Maybe. I'd just like to pay to snag a CD of software that's not of questionable legality and which installs itself easily.
I already can play such things (well, not all as I don't care enough to download all the stuff). I just wanna be on the same legal standing as Apple and Microsoft users--until we convince our congresscritters that we Don't Likes the Software Patents. At that point, the CD would be obsolete and I will dance naked in the streets for joy. And collect money from people that don't wanna see that (i.e. everyone). Step 3 is, naturally, profit.
Hmm. Maybe I should do the dancing bit first; convincing congresscritters is expensive.
Actually, I'd pay $10-$30 or so for a special add-on CD for SuSE or Red Hat or Gentoo or whatever that had licensed codec add-on software (e.g. Microsoft, Apple, Frauenhofer codec plugins to mplayer or xine).
Software Suspend 2 should work, since it doesn't involve the brain-damaged Windows-Only hardware. For instance, I've been using kernel 2.6.7 + software-suspend2 2.0.100 on my Dell Inspiron 8600 to suspend-to-disk for a while now. While it's not 100% yet, it's mostly there (I can generally get a good number of suspend-resume cycles before it stops).
Look for it soon in a kernel near you.:)
FWIW, if you really want Linux to work on your hardware, you need to be pestering your hardware vendors. "Gee, I'd love to upgrade, but, you see, you don't support Linux...." Bring up the specific issues if you're familiar with them. Sure, your one voice may not change much in a large company, but if many voices speak up, they will be heard. Same reason I vote in an election.
Given that my Zaurus and iirc both Palm and PocketPC will play video, I don't see the hubbub, bub.
I suspect that PDAs will eventually get a full miniature hard-drive attachment, and you'll put your music/video on that. PDAs will continue to pick this sort of thing up is my prediction, and these media-only devices will fall by the wayside.
Re:Hope that compatability is retained
on
The Power of X
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· Score: 4, Interesting
This isn't a problem. All new functionality is done by extension to the old X11. I actually keep arguing that we should standardize an X12 which removes things not used much anymore and which includes (sans extensions) the functionality which is wanted, and provide and X11 interface for compatibility (if you have to make an extension extension because there are so many extensions, you need to move to the next version!). However, they don't want that; they want compatibility (which I don't hold to be orthogonal if things are done right, but I'm not (yet) and X hacker, merely an armchair X pundit.;)
Anyhow, rest assured that compatibility is top priority with these changes. You just won't be able to see the shinies.:)
Mabey we need to put Linux on a chip that can be easly swapped out with a new version something like a memory card with a reader in one of the drive ports for the masses.
I've not done this, but, IIRC, you can put Linux on a USB disk-on-a-stick and boot from it....:)
Re:Concise guide to Linux on the deskop for non-te
on
Linux Desktop Guide
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· Score: 1
"Finished" as in "1.0 or beyond".:)
Or at least, all planned functionality included.
Re:Concise guide to Linux on the deskop for non-te
on
Linux Desktop Guide
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· Score: 1
-wireless didn't work (Intel Pro Wireless 2200)
What'll kick butt is when the iw2200 driver gets finished. Since the source is Open (or Free), it will likely get picked up by the major distros and auto-detected as well. Maybe look to the next or next-next version to pick up the card automatically. Of course, it'd all be working by now if Intel hadn't waffled for a full year....
Re:OSX a major disappointment on every level
on
Linux Desktop Guide
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· Score: 1
it's consistent right until the user opens Mozilla, OpenOffice
Your point is well taken. That said, fwiw, Moz and OOo are integrating with GNOME. Moz directly, OOo through Ximian-OpenOffice.:)
Incorrect. The correct version of this sentence would be, More hardware [vendors] support Windows. While a minor syntactic difference, the difference in reality is major.
This isn't about Microsoft, although it could well be (they can't use GPLed code like they use BSD'ed code in Windows).
It's actually a very different, very critical point: if there were no GPL, Red Hat, Novell, and others could very well release their own binary-only kernels/utilities and the Linux world would fragment like the Unix world. It's the GPL that's holding the Linux community together.
For instance, say that SuSE gets 90% of the Linux "marketshare." They then start introducing changes in the kernel and standard software stack which other vendors (hardware/software) rely on, due to their market dominance (sound familiar?). However, we note that, in order to be Linux and use the Linux kernel/software stack, they must release the changes back to the world under the GPL. Thus, Red Hat, Gentoo, Debian, and others all can stay 100% compatible with SuSE despite SuSE setting the de facto Standard. If SuSE comes up with Licensing 6.0 and tries to coerce their users into it, the users have much less of a barrier to switching away to other Linux distros because of this compatibility! Thus SuSE's power is checked despite monopoly position.
Now, there is fragmentation in the Linux community due to different distros relying on different software, and having slightly different systems and configurations. This can be mitigated, however, by following the Linux Standard Base, and we must encourage our distros to follow the standard and work to develop the standard to prevent this fragmentation. It should be a fairly easy problem to fix, of a much different order than the problem with the binary unix compatibility fragmentation.
Applets are added into your panels. An applet you can add to your panels is the Notification Area, where the Bluetooth and Rhythmbox notification icons are located.
Notification area is explicitly for notification-type things, not applets, although people seem tempted to do this.
Except that it's a major PITA for those of us who do subscribe and do like the integration/installation ease of Gentoo.
Just like it's a major PITA to carry around all those double-danged game CDs despite the fact that I could install the full version on my laptop and not have to worry about tracking the original media and making sure it doesn't get lost/damaged/stolen. Does it hurt the pirates? No, they are just using a burned copy anyway; they can make a burned copy as a backup. Backups don't work for me, the legal user, but they sure work well for the pirates! Gee, thanks!
[BTW, a major thank you to Bioware and Unreal Tournament 2004: at least for the Linux native versions, no cd is required to play! Yaaaay!]
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if it's even keel between MSFT and Linux for the SBE Win2k3 setup due to extra install fees from you for Linux (no stock image or config files?! Meh, wouldn't be good for business, I guess.), wouldn't the license savings from using linux add up to over $200/5 client licensed?
But like with Linux there are ways that you can attach it to the net and not get attacked, it simply means turning on the firewall.
Dunno about Red Hat, but Gentoo and SuSE will have you patched up before you even reboot into the installed system. One of the last screens in SuSE is downloading updates. (Gentoo has you sync'ing the portage tree before you even get to installing anything). No equivalent MSFT functionality, tmk.
The fact is that the major non-Windows operating systems are quickly heading down the same road as Microsoft with regard to updates and security fixes. Each and every one is user-configurable, just like Windows is. Having access to the source (in some cases, namely, Linux) does very little to ensure that no personal information is sent out.
Not saying anything about the commercial Linux distros nor about Apple, but apt and portage send no personal info out. They simply download a list of packages, figure out which package versions have bumped (calculation is done locally), then the appropriate files are downloaded for mirrors. If you don't believe me, you can check the source code and compile the app from that checked source. Or you could hire someone or read a report from someone you trust who's checked the source (and optionally compile it from that source).
OK, I guess if they really wanted to, they could track what packages you downloaded, but that doesn't say anything about extra-distro packages or software. Additionally, both apt-get and emerge allow you to specify packages to be downloaded and not installed, so you can spoof packages on you system if you're paranoid about that.
Funny you mention that. InstallShieldis available for vendors to use if they want to create an installer for Linux.
Why the heck vendors are sticking with their own crappy command-line-only installs is really beyond me. Only one I know of that uses IS for Linux is if you download the Java NetBeans Cobundle.
Actually, UnrealTournament 2004 may also use ISX. I remember some nifty Java installer....
It's popular to bash NN4 now, because it's still distressingly widely used and mangles web standards
My impression was that NS4 didn't "mangle" web standards; it merely pre-dated the new ones we want (XHTML, HTML4, CSS). They bet on the wrong horse (layers and such), and were left with their pants down when they couldn't update quickly enough.
When competing against Microsoft, and when Microsoft has determined that it will gain your marketshare, you must play a perfect game just to survive. You mess up, you start down the slippery slope to obsolesence.
Actually, while I'm on the subject, I found that really the coolest part of Anti-Trust (ok, aside from the GNOME screens;): the whole question they set up of Big Monopoly Problems versus Wealth Created being Redistributed to the Needs of the World.
Very thought-provoking and probably an excellent coffee house discussion if you're ever in Iowa.;)
Slashdot Mirror
Nope merely millions of other users, each with a little pin.
Maybe. I'd just like to pay to snag a CD of software that's not of questionable legality and which installs itself easily.
I already can play such things (well, not all as I don't care enough to download all the stuff). I just wanna be on the same legal standing as Apple and Microsoft users--until we convince our congresscritters that we Don't Likes the Software Patents. At that point, the CD would be obsolete and I will dance naked in the streets for joy. And collect money from people that don't wanna see that (i.e. everyone). Step 3 is, naturally, profit.
Hmm. Maybe I should do the dancing bit first; convincing congresscritters is expensive.
Actually, I'd pay $10-$30 or so for a special add-on CD for SuSE or Red Hat or Gentoo or whatever that had licensed codec add-on software (e.g. Microsoft, Apple, Frauenhofer codec plugins to mplayer or xine).
There may be a market for this....
Software Suspend 2 should work, since it doesn't involve the brain-damaged Windows-Only hardware. For instance, I've been using kernel 2.6.7 + software-suspend2 2.0.100 on my Dell Inspiron 8600 to suspend-to-disk for a while now. While it's not 100% yet, it's mostly there (I can generally get a good number of suspend-resume cycles before it stops).
:)
Look for it soon in a kernel near you.
FWIW, if you really want Linux to work on your hardware, you need to be pestering your hardware vendors. "Gee, I'd love to upgrade, but, you see, you don't support Linux...." Bring up the specific issues if you're familiar with them. Sure, your one voice may not change much in a large company, but if many voices speak up, they will be heard. Same reason I vote in an election.
Given that my Zaurus and iirc both Palm and PocketPC will play video, I don't see the hubbub, bub.
I suspect that PDAs will eventually get a full miniature hard-drive attachment, and you'll put your music/video on that. PDAs will continue to pick this sort of thing up is my prediction, and these media-only devices will fall by the wayside.
This isn't a problem. All new functionality is done by extension to the old X11. I actually keep arguing that we should standardize an X12 which removes things not used much anymore and which includes (sans extensions) the functionality which is wanted, and provide and X11 interface for compatibility (if you have to make an extension extension because there are so many extensions, you need to move to the next version!). However, they don't want that; they want compatibility (which I don't hold to be orthogonal if things are done right, but I'm not (yet) and X hacker, merely an armchair X pundit. ;)
:)
Anyhow, rest assured that compatibility is top priority with these changes. You just won't be able to see the shinies.
I've not done this, but, IIRC, you can put Linux on a USB disk-on-a-stick and boot from it....
"Finished" as in "1.0 or beyond". :)
Or at least, all planned functionality included.
What'll kick butt is when the iw2200 driver gets finished. Since the source is Open (or Free), it will likely get picked up by the major distros and auto-detected as well. Maybe look to the next or next-next version to pick up the card automatically. Of course, it'd all be working by now if Intel hadn't waffled for a full year....
Your point is well taken. That said, fwiw, Moz and OOo are integrating with GNOME. Moz directly, OOo through Ximian-OpenOffice.
Incorrect. The correct version of this sentence would be, More hardware [vendors] support Windows. While a minor syntactic difference, the difference in reality is major.
As long as Windows users need Help and the Microsoft Knowledge base.... ;)
This isn't about Microsoft, although it could well be (they can't use GPLed code like they use BSD'ed code in Windows).
It's actually a very different, very critical point: if there were no GPL, Red Hat, Novell, and others could very well release their own binary-only kernels/utilities and the Linux world would fragment like the Unix world. It's the GPL that's holding the Linux community together.
For instance, say that SuSE gets 90% of the Linux "marketshare." They then start introducing changes in the kernel and standard software stack which other vendors (hardware/software) rely on, due to their market dominance (sound familiar?). However, we note that, in order to be Linux and use the Linux kernel/software stack, they must release the changes back to the world under the GPL. Thus, Red Hat, Gentoo, Debian, and others all can stay 100% compatible with SuSE despite SuSE setting the de facto Standard. If SuSE comes up with Licensing 6.0 and tries to coerce their users into it, the users have much less of a barrier to switching away to other Linux distros because of this compatibility! Thus SuSE's power is checked despite monopoly position.
Now, there is fragmentation in the Linux community due to different distros relying on different software, and having slightly different systems and configurations. This can be mitigated, however, by following the Linux Standard Base, and we must encourage our distros to follow the standard and work to develop the standard to prevent this fragmentation. It should be a fairly easy problem to fix, of a much different order than the problem with the binary unix compatibility fragmentation.
Applets and Notification Area.
Applets are added into your panels. An applet you can add to your panels is the Notification Area, where the Bluetooth and Rhythmbox notification icons are located.
Notification area is explicitly for notification-type things, not applets, although people seem tempted to do this.
mmmmmmmmm,
what's wrong with being an iBook?!
Except that it's a major PITA for those of us who do subscribe and do like the integration/installation ease of Gentoo.
Just like it's a major PITA to carry around all those double-danged game CDs despite the fact that I could install the full version on my laptop and not have to worry about tracking the original media and making sure it doesn't get lost/damaged/stolen. Does it hurt the pirates? No, they are just using a burned copy anyway; they can make a burned copy as a backup. Backups don't work for me, the legal user, but they sure work well for the pirates! Gee, thanks!
[BTW, a major thank you to Bioware and Unreal Tournament 2004: at least for the Linux native versions, no cd is required to play! Yaaaay!]
The point2play tgz is also affected. At least, the md5sums differ.
M'kay. So what would be your laundry list of things to create for Linux to make it more competitive?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if it's even keel between MSFT and Linux for the SBE Win2k3 setup due to extra install fees from you for Linux (no stock image or config files?! Meh, wouldn't be good for business, I guess.), wouldn't the license savings from using linux add up to over $200/5 client licensed?
Dunno about Red Hat, but Gentoo and SuSE will have you patched up before you even reboot into the installed system. One of the last screens in SuSE is downloading updates. (Gentoo has you sync'ing the portage tree before you even get to installing anything). No equivalent MSFT functionality, tmk.
Not saying anything about the commercial Linux distros nor about Apple, but apt and portage send no personal info out. They simply download a list of packages, figure out which package versions have bumped (calculation is done locally), then the appropriate files are downloaded for mirrors. If you don't believe me, you can check the source code and compile the app from that checked source. Or you could hire someone or read a report from someone you trust who's checked the source (and optionally compile it from that source).
OK, I guess if they really wanted to, they could track what packages you downloaded, but that doesn't say anything about extra-distro packages or software. Additionally, both apt-get and emerge allow you to specify packages to be downloaded and not installed, so you can spoof packages on you system if you're paranoid about that.
It only came out a month ago?
I remember Java NetBeans cobundle having InstallShield (not necessarily X) about a year ago.
Did they have linux support before X? Maybe Sun had an early version of X?
Funny you mention that. InstallShield is available for vendors to use if they want to create an installer for Linux.
Why the heck vendors are sticking with their own crappy command-line-only installs is really beyond me. Only one I know of that uses IS for Linux is if you download the Java NetBeans Cobundle.
Actually, UnrealTournament 2004 may also use ISX. I remember some nifty Java installer....
My impression was that NS4 didn't "mangle" web standards; it merely pre-dated the new ones we want (XHTML, HTML4, CSS). They bet on the wrong horse (layers and such), and were left with their pants down when they couldn't update quickly enough.
When competing against Microsoft, and when Microsoft has determined that it will gain your marketshare, you must play a perfect game just to survive. You mess up, you start down the slippery slope to obsolesence.
Actually, while I'm on the subject, I found that really the coolest part of Anti-Trust (ok, aside from the GNOME screens ;): the whole question they set up of Big Monopoly Problems versus Wealth Created being Redistributed to the Needs of the World.
;)
Very thought-provoking and probably an excellent coffee house discussion if you're ever in Iowa.