Future shop has got to be one of the worst places to buy anything. If you look even somewhat at any prices that aren't in thier flyers, and you'll see what a rip off they are. The sales people are all commission driven and nag and chip away at you. If i see a good deal on CD-Rs i'm usually asked by 2 or 3 people to get to buy a damn computer and they don't stop at using every dirty trick in the book to get a sale!
If you are buying a brand name product(like a logitech mouse or something) then you can't really go wrong if its cheaper there, but thier computers are SHIT. They are all integrated with some of the worst computer components out there. I've seen some fucked up mobo/CPU combos coming from computers from that store!
Make sure you don't touch the actual glass... you'll never get those splinters out.
Lol! One of my telecom teachers was talking about that. He said in his younger years him and his buddies would always be doing that saying that it didn't do anything and they didn't feel anything. Now, he says, that he's older he's starting to notice them and it irritates his fingers and hands more and more...
Another piece of sound advice with regards to fiber is DON'T LOOK DOWN THE GLASS IF ITS PLUGGED IN!! Fiber doesn't use those purty lights that you see at the end of those light strands you see in stores. It uses powerful and specific wavelengths of infrared and can damage your eyes like a solar eclips. The same telecom teacher as above says that you should always orient the fiber ports so that if you have to unplug them live, that it should hit your buddy standing beside you in the face, and not yours:-) Also because of that you should not place connections at eye level, because the server/router/whatever may still try to transmit down the line and instead hit your eyes.
Do Not use plenum, braided, or shielded CAT5e cable
agreed. If you really want high quality cables just go with enhanced twisted pair...
Re:Forget fiber ... conduits w/ CAT5 and 802.11
on
Wiring A New House?
·
· Score: 2
Would you even know what types of fiber to buy? (multi-mode / single-mode, C-band / L-band / Extended-L band,...) Or what kind of connectors you would need?
Of course you're not going to use singlemode fiber around your home. That shit is made for extremely fast long haul (10+ km) and the conectors are very bitchy to set up (you need a microscope) as they need to be lined up perfecty. Most fiber that is used for internal use is multimode and is more than adaquate for most applications. It is cheap and fast (for LAN/WAN use).
Fiber equipment that I am familar with is not made for the consumer market.
This is somewhat true. It depends how you look at it. There is fiber running from a lot of DVD players to Dolby 5.1 systems. Most new Cisco switches and routers have fiber "uplink" ports for clustering and uplinking...though those aren't meant for "consumer" use. Then again most slashdot users probably aren't your typical computer consumers and many of use have several computers running doing different things.
I am planning on getting a Catalyst 3524 Xl. That is a 24 port 10/100 switch with 2 GBIC-Based fiber ports. They aren't cheap new, but you can get them for about $1500 used on ebay if you are patient enough to wait and get lucky.
if programs break across distributions then they are poorly coded
Office is probably coded alright, but its designed (of course!) to only run on windows. hell, the Mac versions of Office are re-writes from the ground up! Which is what would probably be done if it was ported to UNIX...
But the problem is that you can't just "port to UNIX" You have to port to each and every one of them, and some even run on different archs (like sparc, x86, etc). Each UNIX is different, and with programs as complex as Word that aren't designed to be portable(like apache), a simple recompile won't help you.
It will cost plenty to port to each, and you will always have somebody whining "but its not available for XXX."
Since cost/profit will be different, they will have to charge more for something that is already very expensive just to break even. Then people will cry that they are overcharging, etc,etc,etc. I think that the only realistic option would be to force them to continue supporting Apple with most of their products (IE, Office, Media Player) and give rewards if they port to others.
As inherintly monopolistic as MS is, forcing them to make somthing that will cost them money is not an option.
Forcing MS to open source their software is not only niave, its stupid. First of all, MS office for Linux would probably do very poorly, not because it wouldn't be any good, but because most Linux users are avid Microsoft haters. They'll claim that now Microsoft is trying to invade Linux blah blah blah.
What would be a good thing is porting it to Solaris and HP-UX. Those are 2 OSes that are used as a desktop a lot by businesses, especially ones that do a lot of CAD/CAM and engineering work. One of the reasons why Sun is doing the whole StarOffice thing is because, even with the sunPCI, a lot of people are forgoing thier Sun workstations for windows so they can have IE, Office, etc.
Microsoft is a BUSINESS. Meaning that they have to make MONEY. And the best way to make MONEY is to sell PRODUCTS. And if you're giving your products away for free to anyone who has the cheaper, earlier version of your product, you won't make any money selling them the newer, shinier version of the product.
Depends on how you look at this. 99% of windows 98 SE were just stability and other OS enhancements. We shouldn't have to pay to have software bugs fixed. We shouldn't have had to pay for win98 SE. As for most of the other versions of windows, your statement pretty much applies. Especially with regards to windows 2000. Which is still the best version of windows.
I tried XP and hated how all these microsoft only services kept nagging me to do their shit. Since all I use my Windows computer to do is use office, SSH (GO PuYYy!) into various Unix boxes, listen to mp3s, and play UT one in awhile Windows 2000 does exactly what is is supposed to.
amen!!! This is precicely the difference that apple has from the x86 world! apple computers are expensive, but there is no doubt that they are just as good(if not better) bang for the buck than most PCs. Think about it. If you buy a top of the line Powermac G4 you get TONS of software that would have cost you a lot of money had you (legally, ahem) bought it for a PC, plus a lot of hardware that would have cost a lot. Like Gigabit ethernet (of which for now is usless as most of our hubs/switches are 10/100 and gigabit ones are still pricey), firewire, apple superdrive, etc.
The PowerMac towers, on the other hand, range from $1699 to $3499.
The only problem is that these prices exclude a monitor...I wish apple would include that in their prices. Apple hardware is already expensive. If those prices at least included a 15" monitor...then I'd be a MAC bitch right now. And I'll never buy an Imac, i just think that they are as ugly as hell...maybe the new ones will change all that. we'll see.
I've been hearing reports that the cap is temporary as the transition goes through. Apperently there's no way AT&T can handle everybody at full speed so they're capping it to at least the network can stay UP. I guess we'll wait and see.
All i want is Civilization 3. I just had my birthday yesterday, and I was given money to but it from a family member with the sincire promise that I won't buy it untill the christmas holidays (2 weeks!!!)
well of course it has to do with the bios, since its the software that boots from the media, whatever it may be. What was said earlier is that you CAN'T boot from a USB device, which, of course, isn't true.
ya, but the one that came with my thinkpad is only 8mb:-( Unless the 32 meg ones now come standard with all new IBM computers there still is the fundamental probelem that most portable memory is too small for casualuse. I wish they would install compact flash card slots in all computers so that way as memory increases we wouldn't have to buy new drives...which is why the floppy has stayed around for so long.
The IBM memory keys are reliable enough. Mine came with my floppyless Thinkpad and its on my keychain. Though its only 8MB Its survived being thrown on the table every day, dangling and hitting the door every time i use a regular key, and other general abuse. Still works fine.
My only gripe about it is when you gotta use it on computers that only have USB drives on the back. they are DAMN annoying. Oh, and maybe it could hold a bit more..say at least 32 megs.
I never said that they work well for everyone. it was the way you screamed at that guy for saying that the Nvidia drivers were good was what i was bitching to you about. You screamed that we should stop with the "they work well BS". They work well most of the time. Just because they don't work for YOU or some other people doesn't mean anything
But they work well for us! You've obvisouly got some kind of freak hardware conflict or you're not configuring your computer properly. Just because you can't get it to work doesn't mean you have to blast us for saying they work well when they do just that.
What I am afraid of is abuse on a massive scale. You think those ad pop ups are annoying now? All you need is a java loop to re-open your page a hundred times and BANG...you're out a buck.
what kind of preventative measures are going to assusre this doesn't happen???
But at least he will hear the good and the bad about the company. Some companies are simply shit to work with, whilst others are decent or simply wicked. When they were on top of the world, companies like Cisco, Nortel, etc. treated their employees like gods.
If i were joining a new company, I'd want to hear from the people who love it most, and the people who hate it most. That way you can safely assume that your experience will be within those boundaries.
@home didn't ever provide the actual connections to the internet, that was up to your local cable company. all @home ever did was provide web and mail hosting and created that crappy "custum IE browser". Thats why there are so many different stories when it comes to the quality of cable internet.
I think the biggest killer for transmeta was that the computers that they were in were almost always so expensive. They were touting them as sub-$1000 dollar notebook chips, but most of the ones I saw were $3000...
Slashdot Mirror
ah, but if you owned windows 98...you didn't have that...
Future shop has got to be one of the worst places to buy anything. If you look even somewhat at any prices that aren't in thier flyers, and you'll see what a rip off they are. The sales people are all commission driven and nag and chip away at you. If i see a good deal on CD-Rs i'm usually asked by 2 or 3 people to get to buy a damn computer and they don't stop at using every dirty trick in the book to get a sale!
If you are buying a brand name product(like a logitech mouse or something) then you can't really go wrong if its cheaper there, but thier computers are SHIT. They are all integrated with some of the worst computer components out there. I've seen some fucked up mobo/CPU combos coming from computers from that store!
Lol! One of my telecom teachers was talking about that. He said in his younger years him and his buddies would always be doing that saying that it didn't do anything and they didn't feel anything. Now, he says, that he's older he's starting to notice them and it irritates his fingers and hands more and more...
Another piece of sound advice with regards to fiber is DON'T LOOK DOWN THE GLASS IF ITS PLUGGED IN!! Fiber doesn't use those purty lights that you see at the end of those light strands you see in stores. It uses powerful and specific wavelengths of infrared and can damage your eyes like a solar eclips. The same telecom teacher as above says that you should always orient the fiber ports so that if you have to unplug them live, that it should hit your buddy standing beside you in the face, and not yours :-) Also because of that you should not place connections at eye level, because the server/router/whatever may still try to transmit down the line and instead hit your eyes.
agreed. If you really want high quality cables just go with enhanced twisted pair...
Of course you're not going to use singlemode fiber around your home. That shit is made for extremely fast long haul (10+ km) and the conectors are very bitchy to set up (you need a microscope) as they need to be lined up perfecty. Most fiber that is used for internal use is multimode and is more than adaquate for most applications. It is cheap and fast (for LAN/WAN use).
Fiber equipment that I am familar with is not made for the consumer market.
This is somewhat true. It depends how you look at it. There is fiber running from a lot of DVD players to Dolby 5.1 systems. Most new Cisco switches and routers have fiber "uplink" ports for clustering and uplinking...though those aren't meant for "consumer" use. Then again most slashdot users probably aren't your typical computer consumers and many of use have several computers running doing different things.
I am planning on getting a Catalyst 3524 Xl. That is a 24 port 10/100 switch with 2 GBIC-Based fiber ports. They aren't cheap new, but you can get them for about $1500 used on ebay if you are patient enough to wait and get lucky.
Office is probably coded alright, but its designed (of course!) to only run on windows. hell, the Mac versions of Office are re-writes from the ground up! Which is what would probably be done if it was ported to UNIX...
It will cost plenty to port to each, and you will always have somebody whining "but its not available for XXX."
Since cost/profit will be different, they will have to charge more for something that is already very expensive just to break even. Then people will cry that they are overcharging, etc,etc,etc. I think that the only realistic option would be to force them to continue supporting Apple with most of their products (IE, Office, Media Player) and give rewards if they port to others.
As inherintly monopolistic as MS is, forcing them to make somthing that will cost them money is not an option.
What would be a good thing is porting it to Solaris and HP-UX. Those are 2 OSes that are used as a desktop a lot by businesses, especially ones that do a lot of CAD/CAM and engineering work. One of the reasons why Sun is doing the whole StarOffice thing is because, even with the sunPCI, a lot of people are forgoing thier Sun workstations for windows so they can have IE, Office, etc.
Depends on how you look at this. 99% of windows 98 SE were just stability and other OS enhancements. We shouldn't have to pay to have software bugs fixed. We shouldn't have had to pay for win98 SE. As for most of the other versions of windows, your statement pretty much applies. Especially with regards to windows 2000. Which is still the best version of windows.
I tried XP and hated how all these microsoft only services kept nagging me to do their shit. Since all I use my Windows computer to do is use office, SSH (GO PuYYy!) into various Unix boxes, listen to mp3s, and play UT one in awhile Windows 2000 does exactly what is is supposed to.
amen!!! This is precicely the difference that apple has from the x86 world! apple computers are expensive, but there is no doubt that they are just as good(if not better) bang for the buck than most PCs. Think about it. If you buy a top of the line Powermac G4 you get TONS of software that would have cost you a lot of money had you (legally, ahem) bought it for a PC, plus a lot of hardware that would have cost a lot. Like Gigabit ethernet (of which for now is usless as most of our hubs/switches are 10/100 and gigabit ones are still pricey), firewire, apple superdrive, etc.
The only problem is that these prices exclude a monitor...I wish apple would include that in their prices. Apple hardware is already expensive. If those prices at least included a 15" monitor...then I'd be a MAC bitch right now. And I'll never buy an Imac, i just think that they are as ugly as hell...maybe the new ones will change all that. we'll see.
I've been hearing reports that the cap is temporary as the transition goes through. Apperently there's no way AT&T can handle everybody at full speed so they're capping it to at least the network can stay UP. I guess we'll wait and see.
All i want is Civilization 3. I just had my birthday yesterday, and I was given money to but it from a family member with the sincire promise that I won't buy it untill the christmas holidays (2 weeks!!!)
DAMN!!!
the "do you want fires with that" line is SO old. Now its "do you want that in a combo?"
well of course it has to do with the bios, since its the software that boots from the media, whatever it may be. What was said earlier is that you CAN'T boot from a USB device, which, of course, isn't true.
ya, but the one that came with my thinkpad is only 8mb :-( Unless the 32 meg ones now come standard with all new IBM computers there still is the fundamental probelem that most portable memory is too small for casualuse. I wish they would install compact flash card slots in all computers so that way as memory increases we wouldn't have to buy new drives...which is why the floppy has stayed around for so long.
umm, yes you can boot from a USB memory device..
My only gripe about it is when you gotta use it on computers that only have USB drives on the back. they are DAMN annoying. Oh, and maybe it could hold a bit more..say at least 32 megs.
I never said that they work well for everyone. it was the way you screamed at that guy for saying that the Nvidia drivers were good was what i was bitching to you about. You screamed that we should stop with the "they work well BS". They work well most of the time. Just because they don't work for YOU or some other people doesn't mean anything
But they work well for us! You've obvisouly got some kind of freak hardware conflict or you're not configuring your computer properly. Just because you can't get it to work doesn't mean you have to blast us for saying they work well when they do just that.
What I am afraid of is abuse on a massive scale. You think those ad pop ups are annoying now? All you need is a java loop to re-open your page a hundred times and BANG...you're out a buck.
what kind of preventative measures are going to assusre this doesn't happen???
almost all new thinkpads now have a built in Intel Pro/100 ethernet card.
If i were joining a new company, I'd want to hear from the people who love it most, and the people who hate it most. That way you can safely assume that your experience will be within those boundaries.
@home didn't ever provide the actual connections to the internet, that was up to your local cable company. all @home ever did was provide web and mail hosting and created that crappy "custum IE browser". Thats why there are so many different stories when it comes to the quality of cable internet.
I think the biggest killer for transmeta was that the computers that they were in were almost always so expensive. They were touting them as sub-$1000 dollar notebook chips, but most of the ones I saw were $3000...