Destructive Incorporated

It's been a long time since I gave Sabayon Linux 3.1 such a rave review. A lot has changed in that time. The distribution is still based on the ~arch branch of Gentoo Linux, the biggest addition is the new binary package manager "entropy" and its front-ends: spritz (X) and equo (CLI). One of my favorite things about gentoo is the source-based nature of the distribution; you can always just rebuild everything from source with a couple commands in the console.

Can you believe how hard it is to find a quick cheat sheet for using mencoder (included with mplayer) to encode various video formats?

Cloning a hard drive is almost always the fastest and easiest way to migrate from one disk to another. There are several great programs out there that will do just that, the only problem is they're not free. Norton Ghost, Acronis MigrateEasy, and Partition Magic all have the required functionality to do this, but so does any bootable linux or *BSD distribution. Follow these easy steps and you'll be up and running in no time and still have a little cash left in your pocket.

Step One: Initial Configuration

I was thrilled when I saw Firaxis bringing out a new edition of one of my favorite Sid Meier's classics, 'Railroads!' Of course Railroad Tycoon doesn't quite stack up to the Civilization series, but it still entertained me for hours upon hours. First thing I did was look for some reviews of Railroads!, and found them quite lacking, which surprised me. So, trusting Sid wouldn't do me wrong, I went and bought Railroads! thinking I'd have a game to enjoy for some time to come.

This Gentoo-based distro is going to be one to watch. Rock-solid stability and endless flexibility, all wrapped into a 3.3GB LiveDVD environment packed to the brim with the latest builds of the latest software. So then, what makes Sabayon Linux so special? I'm glad you asked.

The strength of this OS comes not only from the abundance of current software available, but also from its roots in Gentoo Linux, which has long been known for its adaptability and pure speed. Gentoo's portage houses thousands (tens of thousands?) of programs which can be installed, via source, using every setting specified in make.conf, using build options depending on my USE flags. Dependencies are all resolved automatically by emerge (best thing since sliced bread). Boot scripts are easily modified with rc-update (so far my favorite runlevel modification tool). System updates (Sabayon follows the ~arch branch) can be made as easily as 'emerge –sync && emerge -uvDNa world' followed by 'etc-update' which will keep my install up to date with the latest security patches, bug fixes, and killer new features. There are hundreds of Gentoo reviews online and anything more in-depth goes beyond the scope of this article. Sabayon provides a very capable "livecd" environment with tons of the newest software all pre-installed to accomplish work fast. If work isn't your thing you can always kick back and play a little Cold War, or Quake 4 as both

Ever since I saw the first announcement of Flight Simulator X I was really excited to play it. I'm no plane nut or anything... I'm not even sure WHY I was so hyped up over it. Now, after playing Flight Simulator X for approximately 8 minutes, I am happy to say that I am even more excited about uninstalling it.

While getting my typical morning fill on Google News, I happened to come across Only hype makes organic food healthier.

Obviously the author quantifies 'healthier' far differently than the medical community, health experts, and myself. I would definitely tend to lean towards looking at healthier as combination of being more nutritional/vitamin filled, having less chemicals/carcinogens, and higher fertility. All of these health benefits you will only receive from eating organic foods.

As obesity continues to plague the US and video games continue to be a favorite past time, one company seems to have found the perfect compliment for video games to help solve the 'epidemic'. The solution: combine your favorite video game with a bit of exercise.

While there are some great games that combine exercise with gaming like DDR and Pump It Up, and there are even a couple of other fitness game controllers (like the Kilowatt), none of them seem to be quite the ticket for exercise success among most gamers.

Before I start with number 1 and work my way up, I would like to address a few things. First, this is my personal opinion of the game produced by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. As the title states, the purpose of this article is to highlight my largest gripes with the game and can be considered a rant. Secondly, the only experience I've had with the game thus far has been from the demo. I feel, however, that all of my points have nothing to do with the difference between the demo and full version and are therefore still relevant. Finally, I bring these points up because while I believe Battlefield 2142 might be the most successful in the Battlefield series, it will never be the most played first person shooter due to a number of small technicalities that DICE couldn't get right. I do offer solutions, even if obviously simple.

Another case of privacy issues at Best Buy.