Of course, media formats are completely outside the of Linux's scope, but have you tried MPlayer? It's far from perfect, but it's difficult to find a commonly used format or codec it can't understand.
Unfortunately, it is often still necessary to write performance critical code in C, but there are higher level languages that can be used as well. For instance, Fortran is often the choice for heavy number crunching and Fortran 9x is higher level than C, at least in data types.
Are you basing this on experience with recent versions of GCC, which are supposed to generate much better code than older ones? An unbiased comparison would have to include versions of each compiler. I have done no such comparisons myself, but I'm skeptical of anyone who doesn't give enough detail, including both you and the guy you responded to.
Shows how much you know. I play games all the time on my GNU/Linux system. For instance, all the Half-Life based games run great under Wine. I've also got the native version of Myth II. Yes, I know they're old, but my machine isn't cutting edge and newer != better. Nethack and interactive fiction never go out of style.
There are the machine emulators as someone else has mentioned. With the combination of Wine and other emulators, there may be more popular games playable on x86 GNU/Linux than on Mac.
You think that's bad? My favorite is on this page. Notice how the light bread is "made with fibers from natural sources." What are their time tested products made from? Also, notice how poorly designed is the "web" site. It's all images. It doesn't affect me too much on DSL, but I pity the dial up users.
I can understand his frustration and disappointment in his employment difficulties, but he's venting in the wrong place. LRP did not cause his problems (and evidently can't solve them, unsurprisingly).
It seems like he's being childish in declaring the project dead and refusing to release the new stuff just because he can't or doesn't want to continue. He could have simply declared it unmaintained, leaving it open for successors. He does have the right to shut the project down, but it's wasteful. Maybe he never grasped the concept that Free Software is intended to be owned by anyone and everyone, even if it was started by an individual.
Unless there's been a purge, I'm sure many of them are big GNU/Linux users, since that was one of the company's main products until a month or two ago.
What if you want to play Warcraft II on a non Microsoft or Apple platform, like Solaris or GNU/Linux on Alpha? Even on x86 GNU/Linux, it may work better than Warcraft on DOSEmu or Wine. The free art is definitely inferior, so the solution is to buy Warcraft and use FreeCraft. FreeCraft runs on *nix and can use the media from Warcraft.
FreeCraft benefits Blizzard because it enables their game to be played on more platforms. It's a project that adds value to their product at no cost to them and they're trying to destroy it.
This is very similar to LucasArts going after ScummVM. Both companies are treating their customers and fans as enemies or competitors to be destroyed.
For examples of friendly companies, look at Id and Valve. They see their customers as potential fellow developers and give them the tools to enhance and reuse the games and engines.
Government should not generally be selling products to the public. I assume that's why a lot of software developed by the US government has been released into the public domain. Perhaps some future software should be released under a Copyleft license. I think there's room for both BSDish and Copyleft public software.
Of course, things are different in a socialist system. I think most European governments have a more socialist bent than the US, but I don't know what it's like in the UK.
How can you have the strength of the GPL (keeping Free Software free) without that which you so glibly label its "viral baggage?" What is the "viral baggage" anyway? Does the MPL have the same ability to keep Free Software free?
You seem to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Yes, there's a lot of crap on TV. There also is plenty of positive stuff. People can control what they and their children watch. I know my parents did when I was young.
You talk about the boys emulating TMNT. I submit that the problem was the lack of control from their parents. Governments can do good with some control over media, but ultimately, individuals have the responsibility.
Good. I'm pleasantly surprised to hear from someone of your training and experience. It gives me hope that Slashdotters aren't just a bunch immature computer weenies. I'm one of those, hopefully without the immature part.
Machines can't decide if one is "too fidgety." As the article points out, that's up to the humans. However, as with many other modern monitoring devices, it's difficult to trust humans with this level of information. It seems to me that the medical applications of this for those who really need monitoring is a valid application of the technology, while the airline one is of dubious value.
Yes, excellent episode. "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." But seriously, one of the extra features on the Final Destination DVD said that they changed the character who gets it in the end from the one everyone liked to the one they disliked because of a preview audience. It's no classic anyway, but that lowered my opinion of the flick. It's especially dumb since the character they saved didn't make it to the sequel.
I'm impressed by your knowledge and experience. Are you a physician, physician's assistant, nurse, or paramedic? I notice you mentioned being in an emergency room in another post, so I'm guessing you're one of the above. Not too many people have seen others drop dead in front of them.
For one accusing others of hate, you sure know how to pour on the venom. Do you have no sense of humor? How does engaging in slapstick comedy against someone prove you hate him? You really should watch some Monty Python or Three Stooges. It'll help you lighten up a bit. Maybe Sun does have irrational hatred for outside things, but this isn't an indicator of it.
As for Java, I agree it's not that exciting, but it was intended to implement well established ideas, not be revolutionary. No, Gosling isn't doing anything entirely new here, but that doesn't make it stealing or useless. Give the guy a break.
I might listen to you if you proposed an alternative. This is an obvious solution. Does that mean it's stupid? Not everything has to be complex, you know. KISS
Did you read the part about the DoD deciding what networking technology for weapons systems? Giving an address to every bullet won't nearly use all the addresses, but I'm sure there are many more creative uses yet to be thought of.
I'd say the browser war isn't over, but that the web users and developers have been losing so far. The war is over conrol of the medium, that is, the standards it relies upon. There are still way too many sites that rely on IE, which is good for M$ and bad for everyone else. I think this move is one small victory for everyone else, since more site designers and managers will have to think about supporting something other than IE.
Yes, Lunix does sound pretty impressive. I believe the machines Unix originally ran on had a similar amount of memory, though they may have been 16-bit.
As for DJGPP, it's a port of GCC to protected mode DOS. It's still a 386 program all the way. I'm fairly certain GCC has always run on at least 32-bit hardware, as it started life on a 68020 or 68030 or something.
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Of course, media formats are completely outside the of Linux's scope, but have you tried MPlayer? It's far from perfect, but it's difficult to find a commonly used format or codec it can't understand.
Unfortunately, it is often still necessary to write performance critical code in C, but there are higher level languages that can be used as well. For instance, Fortran is often the choice for heavy number crunching and Fortran 9x is higher level than C, at least in data types.
Are you basing this on experience with recent versions of GCC, which are supposed to generate much better code than older ones? An unbiased comparison would have to include versions of each compiler. I have done no such comparisons myself, but I'm skeptical of anyone who doesn't give enough detail, including both you and the guy you responded to.
Shows how much you know. I play games all the time on my GNU/Linux system. For instance, all the Half-Life based games run great under Wine. I've also got the native version of Myth II. Yes, I know they're old, but my machine isn't cutting edge and newer != better. Nethack and interactive fiction never go out of style.
There are the machine emulators as someone else has mentioned. With the combination of Wine and other emulators, there may be more popular games playable on x86 GNU/Linux than on Mac.
You think that's bad? My favorite is on this page. Notice how the light bread is "made with fibers from natural sources." What are their time tested products made from? Also, notice how poorly designed is the "web" site. It's all images. It doesn't affect me too much on DSL, but I pity the dial up users.
That was precisely my point. The project doesn't have to die, so why does its creator declare it dead?
I can understand his frustration and disappointment in his employment difficulties, but he's venting in the wrong place. LRP did not cause his problems (and evidently can't solve them, unsurprisingly).
It seems like he's being childish in declaring the project dead and refusing to release the new stuff just because he can't or doesn't want to continue. He could have simply declared it unmaintained, leaving it open for successors. He does have the right to shut the project down, but it's wasteful. Maybe he never grasped the concept that Free Software is intended to be owned by anyone and everyone, even if it was started by an individual.
You didn't look hard enough. There have been LRP distros with 2.4 for quite a while. They have been called "beta" or something, but they existed.
Unless there's been a purge, I'm sure many of them are big GNU/Linux users, since that was one of the company's main products until a month or two ago.
What if you want to play Warcraft II on a non Microsoft or Apple platform, like Solaris or GNU/Linux on Alpha? Even on x86 GNU/Linux, it may work better than Warcraft on DOSEmu or Wine. The free art is definitely inferior, so the solution is to buy Warcraft and use FreeCraft. FreeCraft runs on *nix and can use the media from Warcraft. FreeCraft benefits Blizzard because it enables their game to be played on more platforms. It's a project that adds value to their product at no cost to them and they're trying to destroy it. This is very similar to LucasArts going after ScummVM. Both companies are treating their customers and fans as enemies or competitors to be destroyed. For examples of friendly companies, look at Id and Valve. They see their customers as potential fellow developers and give them the tools to enhance and reuse the games and engines.
Government should not generally be selling products to the public. I assume that's why a lot of software developed by the US government has been released into the public domain. Perhaps some future software should be released under a Copyleft license. I think there's room for both BSDish and Copyleft public software.
Of course, things are different in a socialist system. I think most European governments have a more socialist bent than the US, but I don't know what it's like in the UK.
No, it comes in McBrownBagTM.
How can you have the strength of the GPL (keeping Free Software free) without that which you so glibly label its "viral baggage?" What is the "viral baggage" anyway? Does the MPL have the same ability to keep Free Software free?
Since we're talking XML, it's a formedness error. That is, the document is not well formed.
I did just walk to the Blockbuster a few hours ago, both to save gas and for exercise. It's just a few blocks from my house.
You seem to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Yes, there's a lot of crap on TV. There also is plenty of positive stuff. People can control what they and their children watch. I know my parents did when I was young.
You talk about the boys emulating TMNT. I submit that the problem was the lack of control from their parents. Governments can do good with some control over media, but ultimately, individuals have the responsibility.
Good. I'm pleasantly surprised to hear from someone of your training and experience. It gives me hope that Slashdotters aren't just a bunch immature computer weenies. I'm one of those, hopefully without the immature part.
Machines can't decide if one is "too fidgety." As the article points out, that's up to the humans. However, as with many other modern monitoring devices, it's difficult to trust humans with this level of information. It seems to me that the medical applications of this for those who really need monitoring is a valid application of the technology, while the airline one is of dubious value.
Yes, excellent episode. "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." But seriously, one of the extra features on the Final Destination DVD said that they changed the character who gets it in the end from the one everyone liked to the one they disliked because of a preview audience. It's no classic anyway, but that lowered my opinion of the flick. It's especially dumb since the character they saved didn't make it to the sequel.
I'm impressed by your knowledge and experience. Are you a physician, physician's assistant, nurse, or paramedic? I notice you mentioned being in an emergency room in another post, so I'm guessing you're one of the above. Not too many people have seen others drop dead in front of them.
For one accusing others of hate, you sure know how to pour on the venom. Do you have no sense of humor? How does engaging in slapstick comedy against someone prove you hate him? You really should watch some Monty Python or Three Stooges. It'll help you lighten up a bit. Maybe Sun does have irrational hatred for outside things, but this isn't an indicator of it.
As for Java, I agree it's not that exciting, but it was intended to implement well established ideas, not be revolutionary. No, Gosling isn't doing anything entirely new here, but that doesn't make it stealing or useless. Give the guy a break.
I might listen to you if you proposed an alternative. This is an obvious solution. Does that mean it's stupid? Not everything has to be complex, you know. KISS
Did you read the part about the DoD deciding what networking technology for weapons systems? Giving an address to every bullet won't nearly use all the addresses, but I'm sure there are many more creative uses yet to be thought of.
I'd say the browser war isn't over, but that the web users and developers have been losing so far. The war is over conrol of the medium, that is, the standards it relies upon. There are still way too many sites that rely on IE, which is good for M$ and bad for everyone else. I think this move is one small victory for everyone else, since more site designers and managers will have to think about supporting something other than IE.
Yes, Lunix does sound pretty impressive. I believe the machines Unix originally ran on had a similar amount of memory, though they may have been 16-bit.
As for DJGPP, it's a port of GCC to protected mode DOS. It's still a 386 program all the way. I'm fairly certain GCC has always run on at least 32-bit hardware, as it started life on a 68020 or 68030 or something.