Your favourite computer of all time?

[ChanMan]

Please buy a new case! That one hurts my eyes.

 

 

Not into retro, eh?

 

How about this one then :

 

 

[MrNylon]

I'll go with the one between my two ears. It wasn't mine that thought up, or built the computer. But a human's gray mattered computer conceived it.

[Jeff-7]

Cray XMP-24

I remember first reading about those in Jurassic Park, very neat supercomputers.

[Tman5293]

Not into retro, eh?

 

How about this one then :

 

 

 

Much better!

[djroge1]

I remember first reading about those in Jurassic Park, very neat supercomputers.

 

That model is on display at the NSA museum on Ft. Meade. It is pretty cool and you can actually sit on it - well at least when I was there you could.

[bonzoboy]

GSGBass gave the exact answer that I gave a while ago when someone else asked the same question so my answer remains the same.The greatest computers are the ones that were born with.Artificial intelligence has made almost a whole generation "brain lazy" rather than figure out the most simple of problems their first instinct is to go to the computer to get the answer.Kids these days don't even have the slightest clue about multiplication tables or even what they are in many cases.

[milod]

Bonzo...

 

The academics, OTOH, claim that since various calculators are so ubiquitous, the important thing is to teach processes, not tables.

 

I'm not arguing, just noting that one might wonder what could have happened if the same perspective had been in order when I was in school and it's not that hard to learn to use a slide rule.

 

They figure that learning how to put math questions into a form to be solved is more important than the arithmetic involved in solving various questions.

 

It's interesting to me that the older system emphasized the "how to do" and the new system "why to do."

 

m

[ChanMan]

GSGBass gave the exact answer that I gave a while ago when someone else asked the same question so my answer remains the same.The greatest computers are the ones that were born with.Artificial intelligence has made almost a whole generation "brain lazy" rather than figure out the most simple of problems their first instinct is to go to the computer to get the answer.Kids these days don't even have the slightest clue about multiplication tables or even what they are in many cases.

 

 

Brain Lazy. I'm gonna have to remember that one!

 

Computers are tools. In the interest of parity, do we also bash those folks who are "leg lazy" and using those pesky cars? Kids these days don't know the first thing about horses..... and they'll jump in the car to ride two miles to the store!

 

 

same logic.... makes an equal amount of sense.

[mcmurray]

Commodore Amiga, closely followed be the C64.

[RowdyMoon]

Best one is the one I am on now.....first time I actually put some cash into a decent system.

[Charles Obscure]

I've been a Mac addict for many years. I also had a PC strictly for games years ago, a Pentium III something or other, but it wasn't worth the trouble after a while.

That being said, like others here have mentioned, my current one is my favorite. iMac Intel 2.66MHz Core 2 Duo, 1TB hard drive Craigslist special, plus a second monitor (Dell). With a 1TB external HD set up as a Time Machine, I never have to worry about backups now! It's come in handy on numerous occasions.

 

[J.R.M.30!]

All these responses, I am thoroughly surprised nobody said Acer. Hands down the best computre that I've only used a hand full of times. What does 'Ol Rabies have to say about this topic, how 'bout Farnsey, Pippy Long-Stocking, Soucey, come on where are you guys on this impressive topic?

[milod]

With all due respect, guys, today's consumer computers have essentially been an Apple brand hardware and basic in/out hardware and firmware with an Intel chip running a variation of Unix - and a batch of other branded hardware running with a basic in/out somewhat different and running a variation of a non-proprietary operating system called Windows - or another version of Unix.

 

In short, it's almost the same hardware with two "more popular" operating systems. The proprietary hardware and OS company costs more and has a following; the non-proprietary hardware/software software solution with Windows has the price advantage with less reliability and utility at the low end and exceptional utility and reliability at the high end.

 

Don't get mad yet if you think I'm attacking your favorite.

 

A lotta that's changing right now. Win 8 and Mac OS and "whatever OS" are bumped increasingly into pad type hardware designed mostly to connect to the Internet and utilize "aps" rather than software that does work - and connecting to a "cloud."

 

The bottom line will not be the names "Mac" and "PC," but rather which sort of "device" a buyer wants in his or her pocket to do various sorts of communication activities.

 

Meanwhile true "professional" applications will further languish since the ones we have today work quite well and changing operating systems simply make the "upgrades" slower and bigger memory hogs and therefore increasing the "need" to lease them from a corporate "cloud,"

 

So... companies resist and sabotage the current generation of Macs and PCs that are quite capable with a few tweaks to be quite professional thank you, for everything from writing and publishing words and photos to running CAD/CAM and --- recording music.

 

The average Jack and Jill will not know much difference as long as they can see an amateur level of sight and sound.

 

I think one must note that "we" don't collectively think in terms of "computer" any more, but rather a keyboard, a screen, and programs to do work. Note you'll see increasing touch screen tech on almost anything you can buy - including the keyboard.

 

Note that both Mac and PCs functionally have quit promoting their OS ability to do macros and self-time all sorts of opening and closing of programs to do ... whatever. Nowadays you instead must purchase an "ap" for that. Hmmm.

 

The fact today is that electronic zeroes and ones are messed with in a box somewhere is not relevant. It's no more relevant in a phone, a pad or "computer" than the fact that they already are running our "television" flat screens. Just as nobody considers the technological marvel that puts ink on paper or manufactures their tableware, we've already approaching that point in "computers."

 

For example, do you like a Jeep or a Ford SUV? In a sense, it's down to a choice of comfort level and a given model's specific qualities and brand loyalty. Both go on the highway, both have very similar controls, both carry X number of people...

 

The specifics of the computer operating system that makes each vehicle run - and a computer and operating system definitely is the sine qua non of today's vehicle - are entirely irrelevant.

 

That's where we're headed - and for most folks, we're already there.

 

m

[Charles Obscure]

So... companies resist and sabotage the current generation of Macs and PCs that are quite capable with a few tweaks to be quite professional thank you, for everything from writing and publishing words and photos to running CAD/CAM and --- recording music.

Agreed! Adobe is one of the worst offenders IMHO, every time they come out with a new "CS.x" update to my publishing software. It's a hassle when you have to ask a print vendor "What version of InDesign CS do you support?"

Plus, I have to partition my hard drive and reboot to Mac OS 10.6 in order to run many of the games that I love that won't run in OS 10.7 Lion. :angry:

 

Why couldn't they have kept Rosetta (PPC compatibility) in 10.7?? Pretty damn inconvenient I say!

[milod]

Y'see, you're thinking like a professional person wanting practical use out of professional software.

 

I think that's increasingly naive. In ways I'm kidding with that term since you and I apparently do similar work with similar pro software, but...

 

After watching OS "upgrades" on both PC and "Mac" platforms that no longer can use "old" professional programs, I can't help but consider that in the long run we're going to lose most pro software that is marvelously effective because ... it's marvelously effective and new consumer electrics OS versions simply won't support it.

 

If you're in publishing, my best guess is that we'll end up with a lotta kids' toy publishing and photo and even video and recording programs, but the real pro stuff will take us back to the dark ages of more or less proprietary OS, software and formats. Needless to say, there will be fewer real pro aps at an affordable level even as scitex and targa formats are seldom seen in most current publishing environments but once were the standards for "pro" work.

 

Here's the deal, they're looking at ways to interconnect everybody via facebook-like web stuff and making it look professional is less necessary as long as "we" can get others to "like" us on line.

 

More crud, more touchie-feelie... but likeable and accessible.

 

Besides why should "we" let pro level software fall to a price point amateurs might learn to use it well enough to record music, video or produce text and images that could look professional if they worked at it?

 

Yeah, I'm cynical. A lotta old pro publishing and recording stuff works quite well. But you won't see such capability available at any cost on most "devices" folks will be buying over the next 10 years. And the pros will have a choice of joining the crappy mass software styles or buying reeeeally pricey specialized stuff.

 

Again, Mac or PC? That's like arguing Whippet vs. Model A. It can be fun, but is increasingly irrelevant.

 

m

[Charles Obscure]

Y'see, you're thinking like a professional person wanting practical use out of professional software.

 

I think that's increasingly naive. In ways I'm kidding with that term since you and I apparently do similar work with similar pro software, but...

 

After watching OS "upgrades" on both PC and "Mac" platforms that no longer can use "old" professional programs, I can't help but consider that in the long run we're going to lose most pro software that is marvelously effective because ... it's marvelously effective and new consumer electrics OS versions simply won't support it.

 

If you're in publishing, my best guess is that we'll end up with a lotta kids' toy publishing and photo and even video and recording programs, but the real pro stuff will take us back to the dark ages of more or less proprietary OS, software and formats. Needless to say, there will be fewer real pro aps at an affordable level even as scitex and targa formats are seldom seen in most current publishing environments but once were the standards for "pro" work.

 

Here's the deal, they're looking at ways to interconnect everybody via facebook-like web stuff and making it look professional is less necessary as long as "we" can get others to "like" us on line.

 

More crud, more touchie-feelie... but likeable and accessible.

 

Besides why should "we" let pro level software fall to a price point amateurs might learn to use it well enough to record music, video or produce text and images that could look professional if they worked at it?

 

Yeah, I'm cynical. A lotta old pro publishing and recording stuff works quite well. But you won't see such capability available at any cost on most "devices" folks will be buying over the next 10 years. And the pros will have a choice of joining the crappy mass software styles or buying reeeeally pricey specialized stuff.

 

Again, Mac or PC? That's like arguing Whippet vs. Model A. It can be fun, but is increasingly irrelevant.

 

m

After 35 years in the printing business, my current job is to provide print production support to the marketing of a large direct mail clothing supplier who produces a LOT of catalogs and mailers. We build our catalog pages in-house using Mac Adobe CS applications. The page layout files we then supply to our outside vendor (I'll use the term "color separator", if you know what that means) have to be Adobe Mac Indesign files. The color separator then in turn supplies the print-ready files to the printer. Nowadays, these are commonly high resolution PDFs.

The thing is everybody's software has to be compatibile. It's our color separators job to know what the printer needs and it's our job to know what the separator can work with. This includes the image workflow, which is Photoshop/Illustrator based and another bag o' worms. Funny you should mention Scitex, mywife used to be a Scitex assembler operator, and I was a Gerber Autoprep operator, LOL! That's how old we are.

Believe me, I'm no Adobe fanboi, but if there's any alternative publishing program that can even come close to what Adobe can offer to the high end "real world" of digital prepress and printing workflow, we would have been using it by now. There's no naiveté there, just the facts. :)

I love talking about printing, but to tell you the truth, I'm damn glad to get the hell out of work every day, get home, plug in, and PLAY MY GUITAR!

[milod]

Chas...

 

My first job in the biz was in '65 testing ink and paper for quality heatset letterpress and some offset stuff for magazine covers at Meredith Printing.

 

Next thing I knew I was back in college, then newspapering where basically I've done everything in offset from news photography up to running a press or doing seps with a camera the old way. I do love the potential we gained with direct to neg or plate.

 

Ran a mag and even started doing some of my own 100-150 line seps in the mid/late '80s with an early version of PhotoShop (depending on the printer, it usually was short runs up to 50,000 or so sheetfed)

 

... then back to newspapers and keeping up with stuff used at the mid levels (85-line screen, crappy paper and inks, etc.) - mostly on the editorial/production side, sometimes even doing ads on a small paper (just for the heck of it, even some ad design that won a cupla awards for use of photos, which let me chuckle since I'm supposedly the writer type guy.)

 

Anyway... yeah, life is interesting.

 

I'm off to shoot people - with a Nikon of course - It's a small sort of place so I still get to do different stuff in a given day to keep a fat old man from getting too bored.

 

m

[RowdyMoon]

After 35 years in the printing business, my current job is to provide print production support to the marketing of a large direct mail clothing supplier who produces a LOT of catalogs and mailers. We build our catalog pages in-house using Mac Adobe CS applications. The page layout files we then supply to our outside vendor (I'll use the term "color separator", if you know what that means) have to be Adobe Mac Indesign files. The color separator then in turn supplies the print-ready files to the printer. Nowadays, these are commonly high resolution PDFs.

The thing is everybody's software has to be compatibile. It's our color separators job to know what the printer needs and it's our job to know what the separator can work with. This includes the image workflow, which is Photoshop/Illustrator based and another bag o' worms. Funny you should mention Scitex, mywife used to be a Scitex assembler operator, and I was a Gerber Autoprep operator, LOL! That's how old we are.

Believe me, I'm no Adobe fanboi, but if there's any alternative publishing program that can even come close to what Adobe can offer to the high end "real world" of digital prepress and printing workflow, we would have been using it by now. There's no naiveté there, just the facts. :)

I love talking about printing, but to tell you the truth, I'm damn glad to get the hell out of work every day, get home, plug in, and PLAY MY GUITAR!

 

 

I was in prepress for 20 years...started off in the semi old fashion way ( meaning I never had to do type setting the old way altho I have done it)... plates, did litho film strip, camera, colour separations on an old hel system...anything in prepress I did it...then computers came along, combine that with poor economy and you get a lot of people out of work. in the 90's 150 shops alone closed down in Toronto...were you had 14 to 20 people in a department you now have 1 or 2...needless to say I have not been in the buz for a while.....I remember the days of coating the plates..and more...ah the good old days....funny thing is that in them days it had to be quality, soon as every idiot had a paint program quality no longer mattered.....and yes, Adobe has the best programs for that industry.