This is the typically ideal solution, when there's other hardware around to take advantage of. C-Kermit is also your able-bodied manservant for getting all the settings right for the client.
Unfortunately, some BIOS's have never worked well for setting the BIOS interface at anything other than 115.2 KBaud, at least without an undocumented BIOS update. And guess what you need to to the BIOS update? You guessed it: Windows and boot-time console access. I ran into this problem with some new Linux servers and a vendor who'd never bothered to test their serial-over-IP setup.
Also, simply saying "use a null-modem cable" isn't enough. Remember that many modern machines don't have a serial port, which the original poster mentioned. I've also seen low-end rack servers that didn't, and proving only USB has gotten more common. Setting up a USB-serial or USB->USB console access takes some time as well, and our poster didn't say he had the money for the more sophisticated modern KVM's that do KVM over IP reliably. I've searched before for a toolkit to do KVM over IP from an identically installed computer, but found nothing for handling the video. It's a shame, really, such a device could be very handy for remote operations staff rather than my having to walk them through grub or BIOS options over the phone.
Every game could include an input lag calibration mode, much like the one in Guitar Hero. Heck, it wouldn't even have to be obvious - just include it with the tutorial mode of the first level, and the user won't even know.
If the lag-compensation in GH works the way I think it does, I'm not sure it would be very effective for FPS games.
There's no way for the game to properly remove the lag between the console and display device. Instead, to account for the fact that you're seeing things on screen a few tens of milliseconds after they actually happen, the game engine compensates by delaying the time window in which it expects to a response (controller input). You won't be too slow on your chords anymore, but the delay between button press and on-screen action is still there.
That sort of delay can really throw off your rythym in a FPS when you're expecting an immediate response to movement / throwing a grenade / firing your gun. In a fast-paced multiplayer scenario, a lot can change in the span of a few video frames (depending on the action and movement of your opponents), whereas gameplay in GH is fairly deterministic.
Modern FPS do use a few tricks to minimize the impact of internet lag - motion prediction, immediate client-side response to many actions (moving, shooting) with no host-side verification, etc - these help in making the game play feel more natural, but latency still has a big impact on gameplay quality.
The freedom is freedom from arrest or detention. You are free to say whatever horrid you want, just as I am free to get a bullhorn and call you a moron. You may get a bigger bullhorn if you wish. We may continue as nauseum barring noise complaints and assuming we are not trespassing. I fully support the ability of the KKK or whoever to march down the road, but they are not guaranteed that I won't show up with a counter-demonstration to drown them out. All the 1st amendment guarantees (a guarantee all to often violated) is that the police or other agents of the government won't come to drag either of us away. If a university invites some xenophobic yahoo to speak and the students jeer him out of the hall that is not censorship, just as it isn't censorship if they don't invite him to speak at all.
The open specification allowed the development of all kinds of open source tools (as well as closed-source tools) that make PDF much more useful to everyone, yet Adobe is protected from having its development investment and future business stolen.
If by having its business stolen you mean having to compete on the stre[n]gth of its products in a free market.
What I mean by "having its business stolen" is having someone else market or give away the idea that has cost the firm or individual(s) time and trouble to develop.
Take Robert Kearns, who invented the windshield wiper delay, for example. He came up with the idea of how to solve an annoyance that most of us experience from time to time. He went to the considerable time and expense of developing, perfecting, and patenting his idea, then approached the large auto manufacturers, asking them if they'd like to license his patent. They rebuffed him and proceeded to use his invention to make millions of dollars. It took him decades to get any compensation for his initial R&D. As far as competing on the strength of his products in a "free market", he could hardly have been able to start his own automobile manufacturer so he could sell his invention; would you argue, however, that Detroit was entitled to make money from his idea without compensating him?
HOLY MACRO!