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  1. Re:Recycle for the gold content on Fast-Booting OS for Usually-Off Appliance PCs? · · Score: 1

    I've also got a P2 Optiplex running BSD. The Dell boxes of that era were nice machines. I even tracked down a Delta reseller for a homebuilt system (they were the OEM supplier for the Dimension cases at the time).

    The machines coming from Dell now....forget about it.

  2. Re:Academic discussion to me on A Statistical Comparison of HD DVD & Blu-Ray Reviews · · Score: 1

    I held off from purchasing a DVD player for my television because I knew I was going to be getting a Playstation 2. Of course the incredibly high price of the PS3 means I won't be buying one of those anytime soon and HD-DVD/Blu-Ray don't interest me either because a new TV won't be happening anytime soon as well.

  3. Switcher on iPhone, Apple TV Headline MacWorld Keynote · · Score: 1

    Now being a "switcher" extends to your cellular provider too!

  4. Re:God, I hate that U3 chip. on Flash Drives Go To Work · · Score: 1

    The 4GB does not bother me, the fact that I bought a simple storage device and get some stupid little utility with it is what bothers me. It does not even say on the packaging of these units that they include extra crap software.

    At least the NASCAR jump drives tell you they have a preinstalled race schedule and driver profiles. Then there is nothing to irritate me when I plug it in and Dale Jarrett pops up in my face - I was specifically TOLD.

    Until the U3 uninstall came out I was pissed at the store for not allowing me to return the item and just tossed it aside. Stuck with my old Imation with a quarter of the capacity.

    Now...I actually *use* the former U3 equipped jumpdrive.

  5. Re:Ramen! Re:They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore on How the IBM PC Changed the World · · Score: 1

    Many of them have trouble with the Model M keyboard though.

    No affiliation with the site, but I bought one for my stable of Model M keyboards and this PS/2->USB adapter works wonderfully.
    http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm/fa/items. main/parentcat/11298/subcatid/0/id/124184

    (www.clickkeyboards.com bought the rights to make the keyboards from Lexmark, so if you want a new one made to original specs...)

    Here's what dansdata had to say:
    Why, you use a PS/2-to-USB adapter, of course. They're commonly available. Easy as pie.

    Or... not.

    Model Ms aren't quite within the, um, popularly agreed envelope of the PS/2 specification. Most modern PS/2-ported motherboards will work with most old keyboards, but some 'boards need modifications. And some modern computers (coughDellcough) have out-of-spec USB ports that're well known to misbehave with all kinds of peripherals. And some PS/2-to-USB adapters combine the worst qualities of the most half-assed implementations of each interface.

    Fortunately, Clicky Keyboards have sorted through several converters to find a couple that actually work with Model Ms. One keyboard-only, one keyboard-plus-mouse; $US15 and $US20 respectively.

    (There are various other adapters on that page, including a $US8 metal-cased AT-to-PS/2 converter that not only looks better than the usual plastic ones, but ought to work better too, because it's shorter and should thus subject the little PS/2 socket to less leverage stress.)

    http://www.dansdata.com/clickykeyboards.htm

  6. Power lines underground here/substation nearby on Why Aren't Powergrids Underground? · · Score: 1

    I've had about 4 or 5 power outages in the last couple of years. All the powerlines within a couple miles are underground and all new developments are required to do the same. I'm also only about 1/4 mile from the local power sub-station. So I imagine they get my area up first and then the wires are already in good shape.

    Transformer blowouts were the cause of the 2 last outages, and both were right at the beginning of summer when demand starts to really peak and they're having to deal with high temperatures for the first time in a year.

  7. Re:Fat Tire on Green Geek Beer · · Score: 1

    I've also found them very responsive when I email with beer questions. They're in my neighborhood, so I *am* rather partial to them.

  8. Re:NBC's olympic coverage sucks ass on NBC To Live Stream Olympics Event · · Score: 1

    I've been watching a very large number of the curling matches, they're especially interesting in that the athletes are mic'ed so for english speaking teams I can actually hear what the lead, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and skip are saying. I can only hear mumbles and yells when a skier is getting psyched to launch out of the gate.

    The cost of this: it's on cable...the USA, MSNBC or CNBC networks, and it's daytime programming. But set your PVR/TIVO/VCR and you *can* watch a LOT of the events. It's the big money draw events that are on the over the air broadcasts in primetime.

  9. Re:erm? is the data even legit? on Web Game Helps Predict Spread of Epidemics · · Score: 1

    As a long time participant, it's VERY hard to enter information wrong. You can't get the bill year wrong and have the s/n entered, you can't forget to change denomination...

    And yes...I do own one of the now illicit stamps...I wonder if I should post AC

  10. Re:Counter productive maybe? on Undervolting a Laptop · · Score: 1

    I've got a P4 Northwood 2.8 Ghz running at 3.25 Ghz with good cooling, at 1.525 volts. Similar results with a couple of other processors I have at home. I just decided I was sick of the heat but not the speed and just started spending a bit of time seeing how low was possible. Took me for quite a surprise how often things remain stable at the lowest vCore supported by the motherboard. And I do go through the proper memtest, prime95...for hours and hours.

  11. Re:How ironic on Wikipedia Plagiarism Ends Journalist's Career · · Score: 1

    How about they show a little "sorry" with a donation to the project...for assistance to their future authors.

  12. Re:Welcome to get a clue... on Sony Profits Low, Halts CRT Production · · Score: 1

    LCD is older than that:

    Friedrich Reinitzer first observed liquid crystals in 1888.

    Reinitzer Scientists have known about liquid crystals since the end of the 19th century. Austrian botanist Friedrich Reinitzer (1857-1927) first noted the phenomenon in 1888. When he heated a solid organic compound, cholesteryl benzoate, it appeared to have two distinct melting points. It became a cloudy liquid at 145C and turned clear at 179C.

    Otto Lehmann, a professor of physics in Germany, learned of Reinitzer's experiment and continued the research. Using a microscope fitted with a heating stage, he determined that some molecules do not melt directly, but instead first pass through a phase in which they have the ability to flow like a liquid while retaining the molecular structure and optical properties of a solid crystal. These properties led Lehmann in 1889 to coin the term "liquid crystal."

    George Heilmeier headed the research group at RCA that invented the first liquid crystal display.

    Heilmeier The first published suggestion for using liquid crystal materials for display came in 1963 from Richard Williams and George Heilmeier at the David Sarnoff Research Center, RCA's laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey. Heilmeier (1936-) went on to head a group at the lab--including Nunzio Luce, Louis Zanoni, Joel Goldmacher, Joseph Castellano and Lucian Barton--to investigate the use of liquid crystal displays for a "TV-on-a-wall" concept, a dream of David Sarnoff himself.

    The digital time display was developed in order to market the LCD in a commercial product.

    The challenge was to find a liquid crystal that would provide a display at room temperature, and by 1968 the RCA group had a display based on the dynamic scattering mode (DSM) of liquid crystals. But at the same time it was clear that large-screen LCD TVs were many years off, and the group set its sights on displays that could be incorporated more immediately in commercial products. A number of the RCA pioneers left to form Optel Corporation, in Princeton, New Jersey, where they perfected techniques for the manufacture of LCD displays and digital watches. Beginning in 1970, Optel designed and produced LCD watches for several watch companies. Optel later marketed LCD watches under its own name.

    In the dynamic scattering liquid crystal display, an electrical charge is applied which rearranges the molecules so that they scatter light. These early DSM displays proved unsatisfactory, suffering from relatively high power consumption, limited life, and poor contrast. An improved liquid crystal display was invented in 1969 by James Fergason at Kent State University based on the twisted nematic field effect.

    http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/quar tz/inventors/liquid.html
    http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/quar tz/inventors/heilmeier.html

  13. No one figured out portable mp3 either on The Future of the iPod · · Score: 1

    IIRC there wasn't any big rush from the masses for portable mp3 players until the iPod came along...I guess that figured out the formula for *that*, so why not iVideo with a pretty white shell as the formula?

  14. Re:Cue the apologists on Hilton Hacker Gets 11 Months · · Score: 1

    Felons get the *best* education in jail.

    They start out as a fish and then through apprentice work and if their sentence is long enough they can move on to journeyman and further.

  15. Re:They are also monitoring your driving. on GMC to Begin Remotely Scanning Cars for Trouble · · Score: 1
    If some cell-distracted minivan or "sedan" hits my old Suburban head on, it could ruin my day but that's about it. I'll likely remain safe, while the other guy could be very dead.


    Then I guess the only thing to do is spend the rest of your life getting up every morning and knowing that the big-ass inefficient vehicle you chose *KILLED* someone.

    Pleasant dreams.
  16. Re:They are also monitoring your driving. on GMC to Begin Remotely Scanning Cars for Trouble · · Score: 1
    I would only swerve if in that split second decision, I somehow knew it to be the safest thing to do. Yes, my predisposition is not to swerve much, as I know that can lower your odds in any vehicle.


    Obviously you've never seen testing done between a car and an SUV.

    The British car show Fifth Gear was *unable* to flip a sedan while the SUV rolled 3 or so times on the first attempt.

    Hope you like your ceiling.
  17. Re:laptops LBA48? Availability? on Seagate Momentus 120GB 2.5" HD · · Score: 1

    There's DDO if you absolutely have to.

  18. Re:120 GB... on Seagate Momentus 120GB 2.5" HD · · Score: 2, Funny

    Um, I'm having a space crunch here with ~3TB of disk space across the 4 desktop machines I run daily.

    I need much more that 120GB and it needs to be on my desktop.

  19. Re:How much heat do these drives produce? on Seagate Momentus 120GB 2.5" HD · · Score: 1

    I switched from a Toshiba 40GB 4200rpm drive to the Hitachi 60GB 7200rpm drive on my 1st gen. 12" PowerBook. It keeps my wrists a LOT cooler as the new drive doesn't seem to generate any. Battery life was markedly improved, I've a 3 year old battery that will still deliver 2.5 hours.

    You can definitely feel it spinning though! It's noisier too, at least for seeking - writing seems more quiet.

  20. Don't even know about new movies on Piracy Not To Blame In Decline of Moviegoers · · Score: 1

    Tivo lets me fast forward through commercials and netflix brings me my movies that I've heard about through channels other than TV commercials.

    I don't even know what's IN the theaters for about the last 6 months.

  21. Posting article to /. on 10 Computer Mishaps · · Score: 1

    Killed my drive

  22. Re:One more reason to build it yourself on ASUS Secretly Overclocking Motherboards? · · Score: 1

    My company's line of external drives don't draw more than 100ma (we tested this as a possible cause of the numerous cases our tech support agents were starting to get), yet they still fail to be recognized/access errors/general weirdness.

    Value system means every component is the *cheapest* possible part available.

    USB hubs often are just as bad even powered hubs, and an OEM system comes out of the box with the headers wired...the end user can't connect THAT part wrong.

    Front headers for boards from companies like Abit, ASUS...don't usually have these problems. Put them in a cheapo case and they can, but even then they'll usually tolerate it. But Dell systems are a nightmare.

    Again, this comes from daily contact with users of external drives. Generally stuff such as digital cameras and printers aren't an issue but anything that needs to move a lot of data NEEDS to be attached to the rear ports on these systems.

    The problem is spreading too, it used to be pretty much just a Dell issue but now Compaq/HP machines are getting to be dodgy. Gateway is a problem now and then but nowhere near as bad as the other manufacturers.

  23. One more reason to build it yourself on ASUS Secretly Overclocking Motherboards? · · Score: 1

    I find a lot of OEM machines, especially the $500 computer systems are about 1-2% underclocked.

    Must be that ASUS knows they're using quality components so that +2% won't hurt, and Dell realizes that everything is so cheap that -2% is going to be needed for stability.

    Don't believe me? Try running your external hard drives off the front USB connections.

  24. In case of a water landing on 20k Down Can Get You Up Into Space · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your seat cushion can be used as a heat shield during the rapid descent.

  25. Re:SCSI RAID Yes, IDE RAID No on Basics of RAID · · Score: 1

    NCQ is all well and good, but a big advantage that Maxtor has is the drives with the 16MB cache. Having that extra cache memory seems to improve the NCQ performance a lot.