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Stories and comments across the archive that link to freeforums.org.

Comments · 15

  1. Re:Fooled me once by sdguero · · Score: 1 · on GoPro Launches Karma Drone and Voice-Controlled Hero5 Cameras (cnet.com)

    I don't think the Hero 4 line had any of the problems I had, but obviously they had some QA misses.

    The new cameras are probably OK. My problem isn't so much with the quality of GoPro products as with how they handled the failures I encountered. Instead of admitting to it and helping customers find a solution, they did their damndest to actively sweep it under the rug. The heat from the Hero3 failures was so bad that the CEO was forced to respond at one point. It was a very frustrating thing to read. Instead of addressing the actual problem (it WAS a hardware problem, not software!), he talked about how GoPro users are a tribe, and we need to be patient with customer service, and of course keep buying gopro products because us shills (ahem, i mean customers) are such amazing people with amazing lives to record and share.

    I found the letter: http://goprouser.freeforums.or...

  2. Re:Well, at least someone is willing to say it! by DrJimbo · · Score: 2 · on Busybox Deletes Systemd Support

    Check out MX Linux and antiX Linux. They are not in the top 10 distros but they are solidly in the top 30. They're based on Debian but don't use systemd. They also have some pretty neat features and friendly communities.

  3. Re:moved on by Osgeld · · Score: 1 · on Damn Small Linux Rises From the Dead With a 4.11 RC1 Release

    http://antix.freeforums.org/post23270.html#p23270

    I do beleive I have the lowest powered machine running it known to the community, it takes its sweet ass time to start up, but once your in and loaded its actually quite responsive.

  4. Re:best antivirus / firewall for Windows? Linux? by Zanadou · · Score: 1 · on Older Means Wiser To Computer Security

    Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, non-obnoxious, and works well. The Windows Firewall is fine. No need for extra stuff.

    I agree about Security Essentials, one of the best products that Microsoft have made in years. Small, compact, does the job well.

    For more control over the in-built Windows Firewall I find the aptly-name Windows 7 Firewall Control program a handy tool to add outgoing connection alerting/control to the Windows firewall which has saved my bacon a few times.

    You can find direct links to the free version(s) in the forum, here.

  5. Problem with this... by Tastecicles · · Score: 4, Interesting · on CDC Reports 1 In 88 Children Now Affected With Autism In the US

    ...from my 37 years on this rock, I've seen the descriptor of ASD go from savant to a whole swathe of "abnormality", from minor zoneouts (such as I have frequently) to total withdrawal (which I have in times of extreme stress). All have been applied to me in passing although I've never had anything like an official diagnosis. I used to act out at school, not because I was ADHD (as false a diagnosis as MSbP), but because I was bored: I had already learned what the teachers were trying to teach me. Problem was, as is common today, the school teaches at the rate of the slowest kid in class. I could think faster than all those kids, even the teachers, combined. So according to them I was the one with the problem - in a way they were right. They were holding me back.

    It's not mental illness, it's a defence mechanism.

    Back to the topic: ASD/ADHD/AS descriptors have become so diluted over the years, the terms could be applied to anybody. Have you checked out the standard mental health questionnaires? So full of leading questions, you couldn't say no to more than half of them - which is pretty much a guarantee that in any given situation, you could be assessed as having traits of some debilitating mental illness or other that would disqualify you from mixing in public. It's used in the UK on a regular basis to remove children from parents where in fact there is absolutely nothing wrong with the parents, yet one simple questionnaire that takes five minutes to answer ticks the boxes of psychotic, MSbP, NPD, ASPD, any number of "diagnoses" that immediately justifies the forced separation of families.

    What we have now is those diagnoses being publicly scrutinised as it's now emerged that the assessments have been carried out by persons unqualified to do so, while claiming that they are qualified. Roy Meadow, Andrew Kawalek, Bruno Bettelheim, David Southall (just some names off the top of my head and I have extensive files on those and more) - all frauds, and provably so. Dangerous ones at that. All have had their hand in removal of many thousands of children from their families on the basis of fabricated mental illness. Southall does not even have a degree, yet he is on the GMC roll as a practising psychologist with license to carry out drug experiments on children. Gentlemen and ladies, I bullshit ye not.

  6. You know what would be nice? by Tastecicles · · Score: 4, Funny · on The Top 10 Supercomputers, Illustrated

    A Top500 site where Petaflop count takes second place to aesthetic appeal.

    Let's have Hypercubes, spheres, ultraflats, invisibles, ultraquiets, computers-as-furniture, computers-as-art, cyberpunk, retro; let your imagination run riot.

    Just remember, it was my idea.

  7. No more QuickTime Alternative/Lite for Window too. by antdude · · Score: 1 · on Open Source VLC Media Player Coming To iPad

    http://codecs.freeforums.org/post14945.html -- "... There are no links on the site anymore to stimulate the use and development of open-source alternatives, such as VLC and ffdshow, instead of the use of proprietary software."

  8. New Open-Source Train Simulator openBVE goes v1.0 by distantbody · · Score: -1, Offtopic · on New Ratchet & Clank Game Announced

    2009-03-26 (If Ratchet & Clank game is important, then a new open-souce simulator is doubly so, Slashdot editors and off-topic moderators be damned)

    The free and open source 3d train simulator, openBVE, has just turned the big v1.0.

    openBVE was born in April 2008 as a replacement to the popular freeware programs BVE Trainsim 2 & 4. The lack of compatibility between BVE Trainsim 2 & 4 and the developmental uncertainty of the 5th version (originally named Boso View Express by the sole Japanese developer Mackoy) lead one resolute user to start openBVE.

    Michelle has made great progress with her new code, and whilst the current installation procedure and basic 'getting started' instructions are rough, her communication on the openBVE forum and her great developer documentation all indicate openBVE will continue to get better.

    (Link to openBVE website omitted due to already unreliable servers)(P.S. Michelle has not licensed her work under a specific OSS license, but rather uses the phrase "anti-copyright"

  9. New Open-Source Train Simulator openBVE goes v1.0 by distantbody · · Score: -1, Offtopic · on New Ratchet & Clank Game Announced

    2009-03-26 (If Ratchet & Clank game is important, then a new open-souce simulator is doubly so, Slashdot editors and off-topic moderators be damned)

    The free and open source 3d train simulator, openBVE, has just turned the big v1.0.

    openBVE was born in April 2008 as a replacement to the popular freeware programs BVE Trainsim 2 & 4. The lack of compatibility between BVE Trainsim 2 & 4 and the developmental uncertainty of the 5th version (originally named Boso View Express by the sole Japanese developer Mackoy) lead one resolute user to start openBVE.

    Michelle has made great progress with her new code, and whilst the current installation procedure and basic 'getting started' instructions are rough, her communication on the openBVE forum and her great developer documentation all indicate openBVE will continue to get better.

    (Link to openBVE website omitted due to already unreliable servers)(P.S. Michelle has not licensed her work under a specific OSS license, but rather uses the phrase "anti-copyright"

  10. Hardware Section by bobwrit · · Score: -1 · on Hands-On With SteelSeries Ikari Mouse and New 7G Gaming Keyboard

    I found a section on hardware. This section happens to be on a programming forum. The URL is http://comprog.freeforums.org/hardware-f10.html

  11. *NIX on a differnt scale: Mostly Harmless by CDMA_Demo · · Score: 1 · on Unix Group Takes UK Standards Body To Court Over OOXML

    Why unx based systems will win over MS: http://comprog.freeforums.org/why-microsoft-will-not-exsist-for-much-longer-t31.html Thats a nicely written url. A one liner.
  12. *nix by bobwrit · · Score: 0 · on Unix Group Takes UK Standards Body To Court Over OOXML

    Why unx based systems will win over MS: http://comprog.freeforums.org/why-microsoft-will-not-exsist-for-much-longer-t31.html

  13. M$ by bobwrit · · Score: 0 · on Major PC Vendors Push For Open Source Drivers

    Why Linux will triumph over Microsoft: http://comprog.freeforums.org/why-microsoft-will-not-exsist-for-much-longer-t31.html/

  14. Article by bobwrit · · Score: 0 · on Half a Million Microsoft-Powered Sites Hit With SQL Injection

    I found this article on why microsoft won't exsist for much longer. It's at http://comprog.freeforums.org/why-microsoft-will-not-exsist-for-much-longer-t31.html/

  15. Re:Sour grapes or a real arguement by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Informative · on IBM Ships Fastest CPU on Earth
    Actually the whole article is utter bollocks. They talk about 5 billion instructions per second. But

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER6

    Each core has two integer units, two binary floating-point units, and a decimal floating-point unit, and is capable of two way SMT. The binary floating-point unit incorporates âoemany microarchitectures, logic, circuit, latch and integration techniques to achieve [a] 6-cycle, 13-FO4 pipeline,â according to a company paper.[6] Unlike the servers from IBM's competitors, the POWER6 has hardware support for decimal arithmetic and will include the first decimal floating-point unit integrated in silicon. More than 50 new floating point instructions handle the decimal math and conversions between binary and decimal.[7] This is a feature being added to the processors powering IBM's System z.[8] So it has a 5Ghz clock rate but can actually manage a bit more than 5 Bips peak. But

    A notable difference from POWER5 is that IBM moved from an out-of-order design to an in-order design, a drastic change which should require software recompilation for top performance. However, the processor still achieves significant performance improvements even with unmodified software, according to the lead engineer on the POWER6 project.[2] Hmmph. I'd bet it's got a really long pipeline to reach that clock speed.

    The POWER6 has approximately 790 million transistors and 341 mm large fabricated on an 65 nm process. It was released on the 8th June 2007, at speeds of 3.5 GHz, 4.2 GHz and 4.7 GHz[2], but the company has noted prototypes have reached 6 GHz.[3] POWER6 reached first silicon in the middle of 2005[4]. Wow it's huge, almost twice the size of a Core 2 Duo.

    I think IBM is doing taking the NetBurst approach - a long pipeline to get to high frequencies. Plus it's a server chip only used in their servers so they can design for a much higher TDP than Intel or AMD and rely on water cooling.

    I think this guy is spot on
    http://aceshardware.freeforums.org/praising-the-power-6-design-t426.html

    Later this year Intel will release the 65 nm bulk CMOS Tukwila and
    it will likely easily outperform the 65 nm SOI CMOS Power6 on the
    benchmarks of most interest to buyers of business critical servers
    despite running at less than half its clock frequency and having
    less than half its socket level bandwidth. IBM might have created
    a better product and closer competitor to Tukwila better if Power6
    had been a quad design based on a Power5 core worked over to
    improve performance/power but then its wouldn't have the mega-
    giga for headlines in the WSJ and given IBM Micro a measure of
    bragging rights to help justify its continued existence. ;-)