Re: [ot_caving] computer news - memory prices
In the fast-disappearing Circuit City stores, I found a 2-GB SD Memory Card, MSRP $39.99, for...$2.96. I bought several! Alex - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - memory prices
Wow! I remember that I thought I was getting an incredible deal when I found one for $19.99, 18 months ago. Maybe at the time it was... -WaV On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 9:17 AM, Alex Sproul imoca...@comcast.net wrote: In the fast-disappearing Circuit City stores, I found a 2-GB SD Memory Card, MSRP $39.99, for...$2.96. I bought several! Alex - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - memory prices
For most computer users, 2 gig of ram seems to be the sweet spot, this applies to most power users. The only caveat to that is anyone doing a lot of graphic or work, photoshop, etc need a lot more. And you are correct, XP (32 bit) which is most of the XP installs, can only address a max of 3.5gb of ram. Anything more is a huge waste. This applies to all operating systems that are 32 bit. Also, before you run out and upgrade your XP or Vista to 64 bit, keep in mind, your motherboard/processor have to support 64 bit as well, or things won't work as you want. Mac users need not worry, OSX is all 64 bit :) Charles On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 2:44 AM, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: Check out some of these memory prices on a 1 gig stick of DDR2: http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=720 Most are in the $ 15 to $ 20 range. I don't quiet understand how RAM is not affected much by inflation. If you bought a desktop computer a year or 2 ago, it probably only came with 1 gig of DDR2.Right? At those prices, why not put 4 gigs of RAM in your computer. It is a very simple upgrade. I believe that most computer users of XP will not be able to use more than 4 gigs, and probably wouldn't need to anyways. Just 10 years ago, I was doing computer drafting at a research engineering company and my PC only had 128 kilobytes of RAM, and we were excited when the company doubled the RAM to 256 K. David Locklear - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - memory prices
ANOTHER Caveat - And this especially applies to VISTA (Oh, I forgot they call it Mojave now): Many peripherals have no drivers written (yet) to handle 64 bit operating systems. One of the presents my brother gave to himself and his home entertainment system on Xmas was a new HP computer to go with his 42 HP plasma flat screen panel. He got gobs of memory, and to be able to address those gobs, he had the computer pre-installed with Vista 64 to handle 5 or 6 gigs. (one gig, I believe is dedicated to video shadowing) As his flat screen did not come with a broadcast HD receiver (ATSC compatible or something like that?) he figured he'd finally overcome that shorfall with a HD TV card in his 'television computer'. So after months of furtive dismissal of my dissaproval of Vista (and I've never been a microsoft fan) now he's got egg on his face. Maybe he'll have better luck with a Hauppage card - but the one he bought flat out didnt work and the customer service reps he reached didn't seem to understand the issue. The internal BlueRay player - made by LG - did work. However, older releases of movies seem to employ 'dithering' to hike that resolution up to 1240 x 1080p - so the disk might BE B.R. but if you look close enough you can tell that bit by bit - its only been extrapolated from DVD format. -Happy New Year WaV On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 10:35 AM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.orgwrote: For most computer users, 2 gig of ram seems to be the sweet spot, this applies to most power users. The only caveat to that is anyone doing a lot of graphic or work, photoshop, etc need a lot more. And you are correct, XP (32 bit) which is most of the XP installs, can only address a max of 3.5gb of ram. Anything more is a huge waste. This applies to all operating systems that are 32 bit. Also, before you run out and upgrade your XP or Vista to 64 bit, keep in mind, your motherboard/processor have to support 64 bit as well, or things won't work as you want. Mac users need not worry, OSX is all 64 bit :) Charles On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 2:44 AM, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: Check out some of these memory prices on a 1 gig stick of DDR2: http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=720 Most are in the $ 15 to $ 20 range. I don't quiet understand how RAM is not affected much by inflation. If you bought a desktop computer a year or 2 ago, it probably only came with 1 gig of DDR2.Right? At those prices, why not put 4 gigs of RAM in your computer. It is a very simple upgrade. I believe that most computer users of XP will not be able to use more than 4 gigs, and probably wouldn't need to anyways. Just 10 years ago, I was doing computer drafting at a research engineering company and my PC only had 128 kilobytes of RAM, and we were excited when the company doubled the RAM to 256 K. David Locklear - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news
Charles, In 1990, I was working for a respectable engineering company that had computers doing drafting ( Intergraph ).They were powered by a mainframe, using a language by DEC. I wanted to impress the IT guy, and was trying to learn as much about it as I could. Fortunately, this guy was pretty smart.He said David, take my advice.The stuff we have here is crappy junk and will be obsolete, before you know it. I thought he just didn't have the patience to work with me. But I am glad I listened to him. Because, since leaving that company I have never seen such a system. Ever since then when some new computer thing came out, I was impressed, but not as excited. I feel like most of my computer knowledge is useless. Companies don't care what I used to know.They only care about what I can do with the software that they have on their computers. They all seem to want years of experience with AutoCAD 2008, when most companies are just now getting around to buying it. The dilema is you can't get the experience unless you have the job. David
Re: [ot_caving] computer news
David, this is the latest and greatest from Intel. In 6 months, we'll see an upgrade from them, if not sooner. This isn't the end-all, be-all of processors, and while it is a decent upgrade from their Core2Duo technology, it's not that significant. The price of these processors will drop to under $150 within 6 months, just like any of the others that came before it. In 2-3 years, there will be systems that are easily 30 to 50% faster and this gateway will be outdated and sold for less than $500, if you can even find them. Charles On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:51 AM, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: A few days ago, I briefly reported a new Intel chip and motherboard. Here is a complete computer using this: http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668210.php Looks like a nice computer for $ 1,300. It will probably drop to $ 1,100 in January. I imagine that in 2 or 3 years or less, this computer will only be $ 600 meaning, that lots of people will have a computer more powerful than they will ever need. My question is, once millions of people have such a computer, why would they ever buy another one? Similar to the experience people have right now with their Macs or even XP.That is why many did not upgrade to Vista, because what they had already was getting the job done. If that theory is true, then in 3 or 4 years, there may be a lull in the market for computers.Stock prices for computer companies like Dell and Gateway, and HP etc. may fall to record lows. Computers will be dirt cheap, as there will be so many of them flooding the market. And it appears unlikely that programmers ( in this economy ) are going to write new programs that won't work on old computers.Right? David Locklear - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
RE: [ot_caving] computer news - Intel
They build them for the same reason they build muscle cars that go from 0 to 120 in 1.2 seconds (or whatever). Even though you can't drive them like that, there's always somebody out there that wants one so they can bore everybody at the next party by telling them that their car will do 0 to 120... Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 20:56:10 -0600 From: dlocklea...@gmail.com To: o...@texascavers.com Subject: [ot_caving] computer news - Intel According to this story today, computer geeks have broken a record for desktop computer speed at 5 1/2 gigahertz: http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=13624 They used the new Intel motherboard ( X58 ) and the new Intel chip - the i7. The base model of the X58 with the i7 is currently available at Fry's for $ 600, so you too could start building a computer with the potential for having the fastest processing speed you have ever imagined. But why? What I need my computer to do is to make my life simpler. I need it to boot quicker, to never crash or lock up, to easily connect to any gadgets that I have, especially the printer and the scanner. I am not yet familiar with accessing the Internet before the computer boots. Anybody out there using this new feature? I want to be able to sit down at the computer and immediately start working on something without having to worry if I have the program for that task. Meaning it would be nice if things like AutoCAD and Photoshop, Games and Music were somehow already on my computer. I think that is where the Internet is going to fill a gap, but I haven't tried using on-line programs yet. I wish broadband access were not so expensive. It appears someone could inexpensively build a quad-core computer using AMD stuff, especially if you go with Linux. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it would still be faster than what most people had 2 or 3 years ago. David Locklear Ref: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/Review/127372,nehalem-intel-core-i7-extreme.aspx - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Intel
I'm more like the guy that brags on the fact that never mind the car takes an hour to get to 100mph, I built it for only $1000 and it gets 50mpg. I think it's IDIOTIC to drool over the biggest, fastest and most expensive shiny phallic object. Which - if you are really ok with yourself - you probably don't need or want it. Attempting to discover the greatest values at the lowest cost is financial efficiency (which seems to be completely ignored by the 'gotta haves')... (I pity the fool!) Mr WaV T On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 1:12 PM, Louise Power power_lou...@hotmail.comwrote: They build them for the same reason they build muscle cars that go from 0 to 120 in 1.2 seconds (or whatever). Even though you can't drive them like that, there's always somebody out there that wants one so they can bore everybody at the next party by telling them that their car will do 0 to 120... Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 20:56:10 -0600 From: dlocklea...@gmail.com To: o...@texascavers.com Subject: [ot_caving] computer news - Intel According to this story today, computer geeks have broken a record for desktop computer speed at 5 1/2 gigahertz: http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=13624 They used the new Intel motherboard ( X58 ) and the new Intel chip - the i7. The base model of the X58 with the i7 is currently available at Fry's for $ 600, so you too could start building a computer with the potential for having the fastest processing speed you have ever imagined. But why? What I need my computer to do is to make my life simpler. I need it to boot quicker, to never crash or lock up, to easily connect to any gadgets that I have, especially the printer and the scanner. I am not yet familiar with accessing the Internet before the computer boots. Anybody out there using this new feature? I want to be able to sit down at the computer and immediately start working on something without having to worry if I have the program for that task. Meaning it would be nice if things like AutoCAD and Photoshop, Games and Music were somehow already on my computer. I think that is where the Internet is going to fill a gap, but I haven't tried using on-line programs yet. I wish broadband access were not so expensive. It appears someone could inexpensively build a quad-core computer using AMD stuff, especially if you go with Linux. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it would still be faster than what most people had 2 or 3 years ago. David Locklear Ref: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/Review/127372,nehalem-intel-core-i7-extreme.aspx - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Intel
Try 'Naked DSL' from ATT. I'm paying only $34 a month for access that usually tests downloading at about 2.5Mb/sec and uploads at 410 Kb/sec ( http://www.speedtest.net). I think Naked DSL is also available at about 800 Kb/sec for $18/ month (But then you'd probably not *even* be able to watch full screen HD streaming video). Oh yeah - using a quantum pre-fetch add-on appliance on the backplane of the golden idol power matrix, your applications can load before you even start the computer. Access is instantaneous, but due to temporal distortions, users of this device have complained of being revisited by puberty and dead relatives. It only costs 35 billion dollars, but since money doesnt actually exist beyond the quantum continuum - you can easily afford it, (but only if you don't wish for it or go on and on trying to gauge opinions of it by bystanders who couldn't possibly care less). Cheers! -WaV On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 8:56 PM, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: According to this story today, computer geeks have broken a record for desktop computer speed at 5 1/2 gigahertz: http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=13624 They used the new Intel motherboard ( X58 ) and the new Intel chip - the i7. The base model of the X58 with the i7 is currently available at Fry's for $ 600, so you too could start building a computer with the potential for having the fastest processing speed you have ever imagined. But why? What I need my computer to do is to make my life simpler.I need it to boot quicker, to never crash or lock up, to easily connect to any gadgets that I have, especially the printer and the scanner. I am not yet familiar with accessing the Internet before the computer boots. Anybody out there using this new feature? I want to be able to sit down at the computer and immediately start working on something without having to worry if I have the program for that task. Meaning it would be nice if things like AutoCAD and Photoshop, Games and Music were somehow already on my computer. I think that is where the Internet is going to fill a gap, but I haven't tried using on-line programs yet. I wish broadband access were not so expensive. It appears someone could inexpensively build a quad-core computer using AMD stuff, especially if you go with Linux. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it would still be faster than what most people had 2 or 3 years ago. David Locklear Ref: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/Review/127372,nehalem-intel-core-i7-extreme.aspx - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
RE: [ot_caving] computer news - Windows 3.1
I have long been an Apple fan primarily because I do a lot of graphics. The Apple graphics programs are not really all that good, but the Mac versions of Adobe tops them all. The only problem is that the software is very expensive for Macs. I wish they'd bring it closer to the cost for PCs. I guess the secret is volume. I, however, have needed to learn both systems since the government uses PCs and just this week we had Microsoft Office 2007 pushed out to us from our Denver center. It'll take some getting used to, but ever since PCs and Microsoft adopted the Mac way of using desktop icons and naming docs, they've gotten easier to use. Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 21:28:39 -0600 From: dlocklea...@gmail.com To: o...@texascavers.com Subject: [ot_caving] computer news - Windows 3.1 Did anybody notice this week that MicroSoft has finally buried Windows 3.1, and put it in its grave? I would like to give sort of an eulogy. In 1977, my mother re-married and to a man who worked for a computer company that had main-frame computers. He tried to show me computers, but I was intimidated by them, and didn't see much use for them except playing a very fun strategy game with X's and O's called Star Wars. When I got into college in the early 80's, I found computers to be very frustrating, and boring. When I first saw the tiny little Apple, I realized with fear, that I was going to have to learn computers. I became pretty good on that little Apple thing, and felt I knew enough about them to do what was needed at the time which was preparing reports with cute little graphic charts. My professors seemed impressed, as the other students seemed to be still using typewriters. The first time I saw Windows 3.1, I said to myself. This sucks. The crashing and losing of data, made me scream. But the college ditched Apple and filled up all the labs with the crappiest computers on earth. All of the engineering students seemed glad, but they had never learned on Apple computers. To them Windows seemed user friendly. Unfortunately, I never really had an opportunity to use Apple computers again. I finally learned with Windows 3.1 to save your file every 5 minutes, and to always keep backups on floppy disk. And it has been that way for almost 15 years, except I have been told, for the people who stuck with Macs. I guess in 5 years or less, Microsoft will bury Windows 95, and later the Windows 98, etc. I guess there is no reason to release discount nostalgic versions. Would you pay lots of money for Windows 3.1 if it came in a walnut box with gold trim? David Locklear Permission to repost - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news
I think my $300 Dell Laptop has a liquid cooling system. Apparently all that does is help pipe heat away from the CPU so the heat sink matrix and fan don't have to be centered on the CPU. (Man, the bottom of that thing runs HOT when it's running wide open - hooked up to external power with all powersave options switched 'off'!) Literally, it has little pipes. -WaV
Re: [ot_caving] computer news
David, dual processor video cards are already here, I purchased this card a week ago: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007730 I'm a gamer, so keeping up with the technology is a hobby of mine :) I thought I got a great deal on this card, but I didn't research it properly. Once I had the card in hand, it wouldn't work. Turns out that my power supply didn't have the appropriate power connections to power this video card (it takes 2 different types of power connections direct to the card). So I made a trip to Fry's to buy a new power supply.Since my motherboard supports two video cards, and this card will support a pair as well, I purchased a more expensive power supply that would run both. That way I could upgrade in a year or so easily. Well, when I got the computer all put together and the video was flashing by in game, my APC UPS decided to complain, I had less than 1 minute of battery standby. The new video card and power supply were drawing a lot more power and the APC software was informing me that I needed to upgrade. So another purchase of a bigger UPS to run my fancy new video card. Turned out to be not so cheap :/ Ancillary expenses can bite you in the end sometimes. Charles On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 4:35 PM, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: You will soon be able to buy a video card for your computer with 2 processing chips. Expect to pay over $ 1,500 at first, but the price is supposed to get down to the $ 500 range. I remember about 10 years ago, I was doing computer-aided drafting on a PC that had a 2 megabyte video card. I really think there is a lot of hype behind the video card business. Personally, I wouldn't spend over $ 80 on a video card, but I am not a gamer. If I had the time and the money, I would like to play with the flight simulator programs. But if I had time and money, I would rather go hiking in the mountains or caving. It is likely that the future of computers is going to be more video oriented. For example, video-conferercing, video-internet phone calls, web-movies, etc. are surely going to become more powerful and more mainstream. So maybe a teraflop video card will be necessary, however, more importantly, its drivers will need to work smoothly with Leopard or Vista or Linux. I would much rather have a cheap video card that works excellent with Vista than a ridiculously expensive card that has to be tinkered with just to get it to operate. I would like my computer to use less electricity. I think that is going to be important someday. I guess it is possible that the video card with 2 processors will use less electricity than 2 video cards linked together, or 1 card that has a super powerful processor. David Locklear Ref: http://hothardware.com/cs/forums/t/39029.aspx - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news
Geez Charles - What kind of games take so much video co-possessing power? I'd think it would take a whole lot less hardware to support very smooth display and accurate response of the very best flight simulators! -DC On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 6:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: David, dual processor video cards are already here, I purchased this card a week ago: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007730 I'm a gamer, so keeping up with the technology is a hobby of mine :) I thought I got a great deal on this card, but I didn't research it properly. Once I had the card in hand, it wouldn't work.
Re: [ot_caving] computer news
The latest flight sim X will eat modern video cards for lunch. Modern games need as much horsepower as possible for higher resolutions. Crysis is one, it wants multiple video cards at 1900x1200 resolution at a decent framerate :) On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 10:03 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Geez Charles - What kind of games take so much video co-possessing power? I'd think it would take a whole lot less hardware to support very smooth display and accurate response of the very best flight simulators! -DC On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 6:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: David, dual processor video cards are already here, I purchased this card a week ago: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007730 I'm a gamer, so keeping up with the technology is a hobby of mine :) I thought I got a great deal on this card, but I didn't research it properly. Once I had the card in hand, it wouldn't work.
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - future CPU's
The BBC also has an article about this. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/technology/7439406.stm It says that Apple was using this technology in 2004 in some of its G5 computers. If only in some, and only in 2004, I wonder why it seems to have not panned out for apple? On 6/6/08, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: Here is an interesting article about a futuristic CPU. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080605-ibm-demonstrates-water-cooling-for-3d-processors.html The human brain pipes data in 3 dimensions, so why shouldn't a computer circuit? A CPU that could do that sounds like it has a lot of potential. It could possibly shorten the distance that data has to travel. Or possibly use less electricity to acheive the same characteristics. The article indicated that the idea would first be used in RAM to improve the memory in the computers. David - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
RE: [ot_caving] computer news - medical related
My dentist puts my x-rays into her data system. We can see them on the screen in each examining room. Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:06:33 -0500 From: dlocklea...@gmail.com To: o...@texascavers.com Subject: [ot_caving] computer news - medical related Here is a story about how a fancy desktop computer can be used in a real world application to replace a more advanced special purpose computer. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/PC-supercomputer,5513.html It is related to CT scans of the body. It is apparently more common now for a doctor to diagnosis a patient after having a CT scan than it was a few years ago. Hopefully in 10 years, these scans will be much less expensive, and it will be more cost efficient to do scans sooner, than later when a problem is suspected.I was inserted into a CT scanner 2 weeks ago. I had 2 scans in the abdominal area - 1 without the iodine injection, and 1 with. And 2 similar scans in the pelvis area. I would have like to have had the lungs and the head scanned, since I was already in the machine with all the barium fluid and iodine injections, but that would have been at least another 2 thousand probably. David Locklear - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - medical related
I have printouts of a heart scan I had. He told me he was giving me very pretty pictures Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
Charles - Is the 'buffer overflow' vulnerability still an issue or is that ancient history? I never quite understood how it could be exploited - I cannot imagine how such an attack could make it past a firewall or even a router anyhow... It was one of my former IT bosses big excuse for not using implementing Linux anywhere. And can you guide me to an up-to-date ISO image for a live BSD Unix? [The BSD logo is the little demon (my guess - a visual acronym for 'daemon')?] The only repositories I could find were at least two years old. I think it would be cool to eventually make a PC work just like a Mac. (It brings to mind an image of the stuffy PC guy in the Mac commercial being moved around like a puppet by the Mac guy). -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: As Quitna stated, her new computer came with Vista, and most computer manufacturers aren't developing XP drivers anymore. So with some computers (especially laptops), you can't even downgrade to XP. Work gave me a laptop with Vista, I haven't had any problems with it, just having to learn where things are. Wireless support (for my job) is a pain, I've been fighting the security for its wireless all week. I have a mac here at home, I love it. I also have an XP box too, but I use my mac more. I love not having to worry about spyware, rootkits and anti-virus for the mac. It's possible that we'll get that stuff in the future, but I doubt it. Mac OSX is based on BSD UNIX, and using the UNIX file security, it should be pretty virus proof. Charles On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, qui...@clearwire.net wrote: Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I was not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
Well it seems that my statement that I would not go back to XP was not clear. I like Vista - It is user friendly and it just took the old I do not like anything new bit to settle down and learn a bit about it. I do not like the reminder that I need to do a full back up but it is nice for ones who forget. It seems not to understand that I do the back up but with Norton's utility not Vista's. But like any of us getting older it is not easy to make changes. I never liked Mac. No problems with any virus ever but it could have as much to do with Norton as Vista. It had a lot of junk loaded which I cleaned out. Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
Don, that was just an excuse, sure there have been a varying amount of exploits that utilized buffer overflows, but those get fixed rather quickly. The linux kernel is an evolving animal, with changes and fixes coming out almost daily. I monitor several security mailing lists, that cover linux, windows and mac. I haven't seen a kernel exploit in years come across the list, and you won't find any real geek shying away from the best tool for its job, which is linux a lot of the time. I'm not aware of any good BSD live cd's, but I haven't looked for one either. There are 3 main flavors of the BSD derived opensource, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. FreeBSD is the bigger of them and has the most development and install base. However, it is not really suited for a desktop machine. While it has the functionality, only the more proficient UNIX users can make it work the way they want. I ran it as my desktop at work for about 3 years. This mailing list is hosted on a FreeBSD server, but it doesn't use xwindows for the server. For a UNIX desktop, I prefer Ubuntu, and since I like KDE over Gnome (just a personal preference), I use Kubuntu. While its not BSD, but true Linux, it is probably the easiest desktop Linux to get going, it has a large install base, lots of development going on and they religiously release major updates every 6 months. They are currently on release 8.04 (year and month released, April 2008) and you'll likely see 8.10 hit in October. The install cd for ubuntu is a live cd, but it has limited functionality, if you want a fully featured live cd, try out http://knoppix.net/ Astute readers will notice that knoppix is based on Debian, and so is Ubuntu. Knoppix is one of those tools that many geeks carry around for troubleshooting windows computers :) You can also setup Knoppix as your desktop, and carry around a usb stick with your knoppix cd with your personal preferences and settings. That way you can use almost anyones computer, and have your desktop come with you. I've never done this, but its one of its selling points. I've used knoppix on half a dozen different computers and it has always detected everything that I needed, mainly video (so that you didn't get stuck with 640x480 resolution) and the network card so that internet access was available. Hit me with any questions from all of this rambling :) Charles On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 1:27 AM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Charles - Is the 'buffer overflow' vulnerability still an issue or is that ancient history? I never quite understood how it could be exploited - I cannot imagine how such an attack could make it past a firewall or even a router anyhow... It was one of my former IT bosses big excuse for not using implementing Linux anywhere. And can you guide me to an up-to-date ISO image for a live BSD Unix? [The BSD logo is the little demon (my guess - a visual acronym for 'daemon')?] The only repositories I could find were at least two years old. I think it would be cool to eventually make a PC work just like a Mac. (It brings to mind an image of the stuffy PC guy in the Mac commercial being moved around like a puppet by the Mac guy). -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: As Quitna stated, her new computer came with Vista, and most computer manufacturers aren't developing XP drivers anymore. So with some computers (especially laptops), you can't even downgrade to XP. Work gave me a laptop with Vista, I haven't had any problems with it, just having to learn where things are. Wireless support (for my job) is a pain, I've been fighting the security for its wireless all week. I have a mac here at home, I love it. I also have an XP box too, but I use my mac more. I love not having to worry about spyware, rootkits and anti-virus for the mac. It's possible that we'll get that stuff in the future, but I doubt it. Mac OSX is based on BSD UNIX, and using the UNIX file security, it should be pretty virus proof. Charles On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, qui...@clearwire.net wrote: Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I was not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. Quinta
RE: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
I'm getting ready to invest in a new mac mini. Does anybody have experience with this one? I've been mac-ing since 1988, but use a pc at work. I have two ancient macs at home that aren't worth upgrading. Does anybody have any experience with the Goldtouch ergo keyboard Mac now shows on their site. I really need an ergo keyboard. Years and years of typing have really taken their toll. Also, what kind of mouse to go with? Also, besides $$$, what about iWork instead of mac versions of Word, Excel, etc? Louise List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 01:27:00 -0500From: wavycaver@gmail.comTo: wokka@justfamily.orgCC: qui...@clearwire.net; dlocklea...@gmail.com; ot@texascavers.comSubject: Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista relatedCharles -Is the 'buffer overflow' vulnerability still an issue or is that ancient history? I never quite understood how it could be exploited - I cannot imagine how such an attack could make it past a firewall or even a router anyhow...It was one of my former IT bosses big excuse for not using implementing Linux anywhere.And can you guide me to an up-to-date ISO image for a live BSD Unix? [The BSD logo is the little demon (my guess - a visual acronym for 'daemon')?] The only repositories I could find were at least two years old.I think it would be cool to eventually make a PC work just like a Mac. (It brings to mind an image of the stuffy PC guy in the Mac commercial being moved around like a puppet by the Mac guy).-WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: As Quitna stated, her new computer came with Vista, and most computermanufacturers aren't developing XP drivers anymore. So with somecomputers (especially laptops), you can't even downgrade to XP.Work gave me a laptop with Vista, I haven't had any problems with it,just having to learn where things are. Wireless support (for my job)is a pain, I've been fighting the security for its wireless all week.I have a mac here at home, I love it. I also have an XP box too, butI use my mac more. I love not having to worry about spyware, rootkitsand anti-virus for the mac. It's possible that we'll get that stuffin the future, but I doubt it. Mac OSX is based on BSD UNIX, andusing the UNIX file security, it should be pretty virus proof.Charles On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, qui...@clearwire.net wrote: Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I was not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
I actually did install Ubuntu on my fastest PC (AMD 64 3500+) which also has a partition dedicated to Fedora 8 - so now its a triple boot. The UBUNTU version was touted as being installed from Windows. I took it to mean that it would switch back and forth between one and the other - but not so. Not without a reboot. Also - although it seemed really 'eager and able' to resolve driver problems I had with my DVD player - it was not successful, no more so than Fedora. Maybe I shouldn't have gone for such a cheap ($40) motherboard - I'm thinking maybe the chipset is my problem - (though it does all work with Windows XP pro) Another problem with UBUNTU - I dont get it - there seems to not be a way to access the thing as root! As it won't allow me to access the largest data partition on my second hard drive because I'm not root... no mp3s - which there are about 100 gig worth on that hard drive. During setup, there was no mention of root or supervisory password. Maybe it just flashed by I'm mysterio'd by that. I did load a root command console utility - I haven't yet tried that out. Weird as well is the way you mount that big data partition when running Fedora and Ubuntu - its WAYYY non intuitive - the old process of mounting a /dev/hdb5 (for example) partition that you'd track down in fdisk and setup with fstab is not valid. Instead - you go to a home window select media and you'd find those unmounted partitions in there. I dunno - it looks like Linux is being muddled by making it more user friendly. I don't think df -aH gives me a clear picture of hard drive usage anymore. I dont see how I'd do it in a non-graphic mode now. One more thing I'd like to find that did work on *Red Hat Linux 9* - was a television card support utility for my 12 year old Hauppage PC TV card. It found me - I didnt have to find it! I havent exactly made an exhaustive search for one - Usually I'd rather be running an environment that runs all my stuff at once - rather than trying to make it do so I should probably get an even newer machine to hack on - to develop as my ideal environment (yet for most of the time - I'm SO enjoying watching streaming video of The Office and Lost on the 'fast desktop') - but other investments have priority. -WaV In the time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 8:38 AM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: Don, that was just an excuse, sure there have been a varying amount of exploits that utilized buffer overflows, but those get fixed rather quickly. The linux kernel is an evolving animal, with changes and fixes coming out almost daily. I monitor several security mailing lists, that cover linux, windows and mac. I haven't seen a kernel exploit in years come across the list, and you won't find any real geek shying away from the best tool for its job, which is linux a lot of the time. I'm not aware of any good BSD live cd's, but I haven't looked for one either. There are 3 main flavors of the BSD derived opensource, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. FreeBSD is the bigger of them and has the most development and install base. However, it is not really suited for a desktop machine. While it has the functionality, only the more proficient UNIX users can make it work the way they want. I ran it as my desktop at work for about 3 years. This mailing list is hosted on a FreeBSD server, but it doesn't use xwindows for the server. For a UNIX desktop, I prefer Ubuntu, and since I like KDE over Gnome (just a personal preference), I use Kubuntu. While its not BSD, but true Linux, it is probably the easiest desktop Linux to get going, it has a large install base, lots of development going on and they religiously release major updates every 6 months. They are currently on release 8.04 (year and month released, April 2008) and you'll likely see 8.10 hit in October. The install cd for ubuntu is a live cd, but it has limited functionality, if you want a fully featured live cd, try out http://knoppix.net/ Astute readers will notice that knoppix is based on Debian, and so is Ubuntu. Knoppix is one of those tools that many geeks carry around for troubleshooting windows computers :) You can also setup Knoppix as your desktop, and carry around a usb stick with your knoppix cd with your personal preferences and settings. That way you can use almost anyones computer, and have your desktop come with you. I've never done this, but its one of its selling points. I've used knoppix on half a dozen different computers and it has always detected everything that I needed, mainly video (so that you didn't get stuck with 640x480 resolution) and the network card so that internet access was available. Hit me with any questions from all of this rambling :) Charles On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 1:27 AM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Charles - Is the 'buffer overflow' vulnerability still an issue or is that ancient history? I never quite
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
I've never messed with a mini, but it's a mac, so should be good :) I have a logitech pc keyboard and kensington trakball on my mac, neither are mac centric. The windows key becomes the apple key and all is good. I went with m$ office, only because of compatibility and I got a trip to the m$ store here in Dallas from our work rep, so got it on the cheap. On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 11:28 AM, Louise Power power_lou...@hotmail.com wrote: I'm getting ready to invest in a new mac mini. Does anybody have experience with this one? I've been mac-ing since 1988, but use a pc at work. I have two ancient macs at home that aren't worth upgrading. Does anybody have any experience with the Goldtouch ergo keyboard Mac now shows on their site. I really need an ergo keyboard. Years and years of typing have really taken their toll. Also, what kind of mouse to go with? Also, besides $$$, what about iWork instead of mac versions of Word, Excel, etc? Louise Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 01:27:00 -0500 From: wavyca...@gmail.com To: wo...@justfamily.org CC: qui...@clearwire.net; dlocklea...@gmail.com; o...@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related Charles - Is the 'buffer overflow' vulnerability still an issue or is that ancient history? I never quite understood how it could be exploited - I cannot imagine how such an attack could make it past a firewall or even a router anyhow... It was one of my former IT bosses big excuse for not using implementing Linux anywhere. And can you guide me to an up-to-date ISO image for a live BSD Unix? [The BSD logo is the little demon (my guess - a visual acronym for 'daemon')?] The only repositories I could find were at least two years old. I think it would be cool to eventually make a PC work just like a Mac. (It brings to mind an image of the stuffy PC guy in the Mac commercial being moved around like a puppet by the Mac guy). -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: As Quitna stated, her new computer came with Vista, and most computer manufacturers aren't developing XP drivers anymore. So with some computers (especially laptops), you can't even downgrade to XP. Work gave me a laptop with Vista, I haven't had any problems with it, just having to learn where things are. Wireless support (for my job) is a pain, I've been fighting the security for its wireless all week. I have a mac here at home, I love it. I also have an XP box too, but I use my mac more. I love not having to worry about spyware, rootkits and anti-virus for the mac. It's possible that we'll get that stuff in the future, but I doubt it. Mac OSX is based on BSD UNIX, and using the UNIX file security, it should be pretty virus proof. Charles On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, qui...@clearwire.net wrote: Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I was not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
You are probably right about the chipset and your dvd player, I usually stick with intel or asus mobo's and have never had a problem with ubuntu on them. As far as your root problem, give this a try: sudo -s when it prompts you for a password, put your password in, by default, the initial user for ubuntu has sudo access, and that gives you full root access... while its a minor security issue, it won't be at your house behind a firewall... once there, just do this: passwd root and set your root password once you are setup on root, you should be able to chown your second drive to your user account I never messed with any video capture cards or dvr with linux... but i understand there is a big following of mythbuntu... I actually put that on my media pc, but need to get some drives for it and start archiving my movies onto it. I don't know how it would work as a desktop, but I would think it would support your capture card On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 1:26 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: I actually did install Ubuntu on my fastest PC (AMD 64 3500+) which also has a partition dedicated to Fedora 8 - so now its a triple boot. The UBUNTU version was touted as being installed from Windows. I took it to mean that it would switch back and forth between one and the other - but not so. Not without a reboot. Also - although it seemed really 'eager and able' to resolve driver problems I had with my DVD player - it was not successful, no more so than Fedora. Maybe I shouldn't have gone for such a cheap ($40) motherboard - I'm thinking maybe the chipset is my problem - (though it does all work with Windows XP pro) Another problem with UBUNTU - I dont get it - there seems to not be a way to access the thing as root! As it won't allow me to access the largest data partition on my second hard drive because I'm not root... no mp3s - which there are about 100 gig worth on that hard drive. During setup, there was no mention of root or supervisory password. Maybe it just flashed by I'm mysterio'd by that. I did load a root command console utility - I haven't yet tried that out. Weird as well is the way you mount that big data partition when running Fedora and Ubuntu - its WAYYY non intuitive - the old process of mounting a /dev/hdb5 (for example) partition that you'd track down in fdisk and setup with fstab is not valid. Instead - you go to a home window select media and you'd find those unmounted partitions in there. I dunno - it looks like Linux is being muddled by making it more user friendly. I don't think df -aH gives me a clear picture of hard drive usage anymore. I dont see how I'd do it in a non-graphic mode now. One more thing I'd like to find that did work on Red Hat Linux 9 - was a television card support utility for my 12 year old Hauppage PC TV card. It found me - I didnt have to find it! I havent exactly made an exhaustive search for one - Usually I'd rather be running an environment that runs all my stuff at once - rather than trying to make it do so I should probably get an even newer machine to hack on - to develop as my ideal environment (yet for most of the time - I'm SO enjoying watching streaming video of The Office and Lost on the 'fast desktop') - but other investments have priority. -WaV In the time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 8:38 AM, Charles Goldsmith wo...@justfamily.org wrote: Don, that was just an excuse, sure there have been a varying amount of exploits that utilized buffer overflows, but those get fixed rather quickly. The linux kernel is an evolving animal, with changes and fixes coming out almost daily. I monitor several security mailing lists, that cover linux, windows and mac. I haven't seen a kernel exploit in years come across the list, and you won't find any real geek shying away from the best tool for its job, which is linux a lot of the time. I'm not aware of any good BSD live cd's, but I haven't looked for one either. There are 3 main flavors of the BSD derived opensource, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. FreeBSD is the bigger of them and has the most development and install base. However, it is not really suited for a desktop machine. While it has the functionality, only the more proficient UNIX users can make it work the way they want. I ran it as my desktop at work for about 3 years. This mailing list is hosted on a FreeBSD server, but it doesn't use xwindows for the server. For a UNIX desktop, I prefer Ubuntu, and since I like KDE over Gnome (just a personal preference), I use Kubuntu. While its not BSD, but true Linux, it is probably the easiest desktop Linux to get going, it has a large install base, lots of development going on and they religiously release major updates every 6 months. They are currently on release 8.04 (year and month released, April 2008) and you'll likely see 8.10 hit in October. The install cd for ubuntu is a live cd, but
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, qui...@clearwire.net wrote: Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I was not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - Vista related
As Quitna stated, her new computer came with Vista, and most computer manufacturers aren't developing XP drivers anymore. So with some computers (especially laptops), you can't even downgrade to XP. Work gave me a laptop with Vista, I haven't had any problems with it, just having to learn where things are. Wireless support (for my job) is a pain, I've been fighting the security for its wireless all week. I have a mac here at home, I love it. I also have an XP box too, but I use my mac more. I love not having to worry about spyware, rootkits and anti-virus for the mac. It's possible that we'll get that stuff in the future, but I doubt it. Mac OSX is based on BSD UNIX, and using the UNIX file security, it should be pretty virus proof. Charles On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM, Don Cooper wavyca...@gmail.com wrote: Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. -WaV On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, qui...@clearwire.net wrote: Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I was not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. Quinta
Re: [ot_caving] computer news - SSD cards
There are already a few laptop manufacturers doing this: http://www.apple.com/macbookair/ http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/System_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=usl=ens=dhscs=19sku=341-5582 Pricey right now, but you are right David, this will be mainstream soon, good for battery life and speed. Charles On 1/18/08, David Locklear dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: Here is a 128 gig solid-state memory drive for your laptop. http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/01/1-7-08-a-data-ssd-card.jpg I think it cost with tax over 4 thousand dollars. But in a few years, it will be in mainstream laptops. The advantage will be faster access to computer files like big photos, and more durability like when you bang your laptop into something. I am thinking it will be easier to have multiple memory drives in your laptop. For example, it might be inexpensive to have two 64 gig memory drives. One for running windows applications and one for storing movies, photos, music, encyclopedia, data, etc. David Locklear - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
