Strange as it may sound, I have found that the typical Slashdot public is extremely conservative concerning technology. Whenever a (successful) company changes its product or experiments with features, many slashdotters would reply that they are not going to use it, so it has to be crap. Or, they complain how the existing product / version is superior.
It depends what you mean by "technology". Most IT product launches are basically packaging old technology in a shiny new format, and us geeks only care about the actual technology, so we generally dismiss such products as shiny toys. Moreover, we're bitter because we weren't taken seriously back in the day, when we were doing essentially the same things that's all the rage today, i.e. having a social life online.
with a standing desk you do move around more than if you are in a chair. You naturally shift your weight and position when you aren't confined to a chair.
True, and this is a particular benefit for anyone with even slight ADHD tendencies. I didn't realize how much I hated prolonged sitting until I got myself a standing desk (in my case, it's a coffee table on top of a desk). Besides just shifting your weight, there are all kinds of motions you can do -- I'm basically kicking my feet around while typing right now. The downside is that I now avoid sitting events such as theatre and movies even more, but OTOH the occasional sitting feels like a proper relief for the feet.
in the case of nVidia, the install process is insane. First you have to boot into a CLI only environment to install them and second you have to do it again every single time there's a kernel update. Fedora, at least, has developed a way around this by using an akmod that checks at boot if there's a proper driver (kmod-nvidia) for the running kernel, and if there isn't, it builds one. Ubuntu still uses the insane version, but at least it automates it so that when there's a kernel update, it prompts you at boot to install the new drivers, doing all of the messy stuff on it's own after getting permission.
What? I use Gentoo and I build my own kernels. I simply "emerge nvidia-drivers" after building a new kernel, so the driver is ready for the next boot with that kernel. No need to go "CLI only" for that.
(However, when nvidia-drivers itself is updated, the currently running X session may lose some acceleration features. I guess that's why some distros play it safe and only update it outside X. But this doesn't happen when simply rebuilding the same driver for a new kernel, as the libraries don't change.)
We still have good old 5.25'' drive bays in full-size cases, so I'm sure many a consumer might also like one. OTOH, arrays of smaller drives are nice in case one of them breaks.
This plate has a 235V rectifier whose leads are pressing against an aluminum heat-sink.
I first read this to mean an intentional electrical contact. I once fixed a kettle by soldering contacts that were originally held together by simple pressure, after they had developed oxidation issues.
My Braun had an AA battery with soldering tabs. As the battery fits snugly in its place, it wasn't much work to modify it for regular AA batteries, so now I have cheap replacements. It's also fun to use a non-rechargeable 1.5 volter to overclock it from the usual 1.2 V.
The room, the speakers and their placement completely dominate the listening experience. Most people simply can't afford the size and physicality required to listen to proper sound. Instead, they focus on trivialities.
Nothing wrong with that. I understand that many people get a kick out of owning and handling LP records, for example. There can be more to the listening experience than just sound quality. In addition, it's quite possible that some people prefer the extra analog distortions to cleaner digital recordings. It's their loss, not mine, if they're not interested in the music as it was originally played, or if they care more about the medium than the music itself.
What bugs me in such discussions when these personal preferences are mixed with more objective quality metrics. "A better sound quality" could mean so many different things.
silicon... Does not have any kind of useful solvent.
Compare to carbon, where we have giant clouds of interesting organic molecules just floating around in space, that can bond to itself and other elements in an infinite range of ways with and equally diverse range of properties. Water is a *very* good and strong solvent and highly polar. But in a pinch i guess say methane may work as a solvent. But it wouldn't be as good as water.
I don't see what water (as a solvent or otherwise) has to do with the carbon vs. silicon issue. The interactions between water and carbon-based life are mainly due to other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in organic compounds, not the carbon backbone itself.
If water were such a great solvent for organic compounds, then I'd be very afraid to drink any...
Source files will be in machine readable format that conveys meaning, while individual programmers will have a choice of textual, graphical and hybrid representations
I think I've seen that already, it was called "machine language".
As you've noticed, the real problem is software that needs to run as a daemon to work well, but also needs to have a GUI for easy use. These two should be separated, so you keep the daemon running and fire up the GUI as needed. See aMule/iMule for a good example. (Though incidentally, the daemon didn't always work so well in the past, so I used to run one under Xpra.) Bitcoin and derivatives have provided thorough JSON RPC access from the start and many people use command-line clients to access it (including me) so I wonder why all the GUIs don't do that -- or maybe they do under the hood...
Before Xpra, I've also used a related tool called Xvfb. It has no way to access the desktop, so the point is running daemon-type software that needs X, without having any display hardware.
Emojis are great for very young kids who either cannot write, or are too embarrassed to write out certain words in full. So I agree that there's no need for a unicode condom.
USB 3 is a completely different design from USB 2. Thus to maintain the illusion of universality, v3 comes with v2 pins bolted on the side. The idea of "legacy free" was that you replace a bunch of older connectors with a single new type, which is clearly not happening with USB. I guess in the future we use "USB" for everything including CPU sockets, though in reality it's a chimera of 10 different ports bolted together for the sake of universality.
Also, stop cramming number pads into laptops. It makes keys small/unusable/missing, and it ruins the alignment of the main typing area. Use the space for properly sized arrow keys and actual home/end/pgup/pgdn keys (not via Fn). Thinkpads used to get this right, at least as of T410, I'm not sure if they do any more.
Those who don't need proper keyboards can always get a tablet or something instead. Please make actual keyboards for those few who still use them.
Slashdot Mirror
Strange as it may sound, I have found that the typical Slashdot public is extremely conservative concerning technology. Whenever a (successful) company changes its product or experiments with features, many slashdotters would reply that they are not going to use it, so it has to be crap. Or, they complain how the existing product / version is superior.
It depends what you mean by "technology". Most IT product launches are basically packaging old technology in a shiny new format, and us geeks only care about the actual technology, so we generally dismiss such products as shiny toys. Moreover, we're bitter because we weren't taken seriously back in the day, when we were doing essentially the same things that's all the rage today, i.e. having a social life online.
1 ms of ping time at the speed of light only gives you at best 150 km.
Pfffft. Amateurs.
with a standing desk you do move around more than if you are in a chair. You naturally shift your weight and position when you aren't confined to a chair.
True, and this is a particular benefit for anyone with even slight ADHD tendencies. I didn't realize how much I hated prolonged sitting until I got myself a standing desk (in my case, it's a coffee table on top of a desk). Besides just shifting your weight, there are all kinds of motions you can do -- I'm basically kicking my feet around while typing right now. The downside is that I now avoid sitting events such as theatre and movies even more, but OTOH the occasional sitting feels like a proper relief for the feet.
in the case of nVidia, the install process is insane. First you have to boot into a CLI only environment to install them and second you have to do it again every single time there's a kernel update. Fedora, at least, has developed a way around this by using an akmod that checks at boot if there's a proper driver (kmod-nvidia) for the running kernel, and if there isn't, it builds one. Ubuntu still uses the insane version, but at least it automates it so that when there's a kernel update, it prompts you at boot to install the new drivers, doing all of the messy stuff on it's own after getting permission.
What? I use Gentoo and I build my own kernels. I simply "emerge nvidia-drivers" after building a new kernel, so the driver is ready for the next boot with that kernel. No need to go "CLI only" for that.
(However, when nvidia-drivers itself is updated, the currently running X session may lose some acceleration features. I guess that's why some distros play it safe and only update it outside X. But this doesn't happen when simply rebuilding the same driver for a new kernel, as the libraries don't change.)
We still have good old 5.25'' drive bays in full-size cases, so I'm sure many a consumer might also like one. OTOH, arrays of smaller drives are nice in case one of them breaks.
This plate has a 235V rectifier whose leads are pressing against an aluminum heat-sink.
I first read this to mean an intentional electrical contact. I once fixed a kettle by soldering contacts that were originally held together by simple pressure, after they had developed oxidation issues.
My Braun had an AA battery with soldering tabs. As the battery fits snugly in its place, it wasn't much work to modify it for regular AA batteries, so now I have cheap replacements. It's also fun to use a non-rechargeable 1.5 volter to overclock it from the usual 1.2 V.
The room, the speakers and their placement completely dominate the listening experience. Most people simply can't afford the size and physicality required to listen to proper sound. Instead, they focus on trivialities.
Nothing wrong with that. I understand that many people get a kick out of owning and handling LP records, for example. There can be more to the listening experience than just sound quality. In addition, it's quite possible that some people prefer the extra analog distortions to cleaner digital recordings. It's their loss, not mine, if they're not interested in the music as it was originally played, or if they care more about the medium than the music itself.
What bugs me in such discussions when these personal preferences are mixed with more objective quality metrics. "A better sound quality" could mean so many different things.
Seriously though, some of my old motherboards don't work with Grub, and I have no need for features beyond LILO.
Nothing sucks like Volta.
Problem solved.
silicon ... Does not have any kind of useful solvent.
Compare to carbon, where we have giant clouds of interesting organic molecules just floating around in space, that can bond to itself and other elements in an infinite range of ways with and equally diverse range of properties. Water is a *very* good and strong solvent and highly polar. But in a pinch i guess say methane may work as a solvent. But it wouldn't be as good as water.
I don't see what water (as a solvent or otherwise) has to do with the carbon vs. silicon issue. The interactions between water and carbon-based life are mainly due to other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in organic compounds, not the carbon backbone itself.
If water were such a great solvent for organic compounds, then I'd be very afraid to drink any...
Source files will be in machine readable format that conveys meaning, while individual programmers will have a choice of textual, graphical and hybrid representations
I think I've seen that already, it was called "machine language".
Be sure to use enterprise-grade coolers.
I've had it with these motherfucking eels on this motherfucking hoverboard!
TL;DR: Stupid, uneducated people are more gullible, especially when you use big words that they don't know.
That's quite a big word, I couldn't even find it in a dictionary.
And is enveloped by the thinking part of a woman. Easy to play that game.
Nope, as a true Slashdotter I can assure you that playing "that game" is not easy. It's taken me years to get any.
Also, every brain of a woman is inside the head of a woman. While every brain of a man is inside the head of a man.
Every now and then, the thinking part of a man is inside the body of a woman.
Tech is 90% male,
Everything is 90% of something when you're Finance Minister of Finland.
As you've noticed, the real problem is software that needs to run as a daemon to work well, but also needs to have a GUI for easy use. These two should be separated, so you keep the daemon running and fire up the GUI as needed. See aMule/iMule for a good example. (Though incidentally, the daemon didn't always work so well in the past, so I used to run one under Xpra.) Bitcoin and derivatives have provided thorough JSON RPC access from the start and many people use command-line clients to access it (including me) so I wonder why all the GUIs don't do that -- or maybe they do under the hood...
Before Xpra, I've also used a related tool called Xvfb. It has no way to access the desktop, so the point is running daemon-type software that needs X, without having any display hardware.
Emojis are great for very young kids who either cannot write, or are too embarrassed to write out certain words in full. So I agree that there's no need for a unicode condom.
USB 3 is a completely different design from USB 2. Thus to maintain the illusion of universality, v3 comes with v2 pins bolted on the side. The idea of "legacy free" was that you replace a bunch of older connectors with a single new type, which is clearly not happening with USB. I guess in the future we use "USB" for everything including CPU sockets, though in reality it's a chimera of 10 different ports bolted together for the sake of universality.
http://iki.fi/teknohog/rants/u...
Ditto. I use Gentoo on a Thinkpad, so no systemd or *doze tools to worry about.
In Soviet China, Hu cares!
Also, stop cramming number pads into laptops. It makes keys small/unusable/missing, and it ruins the alignment of the main typing area. Use the space for properly sized arrow keys and actual home/end/pgup/pgdn keys (not via Fn). Thinkpads used to get this right, at least as of T410, I'm not sure if they do any more.
Those who don't need proper keyboards can always get a tablet or something instead. Please make actual keyboards for those few who still use them.