1. Any RPG (Single player or MMO) generally requires repetitive tasks before the best parts are available. The main difference with MMORPGs is that you could be doing those repetitive tasks with friends as well.
2. Actually, you are in luck (mostly). There is a great game called VegaStrike that is free to play and available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. The game is still in development, but is in working condition. They are currently working on moving the 3D engine to Ogre from the custom designed engine that they have been using. The entire dataset is made up of CSV and XML files, so it is completely customizeable. They have an active community and many mods have been made for the engine (including a remake of an old DOS game from a certain game studio that was part of a certain game publishing conglomerate, where one of the enemy races is a certain cat-like race).
I hope I wasn't too vague on that, I don't want to draw unwanted attention from a certain company's legal department.
On a side note, I've tried EVE-Online, and while I absoulutely loved it, I couldn't bring myself to pay to play it. I've played 3 MMOs: EVE-Online, Anarchy Online, and MapleStory. My trial to EVE expired, and Anarchy doesn't seem to be polished enough (even though it is one of the oldest MMOs, is very robust, and is consistently updated) and progresses too slowly for my tastes. That leaves me with MapleStory which has cartoonish graphics and is side-scrolling 2D with no PvP. I enjoy playing it, but have little time to play (resulting in my online acquaintances far surpassing my level so that I need to find new people or play it alone almost every time I get online). On the plus side though, MapleStory is free to download and play, and Anarchy is free for new subscribers until at least 2007.
I don't know about anyone else, but I only use search engines to find the site that has what I am looking for. I don't go around typing random URLs in to try and find a site. I type what I am looking for into the search engine, and it responds with a list of sites that match my criteria and the context (usually) of the site. If the context I'm looking for isn't on the first page, I refine my search.
You wouldn't do research in books looking only at the index (or even a library's card catalog system) would you?
I'll respond to points 1 and 3 (Which I will speculate as the most important points).
1) It is only slower when going up. When it is going down, it has the potential to accelerate at 9.8 m/s^2!:) 3) Catastrophic failure (resulting in casualties and/or fatalities) can be prevented using a magnetic braking system which provides a force proportional to the speed of the vehicle. Add a physical stop at the lobby level and in the event of a failure, the vehicle will return to the ground floor with it's occupants unharmed. That sounds better than being stuck between floors for who knows how long.
I've experienced a similar situation. When I worked for a school district, we had a computer lab that the computers were plugged into power strips that were plugged into outlets in the floor (the computer lab was originally the sewing machine room of the home economics classroom.) When we were working on the computers we discovered that the tables were slightly "charged". Apparently, the wax that the custodians used on the floor over the years turned out to be a halfway decent conductor. We moved the computers to the wall outlets after that.
Simple 5 step solution to converting someone to Linux (works best with a tower-style PC with available bays):
1) Get a LiveCD of your favorite distro. 2) Take a cheap CD-ROM drive and disable the eject mechanism (to disallow ejection of the LiveCD). 3) Use the emergency eject buttom to place the LiveCD in the drive and close the tray. 4) Place the CD-ROM drive into the machine (preferably where the user can't see it) 5) Boot the machine and ensure that the CD will boot first.
To upgrade the OS, simply repeat steps 1, 3, and 5.
I've got another business proposition for them then.
If a BellSouth customer calls someone who is not a BellSouth customer, then degrade the connection quality unless the non-customer ponies up some money for better quality service, since one end of the conversation isn't paying for it. Perhaps the paying customer's transmission quality could be diminished, but the non-paying customer's transmission is crystal clear? That way everything seems perfect for their customers.
I'm not saying that's how I always do it (or even usually, or with any semblance of frequency). All I'm saying is that I have. Of those activities, HotSyncing via infrared is the most common (I don't carry the cradle with me all the time).
Games and printing I did when 802.11 was only done in research labs.
Hi, my name is Scott, and I have used the infrared port on my laptops for various reasons. I've HotSynced a Palm via infrared, played games over infrared, printed via infrared.
Just so you know, you now know someone who has used infrared on a laptop.
When my parents built the addition onto their house in 1980, electric baseboard heaters were installed (the house is on a slab with no way (at that time) of tying into the central heating duct system (which was set into the slab). The first month they used it (January near Chicago) they got the lowest electric bill they had ever received. The next month was the highest they ever had.
In the first month, the electricty usage was so great that it had "flipped" the meter so that when the meter was read, it was only a little above the previous month's reading. The next month was warmer and the heater didn't need to run as much. The heaters failed to flip the meter that month. They never used them again.
On a sidenote (alright, so the whole post was a sidenote), when the furnace was replaced, the contractor added ductwork to the expansion (in the ceiling) and rigged up the blower system to utilize the existing ductwork and the new ductwork. This may not sound like a big deal, but furnaces come in two flavors of blowers, they blow into the ceiling or they blow into the floor. The old ducts were in the floor, the new ducts were in the ceiling, and both needed to be used by one furnace.
A condom is cheaper than child support, but is that really an issue for the common slashdotter though? (Disclaimer: I am married, and there's a prescription that handles this that is probably cheaper than buying condoms in bulk.)
Wrong video card: This was more or less a case of you have a video card that can play games or you don't. 3D acceleration (and feature levels) didn't really exist (for gaming) at that time, and when they did they were added to another slot and linked to the 2D card via a ribbon cable.
SX instead of DX? I don't remember any games that utilized the FPU that the SX/DX distinction represents. 33MHz SX vs 66MHz DX2? That's a different story, but most of the time having too slow of a processor just resulted in a slow game.
I remember adding 4 Meg of RAM (for a total of 8MB) to a 486/SX 33 to be able to play Mechwarrior 2. It ran fine with the Cirrus Logic graphics chipset on board and the Packard Bell soundcard we had at the time.
We use both products regularly without any problems. Additionally, Norton Ghost is just about the only program they make that I've never had problems with.
Alright, he has two computers. One is a rack-mount server with no audio. The other is a HTPC with a nice set of speakers. The only thing I can figure with this is that he had a third computer that he was using as his desktop. Additionally, he doesn't want to purchase a USB sound card.
He doesn't want to use RDP due to graphical performance issues which leads me to believe that he is intending to play games rather than listen to music (Since listening to music does not require graphical performance).
I hate to say it (since it contradicts his intentions), but I think a USB sound card would be the optimal way to go. If he just wants to listen to music, there is no need to ask Slashdot (Just stream it or use RDP to control the playlist). If he wants to play games with awesome sound, he should just use the HTPC.
Working in northern Illinois, we have occasionally purchased equipment from CDW that was needed ASAP. If the order was placed in the morning, the products would arrive by courier in the early afternoon. If the need was critical enough, someone would be sent to pick it up.
Bottom-line: If your needs are great enough, you can probably get the parts you need same-day. Some of the major shipping companies offer same-day delivery (at the corresponding rate for such high-priority shipments. read: $$$) It's just a matter of what you are willing to pay for the convenience.
I had a mod point left that I would have used here, but I couldn't decide between Insightful and Funny. I guess I'll just post and ensure that point doesn't go to any other comment for this story.
This is probably a good thing if the 360 behaves like the original Xbox did where pressing the eject button resets the console as well. I realize that not being able to eject the disc while playing is good for making sure no one is using copied games (since usually only the boot code has the copy protection), it is more than a little annoying when something bumps the eject button while you are in the middle of a game. If anything, with Microsoft's OCD about making sure when bad things happen (such as a controller becoming unplugged), the game MUST pause and inform you that the controller has been unplugged using the mandated wording, they should have put a warning when the eject button is pressed to confirm that you do, in fact, want to eject the disc and reboot the system.
If the manager can't read the code, then the manager isn't qualified for the job. Code is logic, and if you can't think logically, you are in the wrong line of work.
Comments ensure that amateurs will be able to follow the logic. Amateurs don't belong in a professional environment.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Battle Royale (for the TG-16) count for this category? Perhaps it was because it was a 5 player fighting game instead of 4 player.
I hate to be a stickler for correctness, but Street Fighter II was the sequel to the game Fighting Street (which was available for the TurboGrafx-CD system).
Well, removing Norton products isn't "hard" to do (and I recommend removing them ASAP), it's just time-consuming. First you have to find your Windows CD and the installation CDs for all of your software. Then you must boot your computer with the Windows CD in, delete the existing partition, and install fresh.
Any self-respecting Windows user should know how to reinstall everything. After all, Windows runs best when re-installed once a year.
I know it used to be that mounting a drive vertically used to shorten the lifespan of the drive, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Of course, mounting horizontally will ensure loss of data in the event of a catastrophic head crash (i.e. the head has broken off the arm and is now bouncing off the platters.)
Hell, even the stormtroopers were probably guys who just graduated highschool, and needed money to go to college and see the galaxy.
The problem here is that as any fan of Star Wars would know, all of the stormtroopers are subserviant clones of Jango Fett and therefore property of the Empire.
I don't know if it was originally planned like this, but it's kind of ironic how this is referenced in Episode IV. When Luke and Han arrive at the prison cell, Leia says "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?". Since all stormtroopers are clones of the same person, they would all be the same height.
Slashdot Mirror
1. Any RPG (Single player or MMO) generally requires repetitive tasks before the best parts are available. The main difference with MMORPGs is that you could be doing those repetitive tasks with friends as well.
2. Actually, you are in luck (mostly). There is a great game called VegaStrike that is free to play and available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. The game is still in development, but is in working condition. They are currently working on moving the 3D engine to Ogre from the custom designed engine that they have been using. The entire dataset is made up of CSV and XML files, so it is completely customizeable. They have an active community and many mods have been made for the engine (including a remake of an old DOS game from a certain game studio that was part of a certain game publishing conglomerate, where one of the enemy races is a certain cat-like race).
I hope I wasn't too vague on that, I don't want to draw unwanted attention from a certain company's legal department.
On a side note, I've tried EVE-Online, and while I absoulutely loved it, I couldn't bring myself to pay to play it. I've played 3 MMOs: EVE-Online, Anarchy Online, and MapleStory. My trial to EVE expired, and Anarchy doesn't seem to be polished enough (even though it is one of the oldest MMOs, is very robust, and is consistently updated) and progresses too slowly for my tastes. That leaves me with MapleStory which has cartoonish graphics and is side-scrolling 2D with no PvP. I enjoy playing it, but have little time to play (resulting in my online acquaintances far surpassing my level so that I need to find new people or play it alone almost every time I get online). On the plus side though, MapleStory is free to download and play, and Anarchy is free for new subscribers until at least 2007.
I don't know about anyone else, but I only use search engines to find the site that has what I am looking for. I don't go around typing random URLs in to try and find a site. I type what I am looking for into the search engine, and it responds with a list of sites that match my criteria and the context (usually) of the site. If the context I'm looking for isn't on the first page, I refine my search.
You wouldn't do research in books looking only at the index (or even a library's card catalog system) would you?
I'll respond to points 1 and 3 (Which I will speculate as the most important points).
:)
1) It is only slower when going up. When it is going down, it has the potential to accelerate at 9.8 m/s^2!
3) Catastrophic failure (resulting in casualties and/or fatalities) can be prevented using a magnetic braking system which provides a force proportional to the speed of the vehicle. Add a physical stop at the lobby level and in the event of a failure, the vehicle will return to the ground floor with it's occupants unharmed. That sounds better than being stuck between floors for who knows how long.
I've experienced a similar situation. When I worked for a school district, we had a computer lab that the computers were plugged into power strips that were plugged into outlets in the floor (the computer lab was originally the sewing machine room of the home economics classroom.) When we were working on the computers we discovered that the tables were slightly "charged". Apparently, the wax that the custodians used on the floor over the years turned out to be a halfway decent conductor. We moved the computers to the wall outlets after that.
Simple 5 step solution to converting someone to Linux (works best with a tower-style PC with available bays):
1) Get a LiveCD of your favorite distro.
2) Take a cheap CD-ROM drive and disable the eject mechanism (to disallow ejection of the LiveCD).
3) Use the emergency eject buttom to place the LiveCD in the drive and close the tray.
4) Place the CD-ROM drive into the machine (preferably where the user can't see it)
5) Boot the machine and ensure that the CD will boot first.
To upgrade the OS, simply repeat steps 1, 3, and 5.
(This was funny, perhaps even practical. Laugh.)
I've got another business proposition for them then.
If a BellSouth customer calls someone who is not a BellSouth customer, then degrade the connection quality unless the non-customer ponies up some money for better quality service, since one end of the conversation isn't paying for it. Perhaps the paying customer's transmission quality could be diminished, but the non-paying customer's transmission is crystal clear? That way everything seems perfect for their customers.
I'm not saying that's how I always do it (or even usually, or with any semblance of frequency). All I'm saying is that I have. Of those activities, HotSyncing via infrared is the most common (I don't carry the cradle with me all the time).
Games and printing I did when 802.11 was only done in research labs.
First Palm decides to use Windows Mobile for the Treo 700, now there is a good possibility that Windows will run on Intel-based Macs.
As an aside, does anyone know if NT4 could run on PPC-based Macs (since NT4 had support for x86, PPC, and Alpha processors)?
Hi, my name is Scott, and I have used the infrared port on my laptops for various reasons. I've HotSynced a Palm via infrared, played games over infrared, printed via infrared.
Just so you know, you now know someone who has used infrared on a laptop.
When my parents built the addition onto their house in 1980, electric baseboard heaters were installed (the house is on a slab with no way (at that time) of tying into the central heating duct system (which was set into the slab). The first month they used it (January near Chicago) they got the lowest electric bill they had ever received. The next month was the highest they ever had.
In the first month, the electricty usage was so great that it had "flipped" the meter so that when the meter was read, it was only a little above the previous month's reading. The next month was warmer and the heater didn't need to run as much. The heaters failed to flip the meter that month. They never used them again.
On a sidenote (alright, so the whole post was a sidenote), when the furnace was replaced, the contractor added ductwork to the expansion (in the ceiling) and rigged up the blower system to utilize the existing ductwork and the new ductwork. This may not sound like a big deal, but furnaces come in two flavors of blowers, they blow into the ceiling or they blow into the floor. The old ducts were in the floor, the new ducts were in the ceiling, and both needed to be used by one furnace.
This one is easier.
A condom is cheaper than child support, but is that really an issue for the common slashdotter though?
(Disclaimer: I am married, and there's a prescription that handles this that is probably cheaper than buying condoms in bulk.)
I remember it differently.
Wrong sound card: No sound or use AdLib emulation
Wrong video card: This was more or less a case of you have a video card that can play games or you don't. 3D acceleration (and feature levels) didn't really exist (for gaming) at that time, and when they did they were added to another slot and linked to the 2D card via a ribbon cable.
SX instead of DX? I don't remember any games that utilized the FPU that the SX/DX distinction represents. 33MHz SX vs 66MHz DX2? That's a different story, but most of the time having too slow of a processor just resulted in a slow game.
I remember adding 4 Meg of RAM (for a total of 8MB) to a 486/SX 33 to be able to play Mechwarrior 2. It ran fine with the Cirrus Logic graphics chipset on board and the Packard Bell soundcard we had at the time.
We use both products regularly without any problems. Additionally, Norton Ghost is just about the only program they make that I've never had problems with.
Alright, he has two computers. One is a rack-mount server with no audio. The other is a HTPC with a nice set of speakers. The only thing I can figure with this is that he had a third computer that he was using as his desktop. Additionally, he doesn't want to purchase a USB sound card.
He doesn't want to use RDP due to graphical performance issues which leads me to believe that he is intending to play games rather than listen to music (Since listening to music does not require graphical performance).
I hate to say it (since it contradicts his intentions), but I think a USB sound card would be the optimal way to go. If he just wants to listen to music, there is no need to ask Slashdot (Just stream it or use RDP to control the playlist). If he wants to play games with awesome sound, he should just use the HTPC.
It's more dangerous to pass on the right, and in some places (such as the German Autobahn), doing so would lead to you being arrested.
Working in northern Illinois, we have occasionally purchased equipment from CDW that was needed ASAP. If the order was placed in the morning, the products would arrive by courier in the early afternoon. If the need was critical enough, someone would be sent to pick it up.
Bottom-line: If your needs are great enough, you can probably get the parts you need same-day. Some of the major shipping companies offer same-day delivery (at the corresponding rate for such high-priority shipments. read: $$$) It's just a matter of what you are willing to pay for the convenience.
I had a mod point left that I would have used here, but I couldn't decide between Insightful and Funny. I guess I'll just post and ensure that point doesn't go to any other comment for this story.
This is probably a good thing if the 360 behaves like the original Xbox did where pressing the eject button resets the console as well. I realize that not being able to eject the disc while playing is good for making sure no one is using copied games (since usually only the boot code has the copy protection), it is more than a little annoying when something bumps the eject button while you are in the middle of a game. If anything, with Microsoft's OCD about making sure when bad things happen (such as a controller becoming unplugged), the game MUST pause and inform you that the controller has been unplugged using the mandated wording, they should have put a warning when the eject button is pressed to confirm that you do, in fact, want to eject the disc and reboot the system.
If the manager can't read the code, then the manager isn't qualified for the job. Code is logic, and if you can't think logically, you are in the wrong line of work.
Comments ensure that amateurs will be able to follow the logic. Amateurs don't belong in a professional environment.
To all those who corrected me, I hereby turn in my geek card. I had never seen the arcade game, and only knew of the TG-CD game. Please forgive me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Battle Royale (for the TG-16) count for this category? Perhaps it was because it was a 5 player fighting game instead of 4 player.
I hate to be a stickler for correctness, but Street Fighter II was the sequel to the game Fighting Street (which was available for the TurboGrafx-CD system).
Well, removing Norton products isn't "hard" to do (and I recommend removing them ASAP), it's just time-consuming. First you have to find your Windows CD and the installation CDs for all of your software. Then you must boot your computer with the Windows CD in, delete the existing partition, and install fresh.
Any self-respecting Windows user should know how to reinstall everything. After all, Windows runs best when re-installed once a year.
I know it used to be that mounting a drive vertically used to shorten the lifespan of the drive, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Of course, mounting horizontally will ensure loss of data in the event of a catastrophic head crash (i.e. the head has broken off the arm and is now bouncing off the platters.)
Hell, even the stormtroopers were probably guys who just graduated highschool, and needed money to go to college and see the galaxy.
The problem here is that as any fan of Star Wars would know, all of the stormtroopers are subserviant clones of Jango Fett and therefore property of the Empire.
I don't know if it was originally planned like this, but it's kind of ironic how this is referenced in Episode IV. When Luke and Han arrive at the prison cell, Leia says "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?". Since all stormtroopers are clones of the same person, they would all be the same height.