I guess one man's noise is another man's quiet. This works with my tv, I leave it running the hole day (i haven't turned off the thing for weeks). Granted, during the day i don't really hear it much. But at night, all I did was hear that humm..humm..humm.. So I had to change the fans. Which lead to changing the heat sink, which lead to adding a bigger fan, then the dynamat, then holes on the case for other fans, etc. Right now I am pretty sure I am done with all the mods. Spcecially since the hummms are gone. But you never know. I have been wanting to change the case cover for one made of copper. Lots of copper (i just love copper sheets). Rodrigo.

I have Media Center running on the SN41G2 shuttle. It's great. Some things you need to look at. The power supply gets hot, really hot. And the fan never stops working (so it makes a lot of noise). The inside also gets really hot, and the fan is not enought to get all the air out. I used the seagate 160gig drive, it's really quiet. Any good dvd room will do. Lots of ram. I changed the heat sink for a zalman, changed the fan for a biger fan (I had to cut a bigger hole for it) and runs at low speed so it makes less nose. I also changed the gpu's heat sink. Made a hole on the side, and added a fan 80mm, it also runs at low speed (less noise). I opened the side of the power supply, and added some grill (like 1mm by 1mm grill) and attached 2 fans to it, which also run at low speed (less noise). And I took out the old power supply fan. I also added dynamat to the case. Even if you don't do any of of this, it will work great. Since I use it to watch tv, I needed it to be as quiet as posible. Now I don't even hear it running. Rodrigo.

Has anyone made one like this? :omg: http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/[^] It's definetly cheaper than any other portable mp3 player (just 150$). I just wander, if there is one with a wma decoder (I already recorded all my cds in wma and I really don't want to record them again). Rc.

If you have some of the newer video cards, etc. You might want to keep your win 98 disk around to look for drivers in case win2k can't find them. If you have a wixp disk around, I would use that for the drivers (it has most of the drivers I ever needed). I would definitely go with NTSF, and when you set up your admin account. Make sure you don't install any other programs (or do anything for that matter), instead make a new user (only if you don't want to be login-in with the administrator account) and then make the user and admin, then log in with the new user id, then install anything you want. This is so that you don't duplicate all the information and personal settings for both the administrator and the user (you). I like the fact that win2k will keep a different set of folders (my docs, history, etc) for each user, but If I am the only user (and don't want to use the administrator account) I don't want to waste any space. The first time, only install what is really necessary to boot, afterwards (with your user id) go ahead and put in all the extra stuff (iis, other programs, etc). I would also go with an install from scratch (fdisk, then format your hard drive, and then install the os), After this you'll feel like if you just moved into a new house, it takes a little time to get used to it, but boy does it feel good to know that everthing is new and still shiny. Other than that, prepare for a wild ride on a "Real OS". Rodrigo.

Nish have you ever tried setting up 2 modems on on your computer and have both of them connect to the net, therefore twice the bandwith? (close to twice anyway) I think I had something like this a long time a go (back when I had a 14k modem). But it has been many moons since this happened. If your ISP supports it, you should be able to do it. I think you'll have to pay extra, but aren't you willing to pay extra anyway for more bandwith? Rodrigo.

I used to post and get into flame wars a lot. But then all of the sudden, I started to get incredible ammounts of spam (200-1000 a day). Not only on my alias email, but on all 3 of them. I was lucky they didn't find my work email. I closed all 3 of them, and got my self a new one. And vowed not to post again with that one. Now I limit my self, and don't post or reply to anyone who is not old enough to buy a beer Or hasn't lived out in the "Real World" yet. (Doesn't know what making a buck means). Rodrigo.

Oh Man, Am I the only one from Boston here?. I was planing to go out and celebrate my town's team going to the superbowl. But my friends are going to the game (just them not me), and I don't want to be the crazy dude drinking by himself at the bar. Anyone else 'round here want to join me for a couple of drinks? Rodrigo.

I would say, that if you do a good database design, it won't matter as to wetter you do it in access or access with an msde back, or any other tool. If you need to move it to SQL server, you'll need to do work anyway. So long your structure is good; you won't need to change it, which will in turn make the rest easier. Rodrigo.

Most of what the BAs use is available thorugh DAO, and is easier for the Busines Analysts to learn (you really don't want them confused). Most of the new apps we are working on do use ADO, but we were really holding on until the .net release (no need to start new tools with old technology ;P ) I really don't use MSDE much, we do have a couple of apps that use it, but that was when we thought that msde was usefull, not anymore. Now, we stick with access, or with sql server. Rodrigo.

Right, but it all depends on what they want. If they want a small app that it is only going to be used for tracking (1-10 users). Then access is all you need. But if they want an app with a lot of users, and able to communicate with other systems (amybe even with a web interface), then you still use access but with ADO on the front end, or xml datadumps for your asp, or etc. Or go all out with sql server. At least until MS figures it out what they are doing with the msde. Or at least until the next release of sql server. (when sqlserver 2000 gets cheaper, or they ship a better msde). Rodrigo.

I would say. Stay away from the MSDE and use access. I’m not sure why some people have problems with it. If they need to store data, and they don't have a lot of data. Then they should use Access, otherwise SQL server. I have developed with both, and currently support both. Though is true that some access dbs are bad, but they are not bad because of access, but because whomever made the database was one of those fresh out of college, recently hired, went into IT because the pay is good, has not clue why anything happens in a program, uses access macros, don't know what RDBMS is, and works 9-5 (with 1 hour lunch break), baboons. Yes, we have some of these people here, and I hate them, every time one of them leaves, I feel like parting. MSDE is really slow, and if you are going to use msde, you might as well get yourself SQL server. Access is good if you need a lot of integration with the other office apps. Reporting, email, etc. Rodrigo.

Man that is so true. I was digging my self into this debt hole, I mean I had so many credt cards all of the sudden, and most of my money was going out to pay them. I thought.. 25 bucks for the minimum is nothing, I can buy this toy and still pay only 30 bucks on the minimum. Finally, I was ready to buy a house (yeah crazy me, all this debt and know graduating to the big leagues). When I've got my credit report...well, it wasn't pretty. I gave my self 1 year to clean it up. I cut (yup right there) all of my credit cards (I only left 1 with a $400 credit line for emergencies, small emergencies), and I started to pay them all. All extra money to one, until is paid off, then the next, etc. Im 8 months into this, and boy does it feel good to no get any mail at your house. Before they were all bills, now only the msdn once a month (the first months I though the mail man was stealing my mail). I still have 1 card to go, but I can say that if there is a toy I want, I can probably pay cash for it and not even notice it on my account. I don't do it, but is nice to know I could. Hopefully all this hard work (yeah, not spending money is hard work) will pay off in 4 months when I walk in the bank and ask for money so that I can buy a house. Rodrigo.

Nice comeback!

Yup, but then, you won't be able to ask them for more computers to install the other "Test Environments" ;P

Actually, there is cold water fusion. When you take the sea water (cold water) and take the deuterium (?) and convert it up the chain (hidrogen if i remember right) you get energy. This is cleaner than the current nuclear reactors. But it is not a reality yet (though the europeans were really close a few years back, I think they are currently reviewing the data or something). I don't actually remember the whole thing (it happen a few years ago, and I havent read anything else on the subject since). To make a long story short.. There is Cold Water Fusion http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:tpoE3FCxbIoC:architecture.mit.edu/house\_n/web/resources/articles/Boston%2520Globe%2520Online%2520-%2520Sunday%2520%2520Focus%2520-%2520Lost%2520in%2520space.htm++"Cold+Water+Fusion"&hl=en Rodrigo.

Also: Computer Circuits made with nanotubes.. This will definetly make the bigest changes, since it will make processors with more transistors posible.They are only a few molecules thick, and can substitute the current way we build chips. Or computers (chips) made out with genes (they are superfast, and can make multiple calculations simultaneously). IBM has some good papers on this, also Scientific american. Rodrigo.

I don't know about new technologies. However, about using the technologies we currently have. PDAs just started to be used by doctors to write medical prescriptions, and submit them to the patient’s pharmacy. This will save trees (paper), ensure the correct prescription is given to the patient (no more deciphering scribbles), and the pharmacy does not need to call the doctor to verify each prescription. There aren't that many doctors with this yet, so I expect this to really start gaining some speed. The tv glasses (the ones with transparent tv screens) just started to be used by architects on constructions sites. So that the construction workers can actually see what they need to do while doing it. It’s on its early stages (Boeing is also using this for its planes), however I also expect this to gain speed. Etc. Rodrigo

Nish, have you ever tryed installing more than one modem on your computer?. I know I used to do this a few years ago when I only had a 28.8 modem, I put in 2 modems on my computer and after they were all set up. I was flying at almost 56k (back then it was really flying), but after that the 33 came out then the 56 and now I have a cable modem...So I never had to do this again. I know win2k supports it, and win98 too. All you have left is to make sure your isp suports it too (you migh need to pay for the other modem also). But once you are set up, you'll be flying at 100k. If you have tryed and failed, maybe is time you try it again... There are new modems on the marked that migh support it now. Much luck, Rodrigo.

Hi, I saw the comercial of this game on the tv :omg:, and boy did it makes me want to buy a PS2. These are the greatest graphics I've ever seen on a game. Is anybody playing it yet ? Or planing to play it :confused: I have been playing these games sice FFV7, and I am on FFIX right know (since I can only play a few hours a month, it takes a while to finish them). To bad they gave me an XBox for christmas (is really cool though). I guess I'll be buying a PS2 just for this game (and other square soft games). Rodrigo. Why wouldn't MS spend some money on square soft. They had to know that these type of games will win them a whole lot of users.

If your company pays for one licence of the msdn lybrary they can install it on anyone on your company without paying extra for it. They changed the licenge agrement to this a while ago. Rodrigo.