My LG 24x10x40x will burn a full audio CD in 2.5 - 3 minutes. This drive also will not underrun - ever. I have yet to produce a single coaster (and I've gone through about 150 blank CD-Rs since I've bought it). It might have something to do with the fact that it has an 8 MB buffer, which is something you don't see on most CD-RW drives.
The beauty part? I got it at Future Shop for $79 (Canadian) after rebate about 6 months ago.
LG has really gotten their act together apparently.
My only gripe? Digital Audio Extraction peaks at about 8x. My friend's El Cheapo 48x10x48x CD-RW drive sucks, but it does DAE at about 24x.
Faster, more convenient and occupies less space on that already crowded CD rack.
True, but unless you shelled out $1500 for a car DVD player which happens to play MP3s (or DVD Audio, but I'm not sure if you need special software to create those kinds of discs), you're out of luck if you want to listen to it on the road.
The new versions of Microsoft Works come with Microsoft Word as the default word processor. Interestinly enough, MS Works alone is cheaper than MS Word and includes all the functionality. Plus, when you buy MS Works, you batch of other programs which may or may not be useful to you.
The majority of people use Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office flawlessly reads.DOC files. That's as simple as it needs to be.
Go to any office building and ask the secretary what she thinks of the.DOC file format and then tell her that she could be using a slower, less sophisticated, less featured office suite that MIGHT read her files correctly, sometimes.
I'm getting tired of people bashing MS Office simply because it's a Microsoft product. You have to consider the possiblity that people elect to buy these products because they like using them, not just because Microsoft is ramming them down their throat. In fact, I challenge you to find a better office suite than Microsoft Office... (Hint: It isn't StarOffice, it isn't OpenOffice, it isn't Corel, and this is far from a matter of opinion).
OpenOffice will be a glorified text editor for some time to come.
Well, as far as I could see, the XBox audience consists mostly of PC-users that love high MHz numbers and are used to pirate games.
Why in the name of holy hell was this modded up? This statement is as ridiculous as saying "All MP3 enthusiasts are music pirates that also kill newborn babies and drink their blood for both fun and profit."
Pre-requisites to XBox life? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Here are the pre-requisites that I can see: 1) Buy console 2) Rent/buy game 3) Nothing else
The overwhelming majority of people who buy a game console never do anything to its innards. Granted, this is an unfounded statistic with no factual basis, but I'd wager that _maybe_ 1% of people buy a console for the express purpose of modding it.
The majority doesn't have broadband and the few broadband owners are - you guessed it - even more likely to have modded their XBox.
Yet another statement that makes so little sense that I don't know where to begin picking it apart. Maybe, just maybe, broadband users simply like having a faster internet connection.
In short: I completely disagree with the logic of your post and have no problem calling you another stark raving lunatic who uses MS bashing to get modded up while contributing absolutely nothing insightful or remotely informative to the conversation at hand.
I'm talking about the latest versions of both Red Hat and Mandrake. I maintain my assertion of nothing EVER working without messing with it for hours in Linux.
I do take exception to one of your comments however: nothing gets me more riled than people who complain about, say, X configuration when they haven't used a Linux distro since 1999.
Along those same lines, nothing gets me more riled when people bitch about windows and they haven't used a version since 95 or 98.
Did it occur to anybody that some people just like windows, office, and IE?
I personally like them... A lot.
(Repeated for emphasis) Windows XP does not crash on my machine. Ever. The thing about Windows XP is that it doesn't ever seem to crash on my machine. I don't know where all this "linux is more stable" stuff is coming from. In my experience, Windows XP doesn't crash.
Office is a fantastic package for which there isn't any good open-source competition. Even if star office were better I would not switch. I like office. It works, I can do things quickly, and it also doesn't crash.
IE is a good web-browser. No, nobody has tried to attack my computer with whatever security exploits _may_ be present in it. If they want to more power to them. After they are done, they can tell me what a blast they had doing it and we might share a beer. I simply don't care. IE is snappy, makes a satisfying little "click" when navigating through web-pages, works with my mouse 5 button mouse, smooths fonts to make them easier to read, and is much faster than mozilla will ever be.
My other computer is a mac. I love that machine as well. OS is a pleasure to work with and never gets in the way.
The bottom line is that I like Windows XP and Mac OSX. Whatever my reasons, know this: I will not switch to linux any time in the forseeable future. Switching would only make my computer a pain in the ass to use.
One other little note: I don't want to hear any bullshit saying that I only like windows, office, ie, etc. because it's all I've ever used and don't make an effort to look for better products. I don't want to hear how on your system, mozilla runs faster than IE despite being twice as slow as mine (I won't believe this statement, so don't bother telling me).
I like windows. I like OSX. I won't switch to linux. No politics. No agenda. No hatemongering. Just personal preference.
What you just described is an a situation that is atypical for windows. In my experience, and I don't consider myself an idiot, almost NOTHING on linux has ever just worked. Ever. I don't know why, but if I can manage to keep my sound from crackling out every few hours in linux (requiring a reboot to get it working again) I consider myself lucky.
Moral of the story: every OS has its hell. Maybe you like Linux, that's fine. But don't tout it as being a magical shiny place where nothing ever goes wrong, because it isn't.
Before we all lose our tempers and start yelling "Ogg Vorbis rules!" and "Microsoft Sucks" let's take a minute to read the disclaimer attached to the article.
It's hard to miss considering that it's prominently displayed in bold red text... But just in case, here it is anyways:
Disclaimer: This article is a satirical (HUMOUR) look at building a silent PC. If you break anything of yours trying anything in this article, it's your own fault! Better yet, don't try anything that you see in here, unless you know the consequences, because neither RH or I will take any responsibility. Thank ya, now back to the article...
IOW, if she was used to OO.o, she would say that MS Office "sucked" for exactly the same reasons?
I doubt that very much. Open Office feels like such a wannabe product. I mean, you can try to like it, but when something better comes along (and by better I mean just about any commercial office suite) you just instinctively know it.
Open Office is unresponsive, ugly, and did I mention that the fonts suck?
I hate for this to sound like a troll, but it really can't be helped.
To put it bluntly, your writing style is atrocious. You cannot seem to argue a point without needlessly repeating yourself and some of your sentences are even contradictory... What gives you the right to argue about the validity of a post-secondary education when you don't seem posessed of the literary skills to get a point across clearly? Also, you seem to have missed a chunk of information. The original poster had claimed that his CS 171 course was taught in entirely VC++. This doesn't mean all the courses in his computer science degree... Rather, he was most likely referring to a single course.
In my university, the junior level courses are taught in pascal and java. Later we get to play with other languages including C++, Objective C (a new course this year), ASM (various architectures), and various others.
When you take a few C++ classes you are learning more than just the language itself, regardless of what compiler you use. Would you honestly have us believe that learning in say, GCC would teach you more (or better) problem solving skills than MSVC++?
Again, sorry to come across as harsh, but it really bothers me that this post was moderated so highly.
Whether you show a micro-pc, full size tower, or beowulf cluster to a woman you'll likely get the same response... If it isn't stifled laughter it'll probably be outright disappointment.
There are tonnes of Micro ATX boards available to the public but, ironically, they are usually shoved into full size cases (check out any build-to-order computer shop).
In our local computer shops, you can get a full size case (with 300 watt power supply) for $25 CDN. Granted, the case is made of the flimsiest metal I have ever seen and the power supply has to be of subpar quality...
Just a little note on the 8086 architecture. I don't think it's a method of cutting costs. Rather, I think it's to model technology on a proven, working, rock-solid platform that is going to behave predictably.
Here's a link to a picture of a funny looking man with a large moustache. I'm posting it as a follow up because they are both equally relavent answers to the question on hand-held scanners.
Slashdot Mirror
Our cellphones need subwoofers as bad as our cats need bricks tied to their heads.
Pricing things by the kilobyte is a foolish scheme at best.
As a consequence, it will draw attention to all those people who think it is acceptable to produce products that run on windows only
No it won't.
An interesting note...
My LG 24x10x40x will burn a full audio CD in 2.5 - 3 minutes. This drive also will not underrun - ever. I have yet to produce a single coaster (and I've gone through about 150 blank CD-Rs since I've bought it). It might have something to do with the fact that it has an 8 MB buffer, which is something you don't see on most CD-RW drives.
The beauty part? I got it at Future Shop for $79 (Canadian) after rebate about 6 months ago.
LG has really gotten their act together apparently.
My only gripe? Digital Audio Extraction peaks at about 8x. My friend's El Cheapo 48x10x48x CD-RW drive sucks, but it does DAE at about 24x.
Faster, more convenient and occupies less space on that already crowded CD rack.
True, but unless you shelled out $1500 for a car DVD player which happens to play MP3s (or DVD Audio, but I'm not sure if you need special software to create those kinds of discs), you're out of luck if you want to listen to it on the road.
This is quite possibly the worst SOVIET RUSSIA joke I've heard in two years.
If you've been reading slashdot recently, you know that that's saying a hell of a lot.
*There*...
You just ruined the joke.
The new versions of Microsoft Works come with Microsoft Word as the default word processor. Interestinly enough, MS Works alone is cheaper than MS Word and includes all the functionality. Plus, when you buy MS Works, you batch of other programs which may or may not be useful to you.
Here's why .DOC doesn't suck:
.DOC files.
.DOC file format and then tell her that she could be using a slower, less sophisticated, less featured office suite that MIGHT read her files correctly, sometimes.
The majority of people use Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office flawlessly reads
That's as simple as it needs to be.
Go to any office building and ask the secretary what she thinks of the
I'm getting tired of people bashing MS Office simply because it's a Microsoft product. You have to consider the possiblity that people elect to buy these products because they like using them, not just because Microsoft is ramming them down their throat. In fact, I challenge you to find a better office suite than Microsoft Office... (Hint: It isn't StarOffice, it isn't OpenOffice, it isn't Corel, and this is far from a matter of opinion).
OpenOffice will be a glorified text editor for some time to come.
Well, as far as I could see, the XBox audience consists mostly of PC-users that love high MHz numbers and are used to pirate games.
Why in the name of holy hell was this modded up? This statement is as ridiculous as saying "All MP3 enthusiasts are music pirates that also kill newborn babies and drink their blood for both fun and profit."
Pre-requisites to XBox life? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Here are the pre-requisites that I can see:
1) Buy console
2) Rent/buy game
3) Nothing else
The overwhelming majority of people who buy a game console never do anything to its innards. Granted, this is an unfounded statistic with no factual basis, but I'd wager that _maybe_ 1% of people buy a console for the express purpose of modding it.
The majority doesn't have broadband and the few broadband owners are - you guessed it - even more likely to have modded their XBox.
Yet another statement that makes so little sense that I don't know where to begin picking it apart. Maybe, just maybe, broadband users simply like having a faster internet connection.
In short: I completely disagree with the logic of your post and have no problem calling you another stark raving lunatic who uses MS bashing to get modded up while contributing absolutely nothing insightful or remotely informative to the conversation at hand.
I'm talking about the latest versions of both Red Hat and Mandrake. I maintain my assertion of nothing EVER working without messing with it for hours in Linux.
I do take exception to one of your comments however:
nothing gets me more riled than people who complain about, say, X configuration when they haven't used a Linux distro since 1999.
Along those same lines, nothing gets me more riled when people bitch about windows and they haven't used a version since 95 or 98.
Did it occur to anybody that some people just like windows, office, and IE?
I personally like them... A lot.
(Repeated for emphasis)
Windows XP does not crash on my machine. Ever.
The thing about Windows XP is that it doesn't ever seem to crash on my machine.
I don't know where all this "linux is more stable" stuff is coming from. In my experience, Windows XP doesn't crash.
Office is a fantastic package for which there isn't any good open-source competition. Even if star office were better I would not switch. I like office. It works, I can do things quickly, and it also doesn't crash.
IE is a good web-browser. No, nobody has tried to attack my computer with whatever security exploits _may_ be present in it. If they want to more power to them. After they are done, they can tell me what a blast they had doing it and we might share a beer. I simply don't care.
IE is snappy, makes a satisfying little "click" when navigating through web-pages, works with my mouse 5 button mouse, smooths fonts to make them easier to read, and is much faster than mozilla will ever be.
My other computer is a mac. I love that machine as well. OS is a pleasure to work with and never gets in the way.
The bottom line is that I like Windows XP and Mac OSX. Whatever my reasons, know this: I will not switch to linux any time in the forseeable future. Switching would only make my computer a pain in the ass to use.
One other little note: I don't want to hear any bullshit saying that I only like windows, office, ie, etc. because it's all I've ever used and don't make an effort to look for better products. I don't want to hear how on your system, mozilla runs faster than IE despite being twice as slow as mine (I won't believe this statement, so don't bother telling me).
I like windows. I like OSX. I won't switch to linux. No politics. No agenda. No hatemongering. Just personal preference.
What you just described is an a situation that is atypical for windows. In my experience, and I don't consider myself an idiot, almost NOTHING on linux has ever just worked. Ever. I don't know why, but if I can manage to keep my sound from crackling out every few hours in linux (requiring a reboot to get it working again) I consider myself lucky.
Moral of the story: every OS has its hell. Maybe you like Linux, that's fine. But don't tout it as being a magical shiny place where nothing ever goes wrong, because it isn't.
DivXNetworks, Inc, the company that created the revolutionary patent-pending DivX (TM) video compression technology...
Hmm, I thought that DivX was a perverse concatination of MPEG 4 and MP3. I wasn't aware that it was patentable.
http://www.apple.com/switch/stories/ellenfeiss.htm l
Before we all lose our tempers and start yelling "Ogg Vorbis rules!" and "Microsoft Sucks" let's take a minute to read the disclaimer attached to the article.
It's hard to miss considering that it's prominently displayed in bold red text... But just in case, here it is anyways:
Disclaimer: This article is a satirical (HUMOUR) look at building a silent PC. If you break anything of yours trying anything in this article, it's your own fault! Better yet, don't try anything that you see in here, unless you know the consequences, because neither RH or I will take any responsibility. Thank ya, now back to the article...
The fact that I now know what this is a reference to pisses me off more than you can possibly believe.
Yet Another Exchange Killer?
This implies that there has already been an exchange killer. As should be blatantly obvious to everyone involved, this is hardly the case.
What ever happened to hitting Ctrl+Alt+Function Key to switch between terminals?
IOW, if she was used to OO.o, she would say that MS Office "sucked" for exactly the same reasons?
I doubt that very much. Open Office feels like such a wannabe product. I mean, you can try to like it, but when something better comes along (and by better I mean just about any commercial office suite) you just instinctively know it.
Open Office is unresponsive, ugly, and did I mention that the fonts suck?
I hate for this to sound like a troll, but it really can't be helped.
To put it bluntly, your writing style is atrocious. You cannot seem to argue a point without needlessly repeating yourself and some of your sentences are even contradictory... What gives you the right to argue about the validity of a post-secondary education when you don't seem posessed of the literary skills to get a point across clearly? Also, you seem to have missed a chunk of information. The original poster had claimed that his CS 171 course was taught in entirely VC++. This doesn't mean all the courses in his computer science degree... Rather, he was most likely referring to a single course.
In my university, the junior level courses are taught in pascal and java. Later we get to play with other languages including C++, Objective C (a new course this year), ASM (various architectures), and various others.
When you take a few C++ classes you are learning more than just the language itself, regardless of what compiler you use. Would you honestly have us believe that learning in say, GCC would teach you more (or better) problem solving skills than MSVC++?
Again, sorry to come across as harsh, but it really bothers me that this post was moderated so highly.
Whether you show a micro-pc, full size tower, or beowulf cluster to a woman you'll likely get the same response... If it isn't stifled laughter it'll probably be outright disappointment.
There are tonnes of Micro ATX boards available to the public but, ironically, they are usually shoved into full size cases (check out any build-to-order computer shop).
In our local computer shops, you can get a full size case (with 300 watt power supply) for $25 CDN. Granted, the case is made of the flimsiest metal I have ever seen and the power supply has to be of subpar quality...
Just a little note on the 8086 architecture. I don't think it's a method of cutting costs. Rather, I think it's to model technology on a proven, working, rock-solid platform that is going to behave predictably.
Here's a link to a picture of a funny looking man with a large moustache. I'm posting it as a follow up because they are both equally relavent answers to the question on hand-held scanners.
http://www.peter.com/inline/jimmy.jpeg