 6:30 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 6:28 pm

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 4:04 pm

- After that I started to earn some of my own money as a teenager and at one point I'm pretty sure I had like half a dozen machines in my room alone lol

As a teenager!!!!

It's not hard to afford computers when you're buying secondhand thinkpads for $200 haha!

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:50 am There are some old games I really want to play.

Shogo, Rainbox Six, Swat 2, Warcraft 2, and others.

I was thinking of buying an old Windows XP machine so that I could play them natively again.

dualstow wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:17 am

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:50 am There are some old games I really want to play.

Shogo, Rainbox Six, Swat 2, Warcraft 2, and others.

I was thinking of buying an old Windows XP machine so that I could play them natively again.

Have you used an emulator and played them non-natively?

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 1:09 pm

dualstow wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:17 am

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:50 am
There are some old games I really want to play.

Shogo, Rainbox Six, Swat 2, Warcraft 2, and others.

I was thinking of buying an old Windows XP machine so that I could play them natively again.

Have you used an emulator and played them non-natively?

Yeah... it's just not the same. There's almost always some kind of frame rate, stuttering, crashing, or glitching issue. The game's responsiveness just doesn't "feel" the same. During my move from Vancouver to Edmonton I dumped that old Windows XP desktop at value village. Definitely regretting that now.

buuut.... OMG.

Some of the games I listed are re-released on Steam!!

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:01 pm
What did you sell yours for? You should be able to buy a similar one at about the same price?

Plenty of them available on eBay:

Capture.JPG

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:06 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:01 pm

What did you sell yours for? You should be able to buy a similar one at about the same price?

Plenty of them available on eBay:

Capture.JPG

Nice! I might hop down to a local used computer store this weekend too, just to check things out.

I didn't get any $$$ for mine. I was happy just to get rid of it without having to pay, never mind getting paid.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:28 pm
I took all the hard drives out of about six computers. Also took out all the CD-ROM drives. Then put then at the end of my driveway. I was shocked at how quickly they were taken.

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 1:09 pm

dualstow wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:17 am

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:50 am There are some old games I really want to play.

Shogo, Rainbox Six, Swat 2, Warcraft 2, and others.

I was thinking of buying an old Windows XP machine so that I could play them natively again.

Have you used an emulator and played them non-natively?

Yeah... it's just not the same. There's almost always some kind of frame rate, stuttering, crashing, or glitching issue. The game's responsiveness just doesn't "feel" the same. During my move from Vancouver to Edmonton I dumped that old Windows XP desktop at value village. Definitely regretting that now.

buuut.... OMG.

Some of the games I listed are re-released on Steam!!

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:39 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:28 pm
I took all the hard drives out of about six computers. Also took out all the CD-ROM drives. Then put then at the end of my driveway. I was shocked at how quickly they were taken.

I remember seeing a fellow doing something like that in Vancouver... no one took the machines because it rains so much in Vancouver and water damage already got to them.