Recent Posts

7901

DC Gamer Club / Re: Dungeon Defenders - A Tower Defense CO-OP RPG

« Last post by wraith808 on October 11, 2011, 06:13 AM »

I'd like a copy... and congrats skwire!  I'll PM you the info...

7902

General Software Discussion / Re: cloud processing for end users - when? already?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 11, 2011, 06:11 AM »

Bandwidth might be an issue but shouldn't be exaggerated, even for the case of video transcoding. A fairly large number of people have had 100Mbit connections at home for some time. Very far from all of course. But many enough for this kind of service to take off I'd think.

-Nod5 (October 10, 2011, 02:18 PM)

Doesn't really matter how much bandwidth you have if it's being limited by your ISP, which is a very real situation a lot of people are in.

7903

DC Gamer Club / Re: THQ deal week at Steam

« Last post by wraith808 on October 11, 2011, 06:09 AM »

Hope they put up Homefront for a really good price.

-4wd (October 11, 2011, 12:29 AM)

I'm waiting on that one, RF:A, and Darksiders (though more 40k would be nice too)

7904

Developer's Corner / Re: Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD

« Last post by wraith808 on October 11, 2011, 06:03 AM »

I don't think it's possible (or advisable) to completely divorce any technology - especially computing technology - from the social context it will be working in. I say that because most technologies we're using (or developing for) are not being driven by technical merit or engineering considerations, but rather by politics and legal maneuvering. And this is a harsh reality that won't go away any time soon.

-40hz (October 11, 2011, 01:17 AM)

I don't disagree... but there's a thread for that discussion. 

Dunno... Maybe I need to look at it again. It just seems like everything in XAML takes much longer than in WinForms.

-Renegade (October 11, 2011, 02:06 AM)

I've been forced into the WPF world.  But now I'm not looking back.  XAML does take a while to get your mind around, and it is a different way of looking at things.  And that ramp up time is significant.  But you can do *so* much more *so* easier in XAML.  It's not the silver bullet- I hear people professing that "I don't have any code- it's all XAML!".  But XAML *is* code.  And it is compiled to code.  But the things that you can do with UI in XAML are pretty amazing, especially considering how much work you'd have to do in order to do it otherwise.  And in many cases it can be more efficient also- there was an article on databinding that I read recently- it compared three ways of doing it.  Dependency Objects (XAML-based, though you can do it in code too), INotifyPropertyChanged (code) and Lambdas (code).  It was actually to quantify how much extra time MVVM using Lambda expressions takes to execute, but what also struck me was the difference in INotifyPropertyChanged was from Dependency Objects.

XAML is definitely a great tool that I'm glad to have in my toolset.

As far as the Metro stuff, I think that you hit it on the head, though.  I think how much *we* have to deal with it is going to be based on how much *the consumer* takes to it.  If Windows tablets with Metro take off as much as the iPad and Android tablets have, and if Joe Normal is willing to put up with it, then we'll be saddled with it.  Otherwise, it will go the way of the BOB.

(I did also note that SL in IE is pretty much gone...  glad I didn't get into *that* much.)

7905

DC Gamer Club / Re: THQ deal week at Steam

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 11:32 PM »

Well, I see three new games in my future... I already have M2033, 40K CR, and RF:G... so Ill get all the rest other than the racing game.  And then have *more* games not to play... 

7906

DC Gamer Club / Re: THQ deal week at Steam

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 10:39 PM »

Thanks!  For once I hadn't been on steam... hope they put Space Marine on sale near the end of the week, though I doubt it.

7907

Developer's Corner / Re: Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 07:10 PM »

^ Ummm... what does this have to do with the thread?  I was hoping to keep this separate from the other more general Windows 8 thread, and get more to what it means from a developer's perspective...?

7908

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 03:10 PM »

Maybe it's ironic, or maybe it was purposeful malicious deception from day one.

-Eóin (October 10, 2011, 02:21 PM)

Corporate-speak at work.  See Google.

7909

Developer's Corner / Re: Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 02:08 PM »

But I do have a big problem with only receiving 70¢ for each buck I do make.

-40hz (October 10, 2011, 01:46 PM)

The government already takes about that much... 

7910

Developer's Corner / Re: Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 01:21 PM »

 

...

* wraith808 shrugs

Hey, I'm just trying to make a buck. 

7911

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 12:39 PM »

Sing on, RMS:
http://www.muktware.com/news/2618

-zridling (October 10, 2011, 04:13 AM)

It's funny that the author defends RMS' use of Harold Washington's quote by saying that it was a quote... but he meant it in the same context.  Just because you quote someone who said some sentiment that you agree to doesn't absolve you because they weren't your words.  I don't think it was bad- it was just words.  But I hate when people try to absolve themselves or others by saying it wasn't my words- I was just quoting!.

7912

General Software Discussion / Re: Couldn't be more disappointed in Windows 8 :(

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 12:32 PM »

I posted a bit about Windows 8 from a developer's perspective.  There are a few things about the relationship of Metro to the classic windows desktop in there also...

7913

Developer's Corner / Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD

« Last post by wraith808 on October 10, 2011, 12:31 PM »

Here are a few articles that help understand what it will be like developing for Windows 8. In June Microsoft announced that the preferred way for developing for Windows 8 would be HTML/Javascript/CSS which really upset a lot of .NET developers. In the BUILD conference in September MS did a better job of commuicating out what developing in Windows 8 is really about. And not to worry .NET is still alive and kicking but its restricted and some namespaces have been retired.

Silverlight in IE is dead, altough it lives on for the desktop.  Visual Basic is not dead, and they are removing a lot of the differences between VB and C# development.  Chances are a lot of applications will have to be rewritten to fit into Metro, especially those that use the System.IO namespace.  However, one of the articles has an interesting throw-away sentence about the chaos of the windows desktop is just a click away.

XAML is defnitely the way to go for UI however it lives in a different namespace now.

http://www.theregist...mming_for_windows_8/

http://www.theregist...asic_c_sharp_future/

http://blogs.microso...et-in-windows-8.aspx

http://dougseven.fil...atform-and-tools.jpg​

So quite a few changes, I guess developers will be busy when Windows 8 comes around.

7914

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 09, 2011, 09:01 AM »

Couldn't resist some sick humour there.

-Renegade (October 09, 2011, 03:46 AM)

Sick humour is your middle name, right?  No?  Oh. 

7915

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 08, 2011, 06:14 PM »

After further research, I'm going with the Synology NAS.  Though the Seagate has a drive included, it only has *one* drive bay.  And the processor speed is a lot slower than the Synology.  And I just took a look at the control panel - That's pretty slick!  And the final thing that convinced me is the benchmarks on smallnetbuilder.   I'd not heard of the site, but it has pretty comprehensive coverage of NAS units on that page.

Update: Found two more reviews.

7916

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 08, 2011, 04:55 PM »

So has anyone used a Synology NAS?  I see good reviews on them  A little more that the Seagate since it's diskless, but I might be able to swing it and start with one 2TB drive and upgrade later...

7917

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 08, 2011, 04:44 PM »

Yes, but in a house, it's simple enough to setup a share. And in a small office with a server, same thing.

-Renegade (October 08, 2011, 11:59 AM)

Sure, but that mandates that the computer it's attached to has to be left on.  With a straight-up NAS unit, the power consumption is fairly minimal so leaving it on 24/7 usually isn't a big deal.  Also, NAS doesn't have to imply a RAID setup.  So, while single-disk NAS units may not have redundancy, they can still serve a useful purpose.

-skwire (October 08, 2011, 03:56 PM)

+1.  And that you can stand the extra thrashing from other people accessing your drive.  I've tried having a server set up (or an extra pc).  Too much overhead/maintenance.  I've tried doing the share from one computer.  Makes that one slower.  The only thing that I've found that works for me is having an extra NAS.  I tried it on a small scale with a 320GB Maxtor- and it's great!  And with Maxtor now being Seagate, I'm probably going to go that way.

7918

Developer's Corner / Re: GarageGames: $99 Game Engines (with Source!)

« Last post by wraith808 on October 07, 2011, 06:40 PM »

I wonder why TorqueX is temporarily unavailable?!?

7919

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 07, 2011, 06:37 PM »

So I guess transcode^w is the word of the day... LOL 

7920

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 07, 2011, 03:29 PM »

DLNA is only compatible with wmv/avi...

-wraith808 (October 07, 2011, 02:11 PM)

I saw that comment as well, and it confuses me. I don't understand why the server should care what the format is. It seems to me that the media is just a blob that gets streamed, and its actual content is irrelevant. Is it a question of *scanning* the media, so the server can build a catalog of what's on the box?

-CWuestefeld (October 07, 2011, 02:18 PM)

Apparently not.  Look at this link, specifically required vs. optional formats.  From what I understand, it decodes and encodes on the fly... and so the format to be stored must be either natively supported by the server and the receiver, or encoded/decoded to one of the standard formats.

7921

Living Room / Re: NAS Recommendations?

« Last post by wraith808 on October 07, 2011, 02:11 PM »

I just purchased a Seagate BlackArmor NAS 110, with 3TB of capacity, plus the eventual ability to add more via USB (although that would be slower). Total price from Amazon, $200.

-CWuestefeld (October 07, 2011, 10:14 AM)

Thanks!  This was exactly what I was looking for...and 3TB for $200 is nothing to sneeze at.  I see that the DLNA is only compatible with wmv/avi... not exactly what I was getting it for, but that is a point that I figured I'd add.

7922

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 07, 2011, 07:02 AM »

I had to post this- Steve Jobs gets one last poke at Bill Gates:

-wraith808 (October 06, 2011, 07:58 PM)

Yeah, because OS X has no security holes whatsoever. Nuh-uh. NONE. IT'S SUPER FAILPROOF!

lulz.

-f0dder (October 07, 2011, 05:03 AM)

It was a joke...?

7923

General Software Discussion / Re: It's about ... code snippet software ...

« Last post by wraith808 on October 06, 2011, 11:32 PM »

Ran across... what?

7924

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 06, 2011, 07:58 PM »

I had to post this- Steve Jobs gets one last poke at Bill Gates:

7925

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs is dead.

« Last post by wraith808 on October 06, 2011, 12:50 PM »

Why does that make you a horrible human being?  Different views (that don't affect anyone outside of your not doing the same as they do) makes you a horrible human being?

-wraith808 (October 06, 2011, 11:31 AM)

It's not the only reason why I dislike him, but it cemented my opinion of him.

-Eóin (October 06, 2011, 12:32 PM)

In my opinion, there's a big difference between 'dislike' and 'he's a horrible human being'.  Personally, I reserve that for very few people that have done things that no amount of spin or explanation or other mitigating things they've done, it can't account for nor excuse the horrendously terrible things that they've done.  The toll of their decisions is lives spent- not lives not save, but spent- on the fires of their ego, hate, etc.

From what I know of his policies and the decisions that he made in relation to Apple and his business practices, there are several things that I don't agree with.  No matter how much money that I personally make, I will always do things outside of myself, that don't directly benefit me, and I can't see how someone could decide differently if they have even greater resources.  But those are personal decisions, and I personally can't see calling someone a 'horrible human being' because they don't espouse those same beliefs.

That's where the divide comes for me...

I can see that.
 
(more behind the cut in the referenced post)

-Renegade (October 06, 2011, 12:44 PM)

I can see that, and I totally agree.  In my opinion, no matter what you work for/are given, there are those less fortunate and in less than ideal circumstances, they could be you, so I give.  Not as much as I think I should, nor I realistically could, but there it is.  So I don't look at any deeds that aren't in service as merit-worthy.  But truthfully, that's not the kind of world we live in.  That's why people who are *not* in service make the most money.  And that's why most (all?) governing parties are the way that they are.