Saw this story on NewsForge earlier today, and I'm glad I checked it out.
Tux Racer is a great game...I first tried it out a month ago and was stunned. The detailed 3D graphics add to the game though the basic game play and sound are the real winners. Tux Racer is a direct, simple, and obvious game that is a real challenge.
I'm using it as the 'teaser' on a machine I setup for a friend's son who is an avid snow boarder.
Don't download everything, only download the bzip2 patch. Most 2.2.x relase patches are about a meg, and I've never had a problem getting one even after a big announcement.`
Here's a mangled section from a kernel maker script to give you an idea how simple using patches can be;
If you want to make this a little fancier, you can put in a loop that only decompresses the patches just before being applied and does not need hard coding like the above. Symlinks and other parts are also missing from the example above...and are not needed to get the job done.
For that matter, you can tar the whole patched release up once in a while when you get annoyed with all those extra patch files hanging around.
KMenu -> Panel Menu -> Configure -> Menu Editor...
I'm getting odd results here with KDE 2.0.1, and would appreciate any help folks out there can provide.
As a normal user, removing items from within the menu editor works...and those menu items remain gone in the menu editor.
The K menu, though, does not reflect those changes; the removed items are still on the K menu even after loging back in.
Example: Removing the menu item Games...xpuzzles...xtriangles.
This makes sense from a Unix perspective since only the local user settings were changed not the global menu settings. Unfortunately while this makes sense to admins, it will make little sense to users.
(I have not tried this as root, though the menu editor is mostly an end user tool. Hand editing files in/usr/share is much quicker and easier.)
With 6000 users messing around with things they shouldn't be messing around with? I hope you're kidding. Besides, typing in "ghost" is as easy on a *nix system as it is on a M$.
Not to add to much to the fire...but! (you knew that was comming)
If the users are able to mess around with things they shouldn't, that's the network administrators fault
With both *nix and Win* systems, you can restrict the user's capabilities. Under *nix, the restrictions come in automatically and are much more powerful. If you administer either *nix or Win* systems and don't have customized default restrictions, you don't have many client machines to manage or are crazy.
In a *nix system, if the person screws up thier desktop too much, you can write a script that resets the desktop at each login. On top of that, the/home directories can come from the network so they are easier to backup. The system and application files on the local machine should never be mucked with by a user, unless they are capable and are willing to take some responsibility when things go wrong.
Install a Windows app under Windows, and it populates the 'Start' button.
Install a Windows app under Plex86, VMWare, Win4Lin and each time you want to use that app you have to switch to another window or turn on the other operating system just to have the chance to click that damn Start button.
To me, it's no big deal...but to a few non-geeks I've talked to as well as a few Uber-geeks, it's the only concern; is it exactly like running the same app under Windows?
It can be. The good folks at Codeweavers are working on a user interface that automatically populates the KDE and Gnome menus, allowing novices to install thier own software. Very slick -- and a critical safety blanket that can tempt the novices over to Linux let alone to other *NIX.
At this point, the pre-release is available for download but Wine itself isn't yet a 1.0 release...so many apps might be easy to use if they can be installed.
It has support for an internet provider (also supported by us)called NetZero (free internet access), but it also has support for paid ISPs.
I'm curious...is there a version of NetZero that is available and works under Linux for mere mortals? I check the NetZero web site and the best they have there is that it's 'planned'.
For well over the past 10 years, punchcards have been used in Maryland (US) elections. I haven't voted today, but I doubt that this has changed.
The actual 'booth' is like a cheap aluminum TV cart, standing about waist high. In the middle is a device similar to a desktop hole punch, above it a light, shielded by white plastic walls on three sides.
Sometime in the mid/early 80's the old-style voting machines -- those large grey curtined mechanical calculators -- were replaced by these cheaper more mobile units.
The punch card machines don't break, and you get to keep the bottom part of your ballot as a serialized reciept.
I don't know if it's possible for a mere citizen to check for ballot tampering later...but it should be. It's definately possible to match up specific people with specific votes since the cards are assigned to individual voters.
Non-partisan voting info: www.webwhiteblue.org and www.lwv.org.
As soon as upper management starts to make regular 'Everything is fine! Couldn't be better!' speaches, CYA.
I've been in many companies -- as an employee and as a contractor -- and have encountered this at every one. I never regreted looking for a new job as soon as this pattern started -- no matter how important I thought I was to a specific project.
Oh god no. I give it 5 years for Aol-Time Warner- Microsoft to buy them. Can anyone see the day when we have one company to entertain us?
No, according to my Acme Crystal Ball, it's worse. Everything has a Loony-Tunes theme, with product placements for Coke or Pepsi along with 'guest appearances' from stars of the latest movie. All of this is dynamically changed depending on what company pays the most to get prime placement.
All the games look like they were designed by the Olsen twins (still no brests) but play like Quake. The advanced MS 'game wizard' feature prevents anyone from making mistakes, asking at each turn if you 'Really want to Frag Chairman Eisner?'.
Since you can't convince them to make backups, convince them that it's convienent to store things on the network.
Drive space is cheap, and whole drives can be backedup and accessed over the network. If you don't have the budget, see if you can sell the space to buy the drives. With 20GB drives selling for under $100, the per-meg cost is quite low. Double/tripple the cost to pay for maintenance and backups.
Wine's ace-in-the-hole is that Microsoft also has to be careful not to break any other commercial applications with it's new version.
That's not a problem for Microsoft if MS apps are the only ones that use the API to trigger the special ring 0 trickery. No other apps need to use it to screw with Wine...and they don't need to be recompiled. They are in a special situation where they make the apps and the OS and need to show the source to nobody.
Now then, lemme trot out my standard response to this claim, usually made by embittered former OS/2 users.
It's not embittered, it's, ah, mmmm...never mind.
Their installed base is spread across 5+ Win32 implementations, including 95/95OSR2/98/98SE/NT351/NT4/2000. Office *has to* run on every single one of those, because many home and business customers don't upgrade their OS much if ever.
Updates to the system libraries are a standard event for many Microsoft products, not just Office. Put in one change that uses the system level (ring 0) in an unusual way, and you end up with Wine chasing after compatability for another year. It just has to be a non-obvious and flakey looking implementation of a 'standard' system call that could have been done on the application level (ring 3), but isn't and is for a specific program. Since they have the source, they can build specific versions of each program for each target WinXX version.
Since they're rumored(?) to be moving to 'subscription licencing', they could put it in the TCP/IP stack, and then we'd have quite a bit of work to duplicate.
Here's why the previous post is not insightful. It is booring, and a rehashing of what people have been saying -- in error -- for decades as if it were somehow unique or interesting;
Here's a summary addressing these old misconceptions;
Evoltion isn't chance.
Evolution does not necessarily contradict the existance of any specific god(s), but may contradict what people think those god(s) are like.
Evolution is fact not theory or philosophy. The 'theory of evolution' part is an explanation of how observed evolution is interpreted.
Did I mention evolution isn't chance?
God(s) are not necessary to explain how evolution works. This might seem to be an attack on god(s), but it's really apathy toward them; they don't matter in studying the evidence.
On a similar theme: The addition of any god(s) or other unexplained force to explain anything is no different then saying 'I don't know' or worse 'I already know, so I'll stop looking'.
If a specific god did do it, do you think you know how it did without looking?
Everyone knows the Big Bang was made by 2 oversexed humping turtles.
On that theme, here's a classic...
Stephen Hawking in BriefHistoryOfTime starts with the same anecdote. A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.
At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said:
"What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise."
The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?"
"You're very clever, young man, very clever,"
said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."
...and in the last decade he appoligized for the treatment of Galileo by the RCC, and that evolution was A-OK. As a former Catholic, I am proud that he did that. Now there's this little pesky God thing...
Your objections are largely valid, so I'll not try and talk you out of them.
As for the horrors and defects of Linux; I generally agree. I know it and other *nix aren't perfect...far from it. A Hummer isn't a Porche, and a 747 isn't a turbo prop. Agreed?
I realize that either the original post or the reply that I've quoted from below could be TrollWare(tm), yet...
Are you really telling me that linux offers *any* of:
probable emerging standard (don't make me laugh - linux is anarchy - BSD is more standard since it is committe based)
I like and use FreeBSD. I haven't looked at NetBSD or OpenBSD. What *BSD do you use?
existing high-quality implementation (have you ever looked at linux code? And it changes every two minutes)
Then don't use the kernel of them moment.
There are three viable kernel series -- two of them fairly stable; 2.0.* (largely unchanged), 2.2.* (largely small bug fixes over the past 6 months), and pre-releases of 2.4.*. Since you have enough knowledge to pass judgement on the code after looking at it, you should know what kernel to pick and how to use it -- or if it's appropriate at all. *BSD is a viable option.
existing widespread hardware support (DVD? Hardware RAID even?....)
DVD is supported...just not every DVD device. Hardware RAID is largely a non-issue...that's why it's hardware RAID. Questions? Grep?
non-techies are comfortable with it (please...)
KDE or Gnome, for two examples. Once given 'the computer', most people don't care or see any real difference; examples - two of my sisters.
Liberal licencing (GPL!!!)
I agree, somewhat. The GPL isn't entirely free, but it's damn close to it and largely misunderstood. (Nope, I'm not going to argue this...I'm just not interested.)
As for your other comments, it depends on the user. Listen to 'Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman' for an example of this on the Manhattan Project. Funny stuff and so true.
The first time I get a phone call from someone inadvertantly dialling me while masturbating, DoCoMo is going to have a lot to answer for!
Reminds me of one of my old managers when she bought one of those vibrating pagers. For about a week, she went around saying 'Page me...Please! Page me! '
Security compaired to FreeBSD's jail?
on
User Mode Linux
·
· Score: 2
While User Mode Linux and FreeBSD's jail have different designs, what are the security differences between the two when used as sandboxes?
From what (little) I know of UML, I'd have to give jail the nod since it's focused on security, uses less overhead per-process (?), as well as having a focused and simple design.
Slashdot Mirror
Tux Racer is a great game...I first tried it out a month ago and was stunned. The detailed 3D graphics add to the game though the basic game play and sound are the real winners. Tux Racer is a direct, simple, and obvious game that is a real challenge.
I'm using it as the 'teaser' on a machine I setup for a friend's son who is an avid snow boarder.
ObHakorz comment:
Don't download everything, only download the bzip2 patch. Most 2.2.x relase patches are about a meg, and I've never had a problem getting one even after a big announcement.`
/usr/src
/usr/src/usr/src/linux-2.2.14.tar.bz2
/usr/src/linux
/usr/src/kernel/patch-2.2.15
/usr/src/kernel/patch-2.2.16
/usr/src/kernel/patch-2.2.17
/usr/src/kernel/patch-2.2.18
Here's a mangled section from a kernel maker script to give you an idea how simple using patches can be;
cd
tar Ixfv
cd
patch -p1 <
patch -p1 <
patch -p1 <
patch -p1 <
If you want to make this a little fancier, you can put in a loop that only decompresses the patches just before being applied and does not need hard coding like the above. Symlinks and other parts are also missing from the example above...and are not needed to get the job done.
For that matter, you can tar the whole patched release up once in a while when you get annoyed with all those extra patch files hanging around.
I'm getting odd results here with KDE 2.0.1, and would appreciate any help folks out there can provide.
As a normal user, removing items from within the menu editor works...and those menu items remain gone in the menu editor.
The K menu, though, does not reflect those changes; the removed items are still on the K menu even after loging back in.
Example: Removing the menu item Games...xpuzzles...xtriangles.
This makes sense from a Unix perspective since only the local user settings were changed not the global menu settings. Unfortunately while this makes sense to admins, it will make little sense to users.
(I have not tried this as root, though the menu editor is mostly an end user tool. Hand editing files in /usr/share is much quicker and easier.)
Exactly...Thank you!
Not to add to much to the fire...but! (you knew that was comming)
With both *nix and Win* systems, you can restrict the user's capabilities. Under *nix, the restrictions come in automatically and are much more powerful. If you administer either *nix or Win* systems and don't have customized default restrictions, you don't have many client machines to manage or are crazy.
In a *nix system, if the person screws up thier desktop too much, you can write a script that resets the desktop at each login. On top of that, the /home directories can come from the network so they are easier to backup. The system and application files on the local machine should never be mucked with by a user, unless they are capable and are willing to take some responsibility when things go wrong.
How wooud!
How about USB-to-PS/2 converters? I've seen some bundled with USB mice, so such a beast might be generic enough to handle what you want.
Install a Windows app under Windows, and it populates the 'Start' button.
Install a Windows app under Plex86, VMWare, Win4Lin and each time you want to use that app you have to switch to another window or turn on the other operating system just to have the chance to click that damn Start button.
To me, it's no big deal...but to a few non-geeks I've talked to as well as a few Uber-geeks, it's the only concern; is it exactly like running the same app under Windows?
It can be. The good folks at Codeweavers are working on a user interface that automatically populates the KDE and Gnome menus, allowing novices to install thier own software. Very slick -- and a critical safety blanket that can tempt the novices over to Linux let alone to other *NIX.
At this point, the pre-release is available for download but Wine itself isn't yet a 1.0 release...so many apps might be easy to use if they can be installed.
I'm curious...is there a version of NetZero that is available and works under Linux for mere mortals? I check the NetZero web site and the best they have there is that it's 'planned'.
Wine plus an x86 VM where needed.
(Well, not that it will happen in many places, but you did ask!)
The actual 'booth' is like a cheap aluminum TV cart, standing about waist high. In the middle is a device similar to a desktop hole punch, above it a light, shielded by white plastic walls on three sides.
Sometime in the mid/early 80's the old-style voting machines -- those large grey curtined mechanical calculators -- were replaced by these cheaper more mobile units.
The punch card machines don't break, and you get to keep the bottom part of your ballot as a serialized reciept.
I don't know if it's possible for a mere citizen to check for ballot tampering later...but it should be. It's definately possible to match up specific people with specific votes since the cards are assigned to individual voters.
Non-partisan voting info: www.webwhiteblue.org and www.lwv.org.
Partisan voting info: Vote Libertarian!
I've been in many companies -- as an employee and as a contractor -- and have encountered this at every one. I never regreted looking for a new job as soon as this pattern started -- no matter how important I thought I was to a specific project.
No, according to my Acme Crystal Ball, it's worse. Everything has a Loony-Tunes theme, with product placements for Coke or Pepsi along with 'guest appearances' from stars of the latest movie. All of this is dynamically changed depending on what company pays the most to get prime placement.
All the games look like they were designed by the Olsen twins (still no brests) but play like Quake. The advanced MS 'game wizard' feature prevents anyone from making mistakes, asking at each turn if you 'Really want to Frag Chairman Eisner?'.
Drive space is cheap, and whole drives can be backedup and accessed over the network. If you don't have the budget, see if you can sell the space to buy the drives. With 20GB drives selling for under $100, the per-meg cost is quite low. Double/tripple the cost to pay for maintenance and backups.
That's not a problem for Microsoft if MS apps are the only ones that use the API to trigger the special ring 0 trickery. No other apps need to use it to screw with Wine...and they don't need to be recompiled. They are in a special situation where they make the apps and the OS and need to show the source to nobody.
It's not embittered, it's, ah, mmmm...never mind.
Their installed base is spread across 5+ Win32 implementations, including 95/95OSR2/98/98SE/NT351/NT4/2000. Office *has to* run on every single one of those, because many home and business customers don't upgrade their OS much if ever.
Updates to the system libraries are a standard event for many Microsoft products, not just Office. Put in one change that uses the system level (ring 0) in an unusual way, and you end up with Wine chasing after compatability for another year. It just has to be a non-obvious and flakey looking implementation of a 'standard' system call that could have been done on the application level (ring 3), but isn't and is for a specific program. Since they have the source, they can build specific versions of each program for each target WinXX version.
Since they're rumored(?) to be moving to 'subscription licencing', they could put it in the TCP/IP stack, and then we'd have quite a bit of work to duplicate.
Ever think of old lovers? Ever smile when they realize they were wrong and admit it with some humility?
talk.origins archive and FAQs
Here's a summary addressing these old misconceptions;
Everyone knows the Big Bang was made by 2 oversexed humping turtles.
On that theme, here's a classic...
At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said:
"What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise."
The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?"
"You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."
...and in the last decade he appoligized for the treatment of Galileo by the RCC, and that evolution was A-OK. As a former Catholic, I am proud that he did that. Now there's this little pesky God thing...
Your objections are largely valid, so I'll not try and talk you out of them.
As for the horrors and defects of Linux; I generally agree. I know it and other *nix aren't perfect...far from it. A Hummer isn't a Porche, and a 747 isn't a turbo prop. Agreed?
I realize that either the original post or the reply that I've quoted from below could be TrollWare(tm), yet...
Are you really telling me that linux offers *any* of:I like and use FreeBSD. I haven't looked at NetBSD or OpenBSD. What *BSD do you use?
Then don't use the kernel of them moment. There are three viable kernel series -- two of them fairly stable; 2.0.* (largely unchanged), 2.2.* (largely small bug fixes over the past 6 months), and pre-releases of 2.4.*. Since you have enough knowledge to pass judgement on the code after looking at it, you should know what kernel to pick and how to use it -- or if it's appropriate at all. *BSD is a viable option.
DVD is supported...just not every DVD device. Hardware RAID is largely a non-issue...that's why it's hardware RAID. Questions? Grep?
KDE or Gnome, for two examples. Once given 'the computer', most people don't care or see any real difference; examples - two of my sisters.
I agree, somewhat. The GPL isn't entirely free, but it's damn close to it and largely misunderstood. (Nope, I'm not going to argue this...I'm just not interested.)
As for your other comments, it depends on the user. Listen to 'Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman' for an example of this on the Manhattan Project. Funny stuff and so true.
Reminds me of one of my old managers when she bought one of those vibrating pagers. For about a week, she went around saying 'Page me...Please! Page me! '
From what (little) I know of UML, I'd have to give jail the nod since it's focused on security, uses less overhead per-process (?), as well as having a focused and simple design.