"Ps if you pay more than $2 for a distro cd, you're an idiot and deserve to lose your money"
This is typical of the "something for nothing" crowd. I live in the UK and have unmetered 56K dialup which cuts off every 2 hours, so I have to pick ftp servers which allow resume and d'l overnight. It takes about 24 hours to get a CD across.
Still, it's not that much trouble to get things, and I have downloaded several CDs recently, e.g..NET (legally from the MSDN site for work), FreeBSD, etc.
I use Suse mainly, so I could ftp install the latest version all the time- but instead I buy the media. Why? Because I want to support Suse. I remember what it was like making your own distribution before they existed. You learned a hell of a lot about Linux, but it was a major pain in the arse all things considered. I think Suse do a good job, so I want to pay them. As an advantage I get a nicely packaged CD set (and DVD too, which is cool since I don't have a DVD burner). Also I end up really liking some software in the distribution that I never would have thought to download to try out, kind of like doing English Literature and discovering you really like Henry James even though you never would have read it if you weren't forced to. (Well, "kind of like").
If everyone thought as you do, then we would be back to making our own distributions again and linux would never make it out of the geek domain. (And this would be bad, since growing acceptance of linux in general allows me to suggest linux solutions at work since our clients have at least heard of the operating system we're asking them to run...)
In short, I can see where you're coming from, in that yes, it is possible to get linux CDs very cheaply, but this kind of isn't the point.
Well, if you are doing lots of things at the same time, i.e. compiling something while working in another window, then twin PIII 1Ghz work out very cheap. 500 quid in UK, translate as necessary into the shiny pebbles, beads, trinkets etc. used by other economies.
"I had to write assembly for the 68000 and the 286 at the same time, so I had the opportunity to compare them. And I regret that the winning architecture was the Intel one."
Well I've written assembly for both too, and I disagree. Don't you *use* registers? Isn't it nice having more of them?
Also, the first poster spelled "losers" correctly, but he should have put "thinks", not "think's".
If someone sends me a CV for a programming job and includes at least one instance of an apostrophe in a simple plural, I won't hire them. Why the hell should I? If they can't learn to punctuate their native language, why should I trust their regexps? Maybe it's because when you program, the compiler or interpreter instantly gives you feedback if your syntax or grammar is off.
I have been a victim of "fake fan sites". Someone told me I should put my processor cooling fan on the front of my tower case, just below the CD drive.
But when I ran my computer the BIOS said the processor was 98 degrees Celsius!
Another time someone told me my case fan should actually go on the back of my monitor, connected with a very long lead to the motherboard (for the power). I was initially sceptical, and with good reason! The inside of my case is *no cooler*!!!
I think it's amazing that Slashdot is as amusing and as readable as it is considering hardly any posts are removed ever. Just think how bad it could be!
OK, so everyone ended talking religion versus science, but at least we were talking about *something*, not just being a random collection of obscenitites!
If you don't like racist stuff/goatsex etc. then browse at +1. No big deal. I personally browse at -1 flat because a) It's more fun than working b) The best bits are hidden in the shit.
"In the church that I attend weekly, I have taken mental notes about how old people all have some misconceived notion that if your computer is on and the modem is plugged in then porn can just jump onto the screen by itself."
This would RULE! The ultimate in push technology! You don't even need to send requents to port 80, it just "jumps onto the screen".
Heh heh, or maybe it's ust what the old guys tell their wives must have happened when they walk in to find them staring at big-breasted vixens.
(If I had any sense I would post shit like this anonymously)
Most nerds on slashdot actually build their own machines. It's not elitism or geek-pride, it's just the only way to get the components you want and none of the ones you don't want.
Seriously, the idea of buying a whole machine just seems so ridiculous to me now. Pay for a winmodem? I don't think so. Have that crappy motherboard? Nuh-uh. That *so yesterday* video card- no sireeee. And have windows ME pre-installed on it? No thanks, I'm not a PRE-INSTALLED USER.
So, if you're buying your components separately you wouldn't have to worry with this bill. Even if they made the purchase of more than 3 computer components constitute a computer you could buy from diferent places. (And hope everything arrives at the same time- but hell, usually the most important bits end up being out of stock and arriving a week later anyway...)
Yeah, but some video games are censored in the transition from US to UK. A prime example was Fallout 2, famous for "censoring" because they made all the children in the game invisible so you couldn't target them with guns etc. (Although you could still blow them up with bombs). They still spoke aswell- funny seeing those speech balloons hanging in mid-air.
This despite the fact that they're censorship was probably voluntary- there are plenty of shooting games where you can shoot children- for example Shogo MAD. (FPS with big robots and anime styling- there was a schoolgirl in one scene you could shoot if you were sick...)
There was a time a couple of years back when loads of First Person Shooters coming out had pictures on the back of the boxes showing actual polygonal shadows (as opposed to just circles), e.g. Quake 2 and Half-Life.
When you actually played the game you found you didn't have an option to turn these realtime shadows on. In Half-life you had to wait until the console code to turn it on was posted on some web site- ditto for the glshadows in Quake 2, but I think you even had to download a patch before the Quake 2 one would have proper shadows!!!!
I mean- isn't this worse? In this scenario you're buying a game which actually has screenshots on the back of the box which you can't reproduce at home when you have the game!
OK, so I was 7 when Star Wars came out- and God! I loved it. I also loved Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Now I am older, and I have to say "I loved Phantom Menace!"
There was a sort of initial disappointment, but that was because it had a hell of a lot to live up to. When I'd watched it a few more times I was convinced- it was at least as good as, if not better than the other 3.
Just listen to the new main theme- "Duel of the Fates" (or whatever it's called)- it rocks as much as the Imperial Theme from the earlier films, IMNSHO.
And the lightsabre fights? They are without a doubt a whole level above Obi-Wan's pathetic attempts in Star Wars, and even above Luke and Vader in Empire and ROTJ.
OK, so there isn't a really big space battle in the film and it doesn't have Darth Vader in it- but appart from that- what else could you want?
Yeah, some of the dialogue and acting sucks, but it did in the first three- in fact some of the lines from the first 3 films are classics with me because of the lame way they are delivered! "Shuttle Tiderian, please trnasmit the codes for shield deactivation" and the bit about finding a rebel base on Dantooine "but they estimate that it has been abandoned for some time". OK so we are talking very minor character's lines in the first three that sucked as opposed to main characters- but I think that George Lucas was just very lucky in the "unknowns" he picked for Star Wars.
It has been said before- but it bears repeating- People who saw the first 3 films as kids, then saw Phantom Menace, somehow think that the film should have "grown up" with them, but it hasn't- it's still at the same level as the other 3, which you can say is "for kids" or alternatively, "for all ages".
I think you get much better criticisms from people when they compare the first 3- i.e. some poeple say that Empire is the best because it's darker, (or because it had different writers) etc.- other people, more concerned with epic action prefer Return of the Jedi, and didn't like Empire because of the "Luke training" bits. Etc. Etc.
As for Jar-Jar Binks, I thought he was hilarious, and I think a lot of other people thought so too. I mean, I can see how people disliked the Ewoks, but Jar-Jar. What? He talks funny? Slashdotters love this as a rule- AYBABTU anyone?
In fact I think that the spread of "Jar Jar Sucks" posts are probably related to the AYBABTU phenomenon- i.e. stick with what the mob likes, and diss the things the mob hates, and you'll be alright. I mean- we are slashdotters- we're supposed to be more mature than this. Also we're supposed to like computer stuff, i.e. CGI.
Now, it's obvious that Lucas would be a big fan of CGI, and that his 3 prequals would use lots of it. You have to remember that the other 3 films used a lot of technologically-advanced stuff for their day, so George Lucas hasn't changed in his attitude.
And people slagging off George Lucas for wanting to make money? What a surprise- Slashdotters slag off anyone who wants to make money. It almost seems like they want to me able to make money themselves without allowing anyone else to do so. (Or are we all really eco-warriors typing this from our psychedelically-painted trailers?)
You see, slashdotters typically slag off commercial Operating Systems and software and praise the free ones, but with films they're fucked- because you couldn't really make a decent film on an extremely low budget. (OK, so there was Blair Witch, which was shit overall, but at least had a "Why didn't I think of that?" idea).
Basically, I am criticising the majority of slashdotters for being shallow and hypocritical. (Whoooooh! Like, THAT'S novel....)
You missed out service pack 6a on the NT4 platforms, windows 3.11 and nt 3.5 (after all you say "in current use") not "current", otherwise 95 and 98 wouldn't be allowed).
Windows.NET is not an operating system yet.
Windows 95 is the same as windows 95 OSR1.
While OSR versions count as different operating systems, I don't think service packs should, unless they subsequently released a CD with the patch preapplied.
The valid test of what constitutes a different operating system (for windows at least) should be what you can buy (no betas) on a CD (and the CDs are still being made), so if you only allow current Microsoft OSs, you get:
Windows ME
Windows 2000 Prof
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2000 Adv. Server
Windows 2000 Datacenter
All above 4 Win 2000 but with SP1 preapplied
That's it for desktop systems,
I don't know about the handheld versions.
You only really have two MS current desktop OSs since the various versions of 2000 are basically one OS but configured for diferent uses, but of course all locked-up so you have to buy the right one. This is why in the MSDN subscription you get one CD, labelled "Windows 2000 Versions", and it can install any one I think. (Haven't checked).
So, to sum up, If MS were linux there would be only two distros, but those distros would be much more different than any two linux ones are.
Everything that people consider "knowledge" is really just belief. Do you just call something belief if are willing to change your mind on it? Aside from, perhaps, mathematical truths, there is no knowledge. You could get some individual and indoctrinate him so he *believed* that there was a race of unicorns living on the moon. Now we would call what he thought a *belief*, but he would say "I *know* there are unicorns living on the moon".
Oh, you mean that hack writer who just couldn't help putting his personal extreme opinions into every book he wrote in a sickening obvious way?
Classic Heinlein opinions: (in no particular order)
1) People who like cats are inherently superior to those who do not.
2) People who rape women should be tortured then killed
3) People should be allowed to commit incest
There are also lots of political opinions too, but I can't be bothered to organize them into a list.
I think the fate of turn-based games can be summed up by looking at the history of XCOM.
In the beginning, (at least for me) there was the ultimate turn-based game: XCOM. Loved it.
Then there was XCOM2: terror from the deep. I actually found it too difficult, but lots of people loved it, and it was faithful to the original.
Then came XCOM 3. Now you had the choice between real-time or turn-based, and IMHO and the HO of others, it sucked huge cocks, and was the death of the series.
If XCOM3 was the death of the series, then when (supposedly the same people) created Abomination: the nemesis project, they actually created the animated rotting corpse of xcom. Now it was real-time only, and it was a shambling mess.
The history of xcom serves quite well to illustrate the history of things- but thankfully there are a few highlights in this, now, the post-XCOM phase of games.
For example, if you really like XCOM 1 and 2 but they run too fast on your computer, you could check out the following:
Soldiers at War: WW2 squad-based, turn-based. Is VERY similar to XCOM- dunno if any of the xcom creators were on board. It's Windows not dos, so speed should be less of an issue. (This is quite an old game though with basic graphics).
As many people have pointed out, there is Baldur's gate 1 and 2. Both very good for turn-based fans if you set the "auto pause at end of round" option. Watch out though, you can't do this in Planescape Torment...
Also as others have pointed out there is Jagged Alliance 2, which doesn't run too fast even if you have a 6 GHz machine. I haven't played the expansion for it, but lots of reviews thought it was bad value for money.
Two more turn-based games, which I actually never really got into are the two Warhammer 40K ones. The first is a space marines vs chaos one, and the second is Rites of War, involving eldar. At least the first one is very xcom-influenced.
AND FINALLY- my hot tip, mega game for turn-based freeeeeeks everywhere, but including modern 3D graphics is Odium by Monolith. It looks all new-fangled and 3dized to start with, but you quickly see that it uses a square grid system, is completely turn-based, extremely challenging and great great fun. Check it out, please. It was made in 1999.
Well I stopped considering it Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett left, but there you go.
Plus, who cares if Rick Wright got the boot? Have you heard "his" tracks on Ummagumma? Aieieieie. Less, please.
A friend of mine says that the only reason PF ended up playing stadiums is because they were too fat to fit in small venues anymore. There was also a good part to his joke where he compared N. Mason to one of the inflatable balloons they used to have at PF gigs, but it's probably getting too cruel already...
It's not flamebait, it's just not the/. party line and is vehemently expressed.
A lot of people collect mp3s like warez kiddies collect warez- they like the respect they get when they have something obscure no-one else has, they like to show off the length of their lists or boast about how many Gig of mp3s they have on thrir hard drives, they like to have the big popular stuff within minutes of it being released. The comparison is obvious- these are actually the same people! In Victorian times they probably collected rare butterflies pinned into dusty glass cases. Think about it.
Slashdot Mirror
"Ps if you pay more than $2 for a distro cd, you're an idiot and deserve to lose your money"
.NET (legally from the MSDN site for work), FreeBSD, etc.
This is typical of the "something for nothing" crowd. I live in the UK and have unmetered 56K dialup which cuts off every 2 hours, so I have to pick ftp servers which allow resume and d'l overnight. It takes about 24 hours to get a CD across.
Still, it's not that much trouble to get things, and I have downloaded several CDs recently, e.g.
I use Suse mainly, so I could ftp install the latest version all the time- but instead I buy the media. Why? Because I want to support Suse. I remember what it was like making your own distribution before they existed. You learned a hell of a lot about Linux, but it was a major pain in the arse all things considered. I think Suse do a good job, so I want to pay them. As an advantage I get a nicely packaged CD set (and DVD too, which is cool since I don't have a DVD burner). Also I end up really liking some software in the distribution that I never would have thought to download to try out, kind of like doing English Literature and discovering you really like Henry James even though you never would have read it if you weren't forced to. (Well, "kind of like").
If everyone thought as you do, then we would be back to making our own distributions again and linux would never make it out of the geek domain. (And this would be bad, since growing acceptance of linux in general allows me to suggest linux solutions at work since our clients have at least heard of the operating system we're asking them to run...)
In short, I can see where you're coming from, in that yes, it is possible to get linux CDs very cheaply, but this kind of isn't the point.
Graspee
Wine creates a registry to run Windows apps with. I don't know if it keeps it in a db or uses a flat plain old file, but there you go.
Graspee
Well, if you are doing lots of things at the same time, i.e. compiling something while working in another window, then twin PIII 1Ghz work out very cheap. 500 quid in UK, translate as necessary into the shiny pebbles, beads, trinkets etc. used by other economies.
"I had to write assembly for the 68000 and the 286 at the same time, so I had the opportunity to compare them. And I regret that the winning architecture was the Intel one."
Well I've written assembly for both too, and I disagree. Don't you *use* registers? Isn't it nice having more of them?
Graspee
So last time you checked there was obviously no Windows ME.
Yes, Windows ME is a piece of shit, but it does have a DVD player application, and Media Player 7 (which playes MPEG-2).
Graspee
I hope this was a joke- it should be:
"stupid spelling nazis",
not "nazi's".
Also, the first poster spelled "losers" correctly, but he should have put "thinks", not "think's".
If someone sends me a CV for a programming job and includes at least one instance of an apostrophe in a simple plural, I won't hire them. Why the hell should I? If they can't learn to punctuate their native language, why should I trust their regexps? Maybe it's because when you program, the compiler or interpreter instantly gives you feedback if your syntax or grammar is off.
So that's what I'm doing here- giving feedback.
Graspee
I have been a victim of "fake fan sites". Someone told me I should put my processor cooling fan on the front of my tower case, just below the CD drive.
But when I ran my computer the BIOS said the processor was 98 degrees Celsius!
Another time someone told me my case fan should actually go on the back of my monitor, connected with a very long lead to the motherboard (for the power). I was initially sceptical, and with good reason! The inside of my case is *no cooler*!!!
Graspee
Don't mod me up, it only encourages me...
I think it's amazing that Slashdot is as amusing and as readable as it is considering hardly any posts are removed ever. Just think how bad it could be!
OK, so everyone ended talking religion versus science, but at least we were talking about *something*, not just being a random collection of obscenitites!
If you don't like racist stuff/goatsex etc. then browse at +1. No big deal. I personally browse at -1 flat because a) It's more fun than working b) The best bits are hidden in the shit.
Graspee
Moderators- this is not off-topic, it is a highly amusing critique of Xianity, or didn't you bother to read it?
Graspee
"In the church that I attend weekly, I have taken mental notes about how old people all have some misconceived notion that if your computer is on and the modem is plugged in then porn can just jump onto the screen by itself."
This would RULE! The ultimate in push technology! You don't even need to send requents to port 80, it just "jumps onto the screen".
Heh heh, or maybe it's ust what the old guys tell their wives must have happened when they walk in to find them staring at big-breasted vixens.
(If I had any sense I would post shit like this anonymously)
Graspee
Most nerds on slashdot actually build their own machines. It's not elitism or geek-pride, it's just the only way to get the components you want and none of the ones you don't want.
Seriously, the idea of buying a whole machine just seems so ridiculous to me now. Pay for a winmodem? I don't think so. Have that crappy motherboard? Nuh-uh. That *so yesterday* video card- no sireeee. And have windows ME pre-installed on it? No thanks, I'm not a PRE-INSTALLED USER.
So, if you're buying your components separately you wouldn't have to worry with this bill. Even if they made the purchase of more than 3 computer components constitute a computer you could buy from diferent places. (And hope everything arrives at the same time- but hell, usually the most important bits end up being out of stock and arriving a week later anyway...)
Graspee
Yeah, but some video games are censored in the transition from US to UK. A prime example was Fallout 2, famous for "censoring" because they made all the children in the game invisible so you couldn't target them with guns etc. (Although you could still blow them up with bombs). They still spoke aswell- funny seeing those speech balloons hanging in mid-air.
This despite the fact that they're censorship was probably voluntary- there are plenty of shooting games where you can shoot children- for example Shogo MAD. (FPS with big robots and anime styling- there was a schoolgirl in one scene you could shoot if you were sick...)
Graspee
There was a time a couple of years back when loads of First Person Shooters coming out had pictures on the back of the boxes showing actual polygonal shadows (as opposed to just circles), e.g. Quake 2 and Half-Life.
When you actually played the game you found you didn't have an option to turn these realtime shadows on. In Half-life you had to wait until the console code to turn it on was posted on some web site- ditto for the glshadows in Quake 2, but I think you even had to download a patch before the Quake 2 one would have proper shadows!!!!
I mean- isn't this worse? In this scenario you're buying a game which actually has screenshots on the back of the box which you can't reproduce at home when you have the game!
Graspee
OK, so I was 7 when Star Wars came out- and God! I loved it. I also loved Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Now I am older, and I have to say "I loved Phantom Menace!"
There was a sort of initial disappointment, but that was because it had a hell of a lot to live up to. When I'd watched it a few more times I was convinced- it was at least as good as, if not better than the other 3.
Just listen to the new main theme- "Duel of the Fates" (or whatever it's called)- it rocks as much as the Imperial Theme from the earlier films, IMNSHO.
And the lightsabre fights? They are without a doubt a whole level above Obi-Wan's pathetic attempts in Star Wars, and even above Luke and Vader in Empire and ROTJ.
OK, so there isn't a really big space battle in the film and it doesn't have Darth Vader in it- but appart from that- what else could you want?
Yeah, some of the dialogue and acting sucks, but it did in the first three- in fact some of the lines from the first 3 films are classics with me because of the lame way they are delivered! "Shuttle Tiderian, please trnasmit the codes for shield deactivation" and the bit about finding a rebel base on Dantooine "but they estimate that it has been abandoned for some time". OK so we are talking very minor character's lines in the first three that sucked as opposed to main characters- but I think that George Lucas was just very lucky in the "unknowns" he picked for Star Wars.
It has been said before- but it bears repeating- People who saw the first 3 films as kids, then saw Phantom Menace, somehow think that the film should have "grown up" with them, but it hasn't- it's still at the same level as the other 3, which you can say is "for kids" or alternatively, "for all ages".
I think you get much better criticisms from people when they compare the first 3- i.e. some poeple say that Empire is the best because it's darker, (or because it had different writers) etc.- other people, more concerned with epic action prefer Return of the Jedi, and didn't like Empire because of the "Luke training" bits. Etc. Etc.
As for Jar-Jar Binks, I thought he was hilarious, and I think a lot of other people thought so too. I mean, I can see how people disliked the Ewoks, but Jar-Jar. What? He talks funny? Slashdotters love this as a rule- AYBABTU anyone?
In fact I think that the spread of "Jar Jar Sucks" posts are probably related to the AYBABTU phenomenon- i.e. stick with what the mob likes, and diss the things the mob hates, and you'll be alright. I mean- we are slashdotters- we're supposed to be more mature than this. Also we're supposed to like computer stuff, i.e. CGI.
Now, it's obvious that Lucas would be a big fan of CGI, and that his 3 prequals would use lots of it. You have to remember that the other 3 films used a lot of technologically-advanced stuff for their day, so George Lucas hasn't changed in his attitude.
And people slagging off George Lucas for wanting to make money? What a surprise- Slashdotters slag off anyone who wants to make money. It almost seems like they want to me able to make money themselves without allowing anyone else to do so. (Or are we all really eco-warriors typing this from our psychedelically-painted trailers?)
You see, slashdotters typically slag off commercial Operating Systems and software and praise the free ones, but with films they're fucked- because you couldn't really make a decent film on an extremely low budget. (OK, so there was Blair Witch, which was shit overall, but at least had a "Why didn't I think of that?" idea).
Basically, I am criticising the majority of slashdotters for being shallow and hypocritical. (Whoooooh! Like, THAT'S novel....)
Graspee
Arseholes like opinions. Everyone is one.
It's petty- but I'm bored- so I'll respond...
You missed out service pack 6a on the NT4 platforms, windows 3.11 and nt 3.5 (after all you say "in current use") not "current", otherwise 95 and 98 wouldn't be allowed).
Windows.NET is not an operating system yet.
Windows 95 is the same as windows 95 OSR1.
While OSR versions count as different operating systems, I don't think service packs should, unless they subsequently released a CD with the patch preapplied.
The valid test of what constitutes a different operating system (for windows at least) should be what you can buy (no betas) on a CD (and the CDs are still being made), so if you only allow current Microsoft OSs, you get:
Windows ME
Windows 2000 Prof
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2000 Adv. Server
Windows 2000 Datacenter
All above 4 Win 2000 but with SP1 preapplied
That's it for desktop systems,
I don't know about the handheld versions.
You only really have two MS current desktop OSs since the various versions of 2000 are basically one OS but configured for diferent uses, but of course all locked-up so you have to buy the right one. This is why in the MSDN subscription you get one CD, labelled "Windows 2000 Versions", and it can install any one I think. (Haven't checked).
So, to sum up, If MS were linux there would be only two distros, but those distros would be much more different than any two linux ones are.
Graspee
"I don't believe that all gods are myths.
I know it for a fact"
Everything that people consider "knowledge" is really just belief. Do you just call something belief if are willing to change your mind on it? Aside from, perhaps, mathematical truths, there is no knowledge. You could get some individual and indoctrinate him so he *believed* that there was a race of unicorns living on the moon. Now we would call what he thought a *belief*, but he would say "I *know* there are unicorns living on the moon".
Think about it.
"Robert Heinlen (a first rate author) "
Oh, you mean that hack writer who just couldn't help putting his personal extreme opinions into every book he wrote in a sickening obvious way?
Classic Heinlein opinions: (in no particular order)
1) People who like cats are inherently superior to those who do not.
2) People who rape women should be tortured then killed
3) People should be allowed to commit incest
There are also lots of political opinions too, but I can't be bothered to organize them into a list.
Graspee
Arseholes like opinions. Everyone is one.
You were obviosuly looking at the blade 1000, not the 100.
Count yourself lucky, the blade 1000 in the UK is about 8400 pounds, which is a lot more.
Graspee
*fewer* Sparc binaries, not "less"
I think the fate of turn-based games can be summed up by looking at the history of XCOM.
In the beginning, (at least for me) there was the ultimate turn-based game: XCOM. Loved it.
Then there was XCOM2: terror from the deep. I actually found it too difficult, but lots of people loved it, and it was faithful to the original.
Then came XCOM 3. Now you had the choice between real-time or turn-based, and IMHO and the HO of others, it sucked huge cocks, and was the death of the series.
If XCOM3 was the death of the series, then when (supposedly the same people) created Abomination: the nemesis project, they actually created the animated rotting corpse of xcom. Now it was real-time only, and it was a shambling mess.
The history of xcom serves quite well to illustrate the history of things- but thankfully there are a few highlights in this, now, the post-XCOM phase of games.
For example, if you really like XCOM 1 and 2 but they run too fast on your computer, you could check out the following:
Soldiers at War: WW2 squad-based, turn-based. Is VERY similar to XCOM- dunno if any of the xcom creators were on board. It's Windows not dos, so speed should be less of an issue. (This is quite an old game though with basic graphics).
As many people have pointed out, there is Baldur's gate 1 and 2. Both very good for turn-based fans if you set the "auto pause at end of round" option. Watch out though, you can't do this in Planescape Torment...
Also as others have pointed out there is Jagged Alliance 2, which doesn't run too fast even if you have a 6 GHz machine. I haven't played the expansion for it, but lots of reviews thought it was bad value for money.
Two more turn-based games, which I actually never really got into are the two Warhammer 40K ones. The first is a space marines vs chaos one, and the second is Rites of War, involving eldar. At least the first one is very xcom-influenced.
AND FINALLY- my hot tip, mega game for turn-based freeeeeeks everywhere, but including modern 3D graphics is Odium by Monolith. It looks all new-fangled and 3dized to start with, but you quickly see that it uses a square grid system, is completely turn-based, extremely challenging and great great fun. Check it out, please. It was made in 1999.
Graspee
Well I stopped considering it Pink Floyd after Syd Barrett left, but there you go.
Plus, who cares if Rick Wright got the boot? Have you heard "his" tracks on Ummagumma? Aieieieie. Less, please.
A friend of mine says that the only reason PF ended up playing stadiums is because they were too fat to fit in small venues anymore. There was also a good part to his joke where he compared N. Mason to one of the inflatable balloons they used to have at PF gigs, but it's probably getting too cruel already...
Graspee
"Bill Gates and Richard Stallman are finally coming to a face off. "
Cool! So they're going to swap faces and have lots of gun battles while spouting cool quotes?
Oh no, sorry, the point of that film was that *one of them was good, and the other evil*.
Graspee
Erm, "The Division Bell" ??
I know it's crap, and has no RW, but it's still PF in name and has DG whining on it...
Graspee
ps sorry for abbrevs- just got up and hard to type
If I had mod points I'd mod this up.
/. party line and is vehemently expressed.
It's not flamebait, it's just not the
A lot of people collect mp3s like warez kiddies collect warez- they like the respect they get when they have something obscure no-one else has, they like to show off the length of their lists or boast about how many Gig of mp3s they have on thrir hard drives, they like to have the big popular stuff within minutes of it being released. The comparison is obvious- these are actually the same people! In Victorian times they probably collected rare butterflies pinned into dusty glass cases. Think about it.
Graspee
Just a cool quote for anyone who still remembers this fantastic game (BioForge):
"The threat has been nullified!"
(Well, it's only cool if you were there).