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The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

contemporary-home-computing.org

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Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#71

Post by Jtsummers »

my_usernam3 wrote: post #69
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s old is new again! This is how mainframe terminals worked.

Can you explain further? I'm guessing you mean once a mainframe's resources were outdated, it became a terminal?

No. In the heyday of mainframes people would remote in, with a terminal. That's where the terminal protocols many people still use on a daily basis actually come from. Sending text over the wire to display on your terminal screen, you type into a keyboard which transmits your input across the wire to the mainframe which responds with new screen updates.

Using your desktop remotely from a cheaper but more portable device is pretty much the same model (not the same thing, but model) as the way many people interacted with mainframes last century.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#72

Post by duxup »

ofrzeta wrote: post #39

There's nothing better than a huge display with high resolution, keyboard and mouse. The computer might be in a separate chassis or a laptop or whatever but a huge display and a mouse are indispensable.

Heck in addition to my keyboard I've been thinking of building a board with a bunch of buttons just for firing off random things.

API requests when testing and so forth ... for whatever reason a separate set of physical keys makes more sense in my head.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#73

Post by LeoPanthera »

I have more "home computers" now than ever before. It all started when I figured out you can network boot the Raspberry Pi. Now I have one connected to a cheap monitor in nearly every room in the house. Because you can switch what OS they boot into just by renaming a symlink on the server, sometimes they play music, sometimes they show movies, sometimes they show live TV, sometimes they browse the web.

I'm probably a little eccentric but I really enjoy this a lot more than simply carrying a laptop around the house.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#74

Post by Macha »

my_usernam3 wrote: post #69
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s old is new again! This is how mainframe terminals worked.

Can you explain further? I'm guessing you mean once a mainframe's resources were outdated, it became a terminal?

No, the users had crappy devices (terminals) which worked because they could access the compute resources of a bigger device (the mainframe)

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#75

Post by mishu2 »

duxup wrote: post #72
ofrzeta wrote: post #39

There's nothing better than a huge display with high resolution, keyboard and mouse. The computer might be in a separate chassis or a laptop or whatever but a huge display and a mouse are indispensable.

Heck in addition to my keyboard I've been thinking of building a board with a bunch of buttons just for firing off random things. API requests when testing and so forth ... for whatever reason a separate set of physical keys makes more sense in my head.

Something like this? https://xkeys.com/xk24black.html

I saw it recommended here a while ago, haven't tried it myself.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#76

Post by system2 »

bitwize wrote: post #37
savant_penguin wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly any pc you build with much less than $5k will beat a $5k MacBook pro

When the M2 Mac Pro drops, the tables will turn: no PC will even nearly match it.

So an M2 can beat a AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3995WX or a dual CPU mobo tower with 128gb ram, also a PCI nvme? LOL right.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#77

Post by 411111111111111 »

alliao wrote: post #64
egypturnash wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those musician's workstations have the actual computer hidden somewhere out of sight. There's a monitor or two, a computer keyboard lying around(all wireless, it looks like?), but all those desks are dominated by musical keyboards, mixer boards, and speakers. Sometimes there's a laptop sitting on it. All the cables are hidden, out of the way. Take away the monitors and the computer keyboard, substitute a coupl…

I'm a gamer and my rig is a mini itx tucked away. I like it quiet and performant. Yes the market slaps RGB lighting on anything and everything gamer but it's up to gamers to buy them.

I like having my case light up with the temperature of the components.

I've never succeeded making it anything but a deep green and it gives me a nice and fuzzy feeling, knowing that everything is at an optimal temperature while the fans lazily spin behind the tempered glass.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#78

Post by ghaff »

amerine wrote: post #9

I’m 36 right now and have always made sure to have a desktop computer with accounts for each family member and it’s used all the time. I agree it’s a feature that’s disappearing, but if anything it’s because people are getting more personal computers, like a laptop or modern smart phone, than ever before.

I have about a 6 year old iMac and MacBook Pro. I'm guessing, depending on specs, when I upgrade, it will be to just (the rumored) 14" Apple Silicon MacBook Pro.

Re: The home computer as a cultural object is physically vanishing (2007)

#80

Post by kitsunesoba »

zten wrote: post #46
mkl95 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, it beats mid to high tier iMacs as well. Those things get clunky for no reason.

iMacs are usually laptops in all but name. To hit the same thinness with a giant heat-producing screen, most of the parts are their mobile equivalents. Edit: on slightly closer inspection, this isn't true for the 27" models!

The 27" models have traditionally used off the shelf socketed CPUs though, which is unusual in AIOs. Regular 27" models use desktop i9s and the Pro uses a desktop Xeon. Both can technically have their CPUs upgraded even if opening them is a pain.
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