Have you looked at what's available for the Mac? All Blizzard games are hybrid now, plus most OpenGL games have been ported. That's about ten times as many (good) games as Linux. All you really need is Diablo II, Civ 3, and Unreal Tournament, anyways.
It's too bad that Blizzard doesn't like Linux, but that's why I bought a Mac.
I hate the stupid Slashdot filters. I shall type nonesense until it has been 20 seconds. Has 20 seconds elapsed yet? I don't know. We shall see. I think I'll try submitting this comment now.
I have a B&W G3 PowerMac. This is one of the older PowerMacs, but it runs OS X perfectly fine.
The case sucks horribly, except for the fact that it opens easily. First of all, it's totally proprietary. Second, there's no expansion room at all. Want a DVD-RAM and a CD-RW? Sorry. Can't do it. That's pathetic. Third, it doesn't have any nice features like front-accessible USB/Firewire, big power supply (oh yeah, that's proprietary, too), slide-out motherboard tray, multiple fan mounts, etc.
It's an aestheically pleasing case with horrible design. I much prefer my PC cases, even though they aren't spiffy colors or have handles.
If you moderate me as flamebait, at least consider that some people on this Mac site agree with me and give instructions on how to move your Mac motherboard to a quality PC tower. The article is old and references an obsolete product, but the same thing has been done to newer PowerMac motherboards.
I seriously doubt that your $30 case can match my $100 case. For starters, my case has an Antec True 480W power supply. It also has four case fans. Your $30 case probably has room for one, maybe two case fans. You might not think this is such a big deal, but I've got a dual Pentium Pro 200 that's still running, not to mention a P233 MMX. My computers don't die, no matter how hot the summers get.
Oh yeah, and that 480W power supply drives a dual processor Tyan Tiger MPX motherboard. You don't necessarily need more than 350W for that board, but you can't add more juice to your power supply when it turns out you miscalculated your power requirements.
Your $30 case probably wouldn't hold half the motherboards I've got (with one exception, they're all dual processor). These motherboards are necessarily large, occasionally coming in sizes that won't even fit in a quality mid-tower case! I know what you're going to say: nobody uses dual processor motherboards. I'd mostly agree with that, but consider power users who want integrated IDE RAID (blech), Firewire, and 8 zillion USB ports. All of that takes up space on a motherboard. Some of the nicer motherboards require you to have a big case. Some of them even take up as much space as my dual processor boards! Let's not even talk about dual Xeon boards...
Last but not least... you get what you pay for. I know, nobody wants to believe that, but it's mostly true. If you put down $60 for a motherboard, $20 for your RAM, and $30 for your case, I pity the stability of your computer. Every one of those components are going to be flakey, unless you're lucky (sometimes you do luck out and get good quality items). Chances are, though, that stuff is cheap for a reason... it failed QA testing, someone in China is dumping sub-par equipment in the West, or it's refurbished/returned.
Don't get me wrong, I use $2 mice and $39 motherboards sometimes. But I know what I'm getting myself into, and I never, ever recommend anything but top quality stuff (Asus, Antec, Toshiba, etc) to my friends. Also, I never build systems for my friends or clients with cheap-ass components.
Holy shit, this post is long. I better get moderated up for all this typing.
I'm not familiar with this scenario, but it sounds like they think you are stealing services. Your second paragraph leads me to believe that DSL is, in fact, not (officially?) available to you. This sounds sort of like using a cable decoder when the cable company refuses to admit that your area can get cable. Is this sort of what you're describing?
If so, then I don't think you have much chance of defending your actions, but I'd think the judge would be pretty annoyed with the telephone company.... maybe even force them to roll out broadband.
You know, that "^H" thing was funny the first quadrillion times I saw it, but since I saw your post, it has suddenly stopped being amusing. Might I suggest ^? for your next post? I'm quite sure I'll find that amusing for the next quadrillion times I see it.
I've done the same thing a few times, but one thing you need to realize is that IBM, Compaq, and other big-name server companies use some seriously high-end hardware in their servers. Unless you're spending big bucks (like with an Intel L440GX-C or C440GX), you're just not getting a comparable system. I would probably rather put together my own server, but you can't really compare a Compaq ProLiant and your home-brew dual processor system unless your home-brew system has several SCA hard drives, hot swap CPU support, and hot swap PCI support.
I would never, ever advise someone to buy a Compaq desktop (shiver), but Compaq makes some really kick-ass servers. Of course, those servers are just as proprietary as the desktops, but they sure as nice to play with.
Score:5, Interesting? Come on. This isn't that interesting. I thought he was going to say something like, "The joke's on you, MIT! I live in Orangeflux!"
This is insulting to a musician like me. To hear what constitutes 'right to protect my property' (nevermind it should only be mine for 14 years, not 70 years after the death of me.. oh wait, forgot I had to sell that copyright to a company in order to get it heard, anyways!) from the mouth of suits is just plain insulting.
Umm, you didn't have to do anything. You wanted to do it. I tried to explain this concept to my ex-girlfriend many, many times, but she never really understood that she wanted a diamond ring, not that she needed a diamond ring.
If you want your music to be heard, you have many options at your disposal. I have no sympathy for people too stupid to look at their options before singing the first contract thrust in front of them.
That'd be like me complaining about how it was necessary for me to sign up with AT&T's worst long distance plan, because it was the only way to use my telephone.
I like OpenFirmware, but it has some drawbacks. I've only used it on older Sun and Apple systems, though. The most recent system was a rev 2 Blue & White G3, which used OF 3.x, if I remember correctly.
It's difficult to explain exactly how powerful OF is when you're talking to someone who has never seen anything but a Phoenix/Award or AMI PC BIOS. OF isn't a setup program that has three or four menus, where you can set your system to boot up from floppy or CDROM. OF gives you access to your computer's internals through a FORTH interpreter. When I was trying to set the boot device for my B&W G3, I did the following:
--O-F This enters OF on a Mac, if I remember correctly.
> dev / ls This displays all the devices on your PCI bus (or busses) in a tree. I looked for the identifier for the Adaptec 2940U2B PCI SCSI controller. I found it under in the tree as something similar to "/PCI/Bus 0/Slot 1/ADPT2940U2B".
> set default-boot 'ADPT2940U2B@0:2,:tbxi' This set the default boot device to the Adaptec 2940U2B PCI SCSI controller, SCSI device ID 0, partition 2.
> bye This exits the OF FORTH interpreter.
This was just to set the default boot device. You can imagine how much more complex the non-trivial settings are. You can also probably imagine how powerful OF is.
Still, I sort of like what DEC did with the AlphaBIOS and SRM console on the old Alpha servers and workstations. I highly recommend getting a cheap Alpha workstation off ebay. It's way more fun than a PDA, and probably more useful, too.
Once you've played with a Mac or UNIX workstation, going back to the PC BIOS is kind of frustrating. However, there is a lot to be said of the latest Award BIOS. It sure is easy to use. Not exactly what I'd call powerful or feature-rich, but it's a hell of a lot easier to set the default boot device.
Try replacing your power supply, memory, and motherboard, in that order. You'll probably notice that the crashes stop. I haven't noticed any crashes in NT4 or Win2k in a very, very long time. XFree86 4.x isn't exactly the stablest software in the world (most of the 4.x drivers are still being debugged), but it definitely should not crash with that regularity.
My advice is for you to stick to tried and true hardware: a Matrox G200/G400 video card, Crucial RAM, an i440BX Asus motherboard, and an Antec power supply. Yes, this means using a Pentium III, but my P2B-D (i440BX), P3C-D (i820), and P2L97-DS (i440LX) are all crash-proof.
If you're going to buy a Pentium IV or Athlon, then try to stay a revision or two behind current technology (ie, don't use VIA's KT333). If you want something to be stable, you need to give programmers time to discover the hardware flaws.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not a mirror... but a java mirror!!
When was the last time you heard of a celebrity getting arrested for cocaine possession and serving a minimum sentence?
The laws don't work the same when you're rich and famous. Don't be so naive.
That's nothing. I just took two Benedryl. I think I'll go to sleep now.
I had the exact same reaction, but I didn't even realize he was talking about cars until I read your message.
Yeah, yeah, I need to get out more.
Yeah, it's possible. In this instance, I think he's referring to the Slashdot readership.
Have you looked at what's available for the Mac? All Blizzard games are hybrid now, plus most OpenGL games have been ported. That's about ten times as many (good) games as Linux. All you really need is Diablo II, Civ 3, and Unreal Tournament, anyways.
It's too bad that Blizzard doesn't like Linux, but that's why I bought a Mac.
What's this "us"? Blizzard hasn't screwed me. Maybe they screwed you. But don't speak for me.
Why do you want a television, anyways?
You can't live without it?
I hate the stupid Slashdot filters. I shall type nonesense until it has been 20 seconds. Has 20 seconds elapsed yet? I don't know. We shall see. I think I'll try submitting this comment now.
Nah. SecurityFocus will become very insecure.
What, it's impossible to own an Apple PowerMac and not worship Apple?
I actually have TWO B&W G3 PowerMacs. You want the serial numbers?
I only troll on Mondays and Thursdays.
I have a B&W G3 PowerMac. This is one of the older PowerMacs, but it runs OS X perfectly fine.
The case sucks horribly, except for the fact that it opens easily. First of all, it's totally proprietary. Second, there's no expansion room at all. Want a DVD-RAM and a CD-RW? Sorry. Can't do it. That's pathetic. Third, it doesn't have any nice features like front-accessible USB/Firewire, big power supply (oh yeah, that's proprietary, too), slide-out motherboard tray, multiple fan mounts, etc.
It's an aestheically pleasing case with horrible design. I much prefer my PC cases, even though they aren't spiffy colors or have handles.
If you moderate me as flamebait, at least consider that some people on this Mac site agree with me and give instructions on how to move your Mac motherboard to a quality PC tower. The article is old and references an obsolete product, but the same thing has been done to newer PowerMac motherboards.
I seriously doubt that your $30 case can match my $100 case. For starters, my case has an Antec True 480W power supply. It also has four case fans. Your $30 case probably has room for one, maybe two case fans. You might not think this is such a big deal, but I've got a dual Pentium Pro 200 that's still running, not to mention a P233 MMX. My computers don't die, no matter how hot the summers get.
Oh yeah, and that 480W power supply drives a dual processor Tyan Tiger MPX motherboard. You don't necessarily need more than 350W for that board, but you can't add more juice to your power supply when it turns out you miscalculated your power requirements.
Your $30 case probably wouldn't hold half the motherboards I've got (with one exception, they're all dual processor). These motherboards are necessarily large, occasionally coming in sizes that won't even fit in a quality mid-tower case! I know what you're going to say: nobody uses dual processor motherboards. I'd mostly agree with that, but consider power users who want integrated IDE RAID (blech), Firewire, and 8 zillion USB ports. All of that takes up space on a motherboard. Some of the nicer motherboards require you to have a big case. Some of them even take up as much space as my dual processor boards! Let's not even talk about dual Xeon boards...
Last but not least... you get what you pay for. I know, nobody wants to believe that, but it's mostly true. If you put down $60 for a motherboard, $20 for your RAM, and $30 for your case, I pity the stability of your computer. Every one of those components are going to be flakey, unless you're lucky (sometimes you do luck out and get good quality items). Chances are, though, that stuff is cheap for a reason... it failed QA testing, someone in China is dumping sub-par equipment in the West, or it's refurbished/returned.
Don't get me wrong, I use $2 mice and $39 motherboards sometimes. But I know what I'm getting myself into, and I never, ever recommend anything but top quality stuff (Asus, Antec, Toshiba, etc) to my friends. Also, I never build systems for my friends or clients with cheap-ass components.
Holy shit, this post is long. I better get moderated up for all this typing.
I'm not familiar with this scenario, but it sounds like they think you are stealing services. Your second paragraph leads me to believe that DSL is, in fact, not (officially?) available to you. This sounds sort of like using a cable decoder when the cable company refuses to admit that your area can get cable. Is this sort of what you're describing?
If so, then I don't think you have much chance of defending your actions, but I'd think the judge would be pretty annoyed with the telephone company.... maybe even force them to roll out broadband.
You know, that "^H" thing was funny the first quadrillion times I saw it, but since I saw your post, it has suddenly stopped being amusing. Might I suggest ^? for your next post? I'm quite sure I'll find that amusing for the next quadrillion times I see it.
I've done the same thing a few times, but one thing you need to realize is that IBM, Compaq, and other big-name server companies use some seriously high-end hardware in their servers. Unless you're spending big bucks (like with an Intel L440GX-C or C440GX), you're just not getting a comparable system. I would probably rather put together my own server, but you can't really compare a Compaq ProLiant and your home-brew dual processor system unless your home-brew system has several SCA hard drives, hot swap CPU support, and hot swap PCI support.
I would never, ever advise someone to buy a Compaq desktop (shiver), but Compaq makes some really kick-ass servers. Of course, those servers are just as proprietary as the desktops, but they sure as nice to play with.
I wrote an e-mail to one of my friends saying that I liked Diablo II. Am I now part of the gaming media, too?
Score:5, Interesting? Come on. This isn't that interesting. I thought he was going to say something like, "The joke's on you, MIT! I live in Orangeflux!"
Umm, you didn't have to do anything. You wanted to do it. I tried to explain this concept to my ex-girlfriend many, many times, but she never really understood that she wanted a diamond ring, not that she needed a diamond ring.
If you want your music to be heard, you have many options at your disposal. I have no sympathy for people too stupid to look at their options before singing the first contract thrust in front of them.
That'd be like me complaining about how it was necessary for me to sign up with AT&T's worst long distance plan, because it was the only way to use my telephone.
Umm, that should be "(command)-(option)-O-F" to enter OpenFirmware on a Mac. I shouldn't have used brackets. Oh well.
Stupid Slashdot making me wait two minutes to post again... sometimes I wonder why I bother.
I like OpenFirmware, but it has some drawbacks. I've only used it on older Sun and Apple systems, though. The most recent system was a rev 2 Blue & White G3, which used OF 3.x, if I remember correctly.
It's difficult to explain exactly how powerful OF is when you're talking to someone who has never seen anything but a Phoenix/Award or AMI PC BIOS. OF isn't a setup program that has three or four menus, where you can set your system to boot up from floppy or CDROM. OF gives you access to your computer's internals through a FORTH interpreter. When I was trying to set the boot device for my B&W G3, I did the following:
--O-F
This enters OF on a Mac, if I remember correctly.
> dev / ls
This displays all the devices on your PCI bus (or busses) in a tree. I looked for the identifier for the Adaptec 2940U2B PCI SCSI controller. I found it under in the tree as something similar to "/PCI/Bus 0/Slot 1/ADPT2940U2B".
> set default-boot 'ADPT2940U2B@0:2,:tbxi'
This set the default boot device to the Adaptec 2940U2B PCI SCSI controller, SCSI device ID 0, partition 2.
> bye
This exits the OF FORTH interpreter.
This was just to set the default boot device. You can imagine how much more complex the non-trivial settings are. You can also probably imagine how powerful OF is.
Still, I sort of like what DEC did with the AlphaBIOS and SRM console on the old Alpha servers and workstations. I highly recommend getting a cheap Alpha workstation off ebay. It's way more fun than a PDA, and probably more useful, too.
Once you've played with a Mac or UNIX workstation, going back to the PC BIOS is kind of frustrating. However, there is a lot to be said of the latest Award BIOS. It sure is easy to use. Not exactly what I'd call powerful or feature-rich, but it's a hell of a lot easier to set the default boot device.
Great idea! But If Blizzard gives you a counter-offer of Warcraft III Collector's Edition for just $49.99, should you accept it?
Try replacing your power supply, memory, and motherboard, in that order. You'll probably notice that the crashes stop. I haven't noticed any crashes in NT4 or Win2k in a very, very long time. XFree86 4.x isn't exactly the stablest software in the world (most of the 4.x drivers are still being debugged), but it definitely should not crash with that regularity.
My advice is for you to stick to tried and true hardware: a Matrox G200/G400 video card, Crucial RAM, an i440BX Asus motherboard, and an Antec power supply. Yes, this means using a Pentium III, but my P2B-D (i440BX), P3C-D (i820), and P2L97-DS (i440LX) are all crash-proof.
If you're going to buy a Pentium IV or Athlon, then try to stay a revision or two behind current technology (ie, don't use VIA's KT333). If you want something to be stable, you need to give programmers time to discover the hardware flaws.
For great justice!!!
I had a friend once, too.