The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

The red shirt in the back - haha - the one that I thought might be you, but then decided it wasn't you - IS YOU! The only other picture I have seen of you, Sam, was a bit ago - maybe 5 years ago - at one of those LAN events with your first 30" dell.

My, you've got a fairly long crop of hair I would say - you mean to say that your employer has a nice relaxed dress policy? (They wouldn't let me have hair that length when I was at IBM.)



Hey, to change gears, here is an interesting trailer I came across today about Wolfenstein, The New Order, mentioning also that the game got an R18 rating - but I have read game reviews from 13 and 14 year olds, who admitted that they were surprised they were able to get the game - maybe they purchased before the rating came out.

Anyway, the trailer is really good, and reminds me of the great personalities that made the game enjoyable.

http://www.ausgamers.com/news/read/...he-new-order-gets-a-trailer-and-an-r18-rating


Back to Arma3:

Wow, I knew you'd be knowledgeable - I couldn't for the life of me even remember the correct word for recoil - that's why I kept saying "lift."

That was brilliant! Thanks!!

Now I can clearly see that there are many factors that could make the MX 6.5 so much more effective on a two-round burst.

Last night I was again on Katana, because I discovered that my 4 MX clips were of average 6 rounds each - they were discards. Also the gun I had been issued in this scenario had a silencer - early in the mission we were sort of in stealth mode - and so I didn't really like the way the gun sounded - it sounded weak, like the Katana.

But at least , the Katana off an enemy corpse had almost 200 rounds. I had the gun on full auto because this was going to be a close-in assault.

Yes, the burst fire took the soldier down - and I was on crouch because of all the high weeds, so the gun was not stable - I had to wait until the barrel swung back across his body - he was about 30 yards out and hadn't seen me yet. It was actually a full 5-6 rounds - I probably held the trigger for nearly a half-second. There was very little recoil - but as I say, it sounded weak. It took him down, but certainly not with the compelling authority, and authoritative SOUND, of the two-round fire from the non-silenced MX 6.5 Nato rifle.

In fact, now that begs another question. I have found that the Zephyr, the enemy light machine gun, with 150-round belt, is quite strong. In single-shot mode, it is a one-shot kill. I usually use it in burst, because you may miss with one round, but the burst pattern will usually include one bullet that gets the guy. Plus the burst includes a tracer round, and I can use that sometimes to adjust the fire - fire a little lower - or a little higher, until I get him. (However I found yesterday, that at great distance, 300+ yards, Zephyr in single shot is better.)

I had posted here, in regard to that Scenario called Contact Person, and my Zephyr machine gun challenge in the woods, that I thought the rounds must be around 10mm - but I was wrong - they are only 7.2mm, like some of the rifles. Larger than the 6.5mm of the Katana or of the standard-issue MX 6.5 for Nato - but just a bit larger.

So again - why is the machine gun so fierce? I guess I would go back to your answer above - longer barrel, heavier barrel, that type of thing. You said bullet velocity is increased with a longer barrel - more time in the barrel building up speed before hitting the open atmosphere I suppose - and at the same time building up bullet spin I guess for more stable flight path.

Would that be correct?

Thanks for clueing us in on the exact specs that helped you get your tv to work as well as your monitor. I am not surprised due to all your modding experience, that you were able to achieve those results by tinkering with the settings.

By the way, that reminds me - when I was talking about creating Scenarios for Arma3 - I don't think I was suggesting anything that would necessitate you upgrading your cpu.

Creating Arma3 missions might not be your cup of tea, as the mods you normally specialize in improve the graphic quality of the games. But I just had the notion, that since you do like to spend some time, up to hundreds of hours on games you enjoy - that if you were to investigate it a bit, you might end up getting hooked on creating adventures for Arma3, like these Steam workshop scenarios I am playing.

Here is one article about these missions:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/15/the-15-best-arma-3-player-created-solo-missions/

That's Contact Person on top (the one with the machine gun in the woods) and Bad Holiday below it.



I opened steam one day, and they referenced this article, and that was when, for the first time, I became aware of these and downloaded them from the Steam Workshop - each mod is only about 10MB in size. I also opened the Editor myself one day, and fooled around with it for about an hour.

Bad holiday was amusing, and became more interesting when I figured out how to get two of the 4 of us, to drive the second MRAP, with myself and the 4th guy in the lead vehicle. It was interesting to slowly drive through the enemy base, hearing the fire just above me from my gunner, and hearing the fire behind me from the other vehicle. Prior to that I had learned how to properly outfit each guy, from dead enemy corpses. That became a bit easier when I learned what the option "switch to unit 2" means - it means quite literally become the guy you are trying to get to re-arm, acquire night goggles, fatigues, etc. That makes it easier!

In fact, during a mission last night, just before climbing the hill where I killed that one soldier with the Katana in full auto, which I talked about above - we had to get rid of an MRAP (mine resistant, ambush protected vehicle) and I had on my team a guy with the PCL, the launcher from the Combined Arms mission with the 6 screenshots from yesterday.

Remember that I said that, from Boot Camp which I finally played, I thought that perhaps the launcher had an auto-lock feature?

Well, I had the squad set to "Hold Fire" because I was trying to sneak up the hill to the base. My AT guy spotted the enemy car, "Contact MRAP 500 yards, in my sights." I looked on the map and I saw the red car, but when I switched off the map, I couldn't see it even with my binoculars.

So I got the bright idea of hitting F5 - he was player 5 - and choosing "become player 5." Then I was standing there as that player, and I switched to the launcher. Interestingly enough, I still couldn't see the car. I checked the map again, and looked closer down the same road, not on the road that veered off to the left. According to the map he would be just a bit after the junction with the other road. Finally I saw the damn thing behind some trees - you could see just barely see the outline, but under the high magnification of the PCL launcher, you could see the tell-tale red tail lights.

"Ah hah - clever bastard - hiding behind that tree."

Then, as in boot camp, I hit T.

Whoa!

Sure enough, the wonderful little diamond appeared in the center of the MRAP behind-the-tree outline, and the shrill little lock sound came on. I pulled the trigger.

BAM!!! Big fireball!!

MRAP is neutralized! Glad we saw him - there was no way we could have sneaked up that hill with him ready to target us.

So yes, the launcher that I used to kill that enemy amphibious vehicle, over and over, at least 200 times, has an auto-lock feature.

I'll be doggoned!
Rich

 

I got upgrades!
http://forums.afterdawn.com/threads...read-4th-edition.728768/page-376#post-5016933

 

Hey Jeff, I like that picture of your room:




Well, your tv is about where my monitor is - except your tv is bigger. I don't have a chair - I have the built-in seating in the trailer, which puts me very close to the keyboard - I have to wiggle in from the side to get into my seat - that's why I was mentioning my nose is about 18" or less from the center of the monitor. But you can put your chair anywhere, so you could be as close as I am if you wanted, or you could slide back some.

Your computer case looks great too. Of the 3 front fans on mine, I did add a lighted fan in the middle which I have set to solid blue - but I like your middle red light. That is the HAF case, right?

I read above about your Yamaha - NICE!

I game with Medusa 5.1 headphones, which still work pretty well after a bit of soldering a couple years ago, and I see you have a set of headphones hanging above you, which look pretty nice in the picture, nice and padded like my medusas.

But the sound you get from those speakers must be awesome!

Congrats!

Rich

 

Yep that's the HAF with the side grill facing the wall. Red fans in the side and bottom front. Blue fans in the top front and back. It's out enough from the wall where side intake doesn't seem to be an issue.

My other PC is stuffed into the closet. You can see the network cables hanging from there. My KVM switch and stereo receiver are in the little black stand/cabinet there.

As far as sound, Mr-Movies has been giving me some tips on that. I've gotten even better speakers since this photo was taken. Not great but pretty decent overall. Far above any set of PC speakers I've heard. My headphones are pretty decent too, but nothing like my old pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pros. None of my audio equipment is that great, but I got all 4 speakers and the receiver for a grand total of $50. It's certainly a step above the usual PC sound system. Currently sounds better for games and movies than it does for music though.

 

Not much changed round here lately - this was one I took to post on another forum - same gear, same messy room - excuse the molten chocolate bar cooling off in front of the A/C unit, I didn't even notice it when I took the picture!

 

Wow, $50, Jeff, you sure know how to stretch a dollar!

So Sam, is that the killer monitor? How do you have any legroom with that giant multi-function machine underneath? I guess your HAF is also underneath to the right of the printer.

Nice green color for the room - supposed to have a calming effect! Are you sporting a goatee as well as longish hair? You probably look quite stylish in a suit working with clients on-site?

In fact, as I recall, the last photo of Jeff also pictured him in long hair and a goatee - are you guys part of a club, or worse yet, a forum?

I'm only commenting on work clothes because I just subscribed to an expired listing service in order to get myself to jump-start my re-entry into active real estate sales. I will be back to coat and tie soon.

(I need the money for the new Haswell build. Despite not over-taxing the main cpu core beyond 70%, and the gpus only about 50%, Arma 3 keeps me throttled back to about 29 fps tops. Or maybe I'll try out $100 worth of 8 gigs of high-speed memory and see if that i7 with the TRUE will clock anywhere close to 4 ghz. That's another intermediate plan.)

By the way, in thinking about the TRUE, what is this new thermal paste based on graphene - said to be several times more heat-conductive than Arctic Silver 5?
http://thermene.com/

Rich

 

It certainly is

Hah, multi-function machine. Not quite! It's a 15-year old Laserjet 4050 I bought off ebay for £40 5 years ago, toner included. To date I haven't replaced the toner in it. Actually when I sit normally at my desk because of the curved overhang my legs sit just in front of it - it's not actually in the way at all.

 

Wish I had a LaserJet. Looking into getting one at some point as I need a reliable work printer. InkJets die daily. LaserJets never truly stop working, just require more and more babying until they're 80 in computer years then you retire them, lol.

Sometimes I think my room is jumbled, then I see yours Sam

As of currently my Intel PC is stuffed in that closet to the left running with zero ventilation. Never had a heat problem doing it, lol so never cared if it got proper airflow. It's out of the way, and is just a KVM switch away from being used if I want it on my main monitor. The 2407WFP, which is usually my secondary in dual monitor mode, is on a desk further left of the closet so it can be used separately from my HDTV if somebody wants to use the Intel box. Almost ALWAYS have a friend over taking up one of my duals anyway, so currently have stopped trying to keep it on the main desk. The good ole Intel box with the 8800GTS still sees games daily. It runs the large majority of my friends' Steam collections at 1920 x 1200 without issue.

BTW Rich, I just have a mustache now. Not a bad one at that

 

To someone that typically only prints from home every few months it's a godsend. The Epson Stylus printers I had in the early days (a 640 and 670) only lasted about a year each before they were literally falling to pieces. The Lexmark P706 I had was far better but the cartridges dried up if unused for a few months so every time I wanted to print something, 20 quid for a new cartridge. That Laserjet said 'toner low' when I bought it - there wasn't even supposed to be a toner in it, yet I've done at least 1000 pages from it over 5 years and it's still printing now. The pickup from tray 1 has gone a bit dodgy on it, but I never really need to use that. I could probably repair it if I was so inclined. As it stands, it's more than living up to the reputation I knew about the 4000 series printers long before I owned one.

One step further, we have a client that print absurd quantities of stuff on fairly small printers - they have a pair of P3000 series units, and I think one of them has done several million pages. Still works!

Hey, my room's not that jumbled, just busy is all!

 

My room in the basement used to be pretty messy. When I moved upstairs the closet was placed as such that I was able to stuff my Intel box away and have a desk to access on either side. REALLY helped in cleaning my equipment up, as I'm always using two desks to facilitate using both PCs at once. When I'm by myself, I just switch back and forth on the HDTV with the KVM switch. When others are over, you just set the 2407WFP as the primary monitor on the Intel box and it's a separate workstation. Much more convenient than it sounds as the switch over takes only a few mouse clicks. The only downside is that I've been sacrificing my dual monitors on the main PC lately as my desk doesn't allow room for the HDTV and a monitor. This means the Intel box has both the 2407WFP and Asus 1080p so I've been using it for work lately

 

I had an Aten KVM switch for a while which I used for similar reasons. It wasn't particularly reliable though, and had several odd issues, so I never ended up using it for very long. As you see in the photo, for now it's just two mice, two keyboards, two monitors, one desk.

 

My KVM has dual-link DVI and everything. "Procured" while I was in high school. All I know is that it was bought and paid for legitimately from a friend

Have tried several times to ascertain its manufacturer, but the casing is devoid of markings and the stickers came off before I got it. I know it was quite expensive. Equivalent in capability(and looks very similar to) to this unit here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707176

 

Mine was a CS1782:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817802112

Dual-link DVI and 5.1 audio support sounded great in principle. In practice, the video feed came out the audio ports as well so whenever the contents of the screen changed, you (and your conversation partner too if you plugged the mic in) were deafened by electronic noise. The first one I had was RMA'ed not long after purchase as the power brick failed. Other people complained of issues with dual-link not working. I don't recall having this myself, but it was a long time ago now...

 

Looks amazing in principle, but yowch on the video coming out the audio ports. That ain't right, lol.

This one only has a single in and out for each PC, so it can't use surround at all. That's why I keep the Intel as a file box and stream to the AMD PC which is direct analog to the receiver. Headphones work fine though and it does have an X-Fi sound card with all the bells and whistles so they usually stay plugged into the KVM 24/7 unless I want to use them with the AMD.

 

I wasn't the only one to report that problem, either. It was obviously a common defect. Still, live and learn, as they say. What is it with companies that start with the letter A? (Well, non-acronym ones anyway).

 

LOL No kidding. Mine has been problem free since 2007. *knock on wood* The large majority of my hardware has been dead reliable.

 

Just got a Samsung Galaxy S3 16GB to replace my Galaxy S2 Touch 16GB. The owner has since switched carriers and it doesn't facilitate switching so it was essentially useless to him and free for the taking. The phone is maybe ~8 months old and spent that whole time in a full size Otter Box. A near-literally indestructible Phone case. He also conditioned the battery pretty well so it still holds a like-new charge no problem. It's like brand-new with not a single scratch or smudge. He even gave me the retail packaging and everything. Of course I continue to use my dumb phone as my cell phone. I have disabled the phone radio and all phone features. Gave it the root and custom ROM treatment. All seems well so far.

Not a bad little machine. 4.8" 1280 x 720 display vs 4.5" 800 x 480 on the S2 Touch with almost the same style of display so a vast improvement in sharpness and quality.

-1.5GHz Dual Core Qualcomm Krait vs 1.2GHz Dual Core ARM Cortex-A9
-2GB of RAM vs 1GB
-Nicely upgraded GPU with a die shrink and Direct X support added. Qualcomm Adreno 225 400MHz vs Adreno 220 233MHz
-Same or better battery life(~8-10 hours solid youtube and web browsing, ~12-14 normal use, work, messaging, etc)
-Same megapixel cameras but better photos

Overall not an amazing improvement, but certainly a respectable refreshing of the design. Everything on the S3 just works a little better and smoother. Image quality, multitasking with the extra RAM, and the ability of the camera are the largest improvements. It shoots excellent photos and video for a phone. It also emulates consoles a little smoother on the demanding games, which is a must for me. I have one of my Dual Shock 3 controllers hooked up with bluetooth and play classic consoles and handhelds whenever I want to. PS1 games run particularly bug free and are a perfect match for the Dual Shock 3.

One big improvement is that the added Direct X support means this phone will run some games which the S2 cannot. It still doesn't run big name engines such as Source like an Nvidia Tegra GPU can, but it means quite a bit when doing Direct X acceleration in many programs. It also can run Unreal engine games now.

I really like Samsung's incremental upgrade approach to their phone generations. Only the Galaxy S1 was an ugly duckling. Simply under-equipped and running on poorly optimized Android. The rest are great and every generation builds on the last instead of changing every single thing. Every new model is just an upgrade of the last, not a new design. The S2 is fundamentally very similar to the S5 in hardware, and the S3 is even more closely related as it shares most of the same guts, just at a lower spec, with less cores, etc.


It does have the added advantage of being a bit more common variant than my S2 was. Much easier to find the right software to get it rooted and ROM'd. There is no specific set of firmware for either phone as they are both a small carrier model with dozens of variants. Luckily, the S3 has less variations so a generic firmware did the trick. I previously had to find a pre-rooted and modded firmware for the S2 and trick the carrier-specific recovery tool into loading it. The S3 was able to be changed with easier and more traditional methods.

Always fun to check out new toys

EDIT:

I also made one of these to fit it:


Link to the article showing the rest of the photos and how it's made:
http://www.talkandroid.com/128216-p...ade-ps3-controller-samsung-galaxy-nexus-dock/

Works amazingly well. Rubber band tension keeps it pretty rigid and sturdy. Quite secure.

 

What the hell have you done, Jeff.

That mustache must be getting to you. You think you're Clark Gable.

Do you mean to tell me you can sit on a train and shoot things with that little gadget, while all the rest of the passengers look on in amazement!

Great photo.

Sam - a LaserJet 4500 - I have had a LaserJet 2100 and I thought this was a big machine - I'm on maybe my 3rd or 4th cartridge since picking it up around 2002, or maybe 2003.

So, Sam, is your giant monster 4500 a newer machine? Or older?

At the time I was using a couple of Brother cheap laser printers, which could be reloaded with new toner - but then the head would fail. The guy at the toner shop took me aside and explained how the much higher-capacity toner cartridge/new head would be more economical, than the Brother. Yes you could add some cheap toner cartridges to the Brother - but your print quality was heading downhill the whole time, and with the HP you got a brand new head each time.

I forget the exact numbers - 1000 pages per $35 toner on the brother - maybe 3 toners and your head/printer was shot - time to buy another $250 brother printer. The HP was about $500 I think, and each toner/head gave you about 3000 pages per $100 toner/head, and excellent print quality the whole time. Seeing the print quality go downhill on the Brother, and realizing the cost per page were about the same, convinced me. Truly the HP2100 is a well-built printer. That 4500 is probably just as solid, if not more so!

======================================

Gaming-wise .................

I have continued to fool around with the user community missions (scenarios) on Arma 3, but two nights ago I returned to that combined arms showcase - the one with the Rock that I finally figured out to hide behind - then run out and kill the APC vehicle - then get back behind the rock using the MX 6.5 in full auto mode - with 2-shot bursts. That was the one that I mentioned was so doggone hard, that very often I was the only guy living, until I started using the new Rock strategy!

Well guess what - my saves don't work anymore, because they upgraded the showcase, and made it a little more balanced in that the friendly ai are much more competent!

They wouldn't let me use my save, so I had to start the mission at the beginning.

And when I tried to run like crazy to get to where the friendly apc always gets blown up, so I could protect it, I found that the upgrade included the new stamina fix - meaning YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER - ABOUT 50 YARDS OF RUNNING AND YOU ARE WINDED AND GASPING LIKE A FOOL!!!! AND YOU CAN BARELY MOVE!!!!

Yes, it's better not to race - it's better to pace yourself a bit. You'll feel like Left 4 Dead with one health. You will absolutely be practically crippled and almost frozen.

So I had a little trouble keeping the friendly apc alive long enough to get extra clips from it before they blew it up.

But I saw a couple of improvements. In one case, the friendly apc was stopped by two friendlies, lying prone on the roadway. Prior the apc would have just run over them - it ran over me plenty of times, lol.

But this time I watched in amazement as it stopped, until one of the soldiers got up and moved along, and then it turned and avoided the other guy. Hahaha.

So they tried to make things slightly more intelligent and improve the showcase.

I was able to get my clips, and for the save that I kept, I was able to kill several AT guys and keep our apc alive. I created a new save point when he said "Defend against counter-attack" and I ran out to kill the apc, and there was no apc coming - unlike the several hundred times it had always come the same way at the same time.

I looked around - to my amazement it was steamrolling down the steep main hill - and then another time it magically appeared on our hill!

THEY CHANGED THINGS UP, LOL!

But now, having learned about the T for weapon lock - I tried that a few times, and it was lovely - not foolproof, but it did work several times.

Then I ran back to the rock, and inasmuch as the two-shot burst was still quite deadly, and now my friendly AI were more competent, plus the friendly apc actually took part in the battle, we no longer were decimated! YES WHAT A CHANGE!

Well, we were now winning, with guys left over, 4 times out of 5. We lost ONLY when I got my head blown off by being too aggressive at the rock. Slowly I began to realize that the guys who were prone way out there 3oo yards, WERE AIMING AT ME! So I got back behind the rock many more times after several decapitations by Katiba 6.5.

Anyway, it was so easy, I decided to change things up - I decided to ditch my all-powerful MX 6.5 and try the Katiba in full auto mode which I had never done before. You remember how I remarked that the MX 6.5 seemed so much more powerful than the Katiba - especially because I started using the two-shot burst on the MX?

Well, I may have been completely wrong about the whole thing.

I am not for sure on this - but the Katiba in full-auto mode, also seems quite deadly in two-shot burst mode. The gun sounds weak - the action feels pathetic and cardboardy compared to the crisp authoritative metallic punch sound of the MX - but I may have been wrong - the Katiba seems to take the guys down just like the MX does.

Truly, the full-auto mode, in a two-shot burst, makes a huge difference, from my prior single-shot use of the Katiba.

I am still a bit annoyed about the gun wobble that you get in full prone. But I think what they are suggesting is that, while in crouch you have one knee on the ground, similarly in full prone you have one elbow on the ground. That is more stable than crouch, but not as stable as if your gun is resting on a rock or on a patch of dirt or on a sandbag.

Yes, I know, the elbow will exhibit sway. I am not used to any sway at all in prone, but as you know, Jeff, a gun in your raised hand, with that elbow on the ground, is not like a gun where the back of your hand is actually on the ground, or the tip of the gun itself is on the ground. Of course, this is on a hill, looking down, so yes, the elbow would be on the ground.

I shouldn't expect the kind of stability I get shooting from a doorway in the Hogs Cove Scenario, aiming down the street which is level to my position - in fact I'm in a slightly raised doorway. I don't think there is any sway at all.

In fact, the machine gun variant of the MX 6.5, which not only takes a 100-round belt, but also has a set of legs in the front of the gun, should be particularly sway-less in prone with those legs. On that scenario Hogs Cove, which is my favorite, where you can customize your loadout, I am eventually going to test the sway of regular prone MX 6.5 vs machine gun variant MX 6.5.


But ........ getting back to this Showcase, Combined Arms, guess what? I no longer have any use for either Katiba 6.5mm or MX 6.5.

Why? MOST FUN OF ALL - ZEPHYR!!!

Remember the Contact Person scenario, where I'm in the woods, trying to hold out against all the enemies rushing my position? In that scenario, I learned to do some pretty nice work with that enemy Zephyr machine gun, in crosshairs mode, and sometimes in iron sights mode when I desperately needed the increased accuracy.

Well, here in Combined Arms, when I rushed down from the rock after taking out the enemy apc, to get more clips and try different guns, I found an enemy corpse with the Zephyr. Each belt carries 150 rounds, and after unleashing one or two PCL rockets to destroy the enemy apc (armored personnel carrier) my backpacks would hold up to 5 more belts from the enemy MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) jeep parked right below the rock, as we held out against the counter attack.

That gave me 900 rounds of 7.2 machine gun ammo.

I used it in cross-hairs mode - not iron sights which terribly block your vision.

I was using it long-distance, out 300 or 400 yards, and the need to be able to see far outweighed the reduced accuracy. I didn't care if the cross-hairs were sometimes a bit off from the iron sights - the tracers allowed me to pull the gun down and compensate for the recoil - and as long as my 4-5 round bursts included tracers somewhere close to where the enemy was standing, or crouching, or prone, that enemy was toast!

The prone were harder - one guy took a whole belt of about 20 bursts. And once in a while I would experience a Katiba 6.5mm decapitation - not even a wound - just suddenly I'm dead!

But I got better at hearing the ricochets around me and seeing the guys prone way out there who were hunting my head.

But in general, that Contact Person Scenario Zephyr training, has made me lord and master of the new Showcase Combined Arms, because that Zephyr machine gun absolutely rules!!!!

It almost isn't even fair!!!

Sometimes I would get wounded heading back to the THE ROCK to get into position, and I found myself saying, as I was healing in safety behind the rock, "Those guys are going to be sorry they shot me just now - wait til they say hello to my little friend."

I felt like that lunatic squad leader on Spec Ops: The Line, who told his incredulous helicopter pilot to continue to circle around the tower while he manned the side-mounted gattling gun "I want to see what this thing can do."

Jeff, you played that game - in fact I think you told me about that game - you knows what I'm talking about.

Yes, two nights ago, I was so cocky, I was almost British.

(I was reading some UK column in The Week, a magazine started in England that quotes from everybody else, and the UK author of the article was talking about all the wars the Brits had recently started, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, and I thought "Wait, wasn't it us here stateside who started all those conflicts?" And then I realized the sad truth - the Brits still just consider us "one of the colonies!" Yeah, it's the Brits playing world domination again, like India, Australia, The New World - and we at a mere fledgling 240 years old are really just an overgrown colony! And I guess they're right!!!)


You limeys are so smug


Well, I must say, they're pounding the drums of war again - and the beheader this time, for shame, was a Londoner. I guess there's hundreds of radical westerners - Americans too - mixed in with those ISIS loonies! So I guess we're gonna be back at it - first by air, then by boots on the ground is my bet!

I can't wait to get my Zephyr out there in the thick of things.

Oh wait, that's a game, and this is real. Never mind.

Rich

 

Sorry for the double.

Jeff - I went to the link, and the guy is saying "Hey, is anyone out there willing to try this DIY project - if so send us your comments and pictures."

Here's the exact quote:

Any of our readers out there willing to give this “DIY” project a go? If so, comment away and send us your pics if you were able to successfully duplicate this!​

Well, what about it Jeff - are you gonna let those guys in on your success?

(And by the way, what is this NFC sticker they are talking about?)

Rich

 

An NFC sticker is a small wireless device with a stick on backing. NFC stands for Near Field Communication and it's similar to RFID. By placing your phone on or swiping it over an NFC sticker, it draws a small amount of wireless power from the phone which activates it. It can then execute automated functions in the phone which you program.

In this particular case he added an NFC sticker to the phone holder on his device so it would activate whenever the phone is in it. He has it programmed to automatically open and run the SixAxis controller software, so all he has to do is hit the connect button on the controller.

I might or might not bother to send him some pictures and a description. I think I've managed to improve on his design by quite a bit. Did some 3-4 hours of PS1 gaming on it today with zero issues. Gran Turismo and Dino Crisis 2

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The wonderful part of Android phones is that the Android OS is completely open source. I was able to remove Samsung's laggy TouchWiz UI/ROM and replace it with CyanogenMod, which is a custom build of the stock AOSP(Android Open Source Project) UI.

Every phone has a slightly different build of its manufacturer's custom UI to match their hardware. The versions of TouchWiz for the S2 and S3 in particular tend to bloat and run out of memory over time which causes some pretty bad lag and stuttering. TouchWiz has gotten a LOT better on newer phones like the S4 or S5, but is a death sentence for the S2 and S3 if you want to use performance intensive programs.

TouchWiz and other UIs are also visually unappealing to many users, and tend to be a bit messy looking. And almost all of them introduce some sort of performance impact with few exceptions. CyanogenMod is a lot more lightweight and much cleaner looking because it's as close to barebones stock as possible. Most devices have a custom UI except for Google Nexus products, so CyanogenMod and its relatives are extremely popular among the custom ROM community.

Custom ROMs are also usually updated much more frequently than the manufacturer updates. Particularly, if I update with Samsung's latest official ROM for my phone, I am limited to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. If I use CyanogenMod, I can get up to version 4.4.4 Kitkat. Likewise, my Galaxy S2 was limited to version 4.1.2 without a custom ROM. This is particularly useful because 4.4 Kitkat is the best running and lightest weight version of Android since 2.3 Gingerbread. Stack the CyanogenMod improvements on top of that and you have a pretty nice speed and battery life boost for your phone.