If you complain about your computer's hardware…
…this post is dedicated to you!
To begin with, I'm really tired of listening/reading your rantings each time Apple releases a new model because your mac (which was superkewl yesterday) now sucks ass and you desperately MUST replace it with the brand new one.
Even if it wears an evil, demoniac, intel inside, about what you also complained some months ago during hours and hours and lines and lines of chat, saying "omfg it's going to be a mac with a BIOS! how can I use a mac which has a fucking BIOS! it is a damn pc!".
Now that they won't have a BIOS but another system seems like you can accept them and have fallen in love with them. Ok I don't care about it, kudos to you, but please STOP annoying me about my powerbook and comparing it with the new macbooks.
My powerbook keeps being as funky and cool as yesterday. It didn't degrade into a 68000 powered powerbook when Steve Jobs presented the new laptops. Its great G4 processor is still inside and running superbly.
And I keep doing my stuff with it, and will continue like that until it falls disintegrated by the constant use. Or something like that. Because, if I am not using the 100% of the processor power why do I need to upgrade?
This leads to the second point. It really pisses me off when I chat with or receive e-mails from people which try to make music/3D/code/whatever but can't because (in their opinion) they don't have a good equipment. Listen: that's plainly stupid.
I was making music for years with my desktop Pentium II, and I just bought a laptop because I needed mobility. I could have continued with my PII for years, because it simply worked, it didn't turn to be slower each time a new chip was released. Its speed was always the same. Constant. No need for another computer because I always did the same tasks with it.
And hence it sounds to me like you're talking rubbish when you start saying "oh only if I had a better computer, I would do [put here whatever] much better". Shut up and start doing something which makes my jaws fell the floor. If you really want it you will get it, even if you have the most ridiculous computer in earth.
The demoscene is full of good examples of great work made with poor equipment. Please take careful note and don't come back until you have something cool to show me. I don't want to listen to more stupidities for a long time. Thanks.
Jikan
20060126
You are right. It's not just about hardware, it's about everything. When you want to do something you find a way to do it. When you don't, you find an alibi (or a thousand).
humphr3y
20060126
a) Al primer parrafo. Totalmente de acuerdo.. quemaré mi PC y volveré a usar mi Amiga 1200… i don't need more processor power…
b) Al segundo parrafo… OPTIMIZACIÓN A DOLOR RULEZ FOREVER!!
Jcl
20060127
Sadly, today is not just about processor speeds (like in the good old day), where simple optimization was enough.
Today is about hardware specialization… if you need to use some capability only higher-end hardware has, then you DO need that higher-end hardware.
For example, I need a PS 2.0 capable card to be able to use HDR maps as textures… you could hack it via software, using the main CPU? Yeah. Realtime? Absolutely never (not with today's CPUs… or the ones in the next 3/4 years, at least.. and I'm being generous here).
The main problem here, is that, if you have seen some HDR-tricks on textures in realtime already (maybe on other people's computers, on games, on videos that -you know- are realtime)… if you can't do them due to the lack of hardware, then there's absolutely nothing you can do about it (other than buying that hardware), and everything you do with your lower-end hardware afterwards, will not look as imrpessive (since there are other more impressive things).
Of course, this is all "technically" speaking… the "art" part of "what is better than something else" is completely subjective and no serious arguing could take place for it.
Regarding to the Intel/Mac thing, you are absolutely right… regarding to "generally [technically] speaking", I have to disagree.
sole
20060127
of course if you do that kind of tasks… but I was suggesting demoscene as an example of [ab]using computers until their limits…
humphr3y
20060127
De todas maneras, la demoscene aprovechó las máquinas mientras estas fueron más o menos "cerradas" o al menos no se actualizaban cada 3 semanas como ahora… es decir, entonces el hardware era más como las consolas de hoy en día (por eso la playstation duró tanto -no es la única razón- … se optimizaron los juegos hasta que ya no se podía más… y probablemente ocurra lo mismo con la PS2) … Amiga, Atari, los primeros PC… todo se optimizaba mucho más y se sacaba más rendimiento, pq las actualizaciones se extendían más en el tiempo … ahora te sacan una tarjeta gráfica cada 3 meses completamente nueva… suben los procesadores cada 6… y lo malo no es eso, sino como bien dice J, hay que especializarse encima en cada tipo de hardware… demasiado p'albody!
sole
20060127
janfri… dime que porcentaje scener de hoy en dia usa los Pixel Shaders & co al maximo…!
Y (ejem) para hacer musica/graficos no te hace falta la rehostia :D
En fin, que no me toquen la moral, que se callen y produzcan.
Jcl
20060127
Uhm… no se si escribir esto en inglés o castellano x'D
Pues va en inglés, por seguir la temática:
About the music, don't think so either, I'm currently redoing one of my own 1996 themes (then composed in ScreamTracker 3)… and I'm now using soft-synths and stuff. This would have been barely impossible to do on the 486-33 where I composed that tune :-)
It's just probably that changes in the way we use things doesn't come from night and day, but none of us work now like we did when we used that P-II (even if it's still valid for the job). We make things faster -and better- in most aspects (i.e.: the same timeframe to occupy with one thing gets better results).
It's just that our change and adaptation is slower than the new hardware rate, but hey, we don't also buy ALL the hardware that gets out.
Jcl
20060127
To affirm my wording:
http://jcl.scenesp.org/files/music/cutjcl_esc.mp3
http://jcl.scenesp.org/files/music/cutjcl_esc2006.mp3
Notice that I've removed many things from the 2006 version, and just left what was there in the original.
If not in the musical skills of the cut, just look at the sound quality. The only fact that I'm composing that realtime makes it enough to be able to say that I could have NOT composed that in 1996 (due to my hardware constrains), when I composed the original.
So, hardware does indeed help make more quality stuff… even with music (or graphics) :)
jon
20060129
para trabajar con gráficos con garantías necesitas una cpu medianamente reciente y mucha mucha memoria. yo antes tenía un athlonxp 2000+ y un giga de memoria, ahora va todo a la mitad, petó la mitad de la memoria y el micro me va a 1200 mh y lo noto mucho a la hora de trabajar. bueno, de hecho, ya no hago 3d por el sufrimiento que suponía. y el photoshop se arrastra.
en resumen, esto no depende de la máquina, depende de lo que hagas. ahora mi trabajo exige más máquina que la que tengo, podría trabajar como he hecho hasta hace 4 años, pero las cosas cambian, los métodos de trabajo tambien, y como no hay pasta, habrá que seguir arrastrandose con este equipo.
asi que, para gráficos, SI es importante la máquina. y mucho.