Recent Posts

3001

Living Room / Re: Lets Spice Things Up!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 06, 2012, 07:31 PM »

I don't have thyme for this.

3002

General Software Discussion / Re: Why 24-bit/192kHz music files make no sense - and may be bad for you!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 06, 2012, 02:03 PM »

I don't like it when they digitally remaster things. I liked the way Molly Hatchet sounded on an 8-track back in the day.

This sounds like a new twist on why the old way was better - I like that - I'll have to read more when I have time.

3003

Living Room / Re: More Complete Patent Insanity (Warning -- You may vomit)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 06, 2012, 12:30 PM »

I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but...

Wait a minute ... Prius is/means mad in latin?!?  Oh I'll have a ball with that!

-Stoic Joker (March 05, 2012, 07:14 PM)

Sorry to disappoint. Prius means "prior to" or "before."

-40hz (March 05, 2012, 07:22 PM)

All those proud Prius owners can now heave a sigh of relief?       

-IainB (March 05, 2012, 09:00 PM)

Not on my watch they can't - I hate those things.

-Stoic Joker (March 06, 2012, 06:37 AM)

It's only because you know them for the fraud they currently are. (Their "all-in" environmental footprint is bigger than that of an internal combustion vehicle!)

-40hz (March 06, 2012, 08:03 AM)

Actually I just think that they're hideously ugly and pathetically slow. Every time I see one of those contraptions on the road I just want to ram the thing into a ditch. But you do make a good point also.

There are three vehicles in my driveway, two are from Detroit, the other is from Milwaukee...I like it that way. The Dodge Challenger is a car. The Ford Mustang is a car (that also gets great gas milage). The Prius is a metro-sexual status symbol that demonstraits how gloriously epicene one has become.

Y'know ... if you're gonna confuse the issue with logic and facts...we might as well end this conversation right now!

-40hz (March 06, 2012, 08:03 AM)

Ligic? Facts? Me?? Oh hell no...perish the thought ... I'll not be caught near such things!!

3004

Living Room / Re: More Complete Patent Insanity (Warning -- You may vomit)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 06, 2012, 06:37 AM »

Wait a minute ... Prius is/means mad in latin?!?  Oh I'll have a ball with that!

-Stoic Joker (March 05, 2012, 07:14 PM)

Sorry to disappoint. Prius means "prior to" or "before."

-40hz (March 05, 2012, 07:22 PM)

All those proud Prius owners can now heave a sigh of relief?       

-IainB (March 05, 2012, 09:00 PM)

Not on my watch they can't - I hate those things.

3005

Living Room / Re: More Complete Patent Insanity (Warning -- You may vomit)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 07:14 PM »

Wait a minute ... Prius is/means mad in latin?!?  Oh I'll have a ball with that!

3006

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove Windows.old?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 06:33 PM »

No hassles with GA when accessing WSUS afterwards I take it?

-40hz (March 05, 2012, 02:23 PM)

Nope...clean as a whistle they are.

3007

Living Room / Re: Obtaining Windows OS ISO's

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 06:30 PM »

If the machines are OEM, you may get lucky with:

C:\Windows\options\cabs

Windows setup files were frequently kept there in the 9x days.

Just a thought.

3008

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove Windows.old?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 02:19 PM »

Out of curiosity...how did you get around the product activation issue?

-40hz (March 05, 2012, 01:51 PM)

I didn't per se ... It just reverts to (psudo) retail behavior with a Activate Windows prompt, followed by a Rejected Product Key message that lets you enter a new key ... which I just grabbed off the COA label on the machine in question. It then activates, done.

3009

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove Windows.old?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 01:31 PM »

SJ, what do you mean by cleanest?

-techidave (March 05, 2012, 01:17 PM)

Dell has the least amount of branding garbage added to the install disk. Basically just a single folder on the C: drive and a shortcut in the start menu.

3010

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 11:41 AM »

PS, I have this saved, so I think that's how I resolved it (I'm not recommending this - just throwing it out there!)

-tomos (March 05, 2012, 09:36 AM)

Yep that looks like the how. However diskpart is not for the uninitiated, as it's an extremely powerful utility that tends to reward type-Os with tragedy.

3011

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove Windows.old?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 05, 2012, 11:34 AM »

I thought OEM disks from manufacturers like Dell could only be sold to their own customers for restoring their own factory built systems and had to bcustomizeded according to the terms of the OEM license precisely to stop them being installed on other hardware.

-Carol Haynes (March 05, 2012, 09:33 AM)

That's correct. There used to be ways of getting around the vendor's hardware lock. But it was always a hassle and generally not worth it. It's also become more difficult with each post XP SP2 version of Windows to do so. So I wouldn't be surprised if it's no longer possible.

Manufacturers are also getting a lot stricter about selling restoration OS DVDs. Almost all manufacturers now require serial numbers off the computer and user registration before they'll ship you one of their disks. No name/serial match? Sorry. No disks for you!

-40hz (March 05, 2012, 10:43 AM)

Um... Not exactly. The Branded OEMs are customized as to what they will (brand) hardware they will activate on ... But they will install on anything. I've got a set of Dell (because they are the cleanest) install disks that range from XPSP3 to Win7, and have used them to install on machines from all sorts of different manufacturers (Acer, HP, eMachine, etc...) and never had a problem as long as the COA was for the edition being installed...and was still legible.

Dell disks will only self activate on Dell hardware ... But they will install and activate on anything if you have a valid COA product key. Which is probably why they are so tight about giving them out (as it makes 'upgrading' rather flexible...)

3012

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove Windows.old?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 02:50 PM »

Joker experiences guilt in 5... 4... 3...

3013

General Software Discussion / Re: Linus Torvalds on OpenSUSE

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 02:49 PM »

So you designed them to know what they were designed for?

-Tuxman (March 04, 2012, 02:45 PM)

Nope. I read all about it in the friggin manual...  

3014

General Software Discussion / Re: Linus Torvalds on OpenSUSE

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 02:43 PM »

Really? So you wish to assert that road warriors primarily use desktops?? ...I'd love to see you get one through airport security. 

-Stoic Joker (March 04, 2012, 02:32 PM)

More like the opposite: Traveling users use laptops, but laptops are not made for them. I don't travel much.

-Tuxman (March 04, 2012, 02:38 PM)

*Sigh* Laptops are designed for portability, e.g. travel. Just because you wish to sit there with one (defeating the/its purpose) doesn't alter the original intent of the design.

3015

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove Windows.old?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 02:38 PM »

According to MS Windows.old is safe to delete ... Assuming you recovered all of the files (and/or registry settings) from it that you may want to save.

Easiest option is to just rename it to basically anything, and then reboot to see if you get any complaints. No complaints = safe to delete.

3016

General Software Discussion / Re: Linus Torvalds on OpenSUSE

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 02:32 PM »

Laptops are for traveling users.

-Stoic Joker (March 04, 2012, 01:54 PM)

No.

-Tuxman (March 04, 2012, 02:03 PM)

Really? So you wish to assert that road warriors primarily use desktops?? ...I'd love to see you get one through airport security. 

3017

General Software Discussion / Re: Linus Torvalds on OpenSUSE

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 01:54 PM »

I first spent weeks arguing on a bugzilla that the security policy of requiring the root password for changing the timezone and adding a new wireless network was moronic and wrong.

-Linus Torvalds' Google+ blog:

Laptops are for traveling users. Traveling users tend to cross time zones. e.g. the time zone needs to be user configurable. period. Security protocols like Kerberos run in GMT/UTC/Zulu, independent of the time zone ... so they couldn't care less what the user sets the time zone to.

It's a portable world, so WiFI has to be flexible/accessible. Seriously what is really more dangerous ... Letting an end luser connect to random WiFi networks ... Or giving them an administrative password to use (in emergencies...) on the road.

Remote support is useless if they ain't connected to something...

I gotta go with Linus on this one.

3018

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 12:21 PM »

Especially if your initial installation borks and is left in an incomplete or damaged state. Ripping out a botched HP multi-function install is a total nightmare.

-40hz (March 04, 2012, 11:46 AM)

The funny part of your error from above, is that about 70% of the time I've encountered it ... Forcibly terminating the unwind process left the printer functioning perfectly. Seriously, if the installer has made it past the point where the printer object has been created ... Just torch the unwind, and it'll probably run just fine.

3019

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2012, 12:16 PM »

HP's new disk-less SmartInstall is actually rather nice, as they've cut down considerably on the BS (BFF) Fluff-ware. I setup a few of the new LaserJet M1212nf printers last week and the install was quite delightfully painless. The new ePrint and (WiFi) Direct print features are also really handy/cool too.

On the Digital sending side (Send to folder/Email/etc.) HP is definitely easier to work with than most (Xerox, Lexmark, Toshiba, et al.). I don't spend a lot of time with the consumer grade stuff, but the HP business class printers are quite  economical to run and trouble free.

3020

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 03, 2012, 07:10 PM »

Carol hits 7000!

3021

Living Room / Notable Spam...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 03, 2012, 07:06 PM »

Okay, so according to this ... I'm to believe that Google and the IRS have gotten together to improve my 'love life'.



  What planet are these people from?? 

3022

Living Room / Re: Scroogle R.I.P.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 03, 2012, 10:02 AM »

Much like the only server you can really trust and depend on is the one you own yourself...

-40hz (March 03, 2012, 09:56 AM)

...And that's why I don't like/trust the cloud.

(But seriously) How does this effect Google's not evil score? Points against - it's obviously not a plus... - or do we call it a (predictable business move) draw??

3023

Official Announcements / Re: I want to try an experiment on the site for March 2012

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 02, 2012, 06:53 AM »

...because I think the comments exposed that I didn't have a good reason for doing it other than basic curiosity.

-mouser (March 02, 2012, 03:21 AM)

Sorry. Yo no comprendo. When is that (basic curiosity) not a good reason for running an experiment?
The conclusions/evidence that you might be able to draw from such an experiment could help to develop a hypothesis or idea, no?

-IainB (March 02, 2012, 03:38 AM)

Agreed, and being a have your cake and eat it too kind of guy. I'd say why not do both... Leave the main page/site intact and untouched. Then put up a separate (but site accessable) Ad experiment page that clearly says this is an experiment at the top...and contains only ads below. That way participation could be complete voluntary for those that could/would/did go to said page periodically to effect the necessary traffic.

3024

Living Room / Re: Stiff sentence for sending child to wrong school district

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 02, 2012, 06:40 AM »

The woman has committed no crime. The prosecutor should be shot for concocting such a stupidly trumped up charge.

-Target (February 29, 2012, 08:57 PM)

Actually she did. At least according to current laws.

-40hz (March 01, 2012, 03:58 PM)

Just to keep the record straight ... The statement you quoted above was mine, not Target's.

Having a law against something doesn't make it a crime, as the books are full of special interest/blue 'law' nonsense. Just because there is a text based rationalization...doesn't make it (criminal) 'right' ... I just further proves how totally broken the system really is. Murder is a felony. Rape is a felony. However, Florida has decided that letting your tag get 6 months out of date...is now also a felony ... Which is completely stupid. As it detracts from the whole point of having certain acts identified as felonies.

As a rule I detest the "what about the children" defense ... however I believe it does apply here as mentioned above. No 'justice' has been done by incarcerating this woman. The situation has simply been made worse ... Much worse.

3025

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 29, 2012, 07:22 PM »

Because if you don't you'll eventually end up morphing into a BOFH!!!!!

-40hz (February 29, 2012, 06:41 PM)

I fear it's far to late for me...

Just this afternoon I set the PFY about the task of breaking out the testing department into an isolated subnet. This is to avoid having customer and test machines creating (ghost entries) noise in the new printer tracking software.

There are two racks of ~50 printers each with a table containing two computers. One for the USB printers, and one for the network printers.

The PFY was to statically assign addresses in the .4 network, leaving the rest of the office on the .5 network ... But was confused as to how to get back and forth between them during the configuration. The network test machine was already on the .4 network, which meant he couldn't get to the .5 network to pull the machines over via the EWS (Embedded Web Server) for easy access.

So he asked me what to do...

I gave him several options like multi-homing, super-netting, adding a static route, and etc. until his eyes crossed (tehehe). ...Then he asked the right question ... What's the easiest way to do it?

I barely managed to contain myself long enough to say, use the other machine next to you that's still on the .5 network to push them over... before erupting into maniacal laughter. The PFY rolled his eyes, threw his hands in the air, and gave me the finger. He's a good kid.