The reason the floppy has stayed around so long is because there is NOT a widely implemented system to replace it. Sure CDR's are nice, but I mean, 640MB is quite overkill for a couple of word documents. I have TRIED to get rid of the floppy in my machine. My newest machine I just built didn't have one in it, along with some of my older systems, and I had to break down and buy one because I was finding uses for it! I hate the idea of being stuck with a floppy boot disk and not being able to use it when all other forms of booting don't work. What if my CDROM dies? I have no backup (true I have two drives... DVD and CDRW... but meh).
If I want to take say a resume over to someones house and print it out (because I don't have a printer) the easiest way is either to email them, or take a floppy if they don't have internet access (or worse... modem).
"I" have ways around using a floppy, and they are not used daily by any stretch of the imagination, but USB keys are awkword to use, especially if you don't have front mounting ports, and how many times have you lost a floppy.. and went meh.. I'll just use another one. I doubt you'll be saying that with your USB key.
CDR's could replace, but they are even slower to use I find than floppy's for total time of mounting, writing, closing and ejecting than a floppy. I'll just keep my floppy drive for another 10 years thank you very much. The only thing I can think that I might switch to would be a Zip drive or something... but that is not going to happen. What other CHEAP, re-usable yet discardable media do we have?
I think floppies are around still because they really are useful, no matter who you are. My buddy carries his resume on floppy because a good percentage of computers still have working floppy's. They may be old, but it is a technology that is still quite useful. Why doesn't someone just come up with a new standard and create something to replace the floppy that is as cheap and easy to use, yet is more reliable? I think optical discs (such as a MD (minidisc)) would be something that I would be very interested in. Something around 144 megs sounds just about right to me.
Is there a way to do kind of the same thing, but call from my computer to another computer with an IP phone attached to it? I'd love to just get rid of the phone company all together, and use the internet as my phone service. Just get all my family setup on VoIP phones attached to their broadband internet connection, and just give them a call that way.
Anyone know if that is possible? (I havn't googled yet, but plan to, so if you know, let me know of a link or whatever)
Doesn't he get paid for this? He has to read stories and post them, and he can't check to see whether it's a duplicate? (Let alone a duplicate from last week. If he read anything on the front page, he would have even remembered it)
Does anyone remember when alta vista was the best?
on
Altavista Renewed
·
· Score: 2
I DO!:)
I loved it, but then I found google like everyone else. I never got into yahoo. I actually remember when lycos was the best search engine. Ahhhh... Good times:)
I can't believe they are just starting to give a penalty for poor spelling. I don't care how much time you spend in a chatroom, when you are writing a paper, isn't the first step a draft, and the second step to proof-read? Do we not teach proof reading to kids anymore? In this great and modern day of age, apparently we are just relying on the computer to fix our work for us, and when we have to actually write something with a pen and paper, we don't even think to proof read.
I had to proof read when I was in elementary school and high school. And I'm only 22. I just don't get it. Teachers are just too lax with the students. The basics are no longer being taught.
You are on the right track about getting a small, local store to build your computer. I have been a computer technician at these kind of stores for the past 5 years. You best bet is to NOT actually DIY. Go to one of these stores, put together the system you want by picking your parts, and get them to put it together. Want to know why? Because when something goes wrong and you don't know how to fix it (I'm totally going by the way you worded your post, and it seems to me you are probably computer literate, but not a comp. tech.) you can bring the computer back to the store to get them to fix it.
And guess what, when something breaks physically, it is SOOOO much easier to just take it back to the store and get them to RMA it, than it is for you to do it, not to mention, you usually get a HD (or whatever breaks) right away, and not have to wait for it. Also, if you have your computer plugged in during a lightnigh storm, and the computer fries, go back to them, get them to see that it is fried, and they will write a letter for your insurance company, and will give you a new computer for free (atleast that's how it works in Ontario, Canada if you have home insurance that includes your PC).
And guess what all this extra stuff costs? Usually nothing, or very little compared to ordering it and building it yourself. The extra cost you may pay is SOOO worth getting a store to build it for you when you have to ask a question over the phone, because first question I ask is "Did you buy the computer from us?".
If this isn't a cruel April Fools joke, I don't know what is:)
Lets just assume (ass, you and me) this isn't a joke, and this is for real, it seems like Linus is acting a bit like a child himself. I mean he is whining and bitching about politics, and how we have the "nerve" to turn his hobby into a revolution... well SOOOOORRY:)
But I mean.. he mentions Slashdot specifically, and no other places, and says how all the real cool hackers hang out there and live in the US.
This was a fairly well thought out joke, but I mean, there is a few obvious tricks in it. Nice try Linus (or whoever it is)
I do wonder who would win though... my vote would be for Alan.
Im no expert, but i dont think being charged at changing rates for a short period of time will do too much good for those 100+ dollar batteries.
Maybe I don't understand what you mean, but it is my understanding that batteries are recharged with pulsed DC power? Sounds to me like a pedal you pump would do the same thing.
I know there is a ton of documentation online, but I would LOVE a book that took you from simple scripts, to the most complex and elaborate scripts you can think of. Examples and baby steps would be something I would love to get. A reference to IPChains and IPTables would be a book I would buy guarenteed.
Re:Borland C++ or Borland C++ Builder
on
Borland C++ For Linux
·
· Score: 3, Informative
"We are taking our C++ development solution to the Linux platform. We have seen a lot of Linux developers who used to be Unix developers," said Alison Deane, a senior director of product marketing at Borland, in Scotts Valley, Calif.
She added that Borland plans to announce C++Builder for Windows next month, but declined to provide details.
No they didn't. They just said they were going to announce C++ for Linux, and C++ Builder for Windows.
- I'm the best looking guy here
- Damn! When did all the hot chicks get here?
- Brother! I love you man! You've always been there!
- Let me buy you a beer!
- Let me buy EVERYONE a beer! I'm rich!
- Oh man.. look at me.. I'm a wicked dancer!
- Hey! I'm a good drummer! Seriously!
- Oh yah?! Well f*ck you too man!
- But officer, I only had a couple beers!
- You want one?
- But honey, I know I didn't come home last night, but it wasn't my fault. Honest! I forgot where we lived.
I think that this is a cool idea. You can now upgrade and fix bugs, security holes etc.. yourself instead of having to wait for the vendor to do it (if they do it). Not to mention if you have a really old AP, maybe you can get it out and play around with Linux on it. This could allow you to take old AP's that people are pretty much throwing out, and recycle them. Might save you a few bucks. That'd be cool.
Why do people think that having a law regarding exporting software/code is going to stop ANYONE from using it? It's just like gun laws in Canada, the only people who are affected are the law abiding citizens who legally use their guns, or have them for decoration. If someone REALLY wants to use 128 bit encryption, they are going to. There is no way around that. Software is so easily obtainable that anyone who has access to a Windows platform can download it and install it. It really is a no brainer.
Now for this guy who happened to have 40-bit encryption installed by default, he's just a moron then. He obviously didn't know that 40-bit was easily breakable, he didn't care, or didn't take the 10 seconds to download and enable 128 bit on his computer.
I chalk it up to stupidy on his part for not simply looking for the stronger encryption (it's out there, and easily obtainable).
Now for the conspiracy theorists: He wasn't ACTUALLY using 40-bit encryption, that's what they want you to think. He was using the full 128-bit encryption, but the NSA can easily crack that level now due to the computer power they have. They simply tell the media it's 40-bit just so that we don't come up and develop something even more powerful which would take them longer to decrypt.
At one point, I tried to "Talk the Talk" and "Walk the Walk" as well. I didn't know what the hell was going on. Hell, I still don't know what's going on (and I'm a computer tech. big woop!). I was always interested in taking things apart and attempting to put them back together. I didn't always get them back, but once in a while I did, and that's because I had learned something. I wish something like Linux was around when I was younger, because it would have exposed me to the underlyings of an operating system and maybe gave me a little head start in programming. Who knows.
What I do know is that I'm glad I was atleast exposed to MS-DOS (it's not really THAT evil) because it allowed me to atleast become familier with a command prompt (which I still do a lot of tech. work in today), and not become so dependant on a mouse (which I really do hate) that I can't even type faster than a mouse with a big pointy stick.
Anywase, this has kinda gone way off topic, but I feel that being able to do whatever you want can only help people learn. Sure, there's going to be people who fsck up their systems, but there is now, there ever was, and there ever will be. But out of all those people who fsck'd up their systems, atleast one person learned something from it, I was one of those people, my friend down the road was one of those people, and I'm sure more than 1 person on slasdot was one of those people. Don't take that right away from me... my right to learn.
(hmmm.. that last line seems a little.. movie-esqe)
I'm running a 633mHz Celeron with 256MBs of RAM, and I'm happy. Crazy thing is I can get computer parts at cost due my business, but doesn't matter to me. I do have a 20" Trinitron Monitor though.. nice.
Only thing I can think of, is we support these guys from the start, then the RIAA hears about them, signs them, and then we are stuck having to pay $20 for a CD again.
... as an operating system they are even trying to support. They (atleast say) they are planning on supporting Macintosh in the future, but don't even mention that they are going to support Linux. So they are saying, they want me to buy my music from them, but since I'm running an OS that I don't have to pay a rediculous amount of money for, I can no longer buy CD's? No wonder I want to use MP3's.
Honestly, I lost interest after the first couple of seasons. They went way more with the political edge it seemed, and away from the actual cool stuff like aliens and technology. I really liked the one about the killer bees, or killer flies or whatever they were. But that was a long time ago (I think that was first season). Oh well, I won't be missing it since it seemed to pretty much be over for me anywase.
With open source, the source code is there for others to fix. That's the whole point of open source. With companies like Microsoft, you get someone sending them an exploit, and them taking 4 months to fix the damn thing because they don't want to hurt christmas sales. I think that a company, especially someone who is charging you for upgrades, and you assuming that it's going to be more secure, be liable to a certain extent. Many companies are pushing for you to upgrade your software, but what are we really getting? I don't need a clipboard buddy, I want something more stable, and more secure.
Slashdot Mirror
The reason the floppy has stayed around so long is because there is NOT a widely implemented system to replace it. Sure CDR's are nice, but I mean, 640MB is quite overkill for a couple of word documents. I have TRIED to get rid of the floppy in my machine. My newest machine I just built didn't have one in it, along with some of my older systems, and I had to break down and buy one because I was finding uses for it! I hate the idea of being stuck with a floppy boot disk and not being able to use it when all other forms of booting don't work. What if my CDROM dies? I have no backup (true I have two drives... DVD and CDRW... but meh).
If I want to take say a resume over to someones house and print it out (because I don't have a printer) the easiest way is either to email them, or take a floppy if they don't have internet access (or worse... modem).
"I" have ways around using a floppy, and they are not used daily by any stretch of the imagination, but USB keys are awkword to use, especially if you don't have front mounting ports, and how many times have you lost a floppy.. and went meh.. I'll just use another one. I doubt you'll be saying that with your USB key.
CDR's could replace, but they are even slower to use I find than floppy's for total time of mounting, writing, closing and ejecting than a floppy. I'll just keep my floppy drive for another 10 years thank you very much. The only thing I can think that I might switch to would be a Zip drive or something... but that is not going to happen. What other CHEAP, re-usable yet discardable media do we have?
I think floppies are around still because they really are useful, no matter who you are. My buddy carries his resume on floppy because a good percentage of computers still have working floppy's. They may be old, but it is a technology that is still quite useful. Why doesn't someone just come up with a new standard and create something to replace the floppy that is as cheap and easy to use, yet is more reliable? I think optical discs (such as a MD (minidisc)) would be something that I would be very interested in. Something around 144 megs sounds just about right to me.
Is there a way to do kind of the same thing, but call from my computer to another computer with an IP phone attached to it? I'd love to just get rid of the phone company all together, and use the internet as my phone service. Just get all my family setup on VoIP phones attached to their broadband internet connection, and just give them a call that way.
Anyone know if that is possible? (I havn't googled yet, but plan to, so if you know, let me know of a link or whatever)
Doesn't he get paid for this? He has to read stories and post them, and he can't check to see whether it's a duplicate? (Let alone a duplicate from last week. If he read anything on the front page, he would have even remembered it)
I DO! :)
:)
I loved it, but then I found google like everyone else. I never got into yahoo. I actually remember when lycos was the best search engine. Ahhhh... Good times
I can't believe they are just starting to give a penalty for poor spelling. I don't care how much time you spend in a chatroom, when you are writing a paper, isn't the first step a draft, and the second step to proof-read? Do we not teach proof reading to kids anymore? In this great and modern day of age, apparently we are just relying on the computer to fix our work for us, and when we have to actually write something with a pen and paper, we don't even think to proof read.
I had to proof read when I was in elementary school and high school. And I'm only 22. I just don't get it. Teachers are just too lax with the students. The basics are no longer being taught.
Yep, you can't install Mandrake 8.0 on an IBM Thinkpad without a floppy disk, and how much I missed the floppy disk when I found that out.
Linux Administration Handbook by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein. Published by Prentice Hall PRT. ISBN 0-13-008466-2
Linux Firewalls Second Edition by Robert L. Ziegler. Published by New Riders. ISBN 0-7357-1099-6
You are on the right track about getting a small, local store to build your computer. I have been a computer technician at these kind of stores for the past 5 years. You best bet is to NOT actually DIY. Go to one of these stores, put together the system you want by picking your parts, and get them to put it together. Want to know why? Because when something goes wrong and you don't know how to fix it (I'm totally going by the way you worded your post, and it seems to me you are probably computer literate, but not a comp. tech.) you can bring the computer back to the store to get them to fix it.
And guess what, when something breaks physically, it is SOOOO much easier to just take it back to the store and get them to RMA it, than it is for you to do it, not to mention, you usually get a HD (or whatever breaks) right away, and not have to wait for it. Also, if you have your computer plugged in during a lightnigh storm, and the computer fries, go back to them, get them to see that it is fried, and they will write a letter for your insurance company, and will give you a new computer for free (atleast that's how it works in Ontario, Canada if you have home insurance that includes your PC).
And guess what all this extra stuff costs? Usually nothing, or very little compared to ordering it and building it yourself. The extra cost you may pay is SOOO worth getting a store to build it for you when you have to ask a question over the phone, because first question I ask is "Did you buy the computer from us?".
If this isn't a cruel April Fools joke, I don't know what is :)
:)
Lets just assume (ass, you and me) this isn't a joke, and this is for real, it seems like Linus is acting a bit like a child himself. I mean he is whining and bitching about politics, and how we have the "nerve" to turn his hobby into a revolution... well SOOOOORRY
But I mean.. he mentions Slashdot specifically, and no other places, and says how all the real cool hackers hang out there and live in the US.
This was a fairly well thought out joke, but I mean, there is a few obvious tricks in it. Nice try Linus (or whoever it is)
I do wonder who would win though... my vote would be for Alan.
Why would someone work for 2 years without getting paid?! :)
Ahhhhh.. gotcha. Yah, memory affect sucks ass :)
Im no expert, but i dont think being charged at changing rates for a short period of time will do too much good for those 100+ dollar batteries.
Maybe I don't understand what you mean, but it is my understanding that batteries are recharged with pulsed DC power? Sounds to me like a pedal you pump would do the same thing.
I know there is a ton of documentation online, but I would LOVE a book that took you from simple scripts, to the most complex and elaborate scripts you can think of. Examples and baby steps would be something I would love to get. A reference to IPChains and IPTables would be a book I would buy guarenteed.
"We are taking our C++ development solution to the Linux platform. We have seen a lot of Linux developers who used to be Unix developers," said Alison Deane, a senior director of product marketing at Borland, in Scotts Valley, Calif.
She added that Borland plans to announce C++Builder for Windows next month, but declined to provide details.
No they didn't. They just said they were going to announce C++ for Linux, and C++ Builder for Windows.
Please warn me of the following stages:
- I'm the best looking guy here
- Damn! When did all the hot chicks get here?
- Brother! I love you man! You've always been there!
- Let me buy you a beer!
- Let me buy EVERYONE a beer! I'm rich!
- Oh man.. look at me.. I'm a wicked dancer!
- Hey! I'm a good drummer! Seriously!
- Oh yah?! Well f*ck you too man!
- But officer, I only had a couple beers!
- You want one?
- But honey, I know I didn't come home last night, but it wasn't my fault. Honest! I forgot where we lived.
I think that this is a cool idea. You can now upgrade and fix bugs, security holes etc.. yourself instead of having to wait for the vendor to do it (if they do it). Not to mention if you have a really old AP, maybe you can get it out and play around with Linux on it. This could allow you to take old AP's that people are pretty much throwing out, and recycle them. Might save you a few bucks. That'd be cool.
Why do people think that having a law regarding exporting software/code is going to stop ANYONE from using it? It's just like gun laws in Canada, the only people who are affected are the law abiding citizens who legally use their guns, or have them for decoration. If someone REALLY wants to use 128 bit encryption, they are going to. There is no way around that. Software is so easily obtainable that anyone who has access to a Windows platform can download it and install it. It really is a no brainer.
Now for this guy who happened to have 40-bit encryption installed by default, he's just a moron then. He obviously didn't know that 40-bit was easily breakable, he didn't care, or didn't take the 10 seconds to download and enable 128 bit on his computer.
I chalk it up to stupidy on his part for not simply looking for the stronger encryption (it's out there, and easily obtainable).
Now for the conspiracy theorists: He wasn't ACTUALLY using 40-bit encryption, that's what they want you to think. He was using the full 128-bit encryption, but the NSA can easily crack that level now due to the computer power they have. They simply tell the media it's 40-bit just so that we don't come up and develop something even more powerful which would take them longer to decrypt.
I'm too late! I was going to make a Linux distribution that was "unique", "clever", "had all the toys" and had it's very own PENGUIN MASCOT!
Damnit all to hell. Why can't I seem to get these idea's off my head fast enough. I think I'm going to have to get myself a thousand monkeys...
At one point, I tried to "Talk the Talk" and "Walk the Walk" as well. I didn't know what the hell was going on. Hell, I still don't know what's going on (and I'm a computer tech. big woop!). I was always interested in taking things apart and attempting to put them back together. I didn't always get them back, but once in a while I did, and that's because I had learned something. I wish something like Linux was around when I was younger, because it would have exposed me to the underlyings of an operating system and maybe gave me a little head start in programming. Who knows.
What I do know is that I'm glad I was atleast exposed to MS-DOS (it's not really THAT evil) because it allowed me to atleast become familier with a command prompt (which I still do a lot of tech. work in today), and not become so dependant on a mouse (which I really do hate) that I can't even type faster than a mouse with a big pointy stick.
Anywase, this has kinda gone way off topic, but I feel that being able to do whatever you want can only help people learn. Sure, there's going to be people who fsck up their systems, but there is now, there ever was, and there ever will be. But out of all those people who fsck'd up their systems, atleast one person learned something from it, I was one of those people, my friend down the road was one of those people, and I'm sure more than 1 person on slasdot was one of those people. Don't take that right away from me... my right to learn.
(hmmm.. that last line seems a little.. movie-esqe)
People obviously should not mess with things they dont understand.
My simply answer to that is: Then how did you learn?
I'm running a 633mHz Celeron with 256MBs of RAM, and I'm happy. Crazy thing is I can get computer parts at cost due my business, but doesn't matter to me. I do have a 20" Trinitron Monitor though.. nice.
Only thing I can think of, is we support these guys from the start, then the RIAA hears about them, signs them, and then we are stuck having to pay $20 for a CD again.
... as an operating system they are even trying to support. They (atleast say) they are planning on supporting Macintosh in the future, but don't even mention that they are going to support Linux. So they are saying, they want me to buy my music from them, but since I'm running an OS that I don't have to pay a rediculous amount of money for, I can no longer buy CD's? No wonder I want to use MP3's.
Honestly, I lost interest after the first couple of seasons. They went way more with the political edge it seemed, and away from the actual cool stuff like aliens and technology. I really liked the one about the killer bees, or killer flies or whatever they were. But that was a long time ago (I think that was first season). Oh well, I won't be missing it since it seemed to pretty much be over for me anywase.
With open source, the source code is there for others to fix. That's the whole point of open source. With companies like Microsoft, you get someone sending them an exploit, and them taking 4 months to fix the damn thing because they don't want to hurt christmas sales. I think that a company, especially someone who is charging you for upgrades, and you assuming that it's going to be more secure, be liable to a certain extent. Many companies are pushing for you to upgrade your software, but what are we really getting? I don't need a clipboard buddy, I want something more stable, and more secure.