Domain: merlins.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to merlins.org.
Stories · 35
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Marc Merlin's 2014 Burning Man Report For Tech Geeks
marcmerlin writes Haven't been to Burning Man, or missed this year's and would like a summary? Marc Merlin has posted a summary of this year with full GPS map, pictures from the air, and everything neatly categorized, with a track of his 127 miles of biking to visit as many camps as possible. Also, if you plan on going, check out the tips at the bottom of the page. -
Marc Merlin's 2014 Burning Man Report For Tech Geeks
marcmerlin writes Haven't been to Burning Man, or missed this year's and would like a summary? Marc Merlin has posted a summary of this year with full GPS map, pictures from the air, and everything neatly categorized, with a track of his 127 miles of biking to visit as many camps as possible. Also, if you plan on going, check out the tips at the bottom of the page. -
The Tech of Burning Man
Marc Merlin wrote:"Some of you have probably heard of burning man, but most of those who haven't gone probably don't know that saying that it's just a bunch of naked hippies meeting in the desert to smoke pot, is a very unfair description of the event. I have been writing reports of it for the last 4 years now (akin to the linux show reports I used to do), and my 2005 report is the biggest one yet (1440 pictures, and a fairly complete overview page, showing the highlights) You can also look at the burning man index page (with pictures from the sky), and look at my first 2002 report for a view as a first timer." -
The Tech of Burning Man
Marc Merlin wrote:"Some of you have probably heard of burning man, but most of those who haven't gone probably don't know that saying that it's just a bunch of naked hippies meeting in the desert to smoke pot, is a very unfair description of the event. I have been writing reports of it for the last 4 years now (akin to the linux show reports I used to do), and my 2005 report is the biggest one yet (1440 pictures, and a fairly complete overview page, showing the highlights) You can also look at the burning man index page (with pictures from the sky), and look at my first 2002 report for a view as a first timer." -
The Tech of Burning Man
Marc Merlin wrote:"Some of you have probably heard of burning man, but most of those who haven't gone probably don't know that saying that it's just a bunch of naked hippies meeting in the desert to smoke pot, is a very unfair description of the event. I have been writing reports of it for the last 4 years now (akin to the linux show reports I used to do), and my 2005 report is the biggest one yet (1440 pictures, and a fairly complete overview page, showing the highlights) You can also look at the burning man index page (with pictures from the sky), and look at my first 2002 report for a view as a first timer." -
The Tech of Burning Man
Marc Merlin wrote:"Some of you have probably heard of burning man, but most of those who haven't gone probably don't know that saying that it's just a bunch of naked hippies meeting in the desert to smoke pot, is a very unfair description of the event. I have been writing reports of it for the last 4 years now (akin to the linux show reports I used to do), and my 2005 report is the biggest one yet (1440 pictures, and a fairly complete overview page, showing the highlights) You can also look at the burning man index page (with pictures from the sky), and look at my first 2002 report for a view as a first timer." -
Linux Conference Australia Write-Up
I've just recently returned from Linux Conference Australia 2003, held in Perth, Western Australia. I've had an incredible time, and this has easily been the best technical/Linux show I've been to since ALS was still operating. I've got a write-up below, and some notes on what happened, what's the plan for next year (It'll be in Adelaide, and I'm greatly looking forward to it!), and a photo round up. A number of other articles have appeared, and Kate MacKenzie's write up in The Australian was good as well, in addition to Telsa Gwynne's excellent write-up and Linux Magazine Au has some articles as well. Update: 02/04 02:42 GMT by T : ilovestuff points out ZDNet Australia's coverage as well.I was actually invited to come to present the hacker survey that OSDN had done in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group. However, upon looking at the conference plans, it was quickly apparent that that would be one of the few non-technical presentations, which was a pleasant change from my normal conference regime, in which the technical stuff seems crammed into one half day. I've heard that OLS is quite similar, but have not had a chance to attend. Nonethless, obviously my work withstanding *grin* the presentations were excellent - read the program to see for yourself.
I was able to attend Tridge's keynote, having only arrived Wednesday morning, a ARQuake presentation done by Wayne Pierkarski (we've mentioned it before). The afternoon was spent at Conrad's presentation on sweep, which is a hella cool audio app. Finally, the Q&A was Rusty, BDale, Tridge and Linus. Some of the typcial questions were asked, but there were some other questions 'round about DRM, IPv6 and some of the more social questions that were interesting. I think the DRM issues is one of the areas that some people are greatly concerned about, while other people have adopted a more Pollyana approach to it.
Unfortunately, on Friday, while I was presenting, there were two other presentations that I wanted to attend, but alas, had to speak myself. Rasmus, as usual, did a number of talks, and I was able to catch part of PHP printing with PDF, which was informative. Alex Reeder, part of VA Linux Japan also did a presentation on his work with bioauthentication, and my final piece of the show was Horms' presentation on Perdition, a mail retrieval proxy he's been working on.
But presentations aside, which were as a rule exceptional, I think one of the best parts was the relaxed feel, and the amount of interchange between just about everybody here. Almost every one that you talked to was fluent in Linux, programming or what not, which made for easy conversation with everyone there. The Perthites who really managed to put this together also did an exceptional job. To be frank, this is the only show I'd ever consider travelling 13,500 miles for.
I'd encourage anyone who attended or was part of it to post below -- and here's to looking forward to next year. One of the most amusing pictures though has to be the Linus in the penguin suit. The hats are off to the organizing team for their hard work -- and the speakers who traveled afar to be part of this. And from the wonderful uses of pizza box - yet more zaniness.
You can also check out some of photo round ups from Leon, Noel, and, of course, Marc Merlin's done a great round-up, as well as group round-up and one final one.
Overall, I highly highly recommend this show -- probably one of the best on the planet -- and for those in know, 23 will fall.
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Linux Conference Australia Write-Up
I've just recently returned from Linux Conference Australia 2003, held in Perth, Western Australia. I've had an incredible time, and this has easily been the best technical/Linux show I've been to since ALS was still operating. I've got a write-up below, and some notes on what happened, what's the plan for next year (It'll be in Adelaide, and I'm greatly looking forward to it!), and a photo round up. A number of other articles have appeared, and Kate MacKenzie's write up in The Australian was good as well, in addition to Telsa Gwynne's excellent write-up and Linux Magazine Au has some articles as well. Update: 02/04 02:42 GMT by T : ilovestuff points out ZDNet Australia's coverage as well.I was actually invited to come to present the hacker survey that OSDN had done in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group. However, upon looking at the conference plans, it was quickly apparent that that would be one of the few non-technical presentations, which was a pleasant change from my normal conference regime, in which the technical stuff seems crammed into one half day. I've heard that OLS is quite similar, but have not had a chance to attend. Nonethless, obviously my work withstanding *grin* the presentations were excellent - read the program to see for yourself.
I was able to attend Tridge's keynote, having only arrived Wednesday morning, a ARQuake presentation done by Wayne Pierkarski (we've mentioned it before). The afternoon was spent at Conrad's presentation on sweep, which is a hella cool audio app. Finally, the Q&A was Rusty, BDale, Tridge and Linus. Some of the typcial questions were asked, but there were some other questions 'round about DRM, IPv6 and some of the more social questions that were interesting. I think the DRM issues is one of the areas that some people are greatly concerned about, while other people have adopted a more Pollyana approach to it.
Unfortunately, on Friday, while I was presenting, there were two other presentations that I wanted to attend, but alas, had to speak myself. Rasmus, as usual, did a number of talks, and I was able to catch part of PHP printing with PDF, which was informative. Alex Reeder, part of VA Linux Japan also did a presentation on his work with bioauthentication, and my final piece of the show was Horms' presentation on Perdition, a mail retrieval proxy he's been working on.
But presentations aside, which were as a rule exceptional, I think one of the best parts was the relaxed feel, and the amount of interchange between just about everybody here. Almost every one that you talked to was fluent in Linux, programming or what not, which made for easy conversation with everyone there. The Perthites who really managed to put this together also did an exceptional job. To be frank, this is the only show I'd ever consider travelling 13,500 miles for.
I'd encourage anyone who attended or was part of it to post below -- and here's to looking forward to next year. One of the most amusing pictures though has to be the Linus in the penguin suit. The hats are off to the organizing team for their hard work -- and the speakers who traveled afar to be part of this. And from the wonderful uses of pizza box - yet more zaniness.
You can also check out some of photo round ups from Leon, Noel, and, of course, Marc Merlin's done a great round-up, as well as group round-up and one final one.
Overall, I highly highly recommend this show -- probably one of the best on the planet -- and for those in know, 23 will fall.
-
Linux Conference Australia Write-Up
I've just recently returned from Linux Conference Australia 2003, held in Perth, Western Australia. I've had an incredible time, and this has easily been the best technical/Linux show I've been to since ALS was still operating. I've got a write-up below, and some notes on what happened, what's the plan for next year (It'll be in Adelaide, and I'm greatly looking forward to it!), and a photo round up. A number of other articles have appeared, and Kate MacKenzie's write up in The Australian was good as well, in addition to Telsa Gwynne's excellent write-up and Linux Magazine Au has some articles as well. Update: 02/04 02:42 GMT by T : ilovestuff points out ZDNet Australia's coverage as well.I was actually invited to come to present the hacker survey that OSDN had done in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group. However, upon looking at the conference plans, it was quickly apparent that that would be one of the few non-technical presentations, which was a pleasant change from my normal conference regime, in which the technical stuff seems crammed into one half day. I've heard that OLS is quite similar, but have not had a chance to attend. Nonethless, obviously my work withstanding *grin* the presentations were excellent - read the program to see for yourself.
I was able to attend Tridge's keynote, having only arrived Wednesday morning, a ARQuake presentation done by Wayne Pierkarski (we've mentioned it before). The afternoon was spent at Conrad's presentation on sweep, which is a hella cool audio app. Finally, the Q&A was Rusty, BDale, Tridge and Linus. Some of the typcial questions were asked, but there were some other questions 'round about DRM, IPv6 and some of the more social questions that were interesting. I think the DRM issues is one of the areas that some people are greatly concerned about, while other people have adopted a more Pollyana approach to it.
Unfortunately, on Friday, while I was presenting, there were two other presentations that I wanted to attend, but alas, had to speak myself. Rasmus, as usual, did a number of talks, and I was able to catch part of PHP printing with PDF, which was informative. Alex Reeder, part of VA Linux Japan also did a presentation on his work with bioauthentication, and my final piece of the show was Horms' presentation on Perdition, a mail retrieval proxy he's been working on.
But presentations aside, which were as a rule exceptional, I think one of the best parts was the relaxed feel, and the amount of interchange between just about everybody here. Almost every one that you talked to was fluent in Linux, programming or what not, which made for easy conversation with everyone there. The Perthites who really managed to put this together also did an exceptional job. To be frank, this is the only show I'd ever consider travelling 13,500 miles for.
I'd encourage anyone who attended or was part of it to post below -- and here's to looking forward to next year. One of the most amusing pictures though has to be the Linus in the penguin suit. The hats are off to the organizing team for their hard work -- and the speakers who traveled afar to be part of this. And from the wonderful uses of pizza box - yet more zaniness.
You can also check out some of photo round ups from Leon, Noel, and, of course, Marc Merlin's done a great round-up, as well as group round-up and one final one.
Overall, I highly highly recommend this show -- probably one of the best on the planet -- and for those in know, 23 will fall.
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LinuxWorld San Francisco Convention Report
doom writes: "Marc Merlin has written a pretty good convention report for the LinuxWorld Convention & Expo Summer 2001." A nice long, juicy wrap-up for the convention. -
Linux 10th Anniversary Celebration Report
Marc MERLIN wrote to us with his follow-up report on the Linux 10 celebration in Silicon Valley. Marc comments "The event was a great success, several hundred people showed up, and the money left over is going to the EFF." Marc, in addition to being a great guy, also has lots of reports from other shows. -
Linux 10th Anniversary Celebration Report
Marc MERLIN wrote to us with his follow-up report on the Linux 10 celebration in Silicon Valley. Marc comments "The event was a great success, several hundred people showed up, and the money left over is going to the EFF." Marc, in addition to being a great guy, also has lots of reports from other shows. -
Linux 10th Anniversary Celebration Report
Marc MERLIN wrote to us with his follow-up report on the Linux 10 celebration in Silicon Valley. Marc comments "The event was a great success, several hundred people showed up, and the money left over is going to the EFF." Marc, in addition to being a great guy, also has lots of reports from other shows. -
Slashback: Cutbacks, Oz, Furniture
How to get a cheap, slick box that can run NetBSD; more on what went down under there, down under thanks to modern Rennaisance man Marc Merlin; and a note from the world of corporate English. Read on, soldier.But are there any good submarine games for it? Tairan writes: "In an effort to sell off 2 million Dreamcasts before jumping out of the hardware business, Sega has lowered the prices of Dreamcasts to $99.00. If you don't already have one, better get down to your local gaming store now!"
Frankly, I'd really rather have an Aeron chair The tri-voweled reader nettdata writes: "Remember this old article that talked about a dot-commer including a Lego desk in his contract? Well, I think I've found the guy! Sun's Dot Com Builder page is doing a feature article on Blue Nile, and the picture in the article shows their CTO sitting at a Lego Desk.
Look here[1][, then look here[2] and tell me they aren't the same!"
Mr. Harshbarger's work continues to amaze, astound and befuddle. Where are all the Lincoln Log sculptures, and desks made of bright yellow Tonka truck metal?
Tell me again how sheep's bladders may be used to prevent earthquakes ... Geoffrey S. Zub of Vistaource passed on that company's Official Word on the Applix spinoff, which he says "can be attributed to Allison Antalek, Marketing Communications." It reads thus:
"In December 2000 the Company entered into discussions with several possible buyers and expects to consummate a divestiture or otherwise discontinue the business in the first quarter of 2001.
Pop quiz, no cheating: Would you be likely to buy a new car from a company that had just "discontinued operations"?If you have consistently followed VistaSource through 2000, you will recall two key announcements:
- April 24th press release launching VistaSource as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applix.
- October 19th press release announcing the engagement of FAC/Equities to explore strategic alternatives for VistaSource, including its possible divestiture.
Best Regards,
Allison Antalek
Marketing Communications
VistaSource, Inc."Please don't throw another penguin on the barbie, 'K, mate? Last but not least, the indefatiguable Marc Merlin posted word of his newest wrap-up / conference report, with pictures, of the recent linux.conf.au 2001. Marc braved jetlag, the dangers of flying, and proximity to dangerous creatures like kangaroos and awful jellyfish to bring you these pictures and words, but he's dedicated. (Check out his license plate for proof.) As his report puts it, "If you noticed the absence of Showfloor pictures, it's simply because there was no Showfloor. This was a hacker's conference, not a tradeshow, and I'd say that it was just as well." Some great pix in here! Thanks, Marc.
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Slashback: Cutbacks, Oz, Furniture
How to get a cheap, slick box that can run NetBSD; more on what went down under there, down under thanks to modern Rennaisance man Marc Merlin; and a note from the world of corporate English. Read on, soldier.But are there any good submarine games for it? Tairan writes: "In an effort to sell off 2 million Dreamcasts before jumping out of the hardware business, Sega has lowered the prices of Dreamcasts to $99.00. If you don't already have one, better get down to your local gaming store now!"
Frankly, I'd really rather have an Aeron chair The tri-voweled reader nettdata writes: "Remember this old article that talked about a dot-commer including a Lego desk in his contract? Well, I think I've found the guy! Sun's Dot Com Builder page is doing a feature article on Blue Nile, and the picture in the article shows their CTO sitting at a Lego Desk.
Look here[1][, then look here[2] and tell me they aren't the same!"
Mr. Harshbarger's work continues to amaze, astound and befuddle. Where are all the Lincoln Log sculptures, and desks made of bright yellow Tonka truck metal?
Tell me again how sheep's bladders may be used to prevent earthquakes ... Geoffrey S. Zub of Vistaource passed on that company's Official Word on the Applix spinoff, which he says "can be attributed to Allison Antalek, Marketing Communications." It reads thus:
"In December 2000 the Company entered into discussions with several possible buyers and expects to consummate a divestiture or otherwise discontinue the business in the first quarter of 2001.
Pop quiz, no cheating: Would you be likely to buy a new car from a company that had just "discontinued operations"?If you have consistently followed VistaSource through 2000, you will recall two key announcements:
- April 24th press release launching VistaSource as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applix.
- October 19th press release announcing the engagement of FAC/Equities to explore strategic alternatives for VistaSource, including its possible divestiture.
Best Regards,
Allison Antalek
Marketing Communications
VistaSource, Inc."Please don't throw another penguin on the barbie, 'K, mate? Last but not least, the indefatiguable Marc Merlin posted word of his newest wrap-up / conference report, with pictures, of the recent linux.conf.au 2001. Marc braved jetlag, the dangers of flying, and proximity to dangerous creatures like kangaroos and awful jellyfish to bring you these pictures and words, but he's dedicated. (Check out his license plate for proof.) As his report puts it, "If you noticed the absence of Showfloor pictures, it's simply because there was no Showfloor. This was a hacker's conference, not a tradeshow, and I'd say that it was just as well." Some great pix in here! Thanks, Marc.
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Slashback: Cutbacks, Oz, Furniture
How to get a cheap, slick box that can run NetBSD; more on what went down under there, down under thanks to modern Rennaisance man Marc Merlin; and a note from the world of corporate English. Read on, soldier.But are there any good submarine games for it? Tairan writes: "In an effort to sell off 2 million Dreamcasts before jumping out of the hardware business, Sega has lowered the prices of Dreamcasts to $99.00. If you don't already have one, better get down to your local gaming store now!"
Frankly, I'd really rather have an Aeron chair The tri-voweled reader nettdata writes: "Remember this old article that talked about a dot-commer including a Lego desk in his contract? Well, I think I've found the guy! Sun's Dot Com Builder page is doing a feature article on Blue Nile, and the picture in the article shows their CTO sitting at a Lego Desk.
Look here[1][, then look here[2] and tell me they aren't the same!"
Mr. Harshbarger's work continues to amaze, astound and befuddle. Where are all the Lincoln Log sculptures, and desks made of bright yellow Tonka truck metal?
Tell me again how sheep's bladders may be used to prevent earthquakes ... Geoffrey S. Zub of Vistaource passed on that company's Official Word on the Applix spinoff, which he says "can be attributed to Allison Antalek, Marketing Communications." It reads thus:
"In December 2000 the Company entered into discussions with several possible buyers and expects to consummate a divestiture or otherwise discontinue the business in the first quarter of 2001.
Pop quiz, no cheating: Would you be likely to buy a new car from a company that had just "discontinued operations"?If you have consistently followed VistaSource through 2000, you will recall two key announcements:
- April 24th press release launching VistaSource as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applix.
- October 19th press release announcing the engagement of FAC/Equities to explore strategic alternatives for VistaSource, including its possible divestiture.
Best Regards,
Allison Antalek
Marketing Communications
VistaSource, Inc."Please don't throw another penguin on the barbie, 'K, mate? Last but not least, the indefatiguable Marc Merlin posted word of his newest wrap-up / conference report, with pictures, of the recent linux.conf.au 2001. Marc braved jetlag, the dangers of flying, and proximity to dangerous creatures like kangaroos and awful jellyfish to bring you these pictures and words, but he's dedicated. (Check out his license plate for proof.) As his report puts it, "If you noticed the absence of Showfloor pictures, it's simply because there was no Showfloor. This was a hacker's conference, not a tradeshow, and I'd say that it was just as well." Some great pix in here! Thanks, Marc.
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Slashback: Cats, Snaps, Pixels, Diagrams
Nooooooo! Noooooooo! Not another Slashback! Especially not one dripping with the not-unexpected but unexpectedly-quick news which will let you use your spankin' new Rat Shack Scannin' Cat for other things. And with tons of pictures and a superb wrap-up of LWCE which puts mine to shame! Not to mention ... well, you will have to read more.LWCE, from our "compulsive recording" files. marcmerlin writes: "I have just finished my full report on Linuxworld expo summer 2000 which features, just like my previous Linux Event reports and reports, hundreds of pictures and a virtual visit of the expo, with a full report of all the keynotes, conferences, tutorials and parties I attended
I'm sure you'll agree the wait was worth it :-)"Thanks, Marc! Hey, he should charge an admission price for this one. This is perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of LWCE I've see yet, and if you're considering going this is a great way to whet your appetite for the next one.
Don't be alarmed, but we're going to have to give you a cat scan. MP3Car writes "The Dudes over at MP3Car have decoded the protocol used by the CueCat which you can get for free at Radio Shack. they have a Web page where you can scan in any barcode and it will tell you the number. Very neat and hightech space age hack. CueCat HACK"
A free package of Slashdot goodies to the first person who can make my Visor into a CueCat basestation so I can scan random items at the grocery. Note: As of 23:55 GMT, a search for "Radio Shack CueCat" at Google yields a grand total of zero (0) matches. Updated: 3:15 GMT 26th August by timothy: An unnamed correspondent writes:
"This comes straight from linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org:
'Hello all,
I picked up my free CueCat reader at RadioShack the other day, so I
wrote a small driver for it based on Andrew Stellman's perl script. It's
available at :
ftp://oss.lineo.com/drivers/cuecat- 0.0.1.tar.gz
Have fun :)'""First, there were the dinosaurs ... " If you enjoyed the visual map of Unix history that CmdrTaco posted the other day, here's your chance to spread a little joy in the world in return. As if Unix weren't enough to cover all by itself ;)
Auckerman writes "It seems someone wants to put all standards and platforms for the entire history of computing on one graph. Pretty ambitious, if you ask me. Though, it would be nice if someone began recording these relationships before they are permanently lost forever."
Heck, I'd like to see this even if it covered only a history of video games!
Q: Will you visit my apartment? A: Yes. Speaking of collaborative knowledge systems, GutterBunny writes: "This week's I Cringley talks about Chris McKinstry's latest project - the Mindpixel Digital Mind Modeling Project. It's a pretty cool idea. Take about 900 million mindpixels (basic nuggets of truth about the human condition), throw them into a neural net, then let the neural net think out the next 100 million mindpixels. The article goes on to talk about how McKinstry's going to make money from it and some of the ideas behind it."
If the therapy was scuccessful, you may recall the fascinating interview that Chris gave to Slashdot a little while ago. Looks like some of the questions that people had then about Mindpixel(s) will be answered by reality.
-
Slashback: Cats, Snaps, Pixels, Diagrams
Nooooooo! Noooooooo! Not another Slashback! Especially not one dripping with the not-unexpected but unexpectedly-quick news which will let you use your spankin' new Rat Shack Scannin' Cat for other things. And with tons of pictures and a superb wrap-up of LWCE which puts mine to shame! Not to mention ... well, you will have to read more.LWCE, from our "compulsive recording" files. marcmerlin writes: "I have just finished my full report on Linuxworld expo summer 2000 which features, just like my previous Linux Event reports and reports, hundreds of pictures and a virtual visit of the expo, with a full report of all the keynotes, conferences, tutorials and parties I attended
I'm sure you'll agree the wait was worth it :-)"Thanks, Marc! Hey, he should charge an admission price for this one. This is perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of LWCE I've see yet, and if you're considering going this is a great way to whet your appetite for the next one.
Don't be alarmed, but we're going to have to give you a cat scan. MP3Car writes "The Dudes over at MP3Car have decoded the protocol used by the CueCat which you can get for free at Radio Shack. they have a Web page where you can scan in any barcode and it will tell you the number. Very neat and hightech space age hack. CueCat HACK"
A free package of Slashdot goodies to the first person who can make my Visor into a CueCat basestation so I can scan random items at the grocery. Note: As of 23:55 GMT, a search for "Radio Shack CueCat" at Google yields a grand total of zero (0) matches. Updated: 3:15 GMT 26th August by timothy: An unnamed correspondent writes:
"This comes straight from linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org:
'Hello all,
I picked up my free CueCat reader at RadioShack the other day, so I
wrote a small driver for it based on Andrew Stellman's perl script. It's
available at :
ftp://oss.lineo.com/drivers/cuecat- 0.0.1.tar.gz
Have fun :)'""First, there were the dinosaurs ... " If you enjoyed the visual map of Unix history that CmdrTaco posted the other day, here's your chance to spread a little joy in the world in return. As if Unix weren't enough to cover all by itself ;)
Auckerman writes "It seems someone wants to put all standards and platforms for the entire history of computing on one graph. Pretty ambitious, if you ask me. Though, it would be nice if someone began recording these relationships before they are permanently lost forever."
Heck, I'd like to see this even if it covered only a history of video games!
Q: Will you visit my apartment? A: Yes. Speaking of collaborative knowledge systems, GutterBunny writes: "This week's I Cringley talks about Chris McKinstry's latest project - the Mindpixel Digital Mind Modeling Project. It's a pretty cool idea. Take about 900 million mindpixels (basic nuggets of truth about the human condition), throw them into a neural net, then let the neural net think out the next 100 million mindpixels. The article goes on to talk about how McKinstry's going to make money from it and some of the ideas behind it."
If the therapy was scuccessful, you may recall the fascinating interview that Chris gave to Slashdot a little while ago. Looks like some of the questions that people had then about Mindpixel(s) will be answered by reality.
-
Slashback: Cats, Snaps, Pixels, Diagrams
Nooooooo! Noooooooo! Not another Slashback! Especially not one dripping with the not-unexpected but unexpectedly-quick news which will let you use your spankin' new Rat Shack Scannin' Cat for other things. And with tons of pictures and a superb wrap-up of LWCE which puts mine to shame! Not to mention ... well, you will have to read more.LWCE, from our "compulsive recording" files. marcmerlin writes: "I have just finished my full report on Linuxworld expo summer 2000 which features, just like my previous Linux Event reports and reports, hundreds of pictures and a virtual visit of the expo, with a full report of all the keynotes, conferences, tutorials and parties I attended
I'm sure you'll agree the wait was worth it :-)"Thanks, Marc! Hey, he should charge an admission price for this one. This is perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of LWCE I've see yet, and if you're considering going this is a great way to whet your appetite for the next one.
Don't be alarmed, but we're going to have to give you a cat scan. MP3Car writes "The Dudes over at MP3Car have decoded the protocol used by the CueCat which you can get for free at Radio Shack. they have a Web page where you can scan in any barcode and it will tell you the number. Very neat and hightech space age hack. CueCat HACK"
A free package of Slashdot goodies to the first person who can make my Visor into a CueCat basestation so I can scan random items at the grocery. Note: As of 23:55 GMT, a search for "Radio Shack CueCat" at Google yields a grand total of zero (0) matches. Updated: 3:15 GMT 26th August by timothy: An unnamed correspondent writes:
"This comes straight from linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org:
'Hello all,
I picked up my free CueCat reader at RadioShack the other day, so I
wrote a small driver for it based on Andrew Stellman's perl script. It's
available at :
ftp://oss.lineo.com/drivers/cuecat- 0.0.1.tar.gz
Have fun :)'""First, there were the dinosaurs ... " If you enjoyed the visual map of Unix history that CmdrTaco posted the other day, here's your chance to spread a little joy in the world in return. As if Unix weren't enough to cover all by itself ;)
Auckerman writes "It seems someone wants to put all standards and platforms for the entire history of computing on one graph. Pretty ambitious, if you ask me. Though, it would be nice if someone began recording these relationships before they are permanently lost forever."
Heck, I'd like to see this even if it covered only a history of video games!
Q: Will you visit my apartment? A: Yes. Speaking of collaborative knowledge systems, GutterBunny writes: "This week's I Cringley talks about Chris McKinstry's latest project - the Mindpixel Digital Mind Modeling Project. It's a pretty cool idea. Take about 900 million mindpixels (basic nuggets of truth about the human condition), throw them into a neural net, then let the neural net think out the next 100 million mindpixels. The article goes on to talk about how McKinstry's going to make money from it and some of the ideas behind it."
If the therapy was scuccessful, you may recall the fascinating interview that Chris gave to Slashdot a little while ago. Looks like some of the questions that people had then about Mindpixel(s) will be answered by reality.
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Wrap-up of LinuxWorld
Having finally flown back home, recovered from the gain/loss of sleep, time zones, and of course, the obligatory luggage being lost, we're trying to wrap-up the latest installment of LinuxWorld. If you are interested in some commentary and stories coming out of LWCE, click below. The big issue of LWCE was something that didn't occur even in the same state as the show. The Red Hat IPO, complete with lotsa confusion and news went up, and showed that, yes, Wall Street is interested in Linux.One of the more interesting commentaries brought up the newest Linux Spokesperson-Casper Weinberger. Yes, the former Secretary of Defense is an Open Source guy. Strange. It also brings up the living penguins that were on the show floor. I dunno-it still seems to me that live animals on a show floor has to be tantamount of animal abuse, under some sort of law.
A number of good interviews came out of the show - one with RMS where he talks about the whole GNU/Linux thing, Communism. The interview is done in the inimitable Stallman style, so...be warned. *grin* In a parellel vein, ESR talked with ZD, foretelling amongst other things, the downfall of Microsoft and FUD issues. MSNBC did a nice story on Gnome, giving it some of the props needed. The KDE folks were also at the shows, with some nice displays at their screen in the booth.
We spent almost every waking moment in the .Org pavilion, a scary sort of place with furniture with no back support, and lots of people wandering through. Included amongst these people was no less then three documentary film crews. I think two+ is a sign that a movement has reached commericial mainstream. So, uh, congrats to....someone.
Some great picture shots came in - thanks, as always, to Marc Merlins' wrap-up complete with some good shots. Marc's, as always, is incredible comprehensive. Read it. If you want some shots of .Org pavilion, the Slashdot party (Woo-hoo! Good beer! *grin* ), check out Joey Hess' page. HUGE # of pictures, and still more going up.
The show was fun. Lotsa people who we don't get to see, except at the conventions. The commericial element was stronger then at the last show, but I think it was evident that the companies attending understood that they at least needed to give a nod to the feelings of the Community. This being the 2nd round of a show this size, I think the initial glamour of "Woo! Big Show!" is wearing off, and people are getting to work at these. It makes things a little less glamourous, but what the attendees/exhibitors of the show did see is that Linux is something to be taken seriously. Every major media outlet had people there, warndering the floor, and media like CNN ran pieces about it during the show. With the first IPO under its' belt, the establishment of several major shows, and major vendors established on the scene, I think Linux continued success looks good.
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Cisco talks up products to /slow access/
Marc Merlin writes "This excerpt from Yahoo News tells it all:
(...) But according to marketing materials from Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news), the No. 1 maker of computer networking equipment, cable companies will be able to work behind the scenes with sophisticated software included in Cisco products to slow down and limit access to selected Web sites. " As you would imagine, this has got the hackles of consumer groups up-Cisco brochures are saying that this stuff would allow cable companies to make competing sites appear more slowly then preferred ones. I'm speechless. -
Linus @BALUG
Chris DiBona wrote in to send us this summary of Linus' talk over at the BALUG. Lots of pictures and a good summary of the talk. Worth a gander. -
Linux Expo Wrap Up
Rather than spending all week posting lots of little bits about Linux Expo, I've saved them up for now: Russ Nelson sent us a collection of pictures, Brian Smith sent us his, and our own Justin sent us his collection and a mirror, and nicedream sent us a collection of pictures from the Debian boys. (featuring many light saber battles and nerf wars from the Slashdot booth) Marc Merlin sent us linkage to a scan of the linuxcare poster that Red Hat got so cranky about. He has a full report on the show. An anonymous reader sent us a TechSitings Story, Jonas Öberg wrote in to send us Telsa (Alan Cox's wife) take on the show for something a bit lighter. -
Linux Expo Wrap Up
Rather than spending all week posting lots of little bits about Linux Expo, I've saved them up for now: Russ Nelson sent us a collection of pictures, Brian Smith sent us his, and our own Justin sent us his collection and a mirror, and nicedream sent us a collection of pictures from the Debian boys. (featuring many light saber battles and nerf wars from the Slashdot booth) Marc Merlin sent us linkage to a scan of the linuxcare poster that Red Hat got so cranky about. He has a full report on the show. An anonymous reader sent us a TechSitings Story, Jonas Öberg wrote in to send us Telsa (Alan Cox's wife) take on the show for something a bit lighter. -
Linux Expo Wrap Up
Rather than spending all week posting lots of little bits about Linux Expo, I've saved them up for now: Russ Nelson sent us a collection of pictures, Brian Smith sent us his, and our own Justin sent us his collection and a mirror, and nicedream sent us a collection of pictures from the Debian boys. (featuring many light saber battles and nerf wars from the Slashdot booth) Marc Merlin sent us linkage to a scan of the linuxcare poster that Red Hat got so cranky about. He has a full report on the show. An anonymous reader sent us a TechSitings Story, Jonas Öberg wrote in to send us Telsa (Alan Cox's wife) take on the show for something a bit lighter. -
Great Linuxworld article on the LSB and Red Hat
Marc Merlin writes "After Red Hat has been called the next microsoft by several, and after some people saying that Red Hat has not reason to follow the LSB (Linux Standards Base), this Linuxworld article should hopefully give a better view of the situation, and it also gives a nice history of the LSB " -
Saturday Night Special Quickies
First off, some star wars: kit sent us a link to Star Wars Pez and Bartman sent us a link to a cheesy Redneck Jedi joke page. Next, JoshH sent us a link to a page tracking the Stock of Linux companies. rde sent us proof (albeit somewhat flimsy) that ancient Slashdot readers Lived on Mars (requires registration). d sent us a link to superbad which is at least as bad as you might think. Super too. Finally, Marc Merlin sent us a link to his LWCE Picture Page which includes a peak at the Slashdot Booth. Oh, and if you can see this and are logged in to your Slashdot account, check out this page to beta test some stuff that should be finished by monday. -
Saturday Night Special Quickies
First off, some star wars: kit sent us a link to Star Wars Pez and Bartman sent us a link to a cheesy Redneck Jedi joke page. Next, JoshH sent us a link to a page tracking the Stock of Linux companies. rde sent us proof (albeit somewhat flimsy) that ancient Slashdot readers Lived on Mars (requires registration). d sent us a link to superbad which is at least as bad as you might think. Super too. Finally, Marc Merlin sent us a link to his LWCE Picture Page which includes a peak at the Slashdot Booth. Oh, and if you can see this and are logged in to your Slashdot account, check out this page to beta test some stuff that should be finished by monday. -
Saturday Night Special Quickies
First off, some star wars: kit sent us a link to Star Wars Pez and Bartman sent us a link to a cheesy Redneck Jedi joke page. Next, JoshH sent us a link to a page tracking the Stock of Linux companies. rde sent us proof (albeit somewhat flimsy) that ancient Slashdot readers Lived on Mars (requires registration). d sent us a link to superbad which is at least as bad as you might think. Super too. Finally, Marc Merlin sent us a link to his LWCE Picture Page which includes a peak at the Slashdot Booth. Oh, and if you can see this and are logged in to your Slashdot account, check out this page to beta test some stuff that should be finished by monday. -
Windows Refund Wrapup
There are lots of stories about Windows Refund Day. As I predicted, nobody got refunds, as referenced in this ZDNet Story. Chris is quoted near the end. Here's a Nando Times story, a wired story, an MSNBC Story, a San Jose Mercury Story, and a Washington Post story. (All sent in by anonymous readers). Macerick sent us A front Pager from the NY times. And finally, Marc Merlin sent us his own report which features the Story and Pictures. -
Windows Refund Wrapup
There are lots of stories about Windows Refund Day. As I predicted, nobody got refunds, as referenced in this ZDNet Story. Chris is quoted near the end. Here's a Nando Times story, a wired story, an MSNBC Story, a San Jose Mercury Story, and a Washington Post story. (All sent in by anonymous readers). Macerick sent us A front Pager from the NY times. And finally, Marc Merlin sent us his own report which features the Story and Pictures. -
Comdex 98 report and Pictures
Marc Merlin writes "I wrote a small report and posted pictures from Comdex 98, especially the Linux Pavilion. You can view it here " -
Comdex 98 report and Pictures
Marc Merlin writes "I wrote a small report and posted pictures from Comdex 98, especially the Linux Pavilion. You can view it here " -
Reports from the Silicon Valley Tea Party
Marc Merlin writes "I put a quick web page with a report of the event, along with pictures I took. More updates and info are available on the main svlug page" Looked like a lot of fun. I don't think MS is opening a branch in Sticksville, MI any time soon, so I'll just wish I was in CA... *grin*. -
Reports from the Silicon Valley Tea Party
Marc Merlin writes "I put a quick web page with a report of the event, along with pictures I took. More updates and info are available on the main svlug page" Looked like a lot of fun. I don't think MS is opening a branch in Sticksville, MI any time soon, so I'll just wish I was in CA... *grin*.