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I can't imagine it... if you had one that was 100's of kilobytes then on slower connections there may be a performance hit simply downloading the file but I mean other then maybe an extra second to download the css file I cant see why it would cause a performance hit. 23kb of data isn't enough to cause modern computers to use any noticeable time to scan/parse/etc them. I could be wrong but IMO it should be fine.

I doubt that's the case, they wouldn't neuter non-updated windows xp's ability to install to force an upgrade to SP3, or else it'd be VERy public news.

Hm, this is just ideas as I forget how php handles this stuff from server side, but I would imagine you could do something along the lines of sessions or cookies, say for example you have cookies for all logged in users that expire in 5 minutes but are refreshed every time they switch to a new page. This means that you'll have a cookie per user with basic information in it if they are active, and once they are inactive for 5 minutes they are taken from the list.Similarly a script could be used to add active users to a table a log there last page access, similarly scanning this list every so often for users that have 'timed out', meaning surpassed an inactive time limit chosen by you.I'm sure someone will come along with a more precise idea but these just popped into my head so I thought I'd share in case they help. They might not even be viable given the technologies in use.

sparkx is the installer not downloading at all or just not starting after the download? Mine claimed it would download and then install automatically. It DID download but then just died, but since I had the installer a simple double click started the process back up and I was on my way. The install went smoothly after that (note: I am running on vista on this machine, will try again at home with xp when I get there to see if there is a difference)

I have given Chrome a (very) brief test run and so far I like it. It's light weight, open source, responsive and fast. Obviously it seems to be lacking some of the 'heavier' option sets that firefox and potentially IE has as standards now but that isn't the point of chrome so it seems it has done the job well for what it set out to do. I'll be using it a lot over the next few days so will hopefully have a more in depth look in the near future.

I'm not exactly sure what your problem is, maybe I'm just overlooking it but everything looks fine to me. I mean you are creating an array with various pieces of data in it, and asking for the types to be printed. In turn, the software is printing the values and the types. The strings and printing string and the numerical value as 'number'. This all seems pretty straight forward to me so I'm not exactly seeing the problem, so can't offer help. maybe if you can be more precise I can offer a better assistance...

I would have to agree with what's mentioned above. MySQL is by far the most common and accepted as 'best' free database software. There are others but really there isn't enough of a benefit to them to warrant using them over MySQL when there is such a wealth of information available for MySQL and how well it integrates with other technologies found commonly around the net.

This is actually probably something that's good to have on the boards lol. As 'newbie'ish as it is To people who have little to no computer experience trying to start a webpage it would be easy to feel like you've ruined your page by deleting that ever important index file. Glad you got a quick bit of help and hopefully the rest of learning web creation goes smoothly for you

So a week or two ago a friend got his hands on an original NES and since we've been playing through a box full of old games he and his brother still had in their garage. This has been a great time and oddly enough a game we've enjoyed quite thoroughly has been Monopoly. This got me thinking that it would be great to be able to play some of the classic board games online but quick searches didn't pan out too much in regards to quality or that could play over the net so I figured I would see if any of you knew of monopoly or a site that has a bunch of old school board games redone for online multiplayer. Free would be preferable but pay wouldn't be out of the question. I know some products exist to buy remakes of these games but I'd rather just play in an online web based format if I could since most of the games are super simplistic to recreate. So, anyone know of any?

It's a good point that if you touch a screen there will be fingerprints. Sure sometimes, as mentioned with kids being immature, it is sometimes not avoidable. I can see assuming screen contact will be limited but at the same time they should be developing materials to limit dirt buildup on screens. Touchscreen tech is hitting its stride and we'll need lots of screens that are allowed to be fondled

One thing I would reccomend is not rushing it. Learning each component should take a little time and one should make sure they feel comfortable before moving onto the next. Simply learning the bare basics could lead to being confused when needing to use two or more of the pieces of technology in conjunction with one another later on in the process leading to convoluted problems where you aren't even sure what is going wrong. You don;t need to master each but being able to use any without looking at reference guides 100% of the time would be a very good idea. this is especially crucial if you intend to create a more complex game as having issues with your html when you are dealing with relatively complex php will simply cause problems that could be easily avoided by a little practice.

If you expect a 3d game it will end up being pretty complicated no matter what route you take. If you are willing to drop to a 2d game then the rpg maker series would liekly be able to handle everything you want but visually it is far below appealing lol. The programs lancer mentioned are probaly a safe bet if 3d is a requirement but again, it is safe to say that it will be a bigger undertaking then you are expecting just from the tone of your post. Make sure to understand that anything involving 3d game design will involve a solid learning time and time commitment to developement regardless of how much is done prior to your edits.

Hm, you might want to check the forums on specific linux distro sites. Someone here may be able to help but I know I've read about alot of weird issues with various linux distros and the power saving options on laptops so you might be more likely to hit someone that has dealt with a similar issue checking places such as that. I know the ubuntu forums are insanely helpful and have a really useful user base (not to guarantee that the ubuntu fix would necessarily work on suse).Hopefully someone else can be more helpful then moi

I would have to agree. The nice shiny glossy screens are a good draw when you are walking through a tech store and see rediculous vibrant screens pumping out images. But the lack of 'real' lighting in these stores gives them an unfair look as has been pointed out. I would agree that personally whatever works best in the msot conditions with the least amount of upkeep would be the primary choice. But alas the mass consumer is usually the one to choose which style prevails, Not us true techies

So... in regards to merging and stomping the Wii... the Wii actually has the highest sales and fan base of the current generation lol. So obviously that would not be guaranteed, plus infighting between sony and microsoft would be monumentally damaging lmao.In regards to the ps3 not being a success, obviously it's release was hampered by various factors not least of which was the price issue. Now that we are a few years in the sales have picked up with new SKU's and units sold is actually getting to a respectable level. It hasn't competed well versus the 360 because it took off so fast and I would not argue it the victor but I am sure I would not call it a failure especially where we are still not at the end of the generation and since the ps3 has been gaining momentum over the past year at a strong rate.Now, onto my opinion of the consoles themselves. I voted PS3, probably because I own one haha. Personally I think the hardware edge will eventually pay off. The blu-ray player is a great addition without having to buy an addon and it adds a great value to an already strong machine. Further a large portion of the 'great games for 360' are on or coming out for ps3. Sure there are exclusives for microsoft but a few games does not a console make. I enjoy the PSN and have been loving my ps3's media center capabilities. Personally I prefer those over the 360's which I have used long term.Also I just like the hardware better. The controllers are great in that you can recharge them on the go and not have to stop playing on them. The ability to install linux easily is hours of fun for geeks and can turn your console into emulation heaven, especially with the easy use of external hard drives. I have yet to hear of a single person randomly having their ps3 die (ok, excluding the few during that patch-brick incident, but frankly thats still way better then having a console that dies every few months as I know many 360 users have had happen).Software wise the 360 DOES have the edge now. Few of the exclusives for ps3 are ground breaking but some great looking ones are on the way and I think in the coming year or two it's going to start leveling the playing field. Frankly I just see the ps3 as a long term solution where the 360 seems like it's strong now but will falter eventually. And personally I buy consoles so I dont need to upgrade every couple years.So yes, neither console sucks. Neither is perfect by any means. Anyone who says anything along those lines are just insane and shouldn't be allowed to speak in public. But for now I prefer the ps3 personally.

That is a VERY wide question.ASP and ASP .NET now are very useful scripting languages that allow full fledged web based applications to be developed. If you have used perl or php you will have some idea of the breadth of things possible with asp. Obviously if you can provide a more specific question, if you are wondering if something in particular can be accomplished for example, then a more appropriate response can be given. For now, how about we stick with saying a lot can be done You can create pages, generate custom pages, interact with databases, communicate between pages, have web forms, etc. A large portion of the things that are considered customary online can be performed in ASP while also having a strong code backend to allow for some complicated tasks to be carried out.Again, if you can be more precise about what you are curious about in regards to ASP it would be quite helpful in responding.

You've probably already thought of this, but you might want to store a long term cookie as a secondary check. IP's don't change a lot anymore but they can still depending on the connection type or the users dedication lol, so adding a little cookie when they register just sort of adds a second layer that they would need to think to clear in order to get around your checks. Then again if it's not that important and you just want to limit it from happening frequently then the IP thing would be more then enough obviously.

I barely skimmed the responses so far, so might double up information, but frankly this is the type of topic I think differing viewpoints from differing sources can be helpful, so read on if interested :mellow:Windows does everything a newbie to computers needs. Thats a statement that many linux diehards would kill me for saying but it's true. You can email, net surf, text process, and play games on a windows PC without any problems. It makes sense to not understand why people would choose to go with the less popular OS, and frankly for a lot of people it doesn't necessarily make sense to switch.Anyone wanting to learn more about computers, or who just likes toying around with computers, is what linux is made for. It is becoming more and more user friendly so closer and closer to being acceptable as a mainstream alternative to windows but I still feel for people with little or no computer knowledge it still isn't the best choice. There are a lot of things linux lovers say is 'very simple' now that can easily still lead to complications that are above and beyond the skill of a computer illiterate. Sure you'll learn a lot more figuring out these problems BUT many people don't care enough to figure out the problems.But why TO use linux? Beyond learning tons more about your computer, computers in general, etc, there is the fact that it is open source. Free is always a great price for a product The tons of open source software allow all that same basic computing needs to be fulfilled without a single cent spent on software which is a nice idea.Another great feature is the customization. Between picking a linux that fits your desires to the customization of the interface or the choice of a different visual environment there is just a level of customization that is not available elsewhere. If you are willing to put the time into it you can make your desktop feel much more like 'your' desktop rather then 'a' desktop that you use.Frankly, linux is fun. If you enjoy computers for the less mainstream stuff then you'll enjoy linux. From installing it, to setting it up, customizing it, and tinkering with all the settings and controls you now have access to you'll simply enjoy the time spent even when it's not doing exactly what you want. When windows breaks you scream at it and hope it fixes itself as it doesn't give much power to fix it yourself. When linux breaks you smile to yourself and start seeking the solution

That must be an agp 256mb card, I mean, an oldschool card like a 256 vga card wouldn't show up in that system probably :|Either way, it could be a heat issue. Might want to download a program that lists internal computer temperatures and see if they are rediculously high or not. Sometimes video cards overheat and have interesting performance issues occur when they get too warm. Since they pump out more heat when in use it would make sense it might happen while gaming.

Yea it's like yordan said, all you can know from the design of a database table is the maximum and minimum size each entry, or table row, can have. For example if you are storing user information and you know the minimum size of each of 5 columns data types is 10 bytes, and the max is 100 bytes, you would effectively know each row is 50-500 byts of data. That said, the number of columns is only limited by the way in which you use the database so it could, in theory, increase to gigantic proportions regardless if there are 1 or 1000 fields in the table.

Non-windows replacements really are your best bet. For a large portion of software out there people have created open source alternatives for linux. For example there is open office that is a full fledged office quite, free for download, that is linux compatible in place of Microsoft Office. There are various text editors to replace notepad or other basic editors, firefox and thunderbird can replace your IE and Outlook (if you aren't already using FF and TB) etc. It really is quite possible to find a large percentage of applications you'll want re-designed for linux.Now, obviously not ALL software has an alternative. Windows IS still the most widely spread OS out there so a large portion of software comes out for it only and therefor not all of it is translated, copied, etc into an open source linux equivalent. Wine is a great bet for these applications. A large portion of windows software can be easily installed and run. Many games especially have great compatibility and tutorials availible to get around possible bugs while running them under wine. It may not be 100% smooth going, but if you truly enjoy linux you can still use a good chunk of windows applications.Another option, as always, is to leave a partition on your system for windows and dual boot the computer. This allows you to use linux for everything possible and boot into windows if you have a game or other application that doesn't work on wine that you just can't live without. Essentially this allows a 'best of both worlds' scenario.Good luck and enjoy Ubuntu!

Oh yea, I was moreso just commenting on how a lot of people think dreamweaver makes it faster to develope multiple pages since you can just copy/paste and quickly tweak the differences rather then having to copy code and modify it accordingly. CSS pretty much manages this like you said

Hm, I haven't looked too deeply into it but it looks promising. To clarify it's not made by Blizzard, but by former execs of blizzard who have formed a new studio. Still having any tie to the people that worked on diablo from blizzard gives them bonus points in my books. If anyone can pull off the 'free MMORPG' idea I wouldn't be surprised if it was these folks. Obviously they have ties to the people currently operating the #1 MMORPG so thats another reason to be hopeful haha. I'll have to keep my eye on this.

Personally I would reccomend learning html and using it, along with other technologies, instead of using programs like dream weaver or front page regardless. In the beginning surely you can make easier, more professional looking pages using these applications and they DO do what they are made for very well. That said learning html, some basic CSS, and maybe some php or another web technology can allow you to create much more creative and well designed pages and once css is being used the 'speed' boost provided by frontpage or dreamweaver is all but nullified.So yes, while these applications can be used if you don't wish to learn true web design, learning html, css, etc from places like w3schools of tizag.com can really make you a formidable web designer in relatively little time. Hope you have a great time web page making!

Wow, I haven't heard that name in ages. I know I used to play planetarion a lot in high school for a year or two but they, at least temporarily, required a paid subscription to get most of the features so I stopped playing. I'm guessing a lot has changed in the last 5-7 years since I didn't even think it would still be going on lol. Glad to see it has been successful enough to stay around all this time.I might just have to check it out again sometime...