[geek]nerd[/geek]

[Rusty]

Help. Is there something I can download, or some nifty trick, to get old (DOS-based) games to work with XP? I downloaded the demo of Realms of the Haunting recently (brilliant game, from what I can remember of it), but it won't run, and I need to reminisce properly. Also, if anyone can do me a favour and search for a full version of the game (all 4 cds) on whatever you use, I would be grateful if you could tell me if you find it. I'm having no luck myself, being cack at this sort of thing.

 

[rahvin]

try a program called abandon loader, which lets you tinker with the settings that usually prevent an old game to work on xp, but limits the effects of the changes to the chosen application. and read the guide to have old games working on xp that you can find on www.the-underdogs.org.

 

[Salamurhaaja]

For DOS on XP, try the rather good DOSBox

As for the full game, try the eMule/ShareConnector combo.

 

[Child of Time]

An old game on four CDs? hehe, the first five (5) games we got to our first computer were on three (3) 1.4 mb floppy disks.

 

[Rusty]

Well, old being 1997 in this case. The game itself is Doom-esque, FPS (though there's much more adventuring and puzzle-solving than Doom) with dodgy and blocky graphics. Most of the 4 CDs is the video scenes, which accompany the fantastic plotline.

I've come to the conclusion that the demo plain doesn't work, since VDMSound, Abandon Loader, and DOSBox all won't let it run. I'll probably end up seeing if I can buy the game somewhere if I ever get accepted for a job (ha), since I can't find it for download anywhere either.

 

[Salamurhaaja]

Even more stupidity

The owner and webmaster of MP3s4free.net, Stephen Cooper, faces a lawsuit of
AU$500m ($364m) from the world's record companies. The site, which the
ex-policeman ran since 1998 until he was raided in October 2003, provided links to
MP3 files hosted on various servers around the Internet.

I highlighted the important word here.

Hmmm, Google offers links to _ANY_ and _ALL_ pirate sites, sue them, they are
wankers in any case.

This guy was only having links on his sites, I'm sure the next step they do is the
6 degrees of ... type of sueing where they will sue someone who is linking to a
site that is linking to a site that is linking to a site that is linking to a pirate site
or some shit. Watch out, YOUR site could be next, as the whole internet is pretty
much connected.

 

[Strider]

I've been using firefox for the last month now and I am quite satisfied. I like the plugin structure, and the multiple tabs thingie is SOOOOO cute !!!
Plus, I seem to recall it's open source, which is always a good thing per se
I'm using eudora for the mail (anything to get away from the filthy Microsoft's hands), but what can you tell me about Thunderbird?

 

[Salamurhaaja]

@Strider
you should definetly check out Thunderbird, it's from the same people as
Firefox, both have Mozilla in front of their names actually, it's a part of
the Mozilla Suite, which also includes a calendar that is still very heavily
under development and yes, they are all open source too.

Oh and Thunderbird has it's own extensions and themes as well.

Basicly if you take Mozilla 1.7.3 and rip out extra crap and then split it
in 2, you will have Thunderbird and Firefox.

oh and stay away from Firefox 1.0PR! Huge problems with extensions
and what-not at the moment. I should go back to 0.9.3, but I've been
lazy. I sure hope the 1.0 Final will be better than what the PR would
suggest and what is the reason of adding new things when you still have
open bugs, god damnit. It's not all roses

 

[Strider]

@Strider
you should definetly check out Thunderbird, it's from the same people as
Firefox, both have Mozilla in front of their names actually, it's a part of
the Mozilla Suite, which also includes a calendar that is still very heavily
under development and yes, they are all open source too.

Oh and Thunderbird has it's own extensions and themes as well.

thanks for the advice.
just downloaded and installed Thunderbird... I am happy with Eudora, so I'll try a couple of days TB and then I'll decide...

 

[Lost To Apathy]

Hello. I do not expect to get any help here, but I will ask anyway. I installed Fedora Core 3 a while ago, and it wont work with my sata disk, so, i can't access 200gb of music and movies, which sucks. does anyone know how to fix it? I've already compiled ntfs support for x86_64. It's an asus a8v, amd64, via-kt800pro or something, seagate sata drives. I could get better help off some irc channel maybe, but don't feel like it.

 

[Salamurhaaja]

Check the FC forum, either the official or the one on linuxquestions.org,
I remember seeing that issue talked about there, can't really help on that
one tho, since I have it on my laptop.

 

[Lost To Apathy]

Check the FC forum, either the official or the one on linuxquestions.org,
I remember seeing that issue talked about there, can't really help on that
one tho, since I have it on my laptop.

well, i have looked at fedorafaq and some forum, didn't see any topic for it, but i'll keep looking. It shouldn't be a problem, but the sata drivers are loaded, they just don't show up:

sata_via(0000:00:0f.0): routed to hard irq line 10
ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0000 ctl 0xC802 bmdma 0xB800 irq 177
ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xC400 ctl 0xC002 bmdma 0xB808 irq 177
ata1 is slow to respond, please be patient
ata1 failed to respond (30 secs)
scsi0 : sata_via
ata2: no device found (phy stat 00000000)

so, no devices (hdX, sdX) to mount. thanks anyway.

EDIT: Ok, easy solution to this problem: Enable via sata bootrom, it seems linux needs it. XP can do without, and it takes an extra 10 seconds, so i had it disabled. It recognized the disk and is mounted now. I feel stupid for asking, but oh well.

 

[rahvin]

Hello. I do not expect to get any help here,

wow. that's what i call a charming captatio benevolentiae.

 

[Lost To Apathy]

hey I wasnt trying to be crude, just realistic. I think there are only 3 people here who would know what to do, Salami, Arch and that german guy So, I had low expectations.

FC3 is working really well, its got firefox, gaim, xmms(playing mp3 with a little effort ) and all of the hardware is supported. there weren't many choices for a well-working distribution on amd64 as of yet, maybe suse but it's not free and a hassle to install via ftp. 7/10

 

[Salamurhaaja]

Yeah, if you have new HW you have to go with one of the big ones,
FC, Suse, Mandrake and maybe Gentoo and Slackware.

To be honest I haven't even noticed FC3 was out, I guess I have to
check it out too, FC2 worked perfect on my laptop and thanks to Yum
and Apt it's very easy to keep updated too.

 

[Arch]

 

[Lost To Apathy]

 

[Arch]

Here's the story behind it:
http://thousandrobots.com/blog/archives/2004/11/jeopardy_colleg.php

 

[Miolo]

once more i need a geek advice.

i'm getting a new pc, so the question is fairly straightforward: if you were to buy a new computer today, what would you get?

 

[Lost To Apathy]

@Miolo: interesting question, there are maybe two or three options:

CPU:

1. You play games, so you need a gaming computer as well: Either you get a amd64 based computer, they're pretty much the fastest computer you can get right now without being ruined. Socket 939 is a little more pricey, but is the best alternative in the long run.

2. Or, if your standards are a little less, the fastest athlon-xp processor might serve you.

3. You're an intel fanboy, so you buy one of these.

Mainboard: Check the computer-stores online for what they have, if you don't have a clue. Read tomshardware.com for the info on the latest products. Research a few mainboards, such as asus, abit, msi, and a handful others. Read reviews on overclocking sites, then decide which one you want.

memory, just get the fastest most affordable and reliable you can. atleast 512mb, preferrably 1gb or more. samsung is industry standard.

video, hmm, these are expensive, don't buy the absolute latest, or you will be sorry later, take a few notches down and decide amongst ATI or Nvidia models.

disk-drives, get two of either maxtor or seagate ide or sata drives, in the ~200gb range, they are not that expensive, and pretty fast.

dvd+rw, cdrw etc: there are affordable dvd burners and such, just read reviews here again if you're not sure. lite-on is one such brand.

Monitor: just decide between tft and regular, 19" inch or what you need, research again.

Case: this is a matter of personal taste, chieftec or antec have good cases to work with, but there are lots of others out there