I noticed that too. It really makes you wonder why this stuff gets posted as news. I'm tempted to blame the poster, but then I thought, hey--it's the editors who are getting paid for hanging around on Slashdot. They should be the ones who do some checking. With the X-box emulator hoax yesterday and all the double-posts of earlier, it really makes you wonder why VA thinks they earn their money, and yet engineers deserve to be fired. This is especially stark when we cosider there are many competent volunteers who would gladly take over the editor roles. This isn't anything personal against the editors (hey, I also get lazy on the job sometimes), but I'd be much happier to see VA money do more to support Sourceforge and talented coders rather than these self-appointed geek-monarchs.
If there really is an emulator, it's no big loss if copied X-box titles don't play on an X-box. Sure, the X-box might have all sorts of hardware protection, but there is no reason why an emulator must require that protection.
Actually, I should have been more clear: you can do code brokering if you are the author of a new application. If instead you write code to improve an existing application, code brokering would be illegal under the GPL unless you managed to get the original application relicensed (which would be an insane task given that all you're after is improving the OSS application and maybe getting a few bucks for your trouble).
You're technically right but this is totally irrelevant to any major GPL projects, because there is no hope at all of negotiating with "the author". For example, let's say I rewrote virtual memory management in Linux and wanted to release it as binary-only. There would be no way to track down all the people whose code appears in Linux, and I'd have to buy out all of them if I wanted Linux relicensed to make my binary-only distribution legal.
Also, the following Transgaming strategy would be illegal for GPL or LGPL software: Write some fancy and useful code release it as binary for people to get hooked on, and do a telethon to raise money before the source is made public. The licenses would instead force you to make all your modifications public.
I actually think this is a great system: the code gets written (not just "promised" a la Ximian), the authors get compensation based on the market value of the code, but the code is still free, there for anyone to use. I honestly haven't seen a better revenue model for a company that writes OSS.
I think you make a good point, but the equasion is less simple than you make it look. OSX on commodity hardware would not mean the death of Mac-native hardware sold by Apple... People who want to buy the iMac are interested only secondarily in the OS, and primarily in the machine itself. Or at least that's how it looks to me. Anyway, the OS grew up on, if they did grow up with a Mac, is dead. It's just that the new machines make a new OS seem worth learning.
Surely, Apple must appreciate that every OSX CD sold would be almost pure profit for the company.There are a lot of commodity hardware owners that would love to buy OSX, if it ran on their systems. This is especially true if OSX for x86 would have convenient, foolproof boot loader that would make a dual-booting installation easy. The fact this product would exist would not make most Mac loyalists be any less likely to buy a Mac. They'd be happy that that the OS is finally getting lots of things ported to it because its userbase is exploding.
Of course this is probably a bit naive... what would probably happen if Apple released OSX for x86 is that it would have terrible hardware support (at least initially, while the public still cared), and it would mostly be distributed as warez. That really would cut into hardware sales. Still, it's not obvious to me this would be the result, and Apple should toy with the idea (eat lunch with AMD execs, stuff like that), if for no other reason than to put pressure on Motorolla to start making faster, cheaper chips. My estimate is that they are about 18 months behind AMD (and losing ground). We all know what 18 months means in the semiconductor world...
There is no reason to worry that something which catches sunlight that was about to hit the planet anyway, and then beams some of that energy to the surface, will cause an overall heating. Actually, because the energy transfer from sunlight to laser will be nowhere near 100% efficient, you can argue that the thing will act as a shade for the planet, reducing the total energy we absorb.
Wow, I now see just how ignorant my earlier post was. Thanks everyone for all the tips about available products. The Delta 44 seems just perfect for what I'm looking for. I do wish it were a bit cheaper, but functionality-wise, it would be perfect for me.
After looking at the available stuff and reading up on USB latency, I'm convinced that the PCI card+breakout box with D/A-A/D converters is the optimal setup. I wish this architecture would make its way into more "mass production" sound cards so the prices could start falling.
I guess I was silly to think that I had satisfied all of toy cravings in December...
I know that according to the WINE license, you're not legally obligated to share your modifications. Still, companies that paid their workers to improve WINE (I'm thinking of Corel and TransGaming) always did make their code accessible. They were just trying to get WINE to work right, and to grow the general Linux market share.
These Lintel guys are opportunists who are not interested in improving Linux or giving back to the community that wrote 99.99% of what they're about to sell. I can't say I wish them well. I only hope for a "deathbed conversion" in which, upon going bankrupt, they release their code. But I wouldn't count on it... as long as MS is willing to offer them $500 for it, we can be almost certain that we'll never see a line of it.
This seems to be the iMac philosophy, and while I understand the motivation, I don't like it. I don't want a separate floppy disk box, separate sound card, separate modem, separate (firewire) hard drive, zip drive, and all kinds of other crap on my desk. It's messy enough as it is.
An out-of-box sound card makes a lot of sense because you avoid the crazy RF environment in your computer case. I think Creative have a good idea with this, and the next logical step would be to include video (since the thing has a remote control anyway). I'm not saying the thing should have a built-in 3D card; that would be stupid. I'd just like a nice, hardware TV tuner (those parts are dirt cheap), and maybe also a TV out.
Of course, the USB bus can't take all that, so the thing would need its own PCI interface, but then it would kick ass.
Thank you for the quick reply and links. I must admit that I did a bit of drooling when I read the specs on those devices. They're all more expensive than what I can afford, but I actually expected them to cost much more. The Roland unit, for example, does a lot for just $700. (Did I understand correctly that it writes 24 simultaneous tracks to the hard drive? If so, that's really cool.)
I read the FAQ on the Tascam unit and they say USB can handle 6 channels, though not at 96kbps. That's a pretty low ceiling for any semi-serious musician, but for me, it's plenty. It would be great to just find a box with 6 XLR inputs and a USB plug. That sort of thing could be dirt cheap if you used shielded "consumer" A/D converters like on a high-end Sound Blaster. It would also be tons of fun to play with.
I'll describe what I, a "hobby musician" would really like to plug into my computer. I swear that the first company to make it will get rich from it:
1. Start with 4 balanced inputs, each one with its own super-shielded A/D converter. (Possibly increase to 24 inputs for studio models.)
2. Instead of having an analog mixer, write all four of the streams from the four inputs to the hard drive at 16bit/44kbps ("CD quality"). All the mixing can then be done digitally, after the recording session is done. This is what musicians are used to from the bad old analog days when we all had a 4- or 8-track in our garage: we jam first, and then take our time mixing the multiple tracks down to 2, applying whatever effects necessary to get it to sound right.
Current amateur gear for the computer (like this box) requires you to record two tracks (L/R) at a time, and most bands don't work that way. This either forces you to mix the whole band as you record, but then you can't turn up the drums or equalize the bass after the recording is done, because they're all mashed together. If you want that sort of control, you have to record the drums alone (playing to a metronome), then the bass, then one guitar, etc. This process really kills the joy of home recording, and it kills any band chemistry that would come through if you played "live."
The obvious solution is to allow the simultaneous writing of more than two tracks to the hard drive. That way, you can play live but also adjust the individual instruments in the mixdown.
I'm sure tools like this exist, but they're made for studios or pros. But, there is no reason why the thing I describe would have to be expensive. Really, it shouldn't be more expensive than this external Sound Blaster, because the base model doesn't need all the fancy in/out MIDI and optical stuff. I know I would pay about $250 for the contraption, and I'm poor. If I can afford it, many people can. There is no way it would cost that much to make.
The only question is how many tracks USB can carry before it's saturated. Since it appears it can carry two at 24bit/96kbps, it should carry at least four at 16bit/44kbps. That would be enough for me. It may well be that any more than this would require SCSI or Firewire. Maybe also RAID. Fine. None of these things are out of the reach of almost-ordinary joes anymore.
Now if I could get my basement tuned to give good sound and rent some pro microphones (and maybe a mixer), I'd have a home studio as good as any other.
Even when we know cheaper AMD chips do just about everything faster, we seem to instinctively drool when we hear about a clock frequency 20% higher than what we've seen before. It's like we're saying: "Clock speed isn't everything, but...[drool]... isn't 2.5G a high number?"
Well, that's just stupid. We know better. AMD would benefit if they named their chips according to the flops they can do. Once we got used to how those numbers looked, our instinctive drooling at the latest chip innovation would at least better mirror the actual usefulness of the chips. It would also result in us scratching our heads about why Intel released the P4 in the first place.
The pictures remind me of the computer screens in one of my favorite movies, Brazil. Of course, they were supposed to look menacing and spooky... but I can say that I really like how this iMac looks. Like the article says, it would have been much easier to glue a computer to the back of a flat panel display. I'm glad they didn't do it.
Still, even if I were in the market for a Mac, I wouldn't buy this. My desk is plenty big enough for a 21" CRT, and I wouldn't enjoy Aqua as much on anything smaller.
Come on, people. The Star Wars series is now a "for children only" affair. It's embarassing to see "news" about it on/.--and every little stupid detail at that.
Of course, I'll see it... when it comes out in ASCII!
This is a good point, and I'd mod it up if I didn't already post on this topic. Tipper Gore and Dianne Feinstein are just asking to get hacked up with my +3 Vorpal Weapon. Still, the PMRC never actually banned anything; they put labels on records. This doesn't exhonorate them because they probably would have liked to have banned some stuff... Yes, these are two bad seeds.
But please don't pretend Bush is innocent in all of this. Remember who brought us John Ashcroft. His record on racism, homophobia, anti-secularism and anti-freedom is also pasted all over the internet.
Simple: The Bush administration and its robed lackeys are getting nostalgic for the Taliban (the reigning masters of the pro-violence, anti-sex agenda). Re-elect Bush and we might catch up!
Re:I'm sick of seeing this stupid argument!
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"Actually, the politician in your example IS breaking a law and can be removed from office for it"
Wrong. It is not illegal for a politician to follow word for word the instructions of some company, or for that matter, of an advisor, or their dad. It is wrong for them to accept bribes, but I said nothing about that. You don't have to take bribes to sell out. (Of course, Lucas might be, but for him it's not illegal.)
But your second point about the legal obligation without an explicit contract is a good one. I wasn't thinking about cases like parent relationships. I do think you overstate the case when you say the law enforces custom. Rather, I think the law treats certain relationships as tacitly contractual. About public-service oaths: they contain very little concrete content; in the US, you basically swear you will perform your duties to the best of your ability, and not act to overthrow the country. That does not legally preclude that you follow verbatim the advice of your spouse or some lobbyist who "convinced" you in some legal way.
Re:Slashdot demographics vs Star Wars target audie
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Goddamn it, I'm not dissing Dumbo. But you don't see a Dumbo icon on/. and you can figure out why. Since Star Wars has turned into children's entertainment, I think it has as little place on Slashdot as Dumbo.
That doesn't mean that the people with the big tech money are democrats--only that they prefer to live in democratic districts (which are, let's face it, much more fun to live in). Name me the coolest city that didn't vote for Gore. Was it Houston? Ha ha!
Our "enemies"??? Deud, get a grip. It's pretty small-minded to see the world like that. And about China's human rights record: Who do you think killed and crippled more innocent people in the last two months, the US or China? Sure, some fucked up things happen in China, but they are not our enemies. If you were to rate them, us and say the Netherlands on human rights issues, I suspect you'd find we resembled China more than we resemble a civilized European democracy. (We allow executions, indefinite imprisonment without trial--or even being charged, and just about all the other bad stuff we condemn China for. And China has no DCMA.)
Ugly typo in the first line (sorry--it's late!)
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"OK, after episode 1, no one can pretend that Star Wars hasn't basically turned into children's entertainment."
Slashdot demographics vs Star Wars target audience
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OK, after episode 1, no one can pretend that Star Wars has basically turned into children's entertainment. And I don't mean like Anime, where adults can still get a lot out of it; I mean like Dumbo and Tigger.
Since we've established that the movie's target audience misses the Slashdot demographics by a mile, maybe it would be good judgement on the part of/. editors to not make a major story out of every stupid Star Wars rumor. They should seriously consider treating it the franchise more like they Dumbo and Barney (with a nostalgic and heavy heart for what the Star Wars prequels could have been). Slashdot is full of former Star Wars fans. With enough/. hype, there will surely be hundreds of readers who pay Lucas for a seat "just to see how bad it really is." And we don't owe him that. We may owe him a bit of ridicule, but more than that, we owe him some indifference. Since the commentators here seem to agree, I hope the editors are wise enough to show some restraint. "Star Wars sucks now" is no longer "News for Nerds."
Slashdot Mirror
I noticed that too. It really makes you wonder why this stuff gets posted as news. I'm tempted to blame the poster, but then I thought, hey--it's the editors who are getting paid for hanging around on Slashdot. They should be the ones who do some checking. With the X-box emulator hoax yesterday and all the double-posts of earlier, it really makes you wonder why VA thinks they earn their money, and yet engineers deserve to be fired. This is especially stark when we cosider there are many competent volunteers who would gladly take over the editor roles. This isn't anything personal against the editors (hey, I also get lazy on the job sometimes), but I'd be much happier to see VA money do more to support Sourceforge and talented coders rather than these self-appointed geek-monarchs.
I agree--this poster is a real idiot. Seeing this makes one feel even worse for having carefully-considered article submissions rejected.
Actually, I should have been more clear: you can do code brokering if you are the author of a new application. If instead you write code to improve an existing application, code brokering would be illegal under the GPL unless you managed to get the original application relicensed (which would be an insane task given that all you're after is improving the OSS application and maybe getting a few bucks for your trouble).
Also, the following Transgaming strategy would be illegal for GPL or LGPL software: Write some fancy and useful code release it as binary for people to get hooked on, and do a telethon to raise money before the source is made public. The licenses would instead force you to make all your modifications public.
I actually think this is a great system: the code gets written (not just "promised" a la Ximian), the authors get compensation based on the market value of the code, but the code is still free, there for anyone to use. I honestly haven't seen a better revenue model for a company that writes OSS.
Surely, Apple must appreciate that every OSX CD sold would be almost pure profit for the company.There are a lot of commodity hardware owners that would love to buy OSX, if it ran on their systems. This is especially true if OSX for x86 would have convenient, foolproof boot loader that would make a dual-booting installation easy. The fact this product would exist would not make most Mac loyalists be any less likely to buy a Mac. They'd be happy that that the OS is finally getting lots of things ported to it because its userbase is exploding.
Of course this is probably a bit naive... what would probably happen if Apple released OSX for x86 is that it would have terrible hardware support (at least initially, while the public still cared), and it would mostly be distributed as warez. That really would cut into hardware sales. Still, it's not obvious to me this would be the result, and Apple should toy with the idea (eat lunch with AMD execs, stuff like that), if for no other reason than to put pressure on Motorolla to start making faster, cheaper chips. My estimate is that they are about 18 months behind AMD (and losing ground). We all know what 18 months means in the semiconductor world...
There is no reason to worry that something which catches sunlight that was about to hit the planet anyway, and then beams some of that energy to the surface, will cause an overall heating. Actually, because the energy transfer from sunlight to laser will be nowhere near 100% efficient, you can argue that the thing will act as a shade for the planet, reducing the total energy we absorb.
Well said. This is exactly what I was thinking. I'm glad that someone here has some sense.
After looking at the available stuff and reading up on USB latency, I'm convinced that the PCI card+breakout box with D/A-A/D converters is the optimal setup. I wish this architecture would make its way into more "mass production" sound cards so the prices could start falling.
I guess I was silly to think that I had satisfied all of toy cravings in December...
These Lintel guys are opportunists who are not interested in improving Linux or giving back to the community that wrote 99.99% of what they're about to sell. I can't say I wish them well. I only hope for a "deathbed conversion" in which, upon going bankrupt, they release their code. But I wouldn't count on it... as long as MS is willing to offer them $500 for it, we can be almost certain that we'll never see a line of it.
An out-of-box sound card makes a lot of sense because you avoid the crazy RF environment in your computer case. I think Creative have a good idea with this, and the next logical step would be to include video (since the thing has a remote control anyway). I'm not saying the thing should have a built-in 3D card; that would be stupid. I'd just like a nice, hardware TV tuner (those parts are dirt cheap), and maybe also a TV out.
Of course, the USB bus can't take all that, so the thing would need its own PCI interface, but then it would kick ass.
I read the FAQ on the Tascam unit and they say USB can handle 6 channels, though not at 96kbps. That's a pretty low ceiling for any semi-serious musician, but for me, it's plenty. It would be great to just find a box with 6 XLR inputs and a USB plug. That sort of thing could be dirt cheap if you used shielded "consumer" A/D converters like on a high-end Sound Blaster. It would also be tons of fun to play with.
1. Start with 4 balanced inputs, each one with its own super-shielded A/D converter. (Possibly increase to 24 inputs for studio models.)
2. Instead of having an analog mixer, write all four of the streams from the four inputs to the hard drive at 16bit/44kbps ("CD quality"). All the mixing can then be done digitally, after the recording session is done. This is what musicians are used to from the bad old analog days when we all had a 4- or 8-track in our garage: we jam first, and then take our time mixing the multiple tracks down to 2, applying whatever effects necessary to get it to sound right.
Current amateur gear for the computer (like this box) requires you to record two tracks (L/R) at a time, and most bands don't work that way. This either forces you to mix the whole band as you record, but then you can't turn up the drums or equalize the bass after the recording is done, because they're all mashed together. If you want that sort of control, you have to record the drums alone (playing to a metronome), then the bass, then one guitar, etc. This process really kills the joy of home recording, and it kills any band chemistry that would come through if you played "live."
The obvious solution is to allow the simultaneous writing of more than two tracks to the hard drive. That way, you can play live but also adjust the individual instruments in the mixdown.
I'm sure tools like this exist, but they're made for studios or pros. But, there is no reason why the thing I describe would have to be expensive. Really, it shouldn't be more expensive than this external Sound Blaster, because the base model doesn't need all the fancy in/out MIDI and optical stuff. I know I would pay about $250 for the contraption, and I'm poor. If I can afford it, many people can. There is no way it would cost that much to make.
The only question is how many tracks USB can carry before it's saturated. Since it appears it can carry two at 24bit/96kbps, it should carry at least four at 16bit/44kbps. That would be enough for me. It may well be that any more than this would require SCSI or Firewire. Maybe also RAID. Fine. None of these things are out of the reach of almost-ordinary joes anymore.
Now if I could get my basement tuned to give good sound and rent some pro microphones (and maybe a mixer), I'd have a home studio as good as any other.
Well, that's just stupid. We know better. AMD would benefit if they named their chips according to the flops they can do. Once we got used to how those numbers looked, our instinctive drooling at the latest chip innovation would at least better mirror the actual usefulness of the chips. It would also result in us scratching our heads about why Intel released the P4 in the first place.
Still, even if I were in the market for a Mac, I wouldn't buy this. My desk is plenty big enough for a 21" CRT, and I wouldn't enjoy Aqua as much on anything smaller.
Of course, I'll see it... when it comes out in ASCII!
But please don't pretend Bush is innocent in all of this. Remember who brought us John Ashcroft. His record on racism, homophobia, anti-secularism and anti-freedom is also pasted all over the internet.
Simple: The Bush administration and its robed lackeys are getting nostalgic for the Taliban (the reigning masters of the pro-violence, anti-sex agenda). Re-elect Bush and we might catch up!
Wrong. It is not illegal for a politician to follow word for word the instructions of some company, or for that matter, of an advisor, or their dad. It is wrong for them to accept bribes, but I said nothing about that. You don't have to take bribes to sell out. (Of course, Lucas might be, but for him it's not illegal.)
But your second point about the legal obligation without an explicit contract is a good one. I wasn't thinking about cases like parent relationships. I do think you overstate the case when you say the law enforces custom. Rather, I think the law treats certain relationships as tacitly contractual. About public-service oaths: they contain very little concrete content; in the US, you basically swear you will perform your duties to the best of your ability, and not act to overthrow the country. That does not legally preclude that you follow verbatim the advice of your spouse or some lobbyist who "convinced" you in some legal way.
Goddamn it, I'm not dissing Dumbo. But you don't see a Dumbo icon on /. and you can figure out why. Since Star Wars has turned into children's entertainment, I think it has as little place on Slashdot as Dumbo.
Treaties? If Bush keeps up his reign of stupidity, there won't be anymore treaties.
That doesn't mean that the people with the big tech money are democrats--only that they prefer to live in democratic districts (which are, let's face it, much more fun to live in). Name me the coolest city that didn't vote for Gore. Was it Houston? Ha ha!
Our "enemies"??? Deud, get a grip. It's pretty small-minded to see the world like that. And about China's human rights record: Who do you think killed and crippled more innocent people in the last two months, the US or China? Sure, some fucked up things happen in China, but they are not our enemies. If you were to rate them, us and say the Netherlands on human rights issues, I suspect you'd find we resembled China more than we resemble a civilized European democracy. (We allow executions, indefinite imprisonment without trial--or even being charged, and just about all the other bad stuff we condemn China for. And China has no DCMA.)
"OK, after episode 1, no one can pretend that Star Wars hasn't basically turned into children's entertainment."
Since we've established that the movie's target audience misses the Slashdot demographics by a mile, maybe it would be good judgement on the part of /. editors to not make a major story out of every stupid Star Wars rumor. They should seriously consider treating it the franchise more like they Dumbo and Barney (with a nostalgic and heavy heart for what the Star Wars prequels could have been). Slashdot is full of former Star Wars fans. With enough /. hype, there will surely be hundreds of readers who pay Lucas for a seat "just to see how bad it really is." And we don't owe him that. We may owe him a bit of ridicule, but more than that, we owe him some indifference. Since the commentators here seem to agree, I hope the editors are wise enough to show some restraint. "Star Wars sucks now" is no longer "News for Nerds."