before printing the images on an inkjet or color laser printer with gimp or Photoshop. You can also experiment with the Hue value to tune the colors to your liking.
If you intend to have this rendered on photo paper using an on-line printing service the black background makes for a nice poster though.
NetMining is located in our office building. They might have some products that interest you and/or your marketing department.
Sorry for the shameless plug...
... is 1 old laptop with - hard disk 4GB (1000 songs) or above - 802.11b wireless network card - custom interface hardware to consumer radios mimicking a CD changer - 12V power conversion to whatever the laptop requires, controlled by the CD changer interface - a non crashing OS with an SMB server and some custom player software talking to the interface hardware - a broken display (you don't need it)
Then, drive your car into your garage and maintain your music wirelessly... No CD/CDRs to swap...
All of the above exist, save for the CD changer interface/power supply.
Here in Belgium, whose citizens are among the most highly taxed in the world (43.3% social security, 55% income tax, 21% sales tax, 300% gasoline tax,...), we already have such a 'tax' for over a year, called Recubel.
It applies to each new piece of electrical or electronic equipment sold. e.g. EUR 2 on a typical EUR 2000 laptop. Manufacturers are required by law to take back old equipment, and this tax somehow should compensate them for that.
Probably just a scheme to extort more money from us wage-slaves.
I am living in Europe, a part of the world that, while not being the USA itself, nevertheless has very close ties with the USA.
While Europe certainly tries to follow its own course, it is affected in both good and bad ways by what's happening in the USA on nearly all fronts.
Technology is one, legislation another. Things tend to - slowly - trickle down.
This means that on the legislation side, once a law gets passed in the USA, it's likely to be adopted in one form or another in the EU as well, and it becomes extremely difficult to turn it around at that stage.
So a bad law passed in the USA is a bad law passed in the EU as well. It makes no sense to start complaining now to local legislators as they don't know yet what you are talking about. By the time they do know, it is too late.
So I'm asking for ideas about how we could help from here. Contacting an US senator probably isn't going to help, or is it ?
Well, that's just because of the frequency these patches are coming out. Monthly for NT, daily for Mandrake. I just swallow what I'm being fed, and pray for a good aftertaste.
Same reason why I chose Mandrake. It just happened to be at the right place (my desktop) at the right time, and it did the job. NT is also a desktop OS btw.
Of course this is not an apple to apple comparison. It's an apple to pear comparison. They're both fruits, but they just taste and smell differently.
I would like to avoid installing source code. But sometimes you need to correct things immediately (PHP, mySQL) instead of waiting for the official updated packages to become available, or the distro simply does not offer what you need (the mod_ssl, OpenSSL and Apache combination).
You're not the only one in suggesting Debian over Mandrake, which, I agree, seems to be positioned more for desktop use.
But for now, I'll just try to keep the uptime going.
monthly: download patch (click), execute it (click, click, click) and reboot (click, click, click)
quarterly: reboot crashed system
infected: never (yet)
System 2: standard Mandrake-Linux distro with manual install of current versions of Apache, PHP, mySQL, OpenSSL and mod_ssl.
daily: Mandrake distro stuff:
Read email sent by Mandrake Security Announce .
Determine if the Security Announce concerns your installation. It does.
MandrakeUpdate the rpms as needed. Skip rpms that are wrongly marked as dependent on something you don't want to update. (Why is xyz dependent on emacs of all things ?)
Download the skipped rpms manually, and rpm -U.
fortnightly: other stuff:
Check apache.org, mysql.com, php.net, modssl.org and openssl.org for updates as your attention gets caught by security bulletins.
download source code, tar gxf;./configure --with-abc=def.......; make; su; make install; exit. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat due to interdependencies and changed config options. su; apachectl stop; sleep 5; apachectl startssl; enter passphrase; exit; gedit broken.conf files and repeat, repeat, repeat.
yearly: reboot the system (uptime: 305 days and counting)
infected: never (yet)
Now which system do you want to administer today ?
"The Episode I DVD is even worth your investment in a DVD player if you have continued to delay the purchase."
Well, I decided to go all the way to setup a full-size, no expenses spared, home theater nearly two years ago, just to be able to see 'The Fifth Element' again.
Since my family and I have been watching hundreds of rented movies on DVD, and we all agree that the investment has been utterly worthwhile.
Why invest $10000 in a home theater when you can go and see a movie on a much bigger screen with a family of four for $25 ?
Well, there are a couple of reasons:
At $22 saved on every movie, I'll recoup my investment in 5 years.
I can see movies again in their former glory, which is not possible with a VHS tape and a television screen.
DVD extra features sometimes provide valuable insight in the movie-making process, and make you appreciate the typically enourmous efforts required.
Carefully chosen and positioned speakers provide an audio treat you won't find in a theater
filled with a popcorn-popping and coughing audience.
I prefer the comfort and security of my home. Best of all, I can sip a cocktail while watching.
All said, even if this movie isn't going to make anyone go out and buy a DVD player, I'm glad it's finally there.
Some geeks seem to think that everybody has all the time available to tweak and twiddle with everything they can get their hands on, while all most of us (this includes a lot geeks as well) want is a stable platform that is maintained by a competent company so we don't have to. Hence the real-life success of companies like Microsoft, Oracle and Sun...and the less-than-spectacular interest in Solaris Source Code.
When was the last time you looked at the blueprints of your car's engine, anyway ?
Why not re-use the existing technology and set up an Iridium or GlobalStar cluster around Mars ?
In a next step a GSM network can be installed. While Mars has the disadvantage of not having preexisting tower structures, there are no inhabitants whining about the danger of ' radiation' yet.
I bet future Mars dwellers will be more than happy to pay for cellular and long-distance charges.
I was astonished at first to find that Belgium, the country in which I live, and which is the host of a lot of small-scale companies, would vote in favor of allowing software patents.
An then, I was not. Belgium, and other countries, are called 'democratic', but pressure groups with political connections can force laws to be voted wihout any prior consultation, information or consent of the countries' citizens.
In this case I guess I'll have to blame Lernout&Hauspie (an easy target now) for the Belgian vote, knowing that a former prime minister of Belgium is sitting on its board.
The only thing left for me it to hope that the smaller company I work for will not be slashdotted by patent infringement suits by the heavily lawyer-stuffed behemots.
A year ago, when I upgraded my Creative Encore Dxr2 to a Dxr3 I decided to connect the video projector to the VGA instead of to its S-Video output of the Dxr3. The video projector produces 1024x768, the Dxr3 nicely scales the image to this resolution, and there you have impeccable movie-theather like image quality, from most DVDs that is. Some DVDs are badly compressed and show MPEG block artifacts. Haven't watched a single movie on television since, cause I can't stand the cramped and undetailed image any more.
Slashdot Mirror
before printing the images on an inkjet or color laser printer with gimp or Photoshop. You can also experiment with the Hue value to tune the colors to your liking.
If you intend to have this rendered on photo paper using an on-line printing service the black background makes for a nice poster though.
Anonymous Student,
Instead of taking a second degree in a direction that is very similar, why not go for something complementary ?
A degree in economics or, god forbid, law will help your career way better both in short and long term.
NetMining is located in our office building. They might have some products that interest you and/or your marketing department.
Sorry for the shameless plug...
... is 1 old laptop with
- hard disk 4GB (1000 songs) or above
- 802.11b wireless network card
- custom interface hardware to consumer radios mimicking a CD changer
- 12V power conversion to whatever the laptop requires, controlled by the CD changer interface
- a non crashing OS with an SMB server and some custom player software talking to the interface hardware
- a broken display (you don't need it)
Then, drive your car into your garage and maintain your music wirelessly... No CD/CDRs to swap...
All of the above exist, save for the CD changer interface/power supply.
Here in Belgium, whose citizens are among the most highly taxed in the world (43.3% social security, 55% income tax, 21% sales tax, 300% gasoline tax, ...), we already have such a 'tax' for over a year, called Recubel.
It applies to each new piece of electrical or electronic equipment sold. e.g. EUR 2 on a typical EUR 2000 laptop. Manufacturers are required by law to take back old equipment, and this tax somehow should compensate them for that.
Probably just a scheme to extort more money from us wage-slaves.
Their official 'website' is here.
What else can be expected from a dude named 'Mingorance' ?
Arrogance + ignorance ?
I need my (toilet) paper too, but it's not the only bastion of sanity I have.
How do I "identify the chairman of the Senate committee responsible for my area of concern" (Brussels, in fact) ?
I am living in Europe, a part of the world that, while not being the USA itself, nevertheless has very close ties with the USA.
While Europe certainly tries to follow its own course, it is affected in both good and bad ways by what's happening in the USA on nearly all fronts.
Technology is one, legislation another. Things tend to - slowly - trickle down.
This means that on the legislation side, once a law gets passed in the USA, it's likely to be adopted in one form or another in the EU as well, and it becomes extremely difficult to turn it around at that stage.
So a bad law passed in the USA is a bad law passed in the EU as well. It makes no sense to start complaining now to local legislators as they don't know yet what you are talking about. By the time they do know, it is too late.
So I'm asking for ideas about how we could help from here. Contacting an US senator probably isn't going to help, or is it ?
Well, that's just because of the frequency these patches are coming out. Monthly for NT, daily for Mandrake. I just swallow what I'm being fed, and pray for a good aftertaste.
Same reason why I chose Mandrake. It just happened to be at the right place (my desktop) at the right time, and it did the job. NT is also a desktop OS btw.
Of course this is not an apple to apple comparison. It's an apple to pear comparison. They're both fruits, but they just taste and smell differently.
Thanks for catching the unintended pun. From now on, I'll be administering patches while administrating systems.
I would like to avoid installing source code. But sometimes you need to correct things immediately (PHP, mySQL) instead of waiting for the official updated packages to become available, or the distro simply does not offer what you need (the mod_ssl, OpenSSL and Apache combination).
You're not the only one in suggesting Debian over Mandrake, which, I agree, seems to be positioned more for desktop use.
But for now, I'll just try to keep the uptime going.
System 1: IIS on Windows NT:
System 2: standard Mandrake-Linux distro with manual install of current versions of Apache, PHP, mySQL, OpenSSL and mod_ssl.
Now which system do you want to administer today ?
"The Episode I DVD is even worth your investment in a DVD player if you have continued to delay the purchase."
Well, I decided to go all the way to setup a full-size, no expenses spared, home theater nearly two years ago, just to be able to see 'The Fifth Element' again.
Since my family and I have been watching hundreds of rented movies on DVD, and we all agree that the investment has been utterly worthwhile.
Why invest $10000 in a home theater when you can go and see a movie on a much bigger screen with a family of four for $25 ?
Well, there are a couple of reasons:
All said, even if this movie isn't going to make anyone go out and buy a DVD player, I'm glad it's finally there.
Some geeks seem to think that everybody has all the time available to tweak and twiddle with everything they can get their hands on, while all most of us (this includes a lot geeks as well) want is a stable platform that is maintained by a competent company so we don't have to. Hence the real-life success of companies like Microsoft, Oracle and Sun...and the less-than-spectacular interest in Solaris Source Code.
When was the last time you looked at the blueprints of your car's engine, anyway ?
Why not re-use the existing technology and set up an Iridium or GlobalStar cluster around Mars ? In a next step a GSM network can be installed. While Mars has the disadvantage of not having preexisting tower structures, there are no inhabitants whining about the danger of ' radiation' yet. I bet future Mars dwellers will be more than happy to pay for cellular and long-distance charges.
I was astonished at first to find that Belgium, the country in which I live, and which is the host of a lot of small-scale companies, would vote in favor of allowing software patents.
An then, I was not. Belgium, and other countries, are called 'democratic', but pressure groups with political connections can force laws to be voted wihout any prior consultation, information or consent of the countries' citizens.
In this case I guess I'll have to blame Lernout&Hauspie (an easy target now) for the Belgian vote, knowing that a former prime minister of Belgium is sitting on its board.
The only thing left for me it to hope that the smaller company I work for will not be slashdotted by patent infringement suits by the heavily lawyer-stuffed behemots.
Thats why they removed the specs. The 3Com CEO said - 'No device leaves 3Com without an ethernet connection'
A year ago, when I upgraded my Creative Encore Dxr2 to a Dxr3 I decided to connect the video projector to the VGA instead of to its S-Video output of the Dxr3.
The video projector produces 1024x768, the Dxr3 nicely scales the image to this resolution, and there you have impeccable movie-theather like image quality, from most DVDs that is. Some DVDs are badly compressed and show MPEG block artifacts.
Haven't watched a single movie on television since, cause I can't stand the cramped and undetailed image any more.