Thats a fantastic point. If people didn't steal games there wouldn't be copy protection.
A lot of you feel screwed for having to activate and have a CD in the drive. You say it makes you feel like you're being treated like a criminal. Do you feel like a criminal every time you walk through Wal-Mart's anti-shoplifting scanners? Do you feel like a criminal every time you pass a cop sitting in the median waiting to pick off speeders? How about the times you have to show ID when using a credit card? Or getting asked for ID to buy beer? Do you feel your rights are being violated when the airline check-in person asks to see your ticket? How dare they try to stop people from stealing their product! The obvious answer is : if you don't like it, don't buy it. No one is forcing you to play the game.
So you can't use the no-cd hack with your retail copy. Big deal. Get a little CD wallet and keep it on your desk with the handful of games that won't let you use no-cd hacks in it. Evidently there IS a problem as they banned TWENTY THOUSAND people, and its only been a week. I love running things off images too, but CD's aren't hard to store in a sorted, compact manner.
One solution I use to solve the misplaced CD key problem is to write the key right onto the disk. If you lose it, well, you won't be able to install the game anyway....
I consider myslef to be pretty geeky, but the last time I tried to install linux I went through 4 distributions (Debian, Knoppix, Fedora, Mandrake) over the course of a week, and I could never get any of them to fully work. Sure, I could get a basic X session up and do office and web work, but many things I could never get running. Namely, I never got the Radeon driver or audio working, and every time I tried to compile a new kernel it failed horribly, even with the nice people on IRC helping me. Easy to install my ass. Having to recompile the kernel to get a driver working sucks big time.
I think this contest falls under the "every little bit helps" heading. While there are larger fish to fry in the sea if wasteful energy, comparitivly small increases in efficiency like this, when taken together, add up to be huge.
Yes but you have to remember - your buddy's Escort gets 31MPG and the Hybrid car may get 31.5MPG - but the Hybrid's mileage is 31.5 environmentally friendly miles per gallon of gasoline where your bud's Escort's mileage is 31 environment destroying miles per gallon.
What the hell? Um, a 31.5MPG hyrbid still uses a gallon of gas to go 31.5 miles, same as a 31.5MPG non-hybrid. It doesn't matter if there is a battery pack along for the ride, like in the Hybrid, or not, like in the Escort. They still use the same about of evil gasoline. Plus, the hybrid will have a bank of toxic batteries to dispose of at the end of its useful life.
Now, even with them not getting the huge milage gains the EPA post on the windows (how do they come up with numbers that are so inaccurate of real world conditions? Why bother to post them at all?) the hybrid cars are, I think, a stepping stone for people towards acceptance of alternitives to gas powered cars.
I think my favorite was my "Computational theory" class where the correct answer was impossible to get. You could get mighty close (think of the little tale where a father has two men stand on the opposite side of the room from his daughter, tells them that each time they move they may cross half the distance remaining between them an his daughter...) and that was good enough. Still, it was always frustrating to figure out if you were indeed close enough or not.
It would seem to me that all current sets would ignore this bit anyway. I wouldn't think that they'd make you get a whole new set to watch the new tv, but I may be wrong. It would really suck o buy a new $3000 TV only to find a month later that its worthless due to an industry "upgrade." If it is the case where current sets will ignore the flags, and if you really want one, save your pennies and dimes and get one sooner rather then later.
I now have an expanded verison of the table online. It includes all the information I have except for the special features. That will come soon. It's not quite done yet, as I have to make header images, tweak the spacing, etc, but it will serve for now. Click here to view it. Its a little over 2000 pixels wide, so those with low resolutions should probably stick to the simple one for now.
As all the ITX boards I know of are made by VIA and all use VIA chips, it would stand to reason that all you would have to do would be to go to VIA's site to get all the information you need about all their different models.
On the other hand, the little cube PCs, such that I am showing, do offer quite a range of different options, Card readers, SATA Raid, number of USB ports, chipset used, etc etc.
Yes, it is.:) The site popped offline a couple times yesterday and the bandwidth spiked from a monthly total of 200mb to about 4GB in 12 hours. As the pictures were the biggest and probably least important thing I turned them off for the time being. They should be up again at 6pm central time.
Thanks for all the support, guys! I am working on making an option to view all the fields as a table for those that want everything at their fingertips, rather then the sanitized view I currently offer. I am also adding in legacy ports, a few more models, and a new field for inner/outer location of the AGP slot.
Meh, at least he didn't insult my mother.:) Truthfully though, when I built it legacy ports weren't a big concern for me, personally, as all my gadgets are USB. However, I do understand that many people still have a lot of good, but slightly older, hardware they still use and knowing that a box has a serial or parallel port would be nice to know.
You're close, I'm 25. And oddly enough they aren't just giving me bandwidth for free. But if you want to use the site to save yourself time choosing a box, then consider that time savings to be worthless, feel free not to donate. If, on the other hand, it helps you find a box you like with minimal fuss and hassle and are feeling generous, feel free to chip in a buck for hosting costs, pizza costs, etc.
Plus, I felt the donation system would be a lot nicer then ads.
Saddly getting db levels for all the units is next to impossible. Very few review sites can measure it, and they wouldn't measure it in the same manner anyway. Same with manufacturers. I would love to have it in there though. If they all want to send me a test unit I could do it, but I don't think that's going to happen.
Many of the units have pictures of the back panel, that would show all the rear ports. Many of them also have pictures showing the motherboard layout, where you could see if the AGP is on the inside or outside. Yes, I know it requires a few more clicks, but it is a lot better then pouring around the web for hours looking for that info, isn't it?
The reason there is no column for noise is due to the fact that there is very, very little info on it. Sure, many review sites will say "this one is quiet" and the like, but very few, and even fewer manufacturers, list actuall db measurements. And even if they did, they wouldn't measure it the same way anyway.
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Thats a fantastic point. If people didn't steal games there wouldn't be copy protection.
A lot of you feel screwed for having to activate and have a CD in the drive. You say it makes you feel like you're being treated like a criminal. Do you feel like a criminal every time you walk through Wal-Mart's anti-shoplifting scanners? Do you feel like a criminal every time you pass a cop sitting in the median waiting to pick off speeders? How about the times you have to show ID when using a credit card? Or getting asked for ID to buy beer? Do you feel your rights are being violated when the airline check-in person asks to see your ticket? How dare they try to stop people from stealing their product! The obvious answer is : if you don't like it, don't buy it. No one is forcing you to play the game.
So you can't use the no-cd hack with your retail copy. Big deal. Get a little CD wallet and keep it on your desk with the handful of games that won't let you use no-cd hacks in it. Evidently there IS a problem as they banned TWENTY THOUSAND people, and its only been a week. I love running things off images too, but CD's aren't hard to store in a sorted, compact manner.
One solution I use to solve the misplaced CD key problem is to write the key right onto the disk. If you lose it, well, you won't be able to install the game anyway....
I consider myslef to be pretty geeky, but the last time I tried to install linux I went through 4 distributions (Debian, Knoppix, Fedora, Mandrake) over the course of a week, and I could never get any of them to fully work. Sure, I could get a basic X session up and do office and web work, but many things I could never get running. Namely, I never got the Radeon driver or audio working, and every time I tried to compile a new kernel it failed horribly, even with the nice people on IRC helping me. Easy to install my ass. Having to recompile the kernel to get a driver working sucks big time.
Darker, yes, but for once you actually see the sun shining!
I think this contest falls under the "every little bit helps" heading. While there are larger fish to fry in the sea if wasteful energy, comparitivly small increases in efficiency like this, when taken together, add up to be huge.
Yes but you have to remember - your buddy's Escort gets 31MPG and the Hybrid car may get 31.5MPG - but the Hybrid's mileage is 31.5 environmentally friendly miles per gallon of gasoline where your bud's Escort's mileage is 31 environment destroying miles per gallon.
What the hell? Um, a 31.5MPG hyrbid still uses a gallon of gas to go 31.5 miles, same as a 31.5MPG non-hybrid. It doesn't matter if there is a battery pack along for the ride, like in the Hybrid, or not, like in the Escort. They still use the same about of evil gasoline. Plus, the hybrid will have a bank of toxic batteries to dispose of at the end of its useful life.
Now, even with them not getting the huge milage gains the EPA post on the windows (how do they come up with numbers that are so inaccurate of real world conditions? Why bother to post them at all?) the hybrid cars are, I think, a stepping stone for people towards acceptance of alternitives to gas powered cars.
I think my favorite was my "Computational theory" class where the correct answer was impossible to get. You could get mighty close (think of the little tale where a father has two men stand on the opposite side of the room from his daughter, tells them that each time they move they may cross half the distance remaining between them an his daughter...) and that was good enough. Still, it was always frustrating to figure out if you were indeed close enough or not.
It would seem to me that all current sets would ignore this bit anyway. I wouldn't think that they'd make you get a whole new set to watch the new tv, but I may be wrong. It would really suck o buy a new $3000 TV only to find a month later that its worthless due to an industry "upgrade." If it is the case where current sets will ignore the flags, and if you really want one, save your pennies and dimes and get one sooner rather then later.
...and how not to be seen...
Ah, he was behind the middle bush.
Nifty, though it doesn't seem to have any sort of network connection. DO they have a model that does?
If you read the whole thing, you'll see it does support a wired connection as well.
Physical dimensions can now be viewed by clicking on the "Full" link near the top of the page, right above the sort boxes.
I now have an expanded verison of the table online. It includes all the information I have except for the special features. That will come soon. It's not quite done yet, as I have to make header images, tweak the spacing, etc, but it will serve for now.
Click here to view it. Its a little over 2000 pixels wide, so those with low resolutions should probably stick to the simple one for now.
As all the ITX boards I know of are made by VIA and all use VIA chips, it would stand to reason that all you would have to do would be to go to VIA's site to get all the information you need about all their different models.
On the other hand, the little cube PCs, such that I am showing, do offer quite a range of different options, Card readers, SATA Raid, number of USB ports, chipset used, etc etc.
Yes, it is. :) The site popped offline a couple times yesterday and the bandwidth spiked from a monthly total of 200mb to about 4GB in 12 hours. As the pictures were the biggest and probably least important thing I turned them off for the time being. They should be up again at 6pm central time.
Thanks for all the support, guys! I am working on making an option to view all the fields as a table for those that want everything at their fingertips, rather then the sanitized view I currently offer. I am also adding in legacy ports, a few more models, and a new field for inner/outer location of the AGP slot.
Meh, at least he didn't insult my mother. :) Truthfully though, when I built it legacy ports weren't a big concern for me, personally, as all my gadgets are USB. However, I do understand that many people still have a lot of good, but slightly older, hardware they still use and knowing that a box has a serial or parallel port would be nice to know.
Did you try clicking on one of the model names? Dimensions are listed on the detail pages.
I pulled the pictures offline for now to save bandwidth. I'll stick them back up Monday afternoon after the Monday morning flood tapers off.
I'll be working on adding legacy port info this week.
You're close, I'm 25. And oddly enough they aren't just giving me bandwidth for free. But if you want to use the site to save yourself time choosing a box, then consider that time savings to be worthless, feel free not to donate. If, on the other hand, it helps you find a box you like with minimal fuss and hassle and are feeling generous, feel free to chip in a buck for hosting costs, pizza costs, etc.
Plus, I felt the donation system would be a lot nicer then ads.
As far as I can recall, non of them have built in modems.
I am working on adding the legacy port info, such as serial and parallel ports. It will take a bit of time though.
Saddly getting db levels for all the units is next to impossible. Very few review sites can measure it, and they wouldn't measure it in the same manner anyway. Same with manufacturers. I would love to have it in there though. If they all want to send me a test unit I could do it, but I don't think that's going to happen.
Many of the units have pictures of the back panel, that would show all the rear ports. Many of them also have pictures showing the motherboard layout, where you could see if the AGP is on the inside or outside. Yes, I know it requires a few more clicks, but it is a lot better then pouring around the web for hours looking for that info, isn't it?
The reason there is no column for noise is due to the fact that there is very, very little info on it. Sure, many review sites will say "this one is quiet" and the like, but very few, and even fewer manufacturers, list actuall db measurements. And even if they did, they wouldn't measure it the same way anyway.