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Domain: penguinpowered.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to penguinpowered.com.
Stories · 11
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Remote X Applications Over Slow Lines?
mwaddell asks: "One of the great things about X11 is the ability to run applications remotely. However, as one of the many *NIX users who use dialup to access the net, I have found that trying to run anything more complex than xcalc over phone lines is an exercise in frustration and patience. But for 99.9% of what I use remote apps for, I don't need color or any high level of detail. I'd be thrilled to have a window displayed in 8 shades of gray with oversized pixels if it would mean that it would react only slightly slower than a local app. Is this possible?" Would simple XResource changes help improve X11 performance for modem connections? -
A Framework For Quality Assurance?
Midh Mulpuri asks: "These days licenses like GPL, MPL and QPL make it easy for developers to release software as open source without the hassle of having to write up "TERMS and CONDITIONS" for each project. While the software is released as open source, it is mostly released with no warranty whatsoever. That is reasonable considering the software is often 'free'. Major projects often find service providers offering fee-based support. But for most part, the burden of providing service falls on the community and the developers. Further, there is no quality assurance other than the reputation of the project (and the developers). While for many this is enough assurance, the lack of warranty and quality assurance might still leave some people uncomfortable. To make 'free' software more appealing we would need a better way to assure quality. The greatest quality assurance for software is the developer. A framework should be developed to make it easier for the developer to assure users of quality." Does Open Source really need a framework for Quality Assurance?"This framework might include:
- A "General Practice Agreement" or "Ethics Agreement" that states ground rules for open source projects and programmers in general. (I am using the word Agreement lacking a better word). This would be like the contracts that bind lawyers, doctors, architects and other professionals. Developers could sign the "Agreement" by placing a graphic on their site.
- Self-test guidelines. The guidelines would include a checklist that needs to be completed before any production release.
- Documenting results of the self-test on the project site and/or distributing the test suite with the software.
Most projects already have some form of testing. Documenting and publishing these tests would add to the credibility of the project. An ethics standard might be a more difficult issue. How would you come up with an ethics standard that is acceptable to all? A statement like "I shall document my code well" or " I shall make my software extensible and customizable" would be easy to adhere to. "I shall base my work on industry standards (when possible)" might not appeal to all programmers.
Such a framework would need the backing of prominent open source programmers to be developed and implemented. I believe that the assurance of quality would bring more respect to open source and open source programmers. If such a framework already exists (and escaped my well traveled mouse) please let me know. Otherwise, I request the Slashdot community to kick start the development of such a framework. What should a "General Practice Agreement" contain? What would be good self-test guidelines?"
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MP3.com To Restart My.MP3.com
retep writes: "MP3.com is planning to restart the My.MP3.com service that launched the lawsuit against it. However, it will probably launch without any music from Universal Music Corp. Instead it will probably offer music from record companies that have reached licensing deals with MP3.com Full story online at 32bitonline. " This had actually been submitted earlier, but this story had some additional information. The Universal is a key part because those are the ones who won the lawsuit against MP3.com, while they've managed to settle with almost everyone else. -
Cool Cases At QuakeCon
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87M Hosts on the Internet?
NTT writes "The Telcordia Internet Sizer provides daily updates on the size of the Internet. The Telcordia solution to quantifying Internet growth statistics is based on an internally developed unique sampling method. In this approach, over 150,000 randomly generated IP addresses are sampled on a daily basis and checked for their existence. Check out the other stats they have here" -
Will Rambus Go Bust?
retep writes: "32BitsOnline has a interesting article about how the new memory standard RAMBUS may go bust. Essentially a bunch of missteps with Intel's Camino chipset, high costs, the rise in popularity of alternative CPU's such as the Athlon and a lack of performance may prove its undoing. I remember a story in Wired just a year or two ago praising RAMBUS for its innovative tactics; look what's happened now." -
Red Hat Finishes Last
JTMatrix writes "RedHat takes last place [in an IDG Network Operating Systems showdown]." The information on how they benchmarked everything is readily available on the site. Go check it out. Update: 01/26 01:07 by H :Check out this link for more technical information. -
First LPI Certification Exam
Linegod writes " The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) today announced the immediate availability of the first exam in its Linux Certification Program. The exam, which covers Linux basics as part of the program's first level, is now available worldwide at testing centers affiliated with Virtual University Enterprises " There's a lot of people currently competing to be "the standard", ranging from the different distros to people like this - what do you folks think? -
Yet Another Linux Driver Petition
Rendus writes "Just saw this over at Linux Today, a request for people to sign the Linux drivers petition. Their goal is 2 million signatures. When I signed, I was number 20." Well I've never heard of libranet, but hopefully they'll be successful in convincing a few manufacturers to either release drivers for Linux, or the specs so we can do it. -
Alias|Wavefront to Support Linux
Steve Rojem writes "This press release at Yahoo details the porting of Maya et al to Linux." Very cool, and probably one of the first of many similar announcements we'll be seeing this week with LinuxWorld going on (though as an astute reader pointed out, this one was due to SIGGRAPH, which is also going on presently). Maya should show up in December, and it won't come cheap (US$3k). -
Mozilla M6 released
ZuperDee writes "The Mozilla Organization has just put out their 6th Milestone Release of SeaMonkey. I highly recommend downloading it from their ftp site. Some of the new things in this release include more mail/news functionality, the beginnings of the profile creation wizard and install wizard, and of course, lots of bug fixes. " Seems sluggish right now, but hopefully they'll be mirrors.