You can't do Macrovision in software unless you're generating the NTSC signal in software. This ain't going to happen, it would bring even the latest P4 or Athlon to its knees. So your argument that the H+ did Macrovision "in software" is bullshit. Whether or not Macrovision is ENABLED by software or forced by the hardware 100% of the timeis a different story.
From all I heard, the new Hollywood cards, IF the specs were released, were the ONLY hope for legal DVD playback under Linux because they did CSS in hardware. (i.e. the CSS implementation was already licensed and in no way could be used for ripping a DVD.) I guess specs were never released. Playing a DVD under Linux isn't illegal - Except for the fact that so far any DVD implementation on Linux happens to use DeCSS or a derivative thereof. (Actually, I heard that some of the latest CSS libs can brute-force the encryption keys, thus removing the main legal issue with DeCSS, that of the illegally-obtained player keys from the Xing player. Of course, now this is illegal under the DMCA.)
Maybe the crap cards like the "All in Blunder" you describe had subpar video output that didn't adhere to the NTSC standard, but I assure you that if you bother to actually get a decent video card. (Read: stay the hell away from ATi and their horrendous drivers and according to you, subpar TV encoders). Read some reviews. Some NV-based cards may have worse video output than others such as my I8200's card. In the end you'll save yourself a PCI slot.
Hence, there is a limit as to how far they can integrate.
NV makes the bridge/GPU/sound portion, and I believe the (currently unprofitable) Xbox already has all the NV-provided functions integrated into one chip. (If not, there is some integration here)
Intel makes the CPU. Not likely that you'll see this integrated with the NV chips.
MS isn't stupid. They're not going to stick with expensive manufacturing if they can avoid it. Problem is, because they don't control ALL of the hardware in the system, they CAN'T avoid expensive manufacturing techniques. Sony was able to integrate the Playstation (and later the PS2) because they not only produced the boards and units, *they produced the chips*. Nintendo doesn't quite have this flexibility, but every single part of the Gamecube was custom-designed for them.
MS is using an off-the-shelf Intel CPU. Chances are Intel isn't going to integrate their CPU with an NV chipset just to help MS save some money on their console. Intel simply has no real reason to justify such development costs since the Xbox is a tiny market for them.
Don't know about older NVidia cards (Well, actually, I do, used to have an Asus V6800 Deluxe), but the GeForce4 cards (or at least my Dell Inspiron 8200's GF4Go) have very nice TV output encoder chips. (There are apparently a few video encoder chipsets supported by the GeForce line, and the I8200 has one that has more features than the others. Not sure if most GF4s have them and other GFs have lower-end ones or if only some GF4s have the good one.)
From what I remember of the V6800, it wasn't nearly as good quality. The I8200 is excellent, if anything it's BETTER than our dedicated DVD player.
And of course, any DVD player for Linux doesn't support Macrovision even though the hardware allows it.:)
Are you sure the H+ doesn't have Macrovision or is it simply that the player you're using doesn't turn it on? (You specifically said you don't play DVDs - MV isn't going to be turned on for plain-jane MPEG2 files)
And your comparison in general is flawed - I think most of the people bitching don't even use their digital outputs anyway and are calling for a general boycott of Creative products, not just this "boycott of TV out" you claim to be doing. Some great boycott their. You bought the card, you're not boycotting it.
As to CPU usage - Modern video chipsets have 90% plus of the routines for MPEG hardware decoding built-in. Xine uses 10% peak of my CPU (usually far less - the CPU bar is often at zero) when playing a DVD fullscreen. Nice thing is that because many of these hardware acceleration features are generalized, they accelerate MPEG4 too! (DivX playback using Xine and Xvid is silky smooth and just like DVD playback, uses a very small fraction of my CPU.)
Note that I think the Geforce 4MX cards might actually have a few additional HW acceleration features not present in the Tis. I remember seeing a listing of the capabilities of each chipset in the NV driver docs, and it appeared that the MXes (and as a result, the "Go" chips) had MORE MPEG acceleration than the Tis. (One did both IDCT and motion comp, the other just did motion comp)
Console hardware selling below cost is a myth. Almost all consoles sell at a profit. Every console ever sold has turned at least a slight profit, with a few exceptions:
To get a jumpstart, Nintendo apparently accepted a *small* loss on early Gamecubes. They very quickly fixed this problem though, through reduction of manufacturing costs. They did NOT want to sell below cost if at all possible, and it is NOT standard company policy. (Nintendo quickly fixed things to make a tidy profit on GCs, even after price drops.)
The only exception is Xbox - The Xbox is the ONLY console that was pretty much designed with the assumption that it would be sold below cost. It started below cost, still sells below cost, and according to most analysis, will never sell at anything below cost because the Xbox design is inherently not as conducive to cost reduction as the Gamecube/PS2/etc. (For example, Sony eventually took 2-3 chips from the PS2 and merged them into one, significantly reducing manufacturing costs.) Because almost all Xbox parts are sourced from third parties, MS doesn't have nearly as much flexibility in this regard.
The only thing MS has going for it in this case is the fact that their initial development costs were probably much less than for the GC or PS2. People seem to leave this out of the analysis.
Nonetheless, any Xbox that is sold and not used with licensed games is a losing proposition for MS. For Sony and Nintendo, it isn't, although it's not nearly as desirable as having the boxes used for cash-cow game sales.
Go to Windows Update for a freshly installed Win2k box... How many of those updates say, "This update must be installed seperately from all others"? At least 3-4, even after installing SP3.
How many of those aforementioned updates require a reboot?
All of em'.
When a *web browser* patch requires a reboot, there is something fundamentally WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM.
At worst case under Linux, a web browser patch to Tux will require unloading and reloading a kernal modules. If you're using any other web server, you can do an upgrade, and restart the webserver. Total downtime? Restarting Apache takes a fraction of a second.
This is the difference between Unix and Windows - Unix requires a reboot only for the most major upgrade of all, the kernel. Anything else doesn't require a reboot. Windows, on the other hand, needs an update for damn near any system update you'd like to make, and a significant number of system changes require an update too. You need to reboot to change *font scaling* for chrissakes. (Let's not get into the fact that there is no need whatsoever for any server machine to be running a GUI at all times because it's an unnecessary waste of resources - A true server should be 100% administratable without even a video card and just a serial console for worst-case scenarios when the network goes wonky.)
The DRM as implemented by Creative isn't that bad. It amounts to the equivalent of Macrovision for video cards. Data is still passing unencrypted between the player and the soundcard itself - The DRM wave of the future is to encrypt even this data stream and THEN we should be scared. Currently, the DRM tech is merely shutting down the digital outputs of the soundcard - Same thing as the Macrovision support in the TV-Out capability of every modern video card. Are you boycotting NVidia and ATi because of this?
I'm guessing not.
Like Macrovision, I'm sure it's a matter of a little driver hack to disable this one "feature"
When Creative starts supporting an encrypted data stream between the player and the sound card itself, THEN it's time to start boycotting them.
As someone said, if a card wants WHQL certification for XP, it has to have this form of DRM. Creative isn't the only one - EVERY manufacturer that makes cards with digital outputs will be doing this.
(On a side note - How long did it take for someone to crack this CD? Probably 15-20 seconds.:)
While you can use other software with XP, XP makes it VERY, VERY difficult and just *loves* to conflict with said software, making using WLAN in XP an absolute nightmare. (Orinoco firmware updates not working reliably is a perfect example of this. Also, while you CAN use Orinoco's client manager, it is a BITCH to set up.)
I nuked XP in favor of Win2k on my laptop and have been happy ever since. Wireless works great, I have infinitely more control over SpeedStep (XP's built-in support has hardcoded profiles that result in it being *impossible* or at least extremely difficult to force slow speed when on AC), and my laptop can now wake up from suspend. None of those worked properly under XP, in at least two cases (wireless, SpeedStep) it was because XP tried to do it for you but did it very badly.
I own two D-Link DWL-650 cards. The range was never all that great (even in Linux). I assumed it was the fact that I was communicating card-to-card.
Things became much better when I started using a proper AP.
Later on, I needed a WLAN card for my desktop. After a BAD runin with a D-Link DWL-520 that I promptly returned, I tried a Orinoco and PCI carrier. The PCI adapter didn't work to well on my desktop. (Fine under Linux, useless in Windows) I returned the PCI adapter, but because the Orinoco had seemed to give slightly better performance and was supported by Netstumbler, I kept it.
A few weeks later I pulled out the D-Link once again for comparison - At that point I realized just how bad it was.
Side-by-side in the same place, the Orinoco blew away the D-Link. Orinoco reports a "good" signal strength upstairs. The D-Link barely gets signal. Downstairs, the D-Link reports low signal strength IN THE SAME ROOM AS THE AP! The Orinoco is pegged at full strength in this case.
Until the 5 GHz band becomes just as crowded as 2.4?
802.11a is not the wave of the future. It's going to be a nice for those hardcore who absolutely need obscene speed and live in an interference-prone environment.
It has to compete against the HUGE installed base of 11b hardware that is *far cheaper* than 11a and is more than adequate for 90% of the people out there.
I was thinking of upgrading to 11a since I happen to be a power user - But that means that the card I bought would be useless on most networks I might roam to (such as my former college's wireless network). In the end, 11b won out because: a) I already had some 11b equipment b) My parents had 11b equipment c) I have never had problems with 11b interference - Spread spectrum is pretty resistant to CW interference (Microwave ovens - People could run microwaves all they want in my apartment and I wouldn't notice any difference on my network.) and 900 MHz analog is "good enough" for me in the cordless phone arena, which means that the most famous 802.11b interference culprit (2.4 GHz phones) isn't present. d) 11b hardware was a helluva lot cheaper than 11a hardware.
It's "old tech" by today's Smartphone standards, but so far, if you care about phone functionality, it's the only way to go. Almost every other Smartphone out there is a PDA first and not a phone first, and hence most of em' suck. (The Samsung I300 is the worst, Treos are much better but still not the best - From what I've heard the Treo 300 is pretty buggy. In addition, you CANNOT use "classic" 2G data services with the Treo 300 on Sprint, you can only use Sprint's ridiculously expensive Vision plans, which have gotten pretty lousy reviews.)
If you care about phone functionality, Kyocera smartphones are the way to go. I have a 6035 on Verizon and it is simply amazing. Not sure if I'm going to get the 7135 or not. Don't feel like killing my battery for a color screen.
The new Palm smartphone will be DOA - It's a PDA first and not a phone. (First strike against it) No comment on whether it's a Europe-targeted or US-targeted phone. If they're trying to sell a GSM phone in the USA, that's its second strike. The GSM footprint in the USA is dismal, even smaller than Sprint PCS coverage. (Apparently AT&T plans on transitioning to GSM, so this will change eventually. But it could take a while...)
If you want a smartphone your best bet is a Kyocera 6035 (or 7135 when it comes out in a month or two) with Verizon.
But complaining about download times? Christ, that's low.
The service pack is large. Live with it. It's no different than downloading 20-30 megs of RPMs for a system-wide update.
I strongly dislike M$ practices, but I find that these accusations are nitpicking that makes these "ProComp" people look like whiners. Throughout this case people have focused on the smaller aspects of the case (The stupid browser war) while barely touching on more major aspects (The M$ tax on PCs even if I don't *WANT* Windows on them.)
Usually when some manufacturer OEMs something, you can find the noname OEM version elsewhere if you look.
Have *YOU* ever seen a mouse that looks like the Intellimouse Explorer? If MS just OEM-brands other people's hardware, then why were Microsoft mice the only all-surface-optical (As opposed to the old Sun grid-optical) mice for quite some time until Agilent's optical mouse reference chipset/lens design came out?
If MS is rebranding their hardware, show me proof. Show me WHO they're rebranding other than saying, "oh, I think they're rebranding someone". It's usually pretty easy/obvious due to the hardware being physically identical to a few others on the market. (All those cheapie opticals are all the same, but MS and Logitch mice are all unique)
Good examples of OEMing that's easy to find: Palm III/IBM Workpad. (I think some Workpads were Palm V clones too) - Same shape, the Workpads happened to be black instead of grey.
Compaq printers - These are obviously rebranded Lexmarks.
AT&T printers - This was MANY years ago, but their dot-matrix printers were either rebranded OKI or Epson printers, can't remember.
I normally dislike MS, but their input devices division is the only portion where all the crap they spew about innovating is true. They DID come up with the wheel idea. (Which I passed off as a gimmick until I played with one at work - Now I can't survive w/o the wheel.)
Check it out. They make Prism2-based 802.11 devices.
No 11b devices listed there, but I wouldn't be surprised that if they had classic 802.11, they have 802.11b
If WAN rather than WLAN was not a typo, they make plenty of WAN equipment too. Check their site. http://www.nokia.com/
http://www.nokia.com/phones/nokiad211/d311_speci fi cations.html - Slick, huh?
A lot of cellular companies see 802.11 as augmenting 3G, not competing with it. Or more properly, 3G as augmenting 802.11. 802.11 for your 'net in the cities and 3G out in the boonies.
I'd like to argue that in DAoC where RvR is the focus is the game where someone with only 10 hours/week to play is most likely to have a chance.
Why?
Because you can level at your leisure, without worried that the people you formerly grouped with will turn on you. Take your time. You'll hit 40 eventually. In the meantime, you've got the BGs from 20-24 and 30-35. (Theoretically 25-29 too, but Mythic has to give people more incentive to go to Murd since no one goes there on any server... Fortunately 25-29 is pretty easy.)
The worst in DAoC is from 41-50, and 1.53 is going to fix that.
Still, it would be nice to have some sort of "quickstart" in DAoC. 50s will get that soon, and I wouldn't care if Mythic gave a pay option since it just means more people to RvR in my realm. (ofc, it means more Hibs/Mids too).
While I don't like the fact that it's for-pay in a game where killing other players is a part of the game, it allows UO to reach new crowds that would never have played the game before. As someone mentioned, these templates are for "basic" accounts that are considered "bare minimum low level" for actually having some fun in the game.
DAoC has done some similar things, although not for pay. They analyzed the leveling patterns of players to find out when people were most likely to get frustrated/quit/stop, and discovered that from 41-50 people quite like flies because Lv40 was like some kind of brick wall after which XPing went MUCH slower. In the next patch, they're reducing leveling time from 41-45 to alleviate this. In addition, they're planning allowing Level 50 (highest there is) characters to start new characters at somewhere between 20-24. Some are annoyed, but most are happy because:
It gives more incentive to level to 50 initially rather than giving up and moving to an alt, resulting in more 50s for RvR.
Once at 50, it gives more variety to actually try out a new class. If they start at 20, they can go to the first RvR battleground immediately.
Early starts aren't that much of an individual advantage in a game where you can only kill players from other realms (and you really can't RvR before 40 anywhere other than the BGs). The two PvP servers are a different story, but I believe they only plan this on the main servers.
I wouldn't mind even if they implemented something like this in DAoC - As long as they kept it off of the 'dreds (PvP servers)
I think the poster's point was that you have two choices for drivers with an ATi card:
a) Open-source drivers - No S3TC support, UT2K3 won't even run b) Binary-only drivers sorely lacking in performance. (I don't even recall seeing any Linux binary drivers from ATi - Does he mean the XiG drivers you have to *pay extra for*?)
With Nvidia, your only choice for 3D is unfortunately the binary drivers. While I'd rather not have it be that way, NV's drivers are maintained from the *same* source base that ATi's are, and hence are kept as up-to-date as the Windows drivers. In fact, the Linux drivers often *outperform* NV's Windows drivers by 1-2 FPS. (Not a big difference, but the fact is that they are not only "as good", but they are FASTER.)
So overall, given that binary drivers are the ONLY real option for both cards, NVidia is the way to go because their binary drivers are *far* superior to ATi's.
Guess things have changed.
on
Portable Hubs?
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· Score: 2
When I last priced NiMHs, Wal-Mart had 1200s or 1300s for $11-12 per 4-pack whereas Sears had 1500s for $10.
That standby mode had anything to do with reception?
My point was that in standby mode, the phone is RARELY transmitting. Transmitted RF is what people think harms them. (I won't get into whether it does or not...)
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You can't do Macrovision in software unless you're generating the NTSC signal in software. This ain't going to happen, it would bring even the latest P4 or Athlon to its knees. So your argument that the H+ did Macrovision "in software" is bullshit. Whether or not Macrovision is ENABLED by software or forced by the hardware 100% of the timeis a different story.
From all I heard, the new Hollywood cards, IF the specs were released, were the ONLY hope for legal DVD playback under Linux because they did CSS in hardware. (i.e. the CSS implementation was already licensed and in no way could be used for ripping a DVD.) I guess specs were never released. Playing a DVD under Linux isn't illegal - Except for the fact that so far any DVD implementation on Linux happens to use DeCSS or a derivative thereof. (Actually, I heard that some of the latest CSS libs can brute-force the encryption keys, thus removing the main legal issue with DeCSS, that of the illegally-obtained player keys from the Xing player. Of course, now this is illegal under the DMCA.)
Maybe the crap cards like the "All in Blunder" you describe had subpar video output that didn't adhere to the NTSC standard, but I assure you that if you bother to actually get a decent video card. (Read: stay the hell away from ATi and their horrendous drivers and according to you, subpar TV encoders). Read some reviews. Some NV-based cards may have worse video output than others such as my I8200's card. In the end you'll save yourself a PCI slot.
They're buying from multiple suppliers.
Hence, there is a limit as to how far they can integrate.
NV makes the bridge/GPU/sound portion, and I believe the (currently unprofitable) Xbox already has all the NV-provided functions integrated into one chip. (If not, there is some integration here)
Intel makes the CPU. Not likely that you'll see this integrated with the NV chips.
MS isn't stupid. They're not going to stick with expensive manufacturing if they can avoid it. Problem is, because they don't control ALL of the hardware in the system, they CAN'T avoid expensive manufacturing techniques. Sony was able to integrate the Playstation (and later the PS2) because they not only produced the boards and units, *they produced the chips*. Nintendo doesn't quite have this flexibility, but every single part of the Gamecube was custom-designed for them.
MS is using an off-the-shelf Intel CPU. Chances are Intel isn't going to integrate their CPU with an NV chipset just to help MS save some money on their console. Intel simply has no real reason to justify such development costs since the Xbox is a tiny market for them.
Don't know about older NVidia cards (Well, actually, I do, used to have an Asus V6800 Deluxe), but the GeForce4 cards (or at least my Dell Inspiron 8200's GF4Go) have very nice TV output encoder chips. (There are apparently a few video encoder chipsets supported by the GeForce line, and the I8200 has one that has more features than the others. Not sure if most GF4s have them and other GFs have lower-end ones or if only some GF4s have the good one.)
:)
From what I remember of the V6800, it wasn't nearly as good quality. The I8200 is excellent, if anything it's BETTER than our dedicated DVD player.
And of course, any DVD player for Linux doesn't support Macrovision even though the hardware allows it.
Are you sure the H+ doesn't have Macrovision or is it simply that the player you're using doesn't turn it on? (You specifically said you don't play DVDs - MV isn't going to be turned on for plain-jane MPEG2 files)
And your comparison in general is flawed - I think most of the people bitching don't even use their digital outputs anyway and are calling for a general boycott of Creative products, not just this "boycott of TV out" you claim to be doing. Some great boycott their. You bought the card, you're not boycotting it.
As to CPU usage - Modern video chipsets have 90% plus of the routines for MPEG hardware decoding built-in. Xine uses 10% peak of my CPU (usually far less - the CPU bar is often at zero) when playing a DVD fullscreen. Nice thing is that because many of these hardware acceleration features are generalized, they accelerate MPEG4 too! (DivX playback using Xine and Xvid is silky smooth and just like DVD playback, uses a very small fraction of my CPU.)
Note that I think the Geforce 4MX cards might actually have a few additional HW acceleration features not present in the Tis. I remember seeing a listing of the capabilities of each chipset in the NV driver docs, and it appeared that the MXes (and as a result, the "Go" chips) had MORE MPEG acceleration than the Tis. (One did both IDCT and motion comp, the other just did motion comp)
Console hardware selling below cost is a myth. Almost all consoles sell at a profit. Every console ever sold has turned at least a slight profit, with a few exceptions:
To get a jumpstart, Nintendo apparently accepted a *small* loss on early Gamecubes. They very quickly fixed this problem though, through reduction of manufacturing costs. They did NOT want to sell below cost if at all possible, and it is NOT standard company policy. (Nintendo quickly fixed things to make a tidy profit on GCs, even after price drops.)
The only exception is Xbox - The Xbox is the ONLY console that was pretty much designed with the assumption that it would be sold below cost. It started below cost, still sells below cost, and according to most analysis, will never sell at anything below cost because the Xbox design is inherently not as conducive to cost reduction as the Gamecube/PS2/etc. (For example, Sony eventually took 2-3 chips from the PS2 and merged them into one, significantly reducing manufacturing costs.) Because almost all Xbox parts are sourced from third parties, MS doesn't have nearly as much flexibility in this regard.
The only thing MS has going for it in this case is the fact that their initial development costs were probably much less than for the GC or PS2. People seem to leave this out of the analysis.
Nonetheless, any Xbox that is sold and not used with licensed games is a losing proposition for MS. For Sony and Nintendo, it isn't, although it's not nearly as desirable as having the boxes used for cash-cow game sales.
Go to Windows Update for a freshly installed Win2k box... How many of those updates say, "This update must be installed seperately from all others"? At least 3-4, even after installing SP3.
How many of those aforementioned updates require a reboot?
All of em'.
When a *web browser* patch requires a reboot, there is something fundamentally WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM.
At worst case under Linux, a web browser patch to Tux will require unloading and reloading a kernal modules. If you're using any other web server, you can do an upgrade, and restart the webserver. Total downtime? Restarting Apache takes a fraction of a second.
This is the difference between Unix and Windows - Unix requires a reboot only for the most major upgrade of all, the kernel. Anything else doesn't require a reboot. Windows, on the other hand, needs an update for damn near any system update you'd like to make, and a significant number of system changes require an update too. You need to reboot to change *font scaling* for chrissakes. (Let's not get into the fact that there is no need whatsoever for any server machine to be running a GUI at all times because it's an unnecessary waste of resources - A true server should be 100% administratable without even a video card and just a serial console for worst-case scenarios when the network goes wonky.)
The DRM as implemented by Creative isn't that bad. It amounts to the equivalent of Macrovision for video cards. Data is still passing unencrypted between the player and the soundcard itself - The DRM wave of the future is to encrypt even this data stream and THEN we should be scared. Currently, the DRM tech is merely shutting down the digital outputs of the soundcard - Same thing as the Macrovision support in the TV-Out capability of every modern video card. Are you boycotting NVidia and ATi because of this?
:)
I'm guessing not.
Like Macrovision, I'm sure it's a matter of a little driver hack to disable this one "feature"
When Creative starts supporting an encrypted data stream between the player and the sound card itself, THEN it's time to start boycotting them.
As someone said, if a card wants WHQL certification for XP, it has to have this form of DRM. Creative isn't the only one - EVERY manufacturer that makes cards with digital outputs will be doing this.
(On a side note - How long did it take for someone to crack this CD? Probably 15-20 seconds.
XP seems to be (oddly) missing support for Prism2 (i.e. DWL-650, SMC, Linksys, etc.) cards - My Prism2 wasn't detected by XP.
But if you want to use decent hardware (Orinoco), XP has built-in drivers and you're in for a fight.
While you can use other software with XP, XP makes it VERY, VERY difficult and just *loves* to conflict with said software, making using WLAN in XP an absolute nightmare. (Orinoco firmware updates not working reliably is a perfect example of this. Also, while you CAN use Orinoco's client manager, it is a BITCH to set up.)
I nuked XP in favor of Win2k on my laptop and have been happy ever since. Wireless works great, I have infinitely more control over SpeedStep (XP's built-in support has hardcoded profiles that result in it being *impossible* or at least extremely difficult to force slow speed when on AC), and my laptop can now wake up from suspend. None of those worked properly under XP, in at least two cases (wireless, SpeedStep) it was because XP tried to do it for you but did it very badly.
But some definately are. I have a coworker that has an 802.11b network and a 2.4 GHz phone - His network gets *clobbered* when he uses his phone.
I own two D-Link DWL-650 cards. The range was never all that great (even in Linux). I assumed it was the fact that I was communicating card-to-card.
Things became much better when I started using a proper AP.
Later on, I needed a WLAN card for my desktop. After a BAD runin with a D-Link DWL-520 that I promptly returned, I tried a Orinoco and PCI carrier. The PCI adapter didn't work to well on my desktop. (Fine under Linux, useless in Windows) I returned the PCI adapter, but because the Orinoco had seemed to give slightly better performance and was supported by Netstumbler, I kept it.
A few weeks later I pulled out the D-Link once again for comparison - At that point I realized just how bad it was.
Side-by-side in the same place, the Orinoco blew away the D-Link. Orinoco reports a "good" signal strength upstairs. The D-Link barely gets signal. Downstairs, the D-Link reports low signal strength IN THE SAME ROOM AS THE AP! The Orinoco is pegged at full strength in this case.
I'm sticking with Orinocos from now on...
Until the 5 GHz band becomes just as crowded as 2.4?
802.11a is not the wave of the future. It's going to be a nice for those hardcore who absolutely need obscene speed and live in an interference-prone environment.
It has to compete against the HUGE installed base of 11b hardware that is *far cheaper* than 11a and is more than adequate for 90% of the people out there.
I was thinking of upgrading to 11a since I happen to be a power user - But that means that the card I bought would be useless on most networks I might roam to (such as my former college's wireless network). In the end, 11b won out because:
a) I already had some 11b equipment
b) My parents had 11b equipment
c) I have never had problems with 11b interference - Spread spectrum is pretty resistant to CW interference (Microwave ovens - People could run microwaves all they want in my apartment and I wouldn't notice any difference on my network.) and 900 MHz analog is "good enough" for me in the cordless phone arena, which means that the most famous 802.11b interference culprit (2.4 GHz phones) isn't present.
d) 11b hardware was a helluva lot cheaper than 11a hardware.
Have you seen the 6035?
It's "old tech" by today's Smartphone standards, but so far, if you care about phone functionality, it's the only way to go. Almost every other Smartphone out there is a PDA first and not a phone first, and hence most of em' suck. (The Samsung I300 is the worst, Treos are much better but still not the best - From what I've heard the Treo 300 is pretty buggy. In addition, you CANNOT use "classic" 2G data services with the Treo 300 on Sprint, you can only use Sprint's ridiculously expensive Vision plans, which have gotten pretty lousy reviews.)
If you care about phone functionality, Kyocera smartphones are the way to go. I have a 6035 on Verizon and it is simply amazing. Not sure if I'm going to get the 7135 or not. Don't feel like killing my battery for a color screen.
The new Palm smartphone will be DOA - It's a PDA first and not a phone. (First strike against it) No comment on whether it's a Europe-targeted or US-targeted phone. If they're trying to sell a GSM phone in the USA, that's its second strike. The GSM footprint in the USA is dismal, even smaller than Sprint PCS coverage. (Apparently AT&T plans on transitioning to GSM, so this will change eventually. But it could take a while...)
If you want a smartphone your best bet is a Kyocera 6035 (or 7135 when it comes out in a month or two) with Verizon.
I think you're being a little unfair there... ANY engineer with a screwdriver should be considered armed and dangerous to any electronics nearby.
:)
Myself included.
But complaining about download times? Christ, that's low.
The service pack is large. Live with it. It's no different than downloading 20-30 megs of RPMs for a system-wide update.
I strongly dislike M$ practices, but I find that these accusations are nitpicking that makes these "ProComp" people look like whiners. Throughout this case people have focused on the smaller aspects of the case (The stupid browser war) while barely touching on more major aspects (The M$ tax on PCs even if I don't *WANT* Windows on them.)
Usually when some manufacturer OEMs something, you can find the noname OEM version elsewhere if you look.
Have *YOU* ever seen a mouse that looks like the Intellimouse Explorer? If MS just OEM-brands other people's hardware, then why were Microsoft mice the only all-surface-optical (As opposed to the old Sun grid-optical) mice for quite some time until Agilent's optical mouse reference chipset/lens design came out?
If MS is rebranding their hardware, show me proof. Show me WHO they're rebranding other than saying, "oh, I think they're rebranding someone". It's usually pretty easy/obvious due to the hardware being physically identical to a few others on the market. (All those cheapie opticals are all the same, but MS and Logitch mice are all unique)
Good examples of OEMing that's easy to find:
Palm III/IBM Workpad. (I think some Workpads were Palm V clones too) - Same shape, the Workpads happened to be black instead of grey.
Compaq printers - These are obviously rebranded Lexmarks.
AT&T printers - This was MANY years ago, but their dot-matrix printers were either rebranded OKI or Epson printers, can't remember.
I normally dislike MS, but their input devices division is the only portion where all the crap they spew about innovating is true. They DID come up with the wheel idea. (Which I passed off as a gimmick until I played with one at work - Now I can't survive w/o the wheel.)
http://www.linux-wlan.org/index.html
i fi cations.html - Slick, huh?
Check it out. They make Prism2-based 802.11 devices.
No 11b devices listed there, but I wouldn't be surprised that if they had classic 802.11, they have 802.11b
If WAN rather than WLAN was not a typo, they make plenty of WAN equipment too. Check their site. http://www.nokia.com/
http://www.nokia.com/phones/nokiad211/d311_spec
A lot of cellular companies see 802.11 as augmenting 3G, not competing with it. Or more properly, 3G as augmenting 802.11. 802.11 for your 'net in the cities and 3G out in the boonies.
I'd like to argue that in DAoC where RvR is the focus is the game where someone with only 10 hours/week to play is most likely to have a chance.
Why?
Because you can level at your leisure, without worried that the people you formerly grouped with will turn on you. Take your time. You'll hit 40 eventually. In the meantime, you've got the BGs from 20-24 and 30-35. (Theoretically 25-29 too, but Mythic has to give people more incentive to go to Murd since no one goes there on any server... Fortunately 25-29 is pretty easy.)
The worst in DAoC is from 41-50, and 1.53 is going to fix that.
Still, it would be nice to have some sort of "quickstart" in DAoC. 50s will get that soon, and I wouldn't care if Mythic gave a pay option since it just means more people to RvR in my realm. (ofc, it means more Hibs/Mids too).
While I don't like the fact that it's for-pay in a game where killing other players is a part of the game, it allows UO to reach new crowds that would never have played the game before. As someone mentioned, these templates are for "basic" accounts that are considered "bare minimum low level" for actually having some fun in the game.
DAoC has done some similar things, although not for pay. They analyzed the leveling patterns of players to find out when people were most likely to get frustrated/quit/stop, and discovered that from 41-50 people quite like flies because Lv40 was like some kind of brick wall after which XPing went MUCH slower. In the next patch, they're reducing leveling time from 41-45 to alleviate this. In addition, they're planning allowing Level 50 (highest there is) characters to start new characters at somewhere between 20-24. Some are annoyed, but most are happy because:
It gives more incentive to level to 50 initially rather than giving up and moving to an alt, resulting in more 50s for RvR.
Once at 50, it gives more variety to actually try out a new class. If they start at 20, they can go to the first RvR battleground immediately.
Early starts aren't that much of an individual advantage in a game where you can only kill players from other realms (and you really can't RvR before 40 anywhere other than the BGs). The two PvP servers are a different story, but I believe they only plan this on the main servers.
I wouldn't mind even if they implemented something like this in DAoC - As long as they kept it off of the 'dreds (PvP servers)
Someone who can beat my #701. :(
Problem: RIAA products overpriced given what you get, people don't want to pay for them.
Sympton: People pirate the music instead.
Solution: Add value to the CD that makes people more willing to buy it.
The RIAA in the past has been trying to cure the symptoms, without attacking the core problem. This is a MAJOR step in the right direction.
This is sort of like a system NetZero moved to before they eventually went to paid service.
Have some sort of custom login client (Older cablemodem systems had such a client). Unless you're logged in and authed, you don't route.
Supporting multiple OSes will be a bitch tho.
I think the poster's point was that you have two choices for drivers with an ATi card:
a) Open-source drivers - No S3TC support, UT2K3 won't even run
b) Binary-only drivers sorely lacking in performance. (I don't even recall seeing any Linux binary drivers from ATi - Does he mean the XiG drivers you have to *pay extra for*?)
With Nvidia, your only choice for 3D is unfortunately the binary drivers. While I'd rather not have it be that way, NV's drivers are maintained from the *same* source base that ATi's are, and hence are kept as up-to-date as the Windows drivers. In fact, the Linux drivers often *outperform* NV's Windows drivers by 1-2 FPS. (Not a big difference, but the fact is that they are not only "as good", but they are FASTER.)
So overall, given that binary drivers are the ONLY real option for both cards, NVidia is the way to go because their binary drivers are *far* superior to ATi's.
When I last priced NiMHs, Wal-Mart had 1200s or 1300s for $11-12 per 4-pack whereas Sears had 1500s for $10.
:)
Maybe Wal-Mart has improved prices then.
That standby mode had anything to do with reception?
My point was that in standby mode, the phone is RARELY transmitting. Transmitted RF is what people think harms them. (I won't get into whether it does or not...)
Supposedly (see earlier posts on the subject), if you get one of the "non-free" X servers from XiG, they have S3TC support now.