NOVEMBER 2001 MINUTES ARCHIVE
 Ugh!!
What a week from hell… Everyone’s heard of “Murphy’s Law” I’m quite
sure. Well, last week I was visited by not only Murphy, but his entire
friggin’ family and several relatives too I’m pretty sure. Our main
SCO-UNIX Server at work had its tape back-up Drive jam, I finally got around
to taking the Server down early one morning to repair, then I booted it
back up... Well, at least I tried! As soon as the SCSI Controller
tried to fire up the main drive, sirens started going off (…Gee, that
can’t be good?!..) The drive gave it up right there on the spot!
Nice little pickle to be in. I pulled the drive, raced it down to
an Emergency Data Recovery Lab and they managed to recover 100% of it’s
contents and imaged it to a new drive. I race back, replace the debunk
drive with the new one, boot up and BooM! Right before my eyes, the
OTHER drive blows-up. Ohh! This is good! Off to the Lab
with the second drive, they again are able to extract 100% of the info,
but cannot image it to the new IBM 18 gigabyte drive because it had read
errors on the exact spot the data has to go. Bare in mind, this is
an old server and the new 18 Gig drives are replacing 2 Gig drives…
Since it’s an image they’re trying to move, you can’t just “copy” to the
drive, everything bit for bit has to go in the same spot. This is
like the lottery for the unlucky, it basically means out of the 100 foot
long pole I just purchased, the first inch that we’re trying to paint has
a pubic hair stuck to it (…anyone get that analogy, or am I way off
base here?..) Regardless, the third drive’s a charm and after
much panic, we’re back up with only thousands lost dollar wise (…which
beats our data being lost!..) I’ve had several people over the
years ask me if I know a good Data Recovery Lab, well, now I do and I’ll
recommend them to anyone! Their name is ActionFront
Data Recovery Labs in Toronto (…with several
branches around the world…) and they’re top notch! You can reach
their site at www.datarec.com.
In
other news, the Abattoir SuperFTP+ Server
and the Abattoir Portal Web Server
received some much needed attention this morning. Seems you Abattoir
Users are a tad hungry for storage space! After a short downing for
maintenance, we’re pleased to say the Server’s are back up and pumping
with another 60 Gigabytes
added to them. FTP your face off!
 The
weekend is upon us, so what's happening? Well, there's Hockey!
With a packed house last night (…including three gentlemen from Quebec…)
we yelled at the TV and had a great time, we'll be doing that this Saturday
too. But wait! There's more… For those of you out there
who love to watch the stars (…the ones in the sky…) we have a spectacle
happening this weekend that's supposed to be a cosmic show beyond anything
witnessed in history to date! (…not including that big rock / dinosaur
thingy that happened, of course…) In the early hours of Sunday
morning, the Leonid meteor shower,
which takes place every November when the Earth passes through the remnants
of Comet Tempel-Tuttle
and with that, will create a meteor storm of gothic proportions!
Estimating thousands
of meteors an hour, scientists and astronomers say this is one you'll want
to keep the kids up to witness. The annual light show varies sporadically
from sparse to heavy concentrations of celestial precipitation. This year,
however, should present an extraordinary display because the Earth, which
usually dodges the main Leonid
debris clouds, will pass through the heart of one of them, astronomers
said.
With
weather being unseasonably warm (…exempt in Winnipeg…) we'll be
able to view this in comfort. Don't miss it, it'll be similar in
intensity to the barrage Futureshop's going to get on Saturday. <GriN!>
 Greetings…
It looks as though we're going to have a few additions to the Abattoir
Family! Early this morning, the new female Chameleon (Princess Leia)
birthed approximately 20-30 eggs… At least now we know why the male
(Yoda) has been hiding in the far opposite corner of the terrarium the
last while! <GriN!>
Gestation period on Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo Calyptratus) is about
10 months after laying eggs, so if anyone out there wants a beautiful bouncing
baby Chameleon, just let us know… They're very easy to care for,
their the heartiest of the Chameleon family as well as one of the most
colourful, as far as reptiles go, they're actually affectionate.
Selling for as much as $200
in stores, we'll have a special Abattoir
Sale in 10 months, $5 each, or you can buy me a beer! <GriN!>
The MeatCAM has been beefed-up a good bit too! In case you've not noticed, we've changed over to a HighRez, auto focus, low LUX, Sony HandyCam and I've put the whole thing together to be 100% portable and wireless with a 2.4Ghz transmitter! (…stereo sound too, cuz that's real important on a WebCAM…) so the MeatCAM will be moving all over the place from now on, including down into LAN Central during the BTMs so the folk from afar can drool with envy as they watch how much beer, ‘er, I mean fun we have! (...Yes, there was Duct Tape involved in this project...) For you long time readers of the Abattoir, you'll know how lethal I can be when crossed by a company… The Electrical Company felt my wrath years back, Cgocable tried to get funny with me and found themselves not really laughing too much, now it would seem that the good folks at Futureshop are thinking they're comedians. Stand back, Meat's going in alone equipped with camera, microphone and tongue… Details to come, I'll not blast them now till I get details in person. Let's just say it involves a PalmV, an Extended Warranty that's been purchased because (…and this is a quote, word for word, from the Futureshop Salesman…) “You could drive your car over your Palm Pilot with this extended warranty and they HAVE to replace the unit!”. Well, a button's broke and apparently they're turning their tales on me (…not friggin’ likely…) Let the Games begin, I live for this crap. Taken
a peek at the BTM Registration Page
recently? Yuppers, even with the four added ports, we're filled to
capacity with people on the Waiting List… There's sure going to be
a lot of noise on December 15th, can't wait to meet some new faces too
as there's four or more newbies to the Abattoir
joining us, let's be sure to give them a warm welcome (…Rocket splash
is warm, isn't it?..)
 After
my raving review of Microsoft’s Windows XP in the LAN
Minutes, I said to myself; “Self… This
is the 28th LAN Party coming up and we’ve never actually approached Microsoft
for sponsorship, I think Windows XP Professional and/or Windows XP Home
Edition would make a great Door Prize at BTM28!”. So a letter was
fired off to Microsoft asking exactly that, if they would be interested
in donating a prize for our humble event and I waited for their canned
response. Indeed, canned it was… The reply letter I received
24 hours later was probably written by the same lawyers who write the 80k
worth of clap-trap drivel we all ignore when we install Microsoft products
on our machines, and needless to say, I don’t think a living organism was
involved in sending me the reply… I consider myself to be rather
intelligent, but after my eyes started rolling back into my skull as I
was attempting to read this reply to my most humble request, I honestly
couldn’t tell if Microsoft was saying; “Thanks for your letter, we would
be thrilled to donate…” or if they were saying “F***-off!”. It droned
on and on about how Microsoft loves to give back to the community, yadda,
yadda, and gave a list of “qualifiers” in order for you to be “eligible”
for a “donation” from Microsoft. Shortly after that list, another
list followed informing you of who is not eligible. Here’s a cut
and paste:
Huh!? Doesn’t that more or less cover about everyone and everything!? To embrace the “KISS” principle of “Keep It Simple Stupid”, perhaps Microsoft could save some time and confusion by rewriting their response as such; “You are not eligible for a donation from Microsoft if you are (A) Human, (B) Alive” Either way, I’ve abandoned that pursuit (…which is what they want you to do I guess…). If you would like to read what they sent me, I've captured it all and prepaired this little file for your viewing pleasure, it's a tad large, so I didn't put the graphic directly in the Minutes, Click Here. Since
the news of CreacH
moving out hit the streets, the race is once again on for “Abattoir
Roommate” and leading that race would seem
to be Cam (CorpsE)
Smith who’s been spotted circling around CreacH's
room door like a vulture and is now using the signature on the Abattoir
BBs of “The Next Generation of Abattoir Roommate
Technology” (…I hadda’ laugh when I read that…) Following
Microsoft’s Business Plan, I’ve compiled a short list of persons who are
NOT eligible to call the Abattoir
“home” and need not apply:
Space
is filling fast for BTM28
too, don’t be left out of you want in! We’ll be handing out our first
BTM-CDROM
at
BTM28, it’ll
contain all kinds of patches, programs, maps and the like to aid people
in getting up to speed a little faster during the BTMs.
Take note: Although we’ve tried in the past and failed, we WILL be
playing Classic Quake
at BTM28!
That’s right… Let’s get into our “way-back” machines and get ready
for a pixel slammin’ good time with the great action Quake
gave us years back! We’ve been dabbling with some Quake
the last couple weeks, and it would seem I’m hooked again! Get it
loaded and get ready to start pinballing people around the room with rocket
splash… I can see the gibs flying already!
 Quite
sure I'm not the only person who's purchased Windows
XP, but I seem to be inundated with real technical
questions about it lately from all over… You know, complex questions
like; “So… Any good?”. I've received so many ICQ’s and emails
asking the same question to the point that I've actually got a .TXT file
on my desktop I cut’n’paste to email and ICQ just so I don't go mental
repeating the same blithering over and over.
So! You want to know what Windows XP is all about and if you're machine's “worthy” of Microsoft's latest offering? Does it make a difference? Is it as great as Windows ME? (…if you could only see the tears in my eyes right now from laughing after typing that last statement! I think I swallowed my lung…) Okay, here's MeatMan's take on XP. First you have to understand, Windows XP is really just Windows 2000 on driver steroids. Follow the pattern of operating systems to date from Microsoft, Win95, Win98, Win98SE, WinME. These systems are all DOS based 16 bit operating systems, which is fine, but Windows XP is a 32 bit system built on Windows NT's kernel (…Huh!?..) Okay, it's faster, stronger and much more stable than its 16 bit predecessors… To compare Windows 95 and it's brethren with Windows NT or Windows 2000 is like putting a 1965 RCA Black and White beside a Panasonic HDTV Theatre Head. So, should you upgrade? That's the big question, big to the point of $320.00 at least. For me, installation was a snap (…shut-up CorpsE, I can see your grin already…) At least it was a snap after I actually read the screen… Regardless, my machine is now performing like it should, it's faster than ever, boot speed is great and it simply doesn't crash (…knock on laminated, compressed particulate…) and if a program goes astray, Windows XP “Handles it” like a real operating system. I've never been a booster of previous Microsoft OS's and I've owned them all (…and deal with them all day long at work…) but for the first time, you're going to hear me say something positive about a Microsoft OS. Get XP, it's well worth it and for once, their latest offering can actually be considered a “real upgrade”.
Okay fine, so what about the “no” part of your “Yes and no” statement, Mr. Meat? Well, XP will load the drivers, it'll make everything work, but if the support software's not there, that's where you come into trouble. Example: Take a peek at the MeatCAM right now (…hope you enjoy CNN…) That's iSpy showing the capture off the Rage Theatre Capture system within the All-in-Wonder Radion. I can connect my HandyCAM to it and get the MeatCAM back online, but I want to use my Logitech WebCAM PRO but there's no support program for it! Oops!! Lookey here, they JUST put them out yesterday! There's no ability for me to use my TV tuner, interactive guide and “Digital VCR” features of my All-in-Wonder, there's no support program for it! But! ATI's working on it. Game play is better, faster and more stable than ever, but I can't use all the features yet till ATI comes to bat. My digital photo printer's another issue, but there's workarounds. The point of all this is… Take all the major components you have and use regularly, go to the manufacturers web sites and find out if their supported or it they intend to support them. (…some older hardware is being abandoned by some manufacturers with regards to XP…) Point being (…again…) Windows XP has done what it's promised, let's hope the hardware manufacturers come onboard fast.
Just
another quick note: We've moved the Abattoir
SuperFTP+ Server and Web
Portal Server back over to the "outside",
so you can get back at it again, sorry for the delay but we needed it local
for a few days while we loaded up Windows
XP on a few machines at the Abattoir.
Don't forget, it's GAME ON tonight! |
||||||||||||||||
|
"Bringing people together... so you can blow them apart!" |
||||||||||||||||
We
have a new resident on the 
Will
everything I have work like XP
boasts? Yes and no. (…Huh!?..) I've got a hell
of a lot of hardware, from SCSI this and that's to super highrez bed scanners,
multiple printers, digital photo image printer, tape machines, capture
card, quad sound, UPS with Power Chute connection, multiple web cams and
the list goes on… Windows XP
not only found (…almost…) all of them, it had the current drivers
to make them work, and work fast! If it didn't have the driver on
board, you can bet it'll find it! I'm thoroughly impressed with the
OS thus far.
Which
version should I get? Well, that's entirely up to you, of course.
You'll have to take into account what you expect to do with your machine
and it's configuration first. Will you be using dual processors any
time soon? If so, then Windows XP Professional's
your game. Either way, check Microsoft's site for detailed information
on the features of each flavour before you leap.
In
other big news, I guess it's official now… John (