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User: Sheepy

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  1. Re:Money first on Low-Cost Indian Tablet Project Falls To Corruption · · Score: 1

    Its damned near impossible to BSOD a Windows 7 system with a bad driver, it will just silently kill and restart the driver (as a system should) and make a little note in Action Center about it.

    Is there any online documentation on this feature where the OS can silently kill and restart the driver? I can't find any references to that other than for "VPU Recover", which is supported as far back as Windows XP.

    I have recently been configuring a webserver running Windows Server 2008 R2, which uses the same kernel, NT 6.1, as Windows 7. It frequently gives a BSOD with error code "STOP: 0xD1". The minidump suggests the problem is due to an interaction between the network card driver and the kernel network libraries. This problem occurs with two different network card adaptors (with different drivers). It would be an huge improvement if Windows would simply restart the drivers rather than BSOD.

  2. Re:HD 4000 on Intel Officially Lifts the Veil On Ivy Bridge · · Score: 1

    Socket AM2 (first out in 2006) can still run the latest Bulldozer based AMD processors.

    Neither socket AM2 nor AM2+ can run Bulldozer.

    btw, I'm very happy with my AM2+ motherboard running a Phenom II.

  3. Re:I'm surprised so many people have widescreen on Windows 8 and Screen Resolution: WXGA Still Most Popular · · Score: 1

    Better colour gamut, no flicker, always perfectly sharp, no distortion, etc...

    The adjustable brightness of LCD displays is normally implemented using pulse width modulation that can cause visible flicker. This is apparently much more visible with LED backlights than with the CCFL backlights.

    Flicker from LED backlights is typically much more visible than for CCFL backlights at the same duty cycle because the LED's are able to switch on and off much faster, and do not continue to "glow" after the power is cut off. This means that where the CCFL backlight showed rather smooth luminance variation, the LED version shows sharper transitions between on and off states. This is why more recently the subject of PWM has cropped up online and in reviews, since more and more displays are moving to W-LED backlighting units now.

    @see Pulse Width Modulation

  4. Re:Legal Threats on Ask Slashdot: Who Has Been Sued By the RIAA? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was John Doe #34.

    I was quite worried when we received the email from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP but they had put all recipients in the CC field so someone quickly set up a mailing list.

    I was in the UK and at that time, had never been to the US, so I figured the Californian court wouldn't have jurisdiction.

  5. chemical imbalances on Mass Psychosis In the USA? · · Score: 1

    From TFA:

    The shift from "talk therapy" to drugs as the dominant mode of treatment coincides with the emergence over the past four decades of the theory that mental illness is caused primarily by chemical imbalances in the brain that can be corrected by specific drugs.

    I don't understand this theory as it seems, to me, that "mental illness" and "chemical imbalances in the brain" are the same thing with no cause/effect relationship between them. It also seems that psychotherapy and drug therapy are attempts to treat the symptoms via the two respective faces of the same metaphorical coin.

    Is there anything online that explains this cause/effect theory?

  6. Re:Why the hype? on AMD Bulldozer Information and Benchmarks Leaked · · Score: 1

    I was briefly disappointed when I ran Bouncing Babies after upgrading from my '086, but it was funny at the same time.

  7. Re:Password Encrypted? on Hotmail To Ban Common Passwords · · Score: 1

    Many login systems create random salt for EACH account, and store it with the hash.

    This is one reason why unique salt for each account is preferable.

    It's better to generate a new salt for each password; i.e., a new salt should be generated whenever a password is modified. That way it is pointless to generate rainbow tables for a chosen account.

  8. Re:Bad strategic moves by Oracle on History of Software Forks Favors LibreOffice · · Score: 1

    Yeah. So XML is great, once I read the six thousand page spec. Why is this better than a binary format again?

    I don't know that I'd suggest a business keep their data in ODF, either, but it's a hell of a lot better than OOXML as far as having actual migration paths and being reasonable for third-party software to read and manipulate. The last time I actually tried working with this stuff (just extracting stuff from MS Office and converting it to more-reasonable HTML), I tried parsing the OOXML, only to realize that it was suicide without a library, no matter how small the data I needed was.

    I expect you're completely correct regarding migration and multiple implementations. I have to disagree regarding typical export/conversion routines.

    A few years ago, I wrote an MS Office Open XML to XHTML converter. It ignored some of the original layout as it was just an initial step in converting Word documents to websites. Most of my time was spent on converting complex tables (multi-row headers; row & col spans) to semantically correct and fully accessible XHTML tables (thead, tbody, th, & td elements; id & headers attributes; etc).

    The main reference I used was "Office Open XML Part 4 - Markup Language Reference.pdf" which is 5,220 pages. As I was only dealing with Word documents I only needed the material in the first two chapters (1. Part Overview; 2. WordprocessingML Reference Material), and that's 1,629 pages. Even then I didn't need much beyond 2.9 Numbering, so that's down to 816 pages.

    So, while the specification totals around 6,000 pages, for many business applications far fewer pages will be applicable.

  9. PSUs: pay for amps on +12V, not total watts on The Rules of Thumb For Tech Purchasing · · Score: 1

    For computer power supplies: pay for amps across +12V rails, not total watts.

  10. Re:This is the best thing they can do. on Internet Explorer 10 Drops Vista Support · · Score: 1

    The vast majority of people have no NEED to use IE6, and the vast majority of web developers have no need to support IE6. In fact, I's say there is ZERO requirement for ANY web developer to EVER support IE6 at this point. Anyone who says otherwise is making excuses or lying.

    That's nice, but back in the real world many of my client's clients* use IE6. I'm currently enhancing their web-based application and dropping IE6 support is not an option.

    * Including one particularly large client.

    (did I just feed a troll?)

  11. Re:DRM = Lost sales on DRM Drives Gamers To Piracy, Says Good Old Games · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the information. I'm blocked from torrent and websites like TPB. I'll see if I can find a crack elsewhere.

    My problem is that I'll buy the game before I can find out if I can play it! At least it's much cheaper now than when it was first released.

  12. DRM = Lost sales on DRM Drives Gamers To Piracy, Says Good Old Games · · Score: 1

    I purchased GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas and played them all to completion, so I was really looking forwards to GTA IV. Problem is that I don't have a home Internet connection*. Now, over two years later, I haven't brought or played it. Every now and then I take a look online for cracks, but I haven't found any that will allow installation and play without an Internet connection.

    I had also purchased and enjoyed Half Life and was looking forwards to Half-Life 2. Over six year later, because of DRM, I have not brought or played it.

    I hope that one day these games will be re-released without the DRM. The publishers really should do this as anyone who wants to pirate them will have already done so by now.

    * I work long hours, have a fast Internet connection at work; and can transfer files as needed. A home Internet connection would cost me about 300GBP (500USD) for the first year, which is too much just to activate a few computer games.

  13. Re:LNK files on Malware Targets Shortcut Flaw In Windows, SCADA · · Score: 1

    Most of Microsoft's major advances have been business/enterprise targeted. Exchange+Outlook, as a fully-integrated groupware solution, had no serious competition for a long time. The degree and ease of control that Group Policy gives domain controllers is still a major reason that companies choose Windows.

    The major competitor is Lotus Notes/Domino. Exchange was first available about five years after Notes and seems to have been created in response to it. This is hardly an example of a major advance by Microsoft.

  14. Re:Upgraded? on Half of Windows 7 Machines Running 64-Bit Version · · Score: 1

    You can't buy XP after the first Service Pack for Windows 7 comes out. No new XP licenses period for anyone. Need a new staff member, welcome to a mixed environment.

    Microsoft have changed that policy:

    To support our customers' "unprecedented move" to migrate their PC environment to Windows 7, we have decided to extend downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional beyond the previously planned end date at Windows 7 SP1. This will help maintain consistency for downgrade rights throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle. As a result, the OEM versions of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will continue to include downgrade rights to the similar versions of Windows Vista or Windows XP Professional. Going forward, businesses can continue to purchase new PCs and utilize end user downgrade rights to Windows XP or Windows Vista until they are ready to use Windows 7. Enabling such rights throughout the Windows 7 lifecycle will make it easier for customers as they plan deployments to Windows 7.

  15. Re:Meh. on AMD's Fusion Processor Combines CPU and GPU · · Score: 1
  16. Re:XML... on XML Co-Founder Joins Google, Blasts iPhone · · Score: 1

    Not completely unusable -- I've recently written a program that transforms OOXML WordprocessingML to XHTML and WordprocessingML is 'usable' for this purpose. I'm not saying it's nice to work with, just that it can be used for some purposes.

  17. Re:The end is near on IPv4 Free Pool Drops Below 10%, 1.0.0.0/8 Allocated · · Score: 1

    We are going to run out of IPv4 addresses in March next year (422 days from today)
    http://ipv4depletion.com/?page_id=4 /JB

    Or September 2012: http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html

  18. Re: 65 watt Core 2 Duo E7600 Wolfdale on Intel and AMD Settle Antitrust, Patent Lawsuits · · Score: 1

    I recently purchased a AMD Phenom II 705e, which has a 65 watts TDP and was about 10% cheaper than the E7600. These are quite different CPUs: the E7600 is two 3.0GHz cores with 3MB cache; whereas the 705e is three 2.5GHz cores with 7.5MB cache.

  19. Re:1600 x 1200 gaming in 1999? on Console Makers Scaling Back Their Push For HD · · Score: 1

    Also, around that time most people were still stuck on 15" monitors with 17" considered the high end with the occasional crazy bastard with a 19" monitor. 1600x1200 wasn't really a sensible resolution unless you had a 19" monitor or larger.

    I had a 19" in late 1997 -- it couldn't manage 85Hz beyond 1152x864, so that's what I would normally use. I only had a Nvidia Riva 128 but most games used software rendering. I would generally run games at 800x600 or 640x480. I remember once running Quake II at 1600x1200 (16bit color) -- it looked really good but the frame rate was far too low to be playable.

  20. Re:If you can't remember that far back, wikipedia on Thanks For the ... Eight-Track, Uncle Alex · · Score: 1

    That said, I wouldn't want to be looking for a functional 5 1/4" floppy drive.

    I have one in my current computer, works fine in Windows XP.

  21. Re:"the fastest version of Windows to shut down" on Windows 7 RTM Reviewed & Benchmarked · · Score: 1

    DOS required to be shut down, too, if you used SmartDrive (which, IIRC, was active by default at least since MS DOS 5.0, as it improved performance quite a bit).

    Many hard disks, in the days of DOS, didn't auto-park their heads. We used to run a park.com program prior hitting the power switch.

  22. Re:Simple Solution on DHS to Begin Collecting DNA of Anyone Arrested · · Score: 2, Informative

    Uhm, no. You get swabbed if you get arrested and charged. If you don't actually get convicted, the sample gets destroyed.

    That's not true.

    Both DNA profiles (the string of numbers used for identification purposes) and DNA samples (which contain unlimited genetic information), are kept permanently, even if the person arrested is never charged or is acquitted.
    Gene Watch UK

    the permanent storage of bioinformation taken from witnesses, victims, children, and people who are not later convicted;
    The forensic use of bioinformation: ethical issues

  23. Re:Bigger issue than glare on Laptops Screens, Glare or Matte? · · Score: 1

    To complete your pattern: 1400x900 = 1152x864

  24. Re:Flash drives sure have come a long way on The Joy of the Flash Drive · · Score: 2, Interesting

    dK'Tronics released a silicon disc for the Amstrad CPC which could be used as either a memory expansion or as a solid state drive.

  25. Re:Amateur filmmaking on What Applications Will Drive System Performance? · · Score: 2, Informative
    GuyMannDude: But actually creating an episode of Star Trek, for example, is just not possible right now.

    You might want to reconsider that ;-)

    Fan-Made Star Trek Episode Available for Download

    Starship Exeter

    'Star Trek' reborn in online episode

    The fresh episode is a digital product of a personal-computing revolution that has allowed amateur moviemakers to duplicate once-pricey television- and movie-production techniques on shoestring budgets.
    But classic "Star Trek" special effects added an eerie air of authenticity. Some effects, such as certain phaser-fire and force-field scenes, were the result of a reflective camera attachment. Jimm Johnson digitally added others using image-editing software on his home computer. He also used his Apple iMac to create digital backdrops, such as star fields and the control- and screen-festooned walls of the U.S.S. Exeter bridge, and to winnow 16 hours of raw footage down to one 35-minute show.
    He says each minute of the finished show required some 20 hours of painstaking digital editing. This involved mixing still and moving imagery with dialogue and other audio elements, such as a music culled from classic "Star Trek" soundtracks.