Rawns

Upgraded my HTC Desire HD to JellyTime 4.2 over the weekend which comes with the Nova launcher which is really cool. Apart for the stock CyanogenMod 7 and factory default HTC launcher, I've not looked at any others. I'm guessing there are a lot more out there, with their own various features. Can anyone recommend any launchers that are worth looking at?

Annoyingly, the front room was only decorated 6 months ago. I like the idea of tucking the skirting board in the skirting board but can't help but think it's a bit OTT for installing a single Cat5 cable (however if it was being removed, I would totally do that at the same time). Wonder if pinning it around the outside wall would work? Thats how the Sky dish went up. (Dish round the back where the PC is, cable around the outside wall and in by the router... Maybe I'll just stick with the Wi-Fi connection. I'm hoping we wont being the flat too much longer so will work it into the plan of DIY in our next place.

Exactly that. The wireless connection is fine and I have no problems with it. Average connection is 180-200Mbps? Thing is, next to the router is my media center and NAS. The reason behind a wired connection is transfer speeds between PC and NAS. I play a lot of PC games online too and can't help but think that a wired connection will help just that little bit more.

My desktop PC is connected to my router in the front room via N-Range wireless, but I'm tempted to get a network cable down. The question is, I'm not sure how best to lay it so it's hidden and out of the way. I live in the middle of a three story flat so don't have floorboards to feed the cable under. The wife has also stressed that she does not want to see the cable tacked along the top of the skirting board, or those "ugly" plastic cable holders, so I'm running out of ideas of how best to get the cable down. I've tried Ethernet power adapters before but found them next to useless even though the wiring is only 5 years old. Any suggestions greatly appreciated! Floor-plan:

I did not know about this until the weekend, but the devs are actively hot-fixing/patching the alpha release and you can opt in to the "Beta" Alpha release using the "opt-in" option in the game properties within Steam. It will cause problems though if you want to play online in public servers as your versions need to match. Same goes for co-op play too.

I'm English. My wife and the in-laws (huge rugby fans) are Welsh. Either way, my team won.

Cool, I saw you on my friends list so sent you the invite (which you have most likely seen by now)

@nephilim - Last online 54 days ago? Have I added the right person?

DOTA2 & ARMA3 Sent. And kudos on an awesome Steam Avatar!

Friend requests sent to you @markwilfan & @nephilim. Seems I can't send them to you until your on my friends list.

Your not using the SIMS dbupgrade.exe are you instead of the FMS dbupgrade.exe? I don;t think it should matter but I find it always best to use the appropriate dbattach.exe/dbupgrade.exe against the SIMS or FMS database. Re your screenshot, did you get the same error when using other logins (eg, SA) or did you get "invalid username/password" errors? The sysman/******** username & password combo is the standard login for a blank FMS database and as the error is regarding finding columns, so it looks like the login may be working but the actual database is not correct. Maybe detach the blank FMS database, delete the MDF and LDF files form the SQL Data directory, then reattach a new blank database using the FMS dbattach.exe. If you used the SIMS dbattach.exe, it may not have attached the blank database correctly.

Sounds like a dodgy SIMS.INI file to me if your trying to run SIMSInst.exe and it can't find the SIMSInfrastructureSetup.exe. It's in C:\WINDOWS so open it up and check the paths are correct for each parameter.

The required specs are not that high. Got a laptop or netbook to test it on?

Could be then that users were winding down and shutting their machines off preventing them from getting the packages? We have enabled "auto deployment" in schools, usually set to run from 19:00-10:00. The concept is me (at the LA) release an upgrade to the school. The SOLUS3 system will then download it and push out the update packages to any workstations online. In most cases, all workstations bar the server will be switched off after 5'ish. 7pm comes and SOLSU3 upgrades everything SIMS on the server. Users come in the next morning, power on their machines and "hopefully" will get SOLUS3 agent popups to say SIMS is going to be upgraded (as the auto deploy schedule is still in effect). I set it to run to 10am because despite what Capita say, most workstations don't automatically upgrade when then come online of their own accord, if the "auto deploy" schedule is still in effect, it seems to force the upgrade down. However, it is dependent on users not having SIMS .net open at the time of the upgrade.

Sorry Hawk. However the ARMA3 Lite Alpha actually comes with 1 ARMA3 Lite Alpha gift key too, so maybe someone I've hooked up with a copy can do the same for you? Also, I can't be the only one on Edugeek to have bought the full Alpha, maybe someone else has a couple of spare keys?

Nice. I'll be keeping it more low key by buying a load of cake from our Red Nose Bake sale. Plus I've dressed down too.

10 should be fine. I usually up it to 10 in bigger schools and leave it at 5 in smaller schools. How long did you wait between receiving the upgrade from your LA/Capita and actually deploying the upgrade? It depends on how many workstations you have in your environment, but I find that usually I authorise a release to a school in the morning (9/10am?) and the upgrade will start installing automatically from 7pm onwards. That gives plenty of time for all workstatiosn to get the required components before the upgrade begins (as long as the majority of workstations are online!)

I feel I need to draw peoples attention to this free game. I only discovered it yesterday but it's seriously awesome. It's a mix of First Person with the old school text/point-n-click so has a retro feel. It's also available on Windows, Mac and Linux which is great! Dead Cyborg - first person view, hard-sci-fi adventure game Info: The first Ep is ony 30Mb, with Ep 2 coming in at 35Mb so there is no reason not to try it! It also looks surprisingly nice too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euGnVNNfMhE

Bean & Sausage slice FTW!

Trying to get an early Friday morning order in?

Sorry gents, only had two more keys left and @markwilfan & @nephilim got in there quicker. I'll send you the invites when I'm on later tonight. Forgot to mention on the picture, it's feature comparison between the lite and standard versions.

One gone to @Mako

Seems we who bought the ARMA3 Alpha got the guest keys today in Steam to gift copies of the ARMA3 Lite Alpha. Anyone interested in a key? I'll need to add you on Steam to gift it... I've still got 8 DOTA2 keys to offload too, so you'll be getting one of those too!!!

Its just got to deliver, this release will be make or break I reckon. 2 years(?) now its been available for schools, and IMO, the uptake has not been very impressive at all. And it's been less than pain-free for the sites that have taken it.

Another interesting post form RPS: Modder Runs SimCity Offline, Maxis Remains Silent | Rock, Paper, Shotgun