dpk’s weblog

and I have trouble getting the X server to see the right amount of video memory. It turns out it’s because the default Dell Dimension 3000 BIOS options only allocate 1MB to the video card, rather than the extremely beefy 8MB(!!). Anyways..

At 1MB of video RAM you are pretty much stuck with a max of 640×480 and 16 bit color. I wasn’t too interested in trying a graphical browser in such a small space, so I went to the old standby, lynx. A quick “aptitude install lynx” and I’m ready, right?

$ lynx http://www.google.com/
Alert!: HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request
   Google
            Error
                                  Bad Request

     Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request.

What the hell? I try all sorts of things, eventually running “strace -s65536 lynx” to figure out what it is sending. Here’s what I found:


write(3, "GET / HTTP/1.0rnHost: www.google.comrnAccept: text/html, text/plain, application/vnd.sun.xml.calc, application/vnd.sun.xml.calc.template, application/vnd.sun.xml.draw, application/vnd.sun.xml.draw.template, application/vnd.sun.xml.impress, application/vnd.sun.xml.impress.templaternAccept: application/vnd.sun.xml.writer, application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.global, application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.math, application/vnd.sun.xml.writer.template, application/x-archive, application/x-bzip, application/x-gzip, application/x-lharnAccept: application/x-lzop, application/x-rar, application/x-tar, application/x-tarz, application/x-tbz, application/x-tgz, application/x-tzo, application/x-zip, application/x-zoo, application/pdf, application/x-shellscript, text/english, text/x-c++rnAccept: text/x-c++hdr, text/x-c++src, text/x-c, text/x-chdr, text/x-csrc, text/x-java, text/x-makefile, text/x-moc, text/x-pascal, text/x-tcl, text/x-tex, application/x-deb, application/x-rpm, application/x-dia-diagramrnAccept: application/x-bzip-compressed-tar, application/x-compress, application/x-compressed-tar, application/x-java-archive, application/x-stuffit, application/ghostview, application/postscript, application/x-gnumeric, text/comma-separated-valuesrnAccept: application/vnd.ms-excel, application/x-applix, application/x-troff-man, image/avs, image/bie, image/x-ms-bmp, image/cmyk, image/dcx, image/eps, image/fax, image/fits, image/gif, image/gray, image/gradation, image/hdf, image/jpeg, image/pjpegrnAccept: image/map, image/miff, image/mono, image/mtv, image/x-portable-bitmap, image/pcd, image/pcx, image/pdf, image/x-portable-graymap, image/pict, image/png, image/x-portable-anymap, image/x-portable-pixmap, image/ps, image/rad, image/x-rgbrnAccept: image/rgba, image/rla, image/rle, image/sgi, image/sun-raster, image/targa, image/tiff, image/uyvu, image/vid, image/viff, image/x-xbitmap, image/x-xpixmap, image/x-xwindowdump, image/yuv, image/svg+xml, image/svg, image/fax-g3, image/x-epsrnAccept: image/x-jng, image/x-xbm, video/x-mng, image/bmp, image/x-xpm, text/xml, application/x-ogg, application/ogg, audio/mpeg, audio/x-mpegurl, audio/x-ms-wax, audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-pls, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mpeg, video/quicktimernAccept: video/x-mpeg2, video/x-mpeg, video/x-ms-afs, video/x-ms-asf, video/x-msvideo, video/x-ms-wma, video/x-ms-wmv, video/x-ms-wmx, video/x-ms-wvx, audio/mpegurl, audio/x-mp2, audio/x-mp3, application/x-staroffice, application/vnd.stardivision.calcrnAccept: application/vnd.stardivision.chart, application/vnd.stardivision.draw, application/vnd.stardivision.impress, application/vnd.stardivision.math, application/vnd.stardivision.writer-global, application/vnd.stardivision.writer, audio/x-mpegrnAccept: application/x-flac, application/x-gtar, audio/x-ogg, application/x-dvi, application/msword, application/mspowerpoint, application/vnd.ms-word, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/rtf, application/x-msword, application/x-msexcelrnAccept: application/x-mspowerpoint, application/wordperfect, application/wordperfect5.1, application/vnd.wordperfect, application/x-abiword, text/abiword, text/richtext, text/rtf, text/*, application/x-debian-package, audio/basic, */*;q=0.01rnAccept-Encoding: gzip, compressrnAccept-Language: enrnUser-Agent: Lynx/2.8.5rel.1 libwww-FM/2.14 SSL-MM/1.4.1 GNUTLS/1.0.16rnrn", 3348) = 3348


This is from a stock Sarge install, with nothing more added than lynx, epic4, screen, and a couple of small programs. I’m not sure why Lynx would feel the need to send all of that, by default. :) Anyways, if you get this error, here’s the fix:

DISPLAY= lynx http://www.google.com/

(mind the gap)

Thompson attacks Penny Arcade; seeks arrests
Jack Thompson, if you’re not familiar with him, recently offered $10,000 to a charity if someone would produce a game where the main character specifically targeted to be killed, individuals at a large game company, along with many other acts involving his weapon of choice, a baseball bat. Then, when someone got close, he took it back, as it was not something he was actually going to do.

He’s now decided to ask the Seattle police department to arrest the PA authors for “harassment”. You can find a copy of the fax he sent at their website: www.penny-arcade.com (note the dash!)

Jack Thompson, according to the fax, apparently feels that the Penny Arcade folk, along with the industry as a whole, and the game players, want to stop him from speaking on an issue he’s passionate about — video game violence. Of course, that would be hypocritical of us (I’m one of the game players) since we’re arguing the developers should be allowed to make these games, as protected speech — the very same protection that leaves Jack Thompson free to discuss his opinons.

The harassment appears to be that the PA creators emailed him a couple times and created a “I Hate Jack Thompson” t-shirt. While I believe the t-shirt is in poor taste, I doubt it can be deemed harassment, as this man quite publicly has taken it upon himself to fight the industry with little but apparent hatred in his heart. No reason the industry can’t respond in kind, in my opinion.

Sure hope Seattle’s Police department sees the complaint for what it is — petty media whoring — and roundfiles it.

This phrase is prominently placed on the new Comcast bill format.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Do they want me to drive over there and start making unreasonable demands? Did they mean “from” in place of “at”, and if so, do they feel they’re not doing their best, and are asking for criticism? Is this just another corporate slogan that makes no sense?

OK, I admit it. This was just an excuse to link to the script of one of my favorite SGC2C episodes.

I’ve got 3 PC game mini-reviews here. Granted it ain’t much for each game, but it covers my basic impressions.

Guild Wars – 6/10 – Enjoyable to a point. Easy to find groups, but provides an entirely lonely world compared to EQ, UO, WoW, etc. Almost every zone is instanced for you (and your group, if applicable) instead of just certain zones. That means, unless you’re in a big guild, you’re going to have very few people to chat with while playing. You’ll also spend a lot of time running through the same zones you’ve already fought through, and most if not all creatures are kos (EQ term, kill on sight, means they’ll attack you when you’re in range). That’s actually really annoying, since they don’t provide you with any experience if they’re low enough level. PvP might be more fun in this game, but I haven’t tried that yet. Hey, it has no monthly fee, so I won’t be cancelling at least.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 – 8/10 – Quite fun. I enjoy building my own rollercoasters, and then “riding” them. The interface is a tad cumbersome — I wish it worked more like SimCity’s — but it works OK. There’s a ton of micromangement, though. Like, you place an ATM machine, and then you have to “turn it on” after placement. Heh. There is an inspector “NPC” walking around the park to tell you when things aren’t working out well, at least. You can play in sandbox mode to avoid all of this.

Black and White 2 – ??/10 – Very slow. Barely runs on my laptop, which is above the minimum specifications. 5, maybe 10 frames per second at the lowest settings. The forums are recommending that you wait until more patches come out. Of course, just like B&W 1, the first patch broke save games. Who knows if future patches will. Didn’t give a score because I can’t play it as it is. Wish I could return this, but it appears Fry’s policy forbids returns of opened software. Whoops. :(

I realize these games have been out for a while, except perhaps BW2. I’m not sure how worthwhile it is to write about older games. It certainly makes sense for MMOGs, and I’d like to see the real reviewers write “followups” 6 months later, or at least let us know if the game held their interest. Maybe the reviews of older offline games would be good for a used game site or something.

I’m sure y’all have seen this on some sites. Amazon does this for some of their TVs:

To see our low price, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.

I’ve noticed Crutchfield has started to do the same thing on their site and in their catalog. After I noticed it in their catalog I asked them to remove me from their lists, postal and email. I think Best Buy does it, too, on their web site. What is the deal here, exactly? How many hoops must one go through to get something as basic as a price?

I’ve heard that the manufacturers ask the retailers to do this. I haven’t been able to figure out why they would really want this, though — what it would actually get them. What I do know is that it got me uninterested in buying “protected” items from these retailers.</rant>

There I was minding my own business, eradicating ivy, when I happened to look up into my cherry tree.

That’s a bee or hornet or something’s hive. It’s about a foot around. Fuzzy picture ’cause my digicam is broken.
This is what I get for neglecting my yard I guess. :)
posted via mo:Blog