It wasn't just one machine. Each and every relative I'm thinking of has their own machine, but my grandparents machine is used by all.
Basic lessons of Dave:
Don't run or install anything you get via email. Don't install games from random websites. If you want a utility, talk to me, don't download from a random site. NoNags.com, SourceForge, this list probably good, otherwise TALK TO ME That popup website that just scanned your computer, yeah, it's a lie, close the window by right clicking the task bar and chosing close, DON'T CLICK ANYTHING ELSE That email about your bank account info, yeah, it's fake to Just buy a damn CD, don't pirate
I've had a difficult time with them downloading "cool" crap. Unfortunately they all seem to love the eGames from Wal-Mart and Target that are full of spyware off the shelf. After getting jobs that restrict my free tech support time and having to go without computers/functionality for sometimes months on end until I can get to them, they've finally learned to listen.
Re:Users are branching out - game companies are no
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 1
You failed in knocking me down a couple of notches, I've learned to be steadfast in my beliefs as those who disagree with me are steadfast in theirs. If Epic didn't want a conspiracy theory they should have just been open in reasoning. Answer one post, and respond to all the new post with links to the one with the answer, case closed, no conspiracy. Deleting post and sweeping the issue under the rug after initially being such a vocal supporter of being cross platform didn't help their case. The Gears of War thing somewhat supported the "conspiracy theory".
Agreed the actual Unreal series has never been officially ported to Linux, though I know the original Unreal can be played with Unreal Tournaments engine, I've had it working multiple times with the hacked installer. Unreal II the Awakening however, I've never heard of working without WINE, I'm going to have to look into that, see if anything has changed.
So, no, not knocked down a notch, not ruling out the possibility of Microsoft having been indirectly a cause of delay, glad they're finally moving to do what they said they would do. I'm just glad that Epic is one of the few companies that usually does pay attention to multi-platform users. Another note, I've had every version of Quake installed and working on both Linux and OS X (not had much luck with the original UT on OS X, but I've got 2K4)
Re:Users are branching out - game companies are no
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Well, for one thing I can update Linux from one release to the next in an hour or so. I used a version update disk to take Vista from Home Basic to Home Premium so I could join a clients notebook to the domain. I initally left it on his desk and checked back every 15 mintues. Finally I dropped it to once an hour. Took about 5 hours.
Another thing I can do with Linux (and to a lesser degree Mac) is chose all updates, applications and OS, hit "do it" without having to track down individual application updates and patches.
With other OS's I don't get the feeling I'm having to fight the OS to do everything I want. I can have as many people as I want mapped to my personal drive if I have a shared out section without hitting a "maximum connections" error - without paying extra. It may seem like a contradiction of terms, but it's actually getting to the point that GNU/Linux with KDE or GNOME is easier to use than Windows, of any version.
I will agree with you on 2K, Windows 2000 was a decent easy to use straight forward OS. XP was almost as good interface wise, but wasn't as good as 2000 in some ways, Vista is just slow and clunky. I know it's supposedly stable, but it's just slow to do technical things, like add and remove programs. As a tech I like to be able to get in, do it, and get out. Vista is an all day commitment.
Re:Users are branching out - game companies are no
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 1
It's quite common to drop the Tournament when speaking of Unreal Tournament games, as a matter of fact it's quite acceptable and common to just say "UT3", however to feed the troll, I'll rebutt with a note, it was originally promised at launch, in box. There were deadline issues which of course made it appear as though it would be a "soon after launch" thing. It's no longer soon after launch. I'm not the only Linux use who bought the game based on a "soon after" promise directly from the company.
Nobody said anything about fair, what was mentioned was what was announced by the company (then not retracted, but ignored/forgotten)
On another note, I actually do a bit of research and I just found updates on the situation. (since my initial post) I'm not dismissing the original Microsoft ass kissing statement, but I am suggesting that it may no longer be an issue.
They've been on my personal boycott list for years, but I didn't buy that printer for them, nor select it. UMax is on it worse than them, is UMax even still around?
Re:Users are branching out - game companies are no
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 1
Been wondering what your username was, gonna go do some PMI's now, but I'll still be gaming on consoles, Linux, and Mac.
The "Mad Man" (I doubt you'll know him by that, but he's the grouchy one on duty) says console games are dead. I have to disagree with him.
Re:Users are branching out - game companies are no
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 1
I loved the original UT, and I still play it on occasion (I've actually had trouble slowing it down enough on newer systems), I played UT2K3, and of course replaced it with UT2K4, I loved them all. I only spent a few minutes on my cousins copy of UT3, I'm a bit annoyed that I bought it and don't get to play it. Even if it is steaming crap, I would like for them to keep to the promise of at least making it functional crap.
Re:Users are branching out - game companies are no
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 1
Unreal 3 is made and working for Linux, but it's not been released because there was a rumor Microsoft may want to buy Epic. The Linux release was shelved and never released, any mention of "Where's my promised Linux version?" on the message board gets deleted, sometimes so do the accounts of the posters. Because there's no profit in it, or there will be negative consequences if caught playing nice with others?
I used a combination of the task scheduler and options within the programs to automatically update Spybot and AVG and to automatically run a scan. I set Spybot to scan on boot (this is the only annoyance I haven't figured out how to hide). They eat at noon like clockwork, so I set AVG to automatically scan then.
They use Thunderbird for email. Initially I setup Outlook Express thinking the "normal" Windows way would be easier in the end, even though I used Thunderbird myself. Nope, to many headaches. Firefox and Thunderbird appear to work great for them. I have a 19" monitor running at 1024x768 which seems to be ok, but I'm on the lookout for needing to lower the resolution or increase the text size, so far so good.
Something I have found, they love Frozen Bubble.
The only thing I have to do is from time to time do a "big" upgrade when AVG releases an update that can't be done automatically, about once a year, or clean up after a younger cousin, not after my grandparents. I used to have it locked down automatically logging in with a user rights account to keep my little cousins from screwing it up, but Lexmark made that difficult and Granny couldn't remember a password. Lexmark drivers required admin rights just to use the printer. I figured out which folders to blow wide open, but Lexmark kept finding another way to make it difficult, and of course their answer for bad driver writing was to contact Microsoft. I finally found it was easier leave the thing auto logging in as Admin (I hate that) and educating/threatening my other relatives. After 10 years of educating them they've finally stopped installing spyware on my grandparents system, and seriously slowed down installing it on their own systems.
Users are branching out - game companies are not.
on
Is the Gaming PC Dead?
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I walk into a coffee shop with people using WiFi and chugging coffee. More than half of the people at these coffee shops are using Macs.
I hang out with my geek friends, most of them have switched to Ubuntu, but a couple of us are Debian hold outs. Many of us have completely given up Windows.
Everyone seems to be pissed off at Windows and Microsoft issues.
Game developers make everything for Windows. I used to be a gamer, when I switched to Linux I played games on Linux. Now the companies that used to make Linux Games (Hello Unreal 3!) have decided not to do it anymore because they're kissing Microsofts ass.
People aren't moving away from gaming rigs, game companies don't cater to gamers who are on the cutting edge - i.e. ditching Microsoft!
I've given a lot of real thought to this. Vista sucks and the users are revolting (in more than one way). *NIX is taking over. BSD is free and MS has been using some BSD code in Windows since at least 95. There's lots of developer support already out there for OS X.
Why not make Windows a *NIX window manager? I don't see why MS couldn't make Apple some sort of huge offer to license some of their code and make Mac programs compatible with Windows PCs. In the end any application written for one should work on both, but Apple would still have the cooler user interface, the rabid fans and the more stable known hardware environment behind it while the Windows version would still have more hardware flexibility with the cost savings and problems attached to that. When I say license parts of Mac OS I'm talking about frameworks and libraries, not the whole OS, it would still be up to MS to develop the user environment and utilities involved.
Seriously how bad would it be to have MS throw in the towel and go *NIX? They would still be the dominant party, I have little doubt in that, but they will all of the sudden have a decent OS that works with everything else.
I'm in the Johnson Space Center building 30M 3rd floor. Which building and room are you in? With equipment like that I know you just HAVE to be around here somewhere. (well, you could be military).
There's a draft of Firewire that hasn't hit yet that uses standard Ethernet cables. The port is supposed to be able to use either Firewire OR Ethernet and be able to switch between them depending on what it's plugged into. This sounds ideal to me.
Neither really scares me, though things jumping and strobing may have a momentary effect.
No, I've found that the only types of things that scare me are things that could be real, and in a realistic way, or at least close to it. That's why I still consider Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers one of the scariest games ever, and One Hour Photo is one of the scarriest movies I've ever seen, even though nothing actually happens in it.
I am also a Libertarian, it's hilarious how both messy and organized describe me. I'm going to speak in past tense as present since Ike recently upset a lot of what I'm going to say....
I've got tons of books arranged neatly on book shelves. I have tons of DVDs's, on wall mounted organizers. I carry tons of stuff in my back packs and they all appear messy to those who don't know better, but I know what is in every pocket, and I have different backpacks for different occasions (one for each job). I have tie-dyed curtains and the most utilitarian solid tank of a 1970s tank of an IBM desk you would ever want to see. Everything has its place and it gets put there, except in my office, then it's pretty much a mess no matter how often I clean it up. I carry multiple Leatherman tools and a flashlight, along with my smart assed remark T-Shirt. I believe in being green to practical levels and go out of my way to conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle when I can, but I don't believe in legislating it.
I've told people if there were a such thing as a conservative drug free hippie I would be one.
I shop in what I call "the hippie section" of the grocery store, and up until the shear amount of time I worked caused me to fall behind on my lawn I used an old fashioned reel type manual push mower. Upgrading to gas was something I did out of shear necessity.
What can I say? My heart draws me to the left and my brains keep me to the right, I think I've found a really good sane and stable balance.
Nah, I would say that list should legitimately begun at 1998 or so, with low hopes. Before then I think it was said as more of a joke. The modern KDE and Gnome however are quite flashy and user friendly. Easier in Windows in many respects, and I've found a few things I like better about KDE (my prefered manager) than I do about Mac OS X.
My personal experience was nearly the same. I started out on an assembly line, moved up to an engineering position, became a field administrator/tech then helped to start and manage a help desk, which was incredibly good and got great reviews from independent sources. From that point I moved to a position of remote support, not help desk, but real remote support with techs in the field acting as eyes and ears and us acting as brains, definitely not a help desk, the help desk referred to us for help. I took up another just as advanced position and became pigeon holed as help desk, though I was not. I didn't think I would ever get another real tech job. Fortunately my current employer saw my satellite support skills from those "help desk" like jobs of the past as a plus at NASA and I'm working as a real tech again, and I'm moving back towards being a field engineer with my own company.
I'm about to leave for a few hours, so before I hear "What other manufacturers", look up Panoz and Vector. Not well known, and not in the current consumer price range, but they could possibly step up to the plate if needed.
I've worked around retail petroleum extensively in the past, most US based and with the exception of one really well known.
Each morning (sometimes more often) any store that is corporate owned or corporate contracted (i.e. anything that isn't Lou's gas and grub that doesn't show a logo) sends their manager/accountant person around to certain gas stations. This manager has to write down the prices of the other gas stations, this includes others with the same logo as the managers own but more importantly those that don't have it. They then send these prices into the corporate offices. The prices are then determined for the submitting store based on the prices around that store. Sometimes it's just a computerized "here it is" sometimes there's some more thought to it, based on how much do we want to raise/lower all the prices a whole? If prices were truly supply and demand there would be no survey, there would simply be "I'm easily selling lots of gas, lets charge more" vs. "I'm not selling much gas, lets charge less".
This is more of a legal loophole. Instead of Shell, Chevron, and Exxon agreeing to keep prices at a certain level in some back room meeting, which is illegal, they agree to do surveys and stay within an unwritten tolerance level of one another.
Lou's Gas and Grub isn't immune either. See, he buys his gas from the big companies, he isn't necessarily contracted to just one of them, but they sale their gas based on the current market price. They can send one guy out to deliver gas on a highway on 100 mile stretch in one day, he can charge the last guy on the trip $0.50 a gallon more than he charged the first guy if the market is that varied 100 miles away.
It's not as efficient or steadfast as a back room deal, but it's sufficient.
Slashdot Mirror
It wasn't just one machine. Each and every relative I'm thinking of has their own machine, but my grandparents machine is used by all.
Basic lessons of Dave:
Don't run or install anything you get via email.
Don't install games from random websites.
If you want a utility, talk to me, don't download from a random site.
NoNags.com, SourceForge, this list probably good, otherwise TALK TO ME
That popup website that just scanned your computer, yeah, it's a lie, close the window by right clicking the task bar and chosing close, DON'T CLICK ANYTHING ELSE
That email about your bank account info, yeah, it's fake to
Just buy a damn CD, don't pirate
I've had a difficult time with them downloading "cool" crap. Unfortunately they all seem to love the eGames from Wal-Mart and Target that are full of spyware off the shelf. After getting jobs that restrict my free tech support time and having to go without computers/functionality for sometimes months on end until I can get to them, they've finally learned to listen.
You failed in knocking me down a couple of notches, I've learned to be steadfast in my beliefs as those who disagree with me are steadfast in theirs. If Epic didn't want a conspiracy theory they should have just been open in reasoning. Answer one post, and respond to all the new post with links to the one with the answer, case closed, no conspiracy. Deleting post and sweeping the issue under the rug after initially being such a vocal supporter of being cross platform didn't help their case. The Gears of War thing somewhat supported the "conspiracy theory".
Agreed the actual Unreal series has never been officially ported to Linux, though I know the original Unreal can be played with Unreal Tournaments engine, I've had it working multiple times with the hacked installer. Unreal II the Awakening however, I've never heard of working without WINE, I'm going to have to look into that, see if anything has changed.
So, no, not knocked down a notch, not ruling out the possibility of Microsoft having been indirectly a cause of delay, glad they're finally moving to do what they said they would do. I'm just glad that Epic is one of the few companies that usually does pay attention to multi-platform users. Another note, I've had every version of Quake installed and working on both Linux and OS X (not had much luck with the original UT on OS X, but I've got 2K4)
Well, for one thing I can update Linux from one release to the next in an hour or so. I used a version update disk to take Vista from Home Basic to Home Premium so I could join a clients notebook to the domain. I initally left it on his desk and checked back every 15 mintues. Finally I dropped it to once an hour. Took about 5 hours.
Another thing I can do with Linux (and to a lesser degree Mac) is chose all updates, applications and OS, hit "do it" without having to track down individual application updates and patches.
With other OS's I don't get the feeling I'm having to fight the OS to do everything I want. I can have as many people as I want mapped to my personal drive if I have a shared out section without hitting a "maximum connections" error - without paying extra. It may seem like a contradiction of terms, but it's actually getting to the point that GNU/Linux with KDE or GNOME is easier to use than Windows, of any version.
I will agree with you on 2K, Windows 2000 was a decent easy to use straight forward OS. XP was almost as good interface wise, but wasn't as good as 2000 in some ways, Vista is just slow and clunky. I know it's supposedly stable, but it's just slow to do technical things, like add and remove programs. As a tech I like to be able to get in, do it, and get out. Vista is an all day commitment.
It's quite common to drop the Tournament when speaking of Unreal Tournament games, as a matter of fact it's quite acceptable and common to just say "UT3", however to feed the troll, I'll rebutt with a note, it was originally promised at launch, in box. There were deadline issues which of course made it appear as though it would be a "soon after launch" thing. It's no longer soon after launch. I'm not the only Linux use who bought the game based on a "soon after" promise directly from the company.
Nobody said anything about fair, what was mentioned was what was announced by the company (then not retracted, but ignored/forgotten)
On another note, I actually do a bit of research and I just found updates on the situation. (since my initial post) I'm not dismissing the original Microsoft ass kissing statement, but I am suggesting that it may no longer be an issue.
They've been on my personal boycott list for years, but I didn't buy that printer for them, nor select it. UMax is on it worse than them, is UMax even still around?
Been wondering what your username was, gonna go do some PMI's now, but I'll still be gaming on consoles, Linux, and Mac.
The "Mad Man" (I doubt you'll know him by that, but he's the grouchy one on duty) says console games are dead. I have to disagree with him.
I loved the original UT, and I still play it on occasion (I've actually had trouble slowing it down enough on newer systems), I played UT2K3, and of course replaced it with UT2K4, I loved them all. I only spent a few minutes on my cousins copy of UT3, I'm a bit annoyed that I bought it and don't get to play it. Even if it is steaming crap, I would like for them to keep to the promise of at least making it functional crap.
Unreal 3 is made and working for Linux, but it's not been released because there was a rumor Microsoft may want to buy Epic. The Linux release was shelved and never released, any mention of "Where's my promised Linux version?" on the message board gets deleted, sometimes so do the accounts of the posters. Because there's no profit in it, or there will be negative consequences if caught playing nice with others?
I used a combination of the task scheduler and options within the programs to automatically update Spybot and AVG and to automatically run a scan. I set Spybot to scan on boot (this is the only annoyance I haven't figured out how to hide). They eat at noon like clockwork, so I set AVG to automatically scan then.
They use Thunderbird for email. Initially I setup Outlook Express thinking the "normal" Windows way would be easier in the end, even though I used Thunderbird myself. Nope, to many headaches. Firefox and Thunderbird appear to work great for them. I have a 19" monitor running at 1024x768 which seems to be ok, but I'm on the lookout for needing to lower the resolution or increase the text size, so far so good.
Something I have found, they love Frozen Bubble.
The only thing I have to do is from time to time do a "big" upgrade when AVG releases an update that can't be done automatically, about once a year, or clean up after a younger cousin, not after my grandparents. I used to have it locked down automatically logging in with a user rights account to keep my little cousins from screwing it up, but Lexmark made that difficult and Granny couldn't remember a password. Lexmark drivers required admin rights just to use the printer. I figured out which folders to blow wide open, but Lexmark kept finding another way to make it difficult, and of course their answer for bad driver writing was to contact Microsoft. I finally found it was easier leave the thing auto logging in as Admin (I hate that) and educating/threatening my other relatives. After 10 years of educating them they've finally stopped installing spyware on my grandparents system, and seriously slowed down installing it on their own systems.
I walk into a coffee shop with people using WiFi and chugging coffee. More than half of the people at these coffee shops are using Macs.
I hang out with my geek friends, most of them have switched to Ubuntu, but a couple of us are Debian hold outs. Many of us have completely given up Windows.
Everyone seems to be pissed off at Windows and Microsoft issues.
Game developers make everything for Windows. I used to be a gamer, when I switched to Linux I played games on Linux. Now the companies that used to make Linux Games (Hello Unreal 3!) have decided not to do it anymore because they're kissing Microsofts ass.
People aren't moving away from gaming rigs, game companies don't cater to gamers who are on the cutting edge - i.e. ditching Microsoft!
I've given a lot of real thought to this. Vista sucks and the users are revolting (in more than one way). *NIX is taking over. BSD is free and MS has been using some BSD code in Windows since at least 95. There's lots of developer support already out there for OS X.
Wired Magazine thought of it before Vista
Why not make Windows a *NIX window manager? I don't see why MS couldn't make Apple some sort of huge offer to license some of their code and make Mac programs compatible with Windows PCs. In the end any application written for one should work on both, but Apple would still have the cooler user interface, the rabid fans and the more stable known hardware environment behind it while the Windows version would still have more hardware flexibility with the cost savings and problems attached to that. When I say license parts of Mac OS I'm talking about frameworks and libraries, not the whole OS, it would still be up to MS to develop the user environment and utilities involved.
Seriously how bad would it be to have MS throw in the towel and go *NIX? They would still be the dominant party, I have little doubt in that, but they will all of the sudden have a decent OS that works with everything else.
I'm in the Johnson Space Center building 30M 3rd floor. Which building and room are you in? With equipment like that I know you just HAVE to be around here somewhere. (well, you could be military).
If anyone is interested, there's info here on that.
There's a draft of Firewire that hasn't hit yet that uses standard Ethernet cables. The port is supposed to be able to use either Firewire OR Ethernet and be able to switch between them depending on what it's plugged into. This sounds ideal to me.
Man-Bear-Pig is as scary as it gets!
Neither really scares me, though things jumping and strobing may have a momentary effect.
No, I've found that the only types of things that scare me are things that could be real, and in a realistic way, or at least close to it. That's why I still consider Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers one of the scariest games ever, and One Hour Photo is one of the scarriest movies I've ever seen, even though nothing actually happens in it.
I am also a Libertarian, it's hilarious how both messy and organized describe me. I'm going to speak in past tense as present since Ike recently upset a lot of what I'm going to say....
I've got tons of books arranged neatly on book shelves. I have tons of DVDs's, on wall mounted organizers. I carry tons of stuff in my back packs and they all appear messy to those who don't know better, but I know what is in every pocket, and I have different backpacks for different occasions (one for each job). I have tie-dyed curtains and the most utilitarian solid tank of a 1970s tank of an IBM desk you would ever want to see. Everything has its place and it gets put there, except in my office, then it's pretty much a mess no matter how often I clean it up. I carry multiple Leatherman tools and a flashlight, along with my smart assed remark T-Shirt. I believe in being green to practical levels and go out of my way to conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle when I can, but I don't believe in legislating it.
I've told people if there were a such thing as a conservative drug free hippie I would be one.
I shop in what I call "the hippie section" of the grocery store, and up until the shear amount of time I worked caused me to fall behind on my lawn I used an old fashioned reel type manual push mower. Upgrading to gas was something I did out of shear necessity.
What can I say? My heart draws me to the left and my brains keep me to the right, I think I've found a really good sane and stable balance.
You mean double click to single click? Yeah, I've run into that with the Gimp.
Nah, I would say that list should legitimately begun at 1998 or so, with low hopes. Before then I think it was said as more of a joke. The modern KDE and Gnome however are quite flashy and user friendly. Easier in Windows in many respects, and I've found a few things I like better about KDE (my prefered manager) than I do about Mac OS X.
It's 10:45 GMT, still earlier enough and the site is Slash Dotted! Thanks guys.
My personal experience was nearly the same. I started out on an assembly line, moved up to an engineering position, became a field administrator/tech then helped to start and manage a help desk, which was incredibly good and got great reviews from independent sources. From that point I moved to a position of remote support, not help desk, but real remote support with techs in the field acting as eyes and ears and us acting as brains, definitely not a help desk, the help desk referred to us for help. I took up another just as advanced position and became pigeon holed as help desk, though I was not. I didn't think I would ever get another real tech job. Fortunately my current employer saw my satellite support skills from those "help desk" like jobs of the past as a plus at NASA and I'm working as a real tech again, and I'm moving back towards being a field engineer with my own company.
Dick Clark reports he's been trying to pass them since he was a teenager.
Does this mean we'll start getting Nigerian telemarketers? Not selling me insurance, but telling me how I can collect.
I'm about to leave for a few hours, so before I hear "What other manufacturers", look up Panoz and Vector. Not well known, and not in the current consumer price range, but they could possibly step up to the plate if needed.
I've worked around retail petroleum extensively in the past, most US based and with the exception of one really well known.
Each morning (sometimes more often) any store that is corporate owned or corporate contracted (i.e. anything that isn't Lou's gas and grub that doesn't show a logo) sends their manager/accountant person around to certain gas stations. This manager has to write down the prices of the other gas stations, this includes others with the same logo as the managers own but more importantly those that don't have it. They then send these prices into the corporate offices. The prices are then determined for the submitting store based on the prices around that store. Sometimes it's just a computerized "here it is" sometimes there's some more thought to it, based on how much do we want to raise/lower all the prices a whole? If prices were truly supply and demand there would be no survey, there would simply be "I'm easily selling lots of gas, lets charge more" vs. "I'm not selling much gas, lets charge less".
This is more of a legal loophole. Instead of Shell, Chevron, and Exxon agreeing to keep prices at a certain level in some back room meeting, which is illegal, they agree to do surveys and stay within an unwritten tolerance level of one another.
Lou's Gas and Grub isn't immune either. See, he buys his gas from the big companies, he isn't necessarily contracted to just one of them, but they sale their gas based on the current market price. They can send one guy out to deliver gas on a highway on 100 mile stretch in one day, he can charge the last guy on the trip $0.50 a gallon more than he charged the first guy if the market is that varied 100 miles away.
It's not as efficient or steadfast as a back room deal, but it's sufficient.