lost_soul

I recommend any live Linux disk that has Gparted... It is graphical and it has always worked great for me. Be sure and back up any critical files before attempting to resize just in case. Here's one: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php You could also download and use the Ubuntu CD but not actually install it.

and they also claim that you can't move an OEM copy of Windows from one machine to another. I don't know if this has been tested in court, especially if it is from a machine you own to another machine you own. They don't tell you that on the packaging of the software either. Also, Microsoft doesn't provide tech support for OEM copies... but when was the last time you called them about a problem? Solutions to problems are available faster and more thoroughly explained online anyway.

Well, this player understands and appreciates the work that has gone in behind the scenes. I understand that the new characters don't just appear like magic... unless you use the spawn command I also noticed the lack of excitement on TTLG and it kinda saddens me. Would NVidia or some other hardware company sponser a mapping contest? They need more game content on the PC because as a gaming platform, it is dieing. We could use more maps to play. Thus, we should have a mapping contest that is "Powered By Nvidia", where the winner gets a free GTX580.

... and the player can use rope arrows to bring guards to his location too. I can just hear Garrett yelling "Come here!"...

oooo that looks scary! I would certainly love to play Autumn's Breath.

Thanks and congrats on the release. I just have one question. St. Alban's cathedral is one of my favorite FMs thus far. The music in that FM worked in 1.02, but not 1.03 or 1.04. I seem to recall hearing this was a TDM bug. Has it just not been fixed yet? I wonder if BikerDude owuld be willing to tos out an updated version of the mission with working music.

I keep listening to geir_tjelta_-_a_new_beginning.ahx over and over again. Although it is an 8-bit track with only 4 channels playing at any one time, it transports the listener to another place via the pitch-shifting and the melody. It makes me think of being way up in the sky. I knew I would really like this one after the first five seconds. If you can't play .ahx files, check out XMplay. It is an amazing piece of software at less than 500 K with an ahx plugin available.

Nah, it isn't dead until they stop letting people activate it. I just wish I sprung for a netbook with graphics that don't suck under Linux. Ever see a 1.6 ghz machine struggle to play 480P video? I'm pretty sure I saw 486-class machines playing full-screen FMV back in '95.

So today, I experienced a bit of "Vista rage" myself. A wile back, I re-installed the Vista side of my laptop. I got it to the point where I was at the customized OEM desktop and I assumed the job was done. Then today, I went to go visit my mom, help her clean house and I figured I would use her net connection that is ~10X the speed of mine to install all the Vista updates. When I booted Vista at her house, the thing told me I had to activate or buy a new product key. The fun part is that they don't even let you log into your own machine unless you activate, but I didn't know that the network drivers weren't installed by the OEM recovery media (WTH). So, I had to call them because it was impossible to activate online. I didn't get the chance to do the updating. Maybe I should just start browsing the web with an unpatched system. Oh no! It's an animated cursor! sdakl;dfsjerwuo (blue screen of death)

Ubuntu is great for people who just want a system that works in under 15 minutes (usually). Yep, it really installs that fast. 512 megs of RAM is scraping the bottom of the barrel though for Ubuntu. That is Ubuntu's minimum requirement. If you use something other than Gnome though, 512 megs would be enough. My current Arch system is using 330 megs of RAM out of the 8 gigs and I've got Firefox, Pidgin, Compiz, gnome and custom kernel modules like Virtualbox going. This is without a page file/swap partition. Arch Linux is harder to use because it gives you only what you want and nothing more. This means it is less bloated and faster on older hardware. I've never used Mint, but it is based on Ubuntu, so it should be good. Some reasons to install Linux for an older friend are: 1. It stays the way you leave it. There won't be toolbars or tuns of crap automatically loading at system startup next time you visit the friend. Most people pay no attention when they install software and end up with lots of unnecessary services running at boot. 2. No security software needed. At my mom's, there sits an old P4 with a gig of RAM. When we installed Norton, it crippled the system's performance. The hard drive is now always doing something, and when I visit I can't even enjoy a game of Urban Terror without terminating the AV. There won't be a speed hit like this in Linux.

Does an SSD decrease mission load times a lot?

Feel free to laugh, but I always really liked Windows 95. The UI was nice looking, but still simple and efficient. It ran like a jet on a AMD K6-2. Up until that point, the versions of Windows that I had seen were hideous looking IMO. The color scheme and fonts in 3.1 were just aweful for example. I think the other reason I am fond of Win95 is because that was the first time I experienced true color on a PC. I also have memories of playing lots of Thief on that system too. lol These were also the days before every company wanted to load an auto-updater whenever your PC booted and nobody was trying to slip toolbars in your browser.

When I found out they removed access to DirectSound3D in Vista for the Thief games, I felt like doing .

I actually ran an S.M.A.R.T. test on the drive and it said there are 0 uncorrectable errors and no re-allocated sectors. It kind of makes me laugh. There is something definitly wrong with the thing, but it doesn't want to show it. "Go ahead, put all your data on me. I may take forever to read something on occasion whilst I'm busy clicking, but I'm perfectly healthy! Honest!" lol

Has everyone seen Intel Insider? They're planning to artificially require these processors to access streamed HD movies on the net. Your next CPU may handle some sort of authentication for the movie industry and thus they will grace you with the ability to consume their filth. I love the way the spokesperson leaves things out. He says the entertainment industry can use this tech to manage rentals, but if you buy a movie via this service, you will still get to keep it forever. Any time a company has the ability to yank access to products back from you though, "forever" is questionable at best. Just go ask those Kindle owners about 1984. He also says this won't affect you unless you choose to make use of it. I guess this feature is being developed for free by Santa Clause and thus it surely won't affect pricing in any way. I'm not out to get free movies. I find movies boring and I haven't watched one in something like three years. Why should I end up with a machine tainted by this technology? Why should I be strongarmed into funding it when I buy a general-purpose machine? Quite frankly, I would rather give whatever bit of money that would go to the development of this feature to a random drunk person on the street. What about you? What if you just got a nice big PC with lots of cores, tuns of RAM and a nice video card that could decode several HD movies at once? What if you were rejected from a service just because your machine didn't have some artificial "benefit to consumers"? The Internet was built upon open protocols. That is why people can communicate regardless of operating system or hardware they're using.

I'm just glad I got the Thief games to work in Linux. Now I wonder why I bothered installing XP at all. It requires a faster PC to play them in Linux, but a GTX460 is more than enough. I wouldn't try this on a geforce 2 or 3 though, even though those cards can tear through Thief 1 and 2 at hundreds of FPS.

Even though Windows may have gotten worse (w2k being my all-time favorite), I realize that Linux has it's share of problems too. The Linux hater's blog has cracked me up on multiple occasions. (profanity warning)

and is guaranteed to make you laugh. "windows CEMENT" hahahaha

I keep all of my important files backed up across multiple drives from multiple brands just for this type of reason. I also use different formats, like hard drive, optical disc, flash memory, and even ZIP disks! Feel free to laugh, but the ZIP disks are still working 14 years after I purchased them. Not one has failed. I also use an online backup too. These days, you can get a 1 TB internal drive for $52. I can't believe I just said that. These are name brands like WD, Samsung, and Hitachi, not generic models.

Here's a demonstration of what it sounds like. youtube link The above is not my video.

Hey, I recognize that voice from TDM! The one thing that gets me about Windows machines is the maintenance. When I go use a family member's PC, not only do they require an AV solution that weighs the computer down like a stone, but I end up having to install a bunch of updates for various programs for them. The user is afraid to update things themself. You can't really hold it against the average user, because there are so many scams out there. Most average users can't even spot one of those fake Windows dialogue boxes that appear in a web browser window.

Right, so I bought a Seagate FreeAgent Desk 1 TB external hard drive last year. It is this piece of work right here. That's right, the one with the massive amount of 1-star reviews. Anyhow, this hunk of junk sits here and makes the sound: "click click, click click, click click" on occasion for up to 30 seconds sometimes. When this happens, it (obviously) interrupts data transfers. So, if I'm watching some videos I've downloaded, they stop playing while the hard drive clicks. If you read the reviews, you'll notice that many of the complainers have this very problem with the drive. What should I do here? This thing advertised a five-year warranty... but some of the reviews said that the company won't even talk to you unless you pay for phone support. Apparently, removing the drive from the case will void the warranty, but some people say that fixes the clicking. Should I remove the drive from the case and put it in an external enclosure? Should I go through the pain of sending it in, only to get stuck with another model just like this one? I'm not too optimistic that a new drive like this would be a good thing, again because of the charming reviews. One thing is clear, I'll never buy this brand again.

Pretty slick. Now all you have to do is eliminate the gaps between the monitors. I'm surprised they don't make LCDs specially designed for this, with minimal space on the sides. Then again, flexible displays are in the works. You could just bend one of those all around you.

For anyone who hasn't read, it isn't going to be open-source immediately after all. That was a mistake. However, I really think id should let the modding community use the new engine for free. Epic is doing it! You've got to stay competitive. I understand that if they let the modders use the engine right away though, it may decrease sales of their games. "Why should we make a mod for Rage when we could make it on the free version of the engine?" So, why not do what Epic did in a year or two?

Well, this would be a good idea. The modding community could use the engine for free, cross-platform and all. Then if someone wants to go commercial, they can pay for a license. If they do this, it could help them reclaim market share from Epic, seeing as Epic is not on Linux and the tech isn't as open.