I agree that Linux is not for everyone. It takes a certain mindset to appreciate Linux, but this is not necessarily the technology geek kind. I believe Linux is great for a person who can stop to think for a few minutes about things like the following:
Do I want my personal/company data at the mercy of a big (possibly foreign) corporation?
Do I want to pay for beta-quality software when there are better free alternatives?
Do I appreciate openness and honesty?
Do I prefer long-term reliability and cost savings to the quick and easy way?
I belive that a person who considers such questions is willing to take some time and learn Linux, no matter what their technological experience is. That said, I believe Linux has been 'ready for the desktop' for years, but the Windows monoculture prevents most people from trying it out. It seems that most people are also not thinking about the above issues for one reason or another, which is pretty sad.
To me it does matter, since I'll never buy a device that can only be used to consume commercial products. Then again I probably wouldn't buy a PS3 solely for Linux hacking. But for a combination of a kickass game console and a Cell workstation I think it's worth the money.
There are so many movies out there that I do not care about, but if it's a movie I really like, I will go out and buy the DVD.
Ditto for a book - if it's good, I will go ahead and buy it.
I've never really understood the idea of buying DVDs. If there's a really good movie, I prefer watching it in a theatre. You can download a DVD, but you can't do that with a proper movie experience, unless you have a badass home theatre.
One problem I have with buying DVDs is that I rarely watch the same movie twice. There are so many great movies yet to see, and so little time. I also don't like hoarding physical books/DVDs that would spend most of their lifetime gathering dust in the shelves. Then again, many of the interesting books never make it to the local library, so I do buy them occasionally. Bookcrossing is another good source and also helps with the hoarding issue.
Most supercomputing and parallel code in the world is written in C or Fortran.
Yeah, it's funny how multicore systems are touted as something new and difficult, while scientific programmers have been dealing with parallel systems for decades. And funny how Fortran is often used as the epitome of old and dead programming languages, whereas it's really SIMD at heart.
BTW, in Finnish, a floppy is literally translated as "lerppu" and only refers to the 5.25'' kind. The 3.5'' disk is called "korppu" which makes a nice rhyme, and literally means "cracker" (the kind you eat). Unfortunately this has led to a number of drives ruined by some kids inserting actual edible crackers into the drive;)
I also thought of laptops upon seeing this mobo. I have a nice old 486 laptop, and hardware hacking is fun:) On the other hand, these VIA procs are not much more powerful than a P3.
The PS3 needs HDCP for the highest resolution no matter what you are doing, even if it is just running Linux.
Care to point out any definitive sources?
AFAIK, HDCP is only required for ICT discs which are not yet available, and possibly never will. You should be able to use HDMI-DVI adapters or analog connectors to get the highest resolution. Of course, it's possible that the PS3 is doing something more restrictive than what the HDCP/ICT spec requires, but why would it do that?
My roommate purchased an HDTV a few years ago before the HDCP standard emerged and he recently bought a Playstation 3. He was seriously pissed when he found out he couldn't watch Blue Ray Discs at the highest resolution because his TV wasn't compatible.
Did he actually try this out? I had the impression that no current discs have the Image Constraint Token set, so there would be no downgrading for now.
So you would be happy if Apple came up with their own audio format (call it Apple Audio Format) that they patented and would technically not be playable on any other hardware, yes? What is the difference between that and the current situation?
Good point. At least that would make it clear that it's not a standard technology, so people might be more careful about buying any such files.
It's like copy-protected CDs. They are deceptively similar to proper CDs and often marketed as equals. I'm not bitching about compatibility issues between CDs and cassettes, since they are obviously different technologies, but misleading customers with CDs and "CD"s is another matter.
This sounds akin to demanding from Sony that Playstation 3 discs run on all other gaming systems.
No, because PS3 games cannot technically run on any other hardware (barring an emulator running on some insanely powerful machine). However, AAC/MP3/etc. files can technically be played on lots of different hardware but Apple is intentionally crippling them to run on their platform only.
(As I peel your smugness off of my skin...) Tell me where you learned we must be able to pronounce an acronymn like a normal word, because Merriam-Webster seems to think otherwise:
Initially (pun intended) I learned it from my IB Theory of Knowledge teacher, but I've come across the definition many times since.
I'm aware of some definitions that equate acronyms with initialisms, but I think there are good reasons to keep them separate. The pronounceable ones are a special case of abbreviations, and I think they deserve a separate word. For another example, 'molar' is a certain kind of tooth, yet you don't see people mixing up the two constantly. What's wrong with calling different things by different names?
Of course, language is ultimately defined by its common use, not by a dictionary. Unfortunately, with the way I see people use their language these days, I expect that the future of human languages consists of the single word 'ugh' whose meaning you have to infer from the context;)
I thought HDCP applied only with certain movies that demand it. Does this mean that everything going through the HDMI port of a PS3 is encrypted? Including what Linux displays?
If that's the case, my appreciation of DRM just went from "I couldn't like less" to "wait, I think I can".
It highlights the problem that technology-enforced legislation is bound to be too greedy if it has any hope of being effective.
Even in things where it makes sense, such as FLAC, it's a little funny that an additional letter denotes the lack of something. For example, when you take Wires out of LAN, you somehow have to add the W to make WLAN.
Does the US price include tax? I had the impression that US prices are usually quoted without VAT.
Even if that's the case, then $600 + 22% VAT (in Finland) comes down to about 570 EUR. I wonder if shipping etc. could be a significant factor, given that the US also has to import their machines from overseas.
I guess what's new is the 2.5'' form factor. Smaller drives should be generally faster due to increased density, but they get a bad reputation from laptop drives with really low RPM.
But seriously, I wonder how this relates to the SUSE-Novell-Microsoft connections... That's a nice implementation of NTFS you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.
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- Do I want my personal/company data at the mercy of a big (possibly foreign) corporation?
- Do I want to pay for beta-quality software when there are better free alternatives?
- Do I appreciate openness and honesty?
- Do I prefer long-term reliability and cost savings to the quick and easy way?
I belive that a person who considers such questions is willing to take some time and learn Linux, no matter what their technological experience is. That said, I believe Linux has been 'ready for the desktop' for years, but the Windows monoculture prevents most people from trying it out. It seems that most people are also not thinking about the above issues for one reason or another, which is pretty sad.To me it does matter, since I'll never buy a device that can only be used to consume commercial products. Then again I probably wouldn't buy a PS3 solely for Linux hacking. But for a combination of a kickass game console and a Cell workstation I think it's worth the money.
There are so many movies out there that I do not care about, but if it's a movie I really like, I will go out and buy the DVD.
Ditto for a book - if it's good, I will go ahead and buy it.
I've never really understood the idea of buying DVDs. If there's a really good movie, I prefer watching it in a theatre. You can download a DVD, but you can't do that with a proper movie experience, unless you have a badass home theatre.
One problem I have with buying DVDs is that I rarely watch the same movie twice. There are so many great movies yet to see, and so little time. I also don't like hoarding physical books/DVDs that would spend most of their lifetime gathering dust in the shelves. Then again, many of the interesting books never make it to the local library, so I do buy them occasionally. Bookcrossing is another good source and also helps with the hoarding issue.
Yeah, it's funny how multicore systems are touted as something new and difficult, while scientific programmers have been dealing with parallel systems for decades. And funny how Fortran is often used as the epitome of old and dead programming languages, whereas it's really SIMD at heart.
BTW, in Finnish, a floppy is literally translated as "lerppu" and only refers to the 5.25'' kind. The 3.5'' disk is called "korppu" which makes a nice rhyme, and literally means "cracker" (the kind you eat). Unfortunately this has led to a number of drives ruined by some kids inserting actual edible crackers into the drive ;)
"Standard de jure" means an official standard, such as ODF, whereas "Standard de facto" means a practically widely adopted format such as Word DOC.
HDMI is not the problem, HCDP is. HDMI is a convenient version of DVI with audio, while HDCP can also work over DVI.
In other words, diamonds are the geek's best friend!
I also thought of laptops upon seeing this mobo. I have a nice old 486 laptop, and hardware hacking is fun :) On the other hand, these VIA procs are not much more powerful than a P3.
It's a little like "Those who don't understand unix are condemned to reinvent it poorly", or whatever the exact phrasing was.
Care to point out any definitive sources?
AFAIK, HDCP is only required for ICT discs which are not yet available, and possibly never will. You should be able to use HDMI-DVI adapters or analog connectors to get the highest resolution. Of course, it's possible that the PS3 is doing something more restrictive than what the HDCP/ICT spec requires, but why would it do that?
I have three words for you: Being Steve Developers
Did he actually try this out? I had the impression that no current discs have the Image Constraint Token set, so there would be no downgrading for now.
Good point. At least that would make it clear that it's not a standard technology, so people might be more careful about buying any such files.
It's like copy-protected CDs. They are deceptively similar to proper CDs and often marketed as equals. I'm not bitching about compatibility issues between CDs and cassettes, since they are obviously different technologies, but misleading customers with CDs and "CD"s is another matter.
No, because PS3 games cannot technically run on any other hardware (barring an emulator running on some insanely powerful machine). However, AAC/MP3/etc. files can technically be played on lots of different hardware but Apple is intentionally crippling them to run on their platform only.
Milk is great when you're an infant of the same species that produced it.
Initially (pun intended) I learned it from my IB Theory of Knowledge teacher, but I've come across the definition many times since.
I'm aware of some definitions that equate acronyms with initialisms, but I think there are good reasons to keep them separate. The pronounceable ones are a special case of abbreviations, and I think they deserve a separate word. For another example, 'molar' is a certain kind of tooth, yet you don't see people mixing up the two constantly. What's wrong with calling different things by different names?
Of course, language is ultimately defined by its common use, not by a dictionary. Unfortunately, with the way I see people use their language these days, I expect that the future of human languages consists of the single word 'ugh' whose meaning you have to infer from the context ;)
Well, neither of them is an acronym, as they cannot be pronounced like words.
I thought HDCP applied only with certain movies that demand it. Does this mean that everything going through the HDMI port of a PS3 is encrypted? Including what Linux displays?
If that's the case, my appreciation of DRM just went from "I couldn't like less" to "wait, I think I can". It highlights the problem that technology-enforced legislation is bound to be too greedy if it has any hope of being effective.
So, bigger drives are better? I remember having a 5.25'' HDD, but I don't see them around any more for some reason.
Even in things where it makes sense, such as FLAC, it's a little funny that an additional letter denotes the lack of something. For example, when you take Wires out of LAN, you somehow have to add the W to make WLAN.
Does the US price include tax? I had the impression that US prices are usually quoted without VAT.
Even if that's the case, then $600 + 22% VAT (in Finland) comes down to about 570 EUR. I wonder if shipping etc. could be a significant factor, given that the US also has to import their machines from overseas.
I guess what's new is the 2.5'' form factor. Smaller drives should be generally faster due to increased density, but they get a bad reputation from laptop drives with really low RPM.
So, FUSE will now fuse with SUSE?-)
But seriously, I wonder how this relates to the SUSE-Novell-Microsoft connections... That's a nice implementation of NTFS you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.