It's very simple, under your time settings in XP you can select and even input the server you wish to sync time with. By no means is XP stuck syncing with the MS clock. Just find a reliable Time Server near you and enter it's IP in the box where it asks - "Time Server?"
A perfect example of why MS does silly things like set options for users - because they are too lazy to set options themselves. The only real error I see is that it defaults to a once per week sync and the only method for adjusting the sync gap is by altering the registry. Simple enough to find though.
The most used (Scholastic) tool I had was my HP48G. A great gift if she will be taking any intensive math or science. Of course back in my day they were a bit of an expensive reach for the average student, but have always been well worth the money. If she already has a good calculator or is not in such math demanding classes, I would suggest a PDA. With programs such as MathU or EasyCalc, a PDA could serve as a 'Good Enough' calculator for less demanding math classes. Im not convinced that user input is quick enough to a PDA Calc to be considered as good as a HP48G for more difficult math classes, and because of their means of storage, Im not sure if they would be allowed in some classes. A good quality PDA would have gone a long ways during my schoolastic career, but for all I know, thay may be becoming a status-quo item by now.
For all the nay-sayers:
When viewed in a Logical Manner, my parents never used calculators in school and for the most part they were viewed as implements of cheating, but for much of my schoolastic career calculators were a required item. Therefore, I learned a greater amount of math (theory) then my parents did due to the fact that I did not spend most of the day sifting through the Book of sins (as in sin/cos/tan, not biblical), or a list of Logs (as in base 10 and natural logarithms). Is would be easy to assume that soon PDAs and other types of hand held computing devices will become part of the standard curriculum in order to shorten or remove the time consuming menial tasks we learn to do early in our scholastic careers (Arithmetic as an example. A simple but time consuming task of mathmatics that robs us of precious time that could be spent learning greater theory).
I would suggest that if you want to buy a gift to help her scholastic career as stated, take a look at her curriculum first, and purchase appropriately. If you wish to get her items that create an easier living condition, focus on the aspect of Dorm Life and what would make it easier. Tools, and Shower Goods have been suggested, and they are great ideas for easing dorm conditions. For me, a coffee maker was one of my best friends. Morning coffee in my room was always better than getting my first cup from across campus.
For those of you who want ludicrous conspiracy theories:
Where most would believe that Steffi Graf has bought the judges ruling with sex or the like, I propose that it was actually Microsoft the purchased the judges ruling against themselves. Sounds too far fetched? Look at the pros and cons of the outcome. On the downside Microsoft has to pay fines. Gee, that has to hurt. Although, on the upside, Microsoft gets tons of great press. How great is this press? So great that even die hard slashdotting Microsoft haters are now feeling compassion for the monopolistic giant they have sworn to destroy. Now thats press worth paying for.
I know of plenty Home Entertainment PC's. When I was still in college, I needed a new computer, but a TV/VCR would have been nice to have also. Instead of getting a moderate PC and some home entertainment, I decided to spend all I could on my new PC and try to combine the two. Keep in mind it was 1996 and the tech was'nt as good as it is now. CD-Burners were still concidered new-wave stuff and TV capable video cards were nowhere near as abundant.
I put together a P233 with a 17" Monitor and Home Stereo Speakers driven off a small 40 Watt Car Audio Amp that was powered from the 12 Volt leads on my computer Power Supply (Some small Capacitor Mods needed for cleanliness).
This Unit served as my Computer, Internet Surfer, CD/Wav/MP3 Player, TV, Video Recorder (athough space was real tight if you wanted more than one show), and most importantly my Gaming Machine. After I got a VCR, It would play movies as well as my new Play Station. It looked better than a TV in fullscreen mode, and sounded great. It was more than enough to satisfy a geek cramped in a little pad, and impressed all my friends that came to visit and play Tekken.
There are many good and bad points to having a setup like this though. For a single guy in school its great, but any more than that would require more than one PC. (IE. Woman wants TV, I want Web.)
I now have an actual Entertainment center (Mostly for the Woman) and two Entertainment PCs. When I decided I needed more processing power, I designed my new unit with all the same features. It's a bit better of course with a 19" Monitor, DVD-Rom, better video in/out, and an 80 Watt amp, but the idea is the same.
As for the old 233, I upgraded it to a 450 and gave it some other new equipment. Now it's known as the bedroom box. Perfect for TV in bed, watching movies, Musical Alarm Clock, and checking slashdot before coffee.
As for the market on this idea, the only thing to say is slow. I work at Local PC sales and repair shop and I suggested building Home Entertainment PCs as part of our sales line. I could make them for a reasonable price, but the salesmen just could'nt move them out very well. Most people were not intrested because they already have a nice Entertainment Center. They want a PC at a good price and thats it. As to be expected, the only people that wanted our HEPCs was the soon to be college student who was going to be stuck in the dorms for a couple years, a few geeks that wanted everything and more, and a few old guys that found them perfect for hiding in their shop/study/office away from the wife. The rest of the market just was'nt ready.
If time allows, maybe I'll recap this post on
TQY3, with some pictures and better descriptions of my experience with HEPC's.
When I submitted this article:
2001-12-07 17:15:15 European Ministers to Control Spam and Cookies (spam) (rejected)
It was rejected before my browser could refresh
(Less than 3 seconds). Either the Slashdot Admins hate me and have me on Auto Reject, or maybe they don't really read the content but instead use counters to post articles after so many requests.
"Well this one finaly hit 500 requests, go ahead and post it, what ever it is."
All the more reason to have your own page
to post the stuff you find important or interesting, even if others find it boring as hell.
A couple of days ago, I posted an article about
The History
of Atari on
TQY3. It was'nt meant to directly compare
the Atari Systems to modern day, but instead
allow the reader to make thier own decisions on
the future of gaming through historical education.
Far from required reading, but if you were an
Atari Child or have intrest in Atari's History,
I'd Suggest giving it a peek.
I agreed with your post, and you know I'm a big fat geek if you've seen our website...
Viewing your Website is the method I used when determining Honest Geek vs. Troll. I decided on Honest Geek, else I would Ignore.
Was the capitalization intentional?
Not really, the Italics were intentional to emphasize my point and I did'nt want to abuse the right to use the bold tag since I really wanted to save that for the "Shame on Slashdot" statement which has now led to my posts undoing. The capitalization was actually an error in editing the sentance structure. 'He' was actually
the first word in the sentance until I decided to add some more clarification for the less gifted readers that seem to need all the thought translation help they can get.
Im sure you know the type... like the three moderators that misunderstood the post anyways and put me to -1 with FlameBaits. I am now the author of "Insightful Flamebait". Guess I should have clarified even more.
Come to Slashdot!
Exercise your right to Free Speech.
Speak your mind, give your oppinions.
Loose Your Karma.
If you want to scorn me for being a fan, so be it.
If you criticize my post for it's content in whole, so be it.
If you knock me for the capitalization of one word in my post, go be an English Teacher or something.
By the way, I could'nt help but peek...
I like your Bootylicious Webpage. Nice Work.
The third person bit should never have been done to Bruce Campbell.
Part of Mr. Cambell's over all glory is the method in which He Conveys Himself.
Reading third person text is nowhere near as powerful as reading the transcript would be. Most Slashdot readers are familiar enough with Mr. Cambell's style that reading the transcript would have been close to hearing it live.
Shame falls upon Slashdot today. If Bruce was busy and needed to phone in the interview, the least Slashdot could have done was to record the call and post the transcript verbatim.
I for one say, "Boo to the treatment given Bruce Cambell by Slashdot. An actor who is as close to a Geeks Hero with sly, crafty, and witty acting deserves much better than the translated rot I see before me."
It's so simple. If BT is bankrupt and going after only prodigy, then we must assume this is a conspiresy which may contain many players and parts. I give you the simple breakdown.
BT sueing Prodigy. Just Prodigy, no others mentioned yet.
The case is weak to say the least. More of an annoyance than a threat.
Things like this cost money, on both sides.
If BT is bankrupt, where does their money come from?
Why would they risk spending on such a weak case?
Why Prodigy Only or First?
Who would benefit by Prodigy going down, or even just being tangled in court a bit?
Answering these Questions will show the Puppet Master behind BT's Actions.
Nice and stable. Forget the Idea that it's rarely updated, and when it is you don't see anything but the finished product. I saw the C=128 is up to Commodore Basic V7, but thats too risky for me. I prefer to stay with the good ole rock solid stuff.
Well sombody had to say it.
Re:Snaggy's Geek Culture webstore propaganda :)
on
Geek Gift Ideas 2001
·
· Score: 1
Oh My Snaggy. That has to be the greatest "Shameless Self Plug" on earth.
But while we are making our Christmas Wishes...
I'll go for
Fawn
in a bow, with a lifetime supply of Little Red Nitrozacs.
Do they come in higher dosages than 0.025mg? I'd like more time than just a few minutes. [Wink Wink]
This whole article sounds like a bunch of bunk. I would expect better from an MIT Enterprise.
The Hierarchial Desktop is dead?
WTF? Sure it's old, but I'm still using it, your still using it, pretty much anybody with a computer is using it, and all of us will be for quite some time still. I find it funny how they refer to the Desktop Metaphor like it's so outdated that it never really existed at all.
I saw nothing even close to a suitable repacement to the Desktop Hierarchy in this article.
The Rotating Star Tree could be useful to some, but most end users would'nt understand any more than looking in a folder tree.
The author almost makes Scopeware sound like an OS all its own, with a new type of file system and "Desktop Display". Upon further resarch you'll find out that it's nothing more than "Microsoft Internet Explorer".
For some reason I don't believe writing a new way of displaying a hierarchial tree qualifies as replacment of the Hierarchial Desktop. Nobody seems to think that Microsoft has changed the "Desktop Metaphor" with all the office PCs that boot directly to Outlook, but if they were to shell to some fancy page in MSIE we are expected to accept this as a radical change.
Complete Bunk. Offices have been shelling to special pages on their LANs for years now. The "Desktop Metaphor" is still the same, it's just displayed in an easier mannor for the users to understand.
As for the 3D Hall of Desktops, same stuff, just more of it.
Im still waiting for the Windowed Case thing to catch on. Everybody seems to want a
Cool Windowed Case like the Modified PC60.
But what about the motherboard thats showing through the window?
Sure some of the new Mobos with the trouble or post/boot LEDs by the ATX block are cool and all, but I'd like to see some real wowers. Like Holographic logos or images, LEDs in the fans that make cool effects, something that reminds me of a sequential flashing dilithium containment chamber, or just some cool colors on the mobo showing off it's sections or pathways. Anything would be better than the normal old motherboard sitting there, looking all blah.
In short, I want better use of a windowed case than just seeing if my fans are still spinning.
My logs are plagued with IIS Worm packets, usless bandwith hogging garbage. Anybody have any fun ideas to deal with these other than automailing [admin webmaster etc.]@IP and add IP to hosts.deny?
I've been grepping and gwaking more IPs to deny than I can count.
Reason: Your Computer, Server, or ISP is in need of a worm update. Get to it you Lazy Excuse for an Admin.
It has helped reduce the monthly count, but there's always sombody new.
I think by now these worms should have been terminated, and those who are still passing it (Under Rock Livers) should be punished. If I only had the bandwidth to DOS 'em all down (Bad Toad, No Cookie).
Sombody out there has to be doing something more vendictive than mails and denys, I just want to hear about it. Really, just Hear.
I find this to be completely unacceptable, and here's why:
1.) Communicability: Code like this should email itself to other users BEFORE it wipes the drives.
2.) Transparency: Item's of this nature should do their best to hide themselves from the user.
Apple has succeeded in making either the most worthless 'Virus' I have ever seen, or possibly the best due to a lack of common viral standards.
It would have been better if they gave the user an option to E-Mail an "Upgrade Now" to their friends before eating the data. The best option of course would be to go through the users address book and E-Mail the "Uprgade Notification" to everyone in the background.
Go back to the Drawing Board Apple, if your going to wipe some drives, at least do it with some gusto.
Reading through the posts I see alot of package arguments including cutting edge and amount of software packaged on install. The true power of Slackware doesn't exist in any of these. I view the packages on the slackware Install as a degree of lazyness, difficulty, or experience. Those who want fast, fat installs can take the lazy trail and use as much of the pre-packaged software as they deem necessary to get the OS going. But by no means should a system be considered done because it came with software. As for me, I ignore most of the prepackaged programs with exception of vim and with Slack 8, sshd. My network server is Slack 8 now, and serves 7 boxen and 33 users (I know thats not very much) with file services, sendmail, pop 3, personal ftp and http, ssh access for the more gifted, as well as controlling all the network access on a shared IP. Most of these services come with Slack as pre-packaged.tgz's, but I chose not to use any of them at install time save the fore-mentioned. I downloaded the source for all my services and make'd them as to set any install options I wanted as well as the destinations. This server has no Gnome, KDE, not even an X. It has no keyboard, mouse, or monitor, why would it need a preinstalled X? It is controlled, changed, updated, and monitored remotely with the sshd. Even the kernel was built via ssh. I know that this method of building an OS is availiable with other distros as well, but Slack seems to be best for this type of custom building (CRUX Linux, built on the Slackware mold, may be even closer, but only for the strong.)
The true power of Slackware is in it's simplicity, stability, and control, not in it's packages. I doubt any advanced linux users would argue that a make'd package is a better and more controlled install than a pre-pack tgz or RPM.
As most linux users, I don't consider myself as an expert by any means, but I might push for the rank of intermediate. Even the X on my personal workstation was make'd from source rather than selected as a package at install time. I will concede that this is not always best for users workstations, and other distros with a more plentiful package set often fulfill the workstation role better, but servers should be as simple, sturdy, and dependable as possible.
I prefer this method for some reason, and I assume many other Slackers do as well. Many advaced Linux users have told me the install isn't really yours until you build and boot on your own kernel, and control the make of your services and software. It took awile, but I finally believe them, and view slack as one of the best methods to get there.
I don't think Slackware will fade away due to the loss of some packages because it is my opinion that most of the serious Slackers don't use the majority of the packages that are already available. The Slackware Distro is nothing more than a frame to most it's user's, not a complete instant OS. The tools and packages are there to help the novice advance to the level he/she would like to be, and in my experience less of the packages are used with every new install.
Going to the Slackware Site's Forum will show anyone that Slack, as much as any other distro, has a good following of users that help the beginner, and they are very dedicated to (almost to a prejudiced extreme) the distro of there choice. Long Live Slackware.
I recently bult up a P3 500 Box out of spare parts I had laying around for use in the bedroom. Something that my girlfriend and I can watch DVD (Ahem DivX) Movies on, and use as an alarm clock for two people. Plus it gives a 3rd Station for network gaming.
Noise wasn't a big deal for us really. She sleeps with the TV on all the time, I actually find the 60Hz hum to be a peaceful lullaby (I've been known to wake up because the hum of a computer stopped). Never the less, I used some Extra Filters I had laying around to dampen some of the sounds. I can't remember what these filters were for, some kind of high airflow large rack unit. The filters are 1/2 inch thick and measure about 36 x 48 inches. I cut them to size and lined the entire box with them. Side panels, roof, floor, even between the face plate and frame. I rolled up some of the left over pieces and lightly put them in the unused drive bays. Of course I made sure not to restrict air flow too much. the result was really good. The only thing you can hear from this machine at 1 Meter is the noisy cheap CD-Rom drive (Spare Parts Remember). Maybe if a find a good one, I'll put it in.
The main point here is that good quality Air Filters can dampen the sound well, and are relatively cheap, in my case free. I dont know that I would look for large frame rack filters, but I'd bet that some of the home filters from Forced Air Hearters would be similar. The reusable washable kind may not be best for sound dampening as they are kind of rubbery.
I have also had a plan for using automotive floor pads. These are found between the floorboard of quality cars and the carpet, and can dampen large amounts of road noise. In lowest cost case, they could be retrived from the junk yard for dirt cheap prices. I'd imagine that they would need to be dusted out and cleaned, but cheap is good.
As for the bedroom box, everything stayed cool enough for liking until I put a spare nVidia TNT2 card in it. Putting a fan on the heatsink solved that, and it can't be heard through the filter walls without getting real close and listening carefully.
And since slashdot readers always want to know:
MidTower ATX Case 3 5.25" 2 3.5" 2 internal
250 Watt ATX Power
Some kind of Soyo ATX for P2/3 cant remember
Slot P3 500 stock intel mono fan
WD 12 Gig ATA66/100? on a Promise Ultra 100
nVidia TNT2 with fan added on
SB Ensonic I think
Labtec 8" Sub with 2 satellites
17" Viewsonic
Not a lot, but it was just spare parts.
We thought SlashDot was using an open source legal defense by just using the top ten moderated posts. Right now there are 600 Microsoft Attorneys reading/. and thinking - "Wow, this really is an easy way to defend our position. Of course we'll still charge the same".
I must agree with the bulk of posters. The Full Agreement post Goes (-2?), everything else must Stay! It only seems right, fair, and just. If MicroSoft want's to argue for more, then Prey for some enjoyable Real Life Irony - The case goes to Judge Jackson's Court Room.
I really hate supporting and especially adding to this kind of off topic worthless post, but I must agree - That Would be Cool! Now I know what I can do with my Slash Site.
Slashdot Mirror
A perfect example of why MS does silly things like set options for users - because they are too lazy to set options themselves. The only real error I see is that it defaults to a once per week sync and the only method for adjusting the sync gap is by altering the registry. Simple enough to find though.
For all the nay-sayers:
When viewed in a Logical Manner, my parents never used calculators in school and for the most part they were viewed as implements of cheating, but for much of my schoolastic career calculators were a required item. Therefore, I learned a greater amount of math (theory) then my parents did due to the fact that I did not spend most of the day sifting through the Book of sins (as in sin/cos/tan, not biblical), or a list of Logs (as in base 10 and natural logarithms). Is would be easy to assume that soon PDAs and other types of hand held computing devices will become part of the standard curriculum in order to shorten or remove the time consuming menial tasks we learn to do early in our scholastic careers (Arithmetic as an example. A simple but time consuming task of mathmatics that robs us of precious time that could be spent learning greater theory).
I would suggest that if you want to buy a gift to help her scholastic career as stated, take a look at her curriculum first, and purchase appropriately. If you wish to get her items that create an easier living condition, focus on the aspect of Dorm Life and what would make it easier. Tools, and Shower Goods have been suggested, and they are great ideas for easing dorm conditions. For me, a coffee maker was one of my best friends. Morning coffee in my room was always better than getting my first cup from across campus.
For those of you who want ludicrous conspiracy theories:
Where most would believe that Steffi Graf has bought the judges ruling with sex or the like, I propose that it was actually Microsoft the purchased the judges ruling against themselves. Sounds too far fetched? Look at the pros and cons of the outcome. On the downside Microsoft has to pay fines. Gee, that has to hurt. Although, on the upside, Microsoft gets tons of great press. How great is this press? So great that even die hard slashdotting Microsoft haters are now feeling compassion for the monopolistic giant they have sworn to destroy. Now thats press worth paying for.
I put together a P233 with a 17" Monitor and Home Stereo Speakers driven off a small 40 Watt Car Audio Amp that was powered from the 12 Volt leads on my computer Power Supply (Some small Capacitor Mods needed for cleanliness).
This Unit served as my Computer, Internet Surfer, CD/Wav/MP3 Player, TV, Video Recorder (athough space was real tight if you wanted more than one show), and most importantly my Gaming Machine. After I got a VCR, It would play movies as well as my new Play Station. It looked better than a TV in fullscreen mode, and sounded great. It was more than enough to satisfy a geek cramped in a little pad, and impressed all my friends that came to visit and play Tekken.
There are many good and bad points to having a setup like this though. For a single guy in school its great, but any more than that would require more than one PC. (IE. Woman wants TV, I want Web.)
I now have an actual Entertainment center (Mostly for the Woman) and two Entertainment PCs. When I decided I needed more processing power, I designed my new unit with all the same features. It's a bit better of course with a 19" Monitor, DVD-Rom, better video in/out, and an 80 Watt amp, but the idea is the same.
As for the old 233, I upgraded it to a 450 and gave it some other new equipment. Now it's known as the bedroom box. Perfect for TV in bed, watching movies, Musical Alarm Clock, and checking slashdot before coffee.
As for the market on this idea, the only thing to say is slow. I work at Local PC sales and repair shop and I suggested building Home Entertainment PCs as part of our sales line. I could make them for a reasonable price, but the salesmen just could'nt move them out very well. Most people were not intrested because they already have a nice Entertainment Center. They want a PC at a good price and thats it. As to be expected, the only people that wanted our HEPCs was the soon to be college student who was going to be stuck in the dorms for a couple years, a few geeks that wanted everything and more, and a few old guys that found them perfect for hiding in their shop/study/office away from the wife. The rest of the market just was'nt ready.
If time allows, maybe I'll recap this post on TQY3, with some pictures and better descriptions of my experience with HEPC's.
2001-12-07 17:15:15 European Ministers to Control Spam and Cookies (spam) (rejected)
It was rejected before my browser could refresh (Less than 3 seconds). Either the Slashdot Admins hate me and have me on Auto Reject, or maybe they don't really read the content but instead use counters to post articles after so many requests.
"Well this one finaly hit 500 requests, go ahead and post it, what ever it is."
All the more reason to have your own page to post the stuff you find important or interesting, even if others find it boring as hell.
A couple of days ago, I posted an article about The History of Atari on TQY3. It was'nt meant to directly compare the Atari Systems to modern day, but instead allow the reader to make thier own decisions on the future of gaming through historical education. Far from required reading, but if you were an Atari Child or have intrest in Atari's History, I'd Suggest giving it a peek.
Viewing your Website is the method I used when determining Honest Geek vs. Troll. I decided on Honest Geek, else I would Ignore.
Was the capitalization intentional?
Not really, the Italics were intentional to emphasize my point and I did'nt want to abuse the right to use the bold tag since I really wanted to save that for the "Shame on Slashdot" statement which has now led to my posts undoing. The capitalization was actually an error in editing the sentance structure. 'He' was actually the first word in the sentance until I decided to add some more clarification for the less gifted readers that seem to need all the thought translation help they can get.
Im sure you know the type... like the three moderators that misunderstood the post anyways and put me to -1 with FlameBaits. I am now the author of "Insightful Flamebait". Guess I should have clarified even more.
Come to Slashdot!
Exercise your right to Free Speech.
Speak your mind, give your oppinions.
Loose Your Karma.
If you criticize my post for it's content in whole, so be it.
If you knock me for the capitalization of one word in my post, go be an English Teacher or something.
By the way, I could'nt help but peek...
I like your Bootylicious Webpage. Nice Work.
Part of Mr. Cambell's over all glory is the method in which He Conveys Himself. Reading third person text is nowhere near as powerful as reading the transcript would be. Most Slashdot readers are familiar enough with Mr. Cambell's style that reading the transcript would have been close to hearing it live.
Shame falls upon Slashdot today. If Bruce was busy and needed to phone in the interview, the least Slashdot could have done was to record the call and post the transcript verbatim.
I for one say, "Boo to the treatment given Bruce Cambell by Slashdot. An actor who is as close to a Geeks Hero with sly, crafty, and witty acting deserves much better than the translated rot I see before me."
It's so simple. If BT is bankrupt and going after only prodigy, then we must assume this is a conspiresy which may contain many players and parts. I give you the simple breakdown.
BT sueing Prodigy. Just Prodigy, no others mentioned yet.
The case is weak to say the least. More of an annoyance than a threat.
Things like this cost money, on both sides.
If BT is bankrupt, where does their money come from?
Why would they risk spending on such a weak case?
Why Prodigy Only or First?
Who would benefit by Prodigy going down, or even just being tangled in court a bit?
Answering these Questions will show the Puppet Master behind BT's Actions.
Nice and stable. Forget the Idea that it's rarely updated, and when it is you don't see anything but the finished product. I saw the C=128 is up to Commodore Basic V7, but thats too risky for me. I prefer to stay with the good ole rock solid stuff.
Well sombody had to say it.
But while we are making our Christmas Wishes...
I'll go for Fawn in a bow, with a lifetime supply of Little Red Nitrozacs. Do they come in higher dosages than 0.025mg? I'd like more time than just a few minutes. [Wink Wink]
The Hierarchial Desktop is dead?
WTF? Sure it's old, but I'm still using it, your still using it, pretty much anybody with a computer is using it, and all of us will be for quite some time still. I find it funny how they refer to the Desktop Metaphor like it's so outdated that it never really existed at all.
I saw nothing even close to a suitable repacement to the Desktop Hierarchy in this article. The Rotating Star Tree could be useful to some, but most end users would'nt understand any more than looking in a folder tree.
The author almost makes Scopeware sound like an OS all its own, with a new type of file system and "Desktop Display". Upon further resarch you'll find out that it's nothing more than "Microsoft Internet Explorer".
For some reason I don't believe writing a new way of displaying a hierarchial tree qualifies as replacment of the Hierarchial Desktop. Nobody seems to think that Microsoft has changed the "Desktop Metaphor" with all the office PCs that boot directly to Outlook, but if they were to shell to some fancy page in MSIE we are expected to accept this as a radical change.
Complete Bunk. Offices have been shelling to special pages on their LANs for years now. The "Desktop Metaphor" is still the same, it's just displayed in an easier mannor for the users to understand.
As for the 3D Hall of Desktops, same stuff, just more of it.
Call me when you have something real.
"If you build it, they will Hack."
Sure some of the new Mobos with the trouble or post/boot LEDs by the ATX block are cool and all, but I'd like to see some real wowers. Like Holographic logos or images, LEDs in the fans that make cool effects, something that reminds me of a sequential flashing dilithium containment chamber, or just some cool colors on the mobo showing off it's sections or pathways. Anything would be better than the normal old motherboard sitting there, looking all blah.
In short, I want better use of a windowed case than just seeing if my fans are still spinning.
I've been grepping and gwaking more IPs to deny than I can count.
Reason: Your Computer, Server, or ISP is in need of a worm update. Get to it you Lazy Excuse for an Admin.
It has helped reduce the monthly count, but there's always sombody new. I think by now these worms should have been terminated, and those who are still passing it (Under Rock Livers) should be punished. If I only had the bandwidth to DOS 'em all down (Bad Toad, No Cookie).
Sombody out there has to be doing something more vendictive than mails and denys, I just want to hear about it. Really, just Hear.
I find this to be completely unacceptable, and here's why:
1.) Communicability: Code like this should email itself to other users BEFORE it wipes the drives.
2.) Transparency: Item's of this nature should do their best to hide themselves from the user.
Apple has succeeded in making either the most worthless 'Virus' I have ever seen, or possibly the best due to a lack of common viral standards.
It would have been better if they gave the user an option to E-Mail an "Upgrade Now" to their friends before eating the data. The best option of course would be to go through the users address book and E-Mail the "Uprgade Notification" to everyone in the background.
Go back to the Drawing Board Apple, if your going to wipe some drives, at least do it with some gusto.
Hallelujah!
Slackware's place is with the power users, who don't want to be stuck with a Windows-wannabe setup.
Praise the Slackers!
Slack harkens back to the day when men were men, installers were text, and Linux was Linux. And that's just the way I like it. ;)
Amen Brother!
Reading through the posts I see alot of package arguments including cutting edge and amount of software packaged on install. The true power of Slackware doesn't exist in any of these. I view the packages on the slackware Install as a degree of lazyness, difficulty, or experience. Those who want fast, fat installs can take the lazy trail and use as much of the pre-packaged software as they deem necessary to get the OS going. But by no means should a system be considered done because it came with software. As for me, I ignore most of the prepackaged programs with exception of vim and with Slack 8, sshd. My network server is Slack 8 now, and serves 7 boxen and 33 users (I know thats not very much) with file services, sendmail, pop 3, personal ftp and http, ssh access for the more gifted, as well as controlling all the network access on a shared IP. Most of these services come with Slack as pre-packaged .tgz's, but I chose not to use any of them at install time save the fore-mentioned. I downloaded the source for all my services and make'd them as to set any install options I wanted as well as the destinations. This server has no Gnome, KDE, not even an X. It has no keyboard, mouse, or monitor, why would it need a preinstalled X? It is controlled, changed, updated, and monitored remotely with the sshd. Even the kernel was built via ssh. I know that this method of building an OS is availiable with other distros as well, but Slack seems to be best for this type of custom building (CRUX Linux, built on the Slackware mold, may be even closer, but only for the strong.)
The true power of Slackware is in it's simplicity, stability, and control, not in it's packages. I doubt any advanced linux users would argue that a make'd package is a better and more controlled install than a pre-pack tgz or RPM.
As most linux users, I don't consider myself as an expert by any means, but I might push for the rank of intermediate. Even the X on my personal workstation was make'd from source rather than selected as a package at install time. I will concede that this is not always best for users workstations, and other distros with a more plentiful package set often fulfill the workstation role better, but servers should be as simple, sturdy, and dependable as possible.
I prefer this method for some reason, and I assume many other Slackers do as well. Many advaced Linux users have told me the install isn't really yours until you build and boot on your own kernel, and control the make of your services and software. It took awile, but I finally believe them, and view slack as one of the best methods to get there.
I don't think Slackware will fade away due to the loss of some packages because it is my opinion that most of the serious Slackers don't use the majority of the packages that are already available. The Slackware Distro is nothing more than a frame to most it's user's, not a complete instant OS. The tools and packages are there to help the novice advance to the level he/she would like to be, and in my experience less of the packages are used with every new install.
Going to the Slackware Site's Forum will show anyone that Slack, as much as any other distro, has a good following of users that help the beginner, and they are very dedicated to (almost to a prejudiced extreme) the distro of there choice. Long Live Slackware.
I recently bult up a P3 500 Box out of spare parts I had laying around for use in the bedroom. Something that my girlfriend and I can watch DVD (Ahem DivX) Movies on, and use as an alarm clock for two people. Plus it gives a 3rd Station for network gaming.
Noise wasn't a big deal for us really. She sleeps with the TV on all the time, I actually find the 60Hz hum to be a peaceful lullaby (I've been known to wake up because the hum of a computer stopped). Never the less, I used some Extra Filters I had laying around to dampen some of the sounds. I can't remember what these filters were for, some kind of high airflow large rack unit. The filters are 1/2 inch thick and measure about 36 x 48 inches. I cut them to size and lined the entire box with them. Side panels, roof, floor, even between the face plate and frame. I rolled up some of the left over pieces and lightly put them in the unused drive bays. Of course I made sure not to restrict air flow too much. the result was really good. The only thing you can hear from this machine at 1 Meter is the noisy cheap CD-Rom drive (Spare Parts Remember). Maybe if a find a good one, I'll put it in.
The main point here is that good quality Air Filters can dampen the sound well, and are relatively cheap, in my case free. I dont know that I would look for large frame rack filters, but I'd bet that some of the home filters from Forced Air Hearters would be similar. The reusable washable kind may not be best for sound dampening as they are kind of rubbery.
I have also had a plan for using automotive floor pads. These are found between the floorboard of quality cars and the carpet, and can dampen large amounts of road noise. In lowest cost case, they could be retrived from the junk yard for dirt cheap prices. I'd imagine that they would need to be dusted out and cleaned, but cheap is good.
As for the bedroom box, everything stayed cool enough for liking until I put a spare nVidia TNT2 card in it. Putting a fan on the heatsink solved that, and it can't be heard through the filter walls without getting real close and listening carefully.
And since slashdot readers always want to know:
MidTower ATX Case 3 5.25" 2 3.5" 2 internal
250 Watt ATX Power
Some kind of Soyo ATX for P2/3 cant remember
Slot P3 500 stock intel mono fan
WD 12 Gig ATA66/100? on a Promise Ultra 100
nVidia TNT2 with fan added on
SB Ensonic I think
Labtec 8" Sub with 2 satellites
17" Viewsonic
Not a lot, but it was just spare parts.
We thought SlashDot was using an open source legal defense by just using the top ten moderated posts. Right now there are 600 Microsoft Attorneys reading /. and thinking - "Wow, this really is an easy way to defend our position. Of course we'll still charge the same".
I must agree with the bulk of posters.
The Full Agreement post Goes (-2?), everything else must Stay! It only seems right, fair, and just.
If MicroSoft want's to argue for more, then Prey for some enjoyable Real Life Irony - The case goes to Judge Jackson's Court Room.
I don't think so, but everybody knows that 'Nerds' are a sugar coated sugar candy, which naturally means we may get sued for using the word.
I really hate supporting and especially adding to this kind of off topic worthless post, but I must agree - That Would be Cool! Now I know what I can do with my Slash Site.
Personally, I'd get off the computer and find a freakin bar. Your chances will be better.