IMO Xteq X-Setup has the config utility UI just right. There are wizards for the most common changes and full featured (and well grouped I might add...) panels for advanced tweaks. There is also a feature that warns you before entering any panels that may let you bork your system.
I think that kcontrol is in the same place as many other parts critical to a Free (speech/beer) desktop, where it is very good and on the right track, but still has some problems. Someone mentioned the sheer number of tweakable options. I like to tweak as much as the next guy, but sheesh! I would personally prefer the way I have customized my Win systems to, which gives me four stages when I want to change a setting: 1. Normal Control Panels - The basics. Plain and simple, only the most commonly used options like desktop, themes, resolution, etc... 2. Advanced Control Panels - Hidden options buried in the stock control panels. A good example in Windows is the Advanced properties of the Display control panel. 3. Add-on tweakers - X-Setup, TweakUI, etc. 4. Manual tweaks - tweaks that require digging in to regedit, obscure config files, or odd CLI commands.
Most people will never venture beyond stage 1, except for the occasional trip to stage 2 when instructed by a tech. Most "power users" are content with the capabilities afforded by stage 3, and the most hardcore can put the time in to performing stage 4 tweaks
I'm not sure how clear this rambling post is, but I hope someone can understand what my sleep deprived mind is thinking;)
I couldn't agree more. I consider myself to be a serious geek, but the stereotypical geek entertainment (Star Trek, LotR, etc.) has not just failed to appeal to me, it has almost repelled me with sheer boredom. Sitting in front of a TV/PC/Theater Screen to watch the latest 3 hour adaptation of a book is the last thing I want to do. I'd rather be playing Xbox or riding my quad.
Can someone explain to me why these movies are such a big deal?
The Logitech diNovo Cordless Desktop should fit your needs fine.
It is a Bluetooth based combo of the MX900 mouse (same as the MX700, but Bluetooth), a keyboard, and a seperate numeric keypad. The keypad also has a display for using it as an independant calculator and for displaying e-mail and IM alerts.
It's $249, so it's kinda expensive, but if you have the cash to blow, I'd say go for it.
"In other words, you want soneone to write a "professional grade editing suite" and then make it available to you for free. Why exactly would you expect that?"
The same reason that I am glad that team of programmers vastly more skilled than I wrote a professional grade operating system and made it available to me for free.
I would assume that writing an OS is much harder than writing A/V editing tools. A large portion of the GIMP code could even be reused for the video manipulation portion.
I know that. What I was saying was that the/. editors don't just add categories on a whim. They have a set group of categories and an article will be put in the closest one.
This is why they haven't either changed the Caldera category to SCO or added a new one.
umm..that's the Handhelds icon. It's there cos it's the best fit out of/.'s limited category selection. Ya know....kinda like how the SCO articles have a Caldera icon.
The difference is that the RIAA has all but a monopoly over the music sales at major retailers. You have no real option except to buy from them. OTOH, Apple has no such thing. They charge what they want fot their products and people will still pass up cheaper items because the Apple products are either better (iPod), cooler (G5), or the right tool for the job (Final Cut).
This is not to be confused with me defending Apple's prices. I would love to get a decent price on a G5 and an iPod. Guess it's back to eBay for me;P
Somewhat OT, but alot of people do play ogg files, just unknowingly. Halo PC (and I assume Halo on Xbox) use Vorbis audio. For anyone who has HaloPC, vorbis.dll, vorbisfile.dll, and xiph_license.txt are in the Halo directory if you want to verify.
Re:Online mentions in IBM filing
on
SCOrched Earth
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Wanna guess about how much all the SCO execs weigh in total?
It's the same reason why Xboxes can do more than a PC with the same parts. Having controlled hardware makes for easier driver and API design. All of these Linux powered devices only come in a few variations, if any at all, so the hardware dependant code is much easier. OTOH, desktop Linux has to support everything from the original SB to the latest and greatest like the Audigy2 (note: I am not a SB fan, those were just the only examples I could think of) This is also why Apple machines are generally more stable: Less hardware to support = less drivers. Drivers = primary source of hard crashes in any modern OS.
I realize this post is kinda rambling, but you get the point.
Besides, if it's possible for someone to sneak a compromised DHCP server on your network, you're basically screwed anyway.
I have mod points, but I had to respond.
This is so true. Many organizations beyond a few (10-20 or so) computers do not have good physical security. Anyone can easily place a rogue node on a network and wreak havoc.
This happened recently at my school. Someone setup a DHCP server that responded faster than the school's Netware systems could. This seemed to be accidental because the configuration was all over the place, and didn't work at all. The techs have been investigating this for a few weeks and I'm not sure if they have found it yet.
While my above example didn't cause any harm, imagine if someone was to setup a DHCP system and also took advantage of IE's "autodetect proxy settings" feature. They could be almost undetectable, yet be able to log all Internet traffic by redirecting the proxy and default gateway through their box.
Re:VR FPS & invisibility
on
Human Pac Man
·
· Score: 1
You're not familiar with the legal system (at least in the US) are you? You can have a seemingly bulletproof waiver and people will still find a way to sue.
People have been sued because someone slipped on ice while exiting a window after robbing their house.
There's always some poor idiot out there looking for some reason to call in their "if we don't win we won't charge a fee" lawyer.
And how would you check that quality hasn't suffered - would you actually buy two cards and run them up side by side on two monitors to check?
Actually, that's basically what the major review sites do. When you see the IQ comparisons at a site like [H]ard|OCP, they put the screenshots output by the game side by side with those from another card at the same spot in the game. Some sites also compare this to the DX reference renderer and the game's software mode.
Many games also have features to colorize where certain known "optimization" features are being used. I don't remember where I saw this in use, but it was recently and on a major review site.
Synthetic benchmarks have their place. Just don't base a purchase decision solely on them.
The video card companies need to learn a few things:
1. Don't cheat You WILL be discovered.
2. Marketing isn't everything The first GFFX chips (a.k.a. "DustBuster"), Parhelia, Voodoo4/5
All victims of marketing, but in different ways.
The GFFX was heavily hyped and seems to have been pushed out the door to meet a release date (and because nVidia was getting creamed in the benchmarks by ATI at the time), so the nV engineers didn't have time to improve the performance some more or at least decrease the heat dissipation. Looking at the current GFFX selection proves that time can heal wounds.
Parhelia was not marketed heavily to gamers by Matrox (or at least I didn't see that much of it). The problem here was that the gaming mags and websites got wind of the triple-monitor 3D capabilities and started drooling. It was only a matter of time before people were disappointed because they had gotten their hopes up for a product that wasn't designed for what they wanted it to do.
Voodoo4/5
The problem here is that the hype pump works a lot faster than engineers. The fact that a quad chip V5-6k couldn't beat a GF2 in some games means that 3dfx was far behind on this one. Unfortunately for 3dfx, the hype for the new product killed the last sales of the Voodoo3 (which were only being bought by 3dfx die-hards in those days).
3. Framerates aren't everything either! Anything over 120fps is absolutely useless. Going over the refresh rate won't help you at all. Being a little slower at a better quality is almost always a better choice.
That last one is bound to get me flamed, so... *ducks*
I have a TracVision S3 on my RV, and I could easily mount it on the roof of my truck if I wanted to. Obviously, the low profile nature of this new one is preferable over the 12" high dome needed for the S3, but it is still just as usable.
I wish I could afford one of the TracNet systems. I drool at the idea of WiFi accessible internet access wherever my vehicle is. Too bad it's many thousands of dollars and only supports downstream (for now, you have to use a cellular or landline uplink).
Whether or not DoA3 is a must-buy game...if only as a way to show off what the XBox can do
YES. This is exactly right! The Xbox is great for correct jiggle-physics simulation.
Seriously though, after I got done staring at the screen, I started using the game to demo the Xbox. Every one of my friends bought an Xbox after seeing DoA and Halo.
it's still a good game
Huh? There's a game in there too?;)
About the DVD, here's my idea:
Integrate the reciever. Make it software-programmable so any universal remote with DVD functions can control it. Sell a MS branded remote to those who want it. If you don't know, the Xbox can be controlled by any new DVD controlling RCA remote (you know, the ones that look like the Xbox remote). All three of my satellite remotes and my friend's universal (all RCA) can control my Xbox. This, by the way, makes for interesting battles over control during movies because all 5 people in the room have compatible remotes. If MS just integrates the current reciever in to the Xbox2 (or even some redesigned X1), it would make alot of people with universal remotes happy.
Not in a typical environment. I have played with one at a store, but my personal digicam is an old Sony Mavica with a floppy disk. I'll give you this one due to my Mavica not exactly being representative of current technology.
I see no reason why a CCD couldn't be designed that takes quality high-res pictures and captures quality video.
They can. It's just expensive. CCDs take time to scan, so to pack more in to a video camera, you need to make them faster to keep up with whatever format you are recording to. Faster CCDs need faster processors on the device to convert the raw data in to a usable format. This then requires faster storage media to write the converted data to. This data is frequently either uncompressed or losslessly compressed AFAIK, so it needs a vast amount more storage than your digicam, which likely stores video in either Quicktime or some MPEG variant.
Moreover, it needn't pay heed to the limitations of NTSC, it could store a pure non-interlaced digital image in the resolution of its choice.
That sounds more like a pro level feature to me. Don't get me wrong, I would love having losslessly compressed 3840x2400 (Quad Ultra XGA 16:9) video with 24/96 audio, but lets be reasonable. The typical consumer likely won't want more than DVD resolution in an average model, and HDTV 720p towards the high end. Sony's new model that records straight to 3" DVD media is a great step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, the memory cards keep getting more and more capacious. (Not to mention some cameras have already dispensed with tape.)
A good point. Again, my example of Sony's DVD-R camcorder. Another manufacturer has a hard drive based camera. Each of these has some serious flaws though. The DVD-Rs are still somewhat hard to find and expensive. They also have low capacity and record in MPEG2. The hard drive is a relatively cheap and comparably large storage medium, only beaten by tapes in those regards, and with a seek time that is vastly faster than tape could ever hope to be. The problem is that AFAIK, the hard drive is permanent (not that I would want to pay to carry around extra hard drives that I can't use in my laptop) and easy to damage if it is dropped. Lastly, the memory cards are still far too expensive for consumer video use. A 4GB CF card is over $1000 last time I checked, and that would only hold one hour of decent quality video. Not an option for most.
IMO, tape still wins by far. It is cheap, high capacity, and very redundant. You can take a chunk out of your tape and you can still easily recover the video on the good part. Try that with a hard drive or flash card (yes, I know, data recovery services...still considerably more expensice than fixing the video tape with some simple adhesive tape.)
it would pretty much be a fully functional replacement for a video camera
I would strongly disagree. Compare the video quality of a digicam to that of a MiniDV camcorder and say that again.
It may not make much of a difference if you are viewing on a low end TV or sending over the web, but for output to DVD, HDTVs, or even higher end analog TVs, there is no consumer-level challenger to MiniDV. (Unless someone snuck out a D-VHS HD consumer camcorder while I wasn't looking)
Slashdot Mirror
Dammit, I wish I had my own image editing software...
Hmmm....
1. Redo GIMP GUI
2. Put in box on CD with a decent installer
3. Charge $300 to graphic designers who don't know they can get it for free
4. Profit!
Holy shit one of those "Profit!" things actually made sense!
In my mind, that was included in stage 4, but I guess it probably would be better as a 5th stage.
.dll to allow skinning WinXP without that Object Desktop thing is another example of this.
Using a hacked
IMO Xteq X-Setup has the config utility UI just right. There are wizards for the most common changes and full featured (and well grouped I might add...) panels for advanced tweaks. There is also a feature that warns you before entering any panels that may let you bork your system.
;)
I think that kcontrol is in the same place as many other parts critical to a Free (speech/beer) desktop, where it is very good and on the right track, but still has some problems. Someone mentioned the sheer number of tweakable options. I like to tweak as much as the next guy, but sheesh! I would personally prefer the way I have customized my Win systems to, which gives me four stages when I want to change a setting:
1. Normal Control Panels - The basics. Plain and simple, only the most commonly used options like desktop, themes, resolution, etc...
2. Advanced Control Panels - Hidden options buried in the stock control panels. A good example in Windows is the Advanced properties of the Display control panel.
3. Add-on tweakers - X-Setup, TweakUI, etc.
4. Manual tweaks - tweaks that require digging in to regedit, obscure config files, or odd CLI commands.
Most people will never venture beyond stage 1, except for the occasional trip to stage 2 when instructed by a tech. Most "power users" are content with the capabilities afforded by stage 3, and the most hardcore can put the time in to performing stage 4 tweaks
I'm not sure how clear this rambling post is, but I hope someone can understand what my sleep deprived mind is thinking
I couldn't agree more. I consider myself to be a serious geek, but the stereotypical geek entertainment (Star Trek, LotR, etc.) has not just failed to appeal to me, it has almost repelled me with sheer boredom. Sitting in front of a TV/PC/Theater Screen to watch the latest 3 hour adaptation of a book is the last thing I want to do. I'd rather be playing Xbox or riding my quad.
Can someone explain to me why these movies are such a big deal?
The Logitech diNovo Cordless Desktop should fit your needs fine.
It is a Bluetooth based combo of the MX900 mouse (same as the MX700, but Bluetooth), a keyboard, and a seperate numeric keypad. The keypad also has a display for using it as an independant calculator and for displaying e-mail and IM alerts.
It's $249, so it's kinda expensive, but if you have the cash to blow, I'd say go for it.
"A large portion of the GIMP code could even be reused for the video manipulation portion."
D'oh! Just noticed the post about Film GIMP a.k.a. CinePaint.
"In other words, you want soneone to write a "professional grade editing suite" and then make it available to you for free. Why exactly would you expect that?"
The same reason that I am glad that team of programmers vastly more skilled than I wrote a professional grade operating system and made it available to me for free.
I would assume that writing an OS is much harder than writing A/V editing tools. A large portion of the GIMP code could even be reused for the video manipulation portion.
Strangely IE 5.2 on OS X.2 is seemingly immune. Wouldn't the two logically use similar codebases and thus be vulnerable to the same attacks?
I know that. What I was saying was that the /. editors don't just add categories on a whim. They have a set group of categories and an article will be put in the closest one.
This is why they haven't either changed the Caldera category to SCO or added a new one.
umm..that's the Handhelds icon. It's there cos it's the best fit out of /.'s limited category selection. Ya know....kinda like how the SCO articles have a Caldera icon.
The difference is that the RIAA has all but a monopoly over the music sales at major retailers. You have no real option except to buy from them. OTOH, Apple has no such thing. They charge what they want fot their products and people will still pass up cheaper items because the Apple products are either better (iPod), cooler (G5), or the right tool for the job (Final Cut).
;P
This is not to be confused with me defending Apple's prices. I would love to get a decent price on a G5 and an iPod. Guess it's back to eBay for me
"There are very few people who play ogg files"
Somewhat OT, but alot of people do play ogg files, just unknowingly.
Halo PC (and I assume Halo on Xbox) use Vorbis audio. For anyone who has HaloPC, vorbis.dll, vorbisfile.dll, and xiph_license.txt are in the Halo directory if you want to verify.
Wanna guess about how much all the SCO execs weigh in total?
It's the same reason why Xboxes can do more than a PC with the same parts. Having controlled hardware makes for easier driver and API design. All of these Linux powered devices only come in a few variations, if any at all, so the hardware dependant code is much easier.
OTOH, desktop Linux has to support everything from the original SB to the latest and greatest like the Audigy2 (note: I am not a SB fan, those were just the only examples I could think of)
This is also why Apple machines are generally more stable: Less hardware to support = less drivers. Drivers = primary source of hard crashes in any modern OS.
I realize this post is kinda rambling, but you get the point.
Unfortunately it's not that simple. The cabling is a rat's nest, and this is a high school, so we don't exactly have the best switches.
The other problem is that it is intermittent. It only shows up every few hours, usually for a half hour or so.
Besides, if it's possible for someone to sneak a compromised DHCP server on your network, you're basically screwed anyway.
I have mod points, but I had to respond.
This is so true. Many organizations beyond a few (10-20 or so) computers do not have good physical security. Anyone can easily place a rogue node on a network and wreak havoc.
This happened recently at my school. Someone setup a DHCP server that responded faster than the school's Netware systems could. This seemed to be accidental because the configuration was all over the place, and didn't work at all. The techs have been investigating this for a few weeks and I'm not sure if they have found it yet.
While my above example didn't cause any harm, imagine if someone was to setup a DHCP system and also took advantage of IE's "autodetect proxy settings" feature. They could be almost undetectable, yet be able to log all Internet traffic by redirecting the proxy and default gateway through their box.
You're not familiar with the legal system (at least in the US) are you? You can have a seemingly bulletproof waiver and people will still find a way to sue.
People have been sued because someone slipped on ice while exiting a window after robbing their house.
There's always some poor idiot out there looking for some reason to call in their "if we don't win we won't charge a fee" lawyer.
does everybody lie about what they're doing on the Internet?
Yes.
And how would you check that quality hasn't suffered - would you actually buy two cards and run them up side by side on two monitors to check?
Actually, that's basically what the major review sites do. When you see the IQ comparisons at a site like [H]ard|OCP, they put the screenshots output by the game side by side with those from another card at the same spot in the game. Some sites also compare this to the DX reference renderer and the game's software mode.
Many games also have features to colorize where certain known "optimization" features are being used. I don't remember where I saw this in use, but it was recently and on a major review site.
Synthetic benchmarks have their place. Just don't base a purchase decision solely on them.
The video card companies need to learn a few things:
1. Don't cheat
You WILL be discovered.
2. Marketing isn't everything
The first GFFX chips (a.k.a. "DustBuster"),
Parhelia,
Voodoo4/5
All victims of marketing, but in different ways.
The GFFX was heavily hyped and seems to have been pushed out the door to meet a release date (and because nVidia was getting creamed in the benchmarks by ATI at the time), so the nV engineers didn't have time to improve the performance some more or at least decrease the heat dissipation. Looking at the current GFFX selection proves that time can heal wounds.
Parhelia was not marketed heavily to gamers by Matrox (or at least I didn't see that much of it). The problem here was that the gaming mags and websites got wind of the triple-monitor 3D capabilities and started drooling. It was only a matter of time before people were disappointed because they had gotten their hopes up for a product that wasn't designed for what they wanted it to do.
Voodoo4/5
The problem here is that the hype pump works a lot faster than engineers. The fact that a quad chip V5-6k couldn't beat a GF2 in some games means that 3dfx was far behind on this one.
Unfortunately for 3dfx, the hype for the new product killed the last sales of the Voodoo3 (which were only being bought by 3dfx die-hards in those days).
3. Framerates aren't everything either!
Anything over 120fps is absolutely useless. Going over the refresh rate won't help you at all. Being a little slower at a better quality is almost always a better choice.
That last one is bound to get me flamed, so...
*ducks*
Since when did the old versions require a RV?
I have a TracVision S3 on my RV, and I could easily mount it on the roof of my truck if I wanted to. Obviously, the low profile nature of this new one is preferable over the 12" high dome needed for the S3, but it is still just as usable.
I wish I could afford one of the TracNet systems. I drool at the idea of WiFi accessible internet access wherever my vehicle is. Too bad it's many thousands of dollars and only supports downstream (for now, you have to use a cellular or landline uplink).
Whether or not DoA3 is a must-buy game...if only as a way to show off what the XBox can do
;)
YES. This is exactly right! The Xbox is great for correct jiggle-physics simulation.
Seriously though, after I got done staring at the screen, I started using the game to demo the Xbox. Every one of my friends bought an Xbox after seeing DoA and Halo.
it's still a good game
Huh? There's a game in there too?
About the DVD, here's my idea:
Integrate the reciever. Make it software-programmable so any universal remote with DVD functions can control it. Sell a MS branded remote to those who want it.
If you don't know, the Xbox can be controlled by any new DVD controlling RCA remote (you know, the ones that look like the Xbox remote). All three of my satellite remotes and my friend's universal (all RCA) can control my Xbox. This, by the way, makes for interesting battles over control during movies because all 5 people in the room have compatible remotes.
If MS just integrates the current reciever in to the Xbox2 (or even some redesigned X1), it would make alot of people with universal remotes happy.
If someone came out with one of these babys using a Centrino processor or better
Umm...Acer maybe?
Travelmate C110
They also offer the 250PE and the C300 Centrino Tablets.
--Disclaimer:
I won a C102Ti (Pentium3 based) Acer Tablet, so I'm sorta brand loyal.
I really wonder who their PR department is.
Easy. A couple hundred rare head-up-ass monkeys sitting in front of typewriters.
Have you seen a Z1's video?
Not in a typical environment. I have played with one at a store, but my personal digicam is an old Sony Mavica with a floppy disk. I'll give you this one due to my Mavica not exactly being representative of current technology.
I see no reason why a CCD couldn't be designed that takes quality high-res pictures and captures quality video.
They can. It's just expensive. CCDs take time to scan, so to pack more in to a video camera, you need to make them faster to keep up with whatever format you are recording to. Faster CCDs need faster processors on the device to convert the raw data in to a usable format. This then requires faster storage media to write the converted data to. This data is frequently either uncompressed or losslessly compressed AFAIK, so it needs a vast amount more storage than your digicam, which likely stores video in either Quicktime or some MPEG variant.
Moreover, it needn't pay heed to the limitations of NTSC, it could store a pure non-interlaced digital image in the resolution of its choice.
That sounds more like a pro level feature to me. Don't get me wrong, I would love having losslessly compressed 3840x2400 (Quad Ultra XGA 16:9) video with 24/96 audio, but lets be reasonable. The typical consumer likely won't want more than DVD resolution in an average model, and HDTV 720p towards the high end. Sony's new model that records straight to 3" DVD media is a great step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, the memory cards keep getting more and more capacious. (Not to mention some cameras have already dispensed with tape.)
A good point. Again, my example of Sony's DVD-R camcorder. Another manufacturer has a hard drive based camera. Each of these has some serious flaws though. The DVD-Rs are still somewhat hard to find and expensive. They also have low capacity and record in MPEG2. The hard drive is a relatively cheap and comparably large storage medium, only beaten by tapes in those regards, and with a seek time that is vastly faster than tape could ever hope to be. The problem is that AFAIK, the hard drive is permanent (not that I would want to pay to carry around extra hard drives that I can't use in my laptop) and easy to damage if it is dropped. Lastly, the memory cards are still far too expensive for consumer video use. A 4GB CF card is over $1000 last time I checked, and that would only hold one hour of decent quality video. Not an option for most.
IMO, tape still wins by far. It is cheap, high capacity, and very redundant. You can take a chunk out of your tape and you can still easily recover the video on the good part. Try that with a hard drive or flash card (yes, I know, data recovery services...still considerably more expensice than fixing the video tape with some simple adhesive tape.)
it would pretty much be a fully functional replacement for a video camera
I would strongly disagree. Compare the video quality of a digicam to that of a MiniDV camcorder and say that again.
It may not make much of a difference if you are viewing on a low end TV or sending over the web, but for output to DVD, HDTVs, or even higher end analog TVs, there is no consumer-level challenger to MiniDV. (Unless someone snuck out a D-VHS HD consumer camcorder while I wasn't looking)