So as some of you know, I recently bought a new mouse. So, I decided to bring my Razer Diamondback to work, seeing how I was stuck using an old MS Intellimouse Explorer 2.0. The Explorer 2.0 was great, untill the wheel started to wear out. So I visited www.razersupport.com to grab a copy of the latest drivers. To my surprise, the drivers completely nullified the functionality of the side, scroll, and middle mouse button. It was now nothing more than your standard Apple Mouse. Next logical step for any geek would be to uninstall the drivers. So re-launch the install utility expecting to see an Uninstall option pre-selected, when it proceded to re-install over the old version. I was not pleased.

After examining the forums on razersupport.com, I found this:

QUESTION
How do I uninstall the Razer Pro|Click V1.6 drivers?

SOLUTION
There are 2 methods to uninstall the drivers. Note that the below does not remove the SystemLoginItem entry in the system preference.

1. Run the uninstall.sh file that is included in the driver package.

2. Launch the Terminal Application. Copy and paste the below commands one at a time.

sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/RazerPRODriver.kext

sudo rm -r “/Library/Application Support/Razer/RazerPRODaemon.app”

sudo rm -r /Library/PreferencePanes/RazerPRO.prefPane

rm -f ~/Library/Preferences/com.razer.PRO.plist

sudo rm -r /Library/Receipts/Razer\ PRO.pkg

This leads me to my next thought….

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING, RAZER?

Seriously? Do you honestly expect your everyday consumer, albeit ‘gamer’, to venture into console-land? I’m sure half of my readers will have already stopped reading this article as soon as they see, what looks to them like, alphanumeric hieroglyphics. Razer, fire everyone. Start over. Hire me! —-> dackstheninja at gmail dot com thx die.

On a side note, this was included in uninstall.sh, hidden within the contents of the installer package, however not linked to any function from what I can see. Idiots. The mouse works better without the drivers.

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So after about 6 years on the same cheap keyboard (that sucker lasted!) I think its time to compliment my new i7 920 build with a new one. I chose the ABS M-1 Mechanical Keyboard. My faithful Razer Diamondback has begun to shit the bed as well, so I’ll be replacing it with the classic Logitech MX518.

ABS M1 Heavy Duty Professional Gaming Mechanical Keyboard -

$69.99

• Highly durable professional gaming keyboard
• Extremely responsive and accurate for hours of comfortable gaming
• Gaming-grade lifetime: 20 million clicks
• Allows users to perform the most detailed and advanced key combinations to date
• Gold plated USB connector to ensure low latency
• High quality braided cable
• Dimension: 17.32″ x 5.43″ x 1.52″ (LxWxH)
• Weight: 3.53 lbs.
• Total Travel: 0.4±0.038 mm
• Key pitch: 19.05mm
• Key stroke: 4mm±0.5mm
• Operating Force:
• A:Linear Feel:2.0±0.7 oz.
• B:Tactile Feel:2.0±0.7 oz.
• Life Cycle:
• A:Linear Feel:5.0 x 10^6 Times
• B:Tactile Feel:2.0 x 10^6 Times

Logitech MX518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB -

$39.99

• 1800-dpi MX Optical Engine: Experience ultra-high resolution and pixel-precise tracking.
• Adjustable Sensitivity: Shift from pixel-precise targeting to high-G maneuvers, without pausing the action.
• 8-Button Design: Don’t skip a beat. Your favorite controller functions map directly to your MX 518.
• Forward/Back Buttons: Accelerate your gaming intelligence.
• Super-slick Feet: Glide effortlessly across almost any surface.
• Right-Handed Comfort Grip: Fits your hand naturally, reduces fatigue.
• Superior Grasp: Enjoy long-lasting comfort—even during the longest gaming sessions.
• Mfr Part#: 931352-0403

abs m-1, Games, Image resolution, Keyboard, Logitech, mechanical, Razer USA, Shareware, USB plug, Utilities, windows Hide

I’m sure plenty of you Microsoft loving fanboy n00bs will disagree with what I’m about to say, but the simple truth is… I dont give a fuck, so you can suck a donkey’s cock. I’ve reached the boiling point with Windows Vista and have compiled a list of reasons why the Project Manager of Vista should be sentanced to castration.

Apparently the Explorer’s GPS died.

MS: “Shit Steve, I’m sick of looking at the same old explorer layout where everything is where it has always been for 10 years. Lets make it as confusing as possible and put shit where nobody will find it.”

If its not broken, don’t fix it. The first time I went to find the Control Panel I felt like drop kicking a small child down a set of concrete stairs. Why do they insist on such trivial changes.

Most of the drivers are FUCKED.

MS: “Lets not tell anyone about the driver issues. How about we let the hardware manufacturers figure it out.”

I’ve noticed that alot of the ATI drivers are buggy, unstable, or non-existent. I doubt I’d even wipe my ass with an ATI video card, as to not disgrace my dirty asshole. However, alot of people are still sucking RAGE-128c dick. Forget streaming music in chat rooms and on Ventrillo. They’ve removed the “Stereo Mix” from 90% of the soundcard control panels I’ve seen. What the fuck.

Takes more memory than Alzheimer’s Disease.

MS: “I like fat bitches…”

When you need 4gb of ram to boot the god damned computer before you die of old age, you know something is wrong. This thing leaks memory like a bullet wound to the cranium. I’d recommend performing open face surgery on yourself before trying to use Vista with less than 2gb.

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Just because something is expensive, doesnt make it better. Also, some of the best things in life are FREE! Enter: Open Source Gaming. You might be saying to yourself “YEAH YEAH I’VE PLAYED TUXRACER IT BLOWS”… but lets suspend what most of us currently know about Open Source Games and have a look at the cream of the crop.

Open Arena

OpenArena is an free and open source first-person shooter computer game based heavily on the Quake III Arena style deathmatch. The OpenArena project was first started on August 19, 2005, the day after the id Tech 3 GPL source code release. - Wikipedia

This game is a Quake III Arena rewrite from the GPL’d source code. Its fast, fun, and looks quite modern compared to other FOSS FPS titles. Being a Quake junkie since 96′ I couldn’t leave this out of the list. The games familiar weapon set and high resolution textures make this game definately worth checking out. According to Wikipedia, scholars have used this engine as a platform for demonstrating and researching streaming graphics to and from a server, as well as communicating large data sets over a given network. Cool shit.

AssaultCube

AssaultCube

AssaultCube (formerly known as ActionCube) is a first-person shooter based upon the Cube engine. Although its main focus is online play, a single player mode exists which consists of computer-controlled bots. - Wikipedia

Available for all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and playable on almost any graphics card, this game is a pure adrenaline. One of the great parts of this game are its many game modes. Borrowing a page or 2 from the Unreal series, they present the following modes:

• Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch
• One Shot One Kill and Team One Shot One Kill (Sniper rifle only)
• Last Swiss Standing (Knives and grenades only)
• Survivor and Team Survivor (Teams fight until opposing team is eliminated)
• Pistol Frenzy (Pistols, knives, and grenades only)
• Capture The Flag
• Keep The Flag and Team Keep The Flag
• Hunt The Flag

FlightGear

I’ve always been down with the flight simulation games, all the way back to F/A-18 Hornet and Janes Air Combat. This free sim allows you to pilot anything from a single engine cessna all the way up to a Boeing 747. I’ve been following this project for a while now, and can honestly say its one of the best open source projects I’ve ever seen. The level of realism in reference to each planes controls, physics, and characteristics is uncanny. I’m no pilot, but this game is the shit. Check it out: Wikipedia

Urban Terror

Urban Terror

Urban Terror, commonly abbreviated as UrT or UT is a total conversion mod of id Software’s first-person shooter Quake III Arena by Silicon Ice Development (now known as FrozenSand). It introduces many elements of the tactical shooter genre—team-driven gaming in more realistic environments. Wikipedia

I’ve watched this game grow from an unpopular Quake III Arena mod, into a full blown stand-alone Counter-Strike-Killer. This game is so much fun I cant even describe it. I’ve burned DAYS playing this game recently and have just re-discovered this classic reborn. Do yourself a favor and check this bad boy out. Its available for Mac, Linux and Windows as a stand-alone game. No Quake III Arena needed!

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There are times when I’m working on a new design and I think of the perfect paper vector to go with it. I can’t recall exactly where it was but I have a vague memory of seeing it somewhere about a month ago and then I spend an hour or so looking for it. I’ve done this enough times now that I thought it would be helpful to me, and hopefully you too, to have my favorite paper textures put together in one spot. Most of the images are paper anyways. Towards the end I started throwing in post-it notes and cork textures. If you have any personal favorites that aren’t listed here please leave a link to them in the comments below!

CSS Divine has the rest.

Browsers, Cascading Style Sheet, Gift wrapping, Google, HTML, Moleskine, Notebook, Paper, Post-it note, Style sheet, Vector graphics, Web design, Web page, windows, World Wide Web Hide