S-Video I typically find annoying, simply because cabling it tends to be harder. (The plugs don't stick out on the back of the TV, for example, so hooking it up behind the 27" with relatively little light and even less space would be quite difficult.) Combine it with needing to orient it a certain way an the cabling tending to cost quite a bit (although probably less than Component -- if you can find it, which I couldn't) and you can start to see my dilema. :)
However, I've never been one to be a cable-whore: most of my cables are of crappy, 4th/5th run quality, and I seldom have problems. The Component video thing shocked me: I always thought that it would just be good for video-philes and the like, but with a consumer-grade combo DVD/VCR and a Sony Wega TV, the picture is significant enough that simply plugging it in I could immediately tell. The colors are richer, the text is sharper. All very nice to see that it may have actually been worth the cost.
The WRT54G was supposed to be a purchase that I could see using for something else in the future: possibly to help build the local neighborhood wireless that I selfishly want to build in the area. (Selfish only because I want to do it so that I can get wireless while I'm at the park with the kids. ;)) However, given everything I'm reading online, I think I'd rather just dump Linksys as far as I can at this point. Nobody else is any better, but I've been spending a little bit more on their products because of their support of the GPL for their firmware and the like. However, given recent developments, I'll take their "Fuck you, you want to do something different with our hardware", and go somewhere else.
I don't really understand the reasoning. Who cares if someone installs new hardware? They might get a slightly higher return rate -- the number of people who have turned the routers into bricks trying to flash them is certainly statistically significant -- but they don't make money on the router software, they make it on the hardware, surely. So long as you have the ability to drop support calls from people who are running modded firmware quickly (The version string should get you there pretty quick), I don't understand why they would try to limit people from doing what they want with it.
My fear is that it's simply an anti-open statement. I'm not sure if the release of their firmware under GPL was because it was the smart thing to do, or because it was required by the license. If it's the latter, than my thought that it was based on "Linksys is trying to encourage people to hack their routers" is really just wrong, and I don't need to go out of my way to support them.
I don't bother with any kind of data protection: anything I do that's important goes out over SSL or SSH, so I just leave it open, in part because I'd like to encourage the use by passerby of the device. I like open standards, I like sharing of resources, and I've got little to lose to someone seeing the network traffic here. So, WEP, WPA, whatever, doesn't matter to me.
no subject
However, I've never been one to be a cable-whore: most of my cables are of crappy, 4th/5th run quality, and I seldom have problems. The Component video thing shocked me: I always thought that it would just be good for video-philes and the like, but with a consumer-grade combo DVD/VCR and a Sony Wega TV, the picture is significant enough that simply plugging it in I could immediately tell. The colors are richer, the text is sharper. All very nice to see that it may have actually been worth the cost.
The WRT54G was supposed to be a purchase that I could see using for something else in the future: possibly to help build the local neighborhood wireless that I selfishly want to build in the area. (Selfish only because I want to do it so that I can get wireless while I'm at the park with the kids. ;)) However, given everything I'm reading online, I think I'd rather just dump Linksys as far as I can at this point. Nobody else is any better, but I've been spending a little bit more on their products because of their support of the GPL for their firmware and the like. However, given recent developments, I'll take their "Fuck you, you want to do something different with our hardware", and go somewhere else.
I don't really understand the reasoning. Who cares if someone installs new hardware? They might get a slightly higher return rate -- the number of people who have turned the routers into bricks trying to flash them is certainly statistically significant -- but they don't make money on the router software, they make it on the hardware, surely. So long as you have the ability to drop support calls from people who are running modded firmware quickly (The version string should get you there pretty quick), I don't understand why they would try to limit people from doing what they want with it.
My fear is that it's simply an anti-open statement. I'm not sure if the release of their firmware under GPL was because it was the smart thing to do, or because it was required by the license. If it's the latter, than my thought that it was based on "Linksys is trying to encourage people to hack their routers" is really just wrong, and I don't need to go out of my way to support them.
I don't bother with any kind of data protection: anything I do that's important goes out over SSL or SSH, so I just leave it open, in part because I'd like to encourage the use by passerby of the device. I like open standards, I like sharing of resources, and I've got little to lose to someone seeing the network traffic here. So, WEP, WPA, whatever, doesn't matter to me.