Lucas said two decades ago was that the two droids would be the only characters who would be in all nine films. So he had to come up with SOME excuse for these very same droids being present from the start.
I did mention this in another post -- the one place where onboard video makes sense is indeed for server boards (and limited-function machines like point-of-sale systems), especially rackmounts where anything more than the most basic video is overkill, and there's essentially nothing video-related that can go wrong.
But in motherboards meant for general-purpose desktop machines -- it's an invention of the devil. Onboard video causes more grief than all other components combined. And it's definitely a redflag that the board was made by Corner-Cutters-R-Us. In the 12 years or so that I've been building PCs, I've seen NO exceptions.
Very simple network: one Win2K and 3 Win98 boxen using Windows networking (the IBM was a clean new Win98 install with nothing added yet). One 10baseT hub. No machine has more than one port. What did we do wrong?
I do know that the IBM (P2-350) got shitcanned by an office for being "too slow" even tho they don't do anything elaborate.
And those that don't use shared RAM have damn little... my neighbour's new PC has only 8mb!
I've also heard of dumbassed drivers that somehow let Windows forget that the shared RAM belongs to the video chip, so it gets swapped out, and suddenly you've got half a blank screen.
Onboard video is an invention of the devil.:(
And outside of server boards, is a redflag that the whole board was cheaply made.
I've got a crappy old IBM P2 that I dragged to the local old-games meeting and we hooked it to the LAN... and it instantly turned everything connected into 386s. Its onboard Intel NIC apparently is not only chatty but downright verbose.
Needless to say, said machine is now in the barn awaiting a ripe moment to gut it for parts.
You forgot to mention Dell's proprietary power supply's oddball pinout, which if you try to hook 'em to a normal motherboard, will let the magic smoke out.
I've seen HPs that are equally proprietary, tho, and gawdawful to work inside.
Me, I'm a firm proponent of custom-building your own whenever possible.
The problem with onboard video is that 1) it typically uses shared RAM, which is never 100% stable (or if not shared RAM, usually some very small amount -- like 8mb even in current machines!!) 2) in my observation the onboard video circuit is the most likely point where the magic smoke gets out; and 3) *sometimes* it doesn't disable cleanly even if it's otherwise dead, so you can't replace it with a proper AGP card anyway.
Also, motherboards with onboard video are typically made cheaper all around, and are more likely to fail sooner, or not be upgradeable in general -- for every onboard function, typically at least one PCI slot goes away, and how much flexibility do you have in a board with only a couple slots?
Onboard sound and NIC aren't so bad (except for the vanishing slots design thing) because you can have two NICs or two sound cards without the system getting confused, so if one doesn't disable cleanly, it's not a big deal (tho the chips used are usually bottom end/cheapest available). But because of the generally lower quality and other issues, I'd never buy a motherboard with onboard *video*.
Example: IMO, Card's best book is LOST BOYS. It's a sortof ghost story that takes place in a fundamental Mormon community. In this book, Mormonism is used only as setting and background, but it's not shoved in our faces. So it's perfectly acceptable and even gives the book a colour and flavour it might not otherwise have. I read the bloody thing in one sitting.
But then there's Alvin Maker, which started off so well and soon became about as tedious as... lugging around an anvil, because the series quickly degenerated from "religion as part of the people's lives" to "religion as the only excuse for continuing the series at all".
It occurs to me to wonder whether Card has become "uneditable" and whether Ender's Game underwent some serious book-doctoring that hasn't happened with the rest. At the very least, he had a better editor back then.
I think it's the other way around (speaking as someone who was there at the beginning). Star Trek was about taking moral grey areas, and forcing them to be black or white, where only one outcome was 'correct'. Star Trek has a very idealised view of the universe (which it came by honestly, since Roddenberry was pretty damned narrow-minded, I say having spoken to the man myself).
Whereas Star Wars started with an apparently black-or-white, good-or-evil premise, and gradually blurred the lines by showing just how grey life really is.
Stargate (like most character-driven SF) is much more akin to Star Wars, in that outcomes are frequently uncertain or even negative, and the moral stance that you thought was so black-or-white is in fact grey with pulsating purple stripes, or even no valid colour at all. The challenge isn't to find a black or white moral view, but to find one that works at all in the context of situations that don't fit any preconceived pattern.
I've noticed over the decades that very consistently, ST appeals more to people who like the universe to be neatly pigeonholed, whereas SW and its kin appeal more to folk who prefer a flexible or unpredictable universe. (The ST exception is DS9, which falls into the grey camp.)
BTW, I write SF (character-driven space opera), and mine is both rainbow-grey and smells funny.:)
I made a similar comment above -- I would be interested in seeing location-specific classifieds (rather, a textlink to online classified specific to my location, peggable by my NYT login). This would expand their classified market outside of the NYC area too, especially if these online-only classifieds are quite inexpensive.
Essentially, a more specific application of Google TextAds. Of course if you want to see ads relevant to your location, you'd have to register with at least your town/state correct, but that makes it a perk of registration.
Above, I said why not just partner with Google on this, but I'm sure NYT could just as readily do it themselves (and as the parent says, keep all the money:)
Given what you say, what's needed is a way to distinguish researchers who consider the subscription cost a business expense, from casual users like myself who read random NYT articles of random age, most typically because they were linked from somewhere else.
One method that came to mind is to make access to the articles themselves free, but make their *searchability* a paid function. Presumably this would mean that external search engines would have to be denied access, so there would be fewer random users linking/reading articles.
At that point, it behooves them to run the numbers for "ad impressions seen by random-user eyeballs" vs the relative rarity of "paying researcher looking for some specific and obscure topic".
Another thought: a new advertising model, which would target random-users by location. Offer inexpensive "classified" style online ads that are regionalized, and whenever I log in, show me a link to the classifieds that are specific to my area. I personally would find this very useful (and might even use it as a small advertiser), and I'm sure I'm not alone. As a small box of a few basic "links to major classified sections for your area" it also would be unobtrusive and would work in any browser (two reasons I use NYTimes.com in the first place -- it works for my preferred older browser, and it doesn't make my eyes bleed). In short, sortof like Google TextAds, except specific to the NYTimes.
Or, hell, why reinvent the wheel, why not just partner with Google for that??
While I don't disagree with your stance (indeed, there are sites that have pissed me off and will never see a genuine login from me) -- in the case of the NYT, I *choose* to have an account. But why should MY account login be screwed up by *someone else's* dislike of this particular login requirement??
How much more difficult would it be to post both normal and bogosified links, so people could freely *choose* which one to use?
(The hypocrisy on Slashdot, which supposedly revolves around maintaining freedom of choice for all, is without peer...)
Haha, exactly my thoughts! it would not only pay my mortgage, it would finance my living expenses with a comfortable bit of change left over. I'd LOVE to know what a $20 bill feels like against my ass.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Your code compiles perfectly in every language I tried it with!! ;)
Lucas said two decades ago was that the two droids would be the only characters who would be in all nine films. So he had to come up with SOME excuse for these very same droids being present from the start.
I only saw the third Matrix movie, and it traumatized me for life. Please, please stick to your resolution not to see it!!
I thought it might look rather like a flatworm, or perhaps a leech.
"When a new worm spreads around the world, people want to know if they are protected."
Well, I suppose that depends on whether it's an endangered species or not.
Be generous. Give the poor bloke both of 'em. And while you're at it, he can have mine too!
I did mention this in another post -- the one place where onboard video makes sense is indeed for server boards (and limited-function machines like point-of-sale systems), especially rackmounts where anything more than the most basic video is overkill, and there's essentially nothing video-related that can go wrong.
But in motherboards meant for general-purpose desktop machines -- it's an invention of the devil. Onboard video causes more grief than all other components combined. And it's definitely a redflag that the board was made by Corner-Cutters-R-Us. In the 12 years or so that I've been building PCs, I've seen NO exceptions.
Explain, please?
Very simple network: one Win2K and 3 Win98 boxen using Windows networking (the IBM was a clean new Win98 install with nothing added yet). One 10baseT hub. No machine has more than one port. What did we do wrong?
I do know that the IBM (P2-350) got shitcanned by an office for being "too slow" even tho they don't do anything elaborate.
Ah, thanks, that may explain why sometimes onboard video doesn't disable cleanly. Evil, evil stuff!
And those that don't use shared RAM have damn little ... my neighbour's new PC has only 8mb!
:(
I've also heard of dumbassed drivers that somehow let Windows forget that the shared RAM belongs to the video chip, so it gets swapped out, and suddenly you've got half a blank screen.
Onboard video is an invention of the devil.
And outside of server boards, is a redflag that the whole board was cheaply made.
I've got a crappy old IBM P2 that I dragged to the local old-games meeting and we hooked it to the LAN... and it instantly turned everything connected into 386s. Its onboard Intel NIC apparently is not only chatty but downright verbose.
Needless to say, said machine is now in the barn awaiting a ripe moment to gut it for parts.
That's because you have "memos" disabled on your slashdot story preferences. ;)
You forgot to mention Dell's proprietary power supply's oddball pinout, which if you try to hook 'em to a normal motherboard, will let the magic smoke out.
I've seen HPs that are equally proprietary, tho, and gawdawful to work inside.
Me, I'm a firm proponent of custom-building your own whenever possible.
The problem with onboard video is that 1) it typically uses shared RAM, which is never 100% stable (or if not shared RAM, usually some very small amount -- like 8mb even in current machines!!) 2) in my observation the onboard video circuit is the most likely point where the magic smoke gets out; and 3) *sometimes* it doesn't disable cleanly even if it's otherwise dead, so you can't replace it with a proper AGP card anyway.
Also, motherboards with onboard video are typically made cheaper all around, and are more likely to fail sooner, or not be upgradeable in general -- for every onboard function, typically at least one PCI slot goes away, and how much flexibility do you have in a board with only a couple slots?
Onboard sound and NIC aren't so bad (except for the vanishing slots design thing) because you can have two NICs or two sound cards without the system getting confused, so if one doesn't disable cleanly, it's not a big deal (tho the chips used are usually bottom end/cheapest available). But because of the generally lower quality and other issues, I'd never buy a motherboard with onboard *video*.
GIMME!!!!!
;)
And it'll look great next to my 15" vintage Vader doll...
Oh yeah... I'm 50. I may grow old, but I refuse to grow up.
Just give me enough $20s for a bonfire, and we'll see if they don't. ;)
Example: IMO, Card's best book is LOST BOYS. It's a sortof ghost story that takes place in a fundamental Mormon community. In this book, Mormonism is used only as setting and background, but it's not shoved in our faces. So it's perfectly acceptable and even gives the book a colour and flavour it might not otherwise have. I read the bloody thing in one sitting.
... lugging around an anvil, because the series quickly degenerated from "religion as part of the people's lives" to "religion as the only excuse for continuing the series at all".
But then there's Alvin Maker, which started off so well and soon became about as tedious as
It occurs to me to wonder whether Card has become "uneditable" and whether Ender's Game underwent some serious book-doctoring that hasn't happened with the rest. At the very least, he had a better editor back then.
As I mention above, Card also wrote the excellent How to Write SF/F.
But then he went on to prove that those who can, DO, and those who can't, TEACH.
BTW excellent points in this and the parent thread.
I think it's the other way around (speaking as someone who was there at the beginning). Star Trek was about taking moral grey areas, and forcing them to be black or white, where only one outcome was 'correct'. Star Trek has a very idealised view of the universe (which it came by honestly, since Roddenberry was pretty damned narrow-minded, I say having spoken to the man myself).
:)
Whereas Star Wars started with an apparently black-or-white, good-or-evil premise, and gradually blurred the lines by showing just how grey life really is.
Stargate (like most character-driven SF) is much more akin to Star Wars, in that outcomes are frequently uncertain or even negative, and the moral stance that you thought was so black-or-white is in fact grey with pulsating purple stripes, or even no valid colour at all. The challenge isn't to find a black or white moral view, but to find one that works at all in the context of situations that don't fit any preconceived pattern.
I've noticed over the decades that very consistently, ST appeals more to people who like the universe to be neatly pigeonholed, whereas SW and its kin appeal more to folk who prefer a flexible or unpredictable universe. (The ST exception is DS9, which falls into the grey camp.)
BTW, I write SF (character-driven space opera), and mine is both rainbow-grey and smells funny.
Card's book "How to Write SF and F" is very good, full of excellent observations and advice regarding the craft.
:(
Too bad he seldom follows it himself.
Piggly-Wiggly, lordy, I haven't seen one of those since moving west. Tho we usually shopped at Red Owl. Where did they get such names anyway? :)
Do they sell this stuff on CD or DVD? that, I might be interested in...
I made a similar comment above -- I would be interested in seeing location-specific classifieds (rather, a textlink to online classified specific to my location, peggable by my NYT login). This would expand their classified market outside of the NYC area too, especially if these online-only classifieds are quite inexpensive.
:)
Essentially, a more specific application of Google TextAds. Of course if you want to see ads relevant to your location, you'd have to register with at least your town/state correct, but that makes it a perk of registration.
Above, I said why not just partner with Google on this, but I'm sure NYT could just as readily do it themselves (and as the parent says, keep all the money
Hey, NYTimes people, are you reading here today??
Given what you say, what's needed is a way to distinguish researchers who consider the subscription cost a business expense, from casual users like myself who read random NYT articles of random age, most typically because they were linked from somewhere else.
One method that came to mind is to make access to the articles themselves free, but make their *searchability* a paid function. Presumably this would mean that external search engines would have to be denied access, so there would be fewer random users linking/reading articles.
At that point, it behooves them to run the numbers for "ad impressions seen by random-user eyeballs" vs the relative rarity of "paying researcher looking for some specific and obscure topic".
Another thought: a new advertising model, which would target random-users by location. Offer inexpensive "classified" style online ads that are regionalized, and whenever I log in, show me a link to the classifieds that are specific to my area. I personally would find this very useful (and might even use it as a small advertiser), and I'm sure I'm not alone. As a small box of a few basic "links to major classified sections for your area" it also would be unobtrusive and would work in any browser (two reasons I use NYTimes.com in the first place -- it works for my preferred older browser, and it doesn't make my eyes bleed). In short, sortof like Google TextAds, except specific to the NYTimes.
Or, hell, why reinvent the wheel, why not just partner with Google for that??
While I don't disagree with your stance (indeed, there are sites that have pissed me off and will never see a genuine login from me) -- in the case of the NYT, I *choose* to have an account. But why should MY account login be screwed up by *someone else's* dislike of this particular login requirement??
How much more difficult would it be to post both normal and bogosified links, so people could freely *choose* which one to use?
(The hypocrisy on Slashdot, which supposedly revolves around maintaining freedom of choice for all, is without peer...)
Haha, exactly my thoughts! it would not only pay my mortgage, it would finance my living expenses with a comfortable bit of change left over. I'd LOVE to know what a $20 bill feels like against my ass. :)