My girlfriend was in roughly the same boat a month ago. Her 8+ year old P4 desktop hasn't been turned on in many months. She planned to replace it soon.
I bought myself a Nexus 7 to take with me for my computing needs (video games, video watching, IRC, eBook reading, remote access to my home network, etc.) while at her place. She saw how much I could get done with it and quickly changed her mind about buying a new desktop/laptop.
She picked up an ASUS Transformer TF300T at a recent sale from Best Buy and has since used it more than she ever would have used a full blown PC. She previously used her iPhone to get her basic tasks done (tons of email, casual games, web surfing, YouTube, Pandora) but since having the tablet she only uses her iPhone as a phone (and no longer suffers with that tiny screen).
Posted laying in bed from my Nexus 7 with her playing Zen Pinball on her Transformer.:)
Two months ago I left AT&T because them implemented bandwidth caps. They capped their highest tier ("6.0Mb/s", never goes over 4.8Mb/s) at 80GB a month. They have a website up at http://broadband-usage.att.com/ that kindly shows you what APPEARS to be a 150GB/month limit (that is the limit for their "6.0Mbps" U-verse service) no matter what service you have. Delve deeper into the FAQ, and you will see the real caps. Very deceptive. The rate they charge per-GB for overages is $1.
I switched to Charter for my phone and internet, hoping to be counted by their bean-counters as a lost customer, thanks to their greed. However, it appears I have just traded one evil for another.
I called Charter three times today so far. I've spoken to two "account retention" employees and one "technical support" guy (thinking he may know his ass from a hole in the ground. I was wrong.), in addition to two supervisors.
They currently have no way for their customers to monitor their bandwidth. Even the tech support guy said he has no way to view my bandwidth.
And not one of them had heard today's news.
Not one of them could offer anything other than, "Uh, well, I dunno...".
However, I present to you the comic relief provided by Charter representatives :
When told about the story on Slashdot (Charter tech support guy): "What? On Slashnet you say?"
When told about the story on DSLReports.com (Charter account retention employee): "Sir, we're cable, not DSL."
*sigh*
Way to hold the country back. Corporate greed will always win over progress.
I'm from there, and you are correct. I can not handle the water anywhere else. Everywhere I've had the water since living there is undrinkable compared to the crystal clear water available there. It has cost me a fortune in additional filters and such to get me by.
It's my understanding that it runs rather well in wine, Cedega, and Crossover. I've not tried anythind beyond Cedega, but here are some links that you can check for some information.
It's amazing what you can get working with these "emulators" when a large group of people are interested in it. Hence my complaints against Cedega when it comes to Counter-strike and WoW.
There are a few, like the Marcus Fenix gamerpic for completing Gears of War on Insane, and a few games come with the Gamerpics when you download or play them (XBLA has a few notables- but recently they have been adding "picture packs" for 190MSP).
It would really be nice to have more pics though, as once you get a solid Friends List going you start to see a lot of the same pictures (apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like to pay Real Money/Billy Bucks for Gamerpics).
Because a lot of gamers today start good games they never finish (if it's a bad game it doesn't apply as obviously you're playing for fun).
What happened to the days of picking up a game and playing it through and through? These days the often wonderful single player campaigns are overlooked for multiplayer gameplay. In a game like Unreal Tournament this is fine, as the single player offers limited challenge and reward compared to human opponents and trash talking.
This is a real kick in the pants for single player games. Under past circumstances there would be no real motivation to "earn 1,000,000 points without dying" in a game like Geometry Wars, but now there is, and it's just one more fun thing added to the game to attempt to do. To a lot of people this seems an unreachable goal. And in the past, those who claimed to have accomplished this feat may even be called liars by other gamers. Now you get additional gameplay value, a sense of accomplishment, and proof.
The Achievements are definitely a great way to get people to keep playing a game they may otherwise have put down after awhile, but ultimately they are useless.
It has come up in discussion with friends about how the Achievement system could be improved, and we all pretty much agreed on the points need to have some kind of value.
Microsoft sells "Gamerpics" through their Xbox Live service. I'm of the mindset it's absolutely ridiculous to pay real money for a 1"x1" image that becomes associated with your GamerTag. Why not have the Gamerscore (poins earned through Achievements) count as Microsoft Points that can only be used towards Gamerpics and dashboard themes? I can understand why it might be asking a bit much to allow them to be used to purchase downloadable game content, XBLArcade titles, and even rent/buy videos from the Video Marketplace - but the Gamerpics and themes are basically clipped images from previous art, and clearly of far less value.
Heck, they could take it a step further and have a separate place to purchase things with Gamerscore as the only currency. "Special" Gamerpics for instance. The achievements themselves have somewhat unique and slick icons usually, why isn't every single one of them available as a Gamerpic?
Maybe now that Microsoft realizes they've done something incredibly correct they will build upon it.
Oh, and one more thing, screw you EA, for the incredibly easy "gimmie" achievements. Sadly, I guarantee they have sold games because of this.
The really great ones take actual skill and effort (Grandmaster at "Mutant Storm Reloaded", and "Survive 1,000,000" in Geometry Wars for instance)
:( I just said (before I saw your post) nearly the exact same thing.
A lot of people around these parts only see video games as games. Not a part of our lives like it is for many of us. Some of you have your dogs, your job, your wife, your kids, parents... some of us have nothing but our happy memories.
My plan is to develop Alzheimers. Ideally my brain falls back on the only thing it knows. Saving the world, one level at a time.
How does this crap make Slashdot? We've really thrown our journalistic integrity out the window with this one.
Other than three-quarter's a page worth of ads and useless linksoff to only god-knows-where per paragraph of actual text the article offered nothing more than some guys uninformed glance at Linux gaming. Something he doesn't seem to know anything about. It's almost as if he has just discovered Loki shut down and that Cedega doesn't work miracles this weekend.
Essentially this is nothing more than an ad for Crossover Office so Linux wannabes can play World of Warcraft and feel educated and smart (I'll spare the WoW players a cheap jab this time).
[article douchebag wrote: The fact that World of Warcraft gave me an error message and then refused to accept the second install CD just irritated the hell out of me.]
For god's sakes the guy can't even mount a disc...
Again... [article douchebag wrote: Fortunately I had a copy of Mandriva 2007 with Cedega bundled. Even then though, installation of certain games didn't work properly.]
I don't even know where to begin with how asinine that statement is. The writer implies his distribution has something to do with Windows emulation?
As a matter of fact, the ONLY thing that isn't "just use Windows lololoz" and shows there may be a light behind this guys eyes is he gripe about Transgaming's Cedega download section. Sure, navigating through file names that have version numbers that go up incrementally as the software progresses can be very confusing when deciding what to download, but it's probably a safe bet to grab the highest numbered engine, and the highest numbered Cedega UI. It is messy, but based on the look of this website, this guy clearly does not understand what constitutes intuitive.
Seriously, thank you. I've not used another distribution that I could tolerate for more than a few hours, Slackware being the exception. It's consistently excellent and for the past few years that I've been using Slackware you've proven your mastery over the rest of the crowd. Your vision of this distribution is exactly what a lot of people look for. I think a lot of the others are too afraid to do what Slackware does (probably because it does it the best, no contest), and aim for flash and glitz.
Ignore the trolls and nay-sayers. I know it's hard, but there is a legion of Slackware users that appreciate the work you do for us.
On a side note, not everyone wants crappy custom GUI tools to configure their machines and a slow and annoying "magic installer thingy" (I'm looking at you YaST) to download and install their software. Some of us like having control.
Press the discs, my money is ready to be sent:) Once again, thank you.
Slashdot Mirror
My girlfriend was in roughly the same boat a month ago. Her 8+ year old P4 desktop hasn't been turned on in many months. She planned to replace it soon.
I bought myself a Nexus 7 to take with me for my computing needs (video games, video watching, IRC, eBook reading, remote access to my home network, etc.) while at her place. She saw how much I could get done with it and quickly changed her mind about buying a new desktop/laptop.
She picked up an ASUS Transformer TF300T at a recent sale from Best Buy and has since used it more than she ever would have used a full blown PC. She previously used her iPhone to get her basic tasks done (tons of email, casual games, web surfing, YouTube, Pandora) but since having the tablet she only uses her iPhone as a phone (and no longer suffers with that tiny screen).
Posted laying in bed from my Nexus 7 with her playing Zen Pinball on her Transformer. :)
Two months ago I left AT&T because them implemented bandwidth caps. They capped their highest tier ("6.0Mb/s", never goes over 4.8Mb/s) at 80GB a month. They have a website up at http://broadband-usage.att.com/ that kindly shows you what APPEARS to be a 150GB/month limit (that is the limit for their "6.0Mbps" U-verse service) no matter what service you have. Delve deeper into the FAQ, and you will see the real caps. Very deceptive. The rate they charge per-GB for overages is $1.
I switched to Charter for my phone and internet, hoping to be counted by their bean-counters as a lost customer, thanks to their greed. However, it appears I have just traded one evil for another.
I called Charter three times today so far. I've spoken to two "account retention" employees and one "technical support" guy (thinking he may know his ass from a hole in the ground. I was wrong.), in addition to two supervisors.
They currently have no way for their customers to monitor their bandwidth. Even the tech support guy said he has no way to view my bandwidth.
And not one of them had heard today's news.
Not one of them could offer anything other than, "Uh, well, I dunno...".
However, I present to you the comic relief provided by Charter representatives :
When told about the story on Slashdot (Charter tech support guy): "What? On Slashnet you say?"
When told about the story on DSLReports.com (Charter account retention employee): "Sir, we're cable, not DSL."
*sigh*
Way to hold the country back. Corporate greed will always win over progress.
I'm from there, and you are correct. I can not handle the water anywhere else. Everywhere I've had the water since living there is undrinkable compared to the crystal clear water available there. It has cost me a fortune in additional filters and such to get me by.
Thanks for the wonderful memories. :(
It is amazing to think that after all these years, well over a decade ago, that I managed to hold onto my bag of dice this entire time.
I wonder how many of us dug them out of the closet today and were lost in reverie.
Just Cedega (believe it or not, I like the interface that it provides...).
However, I know that it works in wine just fine, and Crossover.
It's my understanding that it runs rather well in wine, Cedega, and Crossover. I've not tried anythind beyond Cedega, but here are some links that you can check for some information.
:
Cedega Wiki WoW entry
Official TransGaming WoW support forum
(my own forum posts) Cedega WoW/Burning Crusade install 'guides'
World of Warcraft
Burning Crusade
It's amazing what you can get working with these "emulators" when a large group of people are interested in it. Hence my complaints against Cedega when it comes to Counter-strike and WoW.
There are a few, like the Marcus Fenix gamerpic for completing Gears of War on Insane, and a few games come with the Gamerpics when you download or play them (XBLA has a few notables- but recently they have been adding "picture packs" for 190MSP).
It would really be nice to have more pics though, as once you get a solid Friends List going you start to see a lot of the same pictures (apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like to pay Real Money/Billy Bucks for Gamerpics).
Because a lot of gamers today start good games they never finish (if it's a bad game it doesn't apply as obviously you're playing for fun).
What happened to the days of picking up a game and playing it through and through? These days the often wonderful single player campaigns are overlooked for multiplayer gameplay. In a game like Unreal Tournament this is fine, as the single player offers limited challenge and reward compared to human opponents and trash talking.
This is a real kick in the pants for single player games. Under past circumstances there would be no real motivation to "earn 1,000,000 points without dying" in a game like Geometry Wars, but now there is, and it's just one more fun thing added to the game to attempt to do. To a lot of people this seems an unreachable goal. And in the past, those who claimed to have accomplished this feat may even be called liars by other gamers. Now you get additional gameplay value, a sense of accomplishment, and proof.
The Achievements are definitely a great way to get people to keep playing a game they may otherwise have put down after awhile, but ultimately they are useless.
It has come up in discussion with friends about how the Achievement system could be improved, and we all pretty much agreed on the points need to have some kind of value.
Microsoft sells "Gamerpics" through their Xbox Live service. I'm of the mindset it's absolutely ridiculous to pay real money for a 1"x1" image that becomes associated with your GamerTag. Why not have the Gamerscore (poins earned through Achievements) count as Microsoft Points that can only be used towards Gamerpics and dashboard themes? I can understand why it might be asking a bit much to allow them to be used to purchase downloadable game content, XBLArcade titles, and even rent/buy videos from the Video Marketplace - but the Gamerpics and themes are basically clipped images from previous art, and clearly of far less value.
Heck, they could take it a step further and have a separate place to purchase things with Gamerscore as the only currency. "Special" Gamerpics for instance. The achievements themselves have somewhat unique and slick icons usually, why isn't every single one of them available as a Gamerpic?
Maybe now that Microsoft realizes they've done something incredibly correct they will build upon it.
Oh, and one more thing, screw you EA, for the incredibly easy "gimmie" achievements. Sadly, I guarantee they have sold games because of this.
The really great ones take actual skill and effort (Grandmaster at "Mutant Storm Reloaded", and "Survive 1,000,000" in Geometry Wars for instance)
:( I just said (before I saw your post) nearly the exact same thing.
A lot of people around these parts only see video games as games. Not a part of our lives like it is for many of us. Some of you have your dogs, your job, your wife, your kids, parents... some of us have nothing but our happy memories.
My plan is to develop Alzheimers. Ideally my brain falls back on the only thing it knows. Saving the world, one level at a time.
How does this crap make Slashdot?
We've really thrown our journalistic integrity out the window with this one.
Other than three-quarter's a page worth of ads and useless linksoff to only god-knows-where per paragraph of actual text the article offered nothing more than some guys uninformed glance at Linux gaming. Something he doesn't seem to know anything about. It's almost as if he has just discovered Loki shut down and that Cedega doesn't work miracles this weekend.
Essentially this is nothing more than an ad for Crossover Office so Linux wannabes can play World of Warcraft and feel educated and smart (I'll spare the WoW players a cheap jab this time).
[article douchebag wrote:
The fact that World of Warcraft gave me an error message and then refused to accept the second install CD just irritated the hell out of me.]
For god's sakes the guy can't even mount a disc...
Again...
[article douchebag wrote:
Fortunately I had a copy of Mandriva 2007 with Cedega bundled. Even then though, installation of certain games didn't work properly.]
I don't even know where to begin with how asinine that statement is. The writer implies his distribution has something to do with Windows emulation?
As a matter of fact, the ONLY thing that isn't "just use Windows lololoz" and shows there may be a light behind this guys eyes is he gripe about Transgaming's Cedega download section. Sure, navigating through file names that have version numbers that go up incrementally as the software progresses can be very confusing when deciding what to download, but it's probably a safe bet to grab the highest numbered engine, and the highest numbered Cedega UI. It is messy, but based on the look of this website, this guy clearly does not understand what constitutes intuitive.
Seriously, thank you.
:)
I've not used another distribution that I could tolerate for more than a few hours, Slackware being the exception. It's consistently excellent and for the past few years that I've been using Slackware you've proven your mastery over the rest of the crowd. Your vision of this distribution is exactly what a lot of people look for. I think a lot of the others are too afraid to do what Slackware does (probably because it does it the best, no contest), and aim for flash and glitz.
Ignore the trolls and nay-sayers. I know it's hard, but there is a legion of Slackware users that appreciate the work you do for us.
On a side note, not everyone wants crappy custom GUI tools to configure their machines and a slow and annoying "magic installer thingy" (I'm looking at you YaST) to download and install their software. Some of us like having control.
Press the discs, my money is ready to be sent
Once again, thank you.