Fail fail
Failures to deliver, shirley?
Especially confusing if you don't highlight the phrase in some way. See Para.7
Posts by CADmonkey
327 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Aug 2009
Patrick Byrne: 'See, I told you America's economy was busted'
Mac OS X Lion debuts in July as $29.99 upgrade
Gadgets give granny disease to kids
Wednesday 25th May 2011 11:39 GMT
This is why I bought an acoustic guitar
Banging out a few chords after a long shift, I think of it as an aerobic work out for my fingers and it's a great stress reliever too. It doesn't matter that I'm not very good!
I've been a full time CAD operator for about 15 years now. I realised early on that my livelihood depended on my hands and my eyes remaining in good condition and so were worth taking care of. (As well as the guitar for my hands, I use the Bates eye method quite a lot - similar effect).
And a LOT of keyboard shortcuts instead of mouse clicks.
Sony Bravia KDL-EX524 40in LED TV
Intel keeps heat on AMD with Tri-Gate transistors
Monday 9th May 2011 00:47 GMT
Thanks for the reply (and the cake, whatever that represents),
...but it would have meant a bunch more if you'd read my post first, or indeed the article above it which talks about "the only other way" ie shrinking dies. CAD programs are (so far) mostly single threaded, which is why I don't need any more cores. I don't want more efficiency, I want more power. 10 years ago that was everone's priority, but not anymore. Simply put, the less time I spend waiting for the command prompt to come back, the more money I make.
You're right, I didn't mention heat. But only because I don't really care about it. Who bases a CPU buying choice on the cooling ability? If it gets too hot, stick a bigger fan on it.
Your commiserations are also misplaced. Plenty of non-Windows CAD apps are available, and anyway I fail to see the relevance of my OS, or the need for you to put me (and millions like me) down for it. You think I give a toss about your 'real man's' operating system that statistically, nobody uses? :P
Sunday 8th May 2011 15:59 GMT 
speed junkies choice?
As a (non-rendering but 3D) CAD user:
I don't want something I can carry
I don't want to save energy
I don't want more cores
I just want my application to run faster
This seems to put me 180 degrees away from current trends and marketing blurb, making for a difficult choice.
Am I the only one?
Portal 2
French hacker cuffed after bragging on telly
James Cameron to amp up Avatar frame rate
UK.gov uses purple-panted-berk to get 'young men' to do census
Fukushima's toxic legacy: Ignorance and fear
Fukushima: Situation improving all the time
Moving to Windows 7: Is it worth it?
Friday 18th March 2011 16:30 GMT
"easy" solution?
Big Blue static button versus text string of variable length?
I resent the over-reliance of hand-eye coordination. Anything i can acheive by 'touch typing' commands means I don't even need to look at the screen or keyboard.
From an ergonomic point of view such functionality would appear to be a no-brainer. I'm at the grindstone 8-14 hours a day. If I get RSI or my eyesight goes then my career goes with it. It should be an obvious design goal, but it's not. If anything, MS (and Autodesk) have removed a lot of the 'flow' from their interfaces. Some call it 'streamlining' but I call it 'dumbing down for the sake of the numpties'
Why can't we have a Home GUI as well as a Professional one, like pre-XP days? Why can't they just allow things a few more options?
Friday 18th March 2011 12:13 GMT
I used to hate Windows 7
I skipped Vista and stuck with XP64* before migrating last year. Now, having lived with it for several months, my hatred has transformed into a mild, teeth-grinding annoyance that surfaces several times a day.
Obviously, Windows 7 (x64) is smoother and more stable, but I should be able to take that for granted, so no brownie points there. I've also turned off most of the eye-candy because I suspect A'desk, M'soft, Nvidia and Direct3D are still not 100% happy bedfellows and are more interested in bells and whistles than stabilty.
OUTRIGHT CONS:
- finding files is still a mystical art with unpredictable results (i use Agent Ransack for any serious digging)
- autosorting is unavoidable
- explorer tree-lists jump the folder you just expanded to the BOTTOM of the page (so you have to scroll down to see the sub-folders) (this can be fixed with some free app I can't remember the name of)
- explorer doesn't sync the left-hand tree if you start clicking through folders in the right-hand window (fixable as above)
- explorer refuses to open more than 16 files in one go (this is by design, and unchangeable)
- If a measure of efficiency is to count the number of interactions (ie clicks) to perform a task, then win7 (explorer, taskbar, etc) is a lot less efficient than XP
* I don't care what anyone else thinks, AutoCAD+XP64 was an awesome combination. Ran all my hardware, played all my games too.
O2 ups 3G speeds by 30%
Fukushima on Thursday: Prospects starting to look good
Anonymous probed for hack threat against WikiLeaker captors
Samsung UE55D8000 55in net-connected LED TV
Yanks outweigh Canucks: Official
Thursday 3rd March 2011 15:16 GMT
Unless you've actually been to the U.S......
...then you simply haven't seen 'fat', and have no idea how cheap & nasty 'cheap food' can be.
Great country*, friendly people**, and we always have a good time but the smell of fried donuts seems to be EVERYWHERE*. It comes to something when a Subway seems like the healthy choice for you & the kids. Come to think of it, the option of cheese sauce in restuarants is unnervingly ubiquitous. Best example: Applebees...Ordered steak, jacket potato and salad (and a Guinness - it's not all bad!) and had to decline some form of cheese for each item (but not the beer).
Me? I have to run around in the shower if i want to get wet. :P
* the places I've been to.
** those that I've met
Geeky gifts for Valentine's Day
Videogame TRAINS TERRORISTS, yells pundit
Passenger cleared after TSA checkpoint stare-down
Duke Nukem Forever release date revealed
Watson beats humans in Jeopardy! dry run
2011 Games Preview
Saturday 15th January 2011 18:17 GMT
GTA IV (PC)...
...requires and has always required only ONE unique username to play 'offline'. No accounts, no passwords. Save at safehouses, same as GTA San Andreas. I've had this grossly under-rated game since release, and have played it this way since the install. Same went for the EFLC titles.
I can't believe there are so many numpties out there that can't/won't read installation instructions. They sure can write an amazon review, though!
Diary of a Not-spot: The readers speak
Apple chap knocks up ancient Lego computer
Brussels goes in to bat for beleaguered bees
Mass mind control artist condemns El Reg to obscurity
DDoS attack, sex warrant won't stop Assange's leaky discharge
Incendiary MacBook blamed in house conflag inferno suit
Wednesday 1st December 2010 10:32 GMT
Reminds me of that line in Fight Club
"A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one. "
Turing papers could be saved after auction fail
Tuesday 23rd November 2010 21:58 GMT
A tribute?
To one poor man's terrible solution to state persecution, intolerance and despair? I've never thought about the rainbow colours before but even that could be seen as a reference to his homesexuality.
I just dug out an interview with the logo designer, in which he denies this (so I guess I'm not the only one, after all). He did, however, describe the method of suicide as 'really cool'.
Top Ten Arcade Classics
Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect
BBC One HD to go live tonight
Thursday 4th November 2010 13:29 GMT
My vision is 20/20...
...plus my Philips 28" CRT was a Which? best buy when we bought it in the mid-90s. I think the digital set top box (BT iPlayer! - really quick) is of similar vintage. The picture, both analogue and digital, is excellent. I'm also very close to a transmitter.
From what you describe, it sounds more like it's your signal or your equipment which is poor. Several times over the years I've browsed shops like Currys to see the latest shiniest TVs on display, and saw very, very few which I would say had an acceptable picture.
And for games i use my rather gorgeous 1920x1200 IPS panel.
Wednesday 3rd November 2010 16:17 GMT
@tin2
"people would reject HD if it had the noise and artifacts that are the accepted norm for SD."
If you've noticed this, then you've already got HD and are hardly likely to 'reject it'.
Personally, I haven't noticed this, but then I've still got a CRT. Crystal clear, SD digital signal, but mostly shit programmes. The occasional opportunity to see the all the hairs up someone's nose was hardly an incentive to 'invest' in this tech. Bigger screen? SFW? A good film or show will immerse you, regardless of your diagonal inches or pixel count.
But now all the sheep are rushing off to buy into the latest embryonic unsupported wild-west technology (3D) so the price of simple HD kit should fall through the floor. In a couple of years, when the kids want something other than Cbeebies, it might be worth considering.
Really, what exactly have I been missing out on? Same goes for Blu-ray
Biting the hand that feeds IT
