Here is the second episode of the Morrise.com podcast.

 

 Episode 2 [16:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I finally got my DAW computer working today.  I got a Dell D630 Core 2 Duo laptop a couple of months ago and have wanted to use it to replace my old Pentium 4 Dimension 3000.

Problems began when the laptop arrived with Windows Vista.  ProTools (the DAW software I use) doesn’t work on Vista, so I started by downgrading to Windows XP Pro.  Not as easy as you might think, because after paying 75 cold ones for the downgrade, I couldn’t get the XP installation to recognize the hard drive.  After spending a weekend with Dell, my local tech support guys, and completely erasing the hard-drive with U.S. Department of Homeland Security approved software, it still didn’t work.  Turns out I had to set the hard drive to compatibility mode in the BIOS.  After doing that, I got XP installed.

Next I installed ProTools.  But, of course, it didn’t work.  Playback would randomly terminate, and Stylus RMX would only play back about one note out of every 20.  The program kept telling me that it was having resource conflicts with the OS, and I was screaming “You have a Core 2 Duo!  You have 2 GB of RAM!  How can there be a resource conflict?!”

I contacted Digidesign tech support, and they told me that my machine wasn’t supported and so they wouldn’t do anything.  I was ready to give up on it, but I decided to spend this morning messing with it one last time to see if I could find a solution.  I disabled the internal network cards and WiFi, and booted up in diagnostic mode.  Still nothing.  Finally, as a last ditch effort, I disabled dual core support for the processor.  That was it!  Everything works!  Amazing!  I was dancing around for a few minutes with Winnie and Jo.  After two long months, the thing finally works.  It’s a miracle.

In other news, the Ring of Scribes will be featured on the WeasleyCast Halloween special this week.  I believe you can tune in to WeasleyCast on iTunes.  If you would like to help us out, tune in to the podcast and leave a comment about us.

Hope everyone has a very bad, very sad, disgusting Halloween.

I’ve just returned from the first business trip that I’ve ever been on. I was at the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario, California. The show featured bloggers and podcasters from various places around the world. It was a typical expo with booths and people, although I was a bit disappointed in the lack of good swag. I’ll have to admit that after going to this expo I have had the desire to come up with an idea for a podcast. I’ve wanted to do a podcast for awhile now, but haven’t had the drive. I just don’t think that I’m expert enough on any subject to create a good podcast. I guess not only that, but to create a podcast you must be passionate about the subject as well. The two things that I enjoy most are web programming and writing. I’m not an accomplished writer at all and I’m not sure how I would make a podcast about web programming. I suppose I could create some video tutorials, but I don’t really have the software to create screen captures. Well, I’ll keep thinking about it. I’m sure you’ll all hear about it when and if I do it. I would love to make a video podcast with the sitcom Andy and I wrote, but unfortunately that would take way more time then doing an audio podcast.

Among the various podcast hosting websites out there is site called Podango. On the surface they appear to be like most other podcast hosting service. Under, however, they have a bit more under the hood then other podcast hosting platforms. Besides allowing you to post media, use remote players, and view statistics sits an API that allows podcasters to access their podcast information from any application or website. Based on the REST standard for APIs, the Podango API allows any Podango user to receive XML listings of their podcasts.

One of the best parts about the Podango API that sets it apart from other media hosting companies, such as YouTube, is that it allows you to upload content directly to Podango without even going to the site.

For more information about Podango visit www.podango.com