I'm now....a nerd.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think I've passed my nerd bar exam.
I have had a NEC DVD+RW ND 2100 AD-103D player/burner for a couple years. Burned CDs galore but never a DVD.
Well, there comes a time in every persons life.......A mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.....You get the picture.
Here I sat with a DVD plus burner...about 50 -R and -RW DVDs...and that Homer Simpson feeling.

I spent a whole day going to NEC, Dell, then a link from Microsoft to the vast underworld of hacker/hero forums. I kept reading things like;

Flashing these firmwares requires some risk on your part. If you are not
comfortable with this please do not proceed. We cannot guarantee they will
work or flash correctly in any environment out of our control.

and

The flash process requires Real DOS, a DOS box under Windows is not suitable.

Go ahead and laugh but this is heady stuff when you haven't a clue.
The tales of woe in the forums like

"If you don't designate the second channel master or first channel slave, the flash will corrupt your windows installation".

They weren't saying but strongly suggested, it would also cause my toilet to flush continuously and adversely affect my Mothers health.

Eventually my decent into the dark side led me to THE DANGEROUS BROTHERS. That made me think I had no business being here but as I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, I sat on my balls. With a stab of pain and a flash of light I had an epiphany.
Knowledge...I have no knowledge....I don't need no stinkin knowledge...I've got balls. Hey, it works for W.
OK, ok, to the point. I flashed the firmware changing the 2100 to a 2510(skipping 2500) and from +RW to +or- R and RW, removed the speed locks up to 8x, added dual layer and eliminated region enforcement (with the help of DVD Region Killer)

All this after only 2 weeks ago I used programs like "Hijackthis", "Pocket Killbox" and "Shredder" to find and fix a software conflict that was causing major instability in Internet Explorer. (waiting for Firefox adulation)
I don't have a pocket protector so I guess I'm a closet nerd

aside- On The Dangerous Brothers site, they expound:

"We believe region coding to be an unnecessary annoyance, which interferes with the legitimate use of technology. If content suppliers wish to fight piracy they need to make the content available in the form the consumer wants, and at a price that reflects the actual cost. We strongly believe that piracy is immoral, but so too is greed, the market for legitimate unprotected content at reasonable prices is huge. Books did not destroy the world, they transformed it, because information is power. The fact we can share books, and that libraries exist has not destroyed the publishing and authoring industries. Technology should be empowering, and not restrictive. The concept of a Trusted Computer Architecture will ultimately fail when we all reject it as making our lives more difficult and less productive. So take our wooden shoes and stick them into the machines."

The "wooden shoes" link is to the U of AZ Digital Library," IWW pamphlet, 'Sabotage: its History, Philosophy, & Function,' originally used in the trial of the United States vs. William D. Haywood, et al. This exhibit was introduced into the trial of Michael Simmons vs. the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Company through the deposition of John W. Hughes." Exellent, but long, read.

[dar512]

Congratulations Bruce. Welcome to the nerd side.

[SteveDallas]

"now"?

[Perry Winkle]

I dunno Bruce...I kinda thought you'd hit full on nerdom with the doodads thread.

Anyway...being a Geek or Nerd these days seems to be the new gay.

[lookout123]

seems to be the new gay.

do i still have to be in high school to think that is a good thing?

[jaguar]

Interestingly 'gay' as a 'this is crap' word is making a comback amoung the ultratrendy here, I think as some kind of ironic thing, they don't seem quite sure, neither am I, very odd.

Flashed the firmware for my powerbook a long time back, one reason I don't want to get a new one is there aren't firmwares for newer mac DVD drives & I've got legit asian australian and european DVDs.

[xoxoxoBruce]

"now"?

I dunno Bruce...I kinda thought you'd hit full on nerdom with the doodads thread.

OK, youse guys...put up yer dukes...c'mon, put 'em up, I'm gonna beat the crap outta bod-a-yas. Good ting youse ain't here or I'd smack yas wid my beaded bag. :p

[Bitman]

Hate to break it to ya, but you're not a nerd. Now if you actually understood all that crap about "flashing your DOSbox at a channel slave", then you'd be a nerd.

[smoothmoniker]

there are only 10 kinds of people in the world ...

those who read binary, and those who don't.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

OK, youse guys...put up yer dukes...c'mon, put 'em up, I'm gonna beat the crap outta bod-a-yas. Good ting youse ain't here or I'd smack yas wid my beaded bag. :p

And take my lunch money no doubt.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by grant

Anyway...being a Geek or Nerd these days seems to be the new gay.

There's a difference. We nerds are nerds by choice. Geeks can't help it.

[Perry Winkle]

My definition of <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/N/nerd.html">nerd</a> and <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/geek.html">geek</a>.

[Happy Monkey]

What does this make me? I just rebuilt my computer with an Athlon 64 3600+ with 2GB of RAM, and an e-GeForce 6800 GT. It's mostly working, but I haven't put in the sound card, and it's making sporadic warning beeps. Usually not good.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

What does this make me?
--snip--

Nothing necessarily.

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

sporadic warning beeps

Maybe heat?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Bitman

Hate to break it to ya, but you're not a nerd. Now if you actually understood all that crap about "flashing your DOSbox at a channel slave", then you'd be a nerd.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. No, I really mean it, thank you.