Answer every telemarketing call politely, and quickly say "I am not interested, please put me on your do not call list" and hang up. Do this consistently for several months and the call volume will drop to almost nothing.
You don't HAVE to buy a Click'n'Run subscription. When you buy Lindows, you get a two-year subscription. Could be argued you don't want it, and should get a cheaper price w/out it...but hey, I don't want WMP with my Windows OS - give me a discounted price!;-p
If you buy the thing preinstalled on a Walmart PC, you only get 10 application installs via click and run - you'd have to subscribe for more. The current stand-alone $99 price comes with 2 years of click-n-run, but this will soon increase to $129 for one year. Not such a great deal...
Your 5 year old Windows dist. offers 'click-n-run' how, exactly? Windows Update is the closest thing I've seen to that concept. Otherwise, you have to visit various websites, find the dloads, dload, and install. That is not the Click-n-Run concept.
My point was that after the initial purchase of Windows it is still easy to find and install programs from the vast catalog of free stuff out there, because the relative uniformity of windows installation programs - where it is not so revolutionary to automatically create start menu items and install links on the desktop.
If you still have a subscription to the Click-n-Run service when your HD crashes, you can dload the same files again - the list is stashed in your user account. If you don't keep up the Click-n-Run subscription, then make backups of the programs you do download.
How? Grandma just Clicked and Ran. She doesn't know that openoffice is stored in/usr/local/whatever... She just knows there is an icon on the desktop.
If in a Windows environment, a user subscribes to a site to get whatever (mp3's, movies, etc), then lets that subscription lapse, then looses those items - this is different...how? KM
I wasn't talking about MP3's and movies. I am talking about applications. Typically in windows, if I get an application, I either have it on CD, or download some sort of self-extracting installer. Those are easy to backup (and I do). Windows Updates aren't so simple to backup - but at least I don't have to pay a subscription fee for the service (at least not yet). With Lindows I just click and run. I don't see an installer file that I can backup, and if I lose the installation I must have a paid in full Click-n-Run account to reinstall.
It sounds like it is a great service. But is it worth $129 for two years (I know it's only $99 now). Why do I want to pay for what's mostly free and can be downloaded elsehwhere. Sure, it's more convenient and simple to use Click-n-Run, but it's not worth $129, especially when one of the major advantages of Lindows is supposed to be the fact that you avoid the expense of the Windows license.
Well, it looks to me that Lindows could turn out to be more expensive in the long run than Windows. I've got 5 year old windows installs that still allow me to 'click-n-run' self-installing free/share-ware.
What happens in Lindows if I discontinue the Click-n-Run service, and my machine crashes? Will Click-n-Run allow me to reinstall the stuff I already purchased? Probably not, because I didn't really purchase the apps, I purchased the service - thus I'd have to pay the Lindows makers all over again to get my apps reinstalled (don't talk to me about backups, the kind of users this distro targets don't make backups).
To me it seems Lindows is just as greedy as Microsoft, if not more - they are just backloading the expense, instead of charging the user up front.
get real, man... 67 million dollars? EACH board member probabbly makes about that much in a year. and even if they did inquire: a dozen VPs and senior VPs and maybe even layed-off VPs will start to fight for credit: "Hey we lost 67mil but by doing it we gained almost half a BILLION"...
Board members just don't make that much money. $67 million/year? Very few CEOs take home that kind of money. Very well compensated board members might make a couple hundred thousand a year, plus perks.
I think we have reached the 'good enough' point with wireless networking. 802.11b is faster than any internet connection I will have in the forseeable future, and performs perfectly well for the small day to day file transfers over the LAN. It doesn't work for large file transfers, but when I need to do those, I pull out the Wi-Fi card, walk the laptop over to the hub, and plug a spare cable into it's ethernet port.
I won't be upgrading until there is a compelling reason, and I can't see there being one for at least the next 3-5 years.
BMW conciously set their prices higher to make their product more "exclusive". That's what people are paying for: not the better quality, but to be a member of the "BMW owners club".
The college I went to did just this - they raised their tuition, not because they needed too, but because their competitors were pricier, and they did not want to be perceived as a lesser quality institution.
BTW, they found something to do with the extra money.
What threw it? MySQL and PHP. What are they? (WHAT ARE THEY?!?!?!) Well, we're going to have to get through Standards and Compliance, issue an exception, and well, we'll see, we just don't know. Okay, said I, I'll do it for four times the cost and implement it entirely from scratch using ASP and SQL Server.
Why the hell would using MySQL and ASP cost you anything more? Typically most large corporations have site licenses for the Microsoft products already, so using ASP/SQL server is not going to cost you anything extra. And ASP/SQL Server are not more complex to use than PHP/MySQL - especially for a simple site, the amount of development work involved should be roughly equivalent.
I've gotten so fed up with Hotmail letting through 100 spams a day and then locking out my account that I decided to switch. I looked at upgrading my yahoo account to one of their for-pay services and just found it a bit too pricey and inflexible. So I started looking around for web based email providers, and found fastmail.fm
The domain sounds weird, but it is a web based email provider written by geeks for geeks. I paid $20 for a premium account after one day of using their free service. IMAP/POP/SMTP access, spam protection, virus protection, a really cool 'bounce' feature, 50 MB inbox, and a great 'Sieve' based filter system (you actually code rules in a pseudo-language designed solely for mail filtering), and you can receive email at anyaddress@youraccount.fastmail.fm. The interface is simple, fast, HTML only (with lightweight style sheets) and I've yet to see it go down or lose an email.
Not a single spam yet. Additionally, I use the anyaddress@ feature to provide better tracking in the event of spam. I gave slashdot the address slashdot@myaccount.fastmail.fm - so that if slashdot ever sells out (heaven forbid) I can just block that address in my ruleset.
Anyway, your mileage may very, but there are much better providers out there - there is no reason to stick with hotmail.
Ok, let's get this straight, because some users of the machines think they should get a paper reciept confirming their vote we are worried that the machines do not work? Maybe it's because these things look like an ATM that people think it should function like an ATM - but typically in balloting you are not supposed to get a receipt. If you do, you can prove how you voted, which makes it easier to sell your vote (someone could sit outside a voting locations and pay money for receipts for their candidate).
I am sure the damned machines work fine. I think the company that makes the machines is being unneccessarily cagey about how the ballot machines function - it's not like this stuff is rocket science. I can't see their intellectual property being all that valuable - but hey, it's theirs to protect.
It also seems that the people who were responsible for make the purchase decicison for the ballot machines were privy to the details of their inner workings - but were required to agree to some sort of NDA. So I really don't see a problem here. Just seems like the normal whining that always accompany major changes to the public's interface with the government.
Ok, the real advantage is not quality, it's flexibility. As digital distribution dramatically cuts distribution costs, theatres could play more, and more varied movies. When getting a new movie into the theatre consists of a fed-ex delivery of 10 DVDs it's a hell of a lot easier to get a new movie on the screen. Lower cost of distribution also levels the playing field, making it easier for independents to compete.
Another huge advantage is the ability to play live content. Weeknights are typically pretty slow nights at the theatre, so why not show some baseball, football or, basketball games depending on the season.
Beyond a certain degree of complexity, it really doesn't make much sense anymore to use regular expressions--a simple built-in parser generator with executable annotations is both clearer and more powerful. Parser generator syntax allows comments, whitespace, with a simple, fairly standard syntax.
Yes, regular expressions should be used to find particular patterns in text and perform basic manipulations on them. Beyond a certain point of complexity it really doesn't make sense to perform more complex manipulations. Get the information you want out of the string using a regular expression, then manipulate it in code.
One has a feeling that regexp engines are just becoming programming languages in and of themselves - the only difference being that the 'program' consists of a string of cryptic single character commands, and the input is limited to a single string.
and I mean, exactly like that. Simple text brackets. How beautiful is that? One of the best games ever made, nothing but text brackets; still addictive.
In the past, I made a habit of programming Tetris in each new programming environment I used. One of my first was in C on an Ultrix box - my pieces looked exactly like you showed above and used hard coded ANSI escape sequences for doing screen positioning. I think it was about 200 lines of code, and played very nicely at 2400 baud.
Yeah, but most people aren't going to take the time to recompile the desktop code. Besides, the smart company would provide some value added features to the desktop in addition to the advertising, like user configurable applets (calculator, calendar, stock tickers, news headlines, daily cartoons, etc...)
I honestly wouldn't mind one big every changing ad on my desktop if it was unobtrusive and I got good support, a solid desktop, and frequent security and functionality updates in return.
<mphipps> So I want to ask any people in the north americas to let the Europeans ask questions first. Just to be nice.
<Captcpu> good evening everyone, I'm Captcpu and I'll be you're moderator this evening:) <Captcpu> and that's mike if you didn't know:)
<mphipps> Hi! Even though we are starting early, I will stay until 8 (my time) unless we run out of questions.;-)
<Captcpu> the way tonight's chat is going to work is, you can private message me your questions, and I'll foward them to mike:) so, Private message me away, I'm waiting:) <mphipps> What if we threw a war and no one showed up?:-) Someone, ask something! <Captcpu> we'd be in trouble:) <Captcpu> it's simple/msg captcpu Your question here <mphipps> monolith - no estoy embarrazada.:-) <Captcpu> Hey Mike, Monolith would like to know if you're with child. <mphipps> Monolith asked if I was pregnant.:-) While I first said, no, I have to say that it feels like we are giving birth.;-)
<Captcpu> <lillo> first Q: is someone already working on the kernel VM? It seems like a very urgent task to be completed before other things can be touched... <mphipps> Yes. Next question.;-)
<Captcpu> <Matzon> Since newos is nowhere complete, why did we fork this soon? is he willing to divulge any rough specifications on what the VM will and will not support? ie. integrated VM/FS cache and/or mmap/munmap? <mphipps> Good question. I am wondering that myself.;-)
<Captcpu> and to add to it, he has to say... <Matzon> Why rename all newos methods to be BeOS compatible (thus making obos kernel undiffable with newos), when we could have provided an abstraction layer? <mphipps> Truth is, Travis et al have a lot going on in their lives and they haven't been making major changes to NewOS. If you go back even 4 months or so, there weren't a lot of check ins. And we are getting to the point where we need to spread our wings and fly.
<Captcpu> here's our next question from <BlueOS> When do you join B.E.OS? and a secondary more serious question: <BlueOS> What about binary compatibilty in the driver side? <mphipps> As for the second part, we are doing the easy stuff ATM. There are bigger changes to be made that will make the question irrelevant. BlueOS - when will you join us?;-) I don't see anything in our way to having driver level compatability. No bus_manager compatability, though.
<Captcpu> here's another one mike... <AnEvilYak> is he willing to divulge any rough specifications on what the VM will and will not support? ie. integrated VM/FS cache and/or mmap/munmap? <mphipps> Yes to both of those features. I would not want to ship without. At least, that is the plan ATM.;-)
<Captcpu> Here's a nice one from: <mwilber> Why did you decide to start the OpenBeOS project? <mphipps> Insanity.;-)
<Captcpu> good answer:) but wait..there's more... <mphipps> Seriously - I had a project that I have been working on for years on BeOS. The short version of the story is that it is an object oriented paradigm in which every class is a process and every instance is a thread. It needs hyper fast messaging and process/thread swapping. No other OS will do that. Even R5 wasn't the best. So, when the Palm announcement was made, I looked at Linux and the BSD's, but none of them were as fast and as easy to use. So I decided that BeOS must continue on.
<Captcpu> here's an interesting one from: <shatty> the new font engine is going to be freetype right? when can we expect things to reach the stage where that is working? it's part of app_server, so we need to wait for app_server don't we?:-) <mphipps> The font engine is indeed going to be freetype. Proto 6 is in development right now. I don't think that font handling is in it, though.
<Captcpu> Here's one: <macdonag79> Why are people writing custom versions of basic CLI tools when they could be obtained from, eg, *BSD? <mphipps> Good question. Many of those custom CLI apps are little tiny things to help us develop. I doubt that they will be part of the final "release". But since we don't have bash, et al, yet, some little things to help us work and test make sense. The whole shell is scheduled to go out the door.
<Captcpu> <elver> How is the name choosing going? Will we stick with OpenBeOS (unlikely) or do we have a list of possible names already? <mphipps> We have been cutting the list of names down. Many that we submitted were not usable for one reason or another. It hasn't been our top priority, but it is getting there.
<Captcpu> Here's an interesting one: <linn> question: who are you? you = captcpu. may I answer Mike? <mphipps> sure <Captcpu> I'm a web developer and college student from Las Vegas. I'm Kurtis Kopf's Business Partner in real life, the guy that's designing the new website for Open-Beos:) and I've agreed to help as I can:) besides that I'm a pretty normal guy.. I think..
<Captcpu> Someone (forgive me for forgetting your name) wanted to know about the Game Kit, what's the status? <mphipps> Game Kit. Ahh. The poor, misbegotten step child.:-) Honestly, I haven't heard from RobMed in months. GK is one of the items on the list for the poor unfortunate soul who signed on to be the "C++ code finisher".
<Captcpu> Here's one: <Matzon> I read a review of TuneTracker, wherein Dane Scott mentioned that obos would have a first release this year - ofcourse he is only speculating... but what is our (roughly) timeframe? <mphipps> Sigh. So many ways to answer this. There is the Commodore answer "when it is done". There is the Microsoft answer "Q3, 2002". There is the real answer... I very strongly feel that we could finish this by the end of 2002. It will mean some long nights and hard work. But I think that it could happen. What would it take? Some more *REAL* help. Some people willing to really dig in, grab some piece of work and ride it until it is done.
<Captcpu> Ooooh.. question about networking: <z3r0_one> Question: I've seen recently that the network stack is being moved into the kernel (if it hasn't already been done), and that sockets will be file descriptors. Does this mean that the net team borrowing ideas from BONE, and trying to recreate it? Has the problem with select been fixed yet? <mphipps> Where is David when I need him?;-) select will depend on the new kernel it's not properly fixable on R5. The networking stack, as it is today, runs as a kernel module. Is this BONE like? No. BONE had it truly built in, I think (I wasn't on the beta list). The select issue is very easy, with source code. The OBOS kernel will handle select right, out of the gate. It remains to be seen if our networking stack will work properly with R5's kernel's select. I doubt it.
<Captcpu> Here's we go... <Captcpu> <DragonSoull> 1. I've heard requests to make server applications like mySQL run in OBOS. Are you doing any work in that direction? And if so don't you think that's outside of the "Desktop OS" focus of the original BeOS? <mphipps> *Excellent question*.
<Captcpu> I figured;) <mphipps> mySQL would certainly be required on a server. But I can see, too, where it would be cool to have it on a client. For developers, for one thing. So I don't think that doing some small amount of work to make mySQL work is a bad thing. But that is different from major work or porting it ourselves. I ***STRONGLY*** believe in the focus on the desktop. BeOS wasn't, isn't and shouldn't be a server OS. Does that mean we shouldn't be able to run ftpd? No. But the *FOCUS* is on the desktop.
<Captcpu> Here's an innocent question: <x-gh0st> Will R1 support localization or is this feature reserved for R2? <mphipps> R2. Localization is *VERY* important. And it *has* to be done right. And it really needs a whole ball of other features, like GUI with a layout engine.
<Captcpu> and now we have hit the 19:00 hour. Oficially starting =) <M_BeOS> can i ask, 'What plans have been made to succeed in the areas Be failed in, the marketing, the lack of drivers, and apps? Without these we could be in for a repeat....' <mphipps> That is probably an FAQ.;-) Few, honestly. We are an OSS project. Marketing is not our job. I expect that OBOS will have a "RedHat". Some company to come along, package our source with a dozen CDs of apps and sell them. Driver wise, we are helping and supporting anyone who is interested in writing them. Scott is doing an awesome job at BeDriver, and BU is working in that area, as well. I am hoping that with the shrinking of the hardware market, there will be fewer drivers to write.
<Captcpu> Here's one from: <coolbear> What are the GUI Interface plans for after version 1.x, are they in consideration now? I have some proposals, where should I send them, and in what format? <mphipps> Yes, we are thinking about a number of things.
<Captcpu> " <coolbear> I refer to API and features. " <mphipps> There are a few proposals out there, now, for new looks and feels. I have certainly heard about Gonx enough times.;-) API wise, I haven't hear a whole lot. Any proposals, thoughts, ideas go to Glass Elevator.
<Captcpu> here's a long one from: <misza> Do you agree that it would be better to clone the current UI (Yellow Tabs, same functions like double click a tab minimize it) and implement all those functions exactly, and provide an interface to skin the UI(e.g change position of buttons, implement light skinning) having the current UI as the default one because that is familiar to alot of users, Rather than to create an entirely different UI that may be infl <mphipps> For R1, there is no promise of skinning. The only "promised" feature is that it will look like and work like it does today.
<Captcpu> Here's a good one from: <AlienSoldier> As to help the community and OBOS in itself, does the OBOS team will suggest a line of hardware so that futur buying streamline the community to have easier driver transition in the first release R1. <mphipps> Sigh. ATM, this is a tough one. We have the Matrox driver "in the bag", so for video, that is my only promise. If the kernel boots on it today, it is likely that it will tomorrow, too. As for other stuff (networking, sound, etc), we can't really say. If current R5 supports it, esp if the driver is publically available (i.e. source), we probably will, too.
<Captcpu> and now <sdrsolo> states "Out of the 214 listed programmers how many are contributing?" <mphipps> Not enough. In fact, we are reworking the web site to make it more representitive of those contributing. Let's put it this way - there are 32 people with CVS write access. And none of the team leaders are beating me up because they have to submit so many patches. OBOS is still a place where *1* person can make a huge difference.
<Captcpu> and... <mwilber> have you been contacted by any corporate/government/educational organizations that are interested in OpenBeOS? <mphipps> Yes. A few corporate. And we are working with those.
<Captcpu> this reminds me. there. that fixes that. anyway.. here's one from: <z3r0_one> Question: Another tough one: Is true multiuser support in the future of OpenBeOS? <mphipps> Nice.:-) It all depends on what you mean.;-) For example - If you mean "I want to log in and have my own email settings, home dir, etc", then that is an R2 thing. If you mean "I want OBOS to be just like my Linux box where I can have all of my 1337 friends log in and download warez", than no.
<Captcpu> Here's a good one: <M_BeOS> I can't program, and neither can many of us... How can we help on other ways? <mphipps> Just like a kid at camp. Send money.;-) Seriously, though, folks. One way is to volunteer at some of the other BeOS groups. Many of them are always looking for *GOOD* help. Translators can always mirror and translate our site (or others). Being helpful in the community. Being on IRC and answering questions. And also doing testing. We are (slowly) getting toward another release. We would like more people testing and looking at things.
<Captcpu> Here's one from the Dark Side of the Mac: <mdvb747> Are there any plans for a PPC version of OBOS? <mphipps> When Steve Jobs calls me and asks for one. Seriously, though - I love PPC. I *want* to give my Mom an iMac and have it run OBOS. The question is time and resources. I can't justify dropping VM or other "generic" work for a port to a platform that doesn't really want us. If someone wants to do it, I am more than open to helping in any way. But I can't justify "assigning" people to it.
<Captcpu> and an interesting question from: <miloshe> When can we expect USB support and a nice media player? <mphipps> USB - Hopefully with R1. I have a good USB book and I have done some preliminary work on it. "Nice Media Player" is somewhat vague. I would have to ask what is wrong with R5's.
<Captcpu> <El-Al> Is anybody working on OBOS API documentation? <El-Al>.....and if so, what tools are being used to documen<El-Al> Is anybody working on OBOS API documentation? sorry abou the repeat there at the end:) <mphipps> OBOS API documentation has a team, yes. What tools? Not 100% sure. We are using doxygen inside the code.
<Captcpu> Here's one from down under: <SmallStepForMan> Well, OBOS has been going for just over 9 months now. How do you look back on the last 9 months, and is it according to expactations, subpar or way beyond expectations. BTW - good morning from Australia <mphipps> G'Day to you! The last 9 months have been unimaginable. I had no clue what I was in for. None of us did. It has been a fun trip, though. My only regrets are a) that I can't do it full time and b) the price that my family (and others) have paid.
<Captcpu> and from: <el_d00d> Will there be localized versions of OBOS, and can some of us help translating OBOS? <mphipps> el d00d, huh?:-) Nice. Localization (which we touched on briefly above) is an issue for R2+. I know how important it is to you. But it really should be done right. And that means when we have the time and freedom to do it the Right Way.
<Captcpu> Mike, Monolith has informed us that our spanish sucks. <mphipps> I didn't make that one up.;-)
<Captcpu> but.. onto the next question: <grim> How's progress with the change of team structure going? Are the leads working on todo-list-type pages? IMO, it would need to be pretty fine grained to allow people to pick up a smallish task, work on it, submit it and be happy:-) Rather than TODO: Finish the kernel... <mphipps> The team structure didn't really change all that much. Adding people to the teams changed. And that went pretty quick. Some TODO lists are done. Some need more work. If you want to work in an area and can't find the todo list, ask the team lead. They will help you. And if they don't have one, they will get sick of people asking...;-)
<Captcpu> Here's a long winded one: <lillo> currently there's a debate on wheter obos should be fully graphical or if it should have a text console as well just in case. It's sure that the second would be useful during kernel development, but it'd break the BeOS phylosophy... What's your opinion? <mphipps> This is in reference, I think, to a conversation that we were having on the kernel list. For the average user, I think that the system should be just as it is today. I can see some value to a boot disk that is text based. For either emergencies or as a "download this, see what hardware it detects". But not for users to use every day.
<Captcpu> <M_BeOS> Are we going to have humorous API call's just like Be did? <mphipps> I won't dictate that, either way. I certainly intend to extend the "is_computer_on" series in the kernel.
<Captcpu> here's one from: <Deris> Will there be a new OBOS update that will replace certain things (like apps and preferences) <mphipps> I think that this is asking about an automatic update. Personally, I like that idea very much. I know that there has been a lot of interest in the community about that. I would love for someone to write such a thing. Can't promise that it will be us.
<Captcpu> Programming, Oh my!: <mmu_man> What about a BeIDE replacement ? (I suggest XEmacs >:-) <mphipps> E$*#()#*Q)(? Begone you heathen dog! There is aught but one True Editor: VI!:-) I put BeIDE in the same catagory as a number of other apps (browsers, mail clients, etc) - every distro should have one. But they are not necessarily the realm of the OS group.
<Captcpu> <mene> Will opentracker be moved into OpenBeOS CVS..and developed under OpenBeOS name? <mphipps> I doubt it. That would "cut off" other groups that might want to use it.
<Captcpu> here's one: <scanty> What can we expect from the OBOS POSIX-layer ? <mphipps> Hopefully, functionality. I would *love* to see it work as well as R5, plus mmap and select.
<Captcpu> cute. fuzzy. animals? <elver> Linux has Tux, BSD has their cute little demon. Should OpenBeOS have it's own cute animal? If so, what should it be?:) <mphipps> OpenBeOS will not have a cute animal. Whether some other, different name has one or not is up in the air. The admin staff is about 50/50 split on whether it is a good idea or not. It would have to be a good one.
<Captcpu> <Zaranthos> Question for mphipps How much time do you spend on OBOS? Do you work full time and then work on OBOS? <mphipps> About every waking minute. I do indeed have a full time job. (And a wife and 2 kids). I work on OBOS an average of 4 hours a day.
<Captcpu> Packages? for Me?: <RageMax> are there any plans for a _standard_ package format for program distribution, possibly for R2? <mphipps> Plans? No. This is a veyr good idea. And I think that it ties in to the installer/updater mentioned earlier. (Pardon my dyslexia).
<Captcpu> Cash? Money?: <earlcp> How configurable will the VM and DiskCache be for users? Example I would love to devote 512K to just the DiskCache. <mphipps> Ideally, not at all. Very briefly, the ideal VM/cache system would need no tuning and would always have the information you want to access in ram. I know that we won't be *ideal*, but very good would be nice. I would like to think that mundane details like disk cache and VM size would be something that the OS could handle on its own.
<Captcpu> <Der.is> Will you release a commercial version of OBOS (for companies), so that you can afford OBOS-update servers or such? <Deris> =) sorry! <mphipps> I think that the question here is really "How will you afford to run OBOS without any money?" Part of the answer is that we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Part of the answer is that I am hoping that distro makers see good reason to "give back to the community".
<Captcpu> <elver> What about firewalls? Do people have to code their own firewalling software (like in windows 9x) or will the firewalling be built into the kernel or the net_server? (more like Linux) <mphipps> When you say firewall, you could mean a couple of things. BeOS, by default, had all of the ports closed. Now, I am not a security guru, but that seems very secure to me.
<Captcpu> <monolith> does he aim to try and get market share in the desktop arena, taking from MS, or does he plan on creating the best possible OS, with no compromises made for the less technologically-capable folks that make up the general public? <mphipps> This is really a marketing question. Think about Linux for a moment. We are more like Linux (the organization) than Be. I am not here to change the world, necessarily. I am not here to sell N boxes per year. I am here to make an OS that I want to run and that you want to run. But I also want to make it work for my Mom (a non-techie). I don't believe that these two things are mutually exclusibe.(exclusive)
<Captcpu> and now.. for the last question for this session. <Captcpu> <Zaranthos> Is there a timetable for an official OBOS name so we can start grabbing up domain names?:^) <mphipps> I am assuming you mean "to help out the project".:-) I just got some mail about this, actually. Hopefully, we will have an annoucement of where the name issue is going soon... Folks - this has been a lot of fun. I appreciate you all taking time out to come here. I do have to go, though.
<Captcpu> I would also like to express the many private messages I've recieved thanking Mike and his team for all the hard work they have put in. <mphipps> I think that we will probably do this either weekly or every other week. We will get the logs posted shortly... Bye, all! Thanks again!
<Captcpu> And that ladies and gentleman is the end of the session. Thanks for Attending!
The fact of the matter is not that we will somehow 'run out' of resources - the stuff we have used is all still here, simply in a degraded form. Where's the carbon in those fossil fuels? In the atmosphere as CO2. Where's all that plastic? Landfills.
Certainly, the easy to use resources will run out. Things like petroleum, fresh water, timber and such - but with enough energy we can replace those things. Sure, it's costly to such CO2 out of the atmosphere and use it to make petrochemicals, but with enough energy it certainly can be done. Sure it's hellaciously expensive to run a de-salination plant instead of diverting another river - but with cheap enough energy it becomes cost effective. Sure, we may eventually run out of easy to exploit copper mines, but all the copper we have ever mined is still out there - it might be hard to find and convert, but again, with enough energy it's doable.
It's all a problem of energy. If we have enough of it we can keep recylcing the natural resource that are already here, indefinitely. Instead of shipping our idiot progeny off to space, we should be sending up orbital power stations. If they captured just a minute fraction of the solar energy that passes between the earth and the moon's orbit we'd have absolutely no resource problems and the only waste product we'd have to worry about in the long run is heat.
Yeah, the bozos that created page put the entire report, with some 40-50 embedded images on one page. So everyone that hits the things tries to pull down many megs if image files all at once.
To summarized the report. Unpatched versions of NT4 and Windows 95/98SE are the most vunerable to spoofing attacks because of predictable patterns, or attractors, in the sequence produced by the random number generator used for ISNs. Linux,OpenBSD and FreeBSD scored near the top, though the report says there is room for improvement. Windows 2000, MacOSX, IRIX and BSDI were in the middle of the pack. HPUX and AIX were just as bad as windows 98.
So we have out prototypical 'windows less secure than linux' submission and the slashdotters are happy:)
I believe that the relevant information on the computers would be the e-mail correspondences between the accused telling each other how they accomplished this. The article mentions something like that.
True. But why take the PC's? The bandwith isn't on them.:)
Seriously. I don't see how the PCs could come under the scope of a search warrant. There would be no evidence located on the PC that would be material to the alleged crime committed -tampering with the cable modem to remove bandwidth caps.
Certainly the PCs used the excess bandwidth, but I think the FBI is overreaching on this one, and is likely to run in to legal troubles when these cases go to court.
-josh
Re:What about the other 20 layers, now?
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Printing Chips
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· Score: 2
I believe they also talked about using this process in combination with a polymer based photoresist. The idea being you coat the surface with the photoresist, plop the die down on top. Where the die makes contact it pushes away the resist. A flash of UV cures the polymer - et voila, ready for etching or deposition.
-josh
Re:But how do you make the mold
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Printing Chips
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· Score: 4, Interesting
This is really interesting, an exact copy of the comment I posted to this same story four days ago...
This sounds great, but how do they make the mold, what kind of wear and tear is the mold subject to? My guess is that one of these 'nano-imprint' molds is not going to last all that long.
I am assuming they are relying on something like electron beam lithography to create the imprint mold, certainly this would be a cost/time improvement over direct e-beam litho, but it all depends on longevity of the molds.
Today the FCC has begun the process of licensing the 600-700 THz spectrum, also known as the mid-nanometer band. Radio waves of this type are infinitesimally small, on the order of several hundred nanometers (one billionth of a meter).
Creating radio signals in this band is not terribly difficult. Says an FCC representative "Boy scouts have been using this unlicensed spectrum for communication purposes for decades with no problems - I still have my old signal flashlight".
The communication protocols used in this band will have to be updated, as the current system, know as "Morse Code", lacks the error correction and flow control algorithms neccessary for robust communications.
One problem will be the interference caused by the wealth of prexisting unlicensed radiators in this spectrum. Says the FCC representative "Yeah, it's a really noisy spectrum, we admit, and there is really not much that can be done about the sun, but we'll work with existing users of this unlicensed spectrum to do whatever we can to eliminate the potential for interference with licensed devices."
The vast bandwidth potential of this spectrum makes it a likely candidate for a 'last mile' broadband solution. This spectrum is estimate by scientist to be able to carry the equivalent data capacity of approximately a bajillion T1 lines, meaning a user could download the entire contents of the Library of Congress in approximately 2 femtoseconds.
Slashdot Mirror
Answer every telemarketing call politely, and quickly say "I am not interested, please put me on your do not call list" and hang up. Do this consistently for several months and the call volume will drop to almost nothing.
Try it - it works.
-josh
You don't HAVE to buy a Click'n'Run subscription. When you buy Lindows, you get a two-year subscription. Could be argued you don't want it, and should get a cheaper price w/out it...but hey, I don't want WMP with my Windows OS - give me a discounted price! ;-p
/usr/local/whatever... She just knows there is an icon on the desktop.
If you buy the thing preinstalled on a Walmart PC, you only get 10 application installs via click and run - you'd have to subscribe for more. The current stand-alone $99 price comes with 2 years of click-n-run, but this will soon increase to $129 for one year. Not such a great deal...
Your 5 year old Windows dist. offers 'click-n-run' how, exactly? Windows Update is the closest thing I've seen to that concept. Otherwise, you have to visit various websites, find the dloads, dload, and install. That is not the Click-n-Run concept.
My point was that after the initial purchase of Windows it is still easy to find and install programs from the vast catalog of free stuff out there, because the relative uniformity of windows installation programs - where it is not so revolutionary to automatically create start menu items and install links on the desktop.
If you still have a subscription to the Click-n-Run service when your HD crashes, you can dload the same files again - the list is stashed in your user account. If you don't keep up the Click-n-Run subscription, then make backups of the programs you do download.
How? Grandma just Clicked and Ran. She doesn't know that openoffice is stored in
If in a Windows environment, a user subscribes to a site to get whatever (mp3's, movies, etc), then lets that subscription lapse, then looses those items - this is different...how?
KM
I wasn't talking about MP3's and movies. I am talking about applications. Typically in windows, if I get an application, I either have it on CD, or download some sort of self-extracting installer. Those are easy to backup (and I do). Windows Updates aren't so simple to backup - but at least I don't have to pay a subscription fee for the service (at least not yet). With Lindows I just click and run. I don't see an installer file that I can backup, and if I lose the installation I must have a paid in full Click-n-Run account to reinstall.
It sounds like it is a great service. But is it worth $129 for two years (I know it's only $99 now). Why do I want to pay for what's mostly free and can be downloaded elsehwhere. Sure, it's more convenient and simple to use Click-n-Run, but it's not worth $129, especially when one of the major advantages of Lindows is supposed to be the fact that you avoid the expense of the Windows license.
Well, it looks to me that Lindows could turn out to be more expensive in the long run than Windows. I've got 5 year old windows installs that still allow me to 'click-n-run' self-installing free/share-ware.
What happens in Lindows if I discontinue the Click-n-Run service, and my machine crashes? Will Click-n-Run allow me to reinstall the stuff I already purchased? Probably not, because I didn't really purchase the apps, I purchased the service - thus I'd have to pay the Lindows makers all over again to get my apps reinstalled (don't talk to me about backups, the kind of users this distro targets don't make backups).
To me it seems Lindows is just as greedy as Microsoft, if not more - they are just backloading the expense, instead of charging the user up front.
-josh
get real, man... 67 million dollars? EACH board member probabbly makes about that much in a year. and even if they did inquire: a dozen VPs and senior VPs and maybe even layed-off VPs will start to fight for credit: "Hey we lost 67mil but by doing it we gained almost half a BILLION"...
Board members just don't make that much money. $67 million/year? Very few CEOs take home that kind of money. Very well compensated board members might make a couple hundred thousand a year, plus perks.
-josh
I think we have reached the 'good enough' point with wireless networking. 802.11b is faster than any internet connection I will have in the forseeable future, and performs perfectly well for the small day to day file transfers over the LAN. It doesn't work for large file transfers, but when I need to do those, I pull out the Wi-Fi card, walk the laptop over to the hub, and plug a spare cable into it's ethernet port.
I won't be upgrading until there is a compelling reason, and I can't see there being one for at least the next 3-5 years.
-josh
BMW conciously set their prices higher to make their product more "exclusive".
That's what people are paying for: not the better quality, but to be a member of the "BMW owners club".
The college I went to did just this - they raised their tuition, not because they needed too, but because their competitors were pricier, and they did not want to be perceived as a lesser quality institution.
BTW, they found something to do with the extra money.
-josh
I can just see it now, some idiot security guard will demand that you 'turn it on' and demonstrate that it's not a bomb.
-josh
What threw it? MySQL and PHP. What are they? (WHAT ARE THEY?!?!?!) Well, we're going to have to get through Standards and Compliance, issue an exception, and well, we'll see, we just don't know. Okay, said I, I'll do it for four times the cost and implement it entirely from scratch using ASP and SQL Server.
Why the hell would using MySQL and ASP cost you anything more? Typically most large corporations have site licenses for the Microsoft products already, so using ASP/SQL server is not going to cost you anything extra. And ASP/SQL Server are not more complex to use than PHP/MySQL - especially for a simple site, the amount of development work involved should be roughly equivalent.
-josh
Sure, a 13 digit number, and 666 embedded in the bar code - the anti-christ is coming soon - it's all falling into place now.
-josh
I've gotten so fed up with Hotmail letting through 100 spams a day and then locking out my account that I decided to switch. I looked at upgrading my yahoo account to one of their for-pay services and just found it a bit too pricey and inflexible. So I started looking around for web based email providers, and found fastmail.fm
The domain sounds weird, but it is a web based email provider written by geeks for geeks. I paid $20 for a premium account after one day of using their free service. IMAP/POP/SMTP access, spam protection, virus protection, a really cool 'bounce' feature, 50 MB inbox, and a great 'Sieve' based filter system (you actually code rules in a pseudo-language designed solely for mail filtering), and you can receive email at anyaddress@youraccount.fastmail.fm. The interface is simple, fast, HTML only (with lightweight style sheets) and I've yet to see it go down or lose an email.
Not a single spam yet. Additionally, I use the anyaddress@ feature to provide better tracking in the event of spam. I gave slashdot the address slashdot@myaccount.fastmail.fm - so that if slashdot ever sells out (heaven forbid) I can just block that address in my ruleset.
Anyway, your mileage may very, but there are much better providers out there - there is no reason to stick with hotmail.
-josh
Ok, let's get this straight, because some users of the machines think they should get a paper reciept confirming their vote we are worried that the machines do not work? Maybe it's because these things look like an ATM that people think it should function like an ATM - but typically in balloting you are not supposed to get a receipt. If you do, you can prove how you voted, which makes it easier to sell your vote (someone could sit outside a voting locations and pay money for receipts for their candidate).
I am sure the damned machines work fine. I think the company that makes the machines is being unneccessarily cagey about how the ballot machines function - it's not like this stuff is rocket science. I can't see their intellectual property being all that valuable - but hey, it's theirs to protect.
It also seems that the people who were responsible for make the purchase decicison for the ballot machines were privy to the details of their inner workings - but were required to agree to some sort of NDA. So I really don't see a problem here. Just seems like the normal whining that always accompany major changes to the public's interface with the government.
-josh
Ok, the real advantage is not quality, it's flexibility. As digital distribution dramatically cuts distribution costs, theatres could play more, and more varied movies. When getting a new movie into the theatre consists of a fed-ex delivery of 10 DVDs it's a hell of a lot easier to get a new movie on the screen. Lower cost of distribution also levels the playing field, making it easier for independents to compete.
Another huge advantage is the ability to play live content. Weeknights are typically pretty slow nights at the theatre, so why not show some baseball, football or, basketball games depending on the season.
-josh
Beyond a certain degree of complexity, it really doesn't make much sense anymore to use regular expressions--a simple built-in parser generator with executable annotations is both clearer and more powerful. Parser generator syntax allows comments, whitespace, with a simple, fairly standard syntax.
Yes, regular expressions should be used to find particular patterns in text and perform basic manipulations on them. Beyond a certain point of complexity it really doesn't make sense to perform more complex manipulations. Get the information you want out of the string using a regular expression, then manipulate it in code.
One has a feeling that regexp engines are just becoming programming languages in and of themselves - the only difference being that the 'program' consists of a string of cryptic single character commands, and the input is limited to a single string.
-josh
and I mean, exactly like that. Simple text brackets. How beautiful is that? One of the best games ever made, nothing but text brackets; still addictive.
In the past, I made a habit of programming Tetris in each new programming environment I used. One of my first was in C on an Ultrix box - my pieces looked exactly like you showed above and used hard coded ANSI escape sequences for doing screen positioning. I think it was about 200 lines of code, and played very nicely at 2400 baud.
-josh
Yeah, but most people aren't going to take the time to recompile the desktop code. Besides, the smart company would provide some value added features to the desktop in addition to the advertising, like user configurable applets (calculator, calendar, stock tickers, news headlines, daily cartoons, etc...)
I honestly wouldn't mind one big every changing ad on my desktop if it was unobtrusive and I got good support, a solid desktop, and frequent security and functionality updates in return.
-josh
Still not perfect, but much better:
:)
:) :)
;-)
:) so, Private message me away, I'm waiting :) :-) Someone, ask something! :) /msg captcpu Your question here :-) :-) While I first said, no, I have to say that it feels like we are giving birth. ;-)
;-)
;-)
;-) I don't see anything in our way to having driver level compatability. No bus_manager compatability, though.
;-)
;-)
:) but wait..there's more...
:-)
:) and I've agreed to help as I can :) besides that I'm a pretty normal guy.. I think..
:-) Honestly, I haven't heard from RobMed in months. GK is one of the items on the list for the poor unfortunate soul who signed on to be the "C++ code finisher".
;-) select will depend on the new kernel it's not properly fixable on R5. The networking stack, as it is today, runs as a kernel module. Is this BONE like? No. BONE had it truly built in, I think (I wasn't on the beta list). The select issue is very easy, with source code. The OBOS kernel will handle select right, out of the gate. It remains to be seen if our networking stack will work properly with R5's kernel's select. I doubt it.
;)
;-) Few, honestly. We are an OSS project. Marketing is not our job. I expect that OBOS will have a "RedHat". Some company to come along, package our source with a dozen CDs of apps and sell them. Driver wise, we are helping and supporting anyone who is interested in writing them. Scott is doing an awesome job at BeDriver, and BU is working in that area, as well. I am hoping that with the shrinking of the hardware market, there will be fewer drivers to write.
;-) API wise, I haven't hear a whole lot. Any proposals, thoughts, ideas go to Glass Elevator.
:-) It all depends on what you mean. ;-) For example - If you mean "I want to log in and have my own email settings, home dir, etc", then that is an R2 thing. If you mean "I want OBOS to be just like my Linux box where I can have all of my 1337 friends log in and download warez", than no.
;-) Seriously, though, folks. One way is to volunteer at some of the other BeOS groups. Many of them are always looking for *GOOD* help. Translators can always mirror and translate our site (or others). Being helpful in the community. Being on IRC and answering questions. And also doing testing. We are (slowly) getting toward another release. We would like more people testing and looking at things.
.....and if so, what tools are being used to documen<El-Al> Is anybody working on OBOS API documentation? sorry abou the repeat there at the end :)
:-) Nice. Localization (which we touched on briefly above) is an issue for R2+. I know how important it is to you. But it really should be done right. And that means when we have the time and freedom to do it the Right Way.
;-)
;-)
:-) I put BeIDE in the same catagory as a number of other apps (browsers, mail clients, etc) - every distro should have one. But they are not necessarily the realm of the OS group.
:)
:^) :-) I just got some mail about this, actually. Hopefully, we will have an annoucement of where the name issue is going soon... Folks - this has been a lot of fun. I appreciate you all taking time out to come here. I do have to go, though.
<Captcpu> and now.. we are starting.
<mphipps> So I want to ask any people in the north americas to let the Europeans ask questions first. Just to be nice.
<Captcpu> good evening everyone, I'm Captcpu and I'll be you're moderator this evening
<Captcpu> and that's mike if you didn't know
<mphipps> Hi! Even though we are starting early, I will stay until 8 (my time) unless we run out of questions.
<Captcpu> the way tonight's chat is going to work is, you can private message me your questions, and I'll foward them to mike
<mphipps> What if we threw a war and no one showed up?
<Captcpu> we'd be in trouble
<Captcpu> it's simple
<mphipps> monolith - no estoy embarrazada.
<Captcpu> Hey Mike, Monolith would like to know if you're with child.
<mphipps> Monolith asked if I was pregnant.
<Captcpu> <lillo> first Q: is someone already working on the kernel VM? It seems like a very urgent task to be completed before other things can be touched...
<mphipps> Yes. Next question.
<Captcpu> <Matzon> Since newos is nowhere complete, why did we fork this soon? is he willing to divulge any rough specifications on what the VM will and will not support? ie. integrated VM/FS cache and/or mmap/munmap?
<mphipps> Good question. I am wondering that myself.
<Captcpu> and to add to it, he has to say... <Matzon> Why rename all newos methods to be BeOS compatible (thus making obos kernel undiffable with newos), when we could have provided an abstraction layer?
<mphipps> Truth is, Travis et al have a lot going on in their lives and they haven't been making major changes to NewOS. If you go back even 4 months or so, there weren't a lot of check ins. And we are getting to the point where we need to spread our wings and fly.
<Captcpu> here's our next question from <BlueOS> When do you join B.E.OS? and a secondary more serious question: <BlueOS> What about binary compatibilty in the driver side?
<mphipps> As for the second part, we are doing the easy stuff ATM. There are bigger changes to be made that will make the question irrelevant. BlueOS - when will you join us?
<Captcpu> here's another one mike... <AnEvilYak> is he willing to divulge any rough specifications on what the VM will and will not support? ie. integrated VM/FS cache and/or mmap/munmap?
<mphipps> Yes to both of those features. I would not want to ship without. At least, that is the plan ATM.
<Captcpu> Here's a nice one from: <mwilber> Why did you decide to start the OpenBeOS project?
<mphipps> Insanity.
<Captcpu> good answer
<mphipps> Seriously - I had a project that I have been working on for years on BeOS. The short version of the story is that it is an object oriented paradigm in which every class is a process and every instance is a thread. It needs hyper fast messaging and process/thread swapping. No other OS will do that. Even R5 wasn't the best. So, when the Palm announcement was made, I looked at Linux and the BSD's, but none of them were as fast and as easy to use. So I decided that BeOS must continue on.
<Captcpu> here's an interesting one from: <shatty> the new font engine is going to be freetype right? when can we expect things to reach the stage where that is working? it's part of app_server, so we need to wait for app_server don't we?
<mphipps> The font engine is indeed going to be freetype. Proto 6 is in development right now. I don't think that font handling is in it, though.
<Captcpu> Here's one: <macdonag79> Why are people writing custom versions of basic CLI tools when they could be obtained from, eg, *BSD?
<mphipps> Good question. Many of those custom CLI apps are little tiny things to help us develop. I doubt that they will be part of the final "release". But since we don't have bash, et al, yet, some little things to help us work and test make sense. The whole shell is scheduled to go out the door.
<Captcpu> <elver> How is the name choosing going? Will we stick with OpenBeOS (unlikely) or do we have a list of possible names already?
<mphipps> We have been cutting the list of names down. Many that we submitted were not usable for one reason or another. It hasn't been our top priority, but it is getting there.
<Captcpu> Here's an interesting one: <linn> question: who are you? you = captcpu. may I answer Mike?
<mphipps> sure
<Captcpu> I'm a web developer and college student from Las Vegas. I'm Kurtis Kopf's Business Partner in real life, the guy that's designing the new website for Open-Beos
<Captcpu> Someone (forgive me for forgetting your name) wanted to know about the Game Kit, what's the status?
<mphipps> Game Kit. Ahh. The poor, misbegotten step child.
<Captcpu> Here's one: <Matzon> I read a review of TuneTracker, wherein Dane Scott mentioned that obos would have a first release this year - ofcourse he is only speculating... but what is our (roughly) timeframe?
<mphipps> Sigh. So many ways to answer this. There is the Commodore answer "when it is done". There is the Microsoft answer "Q3, 2002". There is the real answer... I very strongly feel that we could finish this by the end of 2002. It will mean some long nights and hard work. But I think that it could happen. What would it take? Some more *REAL* help. Some people willing to really dig in, grab some piece of work and ride it until it is done.
<Captcpu> Ooooh.. question about networking: <z3r0_one> Question: I've seen recently that the network stack is being moved into the kernel (if it hasn't already been done), and that sockets will be file descriptors. Does this mean that the net team borrowing ideas from BONE, and trying to recreate it? Has the problem with select been fixed yet?
<mphipps> Where is David when I need him?
<Captcpu> Here's we go...
<Captcpu> <DragonSoull> 1. I've heard requests to make server applications like mySQL run in OBOS. Are you doing any work in that direction? And if so don't you think that's outside of the "Desktop OS" focus of the original BeOS?
<mphipps> *Excellent question*.
<Captcpu> I figured
<mphipps> mySQL would certainly be required on a server. But I can see, too, where it would be cool to have it on a client. For developers, for one thing. So I don't think that doing some small amount of work to make mySQL work is a bad thing. But that is different from major work or porting it ourselves. I ***STRONGLY*** believe in the focus on the desktop. BeOS wasn't, isn't and shouldn't be a server OS. Does that mean we shouldn't be able to run ftpd? No. But the *FOCUS* is on the desktop.
<Captcpu> Here's an innocent question: <x-gh0st> Will R1 support localization or is this feature reserved for R2?
<mphipps> R2. Localization is *VERY* important. And it *has* to be done right. And it really needs a whole ball of other features, like GUI with a layout engine.
<Captcpu> and now we have hit the 19:00 hour. Oficially starting =) <M_BeOS> can i ask, 'What plans have been made to succeed in the areas Be failed in, the marketing, the lack of drivers, and apps? Without these we could be in for a repeat....'
<mphipps> That is probably an FAQ.
<Captcpu> Here's one from: <coolbear> What are the GUI Interface plans for after version 1.x, are they in consideration now? I have some proposals, where should I send them, and in what format?
<mphipps> Yes, we are thinking about a number of things.
<Captcpu> " <coolbear> I refer to API and features. "
<mphipps> There are a few proposals out there, now, for new looks and feels. I have certainly heard about Gonx enough times.
<Captcpu> here's a long one from: <misza> Do you agree that it would be better to clone the current UI (Yellow Tabs, same functions like double click a tab minimize it) and implement all those functions exactly, and provide an interface to skin the UI(e.g change position of buttons, implement light skinning) having the current UI as the default one because that is familiar to alot of users, Rather than to create an entirely different UI that may be infl
<mphipps> For R1, there is no promise of skinning. The only "promised" feature is that it will look like and work like it does today.
<Captcpu> Here's a good one from: <AlienSoldier> As to help the community and OBOS in itself, does the OBOS team will suggest a line of hardware so that futur buying streamline the community to have easier driver transition in the first release R1.
<mphipps> Sigh. ATM, this is a tough one. We have the Matrox driver "in the bag", so for video, that is my only promise. If the kernel boots on it today, it is likely that it will tomorrow, too. As for other stuff (networking, sound, etc), we can't really say. If current R5 supports it, esp if the driver is publically available (i.e. source), we probably will, too.
<Captcpu> and now <sdrsolo> states "Out of the 214 listed programmers how many are contributing?"
<mphipps> Not enough. In fact, we are reworking the web site to make it more representitive of those contributing. Let's put it this way - there are 32 people with CVS write access. And none of the team leaders are beating me up because they have to submit so many patches. OBOS is still a place where *1* person can make a huge difference.
<Captcpu> and... <mwilber> have you been contacted by any corporate/government/educational organizations that are interested in OpenBeOS?
<mphipps> Yes. A few corporate. And we are working with those.
<Captcpu> this reminds me. there. that fixes that. anyway.. here's one from: <z3r0_one> Question: Another tough one: Is true multiuser support in the future of OpenBeOS?
<mphipps> Nice.
<Captcpu> Here's a good one: <M_BeOS> I can't program, and neither can many of us... How can we help on other ways?
<mphipps> Just like a kid at camp. Send money.
<Captcpu> Here's one from the Dark Side of the Mac: <mdvb747> Are there any plans for a PPC version of OBOS?
<mphipps> When Steve Jobs calls me and asks for one. Seriously, though - I love PPC. I *want* to give my Mom an iMac and have it run OBOS. The question is time and resources. I can't justify dropping VM or other "generic" work for a port to a platform that doesn't really want us. If someone wants to do it, I am more than open to helping in any way. But I can't justify "assigning" people to it.
<Captcpu> and an interesting question from: <miloshe> When can we expect USB support and a nice media player?
<mphipps> USB - Hopefully with R1. I have a good USB book and I have done some preliminary work on it. "Nice Media Player" is somewhat vague. I would have to ask what is wrong with R5's.
<Captcpu> <El-Al> Is anybody working on OBOS API documentation? <El-Al>
<mphipps> OBOS API documentation has a team, yes. What tools? Not 100% sure. We are using doxygen inside the code.
<Captcpu> Here's one from down under: <SmallStepForMan> Well, OBOS has been going for just over 9 months now. How do you look back on the last 9 months, and is it according to expactations, subpar or way beyond expectations. BTW - good morning from Australia
<mphipps> G'Day to you! The last 9 months have been unimaginable. I had no clue what I was in for. None of us did. It has been a fun trip, though. My only regrets are a) that I can't do it full time and b) the price that my family (and others) have paid.
<Captcpu> and from: <el_d00d> Will there be localized versions of OBOS, and can some of us help translating OBOS?
<mphipps> el d00d, huh?
<Captcpu> Mike, Monolith has informed us that our spanish sucks.
<mphipps> I didn't make that one up.
<Captcpu> but.. onto the next question: <grim> How's progress with the change of team structure going? Are the leads working on todo-list-type pages? IMO, it would need to be pretty fine grained to allow people to pick up a smallish task, work on it, submit it and be happy:-) Rather than TODO: Finish the kernel...
<mphipps> The team structure didn't really change all that much. Adding people to the teams changed. And that went pretty quick. Some TODO lists are done. Some need more work. If you want to work in an area and can't find the todo list, ask the team lead. They will help you. And if they don't have one, they will get sick of people asking...
<Captcpu> Here's a long winded one: <lillo> currently there's a debate on wheter obos should be fully graphical or if it should have a text console as well just in case. It's sure that the second would be useful during kernel development, but it'd break the BeOS phylosophy... What's your opinion?
<mphipps> This is in reference, I think, to a conversation that we were having on the kernel list. For the average user, I think that the system should be just as it is today. I can see some value to a boot disk that is text based. For either emergencies or as a "download this, see what hardware it detects". But not for users to use every day.
<Captcpu> <M_BeOS> Are we going to have humorous API call's just like Be did?
<mphipps> I won't dictate that, either way. I certainly intend to extend the "is_computer_on" series in the kernel.
<Captcpu> here's one from: <Deris> Will there be a new OBOS update that will replace certain things (like apps and preferences)
<mphipps> I think that this is asking about an automatic update. Personally, I like that idea very much. I know that there has been a lot of interest in the community about that. I would love for someone to write such a thing. Can't promise that it will be us.
<Captcpu> Programming, Oh my!: <mmu_man> What about a BeIDE replacement ? (I suggest XEmacs >:-)
<mphipps> E$*#()#*Q)(? Begone you heathen dog! There is aught but one True Editor: VI!
<Captcpu> <mene> Will opentracker be moved into OpenBeOS CVS..and developed under OpenBeOS name?
<mphipps> I doubt it. That would "cut off" other groups that might want to use it.
<Captcpu> here's one: <scanty> What can we expect from the OBOS POSIX-layer ?
<mphipps> Hopefully, functionality. I would *love* to see it work as well as R5, plus mmap and select.
<Captcpu> cute. fuzzy. animals? <elver> Linux has Tux, BSD has their cute little demon. Should OpenBeOS have it's own cute animal? If so, what should it be?
<mphipps> OpenBeOS will not have a cute animal. Whether some other, different name has one or not is up in the air. The admin staff is about 50/50 split on whether it is a good idea or not. It would have to be a good one.
<Captcpu> <Zaranthos> Question for mphipps How much time do you spend on OBOS? Do you work full time and then work on OBOS?
<mphipps> About every waking minute. I do indeed have a full time job. (And a wife and 2 kids). I work on OBOS an average of 4 hours a day.
<Captcpu> Packages? for Me?: <RageMax> are there any plans for a _standard_ package format for program distribution, possibly for R2?
<mphipps> Plans? No. This is a veyr good idea. And I think that it ties in to the installer/updater mentioned earlier. (Pardon my dyslexia).
<Captcpu> Cash? Money?: <earlcp> How configurable will the VM and DiskCache be for users? Example I would love to devote 512K to just the DiskCache.
<mphipps> Ideally, not at all. Very briefly, the ideal VM/cache system would need no tuning and would always have the information you want to access in ram. I know that we won't be *ideal*, but very good would be nice. I would like to think that mundane details like disk cache and VM size would be something that the OS could handle on its own.
<Captcpu> <Der.is> Will you release a commercial version of OBOS (for companies), so that you can afford OBOS-update servers or such? <Deris> =) sorry!
<mphipps> I think that the question here is really "How will you afford to run OBOS without any money?" Part of the answer is that we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Part of the answer is that I am hoping that distro makers see good reason to "give back to the community".
<Captcpu> <elver> What about firewalls? Do people have to code their own firewalling software (like in windows 9x) or will the firewalling be built into the kernel or the net_server? (more like Linux)
<mphipps> When you say firewall, you could mean a couple of things. BeOS, by default, had all of the ports closed. Now, I am not a security guru, but that seems very secure to me.
<Captcpu> <monolith> does he aim to try and get market share in the desktop arena, taking from MS, or does he plan on creating the best possible OS, with no compromises made for the less technologically-capable folks that make up the general public?
<mphipps> This is really a marketing question. Think about Linux for a moment. We are more like Linux (the organization) than Be. I am not here to change the world, necessarily. I am not here to sell N boxes per year. I am here to make an OS that I want to run and that you want to run. But I also want to make it work for my Mom (a non-techie). I don't believe that these two things are mutually exclusibe.(exclusive)
<Captcpu> and now.. for the last question for this session.
<Captcpu> <Zaranthos> Is there a timetable for an official OBOS name so we can start grabbing up domain names?
<mphipps> I am assuming you mean "to help out the project".
<Captcpu> I would also like to express the many private messages I've recieved thanking Mike and his team for all the hard work they have put in.
<mphipps> I think that we will probably do this either weekly or every other week. We will get the logs posted shortly... Bye, all! Thanks again!
<Captcpu> And that ladies and gentleman is the end of the session. Thanks for Attending!
The fact of the matter is not that we will somehow 'run out' of resources - the stuff we have used is all still here, simply in a degraded form. Where's the carbon in those fossil fuels? In the atmosphere as CO2. Where's all that plastic? Landfills.
Certainly, the easy to use resources will run out. Things like petroleum, fresh water, timber and such - but with enough energy we can replace those things. Sure, it's costly to such CO2 out of the atmosphere and use it to make petrochemicals, but with enough energy it certainly can be done. Sure it's hellaciously expensive to run a de-salination plant instead of diverting another river - but with cheap enough energy it becomes cost effective. Sure, we may eventually run out of easy to exploit copper mines, but all the copper we have ever mined is still out there - it might be hard to find and convert, but again, with enough energy it's doable.
It's all a problem of energy. If we have enough of it we can keep recylcing the natural resource that are already here, indefinitely. Instead of shipping our idiot progeny off to space, we should be sending up orbital power stations. If they captured just a minute fraction of the solar energy that passes between the earth and the moon's orbit we'd have absolutely no resource problems and the only waste product we'd have to worry about in the long run is heat.
-josh
Yeah, the bozos that created page put the entire report, with some 40-50 embedded images on one page. So everyone that hits the things tries to pull down many megs if image files all at once.
:)
To summarized the report. Unpatched versions of NT4 and Windows 95/98SE are the most vunerable to spoofing attacks because of predictable patterns, or attractors, in the sequence produced by the random number generator used for ISNs. Linux,OpenBSD and FreeBSD scored near the top, though the report says there is room for improvement. Windows 2000, MacOSX, IRIX and BSDI were in the middle of the pack. HPUX and AIX were just as bad as windows 98.
So we have out prototypical 'windows less secure than linux' submission and the slashdotters are happy
-josh
How the HELL is this offtopic? Idiot moderators....
Now this post is off topic. My original post (the parent) was dead on.
-josh
I believe that the relevant information on the computers would be the e-mail correspondences between the accused telling each other how they accomplished this. The article mentions something like that.
I thought this was what Carnivore was for.
-josh
True. But why take the PC's? The bandwith isn't on them. :)
Seriously. I don't see how the PCs could come under the scope of a search warrant. There would be no evidence located on the PC that would be material to the alleged crime committed -tampering with the cable modem to remove bandwidth caps.
Certainly the PCs used the excess bandwidth, but I think the FBI is overreaching on this one, and is likely to run in to legal troubles when these cases go to court.
-josh
I believe they also talked about using this process in combination with a polymer based photoresist. The idea being you coat the surface with the photoresist, plop the die down on top. Where the die makes contact it pushes away the resist. A flash of UV cures the polymer - et voila, ready for etching or deposition.
-josh
This is really interesting, an exact copy of the comment I posted to this same story four days ago...
Enterprising young ACs.
-josh
This sounds great, but how do they make the mold, what kind of wear and tear is the mold subject to? My guess is that one of these 'nano-imprint' molds is not going to last all that long.
I am assuming they are relying on something like electron beam lithography to create the imprint mold, certainly this would be a cost/time improvement over direct e-beam litho, but it all depends on longevity of the molds.
-josh
June 18, 2002 - Washington DC,
Today the FCC has begun the process of licensing the 600-700 THz spectrum, also known as the mid-nanometer band. Radio waves of this type are infinitesimally small, on the order of several hundred nanometers (one billionth of a meter).
Creating radio signals in this band is not terribly difficult. Says an FCC representative "Boy scouts have been using this unlicensed spectrum for communication purposes for decades with no problems - I still have my old signal flashlight".
The communication protocols used in this band will have to be updated, as the current system, know as "Morse Code", lacks the error correction and flow control algorithms neccessary for robust communications.
One problem will be the interference caused by the wealth of prexisting unlicensed radiators in this spectrum. Says the FCC representative "Yeah, it's a really noisy spectrum, we admit, and there is really not much that can be done about the sun, but we'll work with existing users of this unlicensed spectrum to do whatever we can to eliminate the potential for interference with licensed devices."
The vast bandwidth potential of this spectrum makes it a likely candidate for a 'last mile' broadband solution. This spectrum is estimate by scientist to be able to carry the equivalent data capacity of approximately a bajillion T1 lines, meaning a user could download the entire contents of the Library of Congress in approximately 2 femtoseconds.
-josh