Well, one of Linux's biggest benefits (and downfalls) is being so modular, to a sense of having all distributions compatible (at least 99% compatible). There will always be those "geeky" distributions, and those easier distributions, I think.
When you "Linux is (at least right now) not designed for the level of ease-of-use that XP was" I have to disagree in many respects. Saying "Linux" when explaining this is being a little too broad. Granted, installing software from CDs is easier in Windows, unless you use somethings like Lycoris's Iris , which makes it simple. Other than that, what is more difficult? I keep asking people these questions, and they always reply with comments about recompiling the kernel, permissions, etc... Things that aren't even an issue in many modern, desktop oriented distibutions. Doesn't that satisfy the basic needs of most casual computer users, that only use the web/email/word processor?
I agree too, but you must remember one thing. All of those components go into making a stable, secure, and reliable Windows installation. Windows is *not done* when you pop the disk in, set up time zones and users, and run. Great care must be taken to get the system ready to go, and install all of your other apps. Drivers are almost *never* current on a vanilla Windows installation. Viruses are going to be a big threat, so you have to nail that one down. A firewall is essential (not the XP firewall, either).
In most respects, a modern Linux distribution will do all of that for you the first time. Red Hat has a bit more stuff than most distributions, but it really is quite less than what you find on a "recovery CD" when you do a standard Red Hat install. Slackware is great for me. Though it takes a bit of know-how to partition your HDs, and get the X server configured, it can still be faster and easier to do, if you are an experienced user.
After that, you can probably install something like Slack in a half hour - 45 minutes. It takes about 15 minutes to configure the video, sound, and a few other things. I can't say that I was ever able to install Windows 2000, download drivers, install and tweak them in that amount of time.
There isn't anything wrong with Windows 2000... It is good software in most respects. But the old arguments about Linux being to combersome, and slow/difficult install processes are over. Something like Lycoris makes it even easier, if you can believe that.
Especially considering that a lot of online banks forcefully opt to make you use IE nowadays which is rediculous). I usually have to set Opera to act as IE5 or Mozilla 4.78 to get banking sites to allow me to log in. Makes it a pain for Linux users like myself, when the bank insists that you use an insecure browser.
Where is the logic in that?
And please don't take this as a flame against Windows and IExplore. Konq has the same problem, but it will be fixed like- immediately. No waiting on the MS code monkeys to do the job.
I love that machine. My next project is to buy a second one, so that I can tweak Linux and BSD for it (There's no way I would hack up my black ltd. ed. Dreamcast). If you like soldering, you can even add an interface for a NIC and an IDE hard drive.
Truely, the Dreamcast is one of the greatest little game boxes ever made. In my opinion, it was way ahead of its time, and represents some of the finest engineering ever seen in a game console. Even though the Gamecube and X-Box outpower the little Dreamcast in many way, the little DC could still handle most of today's games without a problem. It will live on as a legend, especially with all of the homebrew DC development that is keeping it alive.
I'm glad that I still have about 60 games, most of which I still haven't had time to play.:) But when I do get a chance to play my Dreamcast, it usually represents some of the fiest gaming that I have seen for years. It was becoming a perfect mecca of gaming goodness, and yet, most people didn't seem to notice, or care... They were proccupied with hype and name-brands.
I think that a lot of people just leave things queued up to do searches until they find the file. This can go on for days/weeks, especially with more obscure files. I have noticed the same things though. After using a P2P client, requests keep showing up for days. That is really one of the things that I don't like about a lot of Gnutella software.
When I used Windows, I never experienced such a thing with WinMX, but then again, it is much less decentralized.
I have an Apex AD660, that was "upgradable" with a simple ISO CDR image. I can't complain about the player. It has been running great for over 2 years now. I have firends that have had the AD600A models even longer, and all are running without problems. Wal-Mart stores have the players for about $70 or so for the cheapest models. You really can't beat them. They are truely the best bang-for-buck in a DVD player. They are also the most hackable.
Check out Nerd-Out for all of the info that you could ever want on the Apex and similar players.
I am not sure that there is a DVD player in existance that does what you wnat it to do, but the Apex players are the closest things possible.
What it boils down to is this... Are you a friend of the RIAA? If not, prepare to pay the price. There is no way that any webcaster can stay around at these rates... And that's the point. They want them to be even higher so that those that might barely get by also don't have a chance. That way, only those in bed with the RIAA that play what THEY want you to hear can afford a license... A different license that doesn't apply to the normal CARP rules.
Of course. The RIAA doesn't want to become obsolete. With everyone gone, they will still keep making money. They make deals with radio stations. They play what they want you to hear, They play what is cheap for them. They own your songs.
Of course, there are ways around everything. Streamer
Plus, we can't forget that companies like Creative Labs are trying to push Firewire a bit more with their Audigy cards, which have an "SB 1394" port built-in. Not that I care for Creative, or anything, but this will certainly help make 1394 a bit more mainstream.
I think that now is the time that Firewire is just starting to take off. In my experience, USB has been unreliable at best. I don't think 2.0 is a whole lot better, aside from speed. 1394 for devices that need speed and reliability, and USB for mice and printers. That's the way that it should be.
I'm sorry. I should have been more descriptive. When I said "don't use it", I was referring to pirated commerical software. Linux is free, and that is a great thing, but I think that people need to draw the line somewhere and say "Wow. I really like X Linux distro. I think that I should pitch in my share."
If you are a coder who has donated time to a project, then you have contributed. If you've donated artwork or icon sets, then you have contributed. If you've found security holes, and told someone about it so that it could be fixed, then you have contributed. If you've put a few bucks into helping your favorite Linux group/company, then you have also contributed.
Nobody ever said that anyone was required to pitch in to the free software effort... But really- Its the right thing to do... At least I think so. I hope that others agree.
No doubt. This year, I've paid for my copy of Slackware 8.1, Lycoris Desktop LX, and joined Mandrake Club. Apparently there are other people out there that use, and love Linux, but they are still cheapasses.
These are the same people that would never buy Windows anyway, but would rather pirate it. What does the Microsoft sign say in computer parts stores? 3 out of 4 OSs are pirated.
So what does this research show? It shows squat. Linux still doesn't have the luxury of being preinstalled in retail major manufacturers desktop PCs. Microsoft only sells Windows to large companies that it is able to audit, as well as preinstalled Windows PCs that ship to retail stores.
And the rest of the world is still a bunch of cheapskates. If you don't want to buy it... Don't use it. Mod my down if you wish- if you are angry, but keep in mind that it is the truth.
Trident has their ties with all sorts of markets... Most of which are video. This is not strictly PC based. Their chips are in HDTVs and small devices, among other things. They make decoders, display adapters, and other ICs for DVD players and every thing else.
You won't see them going anywhere any time soon. If they were exclusivly doing chips for PCs, then maybe, but that isn't the case.
Hercules is one of the biggest manufacturers of current video cards. They are using the latest nVidia (maybe not for long), ATi, and PowerVR chips in their boards. They were purchased by Guillimot a few year back and have been making some excellent products. In my opinion, they were the pioneers of high quality video boards when the nVidia GeForce series started to take off. Recent connections with ATi and PowerVR though have soured the nVidia relationship.
Cirrus Logic is currently making some of the best audio DSPs in the business. You can see (hear) their chips in the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Hercules Game Theatre XP, and a few others. Most operate on a dual chip DSP setup that allows a lot of control for audio spatialization, and their reference design for boards based on the CS4630 was designed with quality in mind. Currently, they also create DSPs for a lot of integrated devices, including portable MP3 and WMA players.
S3 on the other hand, still blows, and always will. "SIGHT! SOUND! AND SPEED!" They still have a lot of the cheap OEM integrated market, especially after being purchased by VIA Tech. But that still doesn't make the Savage series any more than pumped up S3 ViRGE chips. It remains to be seen how their Alpha Chrome and Savage XP chips hold up.
$65 is for the el-supremo-Suse-like version of Mandrake that is called a "PowerPack". They also have a version on DVD that is about $10-$15 cheaper. They also have a version called "PowerPack" that comes with with Star Office 6 and some other things.
For the majority of users though, the $25 3-CD "Download Edition" that retails in most stores, including Wal-Mart, is most certainly good enough.
So programmers need to write uninstall scripts that run through the GUI. That isn't hard. It took MS OS developers more than 10 years to do this right.
The users don't know what they want. They'll just use whatever is in front of their faces. What they don't want is to have to "re-learn" their software.
And they don't have to relearn much of anything, if they have the right Linux (Windows-Like) environment put in front of them (Lycoris, Mandrake, Suse... Etc). It isn't like you have to force a Gentoo and Blackbox machine with Star Office 5 and Pine in front of the users. There are choices.
I think the point is just to get more readers aware of what is happening here. A lot of companies are opting to go for Linux instead of the other alternatives.
In desktops, it is less focused and doesn't have a lot of market share because of a few major factors. The first is the issue with MS threatening OEMs to only sell Windows desktops. This causes the second problem, lack of momentum to catalyze the development of comercial software packages for home users. So what? That will change with due time. Eventually, open source Linux software will be very mature, and different things will start to merge, making way for the commerical, closed software.
You can't change that. It is showing no signs of slowing down.
Linux was never intended to be a desktop OS, but continuous tweaking over time will make it an awesome desktop OS (it already is, if you know how to make use of it). If you've used the right distribution of Linux, then you will find that many of them are easier to set up than WinXP. Face it... Most computer users couldn't install Windows, let alone any Linux distribution. If Linux was able to make its way, preinstalled into retail computers, then a lot of things would begin to change... Slowy, but it will change.
While most of the USA Today readers may have never seen a server (or even know what one is), many of them are hearing about this amazing Linux thing everywhere. On TV, on the radio, on the Internet. My parents are about as computer illiterate as can be, but they are still eager to learn more about this Linux thing that they keep hearing about.
Excellent theives are few and far between. Some punk that wants to steal your CDs is quite different.
Locks on auto doors are a deterrent for people that want to steal your stuff to buy smack. A good car theif, on the other hand, may very well have the ability to grind a key for nearly any vehicle. Repo-guys have these tools too.
Any door can be cracked. So can any computer. But it isn't wise to just leave it wide open for any old moron to access.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, one of Linux's biggest benefits (and downfalls) is being so modular, to a sense of having all distributions compatible (at least 99% compatible). There will always be those "geeky" distributions, and those easier distributions, I think.
When you "Linux is (at least right now) not designed for the level of ease-of-use that XP was" I have to disagree in many respects. Saying "Linux" when explaining this is being a little too broad. Granted, installing software from CDs is easier in Windows, unless you use somethings like Lycoris's Iris , which makes it simple. Other than that, what is more difficult? I keep asking people these questions, and they always reply with comments about recompiling the kernel, permissions, etc... Things that aren't even an issue in many modern, desktop oriented distibutions. Doesn't that satisfy the basic needs of most casual computer users, that only use the web/email/word processor?
I agree too, but you must remember one thing. All of those components go into making a stable, secure, and reliable Windows installation. Windows is *not done* when you pop the disk in, set up time zones and users, and run. Great care must be taken to get the system ready to go, and install all of your other apps. Drivers are almost *never* current on a vanilla Windows installation. Viruses are going to be a big threat, so you have to nail that one down. A firewall is essential (not the XP firewall, either).
In most respects, a modern Linux distribution will do all of that for you the first time. Red Hat has a bit more stuff than most distributions, but it really is quite less than what you find on a "recovery CD" when you do a standard Red Hat install. Slackware is great for me. Though it takes a bit of know-how to partition your HDs, and get the X server configured, it can still be faster and easier to do, if you are an experienced user.
After that, you can probably install something like Slack in a half hour - 45 minutes. It takes about 15 minutes to configure the video, sound, and a few other things. I can't say that I was ever able to install Windows 2000, download drivers, install and tweak them in that amount of time.
There isn't anything wrong with Windows 2000... It is good software in most respects. But the old arguments about Linux being to combersome, and slow/difficult install processes are over. Something like Lycoris makes it even easier, if you can believe that.
Especially considering that a lot of online banks forcefully opt to make you use IE nowadays which is rediculous). I usually have to set Opera to act as IE5 or Mozilla 4.78 to get banking sites to allow me to log in. Makes it a pain for Linux users like myself, when the bank insists that you use an insecure browser.
Where is the logic in that?
And please don't take this as a flame against Windows and IExplore. Konq has the same problem, but it will be fixed like- immediately. No waiting on the MS code monkeys to do the job.
Heck yeah! Where else can you play Dance Dance Revolution, and get a Paulaner Hefe-Weizen.
It's good fun, and easy to spend more than $70 on food, drink, and games.
The X-Box does indeed have a Mobile Celeron CPU.
Van's Hardware Dissects the X-Box
When Reborn becomes Open source, anyone can write drivers to use a custom hand-controlled interface, instead of having to rely on a mouse pointer.
It really would be quite easy to design, actually.
I love that machine. My next project is to buy a second one, so that I can tweak Linux and BSD for it (There's no way I would hack up my black ltd. ed. Dreamcast). If you like soldering, you can even add an interface for a NIC and an IDE hard drive.
:) But when I do get a chance to play my Dreamcast, it usually represents some of the fiest gaming that I have seen for years. It was becoming a perfect mecca of gaming goodness, and yet, most people didn't seem to notice, or care... They were proccupied with hype and name-brands.
Dreamcast Projects
Truely, the Dreamcast is one of the greatest little game boxes ever made. In my opinion, it was way ahead of its time, and represents some of the finest engineering ever seen in a game console. Even though the Gamecube and X-Box outpower the little Dreamcast in many way, the little DC could still handle most of today's games without a problem. It will live on as a legend, especially with all of the homebrew DC development that is keeping it alive.
Dreamcast Emulation Page
I'm glad that I still have about 60 games, most of which I still haven't had time to play.
I think that a lot of people just leave things queued up to do searches until they find the file. This can go on for days/weeks, especially with more obscure files. I have noticed the same things though. After using a P2P client, requests keep showing up for days. That is really one of the things that I don't like about a lot of Gnutella software.
When I used Windows, I never experienced such a thing with WinMX, but then again, it is much less decentralized.
Yes. And it is the ugliest darn thing in the world. It gets the job done though. :)
I have an Apex AD660, that was "upgradable" with a simple ISO CDR image. I can't complain about the player. It has been running great for over 2 years now. I have firends that have had the AD600A models even longer, and all are running without problems. Wal-Mart stores have the players for about $70 or so for the cheapest models. You really can't beat them. They are truely the best bang-for-buck in a DVD player. They are also the most hackable.
Check out Nerd-Out for all of the info that you could ever want on the Apex and similar players.
I am not sure that there is a DVD player in existance that does what you wnat it to do, but the Apex players are the closest things possible.
There is no problem with getting a business model, or even adding commercials. The problem is that CARP rates are REDICULOUSLY HIGH. Look at this.
CARP Rates - Final
What it boils down to is this... Are you a friend of the RIAA? If not, prepare to pay the price. There is no way that any webcaster can stay around at these rates... And that's the point. They want them to be even higher so that those that might barely get by also don't have a chance. That way, only those in bed with the RIAA that play what THEY want you to hear can afford a license... A different license that doesn't apply to the normal CARP rules.
Of course. The RIAA doesn't want to become obsolete. With everyone gone, they will still keep making money. They make deals with radio stations. They play what they want you to hear, They play what is cheap for them. They own your songs.
Of course, there are ways around everything.
Streamer
Slashdot: Streamer
This will be the future of Internet radio.
Plus, we can't forget that companies like Creative Labs are trying to push Firewire a bit more with their Audigy cards, which have an "SB 1394" port built-in. Not that I care for Creative, or anything, but this will certainly help make 1394 a bit more mainstream.
Creative Labs SB 1394
I think that now is the time that Firewire is just starting to take off. In my experience, USB has been unreliable at best. I don't think 2.0 is a whole lot better, aside from speed. 1394 for devices that need speed and reliability, and USB for mice and printers. That's the way that it should be.
I'm sorry. I should have been more descriptive. When I said "don't use it", I was referring to pirated commerical software. Linux is free, and that is a great thing, but I think that people need to draw the line somewhere and say "Wow. I really like X Linux distro. I think that I should pitch in my share."
If you are a coder who has donated time to a project, then you have contributed. If you've donated artwork or icon sets, then you have contributed. If you've found security holes, and told someone about it so that it could be fixed, then you have contributed. If you've put a few bucks into helping your favorite Linux group/company, then you have also contributed.
Nobody ever said that anyone was required to pitch in to the free software effort... But really- Its the right thing to do... At least I think so. I hope that others agree.
No doubt. This year, I've paid for my copy of Slackware 8.1, Lycoris Desktop LX, and joined Mandrake Club. Apparently there are other people out there that use, and love Linux, but they are still cheapasses.
These are the same people that would never buy Windows anyway, but would rather pirate it. What does the Microsoft sign say in computer parts stores? 3 out of 4 OSs are pirated.
So what does this research show? It shows squat. Linux still doesn't have the luxury of being preinstalled in retail major manufacturers desktop PCs. Microsoft only sells Windows to large companies that it is able to audit, as well as preinstalled Windows PCs that ship to retail stores.
And the rest of the world is still a bunch of cheapskates. If you don't want to buy it... Don't use it. Mod my down if you wish- if you are angry, but keep in mind that it is the truth.
Poll
25% of all business software is pirated? Does that count home users?
Trident has their ties with all sorts of markets... Most of which are video. This is not strictly PC based. Their chips are in HDTVs and small devices, among other things. They make decoders, display adapters, and other ICs for DVD players and every thing else.
You won't see them going anywhere any time soon. If they were exclusivly doing chips for PCs, then maybe, but that isn't the case.
Actually,
Hercules is one of the biggest manufacturers of current video cards. They are using the latest nVidia (maybe not for long), ATi, and PowerVR chips in their boards. They were purchased by Guillimot a few year back and have been making some excellent products. In my opinion, they were the pioneers of high quality video boards when the nVidia GeForce series started to take off. Recent connections with ATi and PowerVR though have soured the nVidia relationship.
Cirrus Logic is currently making some of the best audio DSPs in the business. You can see (hear) their chips in the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Hercules Game Theatre XP, and a few others. Most operate on a dual chip DSP setup that allows a lot of control for audio spatialization, and their reference design for boards based on the CS4630 was designed with quality in mind. Currently, they also create DSPs for a lot of integrated devices, including portable MP3 and WMA players.
S3 on the other hand, still blows, and always will. "SIGHT! SOUND! AND SPEED!" They still have a lot of the cheap OEM integrated market, especially after being purchased by VIA Tech. But that still doesn't make the Savage series any more than pumped up S3 ViRGE chips. It remains to be seen how their Alpha Chrome and Savage XP chips hold up.
$65 is for the el-supremo-Suse-like version of Mandrake that is called a "PowerPack". They also have a version on DVD that is about $10-$15 cheaper. They also have a version called "PowerPack" that comes with with Star Office 6 and some other things.
For the majority of users though, the $25 3-CD "Download Edition" that retails in most stores, including Wal-Mart, is most certainly good enough.
"Li"nux "Lo"ader. :)
:) Not that it really matters, or anything.
Kinda like LEE-NUCKS. LEE-LOW.
You'll also see Mandrake right next to that for $24.99.
make uninstall
So programmers need to write uninstall scripts that run through the GUI. That isn't hard. It took MS OS developers more than 10 years to do this right.
The users don't know what they want. They'll just use whatever is in front of their faces. What they don't want is to have to "re-learn" their software.
And they don't have to relearn much of anything, if they have the right Linux (Windows-Like) environment put in front of them (Lycoris, Mandrake, Suse... Etc). It isn't like you have to force a Gentoo and Blackbox machine with Star Office 5 and Pine in front of the users. There are choices.
I think the point is just to get more readers aware of what is happening here. A lot of companies are opting to go for Linux instead of the other alternatives.
In desktops, it is less focused and doesn't have a lot of market share because of a few major factors. The first is the issue with MS threatening OEMs to only sell Windows desktops. This causes the second problem, lack of momentum to catalyze the development of comercial software packages for home users. So what? That will change with due time. Eventually, open source Linux software will be very mature, and different things will start to merge, making way for the commerical, closed software.
You can't change that. It is showing no signs of slowing down.
Linux was never intended to be a desktop OS, but continuous tweaking over time will make it an awesome desktop OS (it already is, if you know how to make use of it). If you've used the right distribution of Linux, then you will find that many of them are easier to set up than WinXP. Face it... Most computer users couldn't install Windows, let alone any Linux distribution. If Linux was able to make its way, preinstalled into retail computers, then a lot of things would begin to change... Slowy, but it will change.
While most of the USA Today readers may have never seen a server (or even know what one is), many of them are hearing about this amazing Linux thing everywhere. On TV, on the radio, on the Internet. My parents are about as computer illiterate as can be, but they are still eager to learn more about this Linux thing that they keep hearing about.
Excellent theives are few and far between. Some punk that wants to steal your CDs is quite different.
Locks on auto doors are a deterrent for people that want to steal your stuff to buy smack. A good car theif, on the other hand, may very well have the ability to grind a key for nearly any vehicle. Repo-guys have these tools too.
Any door can be cracked. So can any computer. But it isn't wise to just leave it wide open for any old moron to access.
I bought it before I made my complete switch to Linux... And, I miss that game.
But life goes on.