I agree, there is always some way to screw with benchmarks. Especially when there are so many settings in the display adapter properties that can screw your performance or increase it.
However, benchmarks are a good ballpark guide to whether I should buy an ATI or Nvidia. I am so glad I read the benchmarks when I made the ATI vs Nvidia decision recently. This time ATI won me over for price and performance. Previously it was NVidia. Who knows who will win next round. It seems that just as soon as you have shelled out a fortune, they release the next chipset on you and your current card is obsoleted.
Hardware, ESPECICALLY gaming hardware changes so frequently, that it would be difficult to support you gam ein a few years, it would possibly be unplayable on newer hardware
Exactly, this is a moving target. The moving target will obsolete your game when especially when you buy the next generations AGP card.
Then there's the people who already have a Linux install. They would far prefer to install the game under their own environment rather than be tied into another dist, and a reboot to play the game.
Then there's the people who are anti open source and all things not Microsoft. To purchase a game tied to Linux would be anathema.
That being said, some kind people have made iso's of America's Army and Enemy Territory. Speaking of which, ET is awesome! I still can't believe such an awesome game is free (as in beer)!
Knoppix as a diagnostic tool
on
Knoppix 3.3 Is Out
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I have been fixing a computer that shows all the signs of a stuffed motherboard. Tested RAM and PSU, cpu seems fine. The machine running XP has started to lockup when left for more than 2 minutes. Nothing dodgy installed. Drivers and stuff all sweet. Everything looks peachy on the XP install. The system only started locking up a months ago, and lockups are increasingly more frequent. Temps are fine also. No viruses. Patches, bios and drivers all up-to-date.
I was so damn sure it was a crook motherboard until I threw in a Knoppix 3.2 cd. I opened nearly every app I could at once, and left Pingus and other things runnng over night. No freezes! I could not get Knoppix to crash this system no matter what I played with.
Never mind the browsers. Any DNS lookup failure won't return "host unknown" anymore. eg: ping. I imagine there is a lot of software that relies on getting correct messages from DNS servers.
For example, if a application has a list of ftp mirror sites to connect to, and DNS fails, it would normally move onto the next mirror site in the list quickly. Now that all failed DNS lookups return the Verisign IP addy, much time will be wasted trying to connect to a non-existant ftp server at the Versign site. Even if a server is on the Verisign site, it's not the one that the application is expecting.
yeah - thats a real useful search tool verisign has there - thanks so much.
My IE by default goes to a similar MSN type url search page. By now is overidden by the Verisign one. Neither are pages I would actually use. I would prefer an error message.
So in retrospect, if all and sundry made software and VGA cards that were 100% DirectX compliant in the first place, then there is no problem, right?
I would rather prefer that companies work on more open standards like OpenGL. As a by-product, the games/apps can be more easily ported to other OS's.
Yeah exactly. They don't speed up anyones internet 'connection'. They just compress text and some images. Faster downloads for web-browsers is about the size of it.
Now if they could just speed up online gaming (i.e. RTCW Enemy Territory) so I can keep up with the broadband users.....
I install SuSE 8.2 on Laptops and PC's at work. Not really an enterprise Linux user, but just for corporate workstations. I use SuSE purely because it installs damn fast and set's everything up (in most cases) properly. No hassels. It doesn't have a RedHat-ized version of Gnome/KDE. It has a beautiful splash screen. But most importantly, it has SUPPORT options.
Debian would be my pick for stability and security for a server though. However, no support options except mailing lists, BBS and IRC.
One BIG reason why the Slammer hit so many people, is that MANY people don't trust the updates. Many updates screw other things or change the EULA. I know a heap of people who wait a few months to see the results of update patches before they decide to install them. Making it compulsary is a crock.
Worse case scenario:
What happens when the next MS patch cripples your system. MS get in trouble for disabling millions of computers. The computers are too crippled automatically download the next fix. Need a techician to fix. I want to decide if I want to press OK or not also.
Linux dealer : She'll go 300 days on a single boot.
Homer : What country is this distribution from?
Linux dealer : It no longer exists. But take her for a test install, and you'll agree: (states their slogan) ...
Car dealer : She'll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.
Homer : What country is this car from?
Car dealer : It no longer exists. But take her for a test drive, and you'll agree: (states their slogan) ...
Car dealer : Put it in "H"!
Non-free programs are not officially considered "part of Debian", but Debian does distribute them. The Debian web site describes non-free programs, and their ftp server distributes them. That's why we don't have links to their site on www.gnu.org.
Debian are very pedantic about free and non-free. Probably just the right balance in their attitude, as they still allow non-free to be download easily. RMS is just ridiculously over-the-top, and should wake up and smell th coffee.
Slashdot Mirror
I already did. LOL
Oh yeah... As if anyone cares what kind of OS is running your latest game in PS2.
Yeah, as if. I really see that happening. Parent was refering to PC, not PS2 anyhow.
Memtest86 has been a permanent part of my toolkit for a long time. The bootable cd .iso is a wonderful idea. GPL software rocks!
I agree, there is always some way to screw with benchmarks. Especially when there are so many settings in the display adapter properties that can screw your performance or increase it.
However, benchmarks are a good ballpark guide to whether I should buy an ATI or Nvidia. I am so glad I read the benchmarks when I made the ATI vs Nvidia decision recently. This time ATI won me over for price and performance. Previously it was NVidia. Who knows who will win next round. It seems that just as soon as you have shelled out a fortune, they release the next chipset on you and your current card is obsoleted.
Hardware, ESPECICALLY gaming hardware changes so frequently, that it would be difficult to support you gam ein a few years, it would possibly be unplayable on newer hardware
Exactly, this is a moving target. The moving target will obsolete your game when especially when you buy the next generations AGP card.
Then there's the people who already have a Linux install. They would far prefer to install the game under their own environment rather than be tied into another dist, and a reboot to play the game.
Then there's the people who are anti open source and all things not Microsoft. To purchase a game tied to Linux would be anathema.
That being said, some kind people have made iso's of America's Army and Enemy Territory. Speaking of which, ET is awesome! I still can't believe such an awesome game is free (as in beer)!
I have been fixing a computer that shows all the signs of a stuffed motherboard. Tested RAM and PSU, cpu seems fine. The machine running XP has started to lockup when left for more than 2 minutes. Nothing dodgy installed. Drivers and stuff all sweet. Everything looks peachy on the XP install. The system only started locking up a months ago, and lockups are increasingly more frequent. Temps are fine also. No viruses. Patches, bios and drivers all up-to-date.
I was so damn sure it was a crook motherboard until I threw in a Knoppix 3.2 cd. I opened nearly every app I could at once, and left Pingus and other things runnng over night. No freezes! I could not get Knoppix to crash this system no matter what I played with.
Solution: format c:
Well previously ping was not replying, but the dns resolved to the Verisign IP.
err... dude. It doesn't matter how much cache they strap to these processors, deep down you'll still know it's a P4. :-(
Never mind the browsers. Any DNS lookup failure won't return "host unknown" anymore. eg: ping. I imagine there is a lot of software that relies on getting correct messages from DNS servers.
For example, if a application has a list of ftp mirror sites to connect to, and DNS fails, it would normally move onto the next mirror site in the list quickly. Now that all failed DNS lookups return the Verisign IP addy, much time will be wasted trying to connect to a non-existant ftp server at the Versign site. Even if a server is on the Verisign site, it's not the one that the application is expecting.
yeah - thats a real useful search tool verisign has there - thanks so much.
My IE by default goes to a similar MSN type url search page. By now is overidden by the Verisign one. Neither are pages I would actually use. I would prefer an error message.
How do they make those slimey figurines (called "Stickies") which feel cold and slimey. You can stretch them, and they return to shape in seconds.
eg: This or these
So in retrospect, if all and sundry made software and VGA cards that were 100% DirectX compliant in the first place, then there is no problem, right? I would rather prefer that companies work on more open standards like OpenGL. As a by-product, the games/apps can be more easily ported to other OS's.
...that unless you use Nvidia specific extensions for pixel shaders, the performance will not be very good...
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a generic DirectX API? One size fits all, and all that.
Oh and they like to eat whales while saying it is for 'research'.
So do the Japanese and Norwegians. Shame on them!
Yeah exactly. They don't speed up anyones internet 'connection'. They just compress text and some images. Faster downloads for web-browsers is about the size of it.
Now if they could just speed up online gaming (i.e. RTCW Enemy Territory) so I can keep up with the broadband users.....
Yes this was a very "controvertial" decison by Slashdot.
= home brew?
I install SuSE 8.2 on Laptops and PC's at work. Not really an enterprise Linux user, but just for corporate workstations. I use SuSE purely because it installs damn fast and set's everything up (in most cases) properly. No hassels. It doesn't have a RedHat-ized version of Gnome/KDE. It has a beautiful splash screen. But most importantly, it has SUPPORT options.
Debian would be my pick for stability and security for a server though. However, no support options except mailing lists, BBS and IRC.
One BIG reason why the Slammer hit so many people, is that MANY people don't trust the updates. Many updates screw other things or change the EULA. I know a heap of people who wait a few months to see the results of update patches before they decide to install them. Making it compulsary is a crock.
Worse case scenario:
What happens when the next MS patch cripples your system. MS get in trouble for disabling millions of computers. The computers are too crippled automatically download the next fix. Need a techician to fix. I want to decide if I want to press OK or not also.
For the mods, who didn't get it:
...
Linux dealer : She'll go 300 days on a single boot.
Homer : What country is this distribution from?
Linux dealer : It no longer exists. But take her for a test install, and you'll agree: (states their slogan)
Ok then, GNU/KDE/Linux. :-)
Car dealer : She'll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.
Homer : What country is this car from?
Car dealer : It no longer exists. But take her for a test drive, and you'll agree: (states their slogan)
...
Car dealer : Put it in "H"!
Prehaps it's better to be called GNU/KDE/Gnome/Linux then. :-)
....oh yeah, even after Debian is called "Debian GNU/Linux" like RMS demands. Talk about RMS being anal!
Non-free programs are not officially considered "part of Debian", but Debian does distribute them. The Debian web site describes non-free programs, and their ftp server distributes them. That's why we don't have links to their site on www.gnu.org.
Debian are very pedantic about free and non-free. Probably just the right balance in their attitude, as they still allow non-free to be download easily. RMS is just ridiculously over-the-top, and should wake up and smell th coffee.