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User: Apreche

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  1. Up until 4 on Top Real-Time Strategy Games of All Time? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Up until #4 warcraft 3 every game on the list was crap. They should have inserted warcraft 2 at #4 warcraft 3 at #5 and warcraft 1 at #6. The original C&C should have come in at #7. The rest can stay the way it is.

  2. Changelog Translation on Meet Linux Kernel 2.6.2, 'Feisty Dunnart' · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I always love to read kernel changelogs. They are always really long and a great way to visualize just how much work is being done on linux all the time. The problem is, that while they are fun to read, they are not particularly informative to the average joe. For example let's look at some excerpts from the winamp changelog.
    * Support for classic Winamp 1.x/2.x/2.9x skins and Winamp 3 ("Modern") skins
    * Fancy new modern skin:
    - Integrated video, AVS, and Milkdrop support
    - Many built-in colorthemes
    * Same ol' classic skin for people who want the Winamp 2 feel
    * Vastly more powerful media library:
    - Automatic background directory scanning options
    - Customizable views and columns, graphical view editor
    - Internet Radio (SHOUTcast) and TV listings
    - Context-sensitive item info viewer
    * CD ripping support (AAC@2x in free version, MP3 at unlimited speeds in pro)
    * CD burning support (limited to 2x in free version)
    and so on. Looking at stuff like this really helps the user like me understand what fixes and changes have taken place. More importantly it allows me to easily determine if any of these fixes or changes will affect me, and how they will do so. This is necessary because I need this information to decide if I'm going to recompile my kernel or not. I propose that in addition to releasing the usual changelog they also make a human readable changelog. Something that would say stuff like this
    USB Lego towers work now
    SATA works now
    Fixed a bug that makes it go faster
    Cleaned a warning so it compiles better
    etc. etc.
  3. Poison on Which Instant Coffee? · · Score: 1, Funny

    Coffee is poison. I don't drink it.

    I only drink 3% (whole) milk, 100% fruit juices and water. Maybe some chocolate milk or hot coacoa. Maybe some lemonade. I especially don't drink sugar drinks like kool-aid, soda or coffee. I haven't drunk them my whole life, I'm now 21 soon 22. Guess what, I've had 1 cavity ever. It was a little over a year ago I got it filled. Also, I get sick so incredibly rarely compared to others. I mock others with glee during flu/cold season.

    I attribute the most of my good health to my choice of beverage. Every morning where most insert coffee I insert Dole 100% Pineapple Orange Juice. I drink it straight out of the carton. My throat singnals me when I have imbibed enough to last the day. That stuff has 200% of the vitamin c necessary in 1 serving and I freakin' chug it. I've been doing that every day for as long as I can remember. It's gotten to the point where I can feel it bring my body to life every morning.

    Oh yeah, I also have no problems sleeping or staying awake. I can code for long long hours without requiring any sort of caffeine, which I also don't drink. I also fall asleep at night as soon as I go to bed.

    I also drink extremely little alcohol. Maybe I'll have a few glasses of wine a year. And maybe NyQuil once every 2 or 3 years for that one day I actually do get a cold.

    You would be surprised how healthy you can be by not drinking poison on a daily basis.

  4. Critically Acclaimed? on Half-Life 2 Targeted for Summer Release · · Score: 1

    Who acclaimed Arx Fatalis? I never even heard of the game, it came free with my video card, I played it for 10 minutes and it was total crap. Half-Life 2 will probably be some game we play through one time and never pick up again.

    The real deal is Team Fortress 2 the multiplayer half-life 2 mod. That's going to be the game of the year, except for Natural Selection of course.

  5. Re:Open Source Equally Culpable on Microsoft Violates Human Rights in China · · Score: 1

    military to blow up people = not ok.

    KKK to server racist pages = yes ok.

    I'm no racist, in fact I'm jewish, but free speech is paramount.

    I don't like the trend of tool blaming that's been going on for years. Colt is not responsible when someone commits murder with one of their guns. Ford is not responsible when someone drives a F-150 drunk and kills somebody. Just because a tool you may or may not have made was used for bad things, doesn't mean its your fault in some way. I could get a hammer at home depot and smash my roomate's skull. Should craftsman tools stop making hammers? No, of course not. The hammer is an essential tool which has legitimate uses in our society.

    Every technology and tool has uses which are not good and were not though of at the tools conception. The only sensical thing to do is punish those who use the tools in bad ways and not the toolmakers. If you believe the toolmaker has some fault in the matter, then you think we should go back to living like cave men. Wait... what if someone kills someone with a wooden club their friend made....

  6. ahem... on 2.4 vs 2.6 Linux Kernel Shootout · · Score: 5, Funny

    2.4 is the old and busted
    2.6 is the new hotness

  7. Re:X-Wing and Tie Fighter on FreeSpace 2 Gets Reissue As Limited Edition · · Score: 1

    My roomate has that. There is no way to make it work on 2k or XP. Compatability mode doesn't do the trick.

  8. Re:This needs to be done on FreeSpace 2 Gets Reissue As Limited Edition · · Score: 1

    I've tried dosbox. You have no idea what I've been through....

  9. This needs to be done on FreeSpace 2 Gets Reissue As Limited Edition · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This kind of thing needs to be done for other old DOS games that are hard to get working on new computers. X-COM (the REAL X-COM), Descent 1 and 2, Mechwarrior 2 (original, expansion and mercs), and TIE FIGHTER (the real deal, not XWA or XWVTF) are all games that need to get done like this. I mean, its easy to do, profitable and brings joy to everybody.

    I can not begin to tell you the epic tale of how I have tried to make the DOS version of Mechwarrior 2 work in Windows XP and/or linux. I am soooooo close!! $)%*&%#%

  10. anniversary on Capcom - Gladiators, Nightmares, Jean Reno? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I want to see more the megaman anniversary edition. I can't wait to play megaman 2 on the gamecube. Even though I play it daily via emulator or NES. Why didn't capcom show it off? When is it coming? I know its not a rumor or vaporware.

  11. Big deal on Review of Silent 400w Power Supply · · Score: 1

    I got an Enermax 400W. it's shiny and blue. It has two fans. And it may not have all those fancy silence features, but I can't hear it. All the noise from my box comes from the cpu fan and a little bit from the video card fans. Even my hard drives are quiet. All these extra silent products are bs. I mean seriously, who has a power supply that is super loud. Nobody has a power supply that is so loud that it is conciously irritating. Nobody.

    And don't give me crap about really old really big computers. We're talking modern desktops here.

  12. Re:Myer's-Briggs Test on Eric Sink on Starting Your Own Software Company · · Score: 1

    I'm also ENTJ. I would say that that particular web survey is flawed, but I've taken the real MBTI before, and it came out the same way. So I guess that means that link has a bit of credibility doesn't it?

  13. Re:SolMark on Creator Of Solitaire For Windows Interviewed · · Score: 1

    No way man. My friends had some 386s, but I had me a 486 DX4 100mhz, it kicked. The ultimate DOS game machine it was with its 8MB of RAM, soon upgraded to 16MB. When I played solitaire the cards flew off the screen way fast after I beat it. Of course now on my Athlon XP2500+ I don't even get to see it happen it's so fast, but that's not the point. The 486 is fast, fear.

  14. If you aren't on Another Serious MSIE Hole · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is just another opportunity to check and make sure. If you are still using IE, switch to Firebird. Now. If you don't see the obvious benefit, something is wrong with you. If anyone who still insists on using IE reads this post, please tell me why you wont switch. I really want to see what people are thinking who are still using IE. There is really no excuse anymore in my eyes.

    Really, I'm genuinely interested in reasons IE users are still using IE. I just can't comprehend what you're thinking.

  15. Can't Believe on Hejlsberg Talk About Generics in C# and Java · · Score: 2, Informative

    People complain about the dumbest things. I always laugh when someone complains about the performance of java. Guess what, if your app needs to be high performance, you shouldn't be doing it in java. If it doesn't need to be high performance but it needs to run on every os and computing device under the sun, then you should use java.

    Programming languages are tools. Hammers for nails, screwdrivers for screws, C for hardcore big stuff and python/perl for everyday fun. Java was never intended to be high performance. It was intended to let you run a program on every single device and operating system there is, and have it run almost identically. The fact that java is as high performance as it is now is amazing. If you need performance and java isn't cutting it maybe you should ask yourself "why am I using a screwdriver to put a nail in this piece of wood?"

    As for the specific issue of genericising and java's collections. I think java's collections rule. Sure you can't make a collection of primitive types, big deal. You can make an array of primitive types. And you can even make your own class, which inherits from collection and is in fact, a collection of primitive types. But just about everything in java is an Object anyway. So an ArrayList or a LinkedList are good enough 99% of the time. You keep on coding in C#, and when the world doesn't use windows anymore we'll see if your app is still around.

  16. Re:Great for newspapers on Polymer Vision Produces 5" Rollable Displays · · Score: 1

    Last week I got a phone call from the local newspaper. I knew immediately they were going to try to get me to subscribe. Here is the conversation as I remember it

    Them:
    "Our information says you aren't currently receiving home delivery, is that correct?"

    Me:
    "Yeah, I don't need the paper"

    Them:
    "You don't?"

    Me:
    "No, there's this new invention called the internet"

    Them:
    "Oh, ok....."

    I love how they didn't have anything in their script to handle that. It was great. I imagine the telemarketer going out to look for another job. Newspapers are going to die, shit!

    but there's something comforting about a convenient rolled up paper on the bus ride in

    That's all in your head man. Something comforting, give me a break. The only thing holding back newer technologies are people who are reluctant to change. They have this feeling of comfort in what is old and obsolete. It's not real, the newspaper doesn't actually comfort you. You just have a psychologically connection to it. Since its just thoughts in your head you can get rid of that and read the news online, like an intelligent person. Save some trees, save some time, no more ink-stained fingers... It's possible now. The only limit, is yourself.

  17. Finish your CS degree on Switching from Comp. Sci. to EE? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm a 4th year cs student. At my college, RIT, we have a co-op program. This requires me to work at 4 real world cs jobs prior to graduation. Because of this requirement I job hunt for CS jobs on a daily basis. Let me tell you what I have seen. If you don't have a CS degree you can't get a CS job worth crap. I can't tell you how many times I've seen job postings for which I meet and/or exceed the required knowledge, but don't meet the degree requirement.

    What has happened is the .com boom ended, but companies still need programmers. But because there are so many out there, and because of cheap overseas labor, they are only going to hire the best. All the coders who lost their jobs at the end of the boom can't get rehired, because most of them didn't finish their degrees. I know too many people in that position, and now they can't afford to finish college.

    If you are willing to relocate to anywhere in the country CS jobs are not hard to find. But having a degree is an absolute must. Companies are just throwing away every resume that doesn't have a degree written on it. So, if you like CS more, finish it up. If you really like EE a whole lot more than CS, switch it up. Do what you like. There are jobs for people who finish college.

  18. Yesterday Killed on Natural Selection Half-Life Mod Reaches 3.0 Beta · · Score: 1

    Me and my roomate downloaded and started playing this yesterday after we sat around wondering why nobody was playing WON NS we found out the beta came out.

    Let me tell you. It is freakin' awesome. The game is nearing perfection. And the combat maps, which I was very skeptical ofl, are actually a ton of fun and very awesome. Great job NS guys.

    On thing though. We were supposed to do a bunch of homework yesterday, but since NS came out our day was shot. I guess its all work and no play today.

  19. Re:Quick problem / fix with NS 3.0 beta on Natural Selection Half-Life Mod Reaches 3.0 Beta · · Score: 1

    You can't play it without steam. The installer for 3.0 beta installs the game directly into steam automatically. That's it. Anyone who has a problem with steam can just shut their trap. It works perfectly on my machine, so if you have problems it is your fault. And the server finder and friends network make steam 1000 times more awesome than old half-life. Heck I can alt-tab out of a game and not lose sound. Steam rules.

  20. Will this replace cygwin? on Announcing Cooperative Linux · · Score: 1

    Will I be able to use this as a replacement for cygwin? I'm a dual boot kind of guy. Will I be able to somehow use this to mount linux filesystems (reiserfs, xfs, ext3/2) in windows? Or is it just like dual booting without the rebooting?

  21. Re:Good to see this in the mainstream press on The Tyranny of Copyright? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This reminds me of computer crime class a couple weeks ago. We were discussing different communities, and one of them was the open source community. One significantly older graduate student said this.

    "Why would you give away your work for free?"

    She was completely dumbfounded. The problem is that the older generations still have the protestant work ethic. In our generation the protestant work ethic has died. People are willing to actually do some amount of work for the greater good of society. After we meet our needs by doing "real" work, we are willing to do things that are both productive and fun for the good of others. This has not happened often in history because usually leisure activities are not productive. The rise of geekdom has created the furst truly productive leisure activity, writing software. And since it doesn't cost anything to make, we give it away for free with little or no copyright. This new way of thinking completely dumbfounds anyone who is used to it the other way.

  22. mplayer on Linux Now Booted On GameCube System · · Score: 1

    when mplayer runs on the gamecube, give me a call. I'll be sure to buy a broadband adapter then.

  23. Re:X again on X.org and XFree86 Reform · · Score: 1

    Here is what I don't understand. How come I can put a Knoppix CD into any (x86) computer I've ever seen and have 99% of all the hardware just work perfectly right away, yet for some reason NO OTHER DISTRO DOES THIS. I use gentoo, which is definitely more do it yourself. But I mean seriously. There should be some hardware detection thing when I emerge xfree that configures it correctly right off the bat. And when you make menuconfig the kernel it should detect hardware first and change the color of everything you probably want to use to red, and select it.

    Knoppix is linux. Knoppix has the best hardware detection of any os there is. Every other linux does it worse than windows. Knoppix is open source. TAKE THE KNOPPIX CODE AND USE IT YOU DISTRO MAKING FOOLS!!!!!

  24. Two things on Controlling the Cable Congestion? · · Score: 1

    First off, I get as much wireless stuf as possible. Printers, scanners, mice, keyboards, all these things can and should be wireless. There's just no reason not to, if its worth the money to you. Second, its' not about the wires it's about the desk.

    For the past two years I had a store bought desk made of particle board that comes as a kit. It was cool, but it broke when I moved out over the summer. When I got back to school I built my own desk. I took a tape measure and determined how high, wide and deep a desk I would need. I went to Home depot, had them cut a piece of wood of appropriate size. The I bought 6 cinderblocks. 3 on the left, 3 on the right, room for feet in the middle. Put the piece of wood on top. Perfect.

    I took the piece of wood outside and Drilled a hole in it, a big hole, inches in diameter. I got my box on the right, monitor on the left. Wireless keyboard and mouse. Subwoofer in the bottom right corner on the floor under the desk. All the wires on the desk run along the back and through the hole to where the power strip is. Only the speaker wires go anywhere else. It's pretty slick. It's the first time in years I haven't had horrible wiring problems. I don't even think about cables anymore, I used to have to fiddle almost weekly.

  25. X again on X.org and XFree86 Reform · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, how many slashdot stories do we need where half the people support X and half the people want something new, or a re-write. This is what it comes down to. X has a lot of great features. X forwarding over ssh being the premier reason I use X. It's probably a feature I couldn't live without. But if linux wants to transition to being a desktop OS for everybody X wont cut it. It's just too big, slow, and full of features desktop users don't need. Directfb is more like what desktop users need, but not quite. That's all there is to it. Linux is about choice, and right now X is the only truly reliable choice for any sort of gui stuffs. We need a real alternative to X for those who don't need the features.

    However, as a user of X, I think it's great these sites are joining forces. OSS is about collaboration, and the more they work together the better the end result will be. And if everyone works together they will follow the same standards like the ones from freedesktop.org programs will be much nicer. gaim easily going into the system tray which I put in my xfce4 taskbar is an example of freedesktop.org standards at work. If everyone followed them, imagine what we could do.