Unfortunately, I think this author is not very experienced in this field. First of all, last year's E3 was MUCH more promising on the Linux front. Many new titles announced, and a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the companys towards linux. (see my review of last years show at http://linuxgames.com/e3expo.shtml). Second, Blender has been around for a long time. It is a great application with a large user base. Thier new stab at game developers with Blender 2.0 (aka Gameblender) is just a try at some more professional marketshare. Best luck to you Ian! Another interesting thing of note at the show was the Halo 3d engine from Bungie. There is a chance that it may be crossplatformable and that would be great. I was BLOWN AWAY by their demo.
I work in this industry and can shed some light on whats happening here. First of all, some of the PC game industry has been put aside for a little while to make room for Playstation 2. This is what contributed to a poor show this year. As you walk into the PC hall of the show, a gigantic 40'x40' screen greets you as it shows games that EA will be releasing on PS2. Most of the PC hall was this way as well. The biggest attraction this year in the PC hall was by far, the trailer that was played in the Konami booth ever hour on the hour for Metal Gear Solid 2 on Playstation 2. The is indicative of the state of the PC game industry. Right now, the PC's just arent as fast as the PS2 and everything is going to be released for it in the near future. This is not a bad thing at all, but it does explain why there was less enthusiasm towards linux PC games.
Problem 2: The show was disorganized. I blame this on the show producers (IDG I think). There were too many Console related titles being show in the PC hall and a couple of PC exhibits that didnt belong in the console hall. It made things confusing and disorienting.
I have to say that even the developers of these games need to be more aware of the linux situation. I am involved with the Sony PS2 developer support team. I was saddened to hear that after a large push by Sony to thrust Linux at developers (their dev kit uses linux tools they created), it has been not well received. The developers for the most part, especially in Europe, did not accept linux as thier new development environment. That is to say, most of them have opted to develop on their windows machines and then use a frontend that was written to the dev kit to send compile commands to their Linux box and thus to the dev kit. Sony's lack of linux experience didnt make it any easier for the developers to make the transition, but it is still a disappointing situation.
As far as PC games go, I think we are going to have to rely mostly on Loki to keep dishing out the quality ports for now. Users need to keep loki afloat by buying their games. Better 3d sound, hardware, and input device support for linux would also help stir some development. What we really need is the developers that like to use Linux to get out and promote it to their collegues. Not everyone is a John Carmack or Tim Sweeny.
BTW, I will be posting a ton of pictures from E3 at my website in the next day or two. Check back for the URL.
We have almost everything setup to automagically bill the credit cards not. That defeats the purpose of online banking, except there is one other important aspect. Once we get our credit card statements back, we want to see where the money is going. Organize it. View graphs of things. Collect information for tax purposes and budgeting. This is a feature that I have not found on any online bill paying site. I need to most us away from windows based financial software for this purpose. I talked to the guys at gnofin about these features and they took it under advisement. Why can't I get an apache log analyzer type thing for my credit card statement?!
ok, first of all, I would tend to not trust my money with them. Second, this is not innovative, this has been going on for a lot longer than MS has had their grubby hands in the pot. Third, that is the ugliest site I have ever seen. And finally, I don't believe that companies will send you bills to their website all nicely layed out and interpretable without error from their system. BS.
In case anyone is interested, back in June 99, I visited E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in LA on behalf of Linuxgames.com. E3 is where the next year of gaming and beyond is revealed by most game companies. I went and interviewed as many vendors as I could and hounded them about Linux. There is a VERY detailed write-up of my findings at http://linuxgames.com/e3expo.shtml. Makes for very good reading, and even though it is 6 months old, it gives a very thorough overview of Linux Gaming.
There is a GOOD possibility of seeing Tribes2 for linux. I had a chance to talk 1-on-1 with a couple of developers at last years E3 and they told me that they *WILL* release a Linux dedicated server for Tribes2. They were highly considering a client for Linux as well, but were concerned with the state of advanced sound support, full screen graphics support, and the usual loader, video playback, etc, kind of stuff. That E3 was last June. We've come a LONG way since then. I would not be surprised to find Tribes2 for Linux.
I've had a LOT of experience with this lately. There are several parts to this question and several things to think about.
Normal Banking: Where do I get my ATM card, DEBIT card, Credit Card, etc. How do I manage my Checking and Savings accounts.These are all included in Normal Banking. I highly recommend Wells Fargo. They have branches everywhere on the west coast but I never use them. Their online banking system is EXCELLENT. Their customer service department is actually useful as well. Their online service allows you to download your account history into MS Money (evil) or Quicken (also evil).
Financial Software: On your computer, it is nice to track your finances with charts, investments, etc. which allow you to keep a close (private) eye on whats going on. It also makes taxes a lot easier. Scheduled payments are also nice. The pain in the ass is that there are really only two products to let you do this, and they both suck, and they are both for windoze. They also make use of a modem which is a pain if you have already switched to a high speed internet line.
Stock trading / tracking: Tracking your portfolio, doing stock research, and of course, trading, are all functions of online stock brokers. I have had experience with a few.
- Datek was very nice. Good interface, but not many special offers or goodies.
- WitCapital was also very good although their services lent themselves to assistance regarding IPO's and not much else. The site design was also so/so.
- Etrade has its share of success stories and nightmares. So far my experience with them has been a bit of both. Etrade has many bells and whistles and extra services. Thier site design is not great, but it is fair. Their customer service leaves MUCH to be deisired. Slow to respond to phone calls and slow to follow through on withdrawls, deposits, and transfers of cash. They are also slow in getting checks and there were several screw-ups in the initial sign-up process. I don't feel very comfortable with them although actual stock trading has been smooth.
- Moneynet.com is who I use for tracking my portfolio. The site design is nice and there is a lot of free information and news. Note that this is NOT a stock trading service. It is only a way to track assets, investments, etc. A lot of good resources here.
Conclusion: I want either web based or net-enabled software (for linux) that easily allows me to track portfolio's and assets, as well as get news. I also need to be able to import downloaded account histories from multiple sources (usually in money or quicken format). I also need to be able to schedule bill payment automatically and not require a modem. I need to be able to reconcile this information for tax purposes. I also need to make stock trades and manage my bank accounts. If all of this were in one place, it would make my, and probably everyone else's, life a lot easier.
I recently had a chance to meet Captain Crunch, the original creator of the red box. Many years ago, the feds and the phone companies were after him so he fled the country. He ended up in Bombay. Now he's back in the states floating around living off of donations and hand-outs. My question is, do you think Apple would have ever gotten off the ground if you guys didn't have that cash source in the very begining?:)
I represent an organization called i-docs.org. We are a free hosting service run by geeks for people who want to host documentation. If you are the manager of an opensource project and would like to contribute documentation or if you would like to help out and write documentation. Please contact me hakker@substance.com or one of the email addresses on the page. Please check it out. This is completely free. We are setting it up themes.org style in that the layout is like e.i-docs.org for Enlightenemnt documentation. We already have many people on board, so come check us out. And by the way, we are getting a whole new back end of the site in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned.
People, my parents, etc.. wonder why I am 18, never had a date, and a virgin. My answer to them and other people is "I'm a geek." That is, I dont tend to go to parties and I don't socialize a ton. I spend my time doing homework, messing with my computers, and hanging out with other geeks. I probably don't try enough, but, I am a woose. Point is, I am generally a sterotypical geek. Dont get any exercise and as such I am very self concious of weight. In the end, it is a lack of trying that keeps me away from the fems.
Way to go patrick and team! Good job! For all of you who thought Slackware was out dated, here comes the cavalry with glibc2.1 and all the cool stuff you come to expect from a professional distro but with all the fun of being slackware!
I know some chinese developers working on this program out of Shanghai. What they are working on is more along the lines of this. Windows networking code is anything but posix compliant. Microsoft has decided to call their network api "windows sockets". The aim of this project, at least in part as I understand it, is to write an api for linux that will allow the use of "windows sockets" code on posix compliant systems. The primary aim of this is to bring windows flagship network programs (eg. MS Exchange Server and MS SQL Server) over to run on a linux platform. My point is, don't be looking for many desktop user MS appications on your X-Window desktop soon.
What are the major ramifications for the gaming industry going to be when XFree86 4.0 comes out based on the information we have now?
nVidia promises full support and acceleration of their cards. 3dfx seems to be coming along ok. Mandrake and other excelent programmers have been working to make the Matrox cards the best supported cards out there.
Will the speedup of the free X server lead to a lot of improvement in the area of 3D acceleration or will the speedup remain confined to desktop applications? What of the cooperation between game companies, id, Loki, etc, and the Mesa/SGI team. What do these players bring to the table to help us all enjoy a fully functional, fast, reliable X environment.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Best regards, Jon Webb
P.S. Maybe you could hookup with American Magee again for some new influx of level design:). Again, great work John. Keep it up.
I am willing to bet that it is C|Net. They have been buying up Linux domains lately. I noticed that they purchased and stuck some content on searchlinux.com... I hate being religated to looking for Linux info on anything C|Net related. First it was "You can download Word Perfect from download.com" and now it is "All the linux info you ever wanted at searchlinux.com".. Or at least it seems that way. Bad C|Net, go away.
Can someone please explain the advantage, if any, of paying for backup software for computers that are on the same network? Being that you can have the linux box mount almost any filesystem in existance, even in read-only mode, and then tar that file system to a tape or automagically burn to a cd or even just make the iso filesystem image.. Someone please tell me WHY there is ANY market for software to let you do this under linux????? Are there any advantages to it, because I sure don't see any..
For those that keep complaining about Slackware not being a modern system, wise up. It is a base point for a completely customized distro and as fast as linux can possibly be on an intel machine. If your willing to put in the time (if you know what your doing, its not a lot of time), you can make Slack do whatever you want. Glibc2, sure fine. Changed directories, filesystems, etc. Sure fine. Compatibilty with RPM, DEB, tar balls, SLP etc. Sure, no problem. Run any program, compiled to your liking for optimum speed or install some stupid binaries. Ok. Run anything Xwise, including GNOME ( see link) and everyhing else. No problem. Have it be a bleeding edge work station or a server/switch that you throw in the closet or install from floppies. That is the whole point of slack. Start behind, do what you want to get current the way you like it. They didn't leave out glibc2 because they are lazy. There is so much complaining, you can probably expect to see it in next distro, but it is not in Slackware's style. This is also one possible reason why you don't see to many updates of the distro. I hope this one makes some of you happy. Slack kicks ass./rant
I've said it before and I'll say it again. ESR is the man! He kicks ass. I really enjoyed hanging out with him at LinuxWorld, although, seeing him "get jiggy wit it" was a little more than I could handle. This geek gadget article is funny and makes some good points.
Although I have to agree with ESR, that having absolutely nothing to carry around is cool, I have enough trouble remembering my keys in the morning. On the other hand I love my alphanumeric pager with email. I like my cell fone sorta, but I love my pager. My laptop is cool too, but too heavy to carry EVERYWHERE.
My car is a different story. I want as many useless gadgets in my car as possible. From my radar detector to my stuffed TUX hagging from the rearview, I need car gadgets!!
I am very happy to see all the comments talking about how they remember slack, use slack, etc. I too still use slackware. I have for years. I like running a nice fast system. There are a few things that bug me about slack (lack of glibc2, some out of date libs ie. libdb hint hint) but other than that it is still the best. Now for those of you who think slack is old and is going to limit what you can run, check this out.
I run an older version of slack, many updated libs, etc. The system is fully functional. For those of you who like eye candy, I am running XFree 3.3.3.1, Enlighenment as the window manager, GNOME (YES GNOME) 1.0, Gimp 1.1, and many other "bleeding edge version" applications.
You can run anything on it. So nuts to you people who are surprised that slackware can run GNOME, etc. It is fast, compiled myself, and has a small memory footprint. Keep your dependecies and default installs. I'll be in the corner with the rest of the loons scaring the rest of ya.
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately, I think this author is not very experienced in this field. First of all, last year's E3 was MUCH more promising on the Linux front. Many new titles announced, and a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the companys towards linux. (see my review of last years show at http://linuxgames.com/e3expo.shtml). Second, Blender has been around for a long time. It is a great application with a large user base. Thier new stab at game developers with Blender 2.0 (aka Gameblender) is just a try at some more professional marketshare. Best luck to you Ian! Another interesting thing of note at the show was the Halo 3d engine from Bungie. There is a chance that it may be crossplatformable and that would be great. I was BLOWN AWAY by their demo.
I work in this industry and can shed some light on whats happening here. First of all, some of the PC game industry has been put aside for a little while to make room for Playstation 2. This is what contributed to a poor show this year. As you walk into the PC hall of the show, a gigantic 40'x40' screen greets you as it shows games that EA will be releasing on PS2. Most of the PC hall was this way as well. The biggest attraction this year in the PC hall was by far, the trailer that was played in the Konami booth ever hour on the hour for Metal Gear Solid 2 on Playstation 2. The is indicative of the state of the PC game industry. Right now, the PC's just arent as fast as the PS2 and everything is going to be released for it in the near future. This is not a bad thing at all, but it does explain why there was less enthusiasm towards linux PC games.
Problem 2: The show was disorganized. I blame this on the show producers (IDG I think). There were too many Console related titles being show in the PC hall and a couple of PC exhibits that didnt belong in the console hall. It made things confusing and disorienting.
I have to say that even the developers of these games need to be more aware of the linux situation. I am involved with the Sony PS2 developer support team. I was saddened to hear that after a large push by Sony to thrust Linux at developers (their dev kit uses linux tools they created), it has been not well received. The developers for the most part, especially in Europe, did not accept linux as thier new development environment. That is to say, most of them have opted to develop on their windows machines and then use a frontend that was written to the dev kit to send compile commands to their Linux box and thus to the dev kit. Sony's lack of linux experience didnt make it any easier for the developers to make the transition, but it is still a disappointing situation.
As far as PC games go, I think we are going to have to rely mostly on Loki to keep dishing out the quality ports for now. Users need to keep loki afloat by buying their games. Better 3d sound, hardware, and input device support for linux would also help stir some development. What we really need is the developers that like to use Linux to get out and promote it to their collegues. Not everyone is a John Carmack or Tim Sweeny.
BTW, I will be posting a ton of pictures from E3 at my website in the next day or two. Check back for the URL.
We have almost everything setup to automagically bill the credit cards not. That defeats the purpose of online banking, except there is one other important aspect. Once we get our credit card statements back, we want to see where the money is going. Organize it. View graphs of things. Collect information for tax purposes and budgeting. This is a feature that I have not found on any online bill paying site. I need to most us away from windows based financial software for this purpose. I talked to the guys at gnofin about these features and they took it under advisement. Why can't I get an apache log analyzer type thing for my credit card statement?!
My $0.02.
ok, first of all, I would tend to not trust my money with them. Second, this is not innovative, this has been going on for a lot longer than MS has had their grubby hands in the pot. Third, that is the ugliest site I have ever seen. And finally, I don't believe that companies will send you bills to their website all nicely layed out and interpretable without error from their system. BS.
In case anyone is interested, back in June 99, I visited E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in LA on behalf of Linuxgames.com. E3 is where the next year of gaming and beyond is revealed by most game companies. I went and interviewed as many vendors as I could and hounded them about Linux. There is a VERY detailed write-up of my findings at http://linuxgames.com/e3expo.shtml. Makes for very good reading, and even though it is 6 months old, it gives a very thorough overview of Linux Gaming.
There is a GOOD possibility of seeing Tribes2 for linux. I had a chance to talk 1-on-1 with a couple of developers at last years E3 and they told me that they *WILL* release a Linux dedicated server for Tribes2. They were highly considering a client for Linux as well, but were concerned with the state of advanced sound support, full screen graphics support, and the usual loader, video playback, etc, kind of stuff. That E3 was last June. We've come a LONG way since then. I would not be surprised to find Tribes2 for Linux.
I've had a LOT of experience with this lately. There are several parts to this question and several things to think about.
Normal Banking:
Where do I get my ATM card, DEBIT card, Credit Card, etc. How do I manage my Checking and Savings accounts.These are all included in Normal Banking. I highly recommend Wells Fargo. They have branches everywhere on the west coast but I never use them. Their online banking system is EXCELLENT. Their customer service department is actually useful as well. Their online service allows you to download your account history into MS Money (evil) or Quicken (also evil).
Financial Software:
On your computer, it is nice to track your finances with charts, investments, etc. which allow you to keep a close (private) eye on whats going on. It also makes taxes a lot easier. Scheduled payments are also nice. The pain in the ass is that there are really only two products to let you do this, and they both suck, and they are both for windoze. They also make use of a modem which is a pain if you have already switched to a high speed internet line.
Stock trading / tracking:
Tracking your portfolio, doing stock research, and of course, trading, are all functions of online stock brokers. I have had experience with a few.
- Datek was very nice. Good interface, but not many special offers or goodies.
- WitCapital was also very good although their services lent themselves to assistance regarding IPO's and not much else. The site design was also so/so.
- Etrade has its share of success stories and nightmares. So far my experience with them has been a bit of both. Etrade has many bells and whistles and extra services. Thier site design is not great, but it is fair. Their customer service leaves MUCH to be deisired. Slow to respond to phone calls and slow to follow through on withdrawls, deposits, and transfers of cash. They are also slow in getting checks and there were several screw-ups in the initial sign-up process. I don't feel very comfortable with them although actual stock trading has been smooth.
- Moneynet.com is who I use for tracking my portfolio. The site design is nice and there is a lot of free information and news. Note that this is NOT a stock trading service. It is only a way to track assets, investments, etc. A lot of good resources here.
Conclusion:
I want either web based or net-enabled software (for linux) that easily allows me to track portfolio's and assets, as well as get news. I also need to be able to import downloaded account histories from multiple sources (usually in money or quicken format). I also need to be able to schedule bill payment automatically and not require a modem. I need to be able to reconcile this information for tax purposes. I also need to make stock trades and manage my bank accounts. If all of this were in one place, it would make my, and probably everyone else's, life a lot easier.
Just my 2 centavos. Hope this helps.
I recently had a chance to meet Captain Crunch, the original creator of the red box. Many years ago, the feds and the phone companies were after him so he fled the country. He ended up in Bombay. Now he's back in the states floating around living off of donations and hand-outs. My question is, do you think Apple would have ever gotten off the ground if you guys didn't have that cash source in the very begining? :)
Hello.
I represent an organization called i-docs.org. We are a free hosting service run by geeks for people who want to host documentation. If you are the manager of an opensource project and would like to contribute documentation or if you would like to help out and write documentation. Please contact me hakker@substance.com or one of the email addresses on the page. Please check it out. This is completely free. We are setting it up themes.org style in that the layout is like e.i-docs.org for Enlightenemnt documentation. We already have many people on board, so come check us out. And by the way, we are getting a whole new back end of the site in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned.
Thanks.
I want it! That Star wars video.. gimme gimme. Hook it up URL style.
-- Hey, Dirty. Baby, keebler's got your money.
People, my parents, etc.. wonder why I am 18, never had a date, and a virgin. My answer to them and other people is "I'm a geek." That is, I dont tend to go to parties and I don't socialize a ton. I spend my time doing homework, messing with my computers, and hanging out with other geeks. I probably don't try enough, but, I am a woose. Point is, I am generally a sterotypical geek. Dont get any exercise and as such I am very self concious of weight. In the end, it is a lack of trying that keeps me away from the fems.
That's just me... *shrug*
Aye, it does mate. As well as NFS and others.. Get a clue.
Way to go patrick and team! Good job! For all of you who thought Slackware was out dated, here comes the cavalry with glibc2.1 and all the cool stuff you come to expect from a professional distro but with all the fun of being slackware!
I know some chinese developers working on this program out of Shanghai. What they are working on is more along the lines of this. Windows networking code is anything but posix compliant. Microsoft has decided to call their network api "windows sockets". The aim of this project, at least in part as I understand it, is to write an api for linux that will allow the use of "windows sockets" code on posix compliant systems. The primary aim of this is to bring windows flagship network programs (eg. MS Exchange Server and MS SQL Server) over to run on a linux platform. My point is, don't be looking for many desktop user MS appications on your X-Window desktop soon.
Reguards
John,
:). Again, great work John. Keep it up.
What are the major ramifications for the gaming industry going to be when XFree86 4.0 comes out based on the information we have now?
nVidia promises full support and acceleration of their cards. 3dfx seems to be coming along ok. Mandrake and other excelent programmers have been working to make the Matrox cards the best supported cards out there.
Will the speedup of the free X server lead to a lot of improvement in the area of 3D acceleration or will the speedup remain confined to desktop applications? What of the cooperation between game companies, id, Loki, etc, and the Mesa/SGI team. What do these players bring to the table to help us all enjoy a fully functional, fast, reliable X environment.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Best regards,
Jon Webb
P.S. Maybe you could hookup with American Magee again for some new influx of level design
I am willing to bet that it is C|Net. They have been buying up Linux domains lately. I noticed that they purchased and stuck some content on searchlinux.com ... I hate being religated to looking for Linux info on anything C|Net related. First it was "You can download Word Perfect from download.com" and now it is "All the linux info you ever wanted at searchlinux.com".. Or at least it seems that way. Bad C|Net, go away.
Can someone please explain the advantage, if any, of paying for backup software for computers that are on the same network? Being that you can have the linux box mount almost any filesystem in existance, even in read-only mode, and then tar that file system to a tape or automagically burn to a cd or even just make the iso filesystem image.. Someone please tell me WHY there is ANY market for software to let you do this under linux????? Are there any advantages to it, because I sure don't see any..
Sorry, this is the correct url for the slackware / gnome howto.
http://www.ncal.verio.c om/~hakker/slackware-gnome-HOWTO.txt
For those that keep complaining about Slackware not being a modern system, wise up. It is a base point for a completely customized distro and as fast as linux can possibly be on an intel machine. If your willing to put in the time (if you know what your doing, its not a lot of time), you can make Slack do whatever you want. Glibc2, sure fine. Changed directories, filesystems, etc. Sure fine. Compatibilty with RPM, DEB, tar balls, SLP etc. Sure, no problem. Run any program, compiled to your liking for optimum speed or install some stupid binaries. Ok. Run anything Xwise, including GNOME ( see link) and everyhing else. No problem. Have it be a bleeding edge work station or a server/switch that you throw in the closet or install from floppies. That is the whole point of slack. Start behind, do what you want to get current the way you like it. They didn't leave out glibc2 because they are lazy. There is so much complaining, you can probably expect to see it in next distro, but it is not in Slackware's style. This is also one possible reason why you don't see to many updates of the distro. I hope this one makes some of you happy. Slack kicks ass. /rant
These have been around for a while. A good place for information on this kind of stuff is www.computernerd.com
- Jon
I've said it before and I'll say it again. ESR is the man! He kicks ass. I really enjoyed hanging out with him at LinuxWorld, although, seeing him "get jiggy wit it" was a little more than I could handle. This geek gadget article is funny and makes some good points.
Although I have to agree with ESR, that having absolutely nothing to carry around is cool, I have enough trouble remembering my keys in the morning. On the other hand I love my alphanumeric pager with email. I like my cell fone sorta, but I love my pager. My laptop is cool too, but too heavy to carry EVERYWHERE.
My car is a different story. I want as many useless gadgets in my car as possible. From my radar detector to my stuffed TUX hagging from the rearview, I need car gadgets!!
I am very happy to see all the comments talking about how they remember slack, use slack, etc. I too still use slackware. I have for years. I like running a nice fast system. There are a few things that bug me about slack (lack of glibc2, some out of date libs ie. libdb hint hint) but other than that it is still the best. Now for those of you who think slack is old and is going to limit what you can run, check this out.
I run an older version of slack, many updated libs, etc. The system is fully functional. For those of you who like eye candy, I am running XFree 3.3.3.1, Enlighenment as the window manager, GNOME (YES GNOME) 1.0, Gimp 1.1, and many other "bleeding edge version" applications.
You can run anything on it. So nuts to you people who are surprised that slackware can run GNOME, etc. It is fast, compiled myself, and has a small memory footprint. Keep your dependecies and default installs. I'll be in the corner with the rest of the loons scaring the rest of ya.
Ni who lilly fa ling ling cha!