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  1. Mercutio

    64-Bit WinXP Beta Available to General Public

    Louder than the Speeze/Spire fans I'm so fond of. :( I'm still using it with the case off and it's sitting about 18" from my head; it's a little hard to be objective at this point.
  2. Mercutio

    64-Bit WinXP Beta Available to General Public

    My plans for these PCs: 1. 64-bit Longhorn Preview 2. XP 64-bit 3. Find an appropriate Linux 64-bit distribution 4. Figure out if anything is faster/better.
  3. Mercutio

    64-Bit WinXP Beta Available to General Public

    I'm fairly certain that it wasn't all dirty pictures. Although if anyone needs any help finding that much stuff, I can probably help out. Testing out my first Athlon64. One thing I notice - and this has got to be someone's dirty little trick: The management software for the 3Com 1000BT chip in...
  4. Mercutio

    NTFS v FAT32

    I don't remember all the details, but with ReiserFS, it's apparently possible to get the FS in a state that leads to whole-partition data corruption. I know that's somewhat true of any FS, but in this case it's something the developer is aware of, and has essentially said "I don't care." I read...
  5. Mercutio

    NTFS v FAT32

    ZAR does work very well. I tested it and reported positive results after its author posted on SR about it (and before superc started arguing with him). I was able to do a better job as a "control" (I zeroed out both copies of the FAT on a drive) with it than with a couple of commercial tools I...
  6. Mercutio

    NTFS v FAT32

    Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!
  7. Mercutio

    NTFS v FAT32

    NTFS is a journaling filesystem, and has multiple copies of its partition information stored elsewhere than the first sector of the partition. Those two facts alone make it better than FAT32.
  8. Mercutio

    Favorite Quotes

    Here's a couple more: "Prevent Inbreeding: Ban Country Music" and, "Asalaam malekum", which translates to "peace be with you" from Arabic, and is IMO a perfectly wonderful sentiment. A lot of people where I live are literally shocked that I would say such a thing - I guess it sounds like I'm...
  9. Mercutio

    Micro-review: Linksys BEFSX41 VPN Router

    Anyone remember Mega-Maid from Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs"? Mega-Maid does not have enough suck to describe the Linksys BEFSX41. OK, granted, it's a little Linksys black-box Internet Access device. I'll bet 80% of the folks who visit here either have something similar or have at least configured...
  10. Mercutio

    RAID 0 - a call for a metareview

    Greg, what application do you have that requires 180MB/sec STR?
  11. Mercutio

    64-Bit WinXP Beta Available to General Public

    Two things in its favor: One of the two systems I'm putting together will have the full 3GB of RAM the board will support. I'm hoping that 64XP will handle that RAM better than plain old 2000/XP (workstations versions don't handle > 2GB very well). If it doesn't help, I'll have 1 machine with...
  12. Mercutio

    64-Bit WinXP Beta Available to General Public

    I'll let y'all know how it is in a couple of days when my motherboard arrives. I'm not expecting any earth-shattering differences, though.
  13. Mercutio

    The united states Economy

    I know not everyone is interested in the editorial viewpoint of salon.com, and the ads are a PITA if you are not a member, but this is yet another in a long line of heartbreaking articles describing what's happened to IT workers and to American professionals in general.
  14. Mercutio

    Stupid question #4309

    Switch to Firebird.
  15. Mercutio

    2004 Superbowl predicition!

    Not nearly violent enough.
  16. Mercutio

    2004 Superbowl predicition!

    I was thinking more the Greg Louganis type of acrobatic high-diving... into a solid sheet of ice. Or maybe a partially frozen swimming pool. That'd be more interesting for the hockey players.
  17. Mercutio

    Best movie you've seen

    Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) made a movie at last year's San Diego Comic Con last year. Appropriately, it's titled "Comic Book: The Movie", and it's goddamn funny on about 10 different levels. It's a no-budget movie that was shot live at the convention, and it really captures the experience of...
  18. Mercutio

    2004 Superbowl predicition!

    Two groups of men in love. I'm telling you. The whole thing is a backrub away from gay porn. I'd put smilies, but I'm not kidding.
  19. Mercutio

    Favorite Quotes

    "Hey everybody! Watch this!" -- Death Cry of the Wild Hillbilly, Walmartis customeris Someone needs to write a thank-you letter for all the Darwin-award winners who have met their fate on Yamaha small-engine products.
  20. Mercutio

    Over The Top

    My father's employees (engineers) use Dell Precision machines, which are basically 2-processor Xeons with a graphics card that cost more than five or six normal PCs. Very typically these PCs end up in the $10,000 range.
  21. Mercutio

    Musical chairs (I mean computers)

    In my experience quick repair does something worthwhile maybe 1 in every 3 or 4 times I try it. Having the ERD helps a lot (maybe 1 in every 2 or 3 goes), and ASR, if you take the time to do it, has been foolproof for me, literally the only positive I've found with 2003 Server so far.
  22. Mercutio

    ECS uses double-sided tape for their KT400 mainboard too.

    Coug, why do you keep buying those things?
  23. Mercutio

    Favorite Quotes

    I believe it is possible to attain enlightenment by watching the movie "Ghost World". Seymour (Steve Buscemi) and Enid (Thora Birch) are modern-day prophets.
  24. Mercutio

    Lacie 40GB USB 2.0 5,400 RPM External

    I always did like buying Clocker's stuff. Half the fun is undoing the 3/4 of a roll of packing tape he always uses for the package. Right now it's a hair over $50. I put in a bid. $25 for an enclosure + $25 for a 40GB drive seems like a pretty damn good deal to me.
  25. Mercutio

    Splash: What are you using for new systems at work?

    It's not a right for everyone. Criminals aren't supposed to be able to buy them. I'm merely proposing a second case for disqualification. How about: If you lose a handgun, you shouldn't be allowed to have kids. Would that be too much? :| Seriously: Where do you live/work that you feel the need...
  26. Mercutio

    Splash: What are you using for new systems at work?

    Would it be unfair of me to say that someone who loses a handgun probably shouldn't be allowed to have another?
  27. Mercutio

    Favorite Quotes

    The hardest thing in the world is to live in it.
  28. Mercutio

    2004 Superbowl predicition!

    I think the whole damn "sport" is about one and a half innuendoes away from being "the heartbreaking story of two large groups of men in love". "Pile-up" "Fullback" "Tackle" "Tight End" That weird thing they do to give the throwing-guy the ball. The uniform: skin-tight leggings and armor that...
  29. Mercutio

    Splash: What are you using for new systems at work?

    Santilli, following the logic "We need to be as well armed as the criminals", will lead to unceasing escalation from law enforcement, gangs AND citizens. You get a full-auto Mac-10. The local cop gets an M16. What're the gangs gonna do? Give up? Or find something crew-served? Who needs a new...
  30. Mercutio

    Splash: What are you using for new systems at work?

    I can count the number of programs I haven't been able to install on NTish Server machines on one hand. Heavy SMP users nowadays - guys with 4 CPU workstations - are stuck with it. It's not like you run into programs that don't run on server. You have to work at it. Also: "Erroding the...
  31. Mercutio

    What about Howard Dean?

    There's a primary debate going on right now. I'm listening to it on the radio, live. I get, um, all the TV channels, and I can't find it on TV. It's not even on CSPAN. The previous primary debate was radio-only. Why even bother with debates if the only people who know anything about them are...
  32. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Nearest one for me is 17 miles of city driving away.
  33. Mercutio

    What about Howard Dean?

    According to salon.com, Dean has spent all $40 million that he raised last year, and he won't have money to pay his staff in February.
  34. Mercutio

    Best movie you've seen

    I watched "Impacto" last night. Good flick in approximately the same vein as "Unbreakable".
  35. Mercutio

    [NEWS] - UnitedLinux not united anymore

    SCO withdrew four or five months ago. I think TurboLinux folded English-language operations (they were basically "Japanese Linux" AFAIK). Don't know what's going on with Connectiva. Novell probably wants to further distinguish SuSE from RHEL and Debian.
  36. Mercutio

    Most ignorant thing I've ever heard in my life

    I've never used what you guys are calling IM software. Mostly because all existing IM clients are nonstandard. IMO, the commercialization of the internet has killed standardization, and now we have AOL, Yahoo and MSN engaged in a corporate dick-measuring contest over whose "passes through port...
  37. Mercutio

    What about Howard Dean?

    Apparently Lieberman spent some time last week giving a speech about why "Grand Theft Auto" should be banned. So, um, I know media censorship is part of his schtick, but 1.) Censorship is wrong in pretty much any form and 2.) It's a video game with an "M" rating. Isn't there something more...
  38. Mercutio

    Second Tuesday of the Month Lottery

    It's not that big a deal, actually. Any webmonkey good enough to screw around with long, complicated URLs can unmangle the username out of it. It's probably more interesting as a power play to get coders to switch to one of Microsoft's authentication techniques (NTLM or digest authentication or...
  39. Mercutio

    Killing things in Unix-type environments

    I have a large book called "Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD Operating System" that goes into far FAR more detail about process management than anyone but a system developer would ever need. If you're that guy, it's a great thing to read. Me? I pretty much kill -9 or kill -HUP and don't...
  40. Mercutio

    Athlon64 3000 - who's taking the $215 plunge?

    Newegg told me the gigabyte board I'd selected is in stock again, but after some review, now I think I'd rather have an Albatron K8X800 Pro II (gigabit, SPIDF in and outputs for a Via Envoy sound chip, SATA etc). ...which is now out of stock not available anyplace else I'd trust to buy it...
  41. Mercutio

    Brrrrrrrr....so bloody cold

    I think I'd prefer my warm NyQuil cocktail, actually.
  42. Mercutio

    Brrrrrrrr....so bloody cold

    Just wait Pradeep. It's coming your way. I had to scrape 8" of snow off my car this morning, another 3" when I went to lunch and then 4" more when it was time to go home. I hate snow.
  43. Mercutio

    What about Howard Dean?

    Kerry, as I've said earlier, does not inspire me. Dean doesn't, either. I'm pulling for one of the moderates (Clark or Edwards), who will play better to centrists in the general election. Anyway, I don't think you can call the primary season yet. Clinton came out of nowwhere in '92. The press...
  44. Mercutio

    Most ignorant thing I've ever heard in my life

    Yeah. I had a lab of Sparc 5s that literally no one used unless the engineering and compsci labs were full. In those days almost everything "internet" was done at a terminal session on a Unix Mini (Sequent, IBM or HP). Try to explain "CLI" to a comparative lit major...
  45. Mercutio

    Most ignorant thing I've ever heard in my life

    In college I managed very large computer lab, usually by myself, in the Liberal Arts and Education Building on Purdue's Main campus. Literally, the least technical people to attend Purdue West Lafayette walked through those doors. I'm talking 1994 here, so if these things seem a little dated...
  46. Mercutio

    Jan '04; your PC specs.

    Don't feel bad Blake, my fastest CPU is still sitting in its box and it'll continue to sit there for at least another week. Most of the rest of my processors are XP2500s anyway. My little Appliance PCs #1: Mobile XP1700 + low-profile Speeze cooler on a GA7VAXP Gateway E4200 chassis (it's a...
  47. Mercutio

    Most ignorant thing I've ever heard in my life

    Understand that I work at a company that trains others to use computers: They: "How come I keep getting these messages that're returned "user unknown" with "Unicode binary.exe" attached?" Me: "Because you have the MyDoom virus that I sent out a warning about on Friday, and because you insist...
  48. Mercutio

    DVD burning software

    I like Nero + DVD Shrink for my movie-stealing needs. Newer versions of DVD Shrink even burn directly. For capped video to DVD I use DVD MovieFactory most of the time.
  49. Mercutio

    Epox 8KHA+ leaky capacitors

    Came into work this morning. My server was down. Bluescreened with different errors on every reboot. Opened it up to pull its main drive, noticed some bulging caps. So I pulled it off its shelf, and took a look in the light. Two caps had leaked brownish capacitor gunk over themselves, and 11...
  50. Mercutio

    Onboard vs. PCI sound and LAN

    AC97 is nothing more than an I/O specification for a sound chip (e.g. RealTek, Via Envoy, Crystal Audio...). You can use any chip you want, as long as, for example, pin #30 - 46 on that chip output a 16-bit 48kHz PCM stream. The upsample to downsample deal is a lot like trying to add quality...
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