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User: spectatorion

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  1. Spam is annoying, but on Norway Bans Spam · · Score: 4

    Spam is certainly very annoying, but is it sacrificing too much of our Internet Freedom to let governments fine and even jail people for spamming? I mean, everyone always talks about freedom on the Internet, keeping it unregulated, etc. Why should this be different? This is a huge regulation. Who is to say exactly what spam is? And what would prevent the state from jailing me for sending a friend an unsolicited email about a product i recently saw and thought he might like to buy? A little far-fetched, I admit, but this just seems like a dangerous road to go down. I say turn the filter on and keep government out of the Internet.

  2. Computer controlled aircraft? on Laser-equipped 747 · · Score: 1

    In honor of the year, the onboard computer for the laser-equipped 747 will be named HAL-9000. Good luck to its crew.

  3. This coverage is great on A Roundtable On BSD, Security, And Quality · · Score: 1

    The more coverage the OpenBSD project gets, the better. Firstly, it will probably lead to wider support for, acceptance, and deployment of this wonderfully secure OS. Second, even if people don't deploy it, as more developers and users hear about OpenBSD's approach to security, there will be more implementation of these features in GNU/Linux (which seems to be destined for a higher level of popularity than BSD) and other UNIX OSes. Developers will hopefully become more conscious of their style and methods, and perhaps implement more crypto into their programs. Users will hopefully clamor for something more like a "secure-by-default" setup, which is hard to come by now, but will hopefully be standard soon enough (or at least, it will be the norm). More security implemented in computers and networks is always good.

  4. AbiWord -- not OpenOffice on Alternatives To .DOC As Standard WP Format? · · Score: 1

    Why is everyone clamoring about Star/Open Office? It is so slow and bloated, i'd rather lay out pixels manually to create text... Don't get me wrong, it is nice to have GPL software galore, but this is not going to be the msoffice-killer. Abiword, on the other hand is a nice, lightweight wordprocessor. it does not yet have the features to take on word, but it is clear that soon enough, it will be ready. it does not drag your system to a halt or eat up all your memory. it just works. its .abw file format is XML based, and it can read .doc documents without much problem. it is not ready to use for producing a novel yet, but can do so many things, that it is fine for everyday use. it is free (GPL) and fast and wonderful. it is the only wordprocessor i use now.
    I think that people who worship Star/Open Office should take a look at AbiWord (available for windows, linux, beos, qnx, BSD, AIX, irix, and solaris and can be compiled on pretty much anything as far as i know--probably required some libs though). It is amazing and fast, just what you would want from a word processor. StarOffice is way to slow for me, not to mention it is very cumbersome to use. AbiSource is the web site for AbiWord. Please go there and download the latest release, you will not regret it.
    ps...a new version has just been released. although i have not had the chance to try it, i'm sure it rocks. i will let you know when i have. get it!

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  5. Re:Teach him quantum elctrodynamics on Tutoring A Child Prodigy? · · Score: 1
    what a perfect solution. this will address all the people who said he should have a balanced education.
    • QED = real science;
    • string theory = crative writing (definitely liberal arts)
    It's win-win.

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  6. Re:Care for a round of, "Can You Top This?" on 3Dfx No More -- NVidia Purchases Video Card Maker · · Score: 1

    ok, one more thing...i get an error message when i try to boot it, too. it says,

    "Requested kernel load address (0x447000) too high!"

    what does this mean & how can i fix it?

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  7. Re:Eep... Even I worry about this... on 3Dfx No More -- NVidia Purchases Video Card Maker · · Score: 1

    how exactly do you put out vaporware?

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  8. Re:3DFX + NVidia = INTEL on 3Dfx No More -- NVidia Purchases Video Card Maker · · Score: 1

    hmm...built in sound, modem, NIC, and video? you have an iMac, too?

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  9. Apple is just making bad blood... on Themes Removed At Apple's Behest · · Score: 1

    Apple is simply trying to make itself the only source of anything resembling Aqua. Do they really think they will lose customers to people who know how to run a system that would allow them to use themes form this site? Apple is not in danger of losing out to users of unix-like systems (the only people able to use themes from themes.org) because MAC OS is based on being easy, and unix-like systems are not--they are designed to be logical. The philosophies are totally contradictory, unlike windows, which is designed to be as difficult and illogical as possible, which makes Windows users succeptible to being taken away by both camps :-). I know that OSX integrates BSD and allows for a CLI, unix tools, etc., but most people will not know about that and not too many will switch to Apple for that reason...the hardware is too expensive to justify it; I think most people interested in running a unix-like system would not be able to justify the cost of apple hardware over a cheap x8g-like computer running *BSD or GNU/Linux, or whatever they want. Apple is just trying to keep its hold over all its "intellectual property," and in the process creating bad blood among developers of open source software.

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  10. oh dear on FTC Approves AOL+Time-Warner In USA · · Score: 1

    and in related news, the world will be ending late this month or early next year...

    Seriously, I've got chills. AOL is one of the great hypocrites of the internet...Open access for cable and DSL was their cry until the Time-Warner Deal came up, while all the while they kept their IM stuff closed (very much like how Microsoft cried fowl over the closed IM protocols and spewed all this garbage about suporting open standards, while keeping nearly everything about windows closed). AOL is profit driven and profit driven only. This is a horrible step backwards for open access and the "democratization of information" that the Internet is supposed to bring about.

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  11. Re:another way for the government to squander mone on The Most Powerful Mouse in the World · · Score: 1

    if you are in a position to use a detatched pointing device (i.e., a mouse), you do not need it this durable. If you are so in need of durability, you probably will need an integrated pointing device (e.g., trackpad, trackball, that little nub thingie IBM uses, etc.). And unless they are carrying around a platform with a mousepad on it, i doubt they will be using it in battlefields. there is no use for this. the market will probably be technophiles and computer enthusiasts.

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  12. why rh linux? on Red Hat Wins In US Army Contract For Linux Devices · · Score: 1

    doesn't the army know that the new embedded windows 2000 is much faster, more stable, and has a smaller footprint?

    ...it was a joke, but embedded windows 2000: now there's a scary idea.

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  13. another way for the government to squander money on The Most Powerful Mouse in the World · · Score: 1

    "Even the pentagon is considering using it."

    Hmm...why the hell would the pentagon need this? It's not like that building is a battle zone. The pentagon doesn't need high durability hardware like this; people there are normal users, pretty much like everyone else in terms of hardware durability needs. (And don't tell me its for field use, because if any computers are deployed in the field they are laptops with built-in pointing devices. Using anything but that is a risk and an inconvenience to users.) I think that the pentagon's consideration of this piece of hardware has less to do with its durability and more to do with its $279 price tag. The military loves to max out its budget so it can ask for more next year, even if it doesn't need it. I read somewhere that people doing work in the pentagon used $150 hammers and that office supplies, etc. were bought for way above retail in order to spend all the money that congress gives them, so they could ask for more the following year. This is the perfect opportunity to do just that.
    If you ask me, this country's government is a joke.

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  14. Re:Install RedHat on Virtual PC on Can You Install Linux on Mac HFS+ Filesystems? · · Score: 1

    Will this definitely work? I think VPC is a little different than standard ix86. I know that NetBSD has a specific project (outside of the ix86 port) to run it on VPC, but I'm not sure what the Linux situation is. It may need some tweaking; I would be interested to know if anyone had tried this & what their experience is.

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  15. Re:Ummm... why? on Can WINE Be Ported to OS X? · · Score: 1
    A non-windows, non-vpc solution is better than than because (to address your three points):
    • It's just a matter of time until free software overtakes proprietary, buggy software, so maturity doesn't matter. WINE and LinuxPPC can be upgraded continuously until they perform better than VPC
    • Emulating the entire system is unneccessary, when you are already running an entire system (i.e., MacOS). WINE a much more elegant solution, translating the system calls. Underneath, you would need an emulator for the processor instructions, but this is still better than the overhead of running an entire OS on top of another OS (in addition to emulating the processor). Any compatibility problems can be taken care of with ease, since the source is available. There are people who maintain the project and whose job is to add functionality.
    • Just wanted to point out that in comparing VirtualPC to WINE ro LinuxPPC, you said that VPC is "relatively cheap," which means that relative to WINE or LinuxPPC, VPC is cheap. This is obviously not true. WINE and LinuxPPC are both free as in both can be obtained at zero cost. LinuxPPC is free as in speech, and WINE has source available, though is not GPL, which means it does not necessarily have to stay open, although, there will always be archives on the unlikely chance that the source becomes closed (not this is very, very unlikely, but I felt I should address it as a possible counter to my argument.). VPC costs ~$150 plus the cost of the OS you run on top of it (usually Windows which is $180+ for a full copy). Technically speaking, VPC+WIN is infinitely more expensive than WINE or LinuxPPC, not relatively cheaper.
    Eventually, the better product will triumph, and it is easier to make free software better than it is to make prorietary software better (in the long run).

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  16. Open Source hardware vendors? on Another VC for BSDi · · Score: 1

    What makes you say Plat'Home is an "Open Source hardware vendor?" (what is an "open source hardware vendor," anyway?) As far as I can tell (judging from their website), they are a cryptography company using a strange security-through-obscurity algorightm that maps nearly every letter, number, etc. to this strange box character. Looks very hard to crack...wonder if anyone has made any progres...

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  17. Re:hijacking? on Will Linux Save Microsoft? · · Score: 1

    Assuming that Microsoft does all of its work on linux or gnu code and contributes their enhancements back to the community, they could still greatly influence the direction of the linux community. Microsoft OSes have somehow managed to sell extremely well. A Microsoft-packaged linux distribution would probably outsell the other distros. this comment says (and i agree) that people will say "i heard about linux, but was afraid to try, but hey...ms is a name i know and all their software is pretty easy...why don't i buy this..." so it will go for too many people. once ms has a significant amount of marketshare, they will be able to influence the way linux works and other distros will have to implement their changes in order to maintain compatibility.

    and that was just if m$ releases all their code. the more likely thing is that they will ship a linux kernel, with their proprietary libraries & APIs and slap the windows GUI on top of it. then they will sell it for 89.99, port office to it (still proprietary, of course) and sell it for the reasonable price $300+ and they are in business. Tons of uses who have no real idea about any of the reasoning or philosophy behind gnu and linux will buy the micros~1 version b/c it's a familiar name and they can run office. people don't realize that they don't need most of what office does, and that their storage space & memory would be better applied to other uses.

    neither of these scenarios look very good to me...

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  18. I don't like this one bit on Will Linux Save Microsoft? · · Score: 1

    personally, the prospect of M$ getting into linux scares me. If they make a linux distro, they will probably either modify the source in a way that changes the direction of the entire project (then release office for it, so all consumers will buy it--what's the deal w/office anyway? I am so happy w/AbiWord and Gnumeric...). If they release office for their "version" of linux which is incompatible with other distros, the rest of the gnu/linux market will have to conform to their standards. A company with such influence over mindless consumers can have a dramatic and damaging effect on the market. Very scary.

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  19. The reason for failure is obvious on id On Linux: Bad News · · Score: 2

    The software is not free. They are planning to release Q3 in binary form only. Thus the number of compiles they can do is limited compared to the possible configurations of kernel, distro, & countless other things GNU/Linux users can have. I know id releases old versions in source form, but I doubt they will be selling GPL-liscenced new software any time soon.

    The other problem is that they way they are marketing the game, GNU/Linux is not a huge market for gaming. Windows may seem to have the lion's share (and then some) of gamers as users. GNU/Linux may seem to be mostly a server platform, but lots of home users are installing it to toy around with a UNIX-like OS. This is the real market for games on GNU/Linux. id should think of it this way: making their apps free (as in freedom :-)) would allow a lot more users to enter their market. Sure they would lose some users to sharing, but they would also gain people running obscure configurations, not to mention the *whole posix market*. Yeah, this is mostly server/workstation, too, but there are a lot of BSD home users, plus a number of people who would install it anyway. I took a tour of my school's CS lab the other day and they were running Solaris (with GNOME!) on a Sun network (with Sun Rays--DAMN that was some cool stuff) and they were running Doom, I think. Maybe it was Quake 1. I'm not sure. It was probably because they knew they were having perspective research assistants coming through on tour, but it is a market, especially considering the number of UNIX machines out there. Plus, people could port it to Be, Amiga, and any other OS they want and send it back to id. In the end, company's really do benefit from making their software free and so do customers.

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  20. looks interesting on New Crypto-OS · · Score: 1

    but with its obscure data-storage and the claim that "m-o-o-t will not be compatible with any other security software" (here), I fear that this is yet-another security by obscurity product. hopefully it will be better than it seems. we little peeps need protection from evil governments everywhere.

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  21. Seems supicious to me on The Reactionless Space Drive? · · Score: 1
    I am loathe to disagree with scientists at NASA and Brookhaven, who probably know more physics than I do, but this propulsion system doesn't seem to follow the conservation of momentum, which, applied to this situtation, basically states that unless the thing pushing this ship is not part of the ship itself, the ship cannot go anywhere. If the magnets are part of the ship, any force they exert on the ship will be exerted back on them, which would cancel any net motion created. This is even addressed in the bottom of the article:
    The crucial thing, says Millis, is whether Goodwin's magnet would produce any net motion at all--it might just sit there and vibrate. "It's a definite possibility that any forces arising from Goodwin's concept will only act within the components of the device itself, resulting in no net force," he says. "There are a lot of unresolved physics issues to address."
    Pardon the pun, but it doesn't seem likely that this will lead anywhere as far as I can tell.

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  22. Re:Only commercial distros? on IBM Itanium Based Systems and Linux · · Score: 1

    I have confessed (some) ignorance. See the comment below and my reply if you care. Hopefully, once Debian has an ia64 version, IBM will support it right along the four commercial distributions they are supporting. Same goes for Slack.

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  23. Let me put it this way: on FBI Bugs Keyboard of PGP-Using Alleged Mafioso · · Score: 1

    Everyone who says, "so what, he's a mafia guy and monitoring him will make it easier to convict him," should consider this: If you give the government this kind of power, once they run out of "real criminals," they will come after you and your rights. It would seem that punishing all criminals is the eventual goal of law enforcement (more or less), which would supposedly make all the "good citizens" happier and safer. Well, suppose that this was actually accomplished: the FBI and other scary Big Brother institutions have this kind of power and all the criminals are in jail or executed (if you live in texas). Do you think they will all just quit and say, "ok, guys our work is done. everyone is safe." No, they will continue to wield this power and they will wield it against you. Ridiculous government power should be checked (and, in my opinion, taken away from them). The government should be here to provide some services for us (like universal health care, roads, clean public transportation, bridges, basic law enforcement, encouraging science and the arts, protecting us from corporate crime, etc.) not for scaring the hell out of us and taking away all our privacy.

    I am also very opposed to government secrets. Secrecy in laboratories, so-called "intelligence" organizations, and military operations all scare me greatly. If ours truly is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," then why is it that certain government officials can see things i can't? What is the government without the people? Nothing. This country is a mess. I have more to say, but no more to type. some other time, maybe :-).

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  24. Re:Only commercial distros? on IBM Itanium Based Systems and Linux · · Score: 1

    Ok, you got me here...I forgot that debian has not yet been ported to ia-64. searches for "ia-64," "ia64," and "itanium" did not bring up any pages on slackware's website. There is a debian-ia64 mailing list, however, and the port is inevitable since the kernel is being ported to ia64. Debian will definitely follow, and I suppose slack will as well.

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  25. Re:Is 64 bit addressing practical? on IBM Itanium Based Systems and Linux · · Score: 4

    I know that VA Linux sells some systems that have 16 memory slots (yes, Intel machines!).

    here is a link to a HP server that supports up to 128GB of memory in one box. I know it's a high end unix server, but wasn't itanium intel's pathetic attempt to compete with these kind of machines?

    then there is the coveted Sun Enterprise 1000 which seems to support up to 68GB of RAM, plus a bunch of others from SUN

    Then there is this bad-boy from IBM, which supports up to 96GB

    Of course there are the Alpha servers, of which the GS series is an example. Up to 256MB.

    There are boards that support way more than 8 RAM slots and have been for some time. Hell, you can get a system that supports more than 16GB from ebay.

    PS, anyone who wants to donate one of the linked systems, please reply to this and we will arrange something :-).

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