I've tried it, although I've had to keep XAnim around for some files. The main problem is not the availability of QT players, but, rather, access to codecs that are used in some QT files.
I suppose one, on the x86 platform, could use Winelib...for LinuxPPC, an extreme hack of GNUstep, perhaps? Other platforms, I dunno...
See if you can spot the themes in these choices that seem to be the basis for Star Wars (okay, I'll do it)
Asimov - damn near any book, since he used "Forward The Foundation" (good book, BTW) to tie in a *large* amount of his stories/books together, but especially the Foundation line. I'm thinking rather specifically about Trantor, the city-planet capitol of the Empire. Hmmm...Coruscant, anyone?
Frank Herbert-Dune series-The Bene Jeserit, with special powers over mere mortals, and Paul Atriedes, the supposed only male with that power...okay, back on topic: The one thing that gives navigators and the Bene Jesserit witches their power is spice, gathered from the desert planet of Arrakis. Is it my imagination, or does everything in Star Wars seem to revolve around Tatooine? (Heh...funny name...I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tatouin.:^)
Heh...people used to say the same thing about Linux...I remember my college days well...
"Why would you *want* a UNIX clone? UNIX is dead. NT is the future."
Good gawd, I'm glad they were wrong. I hope you are too.:^)
Seriously, DOS isn't just OS history, it's a way of keeping aging hardware useful. It's wasteful to dump old hardware. Quite frankly, I have an old Tandy 1000 EX (blech) sitting right next to me, and actually use it at times, albiet just as a terminal for my Linux box. But it takes DOS to make that happen (unless ELKS ever becomes useful for that purpose...)
It was also a lot of fun whenever some code-head called a system function or hardware call....SCREEEEEEECH....dead halt, time to reboot, hope you saved.:^)
Not to mention the fact that it was a fun environment for virus coders...
My comment was on the sad fact that, in the last few cases of companies attempting to open up source of a particular piece of software, that this is in fact A Very Bad Thing when the software is not released under the GPL. This, in fact, has been encouraged in the past by Richard Stallman (although his position seems to have softened a bit; he actually seemed pretty positive about Qt.)
On the same token, I started using Linux around '96, and at the time, several of us realized that if we wanted corporate America, or our future bosses if you will, to take Linux seriously and consider it as something more than a hacker's toy, that we would have to persuade companies to release/port Linux versions of their software. Well, several of us have worked to do just that; and, with embarrassing regularity, these companies are flooded with emails berating the comanies for not opening the source of the program. This is an area where we should take small steps. We've been able to convince a *few* comanies to port what would be considered desktop-oriented products to what would ordinarily be considered a hacker-oriented/server-oriented operating system. To have them take on, at the same time, an entirely new development strategy would be considered by most to be a foolish business decision. I wish I could remember what company it was, or even what product it was, but I recall an interview with a developer working for a company that had just released a Linux version of their product. The developer made the point of saying, "Don't crucify us for not releasing the source," or something to that effect, stating that it was tough enough to get the pointy-haired management types to do a Linux port. There's a reason he said that.
And yes, I feel very strongly about the GPL, which is why I bristle every time someone suggests that every piece of software written *has* to be released under the GPL, and that any other license is crap. I personally like the GPL, but I certainly don't advocate GPLing everything. Hey, let's get Visa to GPL their CCN generator code:^)
When NeXT was introduced, Steve & crew introduced a machine that was, while expensive, intuitive and easy to use.
With MacOS X, we get an interface we want to lick.
Don't know about you, folks, but I want the usable interface. Personally, I don't run GTK/KDE widget themes, other than NeXT themes to make those apps fit in with Window Maker & FSViewer.app.:^) The look of these things rock.
I find the notion of scaleable dock items interesting, but fairly useless, and an addition to the clutter that Macs have always been known for. When I'm sitting in front of my Mac at work, when I'm not working on something, I see a gazillion icons. I long for the nice, clean dock and the nice, clean look of FSViewer (a clone of NeXT's file manager.) That dock, friends, is not clean. It's a mess.
And why, oh why, was the top row of "shortcuts" taken away for a web-browser-style button bar??? Yowza, the "classic" look was better, IMHO. It took some of the concepts of Finder, added on, and improved. Need to make aliases to files? No prob. Need aliases to folders? Again, no prob. Do you have to roll up a window, or series of windows, to do so? No. I personally can't see a "favorites" menu being more intuitive.
1. dumping BeOS 2. Bringing back Steve Jobs as Lord and Savior (erm, CEO:^) 3. Putting that butt-ugly interface on top of OpenStep 4. Apparently not going to beta-testing, or even testing at all, on anyone other than developers that stood around slack-jawed saying, "coooool."
Sorry, but that's how I feel about the subject. My extreme hope is that GNUstep doesn't go to themeing toolkits just because OpenStep is themed now...it might be nice, but, c'mon, the NeXT toolkit is nice, usable, and fairly intuitive. The only improvement I could see is making menus either Mac-style or Windows-style, with the additional option of "traditional" NeXT-style menus.
isn't it funny that other folks were using the Slash code before it was released today?
CLUE STICK: Slash has been "out there" for a while (that's what the "code" link is, surprisingly enough) it's just that Slash 0.9 is now released. For some reason, the damn trolls know how to write, just not how to read.:^)
Seriously, the GPL is far too limiting. If we, as a community, are to be taken seriously, we need to break the notion that all software companies, once they open their source, need to be flooded with responses amounting to, "your license is crap, make it GPL so it's truly free!"
Quite frankly, the developers and proponents of open-sourcing commercial software, many of which probably worked hard to get a restrictive license put on the software, will just become alienated and never push again.
And, besides, the GPL doesn't give freedom. It takes it away.
I have to agree. (I use Mandrake 6.1, which, as many folks, is a RH variant) and I've essentially gone lazy. Recently, I had Very Bad Things happen, and I was at a loss because:
1.) RH insists on documenting the GUI way of doing things, rather than the Right Way (TM) 2.) On a similar note, the config file layout style is sometimes almost incomprehensible.
Much as I hate to say it, I'd almost rather use Slackware, even though it's horribly out of date. Why? Becaue there's such a lack of "real" config setup (i.e. not Sys V based) and concentrates (at least on the config side) on being more organzied and just plain easier to maintain. Man, RH is a headache. I use it for my *home* machine. It's just too much of a chore. If I wanted a chore every time something went wrong, I'd use Windows.:^)
Very good points in your slide presentation...however, I have to ask....
FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD/Darwin/etc etc ad ininitum ad nauseum???? How is this better than a gazillion distros of Linux?
The point is, both communities are fragmented...but here's the thing:
It creates a more competitive environment (heck, even Red Hat's distro is used by competitors against them...take a look at Linux-Mandrake sometime:^)
Re:The real way to cheat GPL (and why it will fail
on
Hole in GNU GPL?
·
· Score: 1
I don't personally see any point behind converting GPLed software into daemons, when pipes work quite nicely. Also, if we're including pipes, we should also include calling GPLed commands in scripts. If this were, in fact, a violation of the GPL, then:
1) several folks would be in trouble a. Netscape under Linux can use GPLed software as plugins (and, yes, it's still commercial) b. Many commercial products rely on GPLed commands for shell-script installers, since the base GPL commands are GPLed versions of UNIX commands and 2) we'd have to drop GPLed commands in favor of BSD-licensed commands, if we ever hoped for commercial software under Linux
Yes, I can feel the rebuttal coming back: what's the use of commercial software? Sometimes, commercial software really *is* preferable to GPLed software. I work in the publishing industry, and it's a bit difficult to write, say, color-matching open-source drivers/utilities without running into licensing difficulties. "
"Oops, you say your licensing agreement has a non-disclosure clause? But, my software is open-sourced...so I should get a lawyer?"
Re:The real way to cheat GPL (and why it will fail
on
Hole in GNU GPL?
·
· Score: 1
VMware ships with code for modules, as do the comercial OSS sound drivers. Are they crap? Have they been bad to the community?
CLUE STICK: Current kernel sound code was based on work done by OSS (but little or none of the original code remains.)
What does Free Slash refer to? If it's referring to moderation, if you sign up, you can set your own personal moderation to a level where you can read all the comments about Natalie Portman's granite butt you want, or you can set it higher to get rid of the crap. In other words, if you sign up, you have the *freedom* to rid yourself of the crap.
If you're referring to the sourcecode, scroll up to the top of the page, and look at the list of links. The first link is marked "faq", and the second is marked "code." If you can't figure out what that could possibly be, click on it. If you're still bewildered, please reformat your Linux partition and run windows. Or, sell your computer and get an iMac. Better yet, become a Luddite.
If you don't like the policy of having to put a Slashdot logo on a site running Slash, remember that Linux systems use mostly GNU software, or at least software released under the GNU Public License (GPL.) GPLed software is not free.
"Huh?" I hear you say. It's true. Once software is released under the GPL, there's no turning back. The license agreement cannot be changed. If you make changes to the code, those changes must be made available to the general public. In short, you don't have the freedom to close your source if you wish to. The BSD license is, I think, a more sensible alternative.
Being a Mandrake user, I have to say that it's really easy (IMHO I think it's easier than SuSE, which is quite an accomplishment.:^) Mandrake essentially takes an already good product (Red Hat Linux) and beefs it up a bit with improvements like better KDE integration, and adds such things as experimental X servers and kernel modules. The new Mandrake distro (7.0; haven't tried it yet) is supposed to have point-and-click hardware config, and includes such niceties as Supermount pre-configured. Very slick.:^)
I recently tried TurboLinux...bleck. I use Linux as a desktop OS, and, quite frankly, Mandrake required little setting up to get it working the way I wanted to.
That's interesting, the comment you made about the soundcard. SuSE ships soundcard modules now?? The last time I tried SuSE, they shipped with the shareware OSS drivers, and recommended either a kernel compile (a good idea, IMHO) or to simply buy the OSS driver (at the time, it was just about the only option for my soundcard anyway.:^) It may be time to try SuSE again...:^)
I truly hope that was flamebait...otherwise, I personally have no idea what you're talking about. If it's:
a.) a personal website then you're a crack-smoking loser who can't read (it's a link on the left... the seventh link down)
but if it's b.) the constant plea for source code then it's at (I think) http://slashdot.org/code.shtml or you can click on the link that's on the left side of the page (just between FAQ and awards.)
OK, that has got to be the *dumbest* thing I have ever read.
OK, perhaps that's partially true, but the fact is, when X11Amp was started, there weren't any really good X11R6-based MP3 players. X11Amp followed the WinAmp model (IMH-but not informed-O) mainly because much of the free software world follows a good model. This is the explanation for KDE, GNOME, AbiWord, Gnumeric, and a whole host of free apps.
However, I feel that I use a superior platform--I try to make Windows users have Linux envy at least once a day.:^) (How 'bout a shell script that simultaneously rips a CD, encodes it, and dumps to a Rio without wasting disk space? Cost ya at least $50 on Windows.:^)
Ok, before reading on, please realize this is a flame.
Listen, XMMS is a media player, currently mostly audio (with the exception of the Id Software.cin player.) It's mostly for playing audio, OK? Not for looking pretty. Look for demos if you want eye candy.:^)
I'd rather use XMMS...AlsaPlayer pretty much requires Alsa (the alternative sound drivers) while XMMS can play on free, Alsa, and the licensed OSS drivers (among others, I've been told). And, it stays crunchy in milk.
okay... just an offtopic comment about something I saw after your name. I don't know *why* the fuck people can't get it through their thick skulls, Slashdot source is available on the slashdot site.
I would post the URL, but if you're that fucking stupid, you might hurt yourself.
Macs are actually quite unstable, although not as unstable as a Windows machine.
I'm not sure if MacOS has memory leaks galore or what, but I find myself rebooting the damn things usually as little as five times a day, sometimes five times an hour.
They just seem more stable because they don't have to deal with compatibility issues that PCs do. Kudos to Apple for maintaining a monopoly on the Mac market!:^(
Slashdot Mirror
I've tried it, although I've had to keep XAnim around for some files. The main problem is not the availability of QT players, but, rather, access to codecs that are used in some QT files.
I suppose one, on the x86 platform, could use Winelib...for LinuxPPC, an extreme hack of GNUstep, perhaps? Other platforms, I dunno...
Forgive me of my ignorance, but shouldn't such a port be fairly trivial at this point?
:^)
The fact is, QT is already on MacOS X. Hmmmm...Quicktime...on OpenStep (kinda)...on BSD/Mach. GNUstep, anyone?
...all rolled into one.
:^)
See if you can spot the themes in these choices that seem to be the basis for Star Wars (okay, I'll do it)
Asimov - damn near any book, since he used "Forward The Foundation" (good book, BTW) to tie in a *large* amount of his stories/books together, but especially the Foundation line. I'm thinking rather specifically about Trantor, the city-planet capitol of the Empire. Hmmm...Coruscant, anyone?
Frank Herbert-Dune series-The Bene Jeserit, with special powers over mere mortals, and Paul Atriedes, the supposed only male with that power...okay, back on topic: The one thing that gives navigators and the Bene Jesserit witches their power is spice, gathered from the desert planet of Arrakis. Is it my imagination, or does everything in Star Wars seem to revolve around Tatooine? (Heh...funny name...I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tatouin.
Anyway...
Heh...people used to say the same thing about Linux...I remember my college days well...
:^)
"Why would you *want* a UNIX clone? UNIX is dead. NT is the future."
Good gawd, I'm glad they were wrong. I hope you are too.
Seriously, DOS isn't just OS history, it's a way of keeping aging hardware useful. It's wasteful to dump old hardware. Quite frankly, I have an old Tandy 1000 EX (blech) sitting right next to me, and actually use it at times, albiet just as a terminal for my Linux box. But it takes DOS to make that happen (unless ELKS ever becomes useful for that purpose...)
It was also a lot of fun whenever some code-head called a system function or hardware call....SCREEEEEEECH....dead halt, time to reboot, hope you saved. :^)
Not to mention the fact that it was a fun environment for virus coders...
I *think* it's been ported to DOS, along with a number of GNU utils. Check out the FreeDOS website, I seem to remember seeing the link there...
My comment was on the sad fact that, in the last few cases of companies attempting to open up source of a particular piece of software, that this is in fact A Very Bad Thing when the software is not released under the GPL. This, in fact, has been encouraged in the past by Richard Stallman (although his position seems to have softened a bit; he actually seemed pretty positive about Qt.)
:^)
On the same token, I started using Linux around '96, and at the time, several of us realized that if we wanted corporate America, or our future bosses if you will, to take Linux seriously and consider it as something more than a hacker's toy, that we would have to persuade companies to release/port Linux versions of their software. Well, several of us have worked to do just that; and, with embarrassing regularity, these companies are flooded with emails berating the comanies for not opening the source of the program. This is an area where we should take small steps. We've been able to convince a *few* comanies to port what would be considered desktop-oriented products to what would ordinarily be considered a hacker-oriented/server-oriented operating system. To have them take on, at the same time, an entirely new development strategy would be considered by most to be a foolish business decision. I wish I could remember what company it was, or even what product it was, but I recall an interview with a developer working for a company that had just released a Linux version of their product. The developer made the point of saying, "Don't crucify us for not releasing the source," or something to that effect, stating that it was tough enough to get the pointy-haired management types to do a Linux port. There's a reason he said that.
And yes, I feel very strongly about the GPL, which is why I bristle every time someone suggests that every piece of software written *has* to be released under the GPL, and that any other license is crap. I personally like the GPL, but I certainly don't advocate GPLing everything. Hey, let's get Visa to GPL their CCN generator code
When NeXT was introduced, Steve & crew introduced a machine that was, while expensive, intuitive and easy to use.
:^) The look of these things rock.
With MacOS X, we get an interface we want to lick.
Don't know about you, folks, but I want the usable interface. Personally, I don't run GTK/KDE widget themes, other than NeXT themes to make those apps fit in with Window Maker & FSViewer.app.
I find the notion of scaleable dock items interesting, but fairly useless, and an addition to the clutter that Macs have always been known for. When I'm sitting in front of my Mac at work, when I'm not working on something, I see a gazillion icons. I long for the nice, clean dock and the nice, clean look of FSViewer (a clone of NeXT's file manager.) That dock, friends, is not clean. It's a mess.
And why, oh why, was the top row of "shortcuts" taken away for a web-browser-style button bar??? Yowza, the "classic" look was better, IMHO. It took some of the concepts of Finder, added on, and improved. Need to make aliases to files? No prob. Need aliases to folders? Again, no prob. Do you have to roll up a window, or series of windows, to do so? No. I personally can't see a "favorites" menu being more intuitive.
Apple's biggest mistakes were:
:^)
1. dumping BeOS
2. Bringing back Steve Jobs as Lord and Savior (erm, CEO
3. Putting that butt-ugly interface on top of OpenStep
4. Apparently not going to beta-testing, or even testing at all, on anyone other than developers that stood around slack-jawed saying, "coooool."
Sorry, but that's how I feel about the subject. My extreme hope is that GNUstep doesn't go to themeing toolkits just because OpenStep is themed now...it might be nice, but, c'mon, the NeXT toolkit is nice, usable, and fairly intuitive. The only improvement I could see is making menus either Mac-style or Windows-style, with the additional option of "traditional" NeXT-style menus.
isn't it funny that other folks were using the Slash code before it was released today?
:^)
CLUE STICK: Slash has been "out there" for a while (that's what the "code" link is, surprisingly enough) it's just that Slash 0.9 is now released. For some reason, the damn trolls know how to write, just not how to read.
DIE SOUP NAZI!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*stops giggling...wipes eyes..takes breath*
Seriously, the GPL is far too limiting. If we, as a community, are to be taken seriously, we need to break the notion that all software companies, once they open their source, need to be flooded with responses amounting to, "your license is crap, make it GPL so it's truly free!"
Quite frankly, the developers and proponents of open-sourcing commercial software, many of which probably worked hard to get a restrictive license put on the software, will just become alienated and never push again.
And, besides, the GPL doesn't give freedom. It takes it away.
I have to agree. (I use Mandrake 6.1, which, as many folks, is a RH variant) and I've essentially gone lazy. Recently, I had Very Bad Things happen, and I was at a loss because:
:^)
1.) RH insists on documenting the GUI way of doing things, rather than the Right Way (TM)
2.) On a similar note, the config file layout style is sometimes almost incomprehensible.
Much as I hate to say it, I'd almost rather use Slackware, even though it's horribly out of date. Why? Becaue there's such a lack of "real" config setup (i.e. not Sys V based) and concentrates (at least on the config side) on being more organzied and just plain easier to maintain. Man, RH is a headache. I use it for my *home* machine. It's just too much of a chore. If I wanted a chore every time something went wrong, I'd use Windows.
I think it's ironic...AOL, now just about the biggest company, is resorting to the same tricks Microsoft has used in the past.
Also ironic, isn't it, that AOL was one ofthe biggies pushing for the anti-trust suit against Microsoft.
Hrm, perhaps because there are folks such as I, who not only do not regularly read Ars Technica, but also aren't whiny bastards such as you?
Very good points in your slide presentation...however, I have to ask....
:^)
FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD/Darwin/etc etc ad ininitum ad nauseum???? How is this better than a gazillion distros of Linux?
The point is, both communities are fragmented...but here's the thing:
It creates a more competitive environment (heck, even Red Hat's distro is used by competitors against them...take a look at Linux-Mandrake sometime
I don't personally see any point behind converting GPLed software into daemons, when pipes work quite nicely. Also, if we're including pipes, we should also include calling GPLed commands in scripts. If this were, in fact, a violation of the GPL, then:
1) several folks would be in trouble
a. Netscape under Linux can use GPLed software as plugins (and, yes, it's still commercial)
b. Many commercial products rely on GPLed commands for shell-script installers, since the base GPL commands are GPLed versions of UNIX commands
and
2) we'd have to drop GPLed commands in favor of BSD-licensed commands, if we ever hoped for commercial software under Linux
Yes, I can feel the rebuttal coming back: what's the use of commercial software? Sometimes, commercial software really *is* preferable to GPLed software. I work in the publishing industry, and it's a bit difficult to write, say, color-matching open-source drivers/utilities without running into licensing difficulties. "
"Oops, you say your licensing agreement has a non-disclosure clause? But, my software is open-sourced...so I should get a lawyer?"
VMware ships with code for modules, as do the comercial OSS sound drivers. Are they crap? Have they been bad to the community?
CLUE STICK: Current kernel sound code was based on work done by OSS (but little or none of the original code remains.)
Okay, I'm wondering...
What does Free Slash refer to? If it's referring to moderation, if you sign up, you can set your own personal moderation to a level where you can read all the comments about Natalie Portman's granite butt you want, or you can set it higher to get rid of the crap. In other words, if you sign up, you have the *freedom* to rid yourself of the crap.
If you're referring to the sourcecode, scroll up to the top of the page, and look at the list of links. The first link is marked "faq", and the second is marked "code." If you can't figure out what that could possibly be, click on it. If you're still bewildered, please reformat your Linux partition and run windows. Or, sell your computer and get an iMac. Better yet, become a Luddite.
If you don't like the policy of having to put a Slashdot logo on a site running Slash, remember that Linux systems use mostly GNU software, or at least software released under the GNU Public License (GPL.) GPLed software is not free.
"Huh?" I hear you say. It's true. Once software is released under the GPL, there's no turning back. The license agreement cannot be changed. If you make changes to the code, those changes must be made available to the general public. In short, you don't have the freedom to close your source if you wish to. The BSD license is, I think, a more sensible alternative.
Being a Mandrake user, I have to say that it's really easy (IMHO I think it's easier than SuSE, which is quite an accomplishment. :^) Mandrake essentially takes an already good product (Red Hat Linux) and beefs it up a bit with improvements like better KDE integration, and adds such things as experimental X servers and kernel modules. The new Mandrake distro (7.0; haven't tried it yet) is supposed to have point-and-click hardware config, and includes such niceties as Supermount pre-configured. Very slick. :^)
:^) It may be time to try SuSE again... :^)
I recently tried TurboLinux...bleck. I use Linux as a desktop OS, and, quite frankly, Mandrake required little setting up to get it working the way I wanted to.
That's interesting, the comment you made about the soundcard. SuSE ships soundcard modules now?? The last time I tried SuSE, they shipped with the shareware OSS drivers, and recommended either a kernel compile (a good idea, IMHO) or to simply buy the OSS driver (at the time, it was just about the only option for my soundcard anyway.
I truly hope that was flamebait...otherwise, I personally have no idea what you're talking about. If it's:
a.) a personal website
then you're a crack-smoking loser who
can't read (it's a link on the left...
the seventh link down)
but if it's
b.) the constant plea for source code
then it's at (I think)
http://slashdot.org/code.shtml
or you can click on the link that's on the
left side of the page (just between
FAQ and awards.)
OK, that has got to be the *dumbest* thing I have ever read.
:^) (How 'bout a shell script that simultaneously rips a CD, encodes it, and dumps to a Rio without wasting disk space? Cost ya at least $50 on Windows. :^)
OK, perhaps that's partially true, but the fact is, when X11Amp was started, there weren't any really good X11R6-based MP3 players. X11Amp followed the WinAmp model (IMH-but not informed-O) mainly because much of the free software world follows a good model. This is the explanation for KDE, GNOME, AbiWord, Gnumeric, and a whole host of free apps.
However, I feel that I use a superior platform--I try to make Windows users have Linux envy at least once a day.
Ok, before reading on, please realize this is a flame.
.cin player.) It's mostly for playing audio, OK? Not for looking pretty. Look for demos if you want eye candy. :^)
Listen, XMMS is a media player, currently mostly audio (with the exception of the Id Software
I'd rather use XMMS...AlsaPlayer pretty much requires Alsa (the alternative sound drivers) while XMMS can play on free, Alsa, and the licensed OSS drivers (among others, I've been told). And, it stays crunchy in milk.
Wow, offtopic gets score of 2. Keep up the great moderating, folks! :^)
okay... just an offtopic comment about something I saw after your name. I don't know *why* the fuck people can't get it through their thick skulls, Slashdot source is available on the slashdot site.
I would post the URL, but if you're that fucking stupid, you might hurt yourself.
Macs are actually quite unstable, although not as unstable as a Windows machine.
:^(
I'm not sure if MacOS has memory leaks galore or what, but I find myself rebooting the damn things usually as little as five times a day, sometimes five times an hour.
They just seem more stable because they don't have to deal with compatibility issues that PCs do. Kudos to Apple for maintaining a monopoly on the Mac market!