I love it when people who don't know anything about networking invent solutions to problems. As if actual IETF engineers were all idiots.

Or since I apparently can't edit and my memory is faulty, the definitions of the words that make up "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;"

Because of the definitions of inter, state, and commerce.

But how do you know which parts are relevant to you?

I mean, you might think a little thing like the Constitution is perfectly clear when it lays out the rules for regulating interstate commerce. I bet you didn't know that growing wheat on your own small farm and eating it yourself is interstate commerce.

I was wrong about XP needing to map all 3 GB of video RAM.

It is more accurate to say that Windows XP limits the GPU to a 256 MB window. The GPU would perform a lot better if all of its memory was mapped for direct access.

The newer pieces of GPU hardware and drivers are using zero-copy direct memory access with addressing that is the same on the GPU and the CPU which allows sharing of data structures without copies or modifications. That can't be done in a 256 MB window, or if it can, not well.

Just saw the bit about epoxy. MAYBE the keyboard started out epoxied in place but when I saw it it sure wasn't. IT needs to put in a new keyboard, they probably chipped it out and replaced it. Not much would stop the user from doing that either.

How do you expect the keyboard is attached? USB. I've actually seen this, in person. A machine with sealed USB ports ... and a USB keyboard and mouse. Really. What was IT thinking?

I bet the IT guy who did the job was a contractor. 'Uh yeah, here's a work order to seal up all the open USB ports.' "What about the keyboard?" "Doesn't say. Don't ask questions: its 20 hours of easy work at $60/hr."

No the problem is in the hardware.

If there are super specific timing requirements then invent a new standard with the commands you need. Then put a little microprocessor on the serial port end in charge of waiting for some particular signal and responding in precisely 23 milliseconds. Or whatever.

Mine never has.

Well, if I was really into industrial espionage I might do something like bring a USB stick loaded with my zipper program, but instead of storage set to look like a keyboard. Plug it in, open Notepad and have it type the executable out into a file.

I've noticed that a lot of places disable USB storage but don't disable file execution from writable directories.

Sounds like the real answer to this problem is an improved USB to serial dongle. If this is a serious problem for electronics engineers, they are the perfect people to fix it. Whatever the problem with the USB to serial interface is, fix it. Then sell your improved serial port adapter for $100. Profit!

Windows 8 doesn't slow anything down. Check some benchmarks. It is faster than XP in most things. Here's one from a casual Google: http://itnews2day.com/2013/02/...

Windows XP is 32-bit only. Windows XP does not like hyperthreading or quad core CPUs. XP doesn't perform well on high bandwidth WAN connections. Its old SMB file transfer speeds are atrocious on gigabit LANs. It doesn't allow threaded GPU accesses and only supports old DirectX versions. It doesn't understand Advanced Format hard drives or SSDs. USB 3 on XP is buggy as hell. (in my experience)

If you installed a super modern GPU with 3 GB video RAM on XP, it would fall over and die because it has to map those 3 GB into 4 GB of space.

So, in at least this case, the OS didn't slow down. And without it new hardware wouldn't work at all.

Sure you can. But what is Chrome on iOS? It is a user interface skin over Safari is all it is. Not actually Chrome.

Of course you have rights. So does your employer. And using your employer's network gives your employer the right to see what is traveling over his network.