Recent Posts

651

DC Gamer Club / Re: Headset recommendations

« Last post by Target on January 28, 2013, 09:13 PM »

I've been extremely happy with pretty much any headphone made by Sennheiser. They make a quality product. And they're (IMO) reasonably priced.

-40hz (January 28, 2013, 08:54 PM)

likewise I believe AKG and audio technica

trouble is there are almost too many choices, and unfortunately they've also become a fashionable accessory (I'm amazed at how many people I see walking around wearing $300 beats headphones) so any decision has to be based on independent (HA!) reviews, or feedback from other users.  At some point the whole process becomes arbitrary and you end up just picking something (anything!!)...

those $15 specials are starting to look attractive again

652

DC Gamer Club / Re: Headset recommendations

« Last post by Target on January 28, 2013, 08:07 PM »

Have you had a look at this?: Logitech Wireless Gaming Headset G930 - Mini-Review
Not sure what the local price might be currently - wherever you live.

-IainB (January 28, 2013, 07:46 PM)

yeah, I'd seen this, but I didn't particularly want wireless (OK, I wouldn't mind, but I don't really want the hassle of another battery powered device), and they retail here for about $165.

That might be reasonable, but it's a bit beyond what my budget (and my conscience!!) can run to

653

DC Gamer Club / Re: Headset recommendations

« Last post by Target on January 28, 2013, 06:54 PM »

I have a Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000. I like it. I bought a few of them off eBay for about $20 each, IIRC.

But I guess I'm not sure how it compares to the expensive "gaming" headsets, or what makes a headset better for gaming as opposed to anything else.

-Deozaan (January 28, 2013, 06:31 PM)

me either, hence my question (and my last set cost $15 )

I suspect I may be getting sucked in by the marketing blurbs regarding 'surround sound', but if I don't ask I won't know.

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DC Gamer Club / Headset recommendations

« Last post by Target on January 28, 2013, 05:35 PM »

looking for some recommendations for a gaming headset as my current set failed on the weekend (I could probably repair them, but it's not worth the effort)

I'd prefer a wired set, and no more than about $100 (I just can't justify much more than that)

Logitech G35's seem to have a good rep, but have been discontinued...

anyone?

655

Official Announcements / Re: January 2013 Giveaway Winners!

« Last post by Target on January 21, 2013, 04:29 PM »

well that's a very nice way to start the year

many thanks to all concerned (especially wraith and the folks at cinta notes!)

656

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Target on January 20, 2013, 05:07 PM »

Precisely why I maintain that statistics are BS because you can easily twist them to prove anything with anything.

-Stoic Joker (January 20, 2013, 01:37 PM)

87% of all statistics are made up anyway...

657

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Target on January 16, 2013, 05:06 PM »

to which I would respond with (NSFW!!)

658

Living Room / Re: An interesting article on tablets

« Last post by Target on January 09, 2013, 08:19 PM »

The author seems to miss the point about what a tablet is for. Some decent criticisms for the iPad mini though.

-Renegade (January 09, 2013, 05:27 PM)

is that a fault on his part though, or a symptom of how they've been promoted?

probably came as a bit of a shock to him too as it seems he might have been an apple 'fan' up till that point

659

Coding Snacks / Re: Put In brackets

« Last post by Target on January 08, 2013, 05:46 PM »

are you selecting the text before you fire the hotkey, or just entering the text?

if you don't select the text there's nothing to copy so no changes are made...

do you also realise that the 'answer' is in the clipboard? You have to paste it in order to see the change

660

Living Room / Re: win7 + external HDD

« Last post by Target on January 06, 2013, 10:57 PM »

Press it against your ear, I've yet to hear a completely silent HDD

Plus you should feel it vibrate.

-4wd (January 06, 2013, 10:07 PM)

As a rule I refrain from handling any external drives while they're running (call me superstitous), but I can feel it vibrating now (but I'm at work, so that means nothing)

I've yet to see an external HDD, (2.5" or 3.5"), not spin up when first plugged in, (doesn't mean they don't exist), but I did have a external Seagate, (and others), that goes to sleep after inactivity.

The flashing LED you mentioned above normally indicates to me, (in the case of a 2.5" external), a lack of power to spin the drive up, (which sometimes results in a soft clicking).

BTW, we are talking about a 2.5" external ?

Also, does the computer in question have any USB3 ports ?

yes, it is a 2.5" external, and yes it does have usb3 ports

This is a usb 2 device, and I've been using the usb 2 ports

661

Living Room / Re: win7 + external HDD

« Last post by Target on January 06, 2013, 09:39 PM »

That said, the lite on the drive flickers, so there is something happening

-Target (January 06, 2013, 05:43 PM)

That seems to me like the drive isn't spinning up, when you plug it in do you hear the drive spin up ?

Or, do you hear nothing or a soft clicking ?

-4wd (January 06, 2013, 09:11 PM)

nothing, but that's normal, ie when I use the drive normally (on the laptop) it makes no noise either

would the drive spin up if it wasn't detected?  I don't know anything about the low level operation of these things, but I would assume not, as it wouldn't get any indication from 'the system' to do so

662

Living Room / Re: win7 + external HDD

« Last post by Target on January 06, 2013, 05:43 PM »

BTW, with most modern computers any USB storage device should show up in the Boot list, (when you press F11 or F12 usually at boot instead of Del), does it ?

-4wd (January 04, 2013, 04:34 AM)

nope, doesn't show up in bios (it's a uefi board, if that makes any difference)

If there was a hardware issue with the mobo I'd expect to have trouble with the USB ports consistently, not just with a particular device

Does the machine react (installing USB device) to the drive being plugged in at all? I've seen several storage devices try to grab the same drive letter as a mapped drive, which causes both to try and show up under the same letter. If that's the case the disk management console will let you force it to an accessible drive letter.

-Stoic Joker (January 04, 2013, 06:49 AM)

been caught by this one before, but nope, it's not detected, at all

That said, the lite on the drive flickers, so there is something happening

It's generally not recommended you plug an external HD into a hub.

-40hz (January 04, 2013, 10:50 AM)

I did this after trying all the motherboard ports - a bit desperate, but there's no logic here so...

I use 'high powered' hubs (external 2A PS) so power shouldn't be an issue, but who knows

Something easy to try, plug the drive into a USB 2.0 port on the suspect computer and boot off of a Linux LiveCD - it will at least isolate it to software or hardware.

-4wd (January 03, 2013, 11:04 PM)

fail...

Tried Mint x32 and it didn't recognise the drive at all (I'm not a linux user so maybe there's something 'special' I needed to do)

I'm wondering if this isn't some sort of firmware issue in the HDD, though there doesn't seem to be an update available, and as I said, the issue doesn't appear to be specific to any make or model of drive.

663

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Target on January 06, 2013, 05:14 PM »

instrumental only, but check out the drummer!!

homepage is here http://compressorheadband.com/

664

Living Room / Re: win7 + external HDD

« Last post by Target on January 04, 2013, 12:16 AM »

Something easy to try, plug the drive into a USB 2.0 port on the suspect computer and boot off of a Linux LiveCD - it will at least isolate it to software or hardware.

-4wd (January 03, 2013, 11:04 PM)

great idea!

665

Living Room / Re: win7 + external HDD

« Last post by Target on January 03, 2013, 04:35 PM »

From things I'm hearing here and there I don't think W7 64 bit is as solid as Vista64. I did a custom install of 32 bit W7 over Vista 32 bit. It worked out fine. I tried the same thing only with W7 64 bit on top of Vista64. I had to restore from my saved image to put Vista64 back on. The system would boot. But it was too flaky to use like that.

-MilesAhead (January 03, 2013, 01:38 AM)

interesting, but mine was a clean install to a brand new (SSD) drive

I shall investigate further

666

Living Room / win7 + external HDD

« Last post by Target on January 03, 2013, 12:37 AM »

I'm starting to think Win7 isn't all it's cracked up to be...

I have an external HDD I use everyday without issue on a x86 win7 machine, however my home machine (x64 win7) won't even detect it.   

The drive is a 320G Seagate portable expansion drive (contains an Hitachi HDD), and it works fine on my other machines (XP laptop, win7 netbook), but as far as my main machine is concerned it doesn't exist.

I've tried all the ports, several cables, and a couple of hubs without success, but the fact that it works fine on the other machines would seem to indicate the 'fault' isn't with the drive

Google says this is a pretty common experience, though as with my WSOD issue, there don't appear to be any definitive causes or fixes.

Up till now it's been a minor irritation, but I wanted to get some largish video files off it over the break and couldn't (OK, I probably could have, but I wasn't prepared to go through all the jiggery pokery required at the time)

Anyone else had a similar experience and resolved it (and how?)

667

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Expert PDF 8 Professional

« Last post by Target on December 20, 2012, 08:13 PM »

-the offer has ended.

-Curt (December 20, 2012, 07:54 PM)

timing is everything...

meh

668

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Expert PDF 8 Professional

« Last post by Target on December 20, 2012, 06:40 PM »

nope, not seeing it - when I follow the link it redirects straight to the home page (tried it in 3 different browsers)

If there's another link somewhere to get to the requisite page then clearly I'm too stupid to see it

669

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Expert PDF 8 Professional

« Last post by Target on December 20, 2012, 05:34 PM »

is this region specific?

following the registration link takes me to a generic home page

670

Site/Forum Features / Re: Testing waters for radical dc ideas - feedback wanted

« Last post by Target on December 20, 2012, 04:45 PM »

...I don't really have a strong preconceived notion of what I want the site to be.

I think there has to be a way to build on what is good and keep the spirit of the place but breathe some new energy into the site and maybe fix the things that are a drag on the site..

-mouser (December 20, 2012, 03:49 PM)

perhaps it might be easier to decide what you (we) don't want the site to be, and/or what things might be 'a drag on the site'

and FWIW I'm with cranioscopical on splitting the site - that seems counterintuitive to me, but a restructure could be a good thing (perhaps changing the way some things are represented, like reviews)

I also liked superboyac's idea for some sort of collaborative functionality.  Plenty of mighty smart people here and putting them in the same room (so to speak) collaboratively could generate some really good outcomes. 

671

Living Room / Re: What are Samsung AA-SS2P20B 2.0Ch USB digital speakers and how do you use them?

« Last post by Target on December 14, 2012, 12:18 AM »

any chance theres something in the software for the 'parent' device, ie the series 9 notebook?

672

General Software Discussion / Re: WSOD

« Last post by Target on December 13, 2012, 09:19 PM »

Is WSOD linked to graphics card type : ATI or Nvidia ?
I guess its antimalware - graphic driver interaction, esp Nvidia.
I think it may not happen with ATI cards.

-SKA (December 13, 2012, 08:04 PM)

I couldn't say, though googling returns a lot of suggestions regarding video drivers

FWIW though, my laptop has intel graphics...

something else I forgot to mention - clicking on the non responsive app in the task bar brings up a 'windows explorer is not responding.  do you want to close...' dialog...

673

General Software Discussion / Re: WSOD

« Last post by Target on December 13, 2012, 07:27 PM »

what's becoming apparent is this is reasonably common, and not specific to an application, or even an application genre

which would tend to point to the OS?

674

General Software Discussion / Re: WSOD

« Last post by Target on December 13, 2012, 07:24 PM »

@Target anything useful in the logs?

-cranioscopical (December 13, 2012, 06:29 PM)

nope, at least nothing means anything to me

though looking at the timestamps i don't see anything that looks like a potential culprit

675

Developer's Corner / Re: What is the COOLEST language?

« Last post by Target on December 13, 2012, 06:37 PM »

An old chat room quote from Martin:

</\/\artin> I'm going to make an esoteric programming language based off sexual positions only, I think it'd be fun... and the result could either be executed, or used as a guide in bed

-app103 (December 13, 2012, 05:27 PM)

I'd like to see that language ... compiled Kama Sutra  .

-barney (December 13, 2012, 06:16 PM)

isn't that assembly?