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  1. Mercutio

    New NForce Drivers

    Wow. 45 whole minutes after I finished burning the May 19th ones to a CD.
  2. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    I am going to try to explain something. I don't know if it will make sense. Bear with me. Right now, I do not see any point to doing anything at all. I mean this literally. I have no anchor to this world but a dim hope any sensible person would long have abandoned. I made a promise to keep...
  3. Mercutio

    Samsung SpinPoint 160GB (poor) review.

    I had no idea it was even possible to get a Samsung drive in a retail box. Link. Pricewatch is presently showing $127 for the 5400rpm version of this drive. I hope the 7200rpm version debuts at something close to that price as well. The possibility that the reviewed drive might cost upwards of...
  4. Mercutio

    Ever heard of a Western Digital SPARTAN 136AA 13.6GB HD?

    I could part with one for a modest sum of money, $30, or perhaps an exchange of one functioning drive for another.
  5. Mercutio

    My P4 new mobo?

    No comment on the quality of those motherboards, but my eyes would be a lot happier with green or gold PCBs and the more normal white and brown components. I thought pastels died in the 80s, and that thing Jake linked to makes me think I'm in a construction zone. I blame the LAN party crowd...
  6. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    What I'd really like to do is die. That's what I'd like to do about it. I made a promise not to, and I have kept it, but it is a very hard thing for me to do. You guys can talk about depression in an abstract sense, you can describe change like it's something that just happens. Things do not...
  7. Mercutio

    Ever heard of a Western Digital SPARTAN 136AA 13.6GB HD?

    ... worked the last time I tested them, I mean.
  8. Mercutio

    Ever heard of a Western Digital SPARTAN 136AA 13.6GB HD?

    I have two of them at the moment. They're absolute slugs but both still worked.
  9. Mercutio

    Matrix reloaded?

    3 female nipples, I think. None of them belonging to Carrie Anne Moss. During the rave scene. Also the fairly flagrant gunplay near the end of the movie (e.g. the keymaker), and Superman's battle with the Annoying Frenchman's henchmen. The real bad stuff didn't happen on camera, but there was...
  10. Mercutio

    Matrix reloaded?

    I got to see it the Friday before last. A screening for the local movie critics (show up at a movie theatre at 10AM on a Friday and I guess this is what happens). Two things occured to me as I watched it. One was that there was a fight sequence about every 20 minutes. Blah blah blah overblown...
  11. Mercutio

    Shuttle introduces AK32E

    Nope. I've seen AK31As a couple of times. The layout is different on that board than the one I have.
  12. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    Actually, Gary is what you have to watch out for. I'm a city block outside Gary. Gary is in annual competition with Washington DC, Detroit and New York for "Murder Capital of the World". But I mostly like strategy games, myself.
  13. Mercutio

    [NEWS] - SCO self-immolates

    Funny thing. The first IBM clone I ever used ran Xenix (Microsoft/SCO UNIX). SCO at this point exists only to litigate. The company that was SCO had its operating system technologies (Xenix, OpenServer, Unixware) purchased, while its only really interesting software (the Tarantella application...
  14. Mercutio

    [NEWS] - Firebird 0.6 available for download.

    Mozilla's mail client is still worthwhile. Phoenix does seem to have a bit more browsing area, but the current build has a little bug with autosaving form data that makes me more than a little uncomfortable.
  15. Mercutio

    samsung

    If it matters, Samsung drives are quiet and cool. Never, ever warmer than air temperature inside a case, and quiet enough that you don't hear them seek. They're slugs, about in-line with 1-or-2 generation old drives for the most part, but you can't beat the price or the reliability. My beef...
  16. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    I'm 30,000 feet from my CO. ISDN requires complex changes inside the demarc - you have to basically build an additional phone infrastructure or replace your analog stuff with Digital/ISDN. Either way, I don't see my landlord going for it. Supposedly, a local company is building a 1Mbit...
  17. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    XP SP1a and the 35MB of drivers Catalyst 3.4 drivers and support files I just downloaded over a 19.2 connection appear to fix the problem. Good thing I won't use this machine to play games.
  18. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    My regular FedEx guy is named Denny. Denny hates me, for I order many heavy things that he has to drag all the way to my apartment door. My UPS lady is Jolene. Jolene's son is studying computers in college, I wouldn't go thinking that I'm any better than usual. Noticing someone's appearance...
  19. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    Got board today. When they say "bare", they mean it. It came in a white box with no parts. No firewire header, no I/O bracket. :( I can probably scam those somewhere. Popped in a Tbred B 2100, 2x 256MB DDR. Booted on first try. I don't have a ghost image for an nforce2, so right now I'm...
  20. Mercutio

    VIA KT600 faster than nForce2 according to [H]ard|OCP.

    Now that I've found that my plans for Dresden have been thwarted (for now), it might be wise to point out that there's no frickin' way that you're going to be able to tell the difference between KT400A, nforce2, or KT600 in normal operation. Why worry about it? I thought we stopped worrying...
  21. Mercutio

    It's Here!

    I tried to see it, but it was far too cloudy here. Disappointing. :(
  22. Mercutio

    Ever wanted to know the thoughts of car fans?

    Might not be a new car, but you might look at a used Volvo, timwhit. Something in a 700-series. They're basically luxury cars, and about the only thing that breaks on them is the turbocharger. Probably not your style, but they last forever and ever and ever.
  23. Mercutio

    Can't get 100% defrag

    Seriously, free up more space. Try for 30% or so if you can. You probably still won't get 100% unfragmented, but you'll get closer.
  24. Mercutio

    System Builders, note: AMD launches Opteron white box system

    Dell is also selling White Boxes now. They're built by Dell, sold to resellers. Resellers provide the support, and sell the boxes to the consumer. I guess this is mostly a way for Dell to show growth? My Dell was a slug; I don't know if I'd want one to begin with, but a "Dell" that doesn't say...
  25. Mercutio

    VIA KT600 faster than nForce2 according to [H]ard|OCP.

    I have military forces at my disposal and no one informed me!?! Why, this could completely change my plans for Dresden! Assemble this regiment, that I may inspect them! I do hope they're light cavalry. The pikemen and arquebussiers are in desperate need of additional flankers...
  26. Mercutio

    Polar Bear attacks Submarine

    I got a kick out of the images, particularly the third one.
  27. Mercutio

    Best movie you've seen

    Snogging?!? The mind boggles at the possible meaning for that term, particularly in context.
  28. Mercutio

    F---! California passes Net Tax

    I never had 2% milk, real butter or mayonaisse before I went off to college. Now they all strike me as some kind of luxury.
  29. Mercutio

    Why not power peripherals off the PC power supply?

    One of the resellers I deal with sells 1-foot-long power cables. First time I saw one I didn't get it. They turn wall warts into line lumps.
  30. Mercutio

    Why not power peripherals off the PC power supply?

    The AT specification DID offer a plug for a monitor. 15 and 17" displays blew a LOT of PSUs. Really, this is a matter of size - power supplies are trending to physically smaller, as anyone who has worked on a new-ish HP, emachine or Dell can attest. I don't think there's ROOM for a bunch of...
  31. Mercutio

    Ever wanted to know the thoughts of car fans?

    Driving is work. Boring, stupid work. Like digging holes, only without the satisfaction of scarring the crust of mother earth. I just can't wrap my head around the common point of view here. I can buy an awful lot of repairs for the price difference between a new car and something that's four...
  32. Mercutio

    Stupid reseller tricks

    One of my students taught me a neat trick today. 1. Staples is an Ingram reseller. Call Staples, ask for an Ingram part number, and they'll give you Ingram's price + Staples markup. 2. Staples has a pricematching policy. 3. Staples accepts online vendors, like, oh, Newegg, as valid for...
  33. Mercutio

    Microtek 4850 Scanner Woes

    Realize that commercial bulk scanning of 10k images is going to hit $3k, easy, and the time investment for doing it at home with a crappy flatbed will be, well, outrageous (probably at least a couple months of eight hour days, just for scanning). I think you really need to look at a dedicated...
  34. Mercutio

    Too much news is like not enough

    I still haven't found a KT400A. What are they doing talking about KT600?!?
  35. Mercutio

    The motherboard to car analogy project

    Trabi = Compaq. I should think that one is obvious.
  36. Mercutio

    Best movie you've seen

    The updated version was released in the US while I was in, I guess I was in 6th grade, so... 1987ish I remember a story in Time Magazine about it. Most libraries I've been to still seem to have the old edition on hand, rather than the new one.
  37. Mercutio

    Best movie you've seen

    Sorta kinda spoiler, if you're interested in reading the novel Basically, Alex, the vaguely sociopathic narrator, grows into a responsible adult.
  38. Mercutio

    Microtek 4850 Scanner Woes

    Step 1. Take the stupid thing back. The whole thing, not just the adaptor Step 2. Take slides n' stuff to Walgreens. They'll do a better job and they'll d hordes of slides for the price of that scanner, plus you're not sitting around waiting for your poor PC. Step 3. Pour yourself a nice, cool...
  39. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    I have no idea. My 2003 EE machine has hard locked three times with no known cause, by the way. Since it's a file server, I usually find this out when I'm trying to send it some data.
  40. Mercutio

    Best movie you've seen

    Yeah, that last chapter does add something.
  41. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    It'll take about 90 minutes, actually. Plus the five reboots it takes to re-enable all the stuff you're used to having like, oh, sound.
  42. Mercutio

    LiteOn DVD-ROM communism

    I've noticed that, too. The DRU500AX isn't even particularly good as a playback device. It might as well be burner-only.
  43. Mercutio

    The motherboard to car analogy project

    Ah ! Well aday! What evil looks Had I from old and young ! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.
  44. Mercutio

    The motherboard to car analogy project

    I think they need to change their name. Albatron sounds entirely too much like something PC Chips would make up.
  45. Mercutio

    Ever wanted to know the thoughts of car fans?

    I don't get new cars. You're throwing down minimum $15k (and probably more like $25k if want something that's decent) for something that's only worth $15k until the second you drive it off the lot . That's a substantial chunk of the cost of a HOUSE. All that car does is consume. Gas, oil...
  46. Mercutio

    The motherboard to car analogy project

    Seems we know two different companies. The DFI boards I'm familiar with are as vanilla as all get-out. Average price (a bit more proud than FIC or Shuttle at any rate), stable but far from perfect, almost always spot-on reference boards (except maybe for a header layout that makes me want to get...
  47. Mercutio

    The motherboard to car analogy project

    Sounds like we found our PC Chips!
  48. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    The Soundstorm was a hard requirement. SPDIF is a hard requirement. Looking at pictures of various nforce2 boards, the Asus was the only one I could see that had Soundstorm and SPDIF. If you'll recall, I asked around here about that very issue a few weeks ago, but no one replied.
  49. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    Hey, I'm trying aren't I?
  50. Mercutio

    Pre-Sale: Asus nforce2

    What's up with haranguing me about my posts, mubs?
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