Many years back in my illicit youth I remember passing a file across the dateline and realizing I had a file that was (would be) cracked tomorrow. After uploading my -1 day warez I figured that was as fast as I could get and decided to quit. The funny thing is the warez seen is like an intense competition for speed and quality of release. The means end up becoming more important than the ends and most releases end up in a dusty bin of unused floppies (ok they did back then, probably a dusty bin of CDRs now). And chest thumping rights are more important in the scene than the goods. I would be willing to bet that outside of the crackers and coders the majority of "warez d00dz" are just exhibiting compulsive behavior. Which is probably exactly why the cracktro creators gave birth to the demo scene. They found out that creating was more interesting and fulfilling than copying.
"when was the last time that the price of *any* media product went down instead of up?"
The entire prerecorded video market was created because of cost reduction. In the early '80s prerecorded movies cost about $80 a pop. This is what gave rise to the rental market. Then a video was released at the $20 price point (I could be wrong but I think it was E.T.) and became a mass market success. This lead to an across the board price drop on videos. Even DVDs are mostly priced in that range. Also if you factor in inflation, if a price for an item stays flat over a substantial amount of time, than you can say that the price has in fact decreased in adjusted dollars. I paid $50 for the computer game Ultima 3: Exodus in 1983. It was a high end game for the time, but that price hasn't changed all that much in 22 years.
With the exception of work connectivity (and I think those of us in tech need more bandwidth than others), video, music, software access are the chief benefits of broadband. Admittedly not all of it is illegal (i.e. iTunes) but the media companies so far haven't done a great job of leveraging broadband for legitimate services.
If you know the IP addresses of where you are connecting to home from them block everything else. I realize if you want to connect from say wireless hot spots or a random friends house, this isn't an option - but you connect from the office network to home just allow that ip. I also have hardened servers which need to be publically accessible. I use these to route through to home as well if necessary.
0 day releases at least used to refer to bootlegs released that day. So for example on old BBS systems they might have a 0 day file section where you would find newly pirated files.
Re:Mastering video DVDs under linux IS easy
on
NeroLinux vs. K3b
·
· Score: 1
"Nero is dead"
Perhaps you should say "Nero is irrelevant on Linux".
On the Windows platform Nero (the full version, not express or OEM) has more features than the competitors. I've used a ton of cd burning software and find Nero the best overall on Windows. As for anyone who laments the lack of commercial software ported to Linux, this article might give a hint why. There are two possible responses, work hard to make Nero better and more competitive with k3b or just shrug their shoulders and drop the app. It will be interesting to see what Nero does. Probably say, well that was a nice experiment and go back to selling software for Windows. I'm not saying Nero Linux is any good, I don't know as a I haven't used it - but this is a good example of why many commercial vendors won't touch Linux. I mean why bother to spend money to develop for a platform fueled by people who develop their own free solutions?
I can't say for certain as I haven't used the Linux version, but the Windows version can make regular iso files as well as the.nrg. You need to tell it what you want. It will also burn iso, nrg and bin/cue files.
"while another piece speaks of the writer's gradual acceptance of death as a learning tool."
It really sucks. I mean you make a mistake, you die and you don't even get a chance to learn from that mistake. It's like game over, man! How the hell are you supposed to learn from that?
I have a PS2 and it isn't modded either. That being said - yes it IS easy to burn a PS2 DVD. You can also download them off of bit torrent or Usenet or whatever. I do have a modded Xbox which I use as a media player. There is more homebrew development on the Xbox because of the internal hard drive (easily upgradeable) so in my opinion it is well worth modding. The PS2 case is a little bit different. The biggest benefit is if you want to bootleg games or play games that aren't available in the US. Considering you can get used or refurbed Xboxes and PS2s in the $100 range, taking a risk on a mod is not huge. The PS2 mod is much more complicated than the Xbox and apparently there are problems modding the new slim unit PS2s. Most people don't mod their own consoles, they know someone who can do it and has done it many times. That might be a school friend, or maybe someone at the local small toy and video game shop.
"PC software is ridiculously expensive, especially when you're staring at Adobe's web suite and saying "Two month's rent, or the sense of honesty in knowing I didn't pirate something?" 99.95% of the time, I bet paying the god damned rent wins out."
Well, if you are using Adobe's products professionally, I would think you should consider the cost a business expense. Alternatively, if you just want to do some graphics editing or create PDFs you could opt for using open source programs such as the GIMP or PDF Creator.
"I have heard the argument that once you start using a computer long enough you start wanting extra mouse buttons. What I think is that those people are not sophisticated enough."
I have no problem with keyboard shortcuts. They are fine and very useful. I like to have a multi button mouse so that for some common tasks I can do everything without having a hand on the keyboard. I find web browsing and reading easier to do with a multi button mouse. I can sit back with one hand dedicated to a cold beer and the other on the mouse. I can move back and forwards through pages with the side thumb buttons, scroll with the wheel, or speed scroll by clicing the wheel. I can open a new window or tab by right clicking on a link. I'm not talking about sophistication, I'm talking about ease of use. The other area where a multi button mouse comes in handing is in gaming. I would regularly beat the smack off of the one button Mac mouse using employees at work in Unreal Tournemant because they had to use the keyboard for movement, weapon selection, jump and alternate fire. Whereas my keyboard hand concentrated on movement and my mouse hand controlled everything else. I would completely agreee that for young kids an overly complicated mouse is a drawback but now that my son is eight he loves using a multi button mouse.
(OK, you can start your one handed mouse user pron jokes now)
The disks are some type of mini-DVD ROM. Supposedly Nintendo has a patent on the particular format. The key point is that the Gamecube won't read a mini DVD-R or RW. Supposedly there are modifications that can enable them to access these disks.
When I used to play Dungeons and Dragons and other pen and paper RPGs we used a gridded mat (the brand was called "Battle Mat") for both interior and exterior locations. The basic usage was for determining range, party stance, line of sight etc. It also made it easy for players to note where everything was in relation to their characters. Not everyone can instantly build a map in their heads off of the game master's description. So you didn't get any "How many doors are there in the room?" questions. While the primary reason to have a map like this is for combat tactics, it can aid any type of gameplay by giving the players a quick visual reference to the location. It's not necessary for any RPG, but it can be beneficial.
Interesting. I don't know if that's an old version or I've been lucky, but I haven't had any problems with crashing. It's been extremely stable even when streaming video (including off of a remote DVD) over the network. I don't mind using the Xbox controller as the interface is geared towards using it. I also use the Xbox for emulation and gaming, so the controller is my primary interface, although I do have the DVD remote. A wireless controller works well. Neither can stand up to the Tivo remote which is the best I've ever used. So I don't have the best of both worlds in one unit. The Xbox has tons of flexibility you will never see in a commercial product, but yeah you have to make do with the controls. I wish I could find a nice appliance that did everything from DIVX and OGG playback to recording and transfer over a network, but in this DRM headed world I find that unlikely in the commercial sector. The only better option is a custom built media pc but the big difference is cost. A modded Xbox with a decent hard drive will run you only $300 or less.
Woot! Ral Partha! Yeah those were my favorites too. The detail on the minatures was way better than the stuff TSR put out. I wonder how much damage all that lead did to my body...
"Furthermore, as far as copyright law is concerned, you can import and export DVDs as much as you like."
Concerning DVDs - the licensing is done based on regions. This was done to allow for different companies to control the distribution rights in different parts of the world. So yes you can by say a region 2 DVD, but you will need a region 2 DVD player to view it - or you will need to change your player to view it. Or you use a "hidden" setting in your DVD player which disables it. This last option is not strictly legal. I realize in other countries besides the US the region free players are common do to market pressure, but in the US it's all done via the secret key press combo to unlock the region free mode. The region coding is in place to prevent you from playing it.
"That is illegal, not because it came from China, but because it was a copy that violated copyright."
Absolutely, I merely mention China because high quality bootleg production is rampant in that country. However the original discussion was concerning bit torrents. A video file of a foreign show grabbed off of tv being offered up on a bit torrent is illegal because it is a copy that has violated copyright, just as much as the bootleg from ebay.
Maybe you should take a look at XBMC (Xbox Media Center) before you dimiss it as crude. It's one of the slickest homebrew applications I've ever used and works great for video, audio and image playback. No, it's not a PVR/DVR but it beats the pants off of commercial hardware media streamers.
It is worth noting that the Gamecube most likely has the LEAST amount of piracy. It took about 4 years before the first Gamecube mod chips appeared and the unique media has made pirating a pain. The Xbox and PS2 modchips have been around for years .
Well when Sid Meier's Pirates is released for the Xbox I'm sure it will vie for the title. Oh and if you are thinking of pirating (or buying) the Pirates of the Caribbean game, don't. It's not worth the cost of the blank media.
Or just send me your email address and let me finally use up my 100 mojillion invites that nobody wants. I promise your email address will not become inundated with pornographic spam.
And of course the corporate powers that be would say that you have NO legal right to access any of those shows. Just as you have NO legal right to access movies or shows that are not currently available for view or purchase in your region. I went through a Twin Peaks phase a couple years ago, and while I bought the season 1 DVD set and hunted down the crappily produced season 2 VHS set - there was no where that I could obtain the original pilot. I ended up buying a bootleg copy off of eBay. Judging by the optional mandarin and cantonese audio tracks I would imagine it came from that great land of ignoring copyrights, China. Of course this is illegal and breaking copyright law, just the same as a torrent of any unlicensed content.
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But when the desktop came up it said I couldn't run anymore programs besides gator, hot bar and virtual bouncer.
Many years back in my illicit youth I remember passing a file across the dateline and realizing I had a file that was (would be) cracked tomorrow. After uploading my -1 day warez I figured that was as fast as I could get and decided to quit.
The funny thing is the warez seen is like an intense competition for speed and quality of release. The means end up becoming more important than the ends and most releases end up in a dusty bin of unused floppies (ok they did back then, probably a dusty bin of CDRs now). And chest thumping rights are more important in the scene than the goods.
I would be willing to bet that outside of the crackers and coders the majority of "warez d00dz" are just exhibiting compulsive behavior. Which is probably exactly why the cracktro creators gave birth to the demo scene. They found out that creating was more interesting and fulfilling than copying.
"when was the last time that the price of *any* media product went down instead of up?"
The entire prerecorded video market was created because of cost reduction. In the early '80s prerecorded movies cost about $80 a pop. This is what gave rise to the rental market. Then a video was released at the $20 price point (I could be wrong but I think it was E.T.) and became a mass market success. This lead to an across the board price drop on videos. Even DVDs are mostly priced in that range.
Also if you factor in inflation, if a price for an item stays flat over a substantial amount of time, than you can say that the price has in fact decreased in adjusted dollars. I paid $50 for the computer game Ultima 3: Exodus in 1983. It was a high end game for the time, but that price hasn't changed all that much in 22 years.
With the exception of work connectivity (and I think those of us in tech need more bandwidth than others), video, music, software access are the chief benefits of broadband.
Admittedly not all of it is illegal (i.e. iTunes) but the media companies so far haven't done a great job of leveraging broadband for legitimate services.
If you know the IP addresses of where you are connecting to home from them block everything else.
I realize if you want to connect from say wireless hot spots or a random friends house, this isn't an option - but you connect from the office network to home just allow that ip.
I also have hardened servers which need to be publically accessible. I use these to route through to home as well if necessary.
0 day releases at least used to refer to bootlegs released that day. So for example on old BBS systems they might have a 0 day file section where you would find newly pirated files.
"Nero is dead"
Perhaps you should say "Nero is irrelevant on Linux".
On the Windows platform Nero (the full version, not express or OEM) has more features than the competitors. I've used a ton of cd burning software and find Nero the best overall on Windows.
As for anyone who laments the lack of commercial software ported to Linux, this article might give a hint why. There are two possible responses, work hard to make Nero better and more competitive with k3b or just shrug their shoulders and drop the app. It will be interesting to see what Nero does. Probably say, well that was a nice experiment and go back to selling software for Windows.
I'm not saying Nero Linux is any good, I don't know as a I haven't used it - but this is a good example of why many commercial vendors won't touch Linux. I mean why bother to spend money to develop for a platform fueled by people who develop their own free solutions?
I can't say for certain as I haven't used the Linux version, but the Windows version can make regular iso files as well as the .nrg. You need to tell it what you want.
It will also burn iso, nrg and bin/cue files.
"while another piece speaks of the writer's gradual acceptance of death as a learning tool."
It really sucks. I mean you make a mistake, you die and you don't even get a chance to learn from that mistake. It's like game over, man! How the hell are you supposed to learn from that?
Oh you mean video game deaths?
I have a PS2 and it isn't modded either. That being said - yes it IS easy to burn a PS2 DVD. You can also download them off of bit torrent or Usenet or whatever.
I do have a modded Xbox which I use as a media player. There is more homebrew development on the Xbox because of the internal hard drive (easily upgradeable) so in my opinion it is well worth modding.
The PS2 case is a little bit different. The biggest benefit is if you want to bootleg games or play games that aren't available in the US.
Considering you can get used or refurbed Xboxes and PS2s in the $100 range, taking a risk on a mod is not huge. The PS2 mod is much more complicated than the Xbox and apparently there are problems modding the new slim unit PS2s. Most people don't mod their own consoles, they know someone who can do it and has done it many times. That might be a school friend, or maybe someone at the local small toy and video game shop.
"PC software is ridiculously expensive, especially when you're staring at Adobe's web suite and saying "Two month's rent, or the sense of honesty in knowing I didn't pirate something?" 99.95% of the time, I bet paying the god damned rent wins out."
Well, if you are using Adobe's products professionally, I would think you should consider the cost a business expense. Alternatively, if you just want to do some graphics editing or create PDFs you could opt for using open source programs such as the GIMP or PDF Creator.
"I have heard the argument that once you start using a computer long enough you start wanting extra mouse buttons. What I think is that those people are not sophisticated enough."
I have no problem with keyboard shortcuts. They are fine and very useful. I like to have a multi button mouse so that for some common tasks I can do everything without having a hand on the keyboard. I find web browsing and reading easier to do with a multi button mouse. I can sit back with one hand dedicated to a cold beer and the other on the mouse. I can move back and forwards through pages with the side thumb buttons, scroll with the wheel, or speed scroll by clicing the wheel. I can open a new window or tab by right clicking on a link.
I'm not talking about sophistication, I'm talking about ease of use.
The other area where a multi button mouse comes in handing is in gaming. I would regularly beat the smack off of the one button Mac mouse using employees at work in Unreal Tournemant because they had to use the keyboard for movement, weapon selection, jump and alternate fire. Whereas my keyboard hand concentrated on movement and my mouse hand controlled everything else.
I would completely agreee that for young kids an overly complicated mouse is a drawback but now that my son is eight he loves using a multi button mouse.
(OK, you can start your one handed mouse user pron jokes now)
The disks are some type of mini-DVD ROM. Supposedly Nintendo has a patent on the particular format.
The key point is that the Gamecube won't read a mini DVD-R or RW. Supposedly there are modifications that can enable them to access these disks.
When I used to play Dungeons and Dragons and other pen and paper RPGs we used a gridded mat (the brand was called "Battle Mat") for both interior and exterior locations. The basic usage was for determining range, party stance, line of sight etc. It also made it easy for players to note where everything was in relation to their characters. Not everyone can instantly build a map in their heads off of the game master's description. So you didn't get any "How many doors are there in the room?" questions.
While the primary reason to have a map like this is for combat tactics, it can aid any type of gameplay by giving the players a quick visual reference to the location. It's not necessary for any RPG, but it can be beneficial.
Interesting. I don't know if that's an old version or I've been lucky, but I haven't had any problems with crashing. It's been extremely stable even when streaming video (including off of a remote DVD) over the network.
I don't mind using the Xbox controller as the interface is geared towards using it. I also use the Xbox for emulation and gaming, so the controller is my primary interface, although I do have the DVD remote. A wireless controller works well.
Neither can stand up to the Tivo remote which is the best I've ever used. So I don't have the best of both worlds in one unit. The Xbox has tons of flexibility you will never see in a commercial product, but yeah you have to make do with the controls.
I wish I could find a nice appliance that did everything from DIVX and OGG playback to recording and transfer over a network, but in this DRM headed world I find that unlikely in the commercial sector. The only better option is a
custom built media pc but the big difference is cost. A modded Xbox with a decent hard drive will run you only $300 or less.
"Of course the Raging One Finger of Darnisus will probably be the most popular creature shadowed on the board."
Which of course can be countered by successful casting of the Bigby's Middle Finger spell.
"I prefered Ral Partha"
Woot! Ral Partha! Yeah those were my favorites too. The detail on the minatures was way better than the stuff TSR put out.
I wonder how much damage all that lead did to my body...
"Furthermore, as far as copyright law is concerned, you can import and export DVDs as much as you like."
Concerning DVDs - the licensing is done based on regions. This was done to allow for different companies to control the distribution rights in different parts of the world. So yes you can by say a region 2 DVD, but you will need a region 2 DVD player to view it - or you will need to change your player to view it. Or you use a "hidden" setting in your DVD player which disables it. This last option is not strictly legal.
I realize in other countries besides the US the region free players are common do to market pressure, but in the US it's all done via the secret key press combo to unlock the region free mode. The region coding is in place to prevent you from playing it.
"That is illegal, not because it came from China, but because it was a copy that violated copyright."
Absolutely, I merely mention China because high quality bootleg production is rampant in that country.
However the original discussion was concerning bit torrents. A video file of a foreign show grabbed off of tv being offered up on a bit torrent is illegal because it is a copy that has violated copyright, just as much as the bootleg from ebay.
"as a crude media player"
Maybe you should take a look at XBMC (Xbox Media Center) before you dimiss it as crude. It's one of the slickest homebrew applications I've ever used and works great for video, audio and image playback. No, it's not a PVR/DVR but it beats the pants off of commercial hardware media streamers.
To clarify, on the Xbox there are software hacks called softmods which allow you to get around the need for a modchip.
It is worth noting that the Gamecube most likely has the LEAST amount of piracy. It took about 4 years before the first Gamecube mod chips appeared and the unique media has made pirating a pain.
The Xbox and PS2 modchips have been around for years .
Well when Sid Meier's Pirates is released for the Xbox I'm sure it will vie for the title.
Oh and if you are thinking of pirating (or buying) the Pirates of the Caribbean game, don't. It's not worth the cost of the blank media.
Or just send me your email address and let me finally use up my 100 mojillion invites that nobody wants.
I promise your email address will not become inundated with pornographic spam.
Maybe just penis enlargement ones.
Where is the link to the game screenshots?
And of course the corporate powers that be would say that you have NO legal right to access any of those shows.
Just as you have NO legal right to access movies or shows that are not currently available for view or purchase in your region.
I went through a Twin Peaks phase a couple years ago, and while I bought the season 1 DVD set and hunted down the crappily produced season 2 VHS set - there was no where that I could obtain the original pilot. I ended up buying a bootleg copy off of eBay. Judging by the optional mandarin and cantonese audio tracks I would imagine it came from that great land of ignoring copyrights, China.
Of course this is illegal and breaking copyright law, just the same as a torrent of any unlicensed content.