I'm now....a nerd.

xoxoxoBruce • Apr 26, 2005 9:52 am
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. :nuts:

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 :guinea:

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 • Apr 26, 2005 10:40 am
Congratulations Bruce. Welcome to the nerd side.
SteveDallas • Apr 26, 2005 10:48 am
"now"? :browhappy
Perry Winkle • Apr 26, 2005 12:40 pm
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 • Apr 26, 2005 12:56 pm
seems to be the new gay.


do i still have to be in high school to think that is a good thing?
jaguar • Apr 26, 2005 1:05 pm
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 • Apr 26, 2005 2:10 pm
"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 • Apr 28, 2005 5:13 pm
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 • Apr 28, 2005 6:45 pm
there are only 10 kinds of people in the world ...

those who read binary, and those who don't.
SteveDallas • Apr 28, 2005 10:42 pm
xoxoxoBruce wrote:
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. :eek:
dar512 • Apr 28, 2005 11:25 pm
grant wrote:
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 • Apr 29, 2005 9:30 pm
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 • Apr 29, 2005 10:26 pm
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 • Apr 29, 2005 11:07 pm
Happy Monkey wrote:
What does this make me?
--snip--


Nothing necessarily.

Happy Monkey wrote:

sporadic warning beeps


Maybe heat?
xoxoxoBruce • Apr 30, 2005 9:00 am
Bitman wrote:
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. :lol:
Happy Monkey • Apr 30, 2005 1:58 pm
grant wrote:
Maybe heat?
Heh. Actually, it was beeping because I hadn't put the sound card in, and it was using the PC speaker for dialog box beeps. Doh.
headsplice • May 26, 2005 1:18 pm
smoothmoniker wrote:
there are only 10 kinds of people in the world ...

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


If you and DEAD people can read hex, how many people can read hex?
jaguar • May 26, 2005 1:22 pm
57006? Comeon you can do better than that, this place is full of geeks.
Perry Winkle • May 26, 2005 6:00 pm
jaguar wrote:
57006? Comeon you can do better than that, this place is full of geeks.



Hrm, both by hand and by calculator I'm getting 57005.

DEAD= 13 14 10 13 =1101 1110 1010 1101

I'm math deficient so who knows....
Happy Monkey • May 26, 2005 6:07 pm
You forgot yourself.
lookout123 • May 26, 2005 6:11 pm
you freaking nerds. leave your house and go find someone willing to beat you up.
Perry Winkle • May 26, 2005 6:19 pm
bah, that's me in a nutshell -- always one off.
Perry Winkle • May 26, 2005 6:21 pm
lookout123 wrote:
go find someone willing to beat you up.


Strangely I've never found anyone very willing when it came right down to it...
lookout123 • May 26, 2005 6:29 pm
that is because while most people don't understand nerd "ness" they like the nerdy people. only insecure, hung-like-a-nat losers would actually beat someone up just for being smart.
cowhead • May 27, 2005 4:15 am
amen brother.. you've summed up alot of my life... if it weren't for rocking at the guitar and used to sel drugs I never would have gotten anywhere.. other than into MIT :lol: