The only reason to use broadband over power lines is if you don't have some other type of line. If you have phone lines you can use DSL. If you have cable tv use that. If there is dormant fiber near you use that. If you have none of the above check to see whether it will cost more to use power lines or install other lines. I think the vast majority of people living in populated areas in the western world will find BPL to be the best solution.
but I stayed away from the Nforce chipset due to the ongoing support problems it has had.
I have an Abit NF7-S with DDR400 RAM, an XP 2500+ CPU and a GeForce FX5900 at 8X AGP. I dual boot Windows XP(games) and gentoo 2.6(everything else).
I have no problems. Anyone who does have problems just isn't doing it right. Absolutely all of my hardware works perfectly in both oses. Yours should too. My SATA even works now because of 2.6. I think I'll up it to 2.6.3 next week:)
And who cares if drivers are OSS or not? Are you really going to be modifying your video driver? Even if you are, can you do it better than NVidia, the people who make the chip? I doubt there are security holes in it that need fixing or hidden spywares in it. Most of the advantages of OSS don't come into play when making drivers. In fact, I think that OSS would be a disadvantage with drivers. And as long as the binary drivers are free as in beer it doesn't affect me either way.
Benefit to me of using binary driver - computer works fast. Caveat to me.... none.
Benefit to me of using OSS driver - computer works fast. Caveat to me.... less fast, not all features implemented perfectly.
I however do admit I use forcedeth, why? Well because its easier to setup, just a kernel config option, and it works just as fast. I don't think that will ever happen with video card drivers.
I'm tired of all these slashdot stories that all have the same answer. The right tool for the right job. If you are screwing in screws you need a screwdriver. If you are hammering nails you need a hammer. If you want to buy hammers to screw screws it will probalby work, but with all the screws you bend it will cost more money and vice versa too.
There is a best selection of hardware and software under a given circumstance. There is no way to say that linux is cheaper than windows, period. There might be a guy who gets linux for free, but he runs weird hardware and would have to hire someone to write a driver. Windows might be cheaper for that guy. There might be an artist who already has a copy of photoshop for mac, but not for windows. A G5 might be cheaper for that guy. TOS can only be determined on a case by case basis.
The rule of right tool for the right job applies to so many slashdot stories I don't know if it's still worth posting it every time I see it. So next time someone says "my programming language is better than yours" or "this wireless protocol is better than that one" or "this software is cheaper/better than that one" point them here.
exactly my thought. My first pc was a Pentium/// 450mhz with a TNT2 from 5 years ago. Recently I bought all new and got an AMD XP 2500+ with a GeForce FX5900. I expect that 5 years from now I will need a new pc. I don't care if video cards change interface next year, because I wont be needing new stuff for 4 more.
A class action law suit is a huge deal and will take lots of time money and effort. It isn't worth it for the measly 50 bucks. Go to small claims court. You don't need a lawyer, but you can get one if you want. There are tons of websites written by people who go to small claims court on a daily basis that tell you what you need to do. You do some research, file some papers, go to court once and get some money. Very often the other guy doesn't even show and you get some dough.
My guess is that the DS has some secret awesome thing going for it. What I'm thinking is this. Link cable gaming never really took off on the game boy because you needed two gameboys, two cartridges of the game and the cable. On the GBA it is starting to pick up because of the e-reader, the gamecube connecting, pokemon, and all the multiplayer games that need only one cartridge for 4 people instead of 2 for 2.
My guess is that the ds will have cool single player games that utilize both screens in an intuitive and revolutionary way. However, I'm also guessing that the thing will split in half, physically, to become two pieces that communicate wirelessly with each other. With a single cartridge and a single system two people will be able to have never before considered portable gaming experiences. Imagine the possibilities. Battleship. Spy vs. Spy (remember!), Final Fantasy Tactics. Mario + Luigi! Zelda! Mario Tennis! Mario Party! Now if two dses can commuicate you can have 4 players 4 screens two systems two cartridges in the car on the go.
The evidence I have? None, it's just a guess. But here's a qote from Iwata
-...we're thinking about new forms of play using wireless communication
If they do what I'm thinking the DS will become king. Either that or I'm hoping they are such creative geniuses that I have not thought of their secret. I just hope they have something. I want Nintendo to stay around for a loooong time. When I have kids I need some games for them to play.
While win is great and all, and I hope it gets better it has too many problems that are not being addressed. The biggest problem is how much of a pain in the butt it is to configure. Wine needs some sort of easy or automatic configuration tool. I mean, when it's easier to set up xfree86 than it is to set up wine we have a problem.
The second and most obvious thing is that because wine exists then less software will be made for linux in the meantime. There is at least one person out there who said to themselves "why bother porting this windows app to linux, they can just use wine". Many many open source apps are ported to windows every day because we have tools like cygwin and minigw with which to recompile them. I think this is the biggest barrier to linux taking more market share. Many people I encounter wouldn't mind switching, but there is always one or two applications that they absolutely need that hold them back. Wine can help, if it works for those apps, because that person will be able to switch. But wine can also hurt because that app will never get a real port, especially if it is closed source. The fact that wine is hard to configure and that it doesn't work perfectly tend to make wine more hurt than help.
I just took a peek at the batteries in side my cordless mouse. Sure enough Energizer e^2 titanium batteries have a tester on them.
And why the heck is anyone doing a dumb project like this? I mean sure, it's neat, but its entirely impractical. You can have software monitor the temperatures reported by your motherboards built in temperature sensors. Or go further and put a digital LCD in the front of your case that shows the temp. Using the battery thing is quite silly.
Opera doesn't get the press that FireFox does for a number of reasons. While Opera is a "next gen" browser it isn't as polished and perfect as Firefox is. Ask the guy who invented tabbed browsing (forget his name). I read an article where he pretty much said "yeah, I made tabbed browsing in Opera and Safari and Phoenix (this was way back). But the way I did it in phoenix was the right way". The themes and extensions are key. Also The idea is to get rid of ads. Forget about open source or not. The fact that it costs money to get opera without an ad is ridiculous.
I'm at a tech school and people are starting to switch to Firefox surely but gradually. We may reach 10 - 15% of the campus soon. Plus I think I'm going to put up some flyers and leave some cds lying around to help it out a bit.
Oh yeah, I have a friend who was the most stubborn Opera user ever. Wouldn't even consider switching. Got him to sit at Firebird for 5 minutes. Couldn't admit that Opera was better with a straight face. He totally caved. In fact, anyone who I've gotten to seriously try out Firewhatever has never looked back. Nobody who browses the web can resist because it is just so objectively superior in all ways. The only thing left to do is increase awareness.
The thing about episodic games is this. It seems like a good idea at first, but it really would be hard to execute. First off a game is about gameplay. It's not a tv show or a movie where plot is the main element. Interactivity is the main element in any video game. By creating more episodes, even if they come with more levels and maps and such, you are mostly just adding more plot elements and making the game longer. The interactivity will remain the same. So over time the number of people who are going to pay for the next episode decreases.
Secondly the effort required to create a game doesn't decrease when you break the game up into small pieces. Let's say you wanted to make Half-Life 2 episodic. Well all the engine work and such remains just as hard and takes just as long. Also they'll have to spend time making just as many levels and maps. Making the game a serial will just give them a bit more time to do so. The thing is that nobody will pay 50$ for a single episode of a game. Likely each episode will have to be less money. But then you're giving people the whole game for too little and they might not buy future episodes. Well, what if you promise the first 5 episodes for 50$. People might not take because if they pay 50 and only get a part of what they paid for immediately they might not take.
Episodic video games aren't a very feasible idea. It seems cool in your head, but try to think of a profitable way to do it and you just wont come up with one. Video games are like movies not like tv shows. They have sequels and prequels not episodes. This is mainly due to high production times and costs. The closest you can get to a serial video game is an MMO with a special event based plot. I think the future really is in an MMO game with a persistent world, skill based gameplay, and plot directly affected by players.
It seems like it except for one thing. This isn't a digital rights management issue. While the technologies may be similar they are not for the same purpose. DRM is used to make sure that people who do not have a right to a piece of data are unable to access it. This is an issue of information assurance. You want to assure that the image originally taken by the digital camera is the same one that you are looking at in the courtroom. One possible way to do this is to apply DRM to the image, but that isn't necessarily a perfect solution. Someone who has the right to alter the image just might do it. If nobody has the right, what happens when somebody needs to enlarge it or change the color or something?
I really would like to own all the star wars movies ever in one giant dvd box set of super awesome. I don't even like eps 1-3, but the geek in me must own them. However, there is one problem.
GREEDO SHOOTS FIRST!
FUCK THAT.
I know it's super nerdy to complain about it, but I'm not willing to pay for a copy of the movie if that's the way it's going to be. Solo is supposed to kill him in cold blood.
Lucas, if you want my cash you're going to have to release the real deal. Spielberg, you too. I didn't buy none of your walkie talkie E.T. shit. Good thing I still have the real deals on VHS. But still, DVD would be nice.
Another note to evangelists. If people only use word and have no need for spreadsheets databases and such. Convert them to abiword on windows first. My usual conversion strategy is thunderbird firefUx, abiword and gaim. Once they've got that down if they like it I say, you know... all the software on linux is like that. In fact, the whole os is like that.
It sucks because you're using Mozilla. Mozilla is the old and busted. PHOENIX(Firebird/Firefox) is the new hotness. And don't try it ant give up on it immediately. Firefox is the new hotness because you get exactly and only the functionality by adding and configuring extensions. All the functionality that you are asking for is there.
Just because I've been playing for 10 years doesn't mean it's a full time activity. In fact I only play maybe 2 hours of fps a week. It just happens that I've been doing since a long time ago. It didn't take 10 years to learn how to play. But I've got 10 years of experience under the belt. If you've got 0 and most players have at least 3 or 4 you've got a serious disadvantage. And for most people, dying instantly every time is not fun. Doom, however old it is, is still a quality game. It teaches the player the basic fps skillset and provides a strong foundation for playing other newer games. Just like anything else in life you need to know where you've been to know where you're going.
So yeah, there are lots of things I've been doing for 10 years or more. It's just a hobby I've had, not something I dedicate my life to. Are you somehow saying that in order not to be a loser someone has to change their hobby every 9 years? It would be one thing if I played all day for sure. But I don't. So... yeah.
Beginners should play single player first. Get yourself a copy of doom. Beat the game on at least hurt me plenty mode. Then beat doom 2 the same way. It doesn't take long. Then beat quake 2 single player on normal. Forget quake 1. Then beat half-life single player on normal. After that you should have amassed enough fps skill to rock the house.
Play some good old team fortress classic. It isn't that popular anymore, but people still play. It will train you to apply your already existing fps skills against real players. Once you've got the multiplayer fps groove and the skills to avoid being called a n00b pick your game of choice. You can go for a slower paced lower skilled game like america's army, BF1942. A middle of the road game like UT. Or the high skill fierce competition games like CS and natural selection.
There are lots of fpses out there, and one of them is right for you. But don't jump right into the online world like you're in the polar bears club. Remember, you're going up against guys like me who've been fpsing since wolf3d on dos and the game wont be fun for you if I frag you in two seconds every time. Go through the same skill building process we did. You have the luxury of not having to wait years for new games to come out, so take advantage of it.
Everything in the world should be in control of who knows best about it. One of the major problems in the (western) world today is that every corporation is ruled and owned by businessmen. They only know about business. That's not the way it should be. The music industry should be headed by people who know about music. A car factory should be headed by people who know a lot about cars. The owner of a football team should be someone who knows a lot about football. The computer geeks should be in charge of the internet.
Too often now what happens is some rich person who knows little to nothing about the actual product or industry heads the group/corporation and hires those who do to work for it. Reversing this and putting knowledgable folk in charge of respective organization will solve most of the problems we have today.
I think what MS is going for here is a little different that what we're thinking. Obviously adding metadata to every stinking file is a dumb idea. For compatability reasons among thousands of others. Nothing wrong with just having an intelligent directory structure and naming files appropriately in the first place.
But what I think MS is going to do is not have metadata on each file, but have an entire meta file system. You wont even worry about directories and filenames anymore. I think the os is going to maintain a database of metadata and associated pointers to files. The concept of the directory structure will be destroyed, but probably still be accesible buried down below. I imagine that everytime more files come in the os will gather as much info about them as it can and ask you for the rest. Then whenever a user wants some files they'll use a google style search to find them. No more "where did my files go?"
This completely blows for us power users. It adds another level of abstraction on the sytem that is mostly unecessary. It is only helpful to disorganized people who make a mess of their machines. The problem is that most windows users are just that. Disorganized mess makers. You all know the ones with 100 icons on the desktop. For these people, this sytem is awesome. It's awesome assuming it works perfectly, which it wont. Also it is a technological solution to the real problem. Lack of education. You will never be able to force users to use the machine in a certain way by changing the technology. They will always attempt to use it the way they are comfortable with for the things they want to do. This is evident by the thousands of "duct-tape programs" for windows that sit in the sytem tray and take up ram only to alter a small piece of the os' functionality.
Changing the program like this will only confuse and annoy people who have gotten used to the existing windowses. Windows geeks will embrace it and use it to its fullest potential. Linux geeks will still only use windows to play a few games that wineX doesn't work on, and convert more and more people to free software.
I didn't know about xconfig before! I really have to spruce up my install. I'm still using kernel 2.6.0 and I should probably up it to 2.6.2. My problem is I use gentoo and I have to configure the kernel manually. I know HOW to do it as in what make commands to issue in order to get a binary kernel out of the thing. And how to put the kernel in/boot and point my lilo at it. What I'm not always sure on is exactly which configure options I want on and off. The important ones are obvious. Yes I have an athlon. Yes I need my nfornce network card, emu10k1, silicon image sata, pre-emptible kernel etc. etc. But a lot of them I just have no clue. Some options have useful help messages like "if you don't know, just say Y (or N) it wont slow you down". But there are still a zillion modules and options in there that I have no clue if I should use Y M or N.
We should make a repository of hardware configurations and which options should be turned on depending how you will use it. People should just say hey, I got this machine here with this hardware. I'm using it as a web server, and this is my kernel config. If enough people put there configs in, then people like me could find others with similar or identically matching hardware and use those configs. I'm sure it would also bring to light better configs for most people. I'm sure there's some guy out there not selecting a certain option who should be. And if he posts his config online some geek will be sure to point it out to him.
I'll agree with that. The problem is that we keep making systems that have more and more features. More and more power and capabilities. The cost of adding these things is decreased ease of use. Power and ease are inversely proportional.
Think about how easy it would be to make an e-mail app that only did two things. Read e-mail and send e-mail. The only input from the user would be the to address, subject line and message text. There would be two buttons, read and send. I could write that app today and so could you, if you're the avg/.er.
Make a whole suite of apps just like this. They have absolute minimum functionality and Kindergarten intelligence ease of use. E-mail, web browser, word processor, solitaire, p2p, media player, etc. That's it. Set all options by default, like pop-up blocking and cookie accpeting. Just don't let the user change them. Put all kinds of other junk like a firewall and such under the hood, secure by default and completely transparent to the user. Sell it for 50 bucks in a shiny box at wal-mart. Market it up with a zillion tv commercials and a book that tells you all about it.
Zillions of dollars you will make. Tech support nightmares you will defeat. Us geeks can keep using our "real" software and the computer really will be just a stupid appliance for everyone else.
The problem fits well wit the car analogy from above. A car is complicated and you need to know how to drive it or you will crash. Most people can drive well enough, not great, but well enough. That's because the cars they drive have automatic transmissions, two pedals and a wheel. The problem with computing is that we've given everybody a formula machine. Some can drive it, some get scared and die going 200mph. What you can't drive a car with a semi-automatic sequential gearbox and a launch start system? Stupid.
There is an easy way around it. The problem is you will make yourself very obvious. Simply pick a time at which the server in question is in high use. Hammer the port. Eventually someone will knock on the door opening it for 10 seconds and you put your foot in the door before they do. The other way is if you can get a packet sniffer simply look at the packets that came before and determine the secret knock.
This is still an interesting idea and definitely has at least a few places in which it would be an effective authentication mechanism.
people still play this game. It was a fad that every geek got into when I was in middle school, so oh about 9 to 10 years ago. Then it died. Alliances was the last expansion I remember, and it came out just as I stopped playing.
I've met people who still play, and I see them at the local game store. But I just don't understand them anymore. In the early days it was cool because CCGs were a new thing. And Magic was the first big one. Nowadays though, it is no longer a game of skill or strategy. It is a game of money. Whoever has the most money can buy the best deck that wins instantly. I see it happen all the time at the store.
I'm not going to rant and rave about all the stupidities and problems with CCGs, but let me just say this. Save your money and buy a game where skill determines victory as opposed to luck or money. I highly suggest German Board Games like Puerto Rico and El Grande. Also any of the non-collectible card games from Looney Labs like Nanofictionary, Chrononauts or Fluxx are excellent.
Seriously, who the fuck still plays magic!?!?! It's incomprehensible.
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The only reason to use broadband over power lines is if you don't have some other type of line. If you have phone lines you can use DSL. If you have cable tv use that. If there is dormant fiber near you use that. If you have none of the above check to see whether it will cost more to use power lines or install other lines. I think the vast majority of people living in populated areas in the western world will find BPL to be the best solution.
but I stayed away from the Nforce chipset due to the ongoing support problems it has had.
:)
I have an Abit NF7-S with DDR400 RAM, an XP 2500+ CPU and a GeForce FX5900 at 8X AGP. I dual boot Windows XP(games) and gentoo 2.6(everything else).
I have no problems. Anyone who does have problems just isn't doing it right. Absolutely all of my hardware works perfectly in both oses. Yours should too. My SATA even works now because of 2.6. I think I'll up it to 2.6.3 next week
And who cares if drivers are OSS or not? Are you really going to be modifying your video driver? Even if you are, can you do it better than NVidia, the people who make the chip? I doubt there are security holes in it that need fixing or hidden spywares in it. Most of the advantages of OSS don't come into play when making drivers. In fact, I think that OSS would be a disadvantage with drivers. And as long as the binary drivers are free as in beer it doesn't affect me either way.
Benefit to me of using binary driver - computer works fast. Caveat to me.... none.
Benefit to me of using OSS driver - computer works fast. Caveat to me.... less fast, not all features implemented perfectly.
I however do admit I use forcedeth, why? Well because its easier to setup, just a kernel config option, and it works just as fast. I don't think that will ever happen with video card drivers.
Puerto Rico is still a better game, not to knock settlers or anything.
Oh yeah, play german board games! They are awesome!
If I get some free time maybe I will make a network-able gui version of puerto rico that doesn't suck.
I'm tired of all these slashdot stories that all have the same answer. The right tool for the right job. If you are screwing in screws you need a screwdriver. If you are hammering nails you need a hammer. If you want to buy hammers to screw screws it will probalby work, but with all the screws you bend it will cost more money and vice versa too.
There is a best selection of hardware and software under a given circumstance. There is no way to say that linux is cheaper than windows, period. There might be a guy who gets linux for free, but he runs weird hardware and would have to hire someone to write a driver. Windows might be cheaper for that guy. There might be an artist who already has a copy of photoshop for mac, but not for windows. A G5 might be cheaper for that guy. TOS can only be determined on a case by case basis.
The rule of right tool for the right job applies to so many slashdot stories I don't know if it's still worth posting it every time I see it. So next time someone says "my programming language is better than yours" or "this wireless protocol is better than that one" or "this software is cheaper/better than that one" point them here.
exactly my thought. My first pc was a Pentium /// 450mhz with a TNT2 from 5 years ago. Recently I bought all new and got an AMD XP 2500+ with a GeForce FX5900. I expect that 5 years from now I will need a new pc. I don't care if video cards change interface next year, because I wont be needing new stuff for 4 more.
A class action law suit is a huge deal and will take lots of time money and effort. It isn't worth it for the measly 50 bucks. Go to small claims court. You don't need a lawyer, but you can get one if you want. There are tons of websites written by people who go to small claims court on a daily basis that tell you what you need to do. You do some research, file some papers, go to court once and get some money. Very often the other guy doesn't even show and you get some dough.
Oh yeah, IANAL.
My guess is that the ds will have cool single player games that utilize both screens in an intuitive and revolutionary way. However, I'm also guessing that the thing will split in half, physically, to become two pieces that communicate wirelessly with each other. With a single cartridge and a single system two people will be able to have never before considered portable gaming experiences. Imagine the possibilities. Battleship. Spy vs. Spy (remember!), Final Fantasy Tactics. Mario + Luigi! Zelda! Mario Tennis! Mario Party! Now if two dses can commuicate you can have 4 players 4 screens two systems two cartridges in the car on the go.
The evidence I have? None, it's just a guess. But here's a qote from IwataIf they do what I'm thinking the DS will become king. Either that or I'm hoping they are such creative geniuses that I have not thought of their secret. I just hope they have something. I want Nintendo to stay around for a loooong time. When I have kids I need some games for them to play.
http://www.opensourcejudaism.com/
While win is great and all, and I hope it gets better it has too many problems that are not being addressed. The biggest problem is how much of a pain in the butt it is to configure. Wine needs some sort of easy or automatic configuration tool. I mean, when it's easier to set up xfree86 than it is to set up wine we have a problem.
The second and most obvious thing is that because wine exists then less software will be made for linux in the meantime. There is at least one person out there who said to themselves "why bother porting this windows app to linux, they can just use wine". Many many open source apps are ported to windows every day because we have tools like cygwin and minigw with which to recompile them. I think this is the biggest barrier to linux taking more market share. Many people I encounter wouldn't mind switching, but there is always one or two applications that they absolutely need that hold them back. Wine can help, if it works for those apps, because that person will be able to switch. But wine can also hurt because that app will never get a real port, especially if it is closed source. The fact that wine is hard to configure and that it doesn't work perfectly tend to make wine more hurt than help.
I just took a peek at the batteries in side my cordless mouse. Sure enough Energizer e^2 titanium batteries have a tester on them.
And why the heck is anyone doing a dumb project like this? I mean sure, it's neat, but its entirely impractical. You can have software monitor the temperatures reported by your motherboards built in temperature sensors. Or go further and put a digital LCD in the front of your case that shows the temp. Using the battery thing is quite silly.
Opera doesn't get the press that FireFox does for a number of reasons. While Opera is a "next gen" browser it isn't as polished and perfect as Firefox is. Ask the guy who invented tabbed browsing (forget his name). I read an article where he pretty much said "yeah, I made tabbed browsing in Opera and Safari and Phoenix (this was way back). But the way I did it in phoenix was the right way". The themes and extensions are key. Also The idea is to get rid of ads. Forget about open source or not. The fact that it costs money to get opera without an ad is ridiculous.
I'm at a tech school and people are starting to switch to Firefox surely but gradually. We may reach 10 - 15% of the campus soon. Plus I think I'm going to put up some flyers and leave some cds lying around to help it out a bit.
Oh yeah, I have a friend who was the most stubborn Opera user ever. Wouldn't even consider switching. Got him to sit at Firebird for 5 minutes. Couldn't admit that Opera was better with a straight face. He totally caved. In fact, anyone who I've gotten to seriously try out Firewhatever has never looked back. Nobody who browses the web can resist because it is just so objectively superior in all ways. The only thing left to do is increase awareness.
The thing about episodic games is this. It seems like a good idea at first, but it really would be hard to execute. First off a game is about gameplay. It's not a tv show or a movie where plot is the main element. Interactivity is the main element in any video game. By creating more episodes, even if they come with more levels and maps and such, you are mostly just adding more plot elements and making the game longer. The interactivity will remain the same. So over time the number of people who are going to pay for the next episode decreases.
Secondly the effort required to create a game doesn't decrease when you break the game up into small pieces. Let's say you wanted to make Half-Life 2 episodic. Well all the engine work and such remains just as hard and takes just as long. Also they'll have to spend time making just as many levels and maps. Making the game a serial will just give them a bit more time to do so. The thing is that nobody will pay 50$ for a single episode of a game. Likely each episode will have to be less money. But then you're giving people the whole game for too little and they might not buy future episodes. Well, what if you promise the first 5 episodes for 50$. People might not take because if they pay 50 and only get a part of what they paid for immediately they might not take.
Episodic video games aren't a very feasible idea. It seems cool in your head, but try to think of a profitable way to do it and you just wont come up with one. Video games are like movies not like tv shows. They have sequels and prequels not episodes. This is mainly due to high production times and costs. The closest you can get to a serial video game is an MMO with a special event based plot. I think the future really is in an MMO game with a persistent world, skill based gameplay, and plot directly affected by players.
It seems like it except for one thing. This isn't a digital rights management issue. While the technologies may be similar they are not for the same purpose. DRM is used to make sure that people who do not have a right to a piece of data are unable to access it. This is an issue of information assurance. You want to assure that the image originally taken by the digital camera is the same one that you are looking at in the courtroom. One possible way to do this is to apply DRM to the image, but that isn't necessarily a perfect solution. Someone who has the right to alter the image just might do it. If nobody has the right, what happens when somebody needs to enlarge it or change the color or something?
thank you for informing me, I did not know that. I may just purchase the et dvd with the money that was originally allocated to star wars dvds.
I really would like to own all the star wars movies ever in one giant dvd box set of super awesome. I don't even like eps 1-3, but the geek in me must own them. However, there is one problem.
GREEDO SHOOTS FIRST!
FUCK THAT.
I know it's super nerdy to complain about it, but I'm not willing to pay for a copy of the movie if that's the way it's going to be. Solo is supposed to kill him in cold blood.
Lucas, if you want my cash you're going to have to release the real deal. Spielberg, you too. I didn't buy none of your walkie talkie E.T. shit. Good thing I still have the real deals on VHS. But still, DVD would be nice.
Man, I am such a freakin' fanboy sometimes.
Another note to evangelists. If people only use word and have no need for spreadsheets databases and such. Convert them to abiword on windows first. My usual conversion strategy is thunderbird firefUx, abiword and gaim. Once they've got that down if they like it I say, you know... all the software on linux is like that. In fact, the whole os is like that.
It sucks because you're using Mozilla. Mozilla is the old and busted. PHOENIX(Firebird/Firefox) is the new hotness. And don't try it ant give up on it immediately. Firefox is the new hotness because you get exactly and only the functionality by adding and configuring extensions. All the functionality that you are asking for is there.
Just because I've been playing for 10 years doesn't mean it's a full time activity. In fact I only play maybe 2 hours of fps a week. It just happens that I've been doing since a long time ago. It didn't take 10 years to learn how to play. But I've got 10 years of experience under the belt. If you've got 0 and most players have at least 3 or 4 you've got a serious disadvantage. And for most people, dying instantly every time is not fun. Doom, however old it is, is still a quality game. It teaches the player the basic fps skillset and provides a strong foundation for playing other newer games. Just like anything else in life you need to know where you've been to know where you're going.
So yeah, there are lots of things I've been doing for 10 years or more. It's just a hobby I've had, not something I dedicate my life to. Are you somehow saying that in order not to be a loser someone has to change their hobby every 9 years? It would be one thing if I played all day for sure. But I don't. So... yeah.
Beginners should play single player first. Get yourself a copy of doom. Beat the game on at least hurt me plenty mode. Then beat doom 2 the same way. It doesn't take long. Then beat quake 2 single player on normal. Forget quake 1. Then beat half-life single player on normal. After that you should have amassed enough fps skill to rock the house.
Play some good old team fortress classic. It isn't that popular anymore, but people still play. It will train you to apply your already existing fps skills against real players. Once you've got the multiplayer fps groove and the skills to avoid being called a n00b pick your game of choice. You can go for a slower paced lower skilled game like america's army, BF1942. A middle of the road game like UT. Or the high skill fierce competition games like CS and natural selection.
There are lots of fpses out there, and one of them is right for you. But don't jump right into the online world like you're in the polar bears club. Remember, you're going up against guys like me who've been fpsing since wolf3d on dos and the game wont be fun for you if I frag you in two seconds every time. Go through the same skill building process we did. You have the luxury of not having to wait years for new games to come out, so take advantage of it.
As for me lately the only fps I'm into is NS.
Everything in the world should be in control of who knows best about it. One of the major problems in the (western) world today is that every corporation is ruled and owned by businessmen. They only know about business. That's not the way it should be. The music industry should be headed by people who know about music. A car factory should be headed by people who know a lot about cars. The owner of a football team should be someone who knows a lot about football. The computer geeks should be in charge of the internet.
Too often now what happens is some rich person who knows little to nothing about the actual product or industry heads the group/corporation and hires those who do to work for it. Reversing this and putting knowledgable folk in charge of respective organization will solve most of the problems we have today.
I think what MS is going for here is a little different that what we're thinking. Obviously adding metadata to every stinking file is a dumb idea. For compatability reasons among thousands of others. Nothing wrong with just having an intelligent directory structure and naming files appropriately in the first place.
But what I think MS is going to do is not have metadata on each file, but have an entire meta file system. You wont even worry about directories and filenames anymore. I think the os is going to maintain a database of metadata and associated pointers to files. The concept of the directory structure will be destroyed, but probably still be accesible buried down below. I imagine that everytime more files come in the os will gather as much info about them as it can and ask you for the rest. Then whenever a user wants some files they'll use a google style search to find them. No more "where did my files go?"
This completely blows for us power users. It adds another level of abstraction on the sytem that is mostly unecessary. It is only helpful to disorganized people who make a mess of their machines. The problem is that most windows users are just that. Disorganized mess makers. You all know the ones with 100 icons on the desktop. For these people, this sytem is awesome. It's awesome assuming it works perfectly, which it wont. Also it is a technological solution to the real problem. Lack of education. You will never be able to force users to use the machine in a certain way by changing the technology. They will always attempt to use it the way they are comfortable with for the things they want to do. This is evident by the thousands of "duct-tape programs" for windows that sit in the sytem tray and take up ram only to alter a small piece of the os' functionality.
Changing the program like this will only confuse and annoy people who have gotten used to the existing windowses. Windows geeks will embrace it and use it to its fullest potential. Linux geeks will still only use windows to play a few games that wineX doesn't work on, and convert more and more people to free software.
I didn't know about xconfig before! I really have to spruce up my install. I'm still using kernel 2.6.0 and I should probably up it to 2.6.2. My problem is I use gentoo and I have to configure the kernel manually. I know HOW to do it as in what make commands to issue in order to get a binary kernel out of the thing. And how to put the kernel in /boot and point my lilo at it. What I'm not always sure on is exactly which configure options I want on and off. The important ones are obvious. Yes I have an athlon. Yes I need my nfornce network card, emu10k1, silicon image sata, pre-emptible kernel etc. etc. But a lot of them I just have no clue. Some options have useful help messages like "if you don't know, just say Y (or N) it wont slow you down". But there are still a zillion modules and options in there that I have no clue if I should use Y M or N.
We should make a repository of hardware configurations and which options should be turned on depending how you will use it. People should just say hey, I got this machine here with this hardware. I'm using it as a web server, and this is my kernel config. If enough people put there configs in, then people like me could find others with similar or identically matching hardware and use those configs. I'm sure it would also bring to light better configs for most people. I'm sure there's some guy out there not selecting a certain option who should be. And if he posts his config online some geek will be sure to point it out to him.
I'll agree with that. The problem is that we keep making systems that have more and more features. More and more power and capabilities. The cost of adding these things is decreased ease of use. Power and ease are inversely proportional.
/.er.
Think about how easy it would be to make an e-mail app that only did two things. Read e-mail and send e-mail. The only input from the user would be the to address, subject line and message text. There would be two buttons, read and send. I could write that app today and so could you, if you're the avg
Make a whole suite of apps just like this. They have absolute minimum functionality and Kindergarten intelligence ease of use. E-mail, web browser, word processor, solitaire, p2p, media player, etc. That's it. Set all options by default, like pop-up blocking and cookie accpeting. Just don't let the user change them. Put all kinds of other junk like a firewall and such under the hood, secure by default and completely transparent to the user. Sell it for 50 bucks in a shiny box at wal-mart. Market it up with a zillion tv commercials and a book that tells you all about it.
Zillions of dollars you will make. Tech support nightmares you will defeat. Us geeks can keep using our "real" software and the computer really will be just a stupid appliance for everyone else.
The problem fits well wit the car analogy from above. A car is complicated and you need to know how to drive it or you will crash. Most people can drive well enough, not great, but well enough. That's because the cars they drive have automatic transmissions, two pedals and a wheel. The problem with computing is that we've given everybody a formula machine. Some can drive it, some get scared and die going 200mph. What you can't drive a car with a semi-automatic sequential gearbox and a launch start system? Stupid.
There is an easy way around it. The problem is you will make yourself very obvious. Simply pick a time at which the server in question is in high use. Hammer the port. Eventually someone will knock on the door opening it for 10 seconds and you put your foot in the door before they do. The other way is if you can get a packet sniffer simply look at the packets that came before and determine the secret knock.
This is still an interesting idea and definitely has at least a few places in which it would be an effective authentication mechanism.
people still play this game. It was a fad that every geek got into when I was in middle school, so oh about 9 to 10 years ago. Then it died. Alliances was the last expansion I remember, and it came out just as I stopped playing.
I've met people who still play, and I see them at the local game store. But I just don't understand them anymore. In the early days it was cool because CCGs were a new thing. And Magic was the first big one. Nowadays though, it is no longer a game of skill or strategy. It is a game of money. Whoever has the most money can buy the best deck that wins instantly. I see it happen all the time at the store.
I'm not going to rant and rave about all the stupidities and problems with CCGs, but let me just say this. Save your money and buy a game where skill determines victory as opposed to luck or money. I highly suggest German Board Games like Puerto Rico and El Grande. Also any of the non-collectible card games from Looney Labs like Nanofictionary, Chrononauts or Fluxx are excellent.
Seriously, who the fuck still plays magic!?!?! It's incomprehensible.