Most of you are probably sitting there snickering at the idea of a C64/128 web browser. Let me clue you in:)
WAVE wasnt the first, I believe FairligHTML was, but didnt support frames etc. FYI, people still connect to the net with a c64, it's not hard to do. Most of you will remember a beige box with a clunky 1541 hanging off the side (or even just a tape drive if you're british). But the C64 has come a long way baby, and you can expand the system up all the way, to the point where:
it runs at 20Mhz (SuperCPU). Doesnt sound like much, but remember that the 6502 (6510 or 16 bit variants used in the supercpus) are like RISC chips, they dont do much but they do it real fast!:) A 20 Mhz C64 is comparable to a pentium 100 Id reckon, considering that usually you are bashing the chips directly on a c64:)
You can have upwards of 16M of RAM. True this is normally used as a RAMDrive and is not immediately addressable, but hot-damn it's quick.
Gigs of Harddrive space (CMD Stuff) - Dunno WHY you would ever want a gig considering the programs are usually no more than about 170k in entirety, but you can do it:)
FD-2000 and variants - high speed 3.5" floppies which are 1.72M (from memory?). These things are also very cool...
Connecting to the net is simple, just grab a swiftlink and suddenly you can use your new superfast modem. Grab Novaterm and jump on in character mode, or maybe try ACE or LUNIX (working from memory here) if you need PPP...
Basically you can expand a c64 to your heart's content, if you are so inclined. People still use C64s daily. There are still games and demos published for it.
Why would anyone use a c64 when you can get a PC for chips? People are attracted to the c64 due to its simplicity... It does what it does and it does it well. There arent continuous layers of software between you and the hardware. It boots up in under a second. Its fun. The hardware is full of exploitable bugs which are fun to exploit (demo makers have a great time doing this). And last, but no least, it is CHEAP. You can pick up a c64 for nothing. Games are nothing (or very cheap). The games are some of the best ever, and thank god for that because if I had to live in a world full of UT and Quake3's I would go mad!:)
I truly believe that a course in c64 assembler should be a prerequisite for comp sci degrees. NOTHING teaches you tight coding than making a 1Mhz 8 bit chip jump thru hoops (and boy, do some of the demo coders like CREST make it jump thru hoops, their demos are worth the bother of setting up an old c64 alone).
I think there is still a place for this technology. Apart from Eastern Block countries (not everyone has millions of dollars and live in a geek compound:) I think that the c64 is a perfect machine for a kid. I remember first using one and instantly wanting to know what made it tick. The c64 is the reason Im in IT today. However, today's kids are taught on high-end PCs, and just want to know where to double-click to play quake...
Quite sad really.... I miss the thrill of the old days... The c64 in its heyday was like the linux crowd on speed, it was simply *the* most exciting time in computing ever...
How about bootable DVDs? It gives you much more room to play with....
The only problems I see with this are
a) CDROMs are SLOW
b) You cant save out, unless the game manufacturers provide you with a parallel port dongle with some flash in it... or perhaps it could use/dev/fd0?
It would be the ultimate thing for game developers to have a rock-solid API which is totally 'platform independent'. Imagine a DVD with Intel, PowerPC etc binaries on it, but they share graphics/sound etc. Just put the DVD into practically any machine and play away!
If they can get around the speed problems, this would be the ultimate console killer... You could even produce an intel based console for these disks, thus increasing user-base again..
It's ideas like this that sound fantastic, but get crushed by politics...
If you ran that, the border colour would become white (I think its border colour, I always get $d020 and $d021 mixed up) and the machine would restart. The second poke wouldnt happen.
Add a scrolly, there's a demo:)
While on the topic, the c64 is still a *great* machine to code. *nothing* teaches tight coding better than 8 bit assembly on a 1Mhz machine. It should be a required course at uni I reckon.
I might be off-track, but check your modutils version. The newest kernels require the latest modutils, while the older kernels (2.2.x???) require the previous version. They seem to be incompatible, I tried installing 2.4.0 test7 with the older modutils and it failed because the switches have changed. This is on a make modules or make modules_install, can't remember which.
Anyway, check it out and let me know how you go, Ill be giving RH7 a go very soon.. but I will probably stick with 2.4.0 to try to get opengl working...
You've missed one determining factor of WM choice other than overall personal preference - hardware
Would you run Enlightenment on a 386? No, ofcourse not. The main point of this WM is that it is light-weight, something that KDE, Enlightenment or Gnome can not currently claim with a straight face. If I was to run X on a box with limited resources, I would look carefully at XFce as it seems quite funky..
I dont think it would really be feasible to try to secure NFS in this way. It is really designed to be used on trusted LANs, and not much more. Closing the gate after the horse has bolted is never a good idea, it is usually more efficient to start again with a more secure design.
Have you checked out CODA? Quite possibly it may have resolved some of these issues.
GPF, BSOD, CORE DUMP, call it what you will, same shit, different bucket
and besides, it was only a cheap attempt at karma-whoring which didnt work... I guess Im not biased and wildly innaccurate enough. I really should start having a stab at MS even when it is totally OT. Maybe then I can get my karma off 11:)
FYI, I use Linux almost exclusively, but recently had to install a windows 95 partition because of my 'linux DRI sucks' problems. I have written about linux and 3d in a negative light in a few forums, so Im not a total asshole:)
I look forward to the day when OS is irrelevant and apps rule...
Its nice to see a company give back like this, with not much hope of huge returns. I cant imagine that the disabled market is a huge one, especially with an OS like linux/unix where fast typing and the command line rule...
I mean, if you didnt set up these drivers and utilities, who would come after you? Reminds me of the Futurama eposide with Stephen Hawking in it...
I dont know about where you live, but you may also want to investigate the following:
Hardware manufacturers like you to believe 2 things:
1) The warranty is based on the original purchase (ie they can tell you to go away after your original purchase warranty time is up) and
2) Warranties are non-transferable (in other words, if you buy a 2nd hand drive which would still be under warranty, the warranty doesnt apply to you).
In Australia at least, these 2 things are entirely false. When a piece of hardware goes dead, and they supply you with a new/refurb unit, your warranty *starts again*. The warranty is on the individual unit, not the original purchase. Even them supplying you with a refurb 'resets' the warranty, as it is an entirely new transaction. This negates the common practise (good morning HP!, how are your 4020i's treating you?!) of constantly supplying refurbs on units that obviously have a design fault until such time as the original warranties are up.
Secondly, warranties *are* transferable. The warranty is on the unit.. I bought a 2nd-hand 4020i (the guy had just had it replaced) and it went bung about a month later. I had the paperwork from him returning the drive originally, so I tried to return it for a replacement. They told me that the original warranty (12 months) was up, and that I hadnt purchased it new so I had no warranty anyway. A quick phone-call to Fair Trading later, and I was back on the phone telling them that they were liars and cheats. Funnily enough, they gave me a *real* good deal on a new HP8200i...
Look into it, you may be suprised to find that you now have a nice new 3 year (or maybe only 12 month) warranty with your replacement drive.
OK, Ive swallowed the 'linux for the desktop' long enough. Dont get me wrong, I *love* linux, I have Tux tattooed on my arm (literally), I use it exclusively (except for a w95 vm for developer 6)... However, I need to vent:)
Picture the scene, I hear about this 'xinerama' thing, and think 'excellent, thats just what I need'. Matrox release X4.0 drivers for the G400 dual head, so I go and buy one. I rebuild my box with debian potato, try to learn apt (Im used to RPM but it sucks), get X4.0 onto the box via binaries, and configure. Woohoo, up comes xinerama, etc etc etc
OK, here's my bitch: Now I want to install Quake 3 arena, I mean, X4.0 has this DRI thing (which I gather is an implementation of OpenGL). I install Quake 3 arena, and run. The left head goes blank (I think q3 is running fullscreen, sort of) and in the bottom left hand corner is this tiny q3 screen running at about 3 fps...
So, I think 'this isnt running hardware accelerated!'. I search the net, trying to find an answer. I finally asked some E guys (from memory), and they tell me you cant run xinerama AND opengl! I think, ok, it makes sense, what would happen if you dragged an opengl app from one head to the other??.. But youd think it would at least support opengl confined to a single head....
So, I switch off xinerama and rerun. Same thing happens. I search around again, and supposedly I need kernel 2.4 test7 or something, with compiled in agp support. Now, Im thinking, I want to compile E from cvs (since its the only WM Ive found that supports xinerama and I love it), and in order to use some of the kernel patches (imon related stuff) I have to be running 2.2.something.... It never ends, I am literally in the linux equivalent of 'dll hell'.
My main bitch is not that this crap doesnt work (I can live without opengl until things calm down) but the fact that this open-source thingo is meant to be rockin, but it is suffering from lack of direction (it seems)...
I keep thinking 'oh, next version everything will calm down and fall into sync', but everytime something nears the level of maturity to allow this, someone gets bored and goes off on a tangent. You have to match kernel/kernel patches/graphic card drivers/X window/gui toolkit/window manager/applications and it is becoming tiresome... Everyone has their own unique idea of what the desktop should be, effort is being duplicated, and thing is a big stinking mess.
Linux is great for server stuff, but Im wondering whether the desktop is worth the effort and maybe we should all be running beos or something?
If someone wants to come to my rescue and explain all this junk to me I may change my mind:)
Please dont flame me, these are genuine observations from 'one of us'...
Simon
I think many get buried in detail, and miss the underlying issues at work here.
Remember one thing: The government is YOUR government. You PAY their salaries, you vote them in/out, and your local MP is meant to listen to his/her constituents and relay this information to parliament (change MP/parliament to suit form of government;-).
Now, the government can pass as many laws as they please, it doesnt mean a damn thing. How many people do you know who cross an empty street against a red 'Dont Walk' sign? How many people do you know who will casually flick a cigarette butt onto the footpath/sidewalk?
Keep this junk in focus people, if you really think this is a violation of your first amendment rights, IGNORE IT. That's right, pretend it doesnt exist! What are the government going to do, arrest several million people for using deCSS? Governments have a history of ignoring the general public and protecting their own interests (or the interests of those they play golf with) but sooner or later sanity WILL prevail. The law is filled with junk that, to the letter of the law, is illegal, but is NEVER enforced. Things like beating carpets before 6am, tint on car windows, homosexual acts etc etc etc
How about this: stop bloody whinging about it and do something! Go see your local MP, form a protest rally, create an open-source DVD player based on deCSS (hell, Ill post the damn thing!). Sooner or later the heat that the pollies receive outweighs the pleasure of a golf game, and sanity returns.
But for christ's sake people, you *arent* helpless! It is your country, your state, your government!
Getting bogged down in the detail of this case only masks the greater issue: your government is ignoring you and its time they started listening. Simon
Not really. Open Source companies are as inclined as MS to release FUD. Do you really think this thing will be totally 'independent'? Some bad findings/benchmarks, and suddenly someone gets the shits and pulls funding.
Linux just isnt suited to this big name corporate stuff. Its hard enough to tryu to get small/medium companies to take a more open source attitude. Hell, its impossible around here to get Linux installed on a single box, even as a file/print server. But I guarantee you, its even more difficult to try to apply big-business practices to open source development.
Agreed. But I think that, even though it is flawed, the 'herding cats/bazaar' style approach has more going for it than the 'I dont really want to be here/cathedral' style approach.
Depending on the project, you can either use a free-for-all style environment (which may be messy but is good for creating globs of code quickly) or a more regimented environment (linux kernel/KDE prove this works).
Yes, it is herding cats. But from that base comes a development method which has been proven time and time again to work. Again, the basic question is: which would you prefer, a piece of software written by a hundred or so guys who dont really care beyond a pay-cheque, or a hundred or so guys who are doing it to scratch-an-itch(tm) and because they love it?
Originally, I dont believe it was. I think it was a bonus that Napster have accepted with glee.
Its all I use it for. Cant remember last time I bought a CD (maybe it was 'Best of Extreme' when I was holidaying in Madeira). But then again, I have a closet full of 5.25 inch disks filled with pirated c64 games. I think it is hypocritical to turn around and say 'but Napster has valid uses'. Sure, it does, but it is being used primarily as a forum for piracy.
I, for one, condone piracy. I truly believe (and yes, I have my flame-proof suit on) that, for example, I *never* would have bought 4000 c64 games. Without piracy, I wouldnt have bought 200 Playstation games. I own like, 5 originals. There is no way in hell I would have ever bought more than that number. It is not lost revenue if there's no way in hell that you would have spent the money in the first place.
Really, do you think I would buy Len's Album? No way! But I downloaded 'Steal my Sunshine'. If the Album was a few bucks, maybe. $30AUS? In a pink fit. Len suffered no lost revenue from me downloading his song. I would never have bought it anyway.
Am I the only one who doesnt really care what MS does?
Really, lets be honest. I use MS at work (I have to). Some of their products are OK. IE is good/excellent. Outlook is pretty cool. Except for stability/speed, some of their other products (eg Word) are pretty funky. But so what?
MS have already lost, and dont even realise it yet. There is no way that MS can compete with thousands of free developers world-wide. Sure, Office kicks StarOffice's ass, but come back in 5 years and tell me that.
Bottom line: MS cannot compete in the marketplace that Linux has created. End of story.
Really people, dont worry about MS. Linux/BSD/Apache/X/KDE/Gnome etc etc etc have completely changed the rules. They cant kill us. Who cares if they FUD us? And personally, Id rather use a somewhat unstable alpha release of software that someone is writing for love (and thus doing it *right*) than some semi-buggy MS offering. MS are irrelevant. In the short term, their products are better overall. BFD. In the medium/long term, Linux/BSD/Hurd etc etc will own the market. Guaranteed.
Forget what MS are doing, concentrate on hacking out stable and sweet code.
CAT5 is NOT a type of cable! What you have there is technically termed 'blue cable'. CAT5 is an installation/testing scheme, which, if the cable install passes testing using expensive equipment, it is CERTIFIED cat5...
There is no such thing as 'cat5 cable'.. There is such a thing as a 'cat5 installation'. Thus, it is impossible to have a cat5 cable at ninety degrees, because the installation scheme has a whole bunch of rules concerning this, including a lack of kinks/crossovers/parallel runs with power-cable etc etc etc
If you dont follow the rules, hire the equipment, pass the testing and get a certified dude to sign off, it aint cat5.
This is very interesting. What I find most interesting is that while 'free software' people are fighting for freedoms, and in this case are fighting against a form of communism (just replace govt with corporation), free software is often seen as a form of communism!
I think this is bigger than we all realise, and if you studied it in depth you would find the seeds of a new form of government forming, with the best of capitalism and communism bound together.
I mean, lets face it, communism looks best on paper but doesnt work in practise. Capitilism looks bad on paper but works in practise to varying degrees. It is only when people's freedoms are stomped on by mega-corps that this model falls flat on its face.
What we are talking about here is a form of capitalism, but one where money can be best made not by hiding behind lawyers but by actually having the best product/support.
This is simplistic at best, but it would be interesting to study and document this phenom, where people are fighting for the freedom to give away software that provide solutions not otherwise offered. A truly open marketplace, where only those corporations who constantly reinvent themselves (by providing the best 'solution')and do not rest on their laurels hiding behind stupid laws will survive.
Sounds like the utopia of the perfect capitalism/communism mesh to me:)
Slashdot Mirror
Most of you are probably sitting there snickering at the idea of a C64/128 web browser. Let me clue you in :)
:) A 20 Mhz C64 is comparable to a pentium 100 Id reckon, considering that usually you are bashing the chips directly on a c64 :) :)
:)
:) I think that the c64 is a perfect machine for a kid. I remember first using one and instantly wanting to know what made it tick. The c64 is the reason Im in IT today. However, today's kids are taught on high-end PCs, and just want to know where to double-click to play quake...
WAVE wasnt the first, I believe FairligHTML was, but didnt support frames etc. FYI, people still connect to the net with a c64, it's not hard to do. Most of you will remember a beige box with a clunky 1541 hanging off the side (or even just a tape drive if you're british). But the C64 has come a long way baby, and you can expand the system up all the way, to the point where:
it runs at 20Mhz (SuperCPU). Doesnt sound like much, but remember that the 6502 (6510 or 16 bit variants used in the supercpus) are like RISC chips, they dont do much but they do it real fast!
You can have upwards of 16M of RAM. True this is normally used as a RAMDrive and is not immediately addressable, but hot-damn it's quick.
Gigs of Harddrive space (CMD Stuff) - Dunno WHY you would ever want a gig considering the programs are usually no more than about 170k in entirety, but you can do it
FD-2000 and variants - high speed 3.5" floppies which are 1.72M (from memory?). These things are also very cool...
Connecting to the net is simple, just grab a swiftlink and suddenly you can use your new superfast modem. Grab Novaterm and jump on in character mode, or maybe try ACE or LUNIX (working from memory here) if you need PPP...
Basically you can expand a c64 to your heart's content, if you are so inclined. People still use C64s daily. There are still games and demos published for it.
Why would anyone use a c64 when you can get a PC for chips? People are attracted to the c64 due to its simplicity... It does what it does and it does it well. There arent continuous layers of software between you and the hardware. It boots up in under a second. Its fun. The hardware is full of exploitable bugs which are fun to exploit (demo makers have a great time doing this). And last, but no least, it is CHEAP. You can pick up a c64 for nothing. Games are nothing (or very cheap). The games are some of the best ever, and thank god for that because if I had to live in a world full of UT and Quake3's I would go mad!
I truly believe that a course in c64 assembler should be a prerequisite for comp sci degrees. NOTHING teaches you tight coding than making a 1Mhz 8 bit chip jump thru hoops (and boy, do some of the demo coders like CREST make it jump thru hoops, their demos are worth the bother of setting up an old c64 alone).
I think there is still a place for this technology. Apart from Eastern Block countries (not everyone has millions of dollars and live in a geek compound
Quite sad really.... I miss the thrill of the old days... The c64 in its heyday was like the linux crowd on speed, it was simply *the* most exciting time in computing ever...
Simon
How about bootable DVDs? It gives you much more room to play with....
/dev/fd0?
The only problems I see with this are
a) CDROMs are SLOW
b) You cant save out, unless the game manufacturers provide you with a parallel port dongle with some flash in it... or perhaps it could use
It would be the ultimate thing for game developers to have a rock-solid API which is totally 'platform independent'. Imagine a DVD with Intel, PowerPC etc binaries on it, but they share graphics/sound etc. Just put the DVD into practically any machine and play away!
If they can get around the speed problems, this would be the ultimate console killer... You could even produce an intel based console for these disks, thus increasing user-base again..
It's ideas like this that sound fantastic, but get crushed by politics...
Simon
If you ran that, the border colour would become white (I think its border colour, I always get $d020 and $d021 mixed up) and the machine would restart. The second poke wouldnt happen.
:)
Add a scrolly, there's a demo
While on the topic, the c64 is still a *great* machine to code. *nothing* teaches tight coding better than 8 bit assembly on a 1Mhz machine. It should be a required course at uni I reckon.
Simon
[21:02] He comes in, slams me, then walks out to watch TV. what's WRONG with this picture...
The fact that anyone would listen to the guy? I think sig11 needs to calm down a bit....
Simon
I might be off-track, but check your modutils version. The newest kernels require the latest modutils, while the older kernels (2.2.x???) require the previous version. They seem to be incompatible, I tried installing 2.4.0 test7 with the older modutils and it failed because the switches have changed. This is on a make modules or make modules_install, can't remember which.
Anyway, check it out and let me know how you go, Ill be giving RH7 a go very soon.. but I will probably stick with 2.4.0 to try to get opengl working...
Simon
Not at all....
You've missed one determining factor of WM choice other than overall personal preference - hardware
Would you run Enlightenment on a 386? No, ofcourse not. The main point of this WM is that it is light-weight, something that KDE, Enlightenment or Gnome can not currently claim with a straight face. If I was to run X on a box with limited resources, I would look carefully at XFce as it seems quite funky..
Simon
I dont think it would really be feasible to try to secure NFS in this way. It is really designed to be used on trusted LANs, and not much more. Closing the gate after the horse has bolted is never a good idea, it is usually more efficient to start again with a more secure design.
Have you checked out CODA? Quite possibly it may have resolved some of these issues.
Simon
GPF, BSOD, CORE DUMP, call it what you will, same shit, different bucket
:)
:)
and besides, it was only a cheap attempt at karma-whoring which didnt work... I guess Im not biased and wildly innaccurate enough. I really should start having a stab at MS even when it is totally OT. Maybe then I can get my karma off 11
FYI, I use Linux almost exclusively, but recently had to install a windows 95 partition because of my 'linux DRI sucks' problems. I have written about linux and 3d in a negative light in a few forums, so Im not a total asshole
I look forward to the day when OS is irrelevant and apps rule...
Simon
...how they managed to grab these screenshots in between GPFs....
Simon
someone who is not visually impaired?
Beyond the colour-blindness I mean....
Simon
Its nice to see a company give back like this, with not much hope of huge returns. I cant imagine that the disabled market is a huge one, especially with an OS like linux/unix where fast typing and the command line rule...
I mean, if you didnt set up these drivers and utilities, who would come after you? Reminds me of the Futurama eposide with Stephen Hawking in it...
(ducks!)
Simon
What's unfortunate is that you are too stupid to type 'vi Makefile' instead...
:)
Joking people!
Simon
"Why gripe about it?"
Because, in general, people are a bunch of whinging bastards.
Simon
I dont know about where you live, but you may also want to investigate the following:
Hardware manufacturers like you to believe 2 things:
1) The warranty is based on the original purchase (ie they can tell you to go away after your original purchase warranty time is up) and
2) Warranties are non-transferable (in other words, if you buy a 2nd hand drive which would still be under warranty, the warranty doesnt apply to you).
In Australia at least, these 2 things are entirely false. When a piece of hardware goes dead, and they supply you with a new/refurb unit, your warranty *starts again*. The warranty is on the individual unit, not the original purchase. Even them supplying you with a refurb 'resets' the warranty, as it is an entirely new transaction. This negates the common practise (good morning HP!, how are your 4020i's treating you?!) of constantly supplying refurbs on units that obviously have a design fault until such time as the original warranties are up.
Secondly, warranties *are* transferable. The warranty is on the unit.. I bought a 2nd-hand 4020i (the guy had just had it replaced) and it went bung about a month later. I had the paperwork from him returning the drive originally, so I tried to return it for a replacement. They told me that the original warranty (12 months) was up, and that I hadnt purchased it new so I had no warranty anyway. A quick phone-call to Fair Trading later, and I was back on the phone telling them that they were liars and cheats. Funnily enough, they gave me a *real* good deal on a new HP8200i...
Look into it, you may be suprised to find that you now have a nice new 3 year (or maybe only 12 month) warranty with your replacement drive.
Simon
OK, Ive swallowed the 'linux for the desktop' long enough. Dont get me wrong, I *love* linux, I have Tux tattooed on my arm (literally), I use it exclusively (except for a w95 vm for developer 6)... However, I need to vent :)
:)
Picture the scene, I hear about this 'xinerama' thing, and think 'excellent, thats just what I need'. Matrox release X4.0 drivers for the G400 dual head, so I go and buy one. I rebuild my box with debian potato, try to learn apt (Im used to RPM but it sucks), get X4.0 onto the box via binaries, and configure. Woohoo, up comes xinerama, etc etc etc
OK, here's my bitch: Now I want to install Quake 3 arena, I mean, X4.0 has this DRI thing (which I gather is an implementation of OpenGL). I install Quake 3 arena, and run. The left head goes blank (I think q3 is running fullscreen, sort of) and in the bottom left hand corner is this tiny q3 screen running at about 3 fps...
So, I think 'this isnt running hardware accelerated!'. I search the net, trying to find an answer. I finally asked some E guys (from memory), and they tell me you cant run xinerama AND opengl! I think, ok, it makes sense, what would happen if you dragged an opengl app from one head to the other??.. But youd think it would at least support opengl confined to a single head....
So, I switch off xinerama and rerun. Same thing happens. I search around again, and supposedly I need kernel 2.4 test7 or something, with compiled in agp support. Now, Im thinking, I want to compile E from cvs (since its the only WM Ive found that supports xinerama and I love it), and in order to use some of the kernel patches (imon related stuff) I have to be running 2.2.something.... It never ends, I am literally in the linux equivalent of 'dll hell'.
My main bitch is not that this crap doesnt work (I can live without opengl until things calm down) but the fact that this open-source thingo is meant to be rockin, but it is suffering from lack of direction (it seems)...
I keep thinking 'oh, next version everything will calm down and fall into sync', but everytime something nears the level of maturity to allow this, someone gets bored and goes off on a tangent. You have to match kernel/kernel patches/graphic card drivers/X window/gui toolkit/window manager/applications and it is becoming tiresome... Everyone has their own unique idea of what the desktop should be, effort is being duplicated, and thing is a big stinking mess.
Linux is great for server stuff, but Im wondering whether the desktop is worth the effort and maybe we should all be running beos or something?
If someone wants to come to my rescue and explain all this junk to me I may change my mind
Please dont flame me, these are genuine observations from 'one of us'...
Simon
I think many get buried in detail, and miss the underlying issues at work here.
Remember one thing: The government is YOUR government. You PAY their salaries, you vote them in/out, and your local MP is meant to listen to his/her constituents and relay this information to parliament (change MP/parliament to suit form of government;-).
Now, the government can pass as many laws as they please, it doesnt mean a damn thing. How many people do you know who cross an empty street against a red 'Dont Walk' sign? How many people do you know who will casually flick a cigarette butt onto the footpath/sidewalk?
Keep this junk in focus people, if you really think this is a violation of your first amendment rights, IGNORE IT. That's right, pretend it doesnt exist! What are the government going to do, arrest several million people for using deCSS? Governments have a history of ignoring the general public and protecting their own interests (or the interests of those they play golf with) but sooner or later sanity WILL prevail. The law is filled with junk that, to the letter of the law, is illegal, but is NEVER enforced. Things like beating carpets before 6am, tint on car windows, homosexual acts etc etc etc
How about this: stop bloody whinging about it and do something! Go see your local MP, form a protest rally, create an open-source DVD player based on deCSS (hell, Ill post the damn thing!). Sooner or later the heat that the pollies receive outweighs the pleasure of a golf game, and sanity returns.
But for christ's sake people, you *arent* helpless! It is your country, your state, your government!
Getting bogged down in the detail of this case only masks the greater issue: your government is ignoring you and its time they started listening.
Simon
Not really. Open Source companies are as inclined as MS to release FUD. Do you really think this thing will be totally 'independent'? Some bad findings/benchmarks, and suddenly someone gets the shits and pulls funding.
Linux just isnt suited to this big name corporate stuff. Its hard enough to tryu to get small/medium companies to take a more open source attitude. Hell, its impossible around here to get Linux installed on a single box, even as a file/print server. But I guarantee you, its even more difficult to try to apply big-business practices to open source development.
Simon
So just how long is the decss source? :)
Simon
My point: I dont want no corba/transfer manager/mail client/bookmark lists/window manager integration/etc etc etc.
I want a gtk based browser. Thats all...
Simon
Yeh, Galeon is great....
:)
Pity it needs the Gnome libs... which I dont install.
Is there a Galeon fork with removal of the Gnome crap? I want straight gtk people
Simon
Agreed. But I think that, even though it is flawed, the 'herding cats/bazaar' style approach has more going for it than the 'I dont really want to be here/cathedral' style approach.
Depending on the project, you can either use a free-for-all style environment (which may be messy but is good for creating globs of code quickly) or a more regimented environment (linux kernel/KDE prove this works).
Yes, it is herding cats. But from that base comes a development method which has been proven time and time again to work. Again, the basic question is: which would you prefer, a piece of software written by a hundred or so guys who dont really care beyond a pay-cheque, or a hundred or so guys who are doing it to scratch-an-itch(tm) and because they love it?
IMHO, not really a difficult question...
Simon
Originally, I dont believe it was. I think it was a bonus that Napster have accepted with glee.
:)
Its all I use it for. Cant remember last time I bought a CD (maybe it was 'Best of Extreme' when I was holidaying in Madeira). But then again, I have a closet full of 5.25 inch disks filled with pirated c64 games. I think it is hypocritical to turn around and say 'but Napster has valid uses'. Sure, it does, but it is being used primarily as a forum for piracy.
I, for one, condone piracy. I truly believe (and yes, I have my flame-proof suit on) that, for example, I *never* would have bought 4000 c64 games. Without piracy, I wouldnt have bought 200 Playstation games. I own like, 5 originals. There is no way in hell I would have ever bought more than that number. It is not lost revenue if there's no way in hell that you would have spent the money in the first place.
Really, do you think I would buy Len's Album? No way! But I downloaded 'Steal my Sunshine'. If the Album was a few bucks, maybe. $30AUS? In a pink fit. Len suffered no lost revenue from me downloading his song. I would never have bought it anyway.
Flame away!
Simon
Am I the only one who doesnt really care what MS does?
Really, lets be honest. I use MS at work (I have to). Some of their products are OK. IE is good/excellent. Outlook is pretty cool. Except for stability/speed, some of their other products (eg Word) are pretty funky. But so what?
MS have already lost, and dont even realise it yet. There is no way that MS can compete with thousands of free developers world-wide. Sure, Office kicks StarOffice's ass, but come back in 5 years and tell me that.
Bottom line: MS cannot compete in the marketplace that Linux has created. End of story.
Really people, dont worry about MS. Linux/BSD/Apache/X/KDE/Gnome etc etc etc have completely changed the rules. They cant kill us. Who cares if they FUD us? And personally, Id rather use a somewhat unstable alpha release of software that someone is writing for love (and thus doing it *right*) than some semi-buggy MS offering. MS are irrelevant. In the short term, their products are better overall. BFD. In the medium/long term, Linux/BSD/Hurd etc etc will own the market. Guaranteed.
Forget what MS are doing, concentrate on hacking out stable and sweet code.
Simon
For once and for all people!!!!!
CAT5 is NOT a type of cable! What you have there is technically termed 'blue cable'. CAT5 is an installation/testing scheme, which, if the cable install passes testing using expensive equipment, it is CERTIFIED cat5...
There is no such thing as 'cat5 cable'.. There is such a thing as a 'cat5 installation'. Thus, it is impossible to have a cat5 cable at ninety degrees, because the installation scheme has a whole bunch of rules concerning this, including a lack of kinks/crossovers/parallel runs with power-cable etc etc etc
If you dont follow the rules, hire the equipment, pass the testing and get a certified dude to sign off, it aint cat5.
End Rant.
Simon
This is very interesting. What I find most interesting is that while 'free software' people are fighting for freedoms, and in this case are fighting against a form of communism (just replace govt with corporation), free software is often seen as a form of communism!
:)
I think this is bigger than we all realise, and if you studied it in depth you would find the seeds of a new form of government forming, with the best of capitalism and communism bound together.
I mean, lets face it, communism looks best on paper but doesnt work in practise. Capitilism looks bad on paper but works in practise to varying degrees. It is only when people's freedoms are stomped on by mega-corps that this model falls flat on its face.
What we are talking about here is a form of capitalism, but one where money can be best made not by hiding behind lawyers but by actually having the best product/support.
This is simplistic at best, but it would be interesting to study and document this phenom, where people are fighting for the freedom to give away software that provide solutions not otherwise offered. A truly open marketplace, where only those corporations who constantly reinvent themselves (by providing the best 'solution')and do not rest on their laurels hiding behind stupid laws will survive.
Sounds like the utopia of the perfect capitalism/communism mesh to me
Simon