This is an update to Want To Shoot Rich In The Face?

Quake Live is an FPS style game that’s completely in-browser, and that means it’s cross-browser/cross-platform compatible.

The plan here is to schedule an event to get a bunch of PCMech readers (yes, that means you’re invited) into the game to see if you guys and gals actually like it or not. Consider it a "mass review" to test out the game along with being able to play with an actual PCMech author, that being yours truly.

From the previous article, I’ve discovered a few things, with the biggest being that if you’re running things that block scripting and Flash such as NoScript or FlashBlock for Firefox, the game will not work. You will need to temporarily disable those for gameplay.

In addition there are several options you can set to make gameplay better per your computer’s specifications, such as adjusting texture detail, full-screen mode and so on. This is accessed in-game by pressing ESC on your keyboard and making the appropriate adjustments. The video below shows you how to do this, so be sure to watch it. Bear in mind you can go higher or lower, so even if you have an older computer, you can disable/downgrade enough stuff to make the game enjoyable and fluid on play.

Note on the video: My frame rate is crappy because my capture software isn’t designed to "grab" high-frame stuff like that. Believe me when I say the frame rate you’ll get will be a million times better and completely fluid.

This video makes note of my Quake Live ID:

http://www.quakelive.com/#profile/summary/frostedside

After logging in to Quake Live, you can add me in as a friend by going to the above link, or you can manually add by searching for the ID frostedside.

See video below for more details. There are also some scheduling notes below the video.

Scheduling notes

As for when I plan on getting everybody in on a game, it may happen this evening (as in today Wednesday November 18) during the PCMech LIVE broadcast from 8pm to 10pm EST.

First off, I don’t use a Mac so I don’t really know what the uninstall process is, however a utility I came across which looks like something our Mac readers might like is AppTrap.

Moving an application to the trash is simple and easy. Shouldn’t true uninstallation on the Mac be the same way?

With AppTrap, when you move an application to the trash, you’re automatically asked if you want to move the associated preference files as well. Now that’s uninstallation, the Mac way.

From the description, this seems like a pretty useful program as I imagine having to separately remove preference files would be rather annoying (if that type of thing bothers you). The program automatically detects any associated system files left over after you remove a program and lets you decide what to do. Simple enough.

AppTrap is free/open source and it may be a nice utility to have.

Mac users who do a lot work in text files (HTML, coding, etc.) and are not fond of the editor you use, should take a look at TextMate.

TextMate brings Apple’s approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike.

TextMate has a very impressive feature list which are ideal for development projects. Additionally, it offers clipboard “memory” for multiple copy-paste commands which can be incredibly useful.

TextMate is not a free product (it does offer a free 30-day trial), however if a lot of your work is done in plain text files then having a powerful editor is a must.

I have posted several tips pointing to programs which can help power management on Windows machines, but today’s utility is specifically for Mac users. The program is called Power Manager 3 for Mac OS X.

Reduce the energy costs of Mac computers with Power Manager 3. Use Power Manager to control when your Macs are available and when they are switched off.

The program allows you to set schedules which automate the process of putting your computer to sleep and waking it up. The program seems to be geared toward corporate/school environments as the website focuses almost entirely on the vast savings you can experience due to the decreased energy usage, however this is perfectly good for home users.

Power Manager 3 gives you a 30 day free trial, but usage after that requires the program to be purchased.

The best box that Apple makes is the Mac Pro.

The best box that Dell makes is the Precision Workstation, commonly abbreviated as PW. Both are business machines first and foremost.

It is very easy to configure either to run you $20,000 for final cost.

How to do it? Simple. Check off every single possible option you can throw in when configuring it.

First, the Mac Pro.

This is an 8-core system (two 2.93GHz Quad Core Intel Xeons) stuffed with 32GB of RAM, 3 1TB hard drives, two optical drives, two 30-inch flat-panel displays, wireless everything, fibre channel, a bunch of preinstalled software and of course the AppleCare Protection plan.

And now, the Big Dell, the Precision Workstation T7500.

The screen shot of this would have been too long, so here are the specs:

• Windows Vista 64-bit Business Edition
• Dual Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processors W5580 3.20GHz, 8M L3, 6.4GT/s,turbo
• 48GB, DDR3 RDIMM Memory, 1333MHz, ECC (12 DIMMS). You read correctly. 48 gigs of RAM. This is an $8,000+ option.
• 4 Year ProSupport for End Users and 4 Year 4HR 7×24 Onsite Service
• 4.0GB NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 5800, DUAL MON, 1DP & 2DVI
• Microsoft™ Office® Professional 2007
• McAfee® Total Protection for Small Business,15 Month Subscription,Eng
• Drive 1 – 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™
• Drive 2 – 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™
• Drive 3 – 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™
• Drive 4 – 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™
• Drive 5 – 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s, 7200 RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™ Yes, this is 5 1.5TB drives for a total of 7.5 TB space.
• 16X DVD+/-RW w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD™ and Roxio Creator™
• Monitor 1 – Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™2408WFP Widescreen, Adjustable Stand, VGA/DVI
• Monitor 2 – Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™2408WFP Widescreen, Adjustable Stand, VGA/DVI
• Monitor 3 – Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™2408WFP Widescreen, Adjustable Stand, VGA/DVI
• Monitor 4 – Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™2408WFP Widescreen, Adjustable Stand, VGA/DVI
• Chassis Intrusion Switch

There are many, many different ways I could have priced out the Dell.

Instead of the four 24-inch monitors, I could have gone with three Dell 30-inchers (which I probably would). That would be a separate purchase albeit from the same company.

In addition, the Dell costs more mainly due to the extra 16GB of RAM, the four monitors and the extra two hard drives. Mac Pros at present cannot be configured from the OEM to go beyond 3 internal hard drives or 32GB RAM, and that’s by design.

What’s the Super Dell best suited for?

AutoCAD or high resolution medical imaging. With CAD in particular, this is still PC-only world.

And not gaming, you dope.

What’s the Super Mac best suited for?

HD/Film/Video editing suite. In a separate purchase I’d tack on either Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere or Media 100. Whatever had the most local (important) support. And when I say local I mean other shops in the area you live that support what you have. Some places favor Final Cut while others Media 100, etc.

Does anybody actually buy these things?

Yes, and routinely. Neither OEM would build them if there weren’t a market to buy them.

In medical, industrial design and research facilities you will see these Dells.

In pro video houses/animation studios, you will see these Macs.

Of course, neither looks any different from their lower-cost same-model boxes, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts obviously.

Could you build a PC with the above Dell specs for cheaper?

Yes. And in fact you can go higher than 64GB RAM.

How about 256GB RAM? Sound impossible? It isn’t. You have to use a server motherboard instead of desktop, like this one.

Ridiculous for a home PC? Very. And totally unnecessary. Sure, you’ll be the coolest nerd in town, but you’ll be paying a loan off for all that RAM for the next 10 years.

On the desktop side, the most RAM supported if you bought the motherboard thru NewEgg is 24GB. This is a bit crappy because there should be 32GB RAM support options for PC builders. Alas, there isn’t. Yet. Maybe there will be come 2010?

At present you’re best off using a board that supports 8 or 16GB. And you’ll obviously have to use 64-bit Windows (or Linux) to access all of that.

Is there any way to get the cost of the Mac Pro down?

Several ways, actually.

The first rule to buying Mac is to purchase as little as possible from the Apple Store concerning the box itself.

Instead of ordering your Mac with 32GB, order with 1GB. Fill it up with RAM from another vendor. Just remember to specifically order Mac Memory.

Instead of Apple 30-inch Cinema Displays, use 30-inch Dell UltraSharps. Even Mac people know that those are awesome monitors.

Instead of ordering 3 hard drives, take 1. Like with the RAM, buy the others from another vendor and install it yourself.

This is essentially no different than configuring the Dell. You put the money into the processors more than anything else. For the rest, you go with other vendors.

The only drawback to this is that the other-vendor stuff isn’t supported under OEM warranty. This can be said for either OEM.

IRC is one of those things that either you get or you don’t. You probably know IRC as chat rooms. But if you said that to a diehard IRC user, he or she would give you a dirty look or two because "chat room" is a term originally popularized by AOL. And to be technically correct, IRC has no chat rooms. They’re called channels. Maybe that’s a nerdy nit-picky thing, but it wouldn’t be the internet without nerds getting ticked off over minutia like that.

The best app for IRC depends on what OS you’re using. IRC is best used with a true client rather than the web-based way (like Mibbit, which seems to get increasingly banned on many IRC servers these days, hence the reason I don’t use nor recommend it).

On Windows, the best IRC client is mIRC. It’s been around seemingly forever (even as far back as the Windows 3.1 days) and has proven time and time again to be a solid, stable chat app.

On Mac OS X, the IRC app used most is Colloquy. Were I using OS X I would use that and nothing else for IRC purposes. It is the best for the Mac, no question. And you can even go mobile with it.

On Linux, XChat is the best. I have tried several different IRC apps over the years with Linux, but time and time again I keep going back to XChat whenever I’m using a Linux distro.

Platform independent IRC applications (works in any OS):

• Chatzilla – A Firefox add-on.
• Pidgin – Primarily an instant messaging client but also does IRC. Note for Mac users: Adium uses the same backend Pidgin does and also does IRC the same way.

Do you use IRC?

If you do, what’s your OS and preferred IRC app of choice? Let us know in the comments.

Mac users who are familar with Windows may have heard of the excellent tool Tweak UI which allows you to easily change tons of aspects of the operating system without having to dig through the registry or configuration screens. Mac users wanting something similar should take a look at TinkerTool.

TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into Mac OS X. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.

While TinkerTool allows users to control their individual settings, power users looking to apply system wide tweaks can check out TinkerTool System.

TinkerTool System is a professional all-in-one maintenance tool for the Macintosh platform. It allows you to change advanced operating system settings and offers a wide variety of maintenance features. It strictly complies with the software guidelines for Mac OS X, and also uses Apple’s official instructions and recommendations for the resolution of certain system problems.

There are a list of features available on the TinkerTool System which cover the specifics of what this program can do. This tool is definitely worth a look for Mac users.

Didn’t get enough games in part 2? Here are some more!

Neverball

Described as “Tilt the floor to roll a ball through an obstacle course before time runs out. Neverball is part puzzle game, part action game, and entirely a test of skill.”

Basically speaking you keep rolling a ball by tilting the table before time runs out.

Nexuiz

This is a first-person-shooter, 3D, “deathmatch” style and has been around since 2005.

Here’s a video of the gameplay:

Pretty cool if you asked me.

Pingus

If you know Lemmings, you know Pingus.

Runescape

Runscape is role-playing style game – and the cool part is that it runs completely in the browser. For those with higher-powered computers, let me tell you – it’s not too shabby once you go full-screen with it. Very few in-browser games do a good full-screen mode, but Runescape does.

To note: While it’s free to play there are paid options as well. But at least you can play for free to see if it’s your thing or not.

XEvil

This is a 2D side-scroller game with possibly the most interesting description of the lot:

O.K., kids… let’s get this straight. XEvil is not for meek, peace-loving, “I love you, you love me…” types of people. The fans of XEvil enjoy it because of its shameless displays of blood and violence, of people getting lit on fire, getting shot, being ripped up by chainsaws, getting high on drugs, and burst open by aliens.

If that doesn’t say “wholesome”, I don’t know what does.

Did you get your fill of games from part 1? We didn’t think so! So here’s part two.

Freeciv

This has been mentioned on PCMech before and definitely gets a spot on this list because, well, it’s the best Civilization clone there is – and very addictive.

Freecol

If you liked Civilization, you probably liked Colonization as well. Freecol is a clone of the old Sid Meier classic.

Frets On Fire

Ever hear of Guitar Hero? Then you know what Frets On Fire is.

Globulation 2

This game is billed as “…an innovative Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game which reduces micro-management by automatically assigning tasks to units.”

For those that like strategy-type games, Globulation 2 will fit the bill nicely.

Gunbound

No, this is not a first-person-shooter. It’s a turn-based game and very “cutesy” in nature.

Strong warning: Highly addictive.

Stay tuned for part 3!

Here’s a list of free games you can get right now. All of them are ready for download and don’t cost a dime.

I’ve made a point to choose games that are at least somewhat recent (if not very recent concerning releases) so that they run a-okay on your computer.

Note: Many of these games run on Windows, Mac OS X and/or Linux. It’s not just “Windows only” stuff here.

Continued

If you’ve ever delved into the world of having your own web site, you will inevitably have a need to send and retrieve files from your server via FTP.

FTP is really (and I mean really) old and still widely used. While it’s true you can send or receive files from the command line in any OS, the GUI way of doing it is much easier because you get things like drag’n'drop, mass uploading or downloading with subdirectories with just a few clicks and so on.

Filezilla

Where to get it: http://filezilla-project.org/

Supported OSes: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Whether you’re using Windows, Mac OS X or Linux, Filezilla is a rock-solid reliable stable FTP client with many features and an easy-to-use interface. Most people if given the choice of which free FTP client to use would most likely opt to go with Filezilla first.

WinSCP

Where to get it: http://filezilla-project.org/

Supported OS: Windows

WinSCP has also proven itself to be stable and reliable. Its drawback is that it’s Windows-only but definitely gets the job done. If you’re a Windows user you may prefer this over Filezilla as the interface is a bit easier to understand.

Core FTP

Where to get it: http://www.coreftp.com/

Supported OS: Windows

Core FTP has many features with command line support, but its single largest drawback is that it looks terrible. In addition there is a small "nag" screen each time you start it. But it’s free so you really can’t complain.

Need more choices?

A list of many FTP clients (both free and paid) are available here.

No matter what your operating system is, a question many ask is "What should I have to do modern computing?" In this article we’ll address RAM specifically. Should you run 2GB or can you get away with 1GB or 512MB?

First, a quick look at cost.

Cost-wise, RAM is the cheapest it’s ever been. 2GB Desktop PC memory is under the 25-dollar mark, so assuming your computer can support it physically, there’s no reason not to go 2GB.

Second, a look at operating systems.

32-bit Windows NT, 2000 and XP will easily support 2GB RAM on-board. And although you could put in 4 it is unlikely you’ll see any difference performance-wise (assuming the OS can even access it).

The same can be said for Mac OS X and Linux on a 32-bit platform as a desktop OS. In general use you will not see any huge leaps in performance from 2GB to 4GB RAM. Maybe if you were running a server you would, but on the desktop side, most likely not.

Third, a look at performance (the performance that matters, that is).

The Big Question: Will you see a performance improvement going from 512MB or 1GB to 2GB? Yes – but not necessarily in the way you would expect.

For example, if you upgrade from 1GB to 2GB, here’s what you can expect:

• Faster application launch and shutdown times.
• The ability to run more apps at once without having your computer "think" about it as much.
• Smoother switching between apps.
• Smoother web browsing (especially on Flash-intensive web pages).

And here’s what not to expect:

• Better gameplay on high-end video games. (This is highly dependent on not only RAM but video card RAM, clock speed and hard drive access times – just the RAM upgrade isn’t enough.)
• Better video performance. (That’s the video card’s job – not the physical RAM’s job.)
• Faster large-file read/write. (Even with more memory, if your hard drive access times are slow, that has everything to do with the hard drive and nothing to do with physical RAM.)

Is 2GB RAM now the standard?

I say yes. The RAM is dirt cheap, the installation takes only minutes and there’s nothing in your operating system you have to change or adjust once installed. Just install, boot and enjoy.

If you have absolutely no idea how to fit RAM for your computer, head over to www.crucial.com, select your make/line/model and it does all the work for you. Or just use the System Scanner.

I’ve mentioned on the PCMech Live show many times my disdain for the fact that if you’re one of the few running a 64-bit processor, your options for native 64-bit applications are few and far between on the consumer end.

Chances are very high that the computer you’re using right now has a 32-bit CPU in it.

Here’s the short-short definition of the difference between 32 and 64 concerning your CPU: Continued

Since the release of Mozilla Firefox 3 there have been issues with the Adobe Flash player (currently at release 9), particularly with Flash video. What happens is that you’ll attempt to watch a video (say on YouTube) and the first 2 seconds will play and then stop. And you’re left with no choice but to restart the browser and sometimes that doesn’t even work.

There is a Flash 10 beta available right now if you want to use it. It’s recently been updated for both Windows and Mac. Personally speaking I won’t be using it because all I have to do is that if Flash bugs up on me I just go into Internet Explorer 7 and everything is okey-dokey. I figure if I want to view a Flash video that bad, going to another browser just for that video doesn’t bother me.

So if you’re a Firefox user and have been experiencing that maddening 2-second-and-stop issue, it’s not your fault. When version 10 of the Adobe Player is officially released it should resolve that issue.

Continued