User comment history
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| News Comments > Morning Tech Bits |
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| 1. |
keyboard layouts |
Jan 17, 2007, 17:58 |
Dexter |
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If they keep messing with the Insert/Home key block I'm gonna go postal.
I agree with that sentiment so strongly that I actually dusted off my account/password just to post a "ME TOO!"
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| News Comments > Into the Black |
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| 2. |
bad drivers |
Dec 2, 2005, 01:30 |
Dexter |
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I was nearly sideswiped today as I approached an intersection where my light had been green for quite some time. The car coming across the intersection never even slowed down - apparently unaware there was actually a traffic signal there, much less that it was red in their direction. If I hadn't already been slowing down to make a right-hand turn, I doubt I would have been able to stop in time.
But at least the driver didn't try to add insult to near-injury!
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 27. |
Re: No subject |
Oct 19, 2005, 14:38 |
Dexter |
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What's in a name? SATA II Misconceptions
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2450
SATA II drives are compatible with SATA controllers, but any newer features (if any) on the SATA II drive will not work. Basically, buy the HDD which gives you the amount of storage you need for a price you're willing to pay and don't worry about SATA/II unless you want or need a particular feature.
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| News Comments > New ATI Catalyst Drivers |
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| 15. |
Re: No subject |
Oct 12, 2005, 19:29 |
Dexter |
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I remember using an old PC with both a VGA and monochrome adapter at the same time - running Windows 3.x in color and a debugger in mono text. 
This comment was edited on Oct 12, 19:29. |
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 37. |
Re: Win admin questions |
Oct 10, 2005, 17:58 |
Dexter |
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I agree with your approach in general, but there are still some issues to consider. In particular, what is causing your C: partition to "die" while the remaining partitions are fine? I suspect we're not talking about hardware failure (since you said you only use one hard drive) and the "damage" is more along the lines of bad driver updates, software patches, security hotfixes, and the general growth of Windows registry garbage. [A co-worker calls this last item "Windows Geriatric Syndrome".]
If so, the tricky part is managing the backup images properly. If you update an image too frequently, you run the risk of capturing an unstable configuration. If an image gets too far out of date, then you still end up with installation and update chores after a restore.
My own habits actually include keeping both a "clean" and a "last known good" image. If an update botches my system, I can go back to the last updated image. If that image turns out to be bogus, at least I can go back to the base OS image and skip the lengthy Windows install process.
To each, his own, of course...
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 25. |
Re: Win admin questions |
Oct 10, 2005, 14:22 |
Dexter |
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If/when you reinstall, are you planning to use the moved D&S files as a backup? That may not work as expected since the registry files contained in that "backup" may be part of the reason you wanted/needed to reinstall in the first place. The simpler solution (IMHO) is just to backup the remaining files or directories that TweakUI can't move, even if it just means you copy the entire Application Data directory to some other location. The xcopy command in Windows XP is actually quite helpful if you use the right flags. For example:
xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\*.*" D:\backup /C /S /H /K /O
You can obviously narrow this down to the Mozilla files or open it up and backup the entire D&S structure if you want.
Creston has some interesting ideas in post 19 about using multiple partitions, although I'm surprised he doesn't just use carbon nanotubes to store all his data. 
I use a simpler variation of creating a C: partition just for Windows so I can image and restore the base OS quickly and a D: partition for everything else. I backup the directories containing any data files I want to keep, but I don't worry about the program directories which can be reinstalled as necessary.
Edit: typo
This comment was edited on Oct 10, 14:24. |
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 13. |
Re: Win admin questions |
Oct 10, 2005, 13:03 |
Dexter |
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TweakUI only allows you to change the location of certain "special folders". It won't move the "Documents and Settings" directory itself or the various user subdirectories like "Application Data" and "Local Settings".
It might help to know why you want to move these directories in the first place. What is the goal you're trying to accomplish?
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 10. |
Re: Win admin questions |
Oct 10, 2005, 12:41 |
Dexter |
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Beware: If you change the ProfilesDirectory without (successfully) copying the NTUSER.DAT file to the new directory, then you will lose all of the settings in HKEY_CURRENT_USER the next time you boot.
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 7. |
Re: Win admin questions |
Oct 10, 2005, 12:32 |
Dexter |
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I'm not surprised that you didn't find any good answers because it's not an easy thing to do. Search the registry for "Documents and Settings" and "Program Files" (as well as DOCUME~1 and PROGRA~1) to see just how many entries need to be changed. Even if you have the patience to change all of them (or a utility to perform a global search and replace), you still have to deal with actually moving the directory structure. The problem is that Windows won't move any files which are currently "in use", which includes portions of the registry (ex: NTUSER.DAT). There are ways to work around this (such as log in with a different administrative account), but I don't recommend going down that path unless you really know what you're doing.
Maybe a better option is to consider using Tweak UI, a free "power toy" downloadable from Microsoft, to change the location of "My Documents" and similar directories which can fill up rapidly but don't need to be part of a ghost image (although they obviously should be backed up).
Edit: spelling errors
This comment was edited on Oct 10, 12:34. |
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 23. |
Play Time solutions |
Jun 13, 2004, 17:00 |
Dexter |
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Solution in hidden text - one step per line.
Screen 1
1. Grow fruit. (Click cactus buds. Repeat.)
2. Move turtle. (Click left fruit. Click top fruit. Click turtle. Click right fruit.)
3. Inflate balloon. (Click sleeper. Repeat.)
Screen 2
1. Climb tree. (Click left. Click above. Click branch near trunk.)
2. Drop behind fox. (Click item behind fox.)
3. Enter tree. (Click fern to prune. Repeat.)
4. Jump to daisy.
5. Move dragonfly. (Click frog.)
6. Jump to next daisy.
7. Climb cat tail. (Wait for daisy to stop.)
Screen 3
1. Get rid of octopus. (Make the fish eat a green bubble.)
2. Enter the submarine.
3. Start the sub. (Click the front porthole.)
4. Middle lever. Left lever. Right lever.)
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| News Comments > DOOM 3 Voices |
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| 16. |
Re: Monster Mash! |
Mar 19, 2004, 20:49 |
Dexter |
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I have as much trust in BB's date as I have in their ability to handle my UT2k4 SE pre order.
Speaking of UT2004 SE, was that only available for pre-order? I'd much rather buy the single DVD version - with or without the headset, tutorials, decals, etc.
The Best Buy web site used to feature it prominently on their PC games page, but now it's completely disappeared. Using BB's search, I can find a link to UT2004 SE which winds up with a "We're Sorry" missing page message.
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| News Comments > Unreal Tournament 2004 Gold |
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| 114. |
Re: Steam Statistics |
Mar 5, 2004, 12:36 |
Dexter |
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The amount of people that don't have XP sp1 strikes me as odd.
I wonder how many of the Windows XP users without SP1 are using a leaked activation code which the service pack invalidated.
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 15. |
italics in bullets |
Oct 27, 2003, 13:36 |
Dexter |
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Have the game and hardware reviews always used italics for the product names (once they were turned into bulleted lists)?
Personally, I find that much italicized text hard to read - especially when skimming through the longer lists to see if there is any particular review which may interest me.
I understand that the italics are being used to denote proper names, but the same names appear in other contexts without any italics. The extra formatting seems like overkill considering the word "on" and the site name (which already stand out as a hyperlink) are the only other words in each bullet.
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| News Comments > On DOOM 3 Framerates |
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| 56. |
(hopefully) simple explanation |
Oct 23, 2003, 00:12 |
Dexter |
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Forget about multiple processes, threads, CPUs (hyperthreading), and hardware interrupts for a moment and pretend your computer can only perform one operation at a time. While you're at it, imagine a game engine that performs the following tasks in a loop:
1. read network data
2. update enemy position(s)
3. sample player input
4. update player position and viewpoint
5. render scene
6. send network data
If our extremely simplified game engine performs the entire sequence of steps 60 times a second, we can say it has a 60Hz "tic rate". If the monitor is only refreshed during step 5, then we would have some serious flicker potential.
Luckily, video cards don't simply refresh the monitor every time the frame buffer is updated. Instead, dedicated hardware constantly reads the image from video memory (the frame buffer) and sends it to the monitor at a configured refresh rate regardless of what the rest of the system is doing. The downside to this approach is that video memory can be changed in the middle of a screen refresh, causing an incomplete image to be drawn (part of the old image and part of the new image). The "vsync" option offered by many games and video drivers is used to prevent this problem.
How does all of this affect player input and movements? A real computer system doesn't actually perform these steps in sequence with rigid timing. Depending on processor power and programming decisions, each step can be given additional cycles (in or out of sequence). A faster system might be able to sample player input, compute player position and viewpoint, and render the scene multiple times in a cycle before updating the results with the server and/or other players. It sounds like Doom3 is going to level the uneven hardware field by forcing these events to occur synchronously (and spending the additional CPU cycles elsewhere).
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| News Comments > Tech Bits |
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| 11. |
Re: Hard-disk drive industry braces for tec |
Jul 24, 2003, 02:46 |
Dexter |
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I'm not a physicist, but I'll try to play one on Blue's News...
When I read the article, I imagined each bit as a small magnetic line with a north and south pole. In current HD technology, these bits would be laid out end-to-end (to form sectors) in concentric circles (tracks). The thinner you make the lines, the more tracks you can place on a single platter; and the shorter you make the lines, the more sectors you can make in each track.
Now, imagine you rotate the "lines" vertically so that only the north or south end is exposed on the platter surface and the opposite end is "buried" into the surface. This would be the densest configuration possible once you hit a limit on how short and thin you can make each bit.
To put it another way, how many nails can you fit on a square of wood (without stacking) if you lay them flat versus nailing them into the wood?
Assuming I'm even close, the hard part would be "driving" the magnetic bit into the platter surface quickly and reliably without affecting the surrounding bits.
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| News Comments > Out of the Blue |
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| 18. |
Re: Personally... |
Jun 26, 2003, 12:44 |
Dexter |
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Other tidbits I picked up recently are the fact that the original Star Wars movie didn't pick up the Episode IV: A New Hope subtitle until it was re-released years after its initial run, and that while many of us remember Lucas saying there was a third trilogy of stories that follow everything (episodes 7-9), he has subsequently said that the entire story is contained in these two trilogies (though who knows what the future may change there).
I saw Star Wars during its first release and the "return engagement" (long before the "special edition" releases). If I remember correctly, the original version did begin the crawling text with "A New Hope" but it definitely didn't have an episode number. I honestly don't remember whether the episode number was in the return engagement, but I have no doubt you're correct.
After the blockbuster success of Star Wars, I absolutely remember reading articles/interviews in which Lucas said he was planning a "triple trilogy" for a total of nine episodes.
With all of this revisionist history, it makes me wonder which version of the original trilogy will be available when the DVDs are finally released. I would personally prefer to have the unmodified versions (not counting the "Episode IV" title change or audio/video mastering improvements) to the special editions. Ideally, he could release both versions and allow us to pick.
This comment was edited on Jun 26, 12:57. |
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39 Comments. 2 pages. Viewing page 1.
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