Hate to reply to myself but there is another detail: I am using the nvidia-glx driver, as that card did not seem to take to well to the most recent set of drivers. I might try it again, though.
I can't get to TFA to check the screenshots, but it may be the same as Gnome in my case. On one of my systems I have running Ubuntu 8.04, some compiz effects have jagged edges. It is especially noticeable with the Wobbly Windows effect.
I may have an option turned off, something misconfigured, or perhaps AA is only used for higher-end video cards than I have.
That sounds like a wonderful setup for a corporate environment. I'd love to have everything that automated.
At work I only have 5-6 Windows PCs and no Windows Servers (But there are close to 20 FreeBSD and Linux servers). At home I have two Windows PCs and a FreeBSD server. When repairing customer PCs, they only talk to a single FreeBSD server with Samba to pull utils/updates/etc from network shares.
I do like periodically building up-to-date XP install discs. I had been using RyanVM's integrator, but I have not been keeping up to date with that lately, as I have been sticking with stock SP2 images. Now I'll probably go with SP3.
It seems like along with the updates, both RyanVM and nLite both tend to install lots of other apps and tweaks that not all customers appreciate.
This being a laptop I don't have a lot of extra HD space for snapshots or on-disk backups. Docs get sync'd to a TrueCrypt volume on a flash drive. Pictures and music are copied to my server and my wife's PC by hand or with SyncToy. I also make regular backups to DVD of documents and such.
Mail is kept on an IMAP server, but I also backup local folders, bookmarks, etc periodically to a flash drive and to my server.
I'd rather take a day and make sure I have a fresh install using all new (or the most recent) drivers, software versions, etc.
It always seemed like when I used to use snapshots and ghost images, by the time I needed to revert, everything was horribly out of date and I spent just as much time trying to update everything as I would have on a fresh install. Maybe it's just me.
I've had the opposite experience. In dealing with hundreds of customer PCs, I have only had a handful where a repair install did not fix the issue and a wipe and reload was necessary.
There are certainly plenty of times when it is a toss-up, and the repair install will be acceptable, but the clean install will be best. However, repair installs have been generally favorable in my experience.
I doubt it was really faster in the long run, once you factor in copying my data back over, reinstalling programs, etc. It took the better part of a day to get things back to what I consider a usable state for my personal laptop with all my data.
A repair install would have probably taken about an hour, give or take.
As I said, I felt more comfortable starting from scratch and going that route, because I figured it would be the most trouble-free in the long run. A repair install may have had it up and running much sooner.
I have installed SP3 on several systems, and I have only had problems on one. It was my laptop, and I had known there were problems with the underlying Windows installation for months but wondered if SP3 might fix them. It did not. It ended up in an endless cycle of BSoDs from which it never did recover. I ghosted the drive, wiped it clean, and installed from an XP CD with SP3 slipstreamed. Now the laptop is running better than ever. I am not sure if SP3 has anything to do with that, or the fact that it's a fresh install with new, recent drivers. (most likely the clean install.)
The BSoD/stop errors I received pointed to a driver issue with DEP, but without being able to boot even in safe mode there was no easy way to debug the problem. I could have tried a repair install, but I felt more comfortable starting from scratch.
My experience is the same, Re: Super Mario Galaxy. That doesn't require much movement, just wrist twitching for the spin attack. There is the occasional control scheme switch but nothing major, like the sequences where you jump on top of the ball and tilt the controller.
They should have used a game like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Even if it is just an arm workout, it still wears me out.
My wife got me a Nerf-made Wii Sports pack with a tennis racket, baseball bat, and golf club for Christmas.
I had thought the cheap plastic ones would be too light to make a difference, but the Nerf ones have some weight to them and really change the experience, almost too much! I was getting pretty good at tennis, but I put the Nerf attachment on and I practically have to relearn the game because of the added weight.
Plus, it's Nerf. You can smack people over the head with it and it's fine.
Side note: For Baseball, the bat is great for hitting but awkward for pitching, and it's a little difficult to get the bat portion snapped on/off in time during the pitching/hitting transition so you just about have to leave it on the whole time.
I'll have to show my son that site (starfall.com). He loves letters. He knows the alphabet backwards and forwards, and can read the letters, but he hasn't taken an interest in reading words or sentences just yet. He can write his name, and he will write lots of letters, but not all of them. We read to him every day, and sometimes he pretends to read to us, but it's stories he makes up that go with the pictures instead of what is written -- which is great in its own way.
One thing that helped with letters was Here Come the ABCs we listen to it in the car a lot. I was already a fan of They Might Be Giants, and I just loved it when he took a liking to them as well.:) They have a "Here comes the 123s" that is due out in February.
I'd much rather he use the computer than stare at the TV, which is what seems to happen a lot more than I'd like. We got him a V.Smile system for Christmas so we'll see how that works out in terms of a compromise...
We regret ever showing our 3 year old how to use the web. He's constantly hogging one of the PCs now playing games on Playhouse Disney's web site. He (thankfully) doesn't yet know which icon to click to start the web browser, but he knows how to get to the bookmarks once he's in. We do limit his time, but it's a fight when we tell him his turn is over.
He knows what buttons to push to turn the PC on, but by design, he can't. I bought server-style cases with doors that cover the buttons. It's only a matter of time before he figures that part out.
He'd hog the Nintendo DS, too, if we let him. Crayola Adventures is pure evil, I say!;)
I had more trouble with the Canadian courses. For some reason I just couldn't hit all the tree runs just right. I don't remember having much trouble with Finland once I got to know the shortcuts. There are several places where you get lots of air and you can come down in a path going through trees, cuts lots of distance off and you get lots of tree runs there, too.
I still haven't finished all of the skill challenges, though.
I just finished getting 120 stars in SMG, now if I go back and finish off Bowser again I get to play the whole game over as Luigi. Not sure if I'll go all the way through with that one or not...
Perhaps you'll like Rygar: The Battle of Argus? Not exactly my cup of tea, but I am more of a casual gamer lately. Moreso because of time constraints than anything. Check out the release list, there are a lot of promising titles.
I also recommend Super Mario Galaxy (the best so far), Super Paper Mario, Excite Truck, Zelda (that took me forever to finish!), and you already have Metroid Prime 3.
MP3 was a little confusing when you had to return to certain areas of certain planets to get upgrades, or reach new areas after you got the previous upgrades. Somehow I managed to finish, though.
As for Excite Truck, I agree. It's especially fun with the "crazy monster truck" (I think it's called) unlocked. It's big, fast, and has a never-ending "POW" that lets you plow through everything and everyone.
I'm currently obsessed with Super Mario Galaxy. I am stuck trying to get through "Luigi's Purple Coins"... That level is one big death trap.
And at the end of the day, I still go back to Wii Sports.
...for the only part of Super Mario Galaxy I don't like so far: When you click on the disc channel to start the game, he yells "SUPER MARIOOOOO GALAXY!" at the top of his lungs.
It's a great game, but I wish there were a way to quickly bypass that screen. If you press "start" as fast as possible, it only cuts off the last part of "galaxy".
Would you really want to sit staring at a monitor for days on end when playing a GAME? Not for me, but judging by the number of WoW addicts, I'd say that is a "yes" for a fair number of gamers.
Re:Slashdot channeling Dr. Suess
on
Fox Hacks Fark
·
· Score: 1
I couldn't get anything to rhyme with "RIAA"
You could pronounce that "REE-uh" instead of saying the letters. That way it would rhyme with something not unlike their main product.
Verizon has been charging all other CLECs (read: competitors to Verizon DSL) for last-mile piggybacking (which they are required by law to offer) even more money than it costs a customer to get Verizon DSL,
That's complete bull. That's not bull. We tried to partner up with Verizon to offer DSL in their territory 3 years ago, and they wanted $22/mo per line for the loop fee, PLUS you had to pay them damn near $1000/mo for the wholesale aggregate circuit. They were charging $19.95/mo direct. We did the math, and to make any money (including compensation for the additional upstream capacity we'd need) we had to charge no less than $60 per customer and that was without marking it up much. Then by the time you're breaking even, you need more capacity. It didn't add up and we ended up pulling out before we even had 15 customers on the line.
Oh, and wholesale Verizon partners were limited to ONLY the 768K/128K or 1.5Mbps/128Kbps speeds. Talk about a hard sell...
And now that the telcos have been deregulated again, Verizon has grandfathered most if not all of their wholesale offerings and has choked the market off even more.
I don't like at&t any better than Verizon, but at least their DSL wholesale pricing is a lot more reasonable.
b) USB keyboard Why bother with USB keyboards and mice? It has Bluetooth support, too. I'd rather see Bluetooth keyboards, mice, headsets, etc.
In an ideal world, they'd support more of both devices, but seeing as it only has 2 USB ports, I'd rather save them for something like a mass storage device or other large, immobile peripherals that need the extra transmission speed that a wired connection could provide.
Oh that's nothing, check this part out:
Section 109(b)(1) Petitions for Cost-Shifting Relief
CALEA section 109(b) permits a "telecommunications carrier," as that term is defined by CALEA, to file a petition with the FCC and an application with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request that DOJ pay the costs of the carrier's CALEA compliance... First, the carrier must file a section 109(b)(1) petition with the FCC [...] Please note that a filing fee of $5,000.00 is required to accompany all CALEA section 109(b)(1) petitions filed with the FCC. (Emphasis mine)
They want you to pay $5,000 to file a request for financial assistance! How ridiculous is that?!
Slashdot Mirror
It doesn't bother me at all, so I haven't given it much concern.
It may also chew up too much CPU or GPU time to use it on a desktop, more than any perceived benefit.
Hate to reply to myself but there is another detail: I am using the nvidia-glx driver, as that card did not seem to take to well to the most recent set of drivers. I might try it again, though.
On that box I'm using Nvidia's binary drivers on an NV18-based GeForce4 MX440.
I can't get to TFA to check the screenshots, but it may be the same as Gnome in my case. On one of my systems I have running Ubuntu 8.04, some compiz effects have jagged edges. It is especially noticeable with the Wobbly Windows effect.
I may have an option turned off, something misconfigured, or perhaps AA is only used for higher-end video cards than I have.
I've put SP3 on about 10 machines and counting, and my laptop was the only problematic one.
I'm sure it was a fluke, but I'm still holding off on doing SP3 on my wife's PC until I have verified that her backups are up-to-date.
That sounds like a wonderful setup for a corporate environment. I'd love to have everything that automated.
At work I only have 5-6 Windows PCs and no Windows Servers (But there are close to 20 FreeBSD and Linux servers). At home I have two Windows PCs and a FreeBSD server. When repairing customer PCs, they only talk to a single FreeBSD server with Samba to pull utils/updates/etc from network shares.
I do like periodically building up-to-date XP install discs. I had been using RyanVM's integrator, but I have not been keeping up to date with that lately, as I have been sticking with stock SP2 images. Now I'll probably go with SP3.
It seems like along with the updates, both RyanVM and nLite both tend to install lots of other apps and tweaks that not all customers appreciate.
This being a laptop I don't have a lot of extra HD space for snapshots or on-disk backups. Docs get sync'd to a TrueCrypt volume on a flash drive. Pictures and music are copied to my server and my wife's PC by hand or with SyncToy. I also make regular backups to DVD of documents and such.
Mail is kept on an IMAP server, but I also backup local folders, bookmarks, etc periodically to a flash drive and to my server.
I'd rather take a day and make sure I have a fresh install using all new (or the most recent) drivers, software versions, etc.
It always seemed like when I used to use snapshots and ghost images, by the time I needed to revert, everything was horribly out of date and I spent just as much time trying to update everything as I would have on a fresh install. Maybe it's just me.
I've had the opposite experience. In dealing with hundreds of customer PCs, I have only had a handful where a repair install did not fix the issue and a wipe and reload was necessary.
There are certainly plenty of times when it is a toss-up, and the repair install will be acceptable, but the clean install will be best. However, repair installs have been generally favorable in my experience.
I figured it was worth a shot, and I had good backups ready anyhow.
I still have the ghosted drive if I ever get curious and want to really figure out what the problem was.
I doubt it was really faster in the long run, once you factor in copying my data back over, reinstalling programs, etc. It took the better part of a day to get things back to what I consider a usable state for my personal laptop with all my data.
A repair install would have probably taken about an hour, give or take.
As I said, I felt more comfortable starting from scratch and going that route, because I figured it would be the most trouble-free in the long run. A repair install may have had it up and running much sooner.
I have installed SP3 on several systems, and I have only had problems on one. It was my laptop, and I had known there were problems with the underlying Windows installation for months but wondered if SP3 might fix them. It did not. It ended up in an endless cycle of BSoDs from which it never did recover. I ghosted the drive, wiped it clean, and installed from an XP CD with SP3 slipstreamed. Now the laptop is running better than ever. I am not sure if SP3 has anything to do with that, or the fact that it's a fresh install with new, recent drivers. (most likely the clean install.)
The BSoD/stop errors I received pointed to a driver issue with DEP, but without being able to boot even in safe mode there was no easy way to debug the problem. I could have tried a repair install, but I felt more comfortable starting from scratch.
My experience is the same, Re: Super Mario Galaxy. That doesn't require much movement, just wrist twitching for the spin attack. There is the occasional control scheme switch but nothing major, like the sequences where you jump on top of the ball and tilt the controller.
:P
They should have used a game like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Even if it is just an arm workout, it still wears me out.
I must be really out of shape.
My wife got me a Nerf-made Wii Sports pack with a tennis racket, baseball bat, and golf club for Christmas.
I had thought the cheap plastic ones would be too light to make a difference, but the Nerf ones have some weight to them and really change the experience, almost too much! I was getting pretty good at tennis, but I put the Nerf attachment on and I practically have to relearn the game because of the added weight.
Plus, it's Nerf. You can smack people over the head with it and it's fine.
Side note: For Baseball, the bat is great for hitting but awkward for pitching, and it's a little difficult to get the bat portion snapped on/off in time during the pitching/hitting transition so you just about have to leave it on the whole time.
I'll have to show my son that site (starfall.com). He loves letters. He knows the alphabet backwards and forwards, and can read the letters, but he hasn't taken an interest in reading words or sentences just yet. He can write his name, and he will write lots of letters, but not all of them. We read to him every day, and sometimes he pretends to read to us, but it's stories he makes up that go with the pictures instead of what is written -- which is great in its own way.
:) They have a "Here comes the 123s" that is due out in February.
One thing that helped with letters was Here Come the ABCs we listen to it in the car a lot. I was already a fan of They Might Be Giants, and I just loved it when he took a liking to them as well.
I'd much rather he use the computer than stare at the TV, which is what seems to happen a lot more than I'd like. We got him a V.Smile system for Christmas so we'll see how that works out in terms of a compromise...
We regret ever showing our 3 year old how to use the web. He's constantly hogging one of the PCs now playing games on Playhouse Disney's web site. He (thankfully) doesn't yet know which icon to click to start the web browser, but he knows how to get to the bookmarks once he's in. We do limit his time, but it's a fight when we tell him his turn is over.
;)
He knows what buttons to push to turn the PC on, but by design, he can't. I bought server-style cases with doors that cover the buttons. It's only a matter of time before he figures that part out.
He'd hog the Nintendo DS, too, if we let him. Crayola Adventures is pure evil, I say!
I had more trouble with the Canadian courses. For some reason I just couldn't hit all the tree runs just right. I don't remember having much trouble with Finland once I got to know the shortcuts. There are several places where you get lots of air and you can come down in a path going through trees, cuts lots of distance off and you get lots of tree runs there, too.
I still haven't finished all of the skill challenges, though.
I just finished getting 120 stars in SMG, now if I go back and finish off Bowser again I get to play the whole game over as Luigi. Not sure if I'll go all the way through with that one or not...
Perhaps you'll like Rygar: The Battle of Argus? Not exactly my cup of tea, but I am more of a casual gamer lately. Moreso because of time constraints than anything. Check out the release list, there are a lot of promising titles.
I also recommend Super Mario Galaxy (the best so far), Super Paper Mario, Excite Truck, Zelda (that took me forever to finish!), and you already have Metroid Prime 3.
MP3 was a little confusing when you had to return to certain areas of certain planets to get upgrades, or reach new areas after you got the previous upgrades. Somehow I managed to finish, though.
As for Excite Truck, I agree. It's especially fun with the "crazy monster truck" (I think it's called) unlocked. It's big, fast, and has a never-ending "POW" that lets you plow through everything and everyone.
I'm currently obsessed with Super Mario Galaxy. I am stuck trying to get through "Luigi's Purple Coins"... That level is one big death trap.
And at the end of the day, I still go back to Wii Sports.
...for the only part of Super Mario Galaxy I don't like so far: When you click on the disc channel to start the game, he yells "SUPER MARIOOOOO GALAXY!" at the top of his lungs.
It's a great game, but I wish there were a way to quickly bypass that screen. If you press "start" as fast as possible, it only cuts off the last part of "galaxy".
Oh well, I guess there's always mute.
I couldn't get anything to rhyme with "RIAA"
You could pronounce that "REE-uh" instead of saying the letters. That way it would rhyme with something not unlike their main product.
What, no mention of John Linnell's computer-controlled robot orchestra?
See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL9_IK8YNV8 (Rehearsal)
And:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4RZpKJ1x6o (Live)
That's complete bull. That's not bull. We tried to partner up with Verizon to offer DSL in their territory 3 years ago, and they wanted $22/mo per line for the loop fee, PLUS you had to pay them damn near $1000/mo for the wholesale aggregate circuit. They were charging $19.95/mo direct. We did the math, and to make any money (including compensation for the additional upstream capacity we'd need) we had to charge no less than $60 per customer and that was without marking it up much. Then by the time you're breaking even, you need more capacity. It didn't add up and we ended up pulling out before we even had 15 customers on the line.
Oh, and wholesale Verizon partners were limited to ONLY the 768K/128K or 1.5Mbps/128Kbps speeds. Talk about a hard sell...
And now that the telcos have been deregulated again, Verizon has grandfathered most if not all of their wholesale offerings and has choked the market off even more.
I don't like at&t any better than Verizon, but at least their DSL wholesale pricing is a lot more reasonable.
In an ideal world, they'd support more of both devices, but seeing as it only has 2 USB ports, I'd rather save them for something like a mass storage device or other large, immobile peripherals that need the extra transmission speed that a wired connection could provide.
CALEA section 109(b) permits a "telecommunications carrier," as that term is defined by CALEA, to file a petition with the FCC and an application with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request that DOJ pay the costs of the carrier's CALEA compliance
[...]
Please note that a filing fee of $5,000.00 is required to accompany all CALEA section 109(b)(1) petitions filed with the FCC. (Emphasis mine)
They want you to pay $5,000 to file a request for financial assistance! How ridiculous is that?!