Domain: kicks-ass.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to kicks-ass.org.
Comments · 58
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Re:in absolute terms, yes
I've just thought of it like this: speed of approach (png image).
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Re:OSX on Vmware
A bit offtopic, but yesterday I realized that while quicktime pro can export to MP4 as well as MOV, if you want to use H264, you need to use the MOV container. Why?
That's not true at all. I have QuickTime Pro right here. When I choose "export" from the file menu, you can choose to export to an MP4 file. When you click "options", you can set the codec to H264. Here's a screenshot.
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Re:More importantly
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Re:Partisan politics isn't getting worse...
Almost every county in the past presidential election broke right down the middle, except for a few counties in the heart of Kansas and Utah which were solidly red and some in California and New York that were solidly blue.
Nope. -
Re:Looks like a long work day tomorrow
New generations of programming languages solve problems and introduce new ones. Look at C# and Java for example; I've written a paper addressing what the virtual machines they run on cause for security concerns and ideas on how to fix it.
I prefer Objective-C for an object oriented language over C++; it too has its flaws, for example its class member calls are all indirect like in C++ (much slower addressing mode, this involves multiple reads and destroys branch prediction). But that's just me.
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Re:YFI
I do realise that the LEGO company objects to the bricks being called Legos but I seriously doubt they will like 'fucking Lego' much better.
I presume they'd appreciate LEGO being used in this way either then. (Kinda NSFW)
Dug -
Ignore the theme Lego!
Just buy the normal Lego sets. Apply some imagination. And build something original.
Mmmm. Nah. That's too far fetched.
Perhaps they'll just build Lego dildos :) -
My own ideas
I had a spark of an idea between Invasion: Battle of Survial; Tales of Legendia's story; and Zela 3's gameplay. Project Nightwork lays it out in a Zelda 3 example.
The basic idea? Massive tactics. I am tired of tactics with no story and "flood with warriors" gameplay. I'm tired of stories with lovely tactics and "go kill something" gameplay (Tales of Legendia). The visual influence in Zelda 3 did it for me, I just thought, "Hey you know what would make this game cool...."
I'm not a game designer; I have ideas. They're out there. If you like them, take them, tell me, I'll look forward to something cool.
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My own ideas
I had a spark of an idea between Invasion: Battle of Survial; Tales of Legendia's story; and Zela 3's gameplay. Project Nightwork lays it out in a Zelda 3 example.
The basic idea? Massive tactics. I am tired of tactics with no story and "flood with warriors" gameplay. I'm tired of stories with lovely tactics and "go kill something" gameplay (Tales of Legendia). The visual influence in Zelda 3 did it for me, I just thought, "Hey you know what would make this game cool...."
I'm not a game designer; I have ideas. They're out there. If you like them, take them, tell me, I'll look forward to something cool.
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I missed the point...
When I saw the words "Lego" and "Erector", I just thought of the lego vibrator
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Re:YAY! It's not Ubuntu!
UBUNTU IS EVIL AND EATS SMALL CHILDREN!!
http://ultima-inet.kicks-ass.org/~multima/linux/di strorate-results.html?distroName=Ubuntu+Linux&dist roVendor=Canonical%2C+Ltd.&distroURL=http%3A%2F%2F www.ubuntu.com&cpuX86=on&cpuAMD64=on&cpuPPC=on&pac kager=dpkg&compat=-2&cpu=-1&mem=-1&disk=-1&fast=-1 &deskOriginal=on&deskCluttered=on&gnome=on&evil=on -
Hostile females...
And the first time I ask why this crap even exists I get a hostile response. So yeah, girls seem to agree, they're totally inept at getting themselves into anything. Just like the Debian developers say.
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Re:SourceSafe vs CVS
Marketting Phrases for SVN:
SVN...just like CVS, but slower!!! link
SVN...because everyone in your team should be able to use the command line
SVN...because no one likes running reports anyway!
SVN...who cares if you can't hire anyone to administer it and you have to run costly training for all your new hires.....under the hood, it's cooooooooool!
SVN...look at that money burn!
SVN...client tools will come...just give it time...give it time.
SVN...sure it's not functional, but it sure is l33t...and after all, that's what pays the bills man!
SVN...your developers will be able to really nail unreal tournament in all the down time -
Absolutely.
Let's see... been programming ever since I got my first copy of HTML for Dummies when I was eight, and now I'm fifteen, and what have I written? To name just a few:
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PyWord, a text editor coded in Python
(Used to be my most popular, I even had a guy in the Bereau of Labor and Statistics e-mail me once to say he liked it enough that he wanted to use it in his own program!) -
pyprime, a program to find prime numbers
I actually came up with the entire algorithm for it during theatre class in eighth grade. I've also ported it to my TI-83 -
Überpage, a PHP-based Web site engine
Among other features, it uses a MySQL backend, generates completely valid XHTML 1.1, and if you're wondering, yes, I even designed the CSS theme myself
These days, though, I tend to spend most of my time developing Ultima Linux, which has become – I may as well brag – a very popular distribution. Most of that stuff isn't so much writing programs as compiling them, although I frequently do have to make some major changes to shell scripts, etc., which I've also become somewhat good at.
I've also become fairly decent at writing sed scripts, the occassional bit of JavaScript, and now I'm gradually trying to teach myself C. (Although with all the other stuff, and not to mention my actual life, I never have the time...) And then I also tend to like playing with CSS designs – I've got a Slashdot design I did, as well as a CSS Zen Garden entry and my hand-coded WordPress theme, which I'm rather proud of.
I used to waste endless hours with QBASIC, and then later Visual Basic. I've never really forgiven myself for it until now, but I no longer remember a single line of it so I guess I've repented enough
:-) -
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Absolutely.
Let's see... been programming ever since I got my first copy of HTML for Dummies when I was eight, and now I'm fifteen, and what have I written? To name just a few:
-
PyWord, a text editor coded in Python
(Used to be my most popular, I even had a guy in the Bereau of Labor and Statistics e-mail me once to say he liked it enough that he wanted to use it in his own program!) -
pyprime, a program to find prime numbers
I actually came up with the entire algorithm for it during theatre class in eighth grade. I've also ported it to my TI-83 -
Überpage, a PHP-based Web site engine
Among other features, it uses a MySQL backend, generates completely valid XHTML 1.1, and if you're wondering, yes, I even designed the CSS theme myself
These days, though, I tend to spend most of my time developing Ultima Linux, which has become – I may as well brag – a very popular distribution. Most of that stuff isn't so much writing programs as compiling them, although I frequently do have to make some major changes to shell scripts, etc., which I've also become somewhat good at.
I've also become fairly decent at writing sed scripts, the occassional bit of JavaScript, and now I'm gradually trying to teach myself C. (Although with all the other stuff, and not to mention my actual life, I never have the time...) And then I also tend to like playing with CSS designs – I've got a Slashdot design I did, as well as a CSS Zen Garden entry and my hand-coded WordPress theme, which I'm rather proud of.
I used to waste endless hours with QBASIC, and then later Visual Basic. I've never really forgiven myself for it until now, but I no longer remember a single line of it so I guess I've repented enough
:-) -
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Absolutely.
Let's see... been programming ever since I got my first copy of HTML for Dummies when I was eight, and now I'm fifteen, and what have I written? To name just a few:
-
PyWord, a text editor coded in Python
(Used to be my most popular, I even had a guy in the Bereau of Labor and Statistics e-mail me once to say he liked it enough that he wanted to use it in his own program!) -
pyprime, a program to find prime numbers
I actually came up with the entire algorithm for it during theatre class in eighth grade. I've also ported it to my TI-83 -
Überpage, a PHP-based Web site engine
Among other features, it uses a MySQL backend, generates completely valid XHTML 1.1, and if you're wondering, yes, I even designed the CSS theme myself
These days, though, I tend to spend most of my time developing Ultima Linux, which has become – I may as well brag – a very popular distribution. Most of that stuff isn't so much writing programs as compiling them, although I frequently do have to make some major changes to shell scripts, etc., which I've also become somewhat good at.
I've also become fairly decent at writing sed scripts, the occassional bit of JavaScript, and now I'm gradually trying to teach myself C. (Although with all the other stuff, and not to mention my actual life, I never have the time...) And then I also tend to like playing with CSS designs – I've got a Slashdot design I did, as well as a CSS Zen Garden entry and my hand-coded WordPress theme, which I'm rather proud of.
I used to waste endless hours with QBASIC, and then later Visual Basic. I've never really forgiven myself for it until now, but I no longer remember a single line of it so I guess I've repented enough
:-) -
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Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...
Stop discriminating against those poor American lawyers – just because they're always siding with that Anglin kid and the RIAA/MPAA doesn't mean they're any worse than all the other rip-off artist sharks in the world!
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Don't get me started...!Oops, too late!
Let's see, as a Linux developer I've got right now – and likely more coming, knowing the way people dump all their old machines on me –
(unless otherwise stated assume Ultima version 8)
Celeron 2.4GHz / 512MB, homebuilt – Ultima Linux (my distro) – main system, development machine, usually print server as well. Sometimes does NFS.Epson Stylus CX4800 – nice people at Epson sent a free replacement/upgrade when my CX-4600 died after just ten months... even with the likes of me that's almost impossible.
Celeron 1.8GHz / 512MB, Dell Dimension 2300 – Ultima + WinXP Home – family machine, Windows partition is spyware-infested as usual ;-)Brother MFC-210C – yes, it does run on Linux now that they released the drivers.
Celeron 700MHz / 128MB, Dell OptiPlex GX100 – Ultima + Win98SE – $55 on eBay; more or less test box for all the dangerous stuff
Pentium III 650MHz / 256MB, Compaq DeskPro E6000 – Ultima + Win98SE – my brother's machine, also $55 (upgraded a little bit since then with parts from other boxes)
Celeron 566MHz / 128MB, Dell Dimension L566cx – Ultima + Win98SE (latter not yet installed) – first a family machine, then my dev machine, then my brother's, and now my sister's
Pentium 233MHz / 96MB, Dell Latitude CP – Ultima – my new laptop, still needs "breaking in"
Pentium 133MHz / 80MB, Micron TransPort XPE – Ultima 4 + OpenBSD – old laptop, been using for years, now dual-boots Ultima and OpenBSD. I (heart) OpenBSD
Duron 700MHz / 256MB – Ultima – full-time Web/SSH/FTP server that runs all the Ultima Linux sites, my homepage, and a few friends' blogs. Actually belongs to my friend, but I'm stuck running it. Lucky me.
Also have lying around a NEC PinWriter P2200 dot-matrix, HP DeskJet original (still functioning), a couple Palm Pilots, and probably my favorite machine of all time, a now-dead GRiD 1720 with a 16MHz 286 processor, 4MB RAM, and 60MB disk. Ran Windows 3.1 so beautifully... probably the only machine I could ever tolerate a Micro$oft product on.
Used to have a 486, and a few others. Got rid of them eventually after they either crashed or were just taking up too much space. Probably going to wind up back here this weekend anyway, since my friend (same guy who owns the server) is bringing all that stuff over here again.
Most of my machines (the 2.4GHz dev box, OptiPlex, Dimension 2300, and whichever laptop I'm currently using) are hardwired into the network with Ethernet, everything else is wireless. Except the GRiD of course ;-) Runs off of a pair of NETGEAR WG612(?) routers – one v4, the other v6. Took an entire weekend wiring the two together with 100ft of cable and going through the attic... -
Re:I don't know about you...
Dammit, wrong link. This is the one I meant to post.
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I don't know about you...
But as far as my school district goes, the work seems to consist of spying on students who know more than them and blocking their perfectly innocent Web sites, locking down the computer settings to the point where you can't even lock your screen to keep people from messing with it if you're not at the machine, discovering that all the restrictions make it impossible to remote-install software without running into enough problems that any students and/or school people watching can't help but laugh, and yelling at students using SSH tunnels, Firefox, and anything else they don't understand.
Although then again, that's just what I know from my experience as the only student in the entire district who not only knows what Linux is, but also even has his own version. -
Yeah, but none of this is really newReading this from a purely IB-English-student-analyzing-writing-style point of view, I'd have to say that just about the only thing I've read that's been worse is Doug Anglin. I know that's probably a bit harsh, even for a Linux techie, but quite honestly I think it's saying more against Microsoft than for. Let's take it point by point and see what we can come up with, shall we?
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you probably know that the latest version of Windows--called Vista--is due to hit store shelves later this year (in time for the holidays, Microsoft tells us). The successor to Windows XP offers a little something for everyone, from eye-catching graphics and new bundled applications to more-rigorous security. In fact, there is so much in the new operating system that it can be tough to get a handle on it all.
Well, the timing you can't argue with – but the features it's advertising strike me as familiar. "Eye-catching graphics" are already available for other systems, in the form of eg. the X compositing engine and not to mention Enlightenment. Bundled applications I can't help but laugh at, especially considering that most Linux distributions have more than Notepad, Paint, and Media Player – hell, almost all of them come with a free office suite, which Microsoft users usually have to pay several hundred dollars for!
As for more-rigorous security, well, there's the first place I think the article's going wrong. Just by virtue of the fact that the word "more" is in there, you can easily see why so many people suspect Microsoft intentionally cripples the system to force upgrades. Viruses, spyware, and worms galore – and yet I have yet to see that on any Linux distribution I've used. And besides, I refuse to consider anything secure that's anything less than OpenBSD.I've been noodling around with a recent beta version of Windows Vista (Build 5270) and had a chance to make some observations. While the sleek new look and polished interface caught my eye, it's what's under the covers that impressed me most. Microsoft's done a great job of improving security across the board. Things like Windows and spyware library updates are streamlined, and I definitely appreciate the more robust Backup software.
Again, it's "improving". Which infers that the security was, well, not very good before. And again, I still won't consider even Linux to be secure when compared with OpenBSD. As for the "spyware library updates," I don't think that they would even be necessary if Microsoft didn't make it so easy to get loaded with spyware in the first place.
Backup software is another thing worth mentioning on Linux. While it's not directly related to the article text here, it's worth mentioning one particularly understated feature of UNIX systems – how easy it is to back them up. Whereas with a Microsoft box you have settings scattered all over the hard disk, I can typically back up all my Linux boxes and even transfer the configuration to another system just by tar'ing up three basic directories – /etc, /home, and /var.
OK, let's get on to the next paragraph. Continuing!Still, there's plenty of unfinished work left to do. Internet Explorer 7 struggled to properly render some Web pages, and I found local network connectivity to be a hit-or-miss affair. And then there's the stuff that isn't even in there yet--like the intriguing Windows Sidebar, which will put real-time weather info, stock quotes, system status, RSS feeds, and other information on the display.
Now, what really puzzles me here is how Internet Explorer is
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Yes, I'm sure it's much safer now...
...especially considering that I just deleted the account I never even signed up for in the first place. I hate those stupid sites. Besides, everyone knows that the only real site for all things Martin Ultima is http://ultima-inet.kicks-ass.org/~multima. So there!
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Maybe for some people it isn't enough...
but in my humble opinion, I'd say that the GIMP is the best thing since sliced bread. I just can't imagine working on a machine without that amazing program installed – it's done everything I could ever need it to, whether I'm color-correcting a scanned photo, digitally coloring the likes of Erlkönig, or creating proof that J. K. Rowling's been hard at work on the eighth book that everyone knows is coming. In fact, believe it or not, I've never even used PhotoShop in my entire life; all the graphics on my homepage (except the ones taken from elsewhere, of course, like the background image) were created using the GIMP. And, of course, a bit of ImageMagick here and there; I doubt PhotoShop's going to have a handy command line any time soon!
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Maybe for some people it isn't enough...
but in my humble opinion, I'd say that the GIMP is the best thing since sliced bread. I just can't imagine working on a machine without that amazing program installed – it's done everything I could ever need it to, whether I'm color-correcting a scanned photo, digitally coloring the likes of Erlkönig, or creating proof that J. K. Rowling's been hard at work on the eighth book that everyone knows is coming. In fact, believe it or not, I've never even used PhotoShop in my entire life; all the graphics on my homepage (except the ones taken from elsewhere, of course, like the background image) were created using the GIMP. And, of course, a bit of ImageMagick here and there; I doubt PhotoShop's going to have a handy command line any time soon!
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Addicted?
Ultima Linux, high speed Internet, a 2005 Epson all-in-one printer, a $375 machine built from stuff ordered at TigerDirect.com, a Dell machine I got for $55 on eBay, my 1997 Micron XPE laptop, a 1998-ish Olympus digital camera, and a few other pieces of computing equipment. Just about everything else I own is mostly various other electronics stuff, a lot of it from the 80's and therefore older than me (my TV and VCR both fall into that category). Used to carry around a Palm m125 but after about 2 1/2 years it got a bit worn down, stuff I own tends to get abused.
Damn, I could have sworn I had more than that, it really does look like next to nothing on paper. -
Why I like WordPress...
There's a very good reason I use WordPress myself... in fact, there's several, partially because I got fed up with Blogger and partially because it lets me run everything on my server, on my terms.
The one problem is that this server is a single 700MHz Duron system with 256MB of memory that my friend and I have running out of my house (it was at his originally, long story about why it moved). And it doesn't help that it's on my home Internet connection, and also running (along with my blog) the homepages of Ultima Linux, several other, smaller projects, and not to mention the rest of my homepage.
Hmm, maybe if I had my own data center... ;-) -
This is just stupid
Even I'm a (small-time) blogger, and I think this whole thing's just stupid. It would probably do well to read some more Maddox, if you ask me.
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Not the funniest, but...
Since everyone's getting a bit off topic anyway, I guess I'll be fine sharing my own weird "stickers":
Superior Magikarp (main computer) – 2.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB disk, Ultima Linux. Desktop machine, black tower case with blue highlights and a handle on top. Sticker is a Slaking Pokemon card on the top of the case, right by said handle. I really am lazy. There's also Tuxette, the U.L. mascot, on the monitor, along with another penguin sticker and a "Frank & Ernest" cartoon my friend gave me.
Micron XPE out of Hell – 133MHz, 80MB RAM, 6GB disk, Ultima Linux. This laptop's survived everything. Permanently glued a giant picture of Tuxette, the Ultima logo, on the back underneath the Micron logo, since I wanted something to look cool when the screen was opened and I figured I may as well promote myself.
Currently unnamed Dell system – 700MHz, 128MB RAM, 10GB disk, Ultima Linux. Optiplex system purchased from eBay (just $55!) to demo everyone's favorite operating system as part of a school project in April. Replaced the original DfMW2K sticker with a smaller version of Tuxette. It was appropriate enough.
Hmm, maybe my Windows stickers should go on my toilet, since everyone else puts them there. -
Not the funniest, but...
Since everyone's getting a bit off topic anyway, I guess I'll be fine sharing my own weird "stickers":
Superior Magikarp (main computer) – 2.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB disk, Ultima Linux. Desktop machine, black tower case with blue highlights and a handle on top. Sticker is a Slaking Pokemon card on the top of the case, right by said handle. I really am lazy. There's also Tuxette, the U.L. mascot, on the monitor, along with another penguin sticker and a "Frank & Ernest" cartoon my friend gave me.
Micron XPE out of Hell – 133MHz, 80MB RAM, 6GB disk, Ultima Linux. This laptop's survived everything. Permanently glued a giant picture of Tuxette, the Ultima logo, on the back underneath the Micron logo, since I wanted something to look cool when the screen was opened and I figured I may as well promote myself.
Currently unnamed Dell system – 700MHz, 128MB RAM, 10GB disk, Ultima Linux. Optiplex system purchased from eBay (just $55!) to demo everyone's favorite operating system as part of a school project in April. Replaced the original DfMW2K sticker with a smaller version of Tuxette. It was appropriate enough.
Hmm, maybe my Windows stickers should go on my toilet, since everyone else puts them there. -
Not the funniest, but...
Since everyone's getting a bit off topic anyway, I guess I'll be fine sharing my own weird "stickers":
Superior Magikarp (main computer) – 2.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB disk, Ultima Linux. Desktop machine, black tower case with blue highlights and a handle on top. Sticker is a Slaking Pokemon card on the top of the case, right by said handle. I really am lazy. There's also Tuxette, the U.L. mascot, on the monitor, along with another penguin sticker and a "Frank & Ernest" cartoon my friend gave me.
Micron XPE out of Hell – 133MHz, 80MB RAM, 6GB disk, Ultima Linux. This laptop's survived everything. Permanently glued a giant picture of Tuxette, the Ultima logo, on the back underneath the Micron logo, since I wanted something to look cool when the screen was opened and I figured I may as well promote myself.
Currently unnamed Dell system – 700MHz, 128MB RAM, 10GB disk, Ultima Linux. Optiplex system purchased from eBay (just $55!) to demo everyone's favorite operating system as part of a school project in April. Replaced the original DfMW2K sticker with a smaller version of Tuxette. It was appropriate enough.
Hmm, maybe my Windows stickers should go on my toilet, since everyone else puts them there. -
Not the funniest, but...
Since everyone's getting a bit off topic anyway, I guess I'll be fine sharing my own weird "stickers":
Superior Magikarp (main computer) – 2.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB disk, Ultima Linux. Desktop machine, black tower case with blue highlights and a handle on top. Sticker is a Slaking Pokemon card on the top of the case, right by said handle. I really am lazy. There's also Tuxette, the U.L. mascot, on the monitor, along with another penguin sticker and a "Frank & Ernest" cartoon my friend gave me.
Micron XPE out of Hell – 133MHz, 80MB RAM, 6GB disk, Ultima Linux. This laptop's survived everything. Permanently glued a giant picture of Tuxette, the Ultima logo, on the back underneath the Micron logo, since I wanted something to look cool when the screen was opened and I figured I may as well promote myself.
Currently unnamed Dell system – 700MHz, 128MB RAM, 10GB disk, Ultima Linux. Optiplex system purchased from eBay (just $55!) to demo everyone's favorite operating system as part of a school project in April. Replaced the original DfMW2K sticker with a smaller version of Tuxette. It was appropriate enough.
Hmm, maybe my Windows stickers should go on my toilet, since everyone else puts them there. -
But what if...
OK, all the obligatory WarGames jokes aside... if you were a Linux developer, would you really want them to be using your product for such important stuff? I'll be honest, if someone came up to me and said they wanted to use Ultima Linux for missile defense or something like that, I'm not sure that I'd say yes.
So why wouldn't I want all that fame and fortune? One simple reason: Negative publicity. Yes, negative. How? Well, simple.
What if the system were to fail?
Now, I'm not badmouthing Linux or anything here – especially not my own system ;-) – but even the most stable distributions can crash. For example, all my systems run my distro, which is for the most part a very highly customized Slackware. Well, Slackware's legendary for its stability, and for the most part everything runs just fine, but it can still be brought to its knees, say, if I decided to pull up a really CPU-intensive and potentially dangerous program such as Mupen64 to play Mario Kart without having to walk downstairs to my N64. It usually does just fine, but if it goes down, the entire system soon follows...
Just something to think about if you suspect that you may be the next RedHawk ;-) -
So what exactly defines an old machine? *corrected
(Please ignore parent; clicked wrong button, I meant to hit Preview)
First of all, 700MHz is not outdated. I recently purchased a 700MHz Dell machine with 128MB RAM and a 10GB disk from eBay to run a demo of my distribution as part of a school project, and the thing runs like a dream. In fact, half the time it's faster than my dev machine (2.4 GHz / 512MB / 80GB).
For that matter, I don't think that even 133MHz is too old to be running. I also have the latest version of my distribution – the latest software – running just fine on a 133MHz Pentium laptop with 80MB and a 6GB disk. Everything runs beautifully: Firefox, OpenOffice.org, even some games like SuperTux are acceptable on the thing. Even all three at the same time, with a wireless USB adapter hooked up. Very nice machine.
I think that the big thing here isn't so much the hardware, but the choice of system. Personally, as a Linux developer myself I tend to prefer my own system – obviously – but even that's not the right thing for all computers. Personally I don't like using Ultima on anything with less than 32MB of memory; it still runs, but it can be really slow if you want to use X applications.
(By the way, the only Windows version that has ever run acceptably on one of my machines is 3.x. Even in 2004, right before its disk finally failed, my GRiD 286 with 4MB and a 60MB disk was the fastest system I ever owned...)
Here's some machines I've worked with and the distro I liked best:
2.4GHz / 512MB / 80GB, hand-built Ultima Linux. This my dev machine right now, so it hasn't really run much else.
566MHz / 256MB / 40GB, Dell Ultima Linux. Used to be my dev machine, before I upgraded. Before Ultima, it ran Slackware with about the same performance, and the newly-released Fedora Core 2, which was the slowest, must unstable system I have ever used, worse than even Micro$oft.
700MHz / 128MB / 10GB, Dell Ultima Linux. Ordered off eBay exclusively to demo Ultima, hasn't had any other system while I've owned it.
133MHz / 80MB / 6GB, Micron Ultima Linux. Previously ran Slackware, which was about the same since Ultima is mostly a customized Slackware. Before that it had Red Hat 9, which was nice but SLOW, and before that Red Hat 8 which was still slower than Ultima.
166MHz / 32MB / 2.5GB, hand-built Damn Small. After my friend and I built it from a bunch of junkheaps he had lying around, the first thing we installed was Ultima, which is what it usually runs. I had Damn Small installed on it for a while, though, and I think that was the best choice for this machine.
66MHz / 8MB / 500MB, hand-built Slackware. This thing's been re-built so many times... my friend has it now, he took apart the disk and I don't know what became of the rest. The only system that ever worked was Slackware 7.0, running on ZipSlack, with FVWM2 as the window manager. Netscape was slow, but most everything else was OK. Very tricky to get it running Linux, though.
50MHz / 4MB / 320MB, IBM PS/1 Customized IBM-tweaked version of Windows 3.1. Threw it out after years and years... should have gotten a picture for Wikipedia first, but oh well. It was always a Windows 3.1 box, even BasicLinux was too slow.
Oh, and Damn Small kicks ass. Seriously. Especially when you're away from your own machine and don't want to deal with Windows. -
So what exactly defines an old machine?
First of all, 700MHz is not outdated. I recently purchased a 700MHz Dell machine with 128MB RAM and a 10GB disk from eBay to run a demo of my distribution as part of a school project, and the thing runs like a dream. In fact, half the time it's faster than my dev machine (2.4 GHz / 512MB / 80GB).
For that matter, I don't think that even 133MHz is too old to be running. I also have the latest version of my distribution – the latest software – running just fine on a 133MHz Pentium laptop with 80MB and a 6GB disk. Everything runs beautifully: Firefox, OpenOffice.org, even some games like SuperTux are acceptable on the thing. Even all three at the same time, with a wireless USB adapter hooked up. Very nice machine.
I think that the big thing here isn't so much the hardware, but the choice of system. Personally, as a Linux developer myself I tend to prefer my own system – obviously – but even that's not the right thing for all computers. Personally I don't like using Ultima on anything with less than 32MB of memory; it still runs, but it can be really slow if you want to use X applications.
(By the way, the only Windows version that has ever run acceptably on one of my machines is 3.x. Even in 2004, right before its disk finally failed, my GRiD 286 with 4MB and a 60MB disk was the fastest system I ever owned...)
Here's some machines I've worked with and the distro I liked best:
2.4GHz / 512MB / 80GB
Ultima Linux. This my dev machine right now, so it hasn't really run much else.
566MHz / 256MB / 40GB
Ultima Linux. Used to be my dev machine, before I upgraded. Before Ultima, it ran Slackware with about the same performance, and the newly-released Fedora Core 2, which was the slowest, must unstable system I have ever used, worse than even Micro$oft.
700MHz / 128MB / 10GB
Ultima Linux. Ordered off eBay exclusively to demo Ultima, hasn't had any other system while I've owned it.
Oh, and Damn Small kicks ass. Seriously. Especially when you're away from your own machine and don't want to deal with Windows. -
Interesting, very interesting.
I'm rather happy to see that Micro$oft is selling more software than (what I'm assuming to mean) Linux developers. Because there are still more Linux servers in use than Windows, that can only mean that people are downloading the bloody operating system for free. Not like there's any shortage of sites...
Note the difference between selling (distributing in exchange for a fee) and using (making it do useful work).
Yay, misleading statistics!! -
Re:one man wonder distros
"That is why you should never rely on one-man-wonder distros like libranet or slackware for anything beyond hobby machines."
Excuse me??
Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but I happen to be the sole creator/maintainer of my own distribution, Ultima Linux, which is a one-man distro based on Slackware (yes, another one-man distro). Every single machine I own runs Ultima exclusively, including a full-time Web server which also hosts the project. Hmm, anything beyond hobby machines?
And for the record, last time I checked Slackware was still the oldest maintained distribution, whereas entire companies with more people than you can count have gone down after only a couple years.
As for Libranet, I'll admit that I never really looked into it much before, but it sounds like it is/was a really neat distribution. It's really too bad that it's going down, some of the features (especially the adminmenu and P2P system) must have been very unique and it would have been kind of cool to maybe tweak them to work with another system such as my own. Maybe that's what I'll use the free 10GB on my hard disk for.
By the way, Ubuntu is overrated. I've used it before; apt-get/dpkg was an absolute nightmare even for an advanced user like me, and I still have yet to find Ubuntu-compatible packages for stuff like wireless networking that I've come to take for granted with my Linux system. Just my 2 cents. -
Re:one man wonder distros
"That is why you should never rely on one-man-wonder distros like libranet or slackware for anything beyond hobby machines."
Excuse me??
Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but I happen to be the sole creator/maintainer of my own distribution, Ultima Linux, which is a one-man distro based on Slackware (yes, another one-man distro). Every single machine I own runs Ultima exclusively, including a full-time Web server which also hosts the project. Hmm, anything beyond hobby machines?
And for the record, last time I checked Slackware was still the oldest maintained distribution, whereas entire companies with more people than you can count have gone down after only a couple years.
As for Libranet, I'll admit that I never really looked into it much before, but it sounds like it is/was a really neat distribution. It's really too bad that it's going down, some of the features (especially the adminmenu and P2P system) must have been very unique and it would have been kind of cool to maybe tweak them to work with another system such as my own. Maybe that's what I'll use the free 10GB on my hard disk for.
By the way, Ubuntu is overrated. I've used it before; apt-get/dpkg was an absolute nightmare even for an advanced user like me, and I still have yet to find Ubuntu-compatible packages for stuff like wireless networking that I've come to take for granted with my Linux system. Just my 2 cents. -
Hell no.The last thing that I want to see on any operating system is unnecessary advertising while I'm working. It wastes valuable memory and CPU cycles, distracts attention away from more important work, sounds way too much like Big Brother – and besides, considering all that we have already, do we really need any more ads in our lives?
- Billboards block the skyline and distract drivers on the roads.
- Stores and restaurants have huge ugly signs as well that work just like billboards.
- Spyware and adware are infecting enough machines as it is, we don't need it integrated into the OS.
- Television now consists of five-minute programs and about twenty-five minutes of commercials.
- Movie theatres play half-hour-long previews before the film starts.
- Even on VHS/DVD, there's ads. I especially hate Agent Cody Banks, which advertises its own sequel. Fucking Hollywood.
- Spam messages are prevalant everywhere. Although some of them are sorta funny. But still, they're evil anyway.
- And that's not even including the Web...
Personally, I'm just hoping that this will be the final step to convincing people to see the light and get rid of all this unnecessary advertising once and for all. Oh, and maybe an ad-supported Windows could help Linux developers like me. If everything else has turned into an ad I may as well plug one for myself while I'm ranting against that very thing
:-) -
Re:Very useful, but...I'm sorry to say that doesn't happen. It's the way open source works.
Yeah, I think that I should probably know. Again, I said that it would be nice to have a more reliable OOo or else an alternative. If the codebase wasn't such an ungodly mess, I'd fork it... oh well.
Besides, most other 15-year-olds probably wouldn't see a problem anyway
:-) -
"There should be only one Linux?"Despite what this guy says, I have good reason to seriously doubt his claim. There should not be a single "Linux" – first of all, that would be presenting yet another monoculture, and besides, I happen to like maintaining my own distribution. I'm not giving up Ultima just so I can be another mindless Red Hat or Mandrake developer.
Also, in case the guy didn't notice, not all distributions are even about providing a pretty GUI; while my system is somewhat graphically oriented I quite frequently run it in text mode, and have been known to leave X off some of my systems altogether depending on what I use them for.
Someday more people will understand.
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Re:Ripping off Google
He's right. I have a portal too. http://randall.kicks-ass.org/wwwportal.html where are my millions of dollars?
;-) -
Somewhat disappointed with /.
The 1.1.5 version's been out quite a while, a couple weeks in fact. I could have sworn that it would have been announced long before now... in fact, right when this was posted I had just finished an Ultima Linux package for the new version.
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Somewhat disappointed with /.
The 1.1.5 version's been out quite a while, a couple weeks in fact. I could have sworn that it would have been announced long before now... in fact, right when this was posted I had just finished an Ultima Linux package for the new version.
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Looking for a reliable desktop operating system?
Ultima Linux, my distribution, is a very customized little Slackware-based distribution designed for both desktop and server functionality. Very good reviews, too.
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Yay, finally!!!
I'm seriously going ecstatic now... I've been waiting forever for the final release of Slack 10.2! (The reason being that I myself am a Linux developer, mine's based on Slack, and I've just been wondering and wondering why there haven't been any changes... I ended up basing mine on the latest -current, it's been out for a couple weeks now.)
FINALLY! Time to update a few more things...
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Uh-oh...
Soon I'm sure we'll see a Microsoft funded comparison between Office and OpenOffice.
Please don't give them ideas!!
As for the claims of things you can do with Micro$oft Office: Most people don't have a clue what half of those are, which is why Micro$oft is using them. They really aren't actual features – or at least aren't implemented in Office – but if they can convince people that they are using long technical buzzwords, they can get $$$.
And for the record, I know a bunch of people who use Micro$oft products every day, and can't stand them. Our school district insists on shoving these stupid Micro$oft apps down everyone's throats, and not only do the (more tech-skilled) students like me not like them, but even most of the teachers don't. Are these really useful features?
- A dancing animated paperclip
- The ability to insert a "happy-face character"
- Automatic hiding of all your toolbar buttons
- Re-designing the interface in every new version so that you have to take another Office course to learn how it works now
- ...
Just my opinion.
(PS, if you have a Linux box and a high-speed Internet connection, you can probably set up a machine with SSH/VNC so that you can remote-access a system you like. Works every time for me.)
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Stapling yourself kicks assWhy not just staple it to yourself?
I can't wait for Christmas
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A friendly reminder from your local RIAA-chapter
WHAT DID YOU DOWNLOAD LAST YEAR because it has ALL BEEN LOGGED!.
"ONE MP3 MEANS GUILTY!"
You had a safe, comfortable middle-class life? No, you thought you had, but you didn't. You are a CRIMINAL, you are GUILTY and you can be EXECUTED.
You are just another statistic criminal. Do you want YOU and your PARTNER and KIDS to be DRAGGED from your home and SHOT IN THE STREET?
Is your anus insured for AIDS RAPE?
Does your life insurance cover FORCED PRISON SEX and AIDS DEATH ? Check the policy - maybe not. Does "your" life-insurance carry a clause in the contract about perverts, convicts and enemies of society JUST LIKE YOU? Why should they insure "COPYRIGHT VIOLATORS" like you?
Society hates you.
What are your family going to do when you are jailed for 50 years with no parole? Do you reckon your spouse will hang around for 1 year let alone 50 years before they get lonely and find another partner to love them?
You can be JAILED and RAPED.
A great big muscle-bound GAY RAPIST will tie you to the PRISON BARS and RAPE YOUR ASS with his AIDS AND WART-INFESTED PENIS .
You will be forced to SUCK AIDS INFECTED DICKS . Do you want that?
SOCIETY SUCKS and you had better get used to it because this is what you can expect when YOUR COMPUTER is EXAMINED FOR EVIDENCE by the "government".
You will soon learn how "LAWFUL" AND "CORRECT" your government is when you are being raped and the prison guards are looking the other way - or WATCHING or JOINING IN.
DO YOU WANT TO BE RAPED? WELL, DO YOU?
Your "government" wants you to be RAPED IN THE ASS and you had better wise up before they get YOUR ass, because they can recover what MP3s you downloaded LAST YEAR and use it to kidnap you and rape you.
STOP yourself and your family and kids being kidnapped and raped by criminals.
IF YOU PIRATE MUSIC, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!
This message was generated by a wagonload of gay niggers for Anonymous Hero. -
Re:failure not an option
Sounds about as much fun as this.
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Re:Monolith on duty
Sounds about as much fun as this.