Penguin Car Earns Indy500 Spot

strredwolf writes "Despite generating over $12K in funds, well short of the $250K goal, the Tux 500 Project was able to secure a spot in the Indy 500 with driver Roberto Moreno piloting the Linux #77 Indy car. He's back in the pack in 31st place (only 5.5 MPH separates 31st place from 1st) but was able to secure it by re-qualifying with an average speed of 220.299 MPH. Will Moreno be able to pilot the penguin-tipped Indy car to victory next week at the 91st Indianapolis 500?"

Comments

No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[suso]

(I'm coming out of comment retirement to criticize Slashdot, not the community)

Slashdot, you should be ashamed of yourself. Doing nothing to help, but claiming the rights after the fact. This was exactly the kind of grass roots project that you would have announced in the past, but choose to purposefully ignore it this time. You had a chance to announce this a long time ago, but according to Rob Malda himself, who said in full "there are so many reasons that this story doesn't interest me :)", the grass roots project wasn't worthy of your sacred pages. There were several times that a story about this project appeared in the firehose, but no story about the project's existance ever made it to the front page.

All it would have taken from you is to accept one measley little story about the Tux500 project a few weeks ago and *bam*, it would have had the proper amount of publicity to energize the Linux community and raise enough money to fully sponsor the car. All it took was $1 from each person in just 1% of the community, so it would have worked even with 80% of the community doing their own thing. But since the project didn't get the good publicity it deserved, it only raised half the amount needed just to put a logo on the car. Fortunately the good will of the tux500 team seems to be allowing the logo to still be on the car. I guess they are better people than you.

You know why so many community projects fail? Because the leaders don't believe in them.

Just so the rest of you know for this discussion, I understand that sites like Slashdot are news sites. But IMHO, only half a news site. There have been hundreds of stories here over the years meant to mobilize the community (ie. Blender). I ask, why not this one?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[strider44]

I get your arguments but this *is* Rob Malda's blog, so you can't really blame him for not putting up a story that obviously doesn't interest him...

(that said, I may be biased because as an Australian this story doesn't really interest me either)

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[smilindog2000]

Here's another community project that /. could support, with the goal of bringing cheap telephones to the masses in under-developed countries: http://rowetel.com/ucasterisk/index.html. It's David Rowe's Free Telephony Project.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[suso]

(that said, I may be biased because as an Australian this story doesn't really interest me either)

Obviously it did interest you because you bothered to read the comments for it.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[tbone1]

Oh, I submitted this a couple weeks ago, including how even a braindead news organization noticed Linux at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Apparently it wasn't newsworthy THEN.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can honestly say, even though I camp on a lot of the Technical Sites during the day, this is the first time that I have even heard of this - and it's too late to donate. Figures. Sadly, I'll agree. Slashdot could have done something to help the community earlier and didn't.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[hpavc]

This just in Mark Webber sitting in for Stephan Gregoire. Suddenly Aussies everywhere gone wild.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Architect_sasyr]

Indeed, as it interested me in so far as I am an Australian glad to see Linux making a name for itself. I read comments on half the slashdot stories I see purely because it is a source I can learn new things from or find some cool link to click on (note to self, never again surf at -1 and click Anonymous Coward links).

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree with your initial post, but feel the need to point out that, in fact, there are often deeper reasons for something happening. I see this a lot in IRC channels (specifically the ## channels on Freenode) and it sadens me almost as much as slashdot missing something as big as this.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[DrXym]

All it would have taken from you is to accept one measley little story about the Tux500 project a few weeks ago and *bam*, it would have had the proper amount of publicity to energize the Linux community and raise enough money to fully sponsor the car. All it took was $1 from each person in just 1% of the community, so it would have worked even with 80% of the community doing their own thing. But since the project didn't get the good publicity it deserved, it only raised half the amount needed just to put a logo on the car. Fortunately the good will of the tux500 team seems to be allowing the logo to still be on the car. I guess they are better people than you.

Energize the community? To me it sounds like an unbelievably pointless waste of money. The failure to raise 250k probably reflects the community thinking much the same thing. Even assuming 250k were raised, I can think of dozens far more worthwhile open source projects that it could go towards.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Sunburnt]

Obviously it did interest you because you bothered to read the comments for it.

Not necessarily. Perhaps he or she's a compulsive reader like myself who, having no interest in auto racing and no faith in the efficacy of this form of advertising, is still willing to read the comments for each article to see if anything personally interesting is raised.

Hell, I'm only reading this article because I won't get any work for another 45 minutes, and I figure that advertising discussions on /. are more likely to provide entertainment than the morning's paper. It would never have occurred to me to advertise Linux by plastering Tux onto the front of a race car, and I'm not surprised that this project didn't reach its fiscal goal: I'm sure I'm not the only Linux enthusiast nerd to think, "Why, exactly, does this cost a quarter of a million dollars?"

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Rogerborg]

Leaving aside your bizarre arithmetic (a "$1 contribution" barely covers the costs of collecting it), why this one though? What the hell does Linux have to do with rednecks watching cars drive in an oval for a couple of hours? Wouldn't a quarter of a million dollars be better spent on handing out Ubuntu DVDs to the hillbillys?

God, the words feel dirty even as I type them, but I'm with Malda on this. It's a silly folly, and I'm glad that not many people wasted their money on it.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Beyond_GoodandEvil]

This just in Mark Webber sitting in for Stephan Gregoire. Suddenly Aussies everywhere gone wild.
So Webbo's not racing in the Monaco GP? Who will fill his seat at RedBull then?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't bring real motorsport into this. We were talking about Indycar!

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Otter]

FYI, rednecks watch a different kind of car drive in circles. Eurowannabes watch these cars drive in circles, when not pretending to be really passionate Premier League fans.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[nelsonal]

There are two reasons. There are millions of racing fans, (the Indy 500 will probably have 5 million viewers) including many of the higher ups in most of the US auto industry. Second it's like product placement so people can't just get up and leave during the commercials (they're watching the cars and then see the ads. He might want to think about partnering the effort with Intel/AMD/HP/Oracle/Dell/IBM who could then foot a portion of the bill and could add further legitimacy.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[cdrudge]

I thought Eurowannabes would be more into the F1-circuit then Indy car. Either way, from where my seats have been the last couple of years at the 500 (1/2 way between turns 1 and 2), the term rednecks wouldn't be too far off. Drunk rednecks may be a better description. I cringe to thing what the Brickyard is like.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Various incarnations of the story got as far as the Firehose a few times, but didn't really progress from there, so it wasn't just Rob Malda that wasn't interested. I had the chance to vote for it several times, and didn't. The "product X gets advertising in place Y" didn't seem to merit discussion to me.

Despite the whole going-round-in-circles thing, I'll probably watch the 500 at some point - hoping for a victory for Knaresborough's finest of course, but if that doesn't happen there's still a reasonable chance that a British-built car will come first (http://www.penske.com/). You can't even find one of those on the road any more...

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[suso]

And did Taco really say that about this story? I recall it being their policy not to comment on why stories are/aren't accepted.

I actually emailed him personally and asked him if there was a reason why they weren't running a story on this. What I quoted him saying is exactly and all that he sent back.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[penp]

Slashdot, you should be ashamed of yourself. Doing nothing to help, but claiming the rights after the fact. This was exactly the kind of grass roots project that you would have announced in the past, but choose to purposefully ignore it this time. You had a chance to announce this a long time ago, but according to Rob Malda himself, who said in full "there are so many reasons that this story doesn't interest me :)", the grass roots project wasn't worthy of your sacred pages. There were several times that a story about this project appeared in the firehose, but no story about the project's existance ever made it to the front page. I could have sworn this had already made it to the front page a few times in the last month or so. At any rate, I know there was a smear campaign going around saying that the tux500 project was a scam, but there was really nothing conclusive. In the end, I really didn't care. I don't think the Indianapolis 500 is the ideal place to be promoting Linux, especially in the form of a tiny sticker on a car (or even if they had raised all the money, for an entire Tux500 car). I doubt anyone at the Indianapolis 500 is going to care about the fact that tux is represented on a car, beyond "hay look thar's a penguin on that thar car!"

All it would have taken from you is to accept one measley little story about the Tux500 project a few weeks ago and *bam*, it would have had the proper amount of publicity to energize the Linux community and raise enough money to fully sponsor the car. All it took was $1 from each person in just 1% of the community, so it would have worked even with 80% of the community doing their own thing. But since the project didn't get the good publicity it deserved, it only raised half the amount needed just to put a logo on the car. Fortunately the good will of the tux500 team seems to be allowing the logo to still be on the car. I guess they are better people than you. Just because you believe in the project so adamantly does not mean that so many other people would believe in it just because it got posted on slashdot. It got plenty of publicity, anyone who visits any kind of linux forum can tell you that. But as I said before, the status quo seems to think that it is absolutely absurd, and the idea that they even raised $1000, let alone $12000 is even more absurd.

You know why so many community projects fail? Because the leaders don't believe in them. How excited would the linux community be about a project to put tux on a billboard at the Super Bowl, or better yet, a commercial during the event? I'm sure there are lots more dumb ideas, most of them just don't end up with the financial backing of Tux500. You can't place the blame on the linux "leaders" for not wanting to get behind an idea of advertising linux in a highly commercial environment. It could send the wrong signal. GNU/Linux isnt about commercialism, it's about the community, which is where this argument fails.

Just so the rest of you know for this discussion, I understand that sites like Slashdot are news sites. But IMHO, only half a news site. There have been hundreds of stories here over the years meant to mobilize the community (ie. Blender). I ask, why not this one? Personally, I have no interest in racing, let alone the Indianapolis 500. Most of my friends who support Linux, also have no interest. Why support advertisement of linux in an event which I also do not support? This is completely different from a stance to mobilize the community about something which is already WITHIN the community (i.e. blender)

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Bios_Hakr]

Underdeveloped countries need things a lot worse than telephones.

If you really want to help 3rd world countries, stop thinking tech. Start thinking about simple things like how to get food, water, and medicine into these places.

Start speaking out about people buying diamonds.

Start encouraging your governments to protect UN, Red Cross, Peace Corps, and other convoys trying to deliver supplies.

Start encouraging assassination of leaders who seize supplies.

Blow up the homes, cars, wives, children, and friends of some of these fucking warlords until they stop chopping arms off of kids.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[sheldon]

Rednecks? Indianapolis 500? Rednecks?

Do you understand the difference between Indy 500 and Nascar? Most of the people I know, such as myself, who watch the Indy 500 are engineers.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[fotbr]

They also sponsor Indycar, Champ, and NASCAR. All of which have a bigger US following than F1, but none of which can hold a candle to GP2 racing, and can't even begin to compare to F1.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[tbone1]

Get your facts straight, for one thing. These are REAL race cars; they don't have fenders.

Second, the Indy 500 is unique in motor sports, like the Kentucky Derby is in horse racing. People who know nothing about the sport and who never give it a thought will sit down and watch the Indy 500. There is also a buzz about the 500 after the last few races, particularly after last year's finish. (You can see the finish at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l5-XKvL28E if you haven't seen it yet.) Another thing to consider is the target market. The Indy 500 is a very middle-America, middle-class event; NASCAR is for po' folk and F1 is for elite snobs. (I live in Indy; I've seen the crowds; and while there may be exceptions, this is by and large the rule.) These people are the ones who are middle managers and start small businesses. Really, it's not a bad strategy to reach a target market.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[DrXym]

Just because you believe in the project so adamantly does not mean that so many other people would believe in it just because it got posted on slashdot. It got plenty of publicity, anyone who visits any kind of linux forum can tell you that. But as I said before, the status quo seems to think that it is absolutely absurd, and the idea that they even raised $1000, let alone $12000 is even more absurd.

Quite. Talk such as "all it took was $1 from each person in just 1% of the community," etc. is nonsense since few people outside of the US would have the slightest interest in Indianapolis 500. Even within the US, I bet the community can think of better things to do with their money (including keep it) than pay to have a penguin sticker on some nondescript racing car.

I don't think it would be a bad idea for there to be fund raisers but this idea is just lame and I think the funds raised so far reflect that.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[fimbulvetr]

Maybe we could just send some people over that can teach these people to read, followed by books educating them how to:

A. Move to a different area.
B. Recover drinking water from many sources.
C. Hunt/Gather/Farm for food.
D. Provide medical assistance.

I can't help but think that when you're just physically helping one person at a time on any of the above, it's not helping anyone. I won't send any third world countries money, food, supplies or anything like that. I will only send books or send money to teachers of literature. That's because outside of severe physical damage (up to and including death), intelligence cannot be taken away, stolen, bartered with or refused.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[WED Fan]

Wish I had mod points, wish I had mod points.

NASCAR Fans

• Watch SCIFI schlock explode-a-nuke-to-stop-earthquake/nova/moon-crashi ng/asteroid movies
• Argue over "less filling" and "great taste" in the beer aisle (oh and spell it as "i l e")
• Refers to lottery tickets as their retirement plan
• Voted Bush, cause Gore "ain't no real Southerner"
• Got his computer at Best Buy or Walmart
• Hopes to see a crash

Indy Fans

• Watch Asimov based movies and know where the screenwriter took liberties
• Know that Turning Leaf is a Gallo label and still won't buy it
• Tracks indexes and tweaks their 401k to out-perform the S&P
• Didn't vote for Bush or Gore because they were both Southerners
• Built his computer after getting the parts at Frys
• Hopes to see a crash

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[neersign]

I think the editors of slashdot were waiting for a "Danica Patrick in a Penguin Suit" story to come along before they picked up on this.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[tbone1]

Wake me when someone passes.

Yes, that would be a unique site for an F1 fan to see. Unless someone lets a teammate pass for a win.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[skribble]

I've really enjoyed reading lot's of the ignorant comments people are making about the Indy 500, so in short let me explain why this is, not only important from a sporting perspective but also from and environmental and technical perspective as well.

1. The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event. Period. More people attend, and more people watch on TV worldwide then any other event. If you wanted to get the message about linux out there, this would be the place to do it.

2. This year all Indy cars run on Ethanol 85. While this isn't solar, it's far better then the traditional Gas of the past (hell I believe NASCAR is just now *thinking* about phasing out leaded gas).

3. The engineering involved in these cars is amazing, not only as far as engine development (Honda had relatively little time to develop these engines to run on Ethanol 85, and have done so admirably). Also, the engines themselves are interesting in that they are normally aspirated (i.e. no Turbo, so SuperCharger just incredibly engineered 8Cyl Engines That can drive none stop at high speeds for ling distances. FWIW Honda wasn't picked to be the only engine supplier for indy cars, they got that way through attrition. The last year there were multiple engine manufacturers Honda so blew away Chevy that it just didn't make sense for them to continue.

4. Engineering! Since the engines these days are identical (as are the tires) there is a great deal of parity initially, however engineers get to figure out best race packages using aerodynamics, gear boxes, Tire Pressure etc, and on top of that figure in fuel mileage (which should be interesting since as mentioned, the fuel is different this year) tire wear, etc.

5. Of course given all that, the Drivers and Pit Crews make the difference. Of all the drivers (33) my guess would be that only about half of them have the mental toughness and backing human element to actually have a realistic chance of winning (and of that only a handful would have good vegas odds).

6. Then of course there's a shred of luck and the unexpected that always makes this totally unpredictable. Weather, Freak accidents, mechanical issues, human error, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, all can have a hugh effect on the outcome.

7. Finally... Indy Car racing is by far the most competitive racing series out there today. Lot's of passing, and lot's of skill (a minor mistake in an indy car, and you are in the wall with your car breaking away into pieces).

8. Technological advancement. The Indy Car Series (and the IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)) Have been at the forefront of many automotive advances. The Ethanol thing is one recent, but the technologies devised for driver safety have not only been adopted by almost every other racing series, but have also been instrumental in the development of safety features for all cars built today.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Yosho]

Didn't vote for Bush or Gore because they were both Southerners

Bush was born in Connecticut. Gore was born in Washington, D. C. Neither of them are Southerners, and besides that, that's a poor, uneducated reason to not vote for somebody.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Yosho]

Come now, don't troll. Texas alone has brought us Dr. Pepper, Deus Ex, and three of the world's elite medical research centers. I'm not sure where you're getting this "complete lack of morals and ethics" from, since we've established that everybody's least favorite president of all time is a Northerner.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[MosesJones]

Ahhhh some transatlantic things are just too wonderful to read...

the Indy 500 is unique in motor sports, like the Kentucky Derby is in horse racing.

So you mean its just a copy of something from Europe? The Derby was first raced over 1779 and is where we all get the term "Derby" from.

Monaco v Indy 500.... and you think there is a competition?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Panaflex]

Southerners... you mean like NASA (New Mexico, Alabama, Texas, Florida), Petro&Gas, NORTEL(Dallas), IBM CPU design(Austin), Texas Instruments (first integrated circuit)

I could go on, but obviously, Southerners are engineers too. Just beware of Southern politicians. :-)

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Mean Variance]

I'd appreciate your post a lot more if you didn't say "lot's" so often. What is the contraction you're trying to form? Or is this a possessive term? Is Lot an authority on racing?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[drinkypoo]

Slashdot, you should be ashamed of yourself. Doing nothing to help, but claiming the rights after the fact.

I'm just going to chime in here and say that what likely happened here is that the nine trillion horribly crap story submissions about the tux500 poisoned our minds against the idea. In the last few days, properly-written story submissions with properly constructed links and the like started rolling out and I started voting them up, but I'd say about 90% of the tux500 submissions that crossed the firehose looked like they were constructed by a complete idiot.

Because the editors don't edit here on slashdot, it is necessary to reject malformed story submissions. If you wanted this one to make the front page, perhaps you should have crafted a useful submission in a timely fashion?

Also, many of us feel that putting a penguin on a race car just isn't a useful expenditure of money, and so we felt the entire thing was a non-starter and a waste of effort from the beginning. We're talking about advertising here, not substance. You could pay three to six developers of note (depending on where they live and how much goodwill counts to them at the end of the week when they are picking up their paycheck) to take on projects that actually require attention. Let's let the businesses market Linux. We can instead spend our effort to make it better.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Personally, I have no interest in racing, let alone the Indianapolis 500. Most of my friends who support Linux, also have no interest. Why support advertisement of linux in an event which I also do not support? This is completely different from a stance to mobilize the community about something which is already WITHIN the community (i.e. blender) The point you are missing is the question - why is this project NOW "news for nerds" if it wasn't "news for nerds" during the planning stages?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[TechyImmigrant]

Myopia is a wonderful thing...

>1. The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event. Period. More people attend, and more people watch on TV worldwide then any other event. If you wanted to get the message about linux out there, this would be the place to do it.

I simply do not believe this. For example, the world cup and the olympics are both watched world wide. The Indy is a local USA thing.

>2. This year all Indy cars run on Ethanol 85. While this isn't solar, it's far better then the traditional Gas of the past (hell I believe NASCAR is just now *thinking* about phasing out leaded gas).

Who cares about the fuel? That's a geek detail.

>3. The engineering involved in these cars is amazing, not only as far as engine development (Honda had relatively little time to develop these engines to run on Ethanol 85, and have done so admirably). Also, the engines themselves are interesting in that they are normally aspirated (i.e. no Turbo, so SuperCharger just incredibly engineered 8Cyl Engines That can drive none stop at high speeds for ling distances. FWIW Honda wasn't picked to be the only engine supplier for indy cars, they got that way through attrition. The last year there were multiple engine manufacturers Honda so blew away Chevy that it just didn't make sense for them to continue.

The engineering in other formulas is also amazing compared to normal cars, but not compared to say a IC fab. I happen to have worked both for a F1 team and an IC manufacturer. So I know.

F1 doesn't use Turbo either. They banned it to slow the cars down.

>4. Engineering! Since the engines these days are identical (as are the tires) there is a great deal of parity initially, however engineers get to figure out best race packages using aerodynamics, gear boxes, Tire Pressure etc, and on top of that figure in fuel mileage (which should be interesting since as mentioned, the fuel is different this year) tire wear, etc.

That's what race teams do in many formulas. It doesn't make Indy special.

>5. Of course given all that, the Drivers and Pit Crews make the difference. Of all the drivers (33) my guess would be that only about half of them have the mental toughness and backing human element to actually have a realistic chance of winning (and of that only a handful would have good vegas odds).

Mental toughness? BS. A team wins on testing and competence. Mostly testing. The more money you have, the more testing you can do, the more tweaking you can do and the more bugs you can iron out. That's how the wealthy teams stay wealthy. True for Indy and F1.

>6. Then of course there's a shred of luck and the unexpected that always makes this totally unpredictable. Weather, Freak accidents, mechanical issues, human error, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, all can have a hugh effect on the outcome.

Also, true for other sports/motorsports. It doesn't make Indy special.

>7. Finally... Indy Car racing is by far the most competitive racing series out there today. Lot's of passing, and lot's of skill (a minor mistake in an indy car, and you are in the wall with your car breaking away into pieces).

Get real. It's an oval.

>8. Technological advancement. The Indy Car Series (and the IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)) Have been at the forefront of many automotive advances. The Ethanol thing is one recent, but the technologies devised for driver safety have not only been adopted by almost every other racing series, but have also been instrumental in the development of safety features for all cars built today.

Give us the data. Check the dates on specific safety feature being put in the rules. You will find Indy was first on about 0 of them.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[drinkypoo]

Finally... Indy Car racing is by far the most competitive racing series out there today. Lot's of passing, and lot's of skill (a minor mistake in an indy car, and you are in the wall with your car breaking away into pieces).

This is what I like about Rally racing. One minor mistake, and you're cartwheeling through the trees. Possibly rolling your vehicle directly over twenty or thirty spectators.

Personally, rally awes me way more than open-wheel-whatever. Granted, the cars aren't on the track at the same time, but that's because rally races generally involve a lot of sliding around and airborne gravel. It's also more closely akin to real driving :P

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[tbone1]

few people outside of the US would have the slightest interest in Indianapolis 500.

Indeed? I live in Indy. I used to work for one arm of an international publishing company that has offices here. When we had people come to town on business, we made sure that we took them to the Speedway to visit the museum and take a bus trip around the track. Even if they weren't into racing, it was generally considered pretty cool and neat. (And it's funny, everyone loved Andy Granatelli's STP Turbine.) When the CEO came into town from Europe, she asked beforehand for a guide for the track. Trust me, people know the 500. When I was overseas and mentioned I was from Indiana, their talk turned to racing right away.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Underdeveloped countries need things a lot worse than telephones.

If you really want to help 3rd world countries, stop thinking tech. Start thinking about simple things like how to get food, water, and medicine into these places.

Are you stupid or something? If they have phones, they can order a pizza or something.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[WED Fan]

Bush was born in Connecticut. Gore was born in Washington, D. C. Neither of them are Southerners, and besides that, that's a poor, uneducated reason to not vote for somebody.

Can you say, "Took that post waaaaaaaaay too seriously?"

Some /. readers

• Think "Stripes" was a recruiting ad
• Think "Animal House" is an accurate portral of college life
• Walk through life waiting to be offended
• Get Moderator privileges without proving they have a brain
• Will the read the above word " Some " as "All" (if you are offended, then this post may be describing you)

(We need a Foxworthy-like list, "You may be a /. reader"...

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[LocoMan]

There are several different levels of underdevelopment.

There are LOTS of places where I agree with you that technology won't help much if simpler problems aren't solved first... but there are also lots of places where access to food, clean water and medicine is at least good enough to live (I can think of quite a few here in Venezuela for example), and where access to technology and education would make a big difference.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

2. This year all Indy cars run on Ethanol 85. While this isn't solar, it's far better then the traditional Gas of the past (hell I believe NASCAR is just now *thinking* about phasing out leaded gas).

Ethanol 85? Nope, BEEP, wrong. There will be no gasoline in the Indianopolis 500 and hasn't been since the early 60s when Indy switched to methanol which it ran at basically a 100% mix of till this past year when under polictical pressure they switched to a 10% ethanol - 90% methanol mix and is scheduled in the future to go to 100% ethanol. This switch is basically for the promotion of ethanol. Many of the race teams would prefer to stick with the more proven methanol. If Indy had chosen diesel many years ago, used by several early winners of the 500, we would probably see them promoting biodiesel now instead. For the enviromentalists though it should be noted that the Indianapolis 500 has been using renewable alcohol fuel for years and they are not the only ones who do, but will leave it to the interested to do their own research.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[jinxidoru]

I guess it's pretty clear from all of the comments about this story that Taco's opinion pretty well matches the opinion of the community. I have read a bunch of comments and not a single one I have read shows any support for this whole endeavor. I'm sure there's one or two, but I haven't seen any.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Basehart]

FWIW the only Apple logo I've seen recently on a racing car was at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis last year.

A company called Click Away sponsored US driver Tom Sutherland's car in one of the junior league races that ran before the Formula 1 sessions.

Judging by the number of buses plastered with iPod ads around here these days, I'm surprised Apple doesn't bite the bullet and sponsor a F1 team and get instant worldwide exposure seeing as their argument for ecologically friendly advertising has obviously gone out of the window. Although I'm sure their reasoning is that buses are there anyway, so why not cover them with iPod ads, yet racing cars are burning fuel for mere pleasure so why sponsor that.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[poormanjoe]

Also, the engines themselves are interesting in that they are normally aspirated (i.e. no Turbo, so SuperCharger just incredibly engineered 8Cyl Engines

The term you are looking for is naturally aspirated. Which means the air going in is less than atmospheric pressure.

I'm far more concerned about the fact that you say this year they will be running E-85! My Chevy S-10 is flex fuel, but I don't see it everywhere. Even when I do see it it is only slightly cheaper ($0.20) than regular unleaded. Why? I do not know. Does it have anything to do with the D.C. big wigs? Probly. Does the oil companies have the US Government in their back pocket? Most likely. Do I know the cost it takes to bring E-85 vs. regular unleaded to the market? No. Is E-85 made from(hemp would be better) corn? Yes. Does America have the greatest farming in the world? Arguably.

I hate M$ just as much as the next guy. But I can live my life very easily without giving them one red cent (except maybe from ads) but cant avoid putting gas in my truck.

Billions still think alternative fuels are The greatest deception ever perpitrated on mankind. This is the economical disaster, not the % of the sharemarket M$ has.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[The Great Pretender]

"If you really want to help 3rd world countries, stop thinking tech. Start thinking about simple things like how to get food, water, and medicine into these places"

But don't you think that 'tech' helps/allows the 'simple things' to happen?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[DrXym]

I didn't say they hadn't heard of it. I say they aren't interested in it. Which is true. I'd like to see the race if I went to Indianapolis but it doesn't mean I have the slightest interest when I am not there.

Coverage of the sport and NASCAR is close to zero outside of the North America and that reflects the amount of interest in it. If there is any coverage it might amount to a 20 second news item. The racing sport you are likely to see on mainstream channels outside of the US is Formula One.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, biggest annual event.

How about Champions League Final? Wimbledon? Super Bowl?

Here are some figures for you:
Wimbledon finals 2004 21M viewers worldwide
Champions League Final 2004 (Porto vs Monaco) 56M viewers worldwide.
F1 Monaco 2004 59M viewers worldwide
Super Bowl 2004 95M viewers worldwide

And the non-annual events mentioned:
Brazil-Germany World Cup 2006 Final 300M viewers
Olympic Games opening ceremony 2004 127M viewers

Now, consider this piece of news and you will see that Indy is nowhere near being a globally relevant sporting event. 340m worldwide means basically just the US (300M) + Canada (32M). Thus, for the Indy to be the most watched annual sporting event globally, it would basically have to beat Super Bowl in the US. Do you think more people watch Indy 500 than Superbowl? I think not - but I'm not American so I mightbe mistaken.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Phil the Canuck]

I suspect that, say, the Monaco GP would have a larger worldwide audience than the Indy 500.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Bandman]

It's generally agreed upon (and Maslow's pyramid leads us to believe) that before technical conveniences matter, a stable living environment must be achieved.

This is on the individual level. It might very well be that improved infrastructure could assist in the conveyance and distribution of the commodities needed, but small family units need clean water and food much more than a telephone or laptop.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[LWATCDR]

Actually it will be pretty close. Indy is held on a holiday weekend while the Super Bowel isn't. I don't know the official title it holds but it is a major event and is watched world wide by racing fans.
I have heard that is the largest single day sporting event. World Cup, World Series of Baseball, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Games are all multi-day events. I have also heard that it is the most people attending of any sporting event. You can pack a LOT of people in there counting the in field. How ever it is still one of the largest sporting events in the world and yes globally relevant. It is known world wide and is watched all over the world. The World Cup does have a world wide viewership but almost totally misses the US and Canadian markets.
The real point is that it is a HUGE event that is watched by teens of millions of people and Linux managed to partially sponsor a car in the race and has gotten a lot of publicity because of it.

BTW that news story kind of proves you wrong. It states that the Indy 500 will be televised to 350 million homes in 200 hundred countries. If each home averages 3 people that works out to over one billion potential viewers. Seems like a world wide reach to me.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[The Great Pretender]

I agree about the stable living environment and the fact that laptops and phones fall down the priority list. However, I worry when people bring out such statements that broadly reduce the importance of technology to obtain a stable living environment. The "teach a man to fish..." analogy only applies if you supply the tools (technology) to do the teaching and for the fishing to occur. The term technology is relative, and to disregard it's importance, through a generalist statement, to drive home a point about distributing phones is at the least ignorant, if not down right irresponsible. This is why we have uneducated fanatics running around developing their global opinions by clutching to political sound-bites.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Darby]

The Derby was first raced over 1779 and is where we all get the term "Derby" from.

And you still haven't learned to pronounce it properly ;-)

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[k4lpcm]

It's really too bad that open wheel racing in America has been essentially destroyed by Tony George. By creating the IRL he has all but eliminated the ChampCars and has made the Indy 500 into a recreational holiday instead of the great race it used to be. Tony's wish with IRL was to create a series for American drivers... he absolutely hated that foreign drivers were winning the Indy 500. I find it hilarious that a great majority of the highly successful IRL drivers are foreign. And rightfully so... it's countries like Brazil and Germany that actually get what racing is about (NOT fender crunching good-ol-boys driving 3500lb sleds). CART used to be a series to be reckoned with in the International market. But not after IRL split the American teams/drivers/funding into two different series.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[cayenne8]

"Which I suspect is a better place to spend it, given the worldwide audience for F1 over Indycar."

Ok..I'm admittedly not much a racing fan...but, what is the difference between F1 racing and Indycar racing? From the pictures I've googled up, they appear to pretty much be the same cars...?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[nelsonal]

Yep, sad isn't it, and he seems to be doing his best work to bust up the American Gran Prix, as well.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[nelsonal]

The biggest difference is that F1 is a road course (meaning there are many turns of different directions and angles) while Indycar is a track course (typically an oval). F1 cars must essentially be general purpose (to turn left right and such) while Indycars are like most NASCAR races (go fast turn left) but faster. F1 is globally more popular while Indy was more American focused, and is even more so following the split of CART and IRL (due to racing politics).

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[salimma]

CART also races on road courses, last time I checked, whereas IRL is oval-only. Note that the terminology is different in F1-speak: a street course in F1 is one that is at least partly based on normal roads, compared to special-purpose race tracks. Most F1 races are on specially-constructed tracks, but these tracks are not oval in shape, incorporating various kinds of turns (even when they race in Indianapolis, they used only two stretches of the oval track joined together with a specially-built inside course)

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[salimma]

So you mean its just a copy of something from Europe?

Well, yes, oval racing traces its heritage to chariot races started by the Greeks. Not exactly oval, but they have two sharp turns at either ends of the race track.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[MechaStreisand]

There are actually IRL and Champ Car (once called CART) road races as well. IRL used to be entirely oval, but added some road courses too. Champ Car has usually had both, except for this year, where Wikipedia states there will be no oval races at all.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[bogjobber]

>1. The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event. Period. More people attend, and more people watch on TV worldwide then any other event. If you wanted to get the message about linux out there, this would be the place to do it.

I simply do not believe this. For example, the world cup and the olympics are both watched world wide. The Indy is a local USA thing.

Learn how to read. The World Cup and the Olympics are held every four years. I'm not sure about TV coverage, but Indy Motor Speedway is the largest stadium in the world and they draw nearly 300,000 people every year.

As for the rest of it, your post is a classic example of F1/Euro snobbery. F1 obviously has more money and is larger worldwide, but that doesn't make Indy any less cool from a technological perspective. Whether you like it or not the Indy 500 is one of the oldest, most popular, and most important races in the world. They were racing world-class cars there 35 years before F1 even existed. There is a culture and tradition there that is unmatched by any race in the world, and by very few sporting events.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[iron-kurton]

I don't think the Indianapolis 500 is the ideal place to be promoting Linux, especially in the form of a tiny sticker on a car (or even if they had raised all the money, for an entire Tux500 car). I doubt anyone at the Indianapolis 500 is going to care about the fact that tux is represented on a car, beyond "hay look thar's a penguin on that thar car!"

By that logic, XM radio or Tag Heuer have no business sponsoring the Indy 500 either, but they do. So it must be a lucrative return on investment.

This kind of narrow-mindedness is EXACTLY why developers have no place promoting a product. I think the OP's point you missed (other than the fact that Slashdot is jumping on the tux500 bandwagon after refusing to run the story) is that we need to expose linux as a product, if we are serious about making it an alternative to Windows.

GNU/Linux isnt about commercialism, it's about the community, which is where this argument fails.

I agree. But, how do we "enlighten" non-geeks? From Ubuntu.com (as an example): "Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers.".

The laptop and desktop markets are saturated as it is. Breaking through requires name recognition. Name recognition requires advertising. Name recognition brings a larger community, and thus more funds. This is what Tux500 tried to accomplish.

As an aside, I'd like to comment on this:

At any rate, I know there was a smear campaign going around saying that the tux500 project was a scam, but there was really nothing conclusive.

I wanted to contribute, even if it was just $5 or $10. What made it impossible for me was the fact that the website doesn't (or didn't) have the email address of the organizer whom I wanted to ask questions about the fund raiser. I disagree with you calling it a smear campaign because, really, the site didn't do much to establish any sort of credibility.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[chrismcb]

People don't want to pay for software (or music). What makes you think they want to pay for someone else to drive around in circles?

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[jwsmith00]

Last years finish?

I guess if you like close racing with lots of passing for the lead. But I get bored really quickly seeing 1 or 2 passes for the lead on each and every lap. Okay, maybe not that many, but pretty close. IndyCar racing is artificial, unfortunately. The cars are made to force passing via aerodynamics. And for many of us long time open-wheel fans, it's very boring. You can only watch so many passes until you realize it's not the driver nor the car but the aerodynamics rules. The great days in Indy racing were when there were 2-4 lead changes for a standard 200 mile race. You know the passing has to do with skill and the car; Not because of series mandated aerodynamics.

If you have 5-10 lead changes in a race, it bring intensity and drama to the race. Seeing Sam Hornish pass Marco Andretti because of artificial competition, I guess if that's your cup of tea. Sam Hornish didn't win last year because he was the fastest or deserved it. He won because he setup the proper pass with 1/2 a lap to go. Why not have everyone drive the same car and have the series own the cars? Why not just forgo the first 490 miles and just race the last 10?

In the future, I see the Indy 500 being dropped from ABC Sports. The television numbers continue to slide since the 1996 IRL and CART split.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[SawyerLX]

I donated, and now i'm thinkin of buying one of them there t-shirts to help it barely get over the $25,000 mark-FOUR days left, it is possible!!!

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Pyroja]

I can't begin to fathom why you would think the greatest spectacle in auto racing, a sporting event held in the largest stadium in the world, with permanent seating for well over 250,000 devoted fans each year (Not counting infield seating which brings that total up to around 400,000), attracting the best drivers from all around the globe, can possibly be considered "A local USA thing." It's not as if it can lay claim to the title of having the largest single-day attendance of any sporting event in the world or anything. Of course, The 500 couldn't possibly hold a candle to F1, though I s'pose it's somewhat odd to begin comparing a single racing event to an entire racing series. But I guess F1 is just too cool for Indy. It'd be far below such a fine racing organization to ever sanction a race at IMS (Let's not forget that for a period of eleven years, The 500 was actually a part of the F1 World Championship). Simply put, towards your claim that The 500 is not the largest annual sporting event in the world, I and a few others have proven you quite wrong.

Furthermore, why on Earth would you come to SlashDot, and imply that something is a "geek thing", and thusly that nobody would care? Kindly walk yourself to the nearest biker bar and tell them all that because leathers are a "biker thing", that no one would care. I'd love to see the response.

I'm glad you have so much knowledge when it comes to IC fabs and F1 teams. I'd love to see your hand at engineering both. I mean, you've worked for both, haven't you? You know everything!

I'm glad you see no importance in engineering, though. God forbid you were posting on a forum full of engineers!

Mental toughness goes along with competence my friend. By all means, go hop in a field with 32 other drivers at 200mph and let's see how well you do. It's odd, though... It seems you're implying that the drive doesn't matter at all! Holy crap, all this time we've been awarding drivers trophies and praising them for their unimaginable skill... It's been the car all along! Those lying bastards!

And let's not forget, folks, that if other events are exciting, with a flair of unpredictability, then that automatically means no other event can be exciting. Nope, sorry folks. The Indy 500 just isn't exciting. Why? Well... Football's exciting too! Couldn't possibly have TWO events that are exciting, can we? Nope, once you've experienced some excitement, you've experienced it all.

Oh crap, what have I been talking about this whole time? IMS is an oval! A frickin' oval! That means my 3 year old niece could competently drive it! Why, it's so easy for the 33 drivers on the track that I can't possibly fathom why we don't have 33 people getting first place! I mean, it's easy, right? It's just a big oval, right? The fact that it's a rectangular oval with 4 straights, and chutes that are annoying low-banked make it difficult at all to send a vehicle around 'em at 200mph. No way. The car practically drives itself around the track. I mean, you'd know, right? You've worked for an F1 team, and an IC manufacturer, and I bet you drove to work when you did. So obviously you know absolutely everything when it comes to racing!

Thank you, sir, thank you. You have opened my eyes. Here I thought The 500 was a world-class event, and that being the most attended annual sporting event in the world actually meant something. Now I know, good sir, that my niece can race at IMS, and I look forward to seeing you in the winner's circle!

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[charlieman]

Why didn't you just send it? I don't think they would just skip it and don't publish it.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[chimpo13]

F1 is for car factories, not for drivers. Such a huge disappointment when I watched Fiat's highest paid employee, Michael Schumacher, win a race when his teammate hit the brakes.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[fotbr]

That would be Ferrari, not Fiat.

Your argument might carry a little more weight if you'd get major details right.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[chimpo13]

Find out who owns Ferrari and get back to me, chief.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[Tiro]

The World Cup and the Summer Olympics are every four years. Super Bowl is US centric.

Re:No thanks to you, Slashdot.

[im_thatoneguy]

Yeah sure wish I had payed $1 to put a bigger logo on a loser. Go linux!

Well done

[LiquidCoooled]

The year of Linux on the racetrack is upon us!

I just wonder how the pitstop will go

apt-get new-tyres

Re:Well done

[dfdashh]

I tried your command, but it gave me these problems... someone help!

apt-get new-tyres

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
new-tyres: Depends: pit-crew (>= 5.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: community-awareness (>= .01) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: community-donations (>= .01) but it is not going to be installed

Re:Well done

[Constantine XVI]

I think you're looking for something more along the lines of "sudo dpkg-reconfigure tyres-frontleft"

Re:Well done

[markov_chain]

It cannot work, because there will be a race condition!

*rimshot*

Re:Well done

[OhHellWithIt]

I'll be impressed when I see a penguin on the back of a jersey in the Tour de France.

Re:Well done

[savethelecture]

In any case the important thing here is for the kernel of the car not to "crash"...

Only 5.5MPH behind!

[nmoog]

That sounds pretty good! Unless the race goes for, like, an hour.

Re:Only 5.5MPH behind!

[pato101]

Nice joke. However, during the race, the aerodynamic drag lowers because of heading cars. Thus if everything is OK -perhaps- there won't be a difference of 5.5 miles per every race hour.

Re:Only 5.5MPH behind!

[BCW2]

There is a big difference between qualifying trim and race trim. The cars that qualified at the front were running 4 - 5 MPH slower yesterday in race trim (more downforce added for handling in traffic = more drag). Hid chances are not good but it has been done from that far back before. Moreno is one hell of a good driver and has built a huge reputation as a substitute over the last few years, step into anyones car and go fast. If you see an interview he is also a nice guy.

Re:Only 5.5MPH behind!

[cdh]

The key word here is "substitute". He's not good enough to keep a steady ride since he lost his ride in Champ Car. He's not bad, but like you said, 5.5mph is huge. He needs great pit stops, attrition at the top, and some luck. It is, however, good to see an underfunded privateer team make the field, even though Indy is nothing compared to the old days (they almost didn't have enough cars to fill the 33 car field regardless of qualifying this year). Tony George must go.

Re:Only 5.5MPH behind!

[BCW2]

"Tony George must go."
Amen to that! His ego has destroyed open wheel racing in America. They don't even come close to selling out the 500 anymore. If they open all the grandstands they might sell more ticket to the NASCAR race in August.

Re:Only 5.5MPH behind!

[tbone1]

Tony George must go.

Ugh, please. CART was doing a lot to ruin the infrastructure of open-wheel racing before 1992, and the split was after 1995. When guys with the credentials that Jeff Gordon, Steve Kisner, and Jack Hewitt had couldn't even get someone to talk to them, that indicates a serious problem.

Gentoo

[HBI]

emerge new-tires, then wait till the race is over.

We'd need a lot more cars rigged together with distcc to have a chance!

Re:Gentoo

[smittyoneeach]

paludis -i new-tires, and you'll be holding the cup, taking your champagne shower, while the emerge user is still watching /...|...-...\... go by.
http://paludis.pioto.org/

Re:Gentoo

[simm1701]

no!! you need to compile the new tyres from source then relink them to the car!!

Re:Gentoo

[StarfishOne]

But be careful! History learns us that fast race cars don't go too well with the '-Wall' parameter. ;O

Re:Gentoo

[numbski]

I think the problem is the pit crew got confused with they saw -O2, thinking that a car needs 4, and went -O4, and then it all hit the fan...

Just a hunch, but...

[whisper_jeff]

Will Moreno be able to pilot the penguin-tipped Indy car to victory next week at the 91st Indianapolis 500?

I'm going to go with my gut instinct as a casual Indy fan and answer "no."

Re:Just a hunch, but...

[wellingj]

Microsoft said the same thing about another underdog... Weird how that one is playing out too...

Re:Just a hunch, but...

[tbone1]

Yeah, but as much as I root against the Penske team, I would NEVER bet against Roger Penske's drivers at Indy. Did you see what Sam Hornish did to Marco Andretti last year? Granted, having an Andretti lose at Indy is a fine family tradition, but ...

Re:Just a hunch, but...

[jstretch78]

Careful, Microsoft is now going to patent racing.

Re:Just a hunch, but...

[thetable123]

Yeah, but as much as I root against the Penske team,

You said root... in a linux story... but you didn't meat r00t... Damn I need a life... In the mean time I will just laugh at myself... Going away now...

Obviously Microsoft...

[packetmon]

Will Moreno be able to pilot the penguin-tipped Indy car to victory next week at the 91st Indianapolis 500? No they won't. Haven't you seen the latest latest latest news? Because the car is using Linux anywhere whether its on a sticker, under someone's breathe, it should be obvious that the car its owner, its pit crew, and the tires have infringed on MS patents. I thought you knew by now that Microsoft patented Indy 500.

I think this would garner more attention

[kkelly]

if the indy car was actually RUNNING LINUX, someone please correct me if I am wrong. At least have the car's ECU running linux and geeks might take an interest. I personally find no interest in donating money to see tux included in a sea of advertising, what are we talking here, a few stickers? Yes, I know ANY publicity is good publicity and I really am a capitalist at heart, but I need a little more to open my wallet.....

Re:I think this would garner more attention

[b0s0z0ku]

At least have the car's ECU running linux and geeks might take an interest.

Linux is probably not ideal for an ECU - you want a looping program running pretty much in realtime. It might be OK for some of the data-gathering/control hardware though.

-b.

Re:I think this would garner more attention

[gosand]

Personally, I'd be ashamed to be sponsoring anything involved with the Indy 500. Have you ever been to it? I went once. Talk about a bunch of backward-ass ignorant rednecks. I went with my parents and a couple of their friends, who have been going to the Indy500 for years. This guy was talking about one year, there was an old boy who was sitting outside the main gate with a cane pole with a watermelon on the end of the line, and he had a big sign that said "Fishing for Niggers". He laughed as he told the story, and saying people were giving him high fives and thumbs up. I asked him when this happened, thinking that it must have been many many years ago. He said he thought it was about '91 or so. I found out later that 1991 was the first year a black driver raced in the 500.

The rest of my experience at the 500 wasn't as obvious, but you could see it everywhere. I had been to a Formula 1 race in Indy previously, and it was great! But this was just ... sad. I couldn't wait to get out of that place.

Re:I think this would garner more attention

[AP2k]

Very true. While the parent is right that the firmware running Linux would be indeed impressive, Linux is too large and still too general for firmware use. Linux is good for personal computing, but you need some extremely powerful computers for these engines and Linux wont be fast enough.

One day, maybe, one day.

Re:I think this would garner more attention

[dodongo]

"This guy was talking about one year, there was an old boy who was sitting outside the main gate with a cane pole with a watermelon on the end of the line, and he had a big sign that said "Fishing for Niggers""

As an Indiana native* and 500 connoisseur myself, I sincerely apologize on behalf of the reasonable fans out there. I'm afraid that one byproduct of having over a quarter-million people from Indiana and beyond getting together is that you do get some idiots in the bunch. I regret that this reflected poorly on the 500 and the Hoosier State as a whole. For what it's worth, the last time I was there, sitting out under the gorgeous son, drinking cheap beer with friends of mine from, literally, all over the globe, I had a guy from South Dakota complement me on the magnificent display IMS puts on each year for the 500, and made a point of observing how helpful and pleasant everyone was. It made me proud to be a Hoosier.

* - I now live in San Francisco and find it altogether more desirable :)

If it crashes...

[mtec]

it'll probably be because of a faulty driver.

Re:If it crashes...

[Sunburnt]

Be sure to check for overheating hardware as well.

Finally

[antifoidulus]

a valid place story for car analogies!

Re:Finally

[Yetihehe]

Your car analogy is like linux without bagel.

Re:Tux Car

[Anonymous Coward]

IRL cars run on 100% ethanol, no gasoline.

Looks like the site still takes donations today.

[Anonymous Coward]

I just sent a donation.

Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketing

[smilindog2000]

I know many of us Linux users would like to see it replace Windows as the dominate OS, but frankly, why should we care? We Linux users have a wonderful OS that does everything a big geek like me could want, and far more than Windows can do. Saving Joe Sixpack the $70 he pays Microsoft to buy a machine with Windows pre-loaded isn't a cause I get excited about.

I love making predictions, and here's my prediction for the future of Linux: Linux will never beat Windows in the market place. Instead, a new market will emerge for ultra-cheap computers (as in OLPC). Super-cheap computers with lots of RAM and non-volatile storage will one day cost $100 (in 2007 dollars). When this happens, Microsoft will not be able to compete against free Linux as the dominant OS on these machines. There just isn't enough profit per device to support Microsoft-like company. Instead Linux, or a derivative of GNU/Linux software, will power our new ultra-cheap devices. I think Microsoft understands this low-end disruption threat, and that's why they're so desperate to push Windows CE derivatives. However, the bean counters at Microsoft will always try to kill off unprofitable efforts like Windows CE, as the market, margins, and profit just aren't there compared to selling high-end software for high-end machines.

If you think this idea is crazy, have you heard about the iPhone? It may not run Linux proper, but it's clearly in the GNU/open-source camp. Operating systems are mature technology, no longer worth much money. Apple showed great insight in dumping their own, and running with the free stuff. This gives them a huge advantage over Microsoft in the future battle for smart consumer devices. Others will follow Apple's lead, and dump Windows for GNU/Linux as the super low-cost PC/personal-computing-device market emerges. In the end, GNU/Linux will prevail, but never on the traditional high-end desktop that Joe Sixpack buys for web surfing, games, and porn.

Disappointing

[EsJay]

Dang! I thought "penguin-tipped" meant a big ol' fiberglass penguin head on the car's nose.

Better yet would be a something like the 3-foot tall chicken on top of our local Broasted Chicken!! delivery car.

Maybe I'm missing something but.....

[Wookietim]

Why is the Linux community financing a race car? Why do something stupid like that?

Re:Maybe I'm missing something but.....

[Doctor Crumb]

It's called "marketing"; why do you think McDonalds or 7-11 sponsor indy cars? If joe average walks into a computer store and sees "that indy car penguin" on a box of software, he'll be more likely to look at it, and potentially even buy it. It may not make logical sense, but that's how marketing works.

Interestingly, MS doesn't seem to sponsor indy cars, but they certainly work to get their logo on anything else they can find.

Re:Maybe I'm missing something but.....

[Wookietim]

Maybe you're right.... But the most successful company (As far as Operating Systems go - Microsoft) doesn't do this.... the second most successful OS (Mac OSX) doesn't.... I understand thinking out of the box, but at the same time - if the marketing procedures that are usually used work, then maybe they shouldn't be "Fixed"....

Re:Maybe I'm missing something but.....

[Danathar]

It's no more stupid than having "Tide" on a racecar.

And don't tell me people who watch racing think..."gee, That guy was fast! I'm gunna go out and buy some Tide to support him". I don't believe it.

Why not? Seeing the Tux on TV is cool because seeing the Tux on TV is cool.

Because...that's why!

Re:Maybe I'm missing something but.....

[NoDough]

>...the most successful company (As far as Operating Systems go - Microsoft) doesn't do this...

Microsoft is a co-sponsor of the Target Team.

Re:Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketin

[nelsonal]

Here's my prediction, Windows will be free too, but the money will be in providing the internet offered services to those $100 dollar computers. Why do you think Microsoft was willing to lose $2 billion/yr on the xBox project? (Hint, they could care less about bringing FPS to non-geeks). Do you really think search engine ads were going to be worth $100 billion?

Is this a joke?

[timesearch]

This car has about as much chance of winning at Indy as Linux has of relieving Windows of its 90+ percent desktop ownership. However, had the discussion been strictly about Indy racing and the level of funding a team needs (which is mind numbing), and to what ends team owners go to get funding, it would actually have been a good thread.

Re:Is this a joke?

[ocbwilg]

However, had the discussion been strictly about Indy racing and the level of funding a team needs (which is mind numbing),

Bah. You can run an Indycar team on $5 million a year and be competitive. Take a look at Formula 1 (definitely more tech-focused) where top teams spend more than $200 million a year.

Despite?

[DaveCar]

"Despite generating over $12K in funds, well short of the $250K goal, the Tux 500 Project was able to secure a spot in the Indy 500"

Hang on. Despite generating over $12K in funds ... the Tux 500 Project was able to secure a spot in the Indy 500? Did generating over $12K hinder them somehow?

Do you mean that despite not getting anywhere near the $250k goal they still managed to secure a spot? If so, why not say something along those lines rather than the confusing babble presented?

I'm not being a grammar Nazi here - the grammar looks fine to me (and mine isn't the best) - but it's just that it makes no sense and you have read the line 5 times to work out what it is trying to say. Could we have some, y'know, editor type stuff going on here?

5 mph is a big difference

[porsche911]

The "only 5.5 MPH" difference huge. That's about 4 seconds a lap which means that over a 500 mile race on a 2.5 mile track, the 1st place car will lap the 31st place car 5 times. When you factor in driver ability, strategy and pitstops, the difference will be much greater. The top 3 cars in the race will probably be within .25 second of each other after 500 miles.

In general, the cars are much slower now than they used to be. The 225.817MPH of the 1st place car would have been very far back in the grid compared with the 240 MPH+ of 10 or 15 years ago. I wish him luck.

Re:5 mph is a big difference

[Oswald]

In general, the cars are much slower now than they used to be. The 225.817MPH of the 1st place car would have been very far back in the grid compared with the 240 MPH+ of 10 or 15 years ago. I wish him luck.

I don't follow the sport, so I went and checked. It looks like speeds dropped hard (about 10mph) after 1996. I can figure out that they changed the rules, but why? Driver safety? Fan safety? Cost?

Re:5 mph is a big difference

[tbone1]

The speeds were reduced mostly for safety but also cost. The fastest lap turned at the 500 was in 1996 by Arie Luyendyk, at more than 239MPH. He said that he wasn't sure he was going to make it through turn 1, and hitting a concrete wall at 240 MPH is not safe, no matter how the car is made. That year, Scott Brayton, the pole sitter, was killed in a practice crash where the high speeds contributed to the severity of the impact. All the drivers and teams in the race agreed that the speeds were just too high and welcomed the slower speeds. (Think about that for a second.)

Since then, the league's emphasis has been on safety. (In fact, the first innovation at the track was in the first race, when Ray Herroun put a rearview mirror on the car since he didn't have a riding mechanic to look back.) They changed the specs, which resulted in reduced speeds, and started requiring more safety features in the chassis. Speeds have gone back up, since the engineers are clever and can figure out how to get more out of less as time goes on. (A couple years ago, someone figured out how to reshape the rear-view mirrors to allow for more downforce, to use but one example.) Tony George also spent his own money on the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers that are now common on tracks; they certainly saved Rolf Schumacher's life at the 2005 USGP. One of the benefits touted about the new ethanol engines is that they get better mileage, so they can reduced fuel load which makes for safer cars. And so on. It's still a dangerous sport, but having seen the wrecks that Davey Hamilton and Kenny Brack, I'm amazed that both of them not only survived but came back to race later.

I took the family to Pole Day qualifications, and there really isn't much difference you can see, sitting in the front row or high up, between 220MPH and 230MPH. I don't know if there will ever be a new track record at the 500, but I can live with that; the drivers are more likely to, as well.

Re:5 mph is a big difference

[misfit815]

Actually, Ralf missed the SAFER barrier. The F1 race runs in the opposite direction of the 500 (and the Brickyard) during the portion that it's on the oval. Coming the 'wrong way' through Turn 1, he hit the wall on the front stretch past the point where the barrier began/ended (depending on your point of view).

To make matters worse, F1 brings their own safety crew to each track, and their regulations prohibited their one safety vehicle from going against traffic. This meant that the safety vehicle had to traverse practically the entire F1 course to get to Schumacher. So Michael got to drive by his brother's smashed car at least once (twice, if I recall) before anyone even showed up to see if he was dead.

When you watch Indy this Sunday (and I strongly recommend it), and there's a wreck, you'll often see the red IRL safety vehicles on camera before the car even slides to a stop.

I point this out because I think there are a lot of parallels between Windows v. Linux and F1 v. IndyCar. Both Windows and F1 are immensely popular compared to their counterparts, despite the fact that Linux and IndyCar are (IMO) better products. All Windows needs is something like that tire incident from a couple years back.

J

Re:5 mph is a big difference

[j_zero]

i was in the corner 6 stand during this accident. there was no screen there, so i was sitting there calling ppl to find out what was going on. then, here comes the safety car, shortly followed by the medical car. reminded me of the shunt rb had coming out of 13, though rs definitely had the worst. it is a testament to the safety of these autos though. granted he fractured a couple of vertabrae, but he hit the wall backwards at 180mph. it is amazing the progress in safety since the untimely deaths of senna and ratzenberger in 1994. last year's race shows this as well. i had a clear view of the corner 1 fracas, and to see heidfeld climb out of his car after flipping as he did....

Re:5 mph is a big difference

[ocbwilg]

The "only 5.5 MPH" difference huge. That's about 4 seconds a lap which means that over a 500 mile race on a 2.5 mile track, the 1st place car will lap the 31st place car 5 times. When you factor in driver ability, strategy and pitstops, the difference will be much greater. The top 3 cars in the race will probably be within .25 second of each other after 500 miles.

Not sure where you got your math, but that's only about 1 second per lap. There was almost exactly a 4 second difference between Moreno's qualifying time and the time posted by the fastest car. And at Indy, they run 4 qualifying laps and take the total time rather than just running one or two and taking the fastest time.

Yet somehow you got the 5 laps down part right, as race laps at Indy generally run about 40 seconds and there are 200 laps.

Somewhere in Redmond...

[boyfaceddog]

Bill Gates is on his knees, right now. If you losten closely, you can hear his prayer;

"Please please please, somone film the crash."

Re:Somewhere in Redmond...

[einnar2000]

I can't remember seeing a Microsoft Indy car... They must have all crashed early.

Re:Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketin

[Anonymous Coward]

Mostly, I think it is because MS makes working in IT suck.
To propose a car analogy, the automobile industry actually pioneered Microsoft's philosophy anyway... Today, a million mechanics will spend 6 hours repairing something that could be performed in 30 minutes, wasting our time and ensuring the OEM recieves a cut. Billions of dollars will also be wasted due to their unwillingness to farm out 50 year old technology that could be produced many smaller independent companies. Instead of a simple component benefiting from standardization ($20) it will cost upwards of $200 and take all day to replace. People will waste a good portion of their lives today making up for the difference. That difference will pay an annoying advertiser.

Just not YUM!

[wowbagger]

Just don't use YUM - PLEASE! I'd rather the Linux car not be a DNF (did not finish).

If it'd been a linux.com logo, then...

[sheldon]

Or one of the other sites which are part of the OSDN empire.

Then /. would gladly have pimped the story for ya!

That'll teach you. Next time, learn how to play the /. game.

One Word

[CharlieG]

There is a word for this kind of race entry

Backmarker

Nuff said

Re:One Word

[PrvtBurrito]

I liked the term I heard on another board:

"Moving Chicane"

i wrote about it in my /. journal

[razpones]

I for one wrote a little note asking if it was worth it to give money to this project. I did give them some money, and as a fan of racing (car and motorcycle and cycling), am exited to watch the race and root for the #77 car. Not only they are one of the under dogs out there (they even lost the first driver in a crash in the qualifying rounds) but a lot of the linux community was against them in a bad way, apparently even /., so more of an under dog IMHO. The new driver is a seasoned driver that has always been a "replacement" driver, but he is no doubt a good driver (better than the original in my opinion), also driving a formula one car, he even has won a few races in the champ car and the formula 3000 leagues. He also was running as of sunday morning practice in 13 place. I hope he does well, and just by being in the race it has proved that projects like this deserve the attention of the community, advertising anything in any media is very expensive and this is a good conduit to reach average people, or do we don't want to see Linux advertised at all?.

Re:i wrote about it in my /. journal

[HolyCrapSCOsux]

Same here. I donated as a fan of both racing and linux (champ car and FC6 respectively). I haven't watched the indy 500 in awhile as ovals don't really excite me. OTOH, good drivers can have bad days. (See Sebastian Bourdais' performance at the Las Vegas Grand Prix)
With a little luck, Some great pitstops and lucky cautions, he may finish in the top ten. If he got a podium from 31st, THAT would be good for the media, and all of the sponsors.

5.5 MPH is ALOT

[ganjadude]

It is clear that the submitter is not familiar with racing. 5.5MPH in a race is a HUGE gap, it is a 500 mile race on a 2 mile track. IF he stays at a constant 5.5 MPH behind the leader, he will be give or take 8 laps back at the end of the race. Unfortunately the more likely scenario is that he will lose speed throughout the race.

Re:We're not all petrol heads...

[fotbr]

Indycar is running entirely ethanol this year.

Dark Horse - I mean real Dark Horse

[HW_Hack]

But probaly not toast - guys got plenty of experience - just not top finisher ... I'll say he finishes in 20th

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roberto Moreno (born Roberto Pupo Moreno, February 11, 1959 in Rio de Janeiro) is a former Formula One driver from Brazil. He participated in 75 grands prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 championship points. He raced in CART in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion (in 1988) before joining Formula 1 full-time in 1989. He returned to CART in 1996 and raced full-time until 2003. He currently drives as a temporary substitute and test driver in both Champ Car and IndyCar.

Indy 500 results
Year Chassis Engine Start Finish
1986 Lola Cosworth 32nd 19th
1994 Lola Ford-Cosworth Failed to Qualify
1999 G-Force Oldsmobile 23rd 20th
2007 Panoz Honda 31st

Re:Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketin

[irtza]

There is one problem with this line of thought. One is peoples perception of cheap or free. Take cell phones for instance. If one factors in the cost of a subscription, free cell phone deals aren't really that great due to the lockin. How does MS compete with free? Make things subscription based. If they give away these one hundred dollar computers that only work w/ MS online technologies, they can keep your data on a server. At that point, you will have to use their technology to access it. Same principle as people using word documents. They can control your access to your own data making a 100 dollar linux device as worthless as a rock. Once this is done, they can give away binary only copies of windows to the manufacturers who in all likelyhood will be happy to accept the MS lockin system.

we can fix him...

[dclozier]

wait... is the driver from nvidia?

Go Tux Racer Go!

[goombah99]

Here he comes, here comes TuxRacer - he's a demon on wheels
He's a demon and he's gonna be chasin' after redmond.

He's gainin' on bill so he better look alive.
He's busy revvin' up a powerful Mach 5.
And when the odds are against him
And there's dangerous work to do

You bet your life Tux Racer will see it through.
Go tux Racer! Go tux Racer! Go tux Racer, Go!

He's off and flyin' as he guns the car around the track
He's jammin' down the pedal like he's never comin' back
Adventure's waitin' just ahead.
Go Tux Racer! Go Tux Racer! Go Tux Racer, Go!

Re:We're not all petrol heads...

[maccallr]

After a quick google search to check your claim, I stand corrected... Mod parent up!

Rednecks? Indianapolis 500? Rednecks?

[Tmack]

Do you understand the difference between Indy 500 and Nascar? Most of the people I know, such as myself, who watch the Indy 500 are engineers.

Well, the Indy 500 itself is becoming almost as redneckified as nascar is. Even Nascar drivers sometimes switch over to drive in it just for this one race. If you ask most people, Indy is just this race, separate from nascar, where they drive the "Indy" cars. In reality, its a whole racing series with these cars driving in ovals, the Indy Racing League (to be fair, they did add street courses this year). I would rather watch CART (CCWS) races, but much prefer GT/Lemans races where you get not only the street courses, but two vastly different car designs running at different top speeds competing at the same time, or F1, where an oval course is blasphemy and the races are recognized the world over rather than just in the US. Im sorry, ovals are boring, even though they might go faster (because they only have to turn 2 (4?) corners), the street courses demonstrate racing skill and offer much better entertainment (it always funny to watch Nascar drivers when they do their street course races, all 3 of them).

Tm

Re:Rednecks? Indianapolis 500? Rednecks?

[sheldon]

Certainly the split off of IRL from CART was sad, as I think it's brought down the overall excitement of the Indy 500. Although the last couple of years it has gotten better.

As far as oval versus street. The big problem with street racing, is that while it's ok on tv because of multiple cameras... if you go to the race it's pretty boring. Every minute or two they come by and you see the positions are different, or a car is missing and you wonder what happened.

They both require skill, just of a different sort.

Re:Rednecks? Indianapolis 500? Rednecks?

[llefler]

As far as oval versus street. The big problem with street racing, is that while it's ok on tv because of multiple cameras... if you go to the race it's pretty boring. Every minute or two they come by and you see the positions are different, or a car is missing and you wonder what happened.

Have you been to an oval track? They're pretty boring too unless you're one of those guys with the portable TV and radio for driver chatter. After a while your neck starts wondering whether you're at a race or a tennis match. I went to one IRL race at Kansas Speedway, and decided if I wanted to see a race, I'd enjoy it a whole lot more on TV.

You make it sound exciting

[Bromskloss]

...but isn't it boring without all the turns of other racetracks?

Re:Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketin

[RattFink]

I know many of us Linux users would like to see it replace Windows as the dominate OS, but frankly, why should we care? We Linux users have a wonderful OS that does everything a big geek like me could want, and far more than Windows can do. Saving Joe Sixpack the $70 he pays Microsoft to buy a machine with Windows pre-loaded isn't a cause I get excited about.

That is all well and good until there is a piece of hardware or software that you want or need to do something on Linux. When making the decisions on what these companies are going to support visibility will have a large impact on if it's supported. That is where the marketing helps.

Instead, a new market will emerge for ultra-cheap computers (as in OLPC). Super-cheap computers with lots of RAM and non-volatile storage will one day cost $100 (in 2007 dollars). When this happens, Microsoft will not be able to compete against free Linux as the dominant OS on these machines. There just isn't enough profit per device to support Microsoft-like company.

In that sort of market Microsoft will push their embedded tools which don't cost $70 but in the $8-20 range. Not to mention people like QNX etc who would love to get their software in boxes like that and are actually spending money to get their name out there. The problem is that the people making the decisions are not the geeks who know about the stuff it will ultimately be the administrators (people who companies like MS and all have been marketing to for years) who have final say on those decisions.

I think Microsoft understands this low-end disruption threat, and that's why they're so desperate to push Windows CE derivatives. However, the bean counters at Microsoft will always try to kill off unprofitable efforts like Windows CE, as the market, margins, and profit just aren't there compared to selling high-end software for high-end machines.

Bull, CE is central to a lot of Microsoft's most recent endeavors, smart phones, car operations and navigation, and will almost certainly find it's way into their Robotics offerings. CE is not going anywhere soon.

slashdot has no feelings.

[eshefer]

"There have been hundreds of stories here over the years meant to mobilize the community (ie. Blender). I ask, why not this one?"

becoase blender is free software software project. and this tux500 thing is about racing a car at the indy500 with a logo.

"Fortunately the good will of the tux500 team seems to be allowing the logo to still be on the car. I guess they are better people than you"

Fortunately for whom?

people know what linux is. think. who would have even cared about another indy500 team, unless they had the cute "linux logo" angle to feed the press?

Every Car Has Same Engine?!?

[Black-Man]

And its called a race?? Sheesh... no wonder only hillbillies show up for the party...err... race in Indianapolis.

Re:Every Car Has Same Engine?!?

[bulliver]

Every Car Has Same Engine?!?

Jesus, we wouldn't want the race being decided by something as stupid as driver skill would we?

#77?

[jemminger]

why not #1337

Nothing compares to MotoGP

[schwit1]

Nascar is WWF on wheels(staged) Indy is a bunch of guys making boring left turns F1 doesn't have enough passing and too much depends upon the speed of the pit crew as opposed to driver skills. MotoGP has no pit stops and lots of passing. Every turn is a game of chicken and the bikes are close to what's available on the street.

Re:Nothing compares to MotoGP

[PhillC]

Sorry to shatter your illusions, but MotoGP bikes are nothing like what's available on the street. Not even close! Apart from a limit on engine capacity (800cc) and the number of sets of tyres that can be used per weekend, everything else is completely open for change. You may see MotoGP replica bikes on the street, but you'll never be able to buy retail a bike approaching MotoGP engineering levels. Over time, MotoGP innovations make it into street bikes for sure, but it's a long process.

If you want bikes that approach those available in showrooms, then watch World Superbikes. These bikes have to pass homologation rules before they're allowed to race in this class.

If it's a wet race, such as this past weekend at Le Mans, the riders are allowed to make a pitstop to change bikes, so they can ride on wet tyres rather than slicks.

I do however, agree with your implied compliment to MotoGP. It is a very entertaining form of motorsport.

most viewed? try world soccer at 2B, vs 110M

[SuperBanana]

I've really enjoyed reading lot's of the ignorant comments people are making about the Indy 500, so in short let me explain why this is, not only important from a sporting perspective but also from and environmental and technical perspective as well.

You might want to use better grammar if you're going to complain about ignorance.

1. The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event. Period. More people attend, and more people watch on TV worldwide then any other event.

Bullshit. The Indy 500 is about 110 million viewers. The world cup held in France in 1998 had 2 BILLION people watching.

This year all Indy cars run on Ethanol 85. While this isn't solar, it's far better then the traditional Gas of the past (hell I believe NASCAR is just now *thinking* about phasing out leaded gas).

I know very little about NASCAR, but a quick google search says they're using unleaded gas right now, the 2007 season.

The rest of your post was so rambling and incoherent, I couldn't find any way to respond. It is patently obvious you have never watched any other form of racing (namely, that you're quite ignorant yourself.) Most of the competitive elements you describe are present in most other forms of auto/bike racing.

Re:most viewed? try world soccer at 2B, vs 110M

[trg83]

> 1. The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event. Period. More people attend, and more people watch on TV worldwide then any other event.

>>Bullshit. The Indy 500 is about 110 million viewers. The world cup held in France in 1998 had 2 BILLION people watching.

But...the World Cup is not annual. And, is that accumulated viewers or number of viewers watching one game?

I think it's pretty cool

[silvwolf]

I'm 28 and have been to probably 14 or 15 Indy 500's. It's the only race I go to each year even though my Uncle always has an extra ticket or two to the Brickyard and tickets for the USGP are pretty easy to come by. Don't know much else about the IRL except that they have some other races throughout the year.. I just have fun going to the race each year. Also happen to be a fan of Linux. So, I think it's pretty cool that there is a penguin car in the 500 and this is the first I've heard of the car. I can't so whether I would have donated to the cause or not had publicity been better, but I'll now be rooting for Tux on race day :)

Re:Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketin

[einnar2000]

In the end, GNU/Linux will prevail, but never on the traditional high-end desktop that Joe Sixpack buys for web surfing, games, and porn. Yeah, the codecs and other software necessary to see the good porn is too hard to install for Joe Sixpack.

Re:NASCAR fuel and Ethanol.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Ethanol simply moves the pollution from one producer to another."

Haven't you learned that in the US all that matters is the illusion that we are doing the right thing, no matter what the truth is...

Re:Why advertise something that isn't ready?

[p_squiddy]

When exactly will "good enough" be good enough? Don't you people get it?? Was Windows 3.0 even close to "good enough" even at the time? Was DOS, for that matter "good enough"? Strangely, these are two examples where good enough was just enough. I know people have high expectations, but let's look at this realistically: if the Linux-using community doesn't feel their own OS is good enough for anyone but them to use, what good is it, really? I've been using Linux on my Desktop for years, and guess what? It's good enough! My kids use it, too. Yeah, there are proprietary issues to deal with, but as a Desktop it's been more stable and reliable than any Microsoft alternative. It works, it's easy to use and it's even easier to customize your environment than any Windows setup. Software management is a no-brainer. There is resistance to using Linux because it isn't the market leader; it isn't what everyone else has. But from my perspective what everyone else has is more flawed than what we have. If there are Windows users out there that are tired of being forced to endure crapware, viruses and forced upgrades, Linux is the most viable option -- Mac is great, but then we're still talking about forced upgrade to get the latest and greatest. Since when could you add 3D graphic effects to a Windows environment without buying the most advanced video card on the market? Since when could you install even an upgrade to your browser without having to reboot? Since when did Microsoft bundle useful software with the OS? (No, I don't mean Works or a time-limited install of Office 2007.) Linux has a LOT going for it, and it's only going to get better when more users have a say. We're not just in the race, we're in a position to win. Everyone who uses Linux can be part of it, can make it better. Can you honestly say that about Mac or Windows (I won't even go into the BSDs; I know they're in a similar boat, but let's face it Linux has a lot more going for it right now)? Look what advertising does for companies like Microsoft and Apple. They're top of mind, and not because they have better features or a stronger user base. Apple measures up with the free options. Apple has some of the best commercials going! Microsoft only survives by being everywhere. What real value does a Microsoft OS have other than being the monopolistic non-choice of the masses? This is our time, folks. Time to shout from the rafters that Linux is here, and it's ready to take off!

Donated

[WillRobinson]

Donated for myself and another geek, named anonymous. And believe me, im stingy with my $.

Re:Linux is doing great, and doesn't need marketin

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Apple uses a lot of open source technologies, but their platforms as a whole are still proprietary, and is used to drive sales to its up-market computers.

Re:We're not all petrol heads...

[cayenne8]

"Indycar is running entirely ethanol this year."

And, coincidentally...so is the audience....

:-)

Did you donate? 5 bux for tux!

[FelixElGatoLoco]

See I like micro payments.

I throw money at my waiter for serving me my food. I throw money at a blog that has good tutorials on it. I throw money at far fetched projects like SeaLand.

I have never heard of the Tux500 project. I see it posted. I deemed it worthy of throwing money at it.

"5 Bux for Tux!"
--ElGatoLoco

Re:We're not all petrol heads...

[fotbr]

Its still crappy racing, but for filling time between F1 races its better racing than NASCAR.

Now, NASCAR's audience is pretty much running on alcohol, as being completely plastered is the only way I can imagine finding NASCAR to be entertaining.

Should be interesting

[Plekto]

You'll notice that despite the 31st place, he'd actually be just half a mph behind Al Unser. It's very possible that it could at least place in the top 4-5.

Re:Should be interesting

[salimma]

That would be nice, but .. as I understand it, due to the ease of overtaking, the length of the race and the frequency of yellow flags, qualifying position in Indy is relatively unimportant. So Al Unser might storm from the back, but Moreno has not been in Indy for several years, and if you notice most of the Panoz-Honda cars qualify quite low, which might indicate that it is not necessarily the best chassis to have..

F the penguin check out Milka Duno

[dubled]

Holy hot, she qualified 29. http://www.milkaduno.com/

Re:F the penguin check out Milka Duno

[ocbwilg]

Holy hot, she qualified 29. http://www.milkaduno.com/

Yes. After crashing out in her first qualifying attempt, her team managed to put a car together again so she could qualify. And like the three other women who came before her to the Indy 500, she is little more than a novelty who is there to generate media attention. Most casual fans could tell you more about Danica Patrick (another piece of IRL eye-candy) than they could about either of the last two winners of the Indy 500 (both of which finished well ahead of her).

Woefully inaccurate...

[ocbwilg]

Speaking as someone who grew up in Indy and who is still heavily involved in motorsports, you really don't know what you're talking about.

1. The Indianapolis is the biggest annual sporting event. Period. More people attend, and more people watch on TV worldwide then any other event. If you wanted to get the message about linux out there, this would be the place to do it.

The Indy 500 used to be billed as the biggest single-day sporting event in the world, and pole-day qualifying used to be number 2. This was always claimed by comparing their attendance figures. Even though other single-day sporting events are far more popular, none of them have as many people in attendance. Unfortunately, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway doesn't actually release attendance figures. Neither have they actually released their actual seating capacity. When Indy was making these claims, people were publicly estimating attendance of 400,000, or even 500,000 people. A couple of years ago, the Indianapolis Star actually counted the seats, then estimated how much infield space their was, along with an estimate of the number of track workers, team members, concession stand workers, etc, and came up with an estimated maximum attendance of about 260,000. Unfortunately, attendance has fallen dramatically since 1995, and a realistic estimate would be more like 200,000 people.

As to whether it was, or still is, the world's largest single day sporting event is open to interpretation. These days, the Brickyard 400 (also held at the speedway) draws more people. Whereas you used to have to get on a multi-year waiting list to get tickets to the Indy 500 because the race would sell out the day after the previous year's race, nowdays you can purchase tickets directly from the Speedway ticket office just a couple weeks before race day. Or you can wait until race day and buy them at a discount from scalpers outside the track. For that matter, it's entirely possible that the Daytona 500 has more fans in attendance. Of course, if you include television audience in addition to fans actually in attendance, the Indy 500 doesn't even come close to the Superbowl, which in turn pales in comparison to several international events, including the World Cup final.

2. This year all Indy cars run on Ethanol 85. While this isn't solar, it's far better then the traditional Gas of the past (hell I believe NASCAR is just now *thinking* about phasing out leaded gas).

Actually, they run on pure Ethanol, not an E85 blend. This is the first year that they have run on Ethanol. It has been decades since Indy-style cars have actually run on "traditional gas of the past." Before they used Ethanol, they were running on Methanol. Methanol is considered to be much safer than gasoline because it has a much higher flashpoint, which makes it easier to transport and store. Unfortunately, it also burns with an invisible (to the human eye) flame, but they've been able to cope. The reason that the IRL has switched to Ethanol this year is 100% related to sponsorship.

3. The engineering involved in these cars is amazing, not only as far as engine development (Honda had relatively little time to develop these engines to run on Ethanol 85, and have done so admirably). Also, the engines themselves are interesting in that they are normally aspirated (i.e. no Turbo, so SuperCharger just incredibly engineered 8Cyl Engines That can drive none stop at high speeds for ling distances. FWIW Honda wasn't picked to be the only engine supplier for indy cars, they got that way through attrition. The last year there were multiple engine manufacturers Honda so blew away Chevy that it just didn't make sense for them to continue.

It honestly didn't take much effort to convert the engines from Methanol to Ethanol. One alcohol burns largely like the next. And to think of the Honda IRL engine as high-tech is like calling the typewriter state of the art. The Honda Formula 1 engine is far more interesting. Both

Hah!

[ocbwilg]

"Despite generating over $12K in funds, well short of the $250K goal, the Tux 500 Project was able to secure a spot in the Indy 500 with driver Roberto Moreno piloting the Linux #77 Indy car. He's back in the pack in 31st place (only 5.5 MPH separates 31st place from 1st) but was able to secure it by re-qualifying with an average speed of 220.299 MPH. Will Moreno be able to pilot the penguin-tipped Indy car to victory next week at the 91st Indianapolis 500?"

In all honestly, securing a starting spot wasn't that difficult. Indy traditionally starts 33 cars, but there are only 20-22 cars who regularly compete in the series. The remainder of the field is what we in the business called "field-filler". Basically, it's people who show up with a car (often times a year or two old), and then manage to run 4 qualifying laps without crashing. Sure, they have to have an IRL license to compete, but many of them are former drivers well past their prime (Al Unser Jr and Roberto Moreno, for example) or drivers that weren't good enough to land a full season ride from a team (but could come up with a couple hundred thousand dollars in sponsorship money to just run Indy).

To say that he's only 5.5 MPH slower than the fastest car is a minimizing statement. That's over 1 second per lap slower than the fastest car. The faster cars are turning laps in the 39-40 second range, so over 200 laps you can expect him to finish 5 laps down. Assuming that he doesn't get caught up in traffic or have handling problems, which is usually not the case. Then factor in that his team probably will be 2-3 seconds slower per pit stop than the top teams and I could see him easily finishing 7 or 8 laps behind.

So will he be able to pilot his car to an Indy 500 victory? Only if he's incredibly lucky and 30 other cars crash out of the race.

Re:So a NASCAR story is on Shashdot because...

[ocbwilg]

So a NASCAR story is on Shashdot because...The race has a car with a Penguin drawn on the hood?

Give me a break!

Who said anything about NASCAR?

Re:It IS ready - but agree that Indie was waste of

[p_squiddy]

See, now here's where the geeks among us need to look into that most heinous of sins -- marketing. I'm not going to even suggest I'm a marketing whiz or even know much about it. But I do know that an effort like this should only be the start of something. Free Tux in every Happy Meal? Tux smiling back at you from a billboard above the Brooklyn Bridge? Guy in a penguin suit rappelling down the CN Tower? Hell, why not? Microsoft has done things like this and their friggin' OS is on almost every computer! Why do they need to make sure they stay in the spotlight? To keep their position with manufacturers as the #1 choice when buying a new computer! We need to be in the public eye more, not just on the Web. We need exposure, and any way you guys can think to do it (as long as it isn't a negative image) is the way to go. Teach them about Linux after they know it exists!

Re:Why advertise something that isn't ready?

[tolldog]

Just the fact that you are posting on slashdot shows that you are not the target audiance for this advertisement. You are aware of linux, you know its ins and outs, you know how to work around conflicts and driver problems. When an advertisement goes out to the general public, you have to assume that they don't and will never know as much as you do about linux.

The OS is great. Most distributions are really good as well. I have been using Redhat for years and recently switched to Ubuntu at home. I still use Redhat primarily at work. Linux is great on qualified hardware. The problem is, a lot of manufacturers charge extra for hardware that works with linux. The laptop I have is the best buy special. Linux works on it, wireless, not so much. So I have to go through online pages trying to find a card that is currently being sold that has the same level of support that my onboard card has under windows.

You mention that your kids use linux, which is great. But you had to be the one that set it up for them to use. It works, once all the hard up front decisions have been made. Its a lot easier than it used to be, and hardware support is amazing, for devices that are supported.

I still think that money would be better spent on drivers and wine. For linux to take off on the average persons desktop, you have to get them off of the windows dependency. I am currently dependent on windows for gaming, wireless and some websites. If I didn't have my OSX box, I would also be dependent on windows for Photoshop. I know my uses are the same as the average user, but I work with technical people all day long and all I ever hear is: "I wouldn't mind using linux at home, if only they had an application that did Y that didn't suck." Most of these people are buying Macs to fill that need. No amount of advertising on the back of a race car will solve that problem.

Unfortunately,

[Ziffelblict]

He just crashed, around lap 40.

Tried to pass slower traffic on the outside of turn 1, got wide and smacked into the wall. At least the nose cone was intact.

Re:We're not all petrol heads...

[osee]

It's still energy completely wasted...