If you want to try out Linux, I highly recommend downloading or buying a copy of the Knoppix distribution (search on Google). I bought a CD for $5, popped it into the drive and it booted right up. No installation, it runs right off the CD. Everything works: Optical mouse, modem sharing, etc. And you get all the usual applications (word processor, spreadsheet, games, several browsers, blah, blah, blah). Haven't found Apache or php on the disk; but I suppose it would be silly to have them without installing to a hard drive first :rolleyes:
pyro
10-03-2003, 01:03 AM
So, if it runs like that, is there a way to install it on your computer without setting up a partition and multiboot envioronment?
tomhath
10-03-2003, 09:31 PM
I haven't tried it that way. I know you can install Red Hat and a couple of other distros in a dos file and boot from a floppy, so it might work.
LordShryku
10-03-2003, 11:01 PM
There's also the highly popular Cygwin, which is a bash terminal for Windows. Has a lot of packages with it, including an rpm install so you can use the rpm package management...
jstarkey
10-06-2003, 08:14 PM
Originally posted by pyro
So, if it runs like that, is there a way to install it on your computer without setting up a partition and multiboot envioronment?
Knoppix actually runs loads into RAM and runs from there. No need to partition anything. It's great for making a Windows machine useful :D
I carry a copy in case something goes wrong on a a server and I'm not near a linux machine. I haven't actually had to use it in that scenario though.
pyro
10-06-2003, 09:16 PM
Awesome... I think I'll have to get myself a copy of that, then! If it runs as such, could I load Apache on it, as a testing server?
stolzyboy
10-07-2003, 07:00 PM
i downloaded it, it is pretty cool...
pyro
10-08-2003, 12:35 AM
I agree. I just downloaded it last night and installed it this morning. I've not had much oppertunity to play with Linux, so this should be nice. I do have a copy of Red Hat 8.0, but don't currently have a hdd or partition to use it on (read: I'm lazy). Out of curiosity, can Linux be made to run Windows programs, or are you out of luck in that aspect?
LordShryku
10-08-2003, 12:40 AM
Most distro's com with a copy of Wine (http://www.winehq.com/) or you can download it. But it is fairly limited. Best thing I have used so far is VMWare (http://www.vmware.com/landing/ws4_home.html). It's a virtual computer....so in X, you run vmware, it opens a window with a complete operating system in it. It's fairly limited for graphics though. All depends what you wanna do....
piersk
10-08-2003, 06:04 AM
Originally posted by jstarkey
Knoppix actually runs loads into RAM and runs from there. No need to partition anything. It's great for making a Windows machine useful :D
I've done the same with a version of Suse
jstarkey
10-08-2003, 09:39 AM
Originally posted by piersk
I've done the same with a version of Suse
Made a Windows machine useful?
:D
The Chancer
10-08-2003, 10:16 AM
I made windows machines useful....
Put three of them on top of each other and they are a perfect heated chair when used with a lightweight cushion... :D
piersk
10-08-2003, 10:42 AM
Originally posted by jstarkey
Made a Windows machine useful?
:D
Nah, made it even worse... :D
Sxooter
10-08-2003, 06:18 PM
Knoppix is a great little distro to carry around for when you're stuck somewhere with only windows boxes. Just pop it in and boot from CD and you've got a useful machine. I use it for demoing the gimp and other programs to folks who are ascared of linux. Just tell them to put it in and boot off of it, and when they're done, they can just remove the CDROM and reboot into their original Windows OS without worrying about breaking something.
LordShryku
10-08-2003, 06:23 PM
Yep, and a new Knoppix was just recently released. While the Knoppix site is closed at the moment (Damn SCO), you can grab it off of linuxiso.org (http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=44)
Merve
10-08-2003, 07:46 PM
Yeah, Windows is annoying, MSWord keeps crashing. better save now....
piersk
10-09-2003, 06:08 AM
Y'see, this is what I don't get. I can honestly say that I can't remember the last time I had windows crash on me *touch wood*, and thats both XP and w2k server.
LordShryku
10-09-2003, 10:36 AM
Where do you get that one-in-a-million non crashing version? I can honestly say that I'venever used a version of Windows that hasn't crashed on me multiple times. Of course....I've crashed Linux too....just usually because of something stupid I did.
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 10:52 AM
<off topic>
Lord, what happened to the Ranting thread!
<off topic>
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 11:44 AM
Originally posted by piersk
Y'see, this is what I don't get. I can honestly say that I can't remember the last time I had windows crash on me *touch wood*, and thats both XP and w2k server.
I think the biggest problem with windows is that its reliability is determined to a large extent by the hardware it's on.
Fer instance, I had a machine where the power cable to the SCSI tape drive was iffy. I.e. the tape drive would lose power every so often and reset.
With linux, the only issue was that the tape drive was unreliable. Sure, you'd see SCSI timeouts go by in the kernel's syslog, and occasionally, the machine would kind hesitate for a second, but Linux never crashed.
Windows, on the same box, would crash EVERY SINGLE TIME the tape drive power connector juggled enough to cycle its power.
That's just one example, but you get the point. Windows behaves well when it's on perfect hardware with perfect drivers, and anything else is a recipe for disaster, Linux can run on marginal hardware and still be stable, as long as the memory / CPU aren't producing errors.
pyro
10-09-2003, 11:53 AM
Originally posted by Sxooter
I think the biggest problem with windows is that its reliability is determined to a large extent by the hardware it's on.That reminds me of the nightmare I had this spring, when I had an AMD processor... My computer literally crashed 4 times in as many months. Now that I threw a Pentium in there, it's not crashed since (and no more sudden restarts, either).
LordShryku
10-09-2003, 11:55 AM
I think it also has to do with usage. If I let my Windoze box sit idle for 3 weeks, it's fine. But when I beat the hell outta it, it's bound to only last a week at best :(
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 12:06 PM
Originally posted by pyro
That reminds me of the nightmare I had this spring, when I had an AMD processor... My computer literally crashed 4 times in as many months. Now that I threw a Pentium in there, it's not crashed since (and no more sudden restarts, either).
Hey, in my experience it's not about WHICH CPU you have, it's about whether that individual unit is good or bad.
When I first built the big PPro-200 server we were gonna base our old NT domain on, I specifically ordered it as "parts still in their boxes, unopened" because I knew our supplier was a fly by night box builder (they've since gotten a little better).
Lo and behold, the stupid bastiches put it all together for me, and lo and behold, it crashed like a mother.
I called them and had them deliver all new components in the boxes like the PO said, and take back the broken stuff. I put it together with an anti-static wrist strap on an ESD safe bench, and lo and behold, that server, built in 1997, is now my pre-doployment server running under my desk, with plenty of life left in it.
I've also built some very reliable servers using AMD, and had some flakey hardware. 99% of all flakey hardware is caused by people who believe that "if I didn't feel a zap I must not have caused and ESD damage" when they're building a machine.
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 12:07 PM
Originally posted by LordShryku
I think it also has to do with usage. If I let my Windoze box sit idle for 3 weeks, it's fine. But when I beat the hell outta it, it's bound to only last a week at best :(
I've got a friend at work here who has to use Windows 2k for his workstation, and he has to reboot about three times a day to keep the box from crashing wholesale underneath him.
pyro
10-09-2003, 12:10 PM
Originally posted by Sxooter
Hey, in my experience it's not about WHICH CPU you have, it's about whether that individual unit is good or bad.Quite possible, but since I needed to by a new proc anyway, I decided to go with an Intel. Of course, I also had to buy a new motherboard, then, but... :p
LordShryku
10-09-2003, 12:12 PM
Originally posted by Sxooter
I put it together with an anti-static wrist strap on an ESD safe bench
Dead on Sxooter. This seems to be one of the highly overlooked points in building a box. A very small amount of ESD can render a part useless. And with the kind of money we spend on these parts, I always keep ESD protection at home and work.
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 12:17 PM
Windows also has the problem of just general degradation. You could use one program on it for 2 years and you would still get registry degradation. The registry is probably a large, large part of the way Windows acts after having a lot of software installed, or just general use.
Not to mention (for versions like WinMe) that MS just broke their own damn code and stopped supporting it.
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 12:19 PM
Also, a lot of the programs, when you close them, don't let go of the RAM they were using, and, well obviously, lowers your RAM...
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 12:21 PM
Yeah stolzy. That is one thing about Windows that I can't stand. Not to mention the crappy DLL caching features which can leave DLLs loaded from programs that haven't been open for interminable amounts of time.
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 12:29 PM
Originally posted by LordShryku
Dead on Sxooter. This seems to be one of the highly overlooked points in building a box. A very small amount of ESD can render a part useless. And with the kind of money we spend on these parts, I always keep ESD protection at home and work.
Way back in the day when I was a wing-nut (i.e. USAF) instructor, we had a bit of the course we taught that came from Motorola back in the 70s. Now, this was back in the day when most radios still used analog tuning technology, and pulse locked loops were considered VERY high tech.
When Motorola first started producing military electronics, they had small assembly lines making small numbers of units. As they number of units being produced grew in the 60s and 70s, they noticed a disproportionate amount of units failing in the field. What they found out was that many assembly workers were shortcutting on ESD procedures. However, the units still worked, they just failed early.
Motorola found out that something like only 10% of all ESD events would result in sudden catastrophic failure. i.e. a zap you can feel and then computer no worky.
The other 90% of ESD events resulted in degraded reliability. They had pictures of ICs with 90% or so of a connector blown out that still worked, but failed in the field.
Since these electronics ran rather important stuff, like flight control systems and such, it was a big deal, and they spent a lot of money on training to get out the point that just because something still works after you've picked it up without a wrist strap, doesn't mean it will work when it needs to work.
My anecdotal story on this was when I was contracting on Amiga / Toaster / Flyer systems some years later (it's a video editing suite that even after 10 years is still quite nice) and I had all my ESD equipment and all with me. I had the mat laid out and plugged into ground, the computer grounded, and I'd just pulled out about $10,000 worth of cards from a computer, and had them laid out on the mat.
Idiot customer comes in, picks up the $7,000 flyer card, and says something stupid about what a great system this is, yada yada. I immediately berate him for doing that, as he's no strapped, and he says "It's ok, I picked it up by the edges".
Needless to say, when we put it back in, one of the input channels was blown, as was about half of the buffer memory. I told him, and the guy wanted ME to pay shipping to have it repaired, bucause NewTek had told him that if a technician blows a card, they should pay for the shipping and maybe even the repair (at the time, NewTek had a free repair warranty on their stuff.)
So I told him to call NewTek back and tell them what HE did while I was working on it. They told him the same thing I did, he was a dumbass and he should pay the shipping and apologize to me.
Six months later I was working on his machine, and he'd ask from the doorway if it was ok to come in and watch... People learn, slowly.
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 12:35 PM
Speaking of which Sxooter, is there a good site I can get ahold of some of this stuff? I want to be extra careful when I put together my new sys.
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 12:51 PM
Did a google search on ESD training, and found this at 3M:
http://www.3m.com/market/electronic/ehpd/esd_training/index.jhtml
On that page you'll find this document:
http://www.3m.com/market/electronic/ehpd/esd_training/seminar/esd_control_handbook.pdf
That looks pretty good.
Also, this link looks pretty good too, but it has things like power point in it. :-(
And remember, proper ESD protection is like security, it's an ongoing process, not a one time thing. :) i.e. just because you're wearing a wrist strap don't mean your protected.
OK, time for another "This is no Sh*t Story"... :)
When we visited the supplier I mentioned in an earlier TINS story, we were inspecting his build area. I pointed out that his build techs were not wearing wrist straps. His response was that that was ok, because the benchs had anti-static mats, and the floors were antistatic mats. I pointed out that without wrist or heel straps, this was all for nothing, but his argument was that his techs found wrist or heel strapts uncomfortable and restrictive.
arrgggghhh. Of course, his techs thought "I've never blown anything up, I must be ESD safe, right?"
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 01:20 PM
Yeah you have to bet I am going to use some static protection since I am paying about $1000 for all the components of my new sys.
(If anyone is curious I am going with a 2.6Ghz P4 800Mhz FSB, ASUS 800Mhz FSB DDR400 MoBo, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB, 2 80Gig HDDs 7200rpm, 1GB RAM (premium), those are the main things)
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 01:22 PM
Originally posted by n00854180t
Yeah you have to bet I am going to use some static protection since I am paying about $1000 for all the components of my new sys.
(If anyone is curious I am going with a 2.6Ghz P4 800Mhz FSB, ASUS 800Mhz FSB DDR400 MoBo, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB, 2 80Gig HDDs 7200rpm, 1GB RAM (premium), those are the main things)
not a bad setup, however i've had bad luck with ASUS, i tend to stick with FIC mainboards...
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 01:25 PM
Really? I have heard only good things about ASUS. What has gone wrong for you?
FIC, never heard of it :P Do their MBs have good overclocking support (I plan to eventually put a water cooling sys in it).
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 01:29 PM
you can check 'em out here (http://www.fic.com.tw/product/motherboard/)
as for ASUS, i've had just about every problem you can think of, mainboard processor, agp slot problems, pci problems, usb componenents frying, a host of others...
we've tried 20 or so here and everyone of them has had problems, that's why we switched to FIC (have had no problems with them, yet... *knock on wood*)
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 01:35 PM
Yeesh, thanks for the heads up then. Do you know if they have any jumperless overclocking mobos?
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 01:36 PM
Originally posted by n00854180t
Yeesh, thanks for the heads up then. Do you know if they have any jumperless overclocking mobos?
not overly sure, but i thought they did...
you'll just have to snoop around on the site a little...
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 01:38 PM
The board I looked at didn't have any info, but I shot them an email. The specs on it were quite nice though.
tekky
10-09-2003, 01:40 PM
Originally posted by pyro
That reminds me of the nightmare I had this spring, when I had an AMD processor... My computer literally crashed 4 times in as many months. Now that I threw a Pentium in there, it's not crashed since (and no more sudden restarts, either).
One cause of sudden restarts is over heating... AMD's run significantly hotter than Pentiums... and I have seen them cause power supplies to lose stability due to excess heat (I had to get a 6mo old PSU replaced because of heat issues causing it to reset)
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 01:43 PM
I have heard of that happening too tekky.
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 01:45 PM
Originally posted by tekky
One cause of sudden restarts is over heating... AMD's run significantly hotter than Pentiums... and I have seen them cause power supplies to lose stability due to excess heat (I had to get a 6mo old PSU replaced because of heat issues causing it to reset)
what temp do you think or have read about for AMD being too hot...
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 02:14 PM
the post that mentioned power supplies has a good point. We'll spend $1,000 or more on components and save $20 on our PS. There is a difference between the good stuff and the cheap generic supplies.
We had three X86 generic boxes with generic taiwanese power supplies and one Sun Sparc 20 hooked up to a noisy UPS, and all three X86 boxes were crashing regularly, while th poor little old Sparc 20 just ran and ran. Changed out the UPS and all the problems went away.
Now the things I will not scrimp on is power supplies and good CPU heatsink / fan combos.
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 02:18 PM
Originally posted by stolzyboy
what temp do you think or have read about for AMD being too hot...
the most common problem is people either not using thermal paste under the heatsink, using too much, or using cheap thermal paste that just doesn't work.
After that the problem is likely poor case air flow or underpowered / too small a fan / heatsink combo.
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 02:20 PM
Originally posted by stolzyboy
not overly sure, but i thought they did...
you'll just have to snoop around on the site a little...
I found they do have jumperless OC features. I didn't see it because it is part of their NOVUS features.
tekky
10-09-2003, 02:53 PM
Originally posted by stolzyboy
what temp do you think or have read about for AMD being too hot...
people freak when I tell them my CPU temp reports in the high 60's to mid 70's
1G Duron I believe is what I last installed...
My PC was rebooting/shutting down (w/o MBM software to protect it) at around 79 degrees....
and same setup/speed AMD vs Pentium, AMD's have always been hotter from the tech sheets I've read
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 03:49 PM
oh, i would consider that high also...
my AMD's usually only run around 45 C, 50 under heavy, long term load, never over 50
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 04:26 PM
Originally posted by tekky
people freak when I tell them my CPU temp reports in the high 60's to mid 70's
1G Duron I believe is what I last installed...
My PC was rebooting/shutting down (w/o MBM software to protect it) at around 79 degrees....
and same setup/speed AMD vs Pentium, AMD's have always been hotter from the tech sheets I've read
Wow, that is hot. Did you use a good thermal paste and high end heatsink fan on it? Or maybe the case wasn't moving enough air?
stolzyboy
10-09-2003, 04:33 PM
Sxooter, what would you say the hottest a CPU (AMD) should get...
My boss is having problems with his AMD rebooting and BSOD'ing and we have chalked it up to either processor heat and/or power supply.
Sxooter
10-09-2003, 05:08 PM
Just looked up the max temps on www.amd.com
The max temp of an opteron is listed as 69C, the XP is listed as 85 ot 90C (older models were 90, newer ones are 85) and the MP is listed as 95.
Me personally, I get nervous anytime a CPU is running anywhere near 70C. 55 to 65C what I'm comfy with.
Keep in mind that hotter temps result in earlier failure, so even if it runs good today, as dust settles in the machine, and goobers grow on the connector pins, the temp tolerence gets tighter and tighter, and the machine moves closer to crashing over time.
goldbug
10-09-2003, 05:20 PM
Originally posted by Sxooter
Linux can run on marginal hardware and still be stable, as long as the memory / CPU aren't producing errors.
I would say that this applies to the BSDs as well (similar device access).
My Example:
I had a half dozen capacitors on my server's motherboard go bad (started swelling up like they had popcorn inside)... but the machine would run just fine, just every now and then the hard drive controller would get 'corrupted' and would stop reading from the disks. But the OS (FreeBSD) just puttered along happily, as if nothing was wrong. Rather nifty if you ask me, but a hard one to diagnose :)
n00854180t
10-09-2003, 05:25 PM
LOL That's insane goldbug. That story reminds me of some movie I saw in which a zombie was ambling along with part of its head missing.
tekky
10-09-2003, 05:30 PM
Originally posted by Sxooter
Just looked up the max temps on www.amd.com
The max temp of an opteron is listed as 69C, the XP is listed as 85 ot 90C (older models were 90, newer ones are 85) and the MP is listed as 95.
Me personally, I get nervous anytime a CPU is running anywhere near 70C. 55 to 65C what I'm comfy with.
Keep in mind that hotter temps result in earlier failure, so even if it runs good today, as dust settles in the machine, and goobers grow on the connector pins, the temp tolerence gets tighter and tighter, and the machine moves closer to crashing over time.
like I said... mine made it to 79... and would toggle off... I had to leave one side of the case open (which I really dislike doing cause of dust)
however... Stolzy... (i think you posted bout the boss' computer) download and install MBM5... it works with 98% or so of all MB's and will show you if its temp or not thats causing it... I watched my temp through 3 reboots just to verfiy what was happening, and then took steps to keep it from happening again... hasnt happened since :D
[edit - if its rebooting... feel the temp of the PSU exhaust fan... if its considerably warmer than.... the ambient air around the case... I would suggest swapping PSU's (I did, problem went away) if its not so warm from the PSU... then more than likely the fault with lie with the CPU]
goldbug
10-09-2003, 05:31 PM
Originally posted by stolzyboy
oh, i would consider that high also...
my AMD's usually only run around 45 C, 50 under heavy, long term load, never over 50
That sounds more sane to me... I've got the overheat alarms on my fileserver's mobo set to go off at 55 C (default). Only heard one of those alarms once (different mobo [same design], but workstation was locked in a "closed" desk --- no real airflow)
jstarkey
10-10-2003, 12:41 PM
Originally posted by piersk
Y'see, this is what I don't get. I can honestly say that I can't remember the last time I had windows crash on me *touch wood*, and thats both XP and w2k server.
In all fairness, I decided to break down and run a dedicated Windows machine a couple months ago and it hasn't crashed yet.
But it was on the fastest box I have, a 2.4 gig machine, and still ran significantly slower than my Linux 1 gig desktop and 1.9 gig laptop, after a few hours run time. This is also after I had a friend of mine walk me through securing it, so only half the normal processes were active.
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 01:10 PM
Yeah I made a gaming profile on Windows XP and disabled like 60% of the common services that XP runs and it still wasn't that much faster. Except for booting.
goldbug
10-10-2003, 01:26 PM
Originally posted by n00854180t
Yeah I made a gaming profile on Windows XP and disabled like 60% of the common services that XP runs and it still wasn't that much faster. Except for booting.
Nice little registry hack:
If you've got a ton of ram...
toggle/disable the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Session Manager > Memory Management > DisablePagingExecutive
(set it to 1)
What it does, is stop the NT kernel from being paged to disk, and stores it all in RAM. Not a huge speed boost, maybe unnoticeable on some machines... but it can't hurt (too bad).
I usually use this on all my machines w/ enough RAM (see below)
Note: I wouldn't advise this on any machine with less than 512 or 768MB of RAM.
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 01:38 PM
Yeah another one is to disable the DLL caching feature. Windows usually leaves DLLs loaded in mem long after the program using them has been closed. Don't remember the tweak off the top of my head, but I know www.tweakxp.com has it.
goldbug
10-10-2003, 01:39 PM
Another BIG speed increase, is to format your harddrive, and install FreeBSD or Linux. :) teehee... had to. :)
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 01:59 PM
I would go exclusively Linux if it had more support for games.
Sxooter
10-10-2003, 02:44 PM
Originally posted by n00854180t
I would go exclusively Linux if it had more support for games.
My home machine dual boots Windows and Linux. You can guess what exclusive purpose Windows serves in my home.
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 02:46 PM
That will probably be how I will set up my new rig once I get it built.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 02:50 PM
Yep, mines the same way. Windows for games and VPN
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:09 PM
What games do you have/currently play Sxooter, LordShryku?
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:14 PM
I'm playing Tiger Woods 2004 and Halo right now. Just about done with Tiger though
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:21 PM
How is Halo? I couldn't bring myself to pay $50 for a game that has been out that long. I will probably buy it when prices go down.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:22 PM
It's pretty good. I imagine the online play will be pretty good. Though, I don't think it's the super-mega-cool game that it's been hyped to be.
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:25 PM
Yeah I figured that. I played it with a friend on the XBox, which was pretty fun. It is seriously not worth $50 though considering it has been out for XBox for so long. I think Unreal 2004 will be cool. I want to buy Planetside again once I get my new computer. I hear Halo takes a mighty machine to run it though.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:28 PM
Nah just a good graphix card really. I'll play Unreal 2004 with ya. Me and Moonglobe had this conversation. I was pretty dominant with UT2k3. Played it until no one would play me anymore :D
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:31 PM
Yes, but do you have the UBERl33t advantage of THE CLAW!!!?? Muahaha.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:31 PM
Keep your claw away from me or I'll shove a rocket launcher up yer a$$ :p
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:34 PM
:P Hell no. I would probably get my ass kicked anyway. I don't get much time to play games anymore.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:49 PM
Yeah, me either. Prolly why I'm not the huge fan of Halo as everyone else. Haven't spent but maybe a total of an hour in it.
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:51 PM
That is one of the reasons I am really enjoying Hitman 2. It usually only takes about 20 minutes to complete mission and they are damn fun.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:53 PM
yeah, I played Hitman 1. Was pretty cool. Lost interest pretty quick though.
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 03:55 PM
Yeah that seems to be a problem with me too. I lose interest in single player games very, very quickly.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 03:58 PM
yarr
Time for lunch
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 04:00 PM
I hear that! I just got my new form validation function to work too!
Sxooter
10-10-2003, 04:33 PM
Games I routinely play(ed):
Battlezone I and II
Mechwarrior II / Mercenaries
Age of Empires Gold edition
Quake II
Half Life
The Sims
tekky
10-10-2003, 04:36 PM
Originally posted by Sxooter
Wow, that is hot. Did you use a good thermal paste and high end heatsink fan on it? Or maybe the case wasn't moving enough air?
I should check the thermal paste... its got a nice heatsink and fan on it....... right now its sitting at 72C on the CPU at 36C on the mobo sensor.....
n00854180t
10-10-2003, 04:37 PM
What race in AOE? I used to be expert years ago when I played on the zone all the time. I had some tricks that could get me overpopped armies of 300 Chosen Legions ;p
Sxooter
10-10-2003, 05:25 PM
Originally posted by tekky
I should check the thermal paste... its got a nice heatsink and fan on it....... right now its sitting at 72C on the CPU at 36C on the mobo sensor.....
I've seen a lot of folks not use thermal paste, or use the cheap stuff, and when they added good thermal paste, their temps dropped 10C or more.
Using bad paste / no paste is like building an engine with aluminum foil for head gaskets. ;)
tomhath
10-10-2003, 08:13 PM
Sheesh. You guys must have ADD
I post a little comment about Knoppix as an opening to brag about the "supercomputer" I'm building. Come back a few days later and you've gone through WinBashing, ESD, heat, gaming, and I forget what all else.
Anyway, at my day job the IT manager has a room full of cast-off PCs. I grabbed eight PPros with visions of a Beowulf, ended up with 6 working machines. Now debating whether to go with Linux or FreeBSD for the cluster. Once I get this sucker up and running it should be almost as fast as the 1.7Gig PC I'm using now...
Merve
10-10-2003, 08:14 PM
Originally posted by tomhath
Sheesh. Youguys must have ADD
I post a little comment about Knoppix as an opening to brag about the "supercomputer" I'm building. Come back a few days later and you've gone through WinBashing, ESD, heat, gaming, and I forget what all else.
Anyway, at my day job the IT manager has a room full of cast-off PCs. I grabbed eight PPros with visions of a Beowulf, ended up with 6 working machines. Now debating whether to go with Linux or FreeBSD for the cluster. Once I get this sucker up and running it should be almost as fast as the 1.7Gig PC I'm using now...
That's because there's no such thing as off-topic in the Echo Lounge.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 08:15 PM
Originally posted by Merve
That's because there's no such thing as off-topic in the Echo Lounge.
We just pick a thread, any thread, and say whatever's on our minds :D
Sxooter
10-10-2003, 08:19 PM
How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb?
Let's ride bikes!
tomhath
10-10-2003, 08:22 PM
Works for me.
Back to Windows instability. Two things I suspect if the machine is unstable is either out of date drivers or the order in which things were installed. Even with all MS software like MSSQL, IIS, and the various system software (MDAC, WSH, etc) it can behave better or worse depending on what order the stuff was was installed. But I couldn't tell you what's best.
LordShryku
10-10-2003, 08:53 PM
Originally posted by Sxooter
How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb?
Let's ride bikes!
LMAO! This made my day. I know so many people with ADD
Weedpacket
10-11-2003, 05:46 AM
Originally posted by LordShryku
LMAO! This made my day. I know so many people with ADD This does not come as a surprise to me; my own experience concurs.
The Jargon File (http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/weaknesses.html)
...most [hackers] would ... concede that some hacker traits coincide with indicators for non-hyperactive ADD and [Asperger's Syndrome] — the status of caffeine as a hacker beverage of choice may be connected to the fact that it bonds to the same neural receptors as Ritalin, the drug most commonly prescribed for ADD. It is probably true that boosters of both would find a rather higher rate of clinical ADD among hackers than the supposedly mainstream-normal 3-5% (AS is rarer at 0.4-0.5%).
LordShryku
10-11-2003, 02:55 PM
Very technical....but true nonetheless.
Though, the only difference between us hackers, who would seem to have ADD and the people who actually do, is that we will display the syptoms only when we're not behind a computer. But once behind the computer, delved deep within a script, we can seem to hold our attention to that script for as long as it takes, regardless of time of day, personal problems, the phone ringing, the TV going, someone knocking on the door, and the wife hitting us on the head with a frying pan. All attention is to the script. Funny how that doesn't apply to much else, even the things that may bring us joy.
- At least, this is my experience. May not apply to others...
tomhath
10-11-2003, 07:23 PM
But once behind the computer, delved deep within a script, we can seem to hold our attention to that script for as long as it takes
Hmmm. One of the symptoms of ADD is called "hyperfocus", which is holding focus on something for much longer than non-ADD people would, but only on tasks that hold special interest (musicians, hackers, etc). I'm not kidding...
1994-95's fad behavioral disease was a syndrome called Attention Deficit Disorder, supposedly characterized by (among other things) a combination of short attention span with an ability to `hyperfocus' imaginatively on interesting tasks. There are grounds for questioning whether ADD actually exists, and if it does whether it is really a `disease' rather than an extreme of a normal genetic variation like having freckles or being able to taste DPT; but it is certainly true that many hacker traits coincide with major indicators for ADD, and probably true that ADD boosters would find a far higher rate of clinical ADD among hackers than the supposedly mainstream-normal 10%.
LordShryku
10-11-2003, 07:45 PM
Funny...most of the people I know with ADD can't focus on a damn thing, even if it does hold a special interest to them. My ex drove me batty because of that
tomhath
10-11-2003, 09:01 PM
It's been said that managing programmers is like herding cats. My wife was diagnosed with ADD. She can focus on playing the violin and sewing, but not much else.
Merve
10-13-2003, 02:37 PM
Originally posted by tomhath
It's been said that managing programmers is like herding cats. My wife was diagnosed with ADD. She can focus on playing the violin and sewing, but not much else.
I like to think I have ADD even though I was never diagnosed with it.
n00854180t
10-13-2003, 02:47 PM
Originally posted by tomhath
Hmmm. One of the symptoms of ADD is called "hyperfocus", which is holding focus on something for much longer than non-ADD people would, but only on tasks that hold special interest (musicians, hackers, etc). I'm not kidding...