Re: OT: VISTA
 

SE4 will run under WINE or Cedega; I don't think they've gotten SE5 working yet.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

That was funny.

Anyway, new games will probably run on Vista. Which is why you use Virtual PC for the old games.

But I'm just being contrary.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

The main reason why you shouldn't upgrade to Vista mainly seems to be the system requirements... if you're getting a new computer anyway, no sense in getting XP instead.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

It's also the reason you should never upgrade to Vista, because the requirements are components with super-duper-evil copy protection features.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I wonder what SE V would look like running DX10, on a VI****A OS?

Re: OT: VISTA
 

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Anyway, new games will probably run on Vista. Which is why you use Virtual PC for the old games.

Any game that came out in the last few years and has high system demands that does not run in Vista for whatever reason will almost certainly not run in Virtual PC. You can run much older games fine, as well as games with low requirements, but fat chance running something like half-life 2 in a hardware emulator.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

That is a very good point to make Fyron. One that many of use really need to consider if and when we are faced with having to buy a new system. I am going to go buy a new copy of XP Pro later this month to have it on hand. I don't really think VI****A is going to be pre DX10 game player friendly for a good long time if ever.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

If you're super duper extremely lucky, it'd look exactly like it does on Windows 98. Otherwise, it might look and sound blurry, or flicker from blurry to sharp, or censor any images it thought might possibly belong to a major corporation, as its impressive Digital Rights Management kicks in and out.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Vista's first security hole discovered: two days after release.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6320865.stm

'tis not a critical hole or anything, but it is amusing in light of Microsoft's MOST SECURE OS EVAH claims.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

1 GB RAM seems low, with XP it's a minimum so I suppose that with Vi$ta you need double that ...

Re: OT: VISTA
 

When M$ says Vista has the most security ever, I think they probably are thinking about all their attempts to keep users from copying any corporate products with it...

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Because of DX, Windows has prety much locked up the 'flashy' games market. Not good strategy games, though. You can get lots of cool games for Linux like Free Civ. Just not the latest RTS games like Homeworld II or FPS games like Doom. But other than games, there are lots of equivalent options beyond Windows and it's getting better all the time. Linux has the most options ever: Anything important that you can find for Windows you can find for Linux. The Firefox/Seamonkey/K-Meleon and Opera browsers, for example. And Open Office is now a complete replacement for MS Office. And two other complete desktop suites are getting close to complete as well, Gnome and KDE. And you have many choices of who to buy from instead of being locked into one manipulative source. There are even dedicated sites for comparing the various distributions available:

http://distrowatch.com/

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I find Free Civ to be a crappy game, however.

It saddens me that there is no Foobar2000 for linux. Amarok probably comes the closest, but it just isn't the same. :-\ Then you've got sub-par multi-IM clients like Gaim and Kopete... Linux text editors are either ancient monstrosities like emacs and vim, or they are really basic like Nano or Gedit. I have yet to see any good modern gui "programmers" text editors on linux. sigh..

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Doom 3 runs on Linux. As do other id Software titles, such as the Quake series.

Also, there is speculation that the upcoming new version of Trillian, named Astra, will run on OSX and Linux as well. The developers have said that they got their core engine to compile for both platforms, and hinted that it might be released for more than just Windows. No official announcement as far as I've seen, however. I haven't used Linux as a desktop in a few months, so I'm not sure of the state of IM on the platform. On my Powerbook, I use Adium, which is based on the gAIM engine, and of course, use Trillian on the Windows PC.

If you're looking for "programmer's" text editor, have you tried Eclipse? As for emacs and vim, the "ancient monstrosity" description may fit emacs, which is on version 21.4 and has been in nearly constant development since at least the 1970s. But vim is a much newer "clone" of the older vi. Once you get used to vim, it is a very powerful editor, absolutely perfect for editing config files.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Eclipse is an IDE, not just a text editor. It is nice software, but generally overkill.

IMO, vim is a monstrosity, ancient or no. I find the fundamental control scheme to be ridiculous.

Here's hoping "Astra" won't be a bloated flop like Trillian 3 was. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: VISTA
 

You don't like Esc-Shift-Z-Z? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: VISTA
 

FreeCiv is the only 4x game except for FreeOrion, who's progress can charitably described as "glacial".

And the Unreal series. Linux is in fact better served for FPS games than it is for detailed stratagy games.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Ack! Kill it kill it kill it!!!

Who thought up that key combo? A demented platform fighter addict?

Re: OT: VISTA
 

It's actually quite simple. The vi editor was designed to be used in a console window, with complete lack of pointer control (e.g., a mouse... sorry Narf http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ). So, the ESC key is just to ensure that you are in command-mode (as opposed to text mode, where doing just Shift-Z-Z would insert two capital Zs wherever the cursor happened to be). Then, IIRC, command ZZ writes the buffer if it has changed, and quits.

But really, the only basic commands you need to know to use vi are:
Esc - get into command mode
Then, once you're in command mode:
i - insert: go into text mode, begin inserting characters at the cursor
:w - write: write the buffer to file
q - quit
h - move cursor left
j - move cursor down
k - move cursor up
l - move cursor right
x - delete: delete the character at the cursor

Really just a few days using it are enough to get a feel for the basics, and start into more advanced things like yy (yank, AKA copy), and p (put, AKA paste) to and from buffers, using the /, s/, g/, etc regular expression commands... it's an absolute lifesaver if you're ever going to encounter a variety of UNIX-y systems, since they are all pretty much guaranteed to have either vi or vim installed.

--edit: almost forgot about the other "real" editor Fyron was looking for... even though it doesn't get any more real than vi http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Check out the Scintilla Text Editor (SciTE). It's my "notepad replacement" for Windows, it also has a version for linux. Syntax highlighting for several different languages, brace matching, decent settings tweaking available via GUI, much more powerful tweaking through config files, has option for plaintext search/replace as well as regular expression search/replace, and a bunch of other goodies for programmers.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

My sister rang me up the other day to tell me she can get the education edition of Vista cheaper. What features would this have? Microsoft doesn't have it in their list which leads me to think it's one of the versions but cheaper for people in education.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I never said vim and emacs were not real, just that they are horrible from a usability perspective. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif This SciTE looks interesting...

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Fyron, have you tried EditPad Pro? Open Office?

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Wasn't aware that EditPad had a Linux version. Interesting.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

For any software today to not support a mouse is pretty near inexcusable.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Says mr. roguelike programmer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Well people are posting across many game forums that their favorite games don't run well, or at all in VISTA. Many want to know why... DUH... You should have read before you bought. A lot of folks were told by salesmen at best buy, comp usa, and others that VISTA would run their older games better than they are ran in XP.. In other words they were out and out lied too. I have suggested to many that they return their PC's and demand their money back. That they file a formal complaint with their states AGO and that they not buy a new pc from a fast food type electronics retailer.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

'Pretty near'. There are also some webgames.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

M$ better be careful with DX10 being Vista only. This is the same kind of thing that got them in trouble with IE.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Wasn't the trouble with IE more that they threatened to stop licensing Windows to OEMs that wanted to bundle alternative browsers (and media players, etc.)?

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I think the only trouble with IE was that it was designed and marketed the way it was in order to KILL netscape.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Oh, that's so reassuring...

I'm sure Vista runs so slowly that when you hear the malicious file playing, you'll be able to move quickly enough to interrupt it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif And everybody has the specialized software you need to restore a file that's already been flushed from the Recycle Bin.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I tried vista ultimate and I wasn't impressed, the font doesn't scale properly when you increase the dpi to make fonts bigger on very large moniters, it uses ALOT of memory (500+ mb compared to xp's 100mb foot print), DRM is built into the os and I am not a fan of drm, did I mention drm? oh noes you can't copy that mp3!.., the drivers are in a rather beta'ish state right now, vista really doesn't offer anything (new) other then some security measures that helps lockdown the average joes computer, the price 500? wtf.

now the good http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

the aereo interface IS very nice looking, for using an boatload of ram it still runs games fairly quickly (on average about 10 fps slower then xp, its alot more secure out of the box then xp is, better networking support then xp.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

you have heard of linux right? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Same thing. I shouldn't have to open a CLI just to get a text editor..

Ubuntu, trying to edit a config file- except I don't have permissions, I need sudo. No equivalent of sudo in the GUI. Worse, the CLI doesn't start in the same folder I was in, so I have to manually navigate back to that folder before I can edit.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

What exactly does Vista do with regards to DRM that's different than previous OS's, for example, XP??

Re: OT: VISTA
 

link

[Edit] Corrected link.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Also see this article!

Re: OT: VISTA
 

You can't really blame MS for HDCP. They couldn't get a license to support full HDMI output without fully implementing HDCP. If they did not, all they could do is output HDCP-protected video at non-HD resolutions. Your scorn in this instance is more correctly placed at the feet of the content industry (primarily the MPAA). HDCP is only an issue with Blu-ray and HD-DVD, not regular DVD movie playback, which does not have the higher-resolution HD support. The MPAA is obsessed with copy protection, and will only license Blu-ray and HD-DVD technology to companies that are willing to integrate HDCP. If they did not require it, MS wouldn't have bothered implementing HDCP. Display manufacturers (monitors, tvs) have to support HDCP as well, otherwise they won't be able to play high resolution movies. Its quite an insidious system...

MS could have chosen to not support HDCP, but then they could not include software to access Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies (or drives, for that matter) at full resolution. They apparently decided it would be better to support new technology than be left behind, and thus ridiculed for that reason.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Will these Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies be viewable under XP, or do we need to upgrade to Vista to get them to work?

Re: OT: VISTA
 

You can view them in XP now, through the use of 3rd party software. MS just wanted WiMP to be able to play HDCP protected content at full resolution.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

trying to prevent piracy has always been and always will be a losing game.
theres already a primitive key decryptor that works on some blueray movies.
I say give it a year and we'll have another dvd decryptor type program that completely makes the protection obsolite as the only way to fight decryptors is to change the keys that are encyrpted onto the disc but if you do that everyone who bought a blueray or hddvd player will be screwed.
mpaa and riaa are just desperatly trying to hold onto a buisiness module that just doesn't work anymore.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I should add that obveusly once you decrypt the movie you can watch it on just about any version of windows without quality loss and without that hdcp crap.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

That primitive "key decryptor" does not actually do anything to break the encryption. It simply makes use of a stolen player key. No crack in the system has yet been found. Its on the same level as a "decryptor" that simply plays the movie with a legitimate, licensed player and captures it frame by frame.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

You are incorrect, sir. The player's key was not used.

link

Re: OT: VISTA
 

Guess I missed that update to the story. Either way, the program still depends on you getting the actual encryption keys involved for each movie. It doesn't just strip off AACS arbitrarily like DeCSS did for DVD encryption.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

The programs don't strip the encryption per say, they work around the encryption in order to save an unencrypted movie to your drive. As for getting the keys, these programs are intended for making a legal back-up of a movie that you have bought, so you already have the key, they just yank it out of memory.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

As I understand it, they let the player use its personal key to decrypt the movie key.
Then they pick the movie key out of memory and use it to decrypt the movie.

Each player has a key... which all lead to the master movie key, which gives you the movie.
Player keys can be revoked, but if nobody knows which player key was compromised, the only remaining option is to revoke them all, give up, or continue to sue all your customers.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

DRM is just another way to punish the honest customer for the deeds of the pirate.

Rather like gun cotnrol.

Re: OT: VISTA
 

I don't think they have made rolls of gun cotton for decades http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif