Publish dang it!
posted by Jeff Gatlin 11/17/2000 5:24:21 PM
Leisurely Update
I've been avoiding the casual updates due to laziness. So in the interest of not being lazy, here is a casual update.
As a side project of my recent Dreamcast purchase, I have been trying to get the Dreamcast hooked up online, without having to get a dialup ISP. Currently the Dreamcast can only connect by the 56k modem that comes built in. There is an Ethernet adapter being made for it, but that won't be available till late December or January. Well I'm not one for waiting.
So I've been trying to rig up a setup that allows me to directly hook up the Dreamcast modem to a PC modem to connect to my PC, then allow it to share my PC's DSL connection.
Windows 2k has this ability. SO after installing it on my PC, I find that the documentation for dialup ppp is sparse, and the one article I had with pictures and everything, is inaccurate. Either I don't have some part of the needed software or the guy was using some wonko version of Win2k. IN any case, even when I did manage to get a dialup connection installed in a fashion, I had no way to send a signal to the modem to make it send a RING signal that tells Win2k to send the answer the phone string to the modem. Bummer.
So, I installed Linux Mandrake on my machine because I know I can force the modem to answer with a single command. But my install refused to identify my network card (or so I thought). After two or three failed installs and many a day, I finally discovered it was indeed installing the correct network card drivers, but it was setting them up on Eth1. Eth0 was some other damn thing I have no idea what, but all the internet stuff was trying to use Eth0 while the driver was hiding on Eth1. I fixed this puppy and wala, Internet.
Right now I'm in a several day configuring process. Basically I read HOWTO's change settings etc... till I'm blue in the face or just too tired to keep fiddling. I also get sidetracked by installing Netscape 6.0 (instead of the inferior netscape 4.71 which can't do the right fonts). All kinds of problems though. The install went fine but I then had both versions of Netscape and all the extras that I would install went to the older version instead of the newer.
Managed to get sound working without doing anything. It just worked which was a miracle considering I have an SB Live.
Next up is seeing if I can get the dialup part workin. WIll advise, this ramble has gone on too long. --Jeff
posted by Jeff Gatlin 11/17/2000 8:59:20 AM
Sports Geek... uh what?
Hi. My name is Jeff Gatlin... and I am a 'gotta-haveit-now-aholic'. I've bought many a device, usually studying up on them, working upa nice froth until something occurs that causes me to go into a 'must have' frenzy. It's an internal thing, so aside from some a few extra sentences or other gabbing about the object of my desire, you wouldn't notice I'm frothing. When the froth reaches it's highest point of intensity, only two possible outcomes occur. I head out and buy the fancy shiny object, or I head and to buy it and by some miracle talk myself out of it, usually walking away empty handed, dejected and slightly irked. But it's the aftermath that is the scary part. When I do make the purchase, it's often with limited funds. This most often results in many a meal of mac n Cheese, chicken soup or other cabinet delights. I scrounge up quarters and head to the Box for a nutritious 99 cent chicken sandwich. I suffer drinking water instead of soda. Whoa is me. (you may blow your favorite rasberry at this time)
So blah blah blah, I know I'm stupid, I'm working my way out of the hole I dug, It's a slow climb and I am sticking to it and in the meantime I still make frivilous badly timed purchases. Perhaps I'll justify my illness in the future when I am making 'gotta-haveit' purchases of blue-jeans and school supplies for my future kids.
In the meantime, I have made my bed and am sleeping in it. But when I'm awake, I'm playing NFL2k1 on a shiny Dreamcast. That's right, Jeff, you know, the guy who doesn't follow sports, could care less who wins what, doesn't even know the names of his local teams, is totally hooked on a sports game.
I've got a friend who is a total sports game nut (Yo Keefer). I always found them a bit boring. But NFL2k1 has broken the veil! For those who haven't played it, just imagine your watchin a football game on tv. That's what NFL2k1 is like except that your calling the plays and guiding the players during the show. It is a total blast!
The best part was I was totally kicking ass, winning against the computer all day Saturday. I was football king! Then Sunday, I discovered the difficulty settings, switched it from default Rookie to Pro. And now it's my ass being totally kicked. 30 to 0 in the first quarter is not a happy game. Ok, so after mucho cursing and a few days, I've figured out some of my errors in play style and have managed to only get my but kicked instead of smoked and tossed in an ashtray. I'm losing games but scoring now. But I am still taking my barely learned talents to the AllGames NFL2k1 online competition (which was a major contributor to the most recent froth).
And now comes that portion of the night where I pass out without composing a moral to the story. Maybe next time... --Jeff
posted by Jeff Gatlin 11/14/2000 11:35:15 PM
Brave New World
A new day is upon us and the world will never be the same again. That's right folks, I bought a new computer chair!
Oh joy! Oh sweet life! I now have a chair that is not only solid, vomfy and new, but it is also 'Jeff sized'. That's right, no more chair handles digging into my legs cutting off much needed blood flow. But, you say, what about the cost? Such a chair must have sent you to the poor house? Fah! Fah I say! This chair of dreams was a mere $130 bucks, that's 70 cheaper than my previous chair. Whee!
Even better, Florida had nothing to do with my decision to get this chair.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled browsing. --Jeff
posted by Jeff Gatlin 11/8/2000 10:19:37 AM
On Strike?
I am considering going on strike and refusing to move through time until we get more hours in a day. So for now, it will remain Halloween. -Jeff
posted by Jeff Gatlin 11/3/2000 9:58:19 AM