Is there anything anywhere that lists what's required of these warranties? I mean couldn't you just attach a really dumb, simple stupid warranty to your program like - "I give you the warranty this program uses CPU cycles if you run and/or compile it?"
Perhaps it's my shoddy soundcard (a Yamaha OPL3SA-2 based card), but I really can't hear anything that great from the "Extra Stereo" plugin and the iQ QSound plugin. I have Altec Lansing ACS44 Speakers (nothing spectacularly great, but sure beats the Rat-Shack tin cans I was using for a while). The QBass makes the bass obscenely large and overpowers the rest of the music. I like some bass, but I'm not one of those people who cranks up the subwoofer all the way. It just sounds ridiculous. With the "Extra Stereo" plugin it does the opposite, and makes the high-end way too overpowering.
I have my two cube speakers about 2 feet in each direction on both sides of my desk, with my subwoofer about 2 feet to my back right, chair in the middle of all of it. I'm not getting any "spatial" effects off either of these plugins. I'm probably "too close" to the speakers to hear that magical third channel which my brains supposed to register as being behind me (not going to happen). They both seem to just muck with the equalizer a little, pump up the high-end and low-end a decibel or two and introduce some echo. Is this supposed to sound "good"?. A friend of mine has a true 4 speaker setup, and this just simply doesn't compare, or even come close - even at $10 or free.
Oh these phones are SO NOT useful if I can't play Nibbles (copyright Microsoft, uh.. 1992 or something) on them.
Well seriously eh, what the heck is the point of this? Why don't they put effort into making $20 cell phones - period. Forget disposable phones, someone should put some engineering power into a lowcost phone in general with some modern features that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Despite all those little alarms going off in my head to ignore this, it's sadly happening, and in my immediate world. Upon arriving back at school this year, I found they finally got the T1 connection up, and the machines have - Internet Explorer 5. I assist in the computer labs and was going to protest this decision, then it occured to me - why bother.
The machines are 486/133's (how sad I know), and they simply don't cut the mustard when it comes to using Netscape. I don't know why (ok I _probably_ know why... propiterary API's that aren't being shared or whatnot), but Netscape sucks big time on the machines. Crashes left and right, renders like a drunk slug, and takes way too long to load. Meanwhile IE 5 somehow manages to perform efficently on the machines.
I then arrived back at the technical school I goto, to the newly arrived Pentium III's. How odd, we had Netscape last year, suddenly IE's our browser this year. I installed Netscape for a project about a month later and boy, was I surprised. There I was on a state of the art new spiffy Gateway machine, and Netscape's performance was still horrid. IE 5 wins again.
I am (was?) a devout Netscape user. IE had never seen the light of day on my machine. I've used Netscape from version 2.02 to 4.61. My computer dual boots Windows 98 (I just can't kick the games, doh!) and Linux. While in Windows after playing a game, I was using a webpage that required a browser with some of the new specs (HTTP 1.1 or whatnot, I forget exactly.) "Netscape 4.61 or Internet Explorer 4 required". Well, I only have Netscape 4.07 in Windows installed because I don't really use the internet in there. Let's see, I obviously need one of these browsers. I have a 56K modem, do I wait an hour and a half to download Netscape 4.7, or hm, is that "Includes Internet Explorer" I see on that CD there?
I install IE 5. After what seemed about 5 reboots, and about 20 minutes later I'm in Windows on the internet. Boy, this thing just FEELS better then Netscape. I use Internet Junkbuster in Linux for cookie filtering (call me paranoid?), and misc other utilites to customize my browsing. Well I'll be damned, Internet Explorers got all these nice customized "Security Settings" per website you can use. No longer do I have to open up my/etc/junkbuster/cookiefile, I simply add the site to the "Trusted Sites" zone. Nice. I also spend the time to marvel at the faster more intelligent rendering engine IE seems to have, the nice smooth scrolling, and all the other little things.
Fast forward, two weeks later. Sitting in Linux I am, curious on the status of Mozilla. I download Mozilla M10. An excellent work so far, and I look forward to using the final version. The only problem here? IE 5, with what seems to me has almost all the features of Mozilla I'm looking for is out now. Mozilla M20, Gecko, Netscape 5 - whatever it may be called, doesn't look like it's coming anytime soon. While I can certainly wait a few months, my schools obviously can't. And that means IT departments everywhere probably won't. With Linux comes the need for a browser that can perform well. While we all love lynx, it just won't work in corporate settings. Opera looks promising, but it's not here yet, and everyones become too jaded and used to a "Free" browser anyways.
This is not intended as flamebait or whatnot, I'm simply telling the tragic story of how myself, a Linux geek, Netscape loving guy, has unwillingly come to accept IE.
I experience the same problem.. maybe. I don't know what your definition of "shifting" is, but when I close my KDE session, and kdm pops up it momentarily gets kinda scrambled at the top of the screen but kdm seems to reset it back. It's really not a problem other than midly annoying. I have a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 2MB PCI Video card. When I was using the S3V Server I didn't encounter this problem. I currently use the SVGA server because I find the performance better for my card. I'm not sure if what you're describing is a more severe problem then mine, but I hope I helped.
Ok.. this article doesn't really answer a question of mine.. how tall would you need this thing to be to launch a shuttle? The concept of simply shoving a shuttle a couple of hundred feet into the air then launching with rockets seems weird. I get the feeling I'm not getting the entire gist of this article. Will the maglev simply give the shuttle the initial push into the air where traditional rockets take over? That doesn't seem to SAFE actually.. what if the maglev shoots it up and the rockets don't fire? Ker plunk. Ah well, if it helps commercial spaceflight it's a good thing.
About the hardware buying cycle... I have experienced the same thing. While a 550 x 2 SMP Celeron machine certainly looks cool on paper - why in the WORLD does anyone need that? Ever since I cut back on my game playing (I regulate myself to basically emulated consoles now.. I find they're the most fun) and in the past year I've migrated from Windows to Linux as my desktop of choice, the hardware rat race doesn't amuse me anymore.
I've been trying to explain as of late to people they put entirely too much emphasis on the clock speed of the CPU. I explain how the real bandwith in a system is the hard drive and video card usually. But no one listens... they'd much rather shell out $700 for the latest 900MHZ WunderProcessor CPU and a board that supports it and plop it in their system,rather than taking their current perfectly usable system and say.. implementing SCSI in it which would probably make a bigger performance boost.
I know this will sound cheesy - but using Linux has given me more respect for technology. Before I'd think "oh gosh, that 486 sucks. It can't do anything!". Now and days, I see a 386 40mhz with a cd-rom and think "what a perfectly usable little linux box that could be!".
Stop software manufacturer & CPU makers siphoning of your wallets - use Linux. The little OS that could.
I used to watch the X-Files religiously. Except as of late in the past 3 seasons or so, I'd turn on FOX and the suckfest would begin. After Mulder's nth abduction things got pretty stupid. Gillian Anderson is doing a good thing getting away from the show - it's like beating a dead horse. She's got immense acting talent (ok I'm goign to get snotty comments for that... she's ABOVE AVERAGE).
Hopefully Chris Carter realizes it's time for the show to end finally.. maybe. I think a really good show could be built around the supporting characters such as Skinner, The Lone Gunmen, and maybe a few of those badass FBI suits who are always causing trouble. A spinoff series with The Lone Gunmen would be quite good, but I don't know if you could build a show entirely around Skinner. Mitch Pugel (I know I just totally blew that guys name..) is a really decent actor but his characters gone quite bland in recent years. Plus he lost all credibility from me when he hosted that Masked Magician show:)
This sounds an awfully lot like the DARE program. You know the.. let's go tell 6th graders there's this thing called Marijuana which makes you feel really good, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE USING, IT, AT ALL!@# WHY?! BECAUSE WE SAID SO! So congratulations to whoever came up with this anti-hacking campaign, you're going to perk up the interests of thousands of kids across the nation who are going to become even more interested in computers because they'll be thinking "whoa cool! I can do THAT?!".
Peach should sue for sexual discrimination and libel too. Not only is she always portrayed as the "helpless" Princess who needs rescuing, they had the nerve to call her TOADSTOOL here in America. Ladies and gentleman, this is a clearcut case of our video game mascots not getting the respect they deserve. Peach will be represented by Toad, who has also filed suits on behalf of the Goombas for hate crimes.
"I'll be the first in line to get the new cybernetic interface installed".. Unfortunately, this stuff's never going to popup in America anytime soon. There's incredibly too much red tape to go through. It's hard enough to get a traffic light installed around here. The future is here, and whether you like it or not.. it's NOT in the USA.
Ahhh the memories... the horrid VGA graphics. The boneheaded idea to change services into CORE and PLUS [my family quit REAL quickly after my sister racked up a $300 bill that way... ] The word "bash" being censored. The mysterious elite hax0r's and there "blank messages". The underground accounts where you'd have your own private little message boards by writing email that bounces on purpose, therefore getting routed back to anyone who reads that email box.. That really cheesy game where you were a knight and rode around in some 3D maze.. Prodigy, I'll miss you so.
I have seen the future ..
on
The Ottoman PC
·
· Score: 2
What do you think the chances that Road Rules purposely left their systems unsecure HOPING you would break into them, for the purpose of being able to mess with the other people? I mean the idea ALONE sounds like great TV... Hackers 2: Wrath of Abe
You know, you two are sounding absolutely assinine here. Gosh forbid you be nice and donate a computer over to someone who wants to learn but can't afford a system. The reality is there's a LOT of low income families out there have children who perhaps would love to learn computers, but they simply can't afford one for the kid. Also, congratulations on adding massive ammounts of lead and/or chemicals to the environment by dumping 30 machines into the trash. That was pretty stupid..
I've read Enders Game, Speaker For The Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind. Ender's game was pure brilliance. The other three didn't quite work as whole books in themselves. They got really damn boring in some spots, but overall they were above average stories. After reading the first four chapters of Ender's Shadow avalible on OSC's web site, this book looks like it may add fresh life to the series.
Personally after Speaker For The Dead, I got pretty damn bored with Ender, and enjoyed more th the characters Card went to build around him. Valentine and Peter proved much more interesting. Bean's a questionable subject to choose for a full length book, but so far it looks like it should work.
After skimming the thread here.. I see there's going to be an Enders Game movie supposedly. Without a doubt, I get the bad feeling it's going to suck, and bad. Although I'm glad to see they've got Jake Lloyd fingered out as Ender. After seeing him in Star Wars you can tell he's got great ability, as long as he's not fed a crap script.
I question the timing of the this campaign. While it's a good idea, it's not a good idea at the current moment. C&C II Has been delayed for SO long (I know someone who preordered it like 2 years ago and they tell me it's had about 5 different release dates) that bugging the developers for a Linux version this moment may not be such a great idea. Maybe once they actually get ANY version of it finished then we can think about it.
SLASHDOT - In a stunning turn of events, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) responded to France's actions, declaring that the equator runs directly through Redmond, Washington. Microsoft Corporation will place millions of DOS floppies end to end, forming a straight line that can be seen from space.
Big deal? You can't seriously expect a project like this to gain 500,000 and run absolutely smoothly for the first few weeks. While yes, it does suck the same blocks have been being checked over and over again, but at least we know it works now.
I've used Opera for Windows. It's quite good actually. Speed would be it's major advantage I'd say. But who is Opera Software really targetting with this release? Mozilla will (hopefully) be out by the time this is fully released. Why would anyone want to choose Opera over a easily expandable, up-to-standards Mozilla? While I do applaud the efforts of Opera porting the browser to Linux (about time... they were "looking" into this" about a year and a half ago I think..) it may be a little futile.
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Is there anything anywhere that lists what's required of these warranties? I mean couldn't you just attach a really dumb, simple stupid warranty to your program like - "I give you the warranty this program uses CPU cycles if you run and/or compile it?"
Perhaps it's my shoddy soundcard (a Yamaha OPL3SA-2 based card), but I really can't hear anything that great from the "Extra Stereo" plugin and the iQ QSound plugin. I have Altec Lansing ACS44 Speakers (nothing spectacularly great, but sure beats the Rat-Shack tin cans I was using for a while). The QBass makes the bass obscenely large and overpowers the rest of the music. I like some bass, but I'm not one of those people who cranks up the subwoofer all the way. It just sounds ridiculous. With the "Extra Stereo" plugin it does the opposite, and makes the high-end way too overpowering.
I have my two cube speakers about 2 feet in each direction on both sides of my desk, with my subwoofer about 2 feet to my back right, chair in the middle of all of it. I'm not getting any "spatial" effects off either of these plugins. I'm probably "too close" to the speakers to hear that magical third channel which my brains supposed to register as being behind me (not going to happen). They both seem to just muck with the equalizer a little, pump up the high-end and low-end a decibel or two and introduce some echo. Is this supposed to sound "good"?. A friend of mine has a true 4 speaker setup, and this just simply doesn't compare, or even come close - even at $10 or free.
Oh these phones are SO NOT useful if I can't play Nibbles (copyright Microsoft, uh.. 1992 or something) on them.
Well seriously eh, what the heck is the point of this? Why don't they put effort into making $20 cell phones - period. Forget disposable phones, someone should put some engineering power into a lowcost phone in general with some modern features that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Despite all those little alarms going off in my head to ignore this, it's sadly happening, and in my immediate world. Upon arriving back at school this year, I found they finally got the T1 connection up, and the machines have - Internet Explorer 5. I assist in the computer labs and was going to protest this decision, then it occured to me - why bother.
... propiterary API's that aren't being shared or whatnot), but Netscape sucks big time on the machines. Crashes left and right, renders like a drunk slug, and takes way too long to load. Meanwhile IE 5 somehow manages to perform efficently on the machines.
/etc/junkbuster/cookiefile, I simply add the site to the "Trusted Sites" zone. Nice. I also spend the time to marvel at the faster more intelligent rendering engine IE seems to have, the nice smooth scrolling, and all the other little things.
The machines are 486/133's (how sad I know), and they simply don't cut the mustard when it comes to using Netscape. I don't know why (ok I _probably_ know why
I then arrived back at the technical school I goto, to the newly arrived Pentium III's. How odd, we had Netscape last year, suddenly IE's our browser this year. I installed Netscape for a project about a month later and boy, was I surprised. There I was on a state of the art new spiffy Gateway machine, and Netscape's performance was still horrid. IE 5 wins again.
I am (was?) a devout Netscape user. IE had never seen the light of day on my machine. I've used Netscape from version 2.02 to 4.61. My computer dual boots Windows 98 (I just can't kick the games, doh!) and Linux. While in Windows after playing a game, I was using a webpage that required a browser with some of the new specs (HTTP 1.1 or whatnot, I forget exactly.) "Netscape 4.61 or Internet Explorer 4 required". Well, I only have Netscape 4.07 in Windows installed because I don't really use the internet in there. Let's see, I obviously need one of these browsers. I have a 56K modem, do I wait an hour and a half to download Netscape 4.7, or hm, is that "Includes Internet Explorer" I see on that CD there?
I install IE 5. After what seemed about 5 reboots, and about 20 minutes later I'm in Windows on the internet. Boy, this thing just FEELS better then Netscape. I use Internet Junkbuster in Linux for cookie filtering (call me paranoid?), and misc other utilites to customize my browsing. Well I'll be damned, Internet Explorers got all these nice customized "Security Settings" per website you can use. No longer do I have to open up my
Fast forward, two weeks later. Sitting in Linux I am, curious on the status of Mozilla. I download Mozilla M10. An excellent work so far, and I look forward to using the final version. The only problem here? IE 5, with what seems to me has almost all the features of Mozilla I'm looking for is out now. Mozilla M20, Gecko, Netscape 5 - whatever it may be called, doesn't look like it's coming anytime soon. While I can certainly wait a few months, my schools obviously can't. And that means IT departments everywhere probably won't. With Linux comes the need for a browser that can perform well. While we all love lynx, it just won't work in corporate settings. Opera looks promising, but it's not here yet, and everyones become too jaded and used to a "Free" browser anyways.
This is not intended as flamebait or whatnot, I'm simply telling the tragic story of how myself, a Linux geek, Netscape loving guy, has unwillingly come to accept IE.
I experience the same problem .. maybe. I don't know what your definition of "shifting" is, but when I close my KDE session, and kdm pops up it momentarily gets kinda scrambled at the top of the screen but kdm seems to reset it back. It's really not a problem other than midly annoying. I have a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 2MB PCI Video card. When I was using the S3V Server I didn't encounter this problem. I currently use the SVGA server because I find the performance better for my card. I'm not sure if what you're describing is a more severe problem then mine, but I hope I helped.
Ok.. this article doesn't really answer a question of mine .. how tall would you need this thing to be to launch a shuttle? The concept of simply shoving a shuttle a couple of hundred feet into the air then launching with rockets seems weird. I get the feeling I'm not getting the entire gist of this article. Will the maglev simply give the shuttle the initial push into the air where traditional rockets take over? That doesn't seem to SAFE actually .. what if the maglev shoots it up and the rockets don't fire? Ker plunk. Ah well, if it helps commercial spaceflight it's a good thing.
Hey guys, I wonder if Abe Ingersol from Road Rules is going to make a special cameo apperance! Wouldn't that be great!
[all sarcasm fully intended]
About the hardware buying cycle ... I have experienced the same thing. While a 550 x 2 SMP Celeron machine certainly looks cool on paper - why in the WORLD does anyone need that? Ever since I cut back on my game playing (I regulate myself to basically emulated consoles now.. I find they're the most fun) and in the past year I've migrated from Windows to Linux as my desktop of choice, the hardware rat race doesn't amuse me anymore.
... they'd much rather shell out $700 for the latest 900MHZ WunderProcessor CPU and a board that supports it and plop it in their system,rather than taking their current perfectly usable system and say.. implementing SCSI in it which would probably make a bigger performance boost.
I've been trying to explain as of late to people
they put entirely too much emphasis on the clock speed of the CPU. I explain how the real bandwith in a system is the hard drive and video card usually. But no one listens
I know this will sound cheesy - but using Linux has given me more respect for technology. Before I'd think "oh gosh, that 486 sucks. It can't do anything!". Now and days, I see a 386 40mhz with a cd-rom and think "what a perfectly usable little linux box that could be!".
Stop software manufacturer & CPU makers siphoning of your wallets - use Linux. The little OS that could.
Ah crap, THAT'S who I was forgetting. His character could also be something really really cool in a series of his own.
I used to watch the X-Files religiously. Except as of late in the past 3 seasons or so, I'd turn on FOX and the suckfest would begin. After Mulder's nth abduction things got pretty stupid. Gillian Anderson is doing a good thing getting away from the show - it's like beating a dead horse. She's got immense acting talent (ok I'm goign to get snotty comments for that... she's ABOVE AVERAGE).
..) is a really decent actor but his characters gone quite bland in recent years. Plus he lost all credibility from me when he hosted that Masked Magician show :)
Hopefully Chris Carter realizes it's time for the show to end finally.. maybe. I think a really good show could be built around the supporting characters such as Skinner, The Lone Gunmen, and maybe a few of those badass FBI suits who are always causing trouble. A spinoff series with The Lone Gunmen would be quite good, but I don't know if you could build a show entirely around Skinner. Mitch Pugel (I know I just totally blew that guys name
This sounds an awfully lot like the DARE program. You know the .. let's go tell 6th graders there's this thing called Marijuana which makes you feel really good, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE USING, IT, AT ALL!@# WHY?! BECAUSE WE SAID SO! So congratulations to whoever came up with this anti-hacking campaign, you're going to perk up the interests of thousands of kids across the nation who are going to become even more interested in computers because they'll be thinking "whoa cool! I can do THAT?!".
Peach should sue for sexual discrimination and libel too. Not only is she always portrayed as the "helpless" Princess who needs rescuing, they had the nerve to call her TOADSTOOL here in America. Ladies and gentleman, this is a clearcut case of our video game mascots not getting the respect they deserve. Peach will be represented by Toad, who has also filed suits on behalf of the Goombas for hate crimes.
"I'll be the first in line to get the new cybernetic interface installed" .. Unfortunately, this stuff's never going to popup in America anytime soon. There's incredibly too much red tape to go through. It's hard enough to get a traffic light installed around here. The future is here, and whether you like it or not.. it's NOT in the USA.
X Prodigy? Bah, I'm OLDSKOOL baby. Back when prodigy wasn't even jacked into the Internet.
Ahhh the memories... the horrid VGA graphics. The boneheaded idea to change services into CORE and PLUS [my family quit REAL quickly after my sister racked up a $300 bill that way ... ] The word "bash" being censored. The mysterious elite hax0r's and there "blank messages". The underground accounts where you'd have your own private little message boards by writing email that bounces on purpose, therefore getting routed back to anyone who reads that email box .. That really cheesy game where you were a knight and rode around in some 3D maze .. Prodigy, I'll miss you so.
.. and it looks like a waffle maker.
"Waffle Inside"
What do you think the chances that Road Rules purposely left their systems unsecure HOPING you would break into them, for the purpose of being able to mess with the other people? I mean the idea ALONE sounds like great TV ...
Hackers 2: Wrath of Abe
You know, you two are sounding absolutely assinine here. Gosh forbid you be nice and donate a computer over to someone who wants to learn but can't afford a system. The reality is there's a LOT of low income families out there have children who perhaps would love to learn computers, but they simply can't afford one for the kid. Also, congratulations on adding massive ammounts of lead and/or chemicals to the environment by dumping 30 machines into the trash. That was pretty stupid ..
I've read Enders Game, Speaker For The Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind. Ender's game was pure brilliance. The other three didn't quite work as whole books in themselves. They got really damn boring in some spots, but overall they were above average stories. After reading the first four chapters of Ender's Shadow avalible on OSC's web site, this book looks like it may add fresh life to the series.
.. I see there's going to be an Enders Game movie supposedly. Without a doubt, I get the bad feeling it's going to suck, and bad. Although I'm glad to see they've got Jake Lloyd fingered out as Ender. After seeing him in Star Wars you can tell he's got great ability, as long as he's not fed a crap script.
Personally after Speaker For The Dead, I got pretty damn bored with Ender, and enjoyed more th the characters Card went to build around him. Valentine and Peter proved much more interesting. Bean's a questionable subject to choose for a full length book, but so far it looks like it should work.
After skimming the thread here
I question the timing of the this campaign. While it's a good idea, it's not a good idea at the current moment. C&C II Has been delayed for SO long (I know someone who preordered it like 2 years ago and they tell me it's had about 5 different release dates) that bugging the developers for a Linux version this moment may not be such a great idea. Maybe once they actually get ANY version of it finished then we can think about it.
It has to work!@# I mean, they did it in Armageddon, right?!
SLASHDOT - In a stunning turn of events, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) responded to France's actions, declaring that the equator runs directly through Redmond, Washington. Microsoft Corporation will place millions of DOS floppies end to end, forming a straight line that can be seen from space.
Big deal? You can't seriously expect a project like this to gain 500,000 and run absolutely smoothly for the first few weeks. While yes, it does suck the same blocks have been being checked over and over again, but at least we know it works now.
I've used Opera for Windows. It's quite good actually. Speed would be it's major advantage I'd say. But who is Opera Software really targetting with this release? Mozilla will (hopefully) be out by the time this is fully released. Why would anyone want to choose Opera over a easily expandable, up-to-standards Mozilla? While I do applaud the efforts of Opera porting the browser to Linux (about time... they were "looking" into this" about a year and a half ago I think..) it may be a little futile.
I think you missed the [SARCASM MODE ON] section :) I'm just trying to point out why something glaringly obvious hasn't been tried yet.