I think wired headphones would suck, for all the reasons everyone else is giving -- they catch on things, they're potentially dangerous, etc. Obviously, speakers are not an option. I think this would be a great use for radio or infrared headphones. I know these exist for listening around the house. I haven't seen them advertised recently, but definitely, it's the thing to do.
I hate MS as much as everyone else, but one thing you say is, no offense, retarded. No one's gonna go out and buy a $90-$200 OS just so they can use a WinModem which they could replace with a real modem for $50. Pretty much anyone who would buy a Winmodem is also the kind of person who would buy an already-assembled, Windows-installed computer. If they later become interested in running a real OS, then they'll benefit from Linmodem support.
Actually, talking level is 60 dB. 60 dB is approximately 8 times as loud as 30 dB. It is true that computers these days are very loud. Things you can do to alleviate the noise include wrapping your computer in sound-insulating material, or having heat sinks the size of Sri Lanka.
Re:No slashdot stalker should be without
on
Humpday Quickies
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· Score: 1
According to the Drinking Game, we're all supposed to drink if: .. someone mistakes 'hacking' for 'cracking' (or vice versa) Bottoms up!
Lots of movies have had realistic zero-g scenes. 2001 did it beforeanyone else, by rotating the camera to approximate the effect from the viewer's point of view. More recent movies, like Apollo 13, have just rented the Vomit Comet, which is an airplane owned by NASA which flies in successive parabolas, and used that. At the top of each arc, there is very little gravity (well, actually, there's still 9.8 m/s^2, but it's counteracted), for about 15 seconds IIRC. They just pay NASA a chunk and rent the Comet for a day or two, and build a set inside the plane.
No, it wouldn't. 3.9.x is not in the sequential order. x.9.x is a common way of saying, "This is a beta version of the next major release." If you'll notice, the current real version is 3.3.something. 3.3.5 I think. But you're right, these are just version numbers, not real numbers.
It's a misleading marketing ploy, is why. Win98 is essentially identical to Win95, plus IE4. Win95 was Windows 4, and Win98 was Windows 4.1. A minor release, not a major one. People look at the numbers and make guesses about the importance: "Well, 4.1 is barely different from 4.0. I won't buy it." "Oh! 98 is three whole numbers away from 95! It must be completely different!"
I think that the good ol' fashion way of doing it (0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 2.0, etc.) is fine. The Linux kernel system (x is the major version, x.even is the stable tree, x.odd is the development tree, x.y.number is the minor version), although a little complicated, is also very good.
Fractint (currently on v. 20.0) and Emacs (currently on v. 20.5) have historically been in competition for the largest real version numbers. In response to apsmith's assertion that large version numbers imply obsolescence, Emacs is an obvious counterexample. Fractint is a little more dubious, but it remains very powerful.
Why would you bring your site down? If the server is left on, it either crashes or it doesn't. If it doesn't, then you're fine. If it does, then you're not. If you turn the server off, however, then it's bad whether or not it's Y2K-ready. If it is, then you just DoS'ed n people, but if it isn't, then it'll explode or whatever as soon as you turn it on and it realizes it hasn't been invented yet. The problem isn't the changeover per se -- the problem is the first time it needs to know the year and it gets it wrong.
You're right about the moderation thing, but that doesn't mean I agree with you. Why does it matter what the Founding Fathers or Adam Smith would say? Smith, in particular, got a lot of things very wrong, in my opinion. Just because these men were influential doesn't mean they are beyond reproach. I've got a lot of respect for the Founding Fathers, but the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are flawed. As for the Wealth of Nations, don't get me started....
Why do you say it's unlikely that a data format could be copyrighted or patented? I don't assert that doing so would be good, but I see no reason why, under the present system, it couldn't be done.
That would certainly be feasible, but it wouldn't be desirable. Whichever states had the weakest regulation would be the states that all the drug sellers would move to, and one thing that certainly needs to be regulated consistently is medicine. I vehemently oppose regulation of speech, etc., but I fail to see the terrible harm that would come of safeguarding against bad medicines.
What I don't get is why Diamond, Creative, etc. don't just release their own closed-source drivers (X servers). If they did, they would lose nothing except a little money to pay the programmers, and they would gain a lot of customers. I get why they don't want to release OSS drivers - competitors could reverse-engineer the hardware from the software. But if they would just include Linux drivers, they would get lots of fans. Then they would succeed or fail depending upon their hardware's merits instead of whether there is any support from your and my favorite OS. RMS types still wouldn't be happy, but oh well.
Uh, 'scuse me? There are a few of us losers out here who'd like to play games, too. Saying that only 3dfx, nVidia, and Matrox are important because they've gotten the most attention is like saying only Windows is important because it gets 99% of the attention. I've got a Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro with a 3dlabs Permedia 2, which I would like to use to play Q3A in Linux. But I have to reboot into Windows, which annoys me.
The only online shipping I did this season was for a couple Hannukah presents from Alibris. The books came much faster than Alibris said they would, and I was very pleased. I wish they had photos of the books, though.
The sales figures will be misread, though. People will observe the relatively low number of Linux sales to be indicative of a lack of interest, but they'll be wrong. Obviously, there's the factor of people disregarding Carmack's plea to hold out for the Linux version. But also, there's the fact that folks like me, who have non-3dfx and non-nVidia graphics cards are unable to play in Linux, despite our desire to. I hate Windows, and the only reason I ever use it is to play Quake. My Permedia 2 isn't supported by goddamn Mesa, though, so there's no hope for me until the mythical XFree86 4.0 comes out. By then, though, I'll be geting Quake 17: Bloodfest beamed straight into my skull.
All this guy appears to know how to do is build a paper keyboard. A keyboard is a lot different from a computer. A computer requires a CPU, which can be cheap. A computer also requires a display device, which is a problem. Obviously, LCDs, CRTs, and other displays of that sort are not disposable, nor are they small, nor are they cheap. The only alternative that I immediately see is that of paper-based displays, which have been coming RSN for a long time.
Ebert's statement is like saying that just because CDs suck, the future of music is not digital. CDs do suck, but there is nothing inherent in digital audio that makes it suck. As long as you have enough bit depth, a precise clock, and a high enough sampling rate, digital is great. The problem with CDs is that they only have 16 bits at 44.1 KHz, which is inadequate for good reproduction. However, I have no doubt that all recorded music will be delivered in digital form in the future, and that it will finally be better than LPs. Although there still won't be foot-square cover art.
What does it have to do with socialism at all? Socialism is mostly concerned with the redistribution of wealth, and the nationalisation of fundamental industries (health care, police, etc.). Why would it be socialist for the government to run a server? Besides, one important part of why the Internet is so great is that national borders are not very meaningful.
Slashdot Mirror
I think wired headphones would suck, for all the reasons everyone else is giving -- they catch on things, they're potentially dangerous, etc. Obviously, speakers are not an option. I think this would be a great use for radio or infrared headphones. I know these exist for listening around the house. I haven't seen them advertised recently, but definitely, it's the thing to do.
I hate MS as much as everyone else, but one thing you say is, no offense, retarded. No one's gonna go out and buy a $90-$200 OS just so they can use a WinModem which they could replace with a real modem for $50. Pretty much anyone who would buy a Winmodem is also the kind of person who would buy an already-assembled, Windows-installed computer. If they later become interested in running a real OS, then they'll benefit from Linmodem support.
Actually, talking level is 60 dB. 60 dB is approximately 8 times as loud as 30 dB. It is true that computers these days are very loud. Things you can do to alleviate the noise include wrapping your computer in sound-insulating material, or having heat sinks the size of Sri Lanka.
According to the Drinking Game, we're all supposed to drink if:
.. someone mistakes 'hacking' for 'cracking' (or vice versa)
Bottoms up!
I'm a licensed pyrotechnic! But I'm illegal in seven states.
Lots of movies have had realistic zero-g scenes. 2001 did it beforeanyone else, by rotating the camera to approximate the effect from the viewer's point of view. More recent movies, like Apollo 13, have just rented the Vomit Comet, which is an airplane owned by NASA which flies in successive parabolas, and used that. At the top of each arc, there is very little gravity (well, actually, there's still 9.8 m/s^2, but it's counteracted), for about 15 seconds IIRC. They just pay NASA a chunk and rent the Comet for a day or two, and build a set inside the plane.
I'm not sure if this was before or after that, but it was also used in the indie film Buffalo 66, with Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci.
Because the article thingy said what you said.
3.3.5 is the current version, but according to xfree86.org, 3.3.6 "will be released in parallel with 3.9.17."
No, it wouldn't. 3.9.x is not in the sequential order. x.9.x is a common way of saying, "This is a beta version of the next major release." If you'll notice, the current real version is 3.3.something. 3.3.5 I think. But you're right, these are just version numbers, not real numbers.
I think that the good ol' fashion way of doing it (0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 2.0, etc.) is fine. The Linux kernel system (x is the major version, x.even is the stable tree, x.odd is the development tree, x.y.number is the minor version), although a little complicated, is also very good.
Fractint (currently on v. 20.0) and Emacs (currently on v. 20.5) have historically been in competition for the largest real version numbers. In response to apsmith's assertion that large version numbers imply obsolescence, Emacs is an obvious counterexample. Fractint is a little more dubious, but it remains very powerful.
Why would you bring your site down? If the server is left on, it either crashes or it doesn't. If it doesn't, then you're fine. If it does, then you're not. If you turn the server off, however, then it's bad whether or not it's Y2K-ready. If it is, then you just DoS'ed n people, but if it isn't, then it'll explode or whatever as soon as you turn it on and it realizes it hasn't been invented yet. The problem isn't the changeover per se -- the problem is the first time it needs to know the year and it gets it wrong.
You're right about the moderation thing, but that doesn't mean I agree with you. Why does it matter what the Founding Fathers or Adam Smith would say? Smith, in particular, got a lot of things very wrong, in my opinion. Just because these men were influential doesn't mean they are beyond reproach. I've got a lot of respect for the Founding Fathers, but the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are flawed. As for the Wealth of Nations, don't get me started....
Why do you say it's unlikely that a data format could be copyrighted or patented? I don't assert that doing so would be good, but I see no reason why, under the present system, it couldn't be done.
That would certainly be feasible, but it wouldn't be desirable. Whichever states had the weakest regulation would be the states that all the drug sellers would move to, and one thing that certainly needs to be regulated consistently is medicine. I vehemently oppose regulation of speech, etc., but I fail to see the terrible harm that would come of safeguarding against bad medicines.
What I don't get is why Diamond, Creative, etc. don't just release their own closed-source drivers (X servers). If they did, they would lose nothing except a little money to pay the programmers, and they would gain a lot of customers. I get why they don't want to release OSS drivers - competitors could reverse-engineer the hardware from the software. But if they would just include Linux drivers, they would get lots of fans. Then they would succeed or fail depending upon their hardware's merits instead of whether there is any support from your and my favorite OS. RMS types still wouldn't be happy, but oh well.
The V770 is supported, including gamma. http://www.xig.com/Pages/CardMfgrDiam ond.html has it right at the top.
Uh, 'scuse me? There are a few of us losers out here who'd like to play games, too. Saying that only 3dfx, nVidia, and Matrox are important because they've gotten the most attention is like saying only Windows is important because it gets 99% of the attention. I've got a Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro with a 3dlabs Permedia 2, which I would like to use to play Q3A in Linux. But I have to reboot into Windows, which annoys me.
The only online shipping I did this season was for a couple Hannukah presents from Alibris. The books came much faster than Alibris said they would, and I was very pleased. I wish they had photos of the books, though.
The sales figures will be misread, though. People will observe the relatively low number of Linux sales to be indicative of a lack of interest, but they'll be wrong. Obviously, there's the factor of people disregarding Carmack's plea to hold out for the Linux version. But also, there's the fact that folks like me, who have non-3dfx and non-nVidia graphics cards are unable to play in Linux, despite our desire to. I hate Windows, and the only reason I ever use it is to play Quake. My Permedia 2 isn't supported by goddamn Mesa, though, so there's no hope for me until the mythical XFree86 4.0 comes out. By then, though, I'll be geting Quake 17: Bloodfest beamed straight into my skull.
All this guy appears to know how to do is build a paper keyboard. A keyboard is a lot different from a computer. A computer requires a CPU, which can be cheap. A computer also requires a display device, which is a problem. Obviously, LCDs, CRTs, and other displays of that sort are not disposable, nor are they small, nor are they cheap. The only alternative that I immediately see is that of paper-based displays, which have been coming RSN for a long time.
Ebert's statement is like saying that just because CDs suck, the future of music is not digital. CDs do suck, but there is nothing inherent in digital audio that makes it suck. As long as you have enough bit depth, a precise clock, and a high enough sampling rate, digital is great. The problem with CDs is that they only have 16 bits at 44.1 KHz, which is inadequate for good reproduction. However, I have no doubt that all recorded music will be delivered in digital form in the future, and that it will finally be better than LPs. Although there still won't be foot-square cover art.
What does it have to do with socialism at all? Socialism is mostly concerned with the redistribution of wealth, and the nationalisation of fundamental industries (health care, police, etc.). Why would it be socialist for the government to run a server? Besides, one important part of why the Internet is so great is that national borders are not very meaningful.
Well, actually, they did kill Patrick Henry.