It's a friekin' university, not high school. These are adults we're talking about. If the class is so worthless and the instructors so ineffectual that students can get what they need from a podcast, then you really need to take a hard look at the quality or your education. Try improving the quality of the class. Make it interesting. Encourage participation and maybe less people will be tempted to just download the podcast.
Look at it this way, if enough students are "truant," those oversized lecture halls might shrink down a bit so that real learning can take place. I can only see this as a good thing. Let the lazy people stay home. Nobody wants them there anyway.
Make'm as free as BSD so hardware makers can use them without worry
Or maybe hardware makers could get with a friekin' times and allow flashing from inside a real OS. Maybe Microsoft could come out with an official LIve CD version of Windows for Ghosting (no fscking with DOS NIC drivers). Seriously, the PC is the only modern platform that requires you to boot an OS that hasn't changed significantly from 1983 to do basic maintence.
Another option is Linux. Novell, for example, does their ZenWorks system imaging (like Ghost) with a Linux boot CD. So much more universal and functional than a brain dead DOS boot disk. Also, IBM uses Linux boot CDs to configure/flash their RAID adapters. So it can be done.
DOS blows and I really wish it would just disappear from the face of the Earth. If I ever find myself editting another CONFIG.SYS... I don't know what I'd do... but it wouldn't be pretty. I probably wasted a total of several weeks of my life just trying to free up conventional RAM... on a 386!
With FreeDOS, you could ship a product without worrying about licencing. Even if Microsoft doesn't REALLY care if you pirate DOS, they might just go after you as a reflex.
Re:DOS is still in use in embedded applications
on
FreeDOS 1.0 Released
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· Score: 1
Would you even need to develop a custom micro-controller board? Aren't there generic programable controller/board combos that are a lot more compact and reliable than a PC?
This is exciting that we have a FOSS and functional equivalent of MS-DOS 6.22 (with some other features like long file names). I can run my old DOS games on my Mac with QEMU.
As if you couldn't just download MSDOS 6.22 from a hundred different sites in the form of boot/utility disks. I doubt if Microsoft even gives a crap.
Now, I wonder when somebody will get started on FreeWindows 3.11?
Soon after the come out with FreeBlackPlague 1.0.
-matthew
Re:Where does this fit into the map?
on
FreeDOS 1.0 Released
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The best use for DOS IMO is to run a BBS, but then, who wants to do that any more?
Even that is a stretch. DOS was good because it had a very low footprint and would allow more resources for the BBS, but if you wanted a BBS these days you be much better off with Linux or *BSD... especially if you were writting one from scratch. I mean, with *nix you've already got your modem/session/authentication/multitasking code done for you. YOu just have to write a console app.
A boot disk to do some low level stuff to a PC is about the only use for DOS these days. And even then it makes me cringe. It seems like such an insult to modern hardware to boot an OS designed for the 8086 CPU.
You shouldn't even have to setup secondary DNS/mail yourself. Any decent ISP should offer it as a complementary service. It is trivial to provide. Most of the time it isn't even used. This is one of the reasons to go with a commercial ISP and not your local cable or DSL provider which primarily deals with residential users who have no need for sendondary DNS or MX.
Of course, even after explaining this, my boss keeps asking why we pay $399 a month for a T1 when we could get cable from Comcast for $99.:-/
Without Debian, where would we have the amazing, huge codebase for every Ubuntu, Jibbajabba, or Lilixinidros distribution out there? Debian is the closest thing to a "standard Linux" if there ever was one. Slackware is a good candidate, too.
Yeah, it is too bad commercial software vendors don't see it that way. It can be a PITA sometimes to get an RPM to install correctly when it has been tailored to Fedora or RedHat. But I guess they have to standardize on SOMETHING.
Only if your phone is tied to your service provider and your agreement with said provider / firmware controlled by them prevents you from running your own software. Would you be surprised to hear that some people can run arbitrary code on their own computers without being prevented from doing so by their ISP?
You're just being condescending. I haven't owned a cell phone since they've become more general purpose devices. I was ASKING if and how it is possible to do somthing such as in TFA. I didn't know. Pardon me.
Like I said, I am out of the cell phone thing. I don't own one anymore and when I did, it was always a very basic phone that didn't do much more than keep a few (and I do mean a few!) phone numbers and maybe play some stupid Java game that took 5 minutes to load. For some reason I was under the impression that a service provider had near absolute control over your phone except for the ability to install bad pop songs as ring tones.
I'm skeptical. If all you had to do to recieve faint signals was to amplify the antenna, then everyone would do it and you'd have awesome range without needing to increase the signal strength. But it doesn't work like that. The higher the gain, the more noise you get. And with all those people broadcasting on overlapping channels along with normal interferrence, noise is exactly what you're going to get.
17 theoretical channels, but only 11 are used in the US. As for sniffing multiple networks on the same channel, it is possible if they are far enough apart and you are between them. You could pick up both as long as they didn't happen to send a packet at the same time. But 300 distinct networks at a single location? Seems far fetched to me.
I guess I'm just out of the whole cell phone thing so I have to ask... is it even possible to install software on a cell phone that will automatically take pictures and upload to Flickr? First of all, do phones have a "cron" type functionality that can fire off programs on a schedule? Do users have access to any of this? I Can a user upload an arbitrary program to their phone and have it run? I thought your provider pretty much controlled what your phone can do and what programs are on it.
If the companies are looking to release a new product, they should strive for a better, cheaper stand alone DVD Recorder. These are still fairly expensive when compared to a VCR.
What is a DVD Recorder good for? For digital recording, PVR/DVR is where it is at. And I think we are well past the point where many people are eager to convert their old VHS collections to DVD. Unless you have a really big collection, you might as well just buy the DVD version rather than pay for a recorder. Bottom line is that there is very little market for it. Companies are looking for mass appeal... not just a niche.
Going to Mars isn't exactly trivial, ya know. I think a lot of people (especially slashdotters) vastly underestimate the resources it takes to make a safe trip to space... particularly outside of Earth orbit. For one thing, Mars has a lot more gravity than the Moon, so landing there and then taking off again become much more complicated.
Look how much time and effort goes into just a Mars probe. How many of them have actually made it? Now, add in life support and a return vehicle and you have a pretty daunting task ahead of you.
You coudl use Audio Hijack on the Mac to intercept the digital audio (not analog) and save it to a file or even re-encode it direct to mp3. Audio Hijack creates a virtual sound card. But I suppose that would be a little slow. You couldn't encode faster than the song plays. A virtual CD would be nearly ideal.
Notice I said "tinkle down?" Or am I'm the only kid who used to refer to uninating as "tinkling." As in "mommy, I have to tinkle." Or "Hey Joey, why does your daddy tinkle on your housekeeper with such small paychecks?"
Well, there is also the sex. It is a little known fact that switching to Apple gets guys laid. Just be careful not to mix Apple with cheap, bad beer. While they may work social wonders individually, they don't mix! They are like a strong acid and a strong base. Chicks (art chicks in particular) see you with an MGD and a MacBook and you are screwed... in all the wrong ways.
now, if you're looking for a president who really tanked the economy, i'd suggest reagan. in his eight years he moved the national deficit from 2.5% ($80 bn) of gdp to 6% ($250 bn). if you wonder why the national debt is so out of control, it's because ron spent it all on military adventurism while cutting taxes for the upper 10%.
To be fair, that upper 10% did tinkle down... errr trickle down... on the rest of us.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, hopefully your next two years will have much smaller classes and participation will be essential. You don't know what you are missing.
-matthew
It's a friekin' university, not high school. These are adults we're talking about. If the class is so worthless and the instructors so ineffectual that students can get what they need from a podcast, then you really need to take a hard look at the quality or your education. Try improving the quality of the class. Make it interesting. Encourage participation and maybe less people will be tempted to just download the podcast.
Look at it this way, if enough students are "truant," those oversized lecture halls might shrink down a bit so that real learning can take place. I can only see this as a good thing. Let the lazy people stay home. Nobody wants them there anyway.
-matthew
Or maybe hardware makers could get with a friekin' times and allow flashing from inside a real OS. Maybe Microsoft could come out with an official LIve CD version of Windows for Ghosting (no fscking with DOS NIC drivers). Seriously, the PC is the only modern platform that requires you to boot an OS that hasn't changed significantly from 1983 to do basic maintence.
Another option is Linux. Novell, for example, does their ZenWorks system imaging (like Ghost) with a Linux boot CD. So much more universal and functional than a brain dead DOS boot disk. Also, IBM uses Linux boot CDs to configure/flash their RAID adapters. So it can be done.
DOS blows and I really wish it would just disappear from the face of the Earth. If I ever find myself editting another CONFIG.SYS... I don't know what I'd do... but it wouldn't be pretty. I probably wasted a total of several weeks of my life just trying to free up conventional RAM... on a 386!
-matthew
With FreeDOS, you could ship a product without worrying about licencing. Even if Microsoft doesn't REALLY care if you pirate DOS, they might just go after you as a reflex.
Would you even need to develop a custom micro-controller board? Aren't there generic programable controller/board combos that are a lot more compact and reliable than a PC?
As if you couldn't just download MSDOS 6.22 from a hundred different sites in the form of boot/utility disks. I doubt if Microsoft even gives a crap.
Soon after the come out with FreeBlackPlague 1.0.
-matthew
Even that is a stretch. DOS was good because it had a very low footprint and would allow more resources for the BBS, but if you wanted a BBS these days you be much better off with Linux or *BSD... especially if you were writting one from scratch. I mean, with *nix you've already got your modem/session/authentication/multitasking code done for you. YOu just have to write a console app.
A boot disk to do some low level stuff to a PC is about the only use for DOS these days. And even then it makes me cringe. It seems like such an insult to modern hardware to boot an OS designed for the 8086 CPU.
-matthew
-matthew
Whoa. That was quite the flashback.
"Now with EMM386!"
Umm, yay?
You shouldn't even have to setup secondary DNS/mail yourself. Any decent ISP should offer it as a complementary service. It is trivial to provide. Most of the time it isn't even used. This is one of the reasons to go with a commercial ISP and not your local cable or DSL provider which primarily deals with residential users who have no need for sendondary DNS or MX.
:-/
Of course, even after explaining this, my boss keeps asking why we pay $399 a month for a T1 when we could get cable from Comcast for $99.
-matthew
Yeah, it is too bad commercial software vendors don't see it that way. It can be a PITA sometimes to get an RPM to install correctly when it has been tailored to Fedora or RedHat. But I guess they have to standardize on SOMETHING.
-matthew
Wow, this wasn't even off topic. Try -1 nonsensical
You're just being condescending. I haven't owned a cell phone since they've become more general purpose devices. I was ASKING if and how it is possible to do somthing such as in TFA. I didn't know. Pardon me.
-matthew
Like I said, I am out of the cell phone thing. I don't own one anymore and when I did, it was always a very basic phone that didn't do much more than keep a few (and I do mean a few!) phone numbers and maybe play some stupid Java game that took 5 minutes to load. For some reason I was under the impression that a service provider had near absolute control over your phone except for the ability to install bad pop songs as ring tones.
I'm skeptical. If all you had to do to recieve faint signals was to amplify the antenna, then everyone would do it and you'd have awesome range without needing to increase the signal strength. But it doesn't work like that. The higher the gain, the more noise you get. And with all those people broadcasting on overlapping channels along with normal interferrence, noise is exactly what you're going to get.
17 theoretical channels, but only 11 are used in the US. As for sniffing multiple networks on the same channel, it is possible if they are far enough apart and you are between them. You could pick up both as long as they didn't happen to send a packet at the same time. But 300 distinct networks at a single location? Seems far fetched to me.
I guess I'm just out of the whole cell phone thing so I have to ask... is it even possible to install software on a cell phone that will automatically take pictures and upload to Flickr? First of all, do phones have a "cron" type functionality that can fire off programs on a schedule? Do users have access to any of this? I Can a user upload an arbitrary program to their phone and have it run? I thought your provider pretty much controlled what your phone can do and what programs are on it.
-matthew
What is a DVD Recorder good for? For digital recording, PVR/DVR is where it is at. And I think we are well past the point where many people are eager to convert their old VHS collections to DVD. Unless you have a really big collection, you might as well just buy the DVD version rather than pay for a recorder. Bottom line is that there is very little market for it. Companies are looking for mass appeal... not just a niche.
-matthew
Going to Mars isn't exactly trivial, ya know. I think a lot of people (especially slashdotters) vastly underestimate the resources it takes to make a safe trip to space... particularly outside of Earth orbit. For one thing, Mars has a lot more gravity than the Moon, so landing there and then taking off again become much more complicated.
Look how much time and effort goes into just a Mars probe. How many of them have actually made it? Now, add in life support and a return vehicle and you have a pretty daunting task ahead of you.
You coudl use Audio Hijack on the Mac to intercept the digital audio (not analog) and save it to a file or even re-encode it direct to mp3. Audio Hijack creates a virtual sound card. But I suppose that would be a little slow. You couldn't encode faster than the song plays. A virtual CD would be nearly ideal.
-matthew
Because I'm free to do what they tell me.
Notice I said "tinkle down?" Or am I'm the only kid who used to refer to uninating as "tinkling." As in "mommy, I have to tinkle." Or "Hey Joey, why does your daddy tinkle on your housekeeper with such small paychecks?"
-matthew
Hey, something is better than nothing. ;-)
Well, there is also the sex. It is a little known fact that switching to Apple gets guys laid. Just be careful not to mix Apple with cheap, bad beer. While they may work social wonders individually, they don't mix! They are like a strong acid and a strong base. Chicks (art chicks in particular) see you with an MGD and a MacBook and you are screwed... in all the wrong ways.
Hopefully the trains will run on time.
To be fair, that upper 10% did tinkle down... errr trickle down... on the rest of us.