Ok, the tech behind OS X isn't all new. So what. The reason I can understand his comments is because I made the switch to OS X recently. Why? Well, is is easy to install and run. Thus, less time I spend on tinkering with the box and the more time I spend getting actual things done. The advantage OS X holds for me over every other OS is that if I do want to get geeky and play with the Unix underside, I can. But at any time return to that productive enviornment.
If Linux was as easy to get installed, and was a bit more universal in how things work, I would consider switching to it. But for now, it takes me a minimum of 2 hours of interactive work to install (due to 5 billion packages), and countless hours after that getting things set up.
On a Mac, I pop in the install disk, answer much fewer questions, get in and customize a few things, and drag and drop install a few apps. I can get my Powerbook back up and running the way I had it in about 3 hours total. That includes my commonly used folders, interface changes, etc...
Simplicity, but with power underneath. This is the way to go.
Problems I have seen with the units, general design flaws:
1. Having to hold the device on the edge to talk on it. Why? Even holding the backside to your head would have been better. Photos of this can be seen in a review at CNN.
2. Having to remove the battery to change games? Again, why? They are just little SD like memory cards, put a standard SD slot with the push to sprint our release on an edge of the phone.
3. The buttons. They feel too much like phone buttons, and not enough like a game console controller button set.
4. The aspect ratio on the screen goes against any other console launched. Thus, poor ports, like Sonic. This game looks and plays better on the supposidly inferrior Game Boy Advance.
5. Nokias marketing. Ok, not a problem with the device, but I don't take well to insult marketing. Insulting the main competition like they did will get them nowhere. Just as Romero calling everyone his bitch didn't exactly sell Daikatana.
Well, I stand right now, watching a gladiator tournament in Shadowbane. One that was organized by a player, but has a person from Wolfpack (the company behind the game) attending and helping out.
I have never seen this level of interaction between the devs and the gamers before. I think I am going to keep subscribing, even with some of the problems, because I have fun.
The SB developers were pretty clear at launch that they didn't intend to have 10 indentical worlds, but had to due to time constraints. They did plan on destroying many, and forcing people to move long before these cheats happened.
I do have a feeling the rampant gold duping might be a reason those two are going first, but, gold duping is a problem on every server.
Changing terminal preferences only changes shells laaunched from terminal. Using Netinfo Manager changes it system wide so that logins via SSH also use bash, or whatever else shell you want.
It is Unix after all, you can run whatever shell you want, and several come bundeled.
They didn't cancel Warcraft Adventures because of Lucasarts, they canceled it because it wasn't going to be a good game.
An interview with Bill Roper tends to agree with me. He basicially admits it was too much of a classic adventure game, while Lucasarts was touting Monkey Island III and Grim Fandango, both being the "next level of adventure games". AKA, Lucasarts had some 3D in them, and of course 3D was the big buzzword back in that time period, so a 2D, but excellent looking adventure game aparently wouldn't sell at all.
Sorry. I know many people out there aren't big adventure gamers now that the market has grown, but some of us "old school" gamers hate to see one of the old segments of the gaming industry die in favor of yet another FPS or something.
Sure, Steel Battalion is a mech game, but it did something no other game did. Bundeled a massive joystick with it to ensure the end user had the experience the developers had intended. Capcom took a huge risk in developing this game, and it paid off. Controllers still go for above retail prices on eBay, and owners are waiting now for the sequel.
Sure, not every new idea game is going to do well, but I applaud any company willing to try. Otherwise, the market would be even more stale then it is today.
I also curse the companies not willing to take risks. Blizzard comes to mind here. Cancelling Warcraft Adventures (because Lucasarts showed a semi 3d adventure game), and changing Warcraft 3 from it's dramatic departure from an RTS right back to a normal RTS has proven they are not willing to take risks anymore. Worlds of Warcraft is just their "me too" cry to the industry filled with tons of MMORPGs, and Ghost is just another action game with nothing new.
If you are at a high elevation, make sure any Plasma you look at is engineered to work there. If it's not, expect a loud and annoyning buzz to develop over time. Last I knew, the Gateway units had this problem.
No. It is a custom designed chipset by a company called ArtX. ATI bought them after the Gamecube chipset was pretty much locked down, and the R300 (Radeon 9500-9800) chip was the first PC video chip that the ArtX team had a chance to help out on.
Random tidbits from my visit to E3 and seeing UT2K4:
1. It's completly backwards compatible with UT2K3. Any mod for UT2K3 works in 2K4.
2. Atari is planning some sort of rebate for existing 2K3 owners, but no details were announced at E3.
3. 2K4 adds more content to the game then what 2K3 shipped with.
4. This still uses the same engine as 2K3, with some tweaks.
5. There are no plans currently for a UT2K5. 2K4 exists due to so much new content being developed for the game. More then they were willing to release as free bonus packs.
Maybe a MMORPG where instead of one huge sprawling world filled with legions of players you have many smaller pocket worlds with coherent plotlines/games going at once ------ This has been one thing about Shadowbane that has also impressed me. Wolfpack hired several people to play "Featured characters". These people work with the person who created the lore, and go in game to push the story foreward. Guilds who work with the lore are rewarded by being included in these stories. Right now, a hearld has announced personally to each guild that Morloch will be returning. Morloch is one of the gods in the world, and guilds aligned to him are prepairing for this event.
Already, newer MMORPGs are showing that dynamic worlds will probably become the norm. I'll use Shadowbane as the example. Out of the box, players log in, and start playing a normal seeming MMORPG. Once a player advances enough, they can leave "newbie" island and enter a user created world. The guilds of the world create the majority of the cities, and guild warfare ensures the map will change over time. Games like Star Wars Planet, err, I mean Galaxies, will eventually add such features.
Other things I see games doing is allowing more people to interact. Something Shadowbane had planned on was interconnecting all the servers, allowing any player to travel and meet another player. This didn't ship, but should be in by the summer.
Beyond that, I hope to see some other generes go MMO. We have RPGs, and hints of FPS with Planetside, but I would love to see an MMO RTS. Shadowbane has a few RTS elements, but 10six was the only true RTS type game I can thing of in the MMO space. I also see MMO becoming the next hype item for game makers, much like 3D was. So many early 3D games did 3D just because they could, and not because they should.
Shuttle owners and other custom owners screwed?
on
AMD: No Grease For You!
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The Shuttle SN41G2 requires a user to not use the AMD heatsink, as the box comes with a custom heatpipe to get the heat from the CPU away from the chip, and the insides of the system. Using the AMD heatsink could lead to the system building up too much heat internally, and causing the box to shut down or crash. I'm sure AMD processors are also used in similar custom machines.
Why is it the consumers fault AMD never integrated thermal protection or a heat spreader into their processors to protect them? Personally, I'm glad I have a P4 in my gaming box that won't fry its self if a fan dies.
I'm somewhat perplexed by what they hope to accomplish with buying a line of low-end audio devices...
SonicBlue fired all the low end audio people a while back, leaving the audio engineers in the UK (The empeg folks). They are very capable of delivering quality high end devices if so requested. I believe the empeg sound system came close to any high end ($1000 and up) in dash stereo unit for potential audio output quality.
Hopefully this means the empeg Mark 3 might see the light of day.
Guess I'll have to put to use our lab DL760 G2 machine. Has 2.5 GB currently, should be able to find another 2.5 gb for it (Raid 5 memory overhead and all).
How well does BSD work with Hyperthreading? The lab box has 4 HT enabled Xeons in it right now, and I could toss in another 4, resulting in 16 virtual CPUs.
And Mac users can't seem to understand why everyone else thinks they're stupid.
Ironicially, this proves the point in the other direction. The person who submitted the article said "I would have gladly switched to Apple" indicating he is currently not a Mac user.
It's also a duplicate story, posted here on Slashdot months ago
Hopefully this will result in a speedier version for all PPC OSs, like OS X. Complex Flash right now will make about any Mac cry under the load, even a G4 with a nice vector unit going unused.
I realised early last year that I really didn't need a huge tower for my main PC, so instead of trying to find things to put in it, I looked into smaller systems. I personally came across a Shuttle XPC and found it met my needs, but before then looked at quite a few mini tower systems. Makes it much easier to move around to LAN parties and such. I have several machines on a network, so if I really need more something, I can make it accessable over the network. But so far, that hasn't been an issue.
Dosen't the 4gb memory limit also affect swap space? Also, due to OS overhead, I was pretty sure no app under Linux or Windows could grab one chunk of memory that was 4gb in size.
Games are getting close to needing 4gb. Games will hit that barrier much sooner then 2007. And game programmers do not like the idea or returning to the old segmented memory model from years past.
Longhorn supports both IA64 and X86-64, and this will be the Windows MS pushes in 2004-2005. 64bit isn't the holy grail of computers, but it is a necessary step that needs to be taken soon in the consumer arena.
Plenty of larger VGA monitors exist, like the consumer level Gateway Destination screens from a few years ago. I own a 27inch one currently, and this device would work well for a few things. Component to VGA adaptors already run $150-$200, and by what I see in the specs, this device will convert component as well. It also has a built in scaler, so right there the device looks worth the money. Internal PCI cards to allow component inputs and that have a scaler run $900.
So the target market for this is the growing HTPC market. Sure, it takes the PC out of the loop, but for most that shoudn't be a problem for this price.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, the tech behind OS X isn't all new. So what. The reason I can understand his comments is because I made the switch to OS X recently. Why? Well, is is easy to install and run. Thus, less time I spend on tinkering with the box and the more time I spend getting actual things done. The advantage OS X holds for me over every other OS is that if I do want to get geeky and play with the Unix underside, I can. But at any time return to that productive enviornment.
If Linux was as easy to get installed, and was a bit more universal in how things work, I would consider switching to it. But for now, it takes me a minimum of 2 hours of interactive work to install (due to 5 billion packages), and countless hours after that getting things set up.
On a Mac, I pop in the install disk, answer much fewer questions, get in and customize a few things, and drag and drop install a few apps. I can get my Powerbook back up and running the way I had it in about 3 hours total. That includes my commonly used folders, interface changes, etc...
Simplicity, but with power underneath. This is the way to go.
Linux has power, but no simplicity.
Windows has simplicity but no power.
Problems I have seen with the units, general design flaws:
1. Having to hold the device on the edge to talk on it. Why? Even holding the backside to your head would have been better. Photos of this can be seen in a review at CNN.
2. Having to remove the battery to change games? Again, why? They are just little SD like memory cards, put a standard SD slot with the push to sprint our release on an edge of the phone.
3. The buttons. They feel too much like phone buttons, and not enough like a game console controller button set.
4. The aspect ratio on the screen goes against any other console launched. Thus, poor ports, like Sonic. This game looks and plays better on the supposidly inferrior Game Boy Advance.
5. Nokias marketing. Ok, not a problem with the device, but I don't take well to insult marketing. Insulting the main competition like they did will get them nowhere. Just as Romero calling everyone his bitch didn't exactly sell Daikatana.
Notice Nokia gave no numbers, so it is possible their initial shipment was very low.
Odds are, the "coolness" of the device might get some sales from people unaware of the problems, just to result in returns days later.
Well, I stand right now, watching a gladiator tournament in Shadowbane. One that was organized by a player, but has a person from Wolfpack (the company behind the game) attending and helping out.
I have never seen this level of interaction between the devs and the gamers before. I think I am going to keep subscribing, even with some of the problems, because I have fun.
The SB developers were pretty clear at launch that they didn't intend to have 10 indentical worlds, but had to due to time constraints. They did plan on destroying many, and forcing people to move long before these cheats happened.
I do have a feeling the rampant gold duping might be a reason those two are going first, but, gold duping is a problem on every server.
10.2.7 also is on the new Powerbooks, thus the need to specify it updates 10.2.7 to 10.2.8.
The question now is when is 10.2.8 coming to the G5 to fix the SSH issue?
Changing terminal preferences only changes shells laaunched from terminal. Using Netinfo Manager changes it system wide so that logins via SSH also use bash, or whatever else shell you want.
It is Unix after all, you can run whatever shell you want, and several come bundeled.
They didn't cancel Warcraft Adventures because of Lucasarts, they canceled it because it wasn't going to be a good game.
An interview with Bill Roper tends to agree with me. He basicially admits it was too much of a classic adventure game, while Lucasarts was touting Monkey Island III and Grim Fandango, both being the "next level of adventure games". AKA, Lucasarts had some 3D in them, and of course 3D was the big buzzword back in that time period, so a 2D, but excellent looking adventure game aparently wouldn't sell at all.
Sorry. I know many people out there aren't big adventure gamers now that the market has grown, but some of us "old school" gamers hate to see one of the old segments of the gaming industry die in favor of yet another FPS or something.
Sure, Steel Battalion is a mech game, but it did something no other game did. Bundeled a massive joystick with it to ensure the end user had the experience the developers had intended. Capcom took a huge risk in developing this game, and it paid off. Controllers still go for above retail prices on eBay, and owners are waiting now for the sequel.
Sure, not every new idea game is going to do well, but I applaud any company willing to try. Otherwise, the market would be even more stale then it is today.
I also curse the companies not willing to take risks. Blizzard comes to mind here. Cancelling Warcraft Adventures (because Lucasarts showed a semi 3d adventure game), and changing Warcraft 3 from it's dramatic departure from an RTS right back to a normal RTS has proven they are not willing to take risks anymore. Worlds of Warcraft is just their "me too" cry to the industry filled with tons of MMORPGs, and Ghost is just another action game with nothing new.
If you are at a high elevation, make sure any Plasma you look at is engineered to work there. If it's not, expect a loud and annoyning buzz to develop over time. Last I knew, the Gateway units had this problem.
.but here's hoping the new Sam and Max game is a hit.
Don't worry, I am sure Sam and Max will be cancelled. Seems no gaming company, even LucasArts, is willing to spend money on the adventure market.
True, the Apple Record issue was settled long ago, with one rather interesting provision. Apple Computer was not allowed to enter the music industry.
Seems being the only distributor might break this...
with an ATI Radeon 8500 (ish) graphics chipset.
No. It is a custom designed chipset by a company called ArtX. ATI bought them after the Gamecube chipset was pretty much locked down, and the R300 (Radeon 9500-9800) chip was the first PC video chip that the ArtX team had a chance to help out on.
Random tidbits from my visit to E3 and seeing UT2K4:
1. It's completly backwards compatible with UT2K3. Any mod for UT2K3 works in 2K4.
2. Atari is planning some sort of rebate for existing 2K3 owners, but no details were announced at E3.
3. 2K4 adds more content to the game then what 2K3 shipped with.
4. This still uses the same engine as 2K3, with some tweaks.
5. There are no plans currently for a UT2K5. 2K4 exists due to so much new content being developed for the game. More then they were willing to release as free bonus packs.
Maybe a MMORPG where instead of one huge sprawling world filled with legions of players you have many smaller pocket worlds with coherent plotlines/games going at once
------
This has been one thing about Shadowbane that has also impressed me. Wolfpack hired several people to play "Featured characters". These people work with the person who created the lore, and go in game to push the story foreward. Guilds who work with the lore are rewarded by being included in these stories. Right now, a hearld has announced personally to each guild that Morloch will be returning. Morloch is one of the gods in the world, and guilds aligned to him are prepairing for this event.
Already, newer MMORPGs are showing that dynamic worlds will probably become the norm. I'll use Shadowbane as the example. Out of the box, players log in, and start playing a normal seeming MMORPG. Once a player advances enough, they can leave "newbie" island and enter a user created world. The guilds of the world create the majority of the cities, and guild warfare ensures the map will change over time. Games like Star Wars Planet, err, I mean Galaxies, will eventually add such features.
Other things I see games doing is allowing more people to interact. Something Shadowbane had planned on was interconnecting all the servers, allowing any player to travel and meet another player. This didn't ship, but should be in by the summer.
Beyond that, I hope to see some other generes go MMO. We have RPGs, and hints of FPS with Planetside, but I would love to see an MMO RTS. Shadowbane has a few RTS elements, but 10six was the only true RTS type game I can thing of in the MMO space. I also see MMO becoming the next hype item for game makers, much like 3D was. So many early 3D games did 3D just because they could, and not because they should.
The Shuttle SN41G2 requires a user to not use the AMD heatsink, as the box comes with a custom heatpipe to get the heat from the CPU away from the chip, and the insides of the system. Using the AMD heatsink could lead to the system building up too much heat internally, and causing the box to shut down or crash. I'm sure AMD processors are also used in similar custom machines.
Why is it the consumers fault AMD never integrated thermal protection or a heat spreader into their processors to protect them? Personally, I'm glad I have a P4 in my gaming box that won't fry its self if a fan dies.
I'm somewhat perplexed by what they hope to accomplish with buying a line of low-end audio devices...
SonicBlue fired all the low end audio people a while back, leaving the audio engineers in the UK (The empeg folks). They are very capable of delivering quality high end devices if so requested. I believe the empeg sound system came close to any high end ($1000 and up) in dash stereo unit for potential audio output quality.
Hopefully this means the empeg Mark 3 might see the light of day.
Guess I'll have to put to use our lab DL760 G2 machine. Has 2.5 GB currently, should be able to find another 2.5 gb for it (Raid 5 memory overhead and all).
How well does BSD work with Hyperthreading? The lab box has 4 HT enabled Xeons in it right now, and I could toss in another 4, resulting in 16 virtual CPUs.
If you happen to have an empeg Mark 2 with ethernet, this is very possible.
It's also possible via an AudioTron or Rio Receiver. The later two devices should still be able to be found, and shouldn't run more then $150 tops.
And Mac users can't seem to understand why everyone else thinks they're stupid.
Ironicially, this proves the point in the other direction. The person who submitted the article said "I would have gladly switched to Apple" indicating he is currently not a Mac user.
It's also a duplicate story, posted here on Slashdot months ago
Hopefully this will result in a speedier version for all PPC OSs, like OS X. Complex Flash right now will make about any Mac cry under the load, even a G4 with a nice vector unit going unused.
I realised early last year that I really didn't need a huge tower for my main PC, so instead of trying to find things to put in it, I looked into smaller systems. I personally came across a Shuttle XPC and found it met my needs, but before then looked at quite a few mini tower systems. Makes it much easier to move around to LAN parties and such. I have several machines on a network, so if I really need more something, I can make it accessable over the network. But so far, that hasn't been an issue.
Dosen't the 4gb memory limit also affect swap space? Also, due to OS overhead, I was pretty sure no app under Linux or Windows could grab one chunk of memory that was 4gb in size.
Games are getting close to needing 4gb. Games will hit that barrier much sooner then 2007. And game programmers do not like the idea or returning to the old segmented memory model from years past.
Longhorn supports both IA64 and X86-64, and this will be the Windows MS pushes in 2004-2005. 64bit isn't the holy grail of computers, but it is a necessary step that needs to be taken soon in the consumer arena.
Plenty of larger VGA monitors exist, like the consumer level Gateway Destination screens from a few years ago. I own a 27inch one currently, and this device would work well for a few things. Component to VGA adaptors already run $150-$200, and by what I see in the specs, this device will convert component as well. It also has a built in scaler, so right there the device looks worth the money. Internal PCI cards to allow component inputs and that have a scaler run $900.
So the target market for this is the growing HTPC market. Sure, it takes the PC out of the loop, but for most that shoudn't be a problem for this price.