How user friendly is MythTV? My 3 year old knows how to watch and record shows with TiVo. I think the 6 year old taught him how. The only problem I have is he's filling up the disk.
> People think that the US just wants to arrogantly > steamroll people and kill all the brownskins for > oil (while installing a Starbucks and McDonalds on > every street corner in Baghdad). It's a fuck of a > lot more complicated than that.
Of course it is more complicated. If we kill everyone, who'll buy the coffee and burgers?
There was some brief speculation on the cause in the second article:
"I think the weight is a lot different in a solar car than it is in a normal vehicle, so maybe the wind was a factor," said Sgt. Glenn Childerley of the OPP's Perth County detachment.
I could be wrong, but I got the impression that the point of this trip was to show the car could get from point A to point B. If that was the case, driving the car would have been an important part of the tour. Towing the car from point A to point B wouldn't seem to be as impressive an accomplishment.
Having said that, I'd have to also say that in this particular case their demonstration was somewhat less than a complete success.
> if you want to see lack of freedom go to some > third world - war torn country where people are > killed becauase they were not born of the proper > religion.
Hey, if they aren't smart enough to be born into the right religion, then they don't deserve freedom.
Well, actually you are free to drive the car without the engine. If you wanted to take out the engine and use sails, and you managed to find a way to make it work, then you are certainly free to dump the engine. I'm not sure that would be as useful as a machine without a GUI can be.
There has to be a UI (user interface), but it doesn't *have* to be a GUI (*graphical* user interface) unless the OS is Windows (or maybe MacOS...but I'm not a Mac user and I'm not sure about that anymore since OS X).
If I have a machine that does nothing but shares files, why does it need a GUI? Or if I have a machine that acts as a printserver? Or if I have a machine that serves as a firewall/router?
Generally this isn't as useful for a desktop machine, but the ability to abandon the GUI can come in handy.
The GUI needs a video adapter, but if I don't need a GUI, I don't need a video adapter...or I could use one that *emulates* a video adapter using a serial port.
This is definitely a chicken or egg problem. Which came first, the vendor or the client?
I work for the department of radiology in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. About four years ago we switched from Mac to Windows. Why, you ask? Because all the vendors we dealt with were switching to Windows.
Venders include GE, Siemens, IDX, Agfa, etc. Every one of the vendors has moved or is moving to windows based client systems. In some cases they dumped Solaris client software which the users liked in favor of Windows based software which the users hated.
We use IDX for our Radiology Information System. IDX is probably one of the best vendors we use. Unfortunately, that isn't anything to be proud of. We are switching from an old version of IDXRad (running on OpenVMS) to the current version (running on Win2K). All clients must be windows clients because IE & ActiveX are required.
We are changing from a GE PACS to a Siemens PACS. The PACS is the system for gathering and accessing the digital radiology images (we are a filmless radiology department). GE's web product (viewing images using a web browser) relies on windows as does the Siemens product. The backend of our GE PACS is Solaris & Mac based. Clients are mostly windows except for a few old Solaris based "AW" workstations which remain in place as a backup because they can function independently of the PACS. I believe the Siemens client is running windows, but the clients rely on Solaris "cluster servers" located throughout the department.
We use a voice dictation system from Agfa (they bought Talk Technology). Relies on Windows for the backend (MS SQL Server) and the client workstations.
The reason most often given for the switch to windows was that the windows hardware is cheaper. That is certainly true. However, the GE AW workstation could have been ported to Linux or OpenBSD. GE could have completely controlled every aspect of the OS and the application. They could have made a bulletproof DICOM workstation. The users love the application. However, it wasn't done. None of the low-level GE employees I have contact with had any idea why it wasn't done.
Another Vendor we've dealt with is Stentor. They have a fantastic web-based product. I had more opportunity to talk to them about why they chose windows as the server and front-end for their system. According to the person I spoke to, a lot of the developers at Stentor used Linux. They said they would have loved to develop the application for Linux, but the suits decided it wouldn't have sold.
There is one major factor which probably affects all the different users. In a digital Radiology department, the users need access to the RIS and the PACS. The radiologists also need access to voice dictation. If you can't integrate all the functions into one workstation, every radiologist needs three keyboards, three mice, three-six monitors (most PACS workstations are multihead 2 or 4 monitor setups), and three PCs.
If one major vendor (say, IDX) decides to go with windows, then all the other vendors have to toe the line. Because *that* is what forces the clients to say Windows must be used.
Generally hospitals don't care what runs on these machines. We don't service them and we don't support them. No reasonable person is telling GE that they must use Windows in their MRI scanner consoles.
Frankly no one in our department cares what the client runs, except we don't want 1000 lbs of computer equipment per user to run three applications. We need to be able to integrate the applications into fewer workstations. Because of choices made by the vendors, that requirement forces us to windows. If we could access IDXRad, PACS, and the voice dictation using MacOS, we would do so happily.
It isn't like anyone is running MS Office XP on a $100K PACS workstation. That machine does clinical work and nothing else. Why would the OS matter beyond the issue of integration?
This past winter natural gas prices were so high we had the thermostat set to 62 degrees Fahrenheit. We needed a blowtorch to spread butter on our toast.
In the past in my department, people would just buy their own lock kit for whatever equipment was being locked up. Eventually they want the equipment replaced, and they never have the key. That's why I don't respect lock kits. I've cut through the cables with fairly cheap wire cutters (took about 4-5 minutes snipping through several strands with each squeeze). Most recently I used my dremel & got through in about 10 seconds (like a hot knife through butter). I've also gone the other route and drilled out the pins on the locks. They'll usually unlock with a flat-head screwdriver then.
We're having a problem with theft right now. Many things aren't locked down, and there's a push to put cables on everything. However, some of the stolen items were locked down. The locks were left behind intact with pieces of the stolen equipment still attached.
Woah! If the work was worth more than $1500, I'd expect you to have it backed up. If you don't then you deserve the pain. Hell, *anything* could happen. An elephant could step on it. A meteor could hit it. You could just get unlucky and get a hard disk with an extraordinarily short life span. "Hey, I was on the go" might not cut it as an excuse when you're trying to hold on to your job.
Don't worry though. Just bitch that IT should have been taking care of it, and they'll take the heat for you. After all, that's what they are there for.
> a plumber uses a pickup truck everyday, but he > might not know how to fix it
Yeah, but I'd be worried if he didn't know how to apply the brakes. I think the question is being able to *use* the tool, not *repair* it.
Repairing a software tool would involve breaking out your disassembler, looking at the code to find the bug, and implementing a solution. I don't expect any user to do that any more than I would expect a driver to be able to repair a car engine.
Using the tool would include configuring it to your needs. For the plumber's truck that would be adjusting the drivers seat, steering wheel, and mirror position. If you can't see anything behind you in the rear-view mirror, then you should know how to adjust the mirror before you pull out of your driving space.
If you don't know how to set the options on your software, maybe you should RTFM before you start using it.
The main difference between the "average" user and the "computer literate" users seems to be that the "average" user can read, but the "computer literate" user actually does.
>It's quite easy to spot the Americans, generally.
How do you know? It may be easy to spot the "loud, crass, and uncivil" Americans, but that certainly doesn't mean you've identified every American from your theoretical bench. For all you know there could be 50 reasonable American people for every American Ass you see. You just wouldn't notice them because the Asses stand out more.
I could say French people generally are asses just because I could identify an Ass I met as French. However, that doesn't mean that there weren't other French people I didn't know as well, or other French people who didn't draw enough attention to themselves or cause enough trouble to burn into my memory.
Plenty of people from every place in the world are Asses. It is important to keep in mind that human nature being what it is, the asses tend to make more of an impression than the reasonable people.
As long as people judge an entire group of people based on the behavior of the asses within the group, respect won't change anything. Because people don't remember the respect, they remember the rudeness.
The real problem is that the FCC won't give a clear guideline to show what is permitted and what is not permitted. The rule is extremely vague. Even that isn't the problem, since the courts could always decide if the FCC went too far. HOWEVER, IF A STATION TRIES TO TAKE THE FCC TO COURT, THE FCC HAS SHOWN THAT THEY WILL SCREW WITH THE STATION'S LICENSE OR PREVENT THE COMPANY FROM BUYING STATIONS!
You won't read about this one. I was talking to a local cop a few days after a nearby bank robbery. He told me that the FBI agent who came to investigate was curious about a bundle of cash that the robbers left behind. As he was examining it, the dye pack inside it exploded. I guess he figured out why they left it behind.
Do you currently use a 2400 bps modem, or have you upgraded?
If we assume that most websites today are designed for the typical dial-up user, then each user should have at least 28.8kbps in order to access these websites.
Slashdot Mirror
How user friendly is MythTV? My 3 year old knows how to watch and record shows with TiVo. I think the 6 year old taught him how. The only problem I have is he's filling up the disk.
> People think that the US just wants to arrogantly
> steamroll people and kill all the brownskins for
> oil (while installing a Starbucks and McDonalds on
> every street corner in Baghdad). It's a fuck of a
> lot more complicated than that.
Of course it is more complicated. If we kill everyone, who'll buy the coffee and burgers?
There was some brief speculation on the cause in the second article:
"I think the weight is a lot different in a solar car than it is in a normal vehicle, so maybe the wind was a factor," said Sgt. Glenn Childerley of the OPP's Perth County detachment.
I could be wrong, but I got the impression that the point of this trip was to show the car could get from point A to point B. If that was the case, driving the car would have been an important part of the tour. Towing the car from point A to point B wouldn't seem to be as impressive an accomplishment.
Having said that, I'd have to also say that in this particular case their demonstration was somewhat less than a complete success.
> Anyway, the car could have changed the way that
> people live.
It sure changed they way the driver lived.
> if you want to see lack of freedom go to some
> third world - war torn country where people are
> killed becauase they were not born of the proper
> religion.
Hey, if they aren't smart enough to be born into the right religion, then they don't deserve freedom.
Well, actually you are free to drive the car without the engine. If you wanted to take out the engine and use sails, and you managed to find a way to make it work, then you are certainly free to dump the engine. I'm not sure that would be as useful as a machine without a GUI can be.
There has to be a UI (user interface), but it doesn't *have* to be a GUI (*graphical* user interface) unless the OS is Windows (or maybe MacOS...but I'm not a Mac user and I'm not sure about that anymore since OS X).
If I have a machine that does nothing but shares files, why does it need a GUI? Or if I have a machine that acts as a printserver? Or if I have a machine that serves as a firewall/router?
Generally this isn't as useful for a desktop machine, but the ability to abandon the GUI can come in handy.
The GUI needs a video adapter, but if I don't need a GUI, I don't need a video adapter...or I could use one that *emulates* a video adapter using a serial port.
Freedom means different things to different people.
For example, are you free to install Windows without installing the GUI? It may not be freedom of speech, but I still think it is useful.
The whole point of this is freedom. If the same freedom isn't available to WalMart, what good is it?
This is definitely a chicken or egg problem. Which came first, the vendor or the client?
I work for the department of radiology in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. About four years ago we switched from Mac to Windows. Why, you ask? Because all the vendors we dealt with were switching to Windows.
Venders include GE, Siemens, IDX, Agfa, etc. Every one of the vendors has moved or is moving to windows based client systems. In some cases they dumped Solaris client software which the users liked in favor of Windows based software which the users hated.
We use IDX for our Radiology Information System. IDX is probably one of the best vendors we use. Unfortunately, that isn't anything to be proud of. We are switching from an old version of IDXRad (running on OpenVMS) to the current version (running on Win2K). All clients must be windows clients because IE & ActiveX are required.
We are changing from a GE PACS to a Siemens PACS. The PACS is the system for gathering and accessing the digital radiology images (we are a filmless radiology department). GE's web product (viewing images using a web browser) relies on windows as does the Siemens product. The backend of our GE PACS is Solaris & Mac based. Clients are mostly windows except for a few old Solaris based "AW" workstations which remain in place as a backup because they can function independently of the PACS. I believe the Siemens client is running windows, but the clients rely on Solaris "cluster servers" located throughout the department.
We use a voice dictation system from Agfa (they bought Talk Technology). Relies on Windows for the backend (MS SQL Server) and the client workstations.
The reason most often given for the switch to windows was that the windows hardware is cheaper. That is certainly true. However, the GE AW workstation could have been ported to Linux or OpenBSD. GE could have completely controlled every aspect of the OS and the application. They could have made a bulletproof DICOM workstation. The users love the application. However, it wasn't done. None of the low-level GE employees I have contact with had any idea why it wasn't done.
Another Vendor we've dealt with is Stentor. They have a fantastic web-based product. I had more opportunity to talk to them about why they chose windows as the server and front-end for their system. According to the person I spoke to, a lot of the developers at Stentor used Linux. They said they would have loved to develop the application for Linux, but the suits decided it wouldn't have sold.
There is one major factor which probably affects all the different users. In a digital Radiology department, the users need access to the RIS and the PACS. The radiologists also need access to voice dictation. If you can't integrate all the functions into one workstation, every radiologist needs three keyboards, three mice, three-six monitors (most PACS workstations are multihead 2 or 4 monitor setups), and three PCs.
If one major vendor (say, IDX) decides to go with windows, then all the other vendors have to toe the line. Because *that* is what forces the clients to say Windows must be used.
Generally hospitals don't care what runs on these machines. We don't service them and we don't support them. No reasonable person is telling GE that they must use Windows in their MRI scanner consoles.
Frankly no one in our department cares what the client runs, except we don't want 1000 lbs of computer equipment per user to run three applications. We need to be able to integrate the applications into fewer workstations. Because of choices made by the vendors, that requirement forces us to windows. If we could access IDXRad, PACS, and the voice dictation using MacOS, we would do so happily.
It isn't like anyone is running MS Office XP on a $100K PACS workstation. That machine does clinical work and nothing else. Why would the OS matter beyond the issue of integration?
Of course, the real is
This past winter natural gas prices were so high we had the thermostat set to 62 degrees Fahrenheit. We needed a blowtorch to spread butter on our toast.
There's another way. Take along a bottle of superglue. Pour a little into the lock. That will correct the problem.
In the past in my department, people would just buy their own lock kit for whatever equipment was being locked up. Eventually they want the equipment replaced, and they never have the key. That's why I don't respect lock kits. I've cut through the cables with fairly cheap wire cutters (took about 4-5 minutes snipping through several strands with each squeeze). Most recently I used my dremel & got through in about 10 seconds (like a hot knife through butter). I've also gone the other route and drilled out the pins on the locks. They'll usually unlock with a flat-head screwdriver then.
We're having a problem with theft right now. Many things aren't locked down, and there's a push to put cables on everything. However, some of the stolen items were locked down. The locks were left behind intact with pieces of the stolen equipment still attached.
Woah! If the work was worth more than $1500, I'd expect you to have it backed up. If you don't then you deserve the pain. Hell, *anything* could happen. An elephant could step on it. A meteor could hit it. You could just get unlucky and get a hard disk with an extraordinarily short life span. "Hey, I was on the go" might not cut it as an excuse when you're trying to hold on to your job.
Don't worry though. Just bitch that IT should have been taking care of it, and they'll take the heat for you. After all, that's what they are there for.
> will one day be a forgotten entity, just like the
> Bee-Gees.
Who?
> a plumber uses a pickup truck everyday, but he
> might not know how to fix it
Yeah, but I'd be worried if he didn't know how to apply the brakes. I think the question is being able to *use* the tool, not *repair* it.
Repairing a software tool would involve breaking out your disassembler, looking at the code to find the bug, and implementing a solution. I don't expect any user to do that any more than I would expect a driver to be able to repair a car engine.
Using the tool would include configuring it to your needs. For the plumber's truck that would be adjusting the drivers seat, steering wheel, and mirror position. If you can't see anything behind you in the rear-view mirror, then you should know how to adjust the mirror before you pull out of your driving space.
If you don't know how to set the options on your software, maybe you should RTFM before you start using it.
The main difference between the "average" user and the "computer literate" users seems to be that the "average" user can read, but the "computer literate" user actually does.
>It's quite easy to spot the Americans, generally.
How do you know? It may be easy to spot the "loud, crass, and uncivil" Americans, but that certainly doesn't mean you've identified every American from your theoretical bench. For all you know there could be 50 reasonable American people for every American Ass you see. You just wouldn't notice them because the Asses stand out more.
I could say French people generally are asses just because I could identify an Ass I met as French. However, that doesn't mean that there weren't other French people I didn't know as well, or other French people who didn't draw enough attention to themselves or cause enough trouble to burn into my memory.
Plenty of people from every place in the world are Asses. It is important to keep in mind that human nature being what it is, the asses tend to make more of an impression than the reasonable people.
As long as people judge an entire group of people based on the behavior of the asses within the group, respect won't change anything. Because people don't remember the respect, they remember the rudeness.
> this site isn't about spelling correctly or using
...What? Technology? Since when?
> correct grammar
Right! It's about arguing with people who correct spelling and grammar...
The real problem is that the FCC won't give a clear guideline to show what is permitted and what is not permitted. The rule is extremely vague. Even that isn't the problem, since the courts could always decide if the FCC went too far. HOWEVER, IF A STATION TRIES TO TAKE THE FCC TO COURT, THE FCC HAS SHOWN THAT THEY WILL SCREW WITH THE STATION'S LICENSE OR PREVENT THE COMPANY FROM BUYING STATIONS!
According to the article, he wants to keep the same IP range so he doesn't have to reconfigure all his machines.
I like this part:
In mid-December, Lieberfarb was fired with $10
million severance. A friend at Time Warner
describes him as "a tragic figure," adding,
"It's very sad."
I wish my life was just 1 twentieth as sad as his. $500K would go a long way. These people live on a completely different planet.
You won't read about this one. I was talking to a local cop a few days after a nearby bank robbery. He told me that the FBI agent who came to investigate was curious about a bundle of cash that the robbers left behind. As he was examining it, the dye pack inside it exploded. I guess he figured out why they left it behind.
I don't know. It's been more earthlike in the past, and it doesn't appear to be heading in the right direction now ;-)
Maybe we should be thinking about terraforming Earth.
Do you currently use a 2400 bps modem, or have you upgraded?
If we assume that most websites today are designed for the typical dial-up user, then each user should have at least 28.8kbps in order to access these websites.
> Fighting back would involve killing lot fins to
> reduce them to Luxembourg level
Not really. They could kill Luxembourg's 1 developer and then wait until they catch up.