i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

Cox cable San Diego just announced that users will have access to espn360. I have no idea whether this service may have already been available to me on Uverse in Riverside (I see that it's available on Verizon in Palm Desert); and I also don't know whether there is anything on it I wish to watch.

...

But considering I'm too cheap to pay for an actual tv cable hookup (esp. since I wouldn't watch it), I thought maybe I would be able to see some Lakers games. Or not.

In any event, "access" is not the sole issue. There is the other minor issue that it won't run in Linux. Well, it works okay in Vista, which caused me to update my Vista installs, with the ... you know, 24 or so updates that have accumulated since the last time I logged into Vista.

Multiple times, since I have multiple computers to try out. Well, you see the biggest one won't run Windows XP any longer due to intentional Microsoft sabotage (see my prior blogs regarding the knowingly defective video drivers that kill the install). The medium-sized one has the crappy Vista that refuses to actually function and the little tiny one is not the computer I would prefer to watch posterizing slam-dunks on.

This is truly weird and maybe I have failed to do my research -- but I would have assumed that a dual-core 64 bit processor would be more adept than a single core one. But, Vista works just fine on the Gateway LT3103u and -- despite reinstalls, updates and everything else -- still runs like crap on my Sony Vaio. (Which fortunately, also sports a perfectly legal-- cause I bought it in desperation -- version of Windows XP. But then again, that is one more set of mega-updates to run every time I foolishly decide I need to run something in Windows.)

So, it occurred to me that maybe it would run in Windows XP in my Linux/Virtualbox install. Because, that will run just fine on the video-driver crippled HP Pavilion.

But apparently, no. One needs DX9 or OpenGL drivers. Rumor has it that these will exist in Virtualbox 3.0? But though I have 3D enabled -- nothing.

Except this is one of those "nothings" that doesn't make any sense, in that on one run-through, it actually worked. But at that moment I had not enabled audio. Also, I couldn't kick it to full screen. So, I shut it down to get the audio working in Virtualbox and increase the video memory allocation and next thing I know, "nothing" once again. Which is when I researched the fact that Virtualbox may or may not have DX9 support.

I would rather not mention how much time I wasted on this project. Do you have any idea how much additional wasted time is added to the slate when something works once and then dies? Dude, it's telling you it can work!

Or not. My apt. is only one story up, so it would not do much good to leap out the window in frustration.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that the LT3103u is still proving to be an agile workhorse. Working well in both Vista and Linux. Still have paging file turned off in Vista, no problemos.

What is most amusing is how cludgy and backwards Vista seems when compared to KDE 4.3. Yes, I have lived the KDE 4.3 "growing pains", but worthwhile.

Speaking of "growing pains", my panel icons have gone back to picking their own location each login. I thought we outgrew this problem 4.1.1 ago or so.

Except, seemingly a bit more static on the LT3103u. Why would that be? Same desktop setup. But, on the LT3103u, everything is still where I put it in the first place. (Though, I will admit there are a few less icons in place than on the Sony Vaio, my main work machine with many more hours of customization and installs to its name...)

Is any of this interesting to anyone else but me? I doubt it.

Thank you for visiting and have a pleasant tomorrow.