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Reasons to hate Windows

I run a legal copy of Windows XP and still use service pack 1. I like service pack 2 and put it on all new machines but this machine is a little too critical to my life to risk going to through the nightmares I heard that can happen when installing service pack 2. Granted, nothing bad should happen, however, if it can go bad with me it probably will at the absolute worst moment.

What’s this got to do with hating Windows? Today I accepted an update from Microsoft and since then every two hours I’ve had a window popup to notify me that on Oct 10, 2006 support for service pack 1 will end. Does this mean that every two hours between now and October 10th I’m going to have to deal with this message?! Not a smart way to do business. If I don’t want to secure my machine and if I want to deal with not being supported I should have that option without the nuisance!

A linux development environment sounds awfully nice right now.

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Michael Berg…man of principle!

Michael Berg sums it up.

BERG: Well, you know, I’m not saying Saddam Hussein was a good man, but he’s no worse than George Bush. Saddam Hussein didn’t pull the trigger, didn’t commit the rapes. Neither did George Bush. But both men are responsible for them under their reigns of terror.

I don’t buy that. Iraq did not have al Qaeda in it. Al Qaeda supposedly killed my son.

Under Saddam Hussein, no al Qaeda. Under George Bush, al Qaeda.

Under Saddam Hussein, relative stability. Under George Bush, instability.

Under Saddam Hussein, about 30,000 deaths a year. Under George Bush, about 60,000 deaths a year. I don’t get it. Why is it better to have George Bush the king of Iraq rather than Saddam Hussein?

[Source]

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The Realtek 8201CL does not require a driver!

If you are using a motherboard with a built-in network adapter (like the Realtek 8201CL found on the MSI PM8M-V which is a Via P4M800) you don’t need to be looking for a driver for the 8201CL. Instead you need to look for the driver for the MAC chip embedded in the chipset. Ie. See your motherboard manufacturer specs and download area.


The Ethernet hardware consists of two parts: a PHY chip, and a MAC chip. It’s the MAC chip that requires the drivers. RTL8201x is a PHY only chip which does NOT need any driver at all. If you have RTL8201x in your computer system, there must be another MAC chip in the system too. Most likely, the MAC chip is embedded in the chipset. Please contact the board or computer provider to find out which MAC chip is in your system and how to get the drivers for it.

In my case the drivers needed to be for Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC.

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Let’s track a typical day

continuing…

10am-2pm: Some blogging and time wasting in here. A bunch of time was spent trying to get the drivers for the Windows 2000 professional client machine working. The networking driver and vga driver are still not working. Had some lunch. Visited briefly with the kids to straight and focus them on making dominoe races.

Need to get focused again…

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Two party system dying?

Oh yes. We hear it daily. Left! Right! No left! Way right! The words lip off people’s tongues like insults, "Democrat!" and repulsions, "Republican!" Some people do not totally agree with either party but choose one as the lessor evil. Will anything break the two party system? The Pirate Party thinks they will break the two party system! (or maybe it will be Neoroots.)

America’s two political parties may not realise it yet, but in their current form they are nearing obsolescence. As technological advancements continue to bring more and better tools for communication, citizens are increasingly empowered to come together in common purpose and reject the current political system that seems designed by the two parties to keep us apart.

[Source] (see also) (and democracy isn’t dying, democrats are)

Note: To read The Pirate Party, you will have to hold down your mouse and highlight the white box.

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Sync your browser settings

Do you leap between computers? A bookmark in Firefox one day at work and a bookmark the next day on the wife’s computer? Remember being at a website but don’t know which computer you were using? Google introduces another tool. Google’s Browser Sync ends your frustrations by keeping all browser information between multiple computers the same. It even claims to remember your open tabs!

Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.

Give into Google. Resistence is futile!