Not sure if this will work right (given my options on youtube) but here's the embed:
If that doesn't work here's the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/v/N8kd81OO6mc
Don't be harsh.
Gryyphyn, out.
20080522
20080520
Semantics
A friend pointed out a great article about ditching the 'ready for the desktop' thought process (no pun intended). I happen to agree with him, though more on principal than the semantics of the statement.
A little qualification here first: to me the term 'ready for the desktop' means nothing more than at least 98% of the bugs and interoperability issues for a given release of any operating system and it's bundled software have been handled and either patched, repaired or a documented workaround developed. Having said that...
I think it is time to get rid of the sentiment that one OS or distro or [insert comparable software package term here] is any better than any other. You can spend your entire life arguing that one anything is better than any other but what it comes down to is your preferences versus another person's preferences. The same is true in the OS world: Windows is good at what it does, so are Mac and Linux. They all have their flaws (I speak from personal experience on all accounts). They all have their benefits. And they all have their uses. Take a look at any linux form, fansite, discussion board or junkie hangout and you're likely to see at least one poll asking "which is better: a, b or c flavor of linux?" Why? Because we like to discuss it.
By the same token you can go to a Mac forum, board, etc... and see the same discussion: which version of OS X/Mac OS do you prefer? And there's the constant argument between the different versions of Windows that are out there and which did the best job. Wanna know what the secret to computing life is? Being satisfied with what your are happiest using and makes you the most productive for the work you are doing.
So, did I make my point or did I spend the last five minutes blowing smoke? Let me know, my HTTPDoor's always open.
Gryyphyn, out.
Section-9/The Wired
The return of the DF/W!
Yeah, I suck. Want to know who's worse though?
/ring
Gryyphyn, how can I help?
Tell me why my computer sucks. I can't log on to the internet because my crappy anti-virus program won't let me! It keeps saying that it's out of date and it's locked down the internet!
Did you update your anti-virus?
How do you do that?
Hook it up to the interwebs and tell it to update.
I really did say interwebs, force of bad habit I have to keep under tight control most of the time...
I don't want to hook it up to the internet until it's updated! I don't want to get a virus! You're trying to get my computer infected!
Do you see where this is going?
you have to hook it up to the internet so it can get updated. It has to go out to [virus manufacturer's] website to get the updates so it can apply them and protect your computer.
long pause
Now it's telling me that it can't update because it's not registered! You're making this worse!
30 seconds of me yelling at a muted headset
You have to register the AV or the servers won't allow the program to get updated. In order to register you have to be online. It registers through the AV program so you don't have to get on IE.
laboring under the delusion that it's not the interwebs if it's not IE
long pause
Ok, I'll register it and let it update. But if I get a virus I'm gonna sue your damned company for making me get on the internet without any anti-virus to stop the popups!
Yeah, cause viruses are the primary cause of popups. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job...
A little qualification here first: to me the term 'ready for the desktop' means nothing more than at least 98% of the bugs and interoperability issues for a given release of any operating system and it's bundled software have been handled and either patched, repaired or a documented workaround developed. Having said that...
I think it is time to get rid of the sentiment that one OS or distro or [insert comparable software package term here] is any better than any other. You can spend your entire life arguing that one anything is better than any other but what it comes down to is your preferences versus another person's preferences. The same is true in the OS world: Windows is good at what it does, so are Mac and Linux. They all have their flaws (I speak from personal experience on all accounts). They all have their benefits. And they all have their uses. Take a look at any linux form, fansite, discussion board or junkie hangout and you're likely to see at least one poll asking "which is better: a, b or c flavor of linux?" Why? Because we like to discuss it.
By the same token you can go to a Mac forum, board, etc... and see the same discussion: which version of OS X/Mac OS do you prefer? And there's the constant argument between the different versions of Windows that are out there and which did the best job. Wanna know what the secret to computing life is? Being satisfied with what your are happiest using and makes you the most productive for the work you are doing.
So, did I make my point or did I spend the last five minutes blowing smoke? Let me know, my HTTPDoor's always open.
Gryyphyn, out.
Section-9/The Wired
The return of the DF/W!
Yeah, I suck. Want to know who's worse though?
/ring
Gryyphyn, how can I help?
Tell me why my computer sucks. I can't log on to the internet because my crappy anti-virus program won't let me! It keeps saying that it's out of date and it's locked down the internet!
Did you update your anti-virus?
How do you do that?
Hook it up to the interwebs and tell it to update.
I really did say interwebs, force of bad habit I have to keep under tight control most of the time...
I don't want to hook it up to the internet until it's updated! I don't want to get a virus! You're trying to get my computer infected!
Do you see where this is going?
you have to hook it up to the internet so it can get updated. It has to go out to [virus manufacturer's] website to get the updates so it can apply them and protect your computer.
long pause
Now it's telling me that it can't update because it's not registered! You're making this worse!
30 seconds of me yelling at a muted headset
You have to register the AV or the servers won't allow the program to get updated. In order to register you have to be online. It registers through the AV program so you don't have to get on IE.
laboring under the delusion that it's not the interwebs if it's not IE
long pause
Ok, I'll register it and let it update. But if I get a virus I'm gonna sue your damned company for making me get on the internet without any anti-virus to stop the popups!
Yeah, cause viruses are the primary cause of popups. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job...
20080327
New Beginnings
I've been gathering a new collection of computer stuffs recently. It started with my new monitor that I bought myself for my birthday, a 32" LCD TV. Also got some stuff for my Mac, pai, so I could hook her up to said TV as well. I'd been wrestling with the idea of getting a wireless Apple keyboard and finally caved to that.
Now I was planning on going to a concert this weekend, but that didn't happen (tickets were sold out by the time I was able to purchase them). So, having set the money aside already, and missing my shot at the concert, I decided to perform my last upgrade on pai: hard drive. I've been dealing with a measly 60GB on her, which isn't even enough for my iTunes library (yeah, it's bloated). So I went to Best Buy with the intention of getting a 160GB drive. It's enough space for what I want to do.
Side story here: I get to the store and b-line for the HDD section. I get back there and there's this guy looking all kinds of lost and confused at the USB stuffs. So I kinda stand next to him and make like I'm looking for something right there, knowing that he's got a question and is being ignored but the Geek Tards (sorry baren...). Sure enough, he asks me what's better: thumber or 2.5" portable.
"Well, what are you mainly using it for?"
"Well, if I get the bigger one then I can do more, right?" Way to dodge padawan.
"Yes, but you still need to consider your primary usage." I figure if I can show him I know what I'm talking about he'll give me the answer I need so I can give him the answer he needs.
"Well, I'm really just going to back a few things up and move some music around from my friends computer to mine." Yayz! A real answer! So I tell him to get the portable. He pulls this drive out, $100 for 160GB. Not bad I says.
He starts walking away, the whole time me waiting for the last question. Ta da! "Well, what's your personal fav?" WD, of course. So I check the price for a WD Passport and ?!? it's 250GB for $100! Jeez, that's just killer... and this guy walks with it.
Now, this does have a point to the main story here. I'm a WD junkie. They could probably rape me in a dark alley and, so long as I get some storage out of it, I'm OK. So I check the price on the 160GB. $100, not bad. Right next to it is a 320GB. Now, working for who I do, I know that's not a cheap upgrade. So, just for shits and giggles, I check the tag, expecting a heart attack considering their normal pricing scheme. I had a heart attack all right... $160!!! OMGs! So I walked with 320GB.
Well, I just finished the main part of the install of OSX on pai. I know I said before that it's painless. Well, I just found out how painless OSRI can really be: Time Machine. Now I knew you could restore from TM, but I thought it was image-style restore. So I didn't re-image, thinking I'd have some volume errors if I did so. So I was expecting to have to wait until I actually got in to the environment to restore my prefs. Nope! Step 1 after install, aside from choosing language stuffs, is set up accounts. But there's this option I forgot about when I first installed: retrieve options from another Mac. Only when I get in there, just to check it out, there's another option: restore from TM backup!
So total time to get to my desktop after installing a new drive, installing OSX Leopard and restoring from TM backup (insert cheesy ass drumroll): 52 minutes! God I love Mac...
Gryyphyn, out.
Afternote:
I did have one hiccup in the way this went. For some reason I wasn't able to log in to my account after everything. A quick search on Apple/support turned up this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840
Now I was expecting some horrific experience. No. First, single user mode takes about 4.5 seconds to load. I mean usable prompt "I can start typing shit now" 4.5 seconds. And the commands were relatively easy. This article had nothing to do with my search though: after five fruitless attempts I just went to the main Leopard support page and it was the last link on the Troubleshooting listing from the front page. So anyone else who's had this problem, there ya go.
Now I was planning on going to a concert this weekend, but that didn't happen (tickets were sold out by the time I was able to purchase them). So, having set the money aside already, and missing my shot at the concert, I decided to perform my last upgrade on pai: hard drive. I've been dealing with a measly 60GB on her, which isn't even enough for my iTunes library (yeah, it's bloated). So I went to Best Buy with the intention of getting a 160GB drive. It's enough space for what I want to do.
Side story here: I get to the store and b-line for the HDD section. I get back there and there's this guy looking all kinds of lost and confused at the USB stuffs. So I kinda stand next to him and make like I'm looking for something right there, knowing that he's got a question and is being ignored but the Geek Tards (sorry baren...). Sure enough, he asks me what's better: thumber or 2.5" portable.
"Well, what are you mainly using it for?"
"Well, if I get the bigger one then I can do more, right?" Way to dodge padawan.
"Yes, but you still need to consider your primary usage." I figure if I can show him I know what I'm talking about he'll give me the answer I need so I can give him the answer he needs.
"Well, I'm really just going to back a few things up and move some music around from my friends computer to mine." Yayz! A real answer! So I tell him to get the portable. He pulls this drive out, $100 for 160GB. Not bad I says.
He starts walking away, the whole time me waiting for the last question. Ta da! "Well, what's your personal fav?" WD, of course. So I check the price for a WD Passport and ?!? it's 250GB for $100! Jeez, that's just killer... and this guy walks with it.
Now, this does have a point to the main story here. I'm a WD junkie. They could probably rape me in a dark alley and, so long as I get some storage out of it, I'm OK. So I check the price on the 160GB. $100, not bad. Right next to it is a 320GB. Now, working for who I do, I know that's not a cheap upgrade. So, just for shits and giggles, I check the tag, expecting a heart attack considering their normal pricing scheme. I had a heart attack all right... $160!!! OMGs! So I walked with 320GB.
Well, I just finished the main part of the install of OSX on pai. I know I said before that it's painless. Well, I just found out how painless OSRI can really be: Time Machine. Now I knew you could restore from TM, but I thought it was image-style restore. So I didn't re-image, thinking I'd have some volume errors if I did so. So I was expecting to have to wait until I actually got in to the environment to restore my prefs. Nope! Step 1 after install, aside from choosing language stuffs, is set up accounts. But there's this option I forgot about when I first installed: retrieve options from another Mac. Only when I get in there, just to check it out, there's another option: restore from TM backup!
So total time to get to my desktop after installing a new drive, installing OSX Leopard and restoring from TM backup (insert cheesy ass drumroll): 52 minutes! God I love Mac...
Gryyphyn, out.
Afternote:
I did have one hiccup in the way this went. For some reason I wasn't able to log in to my account after everything. A quick search on Apple/support turned up this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840
Now I was expecting some horrific experience. No. First, single user mode takes about 4.5 seconds to load. I mean usable prompt "I can start typing shit now" 4.5 seconds. And the commands were relatively easy. This article had nothing to do with my search though: after five fruitless attempts I just went to the main Leopard support page and it was the last link on the Troubleshooting listing from the front page. So anyone else who's had this problem, there ya go.
20080305
En Memoriam Pt. 2
I know I posted a bit of a downer last time and it isn't going to get any better this time. However this is along the same line as my previous post, something that doesn't happen often.
I like roleplaying. Tabletop gaming is one of my favorite pastimes. The man who introduced the entirety of the world to pen and paper RPG, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, died today (yesterday as you read this). Moment of silence for one of the most ingenious, charismatic and prolific men to ever walk this earth. May his memory live on in all our minds next to the literary greats that likely inspired his mind to create the most successful games in existence.
Even if you didn't play D&D but you like RPGs generate some traffic at the site to show your support for the man who invented the genre.
Gryyphyn, out.
I like roleplaying. Tabletop gaming is one of my favorite pastimes. The man who introduced the entirety of the world to pen and paper RPG, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, died today (yesterday as you read this). Moment of silence for one of the most ingenious, charismatic and prolific men to ever walk this earth. May his memory live on in all our minds next to the literary greats that likely inspired his mind to create the most successful games in existence.
Even if you didn't play D&D but you like RPGs generate some traffic at the site to show your support for the man who invented the genre.
Gryyphyn, out.
20080229
En Memoriam...
Friends. The last day of school. Weekends simply hanging out. Conversations over coffee. Discussions about books. The first day you've seen each other in a long time. Reintroducing yourself after years apart. A game of pool. A beer. A passing hello that triggers a memory. Thoughts about times passed.
There's a feeling you get, or a feeling you remember, when you consider time spent with friends. Somewhat inexplicable, usually pleasant, sometimes painful and sometimes it brings a smile to your face. Think back to that first 'last day of school' when you realized... something. A change, a shift in the dynamics of your first real friendship. A lasting bond that formed in that split second and you suddenly felt older, wiser. When that last peg fell in to the board, the one you'd been trying to get to fit for some time. When what you were missing was suddenly what you had and you finally realized it.
Imagine never having that feeling. Never coming to that realization. Never experiencing the loss when that person, that relationship, is gone. The dissolving of a thread that bound a part of your mind together. Imagine having never had a friend. Never experiencing that part of life.
Imagine never losing that bond. Never having to experience the loss of a friend. Never learning the lesson, never having to realize that you can live without some person occupying a small part of your thoughts constantly. Never having to hold someone to console them, to assure them that you are there, even when a part of you is gone, seems empty.
Consider having only lost. Having that feeling, the other part of your soul, then losing it every time, over and over. The depth of loss that numbs you to the rest of the world. Filling a gaping void in your soul with apathy, uncaring. An unflinching, ceaseless, roiling sense of blase. Unending laissez faire (see 2).
Now imagine having to live that every day. Being in a perpetual state of flux, never stopping, never slowing, never stabilizing. Endless, almost monotonous change, no predictability. Never a bad day, just bad moments but never knowing when they'll come. No continuity, no dogged grind. Just a turbulent sea of events.
What would that be like? What could that be like? Would you want it to end? Would you want it to change? Would you simply wish to cease to be? Or would you just want to be on the outside looking in, a casual observer, never involved? Or would it be better to float, unaffected, in the void, never knowing anything? Perpetual loss or perpetual joy? Endless flux or constant monotony? Contact or seclusion? Thoughtless or riddled mind?
"For in dreams we can climb the highest mountain or reach the farthest stars."
Gryyphyn, out.
There's a feeling you get, or a feeling you remember, when you consider time spent with friends. Somewhat inexplicable, usually pleasant, sometimes painful and sometimes it brings a smile to your face. Think back to that first 'last day of school' when you realized... something. A change, a shift in the dynamics of your first real friendship. A lasting bond that formed in that split second and you suddenly felt older, wiser. When that last peg fell in to the board, the one you'd been trying to get to fit for some time. When what you were missing was suddenly what you had and you finally realized it.
Imagine never having that feeling. Never coming to that realization. Never experiencing the loss when that person, that relationship, is gone. The dissolving of a thread that bound a part of your mind together. Imagine having never had a friend. Never experiencing that part of life.
Imagine never losing that bond. Never having to experience the loss of a friend. Never learning the lesson, never having to realize that you can live without some person occupying a small part of your thoughts constantly. Never having to hold someone to console them, to assure them that you are there, even when a part of you is gone, seems empty.
Consider having only lost. Having that feeling, the other part of your soul, then losing it every time, over and over. The depth of loss that numbs you to the rest of the world. Filling a gaping void in your soul with apathy, uncaring. An unflinching, ceaseless, roiling sense of blase. Unending laissez faire (see 2).
Now imagine having to live that every day. Being in a perpetual state of flux, never stopping, never slowing, never stabilizing. Endless, almost monotonous change, no predictability. Never a bad day, just bad moments but never knowing when they'll come. No continuity, no dogged grind. Just a turbulent sea of events.
What would that be like? What could that be like? Would you want it to end? Would you want it to change? Would you simply wish to cease to be? Or would you just want to be on the outside looking in, a casual observer, never involved? Or would it be better to float, unaffected, in the void, never knowing anything? Perpetual loss or perpetual joy? Endless flux or constant monotony? Contact or seclusion? Thoughtless or riddled mind?
"For in dreams we can climb the highest mountain or reach the farthest stars."
Gryyphyn, out.
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