Hmmm... since you really don't care for privacy...
I'm a nice guy. I have a supply of a few hundred clear plastic baggies. If I sent them to you, free of charge, would you use them instead of paper evelopes to send your mail?
>A lot of people spent more and more time on the toilet for some reason and other people developed a habit of forgetting their cards and having to get security to release the doors remotely.
You're telling me nobody flushed 'em down the toilet? That would be fun for the tracking system!
Or, a favourite. Buy a sandwich at the sandwich machine. Put the card in the sandwich's place. Heh.
No, no, best idea: Plant the card on your boss. When he chews out your ass, tell him to check his.
>Some RF tags also have a very small amount of ROM/EEPROM, and so could transmit a little more info and can even be reprogrammed by the "reader".
Now this sounds like fun. Wait 'till these are hacked to get free gas and free tolls! It sounds like most of the necessary equipment is already there...
I wonder if the first person arrested for this will spend as much time in the slammer before their trial as Kevin Mitnick?
>The Government tells women what they can and can't do with their own bodies all the time (abortion).
Hmmm, an abortion troll: I'll bite.
Eric Cartman of South P, didn't your mother try to have you aborted at the 40th trimester? Stop telling your mother what to do with her body and get yourself aborted already! I mean, she asked for it and the government refused to do it! Go ahead and support your mother!
>If you go through the windscreen because you didn't wear a seatbelt, your insurance company have to pay up the cash for your medical costs, if you're still alive. Even if the worst comes to the worst and *you* have to pay the medical costs, it still harms you.
Yay... I want more government protection! Can they change my diapers already? Baby made a BOOM BOOM!
But seriously, the answer is already "in the bag" (maybe labelled Coroner?). If I were caught not wearing my seatbelt in an accident, my insurance rates would go through the roof. If I ever want to drive again, I'll be paying some serious rates. Besides, where I live, medical care is covered by the government. One could say that people not wearing seatbelts are wasting everyone's medical money, but that's a really losing argument. I haven't met anyone who in some way doesn't increase the cost of medicare unnecessrialy: They're either fat and will cost money for their heartattack, or they're fit and smoke instead, or they don't smoke and like to jaywalk on their morning fog walks.;-)
(Now, I care about my life more than that, so I do wear my seatbelt. But, apart from oneself, it truly is a victimless crime, assuming you have no passengers. And, just like foreign satellite piracy in Canada, it doesn't harm anyone, but it's still illegal.;-)
>Who's the provider? I'm in Toronto and want to know if that sort of thing is available here. CAN$20 seems pretty damn low.
LookTV. Yup, they should be selling in Toronto. However, their two way service is $40 CDN a month, and I expect that's what they'll want you to sign up for. My town only has line of sight to the Guelph tower, which only offers one way (22 mbps down, modem up), and that's $20 CDN a month. Unfortunately, you have to buy their TV service because the antenna is powered by the TV receiver.
The 22 mbps never peaks that high (hey, it's the net, and my upload is a modem, so it's probably impossible without a 100% UDP download)... it's just my estimate from what I know of their network. I can say that I've had _no_ problems downloading at up to 5 mbps from places that can give it to me (WindowsUpdate, for example).:-)
BTW: Their stuff, at least for me, works like a charm with a Linux box. They just give you a Hybrid cable/wifi modem with Ethernet out. Run DHCP and you have your IP!
Okely dokely... Yes, my idea of how the law works is a little unusual. It's always been my opinion, thought, that in a free country one is free to break the law. It's only _after_ you've done it you're "punished". ie: In "Minority Report" the city wasn't free (if you've seen the movie).
If the punishment is always the same, carries no after effects, and harms no one (like the seatbelt example), then it's safe to call the punishment a "license" fee. But that's just the way I look at it.
Just my 2 cents on how I feel things work. You know what the professionals say, if you can't pay the time, don't do the crime!:-)
Canada has been cracking down on TV "piracy" lately. First we lose the right to pirate foreign signals, and now we lose the right to rebroadcast signals over the 'net. The RCMP is treating people who choose to associate their media choice with America as nothing but dirty criminals, and the supreme court just lets it happen. This classism must end.
I have already made a solemn vow to myself over this: I will NEVER for the rest of my life vote liberal in Canada (local, provincial, or federal). My political leanings are certainly towards what their party should stand for, but the thug they have kept in as the leader of the party for the past three terms has tainted the party permanently for me.
I really hope other Canadians will follow me on this. It's time to overthrow this government of opression.
My best choice right now is the Freedom Party, but I know all too well voting for them is probably a lost cause. It'll definately be a VERY difficult choice at the next election, not due to too many choices, but a lack of them. Expect what happened during the last US election to happen in Canada this time.
Yes, but unlike your speedin violation, these taxes are paid prior to copying music (that is, if that's your plan, which it may not be).
If I were to have put $100 (fine for not wearing a seatbelt) away, yes, I would be entitled to break the law. That's the way freedom works. It's not free -- I prepaid.
If I were not entitled to break the law, then I would be guilty and would need to prove myself innocent. Which, if you believe you haven't already paid for your music when you put it on a Canadian CD-R, is your alternative. To consider yourself guilty. Hell, why not turn yourself in right now!
>Today, however, nearly everyone with a broadband internet connection is in a location to receive the major networks
With wireless networks (professional ones, not your crappy 802.11 home network) popping up more and more giving broadband to the cable improvrished areas your point is becomes less and less true. Soon, you will be totally wrong. I have no cable TV yet I enjoy a 22 mbps (max) broadband connection for only $20 CDN a month. And I'm not the only one.
Yes, their commercial line of products is quite good.
However, their home line of products (which would include everything that has a memory stick adapter) is normally trash. Not all (they did make some trinitron tubes for consumers, however they are now trash because they build up the sides to make them flat, distorting the picture), but most.
I have Sony Trinitron CRTs (but branded with other names -- a Fixed Frequency Textronix workstation monitor comes to mind) that I just remembered about and they are very good. However, even though I admit that, their prices were way off the mark, not to mention totally proprietary again.:-(
But I will give them the Trinitron and Beta innovations, they did make them all by themselves (AFAIK). However, they still haven't a clue on how to market those, and just like MD, they're dead as a doornail in North American homes. Well, maybe not trinitron, but it's within shooting distance.
>Quick question for the/. crowd, how many other people out there have a case with an unusable slot on the right like me??
Everyone with a "normal" full ATX case. Although, for some, it is usable. It's just that your mobo doesn't feature any ISA slots, so you'd have to have 6 PCI slots instead.
Sometimes an AMR expansion slot is above the AGP slot on el-cheapo motherboards. That's where this would go. In your case you have the non-cheapo CNR solution, at the bottom. It's like AMR, but reversed, so it's good instead of cheap.;)
Anyways, ATX spec says you need 7 0.8" expansion slots.:-)
>Seems to make perfect sense to put the fan there doesn't it?
Yes, but only for motherboards where the manufacturer skimps on ISA slots.
It makes sense that cinerella crashes all the time. The authors stopped distributing the original version of it (Broadcast 2000) as a protest to the MPAA. As usual, it did nothing but slow down the production of the free software (no eyes on the code == no bugs fixed) and ensure that the MPAA sticks to what they know best -- software that challenges freedoms. Big win all 'round...
But it was their ball, so they can sure take it home if they want. That doesn't mean I have to like it, though.
And build something using Sony technology, you'd better talk with them and pay out the arse like anyone else who deals with those idiots.
My bets are yes, they have something, and yes, they'd love to sell you the specs for the low, low price of $100,000. And if you don't buy them, you'll need to move to Sealand if you think you're gonna build it by reverse engineering.
Sorry to be blunt, but anything made by, created by, or invented by Sony is proprietary over-priced crap. Even when it's good it's crap because it still says Sony on it.
The only thing that ever "revolutionized" anyone's life that ever came from Sony was the walkman, and even that was a big cheat (Andreas Pavel came up with the idea and patented it years before Sony)!
I suppose one will bring up Beta, which rightly died because Sony made it proprietary and abused their monopoly of the format to stop people using their format for anything "distasteful" (not for long, but who wants to deal with a company that emits even a hint of regulating speech?)
The only thing from Sony I own is a PS2, and that's only because it was the easiest of the three consoles to mod at the time.
>Uh, I don't think you've ever done purchasing in a corporate environment. In a small firm you might get away with it but a larger company would rather pack a machine up and send it off to La La land to get repaired.
Oh I have (not done it, but witnessed it). I've worked for one, the red tape, as you might say, is staggaringly stupid. I think I counted the steps involved in buying a dozen Bic pens once. It was seven steps, IIRC, and involved up to 5 people. Which explains why we have no pens, and no money.
>Companies don't want people on the clock driving around because they are liable if anything happens to them
Oh yeah, liability. The greatest way to kill productivity.;-)
One could always pay the guy at the local computer company $50 to bring a shipment to your door. My bets are on that he would do it, assuming you're only a few minutes away. And fast.:-) [ Well, I know they'd do it, hell, I would and I'm planning to open one. ]
>If the tech manager is allowed to build a bunch of custom computer systems the computer illiterate in the company are at their mercy. Upper management is not going to buy a system that gives a middle manager complete control over like that.
You are so right. God, I hate all the lameness that goes on in big companies, which explains why I want to open a small one. My (internal) company motto: We have zero tolerance for internal bullshit. Period.
But, honestly, apart from the stupidities as barriers, which are you more than correct in mentioning, I still think it's a good idea to build your own. But then, I guess I've shown I'm biased, so my opinion gets derated.
This is why I hate a new user asking me something like "Help me use Word". Honestly, if you are a new user (1 or 2 months on the computer) you aren't at that point.
I instead prefer to teach them basic concepts that help them use any application. Like where the title bar is, what it is, what it does. What a mouse click is, where to click, why to click.
Once they know things like that you can tell them stuff like "Select foo from the file menu" rather than "Push the ALT key. See, it's beside the space bar. The space bar is the one without any markings. Now push the f key. No, you need to keep your finger down on each key until I tell you to let go. Push ALT. Release ALT. Push ALT. Push F. No, no, let go of F quicker! Let's try that again..."
Please people, I don't go to an electrician and say "Help me wire up my house"... Well, I guess I have, and now I feel stupid about it. Next time, it'll be "Help me learn to do some basic electrician stuff".
Customer: My engine block on my '78 lada is cracked. Mechanic: Oh, that's OK... I'll just use a million pan-ties, some arc welding, gum (hubba-bubba is best), hammers, a laser cutter, and an engine block from a Ford Pinto. Customer: Uhh... is that safe? Will that work? Mechanic: Well, I've never tried it before, but hell, I don't see what's the matter with it! And engine block is an engine block is an engine block! Customer: Well... you know... you're not putting parts for a Lada on my car. You're using Ford parts. Is that normal? Mechnaic: Hell no! But you'll save $200! Hell, why don't we just rip out that crappy Russian rotary engine and plonk in a big block from a Cuda! Customer: Ohhhhkay... Why don't you let me think about it...
Heh... replacing the entire cooling solution as a "fix". Funny. What a joke, indeed. You ACs are all alike.
Building in a cooling solution like that which is totally unrepairable by the end user is a great way to build in forced-obsolescence.
I think I'll stick with my radeon. If the fan quits, I'll just replenish the oil.
Kudos to Nvidia, though, for finding a way to force their users to buy new cards in the future! This'll certainly be the wave of the future, like fibreglass bodies on cars!
>And what scares me is this is the next generation of admins. I see the result now in the field. Some young computer whiz has outfitted an entire office with no name stuff, only a years guarantee, then he quits, six months later stuff starts to go out. And I have to tell them they have to buy new stuff cause they nearly new stuff was crap.
While I agree with everything else you've said, I have to dissent on this.
Honestly, when you buy a Compaq, Dell, HP, or whatever brand name PC, you're buying into the fact that they can repair/replace it, which means that you are at their mercy for quality of service -- there's nothing you can do yourself to get things up and running.
If the company has computer staff, they should be fixing it. Anyone who has dealt with machines from major manufacturers knows they are nothing but the worst PITA ever made, in every way possible (all the way to the point of proprietary memory somtimes!) when it comes to repairing it yourself.
By buying non-brand name system he has left the new workers with something they can fix without having to depend on one company. If the CD-ROM breaks, they don't need to call up Compaq and wait 3 days for a replacement with the screw holes in exactly the right place to ship -- they can walk down to the local computer store and buy a new one on the spot, not to mention one made by the same company as Compaq would have sent you, but also for about $300 cheaper.
And, while you might think he bought "crap", I can tell you with great certainty that that "crap" are exactly the same parts in the name brand computer, except that the "crap" he bought conforms to standards, whereas the OEM part is irreplaceable except by the OEM.
Example: Does the name PC Chips make your skin crawl? Probably. Did you know that many of the boards in brand name computers were made by them?
>Windows 3.0 had more features of a modern OS than DOS did. It used DOS pretty much the way DOS used the BIOS, bootstrap with it and then shove it into the background.
Well, DOS would keep running if I ripped the BIOS chips from my XT, IIRC.
So, if I were to overwrite the memory DOS had loaded itself into with random info after windows 3.0 had loaded, would it have kept running happily?
In Canada, everyone pays tax on CD-Rs and other media, no matter what they're used for, unless you're a church or blind. Soon this tax will be applied to any and all media.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmmm... since you really don't care for privacy...
I'm a nice guy. I have a supply of a few hundred clear plastic baggies. If I sent them to you, free of charge, would you use them instead of paper evelopes to send your mail?
>A lot of people spent more and more time on the toilet for some reason and other people developed a habit of forgetting their cards and having to get security to release the doors remotely.
You're telling me nobody flushed 'em down the toilet? That would be fun for the tracking system!
Or, a favourite. Buy a sandwich at the sandwich machine. Put the card in the sandwich's place. Heh.
No, no, best idea: Plant the card on your boss. When he chews out your ass, tell him to check his.
>Some RF tags also have a very small amount of ROM/EEPROM, and so could transmit a little more info and can even be reprogrammed by the "reader".
Now this sounds like fun. Wait 'till these are hacked to get free gas and free tolls! It sounds like most of the necessary equipment is already there...
I wonder if the first person arrested for this will spend as much time in the slammer before their trial as Kevin Mitnick?
>The Government tells women what they can and can't do with their own bodies all the time (abortion).
Hmmm, an abortion troll: I'll bite.
Eric Cartman of South P, didn't your mother try to have you aborted at the 40th trimester? Stop telling your mother what to do with her body and get yourself aborted already! I mean, she asked for it and the government refused to do it! Go ahead and support your mother!
>(here 'Ford' is used because it's the shortest car manufacturer's name) (typing that negated any benefit, didn't it?)?
;-)
GM? AMC? Fiat? Lada?
Oh, wait, I have the winner: Kia!
>If you go through the windscreen because you didn't wear a seatbelt, your insurance company have to pay up the cash for your medical costs, if you're still alive. Even if the worst comes to the worst and *you* have to pay the medical costs, it still harms you.
;-)
;-)
Yay... I want more government protection! Can they change my diapers already? Baby made a BOOM BOOM!
But seriously, the answer is already "in the bag" (maybe labelled Coroner?). If I were caught not wearing my seatbelt in an accident, my insurance rates would go through the roof. If I ever want to drive again, I'll be paying some serious rates. Besides, where I live, medical care is covered by the government. One could say that people not wearing seatbelts are wasting everyone's medical money, but that's a really losing argument. I haven't met anyone who in some way doesn't increase the cost of medicare unnecessrialy: They're either fat and will cost money for their heartattack, or they're fit and smoke instead, or they don't smoke and like to jaywalk on their morning fog walks.
(Now, I care about my life more than that, so I do wear my seatbelt. But, apart from oneself, it truly is a victimless crime, assuming you have no passengers. And, just like foreign satellite piracy in Canada, it doesn't harm anyone, but it's still illegal.
>Who's the provider? I'm in Toronto and want to know if that sort of thing is available here. CAN$20 seems pretty damn low.
:-)
LookTV. Yup, they should be selling in Toronto. However, their two way service is $40 CDN a month, and I expect that's what they'll want you to sign up for. My town only has line of sight to the Guelph tower, which only offers one way (22 mbps down, modem up), and that's $20 CDN a month. Unfortunately, you have to buy their TV service because the antenna is powered by the TV receiver.
The 22 mbps never peaks that high (hey, it's the net, and my upload is a modem, so it's probably impossible without a 100% UDP download)... it's just my estimate from what I know of their network. I can say that I've had _no_ problems downloading at up to 5 mbps from places that can give it to me (WindowsUpdate, for example).
BTW: Their stuff, at least for me, works like a charm with a Linux box. They just give you a Hybrid cable/wifi modem with Ethernet out. Run DHCP and you have your IP!
Okely dokely... Yes, my idea of how the law works is a little unusual. It's always been my opinion, thought, that in a free country one is free to break the law. It's only _after_ you've done it you're "punished". ie: In "Minority Report" the city wasn't free (if you've seen the movie).
:-)
If the punishment is always the same, carries no after effects, and harms no one (like the seatbelt example), then it's safe to call the punishment a "license" fee. But that's just the way I look at it.
Just my 2 cents on how I feel things work. You know what the professionals say, if you can't pay the time, don't do the crime!
Canada has been cracking down on TV "piracy" lately. First we lose the right to pirate foreign signals, and now we lose the right to rebroadcast signals over the 'net. The RCMP is treating people who choose to associate their media choice with America as nothing but dirty criminals, and the supreme court just lets it happen. This classism must end.
I have already made a solemn vow to myself over this: I will NEVER for the rest of my life vote liberal in Canada (local, provincial, or federal). My political leanings are certainly towards what their party should stand for, but the thug they have kept in as the leader of the party for the past three terms has tainted the party permanently for me.
I really hope other Canadians will follow me on this. It's time to overthrow this government of opression.
My best choice right now is the Freedom Party, but I know all too well voting for them is probably a lost cause. It'll definately be a VERY difficult choice at the next election, not due to too many choices, but a lack of them. Expect what happened during the last US election to happen in Canada this time.
Yes, but unlike your speedin violation, these taxes are paid prior to copying music (that is, if that's your plan, which it may not be).
If I were to have put $100 (fine for not wearing a seatbelt) away, yes, I would be entitled to break the law. That's the way freedom works. It's not free -- I prepaid.
If I were not entitled to break the law, then I would be guilty and would need to prove myself innocent. Which, if you believe you haven't already paid for your music when you put it on a Canadian CD-R, is your alternative. To consider yourself guilty. Hell, why not turn yourself in right now!
>Today, however, nearly everyone with a broadband internet connection is in a location to receive the major networks
With wireless networks (professional ones, not your crappy 802.11 home network) popping up more and more giving broadband to the cable improvrished areas your point is becomes less and less true. Soon, you will be totally wrong. I have no cable TV yet I enjoy a 22 mbps (max) broadband connection for only $20 CDN a month. And I'm not the only one.
Yes, their commercial line of products is quite good.
:-(
However, their home line of products (which would include everything that has a memory stick adapter) is normally trash. Not all (they did make some trinitron tubes for consumers, however they are now trash because they build up the sides to make them flat, distorting the picture), but most.
I have Sony Trinitron CRTs (but branded with other names -- a Fixed Frequency Textronix workstation monitor comes to mind) that I just remembered about and they are very good. However, even though I admit that, their prices were way off the mark, not to mention totally proprietary again.
But I will give them the Trinitron and Beta innovations, they did make them all by themselves (AFAIK). However, they still haven't a clue on how to market those, and just like MD, they're dead as a doornail in North American homes. Well, maybe not trinitron, but it's within shooting distance.
>Quick question for the /. crowd, how many other people out there
;)
:-)
have a case with an unusable slot on the right like me??
Everyone with a "normal" full ATX case. Although, for some, it is usable. It's just that your mobo doesn't feature any ISA slots, so you'd have to have 6 PCI slots instead.
Sometimes an AMR expansion slot is above the AGP slot on el-cheapo motherboards. That's where this would go. In your case you have the non-cheapo CNR solution, at the bottom. It's like AMR, but reversed, so it's good instead of cheap.
Anyways, ATX spec says you need 7 0.8" expansion slots.
>Seems to make perfect sense to put the fan there doesn't it?
Yes, but only for motherboards where the manufacturer skimps on ISA slots.
It makes sense that cinerella crashes all the time. The authors stopped distributing the original version of it (Broadcast 2000) as a protest to the MPAA. As usual, it did nothing but slow down the production of the free software (no eyes on the code == no bugs fixed) and ensure that the MPAA sticks to what they know best -- software that challenges freedoms. Big win all 'round...
But it was their ball, so they can sure take it home if they want. That doesn't mean I have to like it, though.
And build something using Sony technology, you'd better talk with them and pay out the arse like anyone else who deals with those idiots.
My bets are yes, they have something, and yes, they'd love to sell you the specs for the low, low price of $100,000. And if you don't buy them, you'll need to move to Sealand if you think you're gonna build it by reverse engineering.
Sorry to be blunt, but anything made by, created by, or invented by Sony is proprietary over-priced crap. Even when it's good it's crap because it still says Sony on it.
The only thing that ever "revolutionized" anyone's life that ever came from Sony was the walkman, and even that was a big cheat (Andreas Pavel came up with the idea and patented it years before Sony)!
I suppose one will bring up Beta, which rightly died because Sony made it proprietary and abused their monopoly of the format to stop people using their format for anything "distasteful" (not for long, but who wants to deal with a company that emits even a hint of regulating speech?)
The only thing from Sony I own is a PS2, and that's only because it was the easiest of the three consoles to mod at the time.
Any suggestions on how to get XM the Canadian way? ;-)
>Uh, I don't think you've ever done purchasing in a corporate environment. In a small firm you might get away with it but a larger company would rather pack a machine up and send it off to La La land to get repaired.
;-)
:-) [ Well, I know they'd do it, hell, I would and I'm planning to open one. ]
Oh I have (not done it, but witnessed it). I've worked for one, the red tape, as you might say, is staggaringly stupid. I think I counted the steps involved in buying a dozen Bic pens once. It was seven steps, IIRC, and involved up to 5 people. Which explains why we have no pens, and no money.
>Companies don't want people on the clock driving around because they are liable if anything happens to them
Oh yeah, liability. The greatest way to kill productivity.
One could always pay the guy at the local computer company $50 to bring a shipment to your door. My bets are on that he would do it, assuming you're only a few minutes away. And fast.
>If the tech manager is allowed to build a bunch of custom computer systems the computer illiterate in the company are at their mercy. Upper management is not going to buy a system that gives a middle manager complete control over like that.
You are so right. God, I hate all the lameness that goes on in big companies, which explains why I want to open a small one. My (internal) company motto: We have zero tolerance for internal bullshit. Period.
But, honestly, apart from the stupidities as barriers, which are you more than correct in mentioning, I still think it's a good idea to build your own. But then, I guess I've shown I'm biased, so my opinion gets derated.
Exactly.
This is why I hate a new user asking me something like "Help me use Word". Honestly, if you are a new user (1 or 2 months on the computer) you aren't at that point.
I instead prefer to teach them basic concepts that help them use any application. Like where the title bar is, what it is, what it does. What a mouse click is, where to click, why to click.
Once they know things like that you can tell them stuff like "Select foo from the file menu" rather than "Push the ALT key. See, it's beside the space bar. The space bar is the one without any markings. Now push the f key. No, you need to keep your finger down on each key until I tell you to let go. Push ALT. Release ALT. Push ALT. Push F. No, no, let go of F quicker! Let's try that again..."
Please people, I don't go to an electrician and say "Help me wire up my house"... Well, I guess I have, and now I feel stupid about it. Next time, it'll be "Help me learn to do some basic electrician stuff".
Yes, your solution is quite a joke.
You don't repair coputers much, do you?
Customer: My engine block on my '78 lada is cracked.
Mechanic: Oh, that's OK... I'll just use a million pan-ties, some arc welding, gum (hubba-bubba is best), hammers, a laser cutter, and an engine block from a Ford Pinto.
Customer: Uhh... is that safe? Will that work?
Mechanic: Well, I've never tried it before, but hell, I don't see what's the matter with it! And engine block is an engine block is an engine block!
Customer: Well... you know... you're not putting parts for a Lada on my car. You're using Ford parts. Is that normal?
Mechnaic: Hell no! But you'll save $200! Hell, why don't we just rip out that crappy Russian rotary engine and plonk in a big block from a Cuda!
Customer: Ohhhhkay... Why don't you let me think about it...
Heh... replacing the entire cooling solution as a "fix". Funny. What a joke, indeed. You ACs are all alike.
Building in a cooling solution like that which is totally unrepairable by the end user is a great way to build in forced-obsolescence.
I think I'll stick with my radeon. If the fan quits, I'll just replenish the oil.
Kudos to Nvidia, though, for finding a way to force their users to buy new cards in the future! This'll certainly be the wave of the future, like fibreglass bodies on cars!
>I haven't left playing Doom II. I guess I'm safe.
Are you so sure?
Top tip you missed, that really must be followed:
Don't use your cheap two prong plug iron. Your iron MUST have a ground lead, or you WILL zap your chips.
>And what scares me is this is the next generation of admins. I see the result now in the field. Some young computer whiz has outfitted an entire office with no name stuff, only a years guarantee, then he quits, six months later stuff starts to go out. And I have to tell them they have to buy new stuff cause they nearly new stuff was crap.
While I agree with everything else you've said, I have to dissent on this.
Honestly, when you buy a Compaq, Dell, HP, or whatever brand name PC, you're buying into the fact that they can repair/replace it, which means that you are at their mercy for quality of service -- there's nothing you can do yourself to get things up and running.
If the company has computer staff, they should be fixing it. Anyone who has dealt with machines from major manufacturers knows they are nothing but the worst PITA ever made, in every way possible (all the way to the point of proprietary memory somtimes!) when it comes to repairing it yourself.
By buying non-brand name system he has left the new workers with something they can fix without having to depend on one company. If the CD-ROM breaks, they don't need to call up Compaq and wait 3 days for a replacement with the screw holes in exactly the right place to ship -- they can walk down to the local computer store and buy a new one on the spot, not to mention one made by the same company as Compaq would have sent you, but also for about $300 cheaper.
And, while you might think he bought "crap", I can tell you with great certainty that that "crap" are exactly the same parts in the name brand computer, except that the "crap" he bought conforms to standards, whereas the OEM part is irreplaceable except by the OEM.
Example: Does the name PC Chips make your skin crawl? Probably. Did you know that many of the boards in brand name computers were made by them?
I'm supposing not...
>Windows 3.0 had more features of a modern OS than DOS did. It used DOS pretty much the way DOS used the BIOS, bootstrap with it and then shove it into the background.
Well, DOS would keep running if I ripped the BIOS chips from my XT, IIRC.
So, if I were to overwrite the memory DOS had loaded itself into with random info after windows 3.0 had loaded, would it have kept running happily?
In Canada, everyone pays tax on CD-Rs and other media, no matter what they're used for, unless you're a church or blind. Soon this tax will be applied to any and all media.
I'm tired of being guilty until proven innocent.