i know, i know, rtfm, but does apache 2.x still serve pages by forking a new process (i know, it preforks, blah blah, still you end up with dozens of processes)? until apache is a multithreaded server like AOLServer (don't laugh, it's open source and very, very good) or even a non-blocking IO server like thttpd it is just unusable for truly scalable or database-centric stuff. i love all the mods for apache, and would love the apache API to evolve to a single process, advanced server instead of the 'patchy' mess on top of NCSA it started as.
it's funny in that i do not actually spend that much time outside the office with people i directly work with, but the company i work for is quite large and has an extensive intramural sports program, and that has been the way i have met most of the people i would call 'friends' with whom i share an employer.
one of the main issues with not hanging out after work with coworkers is that most of the people i work with are easily 20 years or more older than me, and quite frankly we don't have many similar interests. they have kids, dogs, etc.
if it weren't for the intramural sports and meeting people my own age, it would be a very lonely place to work. probably enough to make me change my profession or find someplace else to work.
-sam
Re:specs and pricing for a linux game machine
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 1
your mwave link is broken this morning - any other place you know of to look at the case? sounds very interesting.
-sam
Re:Slashdotted already - Offtopic
on
Concept PC 2001
·
· Score: 2
according to Netcraft, www.designtechnica.com is running Apache/1.3.19 (Unix) FrontPage/4.0.4.3. So no IIS.
-sam
Re:Only running on the XDK
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 1
again, have you read the microsoft XDK licensing? i know i have NOT, but i would seriously doubt that you would be allowed to redistribute XDK code or IP (which a MAME emulator release would certainly do) without paying a license fee back to MS. if you could, i would hope MS would fire their lawyers and get ones with a clue, because that is what their business model with the XBox is centered upon, game licenses. i seriously doubt the MAME emulator author received his XDK under any kind of free license (again, MS shareholders would demand the MS lawyers be fired if this were not the case).
-sam
Re:specs and pricing for a linux game machine
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 1
A Box to put it all in?
well line item 1 included a case - unless you mean a nice black cool looking box or a cabinet box i think that'll do.
with a simple Tcl/Tk interface, you could use the game pad or even hook up an IR port for a remote control to the thing.
it would be about a half hour of hardware setup per box, and about a half hour of software setup per box (of course you could be doing the software side many at a time). even basic monkey wage like $10/hr would find you many college students who would love the job, so you're looking at around $10 per box in labor costs.
feasibly you could build the box for $399 very, very easily, including labor and shipping. now you need some marketing and an internet presence and a store. again, do this in a college town, check your zoning laws and if possible run it out of your house or garage for very low cost. otherwise you're looking at mall space ($1000 a month on the very very low end of crappy mall space) or office space.
your marketing could be very, very simple in the early stages. get involved with the local LUG and gaming/anime groups, hopefully with your student monkeys (er... employees) chosen well. you could probably drum up 10-20 box sales fairly easily that way - and then 'hope it spreads' or get some CHEAP ads on local alternative radio - go for your audience, don't waste time on soft rock or '80s' music stations. if you've chosen your monkeys well (darn it, i meant to say employees) one of them is a DJ at the campus radio station and will shamelessly plug it for you.
anyway, you won't be making any money on this thing unless you get a lot more marketing than you can probably afford. you'd be looking at BEST at 10 or so boxes per month per city - you'd better enjoy running the shop as a hobby, and an expensive one at that. your best bet would probably be to also sell hard to get anime/underground/cult DVDs and import games, which you could cut a small profit with. it would be possible to fund your tuition at a state school with the work, and it would be both your job and a very interesting line on your resume.
serious business people (Read: adults) probably would not want to touch this kind of business. profit margins are tiny and variable, and your market is very, very small. but for the young or interested party (Read: local LUG) this would be an interesting way to fund your group's activities. have LAN parties with the boxes and raffle one off. run a small shop with repair/upgrade services and your little LUG would be learning a LOT and bringing in a little money for future outings/projects/guest speakers.
-sam
Re: Tempting $300 box
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 1
for a little more dough you can get a comparable box - see my comment in another thread. DVD/CD player, MP3 jukebox, MAME, games, etc, plugs into your TV and the ethernet works NOW, not in summer 2002:)
-sam
specs and pricing for a linux game machine
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 2, Informative
i'd like to back up what i said about being able to build a good-enough DVD Player/MAME machine for slightly more than the XBox:
motherboard (ECS K7VZA), processor (Duron 750), case, fans. 3D sound, ATA-100 disk controller): $150
256 MB Ram: $30
64 MB AGP 4x video card with composite TV-Out (Abit Siluro GeForce 2): $70
20 GB ATA-100 Hard Disk (Maxtor): $60
12x IDE DVD-ROM drive (LGE): $50
USB gamepad (Logitech WingPad Precision): $10
PCI 10/100 Ethernet card (Netgear): $15
Your favorite GNU/Linux system: $0
TOTAL: $385
borrow your keyboard and mouse from an existing machine for installation/setup, otherwise these are all brand new components. you have sound, TV-out, DVD, ethernet, and even a gamepad. i know i'm forgetting something, but hey, it's close. the machine could handle being an MP3/Ogg jukebox as well.
-sam
Re:Gnutella and other p2p networks is the answer..
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
that is a band-aid (TM) on the problem - i agree it will work in the short term, but the obvious solution is to not buy into their licensing and proprietary crap to begin with. you can probably build a better/good-enough MAME machine for less, or even slightly more, which has been said many times over the threads on the XBox, and then be able to simply release openly your kits so everyone can improve them and benefit from them.
-sam
Re:X-Box is evil
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
i think your argument is good, but can you see the microsoft spin to their shareholders?
"we sold 2 million units, more than any other console in 4Q 2001, making us clearly the market leader."
no, what needs to happen is for as close to ZERO XBox consoles to be sold, it is very had for even very talented/evil marketroids to spin THAT. if they sell a lot of consoles, nevermind the games, because the shareholders will see value and marketshare because they are listening to the market, not to the game companies.
i agree, if no one is buying XBox games eventually it will get back to MS, but probably not for a good while because any first gen console is looking for marketshare and market penetration more than game sales.
-sam
Re:X-Box is evil
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
well the gamecube (nintendo) runs an IBM chip, IBM donates tons of money to linux marketing (1 billion) and lots of other open source software stuff. of course the proprietary DVD makes it a bit unwholesome and it's probably the least 'hackable' console, but if you want a console to use to play games without having to fund Microsoft or Sony, probably the best choice.
-sam
Re:Only running on the XDK
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 2, Informative
source code is free speech
hahahaha. yup, that's been proven time and time again in the courts, hasn't it. if you've developed for a game console before, you'd know that for each game you ship, you get to pay the console a nice royalty. i doubt the MAME port author wants to be responsible for thousands of dollars in licensing costs.
-sam
Re:For reference...
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
probably because at least for the XBox port, the guy had access to a dev kit, and releasing his work to us would cost him thousands of dollars in licensing.
the alternative, having done the work without the dev kit, would probably put him in prison if he were to release it.
it is quite muddy waters just showing pictures and claiming that it can be done.
firstly it is quidditch, you were very, very close this time:). i thought the movie completely followed the spirit of the book, if not the letter (a few things here and there, otherwise very, very much like the book). of course the plot is pretty straightforward (it is meant for 11 year olds, after all) but all in all a fun little book and a fun little movie.
but basically it just whet my appetite for 'the fellowship of the ring' and kept my hopes up for future harry potter movies, as the books got more complex and interesting above the 11 year old level after the first one.
this is why i've long been a proponent of using grain alcohol, i.e., distilled from corn. a clean burning, renewable fuel source that will put money in the hands of american farmers instead of oil tycoons.
and hell, you could grow your own in the backyard if you wanted to.
you are obviously referring to the OLD iBooks, which DO look like little girl's makeup kits.
however the current iBook looks very slick. Built in modem, firewire, ethernet, usb, vga out, 12.1 inch, 1024-by-768 screen, DVD, AirPort ready, 4.9 pounds, 1.35 inches thick, and from $1299 (cheaper if you are a student). you can't get a nicer, sweeter laptop for the money.
girl's makeup kit? maybe you should keep a little more current.
First of all, you don't have Battle Net with WacCraft II, so with the Warcraft II Battle Net Edition you not only can play under Windows, you get free Battle Net play also. also, it is only what, like 10 bucks? i'll agree that for all intents and purposes it is the same game, but the Battle Net really pushes it over the top, they have to charge for that somehow.
i would agree that W2K doesn't crash when properly configured, etc, but XP does so much crazy crap and crashes and freezes and all kinds of weird things.
it's most interesting when you're playing a DirectX game full screen, when the MSN Messenger crap comes in the lower right of the screen, all garbled because it shoult not be showing up at all.
actually it is different - and don't ignore me because i disagree, because in principle i'd like to believe that 'MusicCity' has substantial, non-infringing use, but in truth it doesn't. photocopiers are primarily used to copy things which are allowed to be copied - to make 100 copies of a resume, to make 500 copies of a flyer, etc. 'MusicCity' and most of the other 'file sharing' networks are primarily used for the purpose of copyright infringement - worse, most were designed with the explicit goal of easily infringing the copyrights.
whether you or i believe copyright infringement is bad is irrelevant. the law currently exists to prevent this kind of thing, and those who feel they are being hurt by the activity (of course this is debateable also) can ask that the law be excercised.
how the hell is this 'offtopic'? he/she hit the nail RIGHT on the head - "[the] EFF should save its resources for defending file-sharing based on Open Source software," not some proprietary, closed company which breaks compatibility with open source projects.
what in the world does one case (MusicCity) have to do with the other (Microsoft)? or are you just a troll and i've bitten hook, line, and sinker? one case deals with copyright infringement, the other deals with abuse of monopoly status. i am not sure how you can compare the two. it's not like anyone is saying 'MusicCity is a monopoly and is tying in a media player with its file sharing program, but that is okay, the government should ignore it because we like music sharing'.
absolutely horsecrap. theft is taking something from someone else, i.e., they no longer have the thing you stole from them.
copyright infringement is making copies of something.
yup, it is illegal under our current laws, but it is absolutely, 100 percent not stealing.
if i break into your house and steal your CD collection, that is stealing, and you go to prison for theft. if you provide all those CD's in digital form and i download them, we are both guilty of copyright infringement - not theft.
Slashdot Mirror
i know, i know, rtfm, but does apache 2.x still serve pages by forking a new process (i know, it preforks, blah blah, still you end up with dozens of processes)? until apache is a multithreaded server like AOLServer (don't laugh, it's open source and very, very good) or even a non-blocking IO server like thttpd it is just unusable for truly scalable or database-centric stuff. i love all the mods for apache, and would love the apache API to evolve to a single process, advanced server instead of the 'patchy' mess on top of NCSA it started as.
for background on why things like non-blocking IO or multithreaded instead of forking is good, check out thttpd's section on non-blocking io or Philip Greenspun's own Introduction to AOLServer, part 1.
-sam
it's funny in that i do not actually spend that much time outside the office with people i directly work with, but the company i work for is quite large and has an extensive intramural sports program, and that has been the way i have met most of the people i would call 'friends' with whom i share an employer.
one of the main issues with not hanging out after work with coworkers is that most of the people i work with are easily 20 years or more older than me, and quite frankly we don't have many similar interests. they have kids, dogs, etc.
if it weren't for the intramural sports and meeting people my own age, it would be a very lonely place to work. probably enough to make me change my profession or find someplace else to work.
-sam
your mwave link is broken this morning - any other place you know of to look at the case? sounds very interesting.
-sam
according to Netcraft, www.designtechnica.com is running Apache/1.3.19 (Unix) FrontPage/4.0.4.3. So no IIS.
-sam
again, have you read the microsoft XDK licensing? i know i have NOT, but i would seriously doubt that you would be allowed to redistribute XDK code or IP (which a MAME emulator release would certainly do) without paying a license fee back to MS. if you could, i would hope MS would fire their lawyers and get ones with a clue, because that is what their business model with the XBox is centered upon, game licenses. i seriously doubt the MAME emulator author received his XDK under any kind of free license (again, MS shareholders would demand the MS lawyers be fired if this were not the case).
-sam
A Box to put it all in?
well line item 1 included a case - unless you mean a nice black cool looking box or a cabinet box i think that'll do.
with a simple Tcl/Tk interface, you could use the game pad or even hook up an IR port for a remote control to the thing.
it would be about a half hour of hardware setup per box, and about a half hour of software setup per box (of course you could be doing the software side many at a time). even basic monkey wage like $10/hr would find you many college students who would love the job, so you're looking at around $10 per box in labor costs.
feasibly you could build the box for $399 very, very easily, including labor and shipping. now you need some marketing and an internet presence and a store. again, do this in a college town, check your zoning laws and if possible run it out of your house or garage for very low cost. otherwise you're looking at mall space ($1000 a month on the very very low end of crappy mall space) or office space.
your marketing could be very, very simple in the early stages. get involved with the local LUG and gaming/anime groups, hopefully with your student monkeys (er... employees) chosen well. you could probably drum up 10-20 box sales fairly easily that way - and then 'hope it spreads' or get some CHEAP ads on local alternative radio - go for your audience, don't waste time on soft rock or '80s' music stations. if you've chosen your monkeys well (darn it, i meant to say employees) one of them is a DJ at the campus radio station and will shamelessly plug it for you.
anyway, you won't be making any money on this thing unless you get a lot more marketing than you can probably afford. you'd be looking at BEST at 10 or so boxes per month per city - you'd better enjoy running the shop as a hobby, and an expensive one at that. your best bet would probably be to also sell hard to get anime/underground/cult DVDs and import games, which you could cut a small profit with. it would be possible to fund your tuition at a state school with the work, and it would be both your job and a very interesting line on your resume.
serious business people (Read: adults) probably would not want to touch this kind of business. profit margins are tiny and variable, and your market is very, very small. but for the young or interested party (Read: local LUG) this would be an interesting way to fund your group's activities. have LAN parties with the boxes and raffle one off. run a small shop with repair/upgrade services and your little LUG would be learning a LOT and bringing in a little money for future outings/projects/guest speakers.
-sam
for a little more dough you can get a comparable box - see my comment in another thread. DVD/CD player, MP3 jukebox, MAME, games, etc, plugs into your TV and the ethernet works NOW, not in summer 2002 :)
-sam
i'd like to back up what i said about being able to build a good-enough DVD Player/MAME machine for slightly more than the XBox:
motherboard (ECS K7VZA), processor (Duron 750), case, fans. 3D sound, ATA-100 disk controller): $150
256 MB Ram: $30
64 MB AGP 4x video card with composite TV-Out (Abit Siluro GeForce 2): $70
20 GB ATA-100 Hard Disk (Maxtor): $60
12x IDE DVD-ROM drive (LGE): $50
USB gamepad (Logitech WingPad Precision): $10
PCI 10/100 Ethernet card (Netgear): $15
Your favorite GNU/Linux system: $0
TOTAL: $385
borrow your keyboard and mouse from an existing machine for installation/setup, otherwise these are all brand new components. you have sound, TV-out, DVD, ethernet, and even a gamepad. i know i'm forgetting something, but hey, it's close. the machine could handle being an MP3/Ogg jukebox as well.
-sam
that is a band-aid (TM) on the problem - i agree it will work in the short term, but the obvious solution is to not buy into their licensing and proprietary crap to begin with. you can probably build a better/good-enough MAME machine for less, or even slightly more, which has been said many times over the threads on the XBox, and then be able to simply release openly your kits so everyone can improve them and benefit from them.
-sam
i think your argument is good, but can you see the microsoft spin to their shareholders?
"we sold 2 million units, more than any other console in 4Q 2001, making us clearly the market leader."
no, what needs to happen is for as close to ZERO XBox consoles to be sold, it is very had for even very talented/evil marketroids to spin THAT. if they sell a lot of consoles, nevermind the games, because the shareholders will see value and marketshare because they are listening to the market, not to the game companies.
i agree, if no one is buying XBox games eventually it will get back to MS, but probably not for a good while because any first gen console is looking for marketshare and market penetration more than game sales.
-sam
well the gamecube (nintendo) runs an IBM chip, IBM donates tons of money to linux marketing (1 billion) and lots of other open source software stuff. of course the proprietary DVD makes it a bit unwholesome and it's probably the least 'hackable' console, but if you want a console to use to play games without having to fund Microsoft or Sony, probably the best choice.
-sam
source code is free speech
hahahaha. yup, that's been proven time and time again in the courts, hasn't it. if you've developed for a game console before, you'd know that for each game you ship, you get to pay the console a nice royalty. i doubt the MAME port author wants to be responsible for thousands of dollars in licensing costs.
-sam
probably because at least for the XBox port, the guy had access to a dev kit, and releasing his work to us would cost him thousands of dollars in licensing.
the alternative, having done the work without the dev kit, would probably put him in prison if he were to release it.
it is quite muddy waters just showing pictures and claiming that it can be done.
-sam
firstly it is quidditch, you were very, very close this time :). i thought the movie completely followed the spirit of the book, if not the letter (a few things here and there, otherwise very, very much like the book). of course the plot is pretty straightforward (it is meant for 11 year olds, after all) but all in all a fun little book and a fun little movie.
but basically it just whet my appetite for 'the fellowship of the ring' and kept my hopes up for future harry potter movies, as the books got more complex and interesting above the 11 year old level after the first one.
-sam
this is why i've long been a proponent of using grain alcohol, i.e., distilled from corn. a clean burning, renewable fuel source that will put money in the hands of american farmers instead of oil tycoons.
and hell, you could grow your own in the backyard if you wanted to.
-sam
check out linux1394.sourceforge.net. lots of info about which cards have good linux drivers, and how good the drivers are, etc.
-sam
what happens to being anonymous when you have to have a valid pay account (be it paypal, credit card, etc) to view or post to a site?
-sam
you are obviously referring to the OLD iBooks, which DO look like little girl's makeup kits.
however the current iBook looks very slick. Built in modem, firewire, ethernet, usb, vga out, 12.1 inch, 1024-by-768 screen, DVD, AirPort ready, 4.9 pounds, 1.35 inches thick, and from $1299 (cheaper if you are a student). you can't get a nicer, sweeter laptop for the money.
girl's makeup kit? maybe you should keep a little more current.
-sam
First of all, you don't have Battle Net with WacCraft II, so with the Warcraft II Battle Net Edition you not only can play under Windows, you get free Battle Net play also. also, it is only what, like 10 bucks? i'll agree that for all intents and purposes it is the same game, but the Battle Net really pushes it over the top, they have to charge for that somehow.
-sam
wow, all the stuff on dynamism makes me wonder why the heck those companies aren't selling those models in the US.
oh yeah, the PRICE.
get a new iBook. costs about half the price. but i do admit that the dynamism.com stuff looks SWEET.
but sorry, no "week without an AC adapter". on dyanmism there is a laptop with a crusue which boasts 10 hours, it would be very hard to beat that.
-sam
i would agree that W2K doesn't crash when properly configured, etc, but XP does so much crazy crap and crashes and freezes and all kinds of weird things.
it's most interesting when you're playing a DirectX game full screen, when the MSN Messenger crap comes in the lower right of the screen, all garbled because it shoult not be showing up at all.
-sam
actually it is different - and don't ignore me because i disagree, because in principle i'd like to believe that 'MusicCity' has substantial, non-infringing use, but in truth it doesn't. photocopiers are primarily used to copy things which are allowed to be copied - to make 100 copies of a resume, to make 500 copies of a flyer, etc. 'MusicCity' and most of the other 'file sharing' networks are primarily used for the purpose of copyright infringement - worse, most were designed with the explicit goal of easily infringing the copyrights.
whether you or i believe copyright infringement is bad is irrelevant. the law currently exists to prevent this kind of thing, and those who feel they are being hurt by the activity (of course this is debateable also) can ask that the law be excercised.
-sam
how the hell is this 'offtopic'? he/she hit the nail RIGHT on the head - "[the] EFF should save its resources for defending file-sharing based on Open Source software," not some proprietary, closed company which breaks compatibility with open source projects.
-sam
what in the world does one case (MusicCity) have to do with the other (Microsoft)? or are you just a troll and i've bitten hook, line, and sinker? one case deals with copyright infringement, the other deals with abuse of monopoly status. i am not sure how you can compare the two. it's not like anyone is saying 'MusicCity is a monopoly and is tying in a media player with its file sharing program, but that is okay, the government should ignore it because we like music sharing'.
-sam
absolutely horsecrap. theft is taking something from someone else, i.e., they no longer have the thing you stole from them.
copyright infringement is making copies of something.
yup, it is illegal under our current laws, but it is absolutely, 100 percent not stealing.
if i break into your house and steal your CD collection, that is stealing, and you go to prison for theft. if you provide all those CD's in digital form and i download them, we are both guilty of copyright infringement - not theft.
-sam