Ten Steps to Computer 3l33tness

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2005/11/28/path_to_pwn/1.html' target='_blank'>http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/200...h_to_pwn/1.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"So, you've just bought a PC from Dixons, or maybe spotted one of those superb online deals at Dell where you get a free photo printer or some little plastic thing called a USB key and you're thinking you're a god-damned freedom fighting adventurer of the Information Superhighway. You're elite, certainly not lame and you look forward to owning people a great deal. Well, the first thing is to stop talking like something out of the specials board in an Internet Cafe and start listening. So, in no particular order, here's the definitive top ten things you need to do to turn you from a fragile little newbie into an arse-kicking Computing expert."</i><br /><br />Some fun Friday off-topic humour to take you into your weekend. It's a bit UK-centric, but it gave me a good chuckle - especially the part about running 800 x 600 screen resolution. :lol: Have a good weekend everyone. <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=w00t">w00t!</a>

[Jonathon Watkins]

Nah, you can never have too much UKcenteredness. ;-)

I well remember the days of 1280x1024 on my 14 inch monitor in 256 colours...... :crazyeyes:

[Jason Dunn]

I well remember the days of 1280x1024 on my 14 inch monitor in 256 colours...... :crazyeyes:

Are you serious? It seems inconceivable that there would be a video that could do 1280 x 1024 and only 256 colours...let alone on a 14" monitor. It sounds like you were combining technology from two different eras. ;-)

[Jonathon Watkins]

Are you serious? It seems inconceivable that there would be a video that could do 1280 x 1024 and only 256 colours...let alone on a 14" monitor. It sounds like you were combining technology from two different eras. ;-)

Inconceivable? :wink:

It may have been a 15 inch monitor, though I went through several 14 and 15 inches at the time.I remember I usually ran my monitor at 1024x768 at 16 bit colours . A 2Mb graphics card possibly, around 1995 I believe?

I did not say I ran at 1280x1024 at 256 colours very often - but I certainly did when I needed to at the time.

I was given a mouse-holder that stuck to the side of my monitor - but never used it. :mrgreen:

[Darius Wey]

5. Never use any screen resolution under 1280x960

I never run below 1920 x 1440 (except my laptop which is at 1920 x 1200). I guess that's pure pwnage. ;)

[Duncan]

I remember I usually ran my monitor at 1024x768 at 16 bit colours . A 2Mb graphics card possibly, around 1995 I believe?

I did not say I ran at 1280x1024 at 256 colours very often - but I certainly did when I needed to at the time.

16 bit sounds more likely - but that would have been 65536 colours - not 256 colours (8 bit).

[Duncan]

Last year someone sent me an email complaining that FirstLoox didn't fit well on his monitor's max. resolution of 800 x 600 - and wondering what I was going to do about it. Short of saying 'buy a new monitor' (and pointing out that I had no intention of taking 640 x 480 resolutions into account either) I'm not sure what he expected me to do...?

That said - a school IT support guy I knew just a couple of years back insisted on setting up the monitors on our classroom workstations to be at 800 x 600 resolution - despite constant complaints. He insisted it was for H and S reasons - which was, of course, utter crap.

[MitchellO]

That said - a school IT support guy I knew just a couple of years back insisted on setting up the monitors on our classroom workstations to be at 800 x 600 resolution - despite constant complaints. He insisted it was for H and S reasons - which was, of course, utter crap.

The idiot IT guy at my school does the same thing. All 17"ers are on XGA, and 15" on SVGA, and the security restrictions that student accounts have (We use Win2000) mean we can't access the control panel, display properties or anything like that. So.....

I made a program using VB6 and various stuff I found on the net that lets me change the res to anything I want. I gave it out to all my friends :D

XGA on 15" and SXGA on 17" isn't too bad.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I remember I usually ran my monitor at 1024x768 at 16 bit colours . A 2Mb graphics card possibly, around 1995 I believe?

I did not say I ran at 1280x1024 at 256 colours very often - but I certainly did when I needed to at the time.

16 bit sounds more likely - but that would have been 65536 colours - not 256 colours (8 bit).

OK, a 2Mb graphics card can do:

1280x1024 @ 8-bit = 256 colours
1024x768 @ 16-bit = 65,536 colours
800x600 @ 24-bit =16.7 million colours

I ran at all of these at diffent times when I needed to. Why the disbelief?

[Janak Parekh]

I ran at all of these at diffent times when I needed to. Why the disbelief?
Sorry, I wasn't reading the boards last night. I was going to say I've run the exact same configs back in the day when I had my Cirrus chipset graphics cards (http://www.devo.com/video/manufacturers.html). Jonathon is definitely correct. Although running 1280x1024, 8-bit on even a 15" CRT was painful... 8O

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

I was given a mouse-holder that stuck to the side of my monitor - but never used it. :mrgreen:
Oh man, those things were everywhere in the early 90s -- back in the day when you'd be in DOS most of the time and occasionally ran Windows.

--janak

[Duncan]

I ran at all of these at diffent times when I needed to. Why the disbelief?
Sorry, I wasn't reading the boards last night. I was going to say I've run the exact same configs back in the day when I had my Cirrus chipset graphics cards (http://www.devo.com/video/manufacturers.html). Jonathon is definitely correct. Although running 1280x1024, 8-bit on even a 15" CRT was painful... 8O

No - clearly you are both delusional. 256 colours? You'll be telling us next you had computers with less than 128MB RAM and really big floppy disks.

[Steve Jordan]

?? If I use an eyeglass cheesecloth to wipe my PPC screen, am I okay??

[MitchellO]

You could always use Google in l33t :lol:

http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/

[Darius Wey]

No - clearly you are both delusional. 256 colours?

No, I recall this as well. My old S3 chipset had the exact same features.

Edit: BTW, if you were being sarcastic, I'm not awake enough to spot it yet. ;)

You'll be telling us next you had computers with less than 128MB RAM and really big floppy disks.

Aye, I still have them. ;)

[Jonathon Watkins]

You'll be telling us next you had computers with less than 128MB RAM and really big floppy disks.

Aye, I still have them. ;)

Nah - he's being sarcastic. Duncan's old enough to remember the old 8 inch floppies - aren't you Duncan? :devilboy: :wink: