You have a problem with the government spending tax dollars on GPL'ed software? Tax dollars should be spent to get the most bang for the buck, and to do the best thing for the American people. The GPL seems like a great way to do that. Would you rather they spent the money on some proprietary software? Am I being trolled, here?
This way, every person or corporation who pays taxes (or not) gets the source code! That's obviously a whole lot better than paying taxes and not getting the source code. Or worse, paying the taxes, having the development go over budget and over schedule, and not even getting usable software at all (a common government software spending pattern!)
And what do you mean the GPL "effectively tends to nationalize an industry". You have some evidence for that?
I mean, the Linux kernel, and Apache, and the GIMP, and SAMBA, and OpenSSH, and Gnome are written by developers all over the world. By "nationalize", you must mean something different from the natural meaning of the word.
Can you explain what you meant, or are you just an anti-GPL troll?
I think inserting a computer into your body is not such a great idea, at least not yet. Or at least do some more research on it. And whatever you do, don't get drunk and start cutting on your neck!
However... If you could figure out a way to package the thing in a sterile capsule that would not react badly with your body, you could probably embed it into a roll of fat over your abs. Come on, you're a geek, your six-pack is well insulated, right.
Actually, I think embedded machines have been done for people with diabetes - automatic insulin injectors implanted under the skin.
Try to find out about one of those. I'm sure they cost a fortune, but maybe you could buy an empty case and power supply from one and jam your computer into it.
Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to, though - I would rather have a battery powered PIII with GeForce 2 the size of my Handspring Visor. I wouldn't mind carrying it...
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Re:Reality Check - You're Not As Good As You Think
on
Too Old To Code?
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· Score: 2
Even John Carmack has commented on how he has learned from the people he has worked with - I think Michael Abrash in particular. He's also continued to work really hard and is always learning something new. Hacking X Windows for Mac OS X is his latest side project, apparently.
Obviously Carmack is much more "badass" now than he was when he amazed the word by writing Doom. I'm sure he also realizes that there's a lot he doesn't know.
For some companies, it is certainly not just a "comfort zone thing".
Many companies use software that was custom written by consultants just for them. It has their business rules coded right into it and perfectly fits their day to day operations. I know - I have written some. There is no way they can afford to have it rewritten for Linux, they could barely afford it in the first place. And now the business is built around the software, with years of records in the database that they need to be able to access.
What can they do? Before WINE, they were stuck with Windows. Now, if they are lucky, the software can run under WINE. And if not, maybe they can afford to have the consultant make some small changes to the software to get it to run under WINE. Much cheaper than a rewrite!
You know, you sound a lot like an advertisement for Sun. "The only dot com office suite around". Yeah, whatever. And last I heard, Sun had NOT released any software under an Open Source license. The Sun Community Source License is NOT open source, please don't claim that it is.
It is a real programming language, designed specifically for children for learning. It is a real programming language, with functions, parameter passing, etc. It is very graphic-oriented, so it's a great way to begin. Bugs in your code are very obvious as problems with the drawing.
The inventor of Logo, (Seymour Papert??) wrote a great book on Logo. I don't remember the name of it, but it is definitely worth reading.
The design of Logo was influenced by research into how children learn. One of the main goals is that children program the computer, rather than most so-called educational programs, which are more about the computer programming the children. Bugs are recognized as an opportunity to learn, not as mistakes to be punished.
On a personal note, I got my start in programming using Logo on an Apple II way back in grades 3 and 4. It was a great way to start. In the twenty years since then, I've programmed in dozens of languages. It's my career now. But I'll always remember commands like "FORWARD 20", "RIGHT 90", "PENUP", and "COLOR BLUE".
In fact, back around 1992 I started writing a Logo interpreter in Turbo Pascal for Windows. (Hey, it's what I knew at the time.)
If I had kids, Logo is where I would start them.
However, for older kids there's other possibilities. One interesting one off the top of my head: UnrealScript, for older kids who like games. It's also a real programming language, and kids can learn to customize Unreal and Unreal Tournament and do all sorts of neat stuff.
P is the set of problems that can be solved in polynomial time; i.e. the set of problems for which polynomial-time algorithms are known.
So what's a polynomial time algorithm?
For some deterministic algorithm 'A', (like quicksort) which takes an input of size 'n' (the objects to be sorted), there is some formula that says how many computational steps must be carried out to complete the algorithm.
A simple example. Suppose you write an algorithm to find the maximum number in an array by scanning through the whole array once. This will take time proportional to the size of the array. In mathematical jargon, this is O(n) "big-Oh of n" where n is the size of the array.
You can have algorithms that are O(n^2) "n squared", O(n^5 + 3n^2 + 50n), or whatever. If the function of n is a polynomial in n, then the algorithm runs in polynomial time.
But if your function is like O(2^n) "two to the n" that is not a polynomial in n, and you don't have a polynomial time algorithm.
As a simple example, consider code breaking. In this case, n is usually the number of bits in the key. If you have a 128-bit key, there are 2^128 possible keys. If your "algorithm" is the obvious one of trying every single key one after another until one works, you will have to check O(2^n) keys. This is exponential time, and it's a very slow way to break codes.
Anyway... A definition of NP is a little harder to understand. NP is not "non-polynomial" although people tend to think of it that way. What it really means is "non-deterministic polynomial". Non-determinstic algorithms cannot be directly implemented in computers. However, they can be converted into deterministic algorithms which run in exponential time.
So: the P=NP question is: For all the problems where we know non-deterministic polynomial time algorithms, are there actually determinstic polynomial time algorithms that we just haven't been smart enough to figure out yet?
Probably not. Why? Well, there's this "NP-completeness" thing. If you find some interesting problem that you can't get a (determinstic) polynomial time algorithm for, you can find a non-determistic algorithm, and then then prove your problem is "equivalent" to a known NP-complete problem. That means that if someone was able to find a deterministic polynomail time to solve YOUR problem, that same solution could be used to solve ALL OTHER NP-complete problems in polynomial time. And since hundreds of people haven't been able to solve them in years of trying, there probably isn't much point in trying to solve yours.
At this point you talk to your thesis advisor and start working on fixed-parameter tractability, or polynomial time approximations, or other more esoteric computer science approaches to the problem...
What I would like to see is a player for my Jeep that can read MP3 files off a CD changer.
There are several problems with hard drives in the vehicle. The biggest is, how do you get the MP3's onto the hard drive? Fragility and lack of expansion are problems too. How do you manage deleting files and adding new ones when the drive is full?
Solution: a 5 or 10 disk CD changer full of CD-R's full of MP3 files and playlists. That way I can create the CDR's at home, fill up a changer cartridge, and take it out to the car. I can easily add a new CD every few months as my music collection expands.
The perfect solution would be if it could hook right up to my Clarion Pro series head unit with Clarion's own mobile-bus system. This would allow me to use the fast forward, rewind, skip, and shuffle controls directly from the existing head unit, without installing more "user interface" stuff.
The user interface would be a bit tricky. I think it would be best to require each MP3 to be included in one or more playlist files. These would appear to be "virtual CD"s in the changer, allowing them to have names that would appear on the faceplate of the head unit. This might give a limitation of 40 playlists, but each playlist could have several hundred tracks in it.
I would be willing to pay about $300 dollars more for this than for a regular CD changer. But I bet it could be built for a lot less than that.
I agree with the modality issue. When I was teaching my parents to use the computer, the "overlapping windows" concept was the hardest thing. The whole visual metaphor of the "desktop" and clicking on things to bring them to the front was a real challenge for them.
After Mozilla is really stable and KDE 2.0 is out, I plan to create a customized UI for my parents.
The idea is a tool bar down the edge of the screen with a few big, friendly buttons on it. These buttons will start up a web browser, a word processor, and maybe some other essentials.
The window manager will always run programs full screen, except for the reserved space for the tool bar. Eliminating overlapping windows will remove a major source of confusion.
If a program is already running, the toolbar button will just make the window visible. This will eliminate the confusion between starting a program and switching to one that is already running.
This will actually be a little like the Palm OS - everything seems to be running all the time, and you just push buttons to switch between apps.
Other things: Simplified menus. Or even no menus at all: just a short tool bar in each program. And, simple dialog boxes that are really obvious when they grab the focus - maybe even graying out all the background when they are up. Have you ever seen people clicking on a window background, getting beeps back, just because there's a modal dialog open and they don't really realize it?
All these things can be reduced or eliminated for people that just want to use the computer to do a few simple things, never want to change the settings, never want to install more software, and never want to think about "using the computer".
You could even create a distribution based on this. Call it "Linux for Grandma." Forget simplifying the installation - grandma will get her 13 year old granddaughter to do that.
But once it's up and running, all the complexity will be hidden away, and the user will never need to think about it.
I don't know much about US museums, but when I was wandering around Europe I discovered the Deutch-Museum (spelling?) in Munich, Germany.
That place is a geek wonderland. I wandered around for two happy days, looking at the underwater phone cables, steam engines, old computers, really old mechanical computing devices, the big model railroad, the submarine(!), the interactive chemistry experiments. And they have live demonstrations of bigger experiments, one of which is a demonstration of artificial lightning. Indoors! BOOM! (and the little model of the house catches fire... Whee!)
As an old-time reader of comp.org.eff.talk back when the Clipper chip was first introduced, my favorite quote from the beginning of the article is:
"There is little international support today for key escrow encryption. It has been abandoned by most counties and is no longer enforced in the few countries where laws requiring its use still remain.
Does anyone else out there remember David Sternlight, the guy on c.o.e.t back in 1994 who ferociously defended Clipper as a Good Thing? What happened to him, anyway?
I agree with your comments on Linux being a diverse environment, but actually, Windows is just as bad or even worse. There are many versions of Windows and many versions of all of the system libraries.
That's why Windows programs need installers - just to update all the system DLL's to a known level and make sure the missing pieces get installed. And even then it doesn't always work.
And it's not easy to write code that doesn't depend on up-to-date DLL's - especially for virus writers at the "script kiddie" level.
Overclocking SMP is NOT suicide. I know several people with overclocked dual Celerons that work fine. And why not? They are cheap, if one burns up, you throw it away and get another one.
Heck, throw them away every four months and upgrade anyway. Celerons are cheap as dirt, and when overclocked, are as fast as far more expensive P-III's.
"Today there are at least 100 hypertext Web servers in use throughout the world."
Wow. I feel old. I have no doubt that within a decade, it will be hard to even remember what life was like before the ubiquitous "http://...". It will be like trying to imagine life without telephones. Sure, people will read about it, but they won't really "get" it. Even if they grew up "pre-web".
Even movies that don't focus on sci/tech screw up things that they could have easily got right. I just saw a movie recently (can't remember the name, grrr) about a bunch of scam-artist stockbrokers who pressure people into buying stock in fake companies. I thought it was a great movie, good acting, interesting plot, no Hollywood ending, the guy didn't get the girl.
But there was one glaring, stupid thing in the movie. The main character is going to be an informant for the FBI, and the G-man instructs him:
"We need you to copy your drive C onto a floppy".
So many people in the theater laughed out loud I missed the next line of dialog.
Why, why, why, don't script writers and directors get someone to read through the script and fix stupid things like that? It would have been so easy: "We need you to copy (some file) onto floppy" would have done it.
You know what would be really cool? During the Oscars, the host or hostess could take them apart. Mock them, rip them to bits in front of millions of people. Maybe next time they would make the effort to get it right.
Slashdot Interview suggestion: A director or screenwriter willing to face the heat!
Besides making donations to PeaceFire, people should mirror the decrypting software in case PeaceFires's ISP folds under the pressure from Symantec.
Obviously, what Symantec should have done is admitted the problem and fixed the software. In fact, they should just make the blocked list of URL's "open-source" in the sense that everyone could see the blocked list, contribute links that should be blocked, and correct things that are incorrectly blocked. Enough eyeballs makes all bugs shallow...
If I was a parent, and I felt I needed blocking software for my children, an open-source system is the only thing I would consider.
This is really off topic now, but I wish they hadn't quit putting radium into watch faces.
As far as I know, the radiation risk to the wearer was insignificant. You see, I have a really cool automatic mechanical watch (self winding) with no batteries or electronics at all. The only problem is reading it in the dark. It uses some sort of glow-in-the-dark paint that "charges up" in bright light, but that doesn't last long enough to be really useful.
Well, the obvious answer is Quake III, available for Linux, Win32, and Macintosh. I have seen it for sale in all three versions. It has pretty screenshots too.:-)
Oh yeah, and Quake II is cross platform as well. But not as pretty.
To the best of my knowlege, all three Q3 platforms are interoperable - you can play against a Mac user from your Linux box, etc.
I went and read the Chessbase stuff. Wow, do I feel ignorant now. "reciprocal zugzangs..." WTF??
I like puzzles, but I think I would do better with little programming puzzles - like, write an ANSI C program to do "X" using only the standard libraries that is no longer than 250 characters... for various interesting hacks "X".
That I could tackle. But this level of chess is like high-energy physics - I don't even have the vocabulary.
This happens in "Red Mars", by Kim Stanly Robinson.
In the book, it is the second manned mission to Mars - the first was a single guy, and the second is the 100 people who will be establishing a long-term base there. During the solar flare event they wait in the shielded area, as you say, and talk politics and listen to classical music. (Beethoven's 6th.) The discussion of politics is actually important - it is the starting point of the whole political aspect of the Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy.
Of course, the 100 people are actually 101 - during the solar flare, Coyote, the stowaway, hides out in the agricultural section of the ship with the farm animals. Not as well shielded, but good enough.
I can't believe I remember all this. I'm sure if I made some mistakes I will be corrected.
Sorry, previous article wasn't done - why is the submit button the default?!
Moderators, please moderate my earlier article down as redundant, and moderate this one up. (If you think it's relevant. I do get to a point at the end...:-)
Anyway, for the sake of reference, everyone needs to keep in mind that setting up Windows 95 properly on a brand-new, blank harddrive system is a nightmare. It is harder than installing Linux.
How To Set Up Windows 95
This is how I achieve a reasonably stable system for web browsing and playing games - the only things I do with Win95.
0. Assume you have a boot disk for your computer with the FDisk and Format programs. Or, that you can boot off the CD ROM. Otherwise you are SOL, go back to the store, pay the nice man way too much to do the job badly for you. Moving on... 1. FDisk the hardrive if neccessary. Too bad if you've never heard of FDisk. I bet you wish your OEM Windows 95 came with real documentation now, don'tcha! Reboot when done. 2. Format your partitions. Don't forget the/s flag to install the system files. 3. Install Windows 95. (I assume OSR2.) I hope your boot diskette included CD ROM drivers! Reboot when done. Note that you will actually want to do this by copying the install directory onto your hard drive, and running the install from there. If you don't, every time you change something in the future, you will have to put the damn Windows CD in again. 4. Install the Intel chipset drivers for your post-1996 motherboard. Windows will not tell you to do this, but if you don't, you will have Problems. Reboot when done. 5. Install the USB supplement for OSR2 (Undocumented feature - this also enables AGP). Finding the USB supplement on Microsoft's web site is left as an exercise for the reader. Reboot when done. 6. Install drivers for your video card. Reboot when done. Gee, I hope you downloaded the latest drivers for your video and sound cards before you started! 7. Install Intellimouse software for full mouse wheel support. Reboot. 8. Install Microsoft DialUp Networking 1.3 to fix many, many bugs in the DUN that comes with Win95. Reboot, of course. 9. Install a big set of mostly network and security upgrades. Some of these may not be neccessary, but who can tell? There is no documentation! (secupd2, vtcpupd, w95grey, winsock2, winsockup). Reboot. Of course. 10. Change network setup so you can see other machines on the network. (I make this sound easy - it is for me - but good luck if you have never done it before!) Reboot. 11. Install a large set of useful utilities (like Winzip). Maybe you won't have to reboot! 12. Install sound card drivers. Reboot. 13. Install DirectX. Reboot. After the reboot, DirectX will detect more hardware and reboot again. (!) 14. Install latest version of Internet Explorer. (but where do you get it from? Probably a magazine cover CD.) Reboot. 15. Install a bunch of Microsoft add-ons like True Type Font Extensions, TweakUI, other Power Tools. You might have to reboot. 16. Install latest QuickTime, Intel Indeo Codec, WinAmp, Adobe PDF Viewer, other utilities and system stuff. 17. Install drivers for Zip drive. Reboot. Then install zip drive utilities and reboot again (sigh). 18. Install Logitech Joystick software and reboot again. 19. Set up your ISP connection. At least this is pretty easy under Windows. 20. Congratulations! NOW BACK UP THE REGISTRY, so that when something gets screwed up later, you have half a chance of fixing it without going through this whole thing again!
Total - at least one hour, and at least 15 reboots, if you don't make any mistakes. You may think I have exaggerated the problem, but I've actually simplified it by not considering the whole installation of significant applications! Oh yeah, I skipped the network card driver install and the details of network setup. But most home users don't do that.
The point is, people think Windows 95 is easy because they don't do it themselves. For a total computer neophyte, I believe Linux is already easier out of the box, if your distribution includes drivers for your hardware. Admittedly, this may be a big if.
But if I had to talk my parents (who not highly computer literate) through installing an OS properly over the phone, there is no way in hell I would use Windows 95. I would use Mandrake 7 (because the install is OK and I know it - I am sure there are other good install programs.)
I have problems with Linux too. I will save those for a different rant.
Slashdot Mirror
Check out http://www.3drealms.com/images/duke/ dukesymbol.jpg
It's basically a slightly stylized version of the the international symbol for radioactivity.
(See http://www.epa.gov/radiation/stu dents/symbols.html)
Now, on the policy page: http://www.3drealms.com/policy/index.html
they claim that this is an Apogee trademark.
Bwa ha ha ha. And I was kind of looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever. Oh well.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
What?!?
You have a problem with the government spending tax dollars on GPL'ed software? Tax dollars should be spent to get the most bang for the buck, and to do the best thing for the American people. The GPL seems like a great way to do that. Would you rather they spent the money on some proprietary software? Am I being trolled, here?
This way, every person or corporation who pays taxes (or not) gets the source code! That's obviously a whole lot better than paying taxes and not getting the source code. Or worse, paying the taxes, having the development go over budget and over schedule, and not even getting usable software at all (a common government software spending pattern!)
And what do you mean the GPL "effectively tends to nationalize an industry". You have some evidence for that?
I mean, the Linux kernel, and Apache, and the GIMP, and SAMBA, and OpenSSH, and Gnome are written by developers all over the world. By "nationalize", you must mean something different from the natural meaning of the word.
Can you explain what you meant, or are you just an anti-GPL troll?
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
I think inserting a computer into your body is not such a great idea, at least not yet. Or at least do some more research on it. And whatever you do, don't get drunk and start cutting on your neck!
However... If you could figure out a way to package the thing in a sterile capsule that would not react badly with your body, you could probably embed it into a roll of fat over your abs. Come on, you're a geek, your six-pack is well insulated, right.
Actually, I think embedded machines have been done for people with diabetes - automatic insulin injectors implanted under the skin.
Try to find out about one of those. I'm sure they cost a fortune, but maybe you could buy an empty case and power supply from one and jam your computer into it.
Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to, though - I would rather have a battery powered PIII with GeForce 2 the size of my Handspring Visor. I wouldn't mind carrying it...
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Even John Carmack has commented on how he has learned from the people he has worked with - I think Michael Abrash in particular. He's also continued to work really hard and is always learning something new. Hacking X Windows for Mac OS X is his latest side project, apparently.
Obviously Carmack is much more "badass" now than he was when he amazed the word by writing Doom. I'm sure he also realizes that there's a lot he doesn't know.
That's both humbling and inspiring to me.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
For some companies, it is certainly not just a "comfort zone thing".
Many companies use software that was custom written by consultants just for them. It has their business rules coded right into it and perfectly fits their day to day operations. I know - I have written some. There is no way they can afford to have it rewritten for Linux, they could barely afford it in the first place. And now the business is built around the software, with years of records in the database that they need to be able to access.
What can they do? Before WINE, they were stuck with Windows. Now, if they are lucky, the software can run under WINE. And if not, maybe they can afford to have the consultant make some small changes to the software to get it to run under WINE. Much cheaper than a rewrite!
You know, you sound a lot like an advertisement for Sun. "The only dot com office suite around". Yeah, whatever. And last I heard, Sun had NOT released any software under an Open Source license. The Sun Community Source License is NOT open source, please don't claim that it is.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
YES! LOGO!
It is a real programming language, designed specifically for children for learning. It is a real programming language, with functions, parameter passing, etc. It is very graphic-oriented, so it's a great way to begin. Bugs in your code are very obvious as problems with the drawing.
The inventor of Logo, (Seymour Papert??) wrote a great book on Logo. I don't remember the name of it, but it is definitely worth reading.
The design of Logo was influenced by research into how children learn. One of the main goals is that children program the computer, rather than most so-called educational programs, which are more about the computer programming the children. Bugs are recognized as an opportunity to learn, not as mistakes to be punished.
On a personal note, I got my start in programming using Logo on an Apple II way back in grades 3 and 4. It was a great way to start. In the twenty years since then, I've programmed in dozens of languages. It's my career now. But I'll always remember commands like "FORWARD 20", "RIGHT 90", "PENUP", and "COLOR BLUE".
In fact, back around 1992 I started writing a Logo interpreter in Turbo Pascal for Windows. (Hey, it's what I knew at the time.)
If I had kids, Logo is where I would start them.
However, for older kids there's other possibilities. One interesting one off the top of my head: UnrealScript, for older kids who like games. It's also a real programming language, and kids can learn to customize Unreal and Unreal Tournament and do all sorts of neat stuff.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
P is the set of problems that can be solved in polynomial time; i.e. the set of problems for which polynomial-time algorithms are known.
So what's a polynomial time algorithm?
For some deterministic algorithm 'A', (like quicksort) which takes an input of size 'n' (the objects to be sorted), there is some formula that says how many computational steps must be carried out to complete the algorithm.
A simple example. Suppose you write an algorithm to find the maximum number in an array by scanning through the whole array once. This will take time proportional to the size of the array. In mathematical jargon, this is O(n) "big-Oh of n" where n is the size of the array.
You can have algorithms that are O(n^2) "n squared", O(n^5 + 3n^2 + 50n), or whatever. If the function of n is a polynomial in n, then the algorithm runs in polynomial time.
But if your function is like O(2^n) "two to the n" that is not a polynomial in n, and you don't have a polynomial time algorithm.
As a simple example, consider code breaking. In this case, n is usually the number of bits in the key. If you have a 128-bit key, there are 2^128 possible keys. If your "algorithm" is the obvious one of trying every single key one after another until one works, you will have to check O(2^n) keys. This is exponential time, and it's a very slow way to break codes.
Anyway... A definition of NP is a little harder to understand. NP is not "non-polynomial" although people tend to think of it that way. What it really means is "non-deterministic polynomial". Non-determinstic algorithms cannot be directly implemented in computers. However, they can be converted into deterministic algorithms which run in exponential time.
So: the P=NP question is: For all the problems where we know non-deterministic polynomial time algorithms, are there actually determinstic polynomial time algorithms that we just haven't been smart enough to figure out yet?
Probably not. Why? Well, there's this "NP-completeness" thing. If you find some interesting problem that you can't get a (determinstic) polynomial time algorithm for, you can find a non-determistic algorithm, and then then prove your problem is "equivalent" to a known NP-complete problem. That means that if someone was able to find a deterministic polynomail time to solve YOUR problem, that same solution could be used to solve ALL OTHER NP-complete problems in polynomial time. And since hundreds of people haven't been able to solve them in years of trying, there probably isn't much point in trying to solve yours.
At this point you talk to your thesis advisor and start working on fixed-parameter tractability, or polynomial time approximations, or other more esoteric computer science approaches to the problem...
Now you know more than you wanted to.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
I'm pleased to see ZDNet got several points of view in there, didn't demonize anyone, and had representative quotes from many open source luminaries.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Heh. Another quote from the article:
... has been interviewed by the rabid readers of the web site Slashdot...
That's us! Rabid! Grrrrr.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
What I would like to see is a player for my Jeep that can read MP3 files off a CD changer.
There are several problems with hard drives in the vehicle. The biggest is, how do you get the MP3's onto the hard drive? Fragility and lack of expansion are problems too. How do you manage deleting files and adding new ones when the drive is full?
Solution: a 5 or 10 disk CD changer full of CD-R's full of MP3 files and playlists. That way I can create the CDR's at home, fill up a changer cartridge, and take it out to the car. I can easily add a new CD every few months as my music collection expands.
The perfect solution would be if it could hook right up to my Clarion Pro series head unit with Clarion's own mobile-bus system. This would allow me to use the fast forward, rewind, skip, and shuffle controls directly from the existing head unit, without installing more "user interface" stuff.
The user interface would be a bit tricky. I think it would be best to require each MP3 to be included in one or more playlist files. These would appear to be "virtual CD"s in the changer, allowing them to have names that would appear on the faceplate of the head unit. This might give a limitation of 40 playlists, but each playlist could have several hundred tracks in it.
I would be willing to pay about $300 dollars more for this than for a regular CD changer. But I bet it could be built for a lot less than that.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
I agree with the modality issue. When I was teaching my parents to use the computer, the "overlapping windows" concept was the hardest thing. The whole visual metaphor of the "desktop" and clicking on things to bring them to the front was a real challenge for them.
After Mozilla is really stable and KDE 2.0 is out, I plan to create a customized UI for my parents.
The idea is a tool bar down the edge of the screen with a few big, friendly buttons on it. These buttons will start up a web browser, a word processor, and maybe some other essentials.
The window manager will always run programs full screen, except for the reserved space for the tool bar. Eliminating overlapping windows will remove a major source of confusion.
If a program is already running, the toolbar button will just make the window visible. This will eliminate the confusion between starting a program and switching to one that is already running.
This will actually be a little like the Palm OS - everything seems to be running all the time, and you just push buttons to switch between apps.
Other things: Simplified menus. Or even no menus at all: just a short tool bar in each program. And, simple dialog boxes that are really obvious when they grab the focus - maybe even graying out all the background when they are up. Have you ever seen people clicking on a window background, getting beeps back, just because there's a modal dialog open and they don't really realize it?
All these things can be reduced or eliminated for people that just want to use the computer to do a few simple things, never want to change the settings, never want to install more software, and never want to think about "using the computer".
You could even create a distribution based on this. Call it "Linux for Grandma." Forget simplifying the installation - grandma will get her 13 year old granddaughter to do that.
But once it's up and running, all the complexity will be hidden away, and the user will never need to think about it.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Oh yes! There is something to look forward to - the return of EMM386! (groan).
But they will have to call it EMM_IA64 - the new, old way for applications and the OS to get past that 1MB^H^H 4GB barrier.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Microsoft sent out TWO security notices regarding this DLL to their security mailing list in the last couple of days.
I guess they are part of the irresponsible press and should sue themselves, huh?
.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
I don't know much about US museums, but when I was wandering around Europe I discovered the Deutch-Museum (spelling?) in Munich, Germany.
That place is a geek wonderland. I wandered around for two happy days, looking at the underwater phone cables, steam engines, old computers, really old mechanical computing devices, the big model railroad, the submarine(!), the interactive chemistry experiments. And they have live demonstrations of bigger experiments, one of which is a demonstration of artificial lightning. Indoors! BOOM! (and the little model of the house catches fire... Whee!)
Check it out if you are ever in Munich.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
As an old-time reader of comp.org.eff.talk back when the Clipper chip was first introduced, my favorite quote from the beginning of the article is:
"There is little international support today for key escrow encryption. It has been abandoned by most counties and is no longer enforced in the few countries where laws requiring its use still remain.
Does anyone else out there remember David Sternlight, the guy on c.o.e.t back in 1994 who ferociously defended Clipper as a Good Thing? What happened to him, anyway?
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
I agree with your comments on Linux being a diverse environment, but actually, Windows is just as bad or even worse. There are many versions of Windows and many versions of all of the system libraries.
That's why Windows programs need installers - just to update all the system DLL's to a known level and make sure the missing pieces get installed. And even then it doesn't always work.
And it's not easy to write code that doesn't depend on up-to-date DLL's - especially for virus writers at the "script kiddie" level.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Overclocking SMP is NOT suicide. I know several people with overclocked dual Celerons that work fine. And why not? They are cheap, if one burns up, you throw it away and get another one.
Heck, throw them away every four months and upgrade anyway. Celerons are cheap as dirt, and when overclocked, are as fast as far more expensive P-III's.
What's the risk?
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Best quotes from the 1993 web guide:
"Today there are at least 100 hypertext Web servers in use throughout the world."
Wow. I feel old. I have no doubt that within a decade, it will be hard to even remember what life was like before the ubiquitous "http://...". It will be like trying to imagine life without telephones. Sure, people will read about it, but they won't really "get" it. Even if they grew up "pre-web".
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Even movies that don't focus on sci/tech screw up things that they could have easily got right. I just saw a movie recently (can't remember the name, grrr) about a bunch of scam-artist stockbrokers who pressure people into buying stock in fake companies. I thought it was a great movie, good acting, interesting plot, no Hollywood ending, the guy didn't get the girl.
But there was one glaring, stupid thing in the movie. The main character is going to be an informant for the FBI, and the G-man instructs him:
"We need you to copy your drive C onto a floppy".
So many people in the theater laughed out loud I missed the next line of dialog.
Why, why, why, don't script writers and directors get someone to read through the script and fix stupid things like that? It would have been so easy: "We need you to copy (some file) onto floppy" would have done it.
You know what would be really cool? During the Oscars, the host or hostess could take them apart. Mock them, rip them to bits in front of millions of people. Maybe next time they would make the effort to get it right.
Slashdot Interview suggestion: A director or screenwriter willing to face the heat!
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Besides making donations to PeaceFire, people should mirror the decrypting software in case PeaceFires's ISP folds under the pressure from Symantec.
Obviously, what Symantec should have done is admitted the problem and fixed the software. In fact, they should just make the blocked list of URL's "open-source" in the sense that everyone could see the blocked list, contribute links that should be blocked, and correct things that are incorrectly blocked. Enough eyeballs makes all bugs shallow...
If I was a parent, and I felt I needed blocking software for my children, an open-source system is the only thing I would consider.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
This is really off topic now, but I wish they hadn't quit putting radium into watch faces.
As far as I know, the radiation risk to the wearer was insignificant. You see, I have a really cool automatic mechanical watch (self winding) with no batteries or electronics at all. The only problem is reading it in the dark. It uses some sort of glow-in-the-dark paint that "charges up" in bright light, but that doesn't last long enough to be really useful.
Bring back the radium watches!
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Well, the obvious answer is Quake III, available for Linux, Win32, and Macintosh. I have seen it for sale in all three versions. It has pretty screenshots too. :-)
Oh yeah, and Quake II is cross platform as well. But not as pretty.
To the best of my knowlege, all three Q3 platforms are interoperable - you can play against a Mac user from your Linux box, etc.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
I went and read the Chessbase stuff. Wow, do I feel ignorant now. "reciprocal zugzangs..." WTF??
I like puzzles, but I think I would do better with little programming puzzles - like, write an ANSI C program to do "X" using only the standard libraries that is no longer than 250 characters... for various interesting hacks "X".
That I could tackle. But this level of chess is like high-energy physics - I don't even have the vocabulary.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
This happens in "Red Mars", by Kim Stanly Robinson.
In the book, it is the second manned mission to Mars - the first was a single guy, and the second is the 100 people who will be establishing a long-term base there. During the solar flare event they wait in the shielded area, as you say, and talk politics and listen to classical music. (Beethoven's 6th.) The discussion of politics is actually important - it is the starting point of the whole political aspect of the Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy.
Of course, the 100 people are actually 101 - during the solar flare, Coyote, the stowaway, hides out in the agricultural section of the ship with the farm animals. Not as well shielded, but good enough.
I can't believe I remember all this. I'm sure if I made some mistakes I will be corrected.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Sorry, previous article wasn't done - why is the submit button the default?!
:-)
/s flag to install the system files.
Moderators, please moderate my earlier article down as redundant, and moderate this one up. (If you think it's relevant. I do get to a point at the end...
Anyway, for the sake of reference, everyone needs to keep in mind that setting up Windows 95 properly on a brand-new, blank harddrive system is a nightmare. It is harder than installing Linux.
How To Set Up Windows 95
This is how I achieve a reasonably stable system for web browsing and playing games - the only things I do with Win95.
0. Assume you have a boot disk for your computer with the FDisk and Format programs. Or, that you can boot off the CD ROM. Otherwise you are SOL, go back to the store, pay the nice man way too much to do the job badly for you. Moving on...
1. FDisk the hardrive if neccessary. Too bad if you've never heard of FDisk. I bet you wish your OEM Windows 95 came with real documentation now, don'tcha! Reboot when done.
2. Format your partitions. Don't forget the
3. Install Windows 95. (I assume OSR2.) I hope your boot diskette included CD ROM drivers! Reboot when done. Note that you will actually want to do this by copying the install directory onto your hard drive, and running the install from there. If you don't, every time you change something in the future, you will have to put the damn Windows CD in again.
4. Install the Intel chipset drivers for your post-1996 motherboard. Windows will not tell you to do this, but if you don't, you will have Problems. Reboot when done.
5. Install the USB supplement for OSR2 (Undocumented feature - this also enables AGP). Finding the USB supplement on Microsoft's web site is left as an exercise for the reader. Reboot when done.
6. Install drivers for your video card. Reboot when done. Gee, I hope you downloaded the latest drivers for your video and sound cards before you started!
7. Install Intellimouse software for full mouse wheel support. Reboot.
8. Install Microsoft DialUp Networking 1.3 to fix many, many bugs in the DUN that comes with Win95. Reboot, of course.
9. Install a big set of mostly network and security upgrades. Some of these may not be neccessary, but who can tell? There is no documentation! (secupd2, vtcpupd, w95grey, winsock2, winsockup). Reboot. Of course.
10. Change network setup so you can see other machines on the network. (I make this sound easy - it is for me - but good luck if you have never done it before!) Reboot.
11. Install a large set of useful utilities (like Winzip). Maybe you won't have to reboot!
12. Install sound card drivers. Reboot.
13. Install DirectX. Reboot. After the reboot, DirectX will detect more hardware and reboot again. (!)
14. Install latest version of Internet Explorer. (but where do you get it from? Probably a magazine cover CD.) Reboot.
15. Install a bunch of Microsoft add-ons like True Type Font Extensions, TweakUI, other Power Tools. You might have to reboot.
16. Install latest QuickTime, Intel Indeo Codec, WinAmp, Adobe PDF Viewer, other utilities and system stuff.
17. Install drivers for Zip drive. Reboot. Then install zip drive utilities and reboot again (sigh).
18. Install Logitech Joystick software and reboot again.
19. Set up your ISP connection. At least this is pretty easy under Windows.
20. Congratulations! NOW BACK UP THE REGISTRY, so that when something gets screwed up later, you have half a chance of fixing it without going through this whole thing again!
Total - at least one hour, and at least 15 reboots, if you don't make any mistakes. You may think I have exaggerated the problem, but I've actually simplified it by not considering the whole installation of significant applications! Oh yeah, I skipped the network card driver install and the details of network setup. But most home users don't do that.
The point is, people think Windows 95 is easy because they don't do it themselves. For a total computer neophyte, I believe Linux is already easier out of the box, if your distribution includes drivers for your hardware. Admittedly, this may be a big if.
But if I had to talk my parents (who not highly computer literate) through installing an OS properly over the phone, there is no way in hell I would use Windows 95. I would use Mandrake 7 (because the install is OK and I know it - I am sure there are other good install programs.)
I have problems with Linux too. I will save those for a different rant.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)