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A comment on Ask HN: So, where is the ARM desktop PC?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: So, where is the ARM desktop PC? by gjsman-1000 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:27AM (#33163094)
MacOS never supported Blu-ray, and Steve Jobs described the licensing of it as "a bag of hurt." This was still ~2008 when the licensing of H.264, VC1, MPEG-2, Blu-ray Patents, AACS, BD+, Cinavia, and all the stuff that makes it work was still in the air. Arguably it never came down[1].

However, I would still beg Apple to reconsider this, even a decade later, at least for desktop professional use. Blu-ray discs come in 25GB, 50GB, 100GB, and even (rare) 128GB disc sizes. It's still a really cheap, portable, distributable, long-term (as long as you check every ~5 years) storage medium.

[1]Blu-ray discs for movies were pretty shamefully designed. Do we seriously need 3 different codecs? Or 3 different copy-protection mechanisms?

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Re:Ask HN: So, where is the ARM desktop PC? by salawat on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:42AM (#33163248)
>Or 3 different copy-protection mechanisms?

Consider the source.

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Re:Ask HN: So, where is the ARM desktop PC? by barelysapient on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:54AM (#33163398)
I’d suggest that an SSD makes a far better option. For the price of a burner and blank media, you can buy a whole bunch of cheap 128gb ssds. They’re re-writeable, durable and easy to connect with a twenty dollar usb dongle.
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Re:Ask HN: So, where is the ARM desktop PC? by gjsman-1000 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:09AM (#33163559)
The catch with SSDs is they are not long-term reliable when left without power. If left as little as 12 months without energy, data degradation can occur. SSDs need power regularly to automatically refresh their memory cells. No power, no refresh, slow loss. They are almost like RAM in that regard, just with a really slow discharge.

Compared to good quality writable media which is designed for storage without power. This, and the write-once versions (no ransomware), are great for backups of faster modern media.

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Re:Ask HN: So, where is the ARM desktop PC? by pwinnski on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:20AM (#33163678)
Fortunately, external USB-connected Blu-ray drives are pretty cheap[0]!

0. http://www.pricegrabber.com/blu-ray-external/products/?sort=...

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