many people record shows and skip the commercials, having pop up ads would effectively force you to watch ads no matter what, as long as it was a part of the broadcast signal.
I'm not going to quote and respond to individual parts of your post, because it all comes down this one bit:
Again, I disagree. Most of the time, there probably IS a better way between the two. Moreover, even if there are two ways to do something, and they're supposedly equally good, why not pick the one that's easier/less bug prone to implement, and stick with it? If they're equally good, users should be equally happy with either behavior, but delighted that they didn't have to find yet another checkbox to hit to make app foo act consistantly with app bar.
Because we're human. Should we let someone else determine which car is best, and what color it should be, and then all line up to drive it? Should we all live in identical houses on identical streets? Hell, if someone has determined one way to be better than the other, shouldn't the user be happy? No need to think for yourself or decide what you like best for yourself.
It's my computer. If your software doesn't do things I want it to do, and some other software does, guess which software I'll use? I have *no* intention to upgrade to gnome2. From what i've read, its horrible. Takes away everything i use gnome for. When/if i "upgrade", i will upgrade to sawfish, without gnome. Or some other WM. Or, maybe gnome2.1 will fix what gnome2 apparently breaks. Not that the gnome folks shouldn't do what they want, its their software and time afterall. But, no thanks, none for me please.
I was amazed at how many zauruses sharp seemed to be selling. I was there on friday, and the sharp booth was definitly the most popular at the time. They had a window on the side of their booth just for selling zauruses, and when i first came across it, there were 4 or so people in line. There was a line every time i walked by except once.
I ended up buying one. pretty cool toy. Definitly need an 802.11b cf card.
I've got a toshiba libretto L2.. its pretty nice. Pics at dynamism.com, but i bought mine from a guy in korea that sells 'em on ebay.
some of the highpoints:
* it's pretty small. smaller and lighter than my vaio pcg-n505vx
* the battery lasts a long time. Even with no control for the display in linux and a somewhat power-hungry wireless card, the battery consistantly lasts for greater than 2 hours.
* 1280x600 display - thats a pretty wide display for such a small laptop.
* built in ethernet
* FOUR mouse buttons. i hate laptops without a third mouse button, this one's got a spare.
* everything except the power management and the external monitor connector (and maybe the modem - i haven't tried it) works fully in linux.
* it's reasonably fast (600mhz, but i'd say its slower feeling than a 600mhz intel or amd)
* the keyboard is very comfortable. YMMV.
* 256megs, not too shabby.
* the screen is very bright.
some low points
* 1280x600 display - thats not very much height for a laptop.
* odd trackpoint pointer - I like trackpoints, but this one seems to try to calibrate itself constantly, which results in an odd feel..
* limited ACPI support. it doesn't support APM at all, and ACPI isn't quite up to speed (in linux)
* the third and fourth mouse buttons seem to auto-repeat, like a keyboard. This may very well be a configuration problem on my side, i haven't messed with it (just noticed it last night in fact)
* maxes out at 256megs.
* the mic jack is mono only. no stereo line-in or anything.
* no IR - how bizzare.
* no bluetooth. From attempting to read english translations of japanese web pages before it arrived at my door, i thought there was a chance it might.
Other notes:
* its got a japanese keyboard. I don't mind this, but it took a few days to get used to. I suppose one day i'll map some of those spare keys to do interesting things...
* it's got 2 usb ports, one ethernet, a headphone jack, a mic jack, rj11 for your phone line, one pcmcia, and video-out.
I do use it as my main machine at home. before i got it, i used a vaio pcg-n505vx.
Should I have to put up 3m walls with razor wire and install bullet-proof glass, as they do in Jo-burg?
No, but if you find that the lock on your front door can be bypassed with a stick, and then you fix that, and then discover that it can be bypassed with a apricot, and then you fix that, and then you find that it can be bypassed with a rubber band, perhaps you should replace the lock instead of patching it against every availible object.
If you waste 8 hours or so of your time setting it up, how much is that worth to you ?
Better than wasting my time doing something i already know how to do. Or watching tv, or something else that doesn't teach me anything new. And if I already know how to do the install, it'll only take me about a half hour, and it'll be setup the way *I* want it. Hell, isn't that why i'm running linux in the first place?
My portable: sony vaio pcg-n505vx 128m 20g, debian SID, reiserfs, all hardware except the winmodem working, tho i haven't tested the firewire as i have no firewire devices. You got someplace thats gunna set that up for me?
--sean, on his fujitsu laptop running openbsd, since his vaio was left at work.
The police won't tell you that, but if you discover that your front door's lock has become ineffective, and you fail to fix it, i'll certainly call you a moron.
Personally, I'd think that learning a new OS would be worth the cost of a book (which I note is out of print - does that mean a new edition is on the way?), but if you're too cheap to buy a book, well, here's a pretty decent guide to getting started with GNU/Linux.
Actually, the link to the ORA debian gnu/linux book is one link away from the full text of that book, online & free, courtesy of O'Reilly.
Gesture UI is pretty neat (check out wayv at http://www.stressbunny.com/wayv/ to use it directly with Xfree instead of just in opera), but i find i use the keyboard for most stuff instead. I've tried opera a few times, its rendering engine is pretty good.. fast, small, and it seems to render most stuff correctly.. but the moronic window management is a showstopper for me. Even on my laptop, i often have mozilla windows open in more than one workspace.
As for stability, thats no longer an issue for me. Since 0.9.1, mozilla hasn't crashed once, and when i've tried opera, it never crashed either.
But there is also Opera. [...] it has a pretty slick interface
The interface sucks. Its pretty and nice eye candy, but i already have a window manager. I don't need a web browser with a built in window manager. It's limiting. The windows don't behave like my other windows. They don't respond to my key commands. They don't have the same minimal window decorations. I can't have other apps layered between them. Most importantly, I can't drag one to a different workspace/monitor/etc. I can't take opera seriously while it has such a horrid UI.
There's an excellent presentation at technetcast by jim reese (cheif operations engineer @ google) called "the technology behind google", in mp3 format. Its much more technical than this interview, really a very good listen. get it here
Or free: www.squid-cache.org.. i've set it up in front of publicfile & apache using publicfile for static content and apache for dynamic content, works wonderfully.
--Sean
The only way we are going to get companies like Lucent to finally provide drivers is to show that poeple will *BUY* their products.
They will provide specs/source if they see that without them, no one will buy. People already buy their products. How is continuing to do so going to convince them to support linux or open their specs?
Regarding sound:
The Chinstrap is a cranky unit, and is more well suited to a dual boot setup.
Then why on earth are you selling it to your customers as a linux machine? Or is it configured as a dual-boot machine?
Cirrus Logic Just sent us "production" audio drivers for the King, and we've had *NO* problems with the Emperor under R.H 7.0 / 7.1 Beta.
Hey, thats great, but I was going by the information on your web page, and unless you're shipping with redhat 7.0 and the production audio drivers, it doesn't count yet. If you are, great. Go update your web page. If the support is improving, thats wonderful. I'm all for laptops preloaded with linux. But i don't think they should be using poorly supported hardware. That isn't good for your customers or the community.
Did i overlook where you listed the manufacturer and models? If so, i'm sorry for that. And i'm sorry for suggesting your products were overpriced, if indeed they are cheaper than elsewhere.
I don't make any appologies for anything else i said tho. The laptop i type this message on is running linux and linux alone. It was sold as a windows machine, and would appear to have better hardware support than your machines. Everything works, save the winmodem, and maybe the firewire. I haven't tried it yet. (actually, i haven't tried the winmodem either, as i have no use for it, but since the list of winmodems that works under linux is small, i assume it does not work). Nothing requires a closed-source or beta driver (other than the modem, if its supported at all). Nothing is flakey or half-working.
One last note, when is the last time you've seen a good high quality laptop without a built in modem?
I really don't see any reason anyone would buy these laptops. I mean, yeah, it's great, another company "supporting" linux. But check the "full disclosure" bit:
These laptops have softmodems, which aren't supported ("There is no Linux support for this softmodem (yet), but it works in Windows"), or may have experimental support, but they're not willing to support them ("It is frankly more cost-effective for us to ignore this hardware and consider it useless").
All three machine's sound chips are supported by experimental early-stage drivers (the chinstrap's audio "skips occasionally, hangs occasionally, and loops occasionally. It may react badly to APM events. Sound recording does not work at all.") The emperor and the king's sound chips are supported by binary-only drivers.
The emperor has a problem where it always suspends when you close the laptop, the chinstrap's video hardware is only supported in X by means of a binary-only experimental beta driver.. And even in the full-disclosure bit, they don't seem to tell you who manufactures these machines. Certainly they're not building themselves, or they'd use linux-compatible hardware.
Plus, they all appear to be MORE expensive than equivlant laptops with windows installed. Hows that?
My n505vx's drive died a week ago. I bought a 9.5mm IBM travelstar 12 gig to replace it with before i realized the dead drive was 8mm. If you take out the drive rails, it fits in there fine and seems to be snug enough to keep it in place without the rails.
Pricing and Availability The TM3120, available immediately, is economically priced for Linux-based Web pads and devices selling for $500 to $999. The 333MHz version sells for $65 while the 400MHz version sells for $89.
The TM5400, sampling now, will be offered in a range of performance levels from 500MHz to 700MHz to meet the needs of ultra-light mobile PCs selling for between $1200 and $2500. Transmeta expects that Crusoe-based systems with these attractive price points will be available in the marketplace by mid 2000. The 500MHz version will list for $119, while the 700MHz version will list for $329.
Its not elitism. Some folks decided to make their own distribution. Some other folks like to use it. If you don't, thats fine. Besides, there's no need for every distribution to be easy to install and idiot proof. They're all linux.
In the "personal privacy" corner, we've got my credit card numbers, my social security number, *specific actual data* about me. Private stuff.
In the "proprietary corporate information" corner, we've got the methods the data is stored, transfered, used, etc.. *NOT* the data itself. The data itself, of course, is private. The methods can be private too, for all i care, except when the data is info about me, that i am supposed to trust them with.
Security through obscurity is the only thing that people understand. Maybe they're wrong, but maybe they're right. It falls once again into an issue of information. WE ARE HIPPOCRITS. We want all information to be free, but mandate privacy. See a discrepancy there?
You completely miss the point. Personal privacy is *NOT* the same thing as proprietary corporate information. I'm not asking which hand you wank with, i'm asking for proof that you are being responsible with the private personal information that you are asking me to trust you with. If my personal privacy depends on the security of your proprietary protocols, I want a better garantee than "trust me" that i am being protected.
If anyone is a hypocrite it is YOU for expecting me to give corporations my private info and not expect them to prove to me that they're protecting it.
This isn't flamebait, but it should get an "Inciteful." You say that there is a difference, no, there isn't. If those companies that are being requested by you to give all of their information to you asked you for yours, what would you say?
What *would* i say? Have you ever had a bank account? A credit card? A car? A drivers license? They ask for pleanty of private information. I suppose you're happy just keeping your fingers crossed that they know how to keep it secure?
That aside, i'm not asking them for their financial records, etc. Nothing as private as what *they're* asking *me* for.
Nothing beats a summary of everything everyone on Slashdot has been saying for 2 months. But hey, now that Eric has said it, it carries weight, right?
Maybe I'm bitching a little here, but it doesn't sit right with me that in a community that is so, well, community-oriented, a small number of people get zeroed in on and quoted/printed like they were the second coming. Who are we kidding?
A community without spokespersons is called a disorganized mob. Our community is somewhat more with-it than most, as displayed by the fact that it works so well with so little formal organization. No one elects any of our spokespeople, no one officially presents issues to them that we feel should be presented to the general public. It just happens. Amazing.
Slashdot Mirror
many people record shows and skip the commercials, having pop up ads would effectively force you to watch ads no matter what, as long as it was a part of the broadcast signal.
I bet I can think of a way around it.
*click*
Look! No ads!
I'm not going to quote and respond to individual parts of your post, because it all comes down this one bit:
Again, I disagree. Most of the time, there probably IS a better way between the two. Moreover, even if there are two ways to do something, and they're supposedly equally good, why not pick the one that's easier/less bug prone to implement, and stick with it? If they're equally good, users should be equally happy with either behavior, but delighted that they didn't have to find yet another checkbox to hit to make app foo act consistantly with app bar.
Because we're human. Should we let someone else determine which car is best, and what color it should be, and then all line up to drive it? Should we all live in identical houses on identical streets? Hell, if someone has determined one way to be better than the other, shouldn't the user be happy? No need to think for yourself or decide what you like best for yourself.
It's my computer. If your software doesn't do things I want it to do, and some other software does, guess which software I'll use? I have *no* intention to upgrade to gnome2. From what i've read, its horrible. Takes away everything i use gnome for. When/if i "upgrade", i will upgrade to sawfish, without gnome. Or some other WM. Or, maybe gnome2.1 will fix what gnome2 apparently breaks. Not that the gnome folks shouldn't do what they want, its their software and time afterall. But, no thanks, none for me please.
--sean
There's a couple screenshots here: http://www.lucidus.uklinux.net/metacity/
Found at http://www.sunshineinabag.co.uk/
--sean
I was amazed at how many zauruses sharp seemed to be selling. I was there on friday, and the sharp booth was definitly the most popular at the time. They had a window on the side of their booth just for selling zauruses, and when i first came across it, there were 4 or so people in line. There was a line every time i walked by except once.
I ended up buying one. pretty cool toy. Definitly need an 802.11b cf card.
--sean
I've got a toshiba libretto L2.. its pretty nice. Pics at dynamism.com, but i bought mine from a guy in korea that sells 'em on ebay.
some of the highpoints:
* it's pretty small. smaller and lighter than my vaio pcg-n505vx
* the battery lasts a long time. Even with no control for the display in linux and a somewhat power-hungry wireless card, the battery consistantly lasts for greater than 2 hours.
* 1280x600 display - thats a pretty wide display for such a small laptop.
* built in ethernet
* FOUR mouse buttons. i hate laptops without a third mouse button, this one's got a spare.
* everything except the power management and the external monitor connector (and maybe the modem - i haven't tried it) works fully in linux.
* it's reasonably fast (600mhz, but i'd say its slower feeling than a 600mhz intel or amd)
* the keyboard is very comfortable. YMMV.
* 256megs, not too shabby.
* the screen is very bright.
some low points
* 1280x600 display - thats not very much height for a laptop.
* odd trackpoint pointer - I like trackpoints, but this one seems to try to calibrate itself constantly, which results in an odd feel..
* limited ACPI support. it doesn't support APM at all, and ACPI isn't quite up to speed (in linux)
* the third and fourth mouse buttons seem to auto-repeat, like a keyboard. This may very well be a configuration problem on my side, i haven't messed with it (just noticed it last night in fact)
* maxes out at 256megs.
* the mic jack is mono only. no stereo line-in or anything.
* no IR - how bizzare.
* no bluetooth. From attempting to read english translations of japanese web pages before it arrived at my door, i thought there was a chance it might.
Other notes:
* its got a japanese keyboard. I don't mind this, but it took a few days to get used to. I suppose one day i'll map some of those spare keys to do interesting things...
* it's got 2 usb ports, one ethernet, a headphone jack, a mic jack, rj11 for your phone line, one pcmcia, and video-out.
I do use it as my main machine at home. before i got it, i used a vaio pcg-n505vx.
--Sean
Why not just use one of the many products that are already secure? If an auto maker consistantly built cars that blew up, would you still drive them?
Should I have to put up 3m walls with razor wire and install bullet-proof glass, as they do in Jo-burg?
No, but if you find that the lock on your front door can be bypassed with a stick, and then you fix that, and then discover that it can be bypassed with a apricot, and then you fix that, and then you find that it can be bypassed with a rubber band, perhaps you should replace the lock instead of patching it against every availible object.
--sean
Yes, but how long does it take to set up when you're not sure that your hardware is 100% ?
be sure.
If you waste 8 hours or so of your time setting it up, how much is that worth to you ?
Better than wasting my time doing something i already know how to do. Or watching tv, or something else that doesn't teach me anything new. And if I already know how to do the install, it'll only take me about a half hour, and it'll be setup the way *I* want it. Hell, isn't that why i'm running linux in the first place?
My portable: sony vaio pcg-n505vx 128m 20g, debian SID, reiserfs, all hardware except the winmodem working, tho i haven't tested the firewire as i have no firewire devices. You got someplace thats gunna set that up for me?
--sean, on his fujitsu laptop running openbsd, since his vaio was left at work.
The police won't tell you that, but if you discover that your front door's lock has become ineffective, and you fail to fix it, i'll certainly call you a moron.
--sean
Personally, I'd think that learning a new OS would be worth the cost of a book (which I note is out of print - does that mean a new edition is on the way?), but if you're too cheap to buy a book, well, here's a pretty decent guide to getting started with GNU/Linux.
Actually, the link to the ORA debian gnu/linux book is one link away from the full text of that book, online & free, courtesy of O'Reilly.
--sean
You would prefer that all news sources always provide the exact same news?
More people running the latest kernel means more bugs found, faster. Folks being l33t benefits us all.
Gesture UI is pretty neat (check out wayv at http://www.stressbunny.com/wayv/ to use it directly with Xfree instead of just in opera), but i find i use the keyboard for most stuff instead. I've tried opera a few times, its rendering engine is pretty good.. fast, small, and it seems to render most stuff correctly.. but the moronic window management is a showstopper for me. Even on my laptop, i often have mozilla windows open in more than one workspace.
As for stability, thats no longer an issue for me. Since 0.9.1, mozilla hasn't crashed once, and when i've tried opera, it never crashed either.
--sean, using mozilla 0.9.1 this time.
But there is also Opera. [...] it has a pretty slick interface
The interface sucks. Its pretty and nice eye candy, but i already have a window manager. I don't need a web browser with a built in window manager. It's limiting. The windows don't behave like my other windows. They don't respond to my key commands. They don't have the same minimal window decorations. I can't have other apps layered between them. Most importantly, I can't drag one to a different workspace/monitor/etc. I can't take opera seriously while it has such a horrid UI.
--sean, posting with galeon.
There's an excellent presentation at technetcast by jim reese (cheif operations engineer @ google) called "the technology behind google", in mp3 format. Its much more technical than this interview, really a very good listen. get it here
--sean
Or free: www.squid-cache.org .. i've set it up in front of publicfile & apache using publicfile for static content and apache for dynamic content, works wonderfully.
--Sean
QLITech,
The only way we are going to get companies like Lucent to finally provide drivers is to show that poeple will *BUY* their products.
They will provide specs/source if they see that without them, no one will buy. People already buy their products. How is continuing to do so going to convince them to support linux or open their specs?
Regarding sound:
The Chinstrap is a cranky unit, and is more well suited to a dual boot setup.
Then why on earth are you selling it to your customers as a linux machine? Or is it configured as a dual-boot machine?
Cirrus Logic Just sent us "production" audio drivers for the King, and we've had *NO* problems with the Emperor under R.H 7.0 / 7.1 Beta.
Hey, thats great, but I was going by the information on your web page, and unless you're shipping with redhat 7.0 and the production audio drivers, it doesn't count yet. If you are, great. Go update your web page. If the support is improving, thats wonderful. I'm all for laptops preloaded with linux. But i don't think they should be using poorly supported hardware. That isn't good for your customers or the community.
Did i overlook where you listed the manufacturer and models? If so, i'm sorry for that. And i'm sorry for suggesting your products were overpriced, if indeed they are cheaper than elsewhere.
I don't make any appologies for anything else i said tho. The laptop i type this message on is running linux and linux alone. It was sold as a windows machine, and would appear to have better hardware support than your machines. Everything works, save the winmodem, and maybe the firewire. I haven't tried it yet. (actually, i haven't tried the winmodem either, as i have no use for it, but since the list of winmodems that works under linux is small, i assume it does not work). Nothing requires a closed-source or beta driver (other than the modem, if its supported at all). Nothing is flakey or half-working.
One last note, when is the last time you've seen a good high quality laptop without a built in modem?
This would be the first time in years.
I really don't see any reason anyone would buy these laptops. I mean, yeah, it's great, another company "supporting" linux. But check the "full disclosure" bit:
These laptops have softmodems, which aren't supported ("There is no Linux support for this softmodem (yet), but it works in Windows"), or may have experimental support, but they're not willing to support them ("It is frankly more cost-effective for us to ignore this hardware and consider it useless").
All three machine's sound chips are supported by experimental early-stage drivers (the chinstrap's audio "skips occasionally, hangs occasionally, and loops occasionally. It may react badly to APM events. Sound recording does not work at all.") The emperor and the king's sound chips are supported by binary-only drivers.
The emperor has a problem where it always suspends when you close the laptop, the chinstrap's video hardware is only supported in X by means of a binary-only experimental beta driver.. And even in the full-disclosure bit, they don't seem to tell you who manufactures these machines. Certainly they're not building themselves, or they'd use linux-compatible hardware.
Plus, they all appear to be MORE expensive than equivlant laptops with windows installed. Hows that?
My n505vx's drive died a week ago. I bought a 9.5mm IBM travelstar 12 gig to replace it with before i realized the dead drive was 8mm. If you take out the drive rails, it fits in there fine and seems to be snug enough to keep it in place without the rails.
here's some pics of the guts for those interested.
--sean
Totally reasonable..
Pricing and Availability
The TM3120, available immediately, is economically priced for Linux-based Web pads and devices selling for $500
to $999. The 333MHz version sells for $65 while the 400MHz version sells for $89.
The TM5400, sampling now, will be offered in a range of performance levels from 500MHz to 700MHz to meet the
needs of ultra-light mobile PCs selling for between $1200 and $2500. Transmeta expects that Crusoe-based
systems with these attractive price points will be available in the marketplace by mid 2000. The 500MHz version will
list for $119, while the 700MHz version will list for $329.
Its not elitism. Some folks decided to make their own distribution. Some other folks like to use it. If you don't, thats fine. Besides, there's no need for every distribution to be easy to install and idiot proof. They're all linux.
Thats why there are a bunch of distros. If you want an easy installer, use one of the distros that comes with one. Me, i like dselect.
Still, the data we're talking about is different.
In the "personal privacy" corner, we've got my credit card numbers, my social security number, *specific actual data* about me. Private stuff.
In the "proprietary corporate information" corner, we've got the methods the data is stored, transfered, used, etc.. *NOT* the data itself. The data itself, of course, is private. The methods can be private too, for all i care, except when the data is info about me, that i am supposed to trust them with.
Security through obscurity is the only thing that people understand. Maybe they're wrong, but maybe they're right. It falls once again into an issue of information. WE ARE HIPPOCRITS. We want all information to be free, but mandate privacy. See a discrepancy there?
You completely miss the point. Personal privacy is *NOT* the same thing as proprietary corporate information. I'm not asking which hand you wank with, i'm asking for proof that you are being responsible with the private personal information that you are asking me to trust you with. If my personal privacy depends on the security of your proprietary protocols, I want a better garantee than "trust me" that i am being protected.
If anyone is a hypocrite it is YOU for expecting me to give corporations my private info and not expect them to prove to me that they're protecting it.
This isn't flamebait, but it should get an "Inciteful." You say that there is a difference, no, there isn't. If those companies that are being requested by you to give all of their information to you asked you for yours, what would you say?
What *would* i say? Have you ever had a bank account? A credit card? A car? A drivers license? They ask for pleanty of private information. I suppose you're happy just keeping your fingers crossed that they know how to keep it secure?
That aside, i'm not asking them for their financial records, etc. Nothing as private as what *they're* asking *me* for.
Nothing beats a summary of everything everyone on Slashdot has been saying for 2 months. But hey, now that Eric has said it, it carries weight, right?
Maybe I'm bitching a little here, but it doesn't sit right with me that in a community that is so, well, community-oriented, a small number of people get zeroed in on and quoted/printed like they were the second coming. Who are we kidding?
A community without spokespersons is called a disorganized mob. Our community is somewhat more with-it than most, as displayed by the fact that it works so well with so little formal organization. No one elects any of our spokespeople, no one officially presents issues to them that we feel should be presented to the general public. It just happens. Amazing.