SiC - David Sidwell

It all started yesterday when my dear old Dell laptop started making that dreaded clicking sound. Judging by the whirr, it had to be the CD drive (actually a  CD-RW DVD-ROM combo).

Not sure if it’s really broken, but it got me pondering how old the laptop was.

As mentioned earlier, I use an indexing program to index my old emails. So it was easy to search and locate the “new laptop” emails exchanged with Dell. Turns out the laptop is 4.5 years old.

Further thinking: when did I get my first PC?  What about the first time I went ‘online’ (pre-Internet access)?  What about my first Internet access itself? I did a quick bit of searching on Google Groups and found this:

“My first ever use of the Internet Listserv”  archived in  bit.listserv.cinema-l   dated May 13 1994

“My first ever post” to rec.arts.movies  was on Jun 5 1994

“Trumpet 24 and WS_ftp freezing” alt.winsock  Oct 27 1994

I had the email address dsidwell@werple.apana.org.au back them. 

The above is very interesting.  It shows me:

• I was using Windows 3.1 or 3.11 and the famous Trumpet Winsock (which, I think, added TCP/IP support to Windows. Or at least dial up support so we could use our modems)
• I dabbled with List Servers. Before Forums these were email-based discussions. You sent email to a given ‘listserv’ address and everyone on that list got the email…and could reply to everyone on the list etc. I shouldn’t talk about them in the past; they are still alive 14 years on. Obviously the one I used above was to do with movies/cinema.
• I was using APANA.  From memory they were a not-for-profit group who somehow had access to this Internet thing.

Up until then I’d been using my dial up modem to access Bulletin Boards (BBs). From memory it was a program called QMODEM, which gave you a text-only ‘terminal’ into the BBs.  The BBs themselves were other users PCs giving access to parts of their hard drives. You could search for files and download them, using programs (protocols?) like zmodem.

All these dates make sense now. I recall not being on the BBs that long before The Internet became available. The biggest thing I remember downloading was the (legal!) shareware version of a new game called Doom. It was released late 1993. From memory it was 3 diskettes worth, 4 to 5MB, I’m guessing. Nothing today. But when you are on a slow dial up link and there’s no error recovery (it has to start again if one little thing goes wrong), it took hours and was a tense time.  So much so I now remember deciding to not watch the amount downloaded value crawling upwards and left my tiny flat in Windsor to go shopping…

I came back home to discover the whole lot had downloaded perfectly.

No not WITH popcorn ON a Popcorn. Actually VIA a Popcorn to be precise…and through my lounge room TV.

Enough witty opening lines. A Popcorn A-100 is a network media player, also known as a network media tank.  It has 3 main parts to it:

1. A network connection, to hook up to my PCs and the Internet
2. Connections to plug in to a TV and Amplifier (HDMI, Component , 5.1 Digital Sound etc)
3. A hole inside it (yes we will return to this one)

When it arrives from the USA I will

• Plug my home network - the LAN - into 1.
• Plug the LCD TV and Amp into 2.
• Configure a few things.

….then watch nearly every media file stored on my PC (in the Study)  on the 720p  LCD TV (in the Lounge)  -  including high definition ones with full surround sound. Sweet! For the tech dudes, this includes not just AVI (DIVX and XVID) but the newer containers like MKV. I already have some demo MKVs with 720p high def video and 5.1 DTS, but the current laptop in the lounge is too old and slow to play them.

This is streaming the media; taking them from the PC and playing them via the Network. The media isn’t just limited to video files, but also music and photos. The Internet connection allows YouTube etc videos to be show, I believe.

It can also attach an external USB drive and stream the media from that too.  Plus the Popcorn is quite small, about 27cm x 13cm x 3cm (high)

And as for the hole inside. It’s for you to install your own hard drive. Add a standard laptop 3″ disk and you can do lots more with the Popcorn. As it runs a neat operating system (O/S), you can store you media files locally on this hard drive to run ‘offline’ (with no network connection). Plus the Linux O/S comes with other smart things, including a BitTorrent client. Again, I say sweet!

Maybe this disk storage gives it the nickname of Media Tank?

The cost. About $270 Australian, landed ; meaning including shipping from the USA. Would have been cheaper a month ago when we nearly had parity with the $USA!

From what I read it can handle nearly every media file you can throw at it. Now that’s interesting for me because I can record HD TV on the bigger PC in the Study, but have no way of playing it back on the TV in the lounge.  My understanding is the Popcorn A-100 can do exactly this playback. Plus it has regular firmware/software updates you grab of the Net.

Time will tell. The local forums say it shouldn’t take long to get here. More information at the Popcorn web site.

When you get pre-written (”off the shelf”) software programs you usually get some sort of manual or user guide. It may be a printed book, PDF file, remote web site, local web site,  Help file….whatever. 

If you have software written for you - known as being developed - then the manuals etc must be created as well.  The usual steps in the big cycle are roughly:

1. Get Requirements (what does this software have to do and how will it do it?)
2. Design the solution
3. Develop the programs and related stuff like screens and data storage
4. Test that 3) is meeting 1)
5. Write up the documentation on how to use the solution, plus how to manage it and even how to trouble-shoot it.

4 and 5 can be done at the same time. In fact 3 and 5 can also be done at the same time, with a bit of care.

And what I do is the 5: write things up. Usually into Microsoft Word documents - which finally end up as PDFs in most cases (so people cant modify them, even accidentally)

The usual documents are, as implied above:

User Guides: for the end-user with their browser screen. The day-to-day usage. How (exactly) do we perform Task A and Task B with this software. Will involve step-by-step instructions with associated images/pictures of screens (screen captures). Plus background information, warnings, notes etc.

Administration Guides: for the ‘back office’ side of things. How is this software set up; adding users, configuring the servers and networks, changing configuration files, security, backing things up etc.  Probably more ‘technical’ and less need for step-by-step stuff.

Trouble-Shooting Guides: close cousins of Admin Guides. Exact steps on what to do if a specific problem arises.

Of course some sites just need one of the above, others want all 3, but merged into the one super guide. There may also be Product Overviews and Training Material (usually PowerPoints) thrown in as well.

Other types include documenting hardware, software and networking a customer has; their inventory has just built up over the years and there’s no Big List of everything nor how it all hangs together. Or re-writing/editing their existing documents.  Or - in some cases - coming in well after the software is finished and then starting writing up how it works or documenting the internal design.

This is one side - or type - of Technical Writing in the computer world. It’s the one that I do; having 25 years of hands-on technical experience.

Another side is more business focused. Looking at - and documenting - more of the ‘human side’ processes: “If a phone call with a complaint comes in and the team leader of that product isn’t available, then we….”   Lots of flow charts!   And that sort of stuff isn’t for me.

Or as I say; I’m a TECHNICAL Writer….

I’ve already expressed surprise - and a tinge of sadness - that The Hollowmen is just not cutting through in the ratings. In thinking about it some more, a few things come to mind as to possible reasons.

Similar Story Arc (plot) in each show?

Government in trouble over issue.  Tony has to solve it. Phillip and Warren provide the official guidelines/suggestions (usually involving a PowerPoint and a preliminary report in 6 months). Tony has to work around them without offending them. Sometimes a focus group is run.  Murph thinks of clever solution. End.  (I know I’m exaggerating, but you get the point)

Too Narrow Cast of Characters?

Frontline had a number of more independent  lead roles, so multiple threads could be developed. HollowMen is a bit more linear. Bit hard to explain what I mean, perhaps the Suggestions bit at the end will cover it.

Little Buy-In From Viewers?

Do we just assume this sort of thing goes on anyway.  I know it’s satire, but maybe it’s ‘really’ only 10% exaggerated, or perhaps the public perceive it as being very close to the truth.

Perhaps viewers are too removed. Again it’s hard not to mention Frontline. It sent-up something we see every day; current affairs.  Viewers had a buy in and could relate to it. This Canberra public-service stuff may be too distant or not easy to relate to.

Suggestions

The One with Phillip and Warren. How about a show that turns things around. Spin off another thread.  We focus on Phillip and Warren, with Tony etc being bit parts. We see how P&W ‘really’ work and how they relate to - and view - Tony et al.  They may be just as manipulative of Tony.

The One where Things Stay Wrong. What happens when they can’t spin it. How does the gang cope? Do they turn on each other, find a scapegoat?

The One with the Documentary Crew.  The ABC is making a documentary on the Department. How does Tony explain their activities to a journalist who clearly knows what is really going on.  As she used to work there…

ABC TV has done a great thing and launched their iView service. To quote their web site it “is a new way to watch TV - a free internet (sic) broadcasting service that lets you watch ABC programs on your computer…”

The key phrase to note there is broadcasting. It correctly sums this up, the data is streamed to your PC or Mac. More importantly it is NOT downloaded in the sense that most people understand.

This is important to understand as I have heard people - in the media, including the ABC - refer to iView as allowing you to “download shows”. Bzzz. No it doesn’t.

To explain.

Broadcasting (or Streaming) is where the digital data that makes up the TV show is sent ‘live’ to your PC - sourced from the ABC - and you watch it ‘live’. So when you request iView to start playing an episode of The Gruen Transfer, it starts to do it, basically just for you. Video on demand.

However it is not stored on your PC as such and you must be connected to the Internet to watch it. You cannot save it and watch it later, including if you go offline ; disconnect from the Internet.

Downloading, to most people, is saving the whole TV show as a file to your PC, then watching it whenever you want, including offline. You usually must wait till the whole thing is downloaded. However the ABC is obviously reluctant to allow you to save a copy of their programs to your hard drive.

In reality, of course, it is a bit more complicated:

• iView, as I understand it, may store a portion of the program on your PC. Why? To ease the load on their servers. I believe that when you use iView to watch (say) The Gruen Transfer, it checks to see if other users are also watching it at the same time. So rather than you get it all from the one place - the ABC’s servers - you can get parts of it from others users. Spread the workload. It happens ‘in the background’ and is called Peer-to-Peer
• No doubt someone will quickly hack iView to allow you to save the streamed show to your PC. So you can watch it whenever you want. iView has been around officially for a week and I’d be surprised if it isn’t ‘broken’ like this already.

I’m sure the ABC had a choice; let us download the whole show but have it (somehow) stop working or erase itself after a given time period. Or stream away with ‘live’ playback.  In the end they had to do something as BitTorrent was making entire shows available anyway.

I have tried iView and the video quality is just okay. Maybe it was my connection; it was better than (standard) YouTube but not even really VHS tape quality. It a bit blocky and seemed to use a low frame rate, so it the picture ‘jerked’.  But hey, it’s version 1 and week 1. Give them time.

After a break of more than a few months, I’m working again and back in Melbourne again. So I guess that means this Blog may go a bit quiet again as - as some of you may know - I write for a living. Actually I’m a Technical Writer; merging my 25 years of Technical IT stuff with my freelance writing.

The point being I write all day at work, so am less likely to write Blog entries when I get home. The phrase bus-mans holiday springs to mind. Look it up …

Anyway it’s great to be in town again. We are in a very central location, so there’s lots of cafes and food places nearby. But then again, this is Melbourne so there’s heaps of those anywhere, I’d suggest. Plus the shopping; within 3 minutes walk I have a bushwalking/camping store, JB HiFi (for DVDs and HD TVs etc) and Allans Music (where I can drool over $5000 pianos)

The slight down side is trying to find healthy food. I’m not that fussy, but it is actually not that easy to find a simple wholemeal sandwich. Guess I could always make my own. Heaven forbid…

The real downer is our Trains. Overcrowded and late would be the best term I’d use. As if that’s not bad enough the information they provide us is appalling. Yesterday I got on a home-bound train clearly labelled as the correct one for me. Yet at the very next stop I looked up: both the platform’s display and the one inside my train were saying it was a different line (not mine!). Both were in agreement with each other and totally at odds with the train I thought I was on. And it wasn’t just me confused; people at the station were getting on and asking where this train actually went. It seems as though some ‘believed’ the incorrect display and stood back as we left.  Someone next to me said such people would be very annoyed; apparently the next ‘correct’ train on our line  - after ours - had just been cancelled.  So at least a 40 minute wait for them..plus the time they had spent waiting for the ‘wrongly labelled’ train.  At the next stop the driver used his P.A. and reassured us we were on the correct train.

He needed it again today!  Same train, similar problem.  At North Melbourne station the driver announced that we should “ignore the displays, we are NOT going to Ballarat”  As some of you may know that’s a fair way away, particularly when the electric train line only runs about 1/5 of the way there. The driver finished up by adding “and we don’t have an extension lead that long…” (true!)

I have mentioned HD TV before. In fact I do have a HD TV, but it’s ‘only’ 720 lines; technically it’s a 720p LCD, compared to full HD which is 1080p.  BluRay disks are 1080p so I wouldn’t be getting the full resolution if I was to buy a BluRay player. The TV also has a built in HD tuner, so I can watch HD TV, but not record it.

In actual fact that’s not 100% true. And twice over:

1. My Standard Definition (SD) Topfield recorder can actually record HD TV shows, but it itself can’t play them back. You have to copy them over to a PC then use something like VLC to play them back.  The copy process is quite slow. Then there’s another problem, which we’ll return to in a minute.
2. I also have a HD USB Tuner which can attach to the main desktop PC or the laptop. I’ve had it for a few years now and it’s fairly reliable. It was used regularly before I got the Topfield.

Now the problem with both of these solutions is the same. Only the desktop PC has the raw processing power to play back the HD TV recordings. The laptop a-l-m-o-s-t makes it, but stutters and the picture breaks up. And I don’t want to watch TV on my PC in the computer room!  The laptop is in the lounge attached to the 720p TV. No, the desktop is too old and noisy to just move it to the lounge.

The solution is not to get a TiVO. Early reports are that it’s very nobbled. Maybe the firmware dudes will get out there and release ‘jailbreak’ software for the TiVO soon; to free it up so you can attach it to your own network, copy your recordings off, skip adds etc.  But it’s not for me, nor anyone else - I’d suggest - who naively want’s to just replace their VCR. Will they get a shock when they try to work out how to keep a recording, like they currently do with their VCR!

Anyway I’ve got a two-pronged wish list:

1. Get a dedicated PC in the lounge. A Media Centre. Purpose built; fast and nice and quiet. Would have dual-HD tuners and the capacity to play back BluRay disks, but without - initially - a BluRay player on board. Just a DVD.  Whirlpool maintains parts list of a suggested system.
2. Later on, when the price of add-on BluRay players for PCs has fallen, simply drop one in and go. 

Hopefully by then I may have a proper 1080p TV too. Dream on…

Ouch. Didn’t like reading the reports in yesterdays Green Guide (page 14) that ABC TV’s The Hollowmen was “slipping in appeal” and was “No. 54 in Melbourne”….and “No. 68 Nationally”.  I wonder why. Is it too clever by half? Are people finding the storylines somehow predictable? Are the characters actions also predictable?  Too limited appeal? Bad timing with a (relatively) new government in power?

All these questions. I’m sure that someone is doing the qualative analysis. Particularly when the ABC had agreed to Series 2 before the first episode of Series 1 even went to air.