The difference between Windows machines and UNIX machines with XFT is that Windows only antialiases fonts over 12-14 points in size. UNIX/Linux on the other hand, by default in XF86 4.x will render all fonts antialiased (like Mac OSX, if I am not mistaken). It is a simple tweak that must be made by adding a few lines to the "XftConfig" file to turn antialiasing off on smaller fonts (you can tweak these numbers to your own preferred levels):
match
any size > 8
any size 15 edit
antialias = false;
Personally, I got quite partial to the antialiasing of all fonts. If you install some TTFs that look pretty good, your desktop can look pretty clean.
A) It was available in my area, as cable currently is.
B) They had a more competitive and consistant pricing scheme.
I've got friends that pay $29 per month. I've got friends that pay more. Personally, for the bandwidth, that seems like a good price. Anything more expensive seems like a ripoff compared to the faster cable modems. Curently though, cable is more bandwidth than I really need. DSL would cut it well for me, but why pay extra, and why deal with crap like PPPOE? It isn't worth it to me. SBC needs to quit acting like idiots or they are going to lose out on a alot of customers.
You've got some problems with your machine. I'm running KDE 3 with Mosfet's Liquid with the effects cracked up. There is no chinkiness here. Everything draws instantaneously. Frankly, your opinion is no different than that of the usual "X sucks" troll that we generally see. You just don't know it because your box isn't set up right, then you insist on dissing it.
So yes, it is probably shitty drivers that are causing your problems.
There are at least 4 releases of the film. I believe that the Japanese and (I think) Malaysian versions are the most sought after. I've seen the official import DVD releases on Ebay before.
Try to find the Japanese version. In the U.S. release, they drop down from the ceiling and fire two shots and the scene is over. In the NC-17 versions, there is a really sweet slow motion firefight. That is just one of the many things that they cut out in the U.S./Canadian release. I also hear that the Dutch version is pretty good, with some differences in audio and extras. The forums at the Boondock Saints website have more info.
Reminds me of the crappy U.S. release of "The Boondock Saints", where they cut out all of the really cool action scenes (most specifically the Russian hotel gunslinging scene). Sometimes a movie gets totally butchered, and that was the case with that film.
My biggest complaint about Mandrake was that it always seemed somewhat broken. Apps seem to not function properly, and there are a lot of weird config issues. Fortunately most of my system hardware worked right out of the box, making it easy to install and configure, but I've not had a Mandrake install that I was ever completly happy with. Back I went to Slackware (where everything works perfectly, but devices take more config time) and banged on it for a while until I knew it inside and out.
A lot of Mandrake never really seemed practical to me, but it has its own niche and followers. I don't use their software, but I became a Mandrake Club member eairlier this year to help support them. They did help me migrate to Linux after all, even though I didn't quite find that their software was right for me.
I agree with you. Mandrake seems to be caught in the middle of a spot where they want to appeal to everyone. Their installs are just too broad and there is a lot of useless stuff that gets installed in a base installation. Lycoris is a good alternative for beginers, but really seems behind on their libs since they fine tweak their software so much. They seem too dependant on certain finite specifics. They still have a one-up on Mandrake for the ease of use category, and they make it a point to not overwhelm you with lots of crappy apps. Please correct me if I am wrong though. I haven't used Mandrake much since the 7.x series, and don't know how much it has changed.
They don't. They almost always send you a refurb of the same product. As a matter of fact, I had an 8.4 GB Maxtor fail on me, and sure enough- they send the exact same drive, refurbished, and resealed in an ESD bag. And the drive was at least 4 years old. They aren't going to send you a newer product when they have boxes of refurbished drives that will still make you buy new products when they become too slow for modern software. Just try running a modern OS on an old ATA 33. It'll make you want to upgrade if you've ever had a taste of modern 7200 RPM IDE drives, or even faster SCSI drives.
IBM is banking on some new advancements in storage media, so they sold that division since it will eventually become obsolete. They've got more money from better fronts anyway.
I personally like the "DeathStar" line. I have 3 60 GXPs, and haven't had a problem with them at all. A friend's business uses them for their clients and has the same results.
I've noticed that there was a trend in overclockers screwing up their drives by tweaking the hell out of their machines, and then blaming IBM. They didn't "learn a lesson" on anything. DeskStars were fine products. Frankly, they've been just as reliable as any product from Maxtor or WD that I have ever owned, and generally were faster than competing products. The "DeathStar" rumors are nothing more than something that grew from angry flames of the product on message boards. Products fail sometimes. People need to live with it. Also: I'm willing to bet that a good 90% of the drive problems were caused by memory errors that rendered the drive unusable. I've whitnessed this problem before and it is easily corrected by downloading an IBM drive repair tool.
Yes, but if you were about to board the plane, you could always browse on over to get your free psychic reading, for only $9.95 USD. That way, you'd know that it was going to crash before you even left the terminal.
See. Browser phones are useful. Don't second guess my article submissions!
*Very* seldom were any DC programs made with WinCE. The PlanetWeb browsers did do it (which is why you see the WinCE SEGA Swirl game on the same disk). However, 99% of all other DC games used the real Katana OS. WinCE was pretty much restricted to crappy ports of PC games- games like Incoming and Wild Metal, if I am not mistaken. The logo on the machine is pretty misleading in that sense. I never saw a good Dreamcast game that was built on the WindowsCE platgorm.
Please don't get the BBA and the short-lived LAN adapter confused. They are not the same product. The LAN adapter is not what CSI is reproducing. They are remaking the standard broadband adapters.
I wouldn't worry about it. Though pre-orders were closed, my sources say that there will be more than enough to go around. Unfortunately, we are still going to have to wait on the production. There haven't been many other details on it, except for the fact that CSI is still collecting payment for the pre-orders.
Also, my results in RTCWolf (and other "ports") with a Kyro 2 are MUCH faster than under Windows. Perhaps you need to do a bit more research before you post lies about something that was only true two years ago, when Linux video card drivers and APIs were really immature.
To slighty paraphrase you: So, your post is nice, but it is really just there to appease Windows zealots.
Since "Bugbear" is a Windows virus, then that probably answers your question.
Linux in China is a big movement that is begining to start, but it will certainly take some time to become adopted. Nobody has been *forced* to use Linux.
Judging by the cost of the X-Box and the cost of these off-the-shelf parts when purchased in bulk, why must anyone assume that they are losing anything? Many of the parts are quite OLD. That includes the hard drive, RAM, CPU, and now even the GPU. It is foolish for anyone to assume that they are losing any money at all. Microsoft gets these parts at dirt-cheap prices, and they have Flextronics build the devices in their slave-labor shops in Mexico.
I just put Slackware 8.1 on my friend's notebook (P233 with 32 MB of RAM). Gnome runs pretty well on it, even with such a small amount of RAM. Just don't run anything that relies on Mozilla (including Nautilus), or you will realize what slow is. 40 MB of RAM will cut it well for Gnome or any lightweight desktop interface. KDE (my preferred desktop for Slack 8.1) runs like molasses with less than 64 MB RAM.
I was really impressed with the results though. I would probably be perfectly content with it, had I not been used to running it on an Athlon 1400 with 1024 MB RAM and 3 40GB - 7200 RPM Deskstars at home.
Can't wait for Slack 9 though, especially with the inclusion of the new Gnome 2.0.
Even then, the cool thing about Slack is that you can still get a machine up and running with just understanding a few simple things. Uncomment a soundcard in/etc/rc.d/rc.modules and change the permissions for all the users. Then run xf86config, and your machine is up and ready to go. The cursed based Slackware installer takes care of pretty much anything nowadays,even networking.
The most difficult thing about learning to use Slackware was learning to use FDISK. After you read about the basics of the UNIX filesystem, it is super-easy, and is even easier today with CFDISK. At the time, I was still new to Linux but realized that I was never content with the other popular distributions. I totally fell in love with Slackware after that day.
Slackware just draws you in after that with its simple configuration script system. I love how much it is like BSD in that respect. Its easy to use and just works perfectly. It's simplicity at its best, but there is no end to what you can do with it. You can make it as complex as you wish, but run it in its most basic form for almost any task.
Patrick, your Linux distribution got me truely interested in the OS a few years ago, and recently I decided to use it as my exclusive desktop OS. Slackware is just perfect! It is lean and fast, and everything just makes sense. I love 8.1, and am really excited about 9.0. You'll always have my $40 when a new release comes out. 8.1 really did it for me, totally outdoing 7.x (which got me started). You are the man! Keep up the good work! My Linux using friends and I all love Slackware.
The obsession with Final Fantasy has caused the gaming community to neglect other outstanding RPG titles that are of high quality. Some notable games are things like Skies of Arcadia (Sega), Arc the Lad and the Lunar series (from Working Designs), Panzer Dragoon Saga (when it was still available), and others like the Grandia series. I also lost interest after FF7- I had followed the series since the beginning, and after they went graphics-crazy, the stories started to suck and it became a series of rehashed ideas. It really sucks that FF is the standard now for RPG games, because now everyone tries to emulate it without offering something original. Which brings me to another point... Game reviewers always try to compare a game to the Final Fantasy series, always citing its weaknesses in comparision... Yet when a game is a blatant ripoff of Final Fantasy, they diss it as much as they can. I don't understand the concept here.
I've personally been playing more games from smaller developers these days. A notable one is a twitch game called Space Tripper. You can download it for Windows, Linux, and MacOS and the full version only costs $12.00. How can you beat that? The game is totally fun and addictive, and has some of the best 3D graphics that you will see in any shooter. It runs on a very minimalistic 3d accellerator too (by todays standards). You can get it from http://www.pompom.org.uk
Of course, I still have a ton of PSX and Dreamcast games to play. Until these newer consoles start getting decent material, then I'll still be set for years of gaming.
I'd like a 9700 pro, but Linux support for ATi cards has been pretty sucky. I currently use a PowerVR Kyro II, and it works great. Games that use pixel shaders and other modern features will make short work of it though. Supposedly I will be able to run the new UT2003 game after PowerVR fixes the driveers (it currently runs fairly well on this card under Windows), but that might be the last big title that will run properly on that generation of cards in a decent resolution.
Personally, I prefer competition. I don't care to buy an nVidia product because I am sick of everyone pulling a 3dfx tactic with their hardware. People aren't writing games for OpenGL or DirectX anymore... They are writing games with easy tweaks and hacks that only work properly with nVidia hardware. A sign of the growing laziness of software developers...
We're going to see what we saw a few years ago. Game developers are going to be obsessed with including features of the newest cards, and they are going to write software around specific peices of hardware (e.g. 3dfx and their GLide API). The game market is going to puke a bit until people on average can have acceptable 3D hardware, or developers stop pushing the limits. Most people don't want to upgrade upgrade their hardware constantly. GeForce 3s were only released early last year, and now nVidia's new product is about to hit the streets. Talk about quick product cycles...
Frankly, there is no reason that FFX shouldn't run on a GF2 other than showing signs of a poor port. There is nothing substantially amazing about the PS2 hardware in respect to current PC graphics accellerators. Something is obviously wrong with this picture.
Perhaps there are going to be some substantial enhancements to the game? Judging by the poor quality of the ports of the previous games, I expect little from this one.
Slashdot Mirror
The difference between Windows machines and UNIX machines with XFT is that Windows only antialiases fonts over 12-14 points in size. UNIX/Linux on the other hand, by default in XF86 4.x will render all fonts antialiased (like Mac OSX, if I am not mistaken). It is a simple tweak that must be made by adding a few lines to the "XftConfig" file to turn antialiasing off on smaller fonts (you can tweak these numbers to your own preferred levels):
match
any size > 8
any size 15
edit
antialias = false;
Personally, I got quite partial to the antialiasing of all fonts. If you install some TTFs that look pretty good, your desktop can look pretty clean.
I'd be using DSL right now if:
A) It was available in my area, as cable currently is.
B) They had a more competitive and consistant pricing scheme.
I've got friends that pay $29 per month. I've got friends that pay more. Personally, for the bandwidth, that seems like a good price. Anything more expensive seems like a ripoff compared to the faster cable modems. Curently though, cable is more bandwidth than I really need. DSL would cut it well for me, but why pay extra, and why deal with crap like PPPOE? It isn't worth it to me. SBC needs to quit acting like idiots or they are going to lose out on a alot of customers.
Or Lycoris, but you X-Server still needs to restart when you do it (until this is implemented).
You've got some problems with your machine. I'm running KDE 3 with Mosfet's Liquid with the effects cracked up. There is no chinkiness here. Everything draws instantaneously. Frankly, your opinion is no different than that of the usual "X sucks" troll that we generally see. You just don't know it because your box isn't set up right, then you insist on dissing it.
So yes, it is probably shitty drivers that are causing your problems.
There are at least 4 releases of the film. I believe that the Japanese and (I think) Malaysian versions are the most sought after. I've seen the official import DVD releases on Ebay before.
Try to find the Japanese version. In the U.S. release, they drop down from the ceiling and fire two shots and the scene is over. In the NC-17 versions, there is a really sweet slow motion firefight. That is just one of the many things that they cut out in the U.S./Canadian release. I also hear that the Dutch version is pretty good, with some differences in audio and extras. The forums at the Boondock Saints website have more info.
Actually, that is "Dildo Bugger", if you've ever read the Harvard Lampoon's "Bored of the Rings".
Reminds me of the crappy U.S. release of "The Boondock Saints", where they cut out all of the really cool action scenes (most specifically the Russian hotel gunslinging scene). Sometimes a movie gets totally butchered, and that was the case with that film.
"Veritas, Aequitas"
My biggest complaint about Mandrake was that it always seemed somewhat broken. Apps seem to not function properly, and there are a lot of weird config issues. Fortunately most of my system hardware worked right out of the box, making it easy to install and configure, but I've not had a Mandrake install that I was ever completly happy with. Back I went to Slackware (where everything works perfectly, but devices take more config time) and banged on it for a while until I knew it inside and out.
A lot of Mandrake never really seemed practical to me, but it has its own niche and followers. I don't use their software, but I became a Mandrake Club member eairlier this year to help support them. They did help me migrate to Linux after all, even though I didn't quite find that their software was right for me.
I agree with you. Mandrake seems to be caught in the middle of a spot where they want to appeal to everyone. Their installs are just too broad and there is a lot of useless stuff that gets installed in a base installation. Lycoris is a good alternative for beginers, but really seems behind on their libs since they fine tweak their software so much. They seem too dependant on certain finite specifics. They still have a one-up on Mandrake for the ease of use category, and they make it a point to not overwhelm you with lots of crappy apps. Please correct me if I am wrong though. I haven't used Mandrake much since the 7.x series, and don't know how much it has changed.
They don't. They almost always send you a refurb of the same product. As a matter of fact, I had an 8.4 GB Maxtor fail on me, and sure enough- they send the exact same drive, refurbished, and resealed in an ESD bag. And the drive was at least 4 years old. They aren't going to send you a newer product when they have boxes of refurbished drives that will still make you buy new products when they become too slow for modern software. Just try running a modern OS on an old ATA 33. It'll make you want to upgrade if you've ever had a taste of modern 7200 RPM IDE drives, or even faster SCSI drives.
IBM is banking on some new advancements in storage media, so they sold that division since it will eventually become obsolete. They've got more money from better fronts anyway.
I personally like the "DeathStar" line. I have 3 60 GXPs, and haven't had a problem with them at all. A friend's business uses them for their clients and has the same results.
I've noticed that there was a trend in overclockers screwing up their drives by tweaking the hell out of their machines, and then blaming IBM. They didn't "learn a lesson" on anything. DeskStars were fine products. Frankly, they've been just as reliable as any product from Maxtor or WD that I have ever owned, and generally were faster than competing products. The "DeathStar" rumors are nothing more than something that grew from angry flames of the product on message boards. Products fail sometimes. People need to live with it. Also: I'm willing to bet that a good 90% of the drive problems were caused by memory errors that rendered the drive unusable. I've whitnessed this problem before and it is easily corrected by downloading an IBM drive repair tool.
Yes, but if you were about to board the plane, you could always browse on over to get your free psychic reading, for only $9.95 USD. That way, you'd know that it was going to crash before you even left the terminal.
See. Browser phones are useful. Don't second guess my article submissions!
Did anyone else notice the similarities between the web site name and KDE's "Got the Dot?" slogan?
Ah. Maybe its just me.
*Very* seldom were any DC programs made with WinCE. The PlanetWeb browsers did do it (which is why you see the WinCE SEGA Swirl game on the same disk). However, 99% of all other DC games used the real Katana OS. WinCE was pretty much restricted to crappy ports of PC games- games like Incoming and Wild Metal, if I am not mistaken. The logo on the machine is pretty misleading in that sense. I never saw a good Dreamcast game that was built on the WindowsCE platgorm.
Please don't get the BBA and the short-lived LAN adapter confused. They are not the same product. The LAN adapter is not what CSI is reproducing. They are remaking the standard broadband adapters.
I wouldn't worry about it. Though pre-orders were closed, my sources say that there will be more than enough to go around. Unfortunately, we are still going to have to wait on the production. There haven't been many other details on it, except for the fact that CSI is still collecting payment for the pre-orders.
Hmmm... Your right. Guess that we shouldn't pay attention to THIS
Or THIS
Also, my results in RTCWolf (and other "ports") with a Kyro 2 are MUCH faster than under Windows. Perhaps you need to do a bit more research before you post lies about something that was only true two years ago, when Linux video card drivers and APIs were really immature.
To slighty paraphrase you: So, your post is nice, but it is really just there to appease Windows zealots.
Since "Bugbear" is a Windows virus, then that probably answers your question.
Linux in China is a big movement that is begining to start, but it will certainly take some time to become adopted. Nobody has been *forced* to use Linux.
Exactly.
Judging by the cost of the X-Box and the cost of these off-the-shelf parts when purchased in bulk, why must anyone assume that they are losing anything? Many of the parts are quite OLD. That includes the hard drive, RAM, CPU, and now even the GPU. It is foolish for anyone to assume that they are losing any money at all. Microsoft gets these parts at dirt-cheap prices, and they have Flextronics build the devices in their slave-labor shops in Mexico.
Taking a loss... Sure.
I'm sorry, but was that a joke? I really hope so.
It is a slightly tweaked Celeron machine with a slightly tweaked nVidia GPU. What kind of "emulation" must you do other than some BIOS routines?
I just put Slackware 8.1 on my friend's notebook (P233 with 32 MB of RAM). Gnome runs pretty well on it, even with such a small amount of RAM. Just don't run anything that relies on Mozilla (including Nautilus), or you will realize what slow is. 40 MB of RAM will cut it well for Gnome or any lightweight desktop interface. KDE (my preferred desktop for Slack 8.1) runs like molasses with less than 64 MB RAM.
I was really impressed with the results though. I would probably be perfectly content with it, had I not been used to running it on an Athlon 1400 with 1024 MB RAM and 3 40GB - 7200 RPM Deskstars at home.
Can't wait for Slack 9 though, especially with the inclusion of the new Gnome 2.0.
Even then, the cool thing about Slack is that you can still get a machine up and running with just understanding a few simple things. Uncomment a soundcard in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and change the permissions for all the users. Then run xf86config, and your machine is up and ready to go. The cursed based Slackware installer takes care of pretty much anything nowadays,even networking.
The most difficult thing about learning to use Slackware was learning to use FDISK. After you read about the basics of the UNIX filesystem, it is super-easy, and is even easier today with CFDISK. At the time, I was still new to Linux but realized that I was never content with the other popular distributions. I totally fell in love with Slackware after that day.
Slackware just draws you in after that with its simple configuration script system. I love how much it is like BSD in that respect. Its easy to use and just works perfectly. It's simplicity at its best, but there is no end to what you can do with it. You can make it as complex as you wish, but run it in its most basic form for almost any task.
Patrick, your Linux distribution got me truely interested in the OS a few years ago, and recently I decided to use it as my exclusive desktop OS. Slackware is just perfect! It is lean and fast, and everything just makes sense. I love 8.1, and am really excited about 9.0. You'll always have my $40 when a new release comes out. 8.1 really did it for me, totally outdoing 7.x (which got me started). You are the man! Keep up the good work! My Linux using friends and I all love Slackware.
The obsession with Final Fantasy has caused the gaming community to neglect other outstanding RPG titles that are of high quality. Some notable games are things like Skies of Arcadia (Sega), Arc the Lad and the Lunar series (from Working Designs), Panzer Dragoon Saga (when it was still available), and others like the Grandia series. I also lost interest after FF7- I had followed the series since the beginning, and after they went graphics-crazy, the stories started to suck and it became a series of rehashed ideas. It really sucks that FF is the standard now for RPG games, because now everyone tries to emulate it without offering something original. Which brings me to another point... Game reviewers always try to compare a game to the Final Fantasy series, always citing its weaknesses in comparision... Yet when a game is a blatant ripoff of Final Fantasy, they diss it as much as they can. I don't understand the concept here.
I've personally been playing more games from smaller developers these days. A notable one is a twitch game called Space Tripper. You can download it for Windows, Linux, and MacOS and the full version only costs $12.00. How can you beat that? The game is totally fun and addictive, and has some of the best 3D graphics that you will see in any shooter. It runs on a very minimalistic 3d accellerator too (by todays standards). You can get it from http://www.pompom.org.uk
Of course, I still have a ton of PSX and Dreamcast games to play. Until these newer consoles start getting decent material, then I'll still be set for years of gaming.
I'd like a 9700 pro, but Linux support for ATi cards has been pretty sucky. I currently use a PowerVR Kyro II, and it works great. Games that use pixel shaders and other modern features will make short work of it though. Supposedly I will be able to run the new UT2003 game after PowerVR fixes the driveers (it currently runs fairly well on this card under Windows), but that might be the last big title that will run properly on that generation of cards in a decent resolution.
Personally, I prefer competition. I don't care to buy an nVidia product because I am sick of everyone pulling a 3dfx tactic with their hardware. People aren't writing games for OpenGL or DirectX anymore... They are writing games with easy tweaks and hacks that only work properly with nVidia hardware. A sign of the growing laziness of software developers...
We're going to see what we saw a few years ago. Game developers are going to be obsessed with including features of the newest cards, and they are going to write software around specific peices of hardware (e.g. 3dfx and their GLide API). The game market is going to puke a bit until people on average can have acceptable 3D hardware, or developers stop pushing the limits. Most people don't want to upgrade upgrade their hardware constantly. GeForce 3s were only released early last year, and now nVidia's new product is about to hit the streets. Talk about quick product cycles...
Frankly, there is no reason that FFX shouldn't run on a GF2 other than showing signs of a poor port. There is nothing substantially amazing about the PS2 hardware in respect to current PC graphics accellerators. Something is obviously wrong with this picture.
Perhaps there are going to be some substantial enhancements to the game? Judging by the poor quality of the ports of the previous games, I expect little from this one.