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User: tie_guy_matt

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  1. Re:Debian on X.Org 6.8.2 is Out · · Score: 1

    That's great! You have found the right distro for you -- I would suggest that you use debian from now on then!!! Having lot's of linux distro's is a strength of linux, but it is also a double edged sword. One of the down sides is that we sometimes end up with flame wars because some people can't stand the fact that everyone doesn't use the same distro they do. I am actively trying to avoid that sort of thing right now.

  2. Re:Debian on X.Org 6.8.2 is Out · · Score: 1

    I love debian. Debian is an insanely stable linux distro. If my life depended on not having my system crash then debian stable would be one of the only ways to go (even debian unstable seems more stable than most OS's.) However if you want a distro that has all of the latest and greatest packages I would suggest going elsewhere. If one distro doesn't meet your needs try another -- that is one of the things that makes linux great. Maybe try gentoo or redhat or whatever. Again this is not a slam against debian. All the distros have different goals and are made for different people. I really wouldn't say one is better than the other; it is just that one may be better at a particular application than another might be. If your application involves having all of the latests packages then debian is not the best distro for you.

  3. Historic consoles on Atari 2600 Mac Mod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't think moding historic computers/consoles is a good idea. Now they are just old and kindof cool, but in several years they will be truly historic and of great value. When most 2600s will be greatly increasing in value the modded ones will be worth much less. After all by then a G5 running Mac OSX won't really be that great. I guess it is ok to do the mod as long as you don't damage the original console and can bring it back to the original condition. But people please don't destroy antique or very soon to be valuable antique hardware. I'd rather see it restored to the way it was brand new in the 70's and 80's!

  4. Re:"Consumers?"? on 4 Linux Distros Compared To Win XP, Mac OS X · · Score: 1

    You wouldn't want us to drag you down to our level. If the rest of the world started using American English then: the letter u would be taken out of colour, people would use double quotes when they should use single quotes, and then it wouldn't be long until the entire world explodes!!

    I think that many of our changes were added after the revolutionary war in order to set us apart from the British and to give us a new sense of national identity -- funny that people are now proudly using British English to set them apart from America.

  5. Re:Learning It? on How Not to Write FORTRAN in Any Language · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Fortran has been dieing longer than BSD has. People still write code in it, people still learn it as their first language, and there are millions of huge bug free programs that still need to be kept up to date. As many people have pointed out here, there are lots of virtues to Fortran 90 that make it worth using over other languages for certian applications. Fortran has made its way into the woodwork and it is here to stay!

  6. Re:Summer? on Build Your Own BSD Beer Brewing Control System · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not just US centered. Face it most of the Earth's land mass -- and therefore most of the human population, live in the Northern hemisphere where it is the dead of winter right now. Not that being in the Southern hemisphere, and therefore being different is a bad thing; IMO being different is good!

  7. look at 30 year old predictions! on Engineered Enhancers Closer Than You Think · · Score: 1

    By 2004 we will all have nuclear cars, and electricity will be too cheap to meter. Computers? They will always be big and expensive. Yes I am sure they will be faster and better but they will still mostly be used by banks.

    In 30 years things many things that we think will happen probably won't and something will probably come out of no where that will change our lives in ways we can't imagine. No one can really predict the future. The only thing I will predict is that people will still be people and we will still have death and taxes (well taxes at least.)

  8. Re:Smart toilet. on The Japanese/American Tech Deficit · · Score: 1

    Is it me or are the best toilets the ones made many years ago? I hate those water saver jobs that always clog and take many flushes to get everything to go away. My house was built in 1953 (good american post war construction they didn't just use pieces of wood -- they used entire trees! I guess they were concerned with houses lasting through a nuclear war or something) and the original toilets are awesome!! I suppose that I should be more concerned about water usage but I live in Maryland where water is insanely cheap. Anyway you can ... um ... eat whatever you want and it doesn't matter how much TP you use everything always goes in the correct direction. I will never give up my niagara falls inspired bathroom! Don't get my started on the sinks and bathtubs. Fiber glass? You call that a tub?

  9. Re:How does this work? on Thin CRTs to Challenge LCDs in 2005 · · Score: 1

    If the beams are deflected at a higher angle does that mean they have to set up an extremely large magnetic field (or at least fields that are much higher than a normal tv.) Would it be bad to leave your credit card or hard drive near these puppies? I suppose they could simply have more than one electron gun. A 5" CRT screen wouldn't have to be that deep; Could they basically make a 20" screen be combining 16 5" screens (and having 16 guns)? Of course that would mean that a field set up to deflect one beam might interfere with the path of another. I guess they would just have to program a computer that always calculates the optimum field in the tube to make all the beams fly in the correct direction. No technical information on the web sites so I guess there is no way of knowing how they do it.

  10. Don't forget who perfected them. on Happy 100th To The Vacuum Tube · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes vacuum tubes were invented 100 years ago, but it wasn't until much later that Howard Armstrong perfected them such that they could be used as amplifiers. I think he was certainly an un-sung hero. He perfected the vacuum tube, then he invented the super hederodyne circuit used in modern AM radios. Later he go so upset at the static and poor quality of AM that he turned around and invented FM. A great story with a tragic ending -- he ended up killing himself by jumping out of a tall building. This is of course after years of patent battles with RCA (the microsoft of their day.)

  11. philips dvp642 on How Do You Handle Home Media? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Evil, evil Wal-mart has the philips dvp642 for like $80 or less. It is a dvd player that plays divx and a million other formats. I can fit 9 hours or so of reasonable quality mpeg4 (divx) video on a dvd-rom. At 9 hours a disk it isn't the best quality but it is good enough to get 18 episodes of teletubies and boohbah on a disk -- which keeps my 7 month old happy for quite a long time :^) Certainly the cheapest way to go especially if you need a new dvd player anyway.

  12. Import Zausrus on Sharp Plans To Pull Zaurus From U.S. Market · · Score: 1

    Looks like ALL of the sharp PDAs are only coming out in japan, not just the coolest ones. Does anyone know of vendors that are selling import sharps in the U.S. I really wanted the SL-5600 or 6000 but one of those clam shell pocket laptops would be even better!

  13. philips dvp642 on Cheap DivX Solution For Your Entertainment Center · · Score: 2, Informative

    I love my philips dvd/divx player. It is a pretty good stand alone dvd player but it plays a million other formats too. The only problem is that mine has trouble playing divx4 movies. In mencoder instead of using vcodec=mpeg4 I have to use vcodec=msmpeg4 (divx 3.) Divx3 is nice (alot better than mpeg2) but when I play with divx 4 I see that it has higher quality at lower bitrates. If anyone has gotten their philips player to play divx4 movies I would be interested to know.

  14. Re:Except where I live... on Vehicles of Tomorrow? · · Score: 1

    Where I live (Baltimore and the suburbs of Washington DC) it seems the people jumping in front of you are often doing the "Office Space" thing and will usually pick another lane as soon as your lane begins moving slowly. Besides, I would rather be late for work than to deal with the stress involved with following people too close. You really have to be on your toes to tailgate someone and if you are paying attention for a second you end up hitting the person in front of you. I honestly don't know why people do it.

    Relax! If that person wants to try and get himself killed saving a few minutes in his commute then let him. If you have to go to the far right lane and drive like a little old lady. Buy a comfortable car and get some tunes that you like. You will get there eventually. If your boss doesn't cut you some slack for having to drive through an area with bad traffic, start looking for a new job! There is nothing you can do about it so it really isn't worth getting stressed about.

  15. Re:Just one small request on Vehicles of Tomorrow? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe the problem isn't drivers who are dumbed down, maybe the problem is drivers that are too aggressive. I had a car with ABS for several years and the only time the ABS would ever turn on was in the snow and ice. When I drive cars without ABS I really almost never need to pump the brakes because I almost never have to slam the brakes hard enough to get them to lock.

    The trick is to leave plenty of room between you and the car in front of you. It might also help if you don't drive that much faster than the posted speed limit. In this way if the car in front of you suddenly stops you have plenty of time to react and to stop the car. I realize that this may burn a few precious seconds from your life but in the end it may allow you to live longer.

    I am just saying that in normal driving (even in rush hour traffic) if you have to slam the brakes hard enough to get them to lock more than a few time per year maybe the problem isn't with the car, or with other drivers, maybe the problem is with you!

  16. Buy a car from my company now! on Windows Not Expected Secure Until 2011, Says MS · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yes buy a car from me today. Look at all the great features! The controls are so easy to use! Any idiot can drive one!

    Of course we won't perfect the brakes or the air bags for another 10 years or so, but hey the seat belts work most of the time. So buy my car version "XP" now so you can get a taste of what a safe car of the future will be like

  17. stupid question: on Computer Pioneer Bob Bemer Dies · · Score: 1

    Why is ASCII so much better than EBDIC? And it was my understanding that big blue took a while to switch to ASCII. Is this true even though someone at IBM helped to invent ASCII?

  18. Sega innovates! Didn't help them much! on Nintendo's Iwata - Innovate or Die · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In the Saturn and dreamcast ereas we saw some of the most innovative and fun games ever -- Sega had to put out fun games they couldn't compete on anything else. But then Sega got crushed by nintendo and sony who were pumping out the same games we played last year but with better graphics and more advertising. To be honest I really haven't been all that interested in games since the dreamcast died and I am not surprised the industry is hurting now. I don't care what your advertising budget is or how many polygons your GPU can push yesturday's gameplay is still yesturday's game!

  19. Re:Saturn MPG?? on Hybrid Cars Don't Live Up to Mileage Claims · · Score: 1

    You have an SL2, i.e. dual overhead cam model (more power less MPG) he (And I) have an SL; Cheaper lower power (and better gas mileage) single overhead cam model. Whenever I have tested the MPG on more car (2001 Saturn SL with manual 5 spd tranny) I get about 40 MPG too.

  20. No Math? on Math And The Computer Science Major · · Score: 1

    You'll have to excuse me because me degrees are in engineering and physics, but I thought that CS WAS applied math. How can you get a degree in CS without math. No really I want to know!!! How can you do anything (in CS) without linear algebra, calculus, etc., etc. What do you end up programming?

  21. Bah! on Fifty Years of Color Television · · Score: 0, Troll

    I still say color TV is a fad!!!

  22. No more Encyclopedias? on How The Web Ruined The Encyclopedia Business · · Score: 1

    Where will middle school students go when they want to plagiarize something and pass it off as a research essay? Will they resort to writing something themselves? What is the fun in that?

  23. Re:US citizen prefered party registration on Avi Rubin's Thoughts On e-Voting · · Score: 1

    I voted for the first time in the primary. Usually I just skip the primaries and vote in the general election (as many people do judging by the number of empty spots at my polling place) but this time I wanted to try the new electronic voting machines -- and my wife wanted to make sure she was registered ok. When we got there and gave them our names they said, "Both democrats." My first thought was wait a minute that is none of your business -- but then I realized this is the primaries you are the election judge so I guess it is your business.

  24. Re:Hmmm. on Super Tuesday Not So Super For Electronic Voting · · Score: 1

    I voted in Maryland today as well. Overall, I liked how easy it was to use the machine. After you were done voting, it listed who you voted for and then asked if you really wanted to vote for these people -- no hangin chads and people voting for Buchanon instead of Gore like in florida with this thing. My wife did say that her long fingernails made it hard to touch the screen. And even though she usually doesn't give my much sympothy in my quest to rid myself of microsoft products even she was a bit uneasy that it was running windows and that there have been questions about security.

    I had heard that some machines would be taped shut and that we were going to be asked not to bring in cell phones or electronic devices. However, my machine wasn't taped shut and no one said anything about cell phones.

    So overall I found the machines interesting even if I am scared as hell someone will screw the election and noone will know.

  25. Re:My experience on Open-Source Software and "The Luxury of Ignorance" · · Score: 1

    Here Here! I guess I can't complain too hard because I don't have the time or the know how to make it any better but I compiled a complete linux from scratch distro and got everything to work just fine but NEVER got cups to work. The only thing that saved me was that when I switched to debian testing I found the gnome-cups manager software -- it made managing cups as easy as pie! The only reason why I found it was because I was trying to delete all references to cups and then reinstall it in the hopes that this might help or something.