Portable Document Format anyone?(hrm this is probably redundant)
As far as I know, the spec is open and there are some open source viewers (although you may as well just use Adobe's, I haven't really liked any of the ones I tried.) There is the dvipdfm package to convert LaTeX dvi output to pdf files and apparently there are Word plugins(?) that have the same effect.
Sure, it isn't perfect, but it has a wide user base and the tools are out there.
I added an ugly hack(first thing I ever programmed) to a nice, light and fast WM(http://flwm.sourceforge.net which is really nice on its own), and it works perfectly for me. It stays out of my way, and when I want it to do something, everything is right at my fingertips.
I put it up at (http://squared.virtualave.net/files.html), but I doubt anyone else but myself is going to use it.
Anyway, my point is that all these new GUIs just seem to be piling more stuff onto regular GUI concepts. I found that by adding something simple, yet different, I made a great wm way more convienient and useful(at least for my use). I wonder if the same approach would work on such next-generation GUIs.
Well, looking at the page a bit, I like the fact that they used Linux. With the wireless networking stuff in there, this would be a neat thing just to use around the house. I could run vi or emacs to type stuff out on it anywhere, send it to my main computer and compile it or print it/whatever. Just using it as a wireless terminal would be damn cool.
Not that you couldn't do such things with other OS's but Linux is pretty well suited to the kind of things you would do with it. Hm, you could even use console software like micq and lynx for pretty good Internet connectivity.
That's what I was thinking. I think hyperlinks in documents is a good thing, but I do agree with their point that we should try to return to something simpler. Hm, gopher sites with some kind of rich document format (PDF?) or a markup language like HTML(although that wouldn't make any sense)?
I don't really see using gopher as being a big improvement in anything but speed. They are really fighting an uphill battle against the web. How are they going to compete with that large content base? I guess they could coexist with it, but I don't think they could get very far.
I think their best chance would be a new system based on gopher concepts. But again, it all seems kind of pointless. A new Internet hyperdocument system would be cool though.
Hm, speaking of underdog operating systems, I've been keeping an eye on atheos(http://www.atheos.cx) and v2os(http://www.v2os.cx), but they don't seem in a good enough state to try yet. Maybe if they ported SDL and a toolkit like GTK over they could take advantage of the existing applications and games out there for Linux.
Hm, from what I read that looks pretty interesting, seems like it would be nice to use, but there are no screenshots!
I tried the editor in Amaya for a bit, but it seemed a bit slow.
A good strucutured document editor is something I would like, because Word really annoys me. I tried LyX and didn't like it. So far, pure LaTeX has been pretty good, but a nice graphical editor would make things better.
Hrm, couldn't you just convert TeX output into PDF files and post them? Not really a great choice, but I don't think having TeX as a rendering engine would work well. Maybe just for math equations, but not for whole pages.
Anyone remember http://www.atheos.cx ? It seems to have a lot of promise. It seems to be very light and hopefully, fast.
Has anyone tried it?
OSes seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days (I'm going by base installs, not kernel/whatever), something quick and small that stays out of your way is good. That was always the nice thing about DOS.
Yeah, that's the problem here, people keep leaving for higher paying jobs in the states.
The way Canada is doesn't make it easy to stay though. I was reading an article on how it is hard for high-tech startups to get investment here compared to the US, plus the tax system reduces the benefits of giving stock options to employees.
While an unfair view, it is something like this:
1. Greedy already rich system having its rights violated is not really bad.
2. Greedy company is unfairly using something donated to the community to profit is bad.
People trading music over napster don't really make money in their copyright violation.
Sun was trying to increase the popularity of its platform(and therefore make more money) by using community donated work without releasing the information it was supposed to.
It isn't so much hypocrisy, just the thought that one group is different than another. I guess it depends on what you believe in more. Freedom of information/giving to the community or IP rights/capitalism(?).
The whole thing about this mp3 issue is that no one is handling it delicately, as it should be. Artists see their rights being violated, yell at fans, fans get angry. I haven't seen anything here where the artists have asked fans not to download off napster and support them. What about a simple link on their website that says "If you have downloaded mp3s by our group, please support our group and pay us xxx cents per song/click on a banner/fill out marketing survey" Now wouldn't that be better than saying "YOU HAVE VIOLATED MY RIGHTS! STOP AND/OR PAY UP!" because, really, most people using napster don't see anything wrong with downloading songs. It isn't that they want to violate artist rights, it is just that Napster is a much easier way of getting music than buying CDs. If they only cared about free music, they wouldn't bother with buying anything and just tape everything off the radio. Yes artists have the legal right to defend their copyright rights, but that doesn't mean they have to use lawsuits.
"Please prove that they receive more money this way than with a record company. "
Well:
1. "Yes, and little of the music on MP3.com is good."
2. Some only have small-but-loyal followings and may not have the mass appeal of music coming from a record company. In most cases, they wouldn't even be able to get a deal with a record company.
I agree it takes a lot of time to wade through mp3.com's music. I've really tried and only found a few nice songs after hours of searching. mp3.com could really benefit from hiring people to rank the songs(as far as I've seen, the download ranking does not work well) or even have columns featuring some good songs. Ranking the groups would also help.
let's see the lawyers get out of that catch. Heh, wonder if you could use that excuse at the theater. That is really the only place they have strict age checking I can see.
Slashdot Mirror
Portable Document Format anyone?(hrm this is probably redundant)
As far as I know, the spec is open and there are some open source viewers (although you may as well just use Adobe's, I haven't really liked any of the ones I tried.) There is the dvipdfm package to convert LaTeX dvi output to pdf files and apparently there are Word plugins(?) that have the same effect.
Sure, it isn't perfect, but it has a wide user base and the tools are out there.
I added an ugly hack(first thing I ever programmed) to a nice, light and fast WM(http://flwm.sourceforge.net which is really nice on its own), and it works perfectly for me. It stays out of my way, and when I want it to do something, everything is right at my fingertips.
I put it up at (http://squared.virtualave.net/files.html), but I doubt anyone else but myself is going to use it.
Anyway, my point is that all these new GUIs just seem to be piling more stuff onto regular GUI concepts. I found that by adding something simple, yet different, I made a great wm way more convienient and useful(at least for my use). I wonder if the same approach would work on such next-generation GUIs.
Hmm.
Well, looking at the page a bit, I like the fact that they used Linux. With the wireless networking stuff in there, this would be a neat thing just to use around the house. I could run vi or emacs to type stuff out on it anywhere, send it to my main computer and compile it or print it/whatever. Just using it as a wireless terminal would be damn cool.
Not that you couldn't do such things with other OS's but Linux is pretty well suited to the kind of things you would do with it. Hm, you could even use console software like micq and lynx for pretty good Internet connectivity.
That's what I was thinking. I think hyperlinks in documents is a good thing, but I do agree with their point that we should try to return to something simpler. Hm, gopher sites with some kind of rich document format (PDF?) or a markup language like HTML(although that wouldn't make any sense)?
I don't really see using gopher as being a big improvement in anything but speed. They are really fighting an uphill battle against the web. How are they going to compete with that large content base? I guess they could coexist with it, but I don't think they could get very far.
I think their best chance would be a new system based on gopher concepts. But again, it all seems kind of pointless. A new Internet hyperdocument system would be cool though.
Hm, speaking of underdog operating systems, I've been keeping an eye on atheos(http://www.atheos.cx) and v2os(http://www.v2os.cx), but they don't seem in a good enough state to try yet. Maybe if they ported SDL and a toolkit like GTK over they could take advantage of the existing applications and games out there for Linux.
Hm, from what I read that looks pretty interesting, seems like it would be nice to use, but there are no screenshots!
I tried the editor in Amaya for a bit, but it seemed a bit slow.
A good strucutured document editor is something I would like, because Word really annoys me. I tried LyX and didn't like it. So far, pure LaTeX has been pretty good, but a nice graphical editor would make things better.
Hrm, couldn't you just convert TeX output into PDF files and post them? Not really a great choice, but I don't think having TeX as a rendering engine would work well. Maybe just for math equations, but not for whole pages.
Check out some of the winners, they are quite impressive. Where else can you find code for a flight simulator that looks like a plane?
http://www.ioccc.org/years.html#1998
http://www.ioccc.org/1998/banks.c
http://www.ioccc.org/1998/banks.hint
Last time I tried, it wouldn't compile, but I guess you can't expect too much portability from something like this.
Anyone remember http://www.atheos.cx ? It seems to have a lot of promise. It seems to be very light and hopefully, fast.
Has anyone tried it?
OSes seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days (I'm going by base installs, not kernel/whatever), something quick and small that stays out of your way is good. That was always the nice thing about DOS.
Yeah, that's the problem here, people keep leaving for higher paying jobs in the states.
The way Canada is doesn't make it easy to stay though. I was reading an article on how it is hard for high-tech startups to get investment here compared to the US, plus the tax system reduces the benefits of giving stock options to employees.
While an unfair view, it is something like this:
1. Greedy already rich system having its rights violated is not really bad.
2. Greedy company is unfairly using something donated to the community to profit is bad.
People trading music over napster don't really make money in their copyright violation.
Sun was trying to increase the popularity of its platform(and therefore make more money) by using community donated work without releasing the information it was supposed to.
It isn't so much hypocrisy, just the thought that one group is different than another. I guess it depends on what you believe in more. Freedom of information/giving to the community or IP rights/capitalism(?).
The whole thing about this mp3 issue is that no one is handling it delicately, as it should be. Artists see their rights being violated, yell at fans, fans get angry. I haven't seen anything here where the artists have asked fans not to download off napster and support them. What about a simple link on their website that says "If you have downloaded mp3s by our group, please support our group and pay us xxx cents per song/click on a banner/fill out marketing survey" Now wouldn't that be better than saying "YOU HAVE VIOLATED MY RIGHTS! STOP AND/OR PAY UP!" because, really, most people using napster don't see anything wrong with downloading songs. It isn't that they want to violate artist rights, it is just that Napster is a much easier way of getting music than buying CDs. If they only cared about free music, they wouldn't bother with buying anything and just tape everything off the radio. Yes artists have the legal right to defend their copyright rights, but that doesn't mean they have to use lawsuits.
"Please prove that they receive more money this way than with a record company. "
Well:
1. "Yes, and little of the music on MP3.com is good."
2. Some only have small-but-loyal followings and may not have the mass appeal of music coming from a record company. In most cases, they wouldn't even be able to get a deal with a record company.
I agree it takes a lot of time to wade through mp3.com's music. I've really tried and only found a few nice songs after hours of searching. mp3.com could really benefit from hiring people to rank the songs(as far as I've seen, the download ranking does not work well) or even have columns featuring some good songs. Ranking the groups would also help.
"BTW, the Copernican theory is wrong - the Earth does not revolve around the Sun, they both revolve around their common centre of mass."
That sounds neat, I've never thought about it that way. Any pages explaining this?
Salon is actually, a pretty good web magazine most of the time, which is probably why the guy said "I couldn't find it."
Most of their Linux articles are pro-Linux.
Is based on mutt. Haven't seen any new versions for a while though....
let's see the lawyers get out of that catch. Heh, wonder if you could use that excuse at the theater. That is really the only place they have strict age checking I can see.