Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the great-titles-from-non-native-english-speakers dept.
An anonymous reader writes "On the german Thinknerd-website i found some funny pictures from rooms where geeks and nerds are at home (hardware, hardware, hardware). Check out the pictures and tell us how your room looks like. :-)"
Yay slashdot, i guess i'll just look around my apartment for a while
-- ------------
Internet?
Is that thing still around?
H.J. Simpson
Re:Second post and...
by
killthiskid
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· Score: 5, Funny
Agreed. Crap... we'll I guess I'll look around: beer cans, laptop, Seinfeld on the TV, unassemble stepper motor assembly, beer cans, random power supplies, clothes, candles, stereo, dishwasher, cat, cat, cat, cat toy, fishing rod, window, couch, chair, desk, desk, desk, VCR parts, motors, power supply, wires, soldering iron, solder, canned air...
Ack...
I need to clean.
I don't like to look around. I am now going back into introvert mode. Ahhh, yeah.... only the laptop screen exists... ahh... much better.
Re:Second post and...
by
killthiskid
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Or on top of a warm laptop.
Side note, and definately OT... we currently have 3 cats in the house. Two are a few years old, but this year we adopted a kitten... and my girlfriend taught the damn cat how to fetch. I'm doing this as I type... with pipe-cleaners. Toss the pipe cleaner (I wrap it into a helix around my finger so I can get more distance) and the cat runs, graps it, and immediately comes back. A fetching cat. I'd be curious to see if anyone else has a cat that will fetch?
Yep - I have one - he discovered this scourer thingy, and liked to throw that up in the air an chase it, and I discovered that I could throw it to him, he would run, jump, catch, throw, jump, catch, run, drop at my feet. And then whinge if I didn't repeat.
Back almost not off-topic, recently he discovered a toy koala that grips onto pencils, in my electronics room, and picked it up and played with it. I took it off him and put it back on the pencil, because I don't want it covered in cat slobber, so he went back to the pencil to pick it up again. Then I hid it in a jar, and he put his paws down the jar, and picked it out. Very skilled. So I hid it elsewhere, etc, etc, etc. Darn cat. Steals all my wire too. I lost some batteries, pens, and most annoyingly, a peice of plastic off a monitor I was fixing, then discovered him pawing under the fridge, so I looked under the fridge and found his stash. All, except for one button-battery! Probably ate the darn thing - he did stop eating for a week at one stage.....
Re:Second post and...
by
grytpype
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Actually, that game is not called "fetch." It's called "throw."
I have 3 cats (Chubba, RedNuts and Booga) and Chubba was me and my wife's first...he fetches...he'll even drop stuff on my lap letting me know he's in the mood now. It got a little too carried away one day..he usually wakes me up by clawing on my chest at 7 AM promptly. One day, he went out that morning, and he came in and dropped a dead bird on our bed..I woke up to a dead bird carcass on my chest....I was mortified, but I didn't get mad..I know that's his way of showing me love..it was a gift;)
-- If you're not a Liberal in your 20's, then you have no heart.If you're still a Liberal in your 30's you have no brain.
Re:Second post and...
by
YeeHaW_Jelte
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· Score: 2
Yeah, I've known a fetching cat. The poor animal was raised with only dogs as companions, which explains a lot.
--
---
"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
My younger brother's cat fetches. Beads, mostly. I've got it on videotape, because I couldn't believe it at first. He also likes to sleep in the refrigerator (obviously they don't let that go on for more than 10 minutes).
Hmm... well, actually, I drink coffee (no soda), I live with my girlfriend (thus no need for nudie-mags, I have real life), and no ISA cards. I threw them all away. I do have an open 90 pentium sitting on the floor right now, but not an ISA card in sight.
If you still have any of those thinkpads, drop me an email. I'm not too concerned about price, I just need a 233 or something. I'm in buffalo, and can probably give you a decent deal on it. If you have anything faster, tell me.
Not too bad. BTW, I noticed in your one shot (the big ass Dell box full of laptops on the shelf) that you seem to have a 1xx-series PowerBook. If it boots, you'll probably be able to get a few bucks for that on eBay as a collector's item.
Re:Amatures
by
ocelotbob
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· Score: 2, Interesting
You've done it. Now, once I get all the non-computer stuff ready for moving, I'm going to have to get all my computer crap arranged, and photographed. I will be the first to admit that I am in awe of your quantity - that is a metric fuckton of computers. However, it seems to be pretty homgeneous. Where are the macs, and the suns, and the SGIs? I've got to get a pic of it, but here is my current line of crap -
Sun - Ultra 2, SS4, SS10, IPC (2), IPX, Classic, LX, SS 1+ (3), ELC, SLC, 3/80, 3/60
SGI - Indy (3)
Dec - Vaxstation 3100 (2)
Apple - Duo 280, Duodock, Powermac 7200, Quadra 840, LC III, IICX
PowerComputing Powerbase 180
HP - Apollo 715/75, Visualize B132L, Envisex (xterm)
IBM - 7006, 7011
NeXT - Nextstation
3 PCs, generic - 1 Duron, 1 K6-2, 1 Pentium
Plus a shitload of old laser printers, monitors, keyboards, mice, drives, etc.
Before anyone asks:
Yes, I have imagined a beowulf cluster of those - I just can't do it because the wiring in my current apartment is 70 years old
I do get action - my boyfriend is a real sweetie, thankyouverymuch. Long distance relationships are hell, though.
and finally, the most important answer, why not?
I will not be posting any new pictures of my geek pad, as it is currently ablaze in a three alarm fire after my website was slashdotted the AMD without heatsink that I was running spontaneously combusted.
They should really release those things with a Slashdot warning. -_^
Well, what can I say... I guess I am the steriotypical nerd. The side of computer case is perpetually unscrewed and leaning against the tower. I have a really big bookcase for all my DVDs, sci-fi books and CDs. Got a log box 'o parts for when I need to make a connection or repair somewhere. I have papers for various projects and ideas spewn about everywhere. That's about it. I would have more, but this is just the stuff I took with me to college. The rest is filling another room at home.:)
Just a friendly word or two. Now imagine for a moment that room, cleaned up, only a desktop or two, and a single monitor. No networking hardware, no rackmount shit, no cables strewn all over the floor. And imagine that you bring your domicile up to the relevant fire codes, and repaint the burned walls, and put in some carpeting, or at least an area rug. Now imagine that you shower and shave (I know, it's tough going, but just bear with me here), and maybe even go to the gym a few times a week.
Now imagine a gorgeous woman having sex with you every night in your new, socially acceptable domicile. See what I'm talking about? That could be you. Just something to think about.
I know living in a geek-o-rama pigsty is cool and everything when you wanna have a Counter-Strike LAN party on your bare concrete floor, but you can be a geek and still have hygiene and a relatively normal residence, and those girlfriends will start banging down on your door. Then you won't need the 11 monitors and surround-sound pr0n.
I guess I'm not the stereotypical nerd. Lets see whats in my den....
Computer w/ Monitor & Printer (just one. Not five, not fifty, one) Stack of cd blanks Peanut butter Chocolate bar wrappers Fruit cup wrappers Approximately 6 black socks Weight bench Squat rack Stationary bike Freeweights Stack of video game boxes Two sheets over the window (the yellow face, it burns usss) Box of pudding Paper shredder Rollerblades CD Binder Computer books Various diplomas on the wall (mine + gf) Slippers that look like stuffed wolf toys Plastic storage tubs in the closet (some w/ pc or electronics gear)
That's just my den. I have a bunch of home entertainment shit in the living room, but most people do, not worth talking about. I also keep a few backup pc's in a storage closet.
In any case, I'm more of the stereotypical athletic nerd. I'm hungry now... mmm, pudding.
-- Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Carpet: check. One desktop, one laptop: check. Single monitor: check. No cables on floor: check. Carpeting: check. Fire codes: check. Shower: check. Gym: check. Imagining gorgeous woman: check.
Girlfriends banging down the door...where did I go wrong...
Now imagine a gorgeous woman having sex with you every night in your new, socially acceptable domicile. See what I'm talking about? That could be you. Just something to think about.
Well, maybe he doesn't like gorgeous woman. Perhaps he likes pounding the ass of some other gay geek? Or vice-versa? Or both?
Just a few weeks ago I just moved all of my non-desktop/notebook PC equipment out of my room and into the hallway. Before the move, my room was well, very loud -- about equal to a small car engine actually, and very hot -- 15 degrees hotter then the rest of the house.
Since the move, I can hear myself think, and the whole level of the house is comfortably heated thanks to my server "farm" in the hall.
I consider it a interior decorating success story of the geeky kind!
Re:Actually...
by
penguin_punk
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I live in Whistler, BC, Canada (Home of the namesakes Whistler/Blackcomb/Longhorn) and it gets DAMN cold, but my heater in my room is constantly off and my equipment heats it to above room temperature throughout the year. In the summer I even have to keep my window cranked open (2 1/2' x 3') I think I'm turning deaf because of the noise, but I only seem to use my hearing for answering phones, and I don't even like doing that.
p133 - Slackware 8.0 - adsl router/dhcpd/irc server (irc. l uddite s. ca) pII 450 - Win2kserver - mp3 server celery 1.2 Slack 8.1 - Desktop #1 celery 1.2 Win2kpro - Desktop #2 (yes, I have two of these, no dual-boot) p74 - slack 8.1 - ISDN gateway & print server pIII 750 - slack8.0 (& bleeding kernel) - Laptop (& wlan finder)
I can't hear a damn thing. My room's right next to the kitchen and I have 5 non-geek roomates. They're allways walking past my room and hearing a "hhhHHHHUUUUUUUUUMMMMMmmmm" coming from inside the door, but to tell you the truth, I don't really notice it any more./rant
this is an act(s) (orgy?) of geek masturbation.. as there is nothing they like more then stroking their own egos.. especially in a collective such as this one =)
dislcaimer: the preceding is the expression of opinion based on observations as a life long member.
Apparently I'm not a true geek...
by
danamania
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Supposedly I'm partway there - but after putting a pic online - I'm told my room is just too tidy, and I have to redo Geek101: Coke cans and sticky notes.
damn.
Re:Apparently I'm not a true geek...
by
Jacer
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· Score: 4, Funny
Don't feel too bad. I was mocked for drinking diet soda. I kept getting the maxim quote, "Diet Pepsi doesn't make you gay, it just makes you look gay!" at least as a girl you can drink diet soda, it's ok if you've got tits, but if you're diabetic, you still look like a fag!
-- --fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
Re:Apparently I'm not a true geek...
by
iCEBaLM
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· Score: 5, Funny
You're disqualified, they're not real computers, they're macs.
-- iCEBaLM
Re:Apparently I'm not a true geek...
by
User+956
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· Score: 2
I'm told my room is just too tidy, and I have to redo Geek101: Coke cans and sticky notes.
You also need to get a real computer. Sorry, but the tangerine iMac doesn't cut it unless you're a gay hairdresser.
-- The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
dust is essential
by
h2odragon
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· Score: 5, Funny
Re:dust is essential
by
frozenray
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· Score: 4, Funny
Nnnnnnice cabling! You are truly a master of the art, props to you.
BTW, good thing your dog seems to rather largish: small pets and 10" AC case fans don't mix well. Actually they do mix, but in a rather unexpected and unpleasant (for the pet) way.:-(
-- "There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
What we need are pictures of non-geek rooms so we can get some inspiration on how to decorate our place in the hopes that the next time a female comes over, they don't run in terror from the sheer volume of Star Wars memorabilia.
Re:non-geek rooms
by
Corvaith
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· Score: 2, Insightful
*raises hand*
There are females out there whose rooms look nearly so bad. Until recently, my bedroom was done in bright red with Mario border--the relic of my younger brother's childhood, I swear to god--and LotR posters. And usually a lot of soda cans, the assorted wires that go with my laptop, etc. Plus I have another room with my currently nonfunctional desktop.
It's all in disarray because I'm remodeling, but... geek rooms are completely okay, in my book!
Take it from a chick - some of us find the Star Wars motif very sexy, and are hiding a room full of 'puters behind that closed door. Stick to being your own geek self, and you'll find a chick who will actually make you happy. Even if you try to disguise yourself with an interior decorating makeover, eventually the non-geek-girls will figure you out and drop ya like a rock:-)
Re:non-geek rooms
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Insightful
My room walls are covered by network protocols and linux security posters, shelves full of Sci-Fi movies, Unix, electronics and programming books, two tables covered by computers, electronic equipment, boards and components. The home network spans from the main door to the other end of the house. I've a girlfriend too. Not a geeky one, but a smart sweet pretty babe who's proud of my geekyness and never asked me to remove anything of the above from my house. If I had dressed and behaved like the typical college football champ, pumping my muscles and social skills while doing nothing to increase my culture, maybe I could have 20x times the girlfriends I had in my life, but I'd never find the right one to live with.
Don't change your geekyness. If a girl doesn't like you for that reason it's -her- fault, not yours. Get a whore somewhere to feed your sexual instincts, and wait for the right woman to come, but never change what you are for any reason.
"How about posting a how-to on how to go out, do stuff, and maybe get laid every once in a while. At least this would help the (pathetic) state of affairs."
You don't need to go out to get laid, as long as you have a phone line and the Yellow Pages.
-- God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
I think the webserver is inebriated at the moment. I'll just have to look around my lab here.
I used to have a geek room...
by
RobertB-DC
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· Score: 5, Interesting
... then I got married. It was an efficiency apartment, and all available horizontal areas were covered either with clothes (the floor and dresser), dishes (the kitchen), or breadboards, chips, and discrete components. My last project was a little quickie 555 circuit. I hooked it up to a counter and some LED's to make a simple bounce back-and-forth effect.
My new wife wanted me to make something blinky that would go around a license plate frame. I started getting nervous... that would be a Real World design! Then, we needed the table for dinner (what was wrong with sitting on the bed, I wondered?). And within a couple of weeks, I realized that having more than one room is a Good Thing... when we moved to a one-bedroom apartment, the Geek Room was no more.
But there's hope for the next generation... my 12-year-old daughter just wrote her first Visual Basic program today. You click the button and a MsgBox pops up that says "THIS IS BORING".
-- Stressed? Me?
Of course not.
Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Re:I used to have a geek room...
by
Zakabog
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· Score: 2
I was just wondering but why "THIS IS BORING"? Did you ask her to write the program in Visual Basic, or did she actually want to? If you ask her to make stuff in Visual Basic because you'd like a daughter that is a programmer, then she's not going to get very good, she's just going to get very bored with it and give up. I really hope she decided to try programming on her own (although Visual Basic isn't a good thing to start with.)
Re:I used to have a geek room...
by
isorox
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· Score: 2
But there's hope for the next generation... my 12-year-old daughter just wrote her first Visual Basic program today. You click the button and a MsgBox pops up that says "THIS IS BORING".
True, VB is boring, and harmful. Took me 6 months to get weaned of VB and on to a language with semi-commas.
Start her on something like java
Re:I used to have a geek room...
by
xtremex
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· Score: 2
I have a 4 bedroom house..me , my wife, the 3 cats and my "lab". I STILL have my geek room, where I have all my servers running 24-7. One monitor for all of them....I have a kvm for when I need to see boot up screens, but it's SSH all the way! (Or citrix for that one lone Win2k server)
-- If you're not a Liberal in your 20's, then you have no heart.If you're still a Liberal in your 30's you have no brain.
Re:I used to have a geek room...
by
zerOnIne
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· Score: 2
i can totally relate here... for two years i lived with 3 other CS majors in a big old apartment here in downtown boston (well, "big" is relative to the other apartments you can find in downtown boston for under $3k/month)... anyway, this place was completely wired... we turned one of the closets into a literal server closet... we had Sun3 motherboards as wall decorations... the cases to those Sun3's were made into the most sturdy coffeetable I have ever seen in my life... our entertainment center was made from a pair of old Mac towers and a massive PS/2 server chassis... catV drops in nearly every room (mostly my doing, as i was the only one with a laptop) running over a 10/100 switched ethernet... 768k SDSL with 10 static IPs... a keyboard and an old laptop screen grafted into the living froom telephone "just because"... A/V cables running from the computer room to the living room... even our christmas tree had a string of 30-pin ram for garland, CDs, hard drive platters, and a NIC (plugged in, of course) as decoration... you get the idea...
and then, a few months ago, i got married:)... my wife and i couldn't afford much in the way apartment space, so we've got a studio... now, my wife is a geek, but not of computers... so as she does understand my desires for masses of computer equipment, she helps keep me in check... instead of using the rainbow of blue, red, yellow, grey, and black CatV cable that i had for the new place, i went and bought a spool of white at her request... this way, it runs around the edges of the apartment and "blends in" more with the white wall paint... the firewall/gateway is now tucked into a nice shelf on her desk, with the switch and dsl bridge up there as well... we've got (white) cable drops to my desk, the nightstand, and her desk... she even insists on keeping our xbox and gamecube controllers in a little wicker basket when not in use:)... we even bought a wooden rack for the videos/dvds/videogames, instead of the traditional "pile next to the TV" approach that had worked so well at my last place...
someday, when we can afford a bigger place, though... im' going to have my own workshop "geekroom"... and she'll get her mineral collection / craft room (dude, geologists are weird...)... but right now, it's a pretty good deal, and i'm slowly turning her into more of a CS geek;)...
--
09
Mine sounds a lot worse than it looks...
by
Blimey85
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· Score: 2, Informative
It doesn't look too bad... but the two main computers make it sound like a freakin airport in here. I wish I had a digital camera to take a pic. I'll try to summarize though.
Two desks. The main one has my tower sitting next to it with a 19" monitor on top. On top of the monitor is my Ximian monkey.. next to the monitor on either side are speakers. A sub sits under the desk. Phone, printer and a pair of lamps also take up space on the desk.. oh, keyboard, optical mouse and calculator as well as too many papers and other shit are on the desk. Next to this desk is another desk with pretty much the same setup. That tower is black, mine is blue. Next to that desk (that's my lady's desk) is a third desk that has been converted into a bookshelf. Bunch of programming/tech books sit on that. Then the rest of the room is occupied by various parts that I haven't found a use for yet. Several zip drives, cd-rom drives, a couple of dvd drives, sound cards, modems, God knows what else... yea maybe I should clean up this dump.
This is depressing... I think I show go get some food and quit thinking about what a freakin pig pen my office is.
-- How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
You have to speak up to be heard over the blower noise.
there are burn marks on the walls from electrical fires.
When people ask about heating in the winter, I just laugh.
six printers
two cisco switches
four routers
six servers
two racks
11 monitors
three workstations
two kvm switches
toeknring
and all the cables to with them
30 amps and not one mA available
carpet? I have a carpet?
girlfriend? no such luck:P
Let's do the math...
by
BiOFH
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· Score: 5, Insightful
10 concurrent users is all this site will handle, now it's/.ed and......
OK I'll check back on this one in a week.
slashcache slashcache slashcache come ON you guys.......!!!
-- -
I am made of meat.
Geeks grow up...
by
kzinti
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· Score: 5, Interesting
A room full of computers and related stuff is a lot of fun... for a while. I got tired of the clutter, the boxes of CDs, the old disk drives, tape drives, power supplies, all the crap lying around all the time. All the junk just got in the way. But above and beyond all that, I got tired of my room looking like a geek's room - I wanted something a little bit more... tasteful.
(When did I get a sense of "taste"? I don't know it just happened to me - I didn't mean for it to... honest.)
So last year, when we bought a new house, I claimed the large upstairs bedroom and turned it into my study/library/computer room. I put up shelves to neatly store all my books - not just the computer manuals, but also the sci-fi novels, the old textbooks, the old albums, the artsy-fartsy books, the Edward Gorey books, and all the other books in my "collection".
I put a black leather couch by the windows, with a nice wood-and-glass coffee table set in front. I bought a bunch of Ikea bookshelf modules with internal lighting, some glass doors, some opaque doors, and built a wall of cubbies to hold the stuff I need near me. I set out a bunch of knick-knacks, plants, vases, even a couple of antique radios. I painted the walls a warm brown color. I bought and set out a couple of nice lamps. I even bought an on-stage stand for my Ibanez six-string.
Best of all: the room has a big walk-in closet. In there I put the nasty old bookshelves that used to sit out in the room. On them are all the computer manuals, the archive CDs, the stuff I don't need on a daily basis. On the other shelves are all the office supplies: printer paper, spare ink cartridges, backup tapes, and all that kind of stuff. In there I keep the crappy old stuff I don't use any more, but can't bring myself to throw away: old video cards, old disk drives, old cables, wires, etc., etc. The closet contains the ancient 233-MHz pentium system that serves as my Internet gateway. It also has the two filing cabinets that keep all the family papers. In short: all the ugly stuff is hidden away in the closet.
I still have some computer stuff in the room, but it's just what I need and as neatly arranged as I can get it. The full tower PC sits pretty much hidden behind the antique library table that serves as my desk. My trusty old HP 5L printer sits by it on the Ikea modules. On the desk are just the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and telephone. I have enough room to open up a couple of books without having to move a bunch of computer crap out of the way.
The clutter and crap that I do need on a daily basis is hidden behind the opaque doors of the Ikea modules, so I can close the doors and hide it most of the time. I have to make an effort not to let the Dr Pepper cans stack up, but aside from that it's pretty easy to keep my room neat and clutter-free. I know this is the opposite of the geek ideal, but I like it much better than piles of computer crap and clutter. My study is a pleasant, even peaceful, place to sit and hack, watch TV, listen to music, strum the guitar, or just sit and read. Highly recommended, if you've got the room for it.
Don't worry Jim. From what you write down, taste is the last thing that could be associated with you. Honest.:) I mean, black leath couch with glass table? Is there anything else that shouts more 'a geek lives here and BTW he happens to have some money...' Don't worry, you are still geek, just older:)
-- If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
Real Men Have Racks
by
gnetwerker
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· Score: 5, Funny
Real geeks don't brag about how much of a mess their Geek Room is --
Real Men Have Racks(tm).
I got tired having 10 PCs lying around on the floor. For real MIPS per square foot, you need a rack. I now have 4 dual P3 servers, 2 Cobalt servers, 2 480Gb NAS servers, and another 720Gb of RAID drives (along with the obligatory UPS, network routers/switches, KVM switch, etc) in 6 sq. ft. of floor space in a closet.
Wow! With the slanted, insulation stuffed, exterior walls, that room looks like it's in the attic. I don't know where you live, but my attic gets to be 110+ degrees in the summer time. And after helping my brother wire his house in Chicago this summer, I can verifiy that it isn't just because I live in the southern US. I musta sweat off 15 pounds wiring that house.
Where in your house is this, and if it *is* just below the roof (as it looks) how do you manage to keep it cool enough to run all of that equip?
-- Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.
Re:Real Men Have Racks
by
grytpype
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· Score: 5, Insightful
It's safer. A lot of places put their outlets in that way now and one of the electricians wiring a basement for some plugs that were on separate circuits did the same. He said it was the way people are doing things and not only that but if the plug isn't all the way in and something conductive falls on it, it won't short because it'll hit the ground first.
they don't run in terror from the sheer volume of Star Wars memorabilia.
I always wanted a Trek motif. Doors that slide open automatically when you walk near, a big-screen TV that turns on when I shout "Engage!", a captains chair, a young female Volcan communications officer in a short skirt. No, make that Klingon.
Then again, such tends to conflict with empty Domino pizza containers and Mtn. Dew cans.
ahem...that would be "on screen", not "Engage", please do not confuse the two. However, having a vibrating bed respond to "Warp speed X, Engage!" would just be too damn cool. And by cool I mean not cool at all, but nerdy, but nerdy in a good way.
-- Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
Re:Beam me up!
by
Polyphemis
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Want to see a Star Trek motif? Try and arrange a tour of Ensemble Studios in Dallas, Texas. (Ensemble Studios are the developers of the Age of Empires series and Age of Mythology.) I hear one of the presidents is a huge Trekkie, and that's why the both of the floors for the offices are decorated and designed Star Trek-style. Not just decorated and lit but the entire office spaces were built to those specifications. I mean, they even have a Holodeck! (which, sadly, wasn't fully functional when I visited.)
Seriously though, totally awesome place, incredible offices. They even have their own futuristic elevator and all this awesome mood lighting in these super-cool futuristic little light fixtures. Great big arches, huge circular swooping desks, TV walls, etc. Walking in the first time felt like I stepped onto a spaceship. Totally outstanding atmosphere.
I don't really know how to get in other than either knowing someone there (which I did) or going on a tour of there with the Art Institute of Dallas as a prospective student (which I did again three days later). Awesome bunch of people, great offices, great games, worth checking out if you can.:)
Re:Beam me up!
by
Stinking+Pig
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· Score: 5, Funny
what's the point of the doors? A true geek never leaves the room any way:-)
-- "Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
Well, these are Trekkies we're talking about. To some, that's a reason to lock themselves in the bathroom with the water running.
--
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
here's my room in QTVR
by
adpowers
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Forget pictures, real geeks use QuickTime VR! Anyway, here is my room. It is a fairly old picture, but not too much has changed.
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
sharkey
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· Score: 2
the Slashdot offices could be mistaken for a hospital coma ward.
Except for the smell. I bet a coma ward smells MUCH better.
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
pics of another geek room
by
leftyfb
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Just thought i'd post pics of my room that people have found amusing since the current pics were/.'d, as will be mine, but oh well.
http://www.mikerosoft.net/~leftyfb/computers/
Why do we do this?
by
Average
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
It's in me to be this kind of packrat. It runs in the family. But I've fought it like no other. Life ruled by your stuff is no way to live. You have to think about it, store it, fix it, trip over it... etc. MINIMIZE!
Computing is pretty central to my life, so it's reasonable that it's front and center in my space. BUT, it doesn't overwhelm everything else in life, so it doesn't overwhelm my space.
I had the 10 monitors, 20 cases, 286 in the corner life. Eventually, I said "WHY??". Couldn't quite throw it out, but I stuck the approx 100 kilos of crap in the basement of my office building with a note saying "FREE. TAKE.".
Down to one desktop PC (dual-boots) and a BSD nat and filestorehouse server. That's it. Not keeping and buying crud means I can have good components. I don't need 5 keyboards "just in case". I have a Kinesis, and it's bulletproof. I don't have a parallel printer. Don't think I'll ever have another. Well then, I don't need to keep parallel cables, do I?
I think a lot of people, geeks and non geeks, could learn a lot from backpacking or bicycle touring. 25 pounds of stuff is usually enough. Really. Buy less junk, live smaller, and be happier, guaranteed!
I don't have masses of pentium 1's. But I do have a couple of DECstations. I have a PA-RISC box. I run triple-head.
And those keyboards, "just in case", you don't type like me. Two days, and I killed the enter key on a crap keyboard. Takes about a year for me to destroy the escape key on a regular ergo. That stockpile of IBM Model M's comes in handy.
A lot of people here criticize keeping stuff. Don't say just that "you don't need more than XYZ". I've seen systems like my working DECstation going for $1000 on ebay now. Its a collectable. A 386 won't ever be valuble or particularly useful, aside from maybe NAT. And a stack of SGI Indigo's is pretty cool, if only for the penis-enlargement factor. But I could give a damn about my roomate's system with 5 NICs.
Oh, and one of the original compaq portables. We'd have an Osbourne if my roomate's dad hadn't sold it.
Nothing wrong with being a packrat, as long as you're a packrat with taste.
Re:Why do we do this?
by
IIRCAFAIKIANAL
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Dude, you aren't a packrat. You can justify everything you keep (ie/ "I am rough on keyboards so I keep extras around" or "I have a couple of DECstations cuz their k3wl") but you don't just horde pc junk. I think what you said agrees w/ parent post.
Personally, whenever I get a new PC, I throw out an old one, so I only have 3 at a time (incidently only running one right now). I don't need anymore than that, so I don't keep em. And as for spare parts, I just have a plastic tub filled with em - if the tub fills up, I go through it and throw out the stuff I don't need.
-- Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
In my college room, I had 2 modern PCs with 3 monitors, my roommate had his laptop. And we had an old Gateway full tower, and 13 SGI indegos with 21" monitors
-- I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
The 'getting laid' bit usually comes from my weekend trips to Sheffield to see my friends (and their friends:) So what you are saying is you don't get laid at home. That explains it!;)
Luckily for me, the girl I met (and now live with) in college is an english geek so she had a bedroom crammed with the trappings of her geekiness (basically: lots and lots of books). My room wasn't much of a shock for her.
-- Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
I'm crusing slashdot on a Saturday night. I haven't been to a club since February. I got laid yesterday morning and was late for work, where I surfed slashdot for most of the day. Clubs are okay, but a good beer and Mozilla to surf slashdot with wins my vote any day!
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
fmaxwell
·
· Score: 2
It's also amazing how people can't differentiate between a submissions' text and a slashdot editor's text.
It's even more amazing that there are people who do not understand the difference between an the job functions of a writer and an editor. One aspect of an editor's job is to assure that his/her publication does not have errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling -- even for reader-submitted text. And I was fully aware of the fact that the writing in question was submitted by a Slashdot reader.
Submissions are generally not edited for content, grammar or spelling and I think that is good policy.
I do not. Any reputable newspaper or periodical corrects such errors in reader-submitted materials, for the benefit of both the readers and the writers. Do you really believe that the letters to the editor of all major newspapers are received error-free as they appear in print? It is only when the publication is trying to make a point of the submitter's stupidity/ignorance that they leave errors in place, complete with the usual "[sic]" next to each one. If an editor corrects the work of professional writers, why should that benefit be denied a reader who submits something for print?
If you're so smart then why aren't you doing something better with your time?
Were I not opposed to ad-hominem attacks, I could ask the same of you. But to answer your question, I believe that promoting high standards for the printed word is a valuable way to use one's spare time.
Amatures ... indeed!
by
ackthpt
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· Score: 3, Interesting
That's nothing. Honestly. My dad's been an amature radio operator for about 60 years and his entire basement is loaded with O-scopes, radio receivers, parts of analog computers, early digital computers, and manuals. Shelves and shelves of manuals. At least 4 workbenches and more boxes of electronic parts than you could shake a Weller soldering gun at.
I just attended the Findlay, OH hamfest for the 30th time (only coming away with a few odd bits and a working Elsa Gloria XL and a non-winmodem 56k) I think we financed Heath for a few years, as he's got several nice powersupplies, etc. and... we had one of the first microwave ovens in town, he put it together as a Heathkit.:-)
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Re:Amatures ... indeed!
by
nurightshu
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· Score: 3, Funny
[W]e had one of the first microwave ovens in town, he put it together as a Heathkit.:-)
Okay, I have to ask: how many {extra|missing} body parts do you and your siblings have? Any special powers?:)
-- They that would sacrifice their.sig space for that cliched Franklin quote deserve neither.
You know you're a geek when...
by
coene
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· Score: 5, Funny
...your house has a bigger power generation & backup system than your ISP.
Re:You know you're a geek when...
by
yack0
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· Score: 2
that's funny. I might be getting the OLD generator from where I work (30kVA - replaced by a 60+kVA). Now, I don't work for the ISP I use at home, so between the 30kVA Generator and the UPS 2200 downstairs, I MIGHT endu p having more generation and backup power than my provider!!!:)
My geek room is... well... I guess I'll start from the door and go counterclockwise...
Two cardboard boxes full of stuff that my wife and I haven't looked at since we moved here. (Yeah, I got a geek wife... geophysics major, woohoo!)
Next, a SparcStation 10 with external 4-drive SCSI box and a 20" monitor.
A CD rack with an assortment of blanks, burns, and originals, no music here.
A Calcomp digitizer pad.
This spot is the first corner we come to...
My computer desk, which currently has my homebuild K6-III/450 system (which runs great, thank you) and a 17" monitor. External modem, zip drive, and tons of cables, running Linux.
A bookshelf with some cardboard boxes in front of them. These are piled with things like floppy drives and I think there's a Macintosh in there somewhere...
In the next corner is an old coffee table with some actual living plants on it, and two windows that you can see out of. Underneath is a UPS, a power strip, several ethernet cables and a couple pairs of military boots that I haven't used since I was in the Army.
Next in line is a wooden cabinet with a Cisco ethernet switch and an HP DeskJet on top. The DeskJet is plugged into the network via a Lantronix print server.
Then comes my wife's K6-II/350 system running Win98SE, on a desk. To the left is a flatbed scanner.
Next is a bookshelf with technical manuals and a shelf full of SCSI cases.
The next wall contains a closet that is inaccessabled, but is full of things ranging from spare circuit boards to rifles.
The closet is inaccessable due to a pile of stuff that I need to get rid of before my wife complains too much, but consists of
+ Several Apple IIgs's + More apple stuff + Tons of 5 1/4 inch floppies + All kinds of crap...
-- "Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
I stand in awe of all the uber-nerds on this board. I'm nowhere comparable to some of the people on this board (I've only got 6 computers at home) but I'd just like to add my two bits. I seem to accumulate hardware in any available drawer. I have drawers full of Riva 128s, Voodoo 2's, SB 16's, cables, etc. I've got a Celeron 366 motherboard + cpu combo sitting in the chest of drawers behind me (right next to a blanket and a couple of table cloths) and I've got RAM in random nooks and corners around the room. I've only been in my dorm room for about two months now, and I've already got a PIII-850, a PIII-667, and two 10,000 RPM Cheetahs sitting in the drawer next to me.
-- A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
A patch panel on the back of the rack, which has 3 laptops, an SGI, an Ultra 30, the 2u linux box and 4u freebsd fileserver, and 3 PCs (all over the house.)
- A.P.
-- "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Our basement and first floor of our building was and probably still is about a million times more crowded. We have WALLS of hard drives, WALLS of power supplies, stack after stack after stack of old motherboards and cases. Don't even get me started on keyboard and mice!
That's not to say there wasn't at least some organization -- there was, but it was always a little humbling to go down into a basement where the weight present in IDE cables alone exceeded your own weight.
Re:It's hard to imagine the scale....
by
NiceGeek
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· Score: 2
You know...that if it's in their basement and not in a landfill, it's not really pollution.
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
derF024
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· Score: 2
No, we expect them to quietly fix any errors so that the submitter is not presented in a bad light. Do you think that the letters to the editor of Road & Track, The New York Times or any other respected, mainstream publication are published unedited? Of course not.
i should hope that they don't edit letters to the editor. if they do, they have to send them back to the writer and get their approval before publishing those letters. what if they mis-interpret what the original writer was trying to say? that would be libel, and they'd get sued left and right.
...Christ, I thought I was bad with 6PCs and 2 laptops! Thanks for this - I can show these pictures to girlfriends and family members when they question my sanity from now on;-)
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
fmaxwell
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· Score: 2
i should hope that they don't edit letters to the editor.
They do.
if they do, they have to send them back to the writer and get their approval before publishing those letters.
Untrue. The publishing industry would grind to a halt if the editor had to send back everything for the approval of the writer. In fact, most publications even edit paid authors without the author being able to review the changes. An editor of a periodical cannot afford the time to edit an article/letter for print and then send it back to the author for approval. Neither can they allow an author to hold the article hostage until/unless the editor agrees to relinquish editorial control to the author.
what if they mis- interpret what the original writer was trying to say? that would be libel, and they'd get sued left and right.
That's why they hire professional editors. They don't make that kind of mistake and, hence, are not "sued left and right."
I'm not making any of this up. I've been published in periodicals and know what I am talking about.
Inside my geekroom...
by
jht
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I have an old 3-bedroom house, but with 200 amp electrical service. Which is good, because 1 bedroom is for my wife and I, one is for our baby, and the third is my geekroom. I used to put photos of it on my website, but they're really out-of-date. Guests to our house either get a fold-out sofa or go to a hotel nearby that a friend of ours manages - they get a real cheap rate. We used to have a guest room but that's where the baby lives now.
The geekroom has two desks, two bookcases (tech stuff only - other bookcases in the house handle "real" books), and a big old metal shelving unit that holds a 16-port switch, three UPS units, a monitor, my Epson Stylus Photo, my current server (a little FlexATX box running e-Smith), a monitor, and a second PC that runs Mandrake and usually sits open because I'm always swapping stuff in and out of it. There's also a third PC on the rack that I just got - a Mini-ITX box that I'm going to run my server on because it's even smaller and quieter than the existing server. They're all on a 4-port KVM switch.
Then on the first desk, next to the rack, I keep my PowerBook G4, along with all it's gadgets (Palm cradle, Griffin powerMate, CF/Smartmedia reader, Keyspan serial port, iPod). I've got a Newton 2100 on the desk, too - I'm turning it into a web server soon and when I do it goes on the rack. My HP laser is on a stand next to the desk.
The next desk over holds my P4 system - I run XP on it and use it for gaming. I built this one over the summer. Wedged between the two desks are about 200 CD's that contain either software or backups of some sort or another.
In the corner of the room is an Athlon 700 that's currently semi-disassembled (I had to grab a couple of parts out of it for the P4), but used to be my gaming rig. Finally, the geekroom has some space allocated for short-term comic book storage. My workbench is in the cellar, along with virtually all my tools and the bulk of my comics (I built a moisture-controlled storage closet down there).
Geeky, but non-tech items in the geekroom include all my photo gear and slides, a small collection of stuffed toys, a 30-year-old (but still working) shortwave receiver, and a bass guitar.
Currently out on loan to my office is my Athlon 650 that I run Solaris X86 on. I'm testing some stuff for work on it, and it was handy to grab. We also have two other computers in the house - my wife has an iMac widescreen that she keeps on a small desk in our bedroom, and I have a hacked iOpener that we keep in the basement. Also in the basement are the DSL modem and my router.
This sounds worse than it is, though - my one geekroom is a disaster, admittedly, but the rest of the house looks like Martha freaking Stewart had her way with it. It's a good arrangement. I don't interfere with the rest of the house, and I'm allowed my one room to do as I see fit.
Unless, of course, we have another child, in which case my butt is banished to the basement. Good thing we had it finished this past winter...
--
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Re:Amatures - A total fraud - not his basement
by
utahjazz
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· Score: 3, Informative
Not sure if you are a troll, but, notice that he mentions his involvement in Team Vodka Martini These guys were mentioned on/. a while back (I don't feel like looking for the article). Although he says none of the computers pictured are used in the contest, someone named Jerkychew clearly has a lot of computers at his disposal. I doubt this is a hoax.
List of my stuff & gratuitous link to bikini p
by
phillymjs
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· Score: 3, Interesting
My bedroom: Beige Power Mac G3, upgraded to G4/400, with 17" and 14" CRT monitors. iBook 500MHz Home-built Duron 850 tower dual-booting XP Pro.and 98SE (shares keyboard, mouse and 17" monitor with the Mac via KVM). Apple LaserWriter Select 360. MicroTek ScanMaker IISP. Series 1 TiVo with 120GB HDD upgrade.
My server room: Two Power Mac 7600s, both with G3/400 upgrades-- one handles routing/firewall/mail/file/web/DNS/print, and the other runs the house via all those wonderful X10 modules and other things. They're named "Guardian" and "Colossus," respectively. Cobalt Qube2, hosting the site of my friend the aspiring model (you might have seen her on Blind Date the other night). NeXTStation Turbo with 17" black & white display. AirPort Base Station.
Also in the server room, all functional but not part of the LAN: Macintosh 128K. IBM PCjr. Macintosh Color Classic. TRS-80 Model 102 laptop. Newton Original MessagePad. Newton MessagePad 2000.
Basement: Power Mac G4/733/1.12GB RAM/40GB & 120GB HDD/SuperDrive (being prepped to replace the old G3 in my bedroom in January, when my bonus check buys the two huge LCDs to go with it). Power Mac 6360, being prepped to be the backup server for everything in the server room. Sony external SCSI AIT2 drive, to be hooked up to the backup server. Homebuilt Athlon 750, used to test various equipment. Two whiteboxes in slightly less than operational condition. Two PowerBook 170s (one for my collection, and one to sell as a collectible). PowerBook G3 Lombard, semi-operable, soon to be sold on eBay as a parts machine. PowerBook Duo 270c, for my collection. Two 'platinum' Commodore 64s with 1541 floppy drives & 1 1702 RGB monitor. Two 3Com Audreys destined to become the control panels for the web interface of my home-automation setup. Coleco ADAM. Vectrex + shitload of games. Sega Genesis + shitload of games. Sega Saturn + shitload of games. Atari 5200 + shitload of games. Atari 2600 + shitload of games. ColecoVision + shitload of games. NES + shitload of games. Panasonic 3DO + shitload of games. GE DVD/CD/MP3CD/VCD player with region-selection mod. Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh coin-op. Zookeeper coin-op.
On loan to aspiring model friend until she can afford a computer: Netpliance i-Opener hacked to run Win98SE with an internal 20GB HD and cooling fan.
~Philly
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
fmaxwell
·
· Score: 2
I strongly hope that you don't send Slashdot stories to your printer!
"The printed word" refers to any published, written communication, whether on a website, a book, a flyer, or a newspaper.
But Slashdot's submitters and "editors" don't have a collaborative relationship. It's a one-way, one-time process. If any "editing" has been done to the post (aside from inserting parenthetical comments and deciding where to break it off), then the submitter's words have been misrepresented.
Untrue. It is not a misrepresentation to correct obvious errors. For example, I corrected each item shown above in boldface. None of the changes misrepresented your words.
That the targeted site is non-English, and we should expect similar minor translation errors ahead.
How can we infer anything about the site based on the submitter's command of English? The submitter is a reader of Slashdot. Should we assume that Slashdot is a "non-English" site?
"How looks" is an archaic, poetic idiom. To "cultured" readers, it evokes romantic odes to the beauty of a comely woman.
So you feel it proper to evoke "romantic odes to the beauty of a comely woman" when describing your computer room? You clearly need to get out more.
Regardless of the accuracy of those interpretations, they're between the writer and readers. Editors shouldn't interfere.
Then I recommend that you stop reading almost all major, mainstream periodicals because the editors regularly edit readers' letters for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and length prior to printing them.
P.S. to moderators: Comments related directly to the presentation of the story are not "offtopic", "troll", or "flamebait."
(The first of 3 times you ignored an obvious joke.)
I just didn't get your jokes. Obviously, we have different senses of humor.
I'll let you check your dictionary to see that printed means "created by pressing or stamping onto a surface".
Dictionaries are notoriously out of date when it comes to usage related to computers. This is just one example. But I will try to use the phrase "the written word" in the future.
The fact that both "one-way" and "one-time" are dictionary words doesn't remove the unhypenated forms from valid English.
Your use was improper. You should always hyphenate between two adjectives when they come before a noun and act as a single idea. See the grammarbook.com.
But you missed the point: The edits show that one can correct errors without misrepresenting what the writer said.
This is akin to Dan Quayle's infamous potato/potatoe spelling-bee incident.
Don't be so hard on yourself. You just failed to capitalize and puntuate properly.
It was a joke. (Finding the 3rd one is up to you. Don't waste your time on it, though)
But what if the third one was actually humorous and I miss out?
Slashdot already has a reputation for lagging in articles, they can't afford to delay it further by more editing.
I have submitted stories and hours and hours go by before they are reviewed. Taking two minutes to edit three or four sentences isn't going to make a substantive difference in timeliness.
I just wish the bulk of readers didn't have to be burdened with language trivia, educational as it may be.
Then perhaps you should stop contributing to the "language trivia." But I'm willing to have the last word if you're willing to let me.;-)
Re:List of my stuff & gratuitous link to bikin
by
serutan
·
· Score: 2
Yeah, computer stuff. Cool. But seriously, she's a friend of yours? God damn, dude!
Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazard!
by
SexyKellyOsbourne
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· Score: 5, Interesting
One of my computer science professors, whom I will not name, had a collection much similar to that in his shed -- it was something like 30 lousy computers with monitors, all from the 386/486 era, that he had absolutely no use for and just had to have.
Then, on a stormy night, the ungrounded shed was hit by lightning, and it caught fire. While he was asleep, the computers began melting under the heat and released some very toxic gas -- which blew through the neighborhood, and killed the professor's dog along with a few other animals, and made a few residents hospital-bound.
Because of it, he was sued for quite a hefty bit, though he avoided jail -- so rethink stockpiling all those useless computers for itself, and give them away to charity.
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
fmaxwell
·
· Score: 2
Although I think fmaxwell is wrong (and intentionally antagonistic, a.k.a. trolling) about this whole issue of editing he is correct that papers and magazines often edit letters to the editor for content or grammar.
I'm not intentionally antagonistic or "trolling". I'm just an abrasive, opinionated person that does not give a rat's ass whether someone likes what I say. But I do appreciate you giving me credit where you felt it due. Thanks.
Amatures, Amatures - You say tomato...
by
Sean+Clifford
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· Score: 2
When people ask about heating in the winter, I just laugh.
I have to laugh at this one because I have the same situation (luxery?). With 11 computers in my extra "server" room and a nice PC with two monitors in my own bedroom, it's always nice and toasty.
I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one with a server farm in their house. And you know what, despite what everyone may say about being a geek or having a life, I love it!:)
My geekroom/bedroom is preetty simple...Two systems, one my server and one my gaming rig; a rackmount network concentrator that is pretending to be a bedside table for me; a Linksys switch, a 1988 laser printer, and some lamps and programming books.
Nothing majorly obtrusive.
I'd love a room full of Rackmount goodness, but I barely even use the Linux partition on my gaming rig; a whole second (third, fourth) system would never get used.
Corruputer of children! - A play.
by
Sean+Clifford
·
· Score: 2, Flamebait
/.er 0:my 12-year-old daughter just wrote her first Visual Basic program today
/.er 1: You should drink Hemlock!;-)
/.er 2: VB?!? Infidel!
/. Flame War:You must teach her...[insert programming language here]. [Massive warfare ensues, a la cool LOTR CGI.]
Daughter: Jesus Christ, just forget the whole programming thing. [Starts SIMS Online]
Too many computers, or not enough?
by
Octorian
·
· Score: 2
Well, like everyone here, I've got a dorm room that scares people when they walk by. Some pictures from sophomore year can be found here. However, while the general layout remains the same, I'm always changing the hardware, so this is what I've got now.
I guess one thing that's special about my "massive pile of computing" is that I like to collect some diversity in my equipment. I've got many different OS's, and most of my machines are not PeeCees (none are Macs).
Of course like many of you, I technically have several more machines than are noted. I refer to this as "the pile", and I basically think of it as the computers I could assemble and/or put into service from stuff I have if I needed to. Always nice to have crap laying around when you want to test something.
Re:Too many computers, or not enough?
by
Octorian
·
· Score: 2
Why? Because I'm less of a developer and more of a sysadmin personality. First, I like learning about lots of different platforms. From all this I'm now quite familar with Solaris, AIX, IRIX, as well as Free/Net/Open *BSD and the like.
Also, I don't "need" that many machines, but I do find myself getting quite used to having most of them.
First, I like the separation of desktop and server. The server is my trustworthy, reliable, back-end machine that always stays up and is independent of my "desktop". Second, I like having 2 "heads" on my desktop. It's nice to make the "chat programs and misc stuff" appear on a separate display for when I'm doing full-screen stuff on the main monitor. Now I could do that by just making one machine dual-head, but with my equipment there's no need.
Now, I've just described the need for only 2-3 machines. One thing you need to keep in mind is when you tell most people "I have a computer", they assume you mean: computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. When I say "I've got six or eight", they take that image and multiply it. What they don't realize is what I think of as "infrastructure machines". Those would be the firewall and console server. The firewall has obvious uses. The console server's usefulness is twofold. First, it saves me from having a bank of terminals over the desk, and second it allows me to get at the console of some devices remotely over the network.
Re:Too many computers, or not enough?
by
BiOFH
·
· Score: 2
Why does a gearhead builtd a hotrod in his garage when he could buy a Lamborghini with the money he'll spend?
He does it because it pleases him to do so.:)
-- -
I am made of meat.
Re:Too many computers, or not enough?
by
Octorian
·
· Score: 2
Well, my "good sparc" is my main desktop machine. I'm typing on it right now, in fact. (the Athlon is the "PeeCee machine" I use for games and watching full-screen video, and nothing else.) I like having rock-solid hardware with none of the "quirks" many people experience on PC machines, especially on the desktop, where driver support may be shoddy. (the "not so good one", is my firewall, of course)
My Indigo2 has a lot of other uses, as well. First, it's my current "chat-program machine", but I also use it to play MP3s (it has good audio hardware, unlike the Sun). In addition, whenever I need/want to do OpenGL in X, that's the box for it. It's 3D hardware works much better than anything I could possibly get from Sun without spending tons of money on something new.
Linked to before...
by
singularity
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I linked to my bedroom before, but this is probably the best place for me to post the link again.
Harware in the bedroom: G4/933 hooked up to a 17" Studio Display, a 15" NEC LCD, and a 14" VGA CRT. Apple PowerBook Duo 2300c with DuoDock II. Headless at the moment. These two are hooked into a 5 port 100Base-T switch. The G4 is hooked (via another port) to a 100Base-T Internet connection. Also hooked up to the G4: CompactFlash drive, MemoryStick drive, Cambridge Soundworks speaker system, a Sony Clie T665c, a Canon S200 digital camera, and a Keyspan Digital Remote Control.
In the closet, I have an Apple//gs with monitor. At one time I had a UMAX S900/200DP hooked up as well That is loaned out, as is a Macintosh Centris 610.
I am looking to add a Athlon-based PC to the mix (via KVM switch to the keyboard and the NEC monitor) to learn FreeBSD on. I am also looking at buying one of the new iBooks to replace the very aging PowerBook Duo.
-- - (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
Re:Linked to before...
by
goatgirl
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I haven't gotten any spill over into the bedroom yet, but I did build my husband a computer desk for both of our equipment. Here I am with some of our stuff. We have an old hand-me-down in the living room powering our webcams, and another in a closet waiting for a new motherboard, and we took the other bits and just handed them down to his folks. This doesn't even include our roomates stuff! I admit we are baby geeks in regard to equipment, but the house is still decorated in early network.
-- -Nothing hides evidence like a stew. -Gus Pratt
Re:My geek room over the years
by
Tim+Browse
·
· Score: 2
Dude! You've got an HP Deskjet?! For real?
Talk about Uber-Geek! You are our new God!
Next you'll be telling us you've got, like, a $90 scanner as well! Oh, wait...
Tim;-)
Yet another picture, as if you really care...
by
mttlg
·
· Score: 3
I know everyone here has been anxiously awaiting a picture of my computer setup, so here you go.
Yeah, I know, it's not much, but I don't consider myself a true geek anyway. I just have enough computing equipment to get by.
my bedroom after a slashdotting
by
brer_rabbit
·
· Score: 2
Looks about right:
Warning: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111) in/usr/local/apache/htdocs/thinknerd/html/pnadodb/dr ivers/adodb-mysql.inc.php on line 108
Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111) in/usr/local/apache/htdocs/thinknerd/html/pnadodb/dr ivers/adodb-mysql.inc.php on line 108 mysql://thinknerd:@localhost/thinknerd failed to connectCan't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111)
Well, since the link in the story is dead you can all look at my room if you want. It's not particulary interesting, but it is a geek's room.
--
We're going to make information free Mr. Anderson, whether you like it, or not.
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
isorox
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
he was sued for quite a hefty bit
ahh, todays society. If your computer gets fried by lightning - you get sued. If your house gets fried, the insurance company say "It's an act of god".
Why must people sue at every possible thing? It ends up with everyone suing everyone, and the only winners are lawyers.
Hang on, my S.O. is a lawyer - well will be in august. Forget that, sue everyone!
Re:unless you're hot bisexual and female
by
Cruciform
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· Score: 2
Troll? Aw, c'mon... if the 4) Blah 5) ??????? 6) Profit
thing still gets laughs, this guy should get at least +2 funny mods:)
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
marauder404
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Was he successfully sued? That is, he lost? He should have promptly sued the manufacturers of the computers for compensation and the victims probably should have done the same, as it was the negligence of the manufacturers to use such dangerous products without informing the customer (can you imagine new computers with a big yellow warning label like new cars with airbag labels?).
Of course, that's what I'd do if I was a lawyer. I'm shaking my head at the whole thing -- lawsuits are getting to be too much these days.
What kind of keyboards do you have?
by
Wee
·
· Score: 2
Would you happen to have any KeyTronic KB101 keyboards? The kind without Windows keys? How about old IBM keyboards (the heavy ones, not those wimpy PS/2 kind)? Would you have any for sale? If so, how much? I'm stockpiling good (circa 1989, 8 pound) keyboards.
Lemme know...
-B
--
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Re:What kind of keyboards do you have?
by
G27+Radio
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· Score: 2
I've still got one of those old IBM keyboards somewhere. I had to replace it though because it kept waking up the neighbors...
Re:What kind of keyboards do you have?
by
Wee
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· Score: 2
Don't you love them? Gimme a loud keyboard anytime. I need one for work so I can have my own office...
-B
--
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
I was going to post pictures, but all the image hosts I can find suck and the pictures are pretty large.
Oh well.
At home, I have all my core equipment rackmounted in a half-height HP rack. It's a full enclosure, with solid front door, drop-down door on top (my addition), and vented rear door. My APC UPS, Linksys switch, everything is rackmounted. I currently have only two systems in here, both in 4U cases--a large fileserver (3Ware RAID5) that is also my gateway, print server, etc., and my main workstation. On top of the rack are a bunch of media drawers for CDs, my stereo receiver (TV card in comp whose tuner sucks), and a Kyocera laser printer.
On my desk, which is a single-surface desk, convertible into a right-angle configuration (currently straight) with a keyboard drawer, I have dual 21" Trinitrons, my Klipsch speakers (drool!), and the usual assortment of crap. Between the monitors, a USB hub, and 7-in-1 media reader. To one side, a 2-line phone, tape, stapler, scissors, and for some reason a cup full of batteries (hmm...forgot about that). To the other side, a radio set atomic clock, a stack of Wheel of Time books, a couple stacks of CDR cake boxes, some music CDs, a bag of Kasugai roasted wasabi-coated green peas (great stuff!), and piles and piles of bills and mail. Fortunately, all up to date. And then there's the more fleeting equipment, both of my cell phones (normal and Nextell 2-way) for work, drink, etc. Underneet the desk is an old TV cart (containing various computer-related junk), another APC UPS, and my Klipsch subwoofer.
At work, I have the largest cubicle of anyone there. Sometime early next year (need to budget to have it fixed up), I get what every office worker wants--my own, real, lockable office. As large (larger?) than my bedroom at home. As for the cubicle, it's still large, and I have about a dozen 3ft by 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot cubicle cabinets, and about 4 desks, plus the usual wipeboard and wall of Sybase certificates (backup DBA).
Pictures are worth a thousand words, and I've obviously shortchanged y'all. Oh well.
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
derF024
·
· Score: 2
what if they mis- interpret what the original writer was trying to say? that would be libel, and they'd get sued left and right.
That's why they hire professional editors. They don't make that kind of mistake and, hence, are not "sued left and right."
I find it hard to believe that simply because these people are "professional editors" it means that they can't ever make mistakes in editing. Technical terms, jargon or slang may be mis-interpreted fairly easily and "corrected" to a word or phrase that means something completely different than what the original author meant. additionally the bias of the editor may enter into their "corrections", changing the whole meaning of the article entirely.
I'm not making any of this up. I've been published in periodicals and know what I am talking about.
i don't question your knowledge in this matter as much as i would question any publication that would go around purposely changing articles and misquoting writers without notifying the reader of those changes.
Re:List of my stuff & gratuitous link to bikin
by
Sherloqq
·
· Score: 2
...aspiring model friend...
Yeah, no problems with aspiration here, that's for sure, not with that chest...
-- Have EVDO, will travel.
Re:List of my stuff & gratuitous link to bikin
by
KarmaBitch
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Good luck to your Raq..
It's midnight on a Friday and you have a modded up post that has the words "aspiring model" in it.
I will send a priest over to give your server the last rites. And you can bring your "friend" over I'll let her cry on my shoulder about the death of her website.
Aren't most geeks cat people?
by
bluethundr
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Many in this community are dog people, but is it my imagination that a higher percentage of geeks are cat people? It's either a startling coincidence or my life represents a real Nielsen-style rating as to the percentage of computer volken who like the furry little beasts...
This observation began for me when once I lived in an apartment complex with an exclusive population of nerds. It was the mid 90s at that time. Before I got there it was just a couple of Mac II-Ci's with phone-net (!!!) flowing out of the windows. I'm pretty sure we had the first network in the little beach-town of Seaside Park, NJ.
Eventually, there were 7 units each with Ethernet dangling from window-sill to window-sill. And only 500 feet from the beach! With a tremendous view of the Ocean from a kickin' deck upon which we would regularly grill mahi-mahi and the like whilst imbibing on food-breaks from endless network gaming and hacken (and more imbibing). It was bloody Nirvana!...but I digress.
All were tiny little cracker box apartments (we were beginning our tech careers at that point) that at the peak of geek occupancy housed a motley collection of Macintoshen, NT boxen, 1 NeXT machine (mine, a slab serving a 400dpi laser printer and also playing the part of a shuh-WEETNIS server), a couple of Linux box0rz and an Amiga 2000. PowerBooks galore. All nic'd and sharing the the love.
Nearly every apartment was populated with at least one cat, and in one case at least a bloody-stinkin' (emphasis on the "stinkin'" pheeeyew!) cat colony! I, resident mac-geek with a love of code and 3-d, had two...Lumpy and Jake. Neighbor James, who was an NT tech with a penchant for work-related travels to Kazakhstan on occasion, had two as well...Simba (a 22 pound orange basketball with legs and a tail) and Mim (tiny little fucker, even as a full-grown feline).
My friend Ian had a cat named Mr. Beau... Mr. Beau's special talent was vomiting on technology. Yup. If the thing flipped bits in some manner, and it was in Ian's apartment, that shit was getting vomited on. No negotiations. Also, beer was likely to have been spilled on said equipment at some point, but that I believe was (mostly)the fault of the humans about the place.
My friend Mark who also lived there was a 300lb pro wrestler who could lift full grown men over his head in addition to his impressive geek abilities. Adding to those formidable(and imposing)wrestling talents was a steady gig as Mac/NT/Network tech. The guy was also a 3-d rendering guru who made valuable additions to the old Ambrosia game Escape Velocity. He and his (then pre-) wife housed the afore mentioned (sHt1nKeN!) colony of kitties who (despite their numbers...and lovely odor!) managed to not vomit on the tech nearly so often. All the other guys had cats too. Not nearly as smelly.
Since those days, I've worked with a fair number of techs and the sampling of overlap between the cat-ownership and tech communities seemed to grow larger with the more tech-geeks I've met as time passed.
If I might posit a guess, I'd say it had something to do with the independant nature of both beasties. Here I speak of techie cr3tins (myself included) the race of kitt33z. Both seem to have a strongly independant sense of self. The solitary nature of bit-dribbling andromorphs is evinced most strongly by the the noticeable high percentage of said who also play musical instruments. When you think about it, in order to develop ability in either (music or tech), you have to spend a lot of time with yourself thinking, playing, experimenting. Cats, while not much on the thinking or tip seem to be quite competent at being on their own. Far more than dogs anyway in that respect...
-- Quod scripsi, scripsi.
Re:Aren't most geeks cat people?
by
blankmange
·
· Score: 2
Nope - 3 dogs here. 2 of the 3 fetch properly, the third is a dachsund and doesn't much care...
-- ...we are from the government - we are here to help...
Re:Aren't most geeks cat people?
by
nizo
·
· Score: 2
I think that the reason cats are popular is they survive on minimal care whilst other geek pets would starve to death or otherwise die from neglect. Heck in the proper bug-infested environment a cat can *thrive*
Re:Aren't most geeks cat people?
by
Pig+Hogger
·
· Score: 2
Many in this community are dog people, but is it my imagination that a higher percentage of geeks are cat people? It's either a startling coincidence or my life represents a real Nielsen-style rating as to the percentage of computer volken who like the furry little beasts...
It's no surprise. Elsewhere in life, you'll notice the same thing. Intellectual-types will have cats. That is, people who value intellectual achievement, be it art, litterature, programming, etc.
Whoever, people who value owning things just for the sake of owning things will have dogs. Could be because those people are control freaks.
Re:Aren't most geeks cat people?
by
Reziac
·
· Score: 2
You rang?:)
Geeks tend to either have cats or be allergic to cats, no middle ground. As a rule they're NOT dog people, tho. I'm a freak.;)
-- ~REZ~
#43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:Aren't most geeks cat people?
by
Reziac
·
· Score: 2
Dunno about ferrets, but I want a stuffed Quincy to perch on my monitor:)
-- ~REZ~
#43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:Just what do the /. editors do?
by
fmaxwell
·
· Score: 2
I find it hard to believe that simply because these people are "professional editors" it means that they can't ever make mistakes in editing. Technical terms, jargon or slang may be mis- interpreted fairly easily and "corrected" to a word or phrase that means something completely different than what the original author meant. additionally the bias of the editor may enter into their "corrections", changing the whole meaning of the article entirely.
There is no doubt that such errors occasionally happen. Just as doctors mis-diagnose patients -- and sometimes get sued. Both editors and doctors must exercise due diligence in their work.
i don't question your knowledge in this matter as much as i would question any publication that would go around purposely changing articles and misquoting writers without notifying the reader of those changes.
Most publications do serve notice that they reserve the right to edit and abridge reader submissions. The majority of papers quietly fix errors of punctuation (e.g., "its" vs. "it's"), spelling, and grammar (e.g., "they has" vs. "they have"). If a reputable paper is shown that their editing resulted in a change of meaning, then they will print a correction.
Having seen what passes for writing by most people, trust me when I tell you that you would not want to read unedited letters to the editors.
Besides the numerous computers, parts, and other geeky stuff... I remember when my roomate was moving out (moving to Chicago to go to school), he came in my room and asked if I had any cat-5 cable. Of course I did and I asked what for. He replied "I needed to tie my bag to the cart and i figured we didn't have rope but plenty of cable." I just started laughing and of course... got him some cat-5.
-- Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all the unhappy people.
Just tell? Why not show? ;)
by
Powercntrl
·
· Score: 2
Since the actual site pointed to by the article has succumb to the infamous Slashdot effect and that means a lot of picture-hungry/.ers, I decided against hosting my pictures through my cable modem. I put them up on my old AOL account so you can pound AOL's servers to death instead.;) If they don't load the first time, just keep hitting reload... AOL can take it.
Here's the result of a few seconds of running around with my digital camera... A virtual tour of the network at my house.
mypc.jpg This is the PC in my bedroom. P3 850, 256MB RAM, RADEON 8500LE, 40GB Maxtor. I'm upgrading it to an Athlon XP 2000 pretty soon.
bro1.jpg This is one of my brother's PCs. P3 750, 256MB RAM, Geforce4Ti, 40GB Maxtor.
bro2.jpg This is my brother's other PC. Duron 1GHz, 128MB RAM, Radeon 7200, 20GB Maxtor.
guest.jpg Guest room PC (What guest room is complete without a PC?!). K6-2 500MHz, 96MB RAM, Radeon 7000, 8GB HD.
hidden.jpg Hidden office room server. (Used as a Win2k Terminal Server) Celeron 850MHz, 512MB RAM, onboard SiS video (no monitor anyway!), 40GB Maxtor.
tv.jpg Entertainment center PC. Used for watching DivX movies. Yes, that is a progressive scan bigscreen HDTV. 42" of Slashdot, baby. Athlon 1GHz, 256MB RAM, Radeon 7000 Dual Display Edition, 8GB HD.
server.jpg Linux (Slackware!) NAT/Fileserver box. 200MHz PPro, 64MB RAM, generic ISA VGA card, 80GB Maxtor, 40GB Maxtor, 20GB Western Digital drives. In case you're wondering, yes, they're pretty much full.
wirebox.jpg Do not touch any of these wires!;) With the cover removed from the IBM home director panel, you can see the UPS, the cable modem, the 8 port 100Mbps switch, the 4 way satelite switch (behind the cable modem), the video distribution amplifier and the phone line splitter.
--
--- DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
Zork+the+Almighty
·
· Score: 2
What ?! The lawyers are winning ?! Lets sue *them* !
Almost all my computers are stuffed into one room, where I only am when burning DVDs. Check it out here and here. One Sun Sparcstation 5, one SGI Indigo 2, one Celeron 433, one Pentium 233 MMX, one Pentium 150 (not visible on the pictures), two SGI Indigo O2s (on the floor, not in use at the moment), one Amiga 1200 (not visible, not in use:). In the basement I've got two SGI Challenge S servers (not in use) and in the living room I got my laptop and a GameCube, PS2 and an XBox.:)
Here's AVI, QTVR, pics of my computer room
by
blakespot
·
· Score: 2
...and here's a QT VR of my computer room (not clutered) as it was back in 1/2001 (that G3's been turned into a dual G4 since...and some other changes to the room).
Come back when you get beyond the 'room' and need to expand to the basement. Half the entire basement. And that's just computer geekware. There's an entire bedroom filled with swords, armor, costumes and garb for me European Medieval Martial Arts and Renaissance Faire stuff. So , I have 3 geek rooms. And if you include brewing, make it 3 geek rooms and a closet (and expand the basement usage to 3/4 (1/2 computer 1/4 brewing).
Wow, I need to get my priorities straight, there's another 1/4 of basement that needs to get used for brewing!
-- --
There is no sig line, only Zuul.
Large containers of MD??
by
Andy+Dodd
·
· Score: 2
Um, 2-liter bottles?:)
Available in plenty - Even Code Red is now available in bottles in diet form. (CR was available canned for a bit, but not for long - Now I can only find 2L bottles. But I can still get my Diet CR fix.)
Yup, I'm diabetic. Regular soda tastes weird to me at this point - One sip and my first thought is, "something is wrong".
indeed, regular soda tastes horrid after drinking diet for so long
-- --fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
OT: Fastest way to paint a room white
by
Idarubicin
·
· Score: 2
I seem to recall a Mr. Bean episode along these lines. He wanted to paint his apartment, but was too efficiency-minded (read: lazy--I'm sure there are a lot of coders out there who can relate) to pick up a paintbrush.
The obvious solution was to place the can of paint in the middle of the room, and add a small explosive charge. Before detonating the can, ensure that all of the objects in the room that are not meant to be painted are coated in newspaper. Oh, and make sure that nobody enters the room while the fuse is burning. It will lead to much hilarity, yes, but also human silhouettes that will have to be hand painted later.
If anybody tries/has tried this, I implore them to please post links to photos.
-- ~Idarubicin
Re:OT: Fastest way to paint a room white
by
AJWM
·
· Score: 2
If anybody tries/has tried this, I implore them to please post links to photos.
Sorry, no photos, but I, er, a friend was once involved in trashing someone's dorm room by a similar method involving, not paint, but a couple of custard tarts (residence food -- what else is it good for?) and a large firecracker. As luck (and a bit of planning) would have it, the firecracker detonated just as the occupant was about to open the door, so he heard the BANG!
Yeah, like having more hardware makes you more of a geek. Right. Isn't it more about how you use it?
--
--
If you moderate this, then your children will be next.
Re:List of my stuff & gratuitous link to bikin
by
phillymjs
·
· Score: 2
Yeah, right now I've got 608K down but only 128K up and it can be a little painful sometimes. I'm trying to hold out until the new year to bump up to the next tier, I think it's 384K up.
Still, the trusty little Qube2 stood up to a reasonably impressive onslaught of horny slashgeeks-- though it wasn't a true slashdotting by any stretch of the imagination.:-)
~Philly
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
digitalsushi
·
· Score: 2
Suing someone else is more satisfying than anything else- how else can you cash in on a person's hard earned worth through their mistake, AND also to have someone in power say "You were the one who was right, not them!" You ever see an M5 tailgating a Corsica? Why not?:D
-- slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Hiding this stuff -- real-world solutions
by
gregwbrooks
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
:::tossing his pittance of geek cred out the window...:::
OK, here in the real (i.e., married with non-geek friends) world, we have to hide this stuff. We do this because:
There is a direct correlation between the visible amount of free-range Cat-5 wiring and the frequency of spousal sex.
It's ok to have stuff lying about when you're tinkering with it (and there's always one deconstructed boxen lying around), but the stuff that's up and running needs to be protected from dust, pets and people with large feet who trip over things.
I pay too much for my mortgage to have the house look like my old dorm room.:)
Here are the mantras in our house:
KVM is your friend. You saw some of these photos -- a one-to-one computer/monitor ratio is just silly unless you're herding iMacs.
Bitchin' furniture often equals bitchin' rack space.We're in an old house and we have some antiques. We've found that a lot of old furniture (amoires, buffets, etc.) that can be picked up on the cheap does a great job of holding the equipment and keeping it out of sight. Remember: WAY back in the day (i.e., turn of the century), most rooms didn't have closets, so they were always thinking in terms of "where can I put this stuff?"
Spend a minute or two thinking about ergonomics, dammit. Nearly every photo on the original post is going to screw someone's back or wrists up.
The minute you own your own place, ditch the wires. OK, so you can't start running cable through the walls in your dorm or apartment. But once you actually OWN the walls, you sure can -- and life suddenly becomes a helluva lot more clutter-free. Wireless? Yeah, if you can live with the lower bandwidth.
--
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
Re:Hiding this stuff -- real-world solutions
by
jafuser
·
· Score: 2
a one-to-one computer/monitor ratio is just silly unless you're herding iMacs.
VNC will solve that one =)
-- Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
Shure enough: German geek rooms.
by
Qbertino
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Those shure are mostly german geek rooms. Wooden paneling, old walls, square 9cm pine beams from the "Baumarkt", 230 Volt powerconectors, suse stickers, 'Kaltgeräteanschlußkabel' (sorry, don't know the english word for that:-) )...
Just then I noticed the '.de' in the URL. Bingo.
-- We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Ham Radio has you beat!!
by
TarPitt
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The November 2001 issue of QST magazine had a "messiest ham radio shack" contest. No link unfortunately - even as an ARRL member, I could not get the article online. Some amazing stuff, though the proprietors have about 30-40 years on the supposed owners of the Slashdot geek-spaces. Of course, ham radio operators get to clutter up their roof and backyard with all sorts of interesting antennae as well.
Something to look forward to in your old age?
BTW, ARRL = American Radio Relay League, an amateur radio organization, which publishes QST their monthly magazine.
-- If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep
My computer room stays eternally messy. All attempts to clean the room lead to more crap being piled up.
A few months back, I tossed out a few old 486's. Next thing I know, I got a 4U rackmount Pentium Pro. ($25 on ebay!)
Then, I straightened up the room, getting the floor completedly clean. So my wife comes and dumps all my crap that's been piling up in the living room.
-- A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
isorox
·
· Score: 2
I'm with you. Thank god I don't live in America.
Same in the UK. If I hear one more advert with "Bob tripped over his shoelace and received £3000 in compensation, Poor John spilt his pint of beer, and he recieved £10,000! If you've ever done anything ever in the last three years, call this number and we'll get you one million dollars!.
Wasnt there a south park episode where everyone sued everyone else?
Re:What about the Neat Geek?
by
johnrpenner
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
why is there this stereotype that a 'geek room' has to be messy and fully of crap?
what about the 'neat geek' ?
i spend endless time at this desk tinkering and working on the computer. i use a soldering-iron, i've etched my own circuit boards, disassembled computers and CRTs (replacing analogue boards on a Mac+), and soldered together with resin-core solder and built a theramin, written code, built web-sites, ripped tunes, made mixes, read slashdot faithfully, spent endless hours downloading, archiving, and organising data; and in every manner possible, have tried to fully integrate technology in a fully artistic way into my living - there is not a single component that hasn't had thought put into it -- all here:
the apparent simplicity and cleanliness of this space belies the inordinate amount of work that goes into making a well-used geek-room so spare and uncluttered. there's several hundred CD's, a firewire hard drive, burner, audio-amplifiers, with USB hubs and surge-protected powerbar hidden behind the desk (with cables bound together with elastics). there's a high-power HeNe Laser power supply, coils of wire, soldering iron, toolkit, VOM and DMM, a scanner, boxes of data CDs and ZIP disks. the hard drive and burner are neatly stacked in the left and right flanking drawers under the desk. and to either side are a pair of loudspeakers for audio work and listening to MP3s. when i undertake to dissassemble a machine, and get the parts all spread over the desk - the whole METHOD of doing so is well thought-out, and done with care, so that even in the procedure, everything is done neatly.
so once again, just because its messy, doesn't make it geek.
there are neat geeks too, which are just as devoted to technology, and do just as much tinkering as any of you.
I have this to warm my feet when it's cold - a dual processor Athlon MP and Cambridge Soundowrks amplifier. The heat from both of them together have been known to raise the room temperature by 6 degrees C.
third sunday of every non-winter month at Albany street.
your post says you're in franklin, so get another uhaul and don't drop so many this time! tons of people in your position have offloaded all their shit (working and not) there. only costs $17 (plus $12 for each additional space, you'll probably need ~3 spaces). you set up at 7:15-9am and buyers swarm in at 9am (most sales are done in that hour, the good stuff goes in the first ten minutes). most sellers leave before noon, but (i think) it lasts till about 1:30.
there's lots of cool stuff there, all related to computers, wireless/radio, or 'cool gadgets.' stuff i've bought there include: door sensor, computer remote control, TONS of cables and connectors, cdrs, ropelights, my palm pilot, floppy drives, led's, movies, and tons of stuff the i have forgotten about. it's all dirt cheap too... floppy drives ~$2, rj45 eth cord ~$1, and so on. there are tales of "the one buck guy"... a friend of mine bought two complete computers (120mhz and 90mhz) for two bucks, but he only made one appearance at the flea and was sold out by the time i arrived at 9:30am.
one seller once told me "swapfest! get yesterday's technology today!"... don't go there looking for something released in the past few months. can't find edo ram, pentium pros, a complete (~200MHZ) computer for under $100, or some strange connector? this is the place for you!
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
asavage
·
· Score: 2
IANAL, but if you choose to store anything that can hurt anyone else on your property, no matter how safe you try to store it, if it does hurt other people, it is your fault and you will be sued.
It may sound unfair, but it was still his fault that people and animals were exosed to toxic fumes, and he should be liable.
I posted mine in comment http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=44580&cid=4630 564
(pasting so as to try to avoid the/. effect... if someone wants to see they'll cut and paste)
-- -
I am made of meat.
Re:unless you're hot bisexual and female
by
waspleg
·
· Score: 2
Thank you for your support, the campaign to bring back humor in/. posts appreciates it and you will recieve your campaign buttons in the mail shortly.
OK, what's the point of this?
by
multiplexo
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I have a bunch of computer crap around my house too. I'm so 31337 that I have three flat panel displays on my desktop and another one sitting on a steel rack with three PCs connecting to it. Who cares? Oh, and I have two Herman Miller chairs, which makes me even 31337er.
-- cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
I have to say I enjoyed those pictures - I really liked the panoramic multi-monitor system - that is something I am thinking about doing myself.
I must be lucky - I have not one, but two geek rooms!
My main room is a small bedroom in which I have my main Linux box and an old 'doze box I use for one one piece of software, and someday I am ditching that and running it on Wine. Anyhow, my table is a 6 foot folding table (soon to be modified for a new server I am building - if I ever get my mb back from iwill in working cond), with a 19 inch monitor on one end, a KVM next to that, a phone, and an ATX power supply on the other end taped down with blue painters tape (used for testing motherboards). All the wires for both machines drape down the back of the desk and along the floor. I have a centralized DC power supply and bus running along the underside of the desk (to get rid of wall warts), which is powered by a Sun switching PS. I have what may be an almost one-of-a-kind IBM Model M keyboard (it is one made by Lexmark, but still has clicky keys AND the drain slots - strange) to type on, a Precision Technologies 3 button serial mouse, which rides upon a BSA "report software pirates" mousepad I "picked up" scrounging at DefCon 5. In a U shape around me the walls are lined with steel shelving floor-to ceiling, filled mostly with books, CDs, floppys, tapes, videocassettes, and other assorted crap. Speakers hang on the walls with power and audio wires running "open". My LOAF firewall sits on the floor next to me. My biggest problem is lighting - all I have is an adjustable arm lamp with magnifier lit with a 15 watt CF bulb. I am planning on adding a couple of smaller CF tube lights elsewhere, to help with the problem.
My other geek room? That would be my "workshop", which while attached to the house, can only be reached by going out on the back patio - there I have another small room containing all of my tools - regular tools, power tools, junk parts, miscellaneous computers in various states, old monitors, soldering and test equipment, a large greasy bench for building shit on without worrying about burning/mangling furniture or floor. Floor is bare concrete, it also has an attic access for other storage room, my half-completed recumbent bicycle EV hangs from the ceiling by hooks, patiently awaiting more work. I can do just about any work in there short of welding and be OK (and a welder is coming soon, but that will be stashed in the garage)...
Sounds cool, AC - there are days I wish I had the knowledge and skill to work sound, as I love music - but my thing is coding and hardware (I barely have time to tweak with my sound card in my Linux box - it works, but it still has issues with the mixer control)...
-- Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Re:List of my stuff & gratuitous link to bikin
by
OneFix
·
· Score: 2
It doesn't look like you're running mod_gzip on that site...any reason why not? If you did, it has been known to decrease traffic load by 4x-8x in some cases...
I'm not sure if the Cobalt distro of Apache has mod_gzip by default, but I'm gonna guess not...if so, try this before you spend the extra change on a higher service tier.
On the other hand, there is no truer love than that of a dog. Its amazing the kind of things a dog will do for its human companion, even disregarding its own well being to help a human in time of need.
I am a cat person myself but ever since my cousin's St.Bernard saved my life once when I was 8, I respect dogs enourmosly. Although I could not have a dog in the house because of the ammount of attention they need.
My cat used to catch flies and mosquitos... They infuriated him so he would stay veeeery low and quiet and then jump and clap both paws together at them.
He had a very high rate of success... at least better than me with a flyswatter!
These were first bred as weapons, big boned and strong so that they would perch on a warriors shoulder and serve as a pair of ultra-sensitive ears and nose when looking for the enemy in the middle of the jungle. Then, when the enemy was discovered, the warrior would toss the cat at the opponents face, before closing in for the kill. The cats supposedly were trained to claw at the opponents eyes and face and could reportedly incapacitate a person in just a couple of seconds...
Wow, the kind of things you learn on a trip to Thailand (the Thai are the ultimate cat lovers)!
-- No sig for the moment.
Re:What about the Neat Geek?
by
FurryFeet
·
· Score: 2
Dude, nice desk... Would love to see pictures of the floor, tough;)
Trolling aside, I'm a neat geek too, and it suckswhen other geeks look down at me. It's like, "you're not geeky enough, your desk isn't full of crap" even as I outhardware them, outcode them and even outQuake them. Stereotypes suck big time.
Re:Be careful... Computers are a deadly fire hazar
by
isorox
·
· Score: 2
so lets say my house falls down, thanks to some freak flooding. The wall collapses into my neighbours garden and kills their cat. Is it fair I get sued because of an act of god?
Let's see... I've sold 75% of what was pictured there at one hell of a profit (all on the books), and I've got about 200 new emails as a result of this post. I don't think I'll have any trouble unloading what's left...
You may call it crap, but a lot of people don't need cutting edge computing power. A certain gubernatorial candidate ran most of her campaign on my used hardware, with no problems. No need for a GHZ machine to run email and OpenOffice.
Slashdot Mirror
...Link is dead
Yay slashdot, i guess i'll just look around my apartment for a while
------------ Internet? Is that thing still around? H.J. Simpson
The ol' slashdotted motif.
Table-ized A.I.
Pah-leeze... when they can compete with my basement, then maybe they can be linked to on slashdot... :-)
I will not be posting any new pictures of my geek pad, as it is currently ablaze in a three alarm fire after my website was slashdotted the AMD without heatsink that I was running spontaneously combusted.
They should really release those things with a Slashdot warning. -_^
Well, what can I say... I guess I am the steriotypical nerd. The side of computer case is perpetually unscrewed and leaning against the tower. I have a really big bookcase for all my DVDs, sci-fi books and CDs. Got a log box 'o parts for when I need to make a connection or repair somewhere. I have papers for various projects and ideas spewn about everywhere. That's about it. I would have more, but this is just the stuff I took with me to college. The rest is filling another room at home. :)
Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
How Looks Your Geekroom?
How correct is Slashdot editor?
Oops... This is Slashdot. Move along, move along.
No current pix, but here's my old one, or the exploded diagram. ;)
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Just a few weeks ago I just moved all of my non-desktop/notebook PC equipment out of my room and into the hallway. Before the move, my room was well, very loud -- about equal to a small car engine actually, and very hot -- 15 degrees hotter then the rest of the house.
Since the move, I can hear myself think, and the whole level of the house is comfortably heated thanks to my server "farm" in the hall.
I consider it a interior decorating success story of the geeky kind!
this is an act(s) (orgy?) of geek masturbation .. as there is nothing they like more then stroking their own egos.. especially in a collective such as this one =)
dislcaimer: the preceding is the expression of opinion based on observations as a life long member.
Supposedly I'm partway there - but after putting a pic online - I'm told my room is just too tidy, and I have to redo Geek101: Coke cans and sticky notes.
damn.
dog hair, too
What we need are pictures of non-geek rooms so we can get some inspiration on how to decorate our place in the hopes that the next time a female comes over, they don't run in terror from the sheer volume of Star Wars memorabilia.
Wrong. That's developers, developers, developers.
Fault loves the past, worry loves the future, but content enjoys the present.
The webserver has a maximum of 10 concurrent users.
Luke-Jr
"How about posting a how-to on how to go out, do stuff, and maybe get laid every once in a while. At least this would help the (pathetic) state of affairs."
You don't need to go out to get laid, as long as you have a phone line and the Yellow Pages.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
I think the webserver is inebriated at the moment. I'll just have to look around my lab here.
... then I got married. It was an efficiency apartment, and all available horizontal areas were covered either with clothes (the floor and dresser), dishes (the kitchen), or breadboards, chips, and discrete components. My last project was a little quickie 555 circuit. I hooked it up to a counter and some LED's to make a simple bounce back-and-forth effect.
My new wife wanted me to make something blinky that would go around a license plate frame. I started getting nervous... that would be a Real World design! Then, we needed the table for dinner (what was wrong with sitting on the bed, I wondered?). And within a couple of weeks, I realized that having more than one room is a Good Thing... when we moved to a one-bedroom apartment, the Geek Room was no more.
But there's hope for the next generation... my 12-year-old daughter just wrote her first Visual Basic program today. You click the button and a MsgBox pops up that says "THIS IS BORING".
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Two desks. The main one has my tower sitting next to it with a 19" monitor on top. On top of the monitor is my Ximian monkey.. next to the monitor on either side are speakers. A sub sits under the desk. Phone, printer and a pair of lamps also take up space on the desk.. oh, keyboard, optical mouse and calculator as well as too many papers and other shit are on the desk. Next to this desk is another desk with pretty much the same setup. That tower is black, mine is blue. Next to that desk (that's my lady's desk) is a third desk that has been converted into a bookshelf. Bunch of programming/tech books sit on that. Then the rest of the room is occupied by various parts that I haven't found a use for yet. Several zip drives, cd-rom drives, a couple of dvd drives, sound cards, modems, God knows what else... yea maybe I should clean up this dump.
This is depressing... I think I show go get some food and quit thinking about what a freakin pig pen my office is.
How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
You have to speak up to be heard over the blower noise. :P
there are burn marks on the walls from electrical fires.
When people ask about heating in the winter, I just laugh.
six printers
two cisco switches
four routers
six servers
two racks
11 monitors
three workstations
two kvm switches
toeknring
and all the cables to with them
30 amps and not one mA available
carpet? I have a carpet?
girlfriend? no such luck
10 concurrent users is all this site will handle, now it's /.ed and......
OK I'll check back on this one in a week.
slashcache
slashcache
slashcache
come ON you guys.......!!!
- I am made of meat.
A room full of computers and related stuff is a lot of fun... for a while. I got tired of the clutter, the boxes of CDs, the old disk drives, tape drives, power supplies, all the crap lying around all the time. All the junk just got in the way. But above and beyond all that, I got tired of my room looking like a geek's room - I wanted something a little bit more... tasteful.
(When did I get a sense of "taste"? I don't know it just happened to me - I didn't mean for it to... honest.)
So last year, when we bought a new house, I claimed the large upstairs bedroom and turned it into my study/library/computer room. I put up shelves to neatly store all my books - not just the computer manuals, but also the sci-fi novels, the old textbooks, the old albums, the artsy-fartsy books, the Edward Gorey books, and all the other books in my "collection".
I put a black leather couch by the windows, with a nice wood-and-glass coffee table set in front. I bought a bunch of Ikea bookshelf modules with internal lighting, some glass doors, some opaque doors, and built a wall of cubbies to hold the stuff I need near me. I set out a bunch of knick-knacks, plants, vases, even a couple of antique radios. I painted the walls a warm brown color. I bought and set out a couple of nice lamps. I even bought an on-stage stand for my Ibanez six-string.
Best of all: the room has a big walk-in closet. In there I put the nasty old bookshelves that used to sit out in the room. On them are all the computer manuals, the archive CDs, the stuff I don't need on a daily basis. On the other shelves are all the office supplies: printer paper, spare ink cartridges, backup tapes, and all that kind of stuff. In there I keep the crappy old stuff I don't use any more, but can't bring myself to throw away: old video cards, old disk drives, old cables, wires, etc., etc. The closet contains the ancient 233-MHz pentium system that serves as my Internet gateway. It also has the two filing cabinets that keep all the family papers. In short: all the ugly stuff is hidden away in the closet.
I still have some computer stuff in the room, but it's just what I need and as neatly arranged as I can get it. The full tower PC sits pretty much hidden behind the antique library table that serves as my desk. My trusty old HP 5L printer sits by it on the Ikea modules. On the desk are just the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and telephone. I have enough room to open up a couple of books without having to move a bunch of computer crap out of the way.
The clutter and crap that I do need on a daily basis is hidden behind the opaque doors of the Ikea modules, so I can close the doors and hide it most of the time. I have to make an effort not to let the Dr Pepper cans stack up, but aside from that it's pretty easy to keep my room neat and clutter-free. I know this is the opposite of the geek ideal, but I like it much better than piles of computer crap and clutter. My study is a pleasant, even peaceful, place to sit and hack, watch TV, listen to music, strum the guitar, or just sit and read. Highly recommended, if you've got the room for it.
--Jim
Real geeks don't brag about how much of a mess their Geek Room is -- Real Men Have Racks(tm).
I got tired having 10 PCs lying around on the floor. For real MIPS per square foot, you need a rack. I now have 4 dual P3 servers, 2 Cobalt servers, 2 480Gb NAS servers, and another 720Gb of RAID drives (along with the obligatory UPS, network routers/switches, KVM switch, etc) in 6 sq. ft. of floor space in a closet.
So there. See it here.
gnetwerker
I can't compete with you, but...
The BiOFHsphere.
I'm moving out of the country so all I have left is the Cube, but this used to be my world.
- I am made of meat.
they don't run in terror from the sheer volume of Star Wars memorabilia.
I always wanted a Trek motif. Doors that slide open automatically when you walk near, a big-screen TV that turns on when I shout "Engage!", a captains chair, a young female Volcan communications officer in a short skirt. No, make that Klingon.
Then again, such tends to conflict with empty Domino pizza containers and Mtn. Dew cans.
Table-ized A.I.
Forget pictures, real geeks use QuickTime VR! Anyway, here is my room. It is a fairly old picture, but not too much has changed.
the Slashdot offices could be mistaken for a hospital coma ward.
Except for the smell. I bet a coma ward smells MUCH better.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Just thought i'd post pics of my room that people have found amusing since the current pics were /.'d, as will be mine, but oh well.
http://www.mikerosoft.net/~leftyfb/computers/
It's in me to be this kind of packrat. It runs in the family. But I've fought it like no other. Life ruled by your stuff is no way to live. You have to think about it, store it, fix it, trip over it... etc. MINIMIZE!
Computing is pretty central to my life, so it's reasonable that it's front and center in my space. BUT, it doesn't overwhelm everything else in life, so it doesn't overwhelm my space.
I had the 10 monitors, 20 cases, 286 in the corner life. Eventually, I said "WHY??". Couldn't quite throw it out, but I stuck the approx 100 kilos of crap in the basement of my office building with a note saying "FREE. TAKE.".
Down to one desktop PC (dual-boots) and a BSD nat and filestorehouse server. That's it. Not keeping and buying crud means I can have good components. I don't need 5 keyboards "just in case". I have a Kinesis, and it's bulletproof. I don't have a parallel printer. Don't think I'll ever have another. Well then, I don't need to keep parallel cables, do I?
I think a lot of people, geeks and non geeks, could learn a lot from backpacking or bicycle touring. 25 pounds of stuff is usually enough. Really. Buy less junk, live smaller, and be happier, guaranteed!
I have three VAXen - mv3100, MV4000/200 and an 11/750 with TU81 and a few RAxx disks, an SGI Iris Indigo, a few Sun Sparcs and a PDP-11.
In my Uni dorm room.
And I get laid occasionally. I win!
Feel that power? That's mah MOUSING FINGER
It's also amazing how people can't differentiate between a submissions' text and a slashdot editor's text.
It's even more amazing that there are people who do not understand the difference between an the job functions of a writer and an editor. One aspect of an editor's job is to assure that his/her publication does not have errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling -- even for reader-submitted text. And I was fully aware of the fact that the writing in question was submitted by a Slashdot reader.
Submissions are generally not edited for content, grammar or spelling and I think that is good policy.
I do not. Any reputable newspaper or periodical corrects such errors in reader-submitted materials, for the benefit of both the readers and the writers. Do you really believe that the letters to the editor of all major newspapers are received error-free as they appear in print? It is only when the publication is trying to make a point of the submitter's stupidity/ignorance that they leave errors in place, complete with the usual "[sic]" next to each one. If an editor corrects the work of professional writers, why should that benefit be denied a reader who submits something for print?
If you're so smart then why aren't you doing something better with your time?
Were I not opposed to ad-hominem attacks, I could ask the same of you. But to answer your question, I believe that promoting high standards for the printed word is a valuable way to use one's spare time.
I just attended the Findlay, OH hamfest for the 30th time (only coming away with a few odd bits and a working Elsa Gloria XL and a non-winmodem 56k) I think we financed Heath for a few years, as he's got several nice powersupplies, etc. and... we had one of the first microwave ovens in town, he put it together as a Heathkit. :-)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...your house has a bigger power generation & backup system than your ISP.
My geek room is... well... I guess I'll start from the door and go counterclockwise...
Two cardboard boxes full of stuff that my wife and I haven't looked at since we moved here. (Yeah, I got a geek wife... geophysics major, woohoo!)
Next, a SparcStation 10 with external 4-drive SCSI box and a 20" monitor.
A CD rack with an assortment of blanks, burns, and originals, no music here.
A Calcomp digitizer pad.
This spot is the first corner we come to...
My computer desk, which currently has my homebuild K6-III/450 system (which runs great, thank you) and a 17" monitor. External modem, zip drive, and tons of cables, running Linux.
A bookshelf with some cardboard boxes in front of them. These are piled with things like floppy drives and I think there's a Macintosh in there somewhere...
In the next corner is an old coffee table with some actual living plants on it, and two windows that you can see out of. Underneath is a UPS, a power strip, several ethernet cables and a couple pairs of military boots that I haven't used since I was in the Army.
Next in line is a wooden cabinet with a Cisco ethernet switch and an HP DeskJet on top. The DeskJet is plugged into the network via a Lantronix print server.
Then comes my wife's K6-II/350 system running Win98SE, on a desk. To the left is a flatbed scanner.
Next is a bookshelf with technical manuals and a shelf full of SCSI cases.
The next wall contains a closet that is inaccessabled, but is full of things ranging from spare circuit boards to rifles.
The closet is inaccessable due to a pile of stuff that I need to get rid of before my wife complains too much, but consists of
+ Several Apple IIgs's
+ More apple stuff
+ Tons of 5 1/4 inch floppies
+ All kinds of crap...
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
I stand in awe of all the uber-nerds on this board. I'm nowhere comparable to some of the people on this board (I've only got 6 computers at home) but I'd just like to add my two bits. I seem to accumulate hardware in any available drawer. I have drawers full of Riva 128s, Voodoo 2's, SB 16's, cables, etc. I've got a Celeron 366 motherboard + cpu combo sitting in the chest of drawers behind me (right next to a blanket and a couple of table cloths) and I've got RAM in random nooks and corners around the room. I've only been in my dorm room for about two months now, and I've already got a PIII-850, a PIII-667, and two 10,000 RPM Cheetahs sitting in the drawer next to me.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
This is in the corner of my bedroom.
It actually has a Cisco 2924 in it now though...
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Two-person college dorm combined equipment:
5 towers
3 portables
3 trinitrons
655gb combined hard drive space
160 unopened cans of pepsi
Although I unfortunately have no pictures of it, I used to volunteer at a place called OTAP (Ohio Technology Access Project) in Dayton, Ohio where we would (and still do) take pretty much anything we're given and refurbish for usage by poor/disadvantaged.
Our basement and first floor of our building was and probably still is about a million times more crowded. We have WALLS of hard drives, WALLS of power supplies, stack after stack after stack of old motherboards and cases. Don't even get me started on keyboard and mice!
That's not to say there wasn't at least some organization -- there was, but it was always a little humbling to go down into a basement where the weight present in IDE cables alone exceeded your own weight.
You know...that if it's in their basement and not in a landfill, it's not really pollution.
Hmmmmmmm...
I'm thinking Beowulf. Anyone else?
Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
No, we expect them to quietly fix any errors so that the submitter is not presented in a bad light. Do you think that the letters to the editor of Road & Track, The New York Times or any other respected, mainstream publication are published unedited? Of course not.
i should hope that they don't edit letters to the editor. if they do, they have to send them back to the writer and get their approval before publishing those letters. what if they mis-interpret what the original writer was trying to say? that would be libel, and they'd get sued left and right.
...Christ, I thought I was bad with 6PCs and 2 laptops! Thanks for this - I can show these pictures to girlfriends and family members when they question my sanity from now on ;-)
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
i should hope that they don't edit letters to the editor.
They do.
if they do, they have to send them back to the writer and get their approval before publishing those letters.
Untrue. The publishing industry would grind to a halt if the editor had to send back everything for the approval of the writer. In fact, most publications even edit paid authors without the author being able to review the changes. An editor of a periodical cannot afford the time to edit an article/letter for print and then send it back to the author for approval. Neither can they allow an author to hold the article hostage until/unless the editor agrees to relinquish editorial control to the author.
what if they mis- interpret what the original writer was trying to say? that would be libel, and they'd get sued left and right.
That's why they hire professional editors. They don't make that kind of mistake and, hence, are not "sued left and right."
I'm not making any of this up. I've been published in periodicals and know what I am talking about.
I have an old 3-bedroom house, but with 200 amp electrical service. Which is good, because 1 bedroom is for my wife and I, one is for our baby, and the third is my geekroom. I used to put photos of it on my website, but they're really out-of-date. Guests to our house either get a fold-out sofa or go to a hotel nearby that a friend of ours manages - they get a real cheap rate. We used to have a guest room but that's where the baby lives now.
The geekroom has two desks, two bookcases (tech stuff only - other bookcases in the house handle "real" books), and a big old metal shelving unit that holds a 16-port switch, three UPS units, a monitor, my Epson Stylus Photo, my current server (a little FlexATX box running e-Smith), a monitor, and a second PC that runs Mandrake and usually sits open because I'm always swapping stuff in and out of it. There's also a third PC on the rack that I just got - a Mini-ITX box that I'm going to run my server on because it's even smaller and quieter than the existing server. They're all on a 4-port KVM switch.
Then on the first desk, next to the rack, I keep my PowerBook G4, along with all it's gadgets (Palm cradle, Griffin powerMate, CF/Smartmedia reader, Keyspan serial port, iPod). I've got a Newton 2100 on the desk, too - I'm turning it into a web server soon and when I do it goes on the rack. My HP laser is on a stand next to the desk.
The next desk over holds my P4 system - I run XP on it and use it for gaming. I built this one over the summer. Wedged between the two desks are about 200 CD's that contain either software or backups of some sort or another.
In the corner of the room is an Athlon 700 that's currently semi-disassembled (I had to grab a couple of parts out of it for the P4), but used to be my gaming rig. Finally, the geekroom has some space allocated for short-term comic book storage. My workbench is in the cellar, along with virtually all my tools and the bulk of my comics (I built a moisture-controlled storage closet down there).
Geeky, but non-tech items in the geekroom include all my photo gear and slides, a small collection of stuffed toys, a 30-year-old (but still working) shortwave receiver, and a bass guitar.
Currently out on loan to my office is my Athlon 650 that I run Solaris X86 on. I'm testing some stuff for work on it, and it was handy to grab. We also have two other computers in the house - my wife has an iMac widescreen that she keeps on a small desk in our bedroom, and I have a hacked iOpener that we keep in the basement. Also in the basement are the DSL modem and my router.
This sounds worse than it is, though - my one geekroom is a disaster, admittedly, but the rest of the house looks like Martha freaking Stewart had her way with it. It's a good arrangement. I don't interfere with the rest of the house, and I'm allowed my one room to do as I see fit.
Unless, of course, we have another child, in which case my butt is banished to the basement. Good thing we had it finished this past winter...
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Not sure if you are a troll, but, notice that he mentions his involvement in Team Vodka Martini These guys were mentioned on /. a while back (I don't feel like looking for the article). Although he says none of the computers pictured are used in the contest, someone named Jerkychew clearly has a lot of computers at his disposal. I doubt this is a hoax.
My bedroom: .and 98SE (shares keyboard, mouse and 17" monitor with the Mac via KVM).
Beige Power Mac G3, upgraded to G4/400, with 17" and 14" CRT monitors.
iBook 500MHz
Home-built Duron 850 tower dual-booting XP Pro
Apple LaserWriter Select 360.
MicroTek ScanMaker IISP.
Series 1 TiVo with 120GB HDD upgrade.
My server room:
Two Power Mac 7600s, both with G3/400 upgrades-- one handles routing/firewall/mail/file/web/DNS/print, and the other runs the house via all those wonderful X10 modules and other things. They're named "Guardian" and "Colossus," respectively.
Cobalt Qube2, hosting the site of my friend the aspiring model (you might have seen her on Blind Date the other night).
NeXTStation Turbo with 17" black & white display.
AirPort Base Station.
Also in the server room, all functional but not part of the LAN:
Macintosh 128K.
IBM PCjr.
Macintosh Color Classic.
TRS-80 Model 102 laptop.
Newton Original MessagePad.
Newton MessagePad 2000.
Basement:
Power Mac G4/733/1.12GB RAM/40GB & 120GB HDD/SuperDrive (being prepped to replace the old G3 in my bedroom in January, when my bonus check buys the two huge LCDs to go with it).
Power Mac 6360, being prepped to be the backup server for everything in the server room.
Sony external SCSI AIT2 drive, to be hooked up to the backup server.
Homebuilt Athlon 750, used to test various equipment.
Two whiteboxes in slightly less than operational condition.
Two PowerBook 170s (one for my collection, and one to sell as a collectible).
PowerBook G3 Lombard, semi-operable, soon to be sold on eBay as a parts machine.
PowerBook Duo 270c, for my collection.
Two 'platinum' Commodore 64s with 1541 floppy drives & 1 1702 RGB monitor.
Two 3Com Audreys destined to become the control panels for the web interface of my home-automation setup.
Coleco ADAM.
Vectrex + shitload of games.
Sega Genesis + shitload of games.
Sega Saturn + shitload of games.
Atari 5200 + shitload of games.
Atari 2600 + shitload of games.
ColecoVision + shitload of games.
NES + shitload of games.
Panasonic 3DO + shitload of games.
GE DVD/CD/MP3CD/VCD player with region-selection mod.
Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh coin-op.
Zookeeper coin-op.
On loan to aspiring model friend until she can afford a computer:
Netpliance i-Opener hacked to run Win98SE with an internal 20GB HD and cooling fan.
~Philly
I strongly hope that you don't send Slashdot stories to your printer!
"The printed word" refers to any published, written communication, whether on a website, a book, a flyer, or a newspaper.
But Slashdot's submitters and "editors" don't have a collaborative relationship. It's a one-way, one-time process. If any "editing" has been done to the post (aside from inserting parenthetical comments and deciding where to break it off), then the submitter's words have been misrepresented.
Untrue. It is not a misrepresentation to correct obvious errors. For example, I corrected each item shown above in boldface. None of the changes misrepresented your words.
That the targeted site is non-English, and we should expect similar minor translation errors ahead.
How can we infer anything about the site based on the submitter's command of English? The submitter is a reader of Slashdot. Should we assume that Slashdot is a "non-English" site?
"How looks" is an archaic, poetic idiom. To "cultured" readers, it evokes romantic odes to the beauty of a comely woman.
So you feel it proper to evoke "romantic odes to the beauty of a comely woman" when describing your computer room? You clearly need to get out more.
Regardless of the accuracy of those interpretations, they're between the writer and readers. Editors shouldn't interfere.
Then I recommend that you stop reading almost all major, mainstream periodicals because the editors regularly edit readers' letters for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and length prior to printing them.
P.S. to moderators: Comments related directly to the presentation of the story are not "offtopic", "troll", or "flamebait."
I went back and looked at the story again. The phrase "how looks" was not used. The phrase was "how your room looks like" .
Perhaps "cultured" readers such as yourself, should concentrate a bit more on reading and a bit less on appearing cultured.
Yeah, computer stuff. Cool. But seriously, she's a friend of yours? God damn, dude!
One of my computer science professors, whom I will not name, had a collection much similar to that in his shed -- it was something like 30 lousy computers with monitors, all from the 386/486 era, that he had absolutely no use for and just had to have.
Then, on a stormy night, the ungrounded shed was hit by lightning, and it caught fire. While he was asleep, the computers began melting under the heat and released some very toxic gas -- which blew through the neighborhood, and killed the professor's dog along with a few other animals, and made a few residents hospital-bound.
Because of it, he was sued for quite a hefty bit, though he avoided jail -- so rethink stockpiling all those useless computers for itself, and give them away to charity.
Although I think fmaxwell is wrong (and intentionally antagonistic, a.k.a. trolling) about this whole issue of editing he is correct that papers and magazines often edit letters to the editor for content or grammar.
I'm not intentionally antagonistic or "trolling". I'm just an abrasive, opinionated person that does not give a rat's ass whether someone likes what I say. But I do appreciate you giving me credit where you felt it due. Thanks.
...and I say tomatoe. ;-)
When people ask about heating in the winter, I just laugh.
:)
I have to laugh at this one because I have the same situation (luxery?). With 11 computers in my extra "server" room and a nice PC with two monitors in my own bedroom, it's always nice and toasty.
I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one with a server farm in their house. And you know what, despite what everyone may say about being a geek or having a life, I love it!
Who said Freedom was Fair?
My geekroom/bedroom is preetty simple...Two systems, one my server and one my gaming rig; a rackmount network concentrator that is pretending to be a bedside table for me; a Linksys switch, a 1988 laser printer, and some lamps and programming books.
Nothing majorly obtrusive.
I'd love a room full of Rackmount goodness, but I barely even use the Linux partition on my gaming rig; a whole second (third, fourth) system would never get used.
Daughter: Jesus Christ, just forget the whole programming thing. [Starts SIMS Online]
late night coding session.
However, while the general layout remains the same, I'm always changing the hardware, so this is what I've got now.
I guess one thing that's special about my "massive pile of computing" is that I like to collect some diversity in my equipment. I've got many different OS's, and most of my machines are not PeeCees (none are Macs).
Of course like many of you, I technically have several more machines than are noted. I refer to this as "the pile", and I basically think of it as the computers I could assemble and/or put into service from stuff I have if I needed to. Always nice to have crap laying around when you want to test something.
I linked to my bedroom before, but this is probably the best place for me to post the link again.
//gs with monitor. At one time I had a UMAX S900/200DP hooked up as well That is loaned out, as is a Macintosh Centris 610.
Harware in the bedroom:
G4/933 hooked up to a 17" Studio Display, a 15" NEC LCD, and a 14" VGA CRT.
Apple PowerBook Duo 2300c with DuoDock II. Headless at the moment.
These two are hooked into a 5 port 100Base-T switch. The G4 is hooked (via another port) to a 100Base-T Internet connection.
Also hooked up to the G4:
CompactFlash drive, MemoryStick drive, Cambridge Soundworks speaker system, a Sony Clie T665c, a Canon S200 digital camera, and a Keyspan Digital Remote Control.
In the closet, I have an Apple
I am looking to add a Athlon-based PC to the mix (via KVM switch to the keyboard and the NEC monitor) to learn FreeBSD on. I am also looking at buying one of the new iBooks to replace the very aging PowerBook Duo.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
Dude! You've got an HP Deskjet?! For real?
;-)
Talk about Uber-Geek! You are our new God!
Next you'll be telling us you've got, like, a $90 scanner as well! Oh, wait...
Tim
I know everyone here has been anxiously awaiting a picture of my computer setup, so here you go.
Yeah, I know, it's not much, but I don't consider myself a true geek anyway. I just have enough computing equipment to get by.
Looks about right:
/usr/local/apache/htdocs/thinknerd/html/pnadodb/dr ivers/adodb-mysql.inc.php on line 108
/usr/local/apache/htdocs/thinknerd/html/pnadodb/dr ivers/adodb-mysql.inc.php on line 108
Warning: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111) in
Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111) in
mysql://thinknerd:@localhost/thinknerd failed to connectCan't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (111)
Well, since the link in the story is dead you can all look at my room if you want. It's not particulary interesting, but it is a geek's room.
We're going to make information free Mr. Anderson, whether you like it, or not.
he was sued for quite a hefty bit
ahh, todays society. If your computer gets fried by lightning - you get sued. If your house gets fried, the insurance company say "It's an act of god".
Why must people sue at every possible thing? It ends up with everyone suing everyone, and the only winners are lawyers.
Hang on, my S.O. is a lawyer - well will be in august. Forget that, sue everyone!
Troll? Aw, c'mon... if the
:)
4) Blah
5) ???????
6) Profit
thing still gets laughs, this guy should get at least +2 funny mods
Was he successfully sued? That is, he lost? He should have promptly sued the manufacturers of the computers for compensation and the victims probably should have done the same, as it was the negligence of the manufacturers to use such dangerous products without informing the customer (can you imagine new computers with a big yellow warning label like new cars with airbag labels?).
Of course, that's what I'd do if I was a lawyer. I'm shaking my head at the whole thing -- lawsuits are getting to be too much these days.
Lemme know...
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
I was going to post pictures, but all the image hosts I can find suck and the pictures are pretty large.
Oh well.
At home, I have all my core equipment rackmounted in a half-height HP rack. It's a full enclosure, with solid front door, drop-down door on top (my addition), and vented rear door. My APC UPS, Linksys switch, everything is rackmounted. I currently have only two systems in here, both in 4U cases--a large fileserver (3Ware RAID5) that is also my gateway, print server, etc., and my main workstation. On top of the rack are a bunch of media drawers for CDs, my stereo receiver (TV card in comp whose tuner sucks), and a Kyocera laser printer.
On my desk, which is a single-surface desk, convertible into a right-angle configuration (currently straight) with a keyboard drawer, I have dual 21" Trinitrons, my Klipsch speakers (drool!), and the usual assortment of crap. Between the monitors, a USB hub, and 7-in-1 media reader. To one side, a 2-line phone, tape, stapler, scissors, and for some reason a cup full of batteries (hmm...forgot about that). To the other side, a radio set atomic clock, a stack of Wheel of Time books, a couple stacks of CDR cake boxes, some music CDs, a bag of Kasugai roasted wasabi-coated green peas (great stuff!), and piles and piles of bills and mail. Fortunately, all up to date. And then there's the more fleeting equipment, both of my cell phones (normal and Nextell 2-way) for work, drink, etc. Underneet the desk is an old TV cart (containing various computer-related junk), another APC UPS, and my Klipsch subwoofer.
At work, I have the largest cubicle of anyone there. Sometime early next year (need to budget to have it fixed up), I get what every office worker wants--my own, real, lockable office. As large (larger?) than my bedroom at home. As for the cubicle, it's still large, and I have about a dozen 3ft by 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot cubicle cabinets, and about 4 desks, plus the usual wipeboard and wall of Sybase certificates (backup DBA).
Pictures are worth a thousand words, and I've obviously shortchanged y'all. Oh well.
what if they mis- interpret what the original writer was trying to say? that would be libel, and they'd get sued left and right.
That's why they hire professional editors. They don't make that kind of mistake and, hence, are not "sued left and right."
I find it hard to believe that simply because these people are "professional editors" it means that they can't ever make mistakes in editing. Technical terms, jargon or slang may be mis-interpreted fairly easily and "corrected" to a word or phrase that means something completely different than what the original author meant. additionally the bias of the editor may enter into their "corrections", changing the whole meaning of the article entirely.
I'm not making any of this up. I've been published in periodicals and know what I am talking about.
i don't question your knowledge in this matter as much as i would question any publication that would go around purposely changing articles and misquoting writers without notifying the reader of those changes.
...aspiring model friend...
Yeah, no problems with aspiration here, that's for sure, not with that chest...
Have EVDO, will travel.
Good luck to your Raq..
It's midnight on a Friday and you have a modded up post that has the words "aspiring model" in it.
I will send a priest over to give your server the last rites. And you can bring your "friend" over I'll let her cry on my shoulder about the death of her website.
Many in this community are dog people, but is it my imagination that a higher percentage of geeks are cat people? It's either a startling coincidence or my life represents a real Nielsen-style rating as to the percentage of computer volken who like the furry little beasts...
This observation began for me when once I lived in an apartment complex with an exclusive population of nerds. It was the mid 90s at that time. Before I got there it was just a couple of Mac II-Ci's with phone-net (!!!) flowing out of the windows. I'm pretty sure we had the first network in the little beach-town of Seaside Park, NJ.
Eventually, there were 7 units each with Ethernet dangling from window-sill to window-sill. And only 500 feet from the beach! With a tremendous view of the Ocean from a kickin' deck upon which we would regularly grill mahi-mahi and the like whilst imbibing on food-breaks from endless network gaming and hacken (and more imbibing). It was bloody Nirvana!...but I digress.
All were tiny little cracker box apartments (we were beginning our tech careers at that point) that at the peak of geek occupancy housed a motley collection of Macintoshen, NT boxen, 1 NeXT machine (mine, a slab serving a 400dpi laser printer and also playing the part of a shuh-WEET NIS server), a couple of Linux box0rz and an Amiga 2000. PowerBooks galore. All nic'd and sharing the the love.
Nearly every apartment was populated with at least one cat, and in one case at least a bloody-stinkin' (emphasis on the "stinkin'" pheeeyew!) cat colony! I, resident mac-geek with a love of code and 3-d, had two...Lumpy and Jake. Neighbor James, who was an NT tech with a penchant for work-related travels to Kazakhstan on occasion, had two as well...Simba (a 22 pound orange basketball with legs and a tail) and Mim (tiny little fucker, even as a full-grown feline).
My friend Ian had a cat named Mr. Beau... Mr. Beau's special talent was vomiting on technology. Yup. If the thing flipped bits in some manner, and it was in Ian's apartment, that shit was getting vomited on. No negotiations. Also, beer was likely to have been spilled on said equipment at some point, but that I believe was (mostly)the fault of the humans about the place.
My friend Mark who also lived there was a 300lb pro wrestler who could lift full grown men over his head in addition to his impressive geek abilities. Adding to those formidable(and imposing)wrestling talents was a steady gig as Mac/NT/Network tech. The guy was also a 3-d rendering guru who made valuable additions to the old Ambrosia game Escape Velocity. He and his (then pre-) wife housed the afore mentioned (sHt1nKeN!) colony of kitties who (despite their numbers...and lovely odor!) managed to not vomit on the tech nearly so often. All the other guys had cats too. Not nearly as smelly.
Since those days, I've worked with a fair number of techs and the sampling of overlap between the cat-ownership and tech communities seemed to grow larger with the more tech-geeks I've met as time passed.
If I might posit a guess, I'd say it had something to do with the independant nature of both beasties. Here I speak of techie cr3tins (myself included) the race of kitt33z. Both seem to have a strongly independant sense of self. The solitary nature of bit-dribbling andromorphs is evinced most strongly by the the noticeable high percentage of said who also play musical instruments. When you think about it, in order to develop ability in either (music or tech), you have to spend a lot of time with yourself thinking, playing, experimenting. Cats, while not much on the thinking or tip seem to be quite competent at being on their own. Far more than dogs anyway in that respect...
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
I find it hard to believe that simply because these people are "professional editors" it means that they can't ever make mistakes in editing. Technical terms, jargon or slang may be mis- interpreted fairly easily and "corrected" to a word or phrase that means something completely different than what the original author meant. additionally the bias of the editor may enter into their "corrections", changing the whole meaning of the article entirely.
There is no doubt that such errors occasionally happen. Just as doctors mis-diagnose patients -- and sometimes get sued. Both editors and doctors must exercise due diligence in their work.
i don't question your knowledge in this matter as much as i would question any publication that would go around purposely changing articles and misquoting writers without notifying the reader of those changes.
Most publications do serve notice that they reserve the right to edit and abridge reader submissions. The majority of papers quietly fix errors of punctuation (e.g., "its" vs. "it's"), spelling, and grammar (e.g., "they has" vs. "they have"). If a reputable paper is shown that their editing resulted in a change of meaning, then they will print a correction.
Having seen what passes for writing by most people, trust me when I tell you that you would not want to read unedited letters to the editors.
Besides the numerous computers, parts, and other geeky stuff... I remember when my roomate was moving out (moving to Chicago to go to school), he came in my room and asked if I had any cat-5 cable. Of course I did and I asked what for. He replied "I needed to tie my bag to the cart and i figured we didn't have rope but plenty of cable." I just started laughing and of course... got him some cat-5.
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
Please enter any 11-digit prime number to continue...
:)
10000000019
True, because as we all know, leaving the computer to goto the bathroom is the cause of pre-mature death of computer geeks!
Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all the unhappy people.
Since the actual site pointed to by the article has succumb to the infamous Slashdot effect and that means a lot of picture-hungry /.ers, I decided against hosting my pictures through my cable modem. I put them up on my old AOL account so you can pound AOL's servers to death instead. ;) If they don't load the first time, just keep hitting reload... AOL can take it.
;) With the cover removed from the IBM home director panel, you can see the UPS, the cable modem, the 8 port 100Mbps switch, the 4 way satelite switch (behind the cable modem), the video distribution amplifier and the phone line splitter.
Here's the result of a few seconds of running around with my digital camera... A virtual tour of the network at my house.
mypc.jpg This is the PC in my bedroom. P3 850, 256MB RAM, RADEON 8500LE, 40GB Maxtor. I'm upgrading it to an Athlon XP 2000 pretty soon.
bro1.jpg This is one of my brother's PCs. P3 750, 256MB RAM, Geforce4Ti, 40GB Maxtor.
bro2.jpg This is my brother's other PC. Duron 1GHz, 128MB RAM, Radeon 7200, 20GB Maxtor.
guest.jpg Guest room PC (What guest room is complete without a PC?!). K6-2 500MHz, 96MB RAM, Radeon 7000, 8GB HD.
office.jpg Office room PC. P4 1.6GHz, 256MB RAM, Radeon 7000, 80GB Maxtor.
hidden.jpg Hidden office room server. (Used as a Win2k Terminal Server) Celeron 850MHz, 512MB RAM, onboard SiS video (no monitor anyway!), 40GB Maxtor.
tv.jpg Entertainment center PC. Used for watching DivX movies. Yes, that is a progressive scan bigscreen HDTV. 42" of Slashdot, baby. Athlon 1GHz, 256MB RAM, Radeon 7000 Dual Display Edition, 8GB HD.
server.jpg Linux (Slackware!) NAT/Fileserver box. 200MHz PPro, 64MB RAM, generic ISA VGA card, 80GB Maxtor, 40GB Maxtor, 20GB Western Digital drives. In case you're wondering, yes, they're pretty much full.
wirebox.jpg Do not touch any of these wires!
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
What ?! The lawyers are winning ?! Lets sue *them* !
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
Almost all my computers are stuffed into one room, where I only am when burning DVDs. Check it out here and here. One Sun Sparcstation 5, one SGI Indigo 2, one Celeron 433, one Pentium 233 MMX, one Pentium 150 (not visible on the pictures), two SGI Indigo O2s (on the floor, not in use at the moment), one Amiga 1200 (not visible, not in use :). In the basement I've got two SGI Challenge S servers (not in use) and in the living room I got my laptop and a GameCube, PS2 and an XBox. :)
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
Come back when you get beyond the 'room' and need to expand to the basement. Half the entire basement. And that's just computer geekware. There's an entire bedroom filled with swords, armor, costumes and garb for me European Medieval Martial Arts and Renaissance Faire stuff. So , I have 3 geek rooms. And if you include brewing, make it 3 geek rooms and a closet (and expand the basement usage to 3/4 (1/2 computer 1/4 brewing).
Wow, I need to get my priorities straight, there's another 1/4 of basement that needs to get used for brewing!
-- There is no sig line, only Zuul.
Um, 2-liter bottles? :)
Available in plenty - Even Code Red is now available in bottles in diet form. (CR was available canned for a bit, but not for long - Now I can only find 2L bottles. But I can still get my Diet CR fix.)
Yup, I'm diabetic. Regular soda tastes weird to me at this point - One sip and my first thought is, "something is wrong".
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
The obvious solution was to place the can of paint in the middle of the room, and add a small explosive charge. Before detonating the can, ensure that all of the objects in the room that are not meant to be painted are coated in newspaper. Oh, and make sure that nobody enters the room while the fuse is burning. It will lead to much hilarity, yes, but also human silhouettes that will have to be hand painted later.
If anybody tries/has tried this, I implore them to please post links to photos.
~Idarubicin
Yeah, like having more hardware makes you more of a geek. Right. Isn't it more about how you use it?
--
If you moderate this, then your children will be next.
Yeah, right now I've got 608K down but only 128K up and it can be a little painful sometimes. I'm trying to hold out until the new year to bump up to the next tier, I think it's 384K up.
:-)
Still, the trusty little Qube2 stood up to a reasonably impressive onslaught of horny slashgeeks-- though it wasn't a true slashdotting by any stretch of the imagination.
~Philly
Suing someone else is more satisfying than anything else- how else can you cash in on a person's hard earned worth through their mistake, AND also to have someone in power say "You were the one who was right, not them!" You ever see an M5 tailgating a Corsica? Why not? :D
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
OK, here in the real (i.e., married with non-geek friends) world, we have to hide this stuff. We do this because:
Here are the mantras in our house:
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
Those shure are mostly german geek rooms. :-) )...
Wooden paneling, old walls, square 9cm pine beams from the "Baumarkt", 230 Volt powerconectors, suse stickers, 'Kaltgeräteanschlußkabel' (sorry, don't know the english word for that
Just then I noticed the '.de' in the URL.
Bingo.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Something to look forward to in your old age?
BTW, ARRL = American Radio Relay League, an amateur radio organization, which publishes QST their monthly magazine.
If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep
My computer room stays eternally messy. All attempts to clean the room lead to more crap being piled up.
A few months back, I tossed out a few old 486's. Next thing I know, I got a 4U rackmount Pentium Pro. ($25 on ebay!)
Then, I straightened up the room, getting the floor completedly clean. So my wife comes and dumps all my crap that's been piling up in the living room.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
I'm with you. Thank god I don't live in America.
Same in the UK. If I hear one more advert with "Bob tripped over his shoelace and received £3000 in compensation, Poor John spilt his pint of beer, and he recieved £10,000! If you've ever done anything ever in the last three years, call this number and we'll get you one million dollars!.
Wasnt there a south park episode where everyone sued everyone else?
why is there this stereotype that a 'geek room' has to
be messy and fully of crap?
what about the 'neat geek' ?
i spend endless time at this desk tinkering and working on the computer.
i use a soldering-iron, i've etched my own circuit boards, disassembled
computers and CRTs (replacing analogue boards on a Mac+), and soldered
together with resin-core solder and built a theramin, written code,
built web-sites, ripped tunes, made mixes, read slashdot faithfully,
spent endless hours downloading, archiving, and organising data;
and in every manner possible, have tried to fully integrate technology
in a fully artistic way into my living - there is not a single component that
hasn't had thought put into it -- all here:
GeekRoom-Front.jpg
GeekRoom-Side.jpg
the apparent simplicity and cleanliness of this space belies the
inordinate amount of work that goes into making a well-used geek-room
so spare and uncluttered. there's several hundred CD's, a firewire hard
drive, burner, audio-amplifiers, with USB hubs and surge-protected
powerbar hidden behind the desk (with cables bound together with elastics).
there's a high-power HeNe Laser power supply, coils of wire, soldering iron,
toolkit, VOM and DMM, a scanner, boxes of data CDs and ZIP disks. the
hard drive and burner are neatly stacked in the left and right flanking
drawers under the desk. and to either side are a pair of loudspeakers
for audio work and listening to MP3s. when i undertake to dissassemble a
machine, and get the parts all spread over the desk - the whole METHOD of
doing so is well thought-out, and done with care, so that even in the
procedure, everything is done neatly.
so once again, just because its messy, doesn't make it geek.
there are neat geeks too, which are just as devoted to technology,
and do just as much tinkering as any of you.
best regards,
john
Wasn't that a skit on SNL some years back?? :)
Learn to Play Go
I found it interesting to note that many of these geek rooms seem to be located right in the attic.
With diagonal walls. Is this that common? Just asking, because none of my mates is geeking in a room like this here. :-)
42. Easy. What is 32 + 8 + 2?
Oh.. I'll back it up with an image.
The server that is hosting the picture is in the room in the picture.
A real geek would have done it in GIMP ;-)
Follow me
I have this to warm my feet when it's cold - a dual processor Athlon MP and Cambridge Soundowrks amplifier. The heat from both of them together have been known to raise the room temperature by 6 degrees C.
Follow me
my geekroom was killed by a bird
perfect place to get rid of that stuff
... floppy drives ~$2, rj45 eth cord ~$1, and so on. there are tales of "the one buck guy" ... a friend of mine bought two complete computers (120mhz and 90mhz) for two bucks, but he only made one appearance at the flea and was sold out by the time i arrived at 9:30am.
... don't go there looking for something released in the past few months. can't find edo ram, pentium pros, a complete (~200MHZ) computer for under $100, or some strange connector? this is the place for you!
the mit flea ("Swapfest").
third sunday of every non-winter month at Albany street.
your post says you're in franklin, so get another uhaul and don't drop so many this time! tons of people in your position have offloaded all their shit (working and not) there. only costs $17 (plus $12 for each additional space, you'll probably need ~3 spaces). you set up at 7:15-9am and buyers swarm in at 9am (most sales are done in that hour, the good stuff goes in the first ten minutes). most sellers leave before noon, but (i think) it lasts till about 1:30.
there's lots of cool stuff there, all related to computers, wireless/radio, or 'cool gadgets.' stuff i've bought there include: door sensor, computer remote control, TONS of cables and connectors, cdrs, ropelights, my palm pilot, floppy drives, led's, movies, and tons of stuff the i have forgotten about. it's all dirt cheap too
one seller once told me "swapfest! get yesterday's technology today!"
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
IANAL, but if you choose to store anything that can hurt anyone else on your property, no matter how safe you try to store it, if it does hurt other people, it is your fault and you will be sued. It may sound unfair, but it was still his fault that people and animals were exosed to toxic fumes, and he should be liable.
I posted mine in comment http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=44580&cid=4630 564
/. effect... if someone wants to see they'll cut and paste)
(pasting so as to try to avoid the
- I am made of meat.
Thank you for your support, the campaign to bring back humor in /. posts appreciates it and you will recieve your campaign buttons in the mail shortly.
I have a bunch of computer crap around my house too. I'm so 31337 that I have three flat panel displays on my desktop and another one sitting on a steel rack with three PCs connecting to it. Who cares? Oh, and I have two Herman Miller chairs, which makes me even 31337er.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
I must be lucky - I have not one, but two geek rooms!
My main room is a small bedroom in which I have my main Linux box and an old 'doze box I use for one one piece of software, and someday I am ditching that and running it on Wine. Anyhow, my table is a 6 foot folding table (soon to be modified for a new server I am building - if I ever get my mb back from iwill in working cond), with a 19 inch monitor on one end, a KVM next to that, a phone, and an ATX power supply on the other end taped down with blue painters tape (used for testing motherboards). All the wires for both machines drape down the back of the desk and along the floor. I have a centralized DC power supply and bus running along the underside of the desk (to get rid of wall warts), which is powered by a Sun switching PS. I have what may be an almost one-of-a-kind IBM Model M keyboard (it is one made by Lexmark, but still has clicky keys AND the drain slots - strange) to type on, a Precision Technologies 3 button serial mouse, which rides upon a BSA "report software pirates" mousepad I "picked up" scrounging at DefCon 5. In a U shape around me the walls are lined with steel shelving floor-to ceiling, filled mostly with books, CDs, floppys, tapes, videocassettes, and other assorted crap. Speakers hang on the walls with power and audio wires running "open". My LOAF firewall sits on the floor next to me. My biggest problem is lighting - all I have is an adjustable arm lamp with magnifier lit with a 15 watt CF bulb. I am planning on adding a couple of smaller CF tube lights elsewhere, to help with the problem.
My other geek room? That would be my "workshop", which while attached to the house, can only be reached by going out on the back patio - there I have another small room containing all of my tools - regular tools, power tools, junk parts, miscellaneous computers in various states, old monitors, soldering and test equipment, a large greasy bench for building shit on without worrying about burning/mangling furniture or floor. Floor is bare concrete, it also has an attic access for other storage room, my half-completed recumbent bicycle EV hangs from the ceiling by hooks, patiently awaiting more work. I can do just about any work in there short of welding and be OK (and a welder is coming soon, but that will be stashed in the garage)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
It doesn't look like you're running mod_gzip on that site...any reason why not? If you did, it has been known to decrease traffic load by 4x-8x in some cases...
I'm not sure if the Cobalt distro of Apache has mod_gzip by default, but I'm gonna guess not...if so, try this before you spend the extra change on a higher service tier.
Even Slashdot is using mod_gzip...
The phrase to which I alluded was not the title of the article, but was in the summary that followed:
how your room looks like.
Just FYI.
On the other hand, there is no truer love than that of a dog. Its amazing the kind of things a dog will do for its human companion, even disregarding its own well being to help a human in time of need.
I am a cat person myself but ever since my cousin's St.Bernard saved my life once when I was 8, I respect dogs enourmosly. Although I could not have a dog in the house because of the ammount of attention they need.
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My cat used to catch flies and mosquitos... They infuriated him so he would stay veeeery low and quiet and then jump and clap both paws together at them.
He had a very high rate of success... at least better than me with a flyswatter!
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With some exceptions like Siamese Cats...
These were first bred as weapons, big boned and strong so that they would perch on a warriors shoulder and serve as a pair of ultra-sensitive ears and nose when looking for the enemy in the middle of the jungle.
Then, when the enemy was discovered, the warrior would toss the cat at the opponents face, before closing in for the kill. The cats supposedly were trained to claw at the opponents eyes and face and could reportedly incapacitate a person in just a couple of seconds...
Wow, the kind of things you learn on a trip to Thailand (the Thai are the ultimate cat lovers)!
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Dude, nice desk... ;)
Would love to see pictures of the floor, tough
Trolling aside, I'm a neat geek too, and it suckswhen other geeks look down at me. It's like, "you're not geeky enough, your desk isn't full of crap" even as I outhardware them, outcode them and even outQuake them. Stereotypes suck big time.
Your speakers is too small.
so lets say my house falls down, thanks to some freak flooding. The wall collapses into my neighbours garden and kills their cat. Is it fair I get sued because of an act of god?
Let's see... I've sold 75% of what was pictured there at one hell of a profit (all on the books), and I've got about 200 new emails as a result of this post. I don't think I'll have any trouble unloading what's left...
You may call it crap, but a lot of people don't need cutting edge computing power. A certain gubernatorial candidate ran most of her campaign on my used hardware, with no problems. No need for a GHZ machine to run email and OpenOffice.