realmtech.net

Okay, all the articles before this are remenants of the old re-do of realmtech.net (v2.3). All articles from this one on are for/from the "new" realmtech.net v2.4.

(Thats right, the Submit Article doesnt work yet). In fact, many sections don't work yet, such as Journals (although there are some journals in the database).

I've redone the entire forums section. There's now the ability to have multiple forums (for now, only General and Technical have been created).

Lets try and make the tech forum useful! If you have a question, or an answer to one, please go ahead and post!!

I'll keep you guys posted, but for now, enjoy the new forums!!

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After recently installing Windows XP (yes, I caved in), I've been looking for a suitable theme to replace the default 'Luna' theme.

The default 'Luna' theme has come under much scrutiny. "It looks like a Pizza Hut placemat", etc etc. However, when compared to many of the themes out there, it comes out looking quite good.

Sometimes it makes me wonder if these Interface/Skin creators actually use their own themes? Some of them have flaws which jump out to me like a big red nose.

The 'Luna' theme is actually usable -- a feature other themes lack.

For instance, I downloaded one theme which looked fine and all.. But radio buttons (the round ones that only let you pick one of the options) looked *exactly* like check boxes. Now, doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of them?

Example 2: Many many many themes make buttons and titlebars look nice and pretty, but most of them severely neglect the taskbar. In this day and age of multitasking, the taskbar is probably your best friend. Some themes themes just select the wrong colours for the taskbar, which makes it very confusing -- which window is the one thats in the foreground again? I've even come across one theme that made the text on the buttons unreadable because it it blended into the background colour!

Then there's the other themes out there which are simply blatant rips of 'Luna'. Thats right. They take Luna, change a couple of colours, and call it a brand spanking new theme. Shameful.

While I couldnt design an interface to save my life (take realmtech.net for an example), I still feel the need to bring this to people's attention.

On a side note, I haven't yet found a suitable theme to use...

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You probably guessed from the title of this piece that this would be a rant about the evils of the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Now, I know I'm not a terribly technical fellow...not well versed in the language of binary and assembly, but I can still tell when I am being ripped off.

In the beginning, there was a cable...this was the transACT network. From it's humble beginnings being rolled out into my suburb back when I was in year 11, to its astounding ability to amuse and entertain. Yes, Fibre optics had come to town.

"Fibre optics" you say? Yes, the technology has been around for sometime, however they have still been attempting to weed out teething problems. Most of which have to do with exchange errors and the likes, but the biggest error (and one which persists even still today) is that of the ISPs on the network.
You're probably thinking that I'm rambling now, well I am...but hey, i'm angry and I'm procrastinating and not studying for a materials test tomorrow.

The ISP: Currently we pay a whopping $99 for a meagre 4GB limit on our internet. And when you think about it, Nemesis is constantly downloading 4GB (or more) a month on his lowly 56Kb modem at home...now up the speeds a little. 256kb/s connections...possibly 512kb/s now its starting to become apparent that the capacity to exceed ones limit is very easy.

To put it in perspective, if I had a constant download rate of 20kb/s and I left it downloading a really big file...by the end of the month I would have downloaded something in the order of 51840000 Kbs of data, or 50625 mbs of data, or 49.5 GB of data. Now compare that to the limit assigned to our connection: 4GB. Thats a whopping 45.5GB of difference. Now ISPs in general have pretty stringent rules about going over the limit: Every GB over you d/l, you pay roughly $130 or $120 (if they're generous) ... now had i managed to actually leave my computer on 24/7 for a month whilst it downloaded the entire contents of my HDD from a remote connection, I would have to pay $5900 for this misadventure. Think about it...what would you do with ~6k? Spend it on 45GB of downloads? I don't think so! Luckily for me, in June we only went just under 4 GB over the limit...and thus it was only 400 or so dollars we ended up paying *oops*.

Anyway, I could'nt really be bothered going on...so I'll leave in saying this: Once the contract for this current ISP is over with, we are going to be moving to another ISP with a much better deal $100/mo for unlimited downloads. Compared to the ISP i currently have (and most ISPs on the transact network) it is exceptional just looking at the costs. The question still burns in my mind: "Whats the service like?"

With a very light wallet, I bid you adeau.

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Ever since Kirsten designed a smashing interface for the new realmtech.net (Kirsten: HINT HINT), nemesis loves her. I mean, sure, she's a great person and all (out comes the flattery), but her graphic design skills are just tops.

End of story hehe

36 Comments »