VT-Vincent

I upgraded my old HTPC to it, unfortunately it wasn't really a great experience. The machine was a 6 year old Lenovo that isn't officially supported beyond Windows 7 and it had some stability and odd USB problems as a result. On my new HTPC, it's running fine and it does seem to be a step in the right direction. It doesn't feel out of place as a desktop OS in the same way Windows 8 did, but there's still some UI work to be done. The modern/metro/8/whatever-the-f***-we're-calling-them-this-week apps still feel out of place and a little disjointed alongside the classic Windows desktop. It's also sad to see some compatibility issues coming up with older software, notably some emulators that still use DirectDraw.

I went from being a computer technician in a high school to managing a deployment of iPads in a middle school. They break them, I replace them.

Usually they have you install a virtual USB driver on the computer then install the printer normally using that virtual port. What's the model number of the router?

This is a tough one for me. Even though it was late, I ended up buying all of them over this last generation. The 360 is the console I probably use the least since it doesn't really have any exclusives I want or any compelling features. There may be a Wii U and Vita in my future (with a price drop plus one or two compelling games) and probably a PS4 at some point. The next Xbox though, I'm not so sure. It's pretty much a mystery right now but considering how the last generation went I could see skipping out on it.

Welcome aboard!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the support! That's something that kind of surprised me to be honest, when I first started this I knew of similar stories as well. For the most part, it did actually adapt very well. The only area that has been a little bit of a problem is around my stomach but that seems to be getting better over time. I think because I lost it gradually it adapted as I went along much better. A lot of people who lose this much weight usually do it quickly as a result of medical procedures so it's more of an issue. I'm glad to say the response has been mostly positive but there have been a few people that were concerned I lost too much or thought I may have been doing unhealthy things to lose it. I suppose that's only natural. I've certainly gotten a few double-takes when I've encountered some colleagues I haven't met in a long time, lol. I'd say the biggest motivation is actually all of the old photos I have, I'm not proud that I let myself go that badly and those serve as a reminder that I need to maintain it. There's also the financial motivation too, I've had to replace my wardrobe 4 times since I've started this and if I gained it back it would be quite expensive to do it again! I certainly have my moments of weakness, but I do actually allow myself one "cheating day" a week. That way I can enjoy the foods I like without derailing my diet. Whoops!

I've actually been using it since the launch and I've upgraded all of my machines. I actually agree with Microsoft that the Start Menu was under-used, at least in my case, so it's removal didn't really bother me that much. I will say though that the "Modern" interface is god-awful. It seems like the only idea Microsoft had in mind was to make these applications as useless as possible and waste as much screen real estate on the least amount of information as they could. Virtually all of the apps are completely worthless and inferior to their desktop counterparts.

As of late I haven't been very active here at 1Emu, or any other forum for that matter. I also haven't been maintaining my online projects for a while now. So what have I been up to? Well, it has been a project of self-improvement and one of the biggest parts of that has been getting my weight under control. At my worst when I started this about 2 years ago, I used to weigh 285 Lbs. and I'm only 5'11". I'm glad to say that I've made a lot of progress, as of a few weeks ago I'm down to 165 Lbs. Here's the closest thing I have to a before-and-after, the photo to the left is from late 2009 and I weighed about 260 Lbs there: So what did I do? To be honest there wasn't any silver-bullet to it. I just started eating better with very small changes, like cutting out soda or just ordering a little less fast food. Doing that alone made me drop about 30 Lbs in only a few months. That motivated me to start doing more like walking a mile or two per day and cutting out fast food completely. Today, I walk 5-6 miles per day and I track my calories carefully and try not to go over 1,200 per day. It it took a lot of time and hard work, but I have to say it's been worth it. Today my target weight of 150 Lbs. seems well within reach. If I could tell anyone struggling with this problem one thing, it would be to believe that you can do it. It's really tough not to see those immediate results but it's important to realize that even small changes do make a difference.

Welcome back, it's great to see the place back up!

The lowest I remember is $1.29/gal. At that price, I could have filled my car up for about $13 instead of $40

RockNES, an NES emulator for Windows was updated today. Here's what's new in this release: Download: http://rocknes.kinox.org/

I've been on my Samsung 24" as my main monitor for a while now, it has a max resolution of 1920x1200. I also have a small 17" 4:3 Samsung that I use as a second monitor and that is at 1280x1024. I'd really like to buy a 27" but most of them are the same resolution as my current monitor, unless of course I go to a dual DVI workstation monitor which would easily set me back $1,000 or more. If I wanted to pay that much, I'd just break down and by the 27" iMac I've been eyeing up for a while now.

RockNES, an NES emulator for Windows received a minor update today: Download: http://rocknes.kinox.org/

Sadly I don't see prices dropping much. The closest thing we have ever seen for a price drop was when we transitioned from cartridges to optical media. For a short generation, we went from $60 to $50. They won't drop prices significantly as long as they can still sell the game. They will only drop prices when they can't sell it anymore. It's really awful how these companies are just using digital distribution and DLC as a way of raping their loyal customers. A good example of how it could be done right would be Steam. The prices on most games are drastically lower than their boxed counterparts and for the most part the DRM scheme they use is fair. Why not make a service like that which people might actually enjoy?

Digital distribution is an inevitability and to be honest I don't even necessarily have a problem with it. Implementations like Apple's are actually relatively fair. They allow for use of any purchased apps on up to 5 machines and any machines you are not using can be easily deactivated. Unfortunately the console manufacturers haven't taken the same strategy and actually managed to turn it into a massive disadvantage. Considering how they are also interested in nothing but making money in the here-and-now I also can't wait to see how quick the online infrastructure of today's consoles is dumped when we move to the next generation. Sad to say, I don't think we'll be going back and playing any of today's great games 10 years down the line I'm sure Sony won't mind charging us again for them though in their classics store.