Technology

Things that catch my geeky interests that don’t fall into a more specific tag.

Just a quick test of Lynx

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I’m just experimenting a bit here. One of my little quirks when designing websites is to try to make sure that I always make them Lynx compatible. Lynx is a purely text-based web browser, back from the early days of the web, when content was considered much more important than flashy graphics, Flash animation, or any of the other doodads that have taken over the web today. Anyway, while checking my page with Lynx today, I thought I’d see if it was possible for me to not just view it, but update the postings via Lynx — and if this post appears, then it would seem to work. Pretty nifty….

Kind of amusing how a Mac-junkie like me still loves being able to do things through a command line and a text-based terminal from time to time…guess I’m showing my age as a ‘net old-timer or something. :)

[From Usenet: 5.23.96 2300]

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[Note: This was originally a post to the comp.sys.mac.misc Usenet newsgroup. I’m including it here for completeness. Originally archived here.]

Was wondering if anyone had attempted an install of NetBSD on a mac…?
–and–
Anyone attempted a firewall system like this…?

I’ve currently got a Performa600cd, which is networked in my apartment to two Win95 machines and a Unix server running FreeBSD. Ethernet connects all the machines, and we’re using TCP/IP to communicate among the various machines (as Win95 apparently doesn’t support AppleTalk).

Problems: Haven’t found a way to get filesharing going yet. The Winboxes don’t support AppleTalk (which would be easiest on my end), and I haven’t found anything to let my Mac recognize the Winboxes (at least in a filesharing type setup). Currently we’re telnetting/ftp’ing among the boxes to get files back and forth. Works, but a bit of a kludge. Also, haven’t been able to get a completely uesable proxy/firewall system running on the Unix server yet. My roommate found a version of SOCKS to run that Netscape is recognizing without a problem, but few other of my Internet clients recognize SOCKS. The only programs I’ve found that have SOCKS options available are Fetch and Anarchie, neither of which will work outside of our intranet. We’ve also been unable to find proxy setups to put on the FreeBSD-based Unix server, so I can’t configure those options in my programs. End result…Anarchie, Fetch (to a limited degree), Telnet, and Netscape work fine from machine to machine within our apartment, but only Netscape is able to travel outside our apartment. Luckily, Netscape does support E-mail and Usenet, but I’d still much rather be running Newswatcher and Eudora.

Possible solution: Installing NetBSD on my box to let me run Unix, and start figuring how to connect things from there. I’m just unsure how useable/stable the current (1.1) release of NetBSD is, and whether it would be worth the time to experiment with.

Pertinent Info:

  • 1 Macintosh Performa600cd w/FPU 20/510 (one 160Mb internal and one 350Mb external) running 7.5.3 (with Open Transport).
  • 2 Win95 boxes
  • 1 FreeBSD 2.2.1 Unix server
  • All machines connected via Ethernet
  • Single ppp dialup line to connect to my local ISP via a 28.8 modem connection

Feel free to re: to Usenet, but I’d appreciate it if you’d cc: the message to me (wo…@alaska.net), as I’m none to thrilled with Netscape’s Usenet interface, and have a tendency to ignore it for days at a time.

Many thanks ahead of time for any possible help…

[From Usenet: 1.18.94 0513]

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[Note: This was originally a post to the rec.arts.movies Usenet newsgroup. I’m including it here for completeness. Originally archived here.]

In article <1994Jan18.042438.17...@midway.uchicago.edu>, s...@ellis.uchicago.edu (Charles P. Samenow) writes:

What are the differences between: DTS, Digital Dolby, Dolby, Dolby SR and THX?
-Charles
s…@midway.uchicago.edu

Well, I’m no expert, but here’s what I’ve gathered…

  • Dolby – uses the same techniques as your Dolby cassettes…noise reduction, basically.
  • DolbySR – the noise reduction, plus better placement of where the noises appear to be coming from in the theatre. Stands for Dolby Spectral Recording.
  • Digital Dolby – in addition to the normal sound track, a digital track is printed between the sockets of the film. When a theatre is equipped to read and reproduce this track, it results in near cd quality sound (no background hiss and pops), and also uses six tracks to place the sounds…one center, two front (left and right), two rear (left and right), and one subwoofer channel. End result-some of the best quality sound I’ve ever heard in a movie theater. When it’s used effectively, it can be really mind-blowing.
  • DTS – a similar technique to Digital Dolby, only developed by Sony (if I remember correctly) and Lucasfilm…which can cause some licensing conflicts in theatres already set up with Digital Dolby. Competing systems and all. Major difference…instead of using the space between the sprocket holes, the digital track is printed in a small strip on the edge of the film, which means the actual print can’t be quite as wide. I recently saw Schindler’s list in DTS, though, and didn’t see any noticeable difference in the width of the image.
  • THX – developed by Lucasfilm. Not so much an improvement in the sound itself, THX uses special placing of speakers and translation of the audio tracks to make sure no matter where in the theatre you sit, you get the true stereo effect…something which can suffer greatly towards the edges of a theatre in a non-THX environment.

Where’d I get all the info? Lots of reading, and working in the only theatre in Alaska to have Dolby Digital installed. Anchorage’s Fireweed theatre was (this may have changed by now) at the time the biggest Dolby Digital installation on the West Coast…the auditorium sits over 900. Digital installations has been done before, just not in an auditorium that large. Was a more than $10,000 upgrade to the existing system. Plus, though I don’t work there anymore, the licensing agreements have been settled to the point that it now has DTS also.

Incidentally, except for the DTS (because it’s from a different company), all of the systems are compatable. Using digital negates the need for normal Dolby (noise reduction for digital sound?), however it’s perfectly possible (and has been done) to have a movie recorded in both Dolby Digital and THX, and I suppose in both DTS and THX. Sounds incredible, too…