Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program
 

@Dogscoff: Baen probably wouldn't mind, but I'd still rather only download cds from books I actually own.

@Randall: Some of them have a lot of talking, some of them have a lot of combat, most have a mix. Weber has few *faults in writing that I've detected, but one of them is a tendency to infodump. However, the information is always relevent and somewhat interesting.

* Mostly a subjective matter of taste, I know.

If you're into fantasy, his Oath of Swords series is excellent. Far more intelligent than most fantasy fare and with a well-defined world. But then, Weber is rather skilled at building detailed worlds.

On the other hand, none of them have the sheer level of combat of the Starfire novels, which have the common complaint that they are essentially novelized game campaigns...Which they are.

(Starfire is a wargame that Weber did some work on. Space Empires was inspired in part by Starfire.)

If you like combat, maybe you could try Fred Saberhagens' Berserker series. Death machines that make all other death machines look like hesitant wimps, they have only one factor in any of their descisions: 'How much Life will this kill?'.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program
 

I strongly recommend reading that series in order, starting with On Basilisk Station.

The entire Honor Harrington series, plus several more books, is available online (legally and free*) here. You can download the CD as a zip or iso, one selected book or the entire thing, or just view it online. On Basilisk Station is here for your online reading pleasure.

*Baen has stated it's a marketing ploy. Most people prefer reading books on paper rather than the computer screen, so they provide these books for free in an inconvenient (for reading) medium hoping to get readers hooked and wanting to pay for their preferred medium.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program?
 

The two mentioned are the ones most commonly used for free. There are others. I believe the Nero Suite also allows you to mount virtual drives.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program?
 

Daemon tools is really powerful, and has never provoked any trouble on my computer

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program?
 

I've also been using Daemon Tools for several years now and have yet to encounter problems of any kind with it.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program?
 

I have a hard wooden chair that makes sitting in front of the computer for too long hurt my back. That and I can't get into reading from a screen for long periods.

I picked up the latest book which has what I look for in a good book ie. 900 pages. Hopefully it will give me something to read at least for more than a few hours. I started by reading the appendices to get info and started off bad by mistaking who was good or bad.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program?
 

Can't say I am getting sold on the book. I still get confused about who is who. It's hard following 2 human empires, much better when you know for a fact one is human and the other alien. I have a sneaky suspicion I shouldn't be supporting the bad guys. also a third way through and there have only been 2 brief battles. The rest is uninteresting stuff about her dozen relatives or her relationship, as if I care.

but anyway, I post because there was an ad for a honorverse game. I just looked at the brief trailer which looks interesting. Seems like a 4X game. I might try it. You have the option to concentrate on the battles and economy and ignore the other boring stuff.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program
 

I asked about that on the Baen forums.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program
 

There's a reason I recommend starting at the beginning with On Basilisk Station. The later books assume an increasing amount of background knowledge that you just don't have. It may not be as long as you say you want but it's a heck of a lot better for a reader new to the series, and if it's over before you want to stop you can just pick up the next book in the series.

Also, most of the really big battles generally happen near the end of the book as part of the climax.

Re: OT: What\'s a good .iso \'fake cd drive\' program
 

yeah true enough. As it is I feel nothing for the heroine and would actually welcome her being knocked down a peg. The problem is I have no attachment to either side. I can't see any reason why the good guys should be supported any more than the bad guys, and what's with the Eridani thing against endangering civilians? When, in the first battle, the captain sends his enemy a message saying

"uhum, I am about to blow up your space stations could you please evacuate them" or " please evacuate your freighters so I can destroy them"

I sort of thought

"you have got to be kidding http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif"

the whole thing about war is destroying the enemy. If you stop before each blow to say "I'm terribly sorry, this is going to hurt" you're not fighting a war you're just taking turns to score points. Might as well play tennis.

lack of background knowledge aside I don't feel it's my sort of book. I was expecting something like the Starfire books I have with mostly battles and the occasional 2-3 pages as an admiral has a liason with her boyfriend. This is the exact opposite with mostly stuff about her family, her boyfriend, the respective leadership talking, interspersed with interesting stuff, although the battles give me good ideas for my se5 games. I'm not trying to convince people it's bad, it's just not my sort of story telling.

but enough said.