Being that a car is large and emits carbon monoxide, you're going to be running it outside. And if New Orleans is any indication, an unattended car idling outside is not going to be around very long. So unless you plan on sitting outside with a shotgun in your lap, you would probably be better off with a supply of batteries and possibly a generator to recharge them as needed (or simply use the car to get the hell out of there in the first place!).
And here I thought the lack of Windows keys was a feature?
I actually like what a Toshiba did on a laptop of mine - they put the Windows key in the top right of the keyboard. Its out of the way and I never hit it accidently (unlike the standard location between CTRL and ALT which I despise), but it's still there as the Windows key does have some uses.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the screen itself pretty much just a harmless hunk of plastic, and the only place mercury is going to be found is in the backlight? I don't see why it would be a problem to toss a LCD in the trash after carefully removing the backlight, and perhaps seperating the other attached electronics from it to be recycled too.
I Really think Mozilla should start defining "vulnerabilities" as "visiting a website can cause evil code execution on your computer".
Other stuff, like "spoofing a titlebar" or "click here, then here, then here, then pray while performing a rain dance, then click here and your infected!" should be classified as something like "user experience glitches" or something.
On the other hand, rebuilding my Windows installation is a lot less hassle than rebuilding my credit rating.
If anything, it's the issues where the worst they can do is crash the browser are the ones that should be downgraded.
That's great and all, but this device gets its power from the alternator/battery in a conventional car - which is driven/charged by the gasoline powered engine. Even if you used a battery charger to charge top off the car's battery when it was parked, it wouldn't make a difference.
If the device generated hydrogen while the car was parked and plugged into the wall, then this guy might be onto something.
How about Mac OS? In the late 1990's, it had a tiny marketshare. Even worse, it was tied to underpowered, expensive, and propriety computers. Then with the introduction of Mac OSX and a total revamping of Apple's hardware lineup, Mac OS came back from having a tiny marketshare to a respectably sized niche (and is still growing).
The big advantage is that you could use cheap USB thumbdrives to load the car with tunes, as it would appear that the car doesn't use any of the MP3 player's actual functionality. Hopefully the USB port will be able to supply enough current for a 2.5" HDD. If the car's interface is good enough, I think it would be better than messing with your MP3 player's interface while trying to drive.
The main reason you get XP Home on laptops is when bosses go out to PC World and come back proudly bearing some shiny piece of crap and ask us to 'set it up on the network'.
Why don't you just say, "We need $x worth of software on this computer to put it on the network"? When the boss okays the expensive, blow XP Home off the drive, install XP Pro, and set it up like any other machine. I don't see why this is so hard.
This would even be easier if you already have a site license for Windows.
If you think you can just sit the average user in front of a Mac and they'll have no issues using it, you're seriously delusional. Remember, these same users have problems with the NT login screen.
It's very, extremely rare to have Firefox crash on me. Granted, a couple of versions back it used to leak memory like crazy, so on computers I left on all the time I had to remember to shut it down and restart it every few days - but as of 1.06 I have left Firefox open for weeks on end without problems.
If I was you, I would check your extensions, and do a clean install and see if that helps you out any.
RAID isn't a bad idea though, but as you say - don't neglect the backups. With a RAID configuration, you can keep on working if a disk fails. Without the RAID, the workstation will be useless until a replacement drive can be installed and reimaged from the backups.
Behind this firewall, I can't get to coralcache links. That would effectively mean I couldn't read Slashdot at work. As a result, I'd actually have to do my job, which means I would go insane and my head would explode.
Wait. Hold on here. You're saying that you actually click on the links?
I hate interfaces that force me to middle click because I only have two mouse buttons on my laptop, and they're a pain to use at the best of times.
No one forces you to middle click. In Opera, Ctrl+shift+left click accomplishes the same thing. As well as right clicking and choosing the proper option in the menu. I believe Firefox is the same way.
Hey, find me a machine that can pump out visuals on par with Chaos Theory and Doom 3 (Xbox versions) for less than $150 and you'll have a worthwhile link on your hands.
A standard TV is something like 320x200 resolution? That's probably well within the capabilities of a stock PIII system with non-integrated graphics.
Do you have a source for this remote control click log? Also just because it's doing these two things at once, doesn't mean they don't store the data anonymously.
I thought it was common knowledge that TiVo tracks what is watched (and rewatched). But in case you didn't, here is atleast one piece of proof.
What do you back up 500GB hard drives onto? 125 DVD-Rs for $150?
Why bother backing up the MythTV box? Since everything on it other than the OS and MythTV software came off of television, I can say with 100% certainity that there is nothing important in those 500GB.
You also have to use some caution with the schedule in the manual. A few years ago (and they probably still do this now, I just don't pay attention), one of the selling points in advertisements in new cars was how long it could go between maintaince. Things like "Buy this car and don't do maintance for 100k miles". I also remember some Honda ads where they showed someone welding the hood shut cause it would never need to be opened (yeah right!).
Of course, to claim this the car manufacturers were adjusting the maintance schedules to the point where things were going a bit longer than they should. Not to say that your dealer is right, but the real schedule probably lies between what the manual says and what your dealer wants you to do. Though for light/highway usage in a warmer climate you could likely get away with the 100k schedule.
"Previously" had a 2004 Mazda3 S? What happened to it? Why don't you have it anymore?
I test drove one and almost bought it, though it's too expensive for the box of crap that it is. I own a 2004 Accord and paid less than $17,000 for it. I was about to buy a Mazda3 for my wife, but when we test drove it we were extremely disappointed with the quality of materials and the overall feel of the car. The Accord (LX base model) costs less than the Mazda and is much better in terms of build quality and overall feel.
That's not too surprising. Mazda is owned by Ford, and it really shows. The Mazda3 also shares parts with the Ford Focus. The Mazdas can be fun cars to drive, but I would never own one.
The Nano has its advantages and disadvantages. The Mini offered more storage at a cheaper price than the Nano, and I consider the Mini with its aluminum shell to be much better constructed than the Nano with the softer plastic scratches really easily. Probably the main issue though is that Apple saw 4 different lines of iPods to be too many.
And they're perfectly usable as day to day systems, you just need to reboot them every few days due to some memory leaks that slow things down slowly over time.
Are you running the absolutely wretched Windows XP Home? Or are you running Windows ME? Because Windows XP Professional is on sale today at Newegg, OEM version (not retail, meaning you need to buy hardware to get it that cheap), for $140.95. Even Windows 2000 costs $147.95 for an OEM license....or are you actually just running a pirated, corporate (no activation!) copy of Windows XP Professional, pretending for us that you showed your support by paying for your operating system, then forgetting how much Windows actually costs?
Maybe he bought the upgrade edition? $129 is the upgrade price for OSX, because every OSX capable computer ever bought came with some version of MacOS already on it.
Don't lose the CRT. Make sure you have a good one, that can cope with a wide variety of resolutions and refresh rates - you never know what some idiot has set their screen resolution to (and wants it left at because they like it), and LCDs are a complete pain to look at if you are not feeding them their native resolution.
LCD's are also a pain because some of them are really fussy about refresh rates that are not 60hz. Newer versions of windows is smart enough to adjust the refresh rate most of the time, but X in Linux usually isn't. They are also a pain because they generally won't display any resolutions above what they are rated for. My used 21" IBM with dual inputs (DVI & VGA) is a far more useful monitor for hooking up random computers.
So, you have a rechargeable AAA battery. Not a very efficient power source, and bulky and heavy.
And cheap, and you can buy AAA NiMH cells everywhere. I guess it's all about what your priorites are. Though I prefer my MP3 player's single AA NiMH cell.
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Being that a car is large and emits carbon monoxide, you're going to be running it outside. And if New Orleans is any indication, an unattended car idling outside is not going to be around very long. So unless you plan on sitting outside with a shotgun in your lap, you would probably be better off with a supply of batteries and possibly a generator to recharge them as needed (or simply use the car to get the hell out of there in the first place!).
And here I thought the lack of Windows keys was a feature?
I actually like what a Toshiba did on a laptop of mine - they put the Windows key in the top right of the keyboard. Its out of the way and I never hit it accidently (unlike the standard location between CTRL and ALT which I despise), but it's still there as the Windows key does have some uses.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the screen itself pretty much just a harmless hunk of plastic, and the only place mercury is going to be found is in the backlight? I don't see why it would be a problem to toss a LCD in the trash after carefully removing the backlight, and perhaps seperating the other attached electronics from it to be recycled too.
Won't do you a lot of good if said car is underwater, now will it?
I Really think Mozilla should start defining "vulnerabilities" as "visiting a website can cause evil code execution on your computer".
Other stuff, like "spoofing a titlebar" or "click here, then here, then here, then pray while performing a rain dance, then click here and your infected!" should be classified as something like "user experience glitches" or something.
On the other hand, rebuilding my Windows installation is a lot less hassle than rebuilding my credit rating.
If anything, it's the issues where the worst they can do is crash the browser are the ones that should be downgraded.
That's great and all, but this device gets its power from the alternator/battery in a conventional car - which is driven/charged by the gasoline powered engine. Even if you used a battery charger to charge top off the car's battery when it was parked, it wouldn't make a difference.
If the device generated hydrogen while the car was parked and plugged into the wall, then this guy might be onto something.
How about Mac OS? In the late 1990's, it had a tiny marketshare. Even worse, it was tied to underpowered, expensive, and propriety computers. Then with the introduction of Mac OSX and a total revamping of Apple's hardware lineup, Mac OS came back from having a tiny marketshare to a respectably sized niche (and is still growing).
The big advantage is that you could use cheap USB thumbdrives to load the car with tunes, as it would appear that the car doesn't use any of the MP3 player's actual functionality. Hopefully the USB port will be able to supply enough current for a 2.5" HDD. If the car's interface is good enough, I think it would be better than messing with your MP3 player's interface while trying to drive.
The main reason you get XP Home on laptops is when bosses go out to PC World and come back proudly bearing some shiny piece of crap and ask us to 'set it up on the network'.
Why don't you just say, "We need $x worth of software on this computer to put it on the network"? When the boss okays the expensive, blow XP Home off the drive, install XP Pro, and set it up like any other machine. I don't see why this is so hard.
This would even be easier if you already have a site license for Windows.
No user friendliness issues in OSX
If you think you can just sit the average user in front of a Mac and they'll have no issues using it, you're seriously delusional. Remember, these same users have problems with the NT login screen.
It's very, extremely rare to have Firefox crash on me. Granted, a couple of versions back it used to leak memory like crazy, so on computers I left on all the time I had to remember to shut it down and restart it every few days - but as of 1.06 I have left Firefox open for weeks on end without problems.
If I was you, I would check your extensions, and do a clean install and see if that helps you out any.
RAID isn't a bad idea though, but as you say - don't neglect the backups. With a RAID configuration, you can keep on working if a disk fails. Without the RAID, the workstation will be useless until a replacement drive can be installed and reimaged from the backups.
Behind this firewall, I can't get to coralcache links. That would effectively mean I couldn't read Slashdot at work. As a result, I'd actually have to do my job, which means I would go insane and my head would explode.
Wait. Hold on here. You're saying that you actually click on the links?
I hate interfaces that force me to middle click because I only have two mouse buttons on my laptop, and they're a pain to use at the best of times.
No one forces you to middle click. In Opera, Ctrl+shift+left click accomplishes the same thing. As well as right clicking and choosing the proper option in the menu. I believe Firefox is the same way.
Hey, find me a machine that can pump out visuals on par with Chaos Theory and Doom 3 (Xbox versions) for less than $150 and you'll have a worthwhile link on your hands.
A standard TV is something like 320x200 resolution? That's probably well within the capabilities of a stock PIII system with non-integrated graphics.
Granted, it may be a bit harder to win, depending on if they provide for legal services to defend against the lawsuits.
If there is a million dollars or more on the line, you can bet that the insurance company is going to be providing lawyers of their own.
Do you have a source for this remote control click log? Also just because it's doing these two things at once, doesn't mean they don't store the data anonymously.
I thought it was common knowledge that TiVo tracks what is watched (and rewatched). But in case you didn't, here is atleast one piece of proof.
What do you back up 500GB hard drives onto? 125 DVD-Rs for $150?
Why bother backing up the MythTV box? Since everything on it other than the OS and MythTV software came off of television, I can say with 100% certainity that there is nothing important in those 500GB.
You also have to use some caution with the schedule in the manual. A few years ago (and they probably still do this now, I just don't pay attention), one of the selling points in advertisements in new cars was how long it could go between maintaince. Things like "Buy this car and don't do maintance for 100k miles". I also remember some Honda ads where they showed someone welding the hood shut cause it would never need to be opened (yeah right!).
Of course, to claim this the car manufacturers were adjusting the maintance schedules to the point where things were going a bit longer than they should. Not to say that your dealer is right, but the real schedule probably lies between what the manual says and what your dealer wants you to do. Though for light/highway usage in a warmer climate you could likely get away with the 100k schedule.
"Previously" had a 2004 Mazda3 S? What happened to it? Why don't you have it anymore?
I test drove one and almost bought it, though it's too expensive for the box of crap that it is. I own a 2004 Accord and paid less than $17,000 for it. I was about to buy a Mazda3 for my wife, but when we test drove it we were extremely disappointed with the quality of materials and the overall feel of the car. The Accord (LX base model) costs less than the Mazda and is much better in terms of build quality and overall feel.
That's not too surprising. Mazda is owned by Ford, and it really shows. The Mazda3 also shares parts with the Ford Focus. The Mazdas can be fun cars to drive, but I would never own one.
The Nano has its advantages and disadvantages. The Mini offered more storage at a cheaper price than the Nano, and I consider the Mini with its aluminum shell to be much better constructed than the Nano with the softer plastic scratches really easily. Probably the main issue though is that Apple saw 4 different lines of iPods to be too many.
And they're perfectly usable as day to day systems, you just need to reboot them every few days due to some memory leaks that slow things down slowly over time.
That sounds a lot like Windows 98 to me.
Are you running the absolutely wretched Windows XP Home? Or are you running Windows ME? Because Windows XP Professional is on sale today at Newegg, OEM version (not retail, meaning you need to buy hardware to get it that cheap), for $140.95. Even Windows 2000 costs $147.95 for an OEM license. ...or are you actually just running a pirated, corporate (no activation!) copy of Windows XP Professional, pretending for us that you showed your support by paying for your operating system, then forgetting how much Windows actually costs?
Maybe he bought the upgrade edition? $129 is the upgrade price for OSX, because every OSX capable computer ever bought came with some version of MacOS already on it.
Don't lose the CRT. Make sure you have a good one, that can cope with a wide variety of resolutions and refresh rates - you never know what some idiot has set their screen resolution to (and wants it left at because they like it), and LCDs are a complete pain to look at if you are not feeding them their native resolution.
LCD's are also a pain because some of them are really fussy about refresh rates that are not 60hz. Newer versions of windows is smart enough to adjust the refresh rate most of the time, but X in Linux usually isn't. They are also a pain because they generally won't display any resolutions above what they are rated for. My used 21" IBM with dual inputs (DVI & VGA) is a far more useful monitor for hooking up random computers.
So, you have a rechargeable AAA battery. Not a very efficient power source, and bulky and heavy.
And cheap, and you can buy AAA NiMH cells everywhere. I guess it's all about what your priorites are. Though I prefer my MP3 player's single AA NiMH cell.