Marine Aquarium on a Dell Mini 9 about 56fps
 

For a laugh I installed Marine aquarium on a Dell Mini 9...
Yes the netbook with the Atom and a gig of system RAM... Well wouldnt I be dammed when it actually ran at slightly under 60 fps!!!!....

Only catch is how do I insert the Marine Aquarium CD when theres no CD drive.. I mean I could always find an external CD but currently the CD key thing is a bit hokey with 2.6 requesting the CD even as admin multiple times...

You could make an ISO of the CD and mount it using IsoBuster or some similar app.

ISO workaround
 

If i make an ISO of the CD, there won;t be any *issues* with the name or any wierdness like that will there.. ?

Yes, there probably would. When a CD is used for copy protection, the program checks for certain hidden physical features of the CD to make sure it's not a copy.

Sorry - no ideas on how to run a CD with no CD drive.

That would be difficult! ;) (an image is a different matter, though)

I don't see how we can allow upgrading from a disk image. They'd be all over the Internet. We need to see if the data is coming from a physical drive.

My issue is that with a CD upgrade, the customer needs the CD forever. There seems to be no way to convert an "upgrade" keycode to a "full" keycode.

All the more incentive for them to buy a Key Code on the website (where I get several dollars), instead of a CD from a store (where I get several cents).

Of course. However, there are a number of practical solutions to choose from.

One way would be to have the Installer arrange (in the situation of a CD upgrade) to collect registration information, and then email instructions for logging in to get a regular key. Or just email a key.

Or ... lots of other alternatives.

The "core" problem seems to be that someone with a valid CD can get an upgrade, but then cannot install that upgrade on a computer that doesn't have a CD drive. There's no solution (other than "contact customer support") if that is the only computer that they own. But if that's not the case, then they should be able to get a regular keycode.

Well my word! I have just bought this very same Dell Mini 9 computer but I did go ahead and buy an external CD/DVD/ReW drive. The computer is useless without one. I think I will test the Aquarium on it as well. If you are getting that many frame-rates, then it should run well.

Oh I do love this small laptop, it fits in my purse and picked up on my wireless connection right away. It also picks up other wireless signals but most are security protected with a passphrase.

Dig against retail purchasers
 

Not all of us knew about your percentage royalties when we purchased the CD... Personally I wouldn't mind paying a small fee for a valid key... That comment was sort of a slap in the face as someone who bought your app at retail, not realizing it would have best been purchased online...

Yes you are right, the program would never be this popular if there wouldn't be all these running aquariums at the stores displays. Of course these shops must have some cd's to sell. Every penny counts... :)

Hi Jim,

Apologies for sidetracking this thread, but JoltDude's screenshot perfectly captured a 1 pixel seam in the gravel touching the front of the tank. It is to the left of the open brain coral, pretty much directly underneath the "p" in "Timing Clamp". It is something I only noticed yesterday when running in a window - it stated flashing rather noticably. I can now notice it in full screen mode, however it is less noticable.

Regards

Tosty.

I hope you do not feel offended, but this is the case with all software. The retail version, especially products under $30, sees most of the money go to the manufacturer, the marketer, the distributor, and the retailer. Very little money goes to the author.

This is why most companies now offer an online purchase scheme. For games, the most popular game download service is Steam. They can offer games for $10-15 and actually see most of that money.

So please do not be offended. It's something that you (and most people) did not know. You've learned something today. ;)

There are actually 4 seams in the gravel. They appear distinct on some computers, faint on others, and not at all on Jim's computers. Jim tried to fix this several times and moved on to other tasks.

I have to put up with the CD-version, because having it in stores acts as our only form of advertising. During the good times, about 75% of our online business came from people who had seen it in stores.

Regarding the seams in the gravel-front - I've tried just about everything I can think of, but the measures tasken to fix it on one computer will make it worse on another. The gravelfront has to have seams, because there's no such thing as a texture that's 4000 pixels wide. There used to be a 256-pixel limit, and now a typical texture is 512 pixels. Whether the seams are visible or not depends on the drivers. Ideally, when it comes to the end of one texture, it would just start with the first pixel of the next texture, but some systems try to be too clever for their own good. They try to anti-alias the edge into the background before starting the next texture.

Quoting myself, I have downloaded and install the SS on my Dell Mini and I am very please with it! I would not have thought that it would compare so favorable with my Dell Dimension with the new nVida card.