Actually, you simply install a switch to turn the modchip on and off. Then your x-box works fine with X-Box Live. And yes, single player DOA volleyball is *that* cool.
I am dumbfounded by these posts and comments that constantly ask "why not buy/build a regular PC?" VERY SIMPLE ANSWER - A REGULAR PC DOES NOT PLAY X-BOX GAMES. There are other things you can do with this other than run a crappy port of Mandrake. We would like to "ignore" the backup scene, but simply put, you can store TONS of x-box games on a replacement hard drive. The replaced optical drive does the trick for reading CD-R rips that the X-Box wouldn't normally read. A PC would be pointless if you were actually interested in playing any real x-box games.
No, because there is no TV tuner support for the X-Box. Especially considering the XP Media Center Ed. only supports a couple chipsets, somebody would have to come up with some type of USB solution, which of course would be ridiculous to use for PVR functions since the X-Box doesn't support USB 2.0.
I received a DMCA-formatted cease and desist from ALS Scan over a stupid fake picture that I copied from stileproject.com. It was a modified pr0n picture that had been edited in a humorous way. Nothing happened, but the email was accepted by Chilling Effects. You can view it here. Needless to say, I am much more careful about what I post on my site, and urge others to be, as well. What I don't understand is why they didn't go after stileproject.com - a site that makes money off these things. I was just a college student running a stupid blog that got 20 hits a day from my friends. Oh well, DMCA sucks.
My experiences...
on
DSL Rising
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· Score: 5, Insightful
As a college student, I have lived in numerous places and have had first-hand experience with 3 different cable connections (Adelphia, Cox, and Comcast), and 4 different DSL providers (Covad, Sprint FastConnect, Verizon, and my current provider - Cavalier Telephone). In every single case, DSL has been the most reliable and consistent connection for me.
First of all, I do not understand how the $10 cheaper price for cable makes any sense. Cable is actually $5-$10 more expensive for people who aren't already cable subscribers. For us people with DirecTV - paying the cable companies is something we find insulting.
Second - uptime. Cable service in my area (northern virginia) has a tendency to go out more often than the electricity. Thunderstorms are a 99% guarantee of downtime with cable modem service for us. Even if there is a network outage, I almost never see a DSL sync drop out, even during heavy storms.
Third - bandwidth consistency. Adelphia offered me 3Mbps. Guess what, I was lucky to get 512Mbps even on a Sunday afternoon. I would honestly take a 768kbps DSL connection over a 1.5Mbps cable connection that wasn't consistent.
Of course, all of these are related to my personal experience, and I cannot speak for anyone else. I'm sure there are plenty of people with crappy DSL service and excellent cable providers. However, that has not been the case in the DC area for myself. And the PPPoE argument is pointless. Get yourself a Linksys router and you won't know the difference anyways.
Not too big of a surprise. You have no idea how many times people would ask me (sys admin) about internet connections and DirecTV-DSL came up. Of course the number one question - DOES IT WORK OVER THE SATELLITE!!!??? People could never get past the DirecTV name, and therefore seemed to shy away from the service because they were either confused or thought they had to subscribe to satellite service to get the service. The term "DSL" means nothing to anybody but people like us. To everyone else, they only look at the DirecTV part and make assumptions on that. I mean, their satellite service is named DIRECWAY - that's a hell of a lot more separation than DIRECTVDSL. Of course, they probably thought the name would be the selling point - but unfortunately, DSL and satellite service don't mix.
Yet another example of how cable companies continnue to provide less-than-cutting-edge technology with ever increasing prices and subscription fees. Why would they ever want to replace the Zenith box from 1973 with a new PVR? They would have to change everything on the backend and replace everyone's boxes. DirecTV/DISH had it right all along - let the consumer choose their receiver. If they want the bargain RCA brand, then they get it, if they want the UltimateTV receiver, then they get it. HDTV? Get the HDTV receiver. You have dozens to choose from, TiVo/UltimateTV/HDTV/DolbyDigital/etc. made by dozens of different companies. If the cable companies would adopt this type of mentality, perhaps I wouldn't hate them so much.
When I first got my Palm, people marveled at the chance to look at all the phone numbers I could store at one time. I even kept it in my pocket at all times and tried to incorporate it into my wallet (pretty tedious with the original Palm). However, within a couple months, I was only using it to play Galax. I eventually gave it away to my girlfriend, who also used it for a week or two before deciding it really wasn't worth it to have this giant thing for the purpose of only storing phone numbers and playing the occaisonal game.
So then I get a CE device from work. I thought I would give PDA's another chance. While this time, I had color and ethernet, and a decent media player, it fell prey to the same problems at before. I stopped using it within a month and it now sits in a drawer never to be used again.
I think PDA's are cool, but no matter how much I want to like them, they just aren't useful.
As somebody who has lived close to this area in the past, I must say that Harrisonburg City only has 4000 students TOTAL in only 6 schools (only 1 high school and 1 middle school). So I would think of it less as a city and more as a small rural community. This means there is likely only one or two people that would essentially be setting up and running this network. Perhaps it will indeed save them money when deploying their new infrastructure, but god forbid this guy move out of the area! I also must question some of the software packages and their "amounts" that he has determined. While I am not advocating Windows by any means, Apache, PHP, mySql, analog, and plenty of other packages he has listed run completely fine on a Win32-based system. I would be concerned about how well the teachers/faculty/students will be able to utilize the system efficiently (reminds of yesterday's kids on linux post), and be able to do trivial tasks. I'm just not sure that these costs are in line with the size of their school system, and whether or not the savings are actually going to amount to a better learning experience for the school community.
I have used Linux since kernel.99 and Windows since v2.x, I have also used OS X, OS/2, BeOS, and FreeBSD. I had a period in my life where I loved to multiboot every possible OS. But then I realized that multibooting was a hassle. Then I realized that I had to pick. And I picked Windows. Why? Still - after all the advances in Linux drivers, I found that hardware was my biggest problem. I have had so many different combinations of hardware that haven't worked - The MS Phone (not a surprise), the CyberGenie, the old STB TV Tuner, old webcams, scanners, modems, ethernet cards, TV out on my matrox, etc. Games were never a priority, but all my hardware working correctly was. And WITHOUT all the hacking. Other reasons: I like the XP interface. I like it BETTER than KDE, Gnome, and OS X. This is an unbiased preference. The look and feel to me works the way I want it to. I don't like virtual windows. I don't like windows being automatically focused on. I also believe that Windows gets easier to use with each release. This makes things easier for both the user and the person that has to administer the users. It is a lot easier for me to explain how to copy a file from one person's user folder to another on a windows machine using fruity, yet helpful terms like "Network Neighborhood." Network configuration is simple. Hardware installation is simple. Server configuration is simple. I also don't mind Office. I don't mind having my letters capitalized for me sometimes. I don't mind having a word like 'teh' automatically turned into 'the' - I even don't mind IE. I don't like tabbed-browsing. I don't like the ads in Opera. I even don't mind Outlook. I like being reminded that I have to turn in my timesheet. I like that it synchornizes with my cell phone and reminds me to attend meetings. So there are a few reasons for me. Every few months I download another distribution and put it on my second computer at home (2 comparably powerful PC's). Then I try to do the things I commonly do (which are different at home than at work, but not really). For some reason, I keep ignoring the Linux machine. CD Burning is better in Windows - I have a lot more options with CloneCD, CDRWIN, Easy CD, Nero, Fireburner, etc. I even like the effects in XP - I like the fading menus in Win2K. Sure, I can save on system resources by turning them off, but I think it makes my computer seem more pleasing to the eye.
So sorry if that was a huge rambling, but I was thinking out loud as to why I do like Windows.
And just to give you some background, I am a sys/network admin who administers both Unix and Windows machines for a group of developers and sales staff. I am not against Unix, it's just not what I want running on my everyday machine. Because it has features I don't need everyday. Network security? Unix. Internet services? Unix. Looking at pr0n? WINDOWS!
You are referring to the Dishplayer that Dish Network used. The software was identical to what was used on UltimateTV (the Microsoft-backed DirecTV version of the Dishplayer). Even the same remote codes for system access (to reformat/reboot/etc) work on both. Just a clarification point for everyone...
The dialers, which first emerged in the late 1980s, have tripled productivity...
Did anyone else IMMEDIATELY think of the Simpson's when they read that line? Hey Mrs. Doesn't Find Me Sexually Attractive Anymore... Sorry, had to post it.
Saw this on the local news...
on
Airborne Mouse
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· Score: 2
Man, I saw a story on this exact mouse on the local news over a week ago (Wash. DC NBC Channel 4)... is slashdot now lagging behind local news reports in technology information? That would be really scary!
I have an X-Box. I've had it since it came out. I own a few games. I installed one of the original beta Enigmah modchips. I don't play pirated games. I use the emulators, media players, other PC-ports (such as DoomX/Quake), and all the other cool utilities that people have been developing since they cracked it. Yes, people are using the copyrighted SDK, YES, you need to own the ROM's that you emulate. But to be honest, I do this as a hobby. I helped friends/family install chips. None of them are into heavy piracy, but we are all into playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES emulator. Is that so wrong? Legally, perhaps, but don't think for a SECOND that I have any moral objection to it. Let's not forget about how Sony took down playstationmods.com and their Neo chip (v4 for PS2), as well as the original Messiah modchip for PS2. Also realize that DirecTV is currently sending threatening letters and even suing people that bought "illegal smartcard programmers" with nothing more than a receipt from a busted dealer. These companies are setting precedent that you only need the tool to pirate. There is no more burden of proof to determine if the device was actually used and how. Watch out for DirecTV, Microsoft, Sony, and the rest. While we can rant about how the chip is legal as long as you use it as such, DirecTV is still suing people with smartcard readers because they had the POSSIBILITY of reprogramming a satellite access card.
Yes, I have a Sony 43" KP-43HT20, which unfortunately is 4:3, but supports HDTV anyways. Progressive scan isn't the best thing since sliced bread (I prefer 1080i), but it's definitely an improvement in image quality.
Well, first of all, the new chip doesn't work with the latest boxes that were recently manufactured (in August, I think). This has applied to EVERY OTHER chip that has been released for it (there are plenty). While, I'm sure there will be ways to circumvent this relatively soon, it is still interesting timing to see if this new chip will prompt a buying spree of X-Boxes.
As for the cheap PC vs. X-Box argument, there are many reasons why I have found it useful: Hooks to a TV with progressive scan (there are now patches to enable the DVD and the dashboard menu in progressive mode), Media streaming - the current media player can view streamed video from a host PC or from media on the x-box HD. This works with the x-box remote, and even plays divx. MUCH more seamless than any PC-home theater-type setup. And this is coming from a guy who has had a living room computer hooked up to a home theater for a few years now. This way I don't have to keep a computer in the living room, and I don't have to keep a mouse/keyboard handy to do trivial tasks such as watching a video clip. Emulators are great, and work great with the x-box controller (controller S is actually very nice). A PC is much more tedious to setup, harder to get multi-player configured, and once again requires mouse/keyboard to even startup.
Sorry for the rant, but after all the modding, my X-Box has actually turned into that set-top box everyone was talking about (when coupled with my UltimateTV set, of course). It provides customizability and ease of use that a living room computer simply can't compete with. If you can get over the Microsoft factor, I think anyone would be quite pleased with what has been accomplished in such a short time as compared to a stagnant PS2 development community (grass-roots, not companies trying to make PVR software) trying to play catch-up on such a limited system (even with the Linux kit).
Guess what, wireless phones are using 5Ghz now. It's just a matter of time before this spectrum fills up, as well. 2.4Ghz used to be pretty empty not too long ago.
I actually had the same problem with an AMD K6-2 450Mhz. Had to use a similar patch for that one. I guess that's what we get for not upgrading our Windows versions fast enough.
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like this was the exploit used to hack into an Army machine recently. Check out the link from MSNBC here.
Actually, you simply install a switch to turn the modchip on and off. Then your x-box works fine with X-Box Live. And yes, single player DOA volleyball is *that* cool.
I am dumbfounded by these posts and comments that constantly ask "why not buy/build a regular PC?" VERY SIMPLE ANSWER - A REGULAR PC DOES NOT PLAY X-BOX GAMES. There are other things you can do with this other than run a crappy port of Mandrake. We would like to "ignore" the backup scene, but simply put, you can store TONS of x-box games on a replacement hard drive. The replaced optical drive does the trick for reading CD-R rips that the X-Box wouldn't normally read. A PC would be pointless if you were actually interested in playing any real x-box games.
Oh yeah, I forgot that the average DVD player from Wal-Mart can stream divx over my PC's SMB shares on my network at home.
No, because there is no TV tuner support for the X-Box. Especially considering the XP Media Center Ed. only supports a couple chipsets, somebody would have to come up with some type of USB solution, which of course would be ridiculous to use for PVR functions since the X-Box doesn't support USB 2.0.
Just a heads-up, if you are currently a DirecTV subscriber, you will need to get the triple-LNB dish to receive all the HDTV signals.
I received a DMCA-formatted cease and desist from ALS Scan over a stupid fake picture that I copied from stileproject.com. It was a modified pr0n picture that had been edited in a humorous way. Nothing happened, but the email was accepted by Chilling Effects. You can view it here. Needless to say, I am much more careful about what I post on my site, and urge others to be, as well. What I don't understand is why they didn't go after stileproject.com - a site that makes money off these things. I was just a college student running a stupid blog that got 20 hits a day from my friends. Oh well, DMCA sucks.
As a college student, I have lived in numerous places and have had first-hand experience with 3 different cable connections (Adelphia, Cox, and Comcast), and 4 different DSL providers (Covad, Sprint FastConnect, Verizon, and my current provider - Cavalier Telephone). In every single case, DSL has been the most reliable and consistent connection for me. First of all, I do not understand how the $10 cheaper price for cable makes any sense. Cable is actually $5-$10 more expensive for people who aren't already cable subscribers. For us people with DirecTV - paying the cable companies is something we find insulting. Second - uptime. Cable service in my area (northern virginia) has a tendency to go out more often than the electricity. Thunderstorms are a 99% guarantee of downtime with cable modem service for us. Even if there is a network outage, I almost never see a DSL sync drop out, even during heavy storms. Third - bandwidth consistency. Adelphia offered me 3Mbps. Guess what, I was lucky to get 512Mbps even on a Sunday afternoon. I would honestly take a 768kbps DSL connection over a 1.5Mbps cable connection that wasn't consistent. Of course, all of these are related to my personal experience, and I cannot speak for anyone else. I'm sure there are plenty of people with crappy DSL service and excellent cable providers. However, that has not been the case in the DC area for myself. And the PPPoE argument is pointless. Get yourself a Linksys router and you won't know the difference anyways.
Not too big of a surprise. You have no idea how many times people would ask me (sys admin) about internet connections and DirecTV-DSL came up. Of course the number one question - DOES IT WORK OVER THE SATELLITE!!!??? People could never get past the DirecTV name, and therefore seemed to shy away from the service because they were either confused or thought they had to subscribe to satellite service to get the service. The term "DSL" means nothing to anybody but people like us. To everyone else, they only look at the DirecTV part and make assumptions on that. I mean, their satellite service is named DIRECWAY - that's a hell of a lot more separation than DIRECTVDSL. Of course, they probably thought the name would be the selling point - but unfortunately, DSL and satellite service don't mix.
Yet another example of how cable companies continnue to provide less-than-cutting-edge technology with ever increasing prices and subscription fees. Why would they ever want to replace the Zenith box from 1973 with a new PVR? They would have to change everything on the backend and replace everyone's boxes. DirecTV/DISH had it right all along - let the consumer choose their receiver. If they want the bargain RCA brand, then they get it, if they want the UltimateTV receiver, then they get it. HDTV? Get the HDTV receiver. You have dozens to choose from, TiVo/UltimateTV/HDTV/DolbyDigital/etc. made by dozens of different companies. If the cable companies would adopt this type of mentality, perhaps I wouldn't hate them so much.
When I first got my Palm, people marveled at the chance to look at all the phone numbers I could store at one time. I even kept it in my pocket at all times and tried to incorporate it into my wallet (pretty tedious with the original Palm). However, within a couple months, I was only using it to play Galax. I eventually gave it away to my girlfriend, who also used it for a week or two before deciding it really wasn't worth it to have this giant thing for the purpose of only storing phone numbers and playing the occaisonal game.
So then I get a CE device from work. I thought I would give PDA's another chance. While this time, I had color and ethernet, and a decent media player, it fell prey to the same problems at before. I stopped using it within a month and it now sits in a drawer never to be used again.
I think PDA's are cool, but no matter how much I want to like them, they just aren't useful.
As somebody who has lived close to this area in the past, I must say that Harrisonburg City only has 4000 students TOTAL in only 6 schools (only 1 high school and 1 middle school). So I would think of it less as a city and more as a small rural community. This means there is likely only one or two people that would essentially be setting up and running this network. Perhaps it will indeed save them money when deploying their new infrastructure, but god forbid this guy move out of the area! I also must question some of the software packages and their "amounts" that he has determined. While I am not advocating Windows by any means, Apache, PHP, mySql, analog, and plenty of other packages he has listed run completely fine on a Win32-based system. I would be concerned about how well the teachers/faculty/students will be able to utilize the system efficiently (reminds of yesterday's kids on linux post), and be able to do trivial tasks. I'm just not sure that these costs are in line with the size of their school system, and whether or not the savings are actually going to amount to a better learning experience for the school community.
I have used Linux since kernel .99 and Windows since v2.x, I have also used OS X, OS/2, BeOS, and FreeBSD. I had a period in my life where I loved to multiboot every possible OS. But then I realized that multibooting was a hassle. Then I realized that I had to pick. And I picked Windows. Why? Still - after all the advances in Linux drivers, I found that hardware was my biggest problem. I have had so many different combinations of hardware that haven't worked - The MS Phone (not a surprise), the CyberGenie, the old STB TV Tuner, old webcams, scanners, modems, ethernet cards, TV out on my matrox, etc. Games were never a priority, but all my hardware working correctly was. And WITHOUT all the hacking. Other reasons: I like the XP interface. I like it BETTER than KDE, Gnome, and OS X. This is an unbiased preference. The look and feel to me works the way I want it to. I don't like virtual windows. I don't like windows being automatically focused on. I also believe that Windows gets easier to use with each release. This makes things easier for both the user and the person that has to administer the users. It is a lot easier for me to explain how to copy a file from one person's user folder to another on a windows machine using fruity, yet helpful terms like "Network Neighborhood." Network configuration is simple. Hardware installation is simple. Server configuration is simple. I also don't mind Office. I don't mind having my letters capitalized for me sometimes. I don't mind having a word like 'teh' automatically turned into 'the' - I even don't mind IE. I don't like tabbed-browsing. I don't like the ads in Opera. I even don't mind Outlook. I like being reminded that I have to turn in my timesheet. I like that it synchornizes with my cell phone and reminds me to attend meetings. So there are a few reasons for me. Every few months I download another distribution and put it on my second computer at home (2 comparably powerful PC's). Then I try to do the things I commonly do (which are different at home than at work, but not really). For some reason, I keep ignoring the Linux machine. CD Burning is better in Windows - I have a lot more options with CloneCD, CDRWIN, Easy CD, Nero, Fireburner, etc. I even like the effects in XP - I like the fading menus in Win2K. Sure, I can save on system resources by turning them off, but I think it makes my computer seem more pleasing to the eye.
So sorry if that was a huge rambling, but I was thinking out loud as to why I do like Windows.
And just to give you some background, I am a sys/network admin who administers both Unix and Windows machines for a group of developers and sales staff. I am not against Unix, it's just not what I want running on my everyday machine. Because it has features I don't need everyday. Network security? Unix. Internet services? Unix. Looking at pr0n? WINDOWS!
You are referring to the Dishplayer that Dish Network used. The software was identical to what was used on UltimateTV (the Microsoft-backed DirecTV version of the Dishplayer). Even the same remote codes for system access (to reformat/reboot/etc) work on both. Just a clarification point for everyone...
The dialers, which first emerged in the late 1980s, have tripled productivity...
Did anyone else IMMEDIATELY think of the Simpson's when they read that line? Hey Mrs. Doesn't Find Me Sexually Attractive Anymore... Sorry, had to post it.
Man, I saw a story on this exact mouse on the local news over a week ago (Wash. DC NBC Channel 4)... is slashdot now lagging behind local news reports in technology information? That would be really scary!
Because the moral majority said that it represented an immoral act, so they got banned from the market.
I have an X-Box. I've had it since it came out. I own a few games. I installed one of the original beta Enigmah modchips. I don't play pirated games. I use the emulators, media players, other PC-ports (such as DoomX/Quake), and all the other cool utilities that people have been developing since they cracked it. Yes, people are using the copyrighted SDK, YES, you need to own the ROM's that you emulate. But to be honest, I do this as a hobby. I helped friends/family install chips. None of them are into heavy piracy, but we are all into playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES emulator. Is that so wrong? Legally, perhaps, but don't think for a SECOND that I have any moral objection to it. Let's not forget about how Sony took down playstationmods.com and their Neo chip (v4 for PS2), as well as the original Messiah modchip for PS2. Also realize that DirecTV is currently sending threatening letters and even suing people that bought "illegal smartcard programmers" with nothing more than a receipt from a busted dealer. These companies are setting precedent that you only need the tool to pirate. There is no more burden of proof to determine if the device was actually used and how. Watch out for DirecTV, Microsoft, Sony, and the rest. While we can rant about how the chip is legal as long as you use it as such, DirecTV is still suing people with smartcard readers because they had the POSSIBILITY of reprogramming a satellite access card.
Yes, I have a Sony 43" KP-43HT20, which unfortunately is 4:3, but supports HDTV anyways. Progressive scan isn't the best thing since sliced bread (I prefer 1080i), but it's definitely an improvement in image quality.
How about a guide on how to improve your webserver's traffic-handling capabilities.
Well, first of all, the new chip doesn't work with the latest boxes that were recently manufactured (in August, I think). This has applied to EVERY OTHER chip that has been released for it (there are plenty). While, I'm sure there will be ways to circumvent this relatively soon, it is still interesting timing to see if this new chip will prompt a buying spree of X-Boxes.
As for the cheap PC vs. X-Box argument, there are many reasons why I have found it useful: Hooks to a TV with progressive scan (there are now patches to enable the DVD and the dashboard menu in progressive mode), Media streaming - the current media player can view streamed video from a host PC or from media on the x-box HD. This works with the x-box remote, and even plays divx. MUCH more seamless than any PC-home theater-type setup. And this is coming from a guy who has had a living room computer hooked up to a home theater for a few years now. This way I don't have to keep a computer in the living room, and I don't have to keep a mouse/keyboard handy to do trivial tasks such as watching a video clip. Emulators are great, and work great with the x-box controller (controller S is actually very nice). A PC is much more tedious to setup, harder to get multi-player configured, and once again requires mouse/keyboard to even startup.
Sorry for the rant, but after all the modding, my X-Box has actually turned into that set-top box everyone was talking about (when coupled with my UltimateTV set, of course). It provides customizability and ease of use that a living room computer simply can't compete with. If you can get over the Microsoft factor, I think anyone would be quite pleased with what has been accomplished in such a short time as compared to a stagnant PS2 development community (grass-roots, not companies trying to make PVR software) trying to play catch-up on such a limited system (even with the Linux kit).
Guess what, wireless phones are using 5Ghz now. It's just a matter of time before this spectrum fills up, as well. 2.4Ghz used to be pretty empty not too long ago.
at least bbs's had lots of busy signals. to me that's better than trying to connect to a slashdotted site.
I could have sworn I've used a PVR that does most of this and also connects to a broadband connection, as well.
I actually had the same problem with an AMD K6-2 450Mhz. Had to use a similar patch for that one. I guess that's what we get for not upgrading our Windows versions fast enough.