Excellent! We might have a winner. If you could run gears on it, from Xscreensaver, I'd appreciate it. What does...
gears -fps
...report at 640x480 and 800x600?
Bonus question::) Does the card have the ability to scale larger screens down using the aa features of the GeForce? (Ex. Simultanious display of a 1024x768 desktop on both TV and monitor. Same image appears on both, but the TV is of course not nearly as crisp.)
I don't think a VooDoo 3500 comes under the heading of 'current generation' 3D tech, I'm afraid. They're about 3-4 generations behind now...
You're right. They don't. I'm actually typing this on a machine with a Voodoo3 2000 installed, and have liked it...but try and run Tribes 2 on it. Anyone who has tried knows why a Voodoo3 isn't going to work.
The touchy 'bought up, closed up' aspect of the company itself is another factor.
No small appliances include 3D hardware, good sound, and TV-out. Because of that, setting up a multimedia device requires adding additional cards. For sound, there are many choices. For video, there are no choices that are compatable with Linux and support both;
I. 3D (good, current-generation)
II. TV-out (RCA and/or S-video)
That's why you see tech sites talking about how to make your own TIVO-style device, or how to make a traveling MP3 jukebox, but none that mention 3D games. Only Nokia's planned Media Terminal is supposed to have both, and adding a VGA-to-RCA converter isn't cheap.
Think that Nvidia, ATI, or Matrox have this fixed? Nope.
At first glance, most of the/. minions out there will probably say "big deal". Well, smarty pants, I dare you. I dare all of you all. Find such a card. After much searching, it turns out that you can have either 3D or TV-out, but not both.
Any GeForce, Radeon, or G400 can pump out great 3D. Some -- but not all -- can be tweaked to output video to a standard TV using the Linux frame buffer...but in the process, you loose all 3D hardware acceleration.
Yow. Scratch 3D.
Enable 3D, and the TV-out ports aren't supported.
As for projects that are actively attempting to address the TV-out problem, they do exist. Sourceforge hosts a few, and Freshmeat has pointers to a few more. None have it licked, though. Most TV-out ports have some propriatory muck that makes supporting them difficult at best. If we're lucky, one of these companies will release a Macrovision-encrusted, binary-only, x86, version sometime in the next couple years.
How depressing...what was the story about the Zerox printer driver? How is it that 20+ years later, something so trivial is still a sticking point.
MS DOS v.1.24 used / instead of \ as a directory designator, and - for command options. (I could be wrong, as I threw out my original disk years ago and never made any backups. Corrections welcome.)
WINE doesn't work with programs that have been crippled with Macrovision (Safedisc) -- such as Sybex's CCNA Virtual Lab e-trainer. I've tried patches, and will give it another go tonight.
It's very annoying to have paid $100usd yet the program doesn't even pop-up an error message that could give any hints why it's not happy. Did I mention that I'm annoyed?
Maybe a generic fix for this nonsense will end up in Wine? That would be nice...
I've seen this kind of flame-fest ever since I started using the internet.
Here's another data point: The same type of thing happend on bulletin boards --- even way back in the early 80s. Not as common, or as vicious, but it was there. No trolls as far as I could remember.
Has the general computer using population been brainwashed into thinking they have to buy a new PC to run a new operating system?
It's not brainwashing. They've been acting this way for years, so I'd chalk it up to human nature.
I worked at a cots/commercial/shrink-wrapped software company, and from dealing with customers about 12+ years ago, easily half of all add-on software is sold to most people as part of an initial package.
Much of it featureware covering tasks that people think they need but few people actually use; voice dictation, trip planning software, cookbook programs,.... If you cruse through a mega computer store, most of the programs sold are of this type.
It's kind of like buying a promise. Since the machine is programmable and can do nearly anything is a bonus. They don't want to deal with making it do those tasks...so you get pre-packaged boxes of software that they never use because it doesn't really satisfy the initial promise.
The only programs that actually get bought regularly are ones where people are forced to get them for one reason or another (Quicken, Word/Excel,...).
Sun has released the project to the community (which I intrepret as dis-owning it) with a lot left unfinished.
Sun plans on using OpenOffice as the basis for StarOffice 6 -- just like Netscape uses Mozilla as the base for Navigator.
Unfortunately, quite a few parts of StarOffice weren't owned by Sun, so Sun couldn't relase the source for them. Because of that, much got broken when the propriatory parts were no longer available.
They do change ST history, they don't, It'll be flamed. The franchise has boxed itself in either way.
The only way I can see for them to pull it off is if they they boldly avoid going where they've already gone before. Hmmm...I like that, in a twisted kind of way. I feel a Saturday Night Live parody comming on...
VMware corp. has products that are enhanced for non-MS operating systems in ways that it isn't for MS operating systems. They've even bundled different distributions (Suse?). It works well, though futzing with the setup each time the kernel changes is a pain.
... The business crowd is very picky about what they will work with. It doesn't matter if it crashes or malforms table data or whatever- if it doesn't look the same way as the last thing they worked with, the office flaks just WILL NOT touch it. Consequently, they stop producing anything.
Exactly. I've worked at both COTS (shrink-wrapped-commercial), and on a contract basis for dozens of companies -- from the support end to the design and implementation. I've been to trade shows, and supported relitives with Linux-based computers I've set up for them. That experience, and watching people in general, has been enligtening; people are hostile to any change or difference however slight.
I still don't know how to deal with this, except to point out the great positive benifits of change.
Let me pound this home. The metric system is based on multiples of 10. It's as easy to deal with as cash money. Yet, people where I live hate it with a passion. I've had people mention in all seriousness that they'd "Move to another country" if everything switched to the metric system dropping the old imperial measures. (Yes, laugh, but they would try and vote anyone out of office who even talked about this.)
The user interface is the one thing that spooks people the most about computers. That the "K" and the Gnome foot are in the same location as the Start button is a comfort to people I've introducted to X. On the other hand, that they don't look *EXACTLY* like the MS "Start" icon spooks the same people. That the menus don't pop up the same spooks people. Nevermind that they are both basic lists. Nevermind that each website they visit basically has a different UI. That the 'start menu' looks different is a problem for most people.
This general attitude is a part of human nature. I've talked with kids and adults who get confused if the a card game doesn't work like the MS Solitare game. It's 'Just not right' is an exact quote. Even with a great game like PySol, the variety and depth available doesn't make up for the fact that it's different. This same attitude is clearly defined in just about every kid I've met who demands that thier parents put them to bed following a set ritual...or they don't sleep. That they must have PB&J with grape jelly and not strawberry (or vis.versa) with Shaggy and Scooby on the jar. Adults are no more sophisticated or less demanding.
The upside, though, is that I do have to agree with you that occasionally people listen to other concerns (cost, hassles, licencing,...). My little sister's first computer was one I configured for her (Linux + X -w- Gnome). After using a friend's Windows ME laptop, she wanted that...but after a few months to think it over and actually using her friend's system, she now says "I want a Unix laptop". She'll get it too!
Get working on those demo disks, and simple *nix/X desktops folks. I'm doing my part and will be submitting work to both the SuperRescue and DemoLinux projects. If people don't see it, if they don't use it, they will never consider it later.
Bugs are found in XP...resulting in a need to update to fix them.
Along with the patched bugs is a new twist on Product Activation.
Result: Not only does the patch not work anymore, XP doesn't boot either.
XP is patched to remove/disable the new product activation code...[Repeat]
Pro-Linux != Anti-Microsoft
Agreed. It's annoying that folks who should know better immediately think so. After mentioning that I don't run Windows, I'm asked if it's for religious reasons. [Sigh!]
MMORPGs [massive multiplayer online role playing game] are completely different from the usual product, because shipping the CD is not the final step -- it's only the first. These games have to be continually supported, not just by tech support and moderators, but by programmers, artists, designers -- an entire development team has to keep working on these games, to add new levels, new worlds, new storylines, new scenarios. To not only entice new players, but to keep the existing players playing.
...or, you can build your own. WorldForge has fairly complex and differing rule sets, differnt UIs, and high-quality art work. Already, the starter game Acorn has some interesting game concepts and on the development side Python scripting and it's own game compiler/protocol engine named Atlas-C++.
In 1996, John Dondzila released a new Vectrex Game, Vector Vaders, and since then has been joined by others in doing so. The limitations of the system itself forces the games to be straightforward and uncluttered, with emphasis on gameplay, helping many of the games become instant classics.
On another note, unlike many other commercially abandoned consoles, all Vectrex games have been released for public, non-commercial, use.
The Mame and XMame packages now include Mess, so a general emulator is readilly available to run the old classics, and the new one that you just need to make. (Go ahead, get coding!)
Yeah, and back in your time there weren't any linux games either.
Ah, the wonders of C and standards: Everything *nix/Linux is a Linux/*nix program (or damn close to it!).
You were saying about 'checkmate'?:)
On a serious note, SDL is a hell of an effort and a welcome addition to making cross-platform programs much more likely. A really big and honest THANK YOU to Sam Langa and the other SDL, OpenAL,... coders out there. MUCH APPRECIATED.
BTW...anyone have a link to the source for Star War? Rouge, C. Caves, etc. are easy to find but this one has illuded me this morning.
Movie acting is becoming obselete anyway. In a few years people will be able to make their own movies a la Shrek.
You mean I get to meet Cameron Dias? Sweet!
Hi Spoing, the story doesn't position Tux as a competitor to Apache. In fact, we went out of our way to test the combination of Apache and Tux working together, as well as Tux and Apache (and IIS) on their own. We point out how well Tux and Apache work together and recommend that combination.
Then I stand partially corrected; there have been plenty of stories before on this combination, and I don't care for any more while reading Slashdot. Is this Ziff's fault? Nope. Is it Slashdot's? Nope. I'd still like a check box, though.
Monotony is monotonous, and I didn't read this specific story since there didn't seem to be much of a point after reading the title. I've wasted time on fluff and untimely pieces before -- Ziff-originated and not -- and I honestly don't want to even know about them in the future. If I'd have to limit myself to blocking Ziff-originated stories only -- even when occasioally loosing out -- the trade-off seems reasonable.
This might not seem fair, but I personally have only so much time to look at any specific article -- there is too much good stuff available from other sources including mailing lists, newsgroups, and more focused zines (online and offline).
Also, I think that painting all stories from all Ziff-Davis publications with the same brush is too broad a generalization.... You're more likely to find stories you like by following the work of particular authors or publications than the activities of an entire publisher.
Agreed on specifc authors and some articles in specific publications. From a larger perspective, after many years of reading publications from Ziff-owned sources, I've personally found little value in them that I can't get elsewhere; the hit to miss ratio is just too low. Others might find otherwise, as is thier choice.
As such, from experience, I'd really really like to filter out stories from Ziff-owned sources when visiting Slashdot. [frustrated]
OK, that's too harsh. I don't mean it, and just want some attention. (Linux Today also runs a fair amount of Ziff stories in an overly ernest effort to have some balence and I still read that site nearly every day.)
I am honestly sick of Ziff, though. They are the Mickey-D's of the computer press, and while they have thier place, and offer up the occasional useful story, I would really like to carve out a Ziff-free, or at a minimum a Ziff-limited one.
Gripe on this story: Tux 2.0 is an adjunct to another more dedicated web server or for use in limited situations -- it isn't competition for Apache! The reasons for this have been covered many times before on/. and other places even before Tux 1 was officially released.
Plea: Could the great and all-powerful Slash web meisters add a check box for blocking Ziff stories?
Here's are a few rules for compiling Linux that have never failed me;
1. Compile everything and compile each piece as a module.
2. Don't compile your boot drive's support as a module; SCSI support as a module on a SCSI-based system won't get you very far!
3. Always have 1 or 2 previous kernels to fall back on via. LILO or Grub; no need for a boot or rescue disk due to a failed configuration.
4. Backup.config after a sucessful compile and restore it when compiling a brand new kernel; you can use it later on the same machine and for making other kernels used on other machines.
5. To familiarize yourself with the step needed to compile a kernel, write your own script to do each step and change it often. Put in some sleep commands to pause execution at each stage.
Rule #1 occasionally fails with unofficial kernel releases during 'make modules'. If so, you can usually disable the one failing module and suffer no practical loss.
Rule #4 is handy if you encounter problems since you don't have to answer the same questions twice, and you have some consistancy when dealing with a fresh machine; you don't have to wonder if the hardware is different or if you messed up configuring the kernel generally when something doesn't work.
I realize that this means that the compile time is longer. You, though, spend less time tweaking each system...so the trade off is usually well worth it.
FYI: It's a Ziff-Davis site...
on
nVidia nForce
·
· Score: 4
...with a smattering of "I'm a real hard core tech site" pasted on front. (Modding myself down 1 point.)
Slashdot Mirror
gears -fps
...report at 640x480 and 800x600?
Bonus question: :) Does the card have the ability to scale larger screens down using the aa features of the GeForce? (Ex. Simultanious display of a 1024x768 desktop on both TV and monitor. Same image appears on both, but the TV is of course not nearly as crisp.)
You're right. They don't. I'm actually typing this on a machine with a Voodoo3 2000 installed, and have liked it...but try and run Tribes 2 on it. Anyone who has tried knows why a Voodoo3 isn't going to work.
The touchy 'bought up, closed up' aspect of the company itself is another factor.
II. TV-out (RCA and/or S-video)
That's why you see tech sites talking about how to make your own TIVO-style device, or how to make a traveling MP3 jukebox, but none that mention 3D games. Only Nokia's planned Media Terminal is supposed to have both, and adding a VGA-to-RCA converter isn't cheap.
Think that Nvidia, ATI, or Matrox have this fixed? Nope.
At first glance, most of the /. minions out there will probably say "big deal". Well, smarty pants, I dare you. I dare all of you all. Find such a card. After much searching, it turns out that you can have either 3D or TV-out, but not both.
Any GeForce, Radeon, or G400 can pump out great 3D. Some -- but not all -- can be tweaked to output video to a standard TV using the Linux frame buffer...but in the process, you loose all 3D hardware acceleration.
Yow. Scratch 3D.
Enable 3D, and the TV-out ports aren't supported.
As for projects that are actively attempting to address the TV-out problem, they do exist. Sourceforge hosts a few, and Freshmeat has pointers to a few more. None have it licked, though. Most TV-out ports have some propriatory muck that makes supporting them difficult at best. If we're lucky, one of these companies will release a Macrovision-encrusted, binary-only, x86, version sometime in the next couple years.
How depressing...what was the story about the Zerox printer driver? How is it that 20+ years later, something so trivial is still a sticking point.
MS DOS v.1.24 used / instead of \ as a directory designator, and - for command options. (I could be wrong, as I threw out my original disk years ago and never made any backups. Corrections welcome.)
It's very annoying to have paid $100usd yet the program doesn't even pop-up an error message that could give any hints why it's not happy. Did I mention that I'm annoyed?
Maybe a generic fix for this nonsense will end up in Wine? That would be nice...
On gold-lined silk pillows, while throngs of bare-naked nymphs...well, what would you do with that much money?
Does anyone have the source? Does it compile?
Here's another data point: The same type of thing happend on bulletin boards --- even way back in the early 80s. Not as common, or as vicious, but it was there. No trolls as far as I could remember.
It's not brainwashing. They've been acting this way for years, so I'd chalk it up to human nature.
I worked at a cots/commercial/shrink-wrapped software company, and from dealing with customers about 12+ years ago, easily half of all add-on software is sold to most people as part of an initial package.
Much of it featureware covering tasks that people think they need but few people actually use; voice dictation, trip planning software, cookbook programs,.... If you cruse through a mega computer store, most of the programs sold are of this type.
It's kind of like buying a promise. Since the machine is programmable and can do nearly anything is a bonus. They don't want to deal with making it do those tasks...so you get pre-packaged boxes of software that they never use because it doesn't really satisfy the initial promise.
The only programs that actually get bought regularly are ones where people are forced to get them for one reason or another (Quicken, Word/Excel, ...).
Sun plans on using OpenOffice as the basis for StarOffice 6 -- just like Netscape uses Mozilla as the base for Navigator.
Unfortunately, quite a few parts of StarOffice weren't owned by Sun, so Sun couldn't relase the source for them. Because of that, much got broken when the propriatory parts were no longer available.
The only way I can see for them to pull it off is if they they boldly avoid going where they've already gone before. Hmmm...I like that, in a twisted kind of way. I feel a Saturday Night Live parody comming on...
be more inline with the GNU theme?
Voice over, calm, almost Hal-like: The computer does not care. It sits quietly in the room, all alone, for days at a time.
Now, it truely does work well with others. Microsoft.
VMware 'in bed with Microsoft'? Pure hooey.
VMware corp. has products that are enhanced for non-MS operating systems in ways that it isn't for MS operating systems. They've even bundled different distributions (Suse?). It works well, though futzing with the setup each time the kernel changes is a pain.
Got any links? Dell isn't making it any easier, and I _DO_ want to buy one.
Exactly. I've worked at both COTS (shrink-wrapped-commercial), and on a contract basis for dozens of companies -- from the support end to the design and implementation. I've been to trade shows, and supported relitives with Linux-based computers I've set up for them. That experience, and watching people in general, has been enligtening; people are hostile to any change or difference however slight.
I still don't know how to deal with this, except to point out the great positive benifits of change.
Let me pound this home. The metric system is based on multiples of 10. It's as easy to deal with as cash money. Yet, people where I live hate it with a passion. I've had people mention in all seriousness that they'd "Move to another country" if everything switched to the metric system dropping the old imperial measures. (Yes, laugh, but they would try and vote anyone out of office who even talked about this.)
The user interface is the one thing that spooks people the most about computers. That the "K" and the Gnome foot are in the same location as the Start button is a comfort to people I've introducted to X. On the other hand, that they don't look *EXACTLY* like the MS "Start" icon spooks the same people. That the menus don't pop up the same spooks people. Nevermind that they are both basic lists. Nevermind that each website they visit basically has a different UI. That the 'start menu' looks different is a problem for most people.
This general attitude is a part of human nature. I've talked with kids and adults who get confused if the a card game doesn't work like the MS Solitare game. It's 'Just not right' is an exact quote. Even with a great game like PySol, the variety and depth available doesn't make up for the fact that it's different. This same attitude is clearly defined in just about every kid I've met who demands that thier parents put them to bed following a set ritual...or they don't sleep. That they must have PB&J with grape jelly and not strawberry (or vis.versa) with Shaggy and Scooby on the jar. Adults are no more sophisticated or less demanding.
The upside, though, is that I do have to agree with you that occasionally people listen to other concerns (cost, hassles, licencing, ...). My little sister's first computer was one I configured for her (Linux + X -w- Gnome). After using a friend's Windows ME laptop, she wanted that...but after a few months to think it over and actually using her friend's system, she now says "I want a Unix laptop". She'll get it too!
Get working on those demo disks, and simple *nix/X desktops folks. I'm doing my part and will be submitting work to both the SuperRescue and DemoLinux projects. If people don't see it, if they don't use it, they will never consider it later.
Pro-Linux != Anti-Microsoft
Agreed. It's annoying that folks who should know better immediately think so. After mentioning that I don't run Windows, I'm asked if it's for religious reasons. [Sigh!]
...or, you can build your own. WorldForge has fairly complex and differing rule sets, differnt UIs, and high-quality art work. Already, the starter game Acorn has some interesting game concepts and on the development side Python scripting and it's own game compiler/protocol engine named Atlas-C++.
Best of all...it's in active development!
On another note, unlike many other commercially abandoned consoles, all Vectrex games have been released for public, non-commercial, use.
The Mame and XMame packages now include Mess, so a general emulator is readilly available to run the old classics, and the new one that you just need to make. (Go ahead, get coding!)
Ah, the wonders of C and standards: Everything *nix/Linux is a Linux/*nix program (or damn close to it!).
You were saying about 'checkmate'? :)
On a serious note, SDL is a hell of an effort and a welcome addition to making cross-platform programs much more likely. A really big and honest THANK YOU to Sam Langa and the other SDL, OpenAL, ... coders out there. MUCH APPRECIATED.
Movie acting is becoming obselete anyway. In a few years people will be able to make their own movies a la Shrek. You mean I get to meet Cameron Dias? Sweet!
Then I stand partially corrected; there have been plenty of stories before on this combination, and I don't care for any more while reading Slashdot. Is this Ziff's fault? Nope. Is it Slashdot's? Nope. I'd still like a check box, though.
Monotony is monotonous, and I didn't read this specific story since there didn't seem to be much of a point after reading the title. I've wasted time on fluff and untimely pieces before -- Ziff-originated and not -- and I honestly don't want to even know about them in the future. If I'd have to limit myself to blocking Ziff-originated stories only -- even when occasioally loosing out -- the trade-off seems reasonable.
This might not seem fair, but I personally have only so much time to look at any specific article -- there is too much good stuff available from other sources including mailing lists, newsgroups, and more focused zines (online and offline).
Also, I think that painting all stories from all Ziff-Davis publications with the same brush is too broad a generalization. ... You're more likely to find stories you like by following the work of particular authors or publications than the activities of an entire publisher.
Agreed on specifc authors and some articles in specific publications. From a larger perspective, after many years of reading publications from Ziff-owned sources, I've personally found little value in them that I can't get elsewhere; the hit to miss ratio is just too low. Others might find otherwise, as is thier choice.
As such, from experience, I'd really really like to filter out stories from Ziff-owned sources when visiting Slashdot. [frustrated]
I am honestly sick of Ziff, though. They are the Mickey-D's of the computer press, and while they have thier place, and offer up the occasional useful story, I would really like to carve out a Ziff-free, or at a minimum a Ziff-limited one.
Plea: Could the great and all-powerful Slash web meisters add a check box for blocking Ziff stories?
Thanks for listening!
1. Compile everything and compile each piece as a module.
2. Don't compile your boot drive's support as a module; SCSI support as a module on a SCSI-based system won't get you very far!
3. Always have 1 or 2 previous kernels to fall back on via. LILO or Grub; no need for a boot or rescue disk due to a failed configuration.
4. Backup .config after a sucessful compile and restore it when compiling a brand new kernel; you can use it later on the same machine and for making other kernels used on other machines.
5. To familiarize yourself with the step needed to compile a kernel, write your own script to do each step and change it often. Put in some sleep commands to pause execution at each stage.
Rule #1 occasionally fails with unofficial kernel releases during 'make modules'. If so, you can usually disable the one failing module and suffer no practical loss.
Rule #4 is handy if you encounter problems since you don't have to answer the same questions twice, and you have some consistancy when dealing with a fresh machine; you don't have to wonder if the hardware is different or if you messed up configuring the kernel generally when something doesn't work.
I realize that this means that the compile time is longer. You, though, spend less time tweaking each system...so the trade off is usually well worth it.
...with a smattering of "I'm a real hard core tech site" pasted on front. (Modding myself down 1 point.)