pedm

Wow, thank you very much blade. I've found the reasons it won't work, and have attempted to see what I can do. Right now it seems like my motherboard is having some trouble reading the hd, but I'll try it again w/ a different mobo and/or hard drive and/or install DVD to see if I can get it. Thanks

Yeah, like denismage was saying, wireless has to be the worst part of linux. If you have easy access to an ethernet cable, go for it by all means. I tried two different wireless cards on three different distros and couldnt get anything to work. Ubuntu deffinitely has the ease of use down, though most distros are fully customizable so none of them really have any big advantage looks wise (b/c the window managers have been designed in separate projects and can all be run in each of the distros.)

Clare, does vista have an improved boot manager over xp? Cause as much as ive used xp, I've never been able to get it to boot up anything else.

Is it possible to buy a boxed mac complete install? I know that mac has been running on intel processors for almost two years now, but is there any way to buy mac OS to install onto a blank hard drive? It seems like most everything on the apple store comes as an upgrade, where you run a program on your mac to get a newer version. Am I right that the only way to get the mac OS is by buying it preinstalled from apple? (and if this is the case, what happens if you clear your hard drive?) Also, is it possible to copy a mac hard drive with everything, including the os, onto a empty pc hard drive, then boot up in mac? I know microsoft has blocked this by getting a signature of your hardware, but is it even possible to do with a mac (and if so, have they done anything to prevent it?) Thanks everyone

I think winamp should be able to handle this - I've used it before to convert audio files, and a quick google search just showed me that they can play protected wmas, so they should be able to convert them. Look online or fiddle around a bit with the input and output 'drivers(?)' You can change the output to a file type, rather than sound output, to convert a file.

I really can't speak for many distros, but I currently use fedora 7 and love it. Ubuntu/kubuntu are definitely the easiest to install, but if you're looking to get a bit more comfortable with linux in general, I'd try fedora/debian/opensuse/ arch/ark/etc. The one 'downside' you would find with fedora (though many open source fans call it a 'pro,' and ive come to agree) is that it contains only free/open source software. This means you'll have a bit more work setting it up (you can't play mp3s, DVDs, java, etc when you first boot up) but I've got a number of links i used that i can give you if you do choose to go with fedora. Although the next release of fedora is schedule for early november, you might want to go with the current fedora (7) simply b/c it'll have more documentation already written to help guide you along. and another tip, don't go for x64 OSs, even if you have a x64 processor - they're somewhat buggy and it's harder to use/get the software that works on them (and there doesnt even seem to be any sort of speed advantage.) PDM

Well beauty's definitely great for instant gratification, and there's nothing wrong with some of that, but brains definitely win for lifelong satisfaction.

But please, that's still ridiculous. There has to have been an intent to disrupt the class and, even more importantly, a likelihoods that he will do it again. Now, I don't know, but maybe he has gas problems and they are punishing him in an attempt to get him to quell those issues (impossible...) Unless he farted on purpose, they have no right to touch him.

Haha, vegimite! Disgusting stuff! I have a friend who has family down under so visited them a summer ago and brought back the stuff (excuse me, smuggled it back.) I tried a little drop of it on a saltine and even then it was disgusting. I can't describe the stuff, I just remember it was disgusting and extremely strong. It didn't look so hot either.

And fourth, for your own sake, please don't even try hacking the school's system...

Wow, I really like how this article tries to blame electronics for all of our sleeping/teenage problems. Sleep deprivation has existed for ages - electronics are just one of the means of distraction. But really, seems like some phony stats if they want to figure out how many kids fall asleep WATCHING TV, listening to music, or with electronics on. Heck, I fall asleep with the radio on seven days a week, but that doesnt mean the TV keeps me up late awake...

So, what is this principle of yours actually charging you with? They can't suspend you for nothing and I'm guessing they don't have a no farting clause in the rules. And if they do have some rule against disturbing class time, what does it say?

Alrighty, it looks good - I'm sold. Thanks a lot. I'll buy the parts tonight, and tell you how it goes. EDIT: Parts bought! Two of the smaller parts were out of stock (DVD/CD Rom and firewire add on) but I found replacements without too much trouble. Thanks for all the help.

Yeah, I'm almost positive that the one I have will work - when I took out the old motherboard it had all the standard outputs of an ATX (it had numerous slots that an AT wouldn't have.) As far as cooling goes, the one I have seems wider than other cases and has two large fans (180 mm, compared to 120mm, I think,) not including the PSU fan. So, I'm pretty sure that the case I've got is at least as good as, if not better than any other cheap case I might buy. (and if I do need to buy one, well I'llk know that once i try fitting the stuff out.) And blade, do you have any suggestions on that? I've seen a bunch of mobos with "Intel GMA X3000" or "Intel GMA 3100" but none with nvidia 6. I have seen some with nvidia north/south bridges, but I'm pretty sure those are different from nvidia graphics.

I've got a pretty decent one already Bart, which I should be set reusing. And I'll check that out tonight blade, cause im being shooed off the computer right now.

Hey there. Well, I've finally had time to go through and look at parts, so I think I've got my pretty much final list right here. I just want to check these parts over with everyone here one last time, and then buy the stuff tomorrow. Anyways... CPU mobo RAM graphics HD PSU Writable DVD/CD All in all, that comes to $495.93, after rebates, with only $15.82 in shipping. Any last comments/suggestions? Thanks to all Patrick

Blade, the CPU I was talking about was the core 2 duo 4300. I just searched newegg for athlon 5400 prices, and they cost about $150. If they are equivalent, then I should deff go for the core 2 duo (especially with the upcoming price drop)... thing is, there's still no good way to know for sure if they are in fact equal. Nyosuht, I definitely think I'm going to go for a video card, at the very least. I've found some pretty decent stuff ranging from $50-$80 (which is all better than the video card I'm using right now)(see here.) Since I am buying a graphics card though, I'm guessing that I should find a different motherboard, seeing how I'd be paying extra for on board graphics on the one 1ale suggested. Besides making sure the motherboard has all the right connections, what do I need to watch for when comparing? Any factors in speed? And any way to tell the quality of the on board sound? And sycrat, is there any way to dual boot with linux on first? Right now I'm planning to just use linux, try out the programs I need through wine and then decide whether it would be worth it for me to buy a copy of XP, or just switch over to the family comp whenever I'm using any of the non linux programs I know and love. If I think I really need windows I'll get it, but it will be outside of the $500 I plan to spend on the computer right now (I'll have more money by the end of the summer.) By the way, have any of you had past experience with "Open Box" items on newegg? I can save $50 if I order this instead of this. The question though: is it worth it?

Hello again all. Thanks for all of your responses; I just got back from a week of camp in NH, so hopefully I can go through them now and buy the final parts in a couple of days. Blade, probably the most specific way I'll be using my computer is in running macromedia 7, adobe premiere, and control monger (a fps game.) As long as I can get those programs to run on my computer while under linux I should be set - there seem to be hundreds of other programs I can use to replace my less specific computer uses (email, music, aim, etc etc.) So really, I want whatever computer I build to be strong enough to handle video editing (if it can do this well it should be able to do everything else.) Just a question about usage though. Does anybody know anything ready about things being "DVD Ready?" I mean, obviously the cd/dvd drive has to be able to, but what about monitors and video cards? I was reading through a computer book (somewhat outdated) and it said to look for this. Is this going to be an issue today? 1alebcay, your computer looks really good. The memory, PSU, HD, and DVD drive all look really good. One thing though, I definitely don't think I need a new case. Yeah, the one I have doesn't look that great, but I'd much rather have a more powerful computer than a snazzy looking computer. I was actually really impressed when I opened up the windows 98: it had great airflow (2 fans to main, 1 fan to PSU) and was extremely roomy on the inside. Also, I think I would much prefer an external video card (nvidia) for some of the stuff I plan on doing (videos and some games my friends are recommending to me.) Now, I really don't know much about how sound cards vary, and am still looking into what equipment I would need to network my family's computers, so how would you say the motherboard you recommended fares in those areas? Anyways though, if I do go for a new motherboard without the onboard graphics/video/lan, I'll have $150 (minus a bit for shipping) to spend on a motherboard, sound card, and video card (i'll deal with networking stuff later.) Anybody have any recommendations on what to get? And at my price range, would it be better to put all $150 towards a motherboard/video/sound, or should I invest some of it into a stronger CPU? As for nyosuht's suggestions on athalon64 X2, does anybody know how an athalon CPU compares to a core 2 duo? How high of a ghz athalon CPU would I have to get for it to be equal to a 1.8 ghz core 2 duo CPU? Everyone seems to be right about me needing a new PSU - I've done some reading and it seems that the older PSUs might have enough watts, but they don't deliver enough energy on the 12V line b/c older computers never demanded so much from that line. So, since I already have a pretty decent case, I think I'll just go and buy a good PSU alone. As for linux nyosuht, yesterday someone else told me pretty much the same thing you did - that ubuntu is easy to set up but limited, that debian is much better, but again that gentoo would be fuller, although much tougher. I just transfered to a course on learning linux (some dirt cheap edu programs at a nearby college,) so I think I'm going to try my hand at gentoo. I'd love the challenge of learning its full runnings and should be able to do so successfully with the help of the teacher of that course (he really seems to know his stuff.) And if I can't plod my way through gentoo, I'll just fall back to either debian or ubuntu, I'm in no big rush. Desktop wise, I guess I'll just try all four out once I get the computer going.

Blade, I just secured the use of a decent, old computer (windows 98 era.) It comes complete with a full tower case, monitor, power supply, hard drive, etc. I'm not yet sure of the exact specs of the computer (I'll probably be able to find them out in a day or so,) but this will definitely save me money.

Alright, thanks for your help guys. Right now, the two CPUs I'm looking at are link and link. Blade, you recommend that I go with AMD cause it's better at my price range. Do you know what the AMD equivalents of these two CPUs would be/what better AMD CPUs I could get at this price range? I know I can't just look at clock speed because Intel's Core 2 Duos perform well at lower clock speeds than normal. Thanks

So for dual core, it really just depends on the program, right? Would it make more sense then for me to buy a ~3.6 ghz single processor CPU (if the price was right) cause then id get double the speed on all programs? As for linux vs windows, I'm a heavy computer user but not a heavy gamer. I've seen a couple of linux programs that are supposed to run windows programs (like Wine,) but how well do they really work? If I do use Wine, should I expect all the windows programs I use on it to be slower or bugy? Whatever computer I do get, I'm going to need Macromedia 7/MX 2004, adobe premiere elements 2.0, and control monger (a game) to run well. Will they if I use Wine or some other program? Right now, I'm not totally sure if I'll need all the add ons (monitor, mouse, keyboard, box, power supply) - it really depends on whether my family will let me scrap one of the older, no longer functioning computers (they want to get some files off the hard drive before anything happens to it.) If not, I might just be able to get some older stuff at my school and then upgrade it later if I need to. I'm definitely thinking CRT monitor is the way to go (for the price,) but I'm wondering, apart from size, are all CRT monitors the same? I mean, my family's old computer looks pretty bad when it's running. Is this solely because of an old/bad graphics card, or might the monitor also be bad and contributing to the bad graphics?

Impeaching is the process of taking the president to court. Bill Clinton was impeached, but he was not found guilty and therefore stayed the president. If found guilty it is then the second stage called conviction, and that is when the president would be removed. Been a while since a government class but I am pretty sure that is how it went. Problem is, even though enough of the american population wants him out of office, not enough of the congress does. I believe they need 2/3s to do something that drastic, right? And anyways, with bush constantly increasing the power of the executive, im not sure if he'd allow the congress to impeach him during a time of "national emergency" or anything like that.

i understand clinton giving pardons to rapists and murders at the end of his tenure, as it does hurt you politically, but he must have had his reasons for letting off the rapists and murders he did pardon - surely he didnt just pardon every single murderer or rapist for the heck of it. the thing that gets to me about bush letting off Libby though, is the high role he held. bush is basically saying that common law doesnt apply to high ranking government officials. what ever happened to all americans being equal before the law? EDIT: I take that back about clinton - he let a few people off for personal/financial reasons. DISGUSTING

Alright, ive been using my parents computer, and getting kicked off when they need to use it, for far too long. So, right now im looking into building my own computer, hopefully for around $500 (USD.) I just have a few questions right now, but it'd like to post my final parts list later before I buy. CPU Let me just check - do dual processor CPUs have double the power than what they are listed at? Say I bought a 1.8 ghz dual processor CPU, would it really have 3.6 ghz? I mean, how much better is a 1.8 ghz dual processor cpu compared to a 1.8 ghz single processor cpu? Power Source Okay, I'm kind of unsure how much power I'll need through my power source. I mean, I've seen various voltages called for on CPUs and what not, but how do I know how many watts I will need for all of my components? Linux I certainly like the idea of now having to pay for windows, and would enjoy spending some time working with the OS, so I'm definitely thinking linux is the way to go - right now I'm looking at debian and ubuntu. What I'm wondering though, is how can I tell whether my hardware will be compatible with these types of linux? It seems like I'll need to install certain extra drivers to get the different components to function, but is there some sort of directory in which I can check that the linux driver software exists. Other than that, can anybody offer any suggestions on which versions of linux to use/how their linux installation went? Thanks a lot everybody PDM

Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/recommended/ for the recomended scripts, most of which I use. I just used bbcodexra to paste that script, and also have htmlxtra, both great. PDM