Obhaso - Slashdot User

Is the Line-in Jack On the Verge of Extinction? 411

Posted by timothy on Monday March 22, 2010 @07:59PM from the erasing-the-analog-hole dept.

SlashD0tter writes "Many older sound cards were shipped with line-out, microphone-in, and a line-in jacks. For years I've used such a line-in jack on an old Windows 2000 dinosaur desktop that I bought in 2000 (600 Mhz PIII) to capture the stereo audio signal from an old Technics receiver. I've used this arrangement to recover the audio from a slew of old vinyl LPs and even a few cassettes using some simple audio manipulating software from a small shop in Australia. I've noticed only recently, unfortunately, that all of the four laptops I've bought since then have omitted a line-in jack, forcing me to continue keeping this old desktop on life support. I've looked around for USB sound cards that include a line-in jack, but I haven't been too impressed by the selection. Is the line-in jack doomed to extinction, possibly due to lobbying from vested interests, or are there better thinking-outside-the-box alternatives available?"

Comment Better than Dial-up (Score 1) 771

by Obhaso on Tuesday January 27, 2004 @12:34AM (#8096844) Attached to: Experiences with DirecWay Satellite Internet

I used the system for just over a year, re-sold through Earthlink.

Yep, the download cap sucks, but I found that I didn't hit it very often. Also, the upload is basically that of a dial-up, and I could never get it better, though some people claim that they have.

As for the uptime. I found that the weather problems weren't as bad as they made them out to be, but I'm in Northern CA so it never gets any worse than kinda foggy and cold!

Never had a problem with DNS servers not including sites, but then again I wasn't doing anything other than editing and maintaining a site.

The support blows chinks. Forty minutes a call sounds like heaven to me. When I first had it installed the installer guy gave up after a couple hours and I personally spent the next week on the phone with those idiots trying to get it to work, and it was a mistake on their end. Basically, if you have a problem, you have to learn how to fix it yourself, unless you have a week or so to waste, but as was said before, this might just be Earthlink, although I have my doubts that the Hughes support staff even exists. If you need help, I found Direcway Uncensored to be very useful and informative.

I found that the Hughes software locked up our machie once or twice a day, but after fighting with it for a year I think I finally got that worked out. Now, however, I think they're only offering the DW6000 which plugs directly into a network, which should make life so much easier. I have heard nothing but good reviews of that unit, but can't afford it right now, so I've never used it myself.

Basically, as long as you can get it set up and are willing to dedicate some time to learning how to run the stupid thing, it's better than dial-up and pretty good, as long as you're not expecting anything like regular broadband. I would recommend it if you have a choice between dial-up and this.

Good luck!

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