I'd really love to seem some numbers/statistics (if they even exist) on the frequency of what you describe.
Gold sellers aren't inherently immoral. And, certainly, people who hack accounts are going to do so, regardless of any monetary reward. So, I see this as two completely separate problems.
Insecure accounts are always going to be a target for hackers. If they aren't going to sell the gold and items for real money; there are still plenty of people who would still be willing to do it for virtual items and virtual rewards.
At least at the time of purchase, the box clearly said the game *required* Windows XYZ to play the game. I don't remember what version of Windows they printed on the box.
You certainly could make the claim that, while WINE didn't give the players an 'edge'; they were breaking the rules. It's a bit of a stretch though....
Cheating is awfully subjective and the consequences felt by other players from cheating varies from 'not at all' to 'a lot', depending on what is being done.
Some cheating violates the mechanics of the game. Cheats that let you fly or make you impossible to kill. Yes, you being invulnerable is one of those things that could negatively impact other players....but only if you PVP. If you spend the entire game, from 1-80, playing alone, in instances; who have you hurt? But that's a pretty extreme cheat....
A lot of cheating doesn't violate the mechanics of the game. Buying gold is 'cheating', but what does it really do? Arguably, it increases inflation. The counterpoint is that high level toons on old servers cause inflation and create a need for n0obs buying gold. In either case, anyone can get gold. There is an infinite amount on the server, the server creates more gold all the time. Buying gold just saves the purchaser *time*.
Really, most of WoW is simply a function of time spent in the game.
What, exactly, is the difference between me playing my character for 20 hours this weekend, farming gold, and increasing the total gold on the server by 10,000g or between me playing my character for 5 hours, doing something fun, and buying 8,000g from a website? In either case, my character ends up with 10,000g more than what it had. In the farming example, more inflation is created because I've introduced more gold into the game. The gold buying, arguably, only created 8,000g and would cause less inflation. But, really, the only meaningful difference is how much time *I* spent having fun and how much money *I* spent.
Being 'great' at WoW is simply a matter of how much time you will spend playing WoW. You can be a retarded monkey, but if you play 14 hours a day, you will hit the level cap, have great gear, and be able to find a great guild.
But, if you aren't willing to make that time commitment, 'cheating' allows you to play the game in a meaningful way. Is it fair that someone can buy gold and someone else can't? I don't know. But it's certainly no more unfair than paying extra money to get 3x experience with refer a friend. The only difference is who the money goes to; but the affect on the game is the same. People who are willing to 'cheat' get benefits that non-cheaters didn't and, arguably, 'devalue' the achievement of leveling.
Automation with bots, two (or more) boxing, refer a friend, buying gold, getting a friend to 'run you' through an instance, buying a character are all ways to get further in less time. All of them are unfair, some are considered 'cheating'. Hell, at release, getting a mount at 40 would have been cheating, but now it's not.
If you want to be strict about it - you can simply say that Blizzard makes the rules, and anything against the rules is 'cheating'. And that's fine and I wouldn't feel the need to argue. But when you say that 'really smart people don't cheat because it ruins the experience....' I feel like you are making an awfully bold claim, without any substance.
Some cheating can negatively impact your gaming experience, certainly; but there is also cheating that won't affect you at all. I've bought gold, two box, and wrote my own fish bot. Oddly enough; two boxing has had a much larger affect on my gaming experience than the other two (and that's the only one that isn't considered cheating!). The gold I bought served only to save my low level horde character a run to a neutral AH to exchange gold with my high level alliance. That purchase saved me an hour or so of death running - maybe more. In either case, my level 1 horde guy would end up with 1000g. I wrote the fishbot because I didn't want to spend an entire day leveling up fishing. I spent more time writing the bot than it would have taken to level up my fishing by hand. The bot was simply 'more fun'. I fished until my skill was maxed out (which is exactly how much fishing I would have done by hand). In either case, my fishing skill was going to get maxed out....my cheating didn't change the gaming experience for anyone else, other than myself.
I've seen the same sort of thinking amongst.NET developers.
The problem in these high level languages with huge libraries of really cool stuff available is that just learning what the libraries can do is a huge undertaking. Mastering the 'how' and really understanding it is an order of magnitude harder.
And, often times, you see it advocated to be ignorant of the 'how'. Good Object Orientated thinking is all about 'separation of concerns' - so I shouldn't be concerned about how WPF will take my form with a button and get the GPU to render it. Or how they'll get Remote Desktop to offload that processing to the client machine.....I just know, and care, that if I make a Window, the underlying everything will take care of itself.
On the plus side - you really do get an amazing amount of code done. Things you'd never be able to do (given real-world time constraints) on your own. The down side, is that you really don't know wtf is going on.
But, I think people have been saying this since people started using C and not ASM.
It also claims that Bill Gates denies ever saying it - "Meanwhile, I keep bumping into that silly quotation attributed to me that says 640K of memory is enough. There's never a citation; the quotation just floats like a rumor, repeated again and again"
I can understand the desire for 'more ethical' homebrew developers to separate themselves from the 'less ethical' homebrew developers.
But, it's an awfully subjective scale.
I can download emulators for lots and lots of consoles from the HBC that will let me load console games from my USB device (or my network share) and play that game on my wii.
I don't see much distinction from that and an application that lets me load wii console games from my USB device and play those games on my wii.
In either case, those things can be used to play games that people don't have a legal right to play...or they can be played by people who own the game/have paid for the game - but don't want to.
And, in either case, you have to take very, very specific, non trivial tasks to get your wii to run them. It's quite clear that Nintendo did not intend any of those things to be on the wii and the steps required to do those things have the potential to brick your wii/void your warranty.
So to me, don't see a difference between the HomeBrewChannel that lets me download/install a program so I can play SNES games off my USB drive than the USB Loader that lets me play WII games off my USB drive.
Homebrew is home-made software. Homebrew for the wii is software for the wii that wasn't produced by an officially licensed source.
When someone writes a 'loader' that loader is a homebrew application. Whether or not it is available via the homebrew channel.
The homebrew applications I've used (media players, and emulators) were all quite buggy and have locked up my wii many times. The usb loader I've got also seems buggy as it fails to recognize my USB drive. But either way, nothing about a loader requires warez...you can own the software legitimately and want to run it from the USB.
I am a computer programmer by trade, but I don't have any real experience in the 'gaming' world. But, I have looked at the SDKs and tools made available by the wii HomeBrew community and....while it's really cool and impressive that a small group of people took it upon themselves to build all this....it's also kind of crappy compared to other SDKs.
I have to assume that the wii SDK is many, many, many times better than anything freely available.
I'm not trying to knock the home brew community at all, in fact, I'm really in awe of what they've done; but look at the games home brew games that are out there through the Home Brew Channel. Poorly done ports of games that are open source (like doom and quake that both play poorly on the wii) and originally done games like 'pong' and 'animation of a fire'.
So yeah - maybe to some suits upstairs at Nintendo are upset over it...but mostly...I don't see it as threat.
"Waninkoko has released a new build of his SD/USB backup loader for the Wii. This loader will allow you to play backups from an on screen menu using a USB mass storage device or SD card."
^^^^ That should get you on your way. I'm a big fan of not having to use physical disks to play games and when I heard the USB hard-drive would load games faster than the physical disks - I totally wanted to do it.
It didn't work for me though. When I ran it - it didn't recognize my USB drive. The advice I was given was 'Umm, try another USB drive' but I only have the one. Lots of people have more luck.
All of the HomeBrew stuff is....well....buggy. The back-up loaders work pretty good; but not perfectly - so some games don't work and some games fail at certain spots. So, it can be very frustrating if you don't sort of enjoy the headaches and searching the web and trying different things to get the game to work.
You can use the 'Add/Remove Programs' item in the XP Control Panel to add programs.
"Add or Remove Programs helps you manage programs and components on your computer. You can use it to add programs (such as Microsoft Excel or Word) from a CD-ROM, floppy disk, or a network, or to add Windows updates and new features from the Internet. Add or Remove Programs also helps you add or remove Windows components you chose not to include in the original installation (such as Networking Services)."
For what it's worth - thank you for taking the time to read it and offer up a solution.
I'm still convinced I'll be able to some flavor of Linux running. My plan is to try an older version of Ubuntu and/or another distro (probably Slackware) this weekend.
Careful - talk like that will get you flagged a troll around here:)
This was my last post on the Ubuntu forums that really outlines what I'd gone through trying to install Ubunut 9.04...
I know this thread is getting pretty long so I thought it might help if I consolidated everything into a single post so that people who see this don't have to read through all 4 pages of posts.
Ubuntu 9.04 Install Problems Summary
1. Download the Ubuntu 9.04 i386 ISO
2. Burn ISO to a blank DVD using IMG Burn
3. Reboot, try to install Linux
4. Install fails - I see an error message about ACPI and find myself at a command prompt.
5. Read - Edit BIOS - I'm directed to https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/install...ios-setup.html - I read and find that I didn't disable my 'Memory Hole' so I do that.
6. Reboot, try to install Linux
7. Install fails - I see an error message about ACPI and find myself at a command prompt.
8. Read - Edit BIOS - After visiting this and other forums, I found that by enabling AMD Quiet N Cool the ACPI error would be resolved. This information was not included in the 9.04 installation-guide linked to above.
9. Reboot, try to install Linux
10. Install fails - I see *no* error message - so that's a good sign (I think) - but I still end up at a command prompt.
11. Read - At this point, it seems like the install disk itself is the most likely source of my problems. I'm told to check the md5 of the download and the CD itself though the install screen.
12. Install winmd5sum And use this to verify that my download was correct (and it was).
13. Reboot, try to have the Ubuntu installer verify the disk.
14. Disk Check Fails The same as with the install, I end up at the command prompt. Unsure of what to do next I...
15. Re-Burned ISO to a blank DVD using IMG Burn on a separate PC, hoping that the burn was bad. As recommended, I use a low speed burn to reduce the chances of errors. IMG Burn 'verifies' that the burn was successful (I'm not sure if that means anything or not).
16. Reboot, try to install Linux (with the new disk)
17. Install fails - Same as before, no error message that I can see - just the command prompt.
18. Read the forums and end up directed to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions - without really understanding the boot options in the F6 menu
19. Reboot - Install fails Same sort of fail as before, did this a bunch of different times with the different options.
20. Read the forums again. I end up at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto - I have three hard-drives two are configured in a RAID 0 though my BIOS. I'm unsure if the FakeRaid would impact the installer or not (I'm trying to install to the un-raided hard-drive).
21. Read the forums again. It's suggested that I try the alternate download.
22. Download the Ubuntu 9.04 i386 alternate installer ISO
23. Use winmd5sum To verify that my download was correct (and it was).
24. Burned ISO to a blank DVD using IMG Burn
25. Reboot, try to install Linux
26. Install fails - This time I end up stuck in an infinite loop. The text based installer says it can't mount the CD and to insert the CD, but the CD is in. My DVD drive seems to be functioning though - I used it to install Windows 7 two days ago without any problems.
27. Read the forums again. No suggestions, and without an
Linux Community: X works in Linux! And it's free! Me: Huh, that's pretty cool....
Linux Community: Yeah and it's super easy. Easier to setup than Windows. And you'll never get a virus. And it's free! Me: Wow, that does sound pretty cool...
Linux Community: Heard you had a problem with Vista's power management stuff? Yeah, you should run Linux - no problems there.... Me: Wow - that does really sound great...
Linux Community: Hey - Windows 7 is coming out - but look at this chart. It shows how much faster Linux is. And look, the install took less clicks and is much easier. Ant it's free! My Grandma runs it now. It's awesome. Me: I have to say, that really, really sounds great....
Linux Community: I see you play WoW. I dunno if you know this but Linux can totally do that. Linux is like everywhere man. Why don't try it? It's free. It's everything Windows does, only free and less problems. It just works. Just download it man. Piece of cake. Me: I don't know - that sounds great. I really don't like Windows; and I'd love to be able to play with the source of my OS....God Linux sounds great.
Linux Community: Oh - yes - it is! Here's a link man....go for it. Just download it and burn it. It's yours. Free. And just like Windows, only better. It does everything. Everything you want - it does. Better. Faster. Free! Try it. Don't be a chicken....try it.
Me: Huh - yeah - Linux seems cool but um...I'm having a problem. (The specific problem varies depending on the year I was trying it. Internet back in '03, RAID in '06, Wireless in '07, Installing in '09). Linux Community: Oh yeah - that's nothing just do X (where X is something ridiculous like 'download it again')
Me: Umm yeah - so, that's not working for me. I still can't this working.
Linux Community: Did you read the guide? It's this page here - you should have read this before you did the install. It's really long and complicated and it will make you change your BIOS settings. It's called 'DO THIS BEFORE YOU INSTALL.HTML'. Go there, do it, try again.
Me: Umm - Okay. WTF? I don't know what any of this means but I just changed four things in my BIOS. But I still can't install.
Them: Did you verify the download? Use this MD5 tool to verify that the download was correct. I mean, you can't just trust a file to download correctly these days...it's really a gamble.
Me: Umm - Okay. I installed some program in Windows and it says it has the same number as what it should be...but it still doesn't work.
Them: Okay - well, go to this random guys blog. He has four pages of detailed instructions. You'll need to download a Windows driver and run this program that will, maybe get it to work.
Me: Alright - I spent FOUR HOURS screwing with this and I still can't get online unless I disable security on my wireless router.
Them: Well, just disable the security on your router. Yay! Linux works great!
Me: WTF? I don't want to disable my security. I want to be able to use it like it worked in Windows.
Them: Then buy a wirless router that works in Linux.
Me: Okay - which one can I buy off NewEgg that will work.
Them: Well, a lot of people have good luck with XYZ - but it depends on what chipset is used.
Me: WTF? How do I know what chipset is used?
Them: Well, buy it, and if it works, you'll know it's the right one.
Me: You want me to buy something that 'might' work, but if it doesn't work I'm SOL?
Them: Yup! If you don't like that, you can just buy a brand new PC with Linux installed from Dell!
Me: Is it any cheaper than the Windows version?
Them: Nope.
Me: WTF?
Them: Geez man, chill out. Linux *isn't* windows. It's not just going to magically work. Hardware manufactures don't support Linux, so you need to make sure, in advance, that your hardware will work.
There are anecdotes of people winning money in Vegas and anecdotes of people losing money in Vegas.
But, it would still be pretty silly to think that everyone has an equal chance of those things happening.
I like Linux. I'm a big fan of it. And I actively *dislike* Windows. So, I mean, I'm already pretty biased here. But the 'It just Works' factor of Linux has been greatly over-stated.
I've gone to amazing lengths to try and get Ubuntu 9.04 to install. Despite countless people offering great insights such as 'Download it again' and 'Burn it again - but slower' I still can't get it to install.
I've mostly given up at this point. The only suggestion I've gotten that I haven't followed up on was the generic, 'Well - did you buy Linux compatible hardware?!' Beyond that, I've done everything anyone at the Ubuntu forums suggested and we've gotten nowhere.
Do me a favor and post that every time you see someone claim that Ubuntu 'Just Works':) The next PC I buy, I do plan on (trying) to get hardware that works in Linux. But, it can be a real nightmare getting a straight answer of 'If I order this item off NewEgg.com will it work in Linux, out of the box?'. I figure, if I go out of my way to make sure Linux will work - I don't have to worry about the same hardware working in Windows. Because, everything will work in Windows. But yes, I do get frustrated when I hear about how great Linux's support is, only to try it, have it fail, and then get attacked for not having the foresight to buy Linux-supported hardware (not to say that you are attacking me, but I've had negative experiences over at the Ubuntu forums. Both now, and two years ago the last time I tried it).
Anyway, regardless of why this is; what percentage of college dorm residents do you think are...
1.) Running Linux 2.) Not dual booting / Running Windows as a VM 3.) Running off of fully supported hardware 4.) Would *ever* consider dropping off their PC to a campus help-desk
It's an awfully small number.
It just seems like a waste of resources to have the training/support for Linux without a significant portion of the student body in a situation to make use of them.
I've run into similar problems with Excel worksheets. In all my years of schooling (high school / college) there was only one time when I needed to open an.xls file that the Prof. had created that had a bunch of VBA code in it. Couldn't do it with OO. Things might be different now, but I'd suspect OO still can't open it.
Supporting Linux is a big undertaking for a University...
If a kid shows up with a Windows-based PC, filled with viruses and spyware - there are loads of qualified college kids working at the help desk who can get it all up and running. If a kid shows up with a Mac, likewise, there are people who can help them out/set it up/do whatever.
But when a kid shows up with Linux....good luck.
Please, don't take this the wrong way, I'm not flaming or attacking Linux. Linux is great. When it works. But there are a lot of situations when it doesn't and the techniques you'd have to know to try and fix it or work around it ends up being more complex and certainly, has fewer qualified people who can do them, to get it up and running.
I spent several days, and several pages, on the Ubuntu forums trying to get Ubuntu 9.04 to install on my relatively new desktop PC. After all the headaches I went through, it still wouldn't install and the people on the forums simply stopped replying to my thread. If the types of people who hang out on the official Ubuntu forums can't get the installer to come up, I doubt there are many Universities that really have the depth in their helpdesk to support Linux.
When I attended, my University didn't 'ban' Linux, but it didn't support it either. There was a Linux users group they would refer you to. Since then, they've required some 3rd party software to access the network and there is no Linux based equivalent of it. I'm sure a handful of Linux users have worked around it, but people talked about it like it would be the end of Linux on the campus. I'm no longer a student, so I'm not sure how it turned out.
You are saying that the importance of a person or event is directly proportional to the number of people in modern times that can remember them?
That seems like a pretty poor definition for defining things of importance or value. I'm not necessarily disagreeing (or agreeing) with your claim that athletic achievement is the lowest form of achievement....but I am certain I could come up with a handful of equally arbitrary ways to measure the importance of something that would put athletes far ahead of scientists.
I could easily make the claim that 'Scientists are worthless compared to NFL players!' and for my 'proof' point out the fact that players in the NFL out earn scientists by a very significant margin.
I know a lot of people who 'say' things like this...but very few people who actually do it. For a while, I did actually rent trucks from The Home Depot. The headaches greatly outweigh the cost. Everyone I've spoken with who does any sort of actual home repair has told me, 'Get a truck'.
Here's what I used to do on a Saturday morning. I'd drive to the Home Depot and load up whatever it was I needed. Then, I'd go wait in line at the service desk to see if they had a truck available. You can't schedule a truck, and when you take it you don't have a set return time. If the truck wasn't there - that was it. Game over. I'd try to talk the desk person into giving me a call when the truck returned and I tuck my cart in some corner (or give to an employee).
So, I'd go home, make an early lunch and sit around. Let's say, I get lucky and by noon, I get a call saying the truck is back. I jump into my car and drive back to the Home Depot and run to the service desk knowing that anyone else could grab the truck before me. Then I'm waiting in line at the service desk again. Then, I'm filling out paper work. Sign this, sign that, proof of insurance, drivers license, etc, etc. Okay, so now I've got the truck....so I go find my cart, check-out, pay, load the truck, then go back to the service desk to get them to reset my timer since I hadn't left the store yet.
Drive home, unload the truck, and drive back to the......GAS STATION. That's right, you can't just drive the truck home, you are going to drive it to the gas station first. If you don't fill it up, they'll charge you something crazy like $7 dollars a gallon. You fill up the tank and get a receipt. And when the receipt doesn't print - off you go to wait in line inside the gas station to request one.
Then, it's drive back to the Home Depot, and get in line at the service desk again. They'll give you a 'head nod' so you know they've stopped your time - but you still waiting in line. Wait, wait, wait. When you get to the desk, it's even more paper work and you hand off the key (and hope you don't end up charged for some sort of damage that you may or may not have actually caused).
Then, you get back in your car, drive home and begin on whatever project you were going to do.
I can't tell you how many Saturdays I wasted waiting on/dealing with the Home Depot trucks. A nightmare. Most of the time, I was able to get my load home, but it was mid to late afternoon when I did. And the Lowes around here doesn't rent trucks - so then you are renting from the Home Depot, driving to Lowes...and believe me that's no fun.
Now I own a truck. I go to the Home Depot, get what I want, pay for it, load my truck and go home.
That's it.
The rental fee might only be $19.99 but when you factor in the wasted hours (particularly when you are working full-time) and the extra drive time and the additional cost of gas; the cost is substantially higher.
I did the math and ended up trading in my Mustang for a pickup truck. I was shocked at how much I was spending renting trucks (and the headaches that go with it).
$75 dollars a month in rental/hauling fees is what I was averaging. My monthly payment and insurance was virtually the same. I spend an extra $10 dollars a month in gas.
I do miss my Mustang. Maybe someday I'll be able to get another one.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd really love to seem some numbers/statistics (if they even exist) on the frequency of what you describe.
Gold sellers aren't inherently immoral. And, certainly, people who hack accounts are going to do so, regardless of any monetary reward. So, I see this as two completely separate problems.
Insecure accounts are always going to be a target for hackers. If they aren't going to sell the gold and items for real money; there are still plenty of people who would still be willing to do it for virtual items and virtual rewards.
Arguably, they did break the rules.
At least at the time of purchase, the box clearly said the game *required* Windows XYZ to play the game. I don't remember what version of Windows they printed on the box.
You certainly could make the claim that, while WINE didn't give the players an 'edge'; they were breaking the rules. It's a bit of a stretch though....
Oversimplification is overly simple....
Cheating is awfully subjective and the consequences felt by other players from cheating varies from 'not at all' to 'a lot', depending on what is being done.
Some cheating violates the mechanics of the game. Cheats that let you fly or make you impossible to kill. Yes, you being invulnerable is one of those things that could negatively impact other players....but only if you PVP. If you spend the entire game, from 1-80, playing alone, in instances; who have you hurt? But that's a pretty extreme cheat....
A lot of cheating doesn't violate the mechanics of the game. Buying gold is 'cheating', but what does it really do? Arguably, it increases inflation. The counterpoint is that high level toons on old servers cause inflation and create a need for n0obs buying gold. In either case, anyone can get gold. There is an infinite amount on the server, the server creates more gold all the time. Buying gold just saves the purchaser *time*.
Really, most of WoW is simply a function of time spent in the game.
What, exactly, is the difference between me playing my character for 20 hours this weekend, farming gold, and increasing the total gold on the server by 10,000g or between me playing my character for 5 hours, doing something fun, and buying 8,000g from a website? In either case, my character ends up with 10,000g more than what it had. In the farming example, more inflation is created because I've introduced more gold into the game. The gold buying, arguably, only created 8,000g and would cause less inflation. But, really, the only meaningful difference is how much time *I* spent having fun and how much money *I* spent.
Being 'great' at WoW is simply a matter of how much time you will spend playing WoW. You can be a retarded monkey, but if you play 14 hours a day, you will hit the level cap, have great gear, and be able to find a great guild.
But, if you aren't willing to make that time commitment, 'cheating' allows you to play the game in a meaningful way. Is it fair that someone can buy gold and someone else can't? I don't know. But it's certainly no more unfair than paying extra money to get 3x experience with refer a friend. The only difference is who the money goes to; but the affect on the game is the same. People who are willing to 'cheat' get benefits that non-cheaters didn't and, arguably, 'devalue' the achievement of leveling.
Automation with bots, two (or more) boxing, refer a friend, buying gold, getting a friend to 'run you' through an instance, buying a character are all ways to get further in less time. All of them are unfair, some are considered 'cheating'. Hell, at release, getting a mount at 40 would have been cheating, but now it's not.
If you want to be strict about it - you can simply say that Blizzard makes the rules, and anything against the rules is 'cheating'. And that's fine and I wouldn't feel the need to argue. But when you say that 'really smart people don't cheat because it ruins the experience....' I feel like you are making an awfully bold claim, without any substance.
Some cheating can negatively impact your gaming experience, certainly; but there is also cheating that won't affect you at all. I've bought gold, two box, and wrote my own fish bot. Oddly enough; two boxing has had a much larger affect on my gaming experience than the other two (and that's the only one that isn't considered cheating!). The gold I bought served only to save my low level horde character a run to a neutral AH to exchange gold with my high level alliance. That purchase saved me an hour or so of death running - maybe more. In either case, my level 1 horde guy would end up with 1000g. I wrote the fishbot because I didn't want to spend an entire day leveling up fishing. I spent more time writing the bot than it would have taken to level up my fishing by hand. The bot was simply 'more fun'. I fished until my skill was maxed out (which is exactly how much fishing I would have done by hand). In either case, my fishing skill was going to get maxed out....my cheating didn't change the gaming experience for anyone else, other than myself.
I've seen the same sort of thinking amongst .NET developers.
The problem in these high level languages with huge libraries of really cool stuff available is that just learning what the libraries can do is a huge undertaking. Mastering the 'how' and really understanding it is an order of magnitude harder.
And, often times, you see it advocated to be ignorant of the 'how'. Good Object Orientated thinking is all about 'separation of concerns' - so I shouldn't be concerned about how WPF will take my form with a button and get the GPU to render it. Or how they'll get Remote Desktop to offload that processing to the client machine.....I just know, and care, that if I make a Window, the underlying everything will take care of itself.
On the plus side - you really do get an amazing amount of code done. Things you'd never be able to do (given real-world time constraints) on your own. The down side, is that you really don't know wtf is going on.
But, I think people have been saying this since people started using C and not ASM.
That sounds like a myth to me.
Can you give me a link to where he said that? I did a quick Google and I found a Wired article on it saying that he never said it.
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1997/01/1484
It also claims that Bill Gates denies ever saying it - "Meanwhile, I keep bumping into that silly quotation attributed to me that says 640K of memory is enough. There's never a citation; the quotation just floats like a rumor, repeated again and again"
I can understand the desire for 'more ethical' homebrew developers to separate themselves from the 'less ethical' homebrew developers.
But, it's an awfully subjective scale.
I can download emulators for lots and lots of consoles from the HBC that will let me load console games from my USB device (or my network share) and play that game on my wii.
I don't see much distinction from that and an application that lets me load wii console games from my USB device and play those games on my wii.
In either case, those things can be used to play games that people don't have a legal right to play...or they can be played by people who own the game/have paid for the game - but don't want to.
And, in either case, you have to take very, very specific, non trivial tasks to get your wii to run them. It's quite clear that Nintendo did not intend any of those things to be on the wii and the steps required to do those things have the potential to brick your wii/void your warranty.
So to me, don't see a difference between the HomeBrewChannel that lets me download/install a program so I can play SNES games off my USB drive than the USB Loader that lets me play WII games off my USB drive.
Homebrew is home-made software. Homebrew for the wii is software for the wii that wasn't produced by an officially licensed source.
When someone writes a 'loader' that loader is a homebrew application. Whether or not it is available via the homebrew channel.
The homebrew applications I've used (media players, and emulators) were all quite buggy and have locked up my wii many times. The usb loader I've got also seems buggy as it fails to recognize my USB drive. But either way, nothing about a loader requires warez...you can own the software legitimately and want to run it from the USB.
I am a computer programmer by trade, but I don't have any real experience in the 'gaming' world. But, I have looked at the SDKs and tools made available by the wii HomeBrew community and....while it's really cool and impressive that a small group of people took it upon themselves to build all this....it's also kind of crappy compared to other SDKs.
I have to assume that the wii SDK is many, many, many times better than anything freely available.
I'm not trying to knock the home brew community at all, in fact, I'm really in awe of what they've done; but look at the games home brew games that are out there through the Home Brew Channel. Poorly done ports of games that are open source (like doom and quake that both play poorly on the wii) and originally done games like 'pong' and 'animation of a fire'.
So yeah - maybe to some suits upstairs at Nintendo are upset over it...but mostly...I don't see it as threat.
"Waninkoko has released a new build of his SD/USB backup loader for the Wii. This loader will allow you to play backups from an on screen menu using a USB mass storage device or SD card."
^^^^ That should get you on your way. I'm a big fan of not having to use physical disks to play games and when I heard the USB hard-drive would load games faster than the physical disks - I totally wanted to do it.
It didn't work for me though. When I ran it - it didn't recognize my USB drive. The advice I was given was 'Umm, try another USB drive' but I only have the one. Lots of people have more luck.
All of the HomeBrew stuff is....well....buggy. The back-up loaders work pretty good; but not perfectly - so some games don't work and some games fail at certain spots. So, it can be very frustrating if you don't sort of enjoy the headaches and searching the web and trying different things to get the game to work.
There are options in the wii system menu that let you turn off 'wiiConnect24'
You can use the 'Add/Remove Programs' item in the XP Control Panel to add programs.
"Add or Remove Programs helps you manage programs and components on your computer. You can use it to add programs (such as Microsoft Excel or Word) from a CD-ROM, floppy disk, or a network, or to add Windows updates and new features from the Internet. Add or Remove Programs also helps you add or remove Windows components you chose not to include in the original installation (such as Networking Services)."
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/win_addprog_window_component.mspx?mfr=true
For what it's worth - thank you for taking the time to read it and offer up a solution.
I'm still convinced I'll be able to some flavor of Linux running. My plan is to try an older version of Ubuntu and/or another distro (probably Slackware) this weekend.
Careful - talk like that will get you flagged a troll around here :)
This was my last post on the Ubuntu forums that really outlines what I'd gone through trying to install Ubunut 9.04...
I know this thread is getting pretty long so I thought it might help if I consolidated everything into a single post so that people who see this don't have to read through all 4 pages of posts.
Ubuntu 9.04 Install Problems Summary
1. Download the Ubuntu 9.04 i386 ISO
2. Burn ISO to a blank DVD using IMG Burn
3. Reboot, try to install Linux
4. Install fails - I see an error message about ACPI and find myself at a command prompt.
5. Read - Edit BIOS - I'm directed to https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/install...ios-setup.html - I read and find that I didn't disable my 'Memory Hole' so I do that.
6. Reboot, try to install Linux
7. Install fails - I see an error message about ACPI and find myself at a command prompt.
8. Read - Edit BIOS - After visiting this and other forums, I found that by enabling AMD Quiet N Cool the ACPI error would be resolved. This information was not included in the 9.04 installation-guide linked to above.
9. Reboot, try to install Linux
10. Install fails - I see *no* error message - so that's a good sign (I think) - but I still end up at a command prompt.
11. Read - At this point, it seems like the install disk itself is the most likely source of my problems. I'm told to check the md5 of the download and the CD itself though the install screen.
12. Install winmd5sum And use this to verify that my download was correct (and it was).
13. Reboot, try to have the Ubuntu installer verify the disk.
14. Disk Check Fails The same as with the install, I end up at the command prompt. Unsure of what to do next I...
15. Re-Burned ISO to a blank DVD using IMG Burn on a separate PC, hoping that the burn was bad. As recommended, I use a low speed burn to reduce the chances of errors. IMG Burn 'verifies' that the burn was successful (I'm not sure if that means anything or not).
16. Reboot, try to install Linux (with the new disk)
17. Install fails - Same as before, no error message that I can see - just the command prompt.
18. Read the forums and end up directed to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions - without really understanding the boot options in the F6 menu
19. Reboot - Install fails Same sort of fail as before, did this a bunch of different times with the different options.
20. Read the forums again. I end up at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto - I have three hard-drives two are configured in a RAID 0 though my BIOS. I'm unsure if the FakeRaid would impact the installer or not (I'm trying to install to the un-raided hard-drive).
21. Read the forums again. It's suggested that I try the alternate download.
22. Download the Ubuntu 9.04 i386 alternate installer ISO
23. Use winmd5sum To verify that my download was correct (and it was).
24. Burned ISO to a blank DVD using IMG Burn
25. Reboot, try to install Linux
26. Install fails - This time I end up stuck in an infinite loop. The text based installer says it can't mount the CD and to insert the CD, but the CD is in. My DVD drive seems to be functioning though - I used it to install Windows 7 two days ago without any problems.
27. Read the forums again. No suggestions, and without an
I never said anything that suggested you said otherwise.
You can mark me a 'troll' all you want. The truth is, that is exactly how each and every single one of my Linux install experiences have been.
Hell, I can link you to my last two threads on the Ubuntu forums and you can see that everything I've said is true.
But this is SlashDot so, clearly, I'm a troll.
This is typically how my Linux experiences go....
Linux Community: X works in Linux! And it's free!
Me: Huh, that's pretty cool....
Linux Community: Yeah and it's super easy. Easier to setup than Windows. And you'll never get a virus. And it's free!
Me: Wow, that does sound pretty cool...
Linux Community: Heard you had a problem with Vista's power management stuff? Yeah, you should run Linux - no problems there....
Me: Wow - that does really sound great...
Linux Community: Hey - Windows 7 is coming out - but look at this chart. It shows how much faster Linux is. And look, the install took less clicks and is much easier. Ant it's free! My Grandma runs it now. It's awesome.
Me: I have to say, that really, really sounds great....
Linux Community: I see you play WoW. I dunno if you know this but Linux can totally do that. Linux is like everywhere man. Why don't try it? It's free. It's everything Windows does, only free and less problems. It just works. Just download it man. Piece of cake.
Me: I don't know - that sounds great. I really don't like Windows; and I'd love to be able to play with the source of my OS....God Linux sounds great.
Linux Community: Oh - yes - it is! Here's a link man....go for it. Just download it and burn it. It's yours. Free. And just like Windows, only better. It does everything. Everything you want - it does. Better. Faster. Free! Try it. Don't be a chicken....try it.
Me: Huh - yeah - Linux seems cool but um...I'm having a problem. (The specific problem varies depending on the year I was trying it. Internet back in '03, RAID in '06, Wireless in '07, Installing in '09).
Linux Community: Oh yeah - that's nothing just do X (where X is something ridiculous like 'download it again')
Me: Umm yeah - so, that's not working for me. I still can't this working.
Linux Community: Did you read the guide? It's this page here - you should have read this before you did the install. It's really long and complicated and it will make you change your BIOS settings. It's called 'DO THIS BEFORE YOU INSTALL.HTML'. Go there, do it, try again.
Me: Umm - Okay. WTF? I don't know what any of this means but I just changed four things in my BIOS. But I still can't install.
Them: Did you verify the download? Use this MD5 tool to verify that the download was correct. I mean, you can't just trust a file to download correctly these days...it's really a gamble.
Me: Umm - Okay. I installed some program in Windows and it says it has the same number as what it should be...but it still doesn't work.
Them: Okay - well, go to this random guys blog. He has four pages of detailed instructions. You'll need to download a Windows driver and run this program that will, maybe get it to work.
Me: Alright - I spent FOUR HOURS screwing with this and I still can't get online unless I disable security on my wireless router.
Them: Well, just disable the security on your router. Yay! Linux works great!
Me: WTF? I don't want to disable my security. I want to be able to use it like it worked in Windows.
Them: Then buy a wirless router that works in Linux.
Me: Okay - which one can I buy off NewEgg that will work.
Them: Well, a lot of people have good luck with XYZ - but it depends on what chipset is used.
Me: WTF? How do I know what chipset is used?
Them: Well, buy it, and if it works, you'll know it's the right one.
Me: You want me to buy something that 'might' work, but if it doesn't work I'm SOL?
Them: Yup! If you don't like that, you can just buy a brand new PC with Linux installed from Dell!
Me: Is it any cheaper than the Windows version?
Them: Nope.
Me: WTF?
Them: Geez man, chill out. Linux *isn't* windows. It's not just going to magically work. Hardware manufactures don't support Linux, so you need to make sure, in advance, that your hardware will work.
You also can't expect Lin
Yes and No...
There are anecdotes of people winning money in Vegas and anecdotes of people losing money in Vegas.
But, it would still be pretty silly to think that everyone has an equal chance of those things happening.
I like Linux. I'm a big fan of it. And I actively *dislike* Windows. So, I mean, I'm already pretty biased here. But the 'It just Works' factor of Linux has been greatly over-stated.
Not true.
I've gone to amazing lengths to try and get Ubuntu 9.04 to install. Despite countless people offering great insights such as 'Download it again' and 'Burn it again - but slower' I still can't get it to install.
I've mostly given up at this point. The only suggestion I've gotten that I haven't followed up on was the generic, 'Well - did you buy Linux compatible hardware?!' Beyond that, I've done everything anyone at the Ubuntu forums suggested and we've gotten nowhere.
Do me a favor and post that every time you see someone claim that Ubuntu 'Just Works' :) The next PC I buy, I do plan on (trying) to get hardware that works in Linux. But, it can be a real nightmare getting a straight answer of 'If I order this item off NewEgg.com will it work in Linux, out of the box?'. I figure, if I go out of my way to make sure Linux will work - I don't have to worry about the same hardware working in Windows. Because, everything will work in Windows. But yes, I do get frustrated when I hear about how great Linux's support is, only to try it, have it fail, and then get attacked for not having the foresight to buy Linux-supported hardware (not to say that you are attacking me, but I've had negative experiences over at the Ubuntu forums. Both now, and two years ago the last time I tried it).
Anyway, regardless of why this is; what percentage of college dorm residents do you think are...
1.) Running Linux
2.) Not dual booting / Running Windows as a VM
3.) Running off of fully supported hardware
4.) Would *ever* consider dropping off their PC to a campus help-desk
It's an awfully small number.
It just seems like a waste of resources to have the training/support for Linux without a significant portion of the student body in a situation to make use of them.
I've run into similar problems with Excel worksheets. In all my years of schooling (high school / college) there was only one time when I needed to open an .xls file that the Prof. had created that had a bunch of VBA code in it. Couldn't do it with OO. Things might be different now, but I'd suspect OO still can't open it.
Supporting Linux is a big undertaking for a University...
If a kid shows up with a Windows-based PC, filled with viruses and spyware - there are loads of qualified college kids working at the help desk who can get it all up and running. If a kid shows up with a Mac, likewise, there are people who can help them out/set it up/do whatever.
But when a kid shows up with Linux....good luck.
Please, don't take this the wrong way, I'm not flaming or attacking Linux. Linux is great. When it works. But there are a lot of situations when it doesn't and the techniques you'd have to know to try and fix it or work around it ends up being more complex and certainly, has fewer qualified people who can do them, to get it up and running.
I spent several days, and several pages, on the Ubuntu forums trying to get Ubuntu 9.04 to install on my relatively new desktop PC. After all the headaches I went through, it still wouldn't install and the people on the forums simply stopped replying to my thread. If the types of people who hang out on the official Ubuntu forums can't get the installer to come up, I doubt there are many Universities that really have the depth in their helpdesk to support Linux.
When I attended, my University didn't 'ban' Linux, but it didn't support it either. There was a Linux users group they would refer you to. Since then, they've required some 3rd party software to access the network and there is no Linux based equivalent of it. I'm sure a handful of Linux users have worked around it, but people talked about it like it would be the end of Linux on the campus. I'm no longer a student, so I'm not sure how it turned out.
You are saying that the importance of a person or event is directly proportional to the number of people in modern times that can remember them?
That seems like a pretty poor definition for defining things of importance or value. I'm not necessarily disagreeing (or agreeing) with your claim that athletic achievement is the lowest form of achievement....but I am certain I could come up with a handful of equally arbitrary ways to measure the importance of something that would put athletes far ahead of scientists.
I could easily make the claim that 'Scientists are worthless compared to NFL players!' and for my 'proof' point out the fact that players in the NFL out earn scientists by a very significant margin.
I know a lot of people who 'say' things like this...but very few people who actually do it. For a while, I did actually rent trucks from The Home Depot. The headaches greatly outweigh the cost. Everyone I've spoken with who does any sort of actual home repair has told me, 'Get a truck'.
Here's what I used to do on a Saturday morning. I'd drive to the Home Depot and load up whatever it was I needed. Then, I'd go wait in line at the service desk to see if they had a truck available. You can't schedule a truck, and when you take it you don't have a set return time. If the truck wasn't there - that was it. Game over. I'd try to talk the desk person into giving me a call when the truck returned and I tuck my cart in some corner (or give to an employee).
So, I'd go home, make an early lunch and sit around. Let's say, I get lucky and by noon, I get a call saying the truck is back. I jump into my car and drive back to the Home Depot and run to the service desk knowing that anyone else could grab the truck before me. Then I'm waiting in line at the service desk again. Then, I'm filling out paper work. Sign this, sign that, proof of insurance, drivers license, etc, etc. Okay, so now I've got the truck....so I go find my cart, check-out, pay, load the truck, then go back to the service desk to get them to reset my timer since I hadn't left the store yet.
Drive home, unload the truck, and drive back to the......GAS STATION. That's right, you can't just drive the truck home, you are going to drive it to the gas station first. If you don't fill it up, they'll charge you something crazy like $7 dollars a gallon. You fill up the tank and get a receipt. And when the receipt doesn't print - off you go to wait in line inside the gas station to request one.
Then, it's drive back to the Home Depot, and get in line at the service desk again. They'll give you a 'head nod' so you know they've stopped your time - but you still waiting in line. Wait, wait, wait. When you get to the desk, it's even more paper work and you hand off the key (and hope you don't end up charged for some sort of damage that you may or may not have actually caused).
Then, you get back in your car, drive home and begin on whatever project you were going to do.
I can't tell you how many Saturdays I wasted waiting on/dealing with the Home Depot trucks. A nightmare. Most of the time, I was able to get my load home, but it was mid to late afternoon when I did. And the Lowes around here doesn't rent trucks - so then you are renting from the Home Depot, driving to Lowes...and believe me that's no fun.
Now I own a truck. I go to the Home Depot, get what I want, pay for it, load my truck and go home.
That's it.
The rental fee might only be $19.99 but when you factor in the wasted hours (particularly when you are working full-time) and the extra drive time and the additional cost of gas; the cost is substantially higher.
That threshold can be awfully low :(
I did the math and ended up trading in my Mustang for a pickup truck. I was shocked at how much I was spending renting trucks (and the headaches that go with it).
$75 dollars a month in rental/hauling fees is what I was averaging. My monthly payment and insurance was virtually the same. I spend an extra $10 dollars a month in gas.
I do miss my Mustang. Maybe someday I'll be able to get another one.
There is nothing inherently irrational about being overweight.