Tag: computers

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AT&T’s $14.95 DSL might get me to switch

So, I’m revisiting high-speed internet options in St. Louis again.

The main reason is that AT&T is offering “three of their DSL plans for $14.95 for 12 months.”:http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=6431

This is a great price point for me, since it’s under the $18/month I mentioned in my “previous entry about looking for high-speed internet.”:http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/2010/01/high-speed-inte.html

If we go for this plan, we will also immediately start looking into Skype, Vonage, Google Phone, and other options to replace our local AT&T phone service. I think we can come out ahead on our combine phone and internet bills (during these 12 months, at least).

We want to dump the phone service because the bill just keeps getting more expensive — additional taxes and surcharges are added all the time. I think it’s supposed to be $18 or $19, but the actual bill is closer to $30 when it comes.

So, folks, who has experience with AT&T internet? Is the service okay?

What about replacing the home phone with internet choices. Anyone have experience with that?

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Breaking the terabyte barrier

!http://www.joshrenaud.com/family/archives/images/2008-10/IMG_0827.JPG!

Ever since I got back from Bolivia, one of the hard disks inside my PowerMac G4 was getting ready to fail. When it became clear that it was a physical problem, and not just a software issue, I decided it would be good to upgrade to two larger disks – 500 gigabytes each. Add that together, and that’s a total of one terabyte of storage. Now we have a lot more room for digital photos and (especially) digital video editing.

And to think, at one time all I had was an Atari 800 with a cassette tape drive for external storage. Wowsers, we’ve come a long way.

Continue reading “Breaking the terabyte barrier”

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I died and went to Atari heaven

When the day comes that the Renaud Empire is firmly entrenched across the globe, one of the significant changes it will lead to is the re-establishment of the Atari computer.

Yes, those who know me well know that I always have been (and will be) an Atarian. True, I eventually became a Mac user. But in the same way that I am a Texan-in-exile who lives in St. Louis, I am also an Atarian-in-exile forced to use a Mac.

And so it was with great joy that I stumbled onto the weblog called “Dadhacker” written by a former engineer from Atari. He has some amazing stories (very well-written). Here are just two:

Donkey Kong and me – He tells how he got hired at Atari and his first project was porting Donkey Kong from the arcade to the Atari 8-bit computers.

The Atari ST – He describes Atari’s implosion in the early 80s, leading to the takeover by the Tramiels. He surived the Tramiels’ purge and helped with the launch of the Atari ST line of computers.