Red Hat Linux 8.0 Impressions

My paper is about how Unix became a bug-free operating system, survived getting graphical in the early 1990s, and continued to be a help to computer users. First this documentation of Unix have a little about its history when Unix started in 1978. Then it grew to “System V” when Bell Labs eventually sold it off venders. (http://www.unixgeeks.org/security/newbie/unix/history.html) Then I’ll talk about what I like about Redhat Linux 8.0, the closest thing to Unix I’m using.

Two men called Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie created Unix. Thompson created the em editor. The em editor compiled text to show on screen. He was also the creator of the pipe key. A Pipe links one program to another program so that two programs could be used on after another. Dennis Richie earned the US national medal of technology for his continuous support on Unix. My research paper will ask the questions how it transformed into a universal operating system spreading out to be the complex operating system. [http://www.ehlis.com/adam/solaris/history.html, http://www.ehlis.com/adam/solaris/history.html, http://www2.educ.umu.se/~bjorn/unix/unix-history.html]



Unix is a global universe of Operating Systems. I use Linux, because it has a ton of free software. Some people prefer Windows for its user friendliness and the fact that all games can works on it. Windows can fit the lifestyle of any human being. But that doesn’t make Unix worst then Windows. Unix never crashes. Ah-ha now! Now,I got your attention. I am a Windows user since 1996 and I know that Microsoft made it easy on people when they created the Windows 95. Unix & Linux are harder to learn then Windows. [Evolution of Unix by Dennis M. Ritchie - http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/hist.html]

The predecessor of Unix was called Multics[1] (Multitasked Information and Computing Service) Multics was the original operating system that could recognize iNode [2]numbers in computer’s number stale. It was programmed in the B scripting language. This was before C scripting language, which is easier to understand. Multic was later used to create early videogame platforms like Magnavox Odyssey and Atari 2600 coming out in 1977.

Bell-Labs created the first Unix Operating System in 1971. This is before Microsoft DOS, which most people knew as DOS. It was a battle of who could deliver the best Unix.

In 1974, Unix was first built in a computer in a big room and the hardware was state-of-the-art. Unix was used to show how planets circled the solar system in the 1970s. Unix 7.0 was rewritten in C programming language.[3] Before that it was written in the B language, a complex language which used more code to do the same thing, C did. Unix was put into the computer mainframe by a series of data discs as thick as records. This was a time after the keyhole punch mainframe computers. Unix was the next revolution. This system was the first operating system to be able to run programs in. Data sheets could be calculated on a personal computer type machine because the software ran on Unix. The first Unix weren’t able to keep data. Data was stored on a 5.2 inch discs and had to be installed every time they used the disc operating system. This was done by a command line but this was far better then using punch hole keys in huge mainframe type computers. [http://www.crackmonkey.org/unix.html ]

The same year Unix was released on the market, members at Unix (Bell Net Corporation) sent the first electronic mail message from Palo Alto, California to New York City. It took the message 2 days to reach the other end.

If it wasn’t for 1984, I wouldn’t be lurking around, and that’s bad. This was also the year that a group of programmers went to court to say that software should be free, creating the GNU project. [http://www.gnu.org/fsf/fsf.html, Sourceforge.net – a GNU licensed site with a lot of programs on it.] It wasn’t until 1990 that they actually announced that they were going to make a version of Unix that was free. It would later be called FreeBSD. It would have graphical user interface and a kernal made from scratch. So the license only went as far to give programmers opportunity to make free software. Other problems included that they couldn’t develop software that would take away from bigger software organizations. So GNU kept getting sued as result of giving people licenses to make free software. Now the government passed the law that computer users use free software at their own risk.

After Unix 10.0 was released in late 1989, a few months later Unix’s source code became freely available. The strength of the market slowly killed off the Bell-labs version of Unix. BSD was one of them. The division of Unix at Bell Labs was also called "System V." System V was the successor Bell Labs made using the Unix kernal. All software were simple in System V, programs were a lot simpler then programs run now-a-days. All Unix systems had a terminal. The terminal was what all text information is based on. The Vi editor was ported which enabled developers to edit system files. It is still used today. "Unix" is used to describe the script of the script originally introduced in 1974 as a command based operating system.

At the turn of the decade, Graphically User Interfaces became available. And that started yet another war of who had the best GUI. Sadly that award didn’t go to the hard working programmers who designed Unix, but Microsoft, with their multi-million-dollar Windows project, ruined it all. Microsoft smoked the Unix operating system ten fold. Windows 3.1 was also a operating system that used it’s own source code to meet the demands that was better then 14 years of Unix evolution. At the same time, Redhat created the first Linux Operating System[4]. [History on Linux - http://ragib.hypermart.net/linux/] A programmer called Linus, a programmer from the GNU Project, originally created Linux. Redhat Linux is still the best Linux ever developed. Lunis created Linux because he wanted to release a new kernal called HURD. HURD was the next generation of kernal[5]. Unlike Unix, RedHat made Linux feel like Windows. Redhat was perfect for teaching in technical colleges.

Unix was the first operating system that used the logical file system beginning with the root directory, following your parent directory, following the directory your in. Larger more functional programs could easily replace programs that existed in more recent versions of Unix. In Windows, you can’t add Windows XP to a previous version such as Windows 98. In Unix, you can update desktop shells. The current software that was in the other version can say the same. That’s why some people with let’s say Solaris have the latest shell available. Problem with Microsoft is that you had to always buy a upgrade, that would add features to your computer. It wouldn’t necessarily make it more stable. Programs do that. All commercial versions of Unix and Linux have system notification, which searches for updates on the company’s website. It updates the shell so you have a free upgrade. It is rather quite easily done. Computer industry could do that 10 years ago. People didn’t always have the Internet[6] to download software so they had to find more recent versions. That’s what the middleman market came in and made everything expensive. Most Americans would go buy an upgrade anyway. Since the World Wide Web was introduced in 1994, millions of users upgraded their Unix systems for free. The vending companies simply make their money on people who cannot afford DSL or digital cable in their homes to upgrade free system files!

On June 07, 1999, the United States congress passed a law that open source code can’t be trademarked ever again. That means that future Unix projects can be programmed to new versions without being sued as long as they gave the programmers who created it credit. Microsoft will soon have open source code for their operating system. Microsoft will never put software for Linux because they will have to develop it free and that is against every thing Microsoft stands for. People will buy from other vendors. Think of it, if your personal computer you’ve bought from Dell came with Linux instead of Windows, would you bring it in and delete the operating system or would you use it? In the future, software will appear for both Windows and Linux.

FreeBSD 5.0 could very well be the cheapest of all the Linux operating Systems. This operating system is used mostly for a networking solution. You can buy this version of Unix at any electronic store for a mere 10 dollars. Unix Operating Systems are the same, because they have network capabilities, web browsers, an office suite and a powerful web server. Most people who want to run a UNIX web server would most likely buy Solaris from Sun Microsystems. People with pocket change would like NetBSD & freeBSD. Unix has the same desktop shells, KDE and gnome, as Linux.

SUN Microsystems [7] is the world leader in Unix operating systems. Sun has recently come out with their version of Unix, Solaris 9.0. [http://www.ehlis.com/adam/solaris/history.html] Sun is responsible for creating the first _Javascript for web browsers. In 1997, _JavaScript was first used to show the first mission to mars showing a slideshow on NASA.com. Netscape contracted with Sun to put their most recent version of java in Netscape Communicator. Now every web browser except Internet Explorer used Sun’s basic java software. I use java when I go on Opera and surf the Internet. Sun’s Java works fine for what I do.

The Linux platform is under GNU License, but any vendor can charge for the debugging costs that comes with releasing a new version of their operating system. It is very cool because all software that is developed in Red Hat Linux or Mandrake Linux is free. Although, you need to have the programming skills to program for it. I am going to debug Unix systems for a job. Anyone can look at the script and compile it. It allows anyone to be equal in his or her design.

Dennis Richie, co founder of the Unix operating system talks about a new scripting tool that will revolutionize Unix again. The project is called Plan 9 4.0 [8]and will allow multiple users to be able to change source code in real time. The project already has security built in firewall with network users picture on the screen. This will allow Unix like operating systems to be able to edit source code. Plan 9 can be good for the development cycle because the system administer can control from start to end on how much code can be edited. The program also has a glossary where users can leave their source code so it can be researched at a later time.

Since Microsoft is dominate over any other operating system, computer manufactures like HP and IBM want to team up with successful Unix and Linux vendors to keep generating money. Both manufactures make versions of Unix themselves. However, their popularity isn’t near the successful SUSE Linux or Solaris operating systems. IBM spoke out that they would support both companies. HP this sells Linux through their servers. So far they want to make their software as well as Redhat successful operating system has. Some guy quoted “RedHat is a 300 pound guerilla in this business” [http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,881,00.asp ]

Red Hat is a really big distributor located at a North California Campus. They are a profit organization to make a commercial version of the Unix Operating System. They are always looking for talent to up the technology of their version of Linux. Red hat has 5 campuses nation wide.

The following is my Introduction I got from Unix, which I got off my webpage. I never used it as a report so technically no one ever seen it except me so here is my review of Redhat Linux 8.0:


What does a Unix Network Specialist Do?


A network specialist is a member of bigger companies who control data passing through a network. He answers to the system administer. A good example of this company could be Yahoo. Yahoo is an organization that lists WebPages in their search engine. They use some sort of Unix operating system to keep their server loaded. Their primary job is to create a working network for Windows NT or FreeBSD using network cables for high speed T1 or T3 servers.


I. Installation (“A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux” by Mark G. Sobell | pages 208–211, 266-268)


Redhat Linux 8.0 installation will the single boot works as well as it did in Redhat Linux 7.1. The new setup allows you to pick if you want the latest version of KDE or Gnome 2.0 on your desktop. [http://www.gnome.org/] Does this mean more stable compensates? Considering that Redhat Linux 7.1 was more stable then Windows XP anyway -- it’s pretty stable in Redhat 8.0. When I booted Redhat, I made sure I reserved some free space. Redhat can take anywhere from 800 MBs of free space to two gigabytes of free space. All Linux users know how to load Swap, Ext3 partitions. I went the fast way, letting Linux install it self with the free space given. The option is on the installation menu on the installation disk. Nothing has changed in this area (that I'm aware of) since Redhat 7.1. There has not been one program which can with the box that wasn’t stable. Some online web editors have known to be unstable. One I know that is unstable is Blueprint. I was able to boot both Windows XP and Linux using Partition Magic 8.0. But it can be done with out. The key element is when you boot your Windows XP Upgrade Installation Disc into the CD ROM be sure to have the current Windows XP installation wiped out entirely. I got confused when the installation screen told me if I choose to boot a second Windows operating system with my current one. The installation process is easy. But be aware that KDE software doesn't install on default. So I had to check the software I wanted. Redhat recognized all my hardware. Which is good.


II. The Difference


Looking at the professional job Redhat has done, Linux is every bit as cool as Windows. Gnome Desktop version 2.1 is easier then ever. I guess I almost prefer Gnome to KDE now. Gnome has more a Windows touch. Icons seem to be more illustrated then in Redhat's 7.1 version. This is also what everyone else on the web says about Redhat 8.0, but it is true that Redhat made Gnome a little more user friendly. Gnome has a lot of help menus and show how the shell works. You can always click on the file menu. Gnome’s programs are all GNU programs working for the GNU Project. KDE, the other desktop is written in open source code. KDE is the commercial version of Linux shells. Both shells run all the programs on the other shell. It makes things much easier. KDE sort of resembles Windows. KDE has cloned every application that Gnome has including a web browser. A lot of people like Linux because they have the same file system. Your saved files automatically go to /home/student. No one can access your files if they have a different user name. It’s the security thing they have in Unix.

Open Office is the word processor from Sun Microsystems used in Red Hat 8.0. This processor is different from Microsoft Word in that it’s free and has open source code. This word processor can spell check and grammar check like Microsoft Word can. Open Office can import Word documents on IBM formatted floppies. It was better then KDE Office which crashed on me when I ran Red Hat 7.1 six months ago. Gnome makes an Office suite developed under the GNU Project including AbiWord, Gnumeric (spreadsheet) and Agubuis (similar to powerpoint.)

Take it that I am done taking the college class and learned how to make and change directories and files in Terminal. Even the terminal has been updated in this version of Linux. Everything that deals with file creation has been updated to 2001 / 2002 standards, which is good. That's why Redhat Linux 8.0 is bigger then 7.1.

Linux rarely crashes. But even if it does - it usually is because the kernal didn't mount correctly (AKA files didn't get enough electricity) and the system had a panic attack. Sometimes all you have to do is restart Linux. If you are a super user[9] you can go into the etc directory and find that security file that will do dynamics (some files may be corrupted and can effect your boot up) Like Windows, you have to be careful what you touch, because these files aren't replaceable. But a good super user in Linux will know not to customize the console even though that's what a super user is for. The user has to set a user and password for many users. All documented in the /etc/passwd. In many high schools, the server they use doesn't protect the system files. Linux is cool in that no one can touch the Root directory or /etc or /bin directories unless they have a passwd. It almost makes Linux fool proof. Then again, we use Redhat the same way a hacker [10]would use it. They use it because they know it's stable!!! Yeah, so I bet everyone knows it's not hacker proof.

The Pluses in Redhat 8.0


1.) A new office suite made by Sun
Microsystems. Open Office is more stable then KWord and does more stuff!

2.) Redhat updated Mozilla to version 1.1. It beats older versions because it doesn't crash ever when in 7.1 it crashed a few times. I noticed at least one enhancement that
made surfing the web better.

3.) The VI Editor makes website updating easier.


4.) Redhat now comes with more
systems files and drivers. I always had a hard time finding files for
programs I downloaded off the web. Now I can use more of them.

5.) Package Manager is easier to use. It is a wizard now instead of a client like WinZip. The gzip unity is also a good command to zip files.
6.) Still reads my gaming guides I previously burned on cd.





III. The V Improved Editor "VI"


Linux has all the power with a handy little tool that Unix users like to use as a text editor. Except some users use the notepad to edit text. Notepad is still great for taking college notes. Technical people use the Vi editor to edit files on Linux / Unix. Vi is like any other text editor except users can also use the keyboard to scroll up / down / sideways; yank /paste or build working command files. I know nothing about how advanced users can change how Linux boots by customizing certain system files. Most likely I would use Vi to read HTMLs. No need for updated software. Vi is updated each time there is a new version of RedHat.

DOSedit is outdated. You needed plugins that worked in the DOS emulator that is hard to find and not guaranteed to work. One of many major improvements Unix had over MS Windows. Until 4 years ago you couldn't find any advanced editor like Vi. Download the GVIM editor for the MS Windows.

In most beginning college classes, teachers don't except you to know the VI editor that well cause of all the commands used in the Kconsole or Gnome Terminal (same program)


IV. The Terminal


The terminal [11] is the text command line type window aspect of all Unix Operating Systems. The terminal is for some people are the opposite of most computer users, no mouse clicking, type everything. The terminal is also used when Linux (the GUI isn't functional) Type in the command to eliminate human error. Linux users use many commands accompanied with filenames in it.


Terminal Commands Examples


> cd /parent directory/directory - brings you up to next directory

> gzip /o filename - compresses file and adds it to the directory

> ls -1 - lists files in current directory with # of links / date / size

> dr - lists the partition sizes hda 1, hda 3 and Linux Swap unusually

> man 'command' - Gives a adequately description of the command your using.

> vi filename - edits any file

> tail -1 filename - takes the last line of a document

> cp filename filename2 - copies files to another file

> grep "contents" filename - this unity shows results on words found in files. grep can print sentences with the word in the terminal.

The Terminal comes with updated versions of common unities like Mtools (let's you modify Windows discs in Linux through the terminal) Redhat 8.0 reads any floppy disc with no problem. The grep tool looks at a larger range of files then in Redhat 7.1. It makes it easier then entering that inode number to find a file. The Manuel onboard Linux is a updated and documents all of 8.0 many unites.


V. The New Fun wear in Redhat 8.0


Gimp has completely designated the competition and crowned itself the only competitor in graphic design on Linux. If you want to draw and have fun drawing, Gimp has a simple drawing tool. If it is your favorite car or a sketch of a anime character, you’ll find that Gimp has it all. Gimp includes intelligent background color copying. It can do many effects such as remove red eye from pictures. Lighten and darken pictures is no problem in Gimp[12]. Yank a part of picture out of image and paste it. So basically Gimps an image editor and paint tool all in one! People are waiting for Gimp 2.0 to come out in 2004. It’s suppose to be more powerful then the present Gimp.

The games of Redhat 7.1 have returned. Some even updated. You can't really tell a difference between the old and the new. One game that is now aboard Linux is Chess. I wanted to play Chromium (a space shooter) but it won't run properly if OpenGL isn't configured. It was too bad because I wanted to play Tux Racer as a side game. One positive turnout of Redhat 8.0 is it recognizes the latest video card. I own an Nvidia Geforce 2 MX and ATI Radeon 9000. An operating system always runs better with a good video card installed. Else the fricken monitor My favorite game in Linux is Ksirlet. I play it only because it is a tetris game. Tetris is cool and will never die. Ksirlet is much harder to play then most Tetris style type clones. However the game increases its speed and like all games aboard Redhat. You have to use some strategy and a quick pointing finger in most of them. I also was trying to stack up points in that connect four games Linux comes with. Linux 8.0 comes with an extra space shooter unlike Maelstrom that's really hard to play. It's a more recent version of Maelstrom called Chromium. The overhead shooter is a great game. Unfortunately most graphics cards have hard time running OpenGL in Linux.


VI. Battle of the Browsers


Mozilla 1.01 [13]now replaces Netscape Communicator. Mozilla is like Internet Explorer in that it displays web pages with limited frame space. When I say that, it means that Mozilla cuts text off certain areas. Since Mozilla appeared in 1998, it has improved a lot. Sometimes it has a hard time reading _JavaScript from html made exclusive to Internet Explorer. Microsoft Front Page would generate html files with their form of html compiler. That cursed all web browsers build in Linux I use Mozilla composer for all my webpages. But I do most of my webpage editing in Windows.

The KDE shell has their own version of browser is Konqueror[14] 3.0.3.8. This browser can read html better then Mozilla. There is a problem looking at flash on Konqueror because flash won’t show up. Web surfing I guess doesn't really matter since both browsers can read html 5.0 source code. Mozilla has a html editor built in. It can recognize most webpages. Mozilla has the only html editor you’ll ever need. Obviously. Both browsers use Sun’s java applet. Sun, however wasn’t able to configure java so it could run java applets so I can’t see java graphics I made in Windows. I have a problem with not being able to see the same java script, I seen in Internet Explorer.


VII. Communication Software bundled with Redhat


Anyways, Linux comes backward capable with Microsoft's latest OS, Windows XP. Redhat can see Windows files and folders off CDROM and though a network. And this of course is good because it can read txt files, mp3 files and html files off Windows servers. Yay. Linux users praise you for this ability. One thing I've noticed in 8.0 is Network Device[15] control no longer a client like Package Manager[16]. It's more a wizard and knows exactly what to look for when combining Windows and Linux though a network. I had a little trouble having Linux recognize the ping that the host system had, but it works pretty well. That proves that the ping work. But I still haven't seen how to transfer files. Perhaps Mozilla could help me on that. Something like FTP://129.900.29.90 could do the trick.

I also like Gaim, which is the premiere instant messenger for Linux. It has all the instant messengers packed in one. The version loaded with Redhat 8.0 isn't the latest version. I recently downloaded the latest version.


VIII. Want to get to know Linux on a moderate Scale?


I learned Linux through a book called "A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux 8" by Mark G Sobel © 2002". Mark is a long time Linux Programmer whom helps create programs for the Linux Kernel for 30 years. His book tells of all the terminal commands plus all the System Administer key functions with easy to read syntax. His book is also used in technical colleges everywhere in the United States. I skim though many of these chapters are pick up many key commands in Linux. The book also allows me to look back quickly when I forget. If I didn't have this book, I wouldn't be able to get a B average in my class.


IX. Why should I go out and buy a new version?


In the end, if you haven't tried Redhat Linux 8, just go out and buy it. If you have Redhat 6.1 loaded on the computer and can't use my copy of Redhat 8.0, go out and spend 80 bucks to get it. But, of course, Windows users who don't want to lose Windows should stay away from Redhat 8.0. It’s a small chance that your Linux partition won’t install correctly. As a result, you’ll use all your computer data. But this is a slight possibility and shouldn’t happen.

In short, Unix is not Linux. But, Linux spin off of Unix is better. In my opinion, Linux is taking over Unix as a preferred operating system. Some people already now this, and won’t admit it for a reason that’s not legit, so I made this report to tell people that Unix is a thing of the past. Linux is the future.

Ian | rev 1.41 | March 19, 2003

Why I can't emulate Gamecube games on PC

Today’s main topic is why the Gamecube can’t be emulated on my computer. To answer this question, you first have to know that Gamecube dumps are absolutely huge. They have to be dumped onto you’re hard drive. These files are 1.5 gigabytes in size. I know because I was looking on Emule for Ikaruga and the game is 1.5 gigabytes. I’ve seen screenshots from the Gamecube emulator, Dolphin, which can run Ikaruga at 50 frames per second. I own the real copy of Ikaruga and played it. Ikaruga is very hard. But this would-have had been my first emulated Gamecube game. I doubt when Bob gets high-speed Internet, he won’t want to download 1.5 Gigabytes to this hard drive. I doubt that he would have this amount on his drive with his MP3 collection. I have good news the Dreamcast version of Ikaruga is only 15 MB. Or is it? I could be a fake! I tried downloading it, but the server was busy so I’m out of luck! What a shame this is indeed. Ikaruga is extremely hard to play, I own the Gamecube version, and I feel that playing the game makes me feel death is inedible when playing it. The enemy crossfire is pretty amazing. You play Ikargua, which is a prototype spacecraft, which shoots black and white bullets with similar shielding. The white Ikargua transformation shields me almost entirely from white enemy bullets. The black Ikargua transformation shields me from black bullets. The learning curve is very straight forward until you loose all your power ups in the first level. Then the game is a pain to play through. How can the fighter transform precisely in time when the black and white bullets hit it is the whole point of it. Mastering the shielding is very difficult at first. The game starts the player with 5 lives, I believe, not nearly enough to complete the game. I can not do it without cheating. It is impossible to stay clear of enemy bullets therefore the player must be in the line-of-fire continually. Most people without Gameshark / Action Replay will probably not get pass Level 2 in Ikargua including me. I have a very had time playing without invisibility. The game is made by Treasure, and was officially Sega Dreamcast’s last videogame.

My blog doesn’t have two side bars, therefore, it has more words in it than most blogs, and however, it doesn’t look as long vertically. For my second topic, and this one I am really excited to excess my opinion on. Yesterday, I was looking on the Space.com message boards today under Space Technology, and found an interesting footnote I never heard of - CATS. NASA is focusing its energy on CATS or ‘cheap access to space.’ I heard of NASA looking for a way to make space shuttles more inexpensive – I didn’t know NASA gave it a name until today. NASA has been known to develop technologies before they use them in space craft. A good example is the shuttle navigational computer. The shuttle needs to calculate everything from navigation to structural integrity. For this NASA contracts with one company to assemble satellites and space craft – Lockheed Martin. The purpose of CATS is this, have privately funded dollars put into the CATS project, and whenever NASA invents something new that gives cheap access to space, that organization can copyright mechanical parts and/or inventions so when the new technology (such as the newly invented solar sail) becomes profitable, the investors can cash in when the technology works. I think I agree with one of the posts that agree with the view: NASA’s top three priories are Finish ISS, Go to Mars, test and fly the X-43A. The X-43A can achieve MACH 7. The truth about it is - the USA only has a trillion dollar annual budget. That’s why American or International investors are so important to them in 2004 through the CATS program. We know one, Lockheed Martin.

Here are my thoughts on inner-planetary travel. The space shuttle will surely serve NASA for another 15 years. For one, we already have all of them operational. It sure beats researching a new space craft. They are well built despite the Discovery incident last year. And it takes a while for new technologies to be developed so my point is – well still have the space shuttle for a long time yet. NASA canceled the X-33 in 2001. The X-33 is developed by Lockheed Martin, and the prototype was 85% compete when the project got scraped. Recently, NASA successfully flew an X-43A rocket plane. This new plane can go very fast and broke the world record this week for the fastest jet in the world. MACH 7 although some say NASA is developing an X-43B that can go MACH 10. Ten times the speed of sound!!! Whoa!

Now I’m about the change the main topic completely! I wanna be sure everyone’s on the same page as I am.

One of the things that I was also doing yesterday was playing Star Ocean. The reason why is I knew this is an extremely hard videogame to seek out. It’s top priority for collectors, and if I did show up somewhere it would cost approximately 80 dollars or more Online. I’ve been looking at the instruction booklet of Star Ocean II – The Second Coming, which was on the shelf for quite some time now – since 2002. Star Ocean II is worth 50 dollars, and is a very rare find at game merchants. I only looked at the manual a couple times – never booting up the game in PSone to take a look-see at what the game’s suppose to be about. And I thought, “Well, I have nothing to do this weekend, so I should get into one RPG at least before school starts again.” I was playing Doom 3 yesterday since it is popular right now. Although Diablo 2 is still my favorite game, the trigger-finger-with- mouse feeling that gave the game its charm is fading away. I have little desire to play Diablo 2 anymore. And - then again - why get into an old SNES game when the 32/64 generation is much better, in my opinion, and much easier on the eyes. Not to say that old games like Star Ocean don’t demand strategy and knowledge on what skills to use. Sometimes even more so, because most RPGs of that era have ‘active-time-battle’ intergraded into them which means I almost always have to select my spell quickly or lose HP very fast. I’m tried to pull off as many normal (physical) attacks as I can because a lot of times spells confuse me. The games usually start your mage with piss poor spells to begin with and your character doesn’t have a chance against stronger bosses. That’s where Game Genie codes come into play. Using those I don’t have to worry about losing. Games are about being fun - not frustrating - are they not?

Star Ocean is the really late RPG for the SNES (1996). Star Ocean is supposed to have the some of the best graphics on the SNES. So I downloaded the English translation ROM of Star Ocean so I could play it with SNES9x. I do not own Star Ocean, but I want to play the game. I already know it’s not ownable except if you happen to buy it off Ebay. So I played Star Ocean since 9:30AM to 12:30 PM yesterday, and haven’t got into the game. The graphics are supposed to beat graphics of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III. Both are exceptional in their graphics. Star Ocean is uber-exceptional! Then, of course, you have 2D sprites in a polygonal background on Playstation with games like Star Ocean – the Second Coming, Grandia, and Tales of Destiny which surpass any 2D RPG on SNES.

I added a new logo to Modblog. The one you see now! It wasn’t hard to do in Photoshop. I also put it on ‘Ian’s Quintessential Blog’, and a few minor changes to the design. I haven’t updated the entries on that site yet. Sorry. I don’t have my cat pictures uploaded to http://www.angelfire...log2/renegadeviking/ yet. I will upload them soon. I like the new template I modified. The template has multiple tables inside tables. The site is dominantly white since dark text and whitish colors are in favor of most sites I visit. I have 4 major websites: ‘Ian’s Personal Webpage 4.0’, ‘Ian’s Square-Enix Fan Page’, ‘Ian’s Quintessential Blog’, and ‘Ian’s 512-bit Generation News Page’. Those are the major ones I’ve created within 12 months. I modified some templates on Geocities.com (which are still online by the way). I wanted a personal webpage that looked like IGN.com – a very modern webpage. My favorite color is blue so I try to have several shades of blue in my webpage. Designing webpages is a form of art – the colors almost always have to be similar to one another. Right now, I focus most of my energy on Modblog which drives people to my interests, of course. If it weren’t for Modblog, and gaming forums….I would just be another node in the cyber-universe. Do I rather not be heard or be noticed? I felt I wanted to write publicly instead of privately for the first time in November 2003.

I’ve been looking at other people’s blogs yesterday, and I must say, this web log idea is getting really popular. I mean look at all the good technical information Modblog shows. It has writers who keep up with software downloads everyday so I don’t have too. Do they do this for a living – keep updating checking for updates? The world-wide-web is vast so it’s addicting. If it weren’t so - I wouldn’t be in my office chair spending hours a pond end looking up information, and downloading upgrades to existing programs. I can write infinity topics from just browsing computer / videogame technology reviews alone. Gaming is driving computer technology further. There are just enough people out there who are willing to upgrade their PC/MAC to play the latest PC games. I’m a little poor now. I spend my money on software, and that extra gigabyte-stick drained half my savings. Those computer problems I thought I had with my custom pc went away when I re-installed Windows XP Professional. The Ethernet is now back online, and the sound works. And I don’t get those funny internal motherboard beeps when shutting down Windows XP.

While I was playing Unreal Tournament on Friday and Saturday, I found out it plays on a Geforce 5600 rather slowly, and it runs at the high resolution, but it doesn’t have a smooth frame-rate. This is a software issue. Reason I started to play Unreal Tournament is, well, I have a CD filled with downloaded maps, mostly composed of Capture the Flag and Deathmatch. I have Direct X 8.1 installed, and UT runs on Direct X 6.0. It is backwards compatible, but I get missing polygons in UT. Epic Games released their last patch for Unreal Tournament in 2000. Perhaps they should release more video card support in their next patch. Unfortunately, there more than likely won’t be another patch. I mean look at Half-life and how many patches that game had. Valve supported Half-life up to 2003 with their v1.1.1 patch. That’s six years of updates! The sound is flawed in some levels. The voices in UT sound robotic most of the time. But hey, I’m not complaining (mainly because the sound works and I’m happy). UT loads a lot faster than it did on the old Compaq Presario. It’s was a slug compared to my Dell PC. Graphics really improved, and all my 21st century PCs can handle Unreal Tournament easily. UT character models and backgrounds look extremely flattened compared to sequels, UT2003 and UT2004.

I have 80 dollars now! What shall I spend it on? There is one PS2 game I really want, and one RPG on Gamecube I’m unsure about. Both are RPGs. RPGs I’ll probably never play….but I’ll try because I like the battle systems and some times I like the cut-scenes also. With school starting in one week, I fear I’ll never get into it, but seeing how videogames come, and go as quickly as they do in terms of shelf life these days…I fear I will get one or two shots at owning them. 1.) Buying video-games at Wal-mart or Target or Best Buy during its short shelf life. 2.) At Game Stop or Toyriffic (videogame retailer) in Hudson and River Falls. First title I was thinking about owning is Tales of Symphonia (the sequel to Tales of Destiny II on Playstation 2) exclusive for Gamecube. And the very Internet-hyped videogame none other than Star Ocean 3: Til the End of Time which is due to be in stores August 31st. Okay, how should I put this? I never played Tales of Phantasia (SNES rom) nor that interested in Star Ocean yesterday when I attempted to play it. To tell ya the truth - I will get only one since IGN.com gives Star Ocean 3 a 9.5/10, and Tales of Symphonia a 8.5/10 thus Star Ocean 3 an exceptional game in most reviewer’s eyes, and Tales of Symphonia good enough, but not as good as Star Ocean 3.

The truth that Gamecube is more powerful than Playstation 2 hardware, therefore, ToS might be more graphically detailed than Star Ocean 3. I’ve been reading review sites stating that Star Ocean 3 is instead a better game in terms of presentation, graphics, story and game play. But from what I read in reviews, ToS plays a lot like Grandia 2. Grandia 2 was the first Anime RPG I’ve was introduced too after I’ve completed Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I only had Dreamcast and N64 before 2001. The only RPGs for N64 was Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask and Dreamcast only had Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia, and Record of Lacross War.

Why are there so many anime fanatics on the web? I mean I can’t read videogame reviews or read message boards with out seeing some sort of Anime or Hentai character in banner form. Forums are littered with them. There is this idea that anime is popular through-out the world or English world because there aren’t too many other cartoon styles except for Disney’s. Even worst Walt Disney is starting to make their own anime inspired cartoons. Kingdom Hearts is a prime example. You have a mix of Japanese and American animation in the mix together. This hasn’t been attempted before. From what I heard, Kingdom Hearts sold very well and Disney and Square-soft are going ahead with Kingdom Hearts II. Aren’t most adults old enough to realize that cartoons are over with? Instead the Internet turns it into some type of popular culture I do not fully understand. That’s the way I see it. A lot of RPGs have anime just like 10 years ago in form of sprites. For me it stops there. There was this one time one month ago where I tried drawing anime characters freehand myself. Ya, ok…so it’s somewhat difficult to draw, and even harder to draw the cell-shaded animation types in Adobe Photoshop 8. What I mean is you’d better be pretty damn good at Photoshop to make those professional animations like ones on the Internet. Making the cartoon porn too, LOL! I played around with Paint Shop Pro 8 more than Photoshop 8, and used the paint brushes in the toolbar, and I can’t get that aspect of it too work very well. My cousin called me crazy because I told him I was drawing anime that day. I never practiced drawing anime since then. I’m almost 20, and I’m too old for this sort of thing. Then some videogame historians argue that anime/hentai is for young and old a like. I disagree. However, my friend Randy really likes to watch Cowboy Bebop on Adult Swim whenever he can. I’m not a big fan myself. I seen it, and it the episodes turn me off. I don’t watch silly shows like that.

Here are some good retro review sites I’ve found today. I got a kick out of reading old games. Really made my day!

• http://members.lycos.co.uk/snesreviews/
• http://robsgaming.com
• http://www.shinforce.../genesis/Reviews.htm
• http://www.vgmuseum.com/reviews/genesis/

If I owned a Genesis I would buy….

• Revenge of Shinobi
• Shinobi III
• Castlevania Bloodlines
• Robocop Vs. The Terminator
• Mortal Kombat II
• Earthworm Jim
• Ecco the Dolphin

[Modified a day later (Monday)] I decided to run to River Falls to ShopKo, and invest 80 dollars into two RPGs. It was a hard decision to make – two games would fully drain my 80 dollars. I really wanted Tales of Symphonia so I paid full price for it. I wanted it because I really like Grandia II. I’m thinking that this looks and plays almost exactly like Grandia II. Another game I got for 25 dollars is Dark Cloud 2. I paid 20 dollars for Dark Cloud earlier this year – a real bargain. Pretty good deal considering how much the game went down in price this year. I don’t know how the game plays because I’ve haven’t tried playing it. But IGN.com gave the first Dark Cloud an 8.0/10 so it’s seems to be better than average. I’m excited to play Tales of Symphonia. I also ran to the River Falls videogame store and bought Secret of Mana (made from Squaresoft). I read the review of it on a retro reviews fan pages. I talked to the British retailer there, and I tried asking him about what SNES games are great. He says he first owned a Playstation then he bought an Xbox later. We also had a conversation on MAC 10 and Windows XP. I learned that Microsoft Corporation owns stock in Apple Computer Corporation. Aren’t they competitors for god sakes? Yes, his name is Nick who that funny British accent. The Midwestern accent in the Midwest must sound really funny to him too. To be precise, I am a lonely Midwestern speaking British-American techno loving citizen. We talked about Tomb Raider for a long time. He likes Tomb Raider. I got the general idea that Tomb Raider is big for Lara’s big boobs, and the fact Tomb Raider was one of the first 3D polygon games out.

Bye Bloggers!

nevermore!

Hey, I know a lot of you bloggers like poitry so here is my favorite from Edgar Allan Poe. It's sad, but it's really famious. Despite the fact the old man goes insane from "The Raven", it's a well writen poem otherwise. This document remains legal since it remains unchanged.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door
" 'T is some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;-vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

Then the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me-filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
" 'T is some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-
This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"-here I opened wide the door;-
Darkness there and nothing more."

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore-
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;-
'T is the wind and nothing more!"

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door-
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door-
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said,"art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore-
Tell me what they lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled the ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning-little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door-
Bird or beast upon the culptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered-not a feather then he fluttered-
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before-
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore-
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden more
Of 'Never-nevermore.' "

But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore-
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloating o'er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee-by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite-respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh, quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird or devil!-
By that Heaven that bends above us-by that God we both adore-
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant
Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting-
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!-quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted-nevermore!

P.S. I hate pasting other people's work, except I like the idea about the Raven. It is obviously about death and the point of it is everyone dies. Besides, blogging is one's own opinion, of course, so likewise, it's not good to copy other people's stuff for my own. I, myself, could never write a good poem nor would I want too.

Got Doom 3 | Phantasy Star out for PC in Japan

Bring on the weekend. Or so I once thought. Pierce County Fair was this weekend, but I decided not to go. The Pierce County Fair is one tenth the size of the Minnesota State Fair. It goes on for 3 days. There are monster truck rallies, dirt bike racing, and tractor pulls held there every year. Tractor pulls! Instead, I played Doom 3. Of course, I bought the game. The retail version is surprisingly stable. There are few slow downs in the game except I can play it at 1600x1200 with high textures, and 2x anti-analyzing The textures are such a high resolution that 4x anti-analyzing doesn’t look any different from 2x anti-analyzing. Normally it does. One of the reason for this is the resolution is so high that there are unheard of polygons rates - about 40,000 of them on screen. I got to alpha labs part 1. I couldn’t find the access card to get pass a door so I’m stuck, and always die from ambushes. I know – the point of the game is to have the enemies jump out at you. I admit, Doom 3 is never boring. The lighting effects are out of this world, more advance than Unreal Tournament 2004 – not by much though. I mean I’ve seen better, but not in my game collection. I like how the viewing monitors have video going, and still go on after the outbreak. What’s up with that “Chicken Puncher 3” arcade game that looks like it’s running on the really old doom engine? It’s stupid. Of course, I could cheat in the console (CTRL+ALT+~), and type in ‘GOD’ to be invincible, but this would not sharpen my shooting skills and alertness. It would make them worst. If you haven’t played much doom 3 at its level of difficulty than you might fall victim to many, many blood-thirty demons that hide in the dark (AKA nightmarish, nightwalkers). Most appear out of no where, and then resurrect when you come back to haunt you once more. Well, the game is rated mature, and Doom is known for very gory, and uncanny demon-spawn creatures. Damn, these things don’t stay died. Anyways, it’s a fun game. Addictive, if you don’t have a fit about the game’s hard difficulty. Even Recruit difficulty (Easy mode) is hard in Doom 3. Ranks up there with Halo’s difficulty. The game has revolutionary graphics engine (called the Doomsday engine), and the game play is a bit above average too, but nothing to get really excited about. No doubt, first person shooters in the USA are an above average genre, and there are several innovations in 2004 that 5 year old first person shooters like Unreal Tournament, and Quake 3 Arena don’t have. Not to say that they aren’t fun. Doom 3 has twice as many features as those games. It’s not just about picking up a weapon, and shooting anymore. I now have all sorts of things in my inventory such as access keys, and a PDA that downloads data from many terminals throughout the Mars facility. Modblog isn’t a place for a full review of the game. My personal (Geocities) webpage is. I believe Americans prefer first person shooters over racing pc games or role playing games. Most Americans have a little of each. And there will always be patches that’ll add maps, features, and stability to Doom 3. The retail version is stable by itself. The game never crashed on me at all, and seems to very compatible with all recent video cards that are 64-bit or better.

I got a new cat whom we named Amberious was found on the front porch yesterday. Amberious is a 2 month old kitten, but we call all our kittens – cats. Actually, the mother was roaming around the back yard days before. We live by a farm with farm cats. No doubt it’s where the mother cat came from. I said, “Well, Mom - the cat’s free.” Our last cat, Sassy, didn’t live very long. She was about 2 years old when she died. The illness was caused by an unknown poisonous substance. Something caused the cat to have a stroke (which it lived through) so the vet killed it to prevent further misery. She had saliva spilling out of her mouth. Sassy never wanted to be held therefore she wasn’t a good lap cat. Sassy wasn’t expected to live more than two weeks after her illness. Amberious likes to be held, and very affectionate, therefore a wonderful lap cat. I’ll post a picture of both of them at http://www.angelfire.com/blog2/renegadeviking/. Angelfire will not allow me to direct link the image with Modblog using an IMG tag. Mom brought them to the vet for rabies shots. We found a black kitten, probably Amberious’s sister, on the door, we took her in as well. He is a yellow / white cat who I’ve mistaken for a female cat. Then we have this other cat who is mostly black with a white chest like Sassy was. Sassy was full grown when she died, and maybe Iris will look a lot like her.

David and I were on messenger Friday. He is building a new plastic model airplane of an X-35. I had to guess a couple of times of what it was, and I got as close as saying an X-31. I thought it ran in the fighter category. The F-14 is a really solid aircraft, but it’s very expensive to manufacture from what I’ve been told. It’s manufactured by Lockheed Martin. A place where to US Governments goes for all their military aircraft needs. The F-16 Strike Eagle is the most popular since it is easy to control and very powerful, and most cost-efficient. The X-35 is suppose to be even more cost efficient than the F-16 Strike Eagle. David says the X-35 is the first joint-strike aircraft. Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) means it’s be used by the US Marines, US Airforce, and US Navy. The first American squadron is supposed to be around in 2008. The most powerful American aircraft out is the F-22 Raptor, and that thing’s is extremely high-tech. It can out gun / out maneuver, out radar, out run all the competition. The F/A 22s in existence have never seen action yet. I’m not an airplane person so I don’t know much about it. I hear it’s every pilot’s dream to fly one from what I’ve heard on the History Channel. The Aircraft’s armor and weapon systems are classified. Only the prototypes are out now. Other countries Lockheed Martin is sharing technology to reduce manufacturing costs are Australia, Royal Navy, Canada, Russia, and Israel. The US Government is going to purchase 3,000 of these as well as 2,000 international purchases to boot. The engine powering the jet is the modified F-22 Raptor engine, the Pratt & Whitney F112. What’s also fascinating is the X-35 can do vertical landings. It serves as a part-time helicopter which is also neat! What’s also interesting is new aircraft, X-35 being the first, is using IMF for real-time modification from talented aerospace designers around the world using the Internet. My guess is that IMF could be something as simple as a 128K encrypted webpage with information evolving the aircraft model, and probably a message board as well. Or it could be a FTP server with username / password / IP identity security protocols.


Photo: X-35c Navy version

Check out this very interesting site:

• http://www.lockheedmartin.com – talks a little about the company’s history, projects including fighter jets, satellites, NASA jets, combat gear. Very interesting stuff. They have information on the planes like what records they broke, when they were created, but the specs barely scratch the service. So don’t think this site will tell you the real facts about their projects because you’re not gonna get any.

Lockheed Martin is responsible for several military satellites including the most powerful one, the Lockheed Titan. NASA contracts with Lockheed for the Hubble Space Telescope, the Space Shuttle, and several military aircraft including F16, F/A-22 (most advanced fighter), X-33 (next generation space shuttle), the famous U2 spy plane, and X-35.

I’m getting off topic here, but I compressed more movies in DivX. I’ve got the first 3 episodes of Band of Brothers encoded in DIVx. I plan to have one episode per CD - making a total of 10 CDs. With only an hour of video on CD, I can increase the image quality to 800/600 at 1200 KBPS. This is medium video quality. I guess I could use Xvid for compression, but I never encoded video in Xvid 1.0.1 before. I’m going to use something that I know will not compromise speed for video glitches, and the infamous delayed sound effect in compressed video. Band of Brothers DVD collection is my Dads, but this way I will have my own copy of the epic WWII saga. I could put 2 episodes on DVD compressed in DIVx 5.1.1. For one, the image gets errors at resolutions higher than 800x600 - such as badly deteriorated image parts in the film. Although I haven’t tried a lower resolution like 640x480 at 1400 KBPS. A compressed video should be no more than 2000 KBPS. Works well for the both of us. We also have The Longest Day, Patton, The 6th of June, and Saving Private Ryan on DVD.

Today is Monday. I downloaded 400MB worth of PC game patches off the WITC’s T1 server including Battlefield 1942, Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Far Cry version 1.2. The fricken technicians were able to put an administrator password on all mass storage devices like thumb drives. This makes me mad. I’ve been doing this before. I left without asking for the password since the librarians would know that I downloaded stuff, and two, it wouldn’t really matter because PC already erased my downloads. I was afraid this would happen. Well, school starts in 2 weeks so that’ll give me access to all the computers. With luck, maybe I can find a PC running Windows 2000, which will give me access to thumb drives.

Top 3 videogames I’m playing:

• Doom 3
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• Unreal Tournament

I was looking at movie reviews so I looked up the worst movies I could think of are “The Hulk”, “Tomb Raider”, “The Time Machine”, and “Star Troopers 2 - Hero of the Federation” at http://rottentomatoes.com. I neglect seeing any horror film before 1970 because it gets pretty stupid. Don’t you like it when the movie sticks from the Rotten Tomatoes review, and then you get someone on the board say,” Uh…yeah, I really like the movie.” I have a strange taste for favorite movies. I like War films from 50 years ago such as The Longest Day, Green Berea, In Harm’s Way, Kelly’s Army, Tora, Tora, Tora to name a few. So my point is they’re not worth reviewing, because everyone has their own opinion and that’s how it’ll be. I also check up movie reviews at http://filmforce.ign.com. IGN.com is a leading videogame reviewing website which also reviews Hollywood films, and anime films. It also has servers for Neverwinter Nights mods.

Other interesting news I found that Phantasy Star Online is out for the PC! Phantasy Star started on the Masters System in 1987. It was a RPG. Then Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star III came on the Sega Genesis. Phantasy Star Online is Sega’s first Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game, one of which brought the Dreamcast online. It was also Gamecube’s first online game, and since then been it’s strongest online title. It was also released for the Xbox. Now, Sega has a PC version called Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst. The game has PSO versions 1 and 2 on PC with several game play upgrades. The game will be released on 07/15/04 in Japan. I have tried connecting the Dreamcast version of PSO online so I could play with other players. The PC version will, of course, feature enhanced graphics. The disappointments are that it has a monthly fee. I like retail games with free servers such as Neverwinter Nights, and Diablo 2 because you can play them without having to worry about extra costs.

This is Ian signing off.

Double Windows XP re-installations due to trogan

Two days a go, I was going to get an Atari Jaguar. The thing costs 59 dollars used only because you don’t see them at all. Jaguar is known as the first console to be 64-bit. Some find it untrue since the Jaguar had two 32-bit processors that were more powerful than Playstation. Jaguar, of course, had full support from Atari although Atari did release some anthologies on other consoles during the Jaguar age. Jaguar was a monster failure although its software was more advanced than Sega Saturn in some ways. I’ve seen the console and Box at the River Falls videogame store.

Anyways, I came across Project Tempest. Project Tempest emulates the Jaguar. So far I downloaded Jaguar ROMs from http://www.rom-world.com/dl.php?name=Atari_Jaguar&letter=A, and ran them in Project Tempest 1.5. The Jaguar controller was very odd. It had a D-pad and 6 buttons like the Genesis, but 12 code buttons, and I don’t know what they are used for. Anyhow, I had to assign 18 keys to the keyboard to play Tempest 2000. I found out that the latest version of Project Tempest has issues with Direct X 9.0. I use an older version that uses Direct X 8.1.

After that, I played Final Fantasy for the first time on TV. I'm talking about the original. The title that started it all. I bought Final Fantasy Origins long time ago, but I never got a chance to play it. So I played it today. Most noticeably the music is remixed, and upgraded to SNES sound standards. That’s nice. My warrior died in the first battle and the rest followed due to a man short. I should have had a white mage to heal him, but I choice a red mage instead. I’m more of a fighter than sorcerer/sorceress. The coolest thing about a Playstation disc is that it’ll always be able to run on the computer. Final Fantasy graphics are enhanced. All the backgrounds have are made of 100s of sprites. I was playing that for 8 hours last night.

I watched Bran Stoker’s Dracula yesterday. It’s not the traditional Dracula, but yet it has that edge in horror films. The 1992 Academy awards gave it 3 academies for Best sound effects, best make-up, and best director. Keanu Reaves was in it. This was early in his carrier, and yet he gives a better performance than The Matrix in my opinion. He teamed up with Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lector from The Silent of the Lambs, this was his next movie). The count in this movie first tries to stay away from blood, yet then he gets the erg to kill of his whole ship. A vampire has to go on a masquerade sometime, doesn’t he? Unlike other vampire movies, Count Dracula is human without the sharp teeth. In older Dracula’s, the count had his sharp teeth all the time. We all know Dracula evil, but some films make him more evil than others. Blade II must be the most evil vampire movie around.

I got hit with another Trojan horse. This time it didn’t allow Windows to see my own DVD-ROM drives. I got a mad, which lead me to believe that the IDE cable got disconnected from bumping the computer. I’ve “looked under the hood” and saw that there were no disconnections. My second idea was that I could repair the file system with the WINXP installation CD. This failed. This particular file that was infected was the DVD-ROM driver. Oh-no! This disallowed Windows to read files off the DVD-ROM during installation. So I reformatted in NTFS, and reinstalled Windows XP again. I was able to back up my files before something went wrong. I’m smart like that.

That’s not all folks! I got errors on my custom PC (the sound didn’t work) so I was going to reinstall the OS while I watched a couple Space Ghost Coast to Coast episodes, and laughed my heart out when suddenly the custom PC shuts off, and made a very long BEEEEEEEEEP! A shiver went down my spine, and without thinking I pulled the power cable. My guess is the PC shuts down when it gets above a certain temperature. So I played with the on switch a few times - it didn’t go on. Then I was saved 10 minutes later when my PC cooled off and turned on. I was scared for a moment there. And no, I haven’t over-clocked the RAM. In fact, a year ago I’ve changed the RAM BIOS setting to 233 MHz. Oops! My computer of didn’t work afterwards. I had burnt marks on my processor. It was an Athlon too. Other possibilities are the CPU fan stopped working or my SDRAM is not functioning. This wasn’t the case since after I turned on the computer an hour later it seemed to have no issues.

I played Unreal Tournament 2004 with the no-cd crack after the fresh installation. I can’t find the play disc. I play Onslaught and Capture the Flag. My Pentium 4 seems to have no problem playing it at 1600x1200. I play at experienced, but I have one lost in onslaught. My strategy is to go the opposite direction away from the bots, and hope that the other team is not going where I’m going. It’s a very addictive game. I die more than I fight though. The bots are extremely aggressive at experienced. My GPU is a Radeon 9800 XT. I think I left my UT 2004 Play Disc at Mikes, which makes it a little more difficult to play the game. I remember an error accruing when I apply the patch. This was at Mikes. But I do play that game a lot this pass week.

Seeing this picture leads me to believe that Doom 3 is all graphics. Look into his eyes and tell me that this model isn't 200,000 polygons. He looks like my Uncle LeRoy.

I have 40 Planetary Radio episodes now. Planetary Radio talks about space a lot. That’s where I got my very odd article about Star Trek 8 three weeks ago. The Star Trek episode in December 2002 was my favorite. They talk about warp speed, and the truth about it is we’ll never go light-speed in my life time. If you think about it, the world will be more populated. It’s kind of a trade-off. One-hundred years ago we were simpler people, set aside the Civil War, I only think in 2104, people will look back 100 years and say how the most powerful computer is 100 gigahertz and the average computer user had a 2.0 – 3.2 Gigahertz computer 100 years back is like comparing the 386 processor to the most powerful super computer today, the Earth Simulator. Right now we have such a thing commonly known as Head Mounted Displays or HMD for short. These are most commonly used with the DVD players to watch movies. You just ware a visor which connects to the Internet and you can walk into anywhere. There will be a choice of VR gloves and a controller. The gloves will work as virtual hands so you can type in a virtual keyboard. Plus, your self image will be in 3D so you can meet people real city in a virtual world. Much lower tech than the Matrix. In 2154, we’ll have VR units that hook directly up to the brain which will take DNA samples, and make a replica image of yourself which can walk and talk like you through virtual reality, and you’ll move around using your brain. It’s much better than seeing myself of TV! To bad I won’t be alive when someone revolutionizes a practical way to upload you into the Internet. I think those devices that make a 3D image of someone whose across seas, but visibly in the same room as I am will happen in my life-time. Except, your brain can be in the real world as-well. The Nintendo Virtual Boy could not connect to the Internet nor does it have any good titles. The fact that it had to be setup on a table alone made it not likeable. I suppose you could find leather straps and make a head holder. It would be clunky and very heavy. It was ahead of it’s time, but didn’t have color screens and I’ve heard the visor was heavy and the gloves often moved around in a wire-frame world. It is often said that videogame consoles will pioneer a product that will have virtual reality, although the Virtual Boy failed commercially. It is said that 3D Tetris was the only decent title on Virtual Boy. Gamers much rather use a keyboard, and a mouse or controller.

The HMD from Cy-Visor looks very futuristic. This visor has dual SVGA 24-bit color LCD screens. The visor can (of course) make images appear big to the retina thus making it seem like your in the 3D action. I want to play Unreal Tournament 2004 with some stereo speakers and a these visors. The new ones have 800x600 display (again if your not using military versions) with 180,000 pixels on screen. The website is here http://www.personaldisplay.com/english/. There is also this manufacture with makes i-glasses (a mid-level) HMD for the PC. These can play with consoles, and these are much better then the nine year old monochrome Virtual Boy ever was. I want one.

Except if I had that kind of cash, I would invest it into a better motherboard/processor.

The military uses these for training simulations, and hooks up to the helmet. The i-glasses are one of the units that will do this.

Oh yeah, I updated Ian’s Quintessential Blog today. Added new pictures, added boarders. Go here: http://www.angelfire.com/blog2/renegadeviking/ The entries in it are exactly the same as his webpage, but you might want to look at my sexy photo gallery complete with scrolling thumbnails all below 20K.



Doom 3 was supposed to be released today!!!! I plan to get it this week at Wal-Mart. I expect it to be 50 bucks, and I’ll be living the surround sound to an extent. I do not have the best sound system. Although if I turn the sound system all the way someone can hear it clearly in the garage, that’s way too loud! It’s a first person shooter none-the-less, but with state-of-the-art graphics and a powerful graphics engine – it’s bound to get attention. I think I’m good with what I have for another 16 months. People should know already, there are full versions on Emule, and I have a feeling that there will be a lot of Doom 3 ISO downloading! My guess is Doom 3 will defiantly use Securom 5x copyright protection.


Here are updated requirements for Doom 3 :

256 MB of RAM (512 MB Recommended)
1.3 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon XP (2.0 GHz Pentium 4 recommended)
64-bit GPU (128-bit GPU recommended)
4 Gigs of hard drive space


Sample screenshot of a 512-bit Graphic Processing Unit ( this one using Matrox Parhelia ) Reminds me of Ecco the Dolphin : Defender of the Future (Dreamcast, PS2)

If I were to get anything for 500 dollars, I would spend it on technology, it would be a 512-bit Geforce FX 6000, when the damn thing comes out. Games don’t need that power yet, or won’t for another 2 years. There is one 512-bit GPU out from Creative Labs called the Wildcat. There is also a lesser known GPU manufacture called Matrox. Matrox Parhelia is technically superior to Radeon 9800 XT and Nvidia Geforce FX 5900, and it clocks at 600 MHz. This is more than the Xenon GPU! Nvidia makes a super high-end 128-bit, and 256-bit GPU called the Quadro for dual screen displays.

Matrox Parhelia is technically superior to Radeon 9800 XT and Nvidia Geforce FX 5900. Nvidia makes a super high-end 128-bit and 256-bit GPU called the Quadro for dual screen displays. Parhelia is more for gaming on a single monitor although it can do two. This means if you want three monitors to show a widescreen display thus having one picture. Just imagine this using a HMD. I much rather spend 500 bucks on a GPU like the Parhelia than a headset that focuses light into the retina. The lowest Internet price for the 512-bit Parhelia is 360 dollars US! This is very reasonable for a really powerful GPU with two monitor inputs. This is very useful for monitor and television combos. One thing that puts Parhelia chipsets at a disadvantage is Matrox makes it and nobody else. Geforce and Radeon go under several 3rd party manufacture name-plates like XFX for an example. There are these specs on how Parhelia uses vortex shader 2.0 (Microsoft Direct X 9.0 graphics accelerator) whereas Geforce 4 uses vortex-shader 1.3 (Direct X 8.1). I assure you that there are little difference if both chips are both 512-bit. Most games are optimized for Geforce and Radeon so they don’t run technology on vortex-shader 2.0 yet. Both can run circles around X-Box graphics now-a-days. If you’re not a big graphics card person...I can understand this. I don't even have the money to go out and buy every new graphics card that's out.....I don't think anyone does. Not even millionaires do.

And it should go in this order for gaming rigs
1.) Processor
2.) GPU
3.) Memory

As far as school goes, I will be getting some class assignment assistance from student services there. The meeting is one week before school starts. Dad and I had a discussion on what I should do to improve my skills. I am on probation since I hadn’t got my assignments on time. That and the fact that I missed a good part of Linux, and was asked why I didn’t go to class. I again said this was a result of a minor misconception that I’d sent college credits in from high school, and now they aren’t counted. My first thought is this can not be happening to me. Yet it was and I wanted them to transfer. My guess is the school wanted money so they asked me to forget about updating high school college credits (Intro to DOS and Intro to Linux) into the system. I failed Linux, that’s why. Something’s screwy going on at the school. My dad I don’t think sees it. Chippewa Valley was a little easier than WITC. WITC’s version of Linux class wanted me to learn more commands. That’s not their fault. That’s not my fault. My school wanted me to be enrolled in college. And I had all these bad thoughts about not being in high school. College students come and go. It’s all in the past, yet I feel that I going to have a bad case of disavow here and I’m not liking it. At least my dad’s paying for the courses – that’s why I try not to complain about it. I wait for something to go wrong, in this case failing another class, and than something does go wrong at the very end. This is very negative thinking although it was somewhat true last year.