Creamy Arty

Phenom II X4 955 (was going to get a Bulldozer but everypony knows how they turned out) Asus Sabertooth 990FX motherboard (more on that in a minute) Radeon 6970 8GBs DDR3-1600 (G.Skill Ripjaws - great value, but I had to set the timings manually because they defaulted to 1066) NZXT White Phantom case (wanted the black or red but white was on sale at Newegg at the time) OS: Kubuntu 12.04 for just about everything, Windows 7 for all modern games and most of my Steam library; and Windows XP for some older stuff that doesn't work well with Win7, Wine, or any other emulation technique. Triple-booting is a bit of a pain, but I can live with it. I have one problem with the motherboard: it has a Realtek 8111E network adapter. This is only a problem with Linux. The Linux kernel includes the r8169 driver and as far as I know it works well with all NICs that require it, but it doesn't have the r8168 driver that I need for this NIC. So I downloaded the latest driver from Realtek's site. The installation script doesn't work, so I extracted it myself and added it to my kernel modules list for it to load at boot. My network adapter is still using the wrong driver. I completely delete (or so I thought) the r8169 module and blacklist it. It's still using it. No matter how much I struggle I can't get it to use the proper module. Most of the time my network connection works normally, but at times it gets dreadfully slow or unresponsive. I happened to have a PCI 8169SC Realtek network card laying about so I installed it, resulting in kernel panics I haven't been able to solve. I also have a wireless Realtek adapter plugged into a different computer running XP that constantly drops the connection and needs a frequent driver reinstallation. The moral of this story is don't buy a Realtek network card under any circumstances if you're using Linux, and even if all you use is Windows and Mac you should probably avoid them as well. Always check what kind of NIC a mobo has before you buy it, and if it's a Realtek 8111E, BUY A DIFFERENT BOARD. I can't tell you how many forums I've crawled through looking for a solution, and many others are afflicted with this problem too. Realtek has always sucked. We use a PXE at work for imaging computers and using many other useful utilities. We just bought a large quantity of laptops with Realtek network adapters that won't pixie boot properly and we've been struggling with reconfiguring the driver to make it work. If you're thinking of buying a cheap, store brand network adapter of any sort, you should probably pass it up for a reputable brand like linksys or netgear. Most of those products, Newegg's Rosewill network adapters for example, are cheap, re-branded Realtek devices. Well, the computer can become a bit archaic, but a rig that can smoke a new console when it's launched will always vastly outperform it. I built my computer sometime near the end of 2006, and it could decimate the PS3. Obviously the same was true five years later. I couldn't play everything "maxed out" anymore, but what I got was still far superior to the console experience. I wanted more, so in November of last year I rebuilt it with modern hardware, but there was no need if I was content with my already superior visuals; I wanted more, but I didn't need it. I don't know where people get the idea that just because newer hardware exists than what they have that they must upgrade. Or that computers require constant upgrades to keep up with the consoles, whose hardware never changes.

That's still more than sufficient for common tasks. At work we just replaced our last room full of Dimension 2400s. They had 2.6GHz P4s with 1GB of memory. Somehow they ran Windows 7 respectably well. When somebody went through the room and stole half of the memory they became almost unusable, and we were able to convince the brass to give us enough money to put some modern machines in there.

I love all of his hardware review videos. My favorite based on a game/series is the four-part Castlevania series as Castlevania is one of my favorite franchises from the NES era. Part the first is my favorite:

You should have substituted Sweetie Belmont for Rarity.

Inkscape and Synfig are cross-platform. They work on Linux, Windows, and Mac. Both are pretty good from what I've seen. Worth a try. edit: And they're free.

Or capable of giving it. I can't believe we have so many talented artists and such but nearly nobody who can sing respectably well enough to coach the rest of us.

My battlestation: Behind my coffee mug, which is sitting betwixt my headphones, is the latest line of McDonald's pony figures. Only Applejack is clearly visible. My desktop is hard to see thanks to the flash, but I'm using KDE, which I never thought I would love as much as I do now. I Love the flux capacitor on the front of your case. I like the way you have everything arranged, but that Dimension must be pushing about 8 years-old; at least the model is if not that particular unit. Might be time for an upgrade unless you've retained the case and put some monstrous hardware inside. If I can get an old AT system I would want to put some beastly hardware in it and take it to LAN parties; tell everybody that my turbo button is what makes it so fast. That long art print above your two monitors, the one with Celestia and the Manes: where did you get it? I must have one.

Not sure why some things are in there. Some of those things are part of bigger things that I copypasta'd but got broken into multiple entries. Who knows. Anyway, that's everything for today.

We now have composers creating breathtaking scores for games and full orchestras performing the music in some titles, and that's great, but in my opinion the NES had and has the best selection of music overall despite and partially due to its limited capabilities. Castlevania has always topped my list for best music on the NES.

True, but not when Steam is running the kind of sales they are now.

That's what I thought when OP busted out all of his knives. There's no way he can comfortably carry all of them simultaneously, and I can't think of any practical reason to attempt it. He must take two or three at a time. I just try to be ready for any situation. Got a flashlight for dark places, weapons for self-defense, knives for opening junk, and flash drives with all manner of utilities and one with a Linux distro to fix a computer when somebody inevitably asks me to. There's also my phone (Galaxy S III, so it's a tad large). All of these things I can carry comfortably. I don't carry them for any particular reason. The throwing knives are so light and take up so little space in that sheath that I often forget they're in my pocket. The folding knife is primarily for opening things for other people. I never need a knife myself unless I leave home without it.

The three throwing knives (well-used at this point) are kept together in the sheath below them; next to the throwing knives is an ordinary Gerber folding pocket knife. Then there's my driver's license, debit card, and AAA card held together with a binder clip. My keys are self-explanatory, with a flashlight and flash drive case attached. The case holds two flash drives, one is 4 gigs, the other is 32. I carry another 4 gig (the surfboard), one 2 gig, and two 8 gig drives loose in my pocket. Depending on where I'm going, I may also carry one of the following:

Joined. Anypony play Red Orchestra 2?

Canada, eh? Lovely place. My family has a small piece of land about half an hour south of Ottawa and I visited Prince Edward Island once. Nice people everywhere I went and beautiful scenery. Glad you're here; don't be a stranger. Can't believe nopony has posted the customary welcome yet.

If there's any place in the world not to be nervous, it's here. Don't be shy, look 'em in the eye. Or... us, I should say. Look us in the... Hello!

It certainly is like family, in some ways even closer. I extend to you my most heartfelt welcome and well-wishes (though I'm new as well). Hope to see you around; I know I won't be going anywhere.

I'm a level 40-something Drizzt Dunmer ranger, who specializes in dual-wielding swords, archery, and stealth. I haven't played in at least five months, mostly because I haven't had the time or inclination to play anything. After a one-week Red Orchestra 2 kick some time ago I stopped gaming almost altogether. Most unfortunate. And he'll tell Alduin, "I used to roast towns like you, then I took a hammer to the face."

I'm an oddity. I make a living as a systems administrator, I have a monster of a PC, but until November of last year I still had dial-up internet. Until last November I lived in the boonies of Virginia where I had no alternative, so it wasn't until the move that multiplayer became an option for me. Still, it wasn't until last month that I really began to get started. The only game I've played online so far is Red Orchestra 2. The people I've played with have been good for the most part. There's usually one guy criticizing everybody and flaming his whole team, but the majority of those guys say nothing at all except for when they apologize for a killing a friendly. It could just be the servers I've played on, I don't know. Thinking of getting into TF2 soon since it's immensely popular and I know there are a ton of bronies who play. When I was a kid, I knew nobody else in school who liked video games, electronics, or anything "nerdy." I was the only one. Not too shocking since I grew up in a very redneck area, but it was discouraging nonetheless. All those years I just wanted somebody to play with and who understood me. Now that all those guys who didn't used to share my hobbies have started playing games, I wish they would stop again.