Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Year: 2006

  • Why Do I Need Windows Vista?

    That’s the question raised by Mano over at his blog. It’s a rhetorical question, because he lists 15 reasons as to why he thinks the next version of Microsoft Windows will be worth it.
     
    Mmm, perhaps; but I’m afraid I’m much more cynical. I’ve got this sinking feeling that if I were to step up to Vista, then I won’t be just faced with the cost of upgrading my operating system, but also having to replace some core application software and related hardware.
     
    For example, with the current Technology Preview of Vista that I have installed for test; the soundcard, the webcam, and the USB video capture devices all don’t work. While I realise that this is not totally unexpected in a beta, my point is that I really don’t have much faith in the companies behind these devices coming out with new versions of drivers or application patches for Vista.
     
    Take the soundcard – it’s not a mass-market device, it’s the E-MU 1820M DSP, which is part of my home studio setup for musicmaking, in combination with Steinberg’s Cubase SX. Neither the E-MU driver, nor the E-MU application currently work in Vista. And then, Steinberg is notorious for releasing new versions of software and dropping support for older versions. I’m quite happy with my version 2 of Cubase SX – but Steinberg stopped support of this back in 2004. Based on their history, I doubt whether they’ll come out with a patch to make it work on Vista. And I doubt that I can afford to upgrade to a version of Cubase that is designed for Vista. I expect it will be a similar story for the video capture device (made by Adaptec, who have not updated the drivers or the application – despite the fact that it has bugs – since mid 2004).
     
    The real question is not "do I need Windows Vista?", but "what is the cost of upgrading/replacing my complete system – applications, hardware, and operating system?. The cost of the upgrade of the operating system alone is not the point. I would like to be proved wrong – it would be great if all my applications and hardware continued to be supported under Vista. But somehow, I don’t think that’s going to happen, and I’ll resign myself to soldiering on with Windows XP for as long as I can.
     
    Update: Out of curiosity, I tried installing Cubase SX2 and the Steinberg Midex 8 interface onto build 5270 of Vista. Neither would install properly. For Cubase, Vista announced: "Application blocked due to known Compatibility issues. This version of Windows Media Technologies is incompatible with or has been superseded by this version of Windows". Not entirely unexpected, I suppose, but without proactive support by Steinberg, then Cubase SX2 on Vista is dead in the water.

  • The Bog Bodies

    There was an interesting programme on the BBC last night: Timewatch: The Bog Bodies. It followed the archeological research that followed the discovery of two bodies preserved in Irish peat bogs. As well as the scientists involved in dating the remains, the research team also had a forensic pathologist (shades of Silent Witness – she could have been the inspiration for Sam Ryan) who was able to establish the manner of death.
     
    It appears that, in common with other similar finds, the two individuals did not go quietly into that long good night – they appear to have been tortured and killed. During the programme, reference was made to Tacitus, the Roman historian, who described such killings in Germany. A page from his Germany was shown, and the text (in translation) was: "Traitors and deserters are hung upon trees: cowards, shirkers and sodomites are suffocated in mud under a hurdle". Delightful.
     
    Ned Kelly, of the Museum of Ireland, is of the opinion that these were ritual killings, "offerings to the gods of fertility by kings to ensure a successful reign". He claims that the bodies are found on the borders of royal land or tribal boundaries. Somehow, this doesn’t sound quite right to me. Surely sacrifices to ensure the fertility of land would be more likely to be made on some holy spot within the boundaries. Burying bodies outside of the land sounds to me more like a symbolic banishment of criminals or those who have been rejected by the society – the class described by Tacitus.

  • Poignant Portrait

    Dr. Charles posts a poignant portrait of one of his patients. I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of Martin’s pupils who share the same chromasomal history. It is indeed bittersweet that their candle of optimistic light is snuffed out all too quickly.  

  • B&B for Bigots

    The highlands of Scotland has glorious scenery – and some Bed & Breakfast establishments that Martin and I clearly won’t be welcome at (scroll down on the link). Well, at least we know which places to avoid (…here be bigots). Good to know that UK dogs are welcome, though. One wonders what the owners have against dogs that don’t hail from Great Britain’s shores. Perhaps they are afraid of the possibility of rabies. I could make a comment about who is rabid here, but it seems too easy, somehow.
     
    (hat tip to Antonia’s blog)

  • Night Follows Day

    While some Nigerians show themselves to be humans with their brains turned on, others reveal themselves as sound arguments as to why cockroaches should inherit the earth.

  • Teju Cole

    A blog with wonderful writing that takes you into new ways of seeing people and culture.

  • Menagerie

    25 years ago, an artist by the name of Kit Williams created a puzzle in book form named Masquerade. Now, to mark the 25th anniversary, Dillon Waugh has created an homage in the form of a web site puzzle named Menagerie. Happy hunting!

  • How Free Is Your Free Will?

    I’ve mentioned Carl Zimmer’s fascinating book Parasite Rex before. He’s returned to one of its themes (that viruses alter host behaviour) in his blog. In "The Return of the Puppet Masters" he leads off with the rather startling question: are brain parasites altering the personalities of three billion people? Go and read it. I’m just mindful of the fact that we will need to get a cat to keep the mouse population down around the farmhouse. If I don’t already carry Toxoplasma gondii in my brain, I probably soon will do.

  • Turning The Pages

    If you have a broadband connection to the Internet, then check out the British Library’s Turning the Pages online gallery. I hope that the content of more books is made available over the web in this way.

  • In The Thick Of It

    Life imitates Art. Although real life politics seems even more morally bankrupt than that portrayed in the TV satire. Why am I not surprised?

  • So, How Did You Do?

    I see that the answers to the King William’s College quiz have now been published. As expected, I did miserably, and am kicking myself that I did not get more, particularly in the Grimm’s section. I should have just slowed down and thought about the questions, instead of dashing through them… 

  • Gaia’s Not a Well Woman

    Is James Lovelock over-egging the pudding, or is he right to give his warning? The cynic in me sees a connection between the article and the fact that his new book is due. Still, part of me thinks that all is not well with our ecosphere, and that the balancing act is at risk. Will it become morbidly apparent during my lifetime? Probably not, but I do worry for today’s youngsters. My great-nephew had his birthday yesterday. What sort of world will he take over from our stewardship?

  • Transmutation

    There’s an increasing use of digital techniques to encode analogue signals all around us. Despite what I wrote about Digital Radio, it doesn’t necessarily have to be worse than the analogue FM broadcasts – it all depends on what the broadcaster does. And while there are plenty of Hi-Fi buffs who detest digital per se (“CDs can never sound as good as LPs”), I’m not one of them. I’m quite happy to buy CDs instead of continuing with analogue LPs.
    In preparation for our move to the farmhouse in April, I’m currently transcribing my old LPs and tapes into digital form and storing them on computer hard disc and DVDs. This will have the twin benefits of saving us some precious living space and allowing subsequent archive copies to be made without further degradation of quality.
    It’s been a fascinating wander down memory lane during the transmutation process. I’m hearing things that I haven’t heard for years. For example, yesterday I heard radio plays from the BBC from the early 1970s – Penthesilea (by Heinrich von Kleist, adapted by Robert Nye), The Hero Rises Up (with Paul Daneman and Fenella Fielding) and Cries from Casement as His Bones Are Brought to Dublin (by David Rudkin). And I came across some tape recordings that I made some 35 years ago of organ pieces played by a university colleague. l made the recordings on my trusty Revox A77 recorder, which, when I fired it up yesterday for the first time in 20 years, performed as well as ever. The Swiss built those machines to last.

  • Ambient Intelligence

    Philips Research is experimenting with something it calls Ambient Intelligence. It’s where you are surrounded in your home by a network of devices (lights, air-conditioners, entertainment systems, curtains, chairs, etc.) that all communicate with each other and are aware of what you are doing.
     
    There’s a scenario that Philips has put together to describe what storytelling to your children might be like in such an environment. Sounds more like the first step to the dystopia described by Paul Di Filippo to me…

  • Digital Radio Worse Than FM

    I see the dirty little secret of Digital Radio has been let out of the box – its quality is usually worse than that of FM Radio. The digital radio industry is hastily backpedalling – "Mandy Green, of the Digital Radio Development Bureau, said the industry no longer promoted digital on sound quality". Hah. The BBC seeks to reassure us: "We believe we are providing good sound quality on all our digital radio networks and recent research bears this out. The majority of people are very satisfied with the sound quality with around 95 per cent of digital radio listeners rating it ‘excellent’, ‘good’ or ‘satisfied’". Well, yes, if you’re listening to a portable radio in the kitchen, then I don’t suppose you’ll notice a thing. But if you’d like to listen to a classical music concert from BBC3 on your hi-fi system, then tough – you’ll often hear the difference, because the BBC will drop the bit rates to below CD quality.
     
    As usual, I find myself in the minority, and, as usual, we’re the ones that get screwed via the "9 billion flies can’t be wrong" mode of thinking that is so typical today. Why is it always the lowest common denominator, and never the highest common factor that is pursued?
     
    Still, I can indulge in a little bit of schadenfreude here – I’ve never invested in a digital radio set, but kept tight hold of my trusty old FM tuner. So I, at least, can continue to hear music as god intended – via FM.

  • huey – Calibrate Your Monitors

    Here’s another gadget that, if I had the money, I would definitely get. It is huey, manufactured by Pantone, a device that will help calibrate your computer display(s) for proper colour balance. If you’re serious about your photography and use your computer as a digital darkroom, then this is definitely a device to consider. I have two LCD displays on my main computer, and even to my untrained eye I can see that the colour balance on the two screens is not the same. It’s tricky, though, to correct it by hand. That’s where a device like huey comes in.

  • Erwin Olaf

    Erwin Olaf has a new exhibition of photographs showing in New York. They are redolent of the US of the 1950s. You can see them on his site; click through to his portfolio pages via the Art link. The series have the titles "Hope" and "Rain". 

  • Butterfly Cakes

    Squeezeweasel, over at the Gastronmy Domine blog, publishes the recipe for butterfly cakes. My mother used to make these by the dozens. I must have a go myself to stem the pangs of nostalgia.

  • Noooooo…..

    Please tell me that this won’t happen…

  • Falling Behind…

    Damn, I’m no longer in the top 50 largest libraries catalogued in LibraryThing. I’m currently at joint 51st with junglemom (waves). I wish Amazon would hurry up and deliver the books I ordered before Christmas, then I might have a chance of clawing my way back into the top 50 again…