gayb: By the way, can anyone actually recommend a good, especially quiet pc box? Regular ATX form factor, nothing small or shaped funny.

The Antec Sonata is great, very quiet although to make it truly silent its fan and power supply would need to be replaced (you can buy scratch-and-dent cases without power supplies really cheap from Antec's online store).

FuturePastNow: gayb: By the way, can anyone actually recommend a good, especially quiet pc box? Regular ATX form factor, nothing small or shaped funny.

The Antec Sonata is great, very quiet although to make it truly silent its fan and power supply would need to be replaced (you can buy scratch-and-dent cases without power supplies really cheap from Antec's online store).

35 bucks, not too bad

Link (new window)

Open_Mouth_Inert_Foot: 35 bucks, not too bad

That's the original Sonata, which isn't as quiet as the current model, but is very good.

Add a PSU w/ a 120mm fan, a quiet CPU fan, and a passive video card, and you'll have a computer that can't be heard over the background.

FuturePastNow: The Antec Sonata is great, very quiet although to make it truly silent its fan and power supply would need to be replaced (you can buy scratch-and-dent cases without power supplies really cheap from Antec's online store).

thanks.

anyone getting a lot of Gmail server errors lately?

I'm having a bit of a nuisance with some Java programming. There are some websites I'd like to be able to connect to to gather statistics and data with a program, but unfortunately they read my program as something like an email-crawler, or other bad program. I'm assuming its because I'm not sending any browser-specific headers along with my connection. Would anyone happen to know how to send those headers?

I'm connecting by using an URL object in an URLConnection object that is read by an InputStreamReader which is utilized by a BufferedReader, but I think the only pertinent part is the URLConnection. Any ideas or advice given would be greatly appreciated, as this is a hole I've been stuck in for awhile.

Thanks

tehhunter: I'm having a bit of a nuisance with some Java programming. There are some websites I'd like to be able to connect to to gather statistics and data with a program, but unfortunately they read my program as something like an email-crawler, or other bad program. I'm assuming its because I'm not sending any browser-specific headers along with my connection. Would anyone happen to know how to send those headers?

I'm connecting by using an URL object in an URLConnection object that is read by an InputStreamReader which is utilized by a BufferedReader, but I think the only pertinent part is the URLConnection. Any ideas or advice given would be greatly appreciated, as this is a hole I've been stuck in for awhile. Thanks

You want to use Jakarta HttpClient (new window) instead as the UrlConnection doesn't seem to implement that functionality. Here's (new window) a link to a tutorial on working with Java URL Classes.

AesopRock_00: anyone getting a lot of Gmail server errors lately?

I had a few "page can't be displayed" yesterday but has been working ok today.

gayb: By the way, can anyone actually recommend a good, especially quiet pc box? Regular ATX form factor, nothing small or shaped funny.

FuturePastNow: The Antec Sonata is great...

The Sonata cases are very nice looking. The quietest case I own though is an Enermax Chakra. The 250mm fan moves a lot of air but is very quiet.

Benny_Hill: The Sonata cases are very nice looking. The quietest case I own though is an Enermax Chakra. The 250mm fan moves a lot of air but is very quiet.

According the newegg overview, I should be examining the case with my penis...? Well, that's what I do with all my cases, so no problem then. hahaha

So I've been looking at buying a new digital camera. So far I like the look of Canon's PowerShot A650. (I definitely want a camera that runs off AA batteries)

This Canon will take either an SD or MMC card. What kind of trade offs am I looking at choosing one over the other? Which is faster?

I ask because one of my biggest complaints about the Kodak camera I have now is that I can't take multiple pictures very quickly. I'm assuming one of the things that affects that is how fast the flash media is. (My biggest complaint is the Kodak sucks batteries dry very, very quickly)

Looking around at NewEgg I noticed that one of the SD cards mentioned it doesn't require any power - do SD and/or MMC cards normally require power?

Benny_Hill: This Canon will take either an SD or MMC card.

SD cards are better. Bigger, faster, more secure. The cards look identical and go in the same slot, anything that takes one will take the other.

I'm actually not too bad at system repair, but this issue has me stumped. I mean really stumped. I can't use DVI mode on my computer anymore. Just VGA. How annoying.

This means that I have to do weird things like unplug then replug in my monitor when my system restarts or all I see is total blackness, and the fact that I can no longer run a second output (a projector) from the computer, and web pages scroll VERY VERY slowly. Irritating.

Is it the monitor? The video card? Windows XP pro? I have no idea.

I have these things: another HD Spectre monitor. Another video card. A brand new driver from ATI which, when installed, causes complete blackout of monitor while system apparently starts fine (in darkness). I uninstall it, and the computer starts (in darkness, until I unplug it and plug it in again), but then identifies TWO new pieces of hardware and asks if I want to install drivers, which I cancel out of for reasons above.

I don't have: a copy of Win XP Pro on disk - just a directory on the computer that supposedly allows me to reinstall windows from scratch. I can't figure out how to use the damn thing. It's a legal copy.

I just want to work in DVI mode again, and don't know how to fix the problem. Any suggestions? Reinstall system? How? Driver problems? How can I tell the problem? This is damn frustrating.

Yes! The PSP works at hospital. Slow as shiat, but I am Farking.

FuturePastNow: SD cards are better. Bigger, faster, more secure.

Ah, thanks :-)

tehhunterI'm assuming its because I'm not sending any browser-specific headers along with my connection. Would anyone happen to know how to send those headers?

I'm not quite sure whether it was SUN's API or the Jakarta HttpClient, but one or both of them will send a default User-Agent in the header identifying the request as being made by a Java program - which some websites might consider to be a bot, blocking the requests automatically.

If you are not using the Jakarta HttpClient, you might want to look at URLConnection.setRequestProperty(String,String) to set a (different) value for "user-agent".

I am going to be rebuilding Honestjuans.com in Dreamweaver- I built it initially about 3 years ago with the help of a guide and then finally after 6 months live I hired someone to build it for me. I ended up keeping the domain name but stopped getting it hosted because of money problems, but plan to re-open with a better layout within the next year.

Long story shorter though- the guide said that XML was the "wave of the future" and that all that we build would be XML soon. Is this the case or is there another language to be used now? PHP was getting popular for forum building when I finalized my site but I'm not sure if it's ever used for a regular site anymore. I know a lot of folks are designing sites mostly with Flash but I can't afford a copy and couldn't figure out how to get Swift (a flash copy) to work.

Of course I'm working with Dreamweaver 2004...

no. it is a pain in the ass to use. Wish I would have brought the laptop.

CLIFF NOTES:
Say, has anyone here experience with virtual private server hosting plans?
I'm a bit confused why entry level VPS plans seem to be cheaper than "normal hosting" plans with limit databases and an option for a private or even a shared Tomcat - after all, if I have a vserver, I should be able to install all the databases or Tomcats I want.

Is that confusion just due to me as a geek valuing the flexibility/independence of a VPS plan higher (e.g. cherry-picking the software versions I want to run) than the "convenience" of not bothering with server administration and living within some pre-configured software package?

Anyone know some good/cheap plans NOT in Germany?

TOLSTOY
About a year ago I wrote some Java webapp (free imagehost load balancer, mainly for Fark photoshoppers -> see profile) and found a nice entry level hosting plan with a comparatively cheap Tomcat option:
~$12.50/month for:
one .de domain, private Tomcat on a (shared) Tomcat cluster, 200MB storage, 20GB traffic, one MySQL DB (80MB size limit IIRC) and email/subdomains/pre-installed software yaddayadda not really relevant to my interests.

Since that webapp isn't really used (okay, I didn't pimp it that much) and my pre-paid Tomcat plan is running out, I'm thinking about terminating it entirely.
But then again, it looks like for about $2 more I can get a vserver with a lot more bang for those two bucks (e.g. 10GB storage, 300GB traffic, own IP address, maybe even more RAM and - if I understand vserver hosting correctly - all the Tomcats, databases and whatnot I want to install).
That's somewhat tempting.

It would be even more tempting if I were able to get a vserver in a different country than Germany as I might then add some features into that webapp that might get people to use it more.
(In Germany, the ambulance chasers have found the internet and are busy sending out very costly blackmail C&D letters to German websites for various ridiculous reasons)

TehNacho: Long story shorter though- the guide said that XML was the "wave of the future" and that all that we build would be XML soon. Is this the case or is there another language to be used now? PHP was getting popular for forum building when I finalized my site but I'm not sure if it's ever used for a regular site anymore. I know a lot of folks are designing sites mostly with Flash but I can't afford a copy and couldn't figure out how to get Swift (a flash copy) to work.

Of course I'm working with Dreamweaver 2004...

PHP is still extremely popular. Flash only sites are almost always a Bad Idea ™

Tell Dreamweaver you want to create a XHTML 1.0 strict site.

In other words, I second everything SockMonkeyHolocaust said.

test post. please ignore.

/this testing is ISO 99001:01 compliant

trapped-in-CH: please ignore.

That's pretty much impossible. Test out this link.

trapped-in-CH: please ignore.

I refuse!

No_47
gayb: trapped-in-CH: please ignore.
That's pretty much impossible. Test out this link.
it's almost like people don't read the farq
at all

it's not impossible. for a few days now my account / IP address has been flagged as a "spam" IP by the fark server/admins/gods and thus all my posts were invisible. Not seen by anyone except me - and only when I signed into my account. I twigged on it for two reasons - no one was responding to my comments (I'm boring but not that boring), and when I went back looking for my post, I wouldn't find my original comment, until I signed in. a lovely moderator/admin fixed it for me and I'm visible again.

Posting in a "private" thread would defeat the point of finding out if I'm still invisible, wouldn't it? And no fun. And the best way (in this crowd) to get a response is to tell everyone not to respond. Whole wack of mismatchers on this site. Rebels one and all.

trapped-in-CH: for a few days now my account / IP address has been flagged as a "spam" IP by the fark server/admins/gods

Oh, I see. Don't mistake my words for annoyance though. Just trying to be helpful. We probably need to start a fund to get No_47 some therapy though. Heh.

any good open-source/freeware DVR software out there? For XP. I guess a tuner card should go with it, obviously, but I don't know anything about those. Do they support HD content yet?

gayb: any good open-source/freeware DVR software out there? For XP. I guess a tuner card should go with it, obviously, but I don't know anything about those. Do they support HD content yet?

MediaPortal

gayb: any good open-source/freeware DVR software out there? For XP. I guess a tuner card should go with it, obviously, but I don't know anything about those. Do they support HD content yet?

Any way you can get away from the XP part? Mythbuntu is great but only for Linux. HD is supported (though that's really up to your hardware rather than the software - you'll need a HD capture card).

gayb
Oh, I see. Don't mistake my words for annoyance though. Just trying to be helpful. We probably need to start a fund to get No_47 some therapy though. Heh.

None taken. where do I send the cheque for No_47's happy fund?

Benny_Hill: Any way you can get away from the XP part? Mythbuntu is great but only for Linux. HD is supported (though that's really up to your hardware rather than the software - you'll need a HD capture card).

I'll keep that in mind for myself, but I'm asking for a friend.

FuturePastNow: MediaPortal

kewl. thanks.

Ok guys-

one of the coworkers of my wife bought a computer at a garage sale... it's a windows 98 box with XP installed and a 566 mhz processor, 64mb of ram, and dialup modem... they brought it to me because my wife told them I was a computer whiz and they couldn't use it because it's locked up. There are four accounts. Two of them are email addresses, one is "owner" and one is "guest." I can go into the guest account just fine without a password, all others are password protected. The guest account is just that- it's got pretty much no rights to do anything- the computer does not have works or word (which was the whole reason that they bought it) and I have old copies of works that I would like to put on it just so he has something better than notepad but at the same time, I can't install it without access to an admins account.

I've tried "password" but am all out of ideas. How can I recover this machine for them?

I have XP CDs but I do not have the XP cd used for the install on this computer. Will I be able to do a restore from one of my XP CDs or does Micro$oft not like this?

TehNacho: I have XP CDs but I do not have the XP cd used for the install on this computer. Will I be able to do a restore from one of my XP CDs or does Micro$oft not like this?

For that old of a computer, I suggest you obtain a Windows 2000 CD somewhere.

TehNacho
I have XP CDs but I do not have the XP cd used for the install on this computer. Will I be able to do a restore from one of my XP CDs or does Micro$oft not like this?

That sounds like they wouldn't even like the current setup, so I wouldn't pay that much attention to it (I assume not having the install CD also means not having the serial, certificate of authenticity or whatever else makes a Windows install legit in MS' eyes).
..unless you mean more practical aspects of "not like this", like having to deal with that newer activation and "Genuine Advantage" crap.


I've tried "password" but am all out of ideas. How can I recover this machine for them?

You could try "administrator" with a blank password. :)

But there are tools to reset Windows passwords.
For example, the Ultimate Boot CD comes with a tool named Offline NT password and registry editor

The Voice of Doom:

But there are tools to reset Windows passwords.
For example, the Ultimate Boot CD comes with a tool named Offline NT password and registry editor

I am going to give Ultimate Boot CD a try. With all the crap loaded with it, it sounds like I can have fun if it works or not.

The Voice of Doom:

But there are tools to reset Windows passwords.
For example, the Ultimate Boot CD comes with a tool named Offline NT password and registry editor

Oh. Your. God. It took less than 10 minutes to D/L burn the CD, use the tool, change the passwords, and login.

You, are one of Americas greatest heroes.

Crap. Now it's looping Automatic updates. It tells me that the system has an update that is ready and needs to be installed. Then, when it is nearly finished, it tells me that the update is in "an unstable state" and to continue I must uninstall SP2.

Can I burn SP2 to a CD?

I can't uninstall SP2 because it hangs up, but the update that is looping tells me it will continue to check for failed installs of SP2 until I uninstall, and I think that the uninstall is failing because of the damned update. ARG.

Is Wikipedia being epic slow for everyone or just me? Has anyone else noticed?

Stratigus64: Is Wikipedia being epic slow for everyone or just me? Has anyone else noticed?

not slow for me.