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...I'm not sure I'd trust a review from a guy who looks like this.

ever typed on one of these suckers?

One of the more functional uses of an extra 5¼ drive bay is something like this, a cooler to blow hot air out of your case. At least buying one of these is easier than cutting extra holes for fans in your case.

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

Specifically, you can find my LED flashlight reviews (newest first) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here :-).

This old review at Dan's Data talks about a similar tuner/decoder that outputs VGA signals, but you'll need a monitor that can handle the output. None of this namby-pamby downscaling, but full-fat 1080i HDTV. When someone's transmitting something worth watching, that is. And right about now, it's not looking very interesting.

Anyway, the review's fun, with plenty of acronyms, pics of back-panel ports, and serial port update instructions. Enjoy.

Go to Dan's Data.

Incidentally, you may want to check out this review of a product that does something similar in Windows, again using multiple video cards.

Alternately, you may want to cruise Ebay for some secondhand X terminals. While they tend to be ridiculously expensive new (on the order of a whole new PC), you may be able to find someone with a few they just want to get rid of. Of course, check out the specs before hand and cruise Google to make sure that they'll work under Linux without any special hardware or software. X may be an open protocol, but it never hurts to be sure.

People who don't care about their lamps having an IP address, and just want a hoopy colour-changing battery powered LED light thing, may be interested in the ones I reviewed (along with a variety of other LED lights) a while ago. There are a few products like this around now, but these ones are tough, and you turn them on and off by shaking them :-).

Dan covers this in one of his more recent letters sections. He states that compared to Halogen bulbs, LEDs aren't as efficient, and are best suited to accent lights.

But he says it better than I could.

Indeed they are, which is a bit of a bummer if someone manages to fake both of your irises. Then, you have to use whatever backup authentication method is provided. With any luck, you'll still be able to use a PIN, or whatever.

I had a bit of a rant on this subject when I reviewed, and successfully faked out, a fingerprint scanner a while ago.

The case actually looks like an old JVC receiver case.

Well, in Australia you can get the DGTEC DH-2000A that supports VGA output.

When you hit a key on a keyboard, you generate a scancode. A scancode isn't a tilde, or a scroll lock, it's a smidgin of data... where a smidgin is often equal to one byte, but sometimes not. There's a passel of details about the particulars, where a passel is equal to way too damned much for such an apparently simple tool, but they're not directly important to this discussion. Which is good, because I only ever knew a dollop of details, and I've forgotten several smidgins of that.

The thing is, given a capable operating system, those scancodes can mean what you want them to mean. Vi guys, for example, often remap Caps Lock to mean Esc. Caps Lock, then, can be remapped to someplace where it belongs... a footpedal locked in a closet, for instance.

Linux is capable. Mostly. Configuring keys in Linux isn't much fun, in my opinion. The files are obscure, things are handled differently in X than they are at the console, and different users can't have different keymaps (correct me... please! I'd love to be wrong). You can also botch things up, if you're not careful, and find the changes difficult to undo since you tend to want to use the keyboard to undo them. Configuration under OSX is easy, as you'd expect, and I don't know about other Unixen or Windows.

Anyway, keyboards don't need to change so far as this goes. It's a software issue. It would be nice if the software changed, and it became easier for the average user to remap as he saw fit. It would be nice as well if keyboards weren't so damned cheap, these days, and came with real keycaps like the classics did. You know, the little plastic key covers, which can either be rearranged or replaced with unusual or custom-printed ones.

My guess is, keyboard layouts aren't going to change much for a good, long time. For the great majority of users, there's no reason to change them.

What I personally wish we'd see, and what I'm confident we won't see, in the 21st century, are keyboards with more keys. Real keys, generating real scancodes... the programmable ones with extra keys generally just use the extra keys to send sequences of scancodes normally generated by the other keys. That's very handy if you're unable to to configure things on the computer side... but the computer always should be the flexible, configurable part of a setup. Ultimately, having more scancodes at your fingertips is a better solution (unless you're one of those Happy Hacker minimalists).

> I think anyone who ignored such a situation would quickly find bizarre actions like the galvanic corrosion and eventual failure of metal pipes or tubing in the system

Exactly what happened to uber-geek Dan, according to this article.

Yes, they exist. There was a review of one on Dan's Data a while ago.

AOpen H500W and A340, Chyang Fun CF-2029B, and FastWin FW-168A

Codegen ATX-6061 and ATX-6063 (they look expensive, but they aren't)

Lian Li PC-6087, PC-6089 and PC-6099 (Lian Li's versions of Cooler Master's swing-front boxes)

AOpen H500W and A340, Chyang Fun CF-2029B, and FastWin FW-168A

Codegen ATX-6061 and ATX-6063 (they look expensive, but they aren't)

Lian Li PC-6087, PC-6089 and PC-6099 (Lian Li's versions of Cooler Master's swing-front boxes)

AOpen H500W and A340, Chyang Fun CF-2029B, and FastWin FW-168A

Codegen ATX-6061 and ATX-6063 (they look expensive, but they aren't)

Lian Li PC-6087, PC-6089 and PC-6099 (Lian Li's versions of Cooler Master's swing-front boxes)

Dan's Data In depth reviews of all kinds of cool stuff all on one page. Legend.

If ads were sent directly to my mail server, not through an open relay or some crap like that, I would consider it. I'd rather have an email instead of a flyer tucked into my newspaper. All advertizing wastes some of your time, and I don't think a total ban on all advertizing is justified, for ethical or economic reasons. Why is email special? For some reason, email advertizing tends toward harassment, unlike flyers from the supermarket and future shop. Dan has observed some spammers continue to send mail weeks after the site they promote was shut down. That's the sort of thing the wastes everyone's time and should be gotten rid of. If I got an ad via email from a normal company, and it was directly from them, not a hotmail account and a website on geocities or something, I wouldn't be angry with them, even if I had no desire at all to buy their stuff.

I said earlier that I don't think all advertizing should be banned. I don't spend a lot of time going around looking for new products that I might be interested in. If I could think of things to look for, I could invent stuff myself (and be in a position to advertize it!). I don't watch a lot of infomercials on TV (except for the phone-sex ads that feature hot babes in skimpy outfits :), so how else would I find out about new inventions that might actually be useful. The problem that needs to be solved is getting rid of the spam trash, not eliminating advertizing by spam entirely. Of course, things like spamassasin are tuned to detect the bad spam. Maybe all advertizing via email should be banned until we figure out how to get advertizers to show some restraint. That may seem oxymoronic, but apparently in Europe, there are restrictions on TV advertizing directed at children. Not everyone in the ad industry is evil, so we need to figure out how to keep the evil people from making a mess.

People who'd like to see what a representative mini-car actually has in it, by the way, might like to check out my review of one, here.

"They're spammers, so they're lying thieving pig-licking toilet blockages with feet"

Oooh no they don't :-).

In my review of the Z-560 set, and some other speakers, I have a look inside and discover that Logitech's wattage numbers appear to be seriously inflated. Oh, and that "THX certification" doesn't mean diddly, either :-).

Dan's Data recently had a review of a speaker kit. He was very pleased with the results.

Of course, that company is based in Australia, so if you're not there, you'll probably want to find something closer. Anyone know of any similar companies in North America? (Especially in Canada, for my sake!)

Dan's Data recently had a review of a speaker kit. He was very pleased with the results.

Of course, that company is based in Australia, so if you're not there, you'll probably want to find something closer. Anyone know of any similar companies in North America? (Especially in Canada, for my sake!)

$59 DOLLARS FOR THOSE CHEAP PIECES OF CRAP???

Sheesh, I was just joking about the $300, but it might as well be, considering you can get a rock-solid IBM best-keyboard-in-the-world-hands-down for like $49.

I'll admit that Apple makes some decent products, but their keyboards have always been crap. I didn't realize that they were overpriced crap as well.

Sounds like you are looking for the Tip-Magnetic Driving fans from Y.S. Tech. You can find a review here and here or hit google for more. I don't have any myself yet so I can't tell you of my experiences. I've read warnings though which say that you need to keep the metal housing insulated from contact with any metal and it's best to use a 3 to 4 pin power adapter. For more information on some of the problems people have had check here.

Pardon me, that wasn't Sunon that was manufacturing the periphery-drive fan, it was YS Tech. You can find a much better review by an Australian here.

I could explain why, but its better done and funnier here Dans Data - Fancy IDE leads - The Terrible Truth

If you don't follow the physics then trust me, I do, he knows, ditch the cables if you run faster than UltraATA33 over them if you value your data.

Use SiSoft Sandra to benchmark the drives, if they go faster at Ultra33 than at Ultra66 then you have problems. Been there, done the test with my Western Digital 80Gb/8Mb cache pair, seen the effects of nasty cable.

One CRC error will just slow the bus down, two errors in the same transmission the ATA standard won't detect and you get a corrupt byte on the disk. Finding that in the zip of l33t t00lz you had stashed away will really make your day.

It, um, reads less like a press release than does the Explosive Labs piece :-).

Totally agree.

We have hundreds of Samsung 753DF monitors at my college, and I rarely, if ever, see one on the RMA shelf, which is normally always crammed full to overloading with Acer monitors.

Those monitors don't have the world's best picture, but they're fine for normal work, and seem to LAST.

Join the army?

Here's the place for you

It's here.

Pretty cool, I always like when "serious" sites review toys and neat gadgets - although I usually check out Dan's Data for that kind of thing.

I was kind of surprised to see it on Extreme Tech this morning. ;-)

Dan's Data did an interesting review of fingerprint scanners. Apparently they (well, that particular one anyway) are remarkably easy to fool - using jelly.

Personally, I'm happy with passwords - you can change those...

Still, in my mind, a car just isn't cool as a pocket tank. Oh yeah, time to mod one of these puppies for Warhammer 40K...

"I'm not really a sysadmin, I just play one at work..."

Speaking as a prosumer in both the SLR and Digital arenas...

A very good discusion can be found at : http://www.users.qwest.net/~rnclark/scandetail.htm

Thanks to Dan's Data - D60 Review for pointing me there!

*COUGH* fixs HTML *COUGH*

When ever a new pentium 4 CPU is released Germany experiences sudden lag.

When ever new office toys are sent out for review Australia takes a hit

and when ever some idiot with a backhoe digs up a backbone line, well hell, the entire USA goes ploink.

I wouldn't be terribly suprised if there was a project out there somewhere ... to basically turn a bunch of RAM into an IDE drive.

I have seen products available that do this, but I don't have the slightest idea where it was or what it was called. And just to throw in another link for CF adapters, here.

Learn about corrosion before you start water cooling your computer: How to bake your CPU