Yarbrough08

Abort!? Or hold?

It would be nice to hear an update from them. Edit : new launch time 7:55am est

Yes, it's real, one of the mission goals is to test it...

Anyone recording it?

You know, this got me thinking... Theoretically, you could have a platform the took it from the runway to a higher altitude and then launch off of it.. Similar to the what was done for most of the old X-# series. Now I know this could not technically be called an SSTO, but here is the interesting thing: the SP could after reentry re-dock inflight with the same platform for landing, or perhaps, even for refueling... The inflight docking would not much more difficult (I would think) than inflight refueling that is already performed... This could save weight, while allowing the same crew to come back to earth and re-launch into space without ever even leaving the vehicle... But of course this would probably have a tiny payload fraction..

@Nibb31: Although I agree with you completely, I want to point out that you are oversimplifying your answer a little in a biased way. Heatshield is required by both, albeit a larger one for a spaceplane. Landing gear is offset at least a little bit by a lack of full parachutes- although SPs could include drag 'chutes. Hydraulics and equipment to move the control surfaces though.... @MrMisu: I would also like to throw in expenses. It is suppose to be cheaper, but it will rarely turn out that way.. The shuttle was originally purposed to cost in the mid $50 million per launch (you can check this out in NASAs archives btw, I did a paper about this recently for a class), but instead cost between $300 - $600 million per launch. That price range will also send a mission to the moon (probe or rover style mission if I remember correctly?), which is of course something that the shuttle could not do.. As an American, I feel like the shuttle program was a failure. It was costly, could not meet its launch quota (org proposed 24 a year - best was in 80s @ 11), could not carry as much weight as planned (although I thought is was descent), could not take us beyond LEO limiting what we could accomplish. Then there were those tiles.. I DO NOT, feel like it is NASAs fault though. Congress approved the program as the budget for NASA was falling through the floor. Now a re-useable CM might be worth it without the additional weight of those extra flight systems and would probably be far cheaper to maintain. Don't get me wrong btw, the shuttle was a marvel (especially for the time). Which is why I think it captures peoples imagination, but imagine if we had kept the Saturn V and only used it to go to LEO.

I had to pipe in... My first personal computer was an IBM PS/2 - 386DX, 2MB RAM (Extended RAM - lol), and paid extra for a double sized 80 MB HDD (40MB on standard) as well as an 8 kB/s modem. It was still going strong in 2002 when an unfortunate house fire destroyed it. I still have parts for computers between ~'92 and ~'03 from when I owned my own computer repair shop. Including a 386EX and a 486DX proc, a bunch of old RAM sticks of various speed and capacity, and several rebuilt computers ranging from mid '90s to early 2000's. I love those old computers for nostalgic reasons... 2 years ago I modeled my first computer: Ignore the PS/1 texture, it was the only logo similar to mine that I could find....

That is excellent food for thought as I have also been guilty of this on multiple occasions. (Hopefully it is not stubbornness trying to creep upon us)

This is probably what I will have to do, I was probing the forums to see if there was something else that I had missed... To me... (and we all know how biased we are about our own opinions) If it worked once, AND it works in IDE mode even though I never repaired the install again after switching; something COULD be done about it. Of course it does not always turn out the way we think it will.. (or hope, or want)

No argument is warranted... (I do apologize if I came across that way, I just tend to be straight forward sometimes) I do realize that a fresh install is always better, but considering I'm only a couple weeks away from finals this semester and this is my only computer atm............. The HDD is less than a year old right now, I hope it is not starting to fail... Edit: Just noticed your sig btw, love it in this situation..

@Camacha: It is not "messy" to install a mobo without a fresh install. Actually there are several methods to update the installation after you install major hardware like this. And I even had to reactivate windows afterwards (of course).. And yeah, it is fairly stupid of me to not have a backup drive. Especially considering I've had one HDD fail already, but I was hoping to get a shiny new SSD soon so I was kinda slacking in that department. I can undo the regedit at anytime, but that would be counter productive considering that is how you let Windows know your are changing to an AHCI driver. Windows unloads drivers it doesn't need at install, that regedit tells the OS to change to the AHCI driver on restart. This page will demo some of what I'm talking about, although There are more registry options for loading drivers than just the two they give in that example; SCSI, RAID, as well as others are available for installing new hardware. This is perhaps the reason why it did not work for me, as the installation was repaired in AHCI mode. I can access Windows at any time, I just have to change the drive to IDE in the BIOS. However, I have noticed a fairly descent drop in HDD performance without AHCI. I know it is only suppose to be a slight change in performance unless you are using a SSD, but I have noticed more than just a slight change... Also I did already mention that I reinstalled the driver after windows update messed it up. @Cpt. Kipard: Yes, always at the same spot (loading the AHCI driver) Not a RAM issue at all.

@Whackjob: I was there in '08 - '09 as well. COP Summers, REO Hillah, and COB Basrah. Also: The pic is from 2008 before I went "downrange"

I could use a hand with a Computer Problem I'm having... If anyone could help, it would be immensely appreciated.

This past week, my family bought a new motherboard for me (a late veterans' day present + I'm a CS major). Hardware installation was smooth, of course. When I started the computer up after installing the drivers through Windows repair (in AHCI mode nonetheless), however; Windows Update decided to update the drivers without asking me (I have it configured to ask me instead) and installed the wrong driver for the SATA Controller. Then on restart, BSOD.... I reinstalled the driver, but still got a BSOD. The only way I could get it to restart to Windows was to change to IDE mode in the BIOS. I went into REGEDIT and changed the appropriate values (msahci - start = 0, no others apply), and restarted; BSOD.. On all of these restarts I also tried Safe Mode, with no luck (BSOD @ the ahci64 driver). I have even installed the proper AHCI drivers in legacy mode to no avail. I really do not want to reinstall windows, I have way too much data on this hard drive to reformat it. I want this to be an absolute last option. I had a HDD fail a year ago (have I learned nothing? lol) and do not have another HDD to back up my data anymore. I also can no longer install some of my programs again. Does anyone know of anything else I can try? I'm not sure where to go from here, I've never had problems like this.. (not my first time installing a Mobo, once upon a time I owned my own repair shop - Yarbrough's Electronic Solutions) If more info is needed by anyone, I'll be happy to provide it. The new Mobo is awesome btw, up to 64 GB of RAM (hopefully Unity will pull it together and fix the x64 problems).

My professors decided to change our schedule and give me some exams that were due after thanksgiving break before, so it was delayed a little bit. I have been working on it, just nothing really pic worthy. I've added background sounds, and continued work on the monitor. I am not at a point where I am happy enough to release it. I am sorry for the delay, but naturally my degree takes precedence. I will need to do a release after this first monitor is complete though. It will have to be thoroughly tested as it is fast becoming quite complex.