Gomez

The Google people just have WAAAY too much free time.... ROTFL

quote:I'm still waiting for the day when I can run the hardware I want while still getting the best operating systemApple almost designed something like that. Not quite. CHRP - Common Hardware Reference Platform. It's kind of the reverse of what you said. You could run whatever OS you wanted to run on it. It would run everything and anything. It would have been 100% PC compatible (and fast), as well as 100% Mac compatible. I think how they were going to accomplish this feat was to have co-CPUs. 1 Intel (pentium class), 1 IBM (rs-2000 RISC architecture). Back when they were working on this, it would have been a P1 and a 603 or 604. Anyway, it never happend because Mr. Jobs came back to the company and felt they had already spent too much money on it. Also, speaking of Apple and their need for you to buy their system. My current Macintosh is one of the last Mac OS clones. It is NOT an apple. Sadly, it's also not a G3 or better. Which means no OS X for me. Speaking of OS X. What you said about BSD is very true. In fact, you can get to BSD and use it, in one of the advanced modes. Supposedly, you can also run anything that is designed to run on BSD.

quote:(mac is not all that great either)In defense of Mac (I know this is a linux thread), I would like to state that Mac IS great...but not for the things you do, most likely. Apple has it's problems, no doubt. So does Microsloth. However, Macintosh has, from the beginning, been a graphics platform. If you ask 100 graphic artists which platform they prefer...you'll likely get Macintosh out of 75% of them. And here's why: WYSIWYG I have had this problem with PCs many times myself, and I'm doing only simplistic printing (or was, my printer is broken now). Macintosh is 100% WYSIWYG. All applications (that print). Heck, IIRC, SC said that he had problems with the company that printed up the manual, because they use QuarkExpress (a Mac program), and he used MS Word (on his PC). Not to mention, the manual was (according to Word) going to be 110+ pages, but Quark took the same text, at the same type face, with the same graphics, and printed it in 76. Another fine example of WYSIWYG. Word isn't. Another small reason why Mac is a great machine. Last I checked, Mac processors have not breached the 1GHz level. Yet if you run the exact same process on Adobe Photoshop on a 2.2 GHz PC, vs a top of the line Mac. The Mac will complete it first, hands down. MHz isn't everything. Macintosh is an excellent platform for this, and many other reasons. However, perhaps you anti-mac people don't use these applications. It is NOT a gaming machine, though it will run games. And that is likely why a lot of people do not like it. Anti-Linux people are similar to anti-Mac people. They just don't realize what they're missing. They haven't used the applications that really SHINE on the other platform. Heck, some of them haven't even USED the other platform. Their opinion comes from opinions of others. Personally, I have used all three. All three have excellent merits in certain areas. Overall, I would say that none of them is really better than any of the others.

quote:Maybe I'm seeing things, but on the CivIII website, there's a Roman emperor in the upper right corner who looks exactly like Sid Meier.You're not crazy. But that's not a Roman Emporer. That's your science advisor. It IS Sid.

My first comp was an Apple II+. Circa 1979. 48k RAM, 5 1/4" drive (though we started with a tape drive), HD? What's that? Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore. However, I -do- have an Atari 2600 I'd have to search a while in the basement for it, but it's still down there. I remember seeing it a few years ago.

There's not too much one can say about SimTower without saying too much It only had so many features. Even with so few, I was happy with it. Back in '94. And I still tinker around with Yoot Tower (the sequel) today.

Allow me to be your first. SimTower review sent. I can also do Master of Orion II, Caesar II, and Civ II. However, Caesar II I played only on the Macintosh, and it wasn't that memorable. I'd have to dig it out again to see how it works. Lest I confuse it with Caesar III/Pharoah/Zeus. BTW, do you only plan on reviewing older games?

Nightstar happens to be my specialty. PTA turrets missing a lot? Try putting your targetting reticle on the center of the name of your target (until it's too close to you, then aim closer to the center of the target). Watch the shields/armor/hull drop. I can dogfight with fighters in a Nightstar because of this little effect.... Note: Do NOT launch your fighters till you get 1) lots of money, 2) higher AI pilots. BTW, there's a safer way to deal with Space Marines. Take out a fighter (you as pilot). Fly around and shoot them. You can hit them, they can't hurt you. Or at least, they have a hard time doing so, because I've never been hurt by 'em. Another note: When doing any out of CC activities, don't forget to issue the HALT order. Or at least give it way points and the like in TacOps. That way it doesn't leave you stranded because your FO thought it would be more fun without you on board....ever. Anyway, welcome to the community. And once you've gotten a little skill, don't forget to join one of the fleets out there. It only enhances gameplay.

I think it would be more than just 1 book in an encyclopedia. The physicists who plot the course of the shuttle all have doctorates, and from the finest schools in the country (or out). There's a reason why they know exactly where the shuttle is going to be at exactly any milli-second. To actually fly is TRUE newtonian physics, is very hard. However, some fairly realistic games have come about (Independence War). But then, what did IW lack? Free form, trade, ability to fly other ships, AI that didn't rely (heavily) on auto-targetting, etc etc etc. SC has made a game that doesn't have newtonian physics, because there just simply isn't time to fit it in, unless of course you want the game pushed back to 2005. Thankfully, he decided not to, and we have it in our greedy little hands right now Though, I'll be the first to admit, I LOVE the change in tactics with newtonian (or semi-newtonian) physics. But it's not necessary to make a good game, especially if it will cause lower framerates, and lower quality game over all due to time constraints. SC made his game just right, and it only gets better....

The only problem is, Take Two now owns Red Storm...When the parent dies, often times the children go with... Let's just hope that Red Storm had some sense when they signed that deal, and they aren't too heavily connected.

All will change in MP....Camping will be dangerous. As the next ship that HJs to you, might be a player, who is WELL aware that you are camping. They will have 8 quality missiles FATAL on you, and be aimed directly towards you as they come out of HJ. Not to mention, fighters already launched and ordered.

It's not the FO who does that: The Combat Officer, CO, has the following tasks, which he performs automatically during the normal operation of the ship. TASKS: AI Marines take 15-30 minutes longer to prepare for deployment if not on-station Fighters take 10-20 minutes longer to reach ready status if not on-station Assignment of Flight Engineers to evaluate and prep docked crafts for launch 50 Assignment of Combat Pilots to ready craft with vacant operator 35 Auto prepping of Marines for combat 35 Assignment of Marines to search for escaped prisoners 75 Auto loading of missiles, mines & probes once bay is empty 75 (number to the right is the AI level required before he will do the task) This information is copied directly from a file you have (if you have BCM installed). In your start menu, bcm->docs->manual appendix Click on crew Then click on the rest, so that you don't ask other questions that some people around here will reply with nothing more than "RTFM"... [ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: Gomez ]

I must say, thank you Dredd for seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. While I do agree, it's a rehashed plot. It's a darn good one. JMS is a great story teller. He just needs time to open the story to us. If I were to judge the entire B5 series on "The Gathering" I would think it was entirely lame. Heck, even season 1 wasn't that great. That is, until you realize that there have been hints at a hidden plot all along. The weapons con is silly though. I absolutely agree with that. The -only- rational explanation I've heard so far, was one from my wife. "Perhaps it's based on the personality of the controller. The controller creates a VR system that suits them. For another person, the system might be physically pointing and saying 'fire'." However, if she's wrong, it's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in a weapons con.

2 sets of speakers: Philips MMS180 w/ sub-woofer on front Bose Video Roommate on rear (old speakers, but good) SB Live 5.1 And yes, I do like sub-frequency bass

I also agree with the others. But if you should still have problems after upgrade, watch out. SDRAM is barely supported by modern motherboards. DDR is the current trend. If you use AMD, they have gone completely socket CPU, instead of socket AND slot type. So replacing/upgrading your MB might be a more expensive option than you think.... However, on a lighter note, I absolutely agree about the resource conflict. It sounds like somehow, your 3D accel is sharing with your net. Do check to see if you have a loose board, or perhaps a lack of extra IRQs (control panel->system->device manager). I had a similar conflict waaay back because my old machine didn't have enough IRQs to add USB support. So every time I enabled it, my sound cut out completely.