Re:Hacking PS2 not a problem for Sony
on
PS2 As PC
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· Score: 1
Then they loose all the advantage of open source! (I'm not saying they are smart enough to realise that...) The point is, all they have to do is get Linux installed. They can leave everything else up to the open source community and AOL.
Re:What about TV resolution?
on
PS2 As PC
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· Score: 1
The PS2 (as well as the Dreamcast) has a VGA-out. Once you add a keyboard and a mouse you can't tell the difference as long as you keep the tower hidden.:)
Re:Consider the limitations
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PS2 As PC
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· Score: 1
Isn't RAM basically free right now? So if Sony wants to take over the world, all they'll have to do is quadruple the RAM in the PS2 -- which'll cost them about $50.
Do you think that such a site was useful to the university community? In retrospect, was running it enjoyable?
Currently my university has a mish-mash of simple forums, public newsgroups, etc. After reading this Ask/. I've been wondering if I should set something like this up myself. Comments?
MTA = Mail Transfer Agent (eg: exim, sendmail, qmail, smail)
MUA = Mail User Agent (eg: mutt, pine, balsa, evolution, kmail)
MRA = Mail Retrieval Agent (eg: fetchmail, getmail)
MDA = Mail Delivery Agent (eg: procmail, maildrop)
These components that do not exist (to my knowledge) in isolation under Windows systems, instead being integrated into a single "e-mail client". Here's how the sequence generally works:
My MRA gets my e-mail from my ISP's POP server and puts it in my mail spool.
My MDA sorts it into mbox or Maildir folders
I read it with my MUA and ask to write a reply.
I write a reply with my editor (eg: vi, emacs) which passes it to my MUA.
My MUA passes it to PGP or GPG for encryption.
My MUA gets the encrypted message back and passes it to my MTA.
My MTA connects to my ISP's SMTP server and sends my e-mail into the ether.
Obviously this is a complicated process to understand. It's a very good example of how newbies can feel that Linux gives them *too much choice*. However they'll get the most features and security if they use all the seperate components.
I believe one thing that's missing is a generalised E-mail HOWTO. Sure there are HOWTOs about lots of specific topics, but someone who just managed to make it through their Mandrake install will still feel a bit lost. Topics that need to be covered include:
The Necessity of MTAs and how to choose one.
Choosing a MUA and basic configuration.
Adding encryption and other special features to your e-mail usage.
In particular, the only way newbies can evaluate the difference between Netscape, Balsa, and mutt is to look at screenshots (assuming they don't just choose whichever appears first in their menus). More handholding is needed!
Aside: And if everyone agrees that mutt is wonderful except for its lack of GUI, why hasn't someone written a front-end?!
Many posters have mentioned that this is illegal, but if the legal system does not allow us to test a contract "before it matters" then it is flawed! What would happen if the GPL were to be declared unfit right now? What would happen if it were to occur a year from now? People are putting too much effort in if it could all be dashed!
Somebody needs to figure out how to make the community sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that open source licenses are real.
I believe the poster was looking for a "IANAL..." response, not grammar correction. But as long as we're in an analysing mood:
All college kids have an ego and too much free time, that's why they tend to do wonderful things like write Linux kernels.
What does marketing have to do with being open source?! I'd argue that someone who just chooses open over closed software is involved in the movement...
I suspect many companies would be quite happy hiring someone with such kernel experience who they can pay an entry-level wage. I will choose my employers and give them the opportunity to choose me.
Sure the most popular plugins exist in Linux, but they're extremely difficult to get working with Mozilla. And even when they do load, they're much buggier than the alphaest open source software.
In the Canadian legal system we don't do "enormous damages". If the farmer wins he will be awarded what Monstano directly cost him -- not emotional damage or whatever it is Americans call all that legal-lottery money.
Does the BMath make much of a difference? I know Waterloo students have to take a couple more Math courses that at other Canadian universities -- but obviously not that many more because entrance to the MMath program doesn't specify. Should other universities be looking into a Faculty of Mathematics?
You're just not looking at the right universities. Trent University is traditionally a liberal arts institution, so when they added a computer science department, it was decided that it wouldn't focus on just the science aspect. Now you can get a degree in Computer Studies and all CS students are required to take a minimum amount of ethics and history courses.
Perhaps your needs would be better met by a diploma program. University is supposed to be theoretical and part of that is learning to appreciate how your discipline got where it is today.
Perhaps your needs would be better met by a diploma program. University is supposed to be theoretical and part of that is learning to appreciate how your discipline got where it is today.
What I don't understand, is why technically savvy people are willing to give up their freedom and good government for money. Move to Canada: you won't get as much money, but then you won't have to spend as much either. And our government has no intentions of catering to corporate lobbists anytime soon.
The XBox is an alternative to dual-booting -- it's that simple. You have a computer running Linux (or some other stable OS) for doing work and an XBox for playing games. Either one can surf the web, which is good because that's what most families need a second computer for.
Frankly, I think this is a Good Thing (TM) for Linux. Now if I'm a casual gamer:
I can leave Linux running 24-7
I can buy hardware that's not specifically for games (eg: SMP vs 1 fast CPU)
I will never have to upgrade because Linux will always run well enough
We can stop trying to get a multitasking and security-oriented OS to give games direct hardware access
I don't want to play games under Linux (or on my PC at all for that matter)... join me.
I'd expect to see USB2. That way you can plug whatever the hell you want into it, including a keyboard, mouse, bigger HD, printer, scanner, digital camera, etc. Where the XBox will succeed is allowing consoles to play games that require a HD, mouse, and keyboard. No one should expect that they'll try and compete on games like Waverace.
As for the hardcore gamers, is there any reason why the XBox can't be somewhat upgradable? Like those icky Mac things, you'll be able to take off little panels and plug in:
A faster CPU of the same type
More RAM of the same latency and bus speed
Maybe even a new GPU on your video card
The XBox is more about making a very standardised PC that is optimised for playing games than a console that acts like a PC. It's a perfect complement to your 24-7 Linux box -- so stop complaining!
This one definitely should be gracing the wall of every Unix lab in academia! (I'll be putting it up as soon as school starts.) Can anyone suggest other appropriate posters?
Re:Definitions and Motivations
on
Is UNIX An OS?
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· Score: 1
Perhaps it would make more sense to change it to:
An operating system is the software that comes with a computer (or OS distribution) that
all programmers and users need to make themselves productive no matter what form that productivity may take.
In other words, the OS could be definied as the common demoninator to any and all uses of the computer (doorstop excepted). The question is whether we would limit that to real uses or all theoretical uses. Some examples:
Keyboard and monitor drivers: many servers are run headless, and some "computers" like the Qube probably don't have drivers for these things installed.
Filesystem access: computers can be used with just a floppy, bootable CD, or NFS -- filesystem access is required to load an OS off of those. On the other hand, the OS can be placed in ROM as in handhelds, therefore filesystem access isn't required.
So it seems as if almost no software is required to use a computer, except that required by the definition of von Neumann architecture: an OS must be able to read and write to primary memory (even if that's only cache) and direct the CPU to execute particular sections of that memory. In addition, to be of interest, the OS must allow for user input and output but we cannot specify by what means.
A more liberal alternative:
An operating system is the software that comes with a computer (or OS distribution) that
most programmers and users need to make themselves productive in most of their tasks.
Re:This *should* be a position at every University
on
Computer Historian?
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· Score: 1
This could be a graduate thesis for Anthropology or Philosophy/Sociology of Science if CS Depts won't take it. And the academic discipline of History is more interested in technique than content, so they'll let you do anything that requires the right kind of research.
Plenty of other posters are speculating on what one could do as a professional computer historian, but a better question is how you'd get there. May I suggest that you find a university with a CS department that offers lots of ethics courses and then joint-major with History. Or get a CS degree and a diploma or MA in museum curatorship. The later is available at Trent where you can get a Computer Studies degree and a Museum Curatorship diploma in just 4 years.
Slashdot Mirror
Then they loose all the advantage of open source! (I'm not saying they are smart enough to realise that...) The point is, all they have to do is get Linux installed. They can leave everything else up to the open source community and AOL.
The PS2 (as well as the Dreamcast) has a VGA-out. Once you add a keyboard and a mouse you can't tell the difference as long as you keep the tower hidden. :)
Isn't RAM basically free right now? So if Sony wants to take over the world, all they'll have to do is quadruple the RAM in the PS2 -- which'll cost them about $50.
Can you provide a link?
Do you think that such a site was useful to the university community? In retrospect, was running it enjoyable?
Currently my university has a mish-mash of simple forums, public newsgroups, etc. After reading this Ask /. I've been wondering if I should set something like this up myself. Comments?
These components that do not exist (to my knowledge) in isolation under Windows systems, instead being integrated into a single "e-mail client". Here's how the sequence generally works:
Obviously this is a complicated process to understand. It's a very good example of how newbies can feel that Linux gives them *too much choice*. However they'll get the most features and security if they use all the seperate components.
I believe one thing that's missing is a generalised E-mail HOWTO. Sure there are HOWTOs about lots of specific topics, but someone who just managed to make it through their Mandrake install will still feel a bit lost. Topics that need to be covered include:
In particular, the only way newbies can evaluate the difference between Netscape, Balsa, and mutt is to look at screenshots (assuming they don't just choose whichever appears first in their menus). More handholding is needed!
Aside: And if everyone agrees that mutt is wonderful except for its lack of GUI, why hasn't someone written a front-end?!
If mutt is the answer, then it must have been a very complicated question.
Many posters have mentioned that this is illegal, but if the legal system does not allow us to test a contract "before it matters" then it is flawed! What would happen if the GPL were to be declared unfit right now? What would happen if it were to occur a year from now? People are putting too much effort in if it could all be dashed!
Somebody needs to figure out how to make the community sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that open source licenses are real.
>Other than that, your question is legitimate.
Shame your answer wasn't.
I believe the poster was looking for a "IANAL..." response, not grammar correction. But as long as we're in an analysing mood:
Sure the most popular plugins exist in Linux, but they're extremely difficult to get working with Mozilla. And even when they do load, they're much buggier than the alphaest open source software.
In the Canadian legal system we don't do "enormous damages". If the farmer wins he will be awarded what Monstano directly cost him -- not emotional damage or whatever it is Americans call all that legal-lottery money.
The pilots can surf the Net while the autopilot does the work!
Does the BMath make much of a difference? I know Waterloo students have to take a couple more Math courses that at other Canadian universities -- but obviously not that many more because entrance to the MMath program doesn't specify. Should other universities be looking into a Faculty of Mathematics?
You're just not looking at the right universities. Trent University is traditionally a liberal arts institution, so when they added a computer science department, it was decided that it wouldn't focus on just the science aspect. Now you can get a degree in Computer Studies and all CS students are required to take a minimum amount of ethics and history courses.
Perhaps your needs would be better met by a diploma program. University is supposed to be theoretical and part of that is learning to appreciate how your discipline got where it is today.
Perhaps your needs would be better met by a diploma program. University is supposed to be theoretical and part of that is learning to appreciate how your discipline got where it is today.
What I don't understand, is why technically savvy people are willing to give up their freedom and good government for money. Move to Canada: you won't get as much money, but then you won't have to spend as much either. And our government has no intentions of catering to corporate lobbists anytime soon.
The XBox is an alternative to dual-booting -- it's that simple. You have a computer running Linux (or some other stable OS) for doing work and an XBox for playing games. Either one can surf the web, which is good because that's what most families need a second computer for.
Frankly, I think this is a Good Thing (TM) for Linux. Now if I'm a casual gamer:
I don't want to play games under Linux (or on my PC at all for that matter)... join me.
I'd expect to see USB2. That way you can plug whatever the hell you want into it, including a keyboard, mouse, bigger HD, printer, scanner, digital camera, etc. Where the XBox will succeed is allowing consoles to play games that require a HD, mouse, and keyboard. No one should expect that they'll try and compete on games like Waverace.
As for the hardcore gamers, is there any reason why the XBox can't be somewhat upgradable? Like those icky Mac things, you'll be able to take off little panels and plug in:
The XBox is more about making a very standardised PC that is optimised for playing games than a console that acts like a PC. It's a perfect complement to your 24-7 Linux box -- so stop complaining!
Ack, I would but it's US$30! Maybe I can get the department to pay for it...
This one definitely should be gracing the wall of every Unix lab in academia! (I'll be putting it up as soon as school starts.) Can anyone suggest other appropriate posters?
Perhaps it would make more sense to change it to:
In other words, the OS could be definied as the common demoninator to any and all uses of the computer (doorstop excepted). The question is whether we would limit that to real uses or all theoretical uses. Some examples:
So it seems as if almost no software is required to use a computer, except that required by the definition of von Neumann architecture: an OS must be able to read and write to primary memory (even if that's only cache) and direct the CPU to execute particular sections of that memory. In addition, to be of interest, the OS must allow for user input and output but we cannot specify by what means.
A more liberal alternative:
This could be a graduate thesis for Anthropology or Philosophy/Sociology of Science if CS Depts won't take it. And the academic discipline of History is more interested in technique than content, so they'll let you do anything that requires the right kind of research.
Plenty of other posters are speculating on what one could do as a professional computer historian, but a better question is how you'd get there. May I suggest that you find a university with a CS department that offers lots of ethics courses and then joint-major with History. Or get a CS degree and a diploma or MA in museum curatorship. The later is available at Trent where you can get a Computer Studies degree and a Museum Curatorship diploma in just 4 years.