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I had no idea Gb Ethernet switches had dropped so much in price. If I was buying a new switch today I'd definitely be buying one of those $100 Linksys switches.

No you wouldn't be buying a Linksys, because they and the others in that class do not support Jumbo Frames, thereby diminishing one of the best features of GigE, and increasing the interrupt requirements on every one of your GigE NICs by a factor of... well, more than enough to make a sizeable performance hit -- someone else can do the numbers.

I was hovering over the "Add to Cart" button on the Linksys two days ago -- I noticed how CHEAP they are now and wanted to get rid of the crossover between my primary box and my 1/2TB RAID5 box used for audio/video). Thank goodness I did a little more research. I would have been really pissed to buy a 'Gigabit Ethernet Switch' that didn't support Jumbo Frames...

FYI, the SMC 85xx series switches DO support Jumbo Frames, and at almost the same price point. I don't know why Linksys, D-Link and Netgear cheaped out on Jumbo Frames support in their firmware/hardware. Pretty lame if you ask me.

But not as lame as Amazon.com taking off the SMC unmanaged gigabit switches once I (and probably others) pointed out that Buy.com was selling them for $4 cheaper ... heck, $142.99 for an 8-port unmanaged GigE switch? I may click the Buy Now button NOW!

I had no idea Gb Ethernet switches had dropped so much in price. If I was buying a new switch today I'd definitely be buying one of those $100 Linksys switches.

No you wouldn't be buying a Linksys, because they and the others in that class do not support Jumbo Frames, thereby diminishing one of the best features of GigE, and increasing the interrupt requirements on every one of your GigE NICs by a factor of... well, more than enough to make a sizeable performance hit -- someone else can do the numbers.

I was hovering over the "Add to Cart" button on the Linksys two days ago -- I noticed how CHEAP they are now and wanted to get rid of the crossover between my primary box and my 1/2TB RAID5 box used for audio/video). Thank goodness I did a little more research. I would have been really pissed to buy a 'Gigabit Ethernet Switch' that didn't support Jumbo Frames...

FYI, the SMC 85xx series switches DO support Jumbo Frames, and at almost the same price point. I don't know why Linksys, D-Link and Netgear cheaped out on Jumbo Frames support in their firmware/hardware. Pretty lame if you ask me.

But not as lame as Amazon.com taking off the SMC unmanaged gigabit switches once I (and probably others) pointed out that Buy.com was selling them for $4 cheaper ... heck, $142.99 for an 8-port unmanaged GigE switch? I may click the Buy Now button NOW!

I had no idea Gb Ethernet switches had dropped so much in price. If I was buying a new switch today I'd definitely be buying one of those $100 Linksys switches.

No you wouldn't be buying a Linksys, because they and the others in that class do not support Jumbo Frames, thereby diminishing one of the best features of GigE, and increasing the interrupt requirements on every one of your GigE NICs by a factor of... well, more than enough to make a sizeable performance hit -- someone else can do the numbers.

I was hovering over the "Add to Cart" button on the Linksys two days ago -- I noticed how CHEAP they are now and wanted to get rid of the crossover between my primary box and my 1/2TB RAID5 box used for audio/video). Thank goodness I did a little more research. I would have been really pissed to buy a 'Gigabit Ethernet Switch' that didn't support Jumbo Frames...

FYI, the SMC 85xx series switches DO support Jumbo Frames, and at almost the same price point. I don't know why Linksys, D-Link and Netgear cheaped out on Jumbo Frames support in their firmware/hardware. Pretty lame if you ask me.

But not as lame as Amazon.com taking off the SMC unmanaged gigabit switches once I (and probably others) pointed out that Buy.com was selling them for $4 cheaper ... heck, $142.99 for an 8-port unmanaged GigE switch? I may click the Buy Now button NOW!

Not really. You can already get DLT drives that hold 320 GB and transfer data at 32 MBps. At only 50 GB, you would probably need to swap discs, which is a real pain.

> The bottom line here is that white-collar types have gotten fat and happy over the last several decades, and are now shocked to find that they are facing global competition much like agricultural and manufacturing workers have for decades.

If that's how you feel I recommend you read this book. Maybe you don't, but a lot of Americans work their asses off.

Are you talking about upgrades or full versions? Big difference. Buy.com is selling the Upgrade version for $100. And at $186 the complete version is pretty close to the $200 price tag.. Now, these were approximate prices I was guessing based on what I had last seen them selling for at BestBuy. As always, YMMV -- between the differences in currency, the discounts Dell and other computer makers get, and the number of people upgrading versus buying full versions.

Are you talking about upgrades or full versions? Big difference. Buy.com is selling the Upgrade version for $100. And at $186 the complete version is pretty close to the $200 price tag.. Now, these were approximate prices I was guessing based on what I had last seen them selling for at BestBuy. As always, YMMV -- between the differences in currency, the discounts Dell and other computer makers get, and the number of people upgrading versus buying full versions.

No, damn-near impossible. No company will ship to a hotel unless they want export controls to prosecute their asses into the ground. There are laws specifically to prevent what you propose doing.

You know I am pretty sure creating such a beast shouldn't be a problem. Watch.

Step 1: Get yourself a small form factor PC, like the ThinkGeek Cappucino or The Open Brick or build your own cool looking mini PC.

Step 2: Get yourself a USB DVD drive (brownie points for DVD burners)

Step 3: Get a USB TV Card that runs under Linux (Note: I did a quick google, but I'd bet money you could find one that worked much better. And that page was talking about spotty TV signals in 2002. I bet it's gotten better)

Step 4: Download a copy of MythTV

Bingo! You've now got a PVR which will either look nice in your stereo cabinet (like that ThinkGeek case), or which you can keep hidden, save for the external DVD drive (and since every DVD player has a DVD drive in it, you're not going to find anything with a much smaller footprint). And, it shouldn't be too hard to hide the OpenBrick. And all for under $1500.

The next E.T. game gets released early next month.

I'm guessing it'll flop just as bad (if not worse) than the Atari 2600 version.

I bid on a couple at ebay, but they were going for over $30, which I think is a bit high for a used keyboard.

Today I read a review of the Belkin's Nostromo Game Controller n52. It looks to be programmable and can emulate over 100 keys

It is going for $26 (free ship) at Buy.com at the moment: here

I'd report back here on how I like it in a few days, but I fear slashdot will have archived this story by then. I'll post my experience here, if anyone is curious how it works out.

IBM X Series, although not 1.5lbs they are around 3.5lbs and have a full sized screen. Not only that but they are cheap.

for those too lazy to hunt through and find the 4 or 5 threads on this, the basic gist is this:
1) removal of the 4gb hard drive is easy (I hesitate to call it compact flash right now, but wait for the explanation) with the instructions mentioned in this article
2) repartitioning in windows or macosx is no problem
3) getting it to work in a digital camera is more problematic. one of the guys on dpreview was able to get in contact with an engineer from hitachi who said that these drives do not conform to the CF standard, and have not been branded that way. people are currently working on trying to find a way to hack around the limitations, but so far efforts have been fruitless. it is recommended that all slashdot hackers jump into the fray.
4) instead, go buy a creative muvo2 at amazon or buy.com. people have reported these drives working very nicely, and being able to replace the muvo CF card with many solid state CF cards. i hear that amazon is delivering in about a week, even though they say it is a preorder.

Uh, digital voice recorders. About 50 bucks, they've been out for years. Like this one.

Since BPL tramples on other RF applications, it suggests that one could sniff the packets. It looks like the adapters (like this one) do use encryption, but it is only 56-bit DES. Given that these connections are always-on, I wonder how long it would take to accumulate enough data to break the code. And if you know the email address of the victim, could one send a structured email that helps uncover the key?

Oh, I'm not ragging on music, but one thing that you will have to admit is that a lot of music (and further, a lot of the most popular music is produced to death and written by somebody else (towards the bottom of the link is a note that Britney writes some of her own songs, but the "successful" one was written for her). It is the same with movies when the top movie this year so far is Somethi^H^H^H^H^H^H^HAlong Came Polly (which we've seen before -- the ferret scene is similar enough to the dog scene to be considered "knock-off").

How does this relate to business? Well, IANAM/MP (music/movie producer), but my feeling is that they have a pretty good idea of how long it takes to go from conception to packed theaters (and if not they have a clever tactic called "Coming Soon"). Same with music.

Don't get me wrong, I love good music (I lean to folk, indie rock), movies (Magnolia is up there), and games (good old WC3), but for a lot of the music and movies out there it's as scientific as anything else.

Actually, I just bought one at $199. Here or here.

I will then replace it with my 512 cf card, and sell the now solid state player to a friend for $70 (even though I could sell that cf card for more on ebay). Not a bad deal. And I get a 4gb cf card out of it for $130. Seems like a steal to me.

Instructions, experiences, and photos here and here.

The Office puts a more realistic spin on Dilbert. It really is one of the more original and best shows out there. They're still showing episodes on BBC America or you can pick up the first season on DVD. David Brent is truly a classic character.

And one more that I've forgotten...
We have all of the above, and anywhere from 2 to 4 controllers for each system. They all go to a RCA switch (available from Wally World or Best Buy or anywhere else, for that matter). One useful thing I've discovered at Best Buy: Various companies sell multi-system adapter universal cables similar to this one. This will neaten up the snake nest behind your TV, if you can manage to cluster all of the machines (or as many as is convenient) in one spot. One word of warning: The PS2 appears to ground the audio channels when it's in "standby" mode, killing the audio signal from any other console that happens to be plugged into the same universal cable. We have to keep the machine "off" by flipping the switch on the back to keep this from happening. When off, it lets the line float.

With that said, you could put a drawer or bin next to the TV with all of the controllers (we keep ours on top of our entertainment center in semi-neat rows according to system). You just have to remember to unplug the controllers when you're done playing.

Interesting how so many people who are not switching are posting as themselves (when they're the ones who might in theory have reason to be anonymous), and the couple of people who claim to have run into trouble with the lawsuit are AC's, here at the bottom of the thread.

So you've "looked at the files," have you? Tell us more about that.

Windows 2000 is a bargain, is it? Actually, in addition to nearing an EOL from MS (to push the newer, more expensive server products, of course), it's also more expensive than $699.

Howya doin! Do you work for MS or SCO, or are you just having fun?

Karma/Moderation strikes again.

The best game soundtrack is definitely Halo. The launch menu, for example, is like a bunch of Tibetan monks doing their prayers or something. It's so serene, it's scary. And the in game music just pulls you into the game, chews you up, and spits you out. MS did a real sweet job of putting this together (Yes, I know MS bought Bungie software for this game). Here's a demo of the game if you want, 134 MB, PC only. You also need the latest version of DirectX (9.0b).

Soundtrack is available at Amazon, Buy.com, and Overstock.com

Samples of all the tracks can be found at buy.com, but overstock.com has it for cheaper.

• Rio Karma (20G) for day to day use, Rio Cali (256mb version) for the gym (Wow just did a currency conversion, and even with the exchange it's about $100CND cheaper to buy this in the states (assuming the $169USD pricetag seen on froogle.google.com)
• AOpen DRW4410 DVD Writer (at under $100 US it'd be cheaper than the above items :)
• Linux compatible Serial ATA card for my fileserver (the Silicon Graphics chipsets don't seem to do linux RAID, but according to some of the forum posts it is possible to get it working). This is just an interim solution until I upgrade the whole box and put in a motherboard with a SATA chip, so just looking for something that works :)
• A couple of big ass SATA hard drives to go with it.
• Aliens Quadrilogy DVD
• A USB keychain storage device... 64 or 128 megs of storage to keep important files safe. According to a recent Linux Journal article, they are the floppies for the new millenium.
• Canon Digital Rebel or...
• Pentax Digital *ist
• Add on bits for my Canon A70 Digital Camera
• Another nice shirt like I got from mom for my birthday
• $1,000,000
• A house that exactly meets what I want (and only costs $1)
• A subscription to Popular Photography Magazine
• A huge and over priced flat panel TV, ungodly expensive reciever, and speakers of such high quality that even the most freakish audiophiles will cry for mercy (this will go in the house I mentioned above).
• CDRs
• CDRWs
• DVDRs (to go with the DVD writer mentioned above)

• Rio Karma (20G) for day to day use, Rio Cali (256mb version) for the gym (Wow just did a currency conversion, and even with the exchange it's about $100CND cheaper to buy this in the states (assuming the $169USD pricetag seen on froogle.google.com)
• AOpen DRW4410 DVD Writer (at under $100 US it'd be cheaper than the above items :)
• Linux compatible Serial ATA card for my fileserver (the Silicon Graphics chipsets don't seem to do linux RAID, but according to some of the forum posts it is possible to get it working). This is just an interim solution until I upgrade the whole box and put in a motherboard with a SATA chip, so just looking for something that works :)
• A couple of big ass SATA hard drives to go with it.
• Aliens Quadrilogy DVD
• A USB keychain storage device... 64 or 128 megs of storage to keep important files safe. According to a recent Linux Journal article, they are the floppies for the new millenium.
• Canon Digital Rebel or...
• Pentax Digital *ist
• Add on bits for my Canon A70 Digital Camera
• Another nice shirt like I got from mom for my birthday
• $1,000,000
• A house that exactly meets what I want (and only costs $1)
• A subscription to Popular Photography Magazine
• A huge and over priced flat panel TV, ungodly expensive reciever, and speakers of such high quality that even the most freakish audiophiles will cry for mercy (this will go in the house I mentioned above).
• CDRs
• CDRWs
• DVDRs (to go with the DVD writer mentioned above)

Let me look at the Game Soundtracks I have on my computer right now and see what my selections prior to this discussion say is best:

Doom Music, Bobby Prince (original, separate OST) - another mp3.com users bites it.
Mechwarrior II (original, ripped from the game CD)
Mechwarrior II:Mercenaries (original, ripped from the game CD)
various Final fantasy MIDIs (original, from the 'net)
Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy S Generation (oringal, pseudo OST)
Nobuo Uematsu, Junya Nakano, Masashi Hamauzu - Final Fantasy X OST (original, OST)
Wipeout (licensed, ripped from the game CD)
Wip3out (licensed, ripped from the game CD)
Halo - waiting to buy after/asking for Christmas (original OST)

I don't seem to see many non-originals in there. I believe that tells my opinion. Also, Wip3out's rip is 6/14 by the same artist: DJ Sasha so it's really a combination of licensed and original music). I wish vendors went back to using audio tracks on their CDs, but with DVDs in consoles becoming more common, I'm not surprised. I was disappointed not to find any audio tracks on the PC version of Halo, but at least there is a soundtrack available.

Time to send my office mate into gaming land....

Or buy one of these and call it a day. It's cheeper the TiVo and no service is required!

I'm in the same bind. I love the iPod, but it costs a lot of money. And hey, let's admit it, cool actually matters. I see cute girls with iPods all the time...

I've been toying with the idea of buying a Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra

For the price and features it looks pretty decent. It's only $299.99 for the 40 GB version at buy.com. Compare that with $494.00 for the 40 GB iPod.

What about the size difference you may ask? The Nomad has a volume of 11.88 cubic inches. (3 in x 0.9 in x 4.4 in) The iPods volume is 6.89 cubic inches (2.4 in x 0.7 in x 4.1 in). The difference seems to be the fact that the iPod uses a 1.8 inch drive whereas the Nomad doesn't.

There is a minimal difference in weight though. The iPod is 6.2 oz and the Nomad is 7.2. What do you guys think?

I'm in the same bind. I love the iPod, but it costs a lot of money. And hey, let's admit it, cool actually matters. I see cute girls with iPods all the time...

I've been toying with the idea of buying a Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra

For the price and features it looks pretty decent. It's only $299.99 for the 40 GB version at buy.com. Compare that with $494.00 for the 40 GB iPod.

What about the size difference you may ask? The Nomad has a volume of 11.88 cubic inches. (3 in x 0.9 in x 4.4 in) The iPods volume is 6.89 cubic inches (2.4 in x 0.7 in x 4.1 in). The difference seems to be the fact that the iPod uses a 1.8 inch drive whereas the Nomad doesn't.

There is a minimal difference in weight though. The iPod is 6.2 oz and the Nomad is 7.2. What do you guys think?

That one's cool, and there's another one (a bit more expensive) that I've seen. KDS USA's CD Organizer. Buy.com has it for about $90. It's got a tower form factor, but it only holds 75 CDs. The one Judg3 recommended seems to be a bit more cost effective.

My original comment from the Q&A article.

Why isn't Red Hat actively marketing their Professional Workstation Product? Apparently, this is a newly-released offering that hasn't been receiving much attention. It's odd, because it's not even displayed prominently on their site.

However, a Google cache of the page shows the relationship of Professional Workstation to the rest of the RHEL line.

The Red Hat Professional Workstation isn't available online, or through Red Hat, but through a few selected retail channels. Buy.com has it for $82.57, which includes one year of up2date service. It's the same product as Red Hat Enterprise Workstation. I purchased it from my local Microcenter for $99. Here's the RPM list.

It looks like this product was a last-minute addition.... Apparently, it's not crippled or relabeled.

Given my previous rants on Slashdot about the Red Hat shadiness, this looks like a good option.

Even more interesting is the fact that Red Hat didn't put much effort into product differentiation with this Professional Workstation product. I opened the box and the CDs were labeled "Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS". Well, only the first CD was labeled as such. The other CDs are identical to the Red Hat Enterprise AS/ES offering and include the same RPMS/SRPMS. SRPMS build cleanly in every test case I tried. So, buying this and using Enterprise 3.0 SRPMS for future updates is entirely possible. The same RHEL patched 2.4.21 kernel is there, too. Nifty.

Another issues that bugged me about the Red Hat Enterprise Linux move was the poor upgrade path. Reinstalling the OS on production servers that are running Red Hat 7.x or 8 ain't pretty. So, my final test with the Professional Workstation was prompted by a half-page paragraph in the manual that came with the box set.... It stated that in-place OS upgrades were only available for Red Hat Enterprise 2.1 -> Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 systems (via "linux update" at boot)...... however, you have the option of booting the install CD with "linux updateany" to relax the restriction "in case your /etc/issue file is damaged". Hmm.... No version-checking, eh? So I performed a test in-place upgrade on an existing Red Hat 8.0-equipped Proliant server...... It totally worked without a hitch!

This, along with the education and bulk-pricing deals leads me to believe that the Red Hat marketing department is working hard to appeal to the people it alienated with its announcements over the past few weeks. But it may not be enough. How can enyone plan for the future when Red Hat seems to be a moving target? We'll see what happens come December 31.

"Movie quality is dependent on the bit rate of the video (which cannot be greater than 3 MB/sec). " link to article on dvdrhelp.com Buy.com has it for $169 link

I'll admit, if the product is all that the review makes it out to be then I would be very interested. Cheap, too--it's selling for $169.99 + free shipping. Of course, you still have to add in your connectivity of choice, but regardless, a more than reasonable price considering some of what I've seen from similar media delivery companies such as Escient and SonicBlue.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's only a nice deal if you can get it to work. Three reviewers over at Review Centre are a little less than satisfied:

"Oritron NPD3117 networked DVD player is a very unreliable product. The first one I had, it stopped working after two weeks. I couldn't get the DVD door to open reliably...While playing DVD movie, the pixel would just break up all over the screen. The service center was no help. They did replaced my breaken unit. The second unit broke after one week."

"Had to return the first Oritron NPD3117 DVD player because networking did not function properly. Second player sent worked for a month and then would not turn on properly with wireless network card."

However, a Google cache of the page shows the relationship of Professional Workstation to the rest of the RHEL line.

The Red Hat Professional Workstation isn't available online, or through Red Hat, but through a few selected retail channels. Buy.com has it for $82.57, which includes one year of up2date service. It's the same product as Red Hat Enterprise Workstation. I purchased it from my local Microcenter for $99. Here's the RPM list.

It looks like this product was a last-minute addition.... Apparently, it's not crippled or relabeled.

Given my previous rants on Slashdot about the Red Hat shadiness, this looks like a good option.

Even more interesting is the fact that Red Hat didn't put much effort into product differentiation with this Professional Workstation product. I opened the box and the CDs were labeled "Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS". Well, only the first CD was labeled as such. The other CDs are identical to the Red Hat Enterprise AS/ES offering and include the same RPMS/SRPMS. SRPMS build cleanly in every test case I tried. So, buying this and using Enterprise 3.0 SRPMS for future updates is entirely possible. The same RHEL patched 2.4.21 kernel is there, too. Nifty.

Another issues that bugged me about the Red Hat Enterprise Linux move was the poor upgrade path. Reinstalling the OS on production servers that are running Red Hat 7.x or 8 ain't pretty. So, my final test with the Professional Workstation was prompted by a half-page paragraph in the manual that came with the box set.... It stated that in-place OS upgrades were only available for Red Hat Enterprise 2.1 -> Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 systems (via "linux update" at boot)...... however, you have the option of booting the install CD with "linux updateany" to relax the restriction "in case your /etc/issue file is damaged". Hmm.... No version-checking, eh? So I performed a test in-place upgrade on an existing Red Hat 8.0-equipped Proliant server...... It totally worked without a hitch!

This, along with the education and bulk-pricing deals leads me to believe that the Red Hat marketing department is working hard to appeal to the people it alienated with its announcements over the past few weeks. We'll see what happens come December 31.

However, a Google cache of the page shows the relationship of Professional Workstation to the rest of the RHEL line.

The Red Hat Professional Workstation isn't available online, or through Red Hat, but through a few selected retail channels. Buy.com has it for $82.57, which includes one year of up2date service. According to the various Red Hat lists, it's the same product as Red Hat Enterprise Workstation. Here's the RPM list.

It looks like this product was a last-minute addition.... I recall someone on the Red Hat list mentioning that he received RH WS CDs when he bought the product. Apparently, it's not crippled or relabeled.

Given my previous rants on Slashdot about the Red Hat shadiness, this looks like a good option.

But I have burned my fair share discs and while I can't speak for any of their other media, the Memorex Black line was pretty sweet.

I can't find any information about them on Memorex.com so they might have discontinued them due to what I'm sure was a higher cost in manufactoring.

All 3 movies in one day uninterrupted?

You are going to need a catheter in your urethra and a rectal probe as well!

Why should he spend that much?

The engineer's dillema rears its ugly head here as much as it does everywhere else in life.

One of these is every bit as efficient as a catheter bag, and less than 1/24th the cost of a colostomy (and far less permanent). The only (arguable) trade-off is that it's going to be slightly less pretty than a catheter bag, but that depends on the bag being well sealed.

You learn these things, when there's MST3K marathons running.

Folk with fireplaces in their dens might also consider getting a couple of kabob-skewers for saugages, marshamallows, etc. Using those and warm beer, you cut out the need for both a microwave and a dorm fridge.

Happy marathoning!

Just FYI- the iPods come with a remote control, although without an LCD. They can also do mp3 (or AAC?) recording. Used to be only in the debug mode, but it's in the regular menu with the latest update.

And who the hell wants or needs an FM radio? Not me! Although, if I were in the UK I might dig it, radio seems a lot less shitty there.

Why would I get an iPod? Because the 10 GB iPod is $80-100 cheaper than 10 GB iRiver iHP-100. Sees like a pretty big motivator to me- lower price, higher quality. But to each his own.

Buy.com has it for $89.77 with free shipping. If you set up an account at fatwallet.com and order through their referral link you can also get 2% cash back.

Some of us are still boycotting that joint. Anyone care to collect some alternatives?

Buy.com has it for $89.77.

No one seems to have mentioned the Red Hat Professional Worstation product that will also be released. Of course, you'd never know from their front page. It's supposedly the same as RHEL 3 WS, but no support and RHN (not RHEN) update access for a year. Targeted at Home power users. I've only so far found it listed on buy.com.

Not totally clear what the product is or what the support life will be. If it's in fact RHEL 3 WS and totally compatible that will be a good thing.

Maybe, but for the extra I'd go for something like this instead for the added convenience?

Wouldn't this be cheaper and easier?

I sure wish Paramount would stop abusing Star Trek fans with this overpriced shit, it's amazing how you can buy whole seasons of The X-Files for like $20-30 USD a season IIRC, but for Star Trek TNG? Oh, our price is $100 USD per season (or more!). So ridiculous.

No you can't. Any given full season of the X-Files on DVD runs $100 - $140, depending on where you buy. Amazon lists them at $134.98 (per season), DVDPlanet has 'em for $112.49 (per season) and Buy.com wants $134.97 per season.

If you can find any place selling real copies for $30/season, please provide a link...

Once again, bn.com has about the worst price on the web ($39.99). buy.com has it for $26.59:

There's tons of PC joypads these days that emulate the look and feel of a Playstation controller very well these days. They're usually around the same price or cheaper, and they come with well-written software drivers and other goodies like keyboard emulation for games that don't directly support gamepads. (Which, fortunately, aren't that many anymore.)

For example, I have Belkin's N45, which buy.com has for just $16. Been working great for 2 years now, no complaints, and I don't really notice any difference switching between it and a PS2 controller. Plus it plugs in out of the box, no rewiring skills required :) I'm sure there are many other brands that are just as good.

There are several converters that cost around $6 to $15, but being a student in search of a part time job I am reluctant to spend the money and it's more satisfying to do the mod yourself."

There's tons of PC joypads these days that emulate the look and feel of a Playstation controller very well these days. They're usually around the same price or cheaper, and they come with well-written software drivers and other goodies like keyboard emulation for games that don't directly support gamepads. (Which, fortunately, aren't that many anymore.)

For example, I have Belkin's N45, which buy.com has for just $16. Been working great for 2 years now, no complaints, and I don't really notice any difference switching between it and a PS2 controller. Plus it plugs in out of the box, no rewiring skills required :) I'm sure there are many other brands that are just as good.

There are several converters that cost around $6 to $15, but being a student in search of a part time job I am reluctant to spend the money and it's more satisfying to do the mod yourself."

Masters of Doom - $15.71 - ISBN 0375505245

Congratulations on the stereotypical Slashdot posts. Dollar signs in Microsoft's name, unbased claims of patches breaking things, and sarcastic quips at the end.

The subject sais it all except:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=30872868 &loc=106

You can also get the Infocus X1 for about $1000. And it has almost twice the contrast ratio. Also, the input selection is pretty good as it can take component input (via the RGB interface) and handle various HDTV resolutions (including 480p for progressive scan DVD players).

Plus, the bulb life of the X1 is 3000 hours. I'm not sure how long the GW one lasts but the general standard is around 2000 hours.