Google "apt-pinning". You can setup debian to be a multi-release distro, ie, stable with some testing apps.
Basically you add some stuff to/etc/apt/preferences, with priority for whatever release version you want (I pick stable). Then if you want a package that is only released in testing, you do apt-get -t testing install whateverpackage, and it will grab the package and dependencies from testing.
IE, at work I admin a linux server. I put stable on so I can get updates from security.debian.org (you don't get that in testing). Using apt-pinning, I put MySQL 5 on it, since stable only goes up to MySQL 4.
I don't know if that will work for the kernel package, but I don't see why not. The new Dell servers are very specific about what drivers they need to access the RAID controller, so I used a debian installer specifically made for Dell Servers (Poweredge is what we have). I havne't been able to get a 2.6 kernel up on it, so I just get the security stuff for 2.4.
And as for the driver issue, that's more of a problem across all linux distros. There are ways in debian to make it easier. I recommend the packages "discover" and "hotplug". Also checkout "module-assistant", it will get some drivers for you. I ran into similar problems with my wireless card. Sometimes you just have to go get the source and compile it yourself. I try to only do this for drivers, I like apt-get upgrade too much to leave my programs sitting in the same version.
Debian is a little rougher in the installation, but it's worth it for the system you get out of it in the end.
Oh, and about the 1394 for network: I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking about it. For a peer to peer connection, it's cheaper than getting gigabit NICs and a gigabit switch (yeah, you could always go crossover cable). If a machine already HAS firewire in it, that's a 400mbps connection you could be using. 4x ethernet, but I don't know about the overhead of the firewire system. I network my home, but my desktop is next to my server. It's best to put the switch out in another room, so instead of run another NIC or another cable back from teh switch, I could just put a firewire between the server and desktop.
Buying a laptop with Linux installed on it is like buying a car with the engine already.... no wait. Buying a laptop pre-installed is like buying a house with the furniture already.... damn.
What I'm trying to say is, there's something about linux that just lends itself to a self-initiated install. You'll have an easier time of it if you have to go through the grunt work on your own. You'll know where things are, what you changed, and you get a better pick of distros than you will probably find pre-installed.
This coming from a Debian-addict. I haven't looked at Ubuntu yet. I go vanilla Debian and add what I need for the machine I am using. I also still use windows on the desktop, but all the servers I operate run Linux. I go for flexibility. Yeah, you could use Wine or VMware as someone already mentioned, but what else am I going to do with that Windows license that came with my laptop?
As for the PS2, it has usually been the laser in my experience. I have 2 sitting here, with a 3rd untested (was given to me), and they both play CDs fine, just not most DVDs.
Nintendo did put product placements in their games though, even early ones from near the Gamecube release.
Super Monkey Ball. Dole logo was pasted all over it. Although they didn't really push it in your face or sacrifice the game in any way for it. You would just see the big logo in a few places.
I'm OK with seeing a brand here and there. I usually ignore it anyway. I don't like it incorporated into story of the game. I paid for a game, not a commercial to sit through.
Except they don't actually allow the market forces to deliver. They fought tooth and nail to keep their monopoly, and fight de-regulation. And I don't remember, but I think that they won. Wasn't there an article a few months back about them being able to push smaller internet operations off their infrastructure?
There isn't much choice in supplier as it is now. We will see when 802.16 comes into play (I think that was the number, wireless to the home) and also broadband over powerlines.
While I think this whole "hands off" thing is a horrible power-grab by the Telco industry, I don't think it will fly even if net neutrality fails. It will end up pissing off customers trying to get to the sites they want, and hopefully business will be smart enough not to pay for the special access to the pipes.
If Google, Yahoo et al form a loose coalition to boycott this, I think it will be dead in the water; without the need for regulation.
And that whole "keeping costs down" noise coming from the telco's is bullshit. Cost savings RARELY ever make it to the consumer.
3M and Cisco stand to make a lot of money selling routers that will handle this kind of tiered internet pricing.
Look at handsoff.org. It's a BLATANTLY obvious front for the telecoms. Well, somewhat blatantly obvious, they didn't really try to hide it because they put their logos on it. But they do make it sound more grassroots than it is. They did buy out some smaller grassroots organizations, and from what I hear some black politicians (some article on alternet.org). But don't be fooled, it is still an operation controlled by "Ma Bell".
I didn't say they were going down, but you know they don't want to lose the investment and time in Vista, escpecially with all the cutbacks and extensions.
Hold on, we REALLY might come out with Vista sometime in the next 5 years.
I do happen to agree with him, the PC isnt' going anywhere. Cell phones are overhyped, they are just too limited. But he does have an OBVIOUS bias and motivation.
Most people are not going to buy it. Game devs realize this. Games are probably going to be $60 this time around. I'm curious wether game devs will be able to make the kind of profits they do now on the PS2 with the PS3.
If I were a game dev, and I saw Sony price the PS3 out of a LOT of people's hands, I would start my whole team on XBox 360 or Wii.
I thought MS was ballsy for hitting the $400 mark. I am not willing to pay that much for a game system. I can wait till the price lowers, and by then I will know what games I want from the system, which will also have dropped in price.
I still have tons of games I haven't finished. A stack from PS2, and I still want to complete Silent Hill 1, Final Fantasy Tactics, and eventually start Chrono Cross on PS1. Oh, and I never played the first Metal Gear Solid. And I still didn't beat FF9. Shit I have a lot of catching up to do. The market is just too saturated. I can buy excellent games for $10-20, that don't look as good as the new stuff, but they are still fun. Plus I like fixing old broken consoles.
I kinda dropped Nintendo for a while. They had some EXCELLENT games for the gamecube, but not that many. I have like 3-4 games I REALLY enjoy. I think they will make a comeback. I just hope they don't get too gimicky. I'm sketchy on the whole remote-control-wand thing. I've messed with VR stuff. Will the control be tight enough to do more than dorky games or things that are fun when you are drunk?
Actually, it is pretty easy. The hardest part is getting the files onto the memory card. There are multiple ways to do this. You can build a swap disc and make a slide card out of a credit card, you can use an Xport/Sharkport (the method I used), use a USB stick and that wierd memory card software, or (easiest of all) you can copy the files off someone else's memory card that already did all that.
What is so "notoriously" difficult about HDloader? What is so hard about inserting your game, clicking copy, and giving it a name on the HD? A few games had to have special modes set, but for the newbs out there, you just look up on a list what someone else said worked, or you try each one until it works for you (and mode 3 is usually the one that fixes it, all the others work only on a few games).
I would say there is a 80-90% success rate with games working on HDloader. Yeah, not everything works, but you can get most of your typical collection on there.
And the slide card? I wouldnt' risk the damage to the drive from using it all the time. Yeah, it's fine to do it to get the files on the memory card, but once you do that, it's best to just use the HD for the games.
The best part of all, you can take a PS2 with a partially damaged laser that gets Disc read Errors, and chances are good it will still be able to read PS1 discs, which are necessary to trigger the exploit. And if you have a good laser, what better way to keep it good than to put your games on the HD, and just play the ones that don't work off the originals?
>So, it is still pretty damn hard to pirate games on a PS2 using the HDD adapter. 3 lines down... >I'm not really arguing that it's *hard* to pirate games for the PS2
You are contradicting yourself. You are confused. It is very easy to use the HDLoader stuff. It's a little more difficult to actually pirate games, because you have to use a computer to put the games on, since an unmodded PS2 won't read burns. Or you can use the network cable to send games over the LAN, but at 100mbit/sec, it's easier to use a USB 2.0 external drive cage. But just copying your originals is simple.
Because if you know an image is an ad, you can delay it and get the content first. It makes the interesting parts of the page accessible before the crap. We're talking about a few seconds here, but it isn't worthless. Especially on limited connections (does anyone use dialup anymore?) such as cellular broadband and possibly wireless in a saturated area. I'd probably still use it on my cable connection.
This is all assuming they figure out I am blocking most ads anyway. If they fight dirty, then I would use these tactics to try to bypass it.
You can fix those, BTW. Usually it is a bad laser, $50 gets you a new one.
I have 2 PS2's, both give to me, one had a bad ribbon cable for the controller ports ($7), the other has a damaged power connection (another $7). So I made one working console and have backup parts. The DVD lens tends to go after a few years, but I discovered HD Loader, which lets you store games on a standard IDE hard drive. You need some special stuff to get a file onto your memory card (I used the XLink/Sharkport method, there are other ways), then you just use a PS1 (yes, PSone) disc as a "trigger" disc to boot HD Loader and play games off the hard drive. Some games won't play off the hard drive. I'd say 80%+ do though. Good luck finding a PS2 network adapter if you don't already have one. I hit 3 stores last time I tried to set this up, and the last store had 2 left for $15 apiece, so I bought them both. The PS2 slim can be modified to connect a HD, but you have to open the case and solder stuff. The old-style PS2 can be done without opening.
I think there is information on this at ps2scene.org, I don't remember.
I don't know if it's some grand scheme to drop the PS3 at the last moment to $350 or $400 just to trick people into buying it, but announcing it at $500 and $600 is insane. HD resolution is just NOT THAT WIDESPREAD yet. I predict utter failure, at least until the price drops some more. Maybe it will pick up then, if they ever survive long enough for a price drop.
Gigantically stupid move. The average gamer isn't going to be able to spend that much, plus another $60-70 per game, because you know they are going to try to up that a little too.
Look for the XBox 360 to pick up a little and for Nintendo to possibly make a comeback. Hell, I think Sega could jump back in the console wars at this point with Sony practically giving up.
In response to this, I recommend a proxy that holds the ad block list/logic that still downloads all the images, but requests the non-ad images from the http server first, and discards at the proxy the rest (the ad images). Now you still get the pages faster with no ads, but you still use the bandwidth (to the proxy) of the whole page, including ad images. And technically, they COULD see what order you are downloading the images in, but at some point it's more trouble than it's worth for them to force someone to view ads. And you may be able to foil THAT by getting one or more of the ads early on.
I don't know a lot about how proxy and ad blocking works, or if anyone has already implemented this, but there's an idea for anyone so inclined to write one or modify an existing.
This can't really apply to the OP since it is sanctioned and forced by the management, but my company has no policy on this. I will work on a machine in my spare time, at no cost to the employee (I usually ask them to buy me a lunch when I am done and it works), in a few certain circumstances.
I try to wait till they are desperate. Before this I will just give them suggestions that they can try on their own. By the time the problem is really big, I will just tell them I will do my best, but I can't guarentee anything. I'm wary of what kind of issues I will look at.
For example: my last colleague with an issue had a laptop that wouldn't boot. I think the hard drive is toasted, it makes some funny noises sometimes (probably the motor or the heads crashing on the disk). I advised him that I'm not sure of the issue, it could be the motherboard (specifically the IDE controller) or it could be the drive. I made a best-effort to try that drive on another machine, advised him it is the drive, and he will purchase the replacement parts and I will install them and run his Dell XP restore disk. He already knows at this point that there is no saving the data on the drive, he is OK with that.
Another example: spyware infested PC. Best effort to remove the spyware, some slipped through, but computer still ran orders of magnitude better than it did before I got ahold of it. Employee tried using the machine for a while, said it still wasn't quite right, scanned again with different tools, advised cust to add 256 megs ram to her 256mb ram windows XP machine, now it works better.
Just make sure you tell them up front that you make no guarentees, you are doing this as a friendly service. If successful, I usually get a lunch out of it, if not, I just lose a little break time.
I tend to agree to a point. I don't necessarily agree that we need to spank kids if their parents allow it though; although the teacher self-defense thing has gotten out of hand. Kids can get violent, and teachers are only allowed to defend in a way that will not harm the child, or to restrain the child in extreme circumstances. If the child is injured in the restraint, then the teacher will probabl get sued, etc. It's pathetic.
But for normal discapline, there are ways around it. My wife tends to enjoy light public humiliation. She will make the problem student stand up by the whiteboard if they are disruptive, and draw a circle on the board a little above or below the tip of their nose. The child has to stand there a short amount of time with their nose in the circle.:)
Some of her colleagues will take 2 trouble children (say 2 boys talking to each other when they aren't supposed to) and make them hold hands on the way to the lunch room.
It's funny, people get a laugh out of it, even the troublemakers themselves.
But there are some kids you just can't reach. Mostly kids who are alone after school, whose parents work multiple jobs and the kids have no supervision or boundaries. They do not listen to anyone. These are the ones that end up on the streets committing minor crimes (and this is 5th grade I'm talking about).
I don't think physical discipline is the answer. Some of these kids are repeating multiple grades. Eventually they are just pushed on through to the next grade to try to get them out of the system eventually, where they will promptly go on welfare because they are too irresponsible to hold a job, probably getting themselves (girls) or a girl or 2 pregnant (guys) on the way. We need a way to force an education on them. Year round schools, focus on life skills, I don't know what (I'm a programmer, my wife is the teacher, she may have better recommendations).
There have been administrators that have ordered teachers to fake grades on students just to get them out.
I don't know where you live, but I don't know anywhere outside large, high-cost-of-living cities that pay starting teachers $40k+.
My wife is a teacher, with a masters degree, and even with the masters she doesn't make $40k.
And just because you work 8 months a year, it doesn't automatically translate to a $60k a year salary. You try finding seasonal work that will pay you $5k per month. Oh wait, you just got out of high school.
No one is saying there should be 10 kids to a class. But when you have 25-30 kids running around like crazy, it is more difficult to handle them.
I don't know when we ever had 50 students to a classroom in a single room schoolhouse, but the 1870's are so last century. The curriculum is a million times harder than it was then, when most people didn't go to college or even high school. We may not be #1 in the world (or 2 or 3 or 4 etc) but we are WAAAAY more educated as a country than we were back then.
Don't even get me started on "No child left behind" and the FCAT. I know many teachers. My mother. My mother in law. Many of my wife's friends. They all have to teach less and focus on the bullshit FCAT.
Probably no NEW installations. If someone got ahold of a large building that already had token ring installed, and it would be horribly expensive to replace, then they probably still have token. When I was in college, they were gutting a few buildings that had token ring still. This is about 1998-99 era, at UCF.
At some point it just becomes too expensive to maintain and replace/repair, and that high cost of installation for a switch to ethernet looks better and better.
What version is your PS2? Or was is the serial number on the back? Mine are 35000 and 39000 (or maybe it was 39001) corresponding to a version 4 and a version 7 PS2.
Interesting. Mine tends to read PS1 discs and some PS2 CDs (not DVDs) pretty well, but chokes on most DVDs. Video is unwatchable. Usually this means your laser has bit the dust, it can be replaced for $50-60 if you do it yourself. The V12 slim PS2 laser is a little cheaper, but that unit has a whole other set of problems.
I tend to avoid the slim PS2 for the laser burnout reason, and the fact that you can't put a hard drive in it without soldering stuff to the mainboard. I have 2 old-style (a V4 and a V7 PS2) that I still use with a hard drive. Used HD Loader to install games on the hard drive and play them there. They load faster than the DVD drive too. Bonus!
Also, you may be able to buy a few free months by looking online for the DVD fix. There is a gear in the PS2 DVD drive that adjusts the laser height or angle or something. You just put a dot with a marker where it is now, and turn it a few clicks and try booting. This really just prolongs the inevitable though, although you can get some extended use by doing this.
Of course you have to void your warranty by opening the case, which for me ran out like 2-3 years ago.
You can find the magical gear by taking out the 6-8 screws on the bottom of your PS2 (varies by version#), flipping it back over, taking out the 4 little screws on the top of the DVD drive and lifting the cover off (the magnet from the CD spindle will try to hold on, just pull gently and it will come right off. Be careful when you take the top cover off the PS2, the power button and reset button are loosely attached to the top of the case, it is possible to rip the connecting ribbon cable if you aren't careful (it's like $6 to replace though). You should see the white gear near the top at this point. Turning it full circle will put it back where it was (the laser head is spring loaded).
If you are the "Internet Marketting Manager" for your company, you need to tell them that at the very least, internet marketing involves a website so people can find you or get information. My company had someone else do the website, and we update data for it every day (customer information so they can pull their accounts). We have about 5 IT people for a company of 150 (about, may be near 200 soon)
I don't know what the MTBF is for an average CDR drive, but I'm sure it's lower than you average older hard drive. Especially DVD drives. Those always burn out on me after a year or 2. An Apex 1100, 2 PS2's, a DVD-ROM drive in my wife's PC, they just can't handle what I dish out at them.
My recommendation is to use smaller HD's, 2-8 gigs, with minimal distros and possibly a restore CD to wipe it out, except for the home directory.
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Google "apt-pinning". You can setup debian to be a multi-release distro, ie, stable with some testing apps.
/etc/apt/preferences, with priority for whatever release version you want (I pick stable). Then if you want a package that is only released in testing, you do apt-get -t testing install whateverpackage, and it will grab the package and dependencies from testing.
Basically you add some stuff to
IE, at work I admin a linux server. I put stable on so I can get updates from security.debian.org (you don't get that in testing). Using apt-pinning, I put MySQL 5 on it, since stable only goes up to MySQL 4.
I don't know if that will work for the kernel package, but I don't see why not. The new Dell servers are very specific about what drivers they need to access the RAID controller, so I used a debian installer specifically made for Dell Servers (Poweredge is what we have). I havne't been able to get a 2.6 kernel up on it, so I just get the security stuff for 2.4.
And as for the driver issue, that's more of a problem across all linux distros. There are ways in debian to make it easier. I recommend the packages "discover" and "hotplug". Also checkout "module-assistant", it will get some drivers for you. I ran into similar problems with my wireless card. Sometimes you just have to go get the source and compile it yourself. I try to only do this for drivers, I like apt-get upgrade too much to leave my programs sitting in the same version.
Debian is a little rougher in the installation, but it's worth it for the system you get out of it in the end.
Oh, and about the 1394 for network: I haven't tried it yet, but I was thinking about it. For a peer to peer connection, it's cheaper than getting gigabit NICs and a gigabit switch (yeah, you could always go crossover cable). If a machine already HAS firewire in it, that's a 400mbps connection you could be using. 4x ethernet, but I don't know about the overhead of the firewire system. I network my home, but my desktop is next to my server. It's best to put the switch out in another room, so instead of run another NIC or another cable back from teh switch, I could just put a firewire between the server and desktop.
Buying a laptop with Linux installed on it is like buying a car with the engine already.... no wait. Buying a laptop pre-installed is like buying a house with the furniture already.... damn.
What I'm trying to say is, there's something about linux that just lends itself to a self-initiated install. You'll have an easier time of it if you have to go through the grunt work on your own. You'll know where things are, what you changed, and you get a better pick of distros than you will probably find pre-installed.
This coming from a Debian-addict. I haven't looked at Ubuntu yet. I go vanilla Debian and add what I need for the machine I am using. I also still use windows on the desktop, but all the servers I operate run Linux. I go for flexibility. Yeah, you could use Wine or VMware as someone already mentioned, but what else am I going to do with that Windows license that came with my laptop?
As for the PS2, it has usually been the laser in my experience. I have 2 sitting here, with a 3rd untested (was given to me), and they both play CDs fine, just not most DVDs.
Doh! I assumed it was an inhouse game. I never really checked.
Except the republicans are just so much BETTER at attacking personal freedoms.
Nintendo did put product placements in their games though, even early ones from near the Gamecube release.
Super Monkey Ball. Dole logo was pasted all over it. Although they didn't really push it in your face or sacrifice the game in any way for it. You would just see the big logo in a few places.
I'm OK with seeing a brand here and there. I usually ignore it anyway. I don't like it incorporated into story of the game. I paid for a game, not a commercial to sit through.
Except they don't actually allow the market forces to deliver. They fought tooth and nail to keep their monopoly, and fight de-regulation. And I don't remember, but I think that they won. Wasn't there an article a few months back about them being able to push smaller internet operations off their infrastructure?
There isn't much choice in supplier as it is now. We will see when 802.16 comes into play (I think that was the number, wireless to the home) and also broadband over powerlines.
While I think this whole "hands off" thing is a horrible power-grab by the Telco industry, I don't think it will fly even if net neutrality fails. It will end up pissing off customers trying to get to the sites they want, and hopefully business will be smart enough not to pay for the special access to the pipes.
If Google, Yahoo et al form a loose coalition to boycott this, I think it will be dead in the water; without the need for regulation.
And that whole "keeping costs down" noise coming from the telco's is bullshit. Cost savings RARELY ever make it to the consumer.
3M and Cisco stand to make a lot of money selling routers that will handle this kind of tiered internet pricing.
Look at handsoff.org. It's a BLATANTLY obvious front for the telecoms. Well, somewhat blatantly obvious, they didn't really try to hide it because they put their logos on it. But they do make it sound more grassroots than it is. They did buy out some smaller grassroots organizations, and from what I hear some black politicians (some article on alternet.org). But don't be fooled, it is still an operation controlled by "Ma Bell".
I didn't say they were going down, but you know they don't want to lose the investment and time in Vista, escpecially with all the cutbacks and extensions.
Hold on, we REALLY might come out with Vista sometime in the next 5 years.
I do happen to agree with him, the PC isnt' going anywhere. Cell phones are overhyped, they are just too limited. But he does have an OBVIOUS bias and motivation.
Will PS3 survive to 2008?
Most people are not going to buy it. Game devs realize this. Games are probably going to be $60 this time around. I'm curious wether game devs will be able to make the kind of profits they do now on the PS2 with the PS3.
If I were a game dev, and I saw Sony price the PS3 out of a LOT of people's hands, I would start my whole team on XBox 360 or Wii.
I thought MS was ballsy for hitting the $400 mark. I am not willing to pay that much for a game system. I can wait till the price lowers, and by then I will know what games I want from the system, which will also have dropped in price.
I still have tons of games I haven't finished. A stack from PS2, and I still want to complete Silent Hill 1, Final Fantasy Tactics, and eventually start Chrono Cross on PS1. Oh, and I never played the first Metal Gear Solid. And I still didn't beat FF9. Shit I have a lot of catching up to do. The market is just too saturated. I can buy excellent games for $10-20, that don't look as good as the new stuff, but they are still fun. Plus I like fixing old broken consoles.
I kinda dropped Nintendo for a while. They had some EXCELLENT games for the gamecube, but not that many. I have like 3-4 games I REALLY enjoy. I think they will make a comeback. I just hope they don't get too gimicky. I'm sketchy on the whole remote-control-wand thing. I've messed with VR stuff. Will the control be tight enough to do more than dorky games or things that are fun when you are drunk?
Actually, it is pretty easy. The hardest part is getting the files onto the memory card. There are multiple ways to do this. You can build a swap disc and make a slide card out of a credit card, you can use an Xport/Sharkport (the method I used), use a USB stick and that wierd memory card software, or (easiest of all) you can copy the files off someone else's memory card that already did all that.
What is so "notoriously" difficult about HDloader? What is so hard about inserting your game, clicking copy, and giving it a name on the HD? A few games had to have special modes set, but for the newbs out there, you just look up on a list what someone else said worked, or you try each one until it works for you (and mode 3 is usually the one that fixes it, all the others work only on a few games).
I would say there is a 80-90% success rate with games working on HDloader. Yeah, not everything works, but you can get most of your typical collection on there.
And the slide card? I wouldnt' risk the damage to the drive from using it all the time. Yeah, it's fine to do it to get the files on the memory card, but once you do that, it's best to just use the HD for the games.
The best part of all, you can take a PS2 with a partially damaged laser that gets Disc read Errors, and chances are good it will still be able to read PS1 discs, which are necessary to trigger the exploit. And if you have a good laser, what better way to keep it good than to put your games on the HD, and just play the ones that don't work off the originals?
>So, it is still pretty damn hard to pirate games on a PS2 using the HDD adapter.
3 lines down...
>I'm not really arguing that it's *hard* to pirate games for the PS2
You are contradicting yourself. You are confused. It is very easy to use the HDLoader stuff. It's a little more difficult to actually pirate games, because you have to use a computer to put the games on, since an unmodded PS2 won't read burns. Or you can use the network cable to send games over the LAN, but at 100mbit/sec, it's easier to use a USB 2.0 external drive cage. But just copying your originals is simple.
Because if you know an image is an ad, you can delay it and get the content first. It makes the interesting parts of the page accessible before the crap. We're talking about a few seconds here, but it isn't worthless. Especially on limited connections (does anyone use dialup anymore?) such as cellular broadband and possibly wireless in a saturated area. I'd probably still use it on my cable connection.
This is all assuming they figure out I am blocking most ads anyway. If they fight dirty, then I would use these tactics to try to bypass it.
You can fix those, BTW. Usually it is a bad laser, $50 gets you a new one.
I have 2 PS2's, both give to me, one had a bad ribbon cable for the controller ports ($7), the other has a damaged power connection (another $7). So I made one working console and have backup parts. The DVD lens tends to go after a few years, but I discovered HD Loader, which lets you store games on a standard IDE hard drive. You need some special stuff to get a file onto your memory card (I used the XLink/Sharkport method, there are other ways), then you just use a PS1 (yes, PSone) disc as a "trigger" disc to boot HD Loader and play games off the hard drive. Some games won't play off the hard drive. I'd say 80%+ do though. Good luck finding a PS2 network adapter if you don't already have one. I hit 3 stores last time I tried to set this up, and the last store had 2 left for $15 apiece, so I bought them both. The PS2 slim can be modified to connect a HD, but you have to open the case and solder stuff. The old-style PS2 can be done without opening.
I think there is information on this at ps2scene.org, I don't remember.
I don't know if it's some grand scheme to drop the PS3 at the last moment to $350 or $400 just to trick people into buying it, but announcing it at $500 and $600 is insane. HD resolution is just NOT THAT WIDESPREAD yet. I predict utter failure, at least until the price drops some more. Maybe it will pick up then, if they ever survive long enough for a price drop.
Gigantically stupid move. The average gamer isn't going to be able to spend that much, plus another $60-70 per game, because you know they are going to try to up that a little too.
Look for the XBox 360 to pick up a little and for Nintendo to possibly make a comeback. Hell, I think Sega could jump back in the console wars at this point with Sony practically giving up.
It's got to be a joke.
In response to this, I recommend a proxy that holds the ad block list/logic that still downloads all the images, but requests the non-ad images from the http server first, and discards at the proxy the rest (the ad images). Now you still get the pages faster with no ads, but you still use the bandwidth (to the proxy) of the whole page, including ad images. And technically, they COULD see what order you are downloading the images in, but at some point it's more trouble than it's worth for them to force someone to view ads. And you may be able to foil THAT by getting one or more of the ads early on.
I don't know a lot about how proxy and ad blocking works, or if anyone has already implemented this, but there's an idea for anyone so inclined to write one or modify an existing.
This can't really apply to the OP since it is sanctioned and forced by the management, but my company has no policy on this. I will work on a machine in my spare time, at no cost to the employee (I usually ask them to buy me a lunch when I am done and it works), in a few certain circumstances.
I try to wait till they are desperate. Before this I will just give them suggestions that they can try on their own. By the time the problem is really big, I will just tell them I will do my best, but I can't guarentee anything. I'm wary of what kind of issues I will look at.
For example: my last colleague with an issue had a laptop that wouldn't boot. I think the hard drive is toasted, it makes some funny noises sometimes (probably the motor or the heads crashing on the disk). I advised him that I'm not sure of the issue, it could be the motherboard (specifically the IDE controller) or it could be the drive. I made a best-effort to try that drive on another machine, advised him it is the drive, and he will purchase the replacement parts and I will install them and run his Dell XP restore disk. He already knows at this point that there is no saving the data on the drive, he is OK with that.
Another example: spyware infested PC. Best effort to remove the spyware, some slipped through, but computer still ran orders of magnitude better than it did before I got ahold of it. Employee tried using the machine for a while, said it still wasn't quite right, scanned again with different tools, advised cust to add 256 megs ram to her 256mb ram windows XP machine, now it works better.
Just make sure you tell them up front that you make no guarentees, you are doing this as a friendly service. If successful, I usually get a lunch out of it, if not, I just lose a little break time.
I tend to agree to a point. I don't necessarily agree that we need to spank kids if their parents allow it though; although the teacher self-defense thing has gotten out of hand. Kids can get violent, and teachers are only allowed to defend in a way that will not harm the child, or to restrain the child in extreme circumstances. If the child is injured in the restraint, then the teacher will probabl get sued, etc. It's pathetic.
:)
But for normal discapline, there are ways around it. My wife tends to enjoy light public humiliation. She will make the problem student stand up by the whiteboard if they are disruptive, and draw a circle on the board a little above or below the tip of their nose. The child has to stand there a short amount of time with their nose in the circle.
Some of her colleagues will take 2 trouble children (say 2 boys talking to each other when they aren't supposed to) and make them hold hands on the way to the lunch room.
It's funny, people get a laugh out of it, even the troublemakers themselves.
But there are some kids you just can't reach. Mostly kids who are alone after school, whose parents work multiple jobs and the kids have no supervision or boundaries. They do not listen to anyone. These are the ones that end up on the streets committing minor crimes (and this is 5th grade I'm talking about).
I don't think physical discipline is the answer. Some of these kids are repeating multiple grades. Eventually they are just pushed on through to the next grade to try to get them out of the system eventually, where they will promptly go on welfare because they are too irresponsible to hold a job, probably getting themselves (girls) or a girl or 2 pregnant (guys) on the way. We need a way to force an education on them. Year round schools, focus on life skills, I don't know what (I'm a programmer, my wife is the teacher, she may have better recommendations).
There have been administrators that have ordered teachers to fake grades on students just to get them out.
> Or we could tax stupidity. That would put the Democrats out of business before the Republicans -- but not by much!
Um, no, have you read the news lately? Paid attention to foreign and domestic policy? Democrats are not in charge.
Just about everything you said was BS.
I don't know where you live, but I don't know anywhere outside large, high-cost-of-living cities that pay starting teachers $40k+.
My wife is a teacher, with a masters degree, and even with the masters she doesn't make $40k.
And just because you work 8 months a year, it doesn't automatically translate to a $60k a year salary. You try finding seasonal work that will pay you $5k per month. Oh wait, you just got out of high school.
No one is saying there should be 10 kids to a class. But when you have 25-30 kids running around like crazy, it is more difficult to handle them.
I don't know when we ever had 50 students to a classroom in a single room schoolhouse, but the 1870's are so last century. The curriculum is a million times harder than it was then, when most people didn't go to college or even high school. We may not be #1 in the world (or 2 or 3 or 4 etc) but we are WAAAAY more educated as a country than we were back then.
Don't even get me started on "No child left behind" and the FCAT. I know many teachers. My mother. My mother in law. Many of my wife's friends. They all have to teach less and focus on the bullshit FCAT.
Probably no NEW installations. If someone got ahold of a large building that already had token ring installed, and it would be horribly expensive to replace, then they probably still have token. When I was in college, they were gutting a few buildings that had token ring still. This is about 1998-99 era, at UCF.
At some point it just becomes too expensive to maintain and replace/repair, and that high cost of installation for a switch to ethernet looks better and better.
What version is your PS2? Or was is the serial number on the back? Mine are 35000 and 39000 (or maybe it was 39001) corresponding to a version 4 and a version 7 PS2.
Interesting. Mine tends to read PS1 discs and some PS2 CDs (not DVDs) pretty well, but chokes on most DVDs. Video is unwatchable. Usually this means your laser has bit the dust, it can be replaced for $50-60 if you do it yourself. The V12 slim PS2 laser is a little cheaper, but that unit has a whole other set of problems.
I tend to avoid the slim PS2 for the laser burnout reason, and the fact that you can't put a hard drive in it without soldering stuff to the mainboard. I have 2 old-style (a V4 and a V7 PS2) that I still use with a hard drive. Used HD Loader to install games on the hard drive and play them there. They load faster than the DVD drive too. Bonus!
Also, you may be able to buy a few free months by looking online for the DVD fix. There is a gear in the PS2 DVD drive that adjusts the laser height or angle or something. You just put a dot with a marker where it is now, and turn it a few clicks and try booting. This really just prolongs the inevitable though, although you can get some extended use by doing this.
Of course you have to void your warranty by opening the case, which for me ran out like 2-3 years ago.
You can find the magical gear by taking out the 6-8 screws on the bottom of your PS2 (varies by version#), flipping it back over, taking out the 4 little screws on the top of the DVD drive and lifting the cover off (the magnet from the CD spindle will try to hold on, just pull gently and it will come right off. Be careful when you take the top cover off the PS2, the power button and reset button are loosely attached to the top of the case, it is possible to rip the connecting ribbon cable if you aren't careful (it's like $6 to replace though). You should see the white gear near the top at this point. Turning it full circle will put it back where it was (the laser head is spring loaded).
If you are the "Internet Marketting Manager" for your company, you need to tell them that at the very least, internet marketing involves a website so people can find you or get information. My company had someone else do the website, and we update data for it every day (customer information so they can pull their accounts). We have about 5 IT people for a company of 150 (about, may be near 200 soon)
I don't know what the MTBF is for an average CDR drive, but I'm sure it's lower than you average older hard drive. Especially DVD drives. Those always burn out on me after a year or 2. An Apex 1100, 2 PS2's, a DVD-ROM drive in my wife's PC, they just can't handle what I dish out at them.
My recommendation is to use smaller HD's, 2-8 gigs, with minimal distros and possibly a restore CD to wipe it out, except for the home directory.