OT: How "Tech Savvy" Are You?

[Jazzmammal]

Musically, in 1987 I had my B3 chop and modded Leslie and that's it. I hadn't played a note in about 5 years due to family and business. I subscribed to Keyboard around then and realized I had a choice to make. Give up music and just sell what I had or get with the program so I bought a new Kurz K1000 for $1795.

 

I gradually learned digital audio and midi. Wasn't easy I'll tell you, it was so simple with the B3. I had zero experience with any kind of computer but went to work for a company where I had to learn to use a DOS automotive finance program in the mid 90's. That wasn't easy either. I think I got my first PC in 1997 or so running Win 95.

 

Then I started getting into basic PC based recording and that required much more expertise than I had so it's been a continual learning process since.

 

Fast forward to now and even though I'm 70 I'm the go to guy for several of my friends, I have a Samsung S7 with a bunch of cool apps like IRealPro, Waze, ClearTune and others, I'm pretty good with Android and love the voice activation stuff, I have a fairly complex home studio and understand quite a bit about digital audio now. Not an expert but I'm way beyond a typical grandpa plus I beta test for PG Music.

 

One reason I like this forum is some of you are true midiots and I enjoy reading about your setups.

 

Bob

[Synthoid]

I have a Samsung S7 with a bunch of cool apps like IRealPro, Waze, ClearTune and others, I'm pretty good with Android

 

[joegerardi]

For another 4 days I work for IBM as a UNIX/Linux Server Admin. I coded for about 11 years, and have been building PC's since the late 80's. I was the Netware SME for the State of Georgia, and then IBM until it went away, and have made my living at this since 1986. Yeah- you might I'm tech savvy...

 

That said, I have little use for an iPad or tablet, (mainly for an ADSB-IN addition when flying) my S5 is a phone first and everything else it does a distant second; don't (and won't) ever have a Farcebook or Twatter account, and only see technology as a tool, not a constant necessity of life.

 

If I forget my phone when I go out, so what? If it's important, they'll call back; I don't need to look at every e-mail when it comes in within 8 seconds, and everyone I know knows that if it's going to be more than 3 texts to call me, because then we're having a conversation, not sending a message, and I won't reply to anything more than that.

 

Same for computers- as I write this, within 3 feet of me are 6 computers: A Sun UNIX box, and SGI IRIX box, 2 laptops, my Windows PC, and my Linux server in my music rack that networks my whole house. Only the server, the Windows PC, and the work laptop are lit up, because they're the ones in use; the rest are down and will stay that way until there's a need for them.

 

Technology is there to assist, not be the master of my life.

 

..Joe

[richforman]

Maybe veering off the intended topic, but I feel that today it is part of any working musician's job to have attained a certain comfort with technology and it is a pet peeve of mine when bandmates haven't. I mean simple things like using email, Facebook, texting, to communicate, being reachable, knowing how to send and use Youtube links or audio or video files. Really if you want to participate you should have a smartphone, know how to use your calendar app, and be able to stay the communication loop continuously. I had a guy in a band I'm rehearsing with now, late 50's I think, one of these guys who takes pride in being behind technologically. Anyway he takes a piece of paper out on which he has scribbled the URL to a YouTube link he wants to share, I guess he isn't comfortable with copy-pasting it into an email or other message. I was like, what the heck am I supposed to do with that and he suggests I take a picture of this scribbled piece of paper!!!!!

[Synthoid]

I feel that today it is part of any working musician's job to have attained a certain comfort with technology and it is a pet peeve of mine when bandmates haven't. I mean simple things like using email, Facebook, texting, to communicate, being reachable, knowing how to send and use Youtube links or audio or video files.

 

Yes, that's elementary these days... at least for most of us.

 

Although I do have a few sticky notes on the bathroom mirror.

[RABid]

For another 4 days I work for IBM as a UNIX/Linux Server Admin. ...

 

I DIDN'T KNOW YOU DID THIS!!!

 

I could have been sending you questions when I was trying to manage an couple of AIX servers. It got really hard to find good AIX support. I finally changed us over to Windows Servers. AIX was really solid. So much so that I only had to deal with issues once or twice a year. Problem was, only dealing with issues twice a year did not keep me up to speed.

[NewImprov]

I worked for about 8 years as a system administrator and instructor for a university computer lab, this was a kind of experimental place because it was a jointly run by the computer science and liberal arts schools as a way of connecting arts students with technology. I started in the mid-90's, so we were getting a lot of visual arts and graphic design students who'd never worked on a computer before. Also, each of the 32 Mac workstations had a MIDI interface and a Korg rompler, in fact I was hired because I knew MIDI, even though I knew virtually nothing else about system administration, though I learned pretty quickly.

 

That job taught me a lot about how to deal with tech. I got pretty comfortable with UNIX, and it taught me a lot about communicating constructively with non-techie creative people. Definitely a valuable experience.

[Baldwin Funster]

I can now get my controllers to operate my vstis on my laptops and have a fair amount of success after many headaches, of getting knobs on screen to turn when I turn the physical ones, sometimes they even turn in the right direction. Be able to do this seemed like a far off dream 6 months ago. I feel reborn.

[DulceLabs.com]

For another 4 days I work for IBM as a UNIX/Linux Server Admin.

 

My wife has 4 days left at Big Blue as well. Never seen her more excited. Will be a little scary for a while without that steady paycheck, but in the long run we'll be better off.

[joegerardi]

Yeah, well, not to hijack the thread, but IBM is sinking, and not slowly- 16 straight quarterly losses, and they respond by laying off ~14,000 people in March, and another ~9,000 in May.

 

In the old days if there was poor performance, they got rid of management; now the management gets rid of the workers.

 

Ginni really needs to go- she's been a disaster as a CEO. The CAMSS (Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Security and Social) initiative is a train wreck- no one's going to top Amazon AWS for Cloud, everyone has analytics, and none of the other stuff works unless you shell out a fortune on IBM-branded infrastructure - which is what IBM actually wants - and no one is going to do that.

 

So they're letting people go in droves. The overwhelming percentage of them are in the US, and many IBM'ers realized they trained their replacements in India and Brazil.

 

It sucks, but that's life in the big city. There's a lot of animosity towards the company right now, and their reputation is more than a little tarnished because of it.

 

..Joe

[Throbert]

I don't know, I can biuld custom PCs, troubleshoot problems on my own and with help from searching

the net, tweak to beyond recognition. I've preconfigured OSs using nLite and other resources from

msfn.org using others guides etc...

[MoodyBluesKeys]

I've earned my living from one form or another of electronics for over 50 years. Starting in my Junior HS year parttime on radios and TV. Gone through all tube stuff, early transistors, early ICs, right on to the modern stuff (much of which is too small and dense for me to do component level repair).

 

There have been major transitions in WHAT form of electronics through the years (radio/tv, marine electronics, broadcast TV and radio, commercial & CB two-way radio, musical electronics, and computing devices), but it has always blessed me with the ability to take care of family and self.

 

Computers started for me in the early 80's - Motorola, TRS-80, Sanyo luggable PC (like the Compaq but a color screen). A little machine language, TRSDOS, Xenix, MS-DOS, Windows, Mac, a bit of Linux, tiny bit of DEC, AIX, IBM connectivity. A good bit of networking. I built computers until 2001, when I discovered I could buy the completed product almost as cheap as I could build one, and there was a warranty. Also no cut up hands from the metal work. Started just for my own use, but transition to for clients in the early 90's.

 

Along the way, I have discovered that the worst days self-employed are about like the best days working for others, especially large corporations. In my small town, I am about the only one that makes PCs and Macs (+ IOS) co-exist and cooperate.

 

Still learning, still working (part time), will be 75 in 3 months. And I enjoy it (most of the time). Complete retirement (with modest income) does not appeal to me.

[RABid]

Yeah, well, not to hijack the thread, but IBM is sinking, and not slowly- 16 straight quarterly losses, and they respond by laying off ~14,000 people in March, and another ~9,000 in May.

 

...

 

I used nothing but IBM servers for 20 years. Then they started selling off divisions and I could not keep track of what was under an IBM contract and what had been transferred to another company.

 

This weekend the last of those servers will be gone. All replaced by 3 HP rack units running Windows Server Datacenter 2012 and hosting a dozen virtual machines. I feel bad since it was my IBM VA sales rep that recommended me for this job. I never told her I was ditching IBM, and she has never asked why I have not upgraded my IBM servers.

[AnalogGuy1]

Yeah, well, not to hijack the thread, but IBM is sinking, and not slowly- 16 straight quarterly losses, and they respond by laying off ~14,000 people in March, and another ~9,000 in May.

 

In the old days if there was poor performance, they got rid of management; now the management gets rid of the workers.

Although oddly, they just sent twice as much of their top-performing sales force than they ever have in their history to an all-expense paid reward vacation (Best of IBM) in Maui.

[WesG]

Sounds like IBM has been overrun by MBAs.

 

MBA 101: How do you make an industry-leading manufacturer more profitable? Fire the entire R&D department and focus on sales.

 

I guess you need a doctorate to consider the long-term consequences of your actions, in the crazy abstract world not defined by the size of your quarterly bonus.