Tantalus

Nice Video. Very Hollywood. The USA should be fine as long as no-one else develops any improved technological systems and the 'Tangos' simply remain arming their troops with one AK47 and a bandana each ... Oh, wasn't that?.. doh, never mind.. Where there is technology there is always counter-technology (Armour Piercing vs Active Armour etc, etc,) but some things remains constant; The single most important factor - Personnel. The most important factor in developing those personnel - Training. Without men you just have inert technology and without training you just have 'civvies' in uniforms carrying guns. But it's nice to see at least one armed service getting the gear they truly deserve to protect the realm.. Still serving after 23 Years and I'm still seeing people without the right gear for the job.. Mr.Blair if you're listening, you're a c**t! ..

Here is a tip for those of you with one of those 'ASDA' cheap and cheerful DVD players to make it region free so it can play all of your 'special interest' or foreign DVD's .. This is for the Pacific DVD900. Use the original DVD remote control. 1. Insert your alternative region DVD (You should get the wrong region message on your TV screen) 2. press open/close (leave tray open).You can remove the disk now if you like.. 3. press the 'clear' button. 4. press digits 1,3,6,9,0 in that order. 5. press open/close (to close tray) and the DVD will now play. Your machine is now region free..

An Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ on an Asus A8N-SLI-Deluxe Mainboard with 2048MB DDR400 RAM, 2x 300GB SATA HDD and Two GeForce 256MB 6800XT Cards in SLI Mode showing their stuff on a 19" Viewsonic VX924 TFT(3ms) display, with a creative labs X-Fi Xtreme soundcard through some big Silver Sub-Woofer & Tweeters, oh and that Windows XP thingy .... Which is my 'customised' variant of the Mesh Computers R600 PC System..

Rather than start a new topic/thread I thought I would post here, as it is, after all, a server 'issue'. I note that you guys have no basic 'rules' posted at the server log-in window as some others do and I was wondering if you were looking to post some at any time in the future? If so I would like to be so bold as to forward some for your consideration: I get a little peeved with people 'nading' the spawn point with Artillery; this seems only to benefit the 'nader' with freebee kills to stat-pad, thus: (1) No Artillery fire on uncapturable bases. Campers on uncapturable bases are twats with no goal but to pump up their stats, but as Special forces have the capability to destroy capital items for reward they should be exempt, thus: (2) Only Special Forces allowed within uncapturable bases. Sometimes it is inevitable that you will accidentally get run over or be shot during a hectic firefight at a 'flag' by a member of your own team in the confusion to protect your assets. Spontaneously punishing TKers should be avoided, thus: (3) Consider the TK before you punish, was it actually meant? Taking a tank or APC to the airfield just to get into a plane/helo first is really a stinker, thus: (4) No taking 'Taxis' to the Airfield. Oh and I think we should have some 'admin' details advertised so we know who to whine to when the server fills up with absolute tossers... Thanks for listening...

Isn't it strange how these things come about - today I was fixing someone's laptop which had a number of .vxd errors in their start-up routine; this was a windows 98 machine of a good many years old and one of my diagnostic routes was to use this command to bring up the system files in order to check them out and remove certain corrupt network entries. 'sysedit' is a command which, when entered into the command line of windows 98, brings up the system files in a number of separate notepad windows; such as autoexec.bat, config.sys, win.ini, and system.ini (remember those?). Ahh, it took me back, I almost started to reminisce about 'MSDOS3.11' (Circa 1983), oh the power of that monochrome text was a sight to behold ... Nothing else - just being a geek thats all

Is it worth doing? That really depends on how much system RAM you have and the application(s) you are using. Rather than blether on about the particulars and functions of the XP pagefile, an article on XP's virtual memory can be found here: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm I draw your attention to the paragraph entitled "Can the Virtual Memory be turned off on a really large machine?" and the fact that if you take 'memory' from one place it has to be found from another, so if you don't have as much as the system desires then you are likely to face a slowdown or at the very worst a paging fault and no doubt that wonderful blue screen informing you that you have something like a "0x00000050: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA". So back to your original question, "Is it worth it?" ... to which I shall leave the honourable gentleman to complete the following phrase.. "If it aint broke ... " But if you want to 'tie-me-down' for a more specific answer: Generally the more RAM the better and the more you push/tweak your system, the more benefit you'll probably see. The majority of memory-use tweaks have the desired impact only in a number of special cases. For ordinary use, you'll probably be just as well leaving Windows to handle memory managment.

The lines of text you show above were created many moons ago for the likes of Windows 98 for the VFAT file system, they are no longer employed for the likes of NT,2000 or XP and the NTFS file system due to the different paging function of the operating system. The lines of instruction also tend to be application specific, that is some applications may seem affected and some not. To achieve the same sort of effect in Windows XP you would need to modify the paging executive within the registry, for example: "DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001, which would reduce paging of the kernel to the hard drive and thus employ system memory to greater effect. Microsoft published an article about their pagefile manager and it's function, including the use of the above commands, which can be found here : http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q223294 If you wish to try the XP registry edit, open up regedit from the command line and employ the following: System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management] Value Name: DisablePagingExecutive Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value) Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable system paging) This will directly affect any applications that rely heavily on the pagefile. Remember people, modifying anything in the registry can cause serious problems if not carried out correctly. You should export the registry before you try this tweak, just so you can restore it if it all goes horribly wrong. Observant as always. Tantalus

Christmas Day now - and still no-one ... Maybe I should go to bed ?

It's Xmas eve - anyone playing BF2 tonight or what???

Welcome to the 'outside' world my friend. I wish you success in all you strive to achieve and victory in all your conflicts. Salute.

Signature graphic is rather large don't you think? But, that apart, I note there is no illustration of Gas Blowback which is the main component of semi/auto firing.. I'm being picky - it's a military thing: after 23 years in service I think I'm owed it.. in fact I know I am, so get the f**k back in line soldier and wait until I give you the order to exhale ... oops sorry force of habit.. I'm off for a lie down...

As I am looking to play this online with some of my friends here at .TuG. does anyone have a server that they visit/play on ?

A Lot!! Prohibitively so if you really want it to go Airmail; But because of the weight I imagine it would probably have to go surface mail - which will take a number of weeks. You should also check that these items can be exported from the USA - due to increased import/export security regulations as regards technological products etc., you may find some things are 'restricted'. You may also want to look at the import tax regulations for your own country - Customs may charge you extra at the shipping point in order to meet your own level of Tax. All of these things can eat into any 'profit' margin - so be careful. I have shipped a few things over from the states to the UK and I didn't actually save anything; apart from buying an item that I couldn't get in the Uk. Good Luck though - Enjoy the building .. and get an anti-static strap before you mess about with any components!!

With a reasonable CPU such as yours I am suprised that you would risk it. Ramping up the clock speed of your processor by a few Megahertz provides only a marginal increase in performance. Given the speed of today's processors the only reason most people start to overclock (O/C) is to get those 'extra points' in 3DMark and so on. The main area's that improve a machines overall performance by a significant degree, are an upgrade of RAM or Graphics card - I'm not going to bother going down the road of SCSI drives, SATA or HDD Cache because it opens up a whole different area for discussion. If your CPU is 'limited', I take you to mean 'locked' ? Overclocking a locked CPU can mean physically altering the wired links on the CPU itself, normally with a soldering iron and a steady hand. I have done this with a number of previous CPU's (the Athlon XP1700+ was a great one to O/C), but without a significant improvement in cooling (heat sink etc) the machines were prone to either blue screens or freezes and sometimes they did it anyway! I would recommend a thorough streamlining of your system before you go down the O/C route; it may be with a few good tweaks you can get those extra points that you so obviously crave without endangering your whole hardware system.

The new site looks great. It should be nice and 'busy' once it becomes more populated with match results etc etc - Well done to Beaver and the A2 Guys.

I quite like the look of this... I may aquire one.. EDIT: In fact I did .. bought it today from mx2.com - sweet..

Nice gun sir! The KE portion of the XM8, like that of the XM29, is derived from that of the Heckler & Koch G36 - no wonder it looks familiar.. here's some soldier doing a 'catalogue man' pose with one.. all the pic needs is a price in the bottom right corner

Information for those of us whom are still likely to be in an arena to experience it: Objective Individual Combat Weapon (XM29 Rifle Integrated Air-Burst Weapon System) The ATK XM29 Rifle Integrated Air-Burst Weapon System, originally designated the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), is now often referred to simply as the XM29 rifle. The programme is supervised by the Joint-Services Small-Arms Program (JSSAP), under the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), directed towards providing the individual soldier with a weapon with the potential to replace the M16 rifle, the M4 carbine, the M203 40mm grenade launcher and the M249 5.56 mm Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). The XM29 is the lethality upgrade to the US Army's Land Warrior (LW) system for the dismounted soldier. It is also an integral part of the US Army's transformation to the Future Combat System (FCS). In March 1998, following four years of Advanced Technology Demonstration effort, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) was selected to proceed into Phase IV of the project to build the XM29 system and ammunition. ATK is the prime contractor responsible for total weapon-system integration and 20 mm High-Explosive Air-Bursting (HEAB) ammunition development. Brashear LP of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is responsible for the development of the Target Acquisition/Fire-Control (TA/FC) system. Heckler & Koch GmbH of Germany is designing and manufacturing the weapon. Dynamit Nobel Defence is responsible for the Kinetic-Energy (KE) ammunition improvements. Octec of the UK is providing laser steering/tracking for the TA/FC system. As a result of the implementation of a Program Definition and Risk-Reduction (PDRR) contract, rather than the previously agreed 'streamlined acquisition approach', the first fielded date is now expected to be FY09 rather than the original FY07. As part of the PDRR contract, five full prototypes are to be manufactured before the programme enters EMD, during FY04. Some redesign from the existing design outlined below is to be introduced, and what are described as 'additional' capabilities are to be introduced. Known centres of attention include a revised Laser Range-Finder, a Digital Camera, a Combat Identification System, Integrated Thermal Fire Control and Laser Illumination. Preplanned production improvements include Multifunctional Lasers and revised Battery Technology. Live-firing tests of the redesigned XM29 are to take place at Aberdeen Proving Ground at the end of FY03. It is planned that each US Army nine-strong infantry squad will have four members equipped with the XM29. Under current plans, the US Army is expected to procure from 20,000 to 40,000 weapons. Description: The XM29 is the next-generation infantry weapon that will combine the lethality of 20 mm air-bursting munitions, 5.56 mm NATO ammunition and a unique TA/FC system to defeat targets at extended ranges. The XM29's modular construction allows it to be fired as an integrated weapon system or separated for independent 5.56 or 20 mm firing. The current XM29 weight is approximately 8.17 kg loaded. Measures are being introduced to reduce this to approximately 6.81 kg, fully loaded, by the end of the PDRR contract and to a maximum of 6.36 kg before entering production. Compared to the M16 rifle family, the XM29 doubles the standoff range, provides a 500-plus per cent increase in probability of incapacitation, permits a reduction in the soldier's load, and increases significantly combat versatility and survivability. Recoil is stated to be one-third of that of an M14 rifle. Field stripping of the weapon takes less than two minutes. The 5.56 mm component is being used as the basis for the XM8 lightweight assault rifle (see separate entry). On the XM29, the 5.56 mm steel barrel is 254 mm long. On the 20 mm, the barrel is 457 mm long and is manufactured using titanium. The laser range-finder within the TA/FC unit delivers precise target ranging, which it communicates autonomously to the 20 mm HEAB ammunition. Laser ranging accuracy is ?0.5 m out to 500 m and ?1 m out to 1,000 m. The 20 mm HEAB rounds offer full defilade capability and can be programmed for a variety of effects, such as self-destruct, Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) short-arm, point detonation and point-detonation delay. As part of the PDRR, the TA/FC system will be able to transmit laser range-finder data directly to the fuze in the 20 mm HEAB round. Iron sights are provided as an emergency backup. The time of flight to 1,000 m for the 20 mm HEAB grenade is 5.5 seconds. The fuze operates on the turn-count principle. Ballistically matched training as well as high-explosive grenades are being produced. Cyclic rate of fire for the 5.56 mm component is up to 850 rds/min delivered in two-round bursts and is up to 10 rds/min for the 20 mm grenades. Specifications: Weight, loaded: 8.17 kg Barrel lengths: 5.56 mm steel: 254 mm 20 mm: 457 mm Time of flight: 20 mm HEAB grenade, 5.5 s to 1,000 m Rates of fire, cyclic: 5.56 mm: up to 850 rds/min 20 mm: up to 10 rds/min

Thank you very much. I would hope to be able to 'Radmin' the Server to configure Map Rotation(s) etc. Our previous set-up was excellent - with multi-colours and 'advert' scripts detailing our website etc it was always a busy server - even for one so far away (USA); having one in Europe would achieve superb ping rates and attract higher numbers... I look forward to it - pity I only have the weekends nowadays

YES PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ THANK YOU

Anywhere I can find a relatively low ping server (and one with Tanks!) - Look out for my pseudonym of "Chimera-Incognius" Play takes place on the weekends only due to work. EDIT: If you have ASE it's easier to find me!!

I've just re-installed this game again - why? because it's fun, you get to drive Tanks and shoot people and (again) because it's fun. BF2 and CS:S have got to be so up-their-own-ass competitive I have uninstalled them from my machine and resigned them to the shelf in the spare room where I keep my other "maybe in a month or two" games.. I'm back to CoD:UO and back to actually having fun See you in Hell Fritz!!!

Ah yes I know them well, I have an P4 EVO D310 that I bought from a mate for ?150 - I added a new AGP card, some more DDR a wireless network adapter and now have it as a 'Guests' PC in one of my spare bedroom's; a games machine it aint but it does the job for what most people want ie Internet Access, Word Processing and is a reasonable performer for a business machine.. But I feel you're gonna have to start saving up and collecting hardware in order to build yourself a nice new 'customised' games machine to go around that lovely graphics card of yours ..

If Maplins don't have one then this site MRG Distribution have them at ?1:99 with FREE delivery.. As for the PSU issue just have a look on the label on your present one and it will tell you - often the model number is an indication eg PT350H could be a 350w and so on.. Pictures included below illustrate where & what to look for on a couple of different label types..

Have you attached the card's own power connector to your internal power leads within your case? Normally there is an 'adapter' (known as a Molex Splitter) lead that comes with the card to allow it to be connected in parallel with one of your other devices power connectors (like the CDRom for example).. I have uploaded a graphic to my webspace and have indicated the power connector along with a photo of a Molex Splitter below.. Power Connector: Molex Cable: **A Molex Splitter will normally have 3 or even 4 Molex Connections (the picture above only shows 2) The cards require one of these due to their high power draw when rendering some of the high-end graphics required in todays games - for example while the AGP slot supplies up to 45 watts, a GeForce 6800 Ultra draws up to 110 watts under full load!!! In these instances you should have nothing less than a 450W power supply... ..in the case of an X800 XT the absolute minimum is 350W but you'll be putting a lot of strain on the PSU.