I was kind of forced to wonder if this was News for Nerds or not. I don't think the musings of the religious right, unless they are explicitly trying to take away some of our rights, is really Nerd-worthy.
Having said that, it was the funniest thing I've read today:).
I work for Mot (though not in a 'consumer' group).
Motorola has had a history recently of getting its ass kicked in the consumer marketplace. Cellular is digging itself out (I hope), semiconductor shafted itself when it thought it could compete in the memory market, and MCG doused itself in gasoline with Steve Jobs holding a match when it tried to get into the Mac clone market (and the Starmax line was overpriced anyway). Don't hold your breath to get this board at an affordable price. I don't think the Linux market is anywhere near big enough at this point anyway (sorry!).
Obviously someone must be buying them at this price though if they keep coming out with new ones. I personally have more faith that Compaq will see a market for attractively priced alpha systems in the consumer market.
And yes, plenty of us (especially new college grads) are pretty heavy into Linux, but it won't get us anywhere for a while.
I think the title of this should have been aimed a little better at avoiding a Dvorak flame-fest. When I use to read Usenet I remember enough people thinking he's a dork, but do we really need to specifically AIM at him like this?
The signal-to-noise ratio on slashdot is already low enough as it is.
The main reason I hate Apple is pretty simple. I was a huge Apple// fan, and when the//gs came out, I was thrilled to death. All the// magazines I subscribed to loved it, but Apple didn't do a damn thing for it...they were cash-cowing the//'s for the Mac. The super-hackable//'s were set aside for the closed API of the Mac, and at the time, I thought that stupid little box was very lame (9" screen?).
On top of that, when Apple destroyed the clone market, I lost my bonus (I work for Motorola and the write-off was huge).
Guess my real enemy is Steve Jobs:).
Whatever happened to Fred van Kempen's code?
on
Alan Cox Interview
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· Score: 1
I've always kinda wondered this. I got into linux right around the time that they were talking about two different network packages, so it was a big deal at the time, but then I forgot about it. (This was Net-3 right?) Can anybody point me to some details?
Well, this is my lame commentary on the end of a leaf that no one will probably read:), but as far as I am concerned, simple fonts work the best. I was reading the Perl Cookbook this weekend (cracked it open again after the good review) and I was marvelling at how efficient and readable the ORA books are. No wonder they pack more information in that managable book size than those horrific unleashed books.
Squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg..
on
Stop:Quickie Time
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· Score: 1
I missed the part in LotR where that happened:).
Seriously, its cool somebody came up with a website that covers Zep/Tolkien connections. I'd caught the obvious reference in "Ramble On" as a fan of both, but I didn't know that Jimmy Page and the gang were as into it.
Not so related, but I've always hoped the trilogy would be turned into a live action movie, I'm not a big fan of that hack Return of the King movie.
My current linux box is humming along on 2.0.35 that sourced from a Slackware install and a lot of source compiles. I'm real interested in doing a fresh re-install using RedHat, because I want to get Enlightenment/Gnome going, as well as Wine, and the problems of the E dependencies and the Wine dependency on Glibc2 has kept me from putting the time in to play with them.
So my question is for those familiar with RH: How much of what I need to get a 2.2.x/Glibc2 RH machine can I get from the 5.2 release? I'm hoping it will be as simple as just downloading the new kernel source, compile, lilo, done. Any word on the move from 5.2 to the pre-releases?
If it would take too much time, I'll just wait for a new release from RH, but I've got the gumption to do it now.
Any tips, suggestions, pitfalls? My current machine is used primarily for IP masquerading and Samba serving to my Windows box, web serving, and perl scripting, but I want to start to use X a lot more and start GTK-ing and Gnoming.
I've have to support an aweful application that builds using lattice C. The company may have gone the way of the dodo, but we still use the damn thing.
I also don't agree with his assessment on the GPL (as many others have stated). Add-ons in most any form can be handed out without source. Just don't expect people to keep buying your product if you don't maintain it.
I've never read the technical reasons behind why WINE is supposed to stand for Wine Is Not an Emulator, but I think it is something of a half-truth. The thunks that are used to mitigate between a windows app and the linux OS are something of an emulation IMHO. I would be more disappointed if they had not later explained (albeit briefly) this point later in the article.
I doubt any of the articles in the PC rags ever did a very good job of explaining NT's WoW (Windows on Windows) from a technical standpoint, and I don't think most users would have cared anyway.
I'm just happy they got halfway decent mainstream press at all.
DivX: not much chance in the marketplace
on
How is DivX Doing
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· Score: 1
When I read a DivX press release, Circuit City was really the only viable vendor listed for movies The rest looked like a bunch of shops that had about five stores. Blockbuster and mom-n-pop video stores aren't going to sabotage their own rental sales, and without support from Best Buy or other major electronics stores, there is no way that the movies or the players will sell for much longer.
If movie studios REALLY wanted a piece of the rental market, the format would be simple. Screw the whole phone-line/silver disc crap, I think that is too Big Brother for most consumers. I don't want my rental habits charted by anyone. Lower the price to $2 and reduce the packaging to nothing, and let me watch the movie for 48 hours.
I don't know how this would be enforced (this movie will self-destruct in 5 mins?), but I'm sure someone could come up with something. An added bonus would be if you could bring a rental in for $1 off of the regular movie.
I remember hearing that Sony and Nintendo actually sold the game boxes at a loss, in favor of the huge profit margins they get on the games. Granted, this was over a year ago, but it seemed like a pretty good business model to me. Sony only stands to lose money if gold CDs can be played on the virtual game station, a problem which both Psyke and PS Emu Pro said they had plans to address (ie, check for Black CDs).
I would suspect that an Indian software company with a little extra pocket change has paid off the right people to me. I agree with the sentiment though, as the US obviously sees encryption as a form of weapon, why shouldn't any other upwardly mobile country do the same?
After all, there are quite a few more Indians in the world than Americans, you'd think they'd be able to scrape some good stuff together.
It would be awesome if the folks who are doing GL DooM and Boom (I think they are merging?) could incorporate the Hexen/Heretic code into their code as well, basically creating a generic WAD player.
A lofty goal, and one that I myself am not up to, but I s'pose some good wishful thinking.
BTW, I wouldn't flame Raven for this, but it would have been cool if they could have shipped a zip instead of an exe, seeing as they supported the idea of linux. But then again, anyone porting would probably need a DOS box lying around for testing the original operation.
It is an installer BTW, an not just a self extractor.
Katz briefly mentioned the Dead and the tape trading phenomenon. This is what got me into MP3 in the first place. The now defunct Dave Matthews Bootleg archive that was at Duke was absolutely exciting...I had access to songs that I would never get to hear because I wasn't in to tape trading, but loved the new twist. Did it hurt the band? Hell no! I now own all of Dave's official releases with the exception of UTTnD. The boots really got me into the band. I currently have 2 CDRs full of Pearl Jam and 4 full of NIN, and I have purchased two of the official releases from each since I started collecting their stuff on the net. Whether these bands know it or not, MP3 has helped their sales. At least in the case of PJ, I respect the band's stance on taping and have gotten into their music all over again. The net is really awesome at enhancing my knowledge and interest in something.
Slashdot Mirror
I was kind of forced to wonder if this was News for Nerds or not. I don't think the musings of the religious right, unless they are explicitly trying to take away some of our rights, is really Nerd-worthy.
:).
Having said that, it was the funniest thing I've read today
I work for Mot (though not in a 'consumer' group).
Motorola has had a history recently of getting its ass kicked in the consumer marketplace. Cellular is digging itself out (I hope), semiconductor shafted itself when it thought it could compete in the memory market, and MCG doused itself in gasoline with Steve Jobs holding a match when it tried to get into the Mac clone market (and the Starmax line was overpriced anyway). Don't hold your breath to get this board at an affordable price. I don't think the Linux market is anywhere near big enough at this point anyway (sorry!).
Obviously someone must be buying them at this price though if they keep coming out with new ones. I personally have more faith that Compaq will see a market for attractively priced alpha systems in the consumer market.
And yes, plenty of us (especially new college grads) are pretty heavy into Linux, but it won't get us anywhere for a while.
I think the title of this should have been aimed a little better at avoiding a Dvorak flame-fest. When I use to read Usenet I remember enough people thinking he's a dork, but do we really need to specifically AIM at him like this?
The signal-to-noise ratio on slashdot is already low enough as it is.
At least he's covering Transmeta.
The main reason I hate Apple is pretty simple. // fan, and when the //gs came out, I was thrilled to death. All the // magazines I subscribed to loved it, but Apple didn't do a damn thing for it...they were cash-cowing the //'s for the Mac. The super-hackable //'s were set aside for the closed API of the Mac, and at the time, I thought that stupid little box was very lame (9" screen?).
:).
I was a huge Apple
On top of that, when Apple destroyed the clone market, I lost my bonus (I work for Motorola and the write-off was huge).
Guess my real enemy is Steve Jobs
I've always kinda wondered this. I got into linux right around the time that they were talking about two different network packages, so it was a big deal at the time, but then I forgot about it.
(This was Net-3 right?)
Can anybody point me to some details?
Well, this is my lame commentary on the end of a leaf that no one will probably read :), but as far as I am concerned, simple fonts work the best. I was reading the Perl Cookbook this weekend (cracked it open again after the good review) and I was marvelling at how efficient and readable the ORA books are. No wonder they pack more information in that managable book size than those horrific unleashed books.
I missed the part in LotR where that happened :).
Seriously, its cool somebody came up with a website that covers Zep/Tolkien connections. I'd caught the obvious reference in "Ramble On" as a fan of both, but I didn't know that Jimmy Page and the gang were as into it.
Not so related, but I've always hoped the trilogy would be turned into a live action movie, I'm not a big fan of that hack Return of the King movie.
My current linux box is humming along on 2.0.35 that sourced from a Slackware install and a lot of source compiles. I'm real interested in doing a fresh re-install using RedHat, because I want to get Enlightenment/Gnome going, as well as Wine, and the problems of the E dependencies and the Wine dependency on Glibc2 has kept me from putting the time in to play with them.
So my question is for those familiar with RH:
How much of what I need to get a 2.2.x/Glibc2 RH machine can I get from the 5.2 release? I'm hoping it will be as simple as just downloading the new kernel source, compile, lilo, done. Any word on the move from 5.2 to the pre-releases?
If it would take too much time, I'll just wait for a new release from RH, but I've got the gumption to do it now.
Any tips, suggestions, pitfalls? My current machine is used primarily for IP masquerading and Samba serving to my Windows box, web serving, and perl scripting, but I want to start to use X a lot more and start GTK-ing and Gnoming.
I've have to support an aweful application that builds using lattice C. The company may have gone the way of the dodo, but we still use the damn thing.
I also don't agree with his assessment on the GPL (as many others have stated). Add-ons in most any form can be handed out without source. Just don't expect people to keep buying your product if you don't maintain it.
I've never read the technical reasons behind why WINE is supposed to stand for Wine Is Not an Emulator, but I think it is something of a half-truth. The thunks that are used to mitigate between a windows app and the linux OS are something of an emulation IMHO. I would be more disappointed if they had not later explained (albeit briefly) this point later in the article.
I doubt any of the articles in the PC rags ever did a very good job of explaining NT's WoW (Windows on Windows) from a technical standpoint, and I don't think most users would have cared anyway.
I'm just happy they got halfway decent mainstream press at all.
When I read a DivX press release, Circuit City was really the only viable vendor listed for movies The rest looked like a bunch of shops that had about five stores. Blockbuster and mom-n-pop video stores aren't going to sabotage their own rental sales, and without support from Best Buy or other major electronics stores, there is no way that the movies or the players will sell for much longer.
If movie studios REALLY wanted a piece of the rental market, the format would be simple. Screw the whole phone-line/silver disc crap, I think that is too Big Brother for most consumers. I don't want my rental habits charted by anyone. Lower the price to $2 and reduce the packaging to nothing, and let me watch the movie for 48 hours.
I don't know how this would be enforced (this movie will self-destruct in 5 mins?), but I'm sure someone could come up with something. An added bonus would be if you could bring a rental in for $1 off of the regular movie.
I remember hearing that Sony and Nintendo actually sold the game boxes at a loss, in favor of the huge profit margins they get on the games. Granted, this was over a year ago, but it seemed like a pretty good business model to me. Sony only stands to lose money if gold CDs can be played on the virtual game station, a problem which both Psyke and PS Emu Pro said they had plans to address (ie, check for Black CDs).
I would suspect that an Indian software company with a little extra pocket change has paid off the right people to me. I agree with the sentiment though, as the US obviously sees encryption as a form of weapon, why shouldn't any other upwardly mobile country do the same?
After all, there are quite a few more Indians in the world than Americans, you'd think they'd be able to scrape some good stuff together.
It would be awesome if the folks who are doing
GL DooM and Boom (I think they are merging?) could incorporate the Hexen/Heretic code into their code as well, basically creating a generic WAD player.
A lofty goal, and one that I myself am not up to, but I s'pose some good wishful thinking.
BTW, I wouldn't flame Raven for this, but it would have been cool if they could have shipped a zip instead of an exe, seeing as they supported the idea of linux. But then again, anyone porting would probably need a DOS box lying around for testing the original operation.
It is an installer BTW, an not just a self extractor.
Katz briefly mentioned the Dead and the tape trading phenomenon. This is what got me into MP3 in the first place. The now defunct Dave Matthews Bootleg archive that was at Duke was absolutely exciting...I had access to songs that I would never get to hear because I wasn't in to tape trading, but loved the new twist. Did it hurt the band? Hell no! I now own all of Dave's official releases with the exception of UTTnD. The boots really got me into the band. I currently have 2 CDRs full of Pearl Jam and 4 full of NIN, and I have purchased two of the official releases from each since I started collecting their stuff on the net. Whether these bands know it or not, MP3 has helped their sales. At least in the case of PJ, I respect the band's stance on taping and have gotten into their music all over again. The net is really awesome at enhancing my knowledge and interest in something.