Doctor Who Tardis 4-Way USB Hub

Doctor Who Tardis 4-Way USB Hub

Lacking USB ports? Better call the Doctor!

Vista wreaks havoc on games, report

Vista wreaks havoc on games, report: "St. John said that the reengineering of Vista's security left many developers and their games in the dust. Vista's security needs a new installation routine but even if that partly works, 'it's almost certain that Vista's digital rights technology will break existing casual games,' he said."

Yet another reason not to go sailing out to purchase Vista off-the-shelf. Wait until you are forced into it with a hardware upgrade. By then (hopefully) much of this madness will have been straightened out...one way or the other :)

Mame Cabinet - a photoset on Flickr

Mame Cabinet - a photoset on Flickr

Another weekend, another project down. We finally got the one MAME cabinet fully completed. This is a fairly decent photo set of the job. A lot of work, mostly just getting the software done correctly. Final configuration is MAME 111 and MAMEWAH as the front end. We seriously considered 3D Arcade and decided against it for 4 reasons:

1) Needs to run 800x600 (and really wants 1024x768). The old arcade monitors run better at 640x480 (most games are much less than that and these monitors don't do 'multisync'*).
2) Stone Cold Bitch to configure.
3) If you pile on all the MAME ROMS it is a real pain trying to find your game to play. Yes, you can setup Favorites lists, but what about something that isn't there you decide to play? Yeah, wander around 5k+ machines looking for the one you want...
4) It wants more of a computer than 99% of MAME needs. Without it some things will just run slow.

MAMEWAH on the other hand wins out on all of these. Easy to configure, wants to run 640x480, needs no more CPU than MAME.

Ultimately the PC ended up looking like this:

ASUS motherboard, AMD Sempron 2 GHZ processor with 1 GB of RAM and a 320 GB SATA II drive for storage. I tossed in a Wireless G card since I had a couple of spares laying around and that is pretty much it. I added powered stereo speakers in place of the original (and lame) single 4" cone that was there. ArcadeVGA for video and a JPAC card (both from Ultimarc) to complete the PC. Some of the art is custom and some came from places like Arcade Controls.

*there is at least one thing that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere, so I'll mention it myself--it isn't in the phot blog either. It has to do with the multi-sync (or lack thereof) on the original arcade monitors. This used to be largely true of PC monitors 'back in the day', but I had totally forgotten. Anyway, the thing is that not only do the games run at many different resolutions, but they also vary a bit on scan frequency. The combination of the two may differ enough across some games that the vertical hold will drift. I imagine if you built your cabinet around a select set of ROMS this is likely not an issue, but to try and get most of the MAME set working--it is an issue. You could just use a PC monitor (19" is about the right size) an old CRT, not an LCD, those are all capable of handling the wide range of scan frequencies and they have the added adventage of not requiring a special video card that can do a 15 khz vertical. If you choose to stay 'old skool' and use the original monitor, you'll eventually run into this. My solution? Bring out the Vertical Hold pot to the top of the cabinet with a bit of wire so that it can be easily 'tweaked' as needed when you launch a ROM or return to the front-end.

Contemporary Arcade Coffee Tables :: surface tension ::

Contemporary Arcade Coffee Tables :: surface tension ::

Lust For Laughs - October 4, 2006

Lust For Laughs - October 4, 2006

This. Is just, priceless.

Honda Civic Del Sol X-Wing Starfighter - Gizmodo

Honda Civic Del Sol X-Wing Starfighter - Gizmodo

paidContent.org: The Economics of Content

paidContent.org: The Economics of Content: "”I don’t make you look evil - your lawsuits against old people around the country make you look evil."

adamthole: Projects » Blog Archive » Xbox 360 Tilt Controller - Finished! - Video

adamthole: Projects » Blog Archive » Xbox 360 Tilt Controller - Finished! - Video

Satellite City Inc - Authorized dealer for DISH Network Systems

Satellite City Inc - Authorized dealer for DISH Network Systems

A digression from our normal 'list-o-links and pithy remarks. I seldom do real commentary, but I do throw in some stories from life every now and again.

This one needs some background so we'll start back many years ago when we lived in the wilderness of Cleremont (OK, it SEEMED like a wilderness when we first moved there). We had finally after 7-8 years of OTA TV decided to go with Dish, we did and Lo' we were happy. Then about 4 years ago we moved to near Moss Park in Orange county. This was then (and sort-of still is) wilderness. No city utilities and only a local (one subdivision--I mean LOCAL) cable provider. Tired to use the DishMover program only to discover that too many trees stood between me and the sky, many of them not ours to dispose of. So crappy cable, here we come!

Then Charlie came along (the hurricane) as well as some folks to develop adjacent lots. SO bingo, a year or so after Charlie we had a clear shot at the sky. The nice folks as Satellite City came out and installed an HD Dish setup for us. However, while previously with Dish we had used their PVR, once we lost Dish we switched to Tivo so we stuck with the Tivo. Now recently that 4 year old Tivo is shows signs of illness and rather than shuck out 200 bucks for a new one (at standard TV resolution or 600 bucks for an HD One that WILL NOT WORK WITH SATELLITE) I opted to upgrade the main receiver to a Dish PVR unit. I'll just phase out the older Tivo unit. Will I miss some of the Tivo only features? Sure, but not as much as I'll enjoy having everything HD. I wish Dish and Tivo would settle their squabble and get back to making some decent hardware for the consumer.

XBList - XBox Live Friends List Manager | BRH.numbera.com

XBList - XBox Live Friends List Manager | BRH.numbera.com: "XBList is a Windows program written in C# that can display your Xbox Live Friends List in a buddy-list format. It is designed to be simple and unobtrusive. It also has some integration with Xbox.com to display Gamer Tiles and Gamer Cards, and Bungie.net to display Halo 2 information and player emblems. To use this program you must have an Xbox Live account, a Microsoft .NET Passport account, and an Xbox.com account. Your GamerTag must be linked to your Passport. No special setup is required - XBList should prompt you to log into Xbox.com using Internet Explorer once, then it should be on its way. Make sure to select 'Save my e-mail address and password' at the Passport Login screen. If you don't it will never log in."

Thermaltake releases the ultimate case

Thermaltake releases the ultimate case

News - Blizz exec hints at Starcraft 2 // PC /// Eurogamer

News - Blizz exec hints at Starcraft 2 // PC /// Eurogamer: "'We haven't forgotten that we have these two franchises, and what I can tell you is that I look forward to stand here in a few years, or whenever it's going to be, and celebrate with you the launch of the next Starcraft or the next Diablo.'"

You mean like "Ghost" the long awaited, early anticipated game that was due out on every major console and PCs christmas of '05? Then relegated to 'just' consoles, then later 'just' the XBox and finally, quietely buried just before this past christmas? That one, or something like it?

Scottish IT firms hit by Dell effect | Channel Register

Scottish IT firms hit by Dell effect | Channel Register: "McAleenan said the money from the Scottish Executive was meant to create jobs rather than just removing people from locally-owned businesses."


How does this happen? Jobs magically 'created' out of whole cloth? ******** a new job!! Wow!

Of course they get created eventually, from the vacuum at the bottom of the food chain that draws new, inexperienced workers into the field.

Problem is that Dell, isn't bottom fishing.

The three reasons why AMD acquired ATI

The three reasons why AMD acquired ATI: "The third point is further in the future and it is called Fusion. It is a GPU on CPU integration scheduled for late 2008 if not even later. This is the way to go, he explains, as it will make a more power efficient processor for all of the tasks. It is all about increasing the overall computational speed."

As previously discussed here.

The three reasons why AMD acquired ATI

The three reasons why AMD acquired ATI: "The third point is further in the future and it is called Fusion. It is a GPU on CPU integration scheduled for late 2008 if not even later. This is the way to go, he explains, as it will make a more power efficient processor for all of the tasks. It is all about increasing the overall computational speed."

As previously discussed here.

Train Track Build - a photoset on Flickr

Train Track Build - a photoset on Flickr

So this is what we decided would be the main project for the long weekend. Mind you there are about 4 others Work In Progress of some sort (at various stages of incompletion). Years ago John had an HO layout so this has been on the to-do list for a long time. All the engines and rolling stock are from the original sets, but the track, layout and scenery will be all new. Used Atlas track and their RTS CAD software to design the layout. We didn't actually order the track from Atlas directly, we went local and bout it from Colonial Photo And Hobby. Good bunch of folks, just handed them the part list that the RTS program generated and they filled it.

The MAME cabinet conversion is next according to John since the parts are all finally in. Ultimarc Rules. I'll start a new photo set for that one.

Techdirt: History Repeats Itself: How The RIAA Is Like 17th Century French Button-Makers

Techdirt: History Repeats Itself: How The RIAA Is Like 17th Century French Button-Makers: "Requiring permission to innovate? Feeling entitled to search others' property? Getting the power to act like law enforcement in order to fine or arrest those who are taking part in activities that challenge your business model? Don't these all sound quite familiar? "

Nikko Home Electronics - Artoo-Detoo

Nikko Home Electronics - Artoo-Detoo

Nikko Home Electronics - Artoo-Detoo

Nikko Home Electronics - Artoo-Detoo

Gears of War Update Detailed - Kotaku

Gears of War Update Detailed - Kotaku

Additionally some new multiplayer maps are due out Wednesday.

Sweeet.

Unlocker - free up your Windows - The Red Ferret Journal

Unlocker - free up your Windows - The Red Ferret Journal

This is a great tool. I can't begin to count how many times I have been bitten by this bug when trying to do hard drive maintenance (read that "clean up"). Moving files around, deleting folders... then boom! here is this error.

AMD talks up eight core game

AMD talks up eight core game: "IAN McNaughton, AMD's senior marketing manager, pre-announced that AMD will get to eight core processing in the second half of this year."

See previous articles to this subject.

Xbox 360 gets IPTV

Xbox 360 gets IPTV: "MICROSOFT JUST HASN'T stopped with cracking the holes in PlayStation 3 armour. First it knocked the 1080p discussion, and now, an IPTV service is being prepared in order to make the Xbox the TiVo device for the late first decade of the 21st century."

This is what happens when you get a years head start. You have TIME to come up with lots of extra goodies. Add this to the rumoured 120 GB HD upgrade and the built-in HDMI version, ...

The second Xbox 360 revealed: codename Zephyr - Engadget

The second Xbox 360 revealed: codename Zephyr - Engadget

Core Wars...

AMD/Intel and the CPU wars


Yes, at the moment Intel has managed to final get tehir feet back after 2 years of having AMDs boot prints on their bum. This was not unexpected, they do have a lot more market cap to play with. The problem (for them--this is ALL GOOD for the consumer) is that IBM and AMD are both NOT sitting on their laurels, so to speak. The console wars has given IBM a huge profit jump from their fab shacks (tm) and that is no small peanuts either. AMD on the other hand as been rather quitely changing the game to suit their strength, again. Remember that they bought ATI? Well, that is where the next 'big thing' is coming from in their court. First a GPU is really just a very vast, many pipelined, vector processor. Guess what else needs that kind of juice? Physics engines. So no picture an 8-way die (8 cores, or 16 or 32, etc.) each configurable AFTER BEING CREATED to be one of the following:

a) A *normal* 64-bit CPU.
b) A *normal* 128-bit GPU.
c) A generic 128-bit FPU.
d) A generic 64-bit Physics engine.

Order yours mixed and matched to suit your needs.

Also bear in mind that a lot of the extra bang Intel is geeting for their buck (over the current quad-core AMD processors) is the fact that tey are fabbed in 60 nm and AMD is still on 90 nm dies. That is currently switching with AMD moving helter-skelter to 60 nm fab.

Stand by, it is gonna be a great year for hardware :)

Boing Boing: Royal Mail delivers letter with no address, just a map

Boing Boing: Royal Mail delivers letter with no address, just a map: "A Welsh steelworker addressed a Christmas card to an old friend by drawing a map showing the approximate location of the town his friend had moved to -- and the crafty Royal Mail actually delivered the card in nine days. The map sported the addressee's name and a dot in south-west Cornwall with the legend 'SOMEWHERE HERE.'"

Grand Illusions Ltd Best Sellers

Grand Illusions Ltd Best Sellers

Capcom - Lost Planet™

Capcom - Lost Planet™

A T-Shirt For anyone that got a wii for christmas at Tcritic - The Daily T-Shirt Blog

A T-Shirt For anyone that got a wii for christmas at Tcritic - The Daily T-Shirt Blog

Gizmodo UK : Wiimote Disaster Caught On Video. Ouch

Gizmodo UK : Wiimote Disaster Caught On Video. Ouch

CallCenterMovie.com

CallCenterMovie.com

tech.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

tech.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

Socket 939 died last year

Socket 939 died last year: "AM2 is AMD's most dominant socket for 2007 and it will be updated with AM2+ around the middle of the year. The DDR 1 market is finally starting to disappear and DDR 2 is the way to go."

Not surprising either. Only surplus and secondary markets will have them.

Linux is not an option

Linux is not an option: "The vast majority of PCs spend their entire lives unopened and most of them – the home boxes, anyway - still run the operating system and apps that were installed when it was new. Normal people don't swap motherboards, processors and graphics cards. Normal people don't add extra RAM. Normal people don't upgrade hard disks. For them, a PC is a consumer item like a TV or DVD player – they use it until it breaks then throw it away and replace it with a new one."

Exactly. Appliances. You really don't care much about the inner workings of your toaster.

BTW: HAPPY New year to all. I do have a holiday saga to relate, but I'd rather wait until it is finished :)