I like the idea. As a matter of fact, I have even submitted a request for a specific app. Though I don't really actively use Mandrake (I've always been a Slackware fan), I've found some benefits to being a member of the club. This shows that they care about what the users want.
Did anyone else notice something about the Mandrake Club? They've got over 22,000 subscribed members. At $60 per year, per person (basic membership), that is a pretty substantial chunk of income. Undoubtably, they may have some corporate or group memberships, but still; Mandrake Club has proven to be a success, and opportunities like this only help it more.
Maybe you didn't realize it, but the majority of psters here aren't "embracing" this potential port. How many posts do you see that say "I'll stick to MPlayer". Maybe you are just trying to troll?
./configure --enable-gui make make install (as root)
Oh yeah. You need to know what brand of video card that you have. Most brands with proper drivers use XV for acceleration. SDL is a good choice for audio output. Don't be intimidated by the documentation. It has more information than you really need.
generally:
mplayer -vo xv -ao sdl filename.to.open
is sufficient. You can also add the xv and sdl lines to a config file so that you never have to type them out.
Hardly difficult, though, if you have a proper video card.
In regards to the portables from the last ten years (Lynx, Game Gear, etc.)
I always thought that the Turbo Express was a well designed device. They just chug on batteries pretty fast. I always wanted one when I was growing up, in the early '90s. Finally, about two years ago, I ordered one from http://www.tzd.com/ . You can still buy brand new games from them (though the selection gets thinner and thinner after 10 years), and up until 2001 they still did system repairs.
Still. It is probably one of the crown jewels of my videogame collection. It's a fabulously designed, backlit portable with a great selection of import and domestic games. Even to this day, it still tops the GBA in many ways.
You've got it all wrong. Samus never really could strafe. So that's what happens to you after being 2D for 15 years. It's just hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Don't blame the developers.
The TCO of the Linux Bootable Business Card distribution is much higher than standard business cards (1,000 for just $30!). Just look at the cost of business card CDRW disks!
"and the big guns such as Klez have had almost no effect on home users."
Oh, sure. Tell that to all of the people that called me for help in getting rid of Klez.
"People are writing me, telling me that I have a virus. My Outlook keeps popping up weird messages, and things that I'm not sending keep leaving my Outlook. My Internet connection is slow!"
Every Windows user and their mom had Klez, and I had to deal with it. Speak for yourself.
I think that you misunderstand. Linux isn't the GUI. Linux is the OS underneath. It is stable, reliable, and UNIX-like in its design. There are many interface to choose from. The most popular ones; KDE and Gnome, have a lot of similarities to many desktops. Most notable is some of the similarities to Windows, but I'd say that KDE 3 bears a lot of similarities to the Mac too.
You might wonder why things are this way. It would seem that a lot of users prefer these tried and true inerfaces and features. So why not implement them?
You claim that people need to realise that there is something better... Ok. By all means... We await your suggestions to improve things. I'm sure that all of the Windows users that are attempting to make the switch to Linux will be barking at you when things just aren't enough like Windows for an easy migration. You need to have familiarity there. If you don't want it, then use a different Window manager. But you don't seem to understand that people want Windows/Mac-like UIs. They are comfortable with these.
I run KDE 3 at home because it is the easiest for my girlfriend to use. It seems that for normal tasks; web browsing, email, music, etc. This is the easiest UI for her to use. I guarantee that most Windows users will be able to use it the first time you set them down in front of it. And that DOES matter to many.
Only a few Linux distributions require more than one CD. Even those that use up an entire CD (like Slackware) have some of the more practical tools installed by default. You also have source code, compilers, etc. A single CD, uncompressed isn't my by any of today's standards, especially with all of the useful tools and customization that you get.
Keep in mind that a bas Linux installation is very small (maybe 200-300 MB of RAM, part of which is for swapfile too.) You can tailor the OS installation to your own specific needs.
I forgot to mention that Opera for Linux STILL has an unfixed bug that has plagued it all year. Downloads seem to fail pretty consistently on high speed connections. It overloads the program and it just drops the download. It has been doing this since 6.x was first released, and it still hasn't been fixed.
I've been a big supporter of Opera over the last few years. I use it on Linux at home and Windows at work...
Well... I used to. On Linux, development is very slow. I've tolerated it for a long time, but it got a little better. But as the devs would fix something, or add a feature, they'd break something new. This time, with the newest version, it segfaults on startup on MANY peoples machines. This is mostly something that occurs on Red Hat 8 and Mandrake 9 machines, due to the newer XFT and freetype libs. I happen to be running Slackware with Dropline Gnome. Dropline updates freetype and XFT to the same, or similar versions that RH and Mandrake use. It segfaults every time I try to run it. It is the only app that does it, and the only way to fix it is to break my Gnome 2 app support by downgrading some of my new libraries. It isn't worth it.
Add this to the fact that I have to pay for the version 7 upgrade when I *just bought a new license a few months ago*, and they've lost a customer. I believe in paying for good software, but they've fragmented their user base by offering free upgrades to *some* customers, and not to the rest. They feel that it is fair, and it very well may be. I do not, despite its low upgrade price. This is especially an issue since they still haven't offered us a *finished* version of Opera 6 for Linux. It still has tons of bugs, font problems, and still doesn't handle Java/DOM/CSS2 properly.
I've switched to Mozilla (much improved since I've last used it) at home, and Phoenix at work. Now I don't have ANY problems with crashing, fonts, Java, or weird page rendering.
Opera of Norway, you have a good product that could be almost perfect... But you've failed to implement a few important elements. Your multi-platform approach is appreciated, but you've fragmented your features and stability among the different OSs. I would expect that you'd give more attention to operating systems that don't have IExplorer, but Windows seems to still be your priority. In the process, you've neglected users of other operating systems. Maybe, when you finish 6.x for Linux, I'll upgrade to version 7. But it looks like you are doing very little now, as you concentrate on 7.0.
Yeah.;) But I still have problems believing that vinyl can even accurately reproduce perfect sound. I just don't feel that the arguments of "audiophiles" are well supported. All "audiophiles" use examples from older vinyl recordings when they are compared to newer, remastered versions on CDs. Well, of course it is going to sound different. It has been remastered on different equipment. I think that people are so used to the sound of a specific recording, on vinyl, that if it doesn't have the characteristics of that form of media, then they truely believe that "you aren't getting all of the music".
I really don't care as long as I can preserve most of the integrity of my original CD. If I can encode a VBR MP3 or Vorbis file, and it retains most or all of the attributes that are noticable to the human ear (my picky ears, most specifically), then I am fine with it. I just like being able to archive all of my music onto my hard drive, for easy playback, as do most people that use the MP3 or Ogg Vorbis formats (besides the pirates).
I generally use LAME VBR with a mostly r3mix setting for my MP3s anyway. They encode all the way up to 320k when neccessary, but end up with a file on the average size of 192k. That really isn't too bad, when you think about it. You get pretty good sound for a lossy format, but the size isn't too hateful.
When size is an issue though, it is true that OGG is probably the best choice.
Most people don't use Ogg Vorbis for the quality. They use it for the license.
In high bitrate modes, there is little difference between properly encoded MP3s and OGG files. And high bitrate is what really matters, unless you are streaming over a low bandwidth connection (in which OGG is the clear winner due to size).
Maybe your comment would make sense if you were referring to something like FLAC from http://flac.sourceforge.net/ . MP3 and OGG are both lossy, so you really can't be a snooty audiophile if you use them.;)
I've also been using the new MPlayer for the QT6 files, and it works great. Those people that are downloading it; make sure that you get the experimental win32 codec pack, and the QT codec pack. I also compiled mine with the QT support, as the instructions said to do- but it may not be neccessary.
95%-99%? OpenGL under Linux with these drivers is actually faster. Do I need to post benchmarks to people like you, as I have to do just about every week?
This is silly. Miyamoto is the guy that produced Metroid Prime. Without him, it probably wouldn't have been the same. He was essentially in charge of overseeing that game- and it's far from a child's game.
This whole "kiddy" criticism of Nintendo really needs to stop. Miyamoto's games are usually brilliant. He actually realizes that he can make awesome games without hookers and crack dealers. It shows you that he is in it to make awesome games- not just make a quick buck like the folks at companies like Rockstar Games.
It's too bad that people just don't appreciate it. So what? Pikmin and Mario are cute games. They are still loads of fun. Everyone's knocking the new Zelda game because of its cartonish, cell-shaded look. But they won't be dissing it when it totally blows them away.
For the most part, that's true. Metroid Prime suffers from a rare, but widely reported lockup bug. I've had it happen to me once. My friend's new Bond game for the PS2 has had some weird, but rare gltches every now and then- like massive slowdowns to like 2 FPS on deathmatch levels. I had a problem with a consitent lockup on FF7 a few years back. The new LOTR games on the XBox and GBA both have their share of problems.
It isn't that it doesn't happen. It is just less frequent. I fear that the use of hard drives in consoles will make QA less off an issue, since they will be able to apply patches.
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I like the idea. As a matter of fact, I have even submitted a request for a specific app. Though I don't really actively use Mandrake (I've always been a Slackware fan), I've found some benefits to being a member of the club. This shows that they care about what the users want.
Did anyone else notice something about the Mandrake Club? They've got over 22,000 subscribed members. At $60 per year, per person (basic membership), that is a pretty substantial chunk of income. Undoubtably, they may have some corporate or group memberships, but still; Mandrake Club has proven to be a success, and opportunities like this only help it more.
Fullscreen seems fine here. I do recall that there were some problems with fullscreen a few months ago though.
For commerical programs? Oh. You mean, clicking on the binary installer's buttons?
Cool! Start writing it! You obviously know what a truly usable GUI is, don't you? Excellent! You can head the project!
Maybe you didn't realize it, but the majority of psters here aren't "embracing" this potential port. How many posts do you see that say "I'll stick to MPlayer". Maybe you are just trying to troll?
./configure --enable-gui
make
make install (as root)
Oh yeah. You need to know what brand of video card that you have. Most brands with proper drivers use XV for acceleration. SDL is a good choice for audio output. Don't be intimidated by the documentation. It has more information than you really need.
generally:
mplayer -vo xv -ao sdl filename.to.open
is sufficient. You can also add the xv and sdl lines to a config file so that you never have to type them out.
Hardly difficult, though, if you have a proper video card.
I'll stick to MPlayer. At least it doesn't send off your download statistics and crap. Plus, it already supports beta WM9 codecs anyways.
In regards to the portables from the last ten years (Lynx, Game Gear, etc.)
I always thought that the Turbo Express was a well designed device. They just chug on batteries pretty fast. I always wanted one when I was growing up, in the early '90s. Finally, about two years ago, I ordered one from http://www.tzd.com/
. You can still buy brand new games from them (though the selection gets thinner and thinner after 10 years), and up until 2001 they still did system repairs.
Still. It is probably one of the crown jewels of my videogame collection. It's a fabulously designed, backlit portable with a great selection of import and domestic games. Even to this day, it still tops the GBA in many ways.
You've got it all wrong. Samus never really could strafe. So that's what happens to you after being 2D for 15 years. It's just hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Don't blame the developers.
;)
But then again, I liked Prime's controls.
The TCO of the Linux Bootable Business Card distribution is much higher than standard business cards (1,000 for just $30!). Just look at the cost of business card CDRW disks!
Don't believe me? Just ask Microsoft.
Oh, sure. Tell that to all of the people that called me for help in getting rid of Klez.
"People are writing me, telling me that I have a virus. My Outlook keeps popping up weird messages, and things that I'm not sending keep leaving my Outlook. My Internet connection is slow!"
Every Windows user and their mom had Klez, and I had to deal with it. Speak for yourself.
It was a simple mistake. You needn't rub it in. ;)
And yes. I do know the difference.
I think that you misunderstand. Linux isn't the GUI. Linux is the OS underneath. It is stable, reliable, and UNIX-like in its design. There are many interface to choose from. The most popular ones; KDE and Gnome, have a lot of similarities to many desktops. Most notable is some of the similarities to Windows, but I'd say that KDE 3 bears a lot of similarities to the Mac too.
You might wonder why things are this way. It would seem that a lot of users prefer these tried and true inerfaces and features. So why not implement them?
You claim that people need to realise that there is something better... Ok. By all means... We await your suggestions to improve things. I'm sure that all of the Windows users that are attempting to make the switch to Linux will be barking at you when things just aren't enough like Windows for an easy migration. You need to have familiarity there. If you don't want it, then use a different Window manager. But you don't seem to understand that people want Windows/Mac-like UIs. They are comfortable with these.
I run KDE 3 at home because it is the easiest for my girlfriend to use. It seems that for normal tasks; web browsing, email, music, etc. This is the easiest UI for her to use. I guarantee that most Windows users will be able to use it the first time you set them down in front of it. And that DOES matter to many.
Only a few Linux distributions require more than one CD. Even those that use up an entire CD (like Slackware) have some of the more practical tools installed by default. You also have source code, compilers, etc. A single CD, uncompressed isn't my by any of today's standards, especially with all of the useful tools and customization that you get.
Keep in mind that a bas Linux installation is very small (maybe 200-300 MB of RAM, part of which is for swapfile too.) You can tailor the OS installation to your own specific needs.
I forgot to mention that Opera for Linux STILL has an unfixed bug that has plagued it all year. Downloads seem to fail pretty consistently on high speed connections. It overloads the program and it just drops the download. It has been doing this since 6.x was first released, and it still hasn't been fixed.
I've been a big supporter of Opera over the last few years. I use it on Linux at home and Windows at work...
Well... I used to. On Linux, development is very slow. I've tolerated it for a long time, but it got a little better. But as the devs would fix something, or add a feature, they'd break something new. This time, with the newest version, it segfaults on startup on MANY peoples machines. This is mostly something that occurs on Red Hat 8 and Mandrake 9 machines, due to the newer XFT and freetype libs. I happen to be running Slackware with Dropline Gnome. Dropline updates freetype and XFT to the same, or similar versions that RH and Mandrake use. It segfaults every time I try to run it. It is the only app that does it, and the only way to fix it is to break my Gnome 2 app support by downgrading some of my new libraries. It isn't worth it.
Add this to the fact that I have to pay for the version 7 upgrade when I *just bought a new license a few months ago*, and they've lost a customer. I believe in paying for good software, but they've fragmented their user base by offering free upgrades to *some* customers, and not to the rest. They feel that it is fair, and it very well may be. I do not, despite its low upgrade price. This is especially an issue since they still haven't offered us a *finished* version of Opera 6 for Linux. It still has tons of bugs, font problems, and still doesn't handle Java/DOM/CSS2 properly.
I've switched to Mozilla (much improved since I've last used it) at home, and Phoenix at work. Now I don't have ANY problems with crashing, fonts, Java, or weird page rendering.
Opera of Norway, you have a good product that could be almost perfect... But you've failed to implement a few important elements. Your multi-platform approach is appreciated, but you've fragmented your features and stability among the different OSs. I would expect that you'd give more attention to operating systems that don't have IExplorer, but Windows seems to still be your priority. In the process, you've neglected users of other operating systems. Maybe, when you finish 6.x for Linux, I'll upgrade to version 7. But it looks like you are doing very little now, as you concentrate on 7.0.
Yeah. ;) But I still have problems believing that vinyl can even accurately reproduce perfect sound. I just don't feel that the arguments of "audiophiles" are well supported. All "audiophiles" use examples from older vinyl recordings when they are compared to newer, remastered versions on CDs. Well, of course it is going to sound different. It has been remastered on different equipment. I think that people are so used to the sound of a specific recording, on vinyl, that if it doesn't have the characteristics of that form of media, then they truely believe that "you aren't getting all of the music".
I really don't care as long as I can preserve most of the integrity of my original CD. If I can encode a VBR MP3 or Vorbis file, and it retains most or all of the attributes that are noticable to the human ear (my picky ears, most specifically), then I am fine with it. I just like being able to archive all of my music onto my hard drive, for easy playback, as do most people that use the MP3 or Ogg Vorbis formats (besides the pirates).
I generally use LAME VBR with a mostly r3mix setting for my MP3s anyway. They encode all the way up to 320k when neccessary, but end up with a file on the average size of 192k. That really isn't too bad, when you think about it. You get pretty good sound for a lossy format, but the size isn't too hateful.
When size is an issue though, it is true that OGG is probably the best choice.
Most people don't use Ogg Vorbis for the quality. They use it for the license.
;)
In high bitrate modes, there is little difference between properly encoded MP3s and OGG files. And high bitrate is what really matters, unless you are streaming over a low bandwidth connection (in which OGG is the clear winner due to size).
Maybe your comment would make sense if you were referring to something like FLAC from http://flac.sourceforge.net/ . MP3 and OGG are both lossy, so you really can't be a snooty audiophile if you use them.
Thanks for the links, and the info.
I've also been using the new MPlayer for the QT6 files, and it works great. Those people that are downloading it; make sure that you get the experimental win32 codec pack, and the QT codec pack. I also compiled mine with the QT support, as the instructions said to do- but it may not be neccessary.
95%-99%? OpenGL under Linux with these drivers is actually faster. Do I need to post benchmarks to people like you, as I have to do just about every week?
Hmmm... Let's see. He was only the *PRODUCER* of Metroid Prime.
This is silly. Miyamoto is the guy that produced Metroid Prime. Without him, it probably wouldn't have been the same. He was essentially in charge of overseeing that game- and it's far from a child's game.
This whole "kiddy" criticism of Nintendo really needs to stop. Miyamoto's games are usually brilliant. He actually realizes that he can make awesome games without hookers and crack dealers. It shows you that he is in it to make awesome games- not just make a quick buck like the folks at companies like Rockstar Games.
It's too bad that people just don't appreciate it. So what? Pikmin and Mario are cute games. They are still loads of fun. Everyone's knocking the new Zelda game because of its cartonish, cell-shaded look. But they won't be dissing it when it totally blows them away.
Well, it isn't really imaginary. It is just going to take "Forever" for it to be released. That means that we will never play it.
For the most part, that's true. Metroid Prime suffers from a rare, but widely reported lockup bug. I've had it happen to me once. My friend's new Bond game for the PS2 has had some weird, but rare gltches every now and then- like massive slowdowns to like 2 FPS on deathmatch levels. I had a problem with a consitent lockup on FF7 a few years back. The new LOTR games on the XBox and GBA both have their share of problems.
It isn't that it doesn't happen. It is just less frequent. I fear that the use of hard drives in consoles will make QA less off an issue, since they will be able to apply patches.