Does anyone remember ZZT, the DOS game that uses the smily character as the player with the beepy PC speaker music? I still play that game, and many other do. As long as there is ZZT, there will be ASCII!
OT, but checkout www.planetzztpp.com, they're working on a Linux version!
If your going to do this (and believe me, it's no trivial task), don't forget to use Encap, the packaging system that Nomad Linux uses. Basically, it each application goes in its own directory in/usr/local/encap/ and Encap makes symbolic links to directories on the path. Thus, removing a package is a snap. It takes longer, because you have to set up configure to do it each time you compile something, and sometimes you have to do it manually, but it makes it a hell of a lot easier when you want to upgrade or remove a package. Even if you're not going to "roll your own distribution," it makes life easier.
I remember installing Linux for the first time in November 1998, it was slackware 3.6 and I downloaded the whole thing. It took me several months (I'll admit, I was a NEWBIE) to get X working properly, partly because there weren't any drivers for the i740 and because I was clueless. Over the past year I've learned a lot by doing it the hard way- configuring printer support, getting sound working (I bought an sblive), compiling new software. Now I can safely say I'm far from a beginner (though no expert). And still, what I praise Linux for is it's true beauty: long-tested, open source, quality programs such as latex, gimp, vi/emacs, gcc, perl, and unix utilities.
Now none of the configuration troubles I went through are needed- linux has progressed tremendously. KDE/Gnome (though now I use IceWM with no DE), the kernel, abiword, gnumeric, xmms. Hopefully soon we'll get a really good web browser (I'm sick of typing killall -9 netscape every 30 minutes) and DVD support.
However, I hope with Linux in the future you will still have a choice of what software you can run. Just in the last month I've discovered LaTeX, and being a long-time html coder, it was easy to pick up, and now I see it as a tremendous improvement to the wordprocessor philosophy. Now I can do all of my reports/letters in latex, vi, aspell (much better than ispell, btw), with some nice mp3s in the background, much faster than with windows. I'm also learning bash programming and soon perl/c. But anyway, I'll admit, forcing the idea of Linux on people just doesn't work. Linux is an OS for people with higher expectations of their computers (and no billy, crashing four times a day with just a simple file server running and a few apps IS unacceptable). I know I'm beginning to sound somewhat corny, but thank you everyone who made this all possible- the linux kernel hackers, kde/gnome projects, and even the thousands of people who write 0.1 software on freshmeat. I really like what Linux is today, and it's great to see an article with an average user embracing it.
To you Slashdot readers who regularly use drugs: grow up! It appears from the comments here that a lot of geeks/hackers use "pschadelics" such as acid/lsd to get an altered state of consciousness. True, this can give a source of creativity/ inspriration, but it is only temporary and causes long-term problems. Is it really worth risking your whole life just for some quick creativity?
If you are really interested in mind travel, such as astral projection, subconscious "hacking," and lucidity, learn to do it the natural way without drugs. Sure, it may take a long time to learn it but you'll get more rewards with no side effects. If you're interested in mind travel I would suggest the following page:
Kind of like brownies right out of the oven- they need to cool off but I want it now! With the release of these four software packages Linux is going to have a great showdown with Windows 2000 on the desktop.
Well I guess I should stop typing and start downloading/compiling...
A while back I did a research paper on this issue... it's even more scary now. What pro-censorware advocates don't understand is that I partially agree with them: I don't approve of looking at porn (personally) in the library- but I don't support the use of censorware to block it. Or course it shouldn't be done on library terminals. The beauty with the current situation is the librarian can quietly ask the offending patron to leave. Nobody else has to suffer from the inaccuracies and overblocking of censorware.
What many people have mentioned is that the software overblocks. True. Gays/ activist organizations/ sex education/ minority religions/viewpoints have all been blocked by censorware, and will be blocked. But the Constitution is about protecting the minority, not the majority. By installing censorware in libraries we're gagging the minorities, silently. What scares me is this AOL/time warner thing might further influence the future of internet connections in libraries, and maybe someday we'll forget what freedom is. We need to vote this down- a library here, a library there. If we don't, sooner or later, all of the libraries will use censorware, and what will we do then? Fight for freedom while you can now.
Congradulations to the Ice development team! I've been using 0.8.16 for awhile- I guess it's time to upgrade. BTW, if you're curious I recently reviewed Icewm 0.8 at http://home.mho.net/zrpg/use1.html. And no, IceWM is not just another 1.0 window manager. It's quite stable and flexible- been in development for a few years. Try it out if you're looking for an alternative. Or don't. Isn't Linux about choice anyway?
I'm tired of hearing this crap about how Ice resembles Windows 95; Ice does emulate some of the better features of its interface, of course with clean, unbloated code. Besides, you can customize it however you want.
Y2K? The issue has nothing to do with computers. It's about people. On January 1st, the maturity of our society will show. Riots, looting, religious freaks going wild, etc. will happen. The damage of this who knows. The major problem won't be the U.S. and other "western countries." Not really third-world countries either. Countries like Russia who are already in bad shape and who have infrastructure built are going to have problems. There's even a slight possibility that such countries could collapse. Because of this "global economy", the if one major country severely collapses everything could go down like dominos.
Aside from Y2K, the United States is having social problems. This so called "culture" of amusing ourselves with TV, rap music, violence is not good. We are destroying life and ecosystems. Society is becoming more and more complex with more things to worry about every day. Is it just me or has anyone noticed that the US government is becoming more powerful each year? Don't take the American style of living for granted, our society is indeed very fragile- and it isn't going to last forever. There is a small and unlikely possiblity that Y2K could trigger the end of this current way of life. Whether it happens now, five years, or 20 years, I fear we will experience great revolution. Not from some planned "End of the World," not from some religious tale, and I'm not talking about Linux either:) Soon we'll be headed into a revolution that's our own fault- caused by OUR choices. Hopefully, we can repair this world before it's too late. Otherwise, kiss this world goodbye, kiss Microsoft goodbye. Bye-bye Linux. It's going to be a wild roller coaster ride, so hang on tight!
A lot of people have mentioned Lynx as an alternative browser to Netscape. I agree with this, Lynx is small, fast, stable, and efficient at what it does. The problem with it isn't necessarily that it can't display images(most images on the web serve no purpose, important ones can be viewed with another application), but that it is not good when it comes to laying out tables and frames(doesn't do it). There's another browser called W3M, which can be configured with a lynx-like interface. In fact, I'm using W3M right now!
I tried it several months ago and it worked really crappy. But recently(with the last release, in fact) the table layout engine was revised and I am amazed at how well it can render text. The Slashdot homepage looks fairly decent, and right now it is very navigable.
Of course there are problems with it: I don't think cookies are implemented properly, you have to wait for the whole page to load before you view it, and theres a lot of minor glitches. But for those geeks who want an alternative to Netscape, want to browse for text (but are fed up with Lynx), grab a copy of W3M and try it yourself(do a search on Freshmeat). I think you'll agree with me that this puppy has a lot of potential. (Similar goal to the Opera text browser, but this is GPLed!) It's getting better with each release.
Also, on the GUI side, I like Konqueror(the kde browser). Sure it's not perfect, but especially with the upcoming KDE 2.0, we'll have a great package that will be usable for anyone. So yes, there are good alternatives to Netscape! Don't worry about whether 5.0 is released or not! We'll defeat them with our own browser.
I'm really getting disgusted of where the industy is going. Barbie/Hotwheel computers for kids? Young kids are going to treat this as a toy just to play racing games. Spend XXX$ just for an over-hyped game machine? I hope these same kids don't grow up thinking that computers are toys. Same thing with all of these new machines: iToaster, iMac, iBook, etc., computers need to be used as TOOLS, damnit!
This new trend makes computers just overpowered calculators with flashy designs. Computers need to be used the way they should: a device which can accomplish anything (providing that it has enough power) that can be programmed. We should be teaching kids to treat computers as expensive tools, not some hotwheels car to roll across the floor.
Actually, I am seeing duplication of effort. How many distrobutions now want to make an easy to use and install Linux? Let's see:
RedHat (well, sort of. At least easy installs) Mandrake easyLinux StormixLinux CorelLinux Project independence Caldera
sooo many others too, I've lost count. There's so many distributions now that have goals of making it easy. I think many distributions is good if they all have different goals. But now some distributions are re-inventing the wheel. Let's take Mandrake, for example. The wanted to bundle KDE with Redhat. Fine. Now Redhat comes with both KDE and Gnome, and let's you choose which at install. What advantage does Mandrake have now?
Besides these, there are so many other distributions that all seem to want to do the same thing. So while ESR wasn't talking about distributions, it is time to consolidate, join together and stop obsolete projects. We all know Linux can win with servers and large corporations. The news about SGI dropping Irix and NT is expected. It's time, and we all know it too, to put Linux on the desktop. If more users use Linux, it means less Microsoft monopolies, better software, more hardware support. And right now, Linux has a long way to go. How is wasting effort going to help us get there? Ok, so we have two desktop environments, KDE and Gnome. That's okay I guess. But there is too many options for the user, with none of them being what (s)he wants.
Yes, you can spend your days complaining about the quality and formats of MP3/CD, but no sound quality is better than a live group of musicians playing right in front of you. No amount of technology will ever be able to change that.
I see this as an attempt for M$ to spread future FUD about Linux. "Once again, Windows is the only OS for serious, high end users. Linux is only used on some commercial dirt cheap systems because it's cheap and power is not important on those systems. Use Windows NT: Creating innovations of the future."
A lot of people on/. are saying to use some specific text editor. Some say UltraEdit, some say Notepad, some Emacs, and I say VI!!!!!!! Whichever text editor you choose, they are, combined with pencil+paper, the most powerful tool possible for creating web pages.
Why? With just a little knowledge of some basic commands, you can create a fantastic web page, with all of the bells and whisles if you choose(or just pure information). You create directly at the level of the HTML, and get to choose the way to format it you want. Furthermore, most of the editing is just copy/pasting, and it takes little effort to make great results. Why use a mangled editor that trys to control your product for you?
The real reason is that if you use a text editor you will tend to use logical tags. This means that you format it according to BIG/SMALL, H1/H#, STRONG, EMPHASIS, CITATION, etc. This way, the end result will look great on all browsers and operating systems. An HTML editor will use physical font sizes, hard preformatted text, individual specific fonts, and strange colors. It will look good on your particle combination of resolution, browser, and os, but may look poor on another. With logical tags and a combination of whatever you want you can control the output very strongly and still create a lot of combatibility.
With any multitasking OS, whether that be Unix:>, Windows:( or even the Mac:= switching between editor/browser is really a matter of a mouse click or CTRL-Z,%2. If that is too complicated for you than maybe you shouldn't be messing with computers/web pages in the first place.
Now that you've heard that about the text editor, here's my opinion about which one: VI! It runs on Windows, Mac, all the Unices, Amiga, Atari, DOS, etc. It's lightweight. It's jam-packed with all of the great features you'd expect in a text editor(syntax highlighting, searches, text transportation, etc). Tasks that might take you 3-4 mouse clicks plus typing in Notepad can be completed with a few keyboard strokes. It has lots of little commands to move the cursor around more efficiently and to save time. I've even seen versions that let you preview the HTML! It's a lot to learn, but with a little time you can master it. (Don't get me wrong, Emacs is great too if you like doing other stuff while you edit).
So the point is, whatever text editor you choose, you will have more control and will create a better end product than any layout tool can ever make.
I think he made a really good point- commercial companies can support and add on to an OSS project. That way it's the best of both worlds- hackers and developers can use it, and end users can enjoy the benefit of the software.
There is one problem, though: the developers of the project are not the ones who see the money. I wish more of the companies who adapt open source could pay the programmers who wrote the core.
Slashdot Mirror
Does anyone remember ZZT, the DOS game that uses the smily character as the player with the beepy PC speaker music? I still play that game, and many other do. As long as there is ZZT, there will be ASCII!
OT, but checkout www.planetzztpp.com, they're working on a Linux version!
If your going to do this (and believe me, it's no trivial task), don't forget to use Encap, the packaging system that Nomad Linux uses. Basically, it each application goes in its own directory in /usr/local/encap/ and Encap makes symbolic links to directories on the path. Thus, removing a package is a snap. It takes longer, because you have to set up configure to do it each time you compile something, and sometimes you have to do it manually, but it makes it a hell of a lot easier when you want to upgrade or remove a package. Even if you're not going to "roll your own distribution," it makes life easier.
I remember installing Linux for the first time in November 1998, it was slackware 3.6 and I downloaded the whole thing. It took me several months (I'll admit, I was a NEWBIE) to get X working properly, partly because there weren't any drivers for the i740 and because I was clueless. Over the past year I've learned a lot by doing it the hard way- configuring printer support, getting sound working (I bought an sblive), compiling new software. Now I can safely say I'm far from a beginner (though no expert). And still, what I praise Linux for is it's true beauty: long-tested, open source, quality programs such as latex, gimp, vi/emacs, gcc, perl, and unix utilities.
Now none of the configuration troubles I went through are needed- linux has progressed tremendously. KDE/Gnome (though now I use IceWM with no DE), the kernel, abiword, gnumeric, xmms. Hopefully soon we'll get a really good web browser (I'm sick of typing killall -9 netscape every 30 minutes) and DVD support.
However, I hope with Linux in the future you will still have a choice of what software you can run. Just in the last month I've discovered LaTeX, and being a long-time html coder, it was easy to pick up, and now I see it as a tremendous improvement to the wordprocessor philosophy. Now I can do all of my reports/letters in latex, vi, aspell (much better than ispell, btw), with some nice mp3s in the background, much faster than with windows. I'm also learning bash programming and soon perl/c. But anyway, I'll admit, forcing the idea of Linux on people just doesn't work. Linux is an OS for people with higher expectations of their computers (and no billy, crashing four times a day with just a simple file server running and a few apps IS unacceptable). I know I'm beginning to sound somewhat corny, but thank you everyone who made this all possible- the linux kernel hackers, kde/gnome projects, and even the thousands of people who write 0.1 software on freshmeat. I really like what Linux is today, and it's great to see an article with an average user embracing it.
To you Slashdot readers who regularly use drugs: grow up! It appears from the comments here that a lot of geeks/hackers use "pschadelics" such as acid/lsd to get an altered state of consciousness. True, this can give a source of creativity/ inspriration, but it is only temporary and causes long-term problems. Is it really worth risking your whole life just for some quick creativity?
If you are really interested in mind travel, such as astral projection, subconscious "hacking," and lucidity, learn to do it the natural way without drugs. Sure, it may take a long time to learn it but you'll get more rewards with no side effects. If you're interested in mind travel I would suggest the following page:
http://www.xsite.ltd.uk/wren/.
Linux 2.4, XFree 4.0, ext3fs, KDE2.
...
Kind of like brownies right out of the oven- they need to cool off but I want it now! With the release of these four software packages Linux is going to have a great showdown with Windows 2000 on the desktop.
Well I guess I should stop typing and start downloading/compiling
A while back I did a research paper on this issue... it's even more scary now. What pro-censorware advocates don't understand is that I partially agree with them: I don't approve of looking at porn (personally) in the library- but I don't support the use of censorware to block it. Or course it shouldn't be done on library terminals. The beauty with the current situation is the librarian can quietly ask the offending patron to leave. Nobody else has to suffer from the inaccuracies and overblocking of censorware.
What many people have mentioned is that the software overblocks. True. Gays/ activist organizations/ sex education/ minority religions/viewpoints have all been blocked by censorware, and will be blocked. But the Constitution is about protecting the minority, not the majority. By installing censorware in libraries we're gagging the minorities, silently. What scares me is this AOL/time warner thing might further influence the future of internet connections in libraries, and maybe someday we'll forget what freedom is. We need to vote this down- a library here, a library there. If we don't, sooner or later, all of the libraries will use censorware, and what will we do then? Fight for freedom while you can now.
Congradulations to the Ice development team! I've been using 0.8.16 for awhile- I guess it's time to upgrade. BTW, if you're curious I recently reviewed Icewm 0.8 at http://home.mho.net/zrpg/use1.html. And no, IceWM is not just another 1.0 window manager. It's quite stable and flexible- been in development for a few years. Try it out if you're looking for an alternative. Or don't. Isn't Linux about choice anyway?
I'm tired of hearing this crap about how Ice resembles Windows 95; Ice does emulate some of the better features of its interface, of course with clean, unbloated code. Besides, you can customize it however you want.
One word: CUPS
Y2K? The issue has nothing to do with computers. It's about people. On January 1st, the maturity of our society will show. Riots, looting, religious freaks going wild, etc. will happen. The damage of this who knows. The major problem won't be the U.S. and other "western countries." Not really third-world countries either. Countries like Russia who are already in bad shape and who have infrastructure built are going to have problems. There's even a slight possibility that such countries could collapse. Because of this "global economy", the if one major country severely collapses everything could go down like dominos.
:) Soon we'll be headed into a revolution that's our own fault- caused by OUR choices. Hopefully, we can repair this world before it's too late. Otherwise, kiss this world goodbye, kiss Microsoft goodbye. Bye-bye Linux. It's going to be a wild roller coaster ride, so hang on tight!
Aside from Y2K, the United States is having social problems. This so called "culture" of amusing ourselves with TV, rap music, violence is not good. We are destroying life and ecosystems. Society is becoming more and more complex with more things to worry about every day. Is it just me or has anyone noticed that the US government is becoming more powerful each year? Don't take the American style of living for granted, our society is indeed very fragile- and it isn't going to last forever. There is a small and unlikely possiblity that Y2K could trigger the end of this current way of life. Whether it happens now, five years, or 20 years, I fear we will experience great revolution. Not from some planned "End of the World," not from some religious tale, and I'm not talking about Linux either
I guess I can start looking forward to the future Life: 2020
Select your characteristics:
Intelligence 20/20
Dexterity 20/20
Strength 20/20
Wisdom 20/20
Magic 20/20
25% random roll.
Choose your weapon:
Nuke
Automatic cluster
Anonymous Cowards
Hyrdo bomb
Choose race:
Cyborg
CompleteAI
Human
TechnoIlliterate
We'll, it's never too early to start training! Back to more Angband...
A lot of people have mentioned Lynx as an alternative browser to Netscape. I agree with this, Lynx is small, fast, stable, and efficient at what it does. The problem with it isn't necessarily that it can't display images(most images on the web serve no purpose, important ones can be viewed with another application), but that it is not good when it comes to laying out tables and frames(doesn't do it). There's another browser called W3M, which can be configured with a lynx-like interface. In fact, I'm using W3M right now!
I tried it several months ago and it worked really crappy. But recently(with the last release, in fact) the table layout engine was revised and I am amazed at how well it can render text. The Slashdot homepage looks fairly decent, and right now it is very navigable.
Of course there are problems with it: I don't think cookies are implemented properly, you have to wait for the whole page to load before you view it, and theres a lot of minor glitches. But for those geeks who want an alternative to Netscape, want to browse for text (but are fed up with Lynx), grab a copy of W3M and try it yourself(do a search on Freshmeat). I think you'll agree with me that this puppy has a lot of potential. (Similar goal to the Opera text browser, but this is GPLed!) It's getting better with each release.
Also, on the GUI side, I like Konqueror(the kde browser). Sure it's not perfect, but especially with the upcoming KDE 2.0, we'll have a great package that will be usable for anyone. So yes, there are good alternatives to Netscape! Don't worry about whether 5.0 is released or not! We'll defeat them with our own browser.
I'm really getting disgusted of where the industy is going. Barbie/Hotwheel computers for kids? Young kids are going to treat this as a toy just to play racing games. Spend XXX$ just for an over-hyped game machine? I hope these same kids don't grow up thinking that computers are toys.
Same thing with all of these new machines: iToaster, iMac, iBook, etc., computers need to be used as TOOLS, damnit!
This new trend makes computers just overpowered calculators with flashy designs. Computers need to be used the way they should: a device which can accomplish anything (providing that it has enough power) that can be programmed. We should be teaching kids to treat computers as expensive tools, not some hotwheels car to roll across the floor.
Flame away.
Actually, I am seeing duplication of effort. How many distrobutions now want to make an easy to use and install Linux? Let's see:
RedHat (well, sort of. At least easy installs)
Mandrake
easyLinux
StormixLinux
CorelLinux
Project independence
Caldera
sooo many others too, I've lost count. There's so many distributions now that have goals of making it easy. I think many distributions is good if they all have different goals. But now some distributions are re-inventing the wheel. Let's take Mandrake, for example. The wanted to bundle KDE with Redhat. Fine. Now Redhat comes with both KDE and Gnome, and let's you choose which at install. What advantage does Mandrake have now?
Besides these, there are so many other distributions that all seem to want to do the same thing. So while ESR wasn't talking about distributions, it is time to consolidate, join together and stop obsolete projects. We all know Linux can win with servers and large corporations. The news about SGI dropping Irix and NT is expected. It's time, and we all know it too, to put Linux on the desktop. If more users use Linux, it means less Microsoft monopolies, better software, more hardware support. And right now, Linux has a long way to go. How is wasting effort going to help us get there? Ok, so we have two desktop environments, KDE and Gnome. That's okay I guess. But there is too many options for the user, with none of them being what (s)he wants.
Just GNU it. That'll fix the problem.
Yes, you can spend your days complaining about the quality and formats of MP3/CD, but no sound quality is better than a live group of musicians playing right in front of you. No amount of technology will ever be able to change that.
I see this as an attempt for M$ to spread future FUD about Linux. "Once again, Windows is the only OS for serious, high end users. Linux is only used on some commercial dirt cheap systems because it's cheap and power is not important on those systems. Use Windows NT: Creating innovations of the future."
Pull out the FUD shield!!
A lot of people on /. are saying to use some specific text editor. Some say UltraEdit, some say Notepad, some Emacs, and I say VI!!!!!!! Whichever text editor you choose, they are, combined with pencil+paper, the most powerful tool possible for creating web pages.
:>, Windows :( or even the Mac := switching between editor/browser is really a matter of a mouse click or CTRL-Z,%2. If that is too complicated for you than maybe you shouldn't be messing with computers/web pages in the first place.
Why? With just a little knowledge of some basic commands, you can create a fantastic web page, with all of the bells and whisles if you choose(or just pure information). You create directly at the level of the HTML, and get to choose the way to format it you want. Furthermore, most of the editing is just copy/pasting, and it takes little effort to make great results. Why use a mangled editor that trys to control your product for you?
The real reason is that if you use a text editor you will tend to use logical tags. This means that you format it according to BIG/SMALL, H1/H#, STRONG, EMPHASIS, CITATION, etc. This way, the end result will look great on all browsers and operating systems. An HTML editor will use physical font sizes, hard preformatted text, individual specific fonts, and strange colors. It will look good on your particle combination of resolution, browser, and os, but may look poor on another. With logical tags and a combination of whatever you want you can control the output very strongly and still create a lot of combatibility.
With any multitasking OS, whether that be Unix
Now that you've heard that about the text editor, here's my opinion about which one: VI! It runs on Windows, Mac, all the Unices, Amiga, Atari, DOS, etc. It's lightweight. It's jam-packed with all of the great features you'd expect in a text editor(syntax highlighting, searches, text transportation, etc). Tasks that might take you 3-4 mouse clicks plus typing in Notepad can be completed with a few keyboard strokes. It has lots of little commands to move the cursor around more efficiently and to save time. I've even seen versions that let you preview the HTML! It's a lot to learn, but with a little time you can master it. (Don't get me wrong, Emacs is great too if you like doing other stuff while you edit).
So the point is, whatever text editor you choose, you will have more control and will create a better end product than any layout tool can ever make.
-If you have something to say, say it directly!
I think he made a really good point- commercial companies can support and add on to an OSS project. That way it's the best of both worlds- hackers and developers can use it, and end users can enjoy the benefit of the software.
There is one problem, though: the developers of the project are not the ones who see the money. I wish more of the companies who adapt open source could pay the programmers who wrote the core.
Ha, the laugh of the day from our dear friend Bill. :) It's kind of sad the level of inteligence that M$ thinks we have.