There are cultures where nodding your head means no, and shaking your head means yes.
Specifically Hungary. When the Turks invaded Hungary they basically barged into every village and put swords to people's necks. They asked the villagers, "Will you convert to Islam?" If the villagers nodded, they would survive. If they shook their head "no" their throat would get slashed by the sword's edge. Hence the switch of the nod for no and the head shake for yes.
The more information comes out about PS2 Linux, the worse it looks. Why buy $300 worth of crap to make Linux run on an uber-proprietary system when you can buy a Dreamcast for $50 (if you can find one still) and have a platform that will boot Linux out of the box? You might have to avoid machines built after October 2000, (although there apparently is a further hack out to create a bootable disk for those machines) but I have one from 9/2000 and it booted the DC Linux disk right out of the box.
The exciting things will happen when someone builds a lightweight Linux booter that will address everything on the DC and allow you to run games designed for Linux. There is still some work to be done to make all the hardware work, but there are a lot of hands on this project so I suspect that it won't be long before the Yamaha audio, the Conexant controllerless modem and full video access (rather than framebuffer) are fully working under Linux.
SEGA is to be commended for releasing as much information as they have on the DC. Their attitude is also commendable: "we stopped making the machine in 2001, have your way with it." Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all demonstrated their lack of willingness to play ball with amateur developers. DC is the only game console which is actually FRIENDLY to amateur development.
One last thing...look at my.SIG. Sony is the only company I can think of that is a signatory to both the RIAA and MPAA. That's reason enough to stay away from Sony products.
Anyway, this is what my benighted cable system uses to give us cable modem without the muss, fuss and bother of installing modern fiber-optic plant. Believe me, it isn't very fun.
Maybe they can squeeze more speed out of the wires. Maybe. But you're going to suffer for it with lowered reliability. When you have to powercycle your cable modem every day to make sure you've got connectivity something is VERY, VERY WRONG.
Still, the PS 2 has other copyright protection schemes built into its hardware that accomplish the same thing, namely no booting of burned games.
Why fux0r around with PS2 when Dreamcast is $50 (if you can still find one!) and unless you get a machine made after September 2000 is totally and completely CD-R bootable? The ethernet adapter is expen$$$ive on eBay but it's not a must, particularly considering that the thing comes with a standard v90 Conexant controllerless modem. I suspect that the code at linmodems.org might kick it over.
The main weakness of the DC is lack of hard drive. And of course that's a big weakness. However, there are tons of people playing around with not only Linux on DC but a new, open source OS specifically designed for DC game development called Kallisti!OS.
Why support the Sony 3v1L 3mp1r3? Join Team Dreamcast!
Yeah I know the movie starts with a bunch of terrorists blowing up a Martian colony, but everyone who's seen the fansub that's floating around says it kicks ass, and the series is certainly one of the best anime series I've seen. It's easily in Evangelion and Lain's league.
Besides, you can't NOT like CowBe...it's got Radical Edward!!!
Actually I've found that Windows 2000 is a supremely crummy platform for games. The only platform worse is NT4. Most gamers I know of suffer through the instabilities of 9x because 2K is such a pain to get games to work on.
However, I suspect things will change now that XP's out. XP is useless for everything BUT games. And perhaps since XP is pretty much 2K with lots of frou frou maybe some of the new games will play decently on 2K
And yes, I am an MCSE...dammit, don't flame me! Yeouch!!!
Yes, that would be the Dreamcast that can run Windows CE, but most developers end up using Sega's "OS".
And there are several different viable versions of Linux for Dreamcast that are out there, plus a brand new Open Source OS called Kallisti!OS which is being built from the ground up to support the very well-documented Dreamcast.
With the PS/2 modchip industry an endangered species, with the Game Cube using a non-standard DVD media, and with the XBox using enough strong crypto and non-standard parts to turn an ordinary PC into a modder's/emulator writer's nightmare, the Dreamcast is the only console around which a developer underground can emerge. And it is happening. Do some searching on Google sometime. You'd be surprised by what pops up.
I've got Aldelphia (sic) in LA now, and their scheme for limiting bandwith... it's the best so far! They just simply stop traffic for random amounts of time, at random times.
Lemme guess...Adelphia East San Fernando Valley, eh?
BTW one GOOD thing about Adelphia...they actually ENCOURAGE the use of hardware firewalls. Of course, they won't support the fool thing but they know that the more hardware firewalls, the less hassles they will have with people's boxen being broken into.
A friend of mine in Australia tried to break into my network. Used all the usual tools and some unusual ones too. Most of the time he couldn't even SEE anything beyond my external IP address. The SMC Barricade ABR might not be stateful as yet but it's nigh impermeable. I rest easy at night knowing it's on guard.
...the security implications of this "suicide script". I can easily see someone taking this applescript and tweaking it to create a really nasty trojan. Hope all you Mac users are either running a current version of an anti-virus proggie or have applescript disabled...
Dreamcast remains the only game console that people can develop home-brew games for. Between Kallisti!OS and the various attempts to create a Linux boot system for Linux-based games there's going to be one hell of a platform on the way for developers. The Dreamcast is also the most documented of the game consoles, with developer information on almost every subsystem in the box. Too bad SEGA discontinued production on the damn thing...
Avatar: from your name, you suggest that you work for ADVision.
My question: what are you going to do with All-Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku?
Last year, The Right Stuf blew out their remaining copies of Nuku Nuku OAV on VHS. I grabbed a set, thanking the gods of Anime that I got them before they were gone. Nuku Nuku OAV does not show up on the list of what you currently are working on bringing to DVD.
There are two other Nuku Nuku series that have yet to make it to America in anything other than very incomplete fansubs. They are Nuku Nuku TV, which from the two episodes I have seen is absolutely hilarious, and Nuku Nuku DASH! which is more serious and not as interesting to me as the former.
I know that "comedy" anime isn't as popular as space anime or shoujo or Giant Robot anime, but some of us enjoy the funny stuff. Nuku Nuku TV is to anime what Police Squad! was to American cop shows.
If you still have an in with King Music, please see what you can do about Nuku Nuku. If you put the TV series out as DVD (hell, if you put the first OAV out as DVD!) I will be very happy to buy it.
Take care,
Ms. Geek
Re:anime rejiggered for a western audience
on
NY Times on Anime
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Your correct in your assumptions, anime has been really pg-ified for the american audience, however why do the cable and sateliette networks feel that the demographics of anime watchers ar limited to 5-13 -- a little iffy at that.
You've got to hand it to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim bloc...they showed Cowboy Bebop with minimal cutting. They refused to show a few episodes so soon after 9/11 because they were about terrorists, but better NOT to show them than to show them cut to ribbons.
I look forward to seeing the whole of CowBe without the cuts and in subbed, rather than dubbed format, but according to reports the dub actually was pretty good and faithful to the original.
Actually I can think of one dub that is actually BETTER than the sub..."Shineman" is supposedly way better dubbed than subbed. The people who wrote the dubscript for "Shineman" basically were very funny people who took the absurdity of the story and cranked it up even further. "Shineman" is a complete satire on the "Sentai" live-action hero shows...think Power Rangers. It also pokes fun at Japanese corporate culture. Definitely worth a look.
Good Old Walt actually used the HUAC proceedings as a way to get back at the artists who were trying to organize Walt Disney Studios during the late 1940s. Many of these artists formed UPA Studio, a company which despite the popularity of Mr. Magoo was basically hounded out of business by the Red-baiters.
He was also an anti-Semite who is probably still spinning in his urn at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA, US knowing that a Jew runs his studio now.
Not the nicest individual to ever walk the earth, contrary to what the Disney Centennial people would like you to think.
As a newly-minted MCSE, I will give voice to something I have always wondered about but never asked about...was the title Microsoft Certified Professional, with the initials MCP, an in-joke about Tron and the perception of Microsoft as The Evil Empire?
...maybe this technology might bring a more viable option for encrypting 802.11x traffic. Right now WEP is useless, and unless you encapsulate everything zipping around the network in encrypted tunnels you are fair game for "wardrivers."
We need a practical means of strong crypto for wireless. If this need coincides with the questionable need for the MPAA and the RIAA and other entities to nickel and dime us every time we look at their precious content that's beside the point.
The threats to the doctrine of Fair Use need to be addressed. Reasonable Intellectual Property rights (emphasis on REASONABLE) need to be preserved, but so does the doctrine of Fair Use.
However, a lot of these ideas I've read about in the article sound like great ideas for solving the current wireless (In)security problems.
1.) Linux with a major-league GUI (Gnome/KDE) is getting almost as resource-hungry as anything out of Redmond or Cupertino.
2.) Most Linux distributions are pointing themselves towards the Latest And Greatest hardware, not towards making elderly machines useful again. There are 486en being ground up for scrap every day or winding up in landfills.
The answer to this would be a distro specifically designed for old machines. Much of the groundwork has already been laid by attempts (both successful and not) to bring Linux into an embedded environment. It's not as sexy a project as writing kewl games but it's NEEDED. The old computers that enterprises throw out on a daily basis could be put to use by the less fortunate. However, the big distros aren't gonna get it for this old iron. Certainly not Mandrake. Maybe not Red Hat. Maybe not even Debian or Slack.
If you want to really DO SOMETHING to help the less fortunate get wired...this is what it takes. I'm not a programmer, so I really can't be a part of this. But not being a programmer doesn't mean I can't see the need.
This has truly made my day. If this is a benign hoax that doesn't drop any malware or rootkits or open any back doors or do anything else nasty, I think it's great. Of course, if there is any sort of malware involved my attitude about it does a complete 180. But if this was a totally harmless prank I find it absolutely hilarious.
The only Internet prank that beats this one was this: the "Daria Movie Rumors Site." Unfortunately it looks like the site is now history, but basically it was a vicious satire on Hollywood, Teen Movies and related topics, and included a hilarious fanfic that was sort of an extended "Daria" episode as if it was written by the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" screenplay. Very beautifully done. Too bad it's gone.
It *IS* installed by default on Server and Advanced Server, though. I have no idea how it works on Datacenter Server because I've never seen it in action.
Try having the web server go down DAILY. This is an e-commerce site we're talking about here. When I left this particular job, it would be dicey to show prospective employers that site, because on more than one occasion when it came time to see that particular site it might be 404.
I totally look forward to a viable Apache for Win32. Rip IIS out by the roots. Kludgy, unstable, non-scalable thing that it is!
BTW, a little secret about.ASP and.JSP...they are both ripoffs of each other. The back end guy at the same site showed me how easy it was to convert.ASP to.JSP. And BOTH are ripoffs of PHP v.2!:P
With "friends" of Open Source like these, who the fsck needs enemies??? The license for Visual(insert language here) isn't even as tight-assed as this one!
Eew...300MHz and 128MB RAM is going to feel like running 2K on a 166MHz Pentium MMX with 64MB RAM. 256MB is getting close to the sweet spot, and 512MB is about where XP is most comfortable. Trouble is, a lot of InHell chipsets will only use 512MB at maximum.
I've said it before, I'll say it again...instead of XP, go get 2000 Pro before it's all gone. Those "suggested requirements" for XP will make 2K Pro VERY happy. 2K has all the advantages of XP without the lame-ass crap that slows XP down and makes it a security nightmare.
Of course, Linux will make a 133MHz Pentium with 64MB sing...that is, unless you're running Gnome or KDE as your GUI.
Man, that stinks...$110 for cable, with $55 going to cable modem? Jeez...really, really bad. We had to give up Encore, and Cinemax was going bye-bye anyway thanks to it being bumped up to digital, but between cable modem and digital tier cable TV we are only paying $80/mo. $43 of that, as I mentioned last post, is cable modem charges, so basically we're getting the rest for $37. Which is a price drop from what we paid monthly for analog cable plus Encore and Cinemax...$42/mo.
So I gave up a couple of movie channels. I got Sci-Fi, TechTV, Independent Film Channel, Sundance Channel, 8 different Discovery channels, BBC America and commercial free music channels in return. Actually I wish I had done this sooner.
And if I'm feeling flush, $20 more/mo gets me ALL the movie channels. Every single one.
You should complain to your Public Utilities Commission about how AT&T is gouging you. You shouldn't have to pay that. Eew.
Verizon.net does not use PPPoE. My $49 a month connection and my $69 router work great for my mixed network (Linux, OS X, Win 2k, and Win 98.
for $69 I can get a 384/384 synchronous ADSL, and it gets installed in less than ten days...
384Kbps down/128Kbps up was the best Verizon, known as GTE back then, (with Flashcom as ISP) could give me, and I was less than a mile from the CO.
Now I have Adelphia PowerLink, and 384Kbps down is just about the worst it gets. Usually I get T1 speeds down. Yeah, bandwidth is capped at 128Kbps upstream, but c'est la vie. I got the same with DSL. They're trying to prevent people from running servers, that's all. I'm cool with that...I have a hosting provider for that. Let them deal with the minutiae of running a web server.
Before cable, I had two phone lines, one for voice, the other for fax/data/DSL. When my cable modem stabilized, I was able to shut down my second phone line. Cable modem costs $43/mo. That's about how much my second phone line costs. When Adelphia switches us from the proprietary setup we're on and onto DOCSIS, I'll buy my own modem and save $10/mo on renting this POS Terayon TeraPro. And hey, for the past three months I've been getting my cable modem service for $20/mo.
The only thing I should warn y'all about...don't get rid of your backup dialup ISP. And make sure your network is behind a firewall box...I have a SMC Barricade that has been working beautifully and has a serial port for a failover v90 modem. The only reason the cable companies don't like these boxen is that the clueless have been known to plug them in backwards, letting a rogue DHCP server loose on their network. Remember which port is the WAN port and which ports are the LAN ports and everyone will be happy.
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Specifically Hungary. When the Turks invaded Hungary they basically barged into every village and put swords to people's necks. They asked the villagers, "Will you convert to Islam?" If the villagers nodded, they would survive. If they shook their head "no" their throat would get slashed by the sword's edge. Hence the switch of the nod for no and the head shake for yes.
Cultural imperialism is FUN!
The more information comes out about PS2 Linux, the worse it looks. Why buy $300 worth of crap to make Linux run on an uber-proprietary system when you can buy a Dreamcast for $50 (if you can find one still) and have a platform that will boot Linux out of the box? You might have to avoid machines built after October 2000, (although there apparently is a further hack out to create a bootable disk for those machines) but I have one from 9/2000 and it booted the DC Linux disk right out of the box.
.SIG. Sony is the only company I can think of that is a signatory to both the RIAA and MPAA. That's reason enough to stay away from Sony products.
The exciting things will happen when someone builds a lightweight Linux booter that will address everything on the DC and allow you to run games designed for Linux. There is still some work to be done to make all the hardware work, but there are a lot of hands on this project so I suspect that it won't be long before the Yamaha audio, the Conexant controllerless modem and full video access (rather than framebuffer) are fully working under Linux.
SEGA is to be commended for releasing as much information as they have on the DC. Their attitude is also commendable: "we stopped making the machine in 2001, have your way with it." Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all demonstrated their lack of willingness to play ball with amateur developers. DC is the only game console which is actually FRIENDLY to amateur development.
One last thing...look at my
http://www.terayon.com/cat.html?cat_id=9.1.1.2
Anyway, this is what my benighted cable system uses to give us cable modem without the muss, fuss and bother of installing modern fiber-optic plant. Believe me, it isn't very fun.
Maybe they can squeeze more speed out of the wires. Maybe. But you're going to suffer for it with lowered reliability. When you have to powercycle your cable modem every day to make sure you've got connectivity something is VERY, VERY WRONG.
Why fux0r around with PS2 when Dreamcast is $50 (if you can still find one!) and unless you get a machine made after September 2000 is totally and completely CD-R bootable? The ethernet adapter is expen$$$ive on eBay but it's not a must, particularly considering that the thing comes with a standard v90 Conexant controllerless modem. I suspect that the code at linmodems.org might kick it over.
The main weakness of the DC is lack of hard drive. And of course that's a big weakness. However, there are tons of people playing around with not only Linux on DC but a new, open source OS specifically designed for DC game development called Kallisti!OS.
Why support the Sony 3v1L 3mp1r3? Join Team Dreamcast!
http://mc.pp.se/dc/
http://dev.dcemulation.com/
Yeah I know the movie starts with a bunch of terrorists blowing up a Martian colony, but everyone who's seen the fansub that's floating around says it kicks ass, and the series is certainly one of the best anime series I've seen. It's easily in Evangelion and Lain's league.
Besides, you can't NOT like CowBe...it's got Radical Edward!!!
Actually I've found that Windows 2000 is a supremely crummy platform for games. The only platform worse is NT4. Most gamers I know of suffer through the instabilities of 9x because 2K is such a pain to get games to work on.
However, I suspect things will change now that XP's out. XP is useless for everything BUT games. And perhaps since XP is pretty much 2K with lots of frou frou maybe some of the new games will play decently on 2K
And yes, I am an MCSE...dammit, don't flame me! Yeouch!!!
And there are several different viable versions of Linux for Dreamcast that are out there, plus a brand new Open Source OS called Kallisti!OS which is being built from the ground up to support the very well-documented Dreamcast.
With the PS/2 modchip industry an endangered species, with the Game Cube using a non-standard DVD media, and with the XBox using enough strong crypto and non-standard parts to turn an ordinary PC into a modder's/emulator writer's nightmare, the Dreamcast is the only console around which a developer underground can emerge. And it is happening. Do some searching on Google sometime. You'd be surprised by what pops up.
I actually read the article. Carefully. And damn if I don't agree with the grumpy old bastard.
Wow. Either this is a fever dream or reality has just warped.
Lemme guess...Adelphia East San Fernando Valley, eh?
BTW one GOOD thing about Adelphia...they actually ENCOURAGE the use of hardware firewalls. Of course, they won't support the fool thing but they know that the more hardware firewalls, the less hassles they will have with people's boxen being broken into.
A friend of mine in Australia tried to break into my network. Used all the usual tools and some unusual ones too. Most of the time he couldn't even SEE anything beyond my external IP address. The SMC Barricade ABR might not be stateful as yet but it's nigh impermeable. I rest easy at night knowing it's on guard.
...the security implications of this "suicide script". I can easily see someone taking this applescript and tweaking it to create a really nasty trojan. Hope all you Mac users are either running a current version of an anti-virus proggie or have applescript disabled...
Dreamcast remains the only game console that people can develop home-brew games for. Between Kallisti!OS and the various attempts to create a Linux boot system for Linux-based games there's going to be one hell of a platform on the way for developers. The Dreamcast is also the most documented of the game consoles, with developer information on almost every subsystem in the box. Too bad SEGA discontinued production on the damn thing...
Avatar: from your name, you suggest that you work for ADVision.
My question: what are you going to do with All-Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku?
Last year, The Right Stuf blew out their remaining copies of Nuku Nuku OAV on VHS. I grabbed a set, thanking the gods of Anime that I got them before they were gone. Nuku Nuku OAV does not show up on the list of what you currently are working on bringing to DVD.
There are two other Nuku Nuku series that have yet to make it to America in anything other than very incomplete fansubs. They are Nuku Nuku TV, which from the two episodes I have seen is absolutely hilarious, and Nuku Nuku DASH! which is more serious and not as interesting to me as the former.
I know that "comedy" anime isn't as popular as space anime or shoujo or Giant Robot anime, but some of us enjoy the funny stuff. Nuku Nuku TV is to anime what Police Squad! was to American cop shows.
If you still have an in with King Music, please see what you can do about Nuku Nuku. If you put the TV series out as DVD (hell, if you put the first OAV out as DVD!) I will be very happy to buy it.
Take care,
Ms. Geek
You've got to hand it to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim bloc...they showed Cowboy Bebop with minimal cutting. They refused to show a few episodes so soon after 9/11 because they were about terrorists, but better NOT to show them than to show them cut to ribbons.
I look forward to seeing the whole of CowBe without the cuts and in subbed, rather than dubbed format, but according to reports the dub actually was pretty good and faithful to the original.
Actually I can think of one dub that is actually BETTER than the sub..."Shineman" is supposedly way better dubbed than subbed. The people who wrote the dubscript for "Shineman" basically were very funny people who took the absurdity of the story and cranked it up even further. "Shineman" is a complete satire on the "Sentai" live-action hero shows...think Power Rangers. It also pokes fun at Japanese corporate culture. Definitely worth a look.
Good Old Walt actually used the HUAC proceedings as a way to get back at the artists who were trying to organize Walt Disney Studios during the late 1940s. Many of these artists formed UPA Studio, a company which despite the popularity of Mr. Magoo was basically hounded out of business by the Red-baiters.
He was also an anti-Semite who is probably still spinning in his urn at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA, US knowing that a Jew runs his studio now.
Not the nicest individual to ever walk the earth, contrary to what the Disney Centennial people would like you to think.
As a newly-minted MCSE, I will give voice to something I have always wondered about but never asked about...was the title Microsoft Certified Professional, with the initials MCP, an in-joke about Tron and the perception of Microsoft as The Evil Empire?
End of line.
...maybe this technology might bring a more viable option for encrypting 802.11x traffic. Right now WEP is useless, and unless you encapsulate everything zipping around the network in encrypted tunnels you are fair game for "wardrivers."
We need a practical means of strong crypto for wireless. If this need coincides with the questionable need for the MPAA and the RIAA and other entities to nickel and dime us every time we look at their precious content that's beside the point.
The threats to the doctrine of Fair Use need to be addressed. Reasonable Intellectual Property rights (emphasis on REASONABLE) need to be preserved, but so does the doctrine of Fair Use.
However, a lot of these ideas I've read about in the article sound like great ideas for solving the current wireless (In)security problems.
1.) Linux with a major-league GUI (Gnome/KDE) is getting almost as resource-hungry as anything out of Redmond or Cupertino.
2.) Most Linux distributions are pointing themselves towards the Latest And Greatest hardware, not towards making elderly machines useful again. There are 486en being ground up for scrap every day or winding up in landfills.
The answer to this would be a distro specifically designed for old machines. Much of the groundwork has already been laid by attempts (both successful and not) to bring Linux into an embedded environment. It's not as sexy a project as writing kewl games but it's NEEDED. The old computers that enterprises throw out on a daily basis could be put to use by the less fortunate. However, the big distros aren't gonna get it for this old iron. Certainly not Mandrake. Maybe not Red Hat. Maybe not even Debian or Slack.
If you want to really DO SOMETHING to help the less fortunate get wired...this is what it takes. I'm not a programmer, so I really can't be a part of this. But not being a programmer doesn't mean I can't see the need.
This has truly made my day. If this is a benign hoax that doesn't drop any malware or rootkits or open any back doors or do anything else nasty, I think it's great. Of course, if there is any sort of malware involved my attitude about it does a complete 180. But if this was a totally harmless prank I find it absolutely hilarious.
The only Internet prank that beats this one was this: the "Daria Movie Rumors Site." Unfortunately it looks like the site is now history, but basically it was a vicious satire on Hollywood, Teen Movies and related topics, and included a hilarious fanfic that was sort of an extended "Daria" episode as if it was written by the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" screenplay. Very beautifully done. Too bad it's gone.
This story needs a new icon. "It's Funny. Laugh."
It *IS* installed by default on Server and Advanced Server, though. I have no idea how it works on Datacenter Server because I've never seen it in action.
Try having the web server go down DAILY. This is an e-commerce site we're talking about here. When I left this particular job, it would be dicey to show prospective employers that site, because on more than one occasion when it came time to see that particular site it might be 404.
.ASP and .JSP...they are both ripoffs of each other. The back end guy at the same site showed me how easy it was to convert .ASP to .JSP. And BOTH are ripoffs of PHP v.2! :P
I totally look forward to a viable Apache for Win32. Rip IIS out by the roots. Kludgy, unstable, non-scalable thing that it is!
BTW, a little secret about
With "friends" of Open Source like these, who the fsck needs enemies??? The license for Visual(insert language here) isn't even as tight-assed as this one!
I've said it before, I'll say it again...instead of XP, go get 2000 Pro before it's all gone. Those "suggested requirements" for XP will make 2K Pro VERY happy. 2K has all the advantages of XP without the lame-ass crap that slows XP down and makes it a security nightmare.
Of course, Linux will make a 133MHz Pentium with 64MB sing...that is, unless you're running Gnome or KDE as your GUI.
ROTFLMAO!!!
That is SO true!!!
Rough being a radical centrist here, I tell ya...
Man, that stinks...$110 for cable, with $55 going to cable modem? Jeez...really, really bad. We had to give up Encore, and Cinemax was going bye-bye anyway thanks to it being bumped up to digital, but between cable modem and digital tier cable TV we are only paying $80/mo. $43 of that, as I mentioned last post, is cable modem charges, so basically we're getting the rest for $37. Which is a price drop from what we paid monthly for analog cable plus Encore and Cinemax...$42/mo.
So I gave up a couple of movie channels. I got Sci-Fi, TechTV, Independent Film Channel, Sundance Channel, 8 different Discovery channels, BBC America and commercial free music channels in return. Actually I wish I had done this sooner.
And if I'm feeling flush, $20 more/mo gets me ALL the movie channels. Every single one.
You should complain to your Public Utilities Commission about how AT&T is gouging you. You shouldn't have to pay that. Eew.
for $69 I can get a 384/384 synchronous ADSL, and it gets installed in less than ten days...
384Kbps down/128Kbps up was the best Verizon, known as GTE back then, (with Flashcom as ISP) could give me, and I was less than a mile from the CO.
Now I have Adelphia PowerLink, and 384Kbps down is just about the worst it gets. Usually I get T1 speeds down. Yeah, bandwidth is capped at 128Kbps upstream, but c'est la vie. I got the same with DSL. They're trying to prevent people from running servers, that's all. I'm cool with that...I have a hosting provider for that. Let them deal with the minutiae of running a web server.
Before cable, I had two phone lines, one for voice, the other for fax/data/DSL. When my cable modem stabilized, I was able to shut down my second phone line. Cable modem costs $43/mo. That's about how much my second phone line costs. When Adelphia switches us from the proprietary setup we're on and onto DOCSIS, I'll buy my own modem and save $10/mo on renting this POS Terayon TeraPro. And hey, for the past three months I've been getting my cable modem service for $20/mo.
The only thing I should warn y'all about...don't get rid of your backup dialup ISP. And make sure your network is behind a firewall box...I have a SMC Barricade that has been working beautifully and has a serial port for a failover v90 modem. The only reason the cable companies don't like these boxen is that the clueless have been known to plug them in backwards, letting a rogue DHCP server loose on their network. Remember which port is the WAN port and which ports are the LAN ports and everyone will be happy.