What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[TheShortTimer]

Dang..this is taking me back to 2009 when I was trying to set up a multi screen display to show major design students work for a public display - cluster display showing one image across several screens like one big picture.
The IT guys couldn't do it.

I first saw multi-screen activity achieved with an IBM PC using a dual display set-up during the mid 80s on UK TV - when - for a short time, we had scheduling dedicated to computing and IT literacy. A programmer demonstrated his animated graphics routine which made a bird fly in colour from left to right from one monitor to the other.

If I track down the footage, I'll share it for the historical value.

I should have told them to get macs..lol.

From my experience, even in possession of Macs, they probably still wouldn't have been able to fathom how to make it work. The IT support dept. at a highly reputed STEM university were unable to help me with configuring their email system to work with Mail and Snow Leopard on my A1181. Eventually, I devised a solution and subsequently sent the instructions to them so that they'd know what to do if they were contacted by anyone else in my situation.

Wasn't impressed at all. They were being paid to help me and I had to help them.

 

[GMShadow]

Too many IT departments continue to pretend that Macs are some alien concept not worthy of their attention and refuse to support them, even today in enterprise environments.

Amusingly, these people are often deficient in Linux/Unix skills as well - they're just high on the Microsoft supply, I suppose.

 

[TheShortTimer]

...they're just high on the Microsoft supply, I suppose.

I got that reference.

From what I've seen, the ability of many IT depts is often limited to the most basic of script following - regardless of the software and hardware involved. A work colleague at a local government organisation had a Win98SE laptop and went to our IT dept for assistance with getting it to recognise a USB stick. After a few hours they returned the laptop to him and said it was impossible to get the device to work with '98 because the OS was too old. He then turned to me and asked if I could help.

Within 30 minutes I found and installed the necessary driver.

 

[GMShadow]

I got that reference.

From what I've seen, the ability of many IT depts is often limited to the most basic of script following - regardless of the software and hardware involved. A work colleague at a local government organisation had a Win98SE laptop and went to our IT dept for assistance with getting it to recognise a USB stick. After a few hours they returned the laptop to him and said it was impossible to get the device to work with '98 because the OS was too old. He then turned to me and asked if I could help.

Within 30 minutes I found and installed the necessary driver.

The Fisher-Price design of XP's UI, coupled with it being used *far* longer than anyone in Redmond intended, has created this weird conception that XP 'isn't that old' - yet it shipped just as the first flash drives were coming out, with all of 32MB capacity on the high end.

On the flip side, people think 98/98SE/2000 are "totally old" when in reality they were in use alongside XP for quite a while (and were only a few years older to begin with) - extended support for 98 continued until Vista shipped in '06, and Win2k was supported until 2010, *after* 7 shipped.

Which is a long rambling way to say that 98/2k had a *lot* of stuff added on later due to necessity/demand - USB support being a big one.

Although on 98 there'd still be a lot of Plug-N-Pray. 😁

 

[TheShortTimer]

The Fisher-Price design of XP's UI, coupled with it being used *far* longer than anyone in Redmond intended, has created this weird conception that XP 'isn't that old' - yet it shipped just as the first flash drives were coming out, with all of 32MB capacity on the high end.

On the flip side, people think 98/98SE/2000 are "totally old" when in reality they were in use alongside XP for quite a while (and were only a few years older to begin with) - extended support for 98 continued until Vista shipped in '06, and Win2k was supported until 2010, *after* 7 shipped.

It blew my mind to discover that Microsoft supported Win 3.x up till 2001, the embedded version of WFW 3.x till 2008 and that Symantec supported their DOS & Win 3.x anti-virus software well into 2003.

Which is a long rambling way to say that 98/2k had a *lot* of stuff added on later due to necessity/demand - USB support being a big one.

Although on 98 there'd still be a lot of Plug-N-Pray. 😁

As William Gates himself saw live on stage when '98 crashed during the Comdex demonstration of its USB plug & play capabilities.

 

[Amethyst1]

Which is a long rambling way to say that 98/2k had a *lot* of stuff added on later due to necessity/demand - USB support being a big one.

Win2k recognises USB drives OOTB. 98 doesn’t.

 

[eyoungren]

Photoshop work yesterday.

This is for the 20" Cinema Display, which I decided in the last few weeks should actually 'connect' somehow to the overall desktop theme.

As always, a work in progress (although I'm fairly happy with this version) and probably only makes sense to me.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Is that the Halo soldier in the top left-hand corner?

 

[eyoungren]

Is that the Halo soldier in the top left-hand corner?

Yes and no.

It is 'a' Halo Spartan (Spartan-II) from the HALO TV series. But it's not Master Chief, John-117.

That's Kai-125, as portrayed by actress Kate Kennedy (who is a UK citizen by the way).

 

[TheShortTimer]

Yes and no.

It is 'a' Halo Spartan (Spartan-II) from the HALO TV series. But it's not Master Chief, John-117.

That's Kai-125, as portrayed by actress Kate Kennedy (who is a UK citizen by the way).

View attachment 2190749

Understood, thanks for the heads up.

There's quite a few Brits among the cast. Is it worth watching in your opinion?

 

[eyoungren]

Understood, thanks for the heads up.

There's quite a few Brits among the cast. Is it worth watching in your opinion?

Yes, I think it is. It deals with people (particularly MC) getting to know who they are and their humanity. If you do not know much about the game lore then it will work really well for you. And they manage to make the 'believability' of the 'super-soldier' real enough.

My main complaint is how they deal with the relationship of MC and Cortana. In the games, Cortana is a 'partner'. She helps MC achieve what he achieves. In the TV series, she is intended to be an element of 'control' over MC and their relationship is much more adversarial.

That's not her (Cortana) fault, and being 'who' she is, Cortana is ultimately reluctant to control MC. I'm hoping that the writers fix this in Season 2. That relationship from the games is why I wanted to see the show.

There's some other nitpicky stuff, but again, you'd have to know the lore. I don't play the games, but I've spent a lot of time learning the lore.

PS. Kate Kennedy, Kai-125, is the standout of the series - not Pablo Schreiber.

 

[TheShortTimer]

There's some other nitpicky stuff, but again, you'd have to know the lore. I don't play the games, but I've spent a lot of time learning the lore.

I played the Mac version a couple of times and I own some of the Xbox 360 releases but I haven't gotten round to checking them out yet.

PS. Kate Kennedy, Kai-125, is the standout of the series - not Pablo Schreiber.

Is that a teeny, tiny crush I detect?

(Schreiber was great in The Wire and OITNB.)

 

[eyoungren]

I played the Mac version a couple of times and I own some of the Xbox 360 releases but I haven't gotten round to checking them out yet.



Is that a teeny, tiny crush I detect?

(Schreiber was great in The Wire and OITNB.)

I got the original game from Goodwill (what you'd call a charity shop). But I did not have the appropriate system requirements to play it with any quality until I got a G5.

By HALO 4, Cortana was strategically 'naked' - although the designers came up with some BS 'reason' for that. It played right into my wife's opinion of gamers (basements, living at home, no real girlfriend, etc). Annnnddd…I wasn't willing to devote the hours it would take to master/solve the games, so I basically didn't mess with it.

But at some point I did watch the cutscenes on Youtube and read a few of the books (there are novels). So, that's when I got into the lore itself but not the game.

If you search on Youtube for HALO game walkthroughs or 'all cutscenes' you can get the gist of things. HALO 4, in particular was a pivotal point in the relationship between MC and Cortana. Might be a good way to introduce yourself to all this. Although the original HALO is kind of lacking in the graphics/story.

As to a crush on Kate Kennedy…sure. To the extent that I 'crush' on any 'strong' woman. I grew up with strong women and weak men around me. Guess who I ended up respecting?

Every female picture I have on my desktop represents some influence the actress or their character had on me. Kate Kennedy is cool because she can act and her character is strong.

PS. My wife gets it.

 

[TheShortTimer]

HALO 4, in particular was a pivotal point in the relationship between MC and Cortana. Might be a good way to introduce yourself to all this. Although the original HALO is kind of lacking in the graphics/story.

As you can see, I have HALO 4 so this looks like a good time to dig out the 360 and give it a go.

As to a crush on Kate Kennedy…sure. To the extent that I 'crush' on any 'strong' woman. I grew up with strong women and weak men around me. Guess who I ended up respecting?

Every female picture I have on my desktop represents some influence the actress or their character had on me. Kate Kennedy is cool because she can act and her character is strong.

PS. My wife gets it.

I can relate to that. There has been a similar dynamic in my life. It's a prevalent theme in the works of John Carpenter (especially Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York with fearless female characters) and his one-time employee, James Cameron (The Terminator, T2 and Aliens are good examples).

Kudos to your wife!

 

[eyoungren]

As you can see, I have HALO 4 so this looks like a good time to dig out the 360 and give it a go.

I can relate to that. There has been a similar dynamic in my life. It's a prevalent theme in the works of John Carpenter (especially Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York with fearless female characters) and his one-time employee, James Cameron (The Terminator, T2 and Aliens are good examples).

Kudos to your wife!

Rampancy and the Didact!

Take a girl for a ride, man.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

I made a FrankenBookPro. The main body is the 10.4.11 2GHz MBP 06 Core Duo, and the keyboard (top casing) and the HDD are from the 10.6.8 MBP 06 OG 15-inch Core Duo I got months ago.

I'm going to use SuperDuper! to copy the 10.4.11 across to the Macbook Pro from the original drive after I partition it.

In other news: I still need to figure out and fix up the Santa Rosa MBP and make it run again. It might need a logic board replacement. It's doable, but I will have to be so careful doing it and in the mood. I'm not spending a lot of money replacing just the chip when a working logic board containing the working chips can work too I don't mind doing it if I have to.

 

[mortlocli]

I first saw multi-screen activity achieved with an IBM PC using a dual display set-up during the mid 80s on UK TV - when - for a short time, we had scheduling dedicated to computing and IT literacy. A programmer demonstrated his animated graphics routine which made a bird fly in colour from left to right from one monitor to the other.

If I track down the footage, I'll share it for the historical value.



From my experience, even in possession of Macs, they probably still wouldn't have been able to fathom how to make it work. The IT support dept. at a highly reputed STEM university were unable to help me with configuring their email system to work with Mail and Snow Leopard on my A1181. Eventually, I devised a solution and subsequently sent the instructions to them so that they'd know what to do if they were contacted by anyone else in my situation.

Wasn't impressed at all. They were being paid to help me and I had to help them.

Yes..encountered a similar wall at our campus as well but in 1992 our dept (landscape architecture) needed graphics so had macs. I think IT just didn't want to learn another OS.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I think IT just didn't want to learn another OS.

Or just do anything additional.

As someone said to me about their own work responsibilities, "The less I have to do, the better."

 

[mortlocli]

Or just do anything additional.

As someone said to me about their own work responsibilities, "The less I have to do, the better."

Well after 17 years at uni (and I still didn't get a degree) going from teaching in cad labs (Autocad or Vectorworks)then straight into GIS labs, then a break in the studios to fix student issues..I don't blame them for not wanting to learn more 'stuff'. Ones brain just gets fried..or feels like it.

Best to work with folks with a passion, (if you can) than those who work cos they have to.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Well after 17 years at uni (and I still didn't get a degree) going from teaching in cad labs (Autocad or Vectorworks)then straight into GIS labs, then a break in the studios to fix student issues..I don't blame them for not wanting to learn more 'stuff'. Ones brain just gets fried..or feels like it.

Best to work with folks with a passion, (if you can) than those who work cos they have to.

17 years at university and you didn't attain a degree? I'm really curious as to what happened.

If you don't want to disclose it within the forum (or would prefer to tell me privately) then no worries.

 

[mortlocli]

17 years at university and you didn't attain a degree? I'm really curious as to what happened.

If you don't want to disclose it within the forum (or would prefer to tell me privately) then no worries.

I was there as a tech... ie in a working capacity ..not a learning capacity...but I did learn heaps...perhaps more about people under stress, more than anything.?

(They did want me to do a GIS degree in my last year..but I was very much burnt out by then. It was meant to be the most stressful course on the campus, with computing the second most stressful.)

Teaching in computing labs wasn't on my job description, but they have one at the end of the list which basically means 'you'll do wot ever we tell you to do.'
The teaching part was the best part of the job..think thats why I stayed there so long instead of drifting from job to job like I usually do.

..actually it was a great job...no two days the same.
Dunno how people work in factories, doing repetitive work much like a machine.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I was there as a tech... ie in a working capacity ..not a learning capacity...but I did learn heaps...perhaps more about people under stress, more than anything.?

(They did want me to do a GIS degree in my last year..but I was very much burnt out by then. It was meant to be the most stressful course on the campus, with computing the second most stressful.)

Teaching in computing labs wasn't on my job description, but they have one at the end of the list which basically means 'you'll do wot ever we tell you to do.'
The teaching part was the best part of the job..think thats why I stayed there so long instead of drifting from job to job like I usually do.

..actually it was a great job...no two days the same.

I understand now. It's a shame that the teaching side never developed into a fully fledged lecturing position. On the bright side at least you had an opportunity to do something that you enjoyed.

Which brings me to...

Dunno how people work in factories, doing repetitive work much like a machine.

When you're in a situation where you're not qualified to do anything else and the prospect is either that or starvation, it's really not a hard choice. As I've observed (and read in sociological material) people develop coping strategies to help themselves make the best of their predicament - joviality with their work colleagues, focusing on the eventuality of recreation during their time off and rewards such as foreign vacations etc.

Also, the repetitive nature of schooling in many countries provides psychological preparation for this environment.

 

[mortlocli]

I understand now. It's a shame that the teaching side never developed into a fully fledged lecturing position. On the bright side at least you had an opportunity to do something that you enjoyed.

Which brings me to...



When you're in a situation where you're not qualified to do anything else and the prospect is either that or starvation, it's really not a hard choice. As I've observed (and read in sociological material) people develop coping strategies to help themselves make the best of their predicament - joviality with their work colleagues, focusing on the eventuality of recreation during their time off and rewards such as foreign vacations etc.

Also, the repetitive nature of schooling in many countries provides psychological preparation for this environment.

Oh I considered myself better off than lecturers.
why ?
NO marking!!

..loved popping my head in their office and asking, "Have you finished your marking?"
The looks Id get..lol!!!

 

[TheShortTimer]

Oh I considered myself better off than lecturers.
why ?
NO marking!!

..loved popping my head in their office and asking, "Have you finished your marking?"
The looks Id get..lol!!!

The dark side of lecturing has far worse pitfalls than marking. During the tail end of my BA, I saw scores of lecturers and entire faculties culled by bean counters in order to make way for courses that would guarantee a career in the financial world. Other degrees were treated as superfluous to requirements. That was dispiriting to witness.

In more recent years, I ran into my doctoral supervisor at random in a subway train carriage and asked if he was returning home from the campus and with a deflated expression and a heavy sigh, he responded in the affirmative. I later witnessed an exchange between him and his colleagues and understood why he'd reacted that way.

 

[mortlocli]

The dark side of lecturing has far worse pitfalls than marking. During the tail end of my BA, I saw scores of lecturers and entire faculties culled by bean counters in order to make way for courses that would guarantee a career in the financial world. Other degrees were treated as superfluous to requirements. That was dispiriting to witness.

In more recent years, I ran into my doctoral supervisor at random in a subway train carriage and asked if he was returning home from the campus and with a deflated expression and a heavy sigh, he responded in the affirmative. I later witnessed an exchange between him and his colleagues and understood why he'd reacted that way.

yep..well aware of that... the focus being 'bums on seats', increased student numbers but no increasing of resources. I consider 'human resources' depts as the gestapo of the campus. The very name is an insult...putting humans on the same level as coal, timber, etc as a resource to be exploited.

Wots even worse is the dumbing down of education. A mate of mine (an associate prof) can give you a lecture on that...not just the local scene but the international standards...done with focus on ticking boxes - not real scrutiny of a students ability...as in our major design presentations in front of a panel of lecturers and industry professionals.

Has a degree become merely a 'meal ticket'?