nixgeek
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Posts posted by nixgeek
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"the best thing to do is jump in at the deep end armed with only Google, a install CD and perhaps a book."
Depends on the user Sparda, It might work for some people but your average Joe User might be biting off more than he can chew. To be fair, I learned linux just in the way you said, Google, Gentoo Forums and the install handbook. It was quite a long process and i'm fairly certain i only know very little, certainly not guru status. There are some distros, Ubuntu for example, that are quite simple to install and would be a more practical choice to the beginner.
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Linux is not as user-friendly as Windows, that much is obvious and when linux breaks.. well... but I think that Linux is a great alternative to Windows if you want to actively learn your OS. Linux isn't something you should pick up just because someone else is doing it. You should do some research as to what you're getting in to before installing any OS on your PC. It takes some getting used to how things work and most new users end up switching back to the "old comfort" of Windows. For hardcore *nix users like myself, we prefer something a little more substantial.. like Gentoo! ;)
Also, this really belongs in "Questions".. should be moved.
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I too have no problem with hackling, it's like getting called a n00b in WoW, if you can't take it and you whine you get looked down upon even more. That said, the word makes me think of the word Zergling, from Starcraft.. now who didn't love those guys? :)
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Jarett or nixgeek 'round these here parts.
Favourite game: Planescape: Torment
Favourite OS: Gentoo (Although I hate reinstalling it)
Favourite console: Gamecube
Nationality: American
Accent: People tell me New Yawk
Sex: Male
Age:34
Race: White
Height: 6â€1'
Status: Married, Kids x 3
Build: Soft, squishy geek
Favourite band: Aerosmith
Favourite book: Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
Favourite author: Douglas Adams
Favourite movie: Lord Of The Rings trilogy
Favourite director: Peter Jackson
Favourite TV Show: The Riche$
Favourite actor: Eddie Izzard
Favourite actress: Renee Zellweger
Favourite Pinup: I'm married, pinups get you castrated
Favourite Comedian: Eddie Izzard
Other hobbies: Finding Old PC games, Gadget hound, Pen & Paper RPGs
Car: 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan
Occupation: Technical Support Rep
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This is why the word "Backup" applies to most Sysadmins running production servers containing any sort of important data.
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I could ask the question, "Why would you want to?" but i'm sure i'd get the obvious "Because I can" as an answer. ;)
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Something else of interest.
http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/easybcd-151-released/
I'm going to play with it today.
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Kopete is also an option.. but not as cool as Gaim.
I dual boot Vista and Linux on my laptop and run linux on my server.
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This may be dumb but make sure you're in the right workgroup.
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Ask and ye shall receive
Try this little tool. It'll save you from screwing around with bcdedit.
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Then i'm not sure ERD is what you're looking for. He's looking for more a customized XP install.
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N-Lite is what you're looking for. Not sure it works with Vista yet.
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Vista.. i've been using it since RTM hit.
Points:
Install - Quick, easy, painless. 30 minutes or so depending.
UAC - You'll either love it or hate it. Imagine XP asking you EVERY time you do something if it's ok. Multiple times. You can turn this feature off but Microsoft "does not recommend it" as it makes the PC insecure. This is good as it essentially nags you when something wants to run/be installed on your machine. So if you always click Allow without looking at what's being installed, the viruses/spyware is your fault.
Aero - Is it pretty? Yes! Do you need it to function on a daily basis? No. Can we say eyecandy?
Compatability - So far, so good. I haven't really had Vista complain about any of the software I installed. I'm a gamer and Vista has held it's own as far as gameplay is concerned.
Hardware - This is a sticking point for most people. I installed clean Vista Ultimate on my Inspiron E1505 and needed to get my wireless card driver. Wasn't on the disk. Was it a terrible inconvenience? Not really. After the driver was installed i just upgraded some drivers from Dell's support site.
Readyboost - interesting little addition to how windows runs. Readyboost lets you use a USB Key, SD Card, etc as a "swap" device. We all know that xfer rates are better off USBkeys and SD cards so Vista lets you use that extra space to increase system performace. Does it work? I've noticed without Readyboost there is a slight hit in performace. Do you "need" Readyboost? No but it's a great idea and worth assigning a USB Key or SD card to the task.
IE7 - It's IE7, big whoop. Looks different, decided to go tabbed browsing a gazillion years after all the other browsers. Security holes anyone?
DX10 - Big big big plus for gamers. Not much in the way of native DX10 games out yet that i've noticed but it'll come.
Other nice things - Media Center Built in (at least in Ultimate), Windows DVD maker, Windows Defender built in. Browsing a folder with many media files, Vista does not take 5 minutes to load thumbnails. I have yet to see Vista BSOD (*knocks on wood*) Integrated Pocket PC support.
Things that bothered me -
Disk Defrag - Now i don't know about you but I liked to watch the progress of the defragment. I don't trust Microsoft's ability to estimate time. Well the old defrag screen is gone.
Sidebar - Really neat idea, although done already by some company with fruit as it's logo. It eats system resources, my cpu usage shoots up when sidebar is loaded. The Gadgets are starting to become more plentiful but, there were very little that i was actualy interested in.
Install size - Ultimate - We're talking 4gig plus. Now space is not a premium on a 60gig drive but, 4 gig for an OS?
Conclusion:
All in all, Vista is a decent OS. Do you need to upgrade to it? No. It's more of a want. I however hear whispers of Microsoft releasing the OS after Vista in 3 years, so take that into account. Anyway, i hope this helps prospective Vista pre-converts. Seeya on IRC!
- nixgeek
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Being a linux user and having to use Windows at work, it drives me NUTS not having tabcomplete.
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To turn on tabcomplete in the versions of windows that don't have it, just add this to the registry:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftCommand Processor]
"CompletionChar"=dword:00000009
"DefaultColor"=dword:00000000
"EnableExtensions"=dword:00000001
This should allow for tab completing and shouldn't require a reboot!
nixgeek
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Writing a batchfile to automate some procedures at work, however I want the user to be able to run the batchfile without arguments and have it give them the correct syntax for the batchfile commands. I know an IF statement is involved but can't seem to figure it out.
Any help is appreciated!
nixgeek
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Just figured i'd throw this out real quick. I have a PC dedicated for my kids use and they're younger kids. They have quite a few games that require CD media to play but I don't let them handle the CDs because... well.. they tend do destroy them.
I run a server inhouse and decided to ISO up all their games and store 'em there, mount em on the PC with Daemon Tools and off they go. This however required me to be on hand when they decided they wanted to change games. So after a tiny bit of research on Daemon Tools forums I came up with this batchfile, one per game changed to fit each game. This works in Vista too, which the PCs running.
Automount and unmount batchfile
rem Mount network drive with games directory
net use X: "vashstorage3games"
rem Mount with cmd line cd image
"C:Program FilesDaemon Toolsdaemon.exe" -mount 0,"X:game.iso"
rem run game
call "C:gamegame.exe"
rem Unmount cd image from cmd line
"C:Program FilesDaemon Toolsdaemon.exe" -unmount 0
rem delete network drive
net use X: /d
Now this is fairly simple to put together, just have to turn off Secure Mode within Daemon Tools otherwise it will prompt you each time you mount and unmount the disk with the batchfile. I changed the shortcuts for each game to point to this batchfile and also run it minimized so my kids don't have to see the batchfile running. Completely and seamlessly mounts the CD, runs the game and when they quit, dismounts the cd and kills the network drive.
Happy Hacking!
nixgeek
Linux for games
in Hak5
Posted
I have run games via Gentoo and Cedega in the past and they mostly played ok, even WoW!