Oct 26, 2005 - 15:05 | + 3 - 2 Install Debian with vmware player!
Sorry if this is a bit geeky... but it's totally cool if you get it to work :)How to install any operating system using the new vmware player
Really nice if you want to try out linux/bsd on your Windows XP install... or if you're stuck running XP for work.
- 0) Install the VMWare player.
1) Download the browser-appliance app.
2) Download debian-31r0a-i386-netinst.iso from your nearest debian mirror.
3) Edit Browser-Appliance.vmx with your favorite text editor. Modify these lines:
- ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
ide1:0.fileName = "c:\vmware\iso\debian-31r0a-i386-netinst.iso"
5) Boot VMWare virtual machine. Press F2 during POST and specify CD-ROM as your boot medium.
6) Install debian as you see fit.
Update: I've listed some links to more info below
- How-to: VMware player modification
- Creating an XP Pro VM for the free VMware Player
- VMWare Networking Info
- How to create virtual machines using VMware Player
Oct 24, 2005 - 18:31 | + 2 - 4 Gaming as an Addiction + DOOM
Wired is running an interesting story about why people get really involved in the games that they are playing and then suddenly stop. I've experienced this a few times in my life, and I find it pretty interesting when it happens. The game that was once the most important thing to you, suddenly becomes worthless...I think that the difference between a great game and an average game, is that you can always come back to a great game. It keeps you entertained no matter how many times you play it. This is because there are new ways of finishing objectives, different obstacles, or unique experiences. Some examples include: Doom, Master of Orion 2, Civilization, Starcraft and Counter-Strike. I still play these games from time to time when I get fed up with the current state of games out there... especially for Linux.
The author of the article compared this behavior to Top 40 music, but I would also like to point out that there are movies that fit into this mold. I can watch Zoolander, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Old School, or Animal House over and over without getting tired of them. I think great movies, books, albums or games all share the same qualities. They can provide us with something new each time we experience them, whether it be alone or with a group. Sometimes watching a movie that you know by heart can be quite different when watching it with a group of people because different people tend to notice different things.
Speaking of Doom, I've been listening to the DooM Remix Project at ocremix.org. It takes the original Doom soundtrack and laces it with some more awesomeness! I especially like the "Dark Side of Phobos" Track. As for the upcoming Doom movie, I heard it sucked... I guess I'll wait till the DVD comes out :/
Oct 21, 2005 - 21:10 | + 3 - 3 GP2X Awesome
I think I know what I want for christmas this year! The GP2X Game System from Gamepark!!!. You'd think that I would have grown out of playing games now that I'm in the working world, but with this kind of gadget it's hard not to drool... With it, you get a pretty nice ARM cpu, lots of memory (SD Card for storage), USB 2.0 a nice 3.5' screen, TV-Out, support for lots of codecs (Divx, mp3, ogg, mpeg, etc...) AND LINUX. This means that you can create your own apps or download ones that other people made... so I'll be able to play any of my NES or SNES or Genesis roms that I have sitting on my computer. Nice.
Oct 19, 2005 - 20:13 | + 5 - 0 New Condo!!
I just found out that the condo we wanted has become available! It will be built by Spring 2006, so in a few months we may be living it up in the hickory! Now, I have to negotiate a timetable for our departure with our current landlords...Oct 18, 2005 - 05:11 | + 1 - 5 White Sox in the World Series!!!
 | Congradulations to the Chicago White Sox for winning their first AL Pennant since 1959. This is truly an event that happens only once in a lifetime for Chicago baseball. One day I'm sure I'll be telling my kids about the day I watched the Sox clinch their spot... I'm normally not a huge baseball fan, but these guys sure are fun to watch. Go Sox!!! Only 4 more wins towards that ever elusive title! Update: By now everyone knows that the Sox ended up winning the world series against the Houston Astros in 4 games. Congrats again to the 2005 World Champion White Sox!!! |
Oct 12, 2005 - 22:03 | + 4 - 4 iPod Video
Now that the iPod supports video, I'm sure the number of drivers paying attention to the road will be reduced. If you can shave while driving, why not watch that episode of "Lost" that you missed last night... dumbasses.Oct 09, 2005 - 16:06 | + 1 - 5 Nine Inch Nails @ Allstate Arena
| When Trent Reznor came to Chicago last May, he didn't leave satisfied. Despite problems with his audio equipment he tried to put on a good show... They continued and got angry. I'd like to think that he promised himself that he'd come back soon to correct his dis-satisfaction. So when it was announced that NIN was coming back to Chicago I knew I had to pick up tickets. I had a feeling it would be a great show. I wasn't let down... Suzanne and I went to the show at Allstate this past Friday (10/7/2005). We had gone to the Foo Fighters/Weezer concert the Monday of the same week so we were a little worn out. I had to make myself get off my couch after a long work week and make the drive out to the arena. We got there at the beginning of the Queens of the Stoneage set, although we didn't know it. At first, I thought that the band that was playing was a small opening band (Autolux)... but as the band played more and more songs, Suzanne and I started suspecting that the band was a little too good to be Autolux... Then the band started playing some songs that we recognized as QOTSA material. Overall the crowd dug them, but everyone was anxious for NIN to start playing. The lead singer of QOTSA handled it pretty well, but he made some funny cracks at the audience all the same. QOTSA played a pretty long set, and then NIN came on after a short delay... Trent didn't disappoint. He started out strong with some old favorites and got the crowd going. Compared to the Weezer/FF show on Monday, the crowd was crazy. Everyone was getting into the music and there was a general sense of camaraderie among the members of the crowd. The sound quality was amazing, so I guess the sound crew really put some effort into making everything sound great. I also liked how NIN played a lot of different songs, and how there was different lighting for each one. Then came the part when NIN played "Eraser"... A screen came down, and a video started playing. At first all you saw were some cells and bacteria. Then you saw progressively larger animals while the song kept going on. I especially found a scene where there was a swarm of ants taking down a huge scorpion fascinating. When the sequence finally got to humans everyone was ready for Trent's message. Once the words started, the crowd saw images of war with images of peace spliced in. You'd see a tank shooting something with a scene of people dancing at a wedding mixed in. Whatever you think of the message it was very powerful... it was like seeing the contradiction that we live in every day right in front of our faces. At the end of the song we saw an image of Bush dancing with his wife. Suzanne thought that it was going a little to far, but I thought it was brilliant...Great show Trent! |  |
Oct 06, 2005 - 21:15 | + 1 - 4 Weezer+Foo Fighers
This past monday, Suzanne and I got a change to see Weezer and the Foo Fighters play at the Allstate Arena. The show was on a Monday night, so this proves that we're still young :) The opening band was the Kaiser Chiefs, which was a British band, sort of like Franz Ferdinand. They had some catchy tunes, but in general, there wasn't much new there.Weezer came on next, and played a surprisingly great show. I saw them last year at the Tweeter center, and they lived down to their reputation of having a boring live show back then. This time they seemed to be alot more excited to be playing, and had some memorable songs.
After overcoming some sound problems at the very beggining of their set, they went on to play a bunch of old favorites and new songs off their current album. I especially liked when they covered the Foo Fighter's song Big Me. It was fun to hear a band that big, play another band's song. It shows that they aren't too full of themselves... I also liked when their lead singer, Rivers Cuomo, snuck onto a platform in the middle of the arena and played Island in the Sun (one of my favorite weezer songs). It was just him and an acoustic guitar, and he held the entire crowd in a silent trance during the performance. It was one of the coolest, live music moments that I have been a part of. Also, I noticed during the show that alot of people were using cell phones as impromptu lighters, to show appreciation for a quieter song (at least that's how I took it, they could have been taking lots of pictures).
After Weezer, the Foo Fighters came on and played a great set as well. The sound quality was noticably better... While it was a little louder and heavier than I would have liked at first, it was fun to hear. I'm a bigger fan of their softer songs, but they can rock pretty hard! Suzanne was happy that they played Everlong, and since Dave played part of the song with an acoustic, and another part with an electric, she got the best of both worlds. Dave Grohl also played a song in the middle of the crowd like Rivers did, but he didn't get there the same way... he just walked through the crowd while playing his guitar. It was cool to see the crowd part like that... its like seeing fame physically. I noted that the Foo Fighters didn't cover any Weezer songs, which was interesting considering the previously mentioned cover of Big me... I guess we know who the headliner of the tour was :) If you ask me, I think both bands are equally popular and influential. To sum it all up, it was a great show by both bands and I'm glad we were rebels and went to the show on a school night. Rock on!
Oct 05, 2005 - 14:23 | + 3 - 2 Hell is cold.
Hell has frozen over... Dell is now selling computers without an operating system. I might just buy one of these the next time I'm looking to upgrade :)
Update: Apparently Dell isn't as commited to open source as it makes itself out to be...
Oct 03, 2005 - 19:48 | + 1 - 4 Medieval Times
I went to Medieval Times (MT) with a group of friends to celebrate the release of the new Serenity movie this weekend. I'll post more about Serenity later, but for now here are my thoughts about MT:It's been a while since I've been to a MT show, and it's interesting to see how much more you notice when you're an adult... When I was younger, I got into the whole atmosphere alot more. I knew that the knights were actually hurting each other, but I chose to ignore the fake fighting (maybe the actors were alot worse this time around). Maybe MT was more about the jousting and fighting 10 years ago, but today it seems like an afterthought.
There were alot of new things that I noticed. For one thing, you could order alcoholic drinks if you were an adult. This was probably implemented so that the show would be bearable for parents watching the mediocre swordplay and acting... Also, there is a wizard that shows up several times in the show and foretells of one of the knights betraying the king. BTW it was VERY obvious who the betrayer was going to be! There were more special effects, like fog and colored lighting.. and IMO it makes it the who show seem less authentic. The arena was half empty, so I guess MT is trying to attract new people to come to the shows... Maybe they could lower their prices from 50 dollars a person? It seems a bit pricey for what we got. The food was the same, but it seemed like we got a bit more this time. At past shows, I remember still wanting more food after the dinner.
Our group did have alot of fun despite all of the shortcomings of the show. We cheered for our black and white knight, and booed the vile green night. All the while, I kept thinking about the scene from the movie Garden State, where the main character wakes up to see a guy dressed in knight's armor, on his way to work at MT.
So is it worth it? Yes, but don't buy any of the extra crap that they sell and get drunk before hand. You'll have alot more fun :)
