That said, I do have a Linux book--The Red Hat Linux Bible (for RH7.2) It is a comprehensive book, with enough information for a beginner to install RH Linux and not much else. I'd say that unless you are already familiar with Linux and similar OSes that 95% of the material in that book is going to be over your head. About the only useful newbie information I found was installing RH. I understand that not everyone is going to use the same procedure, but for me, it was pretty much insert disk 1 and follow the prompts.
RedHat publishes some great documentation on their web site (published in book form if you bought their boxed set) that is way underused. In pdf format you can download 2 different books, "Getting started" an "User's Guide." They are up to date an cover installation, configuration of various devices and graphics cards, and basica command line skills that you need to be successful. I highly recommend that all newbies take a look at these resources. They are available online in html or pdf format at redhat's site. Of course with Fedora Linux, I don't know if RedHat plans to keep these documents up to date.
On another note, I've been trying to pick up some Linux programming in my spare time and am completely confused. I come from a Win/Apple background where the system APIs are fairly straightforward and well documented. In contrast, Linux APIs are pretty much non-existent.
When I first read that I thought you were joking, but as I read the rest of your comments, I understand where you misunderstandings lie. I don't know anything about Apple's APIs, but I imagine that they are very clean. Win32, on the other had, is a mess. Linux *does* have very clean and well-defined system APIs. You are mistakenly thinking that windowing and GUIs have something to with system APIs. They don't. And they shouldn't. Instead, userland libraries supply this functionality. The windows gui is quite a hack, api-wise. And it has many, many security problems because of it's being put into the kernel as a system api.
I assume that the standard C library exists, but once I try to do any windowing, I am faced with half-documented APIs from a multitude of sources. Gnome, KDE, etc., it's all very confusing. The worst part of it all is that the documentation is virtually nonexistent. Sure, there are blurbs here and there, but you'd be lucky to find a documentation system that links together related APIs, clearly enumerates all parameters and their meanings, and displays the data in a readable manner.
Windowing has nothing to do with the standard C library (which all c compilers link against, even on windows -- that's what msvcrt.dll is for). This library, combined with the system apis (chapter 2 of the man pages) provides lowlevel access to the operating system. User interaction on linux comes through other higher-level apis from libraries such as gtk. This may seem backwards to a Windows developer to separate it this way, but this gives a great amount of development flexibility and increased application security.
It makes me wonder how anyone gets anything done with this proramming environment.
It's quite funny, actually, that experienced unix programmers wonder the same thing about win32 developers. I recommend checking out some books on linux development. I think you'll be slowly impressed as you discover the unix model of development and the simplicity and power of the posix-style api, and the tremendous availability of programming libraries to do things like gui programming, you'll be impressed.
If I run KDE, will I be able to run Abiword?
Yes, of course. You just need the gnome libraries installed (but not the full environment.
But open source software has some equally bad doozies.
Recently, MySQL changed their client license to the GPL. This means that ANY application that uses the MySQL client software (e.g. mysql_connect() and mysql_query() in PHP) must now be GPL, or you must pay a license fee to MySQL. This has upset many developers, and it will cause PHP itself to drop the MySQL client libraries since PHP isn't a GPL application. (The MySQL client libraries will be a separate download.)
This is not bate and switch. What you fail to understand is that relicensing code to the GPL doesn't retroactively change the license on existing code that you are already using. For example, if the library used to be BSD, then you can continue to use that code under that license. You are free to maintain the client libraries forever under such terms. It is just the new releases of the MySQL client libraries that are now GPL/Proprietary.
I'm tired of people claiming the GPL does things it doesn't. Redhat could change their licenses tomorrow and it wouldn't effect the code that I already have from redhat. That's one of the main reasons why the GPL is so great.
As for your little 3-step process to making money, come on. It is because of the GPL that RedHat can't just lock in it's users under another license. Oh and by the way, it is the GPL and LGPL that protects the end user from such things.
On the other hand, where I work (UK public sector) is desperately short of money, composed of lots of small organisations who can hire one or two developers each at most, and yet very tight-knit - there are partnerships going on all the time. One of the things we're after is records management - document management on stereoids, if you like. Unfortunately, there's no OSS equivalent for me to recommend to others in the partnership.
This is exactly where OSS will shine. Think of it. With software development becoming extremely commoditized and unexciting, the money will be in vertical market applications where a handful of developers take off the shelf OSS components (say MySQL, PHP, Perl, and other mainstream tools) and build custom applications for people. These applications may or may not be GPL'd themselves, and in many cases it won't matter because they will be used internally. Couple this with open standards for external communication and you have a very healthy development market. Another alternative is the development of skeleton OSS apps that one can fill in to fit the needs of the client. We're to the point in software development now where generic applications (such as MS Office) cannot completely cover the needs of businesses.
To realize this vision of many rapidly developed vertical markets, we do need to get better tools (and I'm not talking IDEs or editors either). We need the system from the kernel up through the applications to be super moduler and loosely coupled, even in binary form. Using C++ is nice and all, but the paradigms that give benefit end at compilation. Imagine if we could rapidly build apps without compiling anything, out of opensource interchangable parts (like nuts, bolts, and interchangable parts). Then just compile a business logic unit from scratch (source) to tie it all together.
Anyway, I think OSS needs to aim for this and it will really make a revolution in the industry.
If you are truly serious about studying the Bible as a living book, and not as a museum piece, then pick up a New King James or NIV version. These are easily readable and accurately reflect centuries of scholarship.
Don't forget the New Revised Standard Version. It's from Oxford University, I think, and is an excellent version for both personal study as well as scholarly study. It fixes a few errors that exist in the KJV and the NIV (the NIV is really just a modernized KJV, whereas the NRSV is actually a separate translation of the original languages). It also preserves the poetic structure of many books, such as Isaiah. And unlike some translations, it is relatively unbiased, as it is a scholarly translation that simply strived to be an accurate translation of the original words and meaning, given the current understanding of these ancient languages and customs.
For beauty of the language (if you don't care about the poetic structure), I do prefer the KJV.
Nope, it just means legit things like the iTunes Music Store and BuyMusic will have to charge more money to cover the licensing costs. It means that other attempts to figure ways to legitimatly allow users inexpensive online access to content will be stalled/aborted. It means that the RIAA and their ilk will continue to have a convenient excuse to go after file sharers because there STILL won't be a viable legal alternative.
Not only is this true, but also if 85% Microsoft's products are in violation of these patents, then Linux and other free products are also threatened too. These patents could apply to much more than DRM. What about certain encryption and authentication methods, for example. This case sets a dangerous precedence for the whole industry, especially with the SCO vs IBM thing looming.
SCO's case is currently against IBM. Until this is decided in court, everything that SCO is saying about Linux, Linux users, Redhat, and others is completely moot. This really is extortion.
A few things can happen. 1) SCO loses, my license purchase was pointless then but I'm only out some money.
This is exactly the best case scenerio for SCO. The more gullible people like you there are, the more they can profit on the uncertainty. Besides being barely legal (how can SCO license a product that they don't own with a license that violates the original license of the product?), this is unethical and we need to send them a message that we aren't going to stand for it. The licensing agreement itself that they have worked out is illegal. It would be like Ford discovering that GM is somehow violating Ford's IP in some way and then demanding that all GM customers, as well as Chrysler customers, pay Ford a licensing fee to use their vehicles.
Let's follow IBM's example in this thing and give SCO the response they deserve: nothing.
Re:Before all the flamers get in.
on
Qt On DirectFB
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Isn't this backwards, going back to a dumb (albeit accelerated) framebuffer? X does much more than just push pixels. If you take a look at how Microsoft does their gui these days, you'll find that it's a lot more like X these days than a framebuffer.
I own a zaurus and was initially impressed with the Qtopia/OPIE user interface. That is until I hit that one design flaw: They write directly to the framebuffer. This means I can't mix and match gtk programs with qt programs. This means I can't develop any non-free apps at all, since QT is GPL and that's the only thing you can run on Qtopia.
As I disected QT/E, I found that it pretty much had to duplicate many things that X does well, like windowing. Yep. And event handling and exposure stuff. Personally I think the Qtopia guys would have been much better off using the mini KDrive X server and use a modified version of QT/X11.
As soon as I can, I'm blowing away Qtopia and not going to OPIE but rather to GPE, which is based on X. A much better solution. Check out their screenshots if you don't believe me how well X fits a handheld.
My point here is that I don't think this directfb idea gives me any more advantage than X does. Sorry. Furthermore, we'd just need an X server on top of directfb anyway to run our main apps, and that is essentially duplicating the drivers that X11 already uses to talk to the framebuffer.
The best improvement I think we could bring to X11 would be a special mode where each window is a live opengl surface. That way we wouldn't need to do "exposure" events and other things. Window dragging would be silky smooth. Other 3d effects could follow. Forget the frame buffer.
I wouldnt come to that conclusion. If anybody has ever installed RedHat's new'ish version and then NMAP'ed it, you'll find some interesting things started.
I always find: Telnet, Finger, Chargen, Mail, and other services started on DEFAULT install.
Guess you haven't tried RedHat out in quite a while. The telnet server hasn't ever even been installed by default, let alone turned on since the RedHat 6.2 days. Sendmail is installed and turned on by default, but it is only bound to 127.0.0.1, so you can't even connect to it remotely unless you explicitly turn it on.
In that case, Windows AND RedHat both fall in the same category.
Hardly. RedHat out of the box in workstation install has no services running by default (except ntp), and the default firewall config only allows in ssh anyway. Even in custom or developer install, only ssh is on.
IOW, yes, we have problem, though hopefully a small one. And i hope that AFA GNU/Linux is concerned, the problem will get resolved quickly as soon as SCO identifies the infringing lines of code in the court---people will write replacements in no time. As far as IBM employees using unix code into linux, IBM may end up settling with SCO or paying them penalties, whatever. What worries me is IBM settling in such a way that somehow infringes on/seeks to infringe on the "freedom" of Linux.
This is the whole problem. SCO is not interested in having Linux developers rewrite code to get rid of these infringements. They want to *kill* linux altogether. Otherwise they would have already contacted developers and demand that the code be pulled. The shroud of secrecy the SCO is projecting does not indicate that they are interested in a real resolution. The longer they can use fear, uncertainty, and doubt, the better for them. This whole case reaks of dishonesty, or at least amorality.
Your point about a few companies controlling the world's food supply is very valid and should be of a great concern to all of us. There is a disturbing trend among of the companies that genetically alter seed to desire to produce grains (canola is an oilseed not a grain, but it still applies) that are sterile and do not reproduce. This could be seen as a good thing, since genetically modified plants then cannot "escape" into nature. However, as growing the GMO grains becomes more and more prevailant and traditional strains no longer grown (either because they don't produce as well, or are too tall or whatever), then that makes farmers have to pay for their seed every year, rather than hold back a portion and replant like they used to. Even more effected by this are third world countries who will be completely at the mercy of these companies. They are really worried the trends and "progression" being made by companies like Monsanto.
Just as Palladium, patents, and digital restrictions managenent do not bode well computer and software users, these types of genetic patents are no less negative. I personally have nothing against GMO food and technologies, but I think we should seriously consider the impacts of patenting and controlling such technologies.
I hope the courts rule in favor of the farmer. Until about 5-10 years ago in Canada, there were no IP rights for seed companies. Such rights are contrived and artificial, I believe.
> The "Open File" dialog is a thing of shame, and I can't believe that it won't be until October until a replacement comes along. The fact that something so basic has been allowed to stay unchanged so long, in my mind, reflects the difference between KDE and Gnome.
There is one redeeming feature of the file dialog box that makes the whole thing incredibly more efficient than the QT or KDE selector. Tab completion. (I know tab-completion somewhere violates HIG guidelines about navigating through a dialog box, but...)
Try it. Need to go home in a hurry? try typing '~/' and hit tab. Need to see only mp3s? Try typing '*.mp3' and hit tab. Need to drill down in a hurry, type the first letter. Just like bash. Maybe better. That one feature alone makes me really like the gnome file dialog box, as hideous as it is.
I only know about tab completion because I discovered it accidentally while browsing the source code. I was trying to make a better file dialog by extending the original source.
OK, show me the app that is successful because it's not feature-rich. MS Office? Nope, probably more configuration options than full KDE and full GNOME combined.
Umm, actually the feature bloat in MS Office is making it harder to use and harder to teach newbies how to use it. In fact, the mass of menu options has been deemed to be so comfusing that MS defaults to not showing all the menu options (which could be argued to be a usability blunder in itself). Also there is a difference between features and configuration options. Workable defaults is always the best thing. No one I know knows how to set much in MS Office. Fortunately the defaults are okay most of the time.
And finally KDE: KDE is more successful than GNOME. That's a fact. The Gentoo statistics and numerous web polls confirm that. To argue that KDE has to become like GNOME to be more successful is quite retarded.
Umm again, gentoo users are hardly average linux users. They typically tend to represent the minority "l33t" linux users. These users are control freaks and have the skills and the time to mess with every little thing. All you can really say is, "Among gentoo users that we have statistics for, I think that KDE is more popular." Anything else is unsupported.
As a Linux professional, I just don't have the time or the caring to tweak every stupid little thing in KDE. I use Gnome and it's clean, nice, and it works. I can tweak everything I need or want to (I've been using transparent gnome-panel's for years -- by using special pixmaps in the background!). Most Linux professionals I prefer Gnome to KDE. And a good many prefer fluxbox in conjunction with gnome-panels. Hmm. Fluxbox has even less useless "features" and bloat than KDE.
No blanket statements here. Just my own observations about what I have *seen*.
You don't understand what he was saying. In the web of trust, if you trust person or organization A, and A signed B, then you'll trust B too. It's very effective against man-in-the-middle attacks. Go to www.gnupg.org and read about how it works.
Many memories that I have from when I was very young are reinforced memories. By that I mean that I really don't remember the event per se, but other people telling me of the event has created the memory. I tend to not remember experiences that well, but create abstract memories. This is hard to explain, but I'm sure in the computer world there are others who are very abstract and thus have memories that work the same way.
I believe that the latest builds of Mozilla 1.2.1 for redhat (from mozilla.org) are configured to build with gcc-2.96. Apparently in the CVS, the plugin-related code now implements some symbol fixups to allow older plugins to work even when mozilla is compiled completely with 3.2. This includes the java plugins.
I've been running my own build of mozilla 1.2.1 with xft and galeon on RedHat 8.0. All the plugins work fine (everything was build with gcc296).
The nVIDIA kernel module isn't necessarily open source, but it is compiled from source (the source is available). It's the GLX library where all the proprietary, patented stuff is. It's conceivable that nVIDIA could GPL just that part of their driver without giving up IP stuff.
I also forgot to mention that yes it was a family farm. A man and wife operation (and their teenage sons). No hired help. 2000 acres.
If anyone really is to blame for the destruction of small family farms, it would have to be a combination of consumer ignorance (buy at farmers markets, not stores where possible) and the fact that the relatively high food prices we pay are not passed down to the farmer. Manufacturers simply jack up the price to increase revenue, while paying practically nothing for the basic commodities like wheat. This is in part due to an oversupply of these commodities, because of government subsidies.
Even if all this were fixed, farming a small plot of land, although it would feed you (a garden is good too), you wouldn't make any money.
I'm just saying how things are today, not how they were a hundred years ago. Our post-industrial world is a lot different than the largely agrarian society that existed for thousands of years.
No I really did mean to say that small family farms are not viable any more. We're not talking fortune's here. You simply cannot even make ends meet anymore.
I was amused to read Bill Gate's comments on computers and internet access halting the rural exodus by 1995. Having been born and raised on a large successful farm, I can tell you that yes, technology and computers are essential tools (even our tractors have computers in them that monitor and control every aspect of the engine and transmission, etc). But that's all they are. The tools need to be wielded better by farmers through education and better management.
There are several problems with farming in America that no broadband or computer is going to fix. (And thus the exodus will continue)
1. Farming is too innefficient. The days of small family farms under 640 acres are gone. You just can't do it any more. Sorry. 2. Farmers don't know how to manage their farms like a business. Even a family farm is a business. 3. Government subsidies eliminate incentives to improve these things and compete with the rest of the world. (Although Europe is the worst offender for subsidies.) Let's get rid of them. 4. Farmers are not diversivied enough. Thus my farm has gone from traditional wheat and grains to canola, peas, alfalfa, and flax. Also we use modern no-till techniques for increasing yeild without having to work the land. (stirring the soil can be counter-productive.)
My father has pioneered the use of computers in Agriculture as planning and managing tools (like a normal business, fancy that) since the IBM PC in 1981. The internet doesn't yet play a significant role in marketing, however, but it is a good tool for managing the books (online banking), researching and sharing ideas for innovation and so forth.
So things like rural broadband are nice, but if you don't fix the underlying problem, you'll soon have no rural population left and everybody will then wonder where their food is.
Actually there's a big difference. An airplane is pressurized by air from the jet engine's compressor blades. They bleed air (yes even at 36,000 feet) out from behind the compressor blades, warm it up, and then pump it into the cabin, maintaining positive air pressure equivalent to about 10,000 feet in altitude.
That wouldn't work in this case. The environmental system in these capsules would have to be closed loop, like in the space shuttle, since they are travelling through vacuum.
Slashdot Mirror
RedHat publishes some great documentation on their web site (published in book form if you bought their boxed set) that is way underused. In pdf format you can download 2 different books, "Getting started" an "User's Guide." They are up to date an cover installation, configuration of various devices and graphics cards, and basica command line skills that you need to be successful. I highly recommend that all newbies take a look at these resources. They are available online in html or pdf format at redhat's site. Of course with Fedora Linux, I don't know if RedHat plans to keep these documents up to date.
When I first read that I thought you were joking, but as I read the rest of your comments, I understand where you misunderstandings lie. I don't know anything about Apple's APIs, but I imagine that they are very clean. Win32, on the other had, is a mess. Linux *does* have very clean and well-defined system APIs. You are mistakenly thinking that windowing and GUIs have something to with system APIs. They don't. And they shouldn't. Instead, userland libraries supply this functionality. The windows gui is quite a hack, api-wise. And it has many, many security problems because of it's being put into the kernel as a system api.
Windowing has nothing to do with the standard C library (which all c compilers link against, even on windows -- that's what msvcrt.dll is for). This library, combined with the system apis (chapter 2 of the man pages) provides lowlevel access to the operating system. User interaction on linux comes through other higher-level apis from libraries such as gtk. This may seem backwards to a Windows developer to separate it this way, but this gives a great amount of development flexibility and increased application security.
It's quite funny, actually, that experienced unix programmers wonder the same thing about win32 developers. I recommend checking out some books on linux development. I think you'll be slowly impressed as you discover the unix model of development and the simplicity and power of the posix-style api, and the tremendous availability of programming libraries to do things like gui programming, you'll be impressed.
Yes, of course. You just need the gnome libraries installed (but not the full environment.
This is not bate and switch. What you fail to understand is that relicensing code to the GPL doesn't retroactively change the license on existing code that you are already using. For example, if the library used to be BSD, then you can continue to use that code under that license. You are free to maintain the client libraries forever under such terms. It is just the new releases of the MySQL client libraries that are now GPL/Proprietary.
I'm tired of people claiming the GPL does things it doesn't. Redhat could change their licenses tomorrow and it wouldn't effect the code that I already have from redhat. That's one of the main reasons why the GPL is so great.
As for your little 3-step process to making money, come on. It is because of the GPL that RedHat can't just lock in it's users under another license. Oh and by the way, it is the GPL and LGPL that protects the end user from such things.
This is exactly where OSS will shine. Think of it. With software development becoming extremely commoditized and unexciting, the money will be in vertical market applications where a handful of developers take off the shelf OSS components (say MySQL, PHP, Perl, and other mainstream tools) and build custom applications for people. These applications may or may not be GPL'd themselves, and in many cases it won't matter because they will be used internally. Couple this with open standards for external communication and you have a very healthy development market. Another alternative is the development of skeleton OSS apps that one can fill in to fit the needs of the client. We're to the point in software development now where generic applications (such as MS Office) cannot completely cover the needs of businesses.
To realize this vision of many rapidly developed vertical markets, we do need to get better tools (and I'm not talking IDEs or editors either). We need the system from the kernel up through the applications to be super moduler and loosely coupled, even in binary form. Using C++ is nice and all, but the paradigms that give benefit end at compilation. Imagine if we could rapidly build apps without compiling anything, out of opensource interchangable parts (like nuts, bolts, and interchangable parts). Then just compile a business logic unit from scratch (source) to tie it all together.
Anyway, I think OSS needs to aim for this and it will really make a revolution in the industry.
What about hyper-threading? Has SCO decided how to license linux on a Pentium 4 that looks like 2 processers?
If you are truly serious about studying the Bible as a living book, and not as a museum piece, then pick up a New King James or NIV version. These are easily readable and accurately reflect centuries of scholarship.
Don't forget the New Revised Standard Version. It's from Oxford University, I think, and is an excellent version for both personal study as well as scholarly study. It fixes a few errors that exist in the KJV and the NIV (the NIV is really just a modernized KJV, whereas the NRSV is actually a separate translation of the original languages). It also preserves the poetic structure of many books, such as Isaiah. And unlike some translations, it is relatively unbiased, as it is a scholarly translation that simply strived to be an accurate translation of the original words and meaning, given the current understanding of these ancient languages and customs.
For beauty of the language (if you don't care about the poetic structure), I do prefer the KJV.
Not only is this true, but also if 85% Microsoft's products are in violation of these patents, then Linux and other free products are also threatened too. These patents could apply to much more than DRM. What about certain encryption and authentication methods, for example. This case sets a dangerous precedence for the whole industry, especially with the SCO vs IBM thing looming.
This is exactly the best case scenerio for SCO. The more gullible people like you there are, the more they can profit on the uncertainty. Besides being barely legal (how can SCO license a product that they don't own with a license that violates the original license of the product?), this is unethical and we need to send them a message that we aren't going to stand for it. The licensing agreement itself that they have worked out is illegal. It would be like Ford discovering that GM is somehow violating Ford's IP in some way and then demanding that all GM customers, as well as Chrysler customers, pay Ford a licensing fee to use their vehicles.
Let's follow IBM's example in this thing and give SCO the response they deserve: nothing.
Isn't this backwards, going back to a dumb (albeit accelerated) framebuffer? X does much more than just push pixels. If you take a look at how Microsoft does their gui these days, you'll find that it's a lot more like X these days than a framebuffer.
I own a zaurus and was initially impressed with the Qtopia/OPIE user interface. That is until I hit that one design flaw: They write directly to the framebuffer. This means I can't mix and match gtk programs with qt programs. This means I can't develop any non-free apps at all, since QT is GPL and that's the only thing you can run on Qtopia.
As I disected QT/E, I found that it pretty much had to duplicate many things that X does well, like windowing. Yep. And event handling and exposure stuff. Personally I think the Qtopia guys would have been much better off using the mini KDrive X server and use a modified version of QT/X11.
As soon as I can, I'm blowing away Qtopia and not going to OPIE but rather to GPE, which is based on X. A much better solution. Check out their screenshots if you don't believe me how well X fits a handheld.
My point here is that I don't think this directfb idea gives me any more advantage than X does. Sorry. Furthermore, we'd just need an X server on top of directfb anyway to run our main apps, and that is essentially duplicating the drivers that X11 already uses to talk to the framebuffer.
The best improvement I think we could bring to X11 would be a special mode where each window is a live opengl surface. That way we wouldn't need to do "exposure" events and other things. Window dragging would be silky smooth. Other 3d effects could follow. Forget the frame buffer.
Guess you haven't tried RedHat out in quite a while. The telnet server hasn't ever even been installed by default, let alone turned on since the RedHat 6.2 days. Sendmail is installed and turned on by default, but it is only bound to 127.0.0.1, so you can't even connect to it remotely unless you explicitly turn it on.
Hardly. RedHat out of the box in workstation install has no services running by default (except ntp), and the default firewall config only allows in ssh anyway. Even in custom or developer install, only ssh is on.
This is the whole problem. SCO is not interested in having Linux developers rewrite code to get rid of these infringements. They want to *kill* linux altogether. Otherwise they would have already contacted developers and demand that the code be pulled. The shroud of secrecy the SCO is projecting does not indicate that they are interested in a real resolution. The longer they can use fear, uncertainty, and doubt, the better for them. This whole case reaks of dishonesty, or at least amorality.
Your point about a few companies controlling the world's food supply is very valid and should be of a great concern to all of us. There is a disturbing trend among of the companies that genetically alter seed to desire to produce grains (canola is an oilseed not a grain, but it still applies) that are sterile and do not reproduce. This could be seen as a good thing, since genetically modified plants then cannot "escape" into nature. However, as growing the GMO grains becomes more and more prevailant and traditional strains no longer grown (either because they don't produce as well, or are too tall or whatever), then that makes farmers have to pay for their seed every year, rather than hold back a portion and replant like they used to. Even more effected by this are third world countries who will be completely at the mercy of these companies. They are really worried the trends and "progression" being made by companies like Monsanto.
Just as Palladium, patents, and digital restrictions managenent do not bode well computer and software users, these types of genetic patents are no less negative. I personally have nothing against GMO food and technologies, but I think we should seriously consider the impacts of patenting and controlling such technologies.
I hope the courts rule in favor of the farmer. Until about 5-10 years ago in Canada, there were no IP rights for seed companies. Such rights are contrived and artificial, I believe.
Michael
Doesn't OpenZaurus use the Opie gui which is basically Qtopia plus improvements?
From the sound of it, OpenZaurus can run all the old apps the Qtopia can (like opera and the hancom apps). Sounds like a clear winner to me.
> The "Open File" dialog is a thing of shame, and I can't believe that it won't be until October until a replacement comes along. The fact that something so basic has been allowed to stay unchanged so long, in my mind, reflects the difference between KDE and Gnome.
There is one redeeming feature of the file dialog box that makes the whole thing incredibly more efficient than the QT or KDE selector. Tab completion. (I know tab-completion somewhere violates HIG guidelines about navigating through a dialog box, but...)
Try it. Need to go home in a hurry? try typing '~/' and hit tab. Need to see only mp3s? Try typing '*.mp3' and hit tab. Need to drill down in a hurry, type the first letter. Just like bash. Maybe better. That one feature alone makes me really like the gnome file dialog box, as hideous as it is.
I only know about tab completion because I discovered it accidentally while browsing the source code. I was trying to make a better file dialog by extending the original source.
OK, show me the app that is successful because it's not feature-rich.
MS Office? Nope, probably more configuration options than full KDE and full GNOME combined.
Umm, actually the feature bloat in MS Office is making it harder to use and harder to teach newbies how to use it. In fact, the mass of menu options has been deemed to be so comfusing that MS defaults to not showing all the menu options (which could be argued to be a usability blunder in itself). Also there is a difference between features and configuration options. Workable defaults is always the best thing. No one I know knows how to set much in MS Office. Fortunately the defaults are okay most of the time.
And finally KDE: KDE is more successful than GNOME. That's a fact. The Gentoo statistics and numerous web polls confirm that. To argue that KDE has to become like GNOME to be more successful is quite retarded.
Umm again, gentoo users are hardly average linux users. They typically tend to represent the minority "l33t" linux users. These users are control freaks and have the skills and the time to mess with every little thing. All you can really say is, "Among gentoo users that we have statistics for, I think that KDE is more popular." Anything else is unsupported.
As a Linux professional, I just don't have the time or the caring to tweak every stupid little thing in KDE. I use Gnome and it's clean, nice, and it works. I can tweak everything I need or want to (I've been using transparent gnome-panel's for years -- by using special pixmaps in the background!). Most Linux professionals I prefer Gnome to KDE. And a good many prefer fluxbox in conjunction with gnome-panels. Hmm. Fluxbox has even less useless "features" and bloat than KDE.
No blanket statements here. Just my own observations about what I have *seen*.
You don't understand what he was saying. In the web of trust, if you trust person or organization A, and A signed B, then you'll trust B too. It's very effective against man-in-the-middle attacks. Go to www.gnupg.org and read about how it works.
Many memories that I have from when I was very young are reinforced memories. By that I mean that I really don't remember the event per se, but other people telling me of the event has created the memory. I tend to not remember experiences that well, but create abstract memories. This is hard to explain, but I'm sure in the computer world there are others who are very abstract and thus have memories that work the same way.
I believe that the latest builds of Mozilla 1.2.1 for redhat (from mozilla.org) are configured to build with gcc-2.96. Apparently in the CVS, the plugin-related code now implements some symbol fixups to allow older plugins to work even when mozilla is compiled completely with 3.2. This includes the java plugins.
I've been running my own build of mozilla 1.2.1 with xft and galeon on RedHat 8.0. All the plugins work fine (everything was build with gcc296).
The nVIDIA kernel module isn't necessarily open source, but it is compiled from source (the source is available). It's the GLX library where all the proprietary, patented stuff is. It's conceivable that nVIDIA could GPL just that part of their driver without giving up IP stuff.
I also forgot to mention that yes it was a family farm. A man and wife operation (and their teenage sons). No hired help. 2000 acres.
If anyone really is to blame for the destruction of small family farms, it would have to be a combination of consumer ignorance (buy at farmers markets, not stores where possible) and the fact that the relatively high food prices we pay are not passed down to the farmer. Manufacturers simply jack up the price to increase revenue, while paying practically nothing for the basic commodities like wheat. This is in part due to an oversupply of these commodities, because of government subsidies.
Even if all this were fixed, farming a small plot of land, although it would feed you (a garden is good too), you wouldn't make any money.
I'm just saying how things are today, not how they were a hundred years ago. Our post-industrial world is a lot different than the largely agrarian society that existed for thousands of years.
No I really did mean to say that small family farms are not viable any more. We're not talking fortune's here. You simply cannot even make ends meet anymore.
I was amused to read Bill Gate's comments on computers and internet access halting the rural exodus by 1995. Having been born and raised on a large successful farm, I can tell you that yes, technology and computers are essential tools (even our tractors have computers in them that monitor and control every aspect of the engine and transmission, etc). But that's all they are. The tools need to be wielded better by farmers through education and better management.
There are several problems with farming in America that no broadband or computer is going to fix. (And thus the exodus will continue)
1. Farming is too innefficient. The days of small family farms under 640 acres are gone. You just can't do it any more. Sorry.
2. Farmers don't know how to manage their farms like a business. Even a family farm is a business.
3. Government subsidies eliminate incentives to improve these things and compete with the rest of the world. (Although Europe is the worst offender for subsidies.) Let's get rid of them.
4. Farmers are not diversivied enough. Thus my farm has gone from traditional wheat and grains to canola, peas, alfalfa, and flax. Also we use modern no-till techniques for increasing yeild without having to work the land. (stirring the soil can be counter-productive.)
My father has pioneered the use of computers in Agriculture as planning and managing tools (like a normal business, fancy that) since the IBM PC in 1981. The internet doesn't yet play a significant role in marketing, however, but it is a good tool for managing the books (online banking), researching and sharing ideas for innovation and so forth.
So things like rural broadband are nice, but if you don't fix the underlying problem, you'll soon have no rural population left and everybody will then wonder where their food is.
Michael
Actually there's a big difference. An airplane is pressurized by air from the jet engine's compressor blades. They bleed air (yes even at 36,000 feet) out from behind the compressor blades, warm it up, and then pump it into the cabin, maintaining positive air pressure equivalent to about 10,000 feet in altitude.
That wouldn't work in this case. The environmental system in these capsules would have to be closed loop, like in the space shuttle, since they are travelling through vacuum.
I have the same trouble with my cyrix winchip 200 Mhz machine. Don't laugh -- it does have 128 MB of ram. It's a hacked iopener that runs pretty good.
Michael
You're talking about the RIAA, right?