There are already ways to flash the BIOS of DVD drives to make them region free...
People are dedicated. Especially geeks. It seems to be a rather trivial problem, due to the wide number of DVD-flash upgrades out there, and most geeks I know aren't hip on the idea 'Its supposed to not read all DVDs'.
F-prot antivirus can fit on 3 write-protected floppies or a bootable CD-ROM. Its free for personal use, and easy enough to update by downloading new definitions from its website. Its available for both DOS and Linux.
Check the product pricing curve. For example, look at CPU's. We all woo at the higher-ghz offerings from AMD and Intel. However, those CPUs tend to have the worst price/performance ration. For example (looking at http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.html?i=169 7&p=2), the Athlon XP 2200+ is $147. The XP 2100+ (only 66 mhz slower) is $117. The XP 2000+ (133 mhz slower then the 2200+) is only $92. Comparing the 2000+ (1.67Ghz) to the 2200+ (1.8Ghz), you are paying 60% more money for an 8% increase in speed. Wouldn't that extra $55 be a lot better if spent on memory or a faster HDD?
A lot of hardware tends to be priced this way. You pay a premium for 'cutting edge'. You are paying more to be the first guinea pig to test their product. In a working environment, do you really want to do this?
Speaking of which, know what you are buying. Don't buy junk, it will come back to bite you. Buy from quality manufacturers who have a history of supporting their products. For windows machines, go with companies that release stable drivers. Also, try to figure out where you need the speed. Do you need fast HDD access? Maybe a Gigabit network. Or is it raw computing power? Read the reviews of the hardware, and check usenet to see if anyone has had any problems.
In short, do your homework, buy quality, and avoid the high-priced bleeding edge hardware.
First, let me say that I used to use StarOffice 5.2 and am currently using OpenOffice on Windows 98SE. I've been in environments where Microsoft Office (several versions) have been in use.
OpenOffice installs just as easily as Microsoft Office, the compatability with most documents is pretty high (sometimes it exceeds the later versions of Microsoft Office for old docs), and the layout is familiar enough (to Microsoft Office) that is easy enough to pick up. I haven't noticed any printer problems with either the old dotmatrix or the newer inkjet.
That being said, OpenOffice is not compatable with Microsoft Office scripts. For 95%+ of the users out there this doesn't matter. But I know of at least one nation-wide company that bases part of their business on AccessVB scripts. For these companies, a move to OpenOffice would be expensive, since programmers would have to be hired to convert the scripts over. (Then again, upgrading to Office 2005 is expensive too).
Even without the need for VB scripts, OpenOffice's and Microsoft Office's abilities don't overlap 100%. There are some things that are easier to do in Microsoft Office. There are things that are easier to do in OpenOffice.
That being said, I'm sticking to OpenOffice. Installation on windows is easy (comes as an MSI and an exec), works for my light-to-moderate wordprocessing needs, and the cost is easy to bear.:)
About the logout script. Just make sure you can read the SKEL files. Then make that logout script owned by someone other then the guest user, and make it read only by others.
I've always thought, if I was going to setup computers in a public area (such as a library), I'd easily go Linux over Windows. With windows, you either have to grab the most PITA programs to lock down a desktop (and break half the other things running), or you find the worst junk installed on it. Speaking of which, find an open source AIM/ICQ/MSN/whatever client. Under linux, you should be able to throw together a pretty TK/perl script to setup accounts. I've noticed many users love their IM. And, since the accounts are supposed to be wiped at each logout, everything is good.
FOOL ALERT!!!! Free Speech doesn't give you the right to steal someone's work. Free Speech doesn't give you the right to listen to anyone's music whenever you want to. How about some common sense please!!
Thanks. You assumed any user of P2P software is engaged in piracy. Congratulations! You are a corporate drone. Now, dispite with the RIAA and the MPAA tells you, its possible to trade stuff on a p2p network without being involved in piracy. If I want to share the entire project gutenburg collection on Kazaa, its my right. (Hmmmm, that's a thought....) If I want to share my homemade wallpapers online, that's my right. If I want to throw gimp online under the name 'graphic softwarez', that's my right. (Another interesting thought).
I'm rather fond of the idea that you have to be breaking the law before you can be arrested. Just having the knowledge to rip a cd/dvd or pick a lock doesn't mean I'm a criminal.
Sure, we there is a problem with ice crystals. Sure, we haven't actually brought anyone back. Heck, maybe the companies that offer this service won't survive until these discoveries are made. Maybe it will never be possible to bring someone back from the dead that were frozen with today's primitive techniques. Even if it is, why would our decendents do it?
Then again, you're dead. Any odds are good, don't you think?
Its a 20 year old Curtis Mathis 25" TV. Other then the fact that it only has coax in, and that the remove is broken, it still works fine. I just end up using the VCR remote anyways.
Speaking of which, I still use an amplified settop attenna to pick up the four local broadcast stations (go UHF! UHF! UHF!). Get all the networks, and the whole setup cost me about $75 ( $25 for the TV, $50 fot the attenna). Less then the setup fees + first month of satelitte or cable.
Of course, now that I'm moving to a metro area, I'm debating picking up cable just for modems....
Hell, not all of us are leeching off the corporations. Some of us are leeching off other volunteers. I do some free coding, mainly in
MUDs, and I do file bug reports for software I use, as well as dropping the occasional 'thank you' note. I don't have any problems not paying for free software, and I don't have any problems with people using my efforts for free.
Actually, I did something similar. I have a Pentium 166mhz (AOpen), a 2 gig HDD, and a new 80 gig HDD. With only 16 megs of memory, and a stripped down version of debian on it, its fast enough to saturate the 10 mbit/sec connection via samba. On a 100 mbit/sec connection, I use about 30% of it. (IDE controller seems to be the limiting factor here - but I haven't found an ATA/100 controller that I can 'borrow' yet).
So, with new HDDs, your limiting factor should be the older IDE controllers in the motherboards. With old HDDs, the bottleneck should be the drive itself, which means that any old pentium-era machine will work.
As the other poster said, it should cost you free/close to free. Plus, since its all in software, its easy enough to turn it into an ftp server/smb server/webserver with just a few config files. Remember, linux only needs to see the boot partition, even with lilo, its possible to support large disks with bioses that don't recognize them.
The 24-hour trial period is a myth. However, reverse engineering old consoles is not legally shaky. Look at the faqs on MAME.org or some other respected emulator site.
As for dumping cartridges, other then any possible DMCA concerns, it is 100% legal. Fair use, remember? As for transferring copyrighted material from an owner to a borrower, I did that last week at a local hangout known as the 'library', which allowed me to grab a few books, music CDs, and VHS tapes.
As for 'copyright infringement', I would be willing to bet that in 50 years, the only reason that some of the early 70's and 80's era games exist are because of emulators. Heck, right now, MAME emulates games that would be physically very difficult to find. Atari cartridges are also deteriorating over time. Sure, the guys who pirate the latest XBox and PS2 games are scum who aren't willing to pay for game developments, but there are guys who are into emulation for the old games which aren't available anymore. Games are a work of art, why let them be lost? Preservation has always been an admirable goal.
I've been running Mozilla 1.0 under Windows 98SE, and although the system is rather stable under IE 6 and Opera 5, Mozilla 1.0 tends to crash alot. This is on a system with 256 megs of memory, 1.13Ghz Athlon Processor, and a 40 gig primary drive.
Other open source software (apache, the Gimp, OpenOffice) runs fine on the system, but Mozilla keeps crashing on 'simple' web pages, even when I'm browsing offline! Does anyone who use win32 and Moz 1.1Beta have some feedback on the stability?
With older cars (not sure about newer), a paperclip shorting out two pins in the diagnostic connector and the engine trouble light can be used to pull trouble codes from the vehicle.
We advocate computers in the schools, but nobody advocates manditory keyboarding. I'm 24, and I never even owned a computer until my last 2 years of highschool, and that was an obsolete 286. However, I did decide to take typing (on old IBM typewriters) in about 8th grade. The typing has served me well for my entire life. They delay in using computers hasn't seemed to hurt me, I'm currently employed as a computer technician, having been entirely self-taught in computers, which came from a lot of reading, and from upgrading that 286 to (eventually) a K7-1133mhz machine (going to a 386, 486, p100, k6-2 300, etc along the way).
The only technical skill you need is keyboarding. The only general skill you need is problem solving. That's it.
When selecting parts, I usually head over to groups.google.com and see if there are any complaints or common problems with the part.
That being said, I also wouldn't skimp on motherboard or memory. Low end motherboars create unstable systems. Right now, where I work, we are sticking to Tyans and Gigabytes, which are only a few bucks (about $20) more then the competition, but make up for it with higher quality systems. Also, try to buy a real modem, winmodems suck when you switch over to linux. Buy a creative sound card, they're usually compatable. And remember, good quality ram. Lots of it. You don't want to swap if you can help it.
In my opinion, the prebuilt $500 OEM systems are crap. Yes, they might be a P4 2000 or an Athlon XP 2100+. But are they using CAS2 memory? Is the video card integrated? Is the sound card just an AMR? How about that cheap winmodem that can't connect worth a damn. Or the 5200 RPM hard drive with long seek times. Processor speed alone does not make a system fast. Motherboard, Hard Drives, Memory, and Video Card play crucial roles for the speed of a machine. Also, think of upgrading - the minitowers (especially the HP ones) are a pain to work with, with little room, and often are propriatary enough to prevent swapping out mbs in the future. Not to mention erratic driver support for some components.
Just my $.02
Mastering Windows 2000 Server, 4th Edition
on
General IT Books?
·
· Score: 2
If you aren't going to be working with MS machines, then this book is worthless. OTOH, if you are going to deal with Windows 2k Server (or Advanced Server), then this is a great book. Heck, its worth a read even if you are into linux, just so you aren't an uneducated zealot who mistakenly says "But windows can't do that" when it can.
If you truly think that a global switch from Microsoft OS'es to Linux would prevent viruses, you've isolated yourself from the common user.
Linux viruses would be prevelant because of 1) a multitude of linux boxes, 2) uneducated users, 3) weak or broken security systems (if I log in as root, everything still works), and 4) a lack of updates. In my experience, people open up all attachments, will always try to run with the highest security priviledge they can get, will try to use servers as workstations, and will never do updates.
Try gaming. Sometimes old DOS is the best
platfrom. Several of the console emulators
out there really like DOS. And I'm sorry,
but console emulation on linux sucks. Argue
with me all you want, but first, do this.
Take a console, (lets try NES, since its been
out forever), and compare the Linux emulators
to the DOS emulators. System requirements and
mapper support would be two easy to measure things.
Now tell me what platform has the better emulator.
Its amazing. Slashdot, presumably inhabited by
the computer literate, can't make a stable win9x
system. Hint : It isn't hard. Just have nice
hardware, with decent drivers (no $10 bin vid
cards), put on a custom install lacking a lot of
cruft, turn off Java in IE (which leads to a lot
of crashes), and don't install crap (avoid the
$5 software bin).
Win 9x has bugs, some quite bothersome in a few
situations, but it is very workable as a work
station. Just realize this - windows 9x does
not really understand the idea of protected
memory - bad programs will crash the system. It
also doesn't protect itself, so if you install
a program that overwrites key system files,
instability might result. Finally, have some sort
of real time antivirus measures installed. Viruses
cause a lot of instability.
I'm sorry, but if you can't create a win9x system
that won't habitually crash, you don't know
computers (at least not windows). The 9x
series might not be robust enough for servers, but
it is solid enough for the desktop with infrequent
reboots (I'm currently doing about one a month.)
Slashdot Mirror
There are already ways to flash the BIOS of DVD drives to make them region free...
People are dedicated. Especially geeks. It seems to be a rather trivial problem, due to the wide number of DVD-flash upgrades out there, and most geeks I know aren't hip on the idea 'Its supposed to not read all DVDs'.
F-prot antivirus can fit on 3 write-protected floppies or a bootable CD-ROM. Its free for personal use, and easy enough to update by downloading new definitions from its website. Its available for both DOS and Linux.
Check the product pricing curve. For example, look at CPU's. We all woo at the higher-ghz offerings from AMD and Intel. However, those CPUs tend to have the worst price/performance ration. For example (looking at http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.html?i=169 7&p=2), the Athlon XP 2200+ is $147. The XP 2100+ (only 66 mhz slower) is $117. The XP 2000+ (133 mhz slower then the 2200+) is only $92. Comparing the 2000+ (1.67Ghz) to the 2200+ (1.8Ghz), you are paying 60% more money for an 8% increase in speed. Wouldn't that extra $55 be a lot better if spent on memory or a faster HDD?
A lot of hardware tends to be priced this way. You pay a premium for 'cutting edge'. You are paying more to be the first guinea pig to test their product. In a working environment, do you really want to do this?
Speaking of which, know what you are buying. Don't buy junk, it will come back to bite you. Buy from quality manufacturers who have a history of supporting their products. For windows machines, go with companies that release stable drivers. Also, try to figure out where you need the speed. Do you need fast HDD access? Maybe a Gigabit network. Or is it raw computing power? Read the reviews of the hardware, and check usenet to see if anyone has had any problems.
In short, do your homework, buy quality, and avoid the high-priced bleeding edge hardware.
Just my $.02
First, let me say that I used to use StarOffice 5.2 and am currently using OpenOffice on Windows 98SE. I've been in environments where Microsoft Office (several versions) have been in use.
OpenOffice installs just as easily as Microsoft Office, the compatability with most documents is pretty high (sometimes it exceeds the later versions of Microsoft Office for old docs), and the layout is familiar enough (to Microsoft Office) that is easy enough to pick up. I haven't noticed any printer problems with either the old dotmatrix or the newer inkjet.
That being said, OpenOffice is not compatable with Microsoft Office scripts. For 95%+ of the users out there this doesn't matter. But I know of at least one nation-wide company that bases part of their business on AccessVB scripts. For these companies, a move to OpenOffice would be expensive, since programmers would have to be hired to convert the scripts over. (Then again, upgrading to Office 2005 is expensive too).
Even without the need for VB scripts, OpenOffice's and Microsoft Office's abilities don't overlap 100%. There are some things that are easier to do in Microsoft Office. There are things that are easier to do in OpenOffice.
That being said, I'm sticking to OpenOffice. Installation on windows is easy (comes as an MSI and an exec), works for my light-to-moderate wordprocessing needs, and the cost is easy to bear. :)
Just my $.02
About the logout script. Just make sure you can read the SKEL files. Then make that logout script owned by someone other then the guest user, and make it read only by others.
I've always thought, if I was going to setup computers in a public area (such as a library), I'd easily go Linux over Windows. With windows, you either have to grab the most PITA programs to lock down a desktop (and break half the other things running), or you find the worst junk installed on it. Speaking of which, find an open source AIM/ICQ/MSN/whatever client. Under linux, you should be able to throw together a pretty TK/perl script to setup accounts. I've noticed many users love their IM. And, since the accounts are supposed to be wiped at each logout, everything is good.
Just my $.02
Moridineas writes:
FOOL ALERT!!!! Free Speech doesn't give you the right to steal someone's work. Free Speech doesn't give you the right to listen to anyone's music whenever you want to. How about some common sense please!!
Thanks. You assumed any user of P2P software is engaged in piracy. Congratulations! You are a corporate drone. Now, dispite with the RIAA and the MPAA tells you, its possible to trade stuff on a p2p network without being involved in piracy. If I want to share the entire project gutenburg collection on Kazaa, its my right. (Hmmmm, that's a thought....) If I want to share my homemade wallpapers online, that's my right. If I want to throw gimp online under the name 'graphic softwarez', that's my right. (Another interesting thought).
I'm rather fond of the idea that you have to be breaking the law before you can be arrested. Just having the knowledge to rip a cd/dvd or pick a lock doesn't mean I'm a criminal.
Sure, we there is a problem with ice crystals. Sure, we haven't actually brought anyone back. Heck, maybe the companies that offer this service won't survive until these discoveries are made. Maybe it will never be possible to bring someone back from the dead that were frozen with today's primitive techniques. Even if it is, why would our decendents do it?
Then again, you're dead. Any odds are good, don't you think?
Its a 20 year old Curtis Mathis 25" TV. Other then the fact that it only has coax in, and that the remove is broken, it still works fine. I just end up using the VCR remote anyways.
Speaking of which, I still use an amplified settop attenna to pick up the four local broadcast stations (go UHF! UHF! UHF!). Get all the networks, and the whole setup cost me about $75 ( $25 for the TV, $50 fot the attenna). Less then the setup fees + first month of satelitte or cable.
Of course, now that I'm moving to a metro area, I'm debating picking up cable just for modems....
How about the ones of us who use Debian?
Hell, not all of us are leeching off the corporations. Some of us are leeching off other volunteers. I do some free coding, mainly in MUDs, and I do file bug reports for software I use, as well as dropping the occasional 'thank you' note. I don't have any problems not paying for free software, and I don't have any problems with people using my efforts for free.
Just my $.02
Who looked at this and thought "So, this is what happens when one script kiddie fights another script kiddie?"
I found the web page embarressing to all people involved.
Actually, I did something similar. I have a Pentium 166mhz (AOpen), a 2 gig HDD, and a new 80 gig HDD. With only 16 megs of memory, and a stripped down version of debian on it, its fast enough to saturate the 10 mbit/sec connection via samba. On a 100 mbit/sec connection, I use about 30% of it. (IDE controller seems to be the limiting factor here - but I haven't found an ATA/100 controller that I can 'borrow' yet).
So, with new HDDs, your limiting factor should be the older IDE controllers in the motherboards. With old HDDs, the bottleneck should be the drive itself, which means that any old pentium-era machine will work.
As the other poster said, it should cost you free/close to free. Plus, since its all in software, its easy enough to turn it into an ftp server/smb server/webserver with just a few config files. Remember, linux only needs to see the boot partition, even with lilo, its possible to support large disks with bioses that don't recognize them.
Just my $.02
What? How did this get modded up?
The 24-hour trial period is a myth. However, reverse engineering old consoles is not legally shaky. Look at the faqs on MAME.org or some other respected emulator site.
As for dumping cartridges, other then any possible DMCA concerns, it is 100% legal. Fair use, remember? As for transferring copyrighted material from an owner to a borrower, I did that last week at a local hangout known as the 'library', which allowed me to grab a few books, music CDs, and VHS tapes.
As for 'copyright infringement', I would be willing to bet that in 50 years, the only reason that some of the early 70's and 80's era games exist are because of emulators. Heck, right now, MAME emulates games that would be physically very difficult to find. Atari cartridges are also deteriorating over time. Sure, the guys who pirate the latest XBox and PS2 games are scum who aren't willing to pay for game developments, but there are guys who are into emulation for the old games which aren't available anymore. Games are a work of art, why let them be lost? Preservation has always been an admirable goal.
I've been running Mozilla 1.0 under Windows 98SE, and although the system is rather stable under IE 6 and Opera 5, Mozilla 1.0 tends to crash alot. This is on a system with 256 megs of memory, 1.13Ghz Athlon Processor, and a 40 gig primary drive.
Other open source software (apache, the Gimp, OpenOffice) runs fine on the system, but Mozilla keeps crashing on 'simple' web pages, even when I'm browsing offline! Does anyone who use win32 and Moz 1.1Beta have some feedback on the stability?
Entertaining part of Timeline, if you noticed, is that it has Mr Lazarus Long.
There is also centericq. Text-based linux instant messaging, that supports ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and IRC.
Works great over ssh in screen + putty.
With older cars (not sure about newer), a paperclip shorting out two pins in the diagnostic connector and the engine trouble light can be used to pull trouble codes from the vehicle.
Monitor plugged into it? You have a video card in the machine? /me boggles at the thought.
We advocate computers in the schools, but nobody advocates manditory keyboarding. I'm 24, and I never even owned a computer until my last 2 years of highschool, and that was an obsolete 286. However, I did decide to take typing (on old IBM typewriters) in about 8th grade. The typing has served me well for my entire life. They delay in using computers hasn't seemed to hurt me, I'm currently employed as a computer technician, having been entirely self-taught in computers, which came from a lot of reading, and from upgrading that 286 to (eventually) a K7-1133mhz machine (going to a 386, 486, p100, k6-2 300, etc along the way).
The only technical skill you need is keyboarding. The only general skill you need is problem solving. That's it.
When selecting parts, I usually head over to groups.google.com and see if there are any complaints or common problems with the part.
That being said, I also wouldn't skimp on motherboard or memory. Low end motherboars create unstable systems. Right now, where I work, we are sticking to Tyans and Gigabytes, which are only a few bucks (about $20) more then the competition, but make up for it with higher quality systems. Also, try to buy a real modem, winmodems suck when you switch over to linux. Buy a creative sound card, they're usually compatable. And remember, good quality ram. Lots of it. You don't want to swap if you can help it.
In my opinion, the prebuilt $500 OEM systems are crap. Yes, they might be a P4 2000 or an Athlon XP 2100+. But are they using CAS2 memory? Is the video card integrated? Is the sound card just an AMR? How about that cheap winmodem that can't connect worth a damn. Or the 5200 RPM hard drive with long seek times. Processor speed alone does not make a system fast. Motherboard, Hard Drives, Memory, and Video Card play crucial roles for the speed of a machine. Also, think of upgrading - the minitowers (especially the HP ones) are a pain to work with, with little room, and often are propriatary enough to prevent swapping out mbs in the future. Not to mention erratic driver support for some components.
Just my $.02
If you aren't going to be working with MS machines, then this book is worthless. OTOH, if you are going to deal with Windows 2k Server (or Advanced Server), then this is a great book. Heck, its worth a read even if you are into linux, just so you aren't an uneducated zealot who mistakenly says "But windows can't do that" when it can.
If you truly think that a global switch from Microsoft OS'es to Linux would prevent viruses, you've isolated yourself from the common user.
Linux viruses would be prevelant because of 1) a multitude of linux boxes, 2) uneducated users, 3) weak or broken security systems (if I log in as root, everything still works), and 4) a lack of updates. In my experience, people open up all attachments, will always try to run with the highest security priviledge they can get, will try to use servers as workstations, and will never do updates.
Just my $.02
Back when I was on 56k, and really into fan translated anime, with an automatic redialer and and agressive ftp program, I'd do about 2-3 gigs a week.
Which is about 12 gigs a month.
Hmmmmmmmm.
Try gaming. Sometimes old DOS is the best platfrom. Several of the console emulators out there really like DOS. And I'm sorry, but console emulation on linux sucks. Argue with me all you want, but first, do this. Take a console, (lets try NES, since its been out forever), and compare the Linux emulators to the DOS emulators. System requirements and mapper support would be two easy to measure things. Now tell me what platform has the better emulator.
Just my $.02
Or the bandwidth cap would be more likely to prevent me from, oh, say downloading 3 RH install isos plus the source isos.
Not all bandwidth hogs are doing stuff that's illegal
Its amazing. Slashdot, presumably inhabited by the computer literate, can't make a stable win9x system. Hint : It isn't hard. Just have nice hardware, with decent drivers (no $10 bin vid cards), put on a custom install lacking a lot of cruft, turn off Java in IE (which leads to a lot of crashes), and don't install crap (avoid the $5 software bin).
Win 9x has bugs, some quite bothersome in a few situations, but it is very workable as a work station. Just realize this - windows 9x does not really understand the idea of protected memory - bad programs will crash the system. It also doesn't protect itself, so if you install a program that overwrites key system files, instability might result. Finally, have some sort of real time antivirus measures installed. Viruses cause a lot of instability.
I'm sorry, but if you can't create a win9x system that won't habitually crash, you don't know computers (at least not windows). The 9x series might not be robust enough for servers, but it is solid enough for the desktop with infrequent reboots (I'm currently doing about one a month.)