Tech question thread

[Planish]

Now im wondering if only macs are capable of dual boots at the moment or can a pc dual boot too?  Not that i need a dual boot computer right now, but i find pcs to be better for cheaper.

A guy with the cleaning contract at my workplace has successfully booted OS X on a vanilla PC he had sitting around, using some hacked installer DVD that had extra patches or something. His purpose was just to try it out for a while, and he intends to get a "real" Mac if he likes it.

Have a look around: http://www.google.com/search?q=hackintosh
I'm not sure if these are dual-boot systems, or merely Windows machines that were wiped and had Mac OS installed exclusively.

I imagine you would not get any upgrades from Apple, which occur at least once a month for one application or another, so you would be sorta "frozen in time" unless you got a newer Hackintosh installer. I have no idea really. "I am but an egg."

[Listener]

Can anyone walk me through writing a WGET that GETs an RSS file from pipes.yahoo.com and PUTs that file on our webserver?  I downloaded WGET but it's WAY beyond me.

If you can help me write it as a webserver script in VB.Net or Javascript that would be fine too.  PERL, PHP, Rails, and Java don't work on our server.

Thank you.

[errant371]

yaaah, if i end up in computer animation im most likely going to get a dual boot comp.  I love windows but for animation its all mac from what i hear

Well, not all people use Macs for CGI, but there is a strong majority that do.  Macs are (if you ask me) the best machine for computer animation, video and audio recording and editing, and pretty much anything to do with graphic design and desktop publishing.  You can do these things on a PC running Windows, but why would you want to?  If all you do is play games and calculate spreadsheets, PC's are the way to go (that is why I dual boot, for the games), this is why PC continue to dominate the computer market.

exactly.  Now im wondering if only macs are capable of dual boots at the moment or can a pc dual boot too?  Not that i need a dual boot computer right now, but i find pcs to be better for cheaper.

You can, in fact, build a PC that will dual boot OS X and your favourite flavour of Windows, but it is not very easy and in the end violates Apple's EULA on OS X (which states that you cannot run OS X on non-Apple hardware).  Last month's MacUser ran an article on just this topic.  As it turned out the build the author did was just a little slower than a comparable Mac, but concluded it just wasn't worth the time or effort or even money to do so.

[errant371]

yaaah, if i end up in computer animation im most likely going to get a dual boot comp.  I love windows but for animation its all mac from what i hear

Well, not all people use Macs for CGI, but there is a strong majority that do.  Macs are (if you ask me) the best machine for computer animation, video and audio recording and editing, and pretty much anything to do with graphic design and desktop publishing.  You can do these things on a PC running Windows, but why would you want to? 

Because recording and editing .WAV files using Nero Wave Edit on my PC is cheaper and easier than buying a second computer.  I don't do animation or video or desktop publishing, so it doesn't make sense to buy a Mac in addition to my PC.

Just saying ... you did ask.

Well, if you bought a Mac you wouldn't need a PC, now would you?

 

[stePH]

yaaah, if i end up in computer animation im most likely going to get a dual boot comp.  I love windows but for animation its all mac from what i hear

Well, not all people use Macs for CGI, but there is a strong majority that do.  Macs are (if you ask me) the best machine for computer animation, video and audio recording and editing, and pretty much anything to do with graphic design and desktop publishing.  You can do these things on a PC running Windows, but why would you want to? 

Because recording and editing .WAV files using Nero Wave Edit on my PC is cheaper and easier than buying a second computer.  I don't do animation or video or desktop publishing, so it doesn't make sense to buy a Mac in addition to my PC.

Just saying ... you did ask.

Well, if you bought a Mac you wouldn't need a PC, now would you?

 

I'd need it to run my games.

[Russell Nash]

yaaah, if i end up in computer animation im most likely going to get a dual boot comp.  I love windows but for animation its all mac from what i hear

Well, not all people use Macs for CGI, but there is a strong majority that do.  Macs are (if you ask me) the best machine for computer animation, video and audio recording and editing, and pretty much anything to do with graphic design and desktop publishing.  You can do these things on a PC running Windows, but why would you want to? 

Because recording and editing .WAV files using Nero Wave Edit on my PC is cheaper and easier than buying a second computer.  I don't do animation or video or desktop publishing, so it doesn't make sense to buy a Mac in addition to my PC.

Just saying ... you did ask.

Well, if you bought a Mac you wouldn't need a PC, now would you?

 

I'd need it to run my games.

When you want to play a game, you just boot the Mac in Windows.

[errant371]

yaaah, if i end up in computer animation im most likely going to get a dual boot comp.  I love windows but for animation its all mac from what i hear

Well, not all people use Macs for CGI, but there is a strong majority that do.  Macs are (if you ask me) the best machine for computer animation, video and audio recording and editing, and pretty much anything to do with graphic design and desktop publishing.  You can do these things on a PC running Windows, but why would you want to? 

Because recording and editing .WAV files using Nero Wave Edit on my PC is cheaper and easier than buying a second computer.  I don't do animation or video or desktop publishing, so it doesn't make sense to buy a Mac in addition to my PC.

Just saying ... you did ask.

Well, if you bought a Mac you wouldn't need a PC, now would you?

 

I'd need it to run my games.

Hence the dual boot.    Although with the popularity of the Mac as a home computer platform, I would expect that more and more games will be either ported to the Mac or written specifically to take advantage of Open GL.  Now if only I could get a Mac port of BioShock, life would be good (oh, and the long long delayed port of COD:4).

[stePH]

When you want to play a game, you just boot the Mac in Windows.

And take a performance hit, as I understand the situation.

[errant371]

When you want to play a game, you just boot the Mac in Windows.

And take a performance hit, as I understand the situation.

Not that I have ever seen.  So long as your hardware is up to running what ever game you have, it should be fine.  When you boot to Windows, you are booting to Windows, not running an emulator or simulated Windows OS.  You are actually running Windows just like you would on a PC.  If your hardware is not up to snuff, well that is a different story.  I have had no problems whatsoever running high end games like BioShock, Call of Duty 4, etc.  Granted, I don't have a super awesome self built gaming rig, but my year old iMac does just fine with anything I can through at it on the Windows side.  In fact, if the preformance tests I ran on it last year are to be believed, my Mac actually runs XP faster than a comparable PC.

[Bdoomed]

pcs are cheaper for better!
you want to game? get a PC.  dual booting on a mac aint the same, you dont have the raw power you can get with a good PC

just did a lil comparison.  For me to get something remotely like my laptop now, id have to pay $3000, and it doesnt include half the shit i have on my laptop, nor could i get it on there.  my laptop was $1700.  I wonder which one I should get. (again, unless I am definitely animating hardcore, and id rather find a way to boot osx from a pc)

[stePH]

pcs are cheaper for better!
you want to game? get a PC.  dual booting on a mac aint the same, you dont have the raw power you can get with a good PC

just did a lil comparison.  For me to get something remotely like my laptop now, id have to pay $3000, and it doesnt include half the shit i have on my laptop, nor could i get it on there.  my laptop was $1700.  I wonder which one I should get. (again, unless I am definitely animating hardcore, and id rather find a way to boot osx from a pc)

Yeah, I'm hardly in the market to even upgrade the computer I have now (for a reference point, it has an AGP video card; I couldn't use a PCI-E video card even if I had one) much less buy a new one.  And the most multimedia I get into is some rudimentary audio editing, and DVD encoding and mastering.

[Russell Nash]

NEW QUESTION:

I have a 5th Gen. iPod.  I want to be able to use it to record sounds when I'm out and about.  Does anybody know how I can do that without modifying the iPod.  I know I can do it if I run it on Linux, but I like the OS it uses.

Any help or do I need to get an iRiver?

[Bdoomed]

you can use the ipod to record stuff? since when?
and if you wanna do that just buy a recorder, cant be too expensive. (yes carrying one thing is easier than 2 buuut theres a limit)

[wintermute]

NEW QUESTION:

I have a 5th Gen. iPod.  I want to be able to use it to record sounds when I'm out and about.  Does anybody know how I can do that without modifying the iPod.  I know I can do it if I run it on Linux, but I like the OS it uses.

Any help or do I need to get an iRiver?

If buying something like this doesn't count as "modifying the iPod" then you can do it, otherwise, no.

And running iPodLinux (I assume that's what you mean by "if I run it on Linux") or RockBox on it isn't going to magically make it sprout a microphone, so you'll still need to buy the hardware.

[Russell Nash]

NEW QUESTION:

I have a 5th Gen. iPod.  I want to be able to use it to record sounds when I'm out and about.  Does anybody know how I can do that without modifying the iPod.  I know I can do it if I run it on Linux, but I like the OS it uses.

Any help or do I need to get an iRiver?

If buying something like this doesn't count as "modifying the iPod" then you can do it, otherwise, no.

And running iPodLinux (I assume that's what you mean by "if I run it on Linux") or RockBox on it isn't going to magically make it sprout a microphone, so you'll still need to buy the hardware.

Ding!  We have a winner.  That's exactly what I wanted, just something that I can plug into the bottom.

[Bdoomed]

wow... im impressed.

[Planish]

NEW QUESTION:

I have a 5th Gen. iPod.  I want to be able to use it to record sounds when I'm out and about.  Does anybody know how I can do that without modifying the iPod.  I know I can do it if I run it on Linux, but I like the OS it uses.

Any help or do I need to get an iRiver?

If buying something like this doesn't count as "modifying the iPod" then you can do it, otherwise, no.

I'm willing to bet that it merely uses the iPod as add-on storage, assuming that you've "enabled disk use" on the iPod. If so, then you would not be able to listen to the recording (with just the iPod alone) until you've added it to your iTunes Library and synced it back onto the iPod as part of a playlist.

Still, if you've got a lot of storage on the iPod to play with, it's probably not a bad idea.

[wherethewild]

So I'm going to ask you guys.

I have no idea what happened. It froze, crashed and since then I get no background graphics. Buttons, boxes etc are there but I can't see them. Images (like in a google image search) appear, but none of the page graphics. It's very zen and all, but mightily hard to work with. I've removed all addons, reinstalled the latest version etc etc but I still just get plain text.

I'm sure it's something simple but buggered if I know what. Help?!!

btw: I've asked on the firefox forums but no one has answered me there. I'm hoping for a bit more love from this group

[Windup]

So I'm going to ask you guys.

I have no idea what happened. It froze, crashed and since then I get no background graphics. Buttons, boxes etc are there but I can't see them. Images (like in a google image search) appear, but none of the page graphics. It's very zen and all, but mightily hard to work with. I've removed all addons, reinstalled the latest version etc etc but I still just get plain text.

I'm sure it's something simple but buggered if I know what. Help?!!

btw: I've asked on the firefox forums but no one has answered me there. I'm hoping for a bit more love from this group

While not a current Firefox user (a very important website decided that it didn't like it, so I went back to IE) I'd suggest looking in the option settings in two areas -- one having to do with performance, and perhaps another having to do with images.  In the performance area, either look for something related to images, or possibly something misleadingly generic like "low bandwidth setting" or some such.  In the images area, look for something obvious like, "Display background images." 

Another option is to hit a "Reset to defaults" button and see if that solves the problem.  Many programs will hang on to registry settings or configuration files even if the program is removed.  This is sometimes desireable, but I think it originated as a practical joke played on support desks by development teams.  (Most error messages are created with the same end in mind.)

I realize this is vague, but I see you haven't gotten an answer in the six hours plus you've had the question posted; I hope this helps.

[Bdoomed]

try uninstalling it, then go to program files and make sure the firefox folder is gone (if not, delete it), then restart your computer, then redownload it and reinstall.

[wherethewild]

Thanks Bdoomed! That was it. I hadn't manually deleted the folder previously. Ahhh, internet that's what you really look like!

[Bdoomed]

happy to help

[MacArthurBug]

O great and mighty N_sh,

I can no longer upload pictures, I've tried multiple formats (jpg, gif etc) multiple sizes! Whatever am I doing wrong? Should I go find my photobucket account (If I remember where I put it) and use that? And if so... how- I seem to have forgotten. Please help?

[Russell Nash]

Heradel was always our expert on directly uploaded images into a post, so I'll let him handle that part.  Linking from an outside account is simply using the IMG coding and is still working for me. (test image:)  I just checked and I'm not having any problem putting up an avatar.  If Heradel says the direct uploading is working fine, you're going to need to give us info about your computer and OS and stuff.  Windows problems are quickly handled by Bdoomed.  Mac problems haven't happened yet, so we don't know what to do about that, but we can make some guesses.

[Bdoomed]

you need to use an outside image hosting site and use [img] tags with the hyperlink to that image, so yes find your photobucket account
or am i misinterpreting your problem?