Yes... well, sort of. I checked the page source for the filename of Firebird 0.7 and stuck it into Google. I got one hit and it downloaded very fast. I hesitate to post the link because it's probably someone's home machine. However, anyone with sufficient skill will be able to duplicate my feat.
Knoppix is a lifesaver/NTFS recovery
on
Knoppix 3.3 Is Out
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Two days ago, I performed disaster recovery on a friend's Windows 2000 box. Suffice it to say that his computer would not boot into the recovery console nor would the hard drive allow me to reinstall Windows 2000 on it. Fortunately, I had a Debian Jr. Knoppix CD.
I popped it in, booted up, and was ready to amaze my friend. Both his NTFS hard drive and his USB FAT32 hard drive appeared on the desktop automagically after boot. I set the USB drive to read/write by right-clicking and selecting the read/write mode. I opened both drives in two separate windows of Konqueror and performed the data recovery right before his eyes by dragging files from one drive to another.
When the backup was complete, I showed him a few other things like the games and that he was completely internet capable. His jaw dropped in awe. He asked if I would make him a copy of the CD so that he could be internet functional on his computer until he could get a new hard drive. I told him to keep the CD. It was his very first experience with Linux... and a very positive one.
I will reiterate one thing I have already read under this topic. No one should be without a Knoppix CD. Go find yourself a torrent or a mirror and get Knoppix now!!! You never know when it will save your a$$.
Gibson's MaGIC was the last music innovation that gave me goosebumps. I wonder if they'll showcase this technology at the show. Imagine plugging ethernet cable into a Les Paul!!! Through this technology, they're making it easier for musicians to jam together online regardless of physical location. There's soooo much more to this technology, so check out the link for details.
The Army will be rolling out these computers just like N.M.C.I.. The OS of choice will undoubtedly be Windows 2000 SP1 just as it is in N.M.C.I. Also, Office Pro 2000 SR-1a is standard on all machines amongst a host of other apps. Visio is a part of the standard suite of apps. The contract is being fulfilled by EDS. The $950.00 price tag is not across the board. That is just the baseline. Premiums will be paid for faster machines, laptops, and Science & Technology seats.
The transition has been rough so far as users have found that they cannot abandon their legacy seats in every case. Thus, you see a lot of dual-desktop situations. I hope the Army takes into account the lessons learned from the Navy and Marine Corps' efforts.
Theologians and pop-culture experts see 'The Matrix' as a phenomenon shaping public opinion about religion
By Josh Burek | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
In a film era long gone, the Bible was a major player. Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart starred in movies that directly drew on themes of Bible history and Christian redemption.
Hollywood treats religion a bit differently these days. Mel Gibson's "The Passion," aside, most A-list stars aren't lining up to play the carpenter from Nazareth. But some of Hollywood's most enduring science-fiction films have borrowed greatly from his story.
Casting Keanu Reeves as a Christlike figure in "The Matrix" trilogy may seem blasphemous, but it's not new. "Star Wars" didn't push the idea of a Jedi Jesus, but many fans felt that it freely mixed myth and religion. And some critics said "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" relied heavily on the account of Christ's passion - a suggestion that director Steven Spielberg, who is Jewish, rejected. More recent films, from "Signs" to "Contact" have used a sci-fi setting to discuss serious questions of faith.
But where previous films made vague references to the Christian story, "The Matrix," some theologians argue, appeals directly to the heart of Christian identity. Its script, however, draws on Platonic philosophy, Greek mythology, Buddhism, and postmodernism, religious experts say.
Its high-octane blend of comic-book action and lofty metaphysics fueled box-office sales in 1999 to more than $450 million worldwide. But it also created theological tension about the movie's symbolism. And with "The Matrix Reloaded" due out next week, the debate is likely to intensify over different interpretations of the trilogy.
"There's two ways to look at this from a Christian perspective," says Glenn Yeffeth, editor of the book "Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in The Matrix." "One is that it's retelling the story of Christ," he says. "The other way to look at it is a very violent film filled with garden-variety blasphemy that exploits people's resonance with the Christian narrative to fool people into a story that is fundamentally atheistic."
Both sides see a movie phenomenon that, for better or worse, is shaping public thought about religion.
"The Matrix" is compelling people to examine the plurality of religions versus the unity of truth, says cultural critic Read Mercer Schuchardt. Like the movie's characters, who strive to understand what is real, Matrix fans are hoping the trilogy's second installment will help them unravel the film's tangled symbolism, say film experts.
Earnest effort to deconstruct the movie began with a question. On Superbowl Sunday 1999, "Matrix" filmmakers tantalized TV viewers with a commercial trailer that asked, "What is the Matrix?" After the film made its auspicious Easter debut, "Matrix" viewers began answering the clever marketing query in personal terms. Sci-fi fans, philosophers, Buddhists, and even evangelical Christians have found resonant themes in the story.
"There are hundreds of Matrix [websites] out there, and they're not about how cute Keanu Reeves looks," says Mr. Yeffeth. "The Christian parallels, the philosophical underpinnings - this is a movie that... captures people's intellectual imagination."
Some observers, however, are skeptical about the film's ability to convey the profound. A number of critics panned the first "Matrix" for being too pretentious. And some viewers balked at the marriage of kung fu fight scenes with a "Philosophy for Dummies" script.
The film's creators, brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, have been remarkably tight-lipped about their vision for the trilogy. But these comic-book aficionados have pulled back the curtain enough to reveal which levers they are pulling.
The subject says it all. Everyone is groping to find out what customers like best. That's what I like about competition - it benefits the end user in many cases. There's no reason to bash Microsoft over this one. They're just giving the customer what they want. If what the customer wants happens to look like a Mac, fine. I'm just waiting for Linux to do the same and give the average-Joe-everyday-user what they want. That will really impress me!
Perhaps others would flame you, but that was not my direction nor intention. I'm seriously seeking sound (uhh, I mean video) advice.;-) Please re-read my comment in light of this. Ignore the bold, emphasized words if it helps.
This info is very informative. You seem to have left one piece if information out though: If Doom9 are not THE EXPERTS, then who is? I am not trying to bash you in any way. Per your insight into their review (which I agree with you), I'd like to see an alternative link which offers a true comparison using your defined criteria. I really appreciate your analysis otherwise.
Video Card Reviews Monday, NVIDIA took the next step in their strive to own the Linux video market with the release of their 1.0-4349 drivers. These drivers represent a first in the Linux driver market, a utility that not only installs the drivers on any distribution, but also keeps the driver up-to-date. We now take a look at this new utility and the drivers themselves. We'll walk you through the installation of these new drivers, the capabilities of the new utility, and the performance of the drivers. Included in this review is the first look at a CineFX architecture card, the Quadro FX 2000 workstation graphics adapter.
"Nothing in life is FREE." That goes for the music too. I'm sorry, but the price of a car is a lot to pay to get "free" music. Does anyone remember when mp3.com was sending out free CDs of 100 songs apiece of this same type of free music? The music was only halfway decent... nothing to sneeze at. I don't see this type of marketing going over very well with the public. I think the American public is smarter than that.
The world's most intuitive personal finance software just got better!
Moneydance 2003, the groundbreaking new financial tool is now available for all platforms. Moneydance can be trusted to keep all of your financial information safe, organized, and at your fingertips. After just a few minutes with Moneydance's simple interface and powerful features, you will wonder how you ever got along without it.
Protect your privacy - and your peace of mind
With Moneydance, you will not be bombarded with advertisements on your desktop, nor have your personal information shared without your explicit consent. Unlike some other applications, Moneydance does not install third party software on your computer to monitor or restrict your activities.
Online banking and bill payment: no paper? no problem
Pay your bills in seconds without writing a single check. With Moneydance you can automatically synchronize your records with transactions downloaded from your bank. Moneydance currently can perform online banking and bill payment with hundrededs of financial institutions. Moneydance also integrates nicely with the Paytrust online bill payment service.
Manage your budget
Moneydance lets you easily create and manage multiple budgets and shows you where your accounts over or under budget. Simply specify how much you expect to earn or spend in each category for a given time interval (weekly, monthly, yearly). Moneydance can then show you a comparison of how your budget compares to your actual income and expenses for any time period.
Stay on schedule
The ability to schedule recurring or future transactions in Moneydance makes it easy to plan for bills, loan payments, and paychecks. On the starting screen Moneydance shows all of your upcoming or overdue reminders, and you can view future and past reminders for any month. Special loan payment reminders automatically calculate principal and interest payments for mortgages and other loans. You can even print a monthly calendar that includes your scheduled items.
Visualize your wealth
Another great reason to use Moneydance is that it lets you easily visualize your finances. With Moneydance's built-in graphs you can view your accounts from many angles. The Net Worth graph allows you to view the total value of all of your accounts over time. The Expenses graph provides a clear picture of where your money is going and when. Other graphs include Account Balance, Currency History, Income vs Expenses, and more. Moneydance can also remember commonly used graphs so that they are accessible with a single click from the main screen.
Get the details, quickly
Moneydance provides a variety of reports detailing information about your accounts. Built-in reports include: Budget, Missing Checks, Net Worth, Account Balances, Cash Flow, Detailed Cash Flow, Transactions, Cost Basis, and VAT/GST. You can also tell Moneydance to remember commonly used reports so that they are accessible with a single click from the main screen.
International ease
If you ever cross national borders you will appreciate Moneydance's built-in support for multiple currencies. Recording international transfers is a breeze - simply specify the amount and the currency, and Moneydance will automatically calculate the value in the context of the current account. You can download Up-to-date exchange rates from the Internet automatically with the OandA.com exchange rate updater extension.
Compatible, standards-based reliability
Moneydance uses industry standard technologies such as OFX, QIF, SSL/TLS, Java, and XML to ensure compatibility with other software and services. In addition, with our open API and Extension Developer Kit you can be sure that third parties will always be able to integrate their services with Moneydance.
Understand your portfolio
Today's investment portfolios are as complicated as ever. Moneydance can bring your investements into focus with support for tracking stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, and more. The investment account overview sho
Keeping in mind that I cannot get to the article...
I'm under the impression that you don't have to swipe anything. Being a WiFi point, you'd just have to be within 90 yards of the booth (or something like that) and have instant WiFi access served via DHCP I suppose.
This brings up a couple even more intriguing questions: When going to a fee-based service, how do you filter out paying customers from non-paying customers? Would the customer be registered with Bell with their particular MAC addresses? Would Bell charge by the minute? Would the bill just appear at home with your regular phone bill?
I used to work in a hospital that deployed several old P-75 computers that couldn't hack an Office install. Instead, they used Word, Excel, and PowerPoint viewers. I can just imagine the productivity they would gain be being able to use full-blown versions of the software on these old dinosaurs instead of the viewers. A very tasty thought indeed!
At home, I have 4 Linux boxes of differing kernels, distros, functionalities, etc. I enjoy working with Linux and spend most of my home computing time doing so. There is *almost* nothing I can't do on a Linux box that I can do on Windows. I've got it playing and ripping DVDs as well as CDs, playing all of the major multimedia formats (AVI, MPG, ASF, MOV, etc.) with mplayer, and picture viewing with GQView.
My wife is on XP for Quicken and to VPN to work. I have XP on one box as well. I need it to run 2 separate VPN clients for work. My main reason for the XP box is one particular piece of hardware though... Layla20 by Echo Audio. I do digital recording with this piece of equipment with Cakewalk and Sound Forge. I've seen nothing on Linux comparable to these 2 programs. Even if there were, the hardware is still not supported although they have supposedly released the hardware specs to the public now for open source development. It's probably also important to note that I bought Layla before I was turned on to Linux. I'm not ditching the hardware because it cost me over $700.00 brand new. Anyone know of any Linux development being done with Layla? Please?
My most advanced computer hardware-wise is the XP box ringing in at 2.4 GHz. That being said, I still use my 800 MHz Debian machine the most frequently. I touch the XP machine about once every 2 weeks. Sickening having all of that processing power and not using it, eh?
At work, I have 2 machines: a W2K box that requires MS-Access and Excel. I also have my W2K laptop on which I boot into Knoppix very frequently.:-) Work dictates that I use Windows. There's no getting past that. I *have* actually sold my boss on the Ruby programming language, so open source has a small sphere of influence there. I even have my boss using it.
The only time I play games is using a gaming console. That's what they're for. Keyboard and mouse gaming have their place, but I've moved on. The console market is where it's at for me now.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes... well, sort of. I checked the page source for the filename of Firebird 0.7 and stuck it into Google. I got one hit and it downloaded very fast. I hesitate to post the link because it's probably someone's home machine. However, anyone with sufficient skill will be able to duplicate my feat.
Two days ago, I performed disaster recovery on a friend's Windows 2000 box. Suffice it to say that his computer would not boot into the recovery console nor would the hard drive allow me to reinstall Windows 2000 on it. Fortunately, I had a Debian Jr. Knoppix CD.
I popped it in, booted up, and was ready to amaze my friend. Both his NTFS hard drive and his USB FAT32 hard drive appeared on the desktop automagically after boot. I set the USB drive to read/write by right-clicking and selecting the read/write mode. I opened both drives in two separate windows of Konqueror and performed the data recovery right before his eyes by dragging files from one drive to another.
When the backup was complete, I showed him a few other things like the games and that he was completely internet capable. His jaw dropped in awe. He asked if I would make him a copy of the CD so that he could be internet functional on his computer until he could get a new hard drive. I told him to keep the CD. It was his very first experience with Linux... and a very positive one.
I will reiterate one thing I have already read under this topic. No one should be without a Knoppix CD. Go find yourself a torrent or a mirror and get Knoppix now!!! You never know when it will save your a$$.
can it hide my wrinkles without surgery being done? I won't be *really* impressed until it can hide my entire butt crack!!!
Gibson's MaGIC was the last music innovation that gave me goosebumps. I wonder if they'll showcase this technology at the show. Imagine plugging ethernet cable into a Les Paul!!! Through this technology, they're making it easier for musicians to jam together online regardless of physical location. There's soooo much more to this technology, so check out the link for details.
The Army will be rolling out these computers just like N. M. C. I.. The OS of choice will undoubtedly be Windows 2000 SP1 just as it is in N.M.C.I. Also, Office Pro 2000 SR-1a is standard on all machines amongst a host of other apps. Visio is a part of the standard suite of apps. The contract is being fulfilled by EDS. The $950.00 price tag is not across the board. That is just the baseline. Premiums will be paid for faster machines, laptops, and Science & Technology seats.
The transition has been rough so far as users have found that they cannot abandon their legacy seats in every case. Thus, you see a lot of dual-desktop situations. I hope the Army takes into account the lessons learned from the Navy and Marine Corps' efforts.
Before it gets /.ed, here's the text:
... captures people's intellectual imagination."
The Gospel according to Neo
Theologians and pop-culture experts see 'The Matrix' as a phenomenon shaping public opinion about religion
By Josh Burek | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
In a film era long gone, the Bible was a major player. Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart starred in movies that directly drew on themes of Bible history and Christian redemption.
Hollywood treats religion a bit differently these days. Mel Gibson's "The Passion," aside, most A-list stars aren't lining up to play the carpenter from Nazareth. But some of Hollywood's most enduring science-fiction films have borrowed greatly from his story.
Casting Keanu Reeves as a Christlike figure in "The Matrix" trilogy may seem blasphemous, but it's not new. "Star Wars" didn't push the idea of a Jedi Jesus, but many fans felt that it freely mixed myth and religion. And some critics said "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" relied heavily on the account of Christ's passion - a suggestion that director Steven Spielberg, who is Jewish, rejected. More recent films, from "Signs" to "Contact" have used a sci-fi setting to discuss serious questions of faith.
But where previous films made vague references to the Christian story, "The Matrix," some theologians argue, appeals directly to the heart of Christian identity. Its script, however, draws on Platonic philosophy, Greek mythology, Buddhism, and postmodernism, religious experts say.
Its high-octane blend of comic-book action and lofty metaphysics fueled box-office sales in 1999 to more than $450 million worldwide. But it also created theological tension about the movie's symbolism. And with "The Matrix Reloaded" due out next week, the debate is likely to intensify over different interpretations of the trilogy.
"There's two ways to look at this from a Christian perspective," says Glenn Yeffeth, editor of the book "Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in The Matrix." "One is that it's retelling the story of Christ," he says. "The other way to look at it is a very violent film filled with garden-variety blasphemy that exploits people's resonance with the Christian narrative to fool people into a story that is fundamentally atheistic."
Both sides see a movie phenomenon that, for better or worse, is shaping public thought about religion.
"The Matrix" is compelling people to examine the plurality of religions versus the unity of truth, says cultural critic Read Mercer Schuchardt. Like the movie's characters, who strive to understand what is real, Matrix fans are hoping the trilogy's second installment will help them unravel the film's tangled symbolism, say film experts.
Earnest effort to deconstruct the movie began with a question. On Superbowl Sunday 1999, "Matrix" filmmakers tantalized TV viewers with a commercial trailer that asked, "What is the Matrix?" After the film made its auspicious Easter debut, "Matrix" viewers began answering the clever marketing query in personal terms. Sci-fi fans, philosophers, Buddhists, and even evangelical Christians have found resonant themes in the story.
"There are hundreds of Matrix [websites] out there, and they're not about how cute Keanu Reeves looks," says Mr. Yeffeth. "The Christian parallels, the philosophical underpinnings - this is a movie that
Some observers, however, are skeptical about the film's ability to convey the profound. A number of critics panned the first "Matrix" for being too pretentious. And some viewers balked at the marriage of kung fu fight scenes with a "Philosophy for Dummies" script.
The film's creators, brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, have been remarkably tight-lipped about their vision for the trilogy. But these comic-book aficionados have pulled back the curtain enough to reveal which levers they are pulling.
"We're interested in mythology, theolo
What is the GIMP doing in a BSD Reference book?!? Seems like fluff to me. Especially when you can download a pretty comprehensive GIMP manual online.
Super info, Ishin. This is the kind of info I've been hoping to find. I appreciate the followup.
The subject says it all. Everyone is groping to find out what customers like best. That's what I like about competition - it benefits the end user in many cases. There's no reason to bash Microsoft over this one. They're just giving the customer what they want. If what the customer wants happens to look like a Mac, fine. I'm just waiting for Linux to do the same and give the average-Joe-everyday-user what they want. That will really impress me!
Perhaps others would flame you, but that was not my direction nor intention. I'm seriously seeking sound (uhh, I mean video) advice. ;-) Please re-read my comment in light of this. Ignore the bold, emphasized words if it helps.
This info is very informative. You seem to have left one piece if information out though: If Doom9 are not THE EXPERTS, then who is? I am not trying to bash you in any way. Per your insight into their review (which I agree with you), I'd like to see an alternative link which offers a true comparison using your defined criteria. I really appreciate your analysis otherwise.
Video Card Reviews Monday, NVIDIA took the next step in their strive to own the Linux video market with the release of their 1.0-4349 drivers. These drivers represent a first in the Linux driver market, a utility that not only installs the drivers on any distribution, but also keeps the driver up-to-date. We now take a look at this new utility and the drivers themselves. We'll walk you through the installation of these new drivers, the capabilities of the new utility, and the performance of the drivers. Included in this review is the first look at a CineFX architecture card, the Quadro FX 2000 workstation graphics adapter.
"Nothing in life is FREE." That goes for the music too. I'm sorry, but the price of a car is a lot to pay to get "free" music. Does anyone remember when mp3.com was sending out free CDs of 100 songs apiece of this same type of free music? The music was only halfway decent... nothing to sneeze at. I don't see this type of marketing going over very well with the public. I think the American public is smarter than that.
Links to installs:
c e_linux_i386_jre131.tar.gz
c e_linux_i386_jre130.tar.gz
c e_linux_ppc_jre130.tar.gz
c e_freebsd_i386_jre118_elf.tar.gz
c e_sunos_i386_jre130.tar.gz
c e_sunos_sparc_jre130.tar.gz
c e_other.tar.gz
Linux/x86/glibc2.1+
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
SuSE 7.2 RedHat 7.1 Mandrake 8.0
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
Linux/ppc
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
FreeBSD/x86
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
Solaris/x86
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
Solaris/sparc
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
Other
http://moneydance.com/download/2003/Unix/moneydan
The world's most intuitive personal finance software just got better! Moneydance 2003, the groundbreaking new financial tool is now available for all platforms. Moneydance can be trusted to keep all of your financial information safe, organized, and at your fingertips. After just a few minutes with Moneydance's simple interface and powerful features, you will wonder how you ever got along without it.
Protect your privacy - and your peace of mind With Moneydance, you will not be bombarded with advertisements on your desktop, nor have your personal information shared without your explicit consent. Unlike some other applications, Moneydance does not install third party software on your computer to monitor or restrict your activities.
Online banking and bill payment: no paper? no problem Pay your bills in seconds without writing a single check. With Moneydance you can automatically synchronize your records with transactions downloaded from your bank. Moneydance currently can perform online banking and bill payment with hundrededs of financial institutions. Moneydance also integrates nicely with the Paytrust online bill payment service.
Manage your budget Moneydance lets you easily create and manage multiple budgets and shows you where your accounts over or under budget. Simply specify how much you expect to earn or spend in each category for a given time interval (weekly, monthly, yearly). Moneydance can then show you a comparison of how your budget compares to your actual income and expenses for any time period.
Stay on schedule The ability to schedule recurring or future transactions in Moneydance makes it easy to plan for bills, loan payments, and paychecks. On the starting screen Moneydance shows all of your upcoming or overdue reminders, and you can view future and past reminders for any month. Special loan payment reminders automatically calculate principal and interest payments for mortgages and other loans. You can even print a monthly calendar that includes your scheduled items.
Visualize your wealth Another great reason to use Moneydance is that it lets you easily visualize your finances. With Moneydance's built-in graphs you can view your accounts from many angles. The Net Worth graph allows you to view the total value of all of your accounts over time. The Expenses graph provides a clear picture of where your money is going and when. Other graphs include Account Balance, Currency History, Income vs Expenses, and more. Moneydance can also remember commonly used graphs so that they are accessible with a single click from the main screen.
Get the details, quickly Moneydance provides a variety of reports detailing information about your accounts. Built-in reports include: Budget, Missing Checks, Net Worth, Account Balances, Cash Flow, Detailed Cash Flow, Transactions, Cost Basis, and VAT/GST. You can also tell Moneydance to remember commonly used reports so that they are accessible with a single click from the main screen.
International ease If you ever cross national borders you will appreciate Moneydance's built-in support for multiple currencies. Recording international transfers is a breeze - simply specify the amount and the currency, and Moneydance will automatically calculate the value in the context of the current account. You can download Up-to-date exchange rates from the Internet automatically with the OandA.com exchange rate updater extension.
Compatible, standards-based reliability Moneydance uses industry standard technologies such as OFX, QIF, SSL/TLS, Java, and XML to ensure compatibility with other software and services. In addition, with our open API and Extension Developer Kit you can be sure that third parties will always be able to integrate their services with Moneydance.
Understand your portfolio Today's investment portfolios are as complicated as ever. Moneydance can bring your investements into focus with support for tracking stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, and more. The investment account overview sho
Keeping in mind that I cannot get to the article...
I'm under the impression that you don't have to swipe anything. Being a WiFi point, you'd just have to be within 90 yards of the booth (or something like that) and have instant WiFi access served via DHCP I suppose.
This brings up a couple even more intriguing questions: When going to a fee-based service, how do you filter out paying customers from non-paying customers? Would the customer be registered with Bell with their particular MAC addresses? Would Bell charge by the minute? Would the bill just appear at home with your regular phone bill?
I used to work in a hospital that deployed several old P-75 computers that couldn't hack an Office install. Instead, they used Word, Excel, and PowerPoint viewers. I can just imagine the productivity they would gain be being able to use full-blown versions of the software on these old dinosaurs instead of the viewers. A very tasty thought indeed!
At home, I have 4 Linux boxes of differing kernels, distros, functionalities, etc. I enjoy working with Linux and spend most of my home computing time doing so. There is *almost* nothing I can't do on a Linux box that I can do on Windows. I've got it playing and ripping DVDs as well as CDs, playing all of the major multimedia formats (AVI, MPG, ASF, MOV, etc.) with mplayer, and picture viewing with GQView.
My wife is on XP for Quicken and to VPN to work. I have XP on one box as well. I need it to run 2 separate VPN clients for work. My main reason for the XP box is one particular piece of hardware though... Layla20 by Echo Audio. I do digital recording with this piece of equipment with Cakewalk and Sound Forge. I've seen nothing on Linux comparable to these 2 programs. Even if there were, the hardware is still not supported although they have supposedly released the hardware specs to the public now for open source development. It's probably also important to note that I bought Layla before I was turned on to Linux. I'm not ditching the hardware because it cost me over $700.00 brand new. Anyone know of any Linux development being done with Layla? Please?
My most advanced computer hardware-wise is the XP box ringing in at 2.4 GHz. That being said, I still use my 800 MHz Debian machine the most frequently. I touch the XP machine about once every 2 weeks. Sickening having all of that processing power and not using it, eh?
At work, I have 2 machines: a W2K box that requires MS-Access and Excel. I also have my W2K laptop on which I boot into Knoppix very frequently. :-) Work dictates that I use Windows. There's no getting past that. I *have* actually sold my boss on the Ruby programming language, so open source has a small sphere of influence there. I even have my boss using it.
The only time I play games is using a gaming console. That's what they're for. Keyboard and mouse gaming have their place, but I've moved on. The console market is where it's at for me now.
Just had to get my $0.02 in.