Doesn't Unity (the game engine, not the desktop environment) have a web plugin? the War For The Underworld Kickstarter project had a demo of their game on their website which looked graphically on a par with World of Warcraft (which isn't really that hard; it is 9 years old now, and there's only so much tarting-up you can do with expansion packs).
At a glance at the specs- the Pi's ARM chip has double the clock speed of the 300N's MIPS chip, the Pi has 4x the RAM, and the Pi has a Broadcom VideoCore GPU. So on raw computing power, the Pi wins.
Although obviously it depends what you're after. The router has 5 ethernet ports and built in wireless, so it wins there. But then the Pi has HDMI and USB and an audio jack, so it wins there.
The Pi does have two rather clear wins, though. Firstly, its storage (including boot files) is on SD card, making it easy to swap between different OS set ups (hence why I can flit between my sturdy Debian and my retro RISC OS with such ease). Secondly, the Pi has exposed GPIO pins, meaning you can use it as a controller for more or less anything you want.
The two "dishonourable mentions" called out in TFA were both for the reason "I don't like their attitude". For Zuckerberg it was his "hoodie mentality" and acting like a "hacker", and for Mason it was his "frat boy" attitude.
Seeing as Ballmer wears a suit, and could never be described as having a "hacker" demeanour, I imagine he's A-OK by the author.
...why all the Linux talk when you are just going to enable people to Install Windows, which they will.
Hang on a cotton picking moment. One of the key principals of FOSS is that - it's your device and your software, and you should be free to do what you like to them. Locking down a person's device so that they can't install their own software on it is plain wrong, and Valve are sensible not to go that route. Would you prefer that their console was the new Tivo?
If I buy one, I'll relish that it has Linux on it. But one day, I may decide to wipe the Valve-selected version of Linux and put something else on there- my own version of Linux, or Android, or BSD, or whatever. And why shouldn't I be allowed to put Windows on it if I so choose? It is my device, right?
Valve selling consoles pre-loaded with Linux is still a huge deal, and a huge victory for the Linux community. Don't miss out on the potential party because you're bitter they're not leading some quixotic attack on Microsoft while they're at it.
Depends on what you consider to be a "killer app" I suppose. I have mine running Debian as a very cheap, very low power-draw "always on" computer for my home network, to mastermind a few background tasks, run a few low intensity "server" applications, and to act as an SSH-able gateway to my home network. You wouldn't be able to find much better for that sort of task for $35.
I've also used mine to run RISC OS 5, which runs beautifully on it. For anyone nostalgic for that old system, there is no better way to put together a fully functioning replica of your old Acorn boxes using modern hardware.
Really though, it's not about "killer apps". As sibling posters have said, it's about having computers so cheap that you can use them in any old hobby project, regardless of how idle the project or how likely it is to accidentally destroy the hardware. If that doesn't appeal to you, it probably isn't worth buying one.
Presumably the list of games on a Steam Box will be more or less identical to the list of games on the Linux client, seeing as they're exactly the same client, OS and style of hardware. Indeed, my theory is still that the Steam for Linux client is simply a happy by product of the Steam Box project; a "why not seeing as we've done all the work already" thing.
If you were paying the full price for console hardware, the XBox 360 and PS3 probably would have come in somewhere around that mark when they were new too. They were only cheaper because they were sold at a loss, cross-subsidised by the game licensing cost.
Which does raise an interesting question about Valve's business model for this console. Either they're going to be selling a games console at 4x the price of their rivals, or they're going to need to subsidise the hardware with profits from their Steam shop. And if that's the case, presumably we're talking about some combination of a) higher fees for developers selling through Steam, b) higher prices for games on their Steam shop (for PC/Linux as well perhaps), or c) lower profit margins for Valve.
The Linux "belief system" is codified by the GPLv2 license. That's not the GPLv3 licence, not the BSD license, but the GPLv2 license. If the belief system were anything other than this, they could have changed their licensing model long ago.
As long as Valve obey the terms of the GPLv2 license, they are fulfilling their obligations to the Linux community- both actual and philosophical. That means they need to release a copy of the code that they use on the products they ship; and that's it. Hopefully any changes or additions they make can be made use of back upstream.
Just a guess, but Microsoft probably had Microsoft gear in there for working on, as well as just prototypes. If they're anything like Microsoft employees I know, they'll be following the company orthodoxy of using 100% Windows, except where it is unavoidable.
So those thieves probably walked past HP Elitebooks at about $1000 a pop, or touch-enabled Thinkpad at $1500, and picked up the $500 iPads instead. That's still pretty embarrassing.
My jaw actually dropped when I reached that bit. Seriously, if The Onion has access to a time machine they should really tell someone, and not just keep it secret for the purpose of amusing internet satire.
I believe the "Ubuntu for Android" scheme (which was running on at least the Motorola Atrix 2) killed the phone's screen when it was in desktop mode- so only one desktop manager at a time.
Presumably a full Ubuntu phone will basically be using the "Ubuntu for Android" code to handle the docking functionality. Indeed, I've been wondering if that was actually the whole point of the "Ubuntu for Android" project- just an incidental benefit of their Ubuntu Phone project proper.
...STONES and POUNDS and OUNCES to measure weight, and FLUID OUNCES to measure volume.
Actually, we never use stone and pounds for weight except colloquially when talking about human weight. All food is measured in grams, and grams are used in all medical settings (i.e., my doctor will ask for my weight in kilograms). Some cookery books still print the Imperial measures in brackets, but this is only out of courtesy to older readers (old women being a rather key target demographic for cookery books).
I've never used fluid ounces in my life. The only time we ever use non-metric volumes is when talking about beer or milk- both of which are always "pint" or "half pint". These are the only two food stuffs which are legally allowed to be advertised in Imperial- and when sold in shops both must always have the metric printed on the packaging too for easy comparison.
Miles are only used in the context of roads and travel. In any other circumstance (i.e., when buying furniture or electronics), it will always be metric.
Only the oldies use Imperial- it just so happens that old women are the prime target market for cookery books.
It's only been 40 years since we started metrication, and continuing to print Imperial measures in cookery books is hardly an odious obligation. We keep doing that for a couple more decades and the overwhelming majority of "imperial natives" will be gone, and then we can drop it. Until then, it does no harm to accommodate everyone.
Other than cookery books, the only other hold outs against metrication are: - Beer by the pint (where a pint is defined as 568 ml by law). - Milk by the pint (and all milk packaging must have metric listed too). - Road signage (which is the only important one really; and I guess that's mostly a cost thing).
Pints for beer isn't really an issue, in that it's just an abstract concept. You ask for "a pint of beer" and you get 568ml, by law. You don't need to know the quantity in any other context, except that you know how big a beer is. I know that "one (pint) of beer" is the same in any pub I go to, and I know how much liquid to expect when I order one. And for milk (the other anomaly), the metric measurement is always on the container as well- even if it does mean you're buying 1.136 litres of milk.
Miles are more serious, though. My brain works in metres and centimetres, but for some reason when I need to know how far it is to the city centre I'm told it's "4 miles". How big is a mile? No idea, really. I certainly couldn't tell you how many metres are in one (or feet or yards, for that matter). My car continues to report fuel usage in "miles per gallon", despite the fact that my petrol is bought in litres. And as you say- signs in yards placed at intervals of metres? Completely daft.
The UK uses cl in daily usage occasionally; notably on bottles of wine, which are always 75cl, and never 750ml. Whereas soft drinks are almost always in ml- 500ml bottle of coke, rather than 50cl.
We're grams, meters and litres in all things with only a very small number of exceptions: - Roads are still in miles by law - Beer and milk are still in pints by law - Human weight is still colloquially in stone
Walk into any shop and you'll find food sold by the litre and gram. Recipe books are overwhelmingly in metric (often with Imperial in brackets, although not always and never the reverse). Petrol is sold by the litre. Doctors talk in grams. Fahrenheit has been forever banished.
Linux isn't going anywhere, and there are plenty of niche manufacturers out there producing purpose-built Linux laptops and desktops (well I say plenty...you know, relatively speaking). Presumably they'd see a fair surge of business if they became the only way to run Linux (rather than the hitherto standard method of buying anything you like from Dell/HP/whoever and just wiping the hard drive).
I wonder idly if this could be used to run Wubi to install Ubuntu in that strange dual-boot-from-a-boot-file-that-sits-within-Windows way that it does. If so, that'd be a pretty big breakthrough.
Come to think of it, I have no idea how Wubi would react to a "secure boot" set up.
Actually, I'm talking about the car's trip computer, which gives a second-by-second live MPG, and a rolling average. I also know how much petrol I put in the tank and how far I travel before it's all gone, and I can confirm that the car's computer is roughly accurate (enough so that I don't notice a discrepancy). I get about 42 on the average count on my day to day mixed usage. It goes up to about 55 when I do a long cross country trip, and down to about 32 if I spend an unusual amount of time city driving. I should clarify that these are Imperial Gallons.
I have no idea what the brochure promised; it was second hand when I bought it. You're probably right, and the brochure probably promised 70 MPG or something absurd, but that's not what I'm talking about.
From the numbers, having Steam support linux games at all is pretty silly from the business perspective.
There's more to good business than just straight sales figures. Reasons for Valve to do this, at a glance: 1) They are working on a Linux-based Steam games console, so releasing an Ubuntu version of the client is a relatively minor added effort. 2) They already have a Mac client, so much of the "cross platform compatibility" slog will already be done. 3) They are hedging their bets against a collapse in Windows user numbers. Not the most likely, but with non-Steam-friendly platforms like Android and iOS filling the gaps, they want to make sure they're as widely available as possible to stay relevant. 4) Good will is not the same as charity. Doing nice things for your customers is Grade A marketing; they're doing everything they can to build loyalty before the onslaught of new rivals, chiefly the Windows App Store.
So yeah, we're still allowed to be cynical if we want. I think this is a good thing for Linux, but I won't be leaping to get involved- I never used Steam on Windows, so I'm not rushing to use it on Linux either. I may be converted if I ever decide to become a "Windows free" household (which could happen if the only alternative is Windows 8), as supported games on Linux are better than unsupported or none at all, but I still won't be thrilled about it...
Non-developers will come up against some barriers, too.
My parents are typical home users, and they have a laptop. Among other things, they have a digital camera which comes with a CD full of the typical proprietary drivers and software, which wouldn't be available on a tablet. My dad also has a USB turn-table for moving tracks from his vinyl collection onto his MP3 player- again, that wouldn't work with an iPad. For that matter, his MP3 player uses a PC to transfer music over- would it work if connected to an iPad dock or the output of an Android tablet? I'm guessing not.
The submitter might assess his mother's situation and decide this isn't an issue right now. But I bet it becomes an issue in the future, when she brings home some ordinary new consumer gizmo and finds she can't use it without a proper computer.
So, I guess exploiting middle-east oil money and radical Islamic terrorism are more "aligned" with Al Gores' and Reason TVs' views.
"By their actions, ye shall know them."
Strat
Since when does Al Jazeera have anything to do with Islamism or terrorism? Is it because they both have "Al" in their name? (Oh god- so does Al Gore!).
Although it is valid enough to question whether they have bias in their reporting (hardly a new thing; see Fox News), their editorial style is usually on the liberal, rather than conservative, side. There's no reason why Al Gore wouldn't see them as an ideological match for his own channel.
IT has always been this way. Think back to when you were at school- you and a few of your friends were probably pretty techy, but what percentage of the kids at your school were? Were most of them more interested in sport? Pop music? Heated political debate? Doing drugs behind the bike shed? Things other than computers and technology?
That's how I remember my childhood, anyway. I loved computers. A few of my friends loved computers. We were a minority.
Slashdot Mirror
Doesn't Unity (the game engine, not the desktop environment) have a web plugin? the War For The Underworld Kickstarter project had a demo of their game on their website which looked graphically on a par with World of Warcraft (which isn't really that hard; it is 9 years old now, and there's only so much tarting-up you can do with expansion packs).
At a glance at the specs- the Pi's ARM chip has double the clock speed of the 300N's MIPS chip, the Pi has 4x the RAM, and the Pi has a Broadcom VideoCore GPU. So on raw computing power, the Pi wins.
Although obviously it depends what you're after. The router has 5 ethernet ports and built in wireless, so it wins there. But then the Pi has HDMI and USB and an audio jack, so it wins there.
The Pi does have two rather clear wins, though. Firstly, its storage (including boot files) is on SD card, making it easy to swap between different OS set ups (hence why I can flit between my sturdy Debian and my retro RISC OS with such ease). Secondly, the Pi has exposed GPIO pins, meaning you can use it as a controller for more or less anything you want.
The two "dishonourable mentions" called out in TFA were both for the reason "I don't like their attitude". For Zuckerberg it was his "hoodie mentality" and acting like a "hacker", and for Mason it was his "frat boy" attitude.
Seeing as Ballmer wears a suit, and could never be described as having a "hacker" demeanour, I imagine he's A-OK by the author.
...why all the Linux talk when you are just going to enable people to Install Windows, which they will.
Hang on a cotton picking moment. One of the key principals of FOSS is that - it's your device and your software, and you should be free to do what you like to them. Locking down a person's device so that they can't install their own software on it is plain wrong, and Valve are sensible not to go that route. Would you prefer that their console was the new Tivo?
If I buy one, I'll relish that it has Linux on it. But one day, I may decide to wipe the Valve-selected version of Linux and put something else on there- my own version of Linux, or Android, or BSD, or whatever. And why shouldn't I be allowed to put Windows on it if I so choose? It is my device, right?
Valve selling consoles pre-loaded with Linux is still a huge deal, and a huge victory for the Linux community. Don't miss out on the potential party because you're bitter they're not leading some quixotic attack on Microsoft while they're at it.
Depends on what you consider to be a "killer app" I suppose. I have mine running Debian as a very cheap, very low power-draw "always on" computer for my home network, to mastermind a few background tasks, run a few low intensity "server" applications, and to act as an SSH-able gateway to my home network. You wouldn't be able to find much better for that sort of task for $35.
I've also used mine to run RISC OS 5, which runs beautifully on it. For anyone nostalgic for that old system, there is no better way to put together a fully functioning replica of your old Acorn boxes using modern hardware.
Really though, it's not about "killer apps". As sibling posters have said, it's about having computers so cheap that you can use them in any old hobby project, regardless of how idle the project or how likely it is to accidentally destroy the hardware. If that doesn't appeal to you, it probably isn't worth buying one.
The red rubber bit is removable if it gets on your nerves- just pull it off and stash it in a pocket of your laptop bag for another day.
I remember the marketing fluff at the time promising that Ubuntu For Android was all native- no virtualization or emulation.
I don't really know though, so maybe you're right; I've never looked into it too closely.
Presumably the list of games on a Steam Box will be more or less identical to the list of games on the Linux client, seeing as they're exactly the same client, OS and style of hardware. Indeed, my theory is still that the Steam for Linux client is simply a happy by product of the Steam Box project; a "why not seeing as we've done all the work already" thing.
If you were paying the full price for console hardware, the XBox 360 and PS3 probably would have come in somewhere around that mark when they were new too. They were only cheaper because they were sold at a loss, cross-subsidised by the game licensing cost.
Which does raise an interesting question about Valve's business model for this console. Either they're going to be selling a games console at 4x the price of their rivals, or they're going to need to subsidise the hardware with profits from their Steam shop. And if that's the case, presumably we're talking about some combination of a) higher fees for developers selling through Steam, b) higher prices for games on their Steam shop (for PC/Linux as well perhaps), or c) lower profit margins for Valve.
The Linux "belief system" is codified by the GPLv2 license. That's not the GPLv3 licence, not the BSD license, but the GPLv2 license. If the belief system were anything other than this, they could have changed their licensing model long ago.
As long as Valve obey the terms of the GPLv2 license, they are fulfilling their obligations to the Linux community- both actual and philosophical. That means they need to release a copy of the code that they use on the products they ship; and that's it. Hopefully any changes or additions they make can be made use of back upstream.
Just a guess, but Microsoft probably had Microsoft gear in there for working on, as well as just prototypes. If they're anything like Microsoft employees I know, they'll be following the company orthodoxy of using 100% Windows, except where it is unavoidable.
So those thieves probably walked past HP Elitebooks at about $1000 a pop, or touch-enabled Thinkpad at $1500, and picked up the $500 iPads instead. That's still pretty embarrassing.
My jaw actually dropped when I reached that bit. Seriously, if The Onion has access to a time machine they should really tell someone, and not just keep it secret for the purpose of amusing internet satire.
I believe the "Ubuntu for Android" scheme (which was running on at least the Motorola Atrix 2) killed the phone's screen when it was in desktop mode- so only one desktop manager at a time.
Presumably a full Ubuntu phone will basically be using the "Ubuntu for Android" code to handle the docking functionality. Indeed, I've been wondering if that was actually the whole point of the "Ubuntu for Android" project- just an incidental benefit of their Ubuntu Phone project proper.
Anyway, I found a somewhat vacuous video of "Ubuntu for Android" working on You Tube if you want to see it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6eEDZva1W8
...STONES and POUNDS and OUNCES to measure weight, and FLUID OUNCES to measure volume.
Actually, we never use stone and pounds for weight except colloquially when talking about human weight. All food is measured in grams, and grams are used in all medical settings (i.e., my doctor will ask for my weight in kilograms). Some cookery books still print the Imperial measures in brackets, but this is only out of courtesy to older readers (old women being a rather key target demographic for cookery books).
I've never used fluid ounces in my life. The only time we ever use non-metric volumes is when talking about beer or milk- both of which are always "pint" or "half pint". These are the only two food stuffs which are legally allowed to be advertised in Imperial- and when sold in shops both must always have the metric printed on the packaging too for easy comparison.
Miles are only used in the context of roads and travel. In any other circumstance (i.e., when buying furniture or electronics), it will always be metric.
Only the oldies use Imperial- it just so happens that old women are the prime target market for cookery books.
It's only been 40 years since we started metrication, and continuing to print Imperial measures in cookery books is hardly an odious obligation. We keep doing that for a couple more decades and the overwhelming majority of "imperial natives" will be gone, and then we can drop it. Until then, it does no harm to accommodate everyone.
Other than cookery books, the only other hold outs against metrication are:
- Beer by the pint (where a pint is defined as 568 ml by law).
- Milk by the pint (and all milk packaging must have metric listed too).
- Road signage (which is the only important one really; and I guess that's mostly a cost thing).
Pints for beer isn't really an issue, in that it's just an abstract concept. You ask for "a pint of beer" and you get 568ml, by law. You don't need to know the quantity in any other context, except that you know how big a beer is. I know that "one (pint) of beer" is the same in any pub I go to, and I know how much liquid to expect when I order one. And for milk (the other anomaly), the metric measurement is always on the container as well- even if it does mean you're buying 1.136 litres of milk.
Miles are more serious, though. My brain works in metres and centimetres, but for some reason when I need to know how far it is to the city centre I'm told it's "4 miles". How big is a mile? No idea, really. I certainly couldn't tell you how many metres are in one (or feet or yards, for that matter). My car continues to report fuel usage in "miles per gallon", despite the fact that my petrol is bought in litres. And as you say- signs in yards placed at intervals of metres? Completely daft.
The UK uses cl in daily usage occasionally; notably on bottles of wine, which are always 75cl, and never 750ml. Whereas soft drinks are almost always in ml- 500ml bottle of coke, rather than 50cl.
Strange conventions, I suppose.
We're grams, meters and litres in all things with only a very small number of exceptions:
- Roads are still in miles by law
- Beer and milk are still in pints by law
- Human weight is still colloquially in stone
Walk into any shop and you'll find food sold by the litre and gram. Recipe books are overwhelmingly in metric (often with Imperial in brackets, although not always and never the reverse). Petrol is sold by the litre. Doctors talk in grams. Fahrenheit has been forever banished.
Linux isn't going anywhere, and there are plenty of niche manufacturers out there producing purpose-built Linux laptops and desktops (well I say plenty...you know, relatively speaking). Presumably they'd see a fair surge of business if they became the only way to run Linux (rather than the hitherto standard method of buying anything you like from Dell/HP/whoever and just wiping the hard drive).
I wonder idly if this could be used to run Wubi to install Ubuntu in that strange dual-boot-from-a-boot-file-that-sits-within-Windows way that it does. If so, that'd be a pretty big breakthrough.
Come to think of it, I have no idea how Wubi would react to a "secure boot" set up.
Actually, I'm talking about the car's trip computer, which gives a second-by-second live MPG, and a rolling average. I also know how much petrol I put in the tank and how far I travel before it's all gone, and I can confirm that the car's computer is roughly accurate (enough so that I don't notice a discrepancy). I get about 42 on the average count on my day to day mixed usage. It goes up to about 55 when I do a long cross country trip, and down to about 32 if I spend an unusual amount of time city driving. I should clarify that these are Imperial Gallons.
I have no idea what the brochure promised; it was second hand when I bought it. You're probably right, and the brochure probably promised 70 MPG or something absurd, but that's not what I'm talking about.
From the numbers, having Steam support linux games at all is pretty silly from the business perspective.
There's more to good business than just straight sales figures. Reasons for Valve to do this, at a glance:
1) They are working on a Linux-based Steam games console, so releasing an Ubuntu version of the client is a relatively minor added effort.
2) They already have a Mac client, so much of the "cross platform compatibility" slog will already be done.
3) They are hedging their bets against a collapse in Windows user numbers. Not the most likely, but with non-Steam-friendly platforms like Android and iOS filling the gaps, they want to make sure they're as widely available as possible to stay relevant.
4) Good will is not the same as charity. Doing nice things for your customers is Grade A marketing; they're doing everything they can to build loyalty before the onslaught of new rivals, chiefly the Windows App Store.
So yeah, we're still allowed to be cynical if we want. I think this is a good thing for Linux, but I won't be leaping to get involved- I never used Steam on Windows, so I'm not rushing to use it on Linux either. I may be converted if I ever decide to become a "Windows free" household (which could happen if the only alternative is Windows 8), as supported games on Linux are better than unsupported or none at all, but I still won't be thrilled about it...
Non-developers will come up against some barriers, too.
My parents are typical home users, and they have a laptop. Among other things, they have a digital camera which comes with a CD full of the typical proprietary drivers and software, which wouldn't be available on a tablet. My dad also has a USB turn-table for moving tracks from his vinyl collection onto his MP3 player- again, that wouldn't work with an iPad. For that matter, his MP3 player uses a PC to transfer music over- would it work if connected to an iPad dock or the output of an Android tablet? I'm guessing not.
The submitter might assess his mother's situation and decide this isn't an issue right now. But I bet it becomes an issue in the future, when she brings home some ordinary new consumer gizmo and finds she can't use it without a proper computer.
So, I guess exploiting middle-east oil money and radical Islamic terrorism are more "aligned" with Al Gores' and Reason TVs' views.
"By their actions, ye shall know them."
Strat
Since when does Al Jazeera have anything to do with Islamism or terrorism? Is it because they both have "Al" in their name? (Oh god- so does Al Gore!).
Although it is valid enough to question whether they have bias in their reporting (hardly a new thing; see Fox News), their editorial style is usually on the liberal, rather than conservative, side. There's no reason why Al Gore wouldn't see them as an ideological match for his own channel.
IT has always been this way. Think back to when you were at school- you and a few of your friends were probably pretty techy, but what percentage of the kids at your school were? Were most of them more interested in sport? Pop music? Heated political debate? Doing drugs behind the bike shed? Things other than computers and technology?
That's how I remember my childhood, anyway. I loved computers. A few of my friends loved computers. We were a minority.