DVD picks (was: hiatus, eh?)

[Stephen Hart]

Some of those networks are from the Digital Cable
package, aren't they?

S> yeah. we rarely watch channels 'below 100'

Why you elitist, you! <grin> ...Meanwhile it seems that I was lead
astray by a slightly misleading Cogeco brochure, or maybe I "read what
I wanted to read".

The brochure only mentioned "Classic Cable" (Analogue) and Digital
Cable. On a visit to their web site, I learned that "Classic" is what
was formerly called Basic Cable. The plan I like (which includes
specialty channels like Bravo, Showcase and Space) is called the
"Analogue Value Pack" and is still $44 a month. ...It's one of those
things. The last time I had a "free cable trial" I watched a fair bit
for a few months. Then, I eventually found that the extra channels
where only giving me an extra two or three hours of weekly viewing
above what I watch on broadcast television. When the time came for me
to choose between starting to pay for cable or go back to using an
antenna, I chose the antenna. ...So, I might go for $24 for the
"Value Pack" but not $44.

What's going to be almost surreal, now that my DVD purchases seem to
be tapering off, is not buying $50 to $150 worth of DVDs each month.
Far as I know, there aren't many more old TV series that will really
tempt me, and none of the new ones on broadcast television are really
grabbing me. ...So, theoretically, I should now just use a little
self discipline and start watching all my DVD box sets again.

...Hopefully, I'm not one of those people who are "born to
shop". Like, why piddle away small amounts each month, when I could
be saving my money. ...And then blowing it all at once on a
high-end laptop! <g>


S> not any longer there either. the win2k box is now a suse 10 box. the
S> new machine is unfortunately an xp machine. and it will stay that way
S> until the warranty runs out (2 years or so) ...then it'll be whatever
S> the current suse is.

How would you compare Win2k to XP, as far as reliability? Do you ever
get the dread BSoD?

S> i'm very serious about not being hampered by microsoft any further...

Aside from gaming, I've been "unfortunate" to have people recommend
very good third-party Windows apps for things like web browsing,
e-mail, and SSH/telnet. My next Linux upgrade should happen fairly
soon, and I'll be interested in finding whether the Linux apps have
come closer in quality and ease-of-use.


TTYL, ...Steve

-
Boycott shampoo! Insist on REAL poo!

[snowzone]

Post by Stephen Hart
Why you elitist, you! <grin>

not really. there isn't much on 'regular' tv i'm interested in. "csi"
(original), "24", and "house" are pretty much it.

Post by Stephen Hart
and start watching all my DVD box sets again.

out of the 4 boxes sets for tv series i'm actually interested in
buying, i have one "captain scarlet", one just got released "profitt"
and the other two don't exist yet: "blake's 7" (apparently it's
available on vhs in austrailia, and "the invaders" sf series starring
roy thinnes.

Post by Stephen Hart
How would you compare Win2k to XP, as far as reliability? Do you ever

get the dread BSoD?

i still think w2k sp2 is the most stable windows. xp seems to have
fixed the bsod by just spontaneously rebooting instead. hasn't happend
on my machine, but i've been on xp boxes where it has. having said that
i don't use explorer as a shell, i use the xoblite variant of blackbox
instead. saves ram, makes xp more stable. eliminates the taskbar and
icons (which i never used under windows anyway). this is a screenshot
of the main vc on my xp desktop: http://tinyurl.com/738wv

Post by Stephen Hart
Aside from gaming, I've been "unfortunate" to have people recommend

very good third-party Windows apps for things like web browsing,
e-mail, and SSH/telnet.

all my gaming is done on the x-box. as for third-party browsing and
email. firefox, thunderbird. which i also use under linux.

[Xocyll]

Post by snowzone

Post by Stephen Hart
Why you elitist, you! <grin>

not really. there isn't much on 'regular' tv i'm interested in. "csi"
(original), "24", and "house" are pretty much it.

Post by Stephen Hart
and start watching all my DVD box sets again.

out of the 4 boxes sets for tv series i'm actually interested in
buying, i have one "captain scarlet", one just got released "profitt"
and the other two don't exist yet: "blake's 7" (apparently it's
available on vhs in austrailia, and "the invaders" sf series starring
roy thinnes.

Post by Stephen Hart
How would you compare Win2k to XP, as far as reliability? Do you ever

get the dread BSoD?
i still think w2k sp2 is the most stable windows. xp seems to have
fixed the bsod by just spontaneously rebooting instead. hasn't happend
on my machine, but i've been on xp boxes where it has.

It's just a setting, on by default like so many MS "features".
Control Panel
System
Advanced
Startup and Recovery
Automatically Restart [] tickbox checked for reboot,
unchecked for the bluescreen error message


Xocyll

[snowzone]

Startup and Recovery
Automatically Restart [] tickbox checked for reboot,
unchecked for the bluescreen error message

or it's unchecked and still spontaneously reboots...suck is the life of
the windows user :)

[Xocyll]

Post by Xocyll
Startup and Recovery
Automatically Restart [] tickbox checked for reboot,
unchecked for the bluescreen error message
or it's unchecked and still spontaneously reboots...suck is the life of
the windows user :)

Well then, fire up regedit and head to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Control
\CrashControl
and make sure AutoReboot is set to 0.

If they're both off the auto reboot on BSOD should go away and you can
actually get to see the usually unhelpful error messages.

Xocyll

[tony summerfelt]

Post by Xocyll
Well then, fire up regedit and head to
If they're both off the auto reboot on BSOD should go away and you can
actually get to see the usually unhelpful error messages.

and if that worked it would be great.

i found that 'solution' years ago while searching for the problem
on google...

somebody posted it because it must worked for them. i'm in the
process of writing a proof of concept program that will crash xp so that
those options don't work if something crashes badly enough...

i've been lucky and no spontaneous reboots here, but i have friends
that have to put up with it. despite all the 'fixes' that 'stop'
it.

i'm lucky to not have any real need for windows. i feel a bit sorry
for those that DO think they need it.

once the warranty is over for the xp box, it becomes another linux
box...