the empty calorie

Hah, compared to what?I have only seen one "decent" product of Microsoft...and it is a Z80 card in my Apple II.*NIX will always reign supreme, well for the next 10 years at least, but I have had yet to try Plan 9...Anyone here had any experiences with Plan 9?(also) Microsoft's claims of what their OS'es features are, are the stupidest things I've ever heard... "Digital Media at it's best?" Windows isn't responsible for that...not at all...and dont even try saying Windows Media...the music and movie formats are absolutely terrible when compared to others, except maybe realmedia.. I love how every "exciting" feature Microsoft publishes about their new OS, at any given time, are features that have existed long before the conception of that OS. Read between the lines...you know you're doing something wrong when you're holding a Microsoft product...is that several hundred dollars really worth all those crashes, reformats, and other problems we all know, including BSOD (which is still inherit often in 2000 and XP)

If price is of no concern. Alpha. There are versions of Windows for Alpha processors...these things, even at slower clock speeds, will beat the hell out of any offerings from Intel or AMD...Hell, they might even make a Version of Windows for MIPS processors...either way, if you can find a version of windows for either Alpha, SPARC, or MIPS processors, or even PowerPC, go with one of those processors... I can guarantee you, RISC is worth it...RISC is good...

First mistake, my motherboard is completely jumperless. Second, my case is locked. And you don't have the key. Normally, to reset the BIOS, you remove the battery and put it back in. I've never heard of anyone using jumpers for that, although I wouldn't doubt it, why would they use the jumpers if the battery is right there, in plain view. Second, my motherboard isn't your motherboard. If it had jumpers, you wouldn't know what jumpers did what, because it's different on every motherboard. But either way, you're not getting inside my case. Second mistake: Simple registry key you say? Too bad. I'm using UNIX, dumbshit!Third mistake, you don't know my root passphrase, chump! You're done! You can't even get a prompt without a correct password, let alone install a script in my computer...Fourth mistake, my email does not allow emails with embedded scripts, or HTML. Why? I use elm, dumbass! It doesn't accept HTML-encoded mail. The only emails it will open are text-only.Fifth mistake...uh, dipshit, EVERYTHING requires permissions in UNIX. To Read a file, to write a file, or to execute a file, YOU MUST HAVE PERMISSION. Duh! We've only told you several times now...Sixth Mistake, whenever I receive email from turds like you, it's deleted before it's even read. Why would I want to read the useless **** that flaps out of your asscheeks and onto your keyboard??? Do you really think I care that much about anything you have to say?And last, I doubt you even know the proper commands to even get in that directory and delete the file. Don't bother posting them, I know you'll just cut and paste them from a HOWTO somewhere you found on google. Just admit it, you're just another point-and-click dumbshit that thinks Microsoft must be the best, cause it's what your pathetic-*bottom* Dell came with. You're probably that douchebag that was on the old Dell commercials that everyone hated! If you're so damn smart, WHY are you using A. An X86 Processor, and B. Windows, of all things. Windows, is absolutely the WORST OS there even has been in the history of computers! But why is it so popular? A person is smart, people are dumb, stupid, and complete idiots. A person uses a better operating system. People, use Windows. The person has the better OS. The people NEED a better OS. But the people NEED to do what we did back in the day. Actually KNOW how to use your computer. That's the evil side of the GUI...they put too many people in front of their computers that don't know what they're doing, and don't really care to take the time to learn at least a few simple DOS commands...Bill Gates should have stayed in the traffic business...and he knows that Windows sucks. He doesn't care. It's what generates most of his income. If you have stable software, people see fewer reasons to upgrade, and fewer people call technical support. Do you know how much money Microsoft makes off of technical support alone??? Last time I checked (in 1996), it was around $30 per incident. I bet you half of those calls were from people trying to figure out how to open up the nifty built-in cupholder...Bill knows how to make money, and how do you make more money than anyone? Sell your products to the suckers who will probably make about 5-6 incidents worth of calls to Microsoft after they buy your horrible OS. That, is how to make lots of money with a crappy product, now go out there and be somebody! Remember this classic quote from a discussion in 1985...Steve Jobs: "We're better than you. We make better stuff."Bill Gates: "But Steve, that doesn't matter."(Me: "Personally, the Amiga kicks the living **** out of BOTH of your OS'es, AND the computers they run on.")And by the way, Ryan, here's a nickel. Get yourself a better computer. And actually learn how to use it too.

Heh, I LOVE that feature that Windows 98 has for multiple users...you see about 5 users there, but if you don't know any of the passwords, who cares, just click the cancel button to gain full read/write/execute access! Yeah, I LOVE the security that Windows offers, let me tell you...(and one of these "hackers" I've run into that's my age says he can bypass any login password, even my BIOS password, by clicking ""cancel" (idiot...there's no cancel button, let alone any buttons or a mouse pointer in the BIOS)Tell me this, Ryan... tell me, if you were sitting in front of my computer right now, and of course you don't know the root password, or even the password to get past the BIOS...How would you be able to get on my computer and delete /home/root/foo.rtf. For every way you say you can do it, I will tell you each security feature I have that would prevent that.I want to see what you actually know.

The only good thing about getting a 64-bit processor now, is that you'll have the hardware needed to run Microsoft's next OS, although, I don't plan on ever running it. Currently, Microsoft OS'es don't really utilize 64-bit technology too well. you can run the 32-bit software with the 64-bit processors AMD currently offers, but the 32-bit emulation is going to slow things down...But honestly, if you want a GOOD processor...Don't settle for anything CISC-based (like Intel Pentium, AMD Athlon, etc...). CISC processors technically, were rendered obsolete in the mid-90's. I think it's time for the x86 to die, after being pushed for over 20 years, don't you? Stop beating the dead horse. If you want high-end: What you want is a RISC-based processor, and I would have to recommend three kinds of processors for this. SPARC, ALPHA, and PowerPC. The UltraSPARC, ALPHA, and PowerPC 970 Series (G5) are all 64-bit processors, and actually have OS'es and programs that put this technology to good use (unlike Microsoft). Also, the PowerPC 970 does a great job with handling legacy PowerPC programs. The PowerPC has always had a 64-bit core, but the 970 gives you a 64-bit data bus. But even if you want to choose the 32-bit path, PowerPC 7400 (G4) isn't a bad choice either. And if you don't like Macintoshes, remember, there are other PowerPC computers available than the Macintosh...you can even build your own in an ATX case. I predict the switch from 32 to 64-bit technology is going to be VERY rocky for x86 users...and may very well kill Microsoft in the process. Other companies have already made the switch years ago, and Apple is in the process, but they're managing to do it quite smoothly...But Microsoft doesn't make the hardware that it's software runs on, now does it? Here, read this...this will tell you everything you need to know about RISC, and RISC vs CISC.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC

A Windows user could never understand this concept...Obviously he has not ever attempted to harness the power of UNIX...Listen dude, first off, it saddens me to see that your name is Ryan. My name is Ryan. Don't make all us other Ryans look like idiots, okay? I'm willing to bet that you've never even used a UNIX command line, or even a DOS command line for that matter. The problem these days, is that there are so many people that I run into, just like you, that claim that they know EVERYTHING about computers, because they know where to find the trash can, and because they know what the right mouse button actually does. Some of them can even install new hardware by pointing and clicking! Wow, aren't you just so talented. But I sit these people in front of a DOS command line...and they are completely lost...the big thing in the 80's was the Graphical User Interface... A way for the computer to be useful to grandma back in the day. Well, nowadays, Grandma's dead, and a lot of people didn't even know that at one time, computers didn't have graphical interfaces... I notice this especially with people in my age group (I am 19). So many people in CAD class...one "hacker" in class didn't know how to change directories in DOS or UNIX (same command "cd foo", either way). I've been using these commands since i was four! (when I was four, I was given an IBM-XT) I've been using text-based interfaces since i was two! (before the IBM-XT, I had an Apple II) The command line to me, back then, was so incredibly SIMPLE! That's right, I just called the command line "simple". And most other people probably would too, had they actually learned how to use a computer, not how to use just a Graphical User Interface. And when it comes to Graphical interfaces for the IBM-PC/XT/AT...Windows was the worst one. Had Digital Research put effort into marketing GEM, continued it's development, and got more commercial applications desgined for it, GEM would be kicking the **** out of Windows. Anyways dude, you obviously have NO clue what you're talking about. Windows isn't even good for the point-and-click only imbeciles it was designed for! Get a Macintosh if you want a stable point-and-click experience. If you actually have a sack hanging between your legs, with two balls in it, learn how to use a Command Line interface, like the REAL computer users do...You see, you can't understand people who use command lines is DOS and UNIX, like me...I am Samaurai...a Keyboard Cowboy....and all those point-and-click people out there just like you...are the cattle......................moo!

Firefox is the best browser I have ever used. Period. To this day, I have not had a single problem with it. If something isn't working, just download the correct plugin. Problem solved. Don't some of you know that if something goes wrong with a program, it doesn't mean it's always the fault of that particular program?

The last DVD I wastched was Napoleon Dynamite. That movie is going to be an instant classic. I also watched the first season of Sealab 2021, but I'm not counting that because it's not an actual movie.

This may be kind of late to reply to, but Microsoft in fact did make hardware as well as software in the 80's. The most common hardware I know of is the Z-80 processor card for the Apple II. At the time, Digital Research's CP/M was a quite popular OS (before MS-DOS was around), and you could use CP/M on intel 8008 and 8080, and other computers like the TRS-80 which used a Zilog Z-80 processor. The Apple II was based on the MOS 6502 processor which CP/M was never designed for. Microsoft manufactured an expansion board for the Apple II which had a Z-80 processor on it, and I believe it came bundled with a copy of CP/AM, so you could run CP/M programs on the Apple II. Actually, Bill Gates did not write MS-DOS. QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) was originally written by a board maker, Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products, who was too impatient to wait for Digital Research to release CP/M-86. Bill Gates bought QDOS from Patterson. Tim wrote it originally for his computer which was run by the new 8086 processor. Most computers at that time were 8-bit, and he needed a new 16-bit operating system to take advantage of this processor. A lot of DOS's characteristics are actually based on CP/M. Microsoft never sold DOS to Xerox, or anybody. Xerox is responsible for the mouse and the Graphical User Interface.

GNUstep can be frustrating at first, but I got quite comfortable with it. It's very light on resources, and very simple. Of course it doesn't get very friendly until you spend some quality time configuring it, then it seems to be just as funtional as any other window manager. The only thing that bugs me about it is that stupid paper clip...I noticed little to no slowdown on my computer at all when running this WM, even using the GIMP. It had a 266MHz Celeron-Covington, 440BX chipset, 256MB RAM, running Slackware 7.1, 7.2, and later 8.

Yeah, I remember when I started out with RH7.0 and I had no clue what I was getting into. X wouldn't work with my GeForce 2, so I was stuck in the text interface for a while until i got on the internet on a different computer, got the files, read the documentation, and as soon as X was running and I configured ppp, I asked myself what Iwould be doing most often, got the programs I needed, and read over documentation for everything, or found a *NIX support channel on different IRC hosts. Before six months went by, I had moved onto slackware (and never turned back as far as Linux distros are concerned), compiled a custom kernel to support CD burning and USB Human Interface Devices, and knew everything I needed to do the things I did. Although I ended up ditching KDE and GNOME in favour of GNUstep. If you end up not liking Mandrake (I didn't like it when i tried 10.0), there are other distros as well. True, it's all Linux, but different flavours for different people. Slackware is a good one to use if you need the most from your computer, and is the most UNIX-like Linux available. I also found it to be very educational as well. When I started using slack, I learned so much of what I know now in maybe a week. Anyways, good luck, and hope your experiences with Linux are good. There is literally thousands upon thousands of HOWTOs and FAQs out there. Try computing.net.

I think a new type of floppy disk would be a good development. CD-RW and DVD+RW are just too big and too slow to read and write, and USB sticks and smartmedia cards are just too small. And floppies, handier than the others mentioned, but small on space and a little too easy to bend/break. THis is the reason I like ZIP disks, but the price isn't all that great, and 100MB is just barely not enough sometimes. 200MB would be great.

I have a 40GB IDE drive, and it reads out to be 37GB as well. It's because hard drive manufacturers list them as 40GB because to them, a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, when it is actually 1024 bytes.

I used to use Maxtors all the time, but they seem to go bad after 5 years in my experience. Western Digital is normally what I use. All but one of my Western Digital drives I've ever owned still works. I've heard great things about IBM Deskstar drives, and I'll be giving one a try in my Macintosh when I get a bigger hard drive for it.

Blu-Ray discs actually use a hard shell similar to a floppy disk or a minidisk, except it's made to contain a disc the size of a CD/DVD disc. Now that's what I've been waiting for! Indestructable (under normal conditions) optical disks! But I wouldn't say the floppy is dead yet. Then again, I still use 360K 5.25 floppy disks regularly...and a few of them are actually 180K 8|

As far as MP3 software, I use BeoPlayer normally, and iTunes when I need a little more gusto.

You forgot one little thing...In the real world:CPU: IBM PowerPC = MIPS R16000A > AMD > Intel.Have a nice day

Well I have a few..Here are the ones I use1. Power Macintosh G3 (Beige). 500MHz IBM PowerPC 750GX Processor, 512M SDRAM, dual 4GB Western Digital hard drives, Ricoh CD-RW. Currently running Macintosh System Software 8.1. Can't do much until I upgrade to at least 9.2. Intel Pentium 4 (yuck) 1.7GHz socket 478, 256M RDRAM, 8x DVD+RW, 40GB Western Digital hard drive, ATI Xpert2000-Pro AGP, 802.11G Wireless card. Currently running Windows 2000 Professional. Will be replaced with Sun Solaris 9 when Wireless network is ditched in favour of wires.3. Apple II plus. MOS Technology 6502 1MHz, 128K RAM, Zilog Z-80 expansion card, Disk II interface card, dual 5.25" floppy drives. Currently running DOS 3.3 and CP/AM.

Ugh, I hate hotkeys. I always had them disabled on my laptop, because if you'd accidentally press one, you would end up having to wait a minute (painfully slow computer) just to close whatever you opened.

Does it have 775 pins on it???In that case, the number of pins doesn't really have too much to do with the performance of the processor. The important stuff is in that little wafer in the middle of the chip.

I use Windows 2000 for the time being until I manage to find a copy of System 9.2.2. for my Macintosh. I prefer the Macintosh, although I'm really most comfortable with text-based interfaces. I used to use slackware linux, and I'm currently downloading Solaris 9 to either replace or dual-boot with Windows 2000. Most likely replace it. Windows may have the largest user base out there, but even in 2000, the Blue Screen Of Death STILL says hi to me often. I've never used solaris before, so that will be a little different.

Hello everyone. I've recently decided to start my own message board, so I downloaded Ikonboard 3.1.1 and I have no idea what to do with it to get it together and running. I noticed it said something about perl and CGI scripts. Would I need to learn CGI and perl to get this all up and together? I need someone to walk me through this, or at least point me in the right direction.