I wish I paid $45 for my phone. Pretty sure I paid in the $250-$300 range for mine. The cheaper->free phones they offered at the time had pathetic feature lists, and I wanted one with a few more things in it. Pity it's crippled.
Locks make no sense, at least not for consumers/customers. I can see how it could work to their benefit, but I don't give a rat's ass about them. If I wanted one, why would I want to be locked in to one specific service provider? My cellular provider up here in BC, Canada, which is Telus, puts stupid locks in their phones, too. I can't upload my own ring tones or anything like that, and I'm instead forced to pay them outrageous fees to download ringtones from them. Only because they've locked the phone to perform only the functions they want it to. No reason I shouldn't be able to upload my own ringtones if I want to, since the phones have that capability from the factory. It's only after Telus blocks those features that they are no longer available to use. Ridiculous. All things like this, DRM, etc, are doing nothing but giving me bad opinions of the companies that use such tactics.
Bah, I can choose whether or not to do bad things. The people running Eolas are no different. Love how you posted anonymously, too, btw. If you're going to say anything, stand behind it. Hidin' is for wussies.
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/ibm/WD A-L42S-40MB-3-5-HH-IDE-AT.html
Hard Drive: IBM: WDA-L42S 40MB 3.5"/HH IDE / AT
Cylinders: 1067
Heads: 2
Sectors per track: 39
Bytes per sector: 512
1067 * 2 * 39 * 512 = 42,611,712 bytes
42,611,712 / 1024 = 41613 kilobytes
41613 kilobytes = just over 40.6 megabytes
This was sold as a 40MB drive. Not a 41MB, 42MB, or 43MB drive. A 40MB drive. And that's just what it was, a 40MB drive. So, I'm sorry to tell you, but lying about the drive's size was *NOT* always the way it was. This is just one example. And, no, I don't care for finding out exactly when manufacturers started lying about capacity. They did, and that's enough for me.
Formatting has nothing to do with it. Neither does swap space or file system overhead, or anything else like that. The "lost" space isn't lost to anything like that. The 1000 vs 1024 math is the only culprit. The fact that their drive has the capability to store 1 trillion bytes doesn't make it a 1 terabyte drive. When they release a drive that can store 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, *then* they have a terabyte drive. A trillion bytes is only 931.3GB, period.
Way to pay attention. Nobody gives a rat's ass about "the SI unit." These are computers. And we've always used kilobyte/megabyte/etc as they applied to computers. You think you're right, but you're not. A kilobyte will always be 1024 bytes. A megabyte will always be 1024 kilobytes. A gigabyte will always be 1024 megabytes. And a terabyte will always be 1024 gigabytes...
This marketing BS always pisses me off. For years and years and years we've used 1024 in the computer world, since it's a power of 2, and computers deal with powers of 2. A 931GB drive is NOT a 1TB drive. And we don't need new stupid labels like tebi, we just need storage manufacturers to stop being retards.
There have already been several drive models using this technology. Seagate's 7200.10 line comes to mind. Toshiba released one in 2005, for that matter. And Fujitsu's got some, too.
I'm in Canada, I don't pay any medical bills to begin with. Not that I'd ever need to. And I wasn't lucky when I was a kid. I took care of myself. I wanted to ride a bike, so, I learned how to ride a bike. I wanted to learn how to do tricks and stunts, so I did. And consequently learned how to wipe out without killing myself. After all, I couldn't do the trick/stunt properly the very first time I tried it. I had to figure it out. I had to get stronger. I had to get better at riding the bike. When something went wrong, I knew how to save myself from serious injury. That meant lots of skinned palms, knees, bruises, etc. It's called playing. Too bad you never did any of that when you were a kid. Maybe you wouldn't be so uncoordinated and paranoid now. The rest of us kids that were outside playing like kids are supposed to can take care of ourselves just fine, thank you. We don't need you telling us to be careful or we'll kill ourselves. We know what we can and cannot do, and what we should and should not do based on that knowledge. It's riding a bike. It's not riding a motorcycle at 60mph. But thanks for playing the over-protective freak parent role, heh. Your kids won't show any effects of your bizarre parenting at all, promise!
Actually, no, because it is akin to a proper name, and is not bound by English spelling since, technically, they're not English words. If these people were doing their jobs properly we wouldn't have duplicate stories all the time, and wouldn't have to look at non-stop grammatical errors that kids in grade 4 know not to make. People these days are getting lazier and lazier, and take absolutely no pride in their work. It's pathetic. When you're doing a job, no matter what job it happens to be on any given day, you should take pride in it and do it properly. Half-assing your way through life is a joke, and people notice it, and think you're also a joke for doing so. No matter what the job in question may be. I think the majority of teenage kids working in my local McDonalds should be proud for having the initiative to do so, even if it's "just McDonalds" to them. But the freakin' kid that keeps putting pickles on my burger when I asked for no pickles, and my order says no pickles because the kid that took the order listened to me make the order and correctly entered it, and still I have pickles, needs and deserves to be ridiculed. If he thinks he shouldn't be ridiculed then he should be doing his job properly in the first place. If someone took out your left kidney because your right one was toast, I'm quite sure you wouldn't say "eh, no biggie, no need to throw rocks over spilled milk." A job is a job, and it should be done correctly. The fact that you object to my ridiculing just says to me that you would give me pickles. Love how you felt the need to post anonymously, btw. Be a man/woman.
Am I the only one that's getting really sick of people being so unwilling to think for themselves that we need to have 93 warnings on every single product of every imaginable type? So what if you could blind yourself with one of these? If you're stupid enough to build it and shine it in your eye, tough! You deserve to be blind. Protecting the weak from themselves is getting on my nerves. Leave them the hell alone, which would also result in leaving the rest of us the hell alone, too, and whatever will be, will be. If I want to ride a bike nowadays, it is actually illegal for me to do so without a dorky helmet on. When I was a kid on my BMX I'd do all sorts of crazy shit, without any helmet or pads or anything, and I lived. I don't need to be forced to wear a goofy piece of foam on my head when I want to leisurely ride around my 10,000-population town doing absolutely no stunts whatsoever. So what if your kids are borderline retarded and are going to hurt themselves? Too bad for them! They can wear all the safety equipment you force on them for all I care. But that shouldn't mean there should be a law forcing everyone else to do the same. I can take care of myself. If you can't take care of yourself, or learn to do so along the way, too freakin' bad for you. There's a reason for it.
perhaps you should consider exactly why it is that you think IRC is the best means of communication. Seriously? You think IRC is the best means of communication? No wonder I have so much trouble communicating with someone by going up them and talking to them in person. I should try using IRC next time. Communication always works so much better when there's no pesky voice inflections or body language to deal with, and when there's things like network lag or netsplits. I find I always get my point across when the other person sees half of my message 5 minutes later, and then I disappear in the netsplit before getting the rest of my thought out. You're right, IRC is the best.
Re:I have to agree on the Trackball Explorer
on
Mouse or Trackball?
·
· Score: 1
I just heard of a fix for the problem where the ball begins to rotate less and less freely, which appears to be caused by the ball bearings actually wearing flat spots. I just looked at one of mine that doesn't rotate so well anymore, and I'll be damned if I can't see small flat spots worn into the bearings! Apparently if you take the device apart, and carefully drill an extremely small hole behind the ball bearings, and push them out, you can glue/cement it back in slightly rotated so that the flat spot is no longer touching the ball and the part facing the ball is a new round bearing again. This is supposed to make them feel new again! I've got one that's so bad that, as far as I'm concerned, is no longer usable. I'm going to try this trick and see how it works. I was told to try this with an extremely fine screwdriver, as they're likely to be smaller than the smallest drill bit I'll likely have. Hopefully this gives them some more life!
MS Trackball Explorer - best pointing device, ever
on
Mouse or Trackball?
·
· Score: 1
I could not agree more about the MS Trackball Explorer. I've got three here, two worn out, and the third getting there. I switched to a trackball when MS released their original trackball, similar in design to the Trackball Explorer, but pre-optical, and the ball was a bit smaller. I liked that device quite a bit, and my only problem with it was that it was still a 'roller' device, and I wished they had made an optical version. Then a couple years later, Trackball Explorer! Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! An optical device, with a slightly larger ball, and much better ergonomics. The Trackball Explorer is, as far as I'm concerned, the absolute perfect pointing device.
Before switching to that first MS trackball I had tried a Logitech, I think it was called Trackman Marble. It was optical, but, was thumb-operated rather than finger-operated. Some people swore by them, so, what the heck. Man, did I hate that thing. Even after getting used to it, I couldn't get anything even resembling precision with it, at least not approaching satisfactory for me. The thumb just isn't as accurate for such tiny movements as fingers are. Gaming with it sucked. So, I took it back. I decided to try the MS one that was beside it on the shelf, even though it wasn't optical. Its design was different, finger-operated, so even though it wasn't optical I'd give it a try.
OH BABY! Took next to no time at all to get used to the finger-operated trackball. Man, could you ever be quick *and* accurate with it. Gaming was awesome! And no more sore wrists! A few weeks with that thing, and playing through the original Unreal game, and I was better with that trackball than I ever was with a mouse. Quake 2 games turned into railgun fests, and the cheating accusations started flying. That trackball was awesome.
Then, MS finally decided to release the work of art that is the Trackball Explorer. Finally, they released an optical one, wicked! And the ball was slightly bigger, but not too big. It was even more quick and accurate, thanks both to the slight size bump and the optical nature. And it felt much better in the hand than the older device. This thing is the best pointing device I have ever used. And I wish MS had never stopped making them, because I would buy them forever.
I am quite certain that the old Logitech Trackman Marble, a thumb-operated trackball, is responsible in large part for turning people off of trackballs. Back when they were new, I remember almost everybody I knew was trying them out. And the vast majority of them were returned. And a good portion of those people never tried another trackball again, after being soured by the thumb-operation. I absolutely cannot stand thumb-operated trackballs. And apparently neither can most people. Such a shame, because they would probably love the finger-operated ones! Since then I managed to convince quite a few people to give the Trackball Explorer a try, and every single one of them kept it and love it to this day. Just too bad more people weren't in on the secret. Finger-operated trackballs involve movement very similar to a mouse, so making the switch takes minimal time and effort, whereas there are slight physical differences involved with thumb-operated ones. What you gain is more precision, since your fingers are more precise than your arm. More speed, since your fingers don't have to move very far and are moving only the small mass of the ball, rather than your arm moving the whole device like a mouse. And from my experience, less fatigue and no more repetitive stress pain. My wrist was starting to bother me when using a mouse. Since switching to the trackball, that got better and hasn't bothered me since.
I sure wish more people had tried them, because MS might still be making them. They are without a doubt the best pointing devices ever. I wish I had enough to last a lifetime, but they do wear out after 4-5 years, and my last one is on its last legs. Guess I'll have to scour ebay and pay the outrageous prices on there. Yes, they are on there, and yes, they are expensive. If I can still find them, I'll pay, though. They are the best, period.
how on earth did anyone ever think this was a good idea? Finding samples of someone having written down numbers is not hard by any stretch of the imagination. As someone already pointed out, simply asking someone to write down a phone number for you, not even necessarily theirs, would get you such a sample. Sometimes people can be pretty dumb.
I never reach for the volume control from song to song, because all music I listen to has been ReplayGained. They're all the same average volume after that processing, so I just set my desired listening level, and that's that. One song isn't louder or quieter, overall, than the next one. CDs should be mastered to meet ReplayGain's levels to begin with. Older CDs with nice mastering are actually pretty damn close. I don't know how this issue is taking so long to deal with, lots of us have been complaining about this clipping for well over a decade.
for the short amount of time until you wear/poke right through the not-supposed-to-touch-me LCD screen, and it becomes an LCLOSINLAD*. And then you'll have to buy another one. So, the up-front savings will be short-lived. You'll be much better off buying the right device for the job.
(*Liquid Crystals Leaked Out So It's No Longer A Display)
Was this supposed to convey some bigger idea you had? Anyway, you need to do some more reading about just how error recovery works, and how user-data-block-size is irrelevant to how much redundancy you can/do have. You're wrong, and you don't know what you think you know. Go read about the actual bit layout of a CD, since that was your example.
Block size has absolutely nothing to do with how much redundancy you can build in, and I fail to see the logic in assuming so. Makes absolutely no sense. The 2048 bytes stored on a sector of a CD only refers to your data, and absolutely none of them have anything to do with the CD's error-correction mechanisms. They add lots of extra bits to make up their error-correction, over and above your 2048 bytes of data. But, the point is it doesn't matter how much space you reserve to hold user data, you can arbitrarily reserve any amount of space you want for error-correction bits. You can have 16-byte sectors with 16MB of error-correction. Now, *that* would be a lot of redundancy. But certainly something you could do if you want to, and there's not going to be very many people arguing that those 16-byte sectors weren't covered by much redundancy. I doubt anyone would ever use that much redundancy, obviously, but it's just an outrageous example to show that the amount of redundancy has absolutely nothing to do with how much user data is stored per sector.
Slashdot Mirror
I wish I paid $45 for my phone. Pretty sure I paid in the $250-$300 range for mine. The cheaper->free phones they offered at the time had pathetic feature lists, and I wanted one with a few more things in it. Pity it's crippled.
Locks make no sense, at least not for consumers/customers. I can see how it could work to their benefit, but I don't give a rat's ass about them. If I wanted one, why would I want to be locked in to one specific service provider? My cellular provider up here in BC, Canada, which is Telus, puts stupid locks in their phones, too. I can't upload my own ring tones or anything like that, and I'm instead forced to pay them outrageous fees to download ringtones from them. Only because they've locked the phone to perform only the functions they want it to. No reason I shouldn't be able to upload my own ringtones if I want to, since the phones have that capability from the factory. It's only after Telus blocks those features that they are no longer available to use. Ridiculous. All things like this, DRM, etc, are doing nothing but giving me bad opinions of the companies that use such tactics.
Bah, I can choose whether or not to do bad things. The people running Eolas are no different. Love how you posted anonymously, too, btw. If you're going to say anything, stand behind it. Hidin' is for wussies.
Sounds as though the end is nigh for the useless extra clicks. Eolas deserves a smack. Too bad they're getting rewarded.
For example, IBM has:D A-L42S-40MB-3-5-HH-IDE-AT.html :P
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/ibm/W
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/ibm/WD A-L42S-40MB-3-5-HH-IDE-AT.html
Hard Drive: IBM: WDA-L42S 40MB 3.5"/HH IDE / AT
Cylinders: 1067
Heads: 2
Sectors per track: 39
Bytes per sector: 512
1067 * 2 * 39 * 512 = 42,611,712 bytes
42,611,712 / 1024 = 41613 kilobytes
41613 kilobytes = just over 40.6 megabytes
This was sold as a 40MB drive. Not a 41MB, 42MB, or 43MB drive. A 40MB drive. And that's just what it was, a 40MB drive. So, I'm sorry to tell you, but lying about the drive's size was *NOT* always the way it was. This is just one example. And, no, I don't care for finding out exactly when manufacturers started lying about capacity. They did, and that's enough for me.
Stuff like that gets on my nerves to no end. So pointless.
Formatting has nothing to do with it. Neither does swap space or file system overhead, or anything else like that. The "lost" space isn't lost to anything like that. The 1000 vs 1024 math is the only culprit. The fact that their drive has the capability to store 1 trillion bytes doesn't make it a 1 terabyte drive. When they release a drive that can store 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, *then* they have a terabyte drive. A trillion bytes is only 931.3GB, period.
Way to pay attention. Nobody gives a rat's ass about "the SI unit." These are computers. And we've always used kilobyte/megabyte/etc as they applied to computers. You think you're right, but you're not. A kilobyte will always be 1024 bytes. A megabyte will always be 1024 kilobytes. A gigabyte will always be 1024 megabytes. And a terabyte will always be 1024 gigabytes...
This marketing BS always pisses me off. For years and years and years we've used 1024 in the computer world, since it's a power of 2, and computers deal with powers of 2. A 931GB drive is NOT a 1TB drive. And we don't need new stupid labels like tebi, we just need storage manufacturers to stop being retards.
There have already been several drive models using this technology. Seagate's 7200.10 line comes to mind. Toshiba released one in 2005, for that matter. And Fujitsu's got some, too.
I'm in Canada, I don't pay any medical bills to begin with. Not that I'd ever need to. And I wasn't lucky when I was a kid. I took care of myself. I wanted to ride a bike, so, I learned how to ride a bike. I wanted to learn how to do tricks and stunts, so I did. And consequently learned how to wipe out without killing myself. After all, I couldn't do the trick/stunt properly the very first time I tried it. I had to figure it out. I had to get stronger. I had to get better at riding the bike. When something went wrong, I knew how to save myself from serious injury. That meant lots of skinned palms, knees, bruises, etc. It's called playing. Too bad you never did any of that when you were a kid. Maybe you wouldn't be so uncoordinated and paranoid now. The rest of us kids that were outside playing like kids are supposed to can take care of ourselves just fine, thank you. We don't need you telling us to be careful or we'll kill ourselves. We know what we can and cannot do, and what we should and should not do based on that knowledge. It's riding a bike. It's not riding a motorcycle at 60mph. But thanks for playing the over-protective freak parent role, heh. Your kids won't show any effects of your bizarre parenting at all, promise!
Actually, no, because it is akin to a proper name, and is not bound by English spelling since, technically, they're not English words. If these people were doing their jobs properly we wouldn't have duplicate stories all the time, and wouldn't have to look at non-stop grammatical errors that kids in grade 4 know not to make. People these days are getting lazier and lazier, and take absolutely no pride in their work. It's pathetic. When you're doing a job, no matter what job it happens to be on any given day, you should take pride in it and do it properly. Half-assing your way through life is a joke, and people notice it, and think you're also a joke for doing so. No matter what the job in question may be. I think the majority of teenage kids working in my local McDonalds should be proud for having the initiative to do so, even if it's "just McDonalds" to them. But the freakin' kid that keeps putting pickles on my burger when I asked for no pickles, and my order says no pickles because the kid that took the order listened to me make the order and correctly entered it, and still I have pickles, needs and deserves to be ridiculed. If he thinks he shouldn't be ridiculed then he should be doing his job properly in the first place. If someone took out your left kidney because your right one was toast, I'm quite sure you wouldn't say "eh, no biggie, no need to throw rocks over spilled milk." A job is a job, and it should be done correctly. The fact that you object to my ridiculing just says to me that you would give me pickles. Love how you felt the need to post anonymously, btw. Be a man/woman.
Am I the only one that's getting really sick of people being so unwilling to think for themselves that we need to have 93 warnings on every single product of every imaginable type? So what if you could blind yourself with one of these? If you're stupid enough to build it and shine it in your eye, tough! You deserve to be blind. Protecting the weak from themselves is getting on my nerves. Leave them the hell alone, which would also result in leaving the rest of us the hell alone, too, and whatever will be, will be. If I want to ride a bike nowadays, it is actually illegal for me to do so without a dorky helmet on. When I was a kid on my BMX I'd do all sorts of crazy shit, without any helmet or pads or anything, and I lived. I don't need to be forced to wear a goofy piece of foam on my head when I want to leisurely ride around my 10,000-population town doing absolutely no stunts whatsoever. So what if your kids are borderline retarded and are going to hurt themselves? Too bad for them! They can wear all the safety equipment you force on them for all I care. But that shouldn't mean there should be a law forcing everyone else to do the same. I can take care of myself. If you can't take care of yourself, or learn to do so along the way, too freakin' bad for you. There's a reason for it.
Proofread. The laziness of Slashdot editors never ceases to amaze me. Your job is so easy, yet, you don't even do it.
perhaps you should consider exactly why it is that you think IRC is the best means of communication. Seriously? You think IRC is the best means of communication? No wonder I have so much trouble communicating with someone by going up them and talking to them in person. I should try using IRC next time. Communication always works so much better when there's no pesky voice inflections or body language to deal with, and when there's things like network lag or netsplits. I find I always get my point across when the other person sees half of my message 5 minutes later, and then I disappear in the netsplit before getting the rest of my thought out. You're right, IRC is the best.
I just heard of a fix for the problem where the ball begins to rotate less and less freely, which appears to be caused by the ball bearings actually wearing flat spots. I just looked at one of mine that doesn't rotate so well anymore, and I'll be damned if I can't see small flat spots worn into the bearings! Apparently if you take the device apart, and carefully drill an extremely small hole behind the ball bearings, and push them out, you can glue/cement it back in slightly rotated so that the flat spot is no longer touching the ball and the part facing the ball is a new round bearing again. This is supposed to make them feel new again! I've got one that's so bad that, as far as I'm concerned, is no longer usable. I'm going to try this trick and see how it works. I was told to try this with an extremely fine screwdriver, as they're likely to be smaller than the smallest drill bit I'll likely have. Hopefully this gives them some more life!
I could not agree more about the MS Trackball Explorer. I've got three here, two worn out, and the third getting there. I switched to a trackball when MS released their original trackball, similar in design to the Trackball Explorer, but pre-optical, and the ball was a bit smaller. I liked that device quite a bit, and my only problem with it was that it was still a 'roller' device, and I wished they had made an optical version. Then a couple years later, Trackball Explorer! Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! An optical device, with a slightly larger ball, and much better ergonomics. The Trackball Explorer is, as far as I'm concerned, the absolute perfect pointing device.
Before switching to that first MS trackball I had tried a Logitech, I think it was called Trackman Marble. It was optical, but, was thumb-operated rather than finger-operated. Some people swore by them, so, what the heck. Man, did I hate that thing. Even after getting used to it, I couldn't get anything even resembling precision with it, at least not approaching satisfactory for me. The thumb just isn't as accurate for such tiny movements as fingers are. Gaming with it sucked. So, I took it back. I decided to try the MS one that was beside it on the shelf, even though it wasn't optical. Its design was different, finger-operated, so even though it wasn't optical I'd give it a try.
OH BABY! Took next to no time at all to get used to the finger-operated trackball. Man, could you ever be quick *and* accurate with it. Gaming was awesome! And no more sore wrists! A few weeks with that thing, and playing through the original Unreal game, and I was better with that trackball than I ever was with a mouse. Quake 2 games turned into railgun fests, and the cheating accusations started flying. That trackball was awesome.
Then, MS finally decided to release the work of art that is the Trackball Explorer. Finally, they released an optical one, wicked! And the ball was slightly bigger, but not too big. It was even more quick and accurate, thanks both to the slight size bump and the optical nature. And it felt much better in the hand than the older device. This thing is the best pointing device I have ever used. And I wish MS had never stopped making them, because I would buy them forever.
I am quite certain that the old Logitech Trackman Marble, a thumb-operated trackball, is responsible in large part for turning people off of trackballs. Back when they were new, I remember almost everybody I knew was trying them out. And the vast majority of them were returned. And a good portion of those people never tried another trackball again, after being soured by the thumb-operation. I absolutely cannot stand thumb-operated trackballs. And apparently neither can most people. Such a shame, because they would probably love the finger-operated ones! Since then I managed to convince quite a few people to give the Trackball Explorer a try, and every single one of them kept it and love it to this day. Just too bad more people weren't in on the secret. Finger-operated trackballs involve movement very similar to a mouse, so making the switch takes minimal time and effort, whereas there are slight physical differences involved with thumb-operated ones. What you gain is more precision, since your fingers are more precise than your arm. More speed, since your fingers don't have to move very far and are moving only the small mass of the ball, rather than your arm moving the whole device like a mouse. And from my experience, less fatigue and no more repetitive stress pain. My wrist was starting to bother me when using a mouse. Since switching to the trackball, that got better and hasn't bothered me since.
I sure wish more people had tried them, because MS might still be making them. They are without a doubt the best pointing devices ever. I wish I had enough to last a lifetime, but they do wear out after 4-5 years, and my last one is on its last legs. Guess I'll have to scour ebay and pay the outrageous prices on there. Yes, they are on there, and yes, they are expensive. If I can still find them, I'll pay, though. They are the best, period.
how on earth did anyone ever think this was a good idea? Finding samples of someone having written down numbers is not hard by any stretch of the imagination. As someone already pointed out, simply asking someone to write down a phone number for you, not even necessarily theirs, would get you such a sample. Sometimes people can be pretty dumb.
I never reach for the volume control from song to song, because all music I listen to has been ReplayGained. They're all the same average volume after that processing, so I just set my desired listening level, and that's that. One song isn't louder or quieter, overall, than the next one. CDs should be mastered to meet ReplayGain's levels to begin with. Older CDs with nice mastering are actually pretty damn close. I don't know how this issue is taking so long to deal with, lots of us have been complaining about this clipping for well over a decade.
for the short amount of time until you wear/poke right through the not-supposed-to-touch-me LCD screen, and it becomes an LCLOSINLAD*. And then you'll have to buy another one. So, the up-front savings will be short-lived. You'll be much better off buying the right device for the job.
(*Liquid Crystals Leaked Out So It's No Longer A Display)
Was this supposed to convey some bigger idea you had? Anyway, you need to do some more reading about just how error recovery works, and how user-data-block-size is irrelevant to how much redundancy you can/do have. You're wrong, and you don't know what you think you know. Go read about the actual bit layout of a CD, since that was your example.
Block size has absolutely nothing to do with how much redundancy you can build in, and I fail to see the logic in assuming so. Makes absolutely no sense. The 2048 bytes stored on a sector of a CD only refers to your data, and absolutely none of them have anything to do with the CD's error-correction mechanisms. They add lots of extra bits to make up their error-correction, over and above your 2048 bytes of data. But, the point is it doesn't matter how much space you reserve to hold user data, you can arbitrarily reserve any amount of space you want for error-correction bits. You can have 16-byte sectors with 16MB of error-correction. Now, *that* would be a lot of redundancy. But certainly something you could do if you want to, and there's not going to be very many people arguing that those 16-byte sectors weren't covered by much redundancy. I doubt anyone would ever use that much redundancy, obviously, but it's just an outrageous example to show that the amount of redundancy has absolutely nothing to do with how much user data is stored per sector.
dd-wrt works great here on my wrt-54gs router, and all the extra features are quite welcome. And Vista gets along with it just fine.
yes, my post was a bad joke about losing memory :P