I think the 2 above are both excellent, Taper for the less demanding environment, BUpEdge for a system with multiple drives.
I'm actually doing a 100gb backup as we speak... so good timing on the Ask Slashdot.
My only beef with Taper (and I'd use it otherwise, on my home system) is that when you do an "e"xclude or "i"nclude of a directory, it scans the entire subtree, which can take *forever*, (like when excluding/var/squid) instead of just simply skipping that directory.
mindslip
History of Active Surplus and Toronto computers...
on
Great Surplus Stores?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I've been going to "Freddie's" (Active Surplus for the uninitiated) since I was about 5. I'm now 28. Freddie was one of a big handful of electronics surplus stores in the late 70's/early 80's on what is now a *much* different Queen St. West strip. The earliest computer stores in Toronto were all on Queen St, from McCaul (by the City TV building) to Bathurst, about a kilometer over.
Freddie always (and still does) specialized in surplus junk, but the store used to be divided half-and-half with a double-door sized entranceway between them. One half, resistors, capacitors, all neatly sorted in cardboard bins (as they are today), and random electronic type junk. The other half, power tools, sheetmetal stuff, mechanical junk of all sorts. Nowadays it's mostly resistors, caps, discreet parts, and bizarre job lots of strange old electronic throwaways. You think it's interesting now? Try a quarter century ago!
Anyways, along with Freddie, there was Jackson, who I only knew as such (my Dad would know his full name, I was like 5-10 yrs old), who had a huge shop on McCaul St, a bit bigger than the electronics side of Freddies, but more oriented to complete bits of electronic junk, rather than discreet parts. He closed down late 80's if I recall, and I think he's somewhere in Vancouver now.
Electronics surplus wasn't the only game in Toronto in the 70's though. My Dad was one of the first people to bring in Apple ][+ clone motherboards, with an outfit called Aftek, which was on Queen more towards the Bathurst side. Nazir, the character behind Aftek, had his guys physically trace an Apple motherboard, with pencil and tracing paper, and with parts from Active Surplus, Dad and I soldered the chip sockets and resistors by hand in our basement.
I was still in the single digits at the time, and even before that, at 4 1/2, we had built a ZX81 kit which was bought from Active Electronics (not Active Surplus), about 10 doors east of Freddies.
That whole stretch of Queen was the introduction of personal computers to Toronto, and probably in a large way, to Canada. From East to West, Active Electronics, "Joe", who ran Perfect Electronics (I think it was called that... it's still there, but it's now a PC white-box and accessory shop), Active Surplus, albeit slightly changed but with the same guys behind the counter, Aftek, long gone although Nazir is still a friend of the family and still in computers, and then "Albert's", or "Supremetronics". He was at the corner of Spadina and Queen, and stuck it out for the longest time, I think he was nearly 70 when he closed up shop a few years ago.
I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy of all this... I was so young it's all blurry memories and urban legends to me now.
There's no more hand-soldering of basement-etched cloned motherboards, but that stretch of Queen St., and a bunch of guys who *loved* collecting junk (you should see my Dad's garage and basement!), and had a real passion for these "new computer things", introduced a big city to a big industry. They were the pioneers of gadgetry in Toronto, and a big bunch of idols and friends in my childhood.
Internationally renowned fashion guru "mindslip", whose long history of avoiding being a walking billboard has often earned him the (non-fashionable) "label" of "Geek", has announced that he has never before, and now decidedly never *will*, wear Benetton.
What does THX mean now? Total HarmoniX distortion or something?
I used to *really* love the THX theatres that had just been built, when THX was a new thing in the audio world. They sounded absolutely amazing.
Now, they sound overcranked and rattle-ridden, and the high-freq. earpiercing harmonics are almost overpowered by the blurred tone-less bass.
You show me a "100", "1000", or any "THX" certified pair of cheap little plastic speakers, and I'll show you what burning coils smell like when I pump them with my teensie-weensie 30 watt tube amp! (or even my 8-watt one!)
Feh. Audio *indeed*. I'm in the wrong business... I need to start selling misinformation to fools.
1: Auto-xsu when trying to install/remove/update (such as the way red-carpet does)
2: Auto-get dependancies off popular mirrors (like fr2.rpmfind.net which is far more up to date than www.rpmfind.net)
3: Be able to list "--forced" and "--nodeps" packages, and remove / update / update dependancies of just those packages (i.e. clean up your system)
4: Be able to list (-qa) with wildcards instead of having to -qa | grep whatever
5: Standardize and *enforce* some sort of package topic structure, say based on Freshmeat's or Sourceforge's
6: Be able to uninstall en-masse, any packages with no dependancies (i.e. clean up unused libraries, etc.)
7: Stop this.deb /.mdk /.whatever-distribution madness and stick to the LSB or some such Linux standard... or at least auto-detect distribution and run appropriate script / install appropriate architecture files
8: Curses interface for console (wouldn't "red-console" be nice?!?)
9: Require packages to properly handle gnome/kde/etc. menus (Hey... even *windows* lets you *find* the stuff you install!!!)
10: Be able to read and manipulate the packages installed on a system, when you've booted from a rescue disk (this is probably most important... booting off a rescue, then chroot'ing isn't always enough to get at the package databases, var directories, etc. db and other dependancies that RPM itself uses need to be *statically linked into RPM* so you can use it on a nearly-dead system.)
11: Handle -bb and --rebuild better: 11a: if you download a src.rpm file, and need to rebuild with a modified spec, you practically have to rebuild the src.rpm with the.spec edits. 11b: Same for a tar.gz file with a spec in it... Edit the spec, re-tar the files. 11c: Enforce proper.tar.gz filenames... it's quite common to find the tar filename different from what the.spec expects. Create a way to double-check the correctness of the spec 11d: Auto-move/copy the tar.gz to/RPM/SOURCE...I always do a build on a tar.gz and it says it can't find the tar.gz in/RPM/SOURCE! Well, heck, use the one I'm rebuilding and *move* it there!
Ok, so hope these will help. I know they'd certainly help me!
I'd love to see a kernel release with *complete* help and descriptions in the "make Menuconfig" system.
It's trivial to power users, but you've got to remember that a "serious" Linux newbie will get a lot of knowledge by playing with, and compiling, new kernels.
To truly understand what each feature does, the first place they usually look is in the "Help" button in Menuconfig. Not in the Readme's, and certainly not in the code.
If we actually make these help screens useful, and a little less condescending ("If you don't know what this does, say N here") we'd make the learning curve less steep.
It would also be nice to see a little more grouping by functionality. USB is a good example... it's a logical grouping by type of device. Perhaps though, USB, PCMCIA, etc. could be under "Removable hardware" (again, for the newbie and for ease of use) while network shaping could be under just that, and shaping/drivers/network file systems, etc. could all be under "network".
Trivial to you and I, but really important to the one group of people who count most: Future power users.
Cool! As a Canadian Geek now in NZ, and working for the incumbent telco, I'm going to try and get some of the guys interested! I'm sure some of the people from the big incumbent ISPs will want to help too! Hey, maybe we can have our own little country-wide internet! Anyone want to help? dszego@mindslip.com or 025419512....let me know who I need to write a petition to!
Using 2.(2, 4, 5).anything, and two different Abit RAID motherboards with either a Highpoint 370 or 372 chip, and either ReiserFS or Ext3, all I've had is endless hassles, data corruption, data loss, unrestorable boots, unmountable RAID arrays (both 1+0 and 5), an endless cycle of mkraid --dangerous-no-resync, mkraid --really-force, etc. etc. and of course, the obligatory restore-from-tape. Not to mention the endless VIA hassles with DMA, hd timeouts, and now, trying to restore, osst drivers dying and panicking where they once worked....I think the extent of it is RAID and IDE don't work reliably on Linux. I'm *completely* losing my faith in it. OSST (OnStream tape drives) are no longer supported (the old ones haven't been updated since mid 2001), and Linux in general is starting to become more hassle than it's worth for serious use.
I would have *loved* to see a 16:9ish format screen on this, like on their Picturebook. I've run my screens in a similar mode lately, by using panning, and I find it's amazingly useful. It has a much more "desktop and paper" like feel to it. Great for movies too (well, without the panning...)
Otherwise, this looks sweet... but what's that "c: 10gb, d: 10gb" thing they mention in the specs?;->
Why doesn't Bushwhacker just ban imports to the US? (Services as well as tangibles).
Sure, keep exports going out... The world desparately needs the US to survive, but surely the US is beyond needing anything from the outside world? They barely even know one exists!
This way, no one could violate US laws outside of the US. Better yet, the US could bully the UN into passing resolutions that enforce US laws globally!
Download the linux-2.4.18-WOLK3.x-fullkernel.tar.bz2 file into/usr/src
type:
tar jxvf linux...whatever...tar.bz2
to unzip it
type:
mv linux-2.4.18-WOLKwhatever linux
to rename the directory it creates to "linux", so other stuff you might build can use it.
type:
cd linux make menuconfig dep bzImage modules modules_install
Play with all the features! Make sure in the first menu item, you enable "experimental features".
Then if you don't die with an "error 1" or something similar, run Linuxconf, goto
Boot --> Lilo --> Add a kernel I've just compiled
and play!
Whatever you do, MAKE SURE you don't overwrite your current (*working*!) lilo/kernel entry! Use a different name.
I've relied on WOLK for a lot of neat drivers and speed/reliability fixes I just can't get if I try and patch the bare kernel myself.
WOLK is the most valuable project out there to the enterprise... it *REALLY* makes Linux kick butt when it comes to server-room type hardware. Hats off to everyone involved.
It would seem the posts (other than the typical troll/spam) completely miss the meaning of the book. Much like one of his previous masterpieces (I think *very* highly of the philosophical teachings of Clarke), "Childhood's End", "2001: A Space Odyssey" used technology only as a subtext.
The fact that the environment of 2001 includes a world where computers are "intelligent" is only presented to illustrate the evolution not only of Humans, but as Humans-As-Gods.
The two most important scenes in the movie (which by the way are *far* more insightful in the book, as almost all book-to-movie translations are) are the following:
In the opening chapter, "The Dawn Of Man", an ape looks upon a pile of armadillo bones. This is nothing new, but the ape has something happen to him that has never happened before in the history of the Earth: The ape has an insight.
Picking up a bone, it flops in his wrist and hits some others. The ape picks it up again, and instead of it flopping by accident, he *lets* it flop in his wrist, seeing it hit the other bones and making them jump. This was a beautiful literary demonstration of the spark of intelligence happening in an otherwise "merely-sentient" being.
A few scenes later, in a triumph of the knowledge and abilities gained by discovering this new tool, and indeed, the ability to use tools at all, an ape after winning a fight for terratory hurls the weapon used (the bone) into the air. The camera pans up slowly with the rising bone, and pans back down with the falling spacecraft as it floats in space.
The beautiful imagination of Clarke and the wonderful cinematography of Kubrick, without even so much as dialogue, make a startling presentation of how from a tiny spark of insight, and a *lot* of time, Human Beings have evolved to the point where they are able to move even beyond their own world.
The final scene ("Jupiter, and Beyond the Infinite"), that of Cmdr. Dave Bowman in a white room, completes the progression of evolution as Clarke intended to explain it in his book:
Bowman, an evolved ape, a Human Being capable of venturing out beyond his own world, finds himself in the realm of his own mind, and his own existance. He observes himself, as if "out-of-body", locked in a space pod. Turning to look elsewhere, he finds himself an older man sitting eating dinner. Becoming that older man, and turning to look elsewhere, he finds himself a very old man laying in a bed. Becoming that old man and looking up from his bed, he finds the Monolith, representative of a God, or "creator-being", seeming to watch over him.
Then, from the Monoliths point of view, or perhaps it could be explained as becoming the Monolith, becoming that God-Creator-Being which Clarke seems to imply is the final destiny of Human evolution, he sees himself as an embryo, but not the embryo of a Human Being, rather, a "Starchild" as the book (and sequel movie, "2010: The Year We Make Contact") calls it.
This Starchild is the evolution of Humanity. *THIS* is what the book (much like "Childhood's End") is about: The evolution of Humanity from merely physically aware ape, to intelligent Human Being, able to take control of the world around him, to God-like Creator-Being, existing in a metaphysical sense, and evolved beyond the physical. Indeed, "Beyond the Infinite", as the chapter is called.
Clarke's startlingly insightful book, indeed his whole philosophy and dream of Humanity's potential, is not at all about technology. It's not at all about Artificial Intelligence, nor about computers becoming sentient. It's about *HUMANS* becoming sentient. It's about Human Beings evolving beyond the physical limitations of merely "in the image of Him" to a being not of body but of energy and an ability beyond our comprehension.
Much like the statement "Created in the image of God" would imply "Created with the abilities and the potential of God", much like the irrefutable knowledge that Humans pass their abilities, their weaknesses, and their potential on genetically from generation to generation, each generation becoming stronger and more knowledgeable by the rules of self-preservation (in a Darwinian and genetic sense), Clarke's stories and philosophies are about evolving further towards that which created Us, to the destiny of becoming that which can Create.
Technology (those of AI, space travel, genetic research, cloning, destruction, and healing) is merely one of the tools we have been given the insight and intelligence to develop along our evolutionary path.
Easy. When you feel that this is not something you want on *YOUR* web site. Use your common sense, your personal morals and values, and stand up for what you believe in.
But, be fair and honest about it. State that this message has been edited, and tell the author *why*.
It's your wall. What grafitti do you want written on it?
I run a one-man-show which is incorporated for my protection, and of course, tax purposes.
The articles of incorporation (Canadian law, BTW) clearly state that in the event of a bankruptcy, or similar, all money oweing to directors of the company (me), will be paid in full before other debitors.
So, technically, if I declare bankruptcy, I could state that the company owes me $xxx,xxx.xx and hand over the company assets to myself personally, leaving nothing for the debitors.
IANAL, but I think I've got a good one! =-)
Does anyone use something similar, and has anyone had any personal experience putting similar rules into force? I'd really love to know what sort of a leg I have to stand on. Stuff in writing is only worth the paper it's printed on until you test it!
If you can't afford the chrome one, you're not really making it in the Geekdom industry.
mindslip.
Class action lawsuit against RIAA
on
Launchcast Sued
·
· Score: 1
Here's an idea...
As a child, I was pressured by the media, radio and music in particular, to consider certain types of music "cool". I had John and Simon plastered on my wall, and anyone who didn't was an outcast in school and made to feel like there was something wrong with them.
As a young adult, I felt bombarded by music I didn't want to hear... Commercials using current "hits", radios blaring everwhere, in stores, on the street, from peoples walkmans, while I was trying to read and study. It got in the way of my grades and of my personal growth/time alone.
As an adult, I am now subjected to media that caters (still) to a younger crowd, and so I can see it for what it is... a peer-pressure creating system of mass hypnosis. The music industry has been using more and more sophisticated techniques, such as "manufactured" bands and more invasive/pervasive band-brand merchandising to alter the beliefs of young people.
Even such movements as Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign has been derailed by the creation of "Gangsta Rap", a horrible twisting of an otherwise interesting form of poetry. Children are becoming suicidal and violent because the music industry is becoming less and less concerned with "musical talent" and more and more concerned with creating a system of merchandising that will reap (and rape) the greatest profits from children today. Children don't read books, they watch MTV/MuchMusic/VH1/etc. They walk around with earphones everywhere instead of particupating in conversation. They can no longer understand even the simplest Shakespear passage, but can recite hundreds of lyrics.
As someone who survived the teenage years and the huge pressures of the media, I urge all of you who have felt the same control forced upon them to gather together and bring a class action lawsuit on the RIAA and music industry. They are no different than the cancer-pushing tobacco companies, and need to be dealt with! They are sapping the minds (and money) of our young people and replacing them with drivel which they base their moral foundations on.
Parents, especially, raise your voices against the forces which aim to derail your teachings as a parent! Join the effort as a concerned group and bring back the talent which was once present in music, from the Classical era to the Beatles, and even through the 80's, only to be replaced by a marketing system which manufactures jingles, not music!
I say we all revolt, boycott the big music labels, support indie records and world music, and end the control once and for all before the entire population becomes mindless drones.
Just purchased a JVC XM-EX90, which is a little bookshelf-add-on Minidisc recorder unit, it's as high as a minidisc is wide, 7 3/4" wide, and 11 1/2" deep... fits *perfectly* on my computer desk's little side shelf bit.
I've got a 6' Monster Digital TOSLink cable going to my 'puter, and the remote control that comes with the recorder has a built-in QWERTY keyboard for titling.
The 'puter has an 80gb RAID array with my entire CD collection ripped at VBR using GoGo. I was on the RIMPS team (check sourceforge for a copy), so I use that as my web interface to do the jukeboxing / streaming.
Cost:
'puter: You already have it. DOesn't count.
Minidisc recorder: $199 CDN
Long cable: $50 CDN
Minidisc blanks: $4 CDN
(in any Chinatown) for 74
minutes of storage
Sony MZ-F40 AM/FM Player: $199 CDN
Total: Under $500 CDN!
Still sounds a *heck* of a lot cheaper than MP3, doesn't it!
Slashdot Mirror
Hi!
Great timing on your question. I just wrote SiteBar, which is a very convienent, low-demand server based bookmark organizer.
The nicest bit, is it's made to run in the Mozilla/Netscape Sidebar, but can just as easily be run in a main window.
Looks just like your bookmark folder. I'm working on a Mozilla importer, so stay tuned.
Sign up to use mine at:
http://www.mindslip.org/sitebar
or go get it at:
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/sitebar
Hope it's as addicting to you as it is to me.
mindslip
I think the 2 above are both excellent, Taper for the less demanding environment, BUpEdge for a system with multiple drives.
/var/squid) instead of just simply skipping that directory.
I'm actually doing a 100gb backup as we speak... so good timing on the Ask Slashdot.
My only beef with Taper (and I'd use it otherwise, on my home system) is that when you do an "e"xclude or "i"nclude of a directory, it scans the entire subtree, which can take *forever*, (like when excluding
mindslip
I've been going to "Freddie's" (Active Surplus for the uninitiated) since I was about 5. I'm now 28. Freddie was one of a big handful of electronics surplus stores in the late 70's/early 80's on what is now a *much* different Queen St. West strip. The earliest computer stores in Toronto were all on Queen St, from McCaul (by the City TV building) to Bathurst, about a kilometer over.
Freddie always (and still does) specialized in surplus junk, but the store used to be divided half-and-half with a double-door sized entranceway between them. One half, resistors, capacitors, all neatly sorted in cardboard bins (as they are today), and random electronic type junk. The other half, power tools, sheetmetal stuff, mechanical junk of all sorts. Nowadays it's mostly resistors, caps, discreet parts, and bizarre job lots of strange old electronic throwaways. You think it's interesting now? Try a quarter century ago!
Anyways, along with Freddie, there was Jackson, who I only knew as such (my Dad would know his full name, I was like 5-10 yrs old), who had a huge shop on McCaul St, a bit bigger than the electronics side of Freddies, but more oriented to complete bits of electronic junk, rather than discreet parts. He closed down late 80's if I recall, and I think he's somewhere in Vancouver now.
Electronics surplus wasn't the only game in Toronto in the 70's though. My Dad was one of the first people to bring in Apple ][+ clone motherboards, with an outfit called Aftek, which was on Queen more towards the Bathurst side. Nazir, the character behind Aftek, had his guys physically trace an Apple motherboard, with pencil and tracing paper, and with parts from Active Surplus, Dad and I soldered the chip sockets and resistors by hand in our basement.
I was still in the single digits at the time, and even before that, at 4 1/2, we had built a ZX81 kit which was bought from Active Electronics (not Active Surplus), about 10 doors east of Freddies.
That whole stretch of Queen was the introduction of personal computers to Toronto, and probably in a large way, to Canada. From East to West, Active Electronics, "Joe", who ran Perfect Electronics (I think it was called that... it's still there, but it's now a PC white-box and accessory shop), Active Surplus, albeit slightly changed but with the same guys behind the counter, Aftek, long gone although Nazir is still a friend of the family and still in computers, and then "Albert's", or "Supremetronics". He was at the corner of Spadina and Queen, and stuck it out for the longest time, I think he was nearly 70 when he closed up shop a few years ago.
I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy of all this... I was so young it's all blurry memories and urban legends to me now.
There's no more hand-soldering of basement-etched cloned motherboards, but that stretch of Queen St., and a bunch of guys who *loved* collecting junk (you should see my Dad's garage and basement!), and had a real passion for these "new computer things", introduced a big city to a big industry.
They were the pioneers of gadgetry in Toronto, and a big bunch of idols and friends in my childhood.
Internationally renowned fashion guru "mindslip", whose long history of avoiding being a walking billboard has often earned him the (non-fashionable) "label" of "Geek", has announced that he has never before, and now decidedly never *will*, wear Benetton.
mindslip
I used to *really* love the THX theatres that had just been built, when THX was a new thing in the audio world. They sounded absolutely amazing.
Now, they sound overcranked and rattle-ridden, and the high-freq. earpiercing harmonics are almost overpowered by the blurred tone-less bass.
You show me a "100", "1000", or any "THX" certified pair of cheap little plastic speakers, and I'll show you what burning coils smell like when I pump them with my teensie-weensie 30 watt tube amp! (or even my 8-watt one!)
Feh. Audio *indeed*. I'm in the wrong business... I need to start selling misinformation to fools.
mindslip
1: Auto-xsu when trying to install/remove/update (such as the way red-carpet does)
.deb / .mdk / .whatever-distribution madness and stick to the LSB or some such Linux standard... or at least auto-detect distribution and run appropriate script / install appropriate architecture files
.spec edits. .tar.gz filenames... it's quite common to find the tar filename different from what the .spec expects. Create a way to double-check the correctness of the spec /RPM/SOURCE ...I always do a build on a tar.gz and it says it can't find the tar.gz in /RPM/SOURCE! Well, heck, use the one I'm rebuilding and *move* it there!
2: Auto-get dependancies off popular mirrors (like fr2.rpmfind.net which is far more up to date than www.rpmfind.net)
3: Be able to list "--forced" and "--nodeps" packages, and remove / update / update dependancies of just those packages (i.e. clean up your system)
4: Be able to list (-qa) with wildcards instead of having to -qa | grep whatever
5: Standardize and *enforce* some sort of package topic structure, say based on Freshmeat's or Sourceforge's
6: Be able to uninstall en-masse, any packages with no dependancies (i.e. clean up unused libraries, etc.)
7: Stop this
8: Curses interface for console (wouldn't "red-console" be nice?!?)
9: Require packages to properly handle gnome/kde/etc. menus (Hey... even *windows* lets you *find* the stuff you install!!!)
10: Be able to read and manipulate the packages installed on a system, when you've booted from a rescue disk (this is probably most important... booting off a rescue, then chroot'ing isn't always enough to get at the package databases, var directories, etc. db and other dependancies that RPM itself uses need to be *statically linked into RPM* so you can use it on a nearly-dead system.)
11: Handle -bb and --rebuild better:
11a: if you download a src.rpm file, and need to rebuild with a modified spec, you practically have to rebuild the src.rpm with the
11b: Same for a tar.gz file with a spec in it... Edit the spec, re-tar the files.
11c: Enforce proper
11d: Auto-move/copy the tar.gz to
Ok, so hope these will help. I know they'd certainly help me!
mindslip
I'd love to see a kernel release with *complete* help and descriptions in the "make Menuconfig" system.
It's trivial to power users, but you've got to remember that a "serious" Linux newbie will get a lot of knowledge by playing with, and compiling, new kernels.
To truly understand what each feature does, the first place they usually look is in the "Help" button in Menuconfig. Not in the Readme's, and certainly not in the code.
If we actually make these help screens useful, and a little less condescending ("If you don't know what this does, say N here") we'd make the learning curve less steep.
It would also be nice to see a little more grouping by functionality. USB is a good example... it's a logical grouping by type of device. Perhaps though, USB, PCMCIA, etc. could be under "Removable hardware" (again, for the newbie and for ease of use) while network shaping could be under just that, and shaping/drivers/network file systems, etc. could all be under "network".
Trivial to you and I, but really important to the one group of people who count most: Future power users.
mindslip.
Cool! ....let me know who I need to write a petition to!
As a Canadian Geek now in NZ, and working for the incumbent telco, I'm going to try and get some of the guys interested! I'm sure some of the people from the big incumbent ISPs will want to help too! Hey, maybe we can have our own little country-wide internet!
Anyone want to help? dszego@mindslip.com or 025419512
mindslip
Using 2.(2, 4, 5).anything, and two different Abit RAID motherboards with either a Highpoint 370 or 372 chip, and either ReiserFS or Ext3, all I've had is endless hassles, data corruption, data loss, unrestorable boots, unmountable RAID arrays (both 1+0 and 5), an endless cycle of mkraid --dangerous-no-resync, mkraid --really-force, etc. etc. and of course, the obligatory restore-from-tape. Not to mention the endless VIA hassles with DMA, hd timeouts, and now, trying to restore, osst drivers dying and panicking where they once worked. ...I think the extent of it is RAID and IDE don't work reliably on Linux. I'm *completely* losing my faith in it. OSST (OnStream tape drives) are no longer supported (the old ones haven't been updated since mid 2001), and Linux in general is starting to become more hassle than it's worth for serious use.
I would have *loved* to see a 16:9ish format screen on this, like on their Picturebook. I've run my screens in a similar mode lately, by using panning, and I find it's amazingly useful. It has a much more "desktop and paper" like feel to it. Great for movies too (well, without the panning...)
;->
Otherwise, this looks sweet... but what's that "c: 10gb, d: 10gb" thing they mention in the specs?
mindslip
Why doesn't Bushwhacker just ban imports to the US? (Services as well as tangibles).
Sure, keep exports going out... The world desparately needs the US to survive, but surely the US is beyond needing anything from the outside world? They barely even know one exists!
This way, no one could violate US laws outside of the US. Better yet, the US could bully the UN into passing resolutions that enforce US laws globally!
mindslip
Download the linux-2.4.18-WOLK3.x-fullkernel.tar.bz2 file into /usr/src
type:
tar jxvf linux...whatever...tar.bz2
to unzip it
type:
mv linux-2.4.18-WOLKwhatever linux
to rename the directory it creates to "linux", so other stuff you might build can use it.
type:
cd linux
make menuconfig dep bzImage modules modules_install
Play with all the features! Make sure in the first menu item, you enable "experimental features".
Then if you don't die with an "error 1" or something similar, run Linuxconf, goto
Boot --> Lilo --> Add a kernel I've just compiled
and play!
Whatever you do, MAKE SURE you don't overwrite your current (*working*!) lilo/kernel entry! Use a different name.
I've relied on WOLK for a lot of neat drivers and speed/reliability fixes I just can't get if I try and patch the bare kernel myself.
WOLK is the most valuable project out there to the enterprise... it *REALLY* makes Linux kick butt when it comes to server-room type hardware. Hats off to everyone involved.
mindslip
Has anyone got this as one big file?
I'd LOVE to put this on Video CD and show it to a bunch of people...
mindslip
It would seem the posts (other than the typical troll/spam) completely miss the meaning of the book. Much like one of his previous masterpieces (I think *very* highly of the philosophical teachings of Clarke), "Childhood's End", "2001: A Space Odyssey" used technology only as a subtext.
The fact that the environment of 2001 includes a world where computers are "intelligent" is only presented to illustrate the evolution not only of Humans, but as Humans-As-Gods.
The two most important scenes in the movie (which by the way are *far* more insightful in the book, as almost all book-to-movie translations are) are the following:
In the opening chapter, "The Dawn Of Man", an ape looks upon a pile of armadillo bones. This is nothing new, but the ape has something happen to him that has never happened before in the history of the Earth: The ape has an insight.
Picking up a bone, it flops in his wrist and hits some others. The ape picks it up again, and instead of it flopping by accident, he *lets* it flop in his wrist, seeing it hit the other bones and making them jump. This was a beautiful literary demonstration of the spark of intelligence happening in an otherwise "merely-sentient" being.
A few scenes later, in a triumph of the knowledge and abilities gained by discovering this new tool, and indeed, the ability to use tools at all, an ape after winning a fight for terratory hurls the weapon used (the bone) into the air. The camera pans up slowly with the rising bone, and pans back down with the falling spacecraft as it floats in space.
The beautiful imagination of Clarke and the wonderful cinematography of Kubrick, without even so much as dialogue, make a startling presentation of how from a tiny spark of insight, and a *lot* of time, Human Beings have evolved to the point where they are able to move even beyond their own world.
The final scene ("Jupiter, and Beyond the Infinite"), that of Cmdr. Dave Bowman in a white room, completes the progression of evolution as Clarke intended to explain it in his book:
Bowman, an evolved ape, a Human Being capable of venturing out beyond his own world, finds himself in the realm of his own mind, and his own existance. He observes himself, as if "out-of-body", locked in a space pod. Turning to look elsewhere, he finds himself an older man sitting eating dinner. Becoming that older man, and turning to look elsewhere, he finds himself a very old man laying in a bed. Becoming that old man and looking up from his bed, he finds the Monolith, representative of a God, or "creator-being", seeming to watch over him.
Then, from the Monoliths point of view, or perhaps it could be explained as becoming the Monolith, becoming that God-Creator-Being which Clarke seems to imply is the final destiny of Human evolution, he sees himself as an embryo, but not the embryo of a Human Being, rather, a "Starchild" as the book (and sequel movie, "2010: The Year We Make Contact") calls it.
This Starchild is the evolution of Humanity. *THIS* is what the book (much like "Childhood's End") is about: The evolution of Humanity from merely physically aware ape, to intelligent Human Being, able to take control of the world around him, to God-like Creator-Being, existing in a metaphysical sense, and evolved beyond the physical. Indeed, "Beyond the Infinite", as the chapter is called.
Clarke's startlingly insightful book, indeed his whole philosophy and dream of Humanity's potential, is not at all about technology. It's not at all about Artificial Intelligence, nor about computers becoming sentient. It's about *HUMANS* becoming sentient. It's about Human Beings evolving beyond the physical limitations of merely "in the image of Him" to a being not of body but of energy and an ability beyond our comprehension.
Much like the statement "Created in the image of God" would imply "Created with the abilities and the potential of God", much like the irrefutable knowledge that Humans pass their abilities, their weaknesses, and their potential on genetically from generation to generation, each generation becoming stronger and more knowledgeable by the rules of self-preservation (in a Darwinian and genetic sense), Clarke's stories and philosophies are about evolving further towards that which created Us, to the destiny of becoming that which can Create.
Technology (those of AI, space travel, genetic research, cloning, destruction, and healing) is merely one of the tools we have been given the insight and intelligence to develop along our evolutionary path.
mindslip.
When *SHOULD* you?
Easy. When you feel that this is not something you want on *YOUR* web site. Use your common sense, your personal morals and values, and stand up for what you believe in.
But, be fair and honest about it. State that this message has been edited, and tell the author *why*.
It's your wall. What grafitti do you want written on it?
mindslip
I run a one-man-show which is incorporated for my protection, and of course, tax purposes.
The articles of incorporation (Canadian law, BTW) clearly state that in the event of a bankruptcy, or similar, all money oweing to directors of the company (me), will be paid in full before other debitors.
So, technically, if I declare bankruptcy, I could state that the company owes me $xxx,xxx.xx and hand over the company assets to myself personally, leaving nothing for the debitors.
IANAL, but I think I've got a good one! =-)
Does anyone use something similar, and has anyone had any personal experience putting similar rules into force? I'd really love to know what sort of a leg I have to stand on. Stuff in writing is only worth the paper it's printed on until you test it!
mindslip
Ah. Seems he got confused. This is his 7pm gig.
Sorry!
mindslip
He says he doesn't even know about this gig!
mindslip
www.boblbee.com
If you can't afford the chrome one, you're not really making it in the Geekdom industry.
mindslip.
Here's an idea...
As a child, I was pressured by the media, radio and music in particular, to consider certain types of music "cool". I had John and Simon plastered on my wall, and anyone who didn't was an outcast in school and made to feel like there was something wrong with them.
As a young adult, I felt bombarded by music I didn't want to hear... Commercials using current "hits", radios blaring everwhere, in stores, on the street, from peoples walkmans, while I was trying to read and study. It got in the way of my grades and of my personal growth/time alone.
As an adult, I am now subjected to media that caters (still) to a younger crowd, and so I can see it for what it is... a peer-pressure creating system of mass hypnosis. The music industry has been using more and more sophisticated techniques, such as "manufactured" bands and more invasive/pervasive band-brand merchandising to alter the beliefs of young people.
Even such movements as Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign has been derailed by the creation of "Gangsta Rap", a horrible twisting of an otherwise interesting form of poetry. Children are becoming suicidal and violent because the music industry is becoming less and less concerned with "musical talent" and more and more concerned with creating a system of merchandising that will reap (and rape) the greatest profits from children today. Children don't read books, they watch MTV/MuchMusic/VH1/etc. They walk around with earphones everywhere instead of particupating in conversation. They can no longer understand even the simplest Shakespear passage, but can recite hundreds of lyrics.
As someone who survived the teenage years and the huge pressures of the media, I urge all of you who have felt the same control forced upon them to gather together and bring a class action lawsuit on the RIAA and music industry. They are no different than the cancer-pushing tobacco companies, and need to be dealt with! They are sapping the minds (and money) of our young people and replacing them with drivel which they base their moral foundations on.
Parents, especially, raise your voices against the forces which aim to derail your teachings as a parent! Join the effort as a concerned group and bring back the talent which was once present in music, from the Classical era to the Beatles, and even through the 80's, only to be replaced by a marketing system which manufactures jingles, not music!
I say we all revolt, boycott the big music labels, support indie records and world music, and end the control once and for all before the entire population becomes mindless drones.
mindslip
Just purchased a JVC XM-EX90, which is a little bookshelf-add-on Minidisc recorder unit, it's as high as a minidisc is wide, 7 3/4" wide, and 11 1/2" deep... fits *perfectly* on my computer desk's little side shelf bit.
I've got a 6' Monster Digital TOSLink cable going to my 'puter, and the remote control that comes with the recorder has a built-in QWERTY keyboard for titling.
The 'puter has an 80gb RAID array with my entire CD collection ripped at VBR using GoGo. I was on the RIMPS team (check sourceforge for a copy), so I use that as my web interface to do the jukeboxing / streaming.
Cost:
'puter: You already have it. DOesn't count.
Minidisc recorder: $199 CDN
Long cable: $50 CDN
Minidisc blanks: $4 CDN
(in any Chinatown) for 74
minutes of storage
Sony MZ-F40 AM/FM Player: $199 CDN
Total: Under $500 CDN!
Still sounds a *heck* of a lot cheaper than MP3, doesn't it!
mindslip
I think this is a great idea!
Seeing as IE hardly runs in anything that can be called an OS, you'd have to put an OS *somewhere*, so why not in IE?
Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?
mindslip
...we're moving to that come the beginning of the year. We can already dial it, it's not yet mandatory though.
I don't know a single person who thinks this is any sort of "big deal".
(Oh my god, I have to remember what area code he's in and press 3 more buttons!)
Get with the times, amerika, and stop being so digitally lazy (both finger and law, come to think of it!)
mindslip
Please note that we have linked the article "Iridium Saved?" in error. It should go to:
At Last, Mir to be Ditched
In fact, Mir has yet again been saved, and Iridium has once again been ditched.
Slashdot apologizes for continuously reporting the news before happens on these two issues.
Please note that we have linked the article "At Last, Mir to be Ditched" in error. It should go to:
Iridium Saved?
In fact, Mir has yet again been saved, and Iridium has once again been ditched.
Slashdot apologizes for continuously reporting the news before happens on these two issues.