From my own experience, past the first hour of explaining where to find stuff, you'll get a LOT less support to do by using a good linux distro than by staying with Windows, as long as they don't want to play the newest games out there.Linux is way less of a hassle for the standard user, who is going to spend 99% of the time in MSN, Skype or on facebook, and who watches vids on youtube, than windows (and yes, I include even Windows7 in that). Additionally, If someone like that asks you for a certain software ("I need Photoshop, cause my cousin's neighbour's Aunt said it was great to resize pictures"), you can easily log in via ssh and install the foss equivalent, thus saving yourself the effort of being physically present and your "non-computer-type" person either a lot of money/the danger of catching a virus (you'll still end up having to explain how to use the software, but that would have happened with windows software nevertheless).
I guess the difference between the Apple ~thingy~ and the Courier video is that the shown Courier's functionality is realistic (if you omit the stellar script recognition at 1:20 or so when the speaker writes a URL with the pen). Nothing in it can't be done by today's standard. By comparison, pretty much everything in the Apple video is still pure scifi.
"At their inception in late 2007 — as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost[3] — netbooks omitted key features (e.g., the optical drive), featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced specification and computing power."
In the short period since their appearance, netbooks have grown in size and features, now converging with new smaller, lighter notebooks. By mid 2009, when comparing a Dell netbook to a Dell notebook, CNET noted "the specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other," noting "the only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices."
My original netbook (a 8.9'', 512MB Acer Aspire One) ran Linux Mint happily, and I even compiled Ogre3d in a reasonable time on it, watching movies never was a problem (I'm not talking HD of course;). I never tried it, but I was told XP ran like a dog on it, to the point of being unusable. The ~smallests~ you can find nowaday are the 10'',1GB versions, ~blessed~ with XP or Windows7.
I tend to disagree. I'd say something Microsoft did dream up is actually sexier than the iPad. The obvious problem of course is that it's still just a dream and not an actual product.
While I agree with Gates, I find it ironic that he is the one making the statement, considering real netbooks (at least those fulfilling the original definition of the term, low price and tech) can't be found anymore, as they weren't really capable of running Microsoft's OS's
insofar as Awesome is not a tiling manager, even though it is often categorized as such. It is a highly configurable windows manager which just happens to be very good at tiling.
yes. probably Awesome WM. There is such a picture on the Awesome homepage (http://awesome.naquadah.org/). It's often advertised as a tiling manager and Julien Danjou seems to have been so upset about that that the 3.4 release now defaults to floating layout on all tags (you can default any tag to tiling or floating, and in the case of multiple monitors, you can have a tilingbehaviour on one monitor, and a floating one on the other monitor, and move windows and applications back and forth).
Awesome is indeed awesome, if you don't mind some manual editing of the lua configuration file.It should fit the OP's requirement nicely. Additionally, it's a blast on netbooks
Considering I'm definitely in the "poor bastard who can't pay the bills" category, believe me when I say I'm well aware of that. Still, there are instances in which welfare (insofar as there is some kind of welfare wherever you live) is unavoidable for some reasons which might not be under your control (no, I don't adhere to the "you can do/be everything as long as you're willing to work hard enough" belief).
To get back to the topic, the case in which robots take over most of the jobs is such an instance, and in such a case, you might as well accept the fact that you'll have to live from welfare and try to reorient your life toward other goals oriented toward personal instead of financial fulfillment. It's a trade-of. You trade status and consumeristic (yeah... I just made that up but English isn't my first language) values for ~me~ time (however THAT looks like for you). You'll just have to live with paying the bills instead of buying the latest iSmorgasbord.
Where does the welfare money come from? From where it is I'd say. (cue "communist!" answers, no matter how wrong that may be)
Another disclosure : I've also known the "hard working/earn money like there's no tomorrow" side of life, and I know how it is to pay high taxes for my ~hard-earned dough~.
So, the stupid people sit around and collect a check from the Government?
"so the poor people sit around and collect a check from the Government?"
There... nearly fixed it for you. Only nearly as it often seems to me that many rich people already just sit there and get checks from the government (just that it's generally a lot higher than welfare)
Maybe, the right question to ask then is WHY do people hate welfare? (full disclosure: I'll be on welfare from next month on, due to some complicated issues). You don't have to sit in front of the TV, munching fast food all day long, wondering which of the 200 applications you sent will be the next to be declined. There are lots of much more personally fulfilling activities you can do, for which you never had time before due to your job. If robots take over the jobs, just see it as an opportunity to do something creative (in a very broad sense) and meaningful for yourself. If others might enjoy it, even better (and I'm not talking specifically of FOSS here)
Actually, quite a few details in Firefly were rather well thought through( the lack of sound in space, the use of ~ancient~ technology on frontier planets, the way human culture and society evolved, just to name a few). Yes, it didn't get everything right (and failed to explain certain points), but all in all, I found the world in Firefly much more believable than the world in Avatar.
bah... "Dark Star" was more realistic. Put a couple of guys in a spaceship, and check how sane they are after a few month. Then you have "Serenity" (and basically the whole of FireFly,though that doesn't really count as movie)... plenty of rather ~realistic~ scifi movies around, if you only care to check.
If he has any interest in programming, then Python in combination with pygame is probably the way to go. Python is easy to learn, and pygame will give him instant visual (and audio) gratification. The instant gratification part is the really important bit if you want to keep his interest up.
you got a point about the edge being in the middle. As for the way it fold, it doesn't : The screens slides. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing how it works.
I'm running Mint Linux on a 10'', 1GB Ram, 160GB HD Acer Aspire 1 here, and I can definitely do multiple things at once on it without everything grinding to a halt... well I would if I had the screen real estate. As it is, I'm bound to switch between workspaces, so a second screen would come nicely, especially if I don't have to lose the low form factor which was, at least for me, the main attraction about the AA1 (I had a 8.9'' previously, but the SSD died and all I could get my hands on afterward was a 10''... in pink. I'd have gladly bought a small one if I had had the opportunity).
Sure, a 21'' ~notebook~ offers a lot of screen space, but a 10'' netbook is the way to go in terms of mobile computing (unless you only want to watch youtube clips, then go get a smartphone).
Again no modpoints when I need them. You're absolutely right.
In the same vein, I remember something from a previous workplace. I wrote a very nifty piece of software, technically some of the best stuff I ever did for that company, asked my boss to come around so that he could take a look. His only remark, after I was "I like the look of it, but could you make the green a shade more yellowish? then it would be really great". I was quite pissed off for the rest of the day somehow
Non-IT people generally really don't care about how code works (or even if it work at all), what matters is that they have something shiny to look at.
I didn't write anything about that. Your response was not a rebuttal. It was an ill informed attempt to defend your favorite OS rather than bother to understand my comment.
yeah sure... what exactly did you write about? oh right... YOUR favourite OS. No link whatsoever to the topic.
Slashdot Mirror
Skype's client works nicely (cam AND sound)
From my own experience, past the first hour of explaining where to find stuff, you'll get a LOT less support to do by using a good linux distro than by staying with Windows, as long as they don't want to play the newest games out there.Linux is way less of a hassle for the standard user, who is going to spend 99% of the time in MSN, Skype or on facebook, and who watches vids on youtube, than windows (and yes, I include even Windows7 in that). Additionally, If someone like that asks you for a certain software ("I need Photoshop, cause my cousin's neighbour's Aunt said it was great to resize pictures"), you can easily log in via ssh and install the foss equivalent, thus saving yourself the effort of being physically present and your "non-computer-type" person either a lot of money/the danger of catching a virus (you'll still end up having to explain how to use the software, but that would have happened with windows software nevertheless).
I guess the difference between the Apple ~thingy~ and the Courier video is that the shown Courier's functionality is realistic (if you omit the stellar script recognition at 1:20 or so when the speaker writes a URL with the pen). Nothing in it can't be done by today's standard.
By comparison, pretty much everything in the Apple video is still pure scifi.
"At their inception in late 2007 — as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost[3] — netbooks omitted key features (e.g., the optical drive), featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced specification and computing power."
In the short period since their appearance, netbooks have grown in size and features, now converging with new smaller, lighter notebooks. By mid 2009, when comparing a Dell netbook to a Dell notebook, CNET noted "the specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other," noting "the only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices."
My original netbook (a 8.9'', 512MB Acer Aspire One) ran Linux Mint happily, and I even compiled Ogre3d in a reasonable time on it, watching movies never was a problem (I'm not talking HD of course;).
I never tried it, but I was told XP ran like a dog on it, to the point of being unusable. The ~smallests~ you can find nowaday are the 10'',1GB versions, ~blessed~ with XP or Windows7.
I tend to disagree. I'd say something Microsoft did dream up is actually sexier than the iPad. The obvious problem of course is that it's still just a dream and not an actual product.
While I agree with Gates, I find it ironic that he is the one making the statement, considering real netbooks (at least those fulfilling the original definition of the term, low price and tech) can't be found anymore, as they weren't really capable of running Microsoft's OS's
+1 funny (sorry, don't have modpoints at the moment :P
insofar as Awesome is not a tiling manager, even though it is often categorized as such. It is a highly configurable windows manager which just happens to be very good at tiling.
yes. probably Awesome WM. There is such a picture on the Awesome homepage (http://awesome.naquadah.org/). It's often advertised as a tiling manager and Julien Danjou seems to have been so upset about that that the 3.4 release now defaults to floating layout on all tags (you can default any tag to tiling or floating, and in the case of multiple monitors, you can have a tilingbehaviour on one monitor, and a floating one on the other monitor, and move windows and applications back and forth).
Awesome is indeed awesome, if you don't mind some manual editing of the lua configuration file.It should fit the OP's requirement nicely. Additionally, it's a blast on netbooks
Considering I'm definitely in the "poor bastard who can't pay the bills" category, believe me when I say I'm well aware of that. Still, there are instances in which welfare (insofar as there is some kind of welfare wherever you live) is unavoidable for some reasons which might not be under your control (no, I don't adhere to the "you can do/be everything as long as you're willing to work hard enough" belief).
To get back to the topic, the case in which robots take over most of the jobs is such an instance, and in such a case, you might as well accept the fact that you'll have to live from welfare and try to reorient your life toward other goals oriented toward personal instead of financial fulfillment. It's a trade-of. You trade status and consumeristic (yeah ... I just made that up but English isn't my first language) values for ~me~ time (however THAT looks like for you). You'll just have to live with paying the bills instead of buying the latest iSmorgasbord.
Where does the welfare money come from? From where it is I'd say. (cue "communist!" answers, no matter how wrong that may be)
Another disclosure : I've also known the "hard working/earn money like there's no tomorrow" side of life, and I know how it is to pay high taxes for my ~hard-earned dough~.
So, the stupid people sit around and collect a check from the Government?
"so the poor people sit around and collect a check from the Government?"
There ... nearly fixed it for you. Only nearly as it often seems to me that many rich people already just sit there and get checks from the government (just that it's generally a lot higher than welfare)
Maybe, the right question to ask then is WHY do people hate welfare? (full disclosure: I'll be on welfare from next month on, due to some complicated issues). You don't have to sit in front of the TV, munching fast food all day long, wondering which of the 200 applications you sent will be the next to be declined.
There are lots of much more personally fulfilling activities you can do, for which you never had time before due to your job. If robots take over the jobs, just see it as an opportunity to do something creative (in a very broad sense) and meaningful for yourself. If others might enjoy it, even better (and I'm not talking specifically of FOSS here)
yeah ... the milo demo is a semi-fake. there was apparently someone behind a curtain controlling the character
see : http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episode-60-invisible-walls/51228?type=wmv (somewhere in the third quarter they talk about it)
hmm ... my mention of "Dark Star" wasn't really serious ... unless you expect aliens to look like inflatable beach balls ;)
Actually, quite a few details in Firefly were rather well thought through( the lack of sound in space, the use of ~ancient~ technology on frontier planets, the way human culture and society evolved, just to name a few). Yes, it didn't get everything right (and failed to explain certain points), but all in all, I found the world in Firefly much more believable than the world in Avatar.
bah ... "Dark Star" was more realistic. Put a couple of guys in a spaceship, and check how sane they are after a few month. Then you have "Serenity" (and basically the whole of FireFly,though that doesn't really count as movie) ... plenty of rather ~realistic~ scifi movies around, if you only care to check.
If he has any interest in programming, then Python in combination with pygame is probably the way to go. Python is easy to learn, and pygame will give him instant visual (and audio) gratification. The instant gratification part is the really important bit if you want to keep his interest up.
hmm .. in what way was that trollish? Amazing 3D-visuals with a ho-hum story ("jurassic parc"), with blue people ...
so in short it should have been called "Jurassic Smurfs"?
so eOpen is eClosed for the moment?
you got a point about the edge being in the middle. As for the way it fold, it doesn't : The screens slides. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing how it works.
I'm running Mint Linux on a 10'', 1GB Ram, 160GB HD Acer Aspire 1 here, and I can definitely do multiple things at once on it without everything grinding to a halt ... well I would if I had the screen real estate. As it is, I'm bound to switch between workspaces, so a second screen would come nicely, especially if I don't have to lose the low form factor which was, at least for me, the main attraction about the AA1 (I had a 8.9'' previously, but the SSD died and all I could get my hands on afterward was a 10'' ... in pink. I'd have gladly bought a small one if I had had the opportunity).
Sure, a 21'' ~notebook~ offers a lot of screen space, but a 10'' netbook is the way to go in terms of mobile computing (unless you only want to watch youtube clips, then go get a smartphone).
I think a "wooosh" is needed here
Again no modpoints when I need them. You're absolutely right.
In the same vein, I remember something from a previous workplace. I wrote a very nifty piece of software, technically some of the best stuff I ever did for that company, asked my boss to come around so that he could take a look. His only remark, after I was "I like the look of it, but could you make the green a shade more yellowish? then it would be really great". I was quite pissed off for the rest of the day somehow
Non-IT people generally really don't care about how code works (or even if it work at all), what matters is that they have something shiny to look at.
I didn't write anything about that. Your response was not a rebuttal. It was an ill informed attempt to defend your favorite OS rather than bother to understand my comment.
yeah sure... what exactly did you write about? oh right... YOUR favourite OS. No link whatsoever to the topic.