your outline of the debian distro versions is right on, and upon reading it, makes me think that perhaps a renaming of them would be helpful for PR. a couple of notions:
commercially oriented:
stable => enterprise
testing => consumer
unstable => development
actually their are plug-ins for DjVu. DjVu uses IW44 for image compression. what's the patent status on IW44? that would be the way to go if it were open. IW44 is comparable to JPEG 2000.
i just switched to gnome 1.4 from kde 2.2 the other day. kde was great while it lasted, but i soon found gnome with nautilus to be much more my speed.
my only wishes:
the file dialog needs serios improvement. i really miss kde's slick version. i know the gnome 2.0 file dialog is better, but its still stale in comparrison from what i can tell. --hey wouldn't a mini-nautilus do the trick?
also, the print dialog could use some beafing up too. it works fine, but again kde takes the prize here.
fianlly, the ability to add mime/types that open certain apps could use some ease-of-use. its too complicated the way it is, but perhaps this is fixed in 2.0?
other then that i'm pretty damn happy.
i don't do c/c++ but would be happy to donate toward the above mentioned improvements. is there a way to specifically do that?
i said it before and i'll say it again. the success of linux depends on these companies not trying to sell it, the os. rather they must converge around a primary standard distribution, if they wish to crack the mass market. and instead they should be focused on selling "content" that runs on top of that platform, not the platform itself! i hope that is what is going on here. and yes i too hope they will take up the debian way.
so i'm going around, wherever possible, and promoting debian as THE standard linux distibution. bye-bye red hat, au revoir mandrake, auf wiedersehen suse, adios connectiva, and so on. all of these distribution companies should stop trying to sell linux itself, and instead sell supporting content like applications, books, support services, etc. in turn they would then contibute to a single standard linux distribution, i.e. debian. why? because if they all did, hardware and software vendors would rally behind liux having a single install base to support, administrators could be confident in deployment of linux on the company desktop, and end-users would no longer be swimming in sea of distribution confusion, and then in about 2 seconds flat the microsoft tyranny would finally fall. it is really just that simple: united we stand, divied we fall. viva la debian!!!
Yes, the problem is the bandwidth costs. high speed bandwidth needs to be made univerally available. and the "internet" ecomonmy would be all better. i wish someone would figure out a way to fix this!
why do all these sites need to charge subscription charges? answer: to cover cost and hopefully to make a small profit. right? they have tried to do this with ads. but the revenue from ads don't cut it. so it is understandable to charge a monthly fee. but is anyone about to shell out $4.95/mo for all the different sites they might like to use/access? no, they'd go broke. somthing along the lines of 50 cents per month would be more in line with what people could afford. but that's not enough to support these great sites. why? one simple reason: the cost of bandwidth. the large telecommunication companies have a strangle-hold on bandwidth and its killing the the new "internet" economy!!!!! checked the prices for a T1 lately? why arn't they following moore's law? bottom line: we must find a way to create inexpensive universally available high-speed internet access for all. it's a national imperative! otherwise the internet will become more and more a realm for the haves, and less and less for the have-nots. thank god linux and apache came along. lord knows where we'd be if they hadn't! imagaine the additional costs for our beloved sites if they HAD to run microsoft products! not to mention,/. wouldn't even exist!
I played around with something called File Pool/Tear Drop or something like that. But the real daddy of such systems in Publius. Publius diributes files across sets of servers with redundency and encryption. It is possible for the owner of a document to restrict access and prevent deletion of the file, even bu him/her self. It is a very cool system. It would be nice to see it become more standardized and utilized.
Anyone in the know will agree. Among the best well-rounded educations (i.e. liberal arts) available is that of St. John's College, both in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM. The curriculum is the Great Books program, in which original texts are read in historical order. Obviously this is not geared toward any particular job (outside of academics) but the foundation it provides for furhter higher education in pursuit of a career is invaluable.
never quite understood why lego has never expanded their market into the non-kiddy domain. for example, every time i built a new computer i couldnt help but ask god why i cant just snap the components together like legos. hello, lego, are you listening?
We were down fo three weeks. The first week due to an administrative oversite on Qwests end. And the next two because of Red Code. Moreover numerous hours of my time were spent dealing with it. Add those costs up and we're into the $500 range. I don't think I should have to pay my $80 for this month either! Moreover from point of view, Qwest did a poor job of dealing with the problem.
A game company can not hope to profit from a Linux platform simply because Linux isn't a mainstream desktop OS. It could be, but won't be until all the Linux ditribution companies unify around a single standard distro. (dGL I here you callng.)
Stop selling OSes and start selling content!!!!
dont bother submitting stories. i've argued with the cmdr. even though they say you have good chance of getting your story in, you are right, it is bullshit. interestingly when i submitted a story it was about a college kid who build a mouse using ethernet. screw usb and firewire i said. check this out. i too was rejected. cmdr told me after i railed on him that something like 98% are rejected. (more like 99.8% i think). anyhoo 3GIO is crap. call me when they have single strand fiberoptic links. over and out.
Right now I'm looking for a new server. But I'm tired of these mammoth boxes. So i looked into server appliances, but they lacked coonfigurability. So I though to my self what about a notebook computer? I'm on the phone with Dell right now to see what they say. IBM merely tried to sell me their most expensive laptop. -no thanks. Since I don't need great graphics or sound, etc. What I need is a fast cpu losts of memory and a speed HD. Any ideas?
I would like to see an online petition to be sent out to various digital music player makers to support ogg vorbis. Most of them support wma, and how many people use that? the open source community needs to get behind some of these open technologies and really push, otherwise we are going to find ourselves paying through the nose for the most basic of services and products down the road.
IT IS A MERE MATTER OF TIME BEFORE RUBY EMERGES AS THE PREEMINENT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE OF THE EARLY 21st CENTURY.
Why? The pure elegence of design. Ruby is simply the best. Pure OO, clean syntax, etc. For the first time ever, I was able to rapidly learn a new programming language and churn out a fairly complex program with very few bugs, right off the bat! Of the many tounges I have ciphered, no other has done nearly so well. And from the rumors I hear, Ruby is on course to take over, even the likes of (dare I say it) C++. (Read: Complied Ruby)
ALL PROGRAMMERS BE ADVISED: RUBY IS IN YOUR FUTURE.
I've been talking about this for years. It really just a name space problem. There is no reason not to have all major version of sahred library available. If a program needs a library version so-1.2 then there it is. If another progam needs so-1.0, well thats there too. Over time you can purge very old libraries if they are no longer required. NOW IF WE CAN JUSYT WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN! (P.S. Windows XP has this feature. --No more.dll hell.)
I, too, have a heavy VB background. RAD is a wonderful thing. I've been looking for the right cross platform tools for web development, but it looked as if I'd have to go back in time and hand code everything. I began to tach myself Ruby (awsome language by the way) and then I discovered ZOPE! The free web RAD. If your interested in web application development, ZOPE is it!
For quite a while now, I've been trying to find a solution to this problem myself. Finally I had to settle on writing my own Latex generator. I'm in the early stages but it looks like it will work well. If all pans out I should be able to create report templates in Lyx (with some manual modifications) and IBM has a relatively inexpensive ($20-40?) Latex browser plug-in, if a normal viewer isn't acceptable. The reports are generated by the server and then passed to the client, so client printing is not a problem. Just wish I had more time and resources to get it completed!
The prblem with install incompatabilities is really only one of our own making. The problems primarily lies with differing directory structures, system batch files (almost solely involving the init sequence) and available libraries and their version conflicts. All of these can be easily overcome.
The last is easily fixed by allowing all versions of libraries to be installed such that they have different names and/or reside in different locations. In this way applications can be very specific about the versions of libaries they use.
And programs wont break because a new version of a library has been installed Iin the Windows world this is know as.DLL Hell. This is not such a great problem with Liunx.
Next, the batch files, primarily the one involving the init sequence, are really a minor issue as theer is agood bit of standardization here, but not enough, and a solid fixed standard needs to be put foward and followed. I don't see how else to get around this other than participating in a standard.
Finally, the various directory structures cause problems for applications because they can't find files, not knowing where they are located. Imagine for a moment that wasn't a directory structure at all and all files resided in a single directory. In such a caseeach and every file must have a unique name. Well, this is actually how it is now if you just think of a path as merely a files name. And so the problem lies in the fact that the names don't stay the same from system to system. This can be fix by either everyone following a strict FHS (file hiearchy standard) or by having a single repository directory where a uniquely named link is placed pointing to the needed files of a package.
Think abou it!
Check out a recent issue of Linux Journal. A streaming medium is just dying to come out of Ogg Vorbis combined with FIASCO. Pure open source and pretty hot technology. In fact, done well, you'd be looking at a top contender against QT, Real and Media Play. Did I metion open source?
Some pieces need to be created though: Integrating FIASCO with Vorbis into the Ogg wrapper, determine how it will be streamed and code some plug-ins.
Not such a bad open source project - give me three good programmers and 6 months... then watch out!
Slashdot Mirror
your outline of the debian distro versions is right on, and upon reading it, makes me think that perhaps a renaming of them would be helpful for PR. a couple of notions:
:-)
commercially oriented:
stable => enterprise
testing => consumer
unstable => development
or something more fun:
stable => solid
testing => liquid
unstable => gas
ideas, thoughts? do others see such a thing as an improvement for debian public relations?
actually their are plug-ins for DjVu. DjVu uses IW44 for image compression. what's the patent status on IW44? that would be the way to go if it were open. IW44 is comparable to JPEG 2000.
what about IW44? what's the standing on that? and why isn't that used more often? it's about as good as jpeg 2000 and is already here.
i just switched to gnome 1.4 from kde 2.2 the other day. kde was great while it lasted, but i soon found gnome with nautilus to be much more my speed.
my only wishes:
the file dialog needs serios improvement. i really miss kde's slick version. i know the gnome 2.0 file dialog is better, but its still stale in comparrison from what i can tell. --hey wouldn't a mini-nautilus do the trick?
also, the print dialog could use some beafing up too. it works fine, but again kde takes the prize here.
fianlly, the ability to add mime/types that open certain apps could use some ease-of-use. its too complicated the way it is, but perhaps this is fixed in 2.0?
other then that i'm pretty damn happy.
i don't do c/c++ but would be happy to donate toward the above mentioned improvements. is there a way to specifically do that?
~transami
i said it before and i'll say it again. the success of linux depends on these companies not trying to sell it, the os. rather they must converge around a primary standard distribution, if they wish to crack the mass market. and instead they should be focused on selling "content" that runs on top of that platform, not the platform itself! i hope that is what is going on here. and yes i too hope they will take up the debian way.
so i'm going around, wherever possible, and promoting debian as THE standard linux distibution. bye-bye red hat, au revoir mandrake, auf wiedersehen suse, adios connectiva, and so on. all of these distribution companies should stop trying to sell linux itself, and instead sell supporting content like applications, books, support services, etc. in turn they would then contibute to a single standard linux distribution, i.e. debian. why? because if they all did, hardware and software vendors would rally behind liux having a single install base to support, administrators could be confident in deployment of linux on the company desktop, and end-users would no longer be swimming in sea of distribution confusion, and then in about 2 seconds flat the microsoft tyranny would finally fall. it is really just that simple: united we stand, divied we fall. viva la debian!!!
Yes, the problem is the bandwidth costs. high speed bandwidth needs to be made univerally available. and the "internet" ecomonmy would be all better. i wish someone would figure out a way to fix this!
why do all these sites need to charge subscription charges? answer: to cover cost and hopefully to make a small profit. right? they have tried to do this with ads. but the revenue from ads don't cut it. so it is understandable to charge a monthly fee. but is anyone about to shell out $4.95/mo for all the different sites they might like to use/access? no, they'd go broke. somthing along the lines of 50 cents per month would be more in line with what people could afford. but that's not enough to support these great sites. why? one simple reason: the cost of bandwidth. the large telecommunication companies have a strangle-hold on bandwidth and its killing the the new "internet" economy!!!!! checked the prices for a T1 lately? why arn't they following moore's law? bottom line: we must find a way to create inexpensive universally available high-speed internet access for all. it's a national imperative! otherwise the internet will become more and more a realm for the haves, and less and less for the have-nots. thank god linux and apache came along. lord knows where we'd be if they hadn't! imagaine the additional costs for our beloved sites if they HAD to run microsoft products! not to mention, /. wouldn't even exist!
I played around with something called File Pool/Tear Drop or something like that. But the real daddy of such systems in Publius. Publius diributes files across sets of servers with redundency and encryption. It is possible for the owner of a document to restrict access and prevent deletion of the file, even bu him/her self. It is a very cool system. It would be nice to see it become more standardized and utilized.
Anyone in the know will agree. Among the best well-rounded educations (i.e. liberal arts) available is that of St. John's College, both in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM. The curriculum is the Great Books program, in which original texts are read in historical order. Obviously this is not geared toward any particular job (outside of academics) but the foundation it provides for furhter higher education in pursuit of a career is invaluable.
never quite understood why lego has never expanded their market into the non-kiddy domain. for example, every time i built a new computer i couldnt help but ask god why i cant just snap the components together like legos. hello, lego, are you listening?
We were down fo three weeks. The first week due to an administrative oversite on Qwests end. And the next two because of Red Code. Moreover numerous hours of my time were spent dealing with it. Add those costs up and we're into the $500 range. I don't think I should have to pay my $80 for this month either! Moreover from point of view, Qwest did a poor job of dealing with the problem.
A game company can not hope to profit from a Linux platform simply because Linux isn't a mainstream desktop OS. It could be, but won't be until all the Linux ditribution companies unify around a single standard distro. (dGL I here you callng.) Stop selling OSes and start selling content!!!!
fiber can be done and for a reasonable price. but intel and such are in the milking business you know.
dont bother submitting stories. i've argued with the cmdr. even though they say you have good chance of getting your story in, you are right, it is bullshit. interestingly when i submitted a story it was about a college kid who build a mouse using ethernet. screw usb and firewire i said. check this out. i too was rejected. cmdr told me after i railed on him that something like 98% are rejected. (more like 99.8% i think). anyhoo 3GIO is crap. call me when they have single strand fiberoptic links. over and out.
Who the f**k is giving out these patents? Are they the dumbest people on the planet or what? This is absolutely unacceptable! uuuuugggghhhhh!
Talked to DELL and they told me that if I use a notebook as a server it would void the Warranty!!!
Right now I'm looking for a new server. But I'm tired of these mammoth boxes. So i looked into server appliances, but they lacked coonfigurability. So I though to my self what about a notebook computer? I'm on the phone with Dell right now to see what they say. IBM merely tried to sell me their most expensive laptop. -no thanks. Since I don't need great graphics or sound, etc. What I need is a fast cpu losts of memory and a speed HD. Any ideas?
I would like to see an online petition to be sent out to various digital music player makers to support ogg vorbis. Most of them support wma, and how many people use that? the open source community needs to get behind some of these open technologies and really push, otherwise we are going to find ourselves paying through the nose for the most basic of services and products down the road.
IT IS A MERE MATTER OF TIME BEFORE RUBY EMERGES AS THE PREEMINENT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE OF THE EARLY 21st CENTURY. Why? The pure elegence of design. Ruby is simply the best. Pure OO, clean syntax, etc. For the first time ever, I was able to rapidly learn a new programming language and churn out a fairly complex program with very few bugs, right off the bat! Of the many tounges I have ciphered, no other has done nearly so well. And from the rumors I hear, Ruby is on course to take over, even the likes of (dare I say it) C++. (Read: Complied Ruby) ALL PROGRAMMERS BE ADVISED: RUBY IS IN YOUR FUTURE.
I've been talking about this for years. It really just a name space problem. There is no reason not to have all major version of sahred library available. If a program needs a library version so-1.2 then there it is. If another progam needs so-1.0, well thats there too. Over time you can purge very old libraries if they are no longer required. NOW IF WE CAN JUSYT WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN! (P.S. Windows XP has this feature. --No more .dll hell.)
I, too, have a heavy VB background. RAD is a wonderful thing. I've been looking for the right cross platform tools for web development, but it looked as if I'd have to go back in time and hand code everything. I began to tach myself Ruby (awsome language by the way) and then I discovered ZOPE! The free web RAD. If your interested in web application development, ZOPE is it!
For quite a while now, I've been trying to find a solution to this problem myself. Finally I had to settle on writing my own Latex generator. I'm in the early stages but it looks like it will work well. If all pans out I should be able to create report templates in Lyx (with some manual modifications) and IBM has a relatively inexpensive ($20-40?) Latex browser plug-in, if a normal viewer isn't acceptable. The reports are generated by the server and then passed to the client, so client printing is not a problem. Just wish I had more time and resources to get it completed!
The prblem with install incompatabilities is really only one of our own making. The problems primarily lies with differing directory structures, system batch files (almost solely involving the init sequence) and available libraries and their version conflicts. All of these can be easily overcome. The last is easily fixed by allowing all versions of libraries to be installed such that they have different names and/or reside in different locations. In this way applications can be very specific about the versions of libaries they use. And programs wont break because a new version of a library has been installed Iin the Windows world this is know as .DLL Hell. This is not such a great problem with Liunx.
Next, the batch files, primarily the one involving the init sequence, are really a minor issue as theer is agood bit of standardization here, but not enough, and a solid fixed standard needs to be put foward and followed. I don't see how else to get around this other than participating in a standard.
Finally, the various directory structures cause problems for applications because they can't find files, not knowing where they are located. Imagine for a moment that wasn't a directory structure at all and all files resided in a single directory. In such a caseeach and every file must have a unique name. Well, this is actually how it is now if you just think of a path as merely a files name. And so the problem lies in the fact that the names don't stay the same from system to system. This can be fix by either everyone following a strict FHS (file hiearchy standard) or by having a single repository directory where a uniquely named link is placed pointing to the needed files of a package.
Think abou it!
Check out a recent issue of Linux Journal. A streaming medium is just dying to come out of Ogg Vorbis combined with FIASCO. Pure open source and pretty hot technology. In fact, done well, you'd be looking at a top contender against QT, Real and Media Play. Did I metion open source? Some pieces need to be created though: Integrating FIASCO with Vorbis into the Ogg wrapper, determine how it will be streamed and code some plug-ins. Not such a bad open source project - give me three good programmers and 6 months... then watch out!