Technophile Monkey

Anarchy Online bugs out when patching newer versions in the 17.x series under WINE. The exact error is “An unsupported operation was attempted”. If you’re willing to install IE 6.x under WINE using ies4linux, however, you can fix that issue:

1. Install ies4linux, IE 6.0 is enough in this case.
2. Grab a terminal, change to your Anarchy Online directory (somewhere in .wine) and start Anarchy Online the following way, replacing “username” with your username, of course: WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.ies4linux/ie6" wine Anarchy.exe

There you go, you’re happily patching. AO still runs very, very well under WINE, rejoice.

This seems to be an obscure problem, but the solution has actually been around since at least May, posted by Evil Jay in the WineHQ forums.

With the impending release of Fallout 3, I think I will finally give in to Steam and buy the game there. I would much rather have a boxed game, even better the collector’s edition. But the local distributors in Switzerland seem to believe that the only language that exists is German, and so the version of Fallout 3 they sell is German-only. So is the collector’s edition.

Most games, especially Bethesda games, are very badly translated to German and so playing a German translation removes much of the fun and atmosphere. Bethesda also has a history of completely forgetting to translate a lot of text strings, so you end up with a part-English, part-German hybrid that sometimes switches languages (and voices) in mid-dialog. Not fun.

Fortunately, Steam isn’t as stupid as our local distributors and has all the language versions intact. Whee, Steam. I haven’t checked prices for importing the English-language boxed version from the UK or the US, but I’m sure that can’t beat Steam’s price. Importing involves not only shipping cost, but a customs fee as well (10 francs) and sometimes completely intransparent handling fees, so it can’t really be very interesting.

Update: An old pal informed me that World of Games have now started stocking Fallout 3 in English as well. They didn’t have that listed when I checked! So for anyone who is equally pissed off about the censored/badly translated German versions, head to WoG. Thanks, Urs!

There was complete silence from Fujitsu-Siemens about their laptop developments for quite a while, but it turns out that all is well: Their selection was reworked, the Esprimo Mobile line completely redesigned and both product lines were fitted with the Centrino 2 platform from Intel.

Reviews so far are quite convincing: The new Fujitsu-Siemens devices are fast, stable work machines with long warranties. The new Lifebook S7220 also fills a gap in the market; it’s a lightweight 2.2 kg workhorse, something like Lenovo’s T-series, which Lenovo unfortunately no longer really makes.

We’re looking forward to the new models:

• Lifebook E8420, very high performance and, if you order the optional nVidia 9300GM, there’s even the possibility of gaming and 3D editing
• Lifebook S7220, a lightweight 2.2 kg machine with fast components, the perfect replacement for an IBM T-series
• Lifebook S6420, only 1.7 kg, yet ships with a built-in DVD burner and the fastest available Core 2 Duo processors. Something for workoholics who spend a lot of time on many business trips

The Esprimo Mobile series contains quite similar machines, although they are usually heavier — which also makes them cheaper. The U9210 is a 12 inch model, but weighs a heavy 1.9 kg. The M9410 is a 14 inch model that’s similar to the S7220, D9510 is the same in 15 inches (and even heavier) and finally we have the X9525, positioning itself somewhere between D9510 and Lifebook E8420.

Linux compatibility should be fine starting from kernel 2.6.27. Lincomp sells these machines starting in November, without any operating systems preinstalled, because you know what operating system you want to use. This way, you don’t pay for software you don’t need.

Custom configurations are possible as well. Pick CPU, RAM, WLAN chipset and DVD burner (see data sheets), we’ll make you an offer for your own customized Fujitsu-Siemens laptop.

Lange hat sich nichts geregt bei Fujitsu-Siemens Laptops, aber das ist auch gut so: Die Modellpalette wurde überarbeitet, die Esprimo Mobile Linie komplett umgestaltet und sowohl Esprimo Mobile wie Lifebook wurden rund um die neue Centrino 2 Plattform von Intel neu aufgebaut.

Die Testberichte sind überzeugend: Die neuen Fujitsu-Siemens Geräte sind vor allem schnelle, stabile Arbeitsgeräte mit langen Garantiezeiten, und mit dem 2.2 kg leichten Arbeitstier Lifebook S7220 füllt Fujitsu-Siemens sogar Lücken, wie sie z.B. Lenovo mit dem Wegfall der T-Linie hinterlassen hat.

Wir freuen uns auf die neuen Modelle:

• Lifebook E8420, sehr hohe Leistung und mit der optionalen nVidia 9300GM sogar ein wenig Game- und 3D-tauglich
• Lifebook S7220, mit 2.2 kg und schnellen Komponenten ist es der perfekte Ersatz für diejenigen, die bisher zur IBM ThinkPad T-Serie gegriffen hatten.
• Lifebook S6420, nur 1.7 kg und trotzdem ein fix eingebauter DVD-Brenner und die schnellsten Core 2 Duo Prozessoren. Etwas für arbeitswütige Vielflieger

In der Esprimo Mobile-Serie findet man ganz ähnliche Rechner. Sie sind in erster Linie schwerer als die Lifebooks, dafür aber auch etwas günstiger. Das U9210 ist ein 12-Zoll Gerät, wiegt aber 1.9 kg, das M9410 ist ein 14-Zöller ähnlich dem S7220, das D9510 ist das gleiche in 15 Zoll (und schwerer) und zu guter Letzt noch das X9525, das sich irgendwo zwischen D9510 und Lifebook E8420 einordnet.

Die Linux-Kompatibilität sollte ab Kernel 2.6.27 gut sein. Lincomp vertreibt diese Geräte ab November exklusiv ohne Betriebssystem, denn Sie wissen ja selber, was für eine Software Sie wollen. Damit bezahlen Sie nicht für ein System, das Sie gar nicht brauchen.

Auch massgeschneiderte Konfigurationen sind möglich: Suchen Sie sich RAM, CPU, WLAN-Chipsatz und DVD-Brenner aus (siehe Datenblätter), wir offerieren Ihnen gerne ihr persönliches Fujitsu-Siemens Notebook.

Some people keep their entire home directories in Subversion, which is clever but takes up quite a lot of space. For my own needs, I’ve always just kept any code (of course), my work documents and my book collection in Subversion, so I can check out and edit the parts I need on any machine.

Half a year ago I’ve also started checking in savegames, for Diablo 2, Sacred, Fallout 2 and the like. It’s very useful if you play the same games on multiple machines, you no longer have to remember to copy saves from one box to the other. Well, as long as you remember to commit.

The only unhappy bit is that most savegame formats are binary blobs, so you can’t actually diff things in a meaningful way

So far, only Apple’s lower-cost MacBook laptop line had a glossy screen. Now they made the MacBook worse, and as a free bonus, the MacBook Pro is now bad as well: Both have extremely glossy glass screens.

In the Lincomp store, I try very hard not to sell any glossy monitors or laptops with glossy screens. You just can’t see crap on them as soon as there’s any amount of ambient light. Or for extra points, have you ever tried sitting in front of one of those things wearing a striped outfit? Yes, that basically only concerns people from Denmark, but still: You’ll be projecting whatever you’re wearing right back at you from the screen.

For the Lincomp selection, the situation is so bad that we’re now past the 50/50 point. Most laptop makers no longer supply laptops with non-glare screens. Brochures advertise with nonsense such as “Wow! Glare-type screen!”, as if it’s a good thing having to squint past reflections of your ceiling lights all the time.

Guys? Wake up. Do you remember the last time in computing history when screens did NOT have anti-glare coating? Welcome, Apple and others, to the year 1973. Nice of you to bring your televisions. Does this mean that we’ll have to wait 15 years to buy screens with anti-glare again?

Photo © Apple, used under fair use rights

PS: Do you know why they make screens glossy? Because glossy looks good in the store; it’s that simple. People are magpies, although I think the average magpie has a better sense of ergonomic work environments.

After the Norwegian ISO standards body, Standard Norge, accepted Microsoft’s MSOOXML file format even though only two of 23 members voted in favor, it became clear that some manipulation had been going on behind the scenes.

Apparently, nearly 40 strong and powerful Microsoft partners had sent identical letters to Standard Norge urging them to adopt MSOOXML, and Standard Norge’s own expert committee’s strong vote against the format was simply ignored.

Now 13 of 23 members resigned in protest of this and of other irregularities in the voting process. From the open letter of the resigning members:

• Administrasjonen i Standard Norge har valg å vektlegge 37 likelydende brev fra Microsoft-partnere mer enn sin egen fagkomité.
• Prosessen i Standard Norge har vært uforutsigbar og spillereglene har blitt endret av administrasjonen underveis.
• SN og ISO har begått en rekke brudd på sine egne regler og andre uregelmessigheter i OOXML-prosessen.

Quick pseudotranslation: The Standard Norge administration trusts 37 identical letters from Microsoft partners more than their own expert committee, Standard Norge’s process became intransparent and the rules of the game were changed during the process, SN and ISO have committed a series of breaks of their own rules and allowed other irregularities during the OOXML process.

As a voting member during the Swiss OOXML process, where we have observed strange happenings as well, I respect and applaud the 13 members of Standard Norge for their courage. I am also very happy that the industry is now questioning the integrity and usefulness of the various ISO standard bodies in light of all the inexplicable vote changes and other indications of corruption that appeared during this time.