Thomas

Comart fabs the cards. The firmware in the cards isn't the standard comart firmeware. We write the software.

And I thought my co-workers were squimish about the knife I bring to work.

I've run into the federal wiretapping laws from the PC end, where the application of the laws are a bit more odd. But the lession I've learned is that if you think you might be running afoul of the wiretapping laws, then you're already over the line. In every case I've ever heard of they have always gone against those doing the tapping.

Naw, I'll take the knife wound any time. Much smaller exit wounds and it doesn't tend to bounce around.

Didn't we annex you people yet?

It's a good choice for the novice. It's well suited for large swings. And it's a farming implement. It does encourage bad habits in skills.

I'm in an apartment, so wiring the cameras is out. Wireless cams are out because I'm paranoid. So I just have a large collection of sharp pointy things that I spent years learning how to use.

The Department of corrections loves it's Pelco. We see RFQ's for them all the time and all they spec is Pelco. From the cameras to the monitors to the racks.

Except for those L's it could be a MAC address.

Changing the ports is easy. Look for a router that allows setting of private and public port ranges.

Also, it might help to run tracert and see if you how many non-routable IP addresses you pull up. (192.168.*.*, 172.*.*, 10.10.*.*) If you see two of them then either the ISP is firewalling at thier level or the modem has a built in router.

The lens on most web cams is set to have a depth of about 1 foot. They also have a resolution of 160*160 and generally poor compression. They aren't designed for survallance work.

Have you seen the diebold setup? Eight cameras into a switcher and a time lapse. One frame every eight seconds.

VNC is a program that basicly feeds what the user is seeing to another desktop. It also allows for control. It's slower then remote desktop, but doesn't have funky driver issues.

The existance of dealer only section isn't a slap in the face. It allows for disscussion of bulk pricing. I don't want dealer pricing where non-dealers can see it, at least not for my products. It's not a matter of arrogence but frankly, DIY's do cost more in Tech support per sale then dealers. It's not attidue, it's not prejudice, it's hard fact. Dealers have some options of recouping it, but it's also their luxury to not deal with DIY's. Some degree of contempt is going to happen with any speciality. Look at Doctors, IT people, etc.

Newegg.com usually has XP pro licences for $136-9.

Have you tried the cold iron tool? I've heard good things about it.

The Timex that synced up to a PC via screen flicker? Yep, still perfer my palm. My next watch will be this one: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/5eec/

Then you want Linux. *BSDs are not newbie friendly, and the hardware support is a bit poorer. What are you paying for Windows now?

Yep, my palm holds my address book and a few small apps. It's simple and it works.

Um, which Unix flavor? HP-UX,AIX,Solaris,*BSD,Minix,Linux,Irix,SCO Unix, or a flavor of Linux?

Okay, before the praise turns to anger, I have found one quirk of the software. It won't handle long ranges. So you can't figure 500mm lenses.

Keep in mind that you are the exception to the rule, rather then the rule.

I find it a bit easier to work with then the lens wheels.

There are some vaild reasons for not selling to DIY's from a dealer perspective. DIY's do need a higher level of tech support then experanced dealers. It's not an absolute rule, I've worked with very bright DIYers and very inexperanced dealers. But it is a good general rule. And the companies you cited all died for other reasons then DIYers. DEC and Burroughs fell behind the curve. IBM is out because desktops don't fit their current service contract model. Thier PC division was profitable, just a distraction they felt. HP still sells alot of desktops. And there are other companies out there making a fortune off of the non-DIY market. Dell. I can build my own PC. I can teach anyone here the basics of putting one together in a few hours. But it takes alot of time to get someone to the point of a cluster, or water cooling. The same goes with tricky installs.