Reading through the changes from 1.3 to 2.0, I'd say they've put quite a bit of effort into improving win32 performance (multiprocessing, finally! among others).
Actually, if your VAIO recovery disk is like mine, all you had to do was get the "Sony Setup Application" reinstalled manually (hunt for it on the first Recovery CD) and everything else will work perfectly. For the record, I have a Vaio F580K laptop, originally running Win2k, now running XP with no problems.
As a Computer Engineering Major, this tosses a significant portion of my degree out the window, but, I suppose, it's a good thing. Aliasing (Java) and Folding (no link) were always a pain.
Say what you may about the new machine, but I've already purchased one for my parents. It's the logical next step, since my father's got an obscenely expensive AV center, and a nice Sony DV camcorder, all of which he set up himself, yet refuses to check his own e-mail because of some ingrained fear of computers being as hard to use as they were 10 years ago. I'm betting this machine will change that for him.
Even under a Mac, you can't transfer songs off of the device. That's Apple's concession to the record labels, I suppose. You can just delete them, or reload them.
Actually, my favorite way of "rating" movies is to judge it by how much money a ticket to the movie seemed to be worth. This one, I'd say was maybe worth $2. Go see it on matinee, or something if you really have to.
While we're at it, I'm going to post the specs on a more down-to-earth machine that I'll be building shortly. My ultimate goal is to create the ultimate workstation / gaming box that won't sound like a small aircraft when you turn it on.
$189 Seagate Barracuda IV SoftSonic 80 Gig The 'Cuda IV is probably the quietest and one of the fastest Ultra-100 Drives in existence. A pair of 40-gig platters with Softsonic fluid-bearing motors keep the noise down below 30dB
$757 2x1.2Ghz AthlonMP
2x256 ECC DDR RAM
Tyan Tiger MP
2xThermalTake VolcanoII Cooler
The Tiger is the baby-brother of the Thunder. You get the same performance as the Thunder, without the extras, such as on-board SCSI, & integrated ethernet. You can look up specs at tyan.com.All of these components may be purchased, pretested, from Monarch Computers as an "AMD Pretested Combo;" Monarch produces very high quality boxes (my last three, actually).
$070 SD-M1502 Toshiba 16X DVD Drive
This drive's a fairly good performer, (try a google search for the model number and "review"), but what I am interested in is the noise and vibration factors. Toshiba's introduced a type of balance mechanism designed to handle unbalanced / cheap discs.
$335 Asus GeForce3 Pure 64Meg AGP
At this point, the choice of video card is purely up to the builder; I chose this one simply because it was one of the better performing, and the higher quality cards (google will tell all about this card...)
$85 SB Audigy X-Gamer!
Hey, why not? At $85, it's not a bad deal at all for a new whiz-bang sound card. ??? Speakers?
Up to you.
$014 floppy
Duh. Pick one.
$170? Lian-Li PC-60 Case
Reasons for this part: 1. It's cool. Literally. 2. It's light-weight. 3. Lian-Li cases are extremely high quality, which explains the high price.
$089 Enermax Whisper 431W EG465P-VE(FC) Power Supply
The Whisper is an ultra-quiet PS with variable speed fans. If you look at the Product Page, you can see the various nice specs on this PS.
$214 24X10X40 Plextor CD-RW
Based on various net reviews (again, google), this is the current burner of choice. That'll probably change by the time I finish typing this setence, but that's the nature of the technology.
$80 Wireless Keyboard / Optical Wireless Mouse from Logitech
As a long-time logitech fan, the Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical takes all of the good stuff from their keyboards, mice, and wireless devices and wraps it into one package. Note that RF mice are not very good for games. I've owned one of these for about a month, and can say that I have no problems with either device until I try to play DoD or Q3A, in which case my trusty Mouseman Optical comes in handy.
The wireless program has been around at OU for several years. We're about to upgrade to 802.11 (if I have anything to say about it) fairly soon. Our Wireless network covers the entire engineering corner of campus, part of the library, the engineering library, and the main lecture halls in our physics buildings on our southern half of campus.
I worked for my high school during the summers after my Junior and Senior years (1999 and 2000). During my first few weeks, my supervisor really didn't trust me, but I seemed to prove myself after writing a few basic shell scripts to save them many, many man hours. It seems that I just had to prove myself to him (it also helped that the consultants put the same amount of trust in me that they put in my boss's assistant). Another thing that I've found is that many people assume that I'm about eight years older than I really am. You've heard the phrase "dress for success," right? Don't overdo it, but neaten yourself up (tuck in the shirt, shave, etc. I always tried to keep a professional demeanor around my boss, and it worked. We didn't have a dress code, but I always tried to wear business casual my last summer, since I was meeting with cabling contractors, and a consultant while my supervisor and his assistant were at training sessions.
BTW: My supervisor was 55, his assistant was 25, and I was 17 during my last summer.
Check out the BlueScreen Screen Saver by Sysinternals. It will display a realistic BSOD based on your real system config (memory size, processor, build, etc.), reboot, and display the appropriate splash screen for your OS. On NT, it even does a simulated CHKDSK with errors. Decieve your friends and scare your enemies!
--
Mike Hollinger
Re:Different Companies, Different Takes
on
CS vs CIS
·
· Score: 1
Hello. I when I said that MIS had their own career fair, I was referring to the campus-wide fair. Down at the LNC, the second floor was dedicated to MIS / Business Majors, whereas the main floor was everyone else.
--
Mike Hollinger
Different Companies, Different Takes
on
CS vs CIS
·
· Score: 1
At the University of Oklahoma, MIS and CS are fairly different. In fact, the MIS people have their own part of the career fair, and the Engineering (CS) have their own. I discovered that Intel, Lucent, and Microsoft were differentiating between the majors. In fact, Microsoft and Intel did not accept CS and CE majors as applicants for jobs or internships. Lucent sent two different sets of managers.
I would say ask a few recruiters from various companies in your region what they think of the two majors.
I try to take a objective view on this issue. However, I can say that I think that, given a choice, developers would go for ease of distribution multiplied by volume to decide the amount of effort they put into a product. If there was, for example, a set standard that was uniformly (and officially) upgraded every six months to a year, then this would be a bit easier for all parties involved.
Someone earlier posted a great idea about a standards committee. If such a governing body did exist, then any changes made could be regulated. If a user wants to go ahead and add the latest, greatest builds of code to his machine, let him. However, if a board existed, then it could withhold updates until everything is (known to be) compatible, at least within reason.
Anyway, these are my late-night ramblings. If the above makes no sense to you, it's not your fault.
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I use both Windows 2000, IRIX, and MacOS, so I'm not exactly partial to any one view. I mean, If I could get more games that worked on my SGI system, I'd be in heaven!
Slashdot Mirror
Reading through the changes from 1.3 to 2.0, I'd say they've put quite a bit of effort into improving win32 performance (multiprocessing, finally! among others).
kudos.
Actually, if your VAIO recovery disk is like mine, all you had to do was get the "Sony Setup Application" reinstalled manually (hunt for it on the first Recovery CD) and everything else will work perfectly. For the record, I have a Vaio F580K laptop, originally running Win2k, now running XP with no problems.
As a Computer Engineering Major, this tosses a significant portion of my degree out the window, but, I suppose, it's a good thing. Aliasing (Java) and Folding (no link) were always a pain.
Say what you may about the new machine, but I've already purchased one for my parents. It's the logical next step, since my father's got an obscenely expensive AV center, and a nice Sony DV camcorder, all of which he set up himself, yet refuses to check his own e-mail because of some ingrained fear of computers being as hard to use as they were 10 years ago. I'm betting this machine will change that for him.
Even under a Mac, you can't transfer songs off of the device. That's Apple's concession to the record labels, I suppose. You can just delete them, or reload them.
Well, John primarily writes reviews, which, usually, are supposed to be subjective.
Geez. Now Apple's stock's going to drop before the market even opens, not at 12 when Steve announces the new product!
Hey, this is neat, and may prove useful. For the moment, however, I'd like to turn off the gumdrops, no matter how cute they are.
Maybe an option somewhere in my Comments Preferences should let me turn off the friend / foe system, just like that OSDN Navbar.
Just checking.
With a few extra apps that noone needs?
Actually, my favorite way of "rating" movies is to judge it by how much money a ticket to the movie seemed to be worth. This one, I'd say was maybe worth $2. Go see it on matinee, or something if you really have to.
Anyone remember the time when Erwin was stuck in an old HP Calculator?
To sum this up, you're basically saying, "Intel giveth, and Microsoft taketh away?"
Here's my own ultra-quiet rig that I've just built:
$189 Seagate Barracuda IV SoftSonic 80 Gig (30 dB)
$757 Monarch 2x1.2Ghz AthlonMP
2x256 ECC DDR RAM
Tyan Tiger MP mobo (29 dB)
2xThermalTake VolcanoII Cooler (31 dB, 31 dB)
$070 SD-M1502 Toshiba 16X DVD Drive
$335 Asus GeForce3 Pure 64Meg AGP
$85 SB Audigy Platinum (mysimon)
??? Speakers?
$014 floppy
$170? Lian-Li PC-60 Case
$089 Enermax Whisper 431W EG465P-VE(FC) Power Supply (directron.com) (33 dB)
$214 24X10X40 Plextor CD-RW
$80 Wireless Keyboard / Optical Wireless Mouse from Logitech
-
$1918 Subtotal sans Shipping
A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with Hammer
While we're at it, I'm going to post the specs on a more down-to-earth machine that I'll be building shortly. My ultimate goal is to create the ultimate workstation / gaming box that won't sound like a small aircraft when you turn it on.
$189 Seagate Barracuda IV SoftSonic 80 Gig
The 'Cuda IV is probably the quietest and one of the fastest Ultra-100 Drives in existence. A pair of 40-gig platters with Softsonic fluid-bearing motors keep the noise down below 30dB
$757 2x1.2Ghz AthlonMP
2x256 ECC DDR RAM
Tyan Tiger MP
2xThermalTake VolcanoII Cooler
The Tiger is the baby-brother of the Thunder. You get the same performance as the Thunder, without the extras, such as on-board SCSI, & integrated ethernet. You can look up specs at tyan.com.All of these components may be purchased, pretested, from Monarch Computers as an "AMD Pretested Combo;" Monarch produces very high quality boxes (my last three, actually).
$070 SD-M1502 Toshiba 16X DVD Drive
This drive's a fairly good performer, (try a google search for the model number and "review"), but what I am interested in is the noise and vibration factors. Toshiba's introduced a type of balance mechanism designed to handle unbalanced / cheap discs.
$335 Asus GeForce3 Pure 64Meg AGP
At this point, the choice of video card is purely up to the builder; I chose this one simply because it was one of the better performing, and the higher quality cards (google will tell all about this card...)
$85 SB Audigy X-Gamer!
Hey, why not? At $85, it's not a bad deal at all for a new whiz-bang sound card.
??? Speakers?
Up to you.
$014 floppy
Duh. Pick one.
$170? Lian-Li PC-60 Case
Reasons for this part: 1. It's cool. Literally.
2. It's light-weight.
3. Lian-Li cases are extremely high quality, which explains the high price.
$089 Enermax Whisper 431W EG465P-VE(FC) Power Supply
The Whisper is an ultra-quiet PS with variable speed fans. If you look at the Product Page, you can see the various nice specs on this PS.
$214 24X10X40 Plextor CD-RW
Based on various net reviews (again, google), this is the current burner of choice. That'll probably change by the time I finish typing this setence, but that's the nature of the technology.
$80 Wireless Keyboard / Optical Wireless Mouse from Logitech
As a long-time logitech fan, the Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical takes all of the good stuff from their keyboards, mice, and wireless devices and wraps it into one package. Note that RF mice are not very good for games. I've owned one of these for about a month, and can say that I have no problems with either device until I try to play DoD or Q3A, in which case my trusty Mouseman Optical comes in handy.
$1918 Subtotal sans Shipping (If the numbers don't add up, I'm gonna look really, really stupid. Oh well.) (updated price 10-13-01)
Most of my price info came from either Pricewatch or MySimon, fyi.
Eh? Perhaps you should pay attention to the date of that press release. Sheesh.
People, give blood wherever you live, regardless of whether it's in California or in Rhode Island!
The wireless program has been around at OU for several years. We're about to upgrade to 802.11 (if I have anything to say about it) fairly soon. Our Wireless network covers the entire engineering corner of campus, part of the library, the engineering library, and the main lecture halls in our physics buildings on our southern half of campus.
--
Mike Hollinger
Has anyone noticed that the odd-numbered Trek movies as a whole, were pretty bad, and the even-numbered movies were great?
--
Mike Hollinger
I worked for my high school during the summers after my Junior and Senior years (1999 and 2000). During my first few weeks, my supervisor really didn't trust me, but I seemed to prove myself after writing a few basic shell scripts to save them many, many man hours. It seems that I just had to prove myself to him (it also helped that the consultants put the same amount of trust in me that they put in my boss's assistant). Another thing that I've found is that many people assume that I'm about eight years older than I really am. You've heard the phrase "dress for success," right? Don't overdo it, but neaten yourself up (tuck in the shirt, shave, etc. I always tried to keep a professional demeanor around my boss, and it worked. We didn't have a dress code, but I always tried to wear business casual my last summer, since I was meeting with cabling contractors, and a consultant while my supervisor and his assistant were at training sessions.
BTW: My supervisor was 55, his assistant was 25, and I was 17 during my last summer.
--
Mike Hollinger
Check out the BlueScreen Screen Saver by Sysinternals. It will display a realistic BSOD based on your real system config (memory size, processor, build, etc.), reboot, and display the appropriate splash screen for your OS. On NT, it even does a simulated CHKDSK with errors.
Decieve your friends and scare your enemies!
--
Mike Hollinger
Hello. I when I said that MIS had their own career fair, I was referring to the campus-wide fair. Down at the LNC, the second floor was dedicated to MIS / Business Majors, whereas the main floor was everyone else.
--
Mike Hollinger
At the University of Oklahoma, MIS and CS are fairly different. In fact, the MIS people have their own part of the career fair, and the Engineering (CS) have their own. I discovered that Intel, Lucent, and Microsoft were differentiating between the majors. In fact, Microsoft and Intel did not accept CS and CE majors as applicants for jobs or internships. Lucent sent two different sets of managers.
I would say ask a few recruiters from various companies in your region what they think of the two majors.
--
Mike Hollinger
I try to take a objective view on this issue. However, I can say that I think that, given a choice, developers would go for ease of distribution multiplied by volume to decide the amount of effort they put into a product. If there was, for example, a set standard that was uniformly (and officially) upgraded every six months to a year, then this would be a bit easier for all parties involved.
Someone earlier posted a great idea about a standards committee. If such a governing body did exist, then any changes made could be regulated. If a user wants to go ahead and add the latest, greatest builds of code to his machine, let him. However, if a board existed, then it could withhold updates until everything is (known to be) compatible, at least within reason.
Anyway, these are my late-night ramblings. If the above makes no sense to you, it's not your fault.
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I use both Windows 2000, IRIX, and MacOS, so I'm not exactly partial to any one view. I mean, If I could get more games that worked on my SGI system, I'd be in heaven!
--
Mike Hollinger