If one looks at the past year or so of XP updates, only one part of the OS constantly received updates month-to-month. That same OS component is included with POSReady 2009..... Internet Explorer. By default it comes with IE7 installed, but it can be updated to IE8. Most of Windows XP is there, some of the stuff totally removed is the games (we all know Solitaire has a long list of exploits!) and fluff like Windows Movie Maker. They added some stuff like .NET Runtime for Embedded in its place. DirectX is still intact and working. It can be updated to 9.0c with the latest redistributable. You really can't chop out much of "Windows" without breaking binary compatibility. Most of the applications POSReady 2009 is supposed to run were designed for retail XP initially.

I ran a 1980s car with Bosch mechanical fuel injection on the E10 crap (that is mandated here in NJ) without a problem. No leaking seals and always started with a flick of the ignition. Part of the problem isn't the alcohol, but the water it attracts (ethanol is hygroscopic).

ULSD usually damages fuel pumps due to the lack of lubrication. Ironically the most common way to increase the lubricating properties of ULSD is to blend in some biodiesel.

Office for Mac always had differences from the Windows versions.The dates functions in Excel were always a problem since the epoch on Windows was different from the one on Mac OS. http://support.microsoft.com/k...

The only real push Microsoft made was to unify the file formats, which happened with Office for Mac 4.2. The Mac version also lacked a proper Outlook client between Office 2001 and Office 2011, you got that Entourage program for mail and contacts instead.

Wasn't getting a larger piece of the gains the point of unions/collective bargaining?

Not one VCR is best for all tapes. For SP speed tapes like home movies, the JVC SVHS and DVHS decks equipped with JVC's "Digipure" TBC/noise reduction from the late 90s-early 00s have some of the best picture quality out there. The Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U DVHS deck is another recommended model. Expect to pay upwards of $200 for a working deck on ebay. The list of model numbers can be found here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/foru...

The Panasonic AG-1980P is best for EP/SLP tapes and is also better behaved with VHS-C tapes in the motorized adapter. The JVCs tend to have problems with the VHS-C adapters. The downside of the AG-1980 is that it is VERY prone to electrical problems. Almost all of them need to have full capacitor replacement, otherwise they have problems with herringbone noise, loss of color output, and "barber pole" patterns on the video output. Sometimes the deck even stops accepting tapes. Repair involves replacing close to 100 surface mount capacitors.

For capture, find an old Pentium 4 with an AGP slot running Windows XP and an ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder with the Rage Theater 100/200chip. They have excellent analog capture quality and the ADC doesn't do any sharpening or muck up the video with AGC. Both of which are common problems on modern capture cards, including ATI's own PCI "TV Wonder" cards.

To avoid frame dropping, you need an external TBC (different from the TBC in the VCR) acting as a frame sync. They also tend to strip Macrovision off of tapes *wink* *wink*. More info here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/foru...

Apple wasn't going to turn off the money maker that was the Apple II line right away. After all, the Mac could have failed. The Apple IIe was sold until 1993, the IIgs lasted until 1991. They had new products for the machines in the pipeline as late as 1993 such as an Ethernet card.

There is a market for that service and it usually costs less than Apple charges. Considering that the product is out of warranty by the time the battery goes flat, having it serviced by a 3rd party or DIYing it usually isn't a problem.

Intel sells that Next Unit of Computing box.

Despite not having nearly as many expansion cards as in the past, I seem to have no problem filling up most of the back plates on full ATX cases with breakout connectors.

The War Against Menus continues. It is quite clear that nobody does user interface testing anymore.

I guess the TRS-80 Model II + fully populated expansion chassis I had (4x 8" drives!) would have been a nice source of spare parts.

After that, they tacked a word processor onto it and called it LOGOWriter to somehow integrate it into other fields of learning.

Its very likely a patch will be made for Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. We'll see what pops up on Windows Update next month. Since its basically XP SP3, its likely someone will "crossport" the patch to retail XP.

Wow, this one works with millivolt systems, nice. The Nest doesn't, even though I have the required 24VAC supply already wired but disused (a very old t-stat used it, current unit is battery powered). The only way I could do it with a Nest is clobber some sort of relay system to drive the boiler. The only downside is that the Cyberstat doesn't appear to have a battery backup. Millivolt systems have the advantage of providing heat without needing external utility power.