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Slashback: Gnoogle, PlayStation, Assault
Location, location, location. A lot of people were interested in the Google contest whose winner was announced last week; Dan Egnor creator of that entry, writes "FYI, I've released the code for the winning Google contest entry under the GPL."
You mean they weren't just saying Hi? Anonymous Goodfella writes: "In an update to the Dangers of Being a Microbiologist, the AP [news.com.au] is reporting an attack on a Tennessee state medical examiner who gave evidence to an inquiry into the death of infectious diseases researcher Don Wiley. Coroner O.C. Smith was left tied with barbed wire to an apparent explosive."
Jakob Nielsen says Flash No Longer Evil Allen Varney writes "Given that Flash MX now supports the back button, Unicode, and accessibility, and has introduced p$user interface components, usability guru Jakob Nielsen today updated his famous 'Flash: 99% Bad' rant from October 2000. (Scroll down to see the update, stirringly titled 'Flash Now Improved.') His Nielsen Norman Group has formed a strategic alliance with Macromedia to start educating one million Flash designers in the fundamentals of good design. You did know that Flash .SWF is now an open format, right?"
Step 47: remove blindfold, scream. For those anxiously awaiting (or judiciously pondering) the Linux upgrade kit for the PS2, some words to consider from reader silvaran, who writes: "I just received my Playstation 2 Linux kit in the mail. I was disappointed to find that none of the monitors (3) that I had function properly with it. So I took to following the instructions on a blind install. It's not the most elegant of solutions, but it works. You need a blank memory card to install, but everything else is included in the kit. I'm on my way to a full Linux installation, complete with 100mbit networking, 40-gig HD and a USB keyboard and mouse; also included are full documentation on taking advantage of the PS2 hardware under Linux."
That blind install looks not for the faint of heart -- still, it would be nice if every distro included a simple walk through like that for when a monitor just isn't handy :)
Reader microwerx adds some a few more words of advice and caution: "[T]he PS2 Linux Kit will not read CDRs, so you'll have to use the supplied 10/100 Ethernet Adapter to get stuff in and out of the machine. One very good thing about the PS2 Linux Kit was the documentation regarding the Emotion Engine chip, etc. There's at least 2000+ pages of information regarding how it all works in glorious PDF format. There is also a OpenGL-like library (ps2gl) that supports the hardware. I also understand that SDL also works. Another is the amount of equipment you receive. You get a USB mouse and keyboard, a 10/100MBPS Ethernet Adaptor, A VGA convertor, and a 40Gb Hard drive. And all of this stuff appears to have some future use (you may have to remove Linux to use them nonetheless). So, once again, unless you just want the novelty of having a PS2 Workstation, developing console games, or setting up a small home server, I don't believe that you'll gain too much additional functionality. An overall rating of 3 1/2 stars out of 5 is certainly in order (because after all, it is for game development)."
The correct URL
It's all pretty X-files, and while quite a few "microbiologists" (defined loosely, as some of the people have not really been true microbiologists) have died under mysterious circumstances lately I can't shake the feeling that the story is being "shaped" into this whole conspiracy dogma format.
Anyway, here's a link to one of the nutball sites (this is Mike Vreeland's "The Government Made 9-11 Happen" site) which has some writeups on it.
Proceed with caution. You're reading heavy spin here...
So Nielsen's partnering with Macromedia to educate people on proper Flash design. It's a PR gesture on Macromedia's part to silence one of Flash's most vocal critics, but it's not going to accomplish much in the real world. The real Flash offenders are not going to attend a Macromedia seminar on usability or study Nielsen's guidelines. That would restrain their "creativity" -- most of them use Flash specifically because they want to be different, which is the antithesis of Nielsen's usability mantra.
My browser filters out all swf files, so if you use Flash and you don't provide an HTML alternative (most sites don't), I'll never see your content. That's a good thing. I don't want to play "chase the links as they fly across the screen" or listen to your music blended with the mp3 I'm playing.
Fireworks are exciting, pretty toys too, but each July 4 police scour the streets for people who set them off because they're dangerous in the hands of most people.
I understand where the patch is for Q1 to make it work under SDL, but... Where's this 3d wrapper? Dunno who Brian is!
Regards,
Spooticus
actually slackware is quite easy to install, surely you can figure it out... I mean, I did as a 13 year old.
Agreed. I'm amazed by the sheer number of people who bought the kit without understanding what they were getting. Not so amazed by the number of people who simply refuse to read the FAQ or peruse the forums - that's par for the course, right? Where would we be without dozens of newbies asking exactly the same question about X configuration for their NTSC sets? :)
Still, it's been a kick compiling packages for the mipsel. So far it makes for a great MP3 client for my server, XMAME will be good for yuks once a bug is sorted out, and I still have all that graphics demo code to crack open. It's not for everyone, but I'm having fun.
if your really want a console to read cd-r buy a dreamcast... here is ow much one costs:
:)) the ps2 is more difficult to prgram for because you must constanly squeez the video bandwidth with swapping textures and that is a bitch to code into your programs...
dreamcast - $50
....
wait is that it?... YES...
you can buy a keyboard and mouse if you want but to get linux on you need no kit... just downlaod a dreamcast distro and burn it onto a rgular cd-r
not only is it easy but its better than the ps2... the ps2 has 4 megabytes of video ram which have an insame amount of bandwidth... although it can equal the dreamcasts 8 meg opengl (w/full screen antialiasing of course
so if you want a hackers toy get a dreamcast... you can get a 10/100 mb network card for it jsut like the ps2 and its FAR easier to program for
unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
What part of "Sync-on-green monitor required" didn't you understand?
Most PC monitors are designed to be as inexpensive to manufacture as possible. This means that "extra" features (that any decent monitor _SHOULD_ have) such as sync-on-green get left out.
Don't expect to be able to be a cheapskate and buy the least expensive monitor you can find and still have it work as well as a much nicer (but more expensive) monitor.
I don't know that I agree that the "wrong sort" of people are getting it. We are all newbies at one point or another. If the kit lets people who otherwise would've never touch Linux to learn/use, and maybe even enjoy Linux, then it's already worth it.