Why the hell do I need a diagram of my computer, my house, and the globe to explain how my computer is connected to my network and the internet?
Because, as a busy mother, you don't have time to figure out the mumbo-jumbo of networking. Microsoft's Windows Vista Home Premium edition is designed to streamline your online experience, helping you get your work done faster, easier, and more secure than ever.
You can use SDelete both to securely delete existing files, as well as to securely erase any file data that exists in the unallocated portions of a disk (including files that you have already deleted or encrypted). SDelete implements the Department of Defense clearing and sanitizing standard DOD 5220.22-M, to give you confidence that once deleted with SDelete, your file data is gone forever. Note that SDelete securely deletes file data, but not file names located in free disk space.
Forget everything, can you believe the lemmings download it from Pirate sites? An operating system?
I downloaded a copy of Vista 64 from a demonoid.com torrent. Already had a legit key from MSDNAA, just didn't have a copy of the x64 version. Microsoft puts the SHA1 sum for the ISO file on their MSDN site, so you can verify that it's an untampered copy. A bit like that cheesy scene (one of many) from the movie Swordfish, where Travolta barks to one of his cronies "Verify this!" and, after a pause, the computer dude says "Verified!". Fuck, that movie was fucking awful.
Or are you suggesting that you can slip in a trojan and still get the SHA1 sum to match, using some collision that nobody else knows about?
I've been considering using Windows 7 when I buy a new laptop later this year, but I have a serious question:
How the hell do Windows users backup their files?
I haven't used Windows properly since I was a kid, and I didn't care about backups back then. Nowadays I use rsync every day to mirror files onto an external USB drive and over the network. Once a week I do an incremental backup with rdiff-backup.
Are there any basic, robust tools like these for Windows?
Also, what's the new "Power Shell" like? Is it like bash? Can you run curses programs yet, like mutt? Or would I have to learn a GUI like Thunderbird?
I've been on Linux for so long, I'm actually finding it harder than I imagined to see how I can work with Windows again. I tried Vista and it was actually kinda slick, so I wouldn't mind it on my laptop. It seems like a Macbook would be easier though.
Currently on 8.04, I'll be upgrading to 8.10 sometime after 9.04 is released.
Staying 6 months behind is a reasonable compromise. Let the lab rats (er, enthusiasts!) debug the new stuff first. Last time I checked 8.10 in a VM there was something like 320MB worth of updated packages.
As for the packages themselves, run a local apt proxy like approx, especially if you have more than one Debian or Ubuntu system. It keeps a copy of every.deb you download, and automatically purges the ones that are outdated.
I just tried out the Ubuntu and Kubuntu 9.04 betas earlier today, and I think my interest in both GNOME and KDE is just about worn out.
Both are really quite bloated. I've been on Debian and KDE 3 for years, but I think I'll be switching to a stand-alone window manager like fluxbox, or maybe Xfce, the next time I have to upgrade.
GNOME on Ubuntu felt as sluggish and amateurish as ever. No amount of new themes and rehashed icons can improve GNOME. As a KDE user I was looking forward to KDE 4.2 but christ, it's so damn cluttered. I think they've actually added more clutter since 3.5, not taken it away. Every damn UI element flickers and flashes with a mouseover effect as you move around; some kind of indexing service is hitting the disk in the background; there's a plethora of desktop views or applets or whatever they're called, none of which I'm interested in; there's a new K menu that looks like it was a reject from Windows XP, and which takes several clicks to hunt around for what you're looking for; the default widget theme has super thick borders, even the pull down menus have thick borders around the menu items. The whole thing is just over-cooked. I couldn't make sense of it, frankly.
Sure, I could turn off or tweak most of that junk. But I think what I saw today is what happens when you try to copy Windows and Mac too closely. You end up copying the bad as well as the good. You inherit the same limitations and the same performance standards. It's a poor form of competition, and I despair at how much programmer effort must have gone into creating all this bloated mimicry.
Having said that, I only just scratched the surface. I know how good Qt 4 is, and I'm sure developing apps with the KDE4 framework is much nicer than KDE3. It's just that the result on the desktop (both of them) is a bit of a let down.
Is ECC memory worth the money in a machine you use to check your E-mail?
Unbuffered ECC is only a few $ more than unbuffered non-ECC. It's only 9 chips per side instead of 8, after all. The performance impact is marginal.
I see no reason not to use ECC except that Intel doesn't want you to. It seems they want to keep ECC as a 'server' feature (as if your desktop at home isn't 'serving' you your data). So all their consumer chipsets don't support it, and the i7's memory controller doesn't either. AMD doesn't play that game with their chips, but it seems only ASUS actually implements the ECC support on most of their boards.
So? The existing Core 2 Xeons are identical to their consumer cousins. Is Nehalem different?
Just one difference that I'm aware of - Intel deliberately disables ECC on the i7's memory controller. Gotta buy a Xeon for that now. Sounds fair eh?
I use ECC in my current Athlon 64 machine, but that's because it has 8GB and I leave it on 24/7. These new Mac Pros start at 3GB, which is ridiculous. I don't even know why they went with triple channel, because from the benchmarks I've seen it doesn't seem to make any performance difference (maybe in dual processor config it does).
Is it an incorrect statement? An inaccurate statement? A misleading statement? A correct statement used in the wrong context? A deliberately obfuscated or weasely statement?
Reminds me of people who say they "misspoke" - usually means "lied".
As a certified and accredited software engineer, I think it's time for Linux to be re-written in Javascript. The competition between Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari has resulted in incredibly fast Javascript interpreters, and if Axl Torvalds mandates a switch to JS, the kernel could automatically take advantage of these improvements. After all, the OS and the web are becoming one, and within 10 years all applications will be in the cloud, delivered via the raintubes.
Seriously, please stop using this word. It's seriously over-used and seriously annoying. Seriously, unless you think you're seriously at risk of not being taken seriously, you should seriously consider not using it.
Software adds on features over time. Thats how it works.
Actually it doesn't have to work that way, particularly with free software. One reason I switched to Linux was to escape the downward spiral of many commercial apps that were needlessly updated beyond their prime - ACDSee viewer, Adobe Reader, Windows itself, Office, and more; all became more bloated and annoying with each release, while not becoming any more useful for me. To a large extent free software frees you from that cycle, because the developers aren't trying to keep you buying new versions.
I'm not sure what Mozilla's motivations really are. But I do know that gimmicks like natural language shortcuts and more theming (because god knows we can't enough shitty themes and inconsistent, non-native GUIs) *is* bloat. In fact the only non-bloat features I've heard Firefox getting (e.g. porn mode) are courtesy of the competition.
I agree more features doesn't necessarily mean bloat, but it's damned hard to avoid.
The real question seems to be why are distributions jumping to these releases of KDE.
That should be obvious. They've been pushing GNOME for years, and not with much success. Along comes a half-baked KDE release (which, even better for the GNOME distros, the KDE developers decide not to call an alpha or beta), and they jump at the chance to include it right away.
The whole point was to push a few users to GNOME, and Linus took the bait very nicely!
I blame both KDE and Fedora for exposing pragmatic users like Linus to 4.0. He'll take whatever works best at the time. For me on Debian, there is absolutely no rush so I'll stay with 3.5.10 until something better arrives.
Slashdot Mirror
Why the hell do I need a diagram of my computer, my house, and the globe to explain how my computer is connected to my network and the internet?
Because, as a busy mother, you don't have time to figure out the mumbo-jumbo of networking. Microsoft's Windows Vista Home Premium edition is designed to streamline your online experience, helping you get your work done faster, easier, and more secure than ever.
I don't get it. You got these right: "reaction times", "things", "window switches", and "animations".
And yet, somehow, you think the plural of menu is menu's, and you kept using it.
Something is wired wrong in your brain, my friend.
Sounds like you want SDelete:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx
I work across the street from his old lab (on Tesla st no less)
What work do you do there?
Not that it's any of my business. Google Maps just makes me curious.
seriously?
No, not seriously.
Forget everything, can you believe the lemmings download it from Pirate sites? An operating system?
I downloaded a copy of Vista 64 from a demonoid.com torrent. Already had a legit key from MSDNAA, just didn't have a copy of the x64 version. Microsoft puts the SHA1 sum for the ISO file on their MSDN site, so you can verify that it's an untampered copy. A bit like that cheesy scene (one of many) from the movie Swordfish, where Travolta barks to one of his cronies "Verify this!" and, after a pause, the computer dude says "Verified!". Fuck, that movie was fucking awful.
Or are you suggesting that you can slip in a trojan and still get the SHA1 sum to match, using some collision that nobody else knows about?
I've been considering using Windows 7 when I buy a new laptop later this year, but I have a serious question:
How the hell do Windows users backup their files?
I haven't used Windows properly since I was a kid, and I didn't care about backups back then. Nowadays I use rsync every day to mirror files onto an external USB drive and over the network. Once a week I do an incremental backup with rdiff-backup.
Are there any basic, robust tools like these for Windows?
Also, what's the new "Power Shell" like? Is it like bash? Can you run curses programs yet, like mutt? Or would I have to learn a GUI like Thunderbird?
I've been on Linux for so long, I'm actually finding it harder than I imagined to see how I can work with Windows again. I tried Vista and it was actually kinda slick, so I wouldn't mind it on my laptop. It seems like a Macbook would be easier though.
fascist system administrators
Anyone know how old Stallman was when he wrote that?
Just sounds so juvenile.
Currently on 8.04, I'll be upgrading to 8.10 sometime after 9.04 is released.
Staying 6 months behind is a reasonable compromise. Let the lab rats (er, enthusiasts!) debug the new stuff first. Last time I checked 8.10 in a VM there was something like 320MB worth of updated packages.
As for the packages themselves, run a local apt proxy like approx, especially if you have more than one Debian or Ubuntu system. It keeps a copy of every .deb you download, and automatically purges the ones that are outdated.
MPlayer's biggest drawback is the fact that without some sort of frontend, it's UI stinks.
Are you kidding? I absolutely love the lack of frontend.
F: toggle fullscreen
o: see time counter
left/right arrows: skip 5 sec
up/down arrows: skip 1 min
page up/down: skip 10 min
That's all the UI I've ever needed.
What I love most is how fast and simple mplayer is. Seeking is instant, even on my old P3.
I just tried out the Ubuntu and Kubuntu 9.04 betas earlier today, and I think my interest in both GNOME and KDE is just about worn out.
Both are really quite bloated. I've been on Debian and KDE 3 for years, but I think I'll be switching to a stand-alone window manager like fluxbox, or maybe Xfce, the next time I have to upgrade.
GNOME on Ubuntu felt as sluggish and amateurish as ever. No amount of new themes and rehashed icons can improve GNOME. As a KDE user I was looking forward to KDE 4.2 but christ, it's so damn cluttered. I think they've actually added more clutter since 3.5, not taken it away. Every damn UI element flickers and flashes with a mouseover effect as you move around; some kind of indexing service is hitting the disk in the background; there's a plethora of desktop views or applets or whatever they're called, none of which I'm interested in; there's a new K menu that looks like it was a reject from Windows XP, and which takes several clicks to hunt around for what you're looking for; the default widget theme has super thick borders, even the pull down menus have thick borders around the menu items. The whole thing is just over-cooked. I couldn't make sense of it, frankly.
Sure, I could turn off or tweak most of that junk. But I think what I saw today is what happens when you try to copy Windows and Mac too closely. You end up copying the bad as well as the good. You inherit the same limitations and the same performance standards. It's a poor form of competition, and I despair at how much programmer effort must have gone into creating all this bloated mimicry.
Having said that, I only just scratched the surface. I know how good Qt 4 is, and I'm sure developing apps with the KDE4 framework is much nicer than KDE3. It's just that the result on the desktop (both of them) is a bit of a let down.
Is ECC memory worth the money in a machine you use to check your E-mail?
Unbuffered ECC is only a few $ more than unbuffered non-ECC. It's only 9 chips per side instead of 8, after all. The performance impact is marginal.
I see no reason not to use ECC except that Intel doesn't want you to. It seems they want to keep ECC as a 'server' feature (as if your desktop at home isn't 'serving' you your data). So all their consumer chipsets don't support it, and the i7's memory controller doesn't either. AMD doesn't play that game with their chips, but it seems only ASUS actually implements the ECC support on most of their boards.
Keep on building kinda cool stuff that noone actually wants
How do you know what Noone wants?
LOL. Every classroom had a kid like you.
It's an inchworm.
Which is a caterpillar.
But that's ok. Pictures of worms are so damn hard to find.
False hope in a president is your failure, not his.
Gaol?
Woah. Is this 1709 or 2009?
What software did that music accompany?
So? The existing Core 2 Xeons are identical to their consumer cousins. Is Nehalem different?
Just one difference that I'm aware of - Intel deliberately disables ECC on the i7's memory controller. Gotta buy a Xeon for that now. Sounds fair eh?
I use ECC in my current Athlon 64 machine, but that's because it has 8GB and I leave it on 24/7. These new Mac Pros start at 3GB, which is ridiculous. I don't even know why they went with triple channel, because from the benchmarks I've seen it doesn't seem to make any performance difference (maybe in dual processor config it does).
What exactly is a "misstatement"?
Is it an incorrect statement?
An inaccurate statement?
A misleading statement?
A correct statement used in the wrong context?
A deliberately obfuscated or weasely statement?
Reminds me of people who say they "misspoke" - usually means "lied".
As a certified and accredited software engineer, I think it's time for Linux to be re-written in Javascript. The competition between Chrome, Firefox, IE and Safari has resulted in incredibly fast Javascript interpreters, and if Axl Torvalds mandates a switch to JS, the kernel could automatically take advantage of these improvements. After all, the OS and the web are becoming one, and within 10 years all applications will be in the cloud, delivered via the raintubes.
Yes, the timing has worked out perfectly.
I run Debian testing, so I've been on 3.5 for a long time, and very happily I might add.
Now when sid starts moving again, KDE 4.2 will go in - completely avoiding the earlier, less complete releases that everybody was ranting about.
Couldn't have worked out better, and is a reminder that you don't always need to be on the bleeding edge anyway.
Debian has a very good KDE packaging team, btw.
Seriously,
Seriously, please stop using this word. It's seriously over-used and seriously annoying. Seriously, unless you think you're seriously at risk of not being taken seriously, you should seriously consider not using it.
Software adds on features over time. Thats how it works.
Actually it doesn't have to work that way, particularly with free software. One reason I switched to Linux was to escape the downward spiral of many commercial apps that were needlessly updated beyond their prime - ACDSee viewer, Adobe Reader, Windows itself, Office, and more; all became more bloated and annoying with each release, while not becoming any more useful for me. To a large extent free software frees you from that cycle, because the developers aren't trying to keep you buying new versions.
I'm not sure what Mozilla's motivations really are. But I do know that gimmicks like natural language shortcuts and more theming (because god knows we can't enough shitty themes and inconsistent, non-native GUIs) *is* bloat. In fact the only non-bloat features I've heard Firefox getting (e.g. porn mode) are courtesy of the competition.
I agree more features doesn't necessarily mean bloat, but it's damned hard to avoid.
Yes, but how do you know it only provides power?
Use it with a M-F USB cable that only has two wires. Not sure if you can actually buy such a thing...
The real question seems to be why are distributions jumping to these releases of KDE.
That should be obvious. They've been pushing GNOME for years, and not with much success. Along comes a half-baked KDE release (which, even better for the GNOME distros, the KDE developers decide not to call an alpha or beta), and they jump at the chance to include it right away.
The whole point was to push a few users to GNOME, and Linus took the bait very nicely!
I blame both KDE and Fedora for exposing pragmatic users like Linus to 4.0. He'll take whatever works best at the time. For me on Debian, there is absolutely no rush so I'll stay with 3.5.10 until something better arrives.