Um, Blu-Ray drives are backwards compatible with DVDs and CDs. Unless he’s referring to computers that lack disc drives (a stupid decision for any company to make: assuming that there will never be a need or WANT to reinstall the OS), M is hardly obsolete if he’s compatible with CDs.
Maybe “you’re old-school but at least you have a CD-ROM drive” was meant. But a much better solution would be if M had a Vinyl-ROM drive (such things have been made, and they’re as Mad Science-y in real life as you might imagine) and they had to convert the CD to vinyl first.
They’re not “assuming that there will never be a need or WANT to reinstall the OS”. They’re assuming that if you ever need or want to install (or replace) the OS that you’ll be intelligent enough to figure out how to install from a USB memory stick.
The notebook I’m writing this on doesn’t come with an optical drive, but I’ve had no problem reinstalling the OS, or replacing it with a different OS.
Well, if you’ve got a USB connector you can obviously install an OS using that. The other alternative is installing via LAN. Doesn’t work with wireless, though, for obvious reasons.
Add to that that installation files and file saving are moving towards being internet-based and you start _needing_ less and less stuff
So yeah, corporate environment, I can see how a discplayer might seem unnecessary (or redundant). Working as an IT guy, I wouldn’t skimp on it, though. Discs haven’t gone the way of the 3.5″ quite yet.
Hey, we keep USB floppy drives available for use at the library because some people are still buying and using new 3.5″ floppies to store their Open Office XML files on.
A few years ago some computer companies had the bright idea of selling computers with the o.s. installed, but without the install disc.
Their argument: the o.s. installation software was stored on the h.d. in a special folder, so if you needed to reinstall, you would just reinstall from that.
The drive crashes, or you want to upgrade it? Oh, well.
That actually depends on the drive: blu-ray, digital versatile disc, and compact disc require different lasers: the whole reason the new discs can store more is because of the smaller wavelength lasers. While almost all DVD systems have a CD laser too, blu-ray didn’t have DVD lasers initially, and some still don’t have CD lasers.
So are we about to see the fusion pie again? Given the name of the story arc, the outcome could be much worse this time. Perhaps Annex One and Skin Horse get wiped out just in time for Shaenon to take a new-baby break for a couple of months.
:::BEGIN AUDITORY APOCALYPSE SUBROUTINE:::
:::FIND COMPACT DISQUE WITH AUDITORY COMPONENT:::
:::SEARCHING:::
:::SEARCHING:::
:::COMPACT DISQUE FOUND:::
:::ACCESSING:::
:::ACCESSING:::
:::BEGIN PLAYBACK MODE:::
*CLICK!*
:::SELECTING AUDITORY COMPONENT:::
>Puberty Love
>Indian Love Call
>Muskrat Love at 2X Normal Speed
:::SELECTING:::
:::SELECTING:::
:::AUDITORY COMPONENT SELECTED AND ACQUIRED:::
:::BEGINNING MUSKRAT LOVE AT 2X NORMAL SPEED:::
I should filk Muskrat Love, but I’ve been awake for as much as 24 hours and I’m possibly going to be without wi-fi for eight days as of later today. Perhaps next archive binge.
CD-ROMs? Bah! Punched cards are oldschool – paper tapes, maybe. I’d pull Chris aside for a lecture on proper respect for tech history, but it looks like he’s otherwise occupied.
In Moustachio’s instruction manual there’s a footprint in tiny print, seventeen pages in, that says: “Please ensure that you select Good Mode / Evil Mode as desired BEFORE opening a program. “
In response to oneuniverse2, yes the tiny arms made life difficult for T-Rex, but his big honkin’ teeth made life difficult for everyone else. It seems to me that tiny arms on the steampunk killer robot are secondary to the potential for heavy weapons packs and the now-installed sonic weaponry.
Rule #1 for survival…never give an important task to a robot who’s in a hurry to get to a coffee date.
I’d love to see some “flashback” to the good old days when he had legs, arms, and a mission to outdo the Terminator… I wonder how he looked?
I just love old robots… I saw to it that the guy with the Boilerplate the Robot site, was made aware of the beloved Mustachio… Contemporaries- I have to wonder if they ever ran across one another?
While I’m sure this has been said by someone else, I’m becoming increasingly certain that the point of this whole exercise is to make sure – for whatever reason – that nobody can have access to the Basement Dweller files for the period that Gavotte is indisposed
Is heavy calibre customer related to how a sniper services a target?
On M’s next rebuild, they should replace the key with a ratcheting torque wrench set for the torque observed at 90% of being fully wound to reduce the chance of this happening again.
Mad Scientists NEED competent technicians.
So THIS is how the war begins.
Oh dear me. I think I shall retire to my bunker for the next little while. Anyone care to join me? I shall have tea.
I think that is a fine, fine thing, tea.
I’ll bring scones!
I think I hear my mother calling… sorry, must dash!
I shall bring the cucumber sandwiches and a selection of poetry to help pass the time.
Welp.
Uh-oh.
He spelled “caliber.” with an “e” at the end.
This will not end well…
Um, Blu-Ray drives are backwards compatible with DVDs and CDs. Unless he’s referring to computers that lack disc drives (a stupid decision for any company to make: assuming that there will never be a need or WANT to reinstall the OS), M is hardly obsolete if he’s compatible with CDs.
Maybe “you’re old-school but at least you have a CD-ROM drive” was meant. But a much better solution would be if M had a Vinyl-ROM drive (such things have been made, and they’re as Mad Science-y in real life as you might imagine) and they had to convert the CD to vinyl first.
A lot of corporate machines are made without optical drives these days. Everything is managed remotely. “New school” would be a tablet or a phone.
I’m surprised that M even has the CD-ROM drive, though. Drums are more his style.
They’re not “assuming that there will never be a need or WANT to reinstall the OS”. They’re assuming that if you ever need or want to install (or replace) the OS that you’ll be intelligent enough to figure out how to install from a USB memory stick.
The notebook I’m writing this on doesn’t come with an optical drive, but I’ve had no problem reinstalling the OS, or replacing it with a different OS.
Well, if you’ve got a USB connector you can obviously install an OS using that. The other alternative is installing via LAN. Doesn’t work with wireless, though, for obvious reasons.
Add to that that installation files and file saving are moving towards being internet-based and you start _needing_ less and less stuff
So yeah, corporate environment, I can see how a discplayer might seem unnecessary (or redundant). Working as an IT guy, I wouldn’t skimp on it, though. Discs haven’t gone the way of the 3.5″ quite yet.
Hey, we keep USB floppy drives available for use at the library because some people are still buying and using new 3.5″ floppies to store their Open Office XML files on.
A few years ago some computer companies had the bright idea of selling computers with the o.s. installed, but without the install disc.
Their argument: the o.s. installation software was stored on the h.d. in a special folder, so if you needed to reinstall, you would just reinstall from that.
The drive crashes, or you want to upgrade it? Oh, well.
People, it’s a joke
That actually depends on the drive: blu-ray, digital versatile disc, and compact disc require different lasers: the whole reason the new discs can store more is because of the smaller wavelength lasers. While almost all DVD systems have a CD laser too, blu-ray didn’t have DVD lasers initially, and some still don’t have CD lasers.
He has tiny arms now too. We are so doomed.
T-Rex had tiny arms, and that made it’s life difficult.
Is there going to be a building left when this all is over? It seems increasingly doubtful.
So are we about to see the fusion pie again? Given the name of the story arc, the outcome could be much worse this time. Perhaps Annex One and Skin Horse get wiped out just in time for Shaenon to take a new-baby break for a couple of months.
I work in customer support. I want some of this “Heavy-calibre customer service” please!
I think it comes with a “This Side Towards Ene^H^H^HCustomers” label.
:::BEGIN AUDITORY APOCALYPSE SUBROUTINE:::
:::FIND COMPACT DISQUE WITH AUDITORY COMPONENT:::
:::SEARCHING:::
:::SEARCHING:::
:::COMPACT DISQUE FOUND:::
:::ACCESSING:::
:::ACCESSING:::
:::BEGIN PLAYBACK MODE:::
*CLICK!*
:::SELECTING AUDITORY COMPONENT:::
>Puberty Love
>Indian Love Call
>Muskrat Love at 2X Normal Speed
:::SELECTING:::
:::SELECTING:::
:::AUDITORY COMPONENT SELECTED AND ACQUIRED:::
:::BEGINNING MUSKRAT LOVE AT 2X NORMAL SPEED:::
The Auld Grump
Muskrat Love? Eww…
Wow. I thought the Geneva convention had erased all copies of those songs for the good of humanity. It really is the end.
I should filk Muskrat Love, but I’ve been awake for as much as 24 hours and I’m possibly going to be without wi-fi for eight days as of later today. Perhaps next archive binge.
I wish I could do my job while just walking around, angrily muttering “service” under my breath all day, but I doubt my clients would appreciate it.
That’s why you have to add “..is my only joy!” at least once in a while
(TUNE: “Happy Holidays”, Irving Berlin)
Heavy-calibre! Heavy-calibre!
Now the customers he’s serving,
Heavy-calibre he brings!
Heavy-calibre! Heavy-calibre!
Now his rampage is unswerving,
Heavy-calibre, he sings!
Now his eyes are shining brightly,
And he speaks in Cou-ri-er!
Evil M, serving them
With heavy calibre!
Bubbles wound him up too tightly,
So we’ll blame it all on her!
Over-wound, here comes sound
Of heavy calibre!
Heavy-calibre …
Heavy-calibre …
CD-ROMs? Bah! Punched cards are oldschool – paper tapes, maybe. I’d pull Chris aside for a lecture on proper respect for tech history, but it looks like he’s otherwise occupied.
I thought mustachio ran off of wax cylinders?
This was one of Tigerlily’s upgrades.
Everybody ’round Skin Horse is wound too tightly.
Especially right before the SNAP.
Note to self: Stop having robots wind Moustachio.
I say it’s time for the return of
*fwoom!*
Tigerlilly Jones!
It’s *always* time for the return of Tigerlily Jones 🙂
D*m it bubbles you had one job!
granted, she’s distracted because she’s one of the luckier Ferro-Americans right now, but still!
She was made for a different job.
In Moustachio’s instruction manual there’s a footprint in tiny print, seventeen pages in, that says: “Please ensure that you select Good Mode / Evil Mode as desired BEFORE opening a program. “
In response to oneuniverse2, yes the tiny arms made life difficult for T-Rex, but his big honkin’ teeth made life difficult for everyone else. It seems to me that tiny arms on the steampunk killer robot are secondary to the potential for heavy weapons packs and the now-installed sonic weaponry.
Rule #1 for survival…never give an important task to a robot who’s in a hurry to get to a coffee date.
So it begins.
I’d love to see some “flashback” to the good old days when he had legs, arms, and a mission to outdo the Terminator… I wonder how he looked?
I just love old robots… I saw to it that the guy with the Boilerplate the Robot site, was made aware of the beloved Mustachio… Contemporaries- I have to wonder if they ever ran across one another?
While I’m sure this has been said by someone else, I’m becoming increasingly certain that the point of this whole exercise is to make sure – for whatever reason – that nobody can have access to the Basement Dweller files for the period that Gavotte is indisposed
You have to love Bubble’s expression in the last panel. For a water cooler, she’s mastered body language very quickly.
Is heavy calibre customer related to how a sniper services a target?
On M’s next rebuild, they should replace the key with a ratcheting torque wrench set for the torque observed at 90% of being fully wound to reduce the chance of this happening again.
Mad Scientists NEED competent technicians.
It’s amazing they didn’t do that last time. Dare we hope that after he rampages twice they might realise the wisdom of it?
I just figured out an alternate name for this section:
“Bubbles, Bubbles’ toils, and troubles”
I certainly approve.
Grumpy Bubbles is still very cute, and I’m extremely impressed with how she still looks completely distinct from when Nick was driving.
Also, M broken again sucks, but maybe it means we’ll get to see Tigerlily Jones again? We can but hope.
Poor Bubbles is never going to get that coffee date now. 🙁