TechMaven

Remember Wing Commander?

Wing Commander was the best PC game ever.

Do you remember Wing Commander?  This was by far the best game I ever played on my 386 SX-16.  I had to turn the "turbo" switch off just to get the damned ships to fly at a speed that was humanly manageable. 

Why was this game so awesome?

• There was a story!  And the story was awesome.  The Kilrathi were out to get you and you had to defend the terrans accordingly.  Who could want more than that? 
• The controls were easy.  Fly around, point your mass drivers at something, shoot.  Repeat.  It worked!  The little crappy joystick I had worked just fine.
• It wasn't too easy.  The game was hard to master, because the ships changed characteristics and gave you a run for your money.  It was fun to keep dying and trying.

This was a game I'll remember forever.

 

Dell Upgrades distinctly not Express

I know many of you ever vigilant bloggers have commented on this already but WOW is it amazing that it is taking so many weeks, some say maybe months, to get the upgrade discs.  Read here about many others' experiences so you don't feel alone. 

BTW - Vista isn't bad, so you'll be pleased when you get it, but it will be a while.  Enjoy the Express Upgrade.

Vista Install - couldn't it be easier?

I'll be posting a series of writings on my take on Vista.  I just got Vista Home Premium for my homebox and already am having a good time getting to know it.  First off, to install the upgrade (purchased from Costco) I had to have the right serial number associated with my current WinXP install.  I had an issue as i'd reused (and re-validated) the XP Pro install that was on that computer but had a separate Win XP MCE 2005 serial that I'd purchased (legitimately) that wasn't currently in use.  I used that one to validate the home machine then the Vista install could proceed.  Was that it?  Nope. 

I have a raptor 74g drive that I wanted to use as the main drive again, simply upgrading Win XP.  No can do.  Turns out you need to have Vista Business or Ultimate to upgrade from XP pro.  Alright.  So now it wants to do a clean install.  But I can't install on the C: partition because its too small (optimized to 14 gig for XP Pro).  I had to stop the install AGAIN to partitionmagic the drive to one partition and then resume the install.

Finally it is up and running.  I still have three hardware driver issues that seem to be non-critical (even though one is for my SATA controller).  I haven't reinstalled ANYTHING yet, but I will.  I have to admit the eye candy is a lot better than It thought it'd be.  I'm annoyed with the install process but happy with the look and feel so far. 

And my Vista score is an overall 4.5.  Anyone else had their machines rated?