My USB network adapter can go many, many times faster than my internet connection will allow.
Wireless N - according to this random site of Google (http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/802.11n.html) is supposed to be capable of speeds 10x faster than Wireless G. And Wireless G is already faster than any speed I've ever actually come close to achieving while surfing the net.
*600 Mbps*
That's 'too slow' to be useful? What the hell are you smoking? Seriously. I think the fastest I've ever gone on the internet was a ~300kps using uTorrent.
Anyway, to answer your question....
1.) My PC has no free PCI slots 2.) I get significantly better network connectivity with my external usb adapters than I did when I had a network card. My usb adapter can sit on top of my monitor, instead of being stuck sticking out the back of my PC. 3.) I can install it without moving my PC and without removing the case. 4.) I instantly remove it from my PC and plug it into another PC or into a laptop 5.) I get significantly better connectivity on my laptop using the wireless usb adapter than whatever the wireless (PMCIA?) thing it has sticking out of the side of it.
That's a lot of really good reasons for why I use a wireless usb devices. What really good reasons do you have for why none of them seem to work in Ubuntu?
Does it make Ubuntu 'better'? Was it an active choice...or does Ubuntu just lack hardware support? If that's the case...shouldn't people stop saying it 'just works'?
You are saying that any hardware that isn't supported by Linux is 'crap' essentially. I'll tell you what; I live in Fort Collins, Colorado. I'm willing to drive two hours in any direction. Name one store I can go to and ask for the Ubunutu section and pick up hardware that doesn't have 'a broken ACPI table' or something.
Saying Linux/Ubuntu just works is like saying Windows ME just works. Yes, in both cases, lots of people ran them without issue. But even just a 1% rate of failure is insanely high for an OS. If I buy 100 different pieces of hardware from BestBuy today, after work; how many of them do you think will work as intended/expected in XP, in Vista, and in Ubuntu? Seriously.
I own two different wireless USB network adapters. Both work in XP. Both work in Vista. Neither work in Ubuntu. And that's after playing all the silly, 'Download a windows driver and run this emulator' games.
One from LinkSys, One from Netgear. One is Wireless G, one is Wireless N.
Those are two (if not the two) biggest names in networking, neither were particularly cheap and neither is particularly old.
Can you name 3 wireless usb adapters I can pick up from the store, today, that you can guarantee will work if I download the latest version of Ubuntu....without using windows drivers or ndiswrap.
If the answer is 'No'...if you can't look at the inventory of BestBuy/Circuit City (or any other electronics place here in Fort Collins, CO) and give me just *three* wireless usb networking devices, that you swear to god, will 'just work' - you have no excuse for even pretending that Ubuntu 'just works'. Networking is a pretty darn fundamental thing in computing these days - and opens the door to a user being able to fix most any other problem.
Ahh - so we agree then...Ubuntu doesn't 'just work', cool!
I'm not supporting or advocating Vista - it's just that, for the last...I dunno, six years or so, I hear that 'THIS year' some flavor of Linux is SOOO easy and is TOTALLY ready for the desktop and it 'just works'.
My failure to get online using Ubuntu was a big hurdle in getting online to post bugs.
But, it turns out, outside of the Linux Fanboys - poor hardware support is well known by the Linux community....so I was pretty much told 'Umm, duh - of course that doesn't work'.
Besides which, believe it or not, I'd rather spend my time using my PC that working for free as someone else's QA department.
People WANT shelter really, really badly. Failure to get shelter results in negative side-effects. This is actually quite the same as the guy asking about not getting sex.
It's a very real possibility that a person will die without shelter, or food, or water. And the longer a person goes without those things the possibility of death is pretty much certain.
But so what.
That's life.
Nothing in life or nature seems to suggest that simply needing something in order to live, gives you a 'right' to have it. If there is a God, God certainly doesn't enforce those rights. There are people starving to death right now....no lion or bear will walk up and lay down in front of them and wait to be butchered and cooked.
Regardless of how you want to define a right, the real question is who enforces/provides those rights to people. The only answer that can be an answer is 'other people'. And already, I dislike where it is going. It implies that a large group of people somewhere are better than the individual and are charged with the task of providing these things you call 'rights'.
Some kid is born somewhere....so? Now it's his 'right' to get food, water, and shelter?! But who provides those things? Other people? Successful people with extra money? Well, that sounds a lot like myself and most people on Slashdot (not rich, but certainly able to afford food and shelter). So now you are talking about a system where anyone who wants it deserves to 'own' land simply because they were born?!?!
I have no desire to provide for others. I feel as though that is my right. And unless you can describe a system that ensures everyone else's 'right' to a shelter that doesn't require other's to guarantee it; I'm going to continue to say, 'too bad' to those who don't have a shelter. Maybe they should go and find a shelter?
FPS = Fastest response time MMORPGS = Most free time
Anyone with a minimal amount of practice is going to know where to 'aim'. Most of the time it's as simple as putting the crosshairs on the guy and hitting the button.
In no time at all, anyone can learn the maps and know where everything is and can 'play smart'.
Beyond that, it is all about how fast you can respond. The average response time is around.3 seconds. If your average response time is.4 seconds there is very little you can do to ever change it. Some Olympic athletes have a response time under.1; it's amazing really.
My point is, when you boil it down, that's what separates good players from bad players. My roommate in college was an amazing CS player. He was also an amazing Quake 2 player and an amazing BF2142 player. Oddly enough he was also pretty good at baseball.
Most video games require a normal response time, but FPS reward faster than normal response times. If you are 'good' at FPS's you'll be good at virtually all of them.
MMORPGs are the opposite. It's much, much, much, much slower. I'd even argue that you can't be 'good' at a MMORPG - you can simply be 'not retarded'. Anyone who is reasonably experienced in the game is going to have little trouble playing as optimal as can be expected given a particular situation. Beyond that, it's all about what gear you have/what level you are/what class/powers you've got. The world's greatest video gamer would get his ass kicked in a WoW duel between himself as a level 1 mage and a level 25 anything, being controlled by my Mom.
I really do appreciate your post and that helps me a lot. I'll also take a look at NewEgg; the biggest thing I like about BestBuy is that I don't have to wait for shipping.
I want to be a 'Linux Guy' - I downloaded the Ubuntu ISO yesterday and I'm ready to do it. Only problem is I can't get online.
I'm going to go to BestBuy *TODAY*. Can anyone here tell me which wireless network adapter will work 100% out of the box. I'd like for it to support WPA and WEP and not require any WINDOWS DRIVERS or any of that crap.
If someone could please provide a link to a wireless network adapter from the www.BestBuy.com website; I'll go and buy it and use Linux and tell everyone how great Linux is.
Since Linux is ready for the desktop and all that jazz, I'm sure this is an incredibly easy question, but I haven't found a simple concrete answer yet.
I'd seriously be very grateful to anyone who can help me.
It's pretty obvious to anyone who wants to be honest with themselves. In the beginning Linux stole from Unix. Unix was awesome, Linux was just a hobby.
Now, Linux as shifted. It steals from Windows. Pretty much everything Linux does or can do was done by Unix or for modern stuff, Windows before it.
I dunno man; I heard Linux was all 'ready for the desktop' and all.
When I go to BestBuy all the hardware that works in Windows is labeled as such. I've never seen a Linux sticker on any hardware, nor have I seen any site that offers anything more than anecdotal evidence that 'such and such' works for 'JoeBlowLinuxUser123'.
I do hear a lot of talk about chipsets. 'Buy something with XYZ chipset and it will work'. But when I go to BestBuy and ask for something with XYZ chipset they look at me like I'm crack.
Your post pretty much sums up the Linux community as a whole.
Linux Guys: 'Linux is great and easy to use. It's totally ready for 'the desktop'' Me: 'Huh X doesn't work' Linux Guys: 'Try A, B, C and D' Me: 'Still don't work' Linux Guys: 'Well, that not Linux's fault. You should have bought hardware with Z' Me: 'Umm, I bought my PC long before I knew anything about Linux. What new hardware can I buy with Z' Linux Guys: 'I dunno'
I'm very interested in learning/using Linux on my home desktop PC. I've had trouble with my network card on my last attempt and gave up.
I'm going to swing by BestBuy on my way home from work and I'll gladly buy any USB style network adapter that you can recommend for me. I just want it to work in Linux and to be able to install it without opening up my case.
I'm very interested in learning/using Linux on my home desktop PC. I've had trouble with my network card on my last attempt and gave up.
I'm going to swing by BestBuy on my way home from work and I'll gladly buy any USB style network adapter that you can recommend for me. I just want it to work in Linux and to be able to install it without opening up my case.
Those Linux 'myths' aren't myths. They are very much real.
First, you have to be realistic about how people really use OSes and hardware. If I buy a wireless card and it comes with a CD that has drivers on it for Windows....nobody in the real world cares that Windows doesn't support it 'out of the box'. NOBODY.
I'm not saying it's Linux's fault - but at the end of the day; I don't care.
Linux might support more things out of the box, but most of the time it doesn't fully support them. My wireless card might work but might not support WPA or WEP, or countless other problems I've heard.
Windows might not support it at all; and in a hypothetical sense, you could say that Linux has better support. But the fact of the matter is everyone who bought that hardware has easy access to the drivers and those drivers work as well, if not better than the Linux drivers.
Bottom line....
I have a WUSB300N 802.11N USB ADAPTER and EVERYTHING that came in the box with it.
In a fresh install of Windows, I put in the CD and it works. I can connect to my wireless router using encryption and it all works.
Can I do that in Ubuntu?
If the answer is 'No' Linux isn't ready for mainstream desktops. When I can go into BestBuy and see a Linux logo on hardware that will work in Linux, then Linux will be ready. BestBuy has a Mac section and a Windows section. Not Linux.
I spent countless hours and trips to the forums to try and get a hack to work that would let my adapter work in Linux. And it didn't work. Ubuntu has a new version and my adapter is older now and so it might work. But if I went and bought a brand new one...almost certainly wouldn't.
If you are going to sit there and tell me Ubuntu will support my wireless card now without any hassle without any fake emulation and using windows drivers that just add overhead...that I can just plug it in, do an install of Linux and be able to get online; I'll install Linux this weekend, and I'll come back here on Monday and tell everyone what a tool I've been. Provided that if Linux fails, you'll admit that Linux hardware support sucks balls.
Look everyone, it is the exact same article that has come out every other month since 1997.
'Now that Linux is even better than before - is it ready for desktop masses? Yes it is!'
Only, they say it is....but it never really is.
Sure, it works out great for you - but it sure sucks for everyone's property you trample over....
But hey, it'd be wrong of people to put their own needs ahead of yours, right? I mean, just because you buy some property and fence it off, doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to use it - cause hey, I've got this fun thing I wanna do.
Thanks suckers!
Will Ubuntu 8.04 support my wireless usb network adapter? It's a LinkSys WUSB300N.
And by 'support' I mean, install Ubuntu and have it work. Not edit this, hack that, download the windows driver, run this emulator, reconfigure this thingamabob and so on and so forth. And by 'support' I mean, be able to use it - you know, not just be able to go online but be able to encrypt data using WEP or any of the other methods available to me in Windows.
Not trying to be a jerk or anything; but to me this is the ultimate test for Linux. When it works with the hardware I already own.
Of course, fanboys will tell me that everything already does work (or so they've been claiming for years now). In Ubuntu 7 my wireless adapter didn't work. Rumors of people getting it to work using ndiswrap (provided you use the right version of ndiswrap and edit/change a million different settings and then, WEP didn't work).
If it DOES work, on a fresh install; I'd actually like to reinstall Ubuntu.
That professor sounds like he's full of crap; but it's hard to gather from just one quote.
AI is typically looked at from two viewpoints - the first being that AI would be a non-natural (man-built) something or other that has 'real' inteligence; the second meaning would be something along the lines of 'fake inteligence'.
It's quite clear that this article and the comments here are talking about the first definition, a computer that has real inteligence. A computer that is as 'real' as you or I, who can converse, understand, and interact with others as well as any normal person can.
Being able to 'win' at chess or having bad guys fight against you in a video game are examples of the second, very, very different, definition. These AIs are programmed explicitiy with what to do, they excute predefined instructions giving values of desirability to each in a 100% predictible fashion. A high school wanna-be programmer with no real experience at all should be able to write a perfect tic-tac-toe 'AI' in 30-60 minutes. But nobody would mistake that sort of thing for AI in the first sense.
Chess is simply a more complex game that tic-tac-toe; with more options to be considered. As I understand it, most chess AI's are min/max trees looking X number of possible moves ahead of the current move to decide which of all possible moves is the msot desirable. They are also often hard-coded with specific opening sequences and the opening of the game has the most uncertainty.
The sad thing here is that you probably really believe this.
Walmart is in business to make money. That's the bottom line. That's what they do, and they are very good at it. If a product doesn't sell at Walmart, Walmart isn't going to continue to sell it because there is an opportunity cost that goes along with it.
Linux fanboys always, always, ALWAYS have an excuse. Linux was being sold in actual stores; people could walk into a well known, national chain and walk about with a PC with Linux on it. This was 'prime time' for Linux to shine.
And it flopped worse than Vista did.
And now, we can queue up the legions of Linux fans who are going to say all of the following and more....
This is MS'es fault... The Linux distro used on these PCs weren't as cool as (insert distro of choice)... Blame Walmart for secretly WANTING Linux to fail... Call the execs at Walmart stupid... Call the users/customers stupid...
All to get around the simple fact that Linux still can't compete with competition. What more could you ask for? Linux being pre-installed on a PC sold on the same shelves as PCs?
Personally, I couldn't care less about Linux, Windows, or how the sales at Walmart went; I'm just sick of hearing how great Linux is. I can find you articles from eight years ago that say how 'Linux is *finally* ready for mainstream, desktop use' and then the year after that, you get the same article.
Every year. All the time. Constantly. Linux fans are telling the world how great Linux is, how ready Linux is, how Linux can do everything you want....
Enjoy a cup of STFU:)
You don't hear people blaming a lack of sales of the Nintendo wii on a lack of availablity or shelf space, do you?
This is slashdot and all; but this is basically just an IT circle jerk where we talk about how unvalued we are and how nothing could happen without us.
'Value' is determined by the market. If companies that 'valued' IT were making buckets more money than companies that don't; then you'd see a trend where all companies want IT.
The simple fact of the matter is, as much as it might hurt us geeks (I am, after all, IT myself); unless you are at a Software Company whose job it is to product software or something along those lines; IT is just a secondary consideration.
I used to work at Allstate.
Allstate sells insurance.
To sell insurance well, Allstate may very well need things like Electricity, plumbing, and IT. But IT has nothing to do with it's core business. Long before computers were commonplace, Allstate's business model existed, and Allstate made money.
IT doesn't 'bring in money'. At best, you could say that IT let's customers more easily pay or enroll for a service; but, all of the competators do it too; so it's just a big wash. Allstate's IT is no different than it's cleaning staff - it is a cost of doing business.
And to every Exec (with the possible exception of a CTO), one IT guy is as good as any other IT guy. As long as the servers are running nobody cares./Truth
Gamers don't use Linux because games don't work on Linux. Games don't work on Linux because Game developers won't make money by selling them. Because gamers don't use Linux. Because games don't work on Linux. Because developers won't make money selling Linux games. Because gamers don't use Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
Please define 'crazy slow'...
My USB network adapter can go many, many times faster than my internet connection will allow.
Wireless N - according to this random site of Google (http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/802.11n.html) is supposed to be capable of speeds 10x faster than Wireless G. And Wireless G is already faster than any speed I've ever actually come close to achieving while surfing the net.
*600 Mbps*
That's 'too slow' to be useful? What the hell are you smoking? Seriously. I think the fastest I've ever gone on the internet was a ~300kps using uTorrent.
Anyway, to answer your question....
1.) My PC has no free PCI slots
2.) I get significantly better network connectivity with my external usb adapters than I did when I had a network card. My usb adapter can sit on top of my monitor, instead of being stuck sticking out the back of my PC.
3.) I can install it without moving my PC and without removing the case.
4.) I instantly remove it from my PC and plug it into another PC or into a laptop
5.) I get significantly better connectivity on my laptop using the wireless usb adapter than whatever the wireless (PMCIA?) thing it has sticking out of the side of it.
That's a lot of really good reasons for why I use a wireless usb devices. What really good reasons do you have for why none of them seem to work in Ubuntu?
Does it make Ubuntu 'better'? Was it an active choice...or does Ubuntu just lack hardware support? If that's the case...shouldn't people stop saying it 'just works'?
Come'on....
You are saying that any hardware that isn't supported by Linux is 'crap' essentially. I'll tell you what; I live in Fort Collins, Colorado. I'm willing to drive two hours in any direction. Name one store I can go to and ask for the Ubunutu section and pick up hardware that doesn't have 'a broken ACPI table' or something.
Saying Linux/Ubuntu just works is like saying Windows ME just works. Yes, in both cases, lots of people ran them without issue. But even just a 1% rate of failure is insanely high for an OS. If I buy 100 different pieces of hardware from BestBuy today, after work; how many of them do you think will work as intended/expected in XP, in Vista, and in Ubuntu? Seriously.
I own two different wireless USB network adapters. Both work in XP. Both work in Vista. Neither work in Ubuntu. And that's after playing all the silly, 'Download a windows driver and run this emulator' games.
One from LinkSys, One from Netgear. One is Wireless G, one is Wireless N.
Those are two (if not the two) biggest names in networking, neither were particularly cheap and neither is particularly old.
Can you name 3 wireless usb adapters I can pick up from the store, today, that you can guarantee will work if I download the latest version of Ubuntu....without using windows drivers or ndiswrap.
If the answer is 'No'...if you can't look at the inventory of BestBuy/Circuit City (or any other electronics place here in Fort Collins, CO) and give me just *three* wireless usb networking devices, that you swear to god, will 'just work' - you have no excuse for even pretending that Ubuntu 'just works'. Networking is a pretty darn fundamental thing in computing these days - and opens the door to a user being able to fix most any other problem.
Ahh - so we agree then...Ubuntu doesn't 'just work', cool!
I'm not supporting or advocating Vista - it's just that, for the last...I dunno, six years or so, I hear that 'THIS year' some flavor of Linux is SOOO easy and is TOTALLY ready for the desktop and it 'just works'.
Ubuntu failed to recognize my wireless usb network adapter.
I couldn't get online.
Not being able to get online is a deal breaker these days....
My failure to get online using Ubuntu was a big hurdle in getting online to post bugs.
But, it turns out, outside of the Linux Fanboys - poor hardware support is well known by the Linux community....so I was pretty much told 'Umm, duh - of course that doesn't work'.
Besides which, believe it or not, I'd rather spend my time using my PC that working for free as someone else's QA department.
You really need to qualify that claim. Ubuntu 'just works' for you.
/Just sayin..
Ubuntu failed miserably to work for me.
I disagree.
People WANT shelter really, really badly. Failure to get shelter results in negative side-effects. This is actually quite the same as the guy asking about not getting sex.
It's a very real possibility that a person will die without shelter, or food, or water. And the longer a person goes without those things the possibility of death is pretty much certain.
But so what.
That's life.
Nothing in life or nature seems to suggest that simply needing something in order to live, gives you a 'right' to have it. If there is a God, God certainly doesn't enforce those rights. There are people starving to death right now....no lion or bear will walk up and lay down in front of them and wait to be butchered and cooked.
Regardless of how you want to define a right, the real question is who enforces/provides those rights to people. The only answer that can be an answer is 'other people'. And already, I dislike where it is going. It implies that a large group of people somewhere are better than the individual and are charged with the task of providing these things you call 'rights'.
Some kid is born somewhere....so? Now it's his 'right' to get food, water, and shelter?! But who provides those things? Other people? Successful people with extra money? Well, that sounds a lot like myself and most people on Slashdot (not rich, but certainly able to afford food and shelter). So now you are talking about a system where anyone who wants it deserves to 'own' land simply because they were born?!?!
I have no desire to provide for others. I feel as though that is my right. And unless you can describe a system that ensures everyone else's 'right' to a shelter that doesn't require other's to guarantee it; I'm going to continue to say, 'too bad' to those who don't have a shelter. Maybe they should go and find a shelter?
FPS = Fastest response time
.3 seconds. If your average response time is .4 seconds there is very little you can do to ever change it. Some Olympic athletes have a response time under .1; it's amazing really.
MMORPGS = Most free time
Anyone with a minimal amount of practice is going to know where to 'aim'. Most of the time it's as simple as putting the crosshairs on the guy and hitting the button.
In no time at all, anyone can learn the maps and know where everything is and can 'play smart'.
Beyond that, it is all about how fast you can respond. The average response time is around
My point is, when you boil it down, that's what separates good players from bad players. My roommate in college was an amazing CS player. He was also an amazing Quake 2 player and an amazing BF2142 player. Oddly enough he was also pretty good at baseball.
Most video games require a normal response time, but FPS reward faster than normal response times. If you are 'good' at FPS's you'll be good at virtually all of them.
MMORPGs are the opposite. It's much, much, much, much slower. I'd even argue that you can't be 'good' at a MMORPG - you can simply be 'not retarded'. Anyone who is reasonably experienced in the game is going to have little trouble playing as optimal as can be expected given a particular situation. Beyond that, it's all about what gear you have/what level you are/what class/powers you've got. The world's greatest video gamer would get his ass kicked in a WoW duel between himself as a level 1 mage and a level 25 anything, being controlled by my Mom.
Thank you!
That's perfect. I was hoping to pick one up today; but I can wait for shipping.
Thank you!
I really do appreciate your post and that helps me a lot. I'll also take a look at NewEgg; the biggest thing I like about BestBuy is that I don't have to wait for shipping.
I want to be a 'Linux Guy' - I downloaded the Ubuntu ISO yesterday and I'm ready to do it. Only problem is I can't get online.
I'm going to go to BestBuy *TODAY*. Can anyone here tell me which wireless network adapter will work 100% out of the box. I'd like for it to support WPA and WEP and not require any WINDOWS DRIVERS or any of that crap.
If someone could please provide a link to a wireless network adapter from the www.BestBuy.com website; I'll go and buy it and use Linux and tell everyone how great Linux is.
Since Linux is ready for the desktop and all that jazz, I'm sure this is an incredibly easy question, but I haven't found a simple concrete answer yet.
I'd seriously be very grateful to anyone who can help me.
It's pretty obvious to anyone who wants to be honest with themselves. In the beginning Linux stole from Unix. Unix was awesome, Linux was just a hobby.
Now, Linux as shifted. It steals from Windows. Pretty much everything Linux does or can do was done by Unix or for modern stuff, Windows before it.
Linux users are just software pirates!
I dunno man; I heard Linux was all 'ready for the desktop' and all.
When I go to BestBuy all the hardware that works in Windows is labeled as such. I've never seen a Linux sticker on any hardware, nor have I seen any site that offers anything more than anecdotal evidence that 'such and such' works for 'JoeBlowLinuxUser123'.
I do hear a lot of talk about chipsets. 'Buy something with XYZ chipset and it will work'. But when I go to BestBuy and ask for something with XYZ chipset they look at me like I'm crack.
Your post pretty much sums up the Linux community as a whole.
Linux Guys: 'Linux is great and easy to use. It's totally ready for 'the desktop''
Me: 'Huh X doesn't work'
Linux Guys: 'Try A, B, C and D'
Me: 'Still don't work'
Linux Guys: 'Well, that not Linux's fault. You should have bought hardware with Z'
Me: 'Umm, I bought my PC long before I knew anything about Linux. What new hardware can I buy with Z'
Linux Guys: 'I dunno'
Excellent post!
I'm very interested in learning/using Linux on my home desktop PC. I've had trouble with my network card on my last attempt and gave up.
I'm going to swing by BestBuy on my way home from work and I'll gladly buy any USB style network adapter that you can recommend for me. I just want it to work in Linux and to be able to install it without opening up my case.
Thanks in advance!
Excellent post!
I'm very interested in learning/using Linux on my home desktop PC. I've had trouble with my network card on my last attempt and gave up.
I'm going to swing by BestBuy on my way home from work and I'll gladly buy any USB style network adapter that you can recommend for me. I just want it to work in Linux and to be able to install it without opening up my case.
Thanks in advance!
Those Linux 'myths' aren't myths. They are very much real.
First, you have to be realistic about how people really use OSes and hardware. If I buy a wireless card and it comes with a CD that has drivers on it for Windows....nobody in the real world cares that Windows doesn't support it 'out of the box'. NOBODY.
I'm not saying it's Linux's fault - but at the end of the day; I don't care.
Linux might support more things out of the box, but most of the time it doesn't fully support them. My wireless card might work but might not support WPA or WEP, or countless other problems I've heard.
Windows might not support it at all; and in a hypothetical sense, you could say that Linux has better support. But the fact of the matter is everyone who bought that hardware has easy access to the drivers and those drivers work as well, if not better than the Linux drivers.
Bottom line....
I have a WUSB300N 802.11N USB ADAPTER and EVERYTHING that came in the box with it.
In a fresh install of Windows, I put in the CD and it works. I can connect to my wireless router using encryption and it all works.
Can I do that in Ubuntu?
If the answer is 'No' Linux isn't ready for mainstream desktops. When I can go into BestBuy and see a Linux logo on hardware that will work in Linux, then Linux will be ready. BestBuy has a Mac section and a Windows section. Not Linux.
I spent countless hours and trips to the forums to try and get a hack to work that would let my adapter work in Linux. And it didn't work. Ubuntu has a new version and my adapter is older now and so it might work. But if I went and bought a brand new one...almost certainly wouldn't.
If you are going to sit there and tell me Ubuntu will support my wireless card now without any hassle without any fake emulation and using windows drivers that just add overhead...that I can just plug it in, do an install of Linux and be able to get online; I'll install Linux this weekend, and I'll come back here on Monday and tell everyone what a tool I've been. Provided that if Linux fails, you'll admit that Linux hardware support sucks balls.
Look everyone, it is the exact same article that has come out every other month since 1997. 'Now that Linux is even better than before - is it ready for desktop masses? Yes it is!' Only, they say it is....but it never really is.
2 Years after you graduate where you went to school will mean nothing.
Sure, it works out great for you - but it sure sucks for everyone's property you trample over.... But hey, it'd be wrong of people to put their own needs ahead of yours, right? I mean, just because you buy some property and fence it off, doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to use it - cause hey, I've got this fun thing I wanna do. Thanks suckers!
Will Ubuntu 8.04 support my wireless usb network adapter? It's a LinkSys WUSB300N.
And by 'support' I mean, install Ubuntu and have it work. Not edit this, hack that, download the windows driver, run this emulator, reconfigure this thingamabob and so on and so forth. And by 'support' I mean, be able to use it - you know, not just be able to go online but be able to encrypt data using WEP or any of the other methods available to me in Windows.
Not trying to be a jerk or anything; but to me this is the ultimate test for Linux. When it works with the hardware I already own.
Of course, fanboys will tell me that everything already does work (or so they've been claiming for years now). In Ubuntu 7 my wireless adapter didn't work. Rumors of people getting it to work using ndiswrap (provided you use the right version of ndiswrap and edit/change a million different settings and then, WEP didn't work).
If it DOES work, on a fresh install; I'd actually like to reinstall Ubuntu.
That professor sounds like he's full of crap; but it's hard to gather from just one quote.
AI is typically looked at from two viewpoints - the first being that AI would be a non-natural (man-built) something or other that has 'real' inteligence; the second meaning would be something along the lines of 'fake inteligence'.
It's quite clear that this article and the comments here are talking about the first definition, a computer that has real inteligence. A computer that is as 'real' as you or I, who can converse, understand, and interact with others as well as any normal person can.
Being able to 'win' at chess or having bad guys fight against you in a video game are examples of the second, very, very different, definition. These AIs are programmed explicitiy with what to do, they excute predefined instructions giving values of desirability to each in a 100% predictible fashion. A high school wanna-be programmer with no real experience at all should be able to write a perfect tic-tac-toe 'AI' in 30-60 minutes. But nobody would mistake that sort of thing for AI in the first sense.
Chess is simply a more complex game that tic-tac-toe; with more options to be considered. As I understand it, most chess AI's are min/max trees looking X number of possible moves ahead of the current move to decide which of all possible moves is the msot desirable. They are also often hard-coded with specific opening sequences and the opening of the game has the most uncertainty.
There's nothing 'AI' about it.
I learn a lot on Slashdot.
When it comes to knowing about Walmart random dude on the internet > Management at the #1 company in the US as ranked by Fortune Magazine.
You should totally be a CEO.
*sigh*
:)
The sad thing here is that you probably really believe this.
Walmart is in business to make money. That's the bottom line. That's what they do, and they are very good at it. If a product doesn't sell at Walmart, Walmart isn't going to continue to sell it because there is an opportunity cost that goes along with it.
Linux fanboys always, always, ALWAYS have an excuse. Linux was being sold in actual stores; people could walk into a well known, national chain and walk about with a PC with Linux on it. This was 'prime time' for Linux to shine.
And it flopped worse than Vista did.
And now, we can queue up the legions of Linux fans who are going to say all of the following and more....
This is MS'es fault...
The Linux distro used on these PCs weren't as cool as (insert distro of choice)...
Blame Walmart for secretly WANTING Linux to fail...
Call the execs at Walmart stupid...
Call the users/customers stupid...
All to get around the simple fact that Linux still can't compete with competition. What more could you ask for? Linux being pre-installed on a PC sold on the same shelves as PCs?
Personally, I couldn't care less about Linux, Windows, or how the sales at Walmart went; I'm just sick of hearing how great Linux is. I can find you articles from eight years ago that say how 'Linux is *finally* ready for mainstream, desktop use' and then the year after that, you get the same article.
Every year. All the time. Constantly. Linux fans are telling the world how great Linux is, how ready Linux is, how Linux can do everything you want....
Enjoy a cup of STFU
You don't hear people blaming a lack of sales of the Nintendo wii on a lack of availablity or shelf space, do you?
This is slashdot and all; but this is basically just an IT circle jerk where we talk about how unvalued we are and how nothing could happen without us.
/Truth
'Value' is determined by the market. If companies that 'valued' IT were making buckets more money than companies that don't; then you'd see a trend where all companies want IT.
The simple fact of the matter is, as much as it might hurt us geeks (I am, after all, IT myself); unless you are at a Software Company whose job it is to product software or something along those lines; IT is just a secondary consideration.
I used to work at Allstate.
Allstate sells insurance.
To sell insurance well, Allstate may very well need things like Electricity, plumbing, and IT. But IT has nothing to do with it's core business. Long before computers were commonplace, Allstate's business model existed, and Allstate made money.
IT doesn't 'bring in money'. At best, you could say that IT let's customers more easily pay or enroll for a service; but, all of the competators do it too; so it's just a big wash. Allstate's IT is no different than it's cleaning staff - it is a cost of doing business.
And to every Exec (with the possible exception of a CTO), one IT guy is as good as any other IT guy. As long as the servers are running nobody cares.
It's simple....
Gamers don't use Linux because games don't work on Linux.
Games don't work on Linux because Game developers won't make money by selling them.
Because gamers don't use Linux.
Because games don't work on Linux.
Because developers won't make money selling Linux games.
Because gamers don't use Linux.