That was SuSE original niche, and it's still about the only thing SuSE does best.
Other than that, SuSE is a very bass-ackwards UNIX (especially with the implementation of its init scripts, don't even get me started).
It makes complete sense for IBM to use a reliable, predictable (as in consistent), and quality assured distribution such as Red Hat.
If you like reading documentation in pathetically broken English (or Germenglish, as I call it), then, by all means, use SuSE. (SuSE documentation invents many new words, like "installproduct". The writing style is also inadequate for technical documentation and tends to ramble.)
He is moving because of a church calling, not because of a job. This church calling is only a call to serve (probably at the Stake level), which he apparently is accepting. It is not a job.
The Mormon church is a "lay church"; i.e., it is run by the congregation, there is no paid clergy or leadership. There are leadership roles, of course, but they're not paid is the thing. There aren't really any "clergy" roles, though. The closest thing to clergy is the Bishop, but he's more of a manager/officiator for the Ward. Each member of the congregation is the clergy (known in mainstream Christian theology as the "ecclesia" or "Body of Christ").
So, when he gets to his new city at his new church, he will probably start to look for a Real Job(tm).
All Mormon missionaries are Elders (except for rare female missionaries). Ward and Stake Missionaries are often referred to as Home Missionaries. So calling himself a "home missionary elder" isn't incorrect.
The phrase "Home Missionary" has broader meaning within Christendom, particularly in Restorationist sects (Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventism, Jehovah's Witness, Church of Christ, and many others that came out of the Restorationist movement, so their vocabularies overlap).
Mormonism, compared to the rest of Christianity, is a rather lassez-faire (though morally strict) religion (i.e., a layman's church, no paid clergy, etc.). As a result, you have a lot of regional variation within Mormon culture. For example, I much prefer the attitudes of what I call "midwest Mormons" to those of "Utah Mormons". Though I lived in Australia from 2 to 4, I can't say I got a sense at that age of how "Australian Mormons" are. In general, Mormons outside of the west coast are usually more laid back than the culture that permeates in the Church west of Utah.
Disclaimer: I was raised Mormon in the midwest (Kansas City, Missouri, mostly). I slowly dropped out of the church between 16 and 18 and now describe myself as a "hopeful, spiritual, implicitly critical, explicitly skeptical, freethinking, existentialist, humanist, agnostic, atheist, anarchist".
iTunes demonstrates that *dumb* people will pay for their downloads if they are available. The rest of us, we'll continue to download for free, thank you very much.
Here at work our legacy product (management software for retail pharmacies, apothecaries, and nursing homes) runs on SCO OpenServer 5.0.5. We're currently moving away from Btrieve to SQL so we can port the software to Linux and ditch SCO once and for all.
Unfortunately, SuSE was chosen as the Linux platform of choice by two guys who no longer work here (and who most people in the company apparently didn't like).
It's too bad, 'cause I mostly can't stand SuSE and its Germanic caveats. I was raised by Slackware, but didn't know Slackware begat SuSE till this discussion (I had always assumed SuSE was a fork of RHL). I can't see hardly a shred of resemblance between Slackware and SuSE. I'd much prefer we were using Fedora, RHEL/CentOS, Slackware, Debian, or Gentoo over SuSE, but the higher ups are already set on shitty lil' SuSE. Oh well.
One thing I will give SuSE... They beat the hell outta SCO!
Another thing I'll give SuSE... People in this discussion have said that SuSE is following Red Hat's lead with OpenSUSE. Well, this all started with Red Hat following SuSE's lead on RHEL. SuSE was about the only distro you couldn't download ISOs for, they claimed ridiculous licensing schemes on their binaries and trademarked graphics, etc. They proved that business model a success and then Red Hat followed their lead in going down a similar road of propriety when ditching RHL and creating RHEL.
To call someone a something-Nazi is a rather common expression in the United States. I wasn't saying all Germans are unlearned Nazis. The "something-Nazi" expression is meant along similar lines as the "fun police" expression.
You may have someone in your office who is a bandwidth-Nazi, for example (they monitor traffic making sure nobody is downloading excessively).
I was simply calling SuSE Intellectual-Property-Nazis for explicitly and ridiculously copyrighting, all-rights-reserving an empty file!
Although, I can't say SuSE ever earned an ounce of my respect, being one of the most proprietary distribution in the history of Linux.
What needs to happen next is all the RPM-based distros need to merge their development trees and package sets under the umbrella of the Fedora Foundation (returning home from whence they all sprang years ago).
The inconsistency between Linux distros is ridiculous and inexcusable (especially for the all-too-German SuSE).
I've used several Linux distros in various work environments: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. It wasn't till my new job that I was forced to work with SuSE. Frankly, SuSE is one of the shittiest NIH-prone distributions I've ever had the displeasure of working with.
One of my co-workers says that SuSE's problem is that it's too German. I have to agree with him.
If you don't know what you're doing, SuSE may be of use to you. But if you're a power user who enjoys consistency and tradition, steer clear of SuSE.
One of my favorite examples of SuSE's excessive Germanness is their/etc/rc.d/boot.local (aka rc.local on other distros). The file is empty except for comments, but still they have explicit copyright notices, all rights reserved. The comments explaining what the file does are in broken English.
In Fedora, rc.local has a simple comment in plain English describing how to use the file. And since it's an essentially empty file, they graciously leave out ridiculous copyright statements (obviously because they weren't IP-Nazi Germans).
Also, boot.local is executed before going into the first run level. Whereas on other distros, rc.local is run at the end, after all other init scripts.
I've been saying it for years, and I used to think I coined the phrase. But a Google search reveals that there are others as brilliant as me that have come to the same conclusion:
"Linux 2.4 Kernel - The new Linux 2.4 kernel is a key component of the OpenLinux Server product. The Linux 2.4 kernel provides significantly improved hardware support for new hardware devices, improved SMP scalability, larger memory support (up to 64 GB of RAM), faster I/O performance, and many other performance boosting enhancements."
It's too bad SCO has already distributed Linux 2.4.x under the GPL. Thanks, SCO, for delegitimizing your own claims.
They even specifically mention SMP improvements. Isn't their claim to copyright infringement against Linux 2.4's SMP code? So they can jump on the Linux bandwagon, say, "Hey, we've got improved SMP scalability, and we're distributing it under the GPL (because we have to)!", then jump off when their business fails and sue everybody for code they themselves distributed under the GPL?
I browsed through their RPM archives on their FTP. They've removed all the kernel RPMs and SRPMs. Oh well.
It's too bad this discussion is so old. Somebody should have mentioned the uses of hemp (that's marijuana everybody!) as a source of ethanol (and biodiesel [and biodiesohol]). When presented with the economic facts of hemp, it shines a light on how horribly pathetic the state of the status quo is. But remember, "Just say no!" And stay horribly brainwashed while you're at it.
Or if you're brave, go study the economic and scientific history of cannabis sativa (especially the economic situation surrounding its criminalization).
No one is asking that the kernel's name change.
on
The Stallman Factor
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· Score: 1
CmdrTaco: I don't think RMS/ever/ wanted, or suggested that, the kernel's name be changed. I've only ever read that he wishes the/over all/ system be called GNU/Linux. e.g., GNU = most of the userland components, Linux = the kernel. After all, a kernel is only one part of an operating system, and the GNU components play a rather huge part in the over all system. And I don't think RMS means to be fascist in the sense that/everyone/ should/always/ refer to any Linux-based system as 'GNU/Linux' (if anything, RMS' philosophies seem very anti-fascist [and quite revolutionary]). I really think people read/way/ too much into how RMS feels on this subject.
The Greate Thomas Paine on Property Destruction
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
This debate of whether property destruction is a valid (or morally sound) tactic or not is one of the most ancient debates amoung the activist culture. I don't expect most geeks here on slashdot to be familiar with the arguments (since a lot o' the geeks here on slashdot aren't also activists [even though GNU/Linux is inherently tied to the activist community, just read the writings of RMS and ESR]), but most people in the activist community celebrate the diversity of tactics.
"When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the rich of his property; for the rights of the one are as much property to him, as wealth is property to the other, and the little all is as dear as the much. It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal." -- Thomas Paine
If you're interested in the debate on the justifiablility of property destruction, seek the wisdom of google.
First, Linux/does/ have video drivers in the kernel. Have you heard of Linux's framebuffer support?? FBDev isn't XFree86's server that uses Linux's framebuffer... FBDev doesn't use a graphics card at all. FBDev is a headless, "dumb" X Server used for X development, it's just a fake framebuffer that doesn't display anywhere.
If you want "FAST 2D alpha BLTS" in Linux, then program with a library that is capable of writing to the kernel's framebuffer. GTK+ can do this now, without X in your way. As can GGI, as well as several other libraries.
True, not too many cards are supported by Linux's framebuffer. But that can only change with time (or time plus programmers, rather).
Btw, GGI is a cross-platform display-type independent graphics library... You say GGI is/was heading in the direction of integrating with the kernel on some primary level... The only way this is true is that GGI can use the framebuffer (which is built into the kernel). Since GGI is display independent, it can also translate it's graphics to display on a text-mode terminal (with aalib) or display using SVGAlib or whatever else. Tying GGI to a specific platform or architecture or display library or OS would actually be counter to its mission.
How the fuck is this propoganda informative. Dumbass moderators should read the other stories on that page. All kinds of conspiracy crap, sounds like a mix of right wing militia types and left-wing potheads
Man, you're ignorant. You comment that some of the stuff on the IMC site is too conspiratorial. You comment that there are too many fuck-ups saying stuff on the IMC site. I ask you: Who are you on this site? I would suggest that you're an ignorant fuck-up contributing/nothing/ of content or quality to/any/ discussion on/this/ site. So, now I want to complain about all the idiots on Slashdot. The IMC is a 100% democratic and/non-moderated/ website, it is that way for a purpose, it is purposefully built on anarchic principles--if you're too ignorant to understand the rationale, then that is/your/ fault. So what if a few people submit over the top conspiratorial rubish, so what if some posts are too empassioned; at least it's not censored like everything else (and if your posts are any gauge, I'd say all you've ever read is the censored stuff). That's all the time I have to waste on you.
I wouldn't be surprised if tapping is up lately due to more COINTELPRO-ish operations on the government's end due to the recent resurgence of political activism in this country (and especially with the emergence of black bloc-style activism and direct action). Heck, I wouldn't doubt it if I've got a nice sized file at FBI headquarters by now--being that I've worked with various black blocs from D.C. to Boston to St. Louis to Kansas City, and at each action we've been photographed and video-recorded by several various "law enforcement" agencies. Also, at each action, hordes of undercover and covert "operatives" have turned up within the protest factions; imagine government officials covertly placing officers undercover for the sole purpose of sabotaging protesters' freedom of speech--it's very Orwellian to me. And with the recent heavy-handed tactics (see here, here, here, here, and here) of various agencies, I certainly wouldn't doubt loads of crazy surveillance in the off-time. (SIDE NOTE: In London, during the peaceful [that is if it wasn't for the cops rioting] May Day protesters were surrounded, detained in the streets, and not allowed to disperse until all activists had given their names, addresses, and had mugshots taken.)
"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine
We are still in the dark ages as to what the brain actually does and how it actually does it; and we won't be able to use any of our discoverie in information processing technology for the forseeable future.
In part, I would agree with you. But only to a certain extent. Yes, we don't know a lot. But you make it out to be a lot worse than it is. We also know probably as much as we don't know.
I wish I had a link to back up what I'm about to say, but I read about it in Ray Kurzwiel's book, "The Age of Spiritual Machines." Groups of scientists have actually reverse engineered specific neural networks of human and other animal brains. One group has even re-implemented the visual cortexes of several animal brains (including humans, if I remember correctly) in high-density analog neural networks. There is also currently tons of work being done in other analogous areas.
Slashdot Mirror
Just wait till Kozoru releases the beta of their search engine (supposedly mid-April, according to a friend that works there).
SuSE is for Germans that like KDE.
That was SuSE original niche, and it's still about the only thing SuSE does best.
Other than that, SuSE is a very bass-ackwards UNIX (especially with the implementation of its init scripts, don't even get me started).
It makes complete sense for IBM to use a reliable, predictable (as in consistent), and quality assured distribution such as Red Hat.
If you like reading documentation in pathetically broken English (or Germenglish, as I call it), then, by all means, use SuSE. (SuSE documentation invents many new words, like "installproduct". The writing style is also inadequate for technical documentation and tends to ramble.)
He is moving because of a church calling, not because of a job. This church calling is only a call to serve (probably at the Stake level), which he apparently is accepting. It is not a job.
The Mormon church is a "lay church"; i.e., it is run by the congregation, there is no paid clergy or leadership. There are leadership roles, of course, but they're not paid is the thing. There aren't really any "clergy" roles, though. The closest thing to clergy is the Bishop, but he's more of a manager/officiator for the Ward. Each member of the congregation is the clergy (known in mainstream Christian theology as the "ecclesia" or "Body of Christ").
So, when he gets to his new city at his new church, he will probably start to look for a Real Job(tm).
See his family history page here:
http://willden.org/Histories/histories.html
All Mormon missionaries are Elders (except for rare female missionaries). Ward and Stake Missionaries are often referred to as Home Missionaries. So calling himself a "home missionary elder" isn't incorrect.
The phrase "Home Missionary" has broader meaning within Christendom, particularly in Restorationist sects (Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventism, Jehovah's Witness, Church of Christ, and many others that came out of the Restorationist movement, so their vocabularies overlap).
Mormonism, compared to the rest of Christianity, is a rather lassez-faire (though morally strict) religion (i.e., a layman's church, no paid clergy, etc.). As a result, you have a lot of regional variation within Mormon culture. For example, I much prefer the attitudes of what I call "midwest Mormons" to those of "Utah Mormons". Though I lived in Australia from 2 to 4, I can't say I got a sense at that age of how "Australian Mormons" are. In general, Mormons outside of the west coast are usually more laid back than the culture that permeates in the Church west of Utah.
Disclaimer: I was raised Mormon in the midwest (Kansas City, Missouri, mostly). I slowly dropped out of the church between 16 and 18 and now describe myself as a "hopeful, spiritual, implicitly critical, explicitly skeptical, freethinking, existentialist, humanist, agnostic, atheist, anarchist".
iTunes demonstrates that *dumb* people will pay for their downloads if they are available. The rest of us, we'll continue to download for free, thank you very much.
I'm this guy: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?w=2&r=1&s=derekm+hac kunix.org&q=a
And these are my vitals:
Derek P. Moore
PO Box 10051
Kansas City, MO 64171-0051
SSN 323-80-9292
Uh oh, someone is really gonna fuck me over now... I'm shakin' in muh boots.
I thought Big Brother was just a schizophrenic dream...
Here at work our legacy product (management software for retail pharmacies, apothecaries, and nursing homes) runs on SCO OpenServer 5.0.5. We're currently moving away from Btrieve to SQL so we can port the software to Linux and ditch SCO once and for all.
Unfortunately, SuSE was chosen as the Linux platform of choice by two guys who no longer work here (and who most people in the company apparently didn't like).
It's too bad, 'cause I mostly can't stand SuSE and its Germanic caveats. I was raised by Slackware, but didn't know Slackware begat SuSE till this discussion (I had always assumed SuSE was a fork of RHL). I can't see hardly a shred of resemblance between Slackware and SuSE. I'd much prefer we were using Fedora, RHEL/CentOS, Slackware, Debian, or Gentoo over SuSE, but the higher ups are already set on shitty lil' SuSE. Oh well.
One thing I will give SuSE... They beat the hell outta SCO!
Another thing I'll give SuSE... People in this discussion have said that SuSE is following Red Hat's lead with OpenSUSE. Well, this all started with Red Hat following SuSE's lead on RHEL. SuSE was about the only distro you couldn't download ISOs for, they claimed ridiculous licensing schemes on their binaries and trademarked graphics, etc. They proved that business model a success and then Red Hat followed their lead in going down a similar road of propriety when ditching RHL and creating RHEL.
To call someone a something-Nazi is a rather common expression in the United States. I wasn't saying all Germans are unlearned Nazis. The "something-Nazi" expression is meant along similar lines as the "fun police" expression.
You may have someone in your office who is a bandwidth-Nazi, for example (they monitor traffic making sure nobody is downloading excessively).
I was simply calling SuSE Intellectual-Property-Nazis for explicitly and ridiculously copyrighting, all-rights-reserving an empty file!
Although, I can't say SuSE ever earned an ounce of my respect, being one of the most proprietary distribution in the history of Linux.
What needs to happen next is all the RPM-based distros need to merge their development trees and package sets under the umbrella of the Fedora Foundation (returning home from whence they all sprang years ago).
The inconsistency between Linux distros is ridiculous and inexcusable (especially for the all-too-German SuSE).
RPM-based Distros Unite!
I've used several Linux distros in various work environments: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Gentoo, etc. It wasn't till my new job that I was forced to work with SuSE. Frankly, SuSE is one of the shittiest NIH-prone distributions I've ever had the displeasure of working with.
/etc/rc.d/boot.local (aka rc.local on other distros). The file is empty except for comments, but still they have explicit copyright notices, all rights reserved. The comments explaining what the file does are in broken English.
One of my co-workers says that SuSE's problem is that it's too German. I have to agree with him.
If you don't know what you're doing, SuSE may be of use to you. But if you're a power user who enjoys consistency and tradition, steer clear of SuSE.
One of my favorite examples of SuSE's excessive Germanness is their
In Fedora, rc.local has a simple comment in plain English describing how to use the file. And since it's an essentially empty file, they graciously leave out ridiculous copyright statements (obviously because they weren't IP-Nazi Germans).
Also, boot.local is executed before going into the first run level. Whereas on other distros, rc.local is run at the end, after all other init scripts.
Intellectualy property IS an oxymoron.
See this comment as to why the FBI subpoenaed logs from flag.blackened.net:d =12097580
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=144320&ci
http://xxx.lanl.gov/
It's too bad SCO has already distributed Linux 2.4.x under the GPL. Thanks, SCO, for delegitimizing your own claims.
They even specifically mention SMP improvements. Isn't their claim to copyright infringement against Linux 2.4's SMP code? So they can jump on the Linux bandwagon, say, "Hey, we've got improved SMP scalability, and we're distributing it under the GPL (because we have to)!", then jump off when their business fails and sue everybody for code they themselves distributed under the GPL?
I browsed through their RPM archives on their FTP. They've removed all the kernel RPMs and SRPMs. Oh well.
Fuck SCO. I hope they crash and burn.
It's too bad this discussion is so old. Somebody should have mentioned the uses of hemp (that's marijuana everybody!) as a source of ethanol (and biodiesel [and biodiesohol]). When presented with the economic facts of hemp, it shines a light on how horribly pathetic the state of the status quo is. But remember, "Just say no!" And stay horribly brainwashed while you're at it.
Or if you're brave, go study the economic and scientific history of cannabis sativa (especially the economic situation surrounding its criminalization).
CmdrTaco: I don't think RMS /ever/ wanted, or suggested that, the kernel's name be changed. I've only ever read that he wishes the /over all/ system be called GNU/Linux. e.g., GNU = most of the userland components, Linux = the kernel. After all, a kernel is only one part of an operating system, and the GNU components play a rather huge part in the over all system. And I don't think RMS means to be fascist in the sense that /everyone/ should /always/ refer to any Linux-based system as 'GNU/Linux' (if anything, RMS' philosophies seem very anti-fascist [and quite revolutionary]). I really think people read /way/ too much into how RMS feels on this subject.
This debate of whether property destruction is a valid (or morally sound) tactic or not is one of the most ancient debates amoung the activist culture. I don't expect most geeks here on slashdot to be familiar with the arguments (since a lot o' the geeks here on slashdot aren't also activists [even though GNU/Linux is inherently tied to the activist community, just read the writings of RMS and ESR]), but most people in the activist community celebrate the diversity of tactics.
"When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the rich of his property; for the rights of the one are as much property to him, as wealth is property to the other, and the little all is as dear as the much. It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal."
-- Thomas Paine
If you're interested in the debate on the justifiablility of property destruction, seek the wisdom of google.
Just a few things I want to counter/correct.
/does/ have video drivers in the kernel. Have you heard of Linux's framebuffer support?? FBDev isn't XFree86's server that uses Linux's framebuffer... FBDev doesn't use a graphics card at all. FBDev is a headless, "dumb" X Server used for X development, it's just a fake framebuffer that doesn't display anywhere.
First, Linux
If you want "FAST 2D alpha BLTS" in Linux, then program with a library that is capable of writing to the kernel's framebuffer. GTK+ can do this now, without X in your way. As can GGI, as well as several other libraries.
True, not too many cards are supported by Linux's framebuffer. But that can only change with time (or time plus programmers, rather).
Btw, GGI is a cross-platform display-type independent graphics library... You say GGI is/was heading in the direction of integrating with the kernel on some primary level... The only way this is true is that GGI can use the framebuffer (which is built into the kernel). Since GGI is display independent, it can also translate it's graphics to display on a text-mode terminal (with aalib) or display using SVGAlib or whatever else. Tying GGI to a specific platform or architecture or display library or OS would actually be counter to its mission.
How the fuck is this propoganda informative. Dumbass moderators should read the other stories on that page. All kinds of conspiracy crap, sounds like a mix of right wing militia types and left-wing potheads
/nothing/ of content or quality to /any/ discussion on /this/ site. So, now I want to complain about all the idiots on Slashdot. The IMC is a 100% democratic and /non-moderated/ website, it is that way for a purpose, it is purposefully built on anarchic principles--if you're too ignorant to understand the rationale, then that is /your/ fault. So what if a few people submit over the top conspiratorial rubish, so what if some posts are too empassioned; at least it's not censored like everything else (and if your posts are any gauge, I'd say all you've ever read is the censored stuff). That's all the time I have to waste on you.
Man, you're ignorant. You comment that some of the stuff on the IMC site is too conspiratorial. You comment that there are too many fuck-ups saying stuff on the IMC site. I ask you: Who are you on this site? I would suggest that you're an ignorant fuck-up contributing
Remember when Circuit City was doing this back in the good ol' DVD vs. DivX days?? Fun fun.
We are still in the dark ages as to what the brain actually does and how it actually does it; and we won't be able to use any of our discoverie in information processing technology for the forseeable future.
In part, I would agree with you. But only to a certain extent. Yes, we don't know a lot. But you make it out to be a lot worse than it is. We also know probably as much as we don't know.
I wish I had a link to back up what I'm about to say, but I read about it in Ray Kurzwiel's book, "The Age of Spiritual Machines." Groups of scientists have actually reverse engineered specific neural networks of human and other animal brains. One group has even re-implemented the visual cortexes of several animal brains (including humans, if I remember correctly) in high-density analog neural networks. There is also currently tons of work being done in other analogous areas.
Hey, a quick search on Google turned up this article: A Little Piece of (Silicon) Cortex.
Read up before your spout off.
Also, I recommend everybody read Kurzwiel's book "The Age of Spiritual Machines."