Second, Sammy is making great new 2d fighters (Guilty Gear X2). They also have new arcade hardware out ("Atomiswave") that is based on Sega's NAOMI hardware. Expect them (and, by rumour, maybe SNK/Playmore) to make all kinds of nice 2d games for this system and port it to your favorite next gen console.
the blue screening in LOTR: TT was a little too "honey i shrunk the kids". hopefully they realized this and fixed it for ROTK.
-Mani
Re:mirror of screenshot
on
Opencroquet
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· Score: 3, Interesting
i think the reason it doesn't look too impressive is because it's just trying to show off what the OS's GUI engine is capable of doing. these guys are hackers (really talented ones IMHO), not artists.
bring in some real artists to work on this and you can do some really nice stuff. think the UI's you saw in the final fantasy movie or minority report.
I disagree. Many people more knowledgeable than I agree that MPEG-4 compressed video at the same bitrate as MPEG-2 compressed video looks much better (ie. less compression artifacts such as ugly ugly MPEG-2 macro blocking). I've seen A/B comparisons and tend to agree with these guys.
MPEG-4 gets a bad rap with people who don't know much about video compression, because the only MPEG-4 content they see is highly compressed DVD rips and internet porn. In reality, MPEG-4 really shines with a reasonable bitrate when compared to MPEG-2, to the point that many believe that MPEG-4 completely obsoletes MPEG-2.
One camp of the HD-DVD standard struggle wants to actually continue using red-laser DVD technology, but coupled with MPEG-4 compression. Apparently 1080i or 720p MPEG-4 combined with filtering and preprocessing at normal DVD bitrates (5-9 mbps) looks pretty good! (Hopefully, this proposed standard won't get accepted. Let's move forward with higher capacity media. And while this format might look good enough, I want completely artifact free HD to display on my 48" HDTV.)
go into the mame config menu. there's two buttons that are not configured, i think its "left paddle" and "right paddle". set those to buttons you have access to. now you can control how far the little balls shoot out!
so it's actually a four button game, but of course we didnt figure this out until after we finished it the first time.:)
i built it using an mk2 cab i purchased off a friend for $300, a pc w/ a duron 1300, 512mb ram, and a trident blade t64 video card. interfacing between the pc's ps2 port and vga out with the joysticks, buttons, and arcade monitor done largely with the help of andy warne's j-pac.
all games run perfectly, with the exception of newer 3d additions to mame, such as cruis'n world. i've done a/b comparisons between mk2 running off the actual game board and emulated with MAME, and i cannot tell the difference.
it took a lot of work to get it right, but it was definately a labour of love. the hardest part was getting my video card to output at low horizontal refresh rates and resolutions that are compatible with both the monitor and various games - but you can now bypass all this hassle by purchasing andy warne's new arcadeVGA, a new radeon-based video card made for outputting video compatible with 15khz arcade monitors! no special software or configuration, you just pop this into your pc and you're all set. i wish this card was available 4 months ago when i got started.
me and some friends really got obsessed with playing that game on my mame cabinet. think three red-eyed young men furiously tapping one button for a good 3 hours (we started around midnight).
yes, on that fateful evening we finished Pachinko Sexy Reaction.
-Mani
PC gaming is not the holy grail
on
Phantom Game Console
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
To each his own, but as a serious gamer I feel obliged to respond to your post. But I'm tired of saying all this like a broken record so I'll try to keep it short.
The whole PC vs console debate is so fucking dated and pedestrian that to make your assertion in any gaming circle will get you laughed out of the room. I don't think you mean badly, but I'll venture to guess that you're just mainly into a certain type of game. Nothing wrong with that, but I do take issue that you're spinning your personal preference in games as objective reason that [god-like-voice]PC's Are Better Gaming Systems Than Consoles[/god-like-voice].
I have the high end PC setup, and I agree that Battlefield 1942 cannot be enjoyed the way it should be on an XBox. Neither can Icewind Dale, Warcraft 3, or Space Quest 4. Now that we have that out of the way. I feel bad for you, the exclusive PC gamer, because you'll never enjoy the likes of Panzer Dragoon Orta, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Metal Gear Solid 2, Soul Calibur, Ikaruga, Megaman 2, or Punch Out. Even if the above were ported/emulated to a PC (I think MGS2 might already be ported), they would be as bad as playing Starcraft on an N64 (*cough*).
So I'll keep my MAME cabinet, all my consoles, and my PC. I count myself lucky because I can afford to do so. If you want to get into console gaming, feel free to ask me (or someone like me) for recommendations. Don't worry, no one will tell your UT clanmates.;)
I resent your "in more important news" comment. This is extremely cool news, as the Bradley Trainer has almost been a piece of mythology in video game history. The US military hired this guy to make an enhanced version of Battlezone to simulate tank combat. This isn't an arcade game, it is a military simulator, developed by an arcade game developer. Pretty much everyone interested in classic gaming has wanted to play this, and just about no one has been able to until now.
Personally, I couldn't care less that a new version of FreeBSD came out. Go submit it as a story; don't go and use your "scoops" as troll ammunition. In short, your comment is a straight up troll and should be modded as such.
I assure you that my uptime claim is not B.S. I've often had uptimes on the order of weeks (since I leave my workstation on 24/7 like most people), with reboots due to software installation.
And I stress Windows too. Along with the standard apps I use, I often test development code (pretty heavy stuff) and Windows doesn't break a sweat. I've never managed to take down the kernel requiring a reboot.
Note that at home, where I play various games (especially the buggy Battlefield 1942!), reboots are almost a daily event. So Windows is definately not there yet in terms of stability. But for your typical developer or desktop user it is about as stable as it gets.
I started using Linux as a development environment (as a hobbyist in highschool, and as a CS student when I was working on my B.Sc) around 1996. I was 16 and really excited about having a UNIX OS on my PC. I'm still very excited about Linux. But as a development environment, I develop in Windows 2000/XP pretty much 95% of the time excepting when I have to test/debug code on a UNIX platform.
I have XEmacs installed in Windows as a native app. I use Cygwin when I need a UNIX shell. XFree86(cygwin), Exceed and/or any other commercial/free X server generally work just fine. And I use MSVC++ for debugging - this is the main reason why I use Windows. I have not seen any UNIX debugger that comes close to MS's debugger (no, not even gdb, ddd or workshop).
As a desktop user, Windows has provided me with 99% uptime (and that missing 1% is for software upgrades requiring reboot, not crashes). I simply can't use the stability argument anymore.
I'm confident that Linux will kick ass on the desktop in the future. But if the Linux desktop is to entice developer desktops as well, a "killer app" debugger is needed. Unfortunately this is a huge undertaking. On top of this, UNIX developers might scoff at fancy GUI debuggers, just like I scoff at WYSIWYG word processors since I use LaTeX. But clearly this is not productive.
So, unfortunately, I have to disagree that Linux (or UNIX in general) is the ideal development environment... for me, for now.
You make a good point, but remember that the burden of proof will be on Microsoft. They would have to fight a costly, uphill battle in each case where they suspect any "contamination" is taking place. And this is really hard to prove stuff, unless the GPL programmer did blatant cut and pasting.
In this scenario I'd say that Microsoft is in a more compromised position than the GPL programmer, even if the GPL programmer is in the wrong.
On top of this, there are ways around this.
One way is for the GPL programmer to write all her own code, and leave spaces "paste Microsoft function XYZ here". This way no laws are being broken. (Illegal) binaries for such apps can be made available in places like Usenet, P2P, or IRC, while the application web site contains all legal code with instructions on how to patch and compile. Something similar is already happening to Microsoft, with apps compiled with illegally obtained XBox SDK's. The source is freely available on project websites, but binaries compiled using the SDK are only available on USENET, P2P, etc.
(a) Dreamcast controller != Atari joystick (b) Used Dreamcast != $20, sorry. (c) Mention downloading StellaDC and Atari rom packs, and burning it with a special program so your DC can boot it will make most people go "huh?". (c') If they don't go "huh?", they probably have better things to do than find a used Dreamcast and do all of the above.
Seriously now, this thing is 20 bucks. Dreamcast shmeemcast.
-Mani
User interface is slow
on
Is Mac OS X Slow?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I had a G4/533 with a gig of RAM. General performance is just fine, non graphical applications like Apache, gzip, etc would have performance up to par with the same software on any other OS and/or platform.
The main problem was the graphics rendering. I haven't tried Quartz Extreme, but on 10.1, things like scrolling in Mozilla (this includes Chimera) or IE were just sluggish. Scrolling a web page, in the Intel world, should only be sluggish if you're using a Pentium 100 with an non-accelerated graphics card.
Resizing a window in OSX has the same issues as scrolling. The last time a Windows or Linux user experienced sluggishness and frame skipping when resizing a simple file manager or browser window was like... 1995.
I think what OSX needs is a means to bypassing the graphics pipeline for certain operations. One way I did this was by loading up IE for OS9 in OSX... it doesn't anti-alias/scale/whatever, and it scrolls and resizes fast. Although this feature might not be needed if QE absolutely solves the above problems. But wait, my G4's Rage 128 pro wouldn't work with QE.
The kind of UI sluggishness I describe is a really hard pill to swallow for a traditional PC user like me. I switched, but after a year ended up switching back. It's just like the time I bought an SGI, once I got over the fact that "wow, I own an SGI workstation!", it quickly became a cool purple doorstop. Once you get over having "real" transparent terminals, all you're left with is a slow user interface. Maybe OSX is a couple years ahead of its time?
Well, people will chime in and tell you that the Display Postscript / Display PDF display technologies and accompanying API's are a GUI solution for UNIX. While both NeXTStep and MacOS X look great, their windowing systems come with a significant loss in features; in particular, they are not network transparent.
I think most criticisms for X stem from the following reasons:
+ Adding fonts to X is, simply put, an absolute nightmare. Last I checked, it involves copy files to a directory, manually editing a text file, restarting your "font server", and other crap. This is just not acceptable... but I think there are projects out there trying to resolve this.
+ Back in the old days, writing apps for X was a nightmare. The low level drawing API that comes with X, called XLib, has more to do with drawing primitives like lines than with drawing and managing buttons, text fields, etc. AFAIK, the only decent API available for writing apps was Motif, which was only available commercially (note that many programmers will disagree with me that Motif is "decent" -- in fact, it is apparently a huge pain in the ass... look at the source of any Motif-using app and you'll see). Although, nowadays with projects like gnome, kde, tcl/tk, perl's gui hooks, etc... it is almost trivially easy to code complex UI's for X.
+ XFree86 is a nightmare to configure. While Redhat does all kinds of fancy stuff to autodetect your video card/monitor, I tried Debian a few days ago and gasped at how little has changed in configuring XFree86 since 7 years ago. With a nervous laugh, I noticed that same line in xfree86config where you have to input your vertical/horizontal frequency ranges, and it warns you about how it might destroy your monitor. Aahhhh, fond memories of that very same config step that struck the fear of God in me as I installed Slackware for the first time when I was just a little tyke.
Fortunately, most of the above is being worked on. Despite all that I've said, I am an ardent X supporter. Its out of the box network transparency is a massive, let me repeat that, massive feature for anyone but the strict home user who only uses a browser and a chat program or two. Academic, scientist, programmer, administrator, office worker -- millions of professionals rely on X's network transparency every single day. No need to use/buy expensive, bulky, slow VNC clients or proprietary terminal servers. This is precisely why X is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Palms were always stupid expensive toys for dot com MBA's fat on VC cash, so they can beam their useless business cards to each other, like some kind of high tech mating ritual.
I bet more angry, layed off engineers are going to buy this thing to see what all the fuss was about. More than Little Billy and Soccer Mom Jane.
Still, I hope this thing tanks. Palms have and probably always will be obsoleted by pen and notepad.
Reading Slashdot Before Slashdot
on
Slashdot Turns 5
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· Score: 2
I remember regularly visiting "rob malda's linux page" (or whatever it was called) for AfterStep mods and other similar things. Then Rob says, and I'm paraphrasing, "don't read my journal anymore, I got a news site up and running"... Slashdot!
Considering how long I've been reading Slashdot, it really surprises me that it's been only 5 years. It really seems longer than that. I agree with CmdrTaco with the hope that this site doesn't change much in 5 years. Even the design of the site (remember the uproar over the grey backdrop in late 1997 ?? ouch!).
Thanks Rob and everyone else for the great site. I think this is a good time for me to go and drop another $20 to supporting Slashdot. Keep up the great work!
A serious, well written script documenting his incredible, tragic life would make A Beautiful Mind seem about as powerful as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (not to knock Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - great movie, it's just no tour de force).
Re:Why are we trying to do this at all?
on
XBox Linux HOWTOs
·
· Score: 2
Right now, unless your TV has a DVI or VGA input (99.9% don't), the only way to output high definition video to an HDTV is to buy a VGA->component transceiver which costs around $120. Then you have to configure your video card with a program like powerstrip to get the correct timings for the different HDTV resolutions.
The XBox is capable of 480i,480p,720p and 1080i straight out of the box. No extra hardware, no ugly configuration. Plugs right into your component inputs with the $20 HD kit. With Linux on the machine and its DVD drive, the possibilities are pretty damn cool.
-Mani
Re:Why are we trying to do this at all?
on
XBox Linux HOWTOs
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
If you really want M$ to lose money, figure out a way around their copy protection, write an emulator, and watch how fast ISO images of the games start floating around IRC and p2p networks. Don't feed the beast by buying another xbox please!
Yeah! And who cares about all the game development houses who will be losing potential sales as a result of your elite 0-day warezing...
Or all of us who have to pay more for slower bandwidth because of selfish hogs flooding the pipes with illegal ISO's...
I'd rather "feed the beast" than stoop lower than them, stealing games under the guise of some techno-freedom fighter sabotaging the Goliath.
All that said, it's not the actual criminals/pirates/etc that bother me. It's the hypocrites... all the people who steal, vandalize, or generally fuck shit up for fun/profit, then justify it with half-assed anti-establishment ramblings. I've seen it in the punk rock scene, and I've seen it with geeks. It's all the same old bullshit and frankly I'm tired of it.
Any modern ATI or Nvidia card should work just fine. Plasma displays are very sensitive with regards to having their exact resolution displayed, so use a program like Powerstrip to make sure Windows starts up with the exact resolution and refresh rate your plasma monitor requires.
If you haven't bought a plasma display yet, then I recommend you think twice about getting it. There are some really low cost monitors out there that can interface pretty well with a PC. Take, for example, the JVC AV-48WP30, at around $1,700 you can have a 48" HDTV that supports DVI(*). People are using this TV with their PC's at 1280x720, or 1920x540. There are also new 42" (HLM427W, I believe) and 50" (HLM507W) Samsung HDTV's that support DVI and are based on badass DLP technology (I heard this set is particularly sharp when connected to a PC). These Samsung DLP's are MUCH cheaper than other comparable sets, something like $3,000-$4,000.
Note, however, that while the theoretical HDTV resolution is 1920x1080i, very, very few HDTV's can display a discernable pixel grid at this resolution. Still, the price difference between a modern rear-projection HDTV and a plasma monitor is significant (you can buy a decent used car with the money you save).
Here are some very helpful links, I used them extensively when I was shopping around for a new set:
AV Science Forum: great forum with lots of very knowledgeable people. Many of them are into using displays like plasmas/HDTV's with their PC's.
Home Theater Spot: similar to the above, different layout. Another great, helpful site.
(*) Regarding these DVI connectors - yes, these are the new DVI connections used to transfer encrypted data to prevent people from copying future HD broadcasts. It is often documented that you can't use this DVI interface with your computer's DVI out, but more often than not this is not true and it will work just fine. However, ask around on the above sites about your particular DVI TV before buying an expensive DVI cable.:)
In other news:), the Lord of the Rings DVD is coming out on tuesday (or monday midnight for some stores).
Initial reviews are saying that it basically kicks all ass, and will be the new reference DVD for home theater-philes. And mind you this isn't the upcoming 4-disc extended version.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with you, but all hope is not lost.
:)
First of all, build yourself a MAME cab, you wont regret it.
Second, Sammy is making great new 2d fighters (Guilty Gear X2). They also have new arcade hardware out ("Atomiswave") that is based on Sega's NAOMI hardware. Expect them (and, by rumour, maybe SNK/Playmore) to make all kinds of nice 2d games for this system and port it to your favorite next gen console.
Keep your chin up, soldier!
-Mani
the blue screening in LOTR: TT was a little too "honey i shrunk the kids". hopefully they realized this and fixed it for ROTK.
-Mani
i think the reason it doesn't look too impressive is because it's just trying to show off what the OS's GUI engine is capable of doing. these guys are hackers (really talented ones IMHO), not artists.
bring in some real artists to work on this and you can do some really nice stuff. think the UI's you saw in the final fantasy movie or minority report.
-Mani
I disagree. Many people more knowledgeable than I agree that MPEG-4 compressed video at the same bitrate as MPEG-2 compressed video looks much better (ie. less compression artifacts such as ugly ugly MPEG-2 macro blocking). I've seen A/B comparisons and tend to agree with these guys.
MPEG-4 gets a bad rap with people who don't know much about video compression, because the only MPEG-4 content they see is highly compressed DVD rips and internet porn. In reality, MPEG-4 really shines with a reasonable bitrate when compared to MPEG-2, to the point that many believe that MPEG-4 completely obsoletes MPEG-2.
One camp of the HD-DVD standard struggle wants to actually continue using red-laser DVD technology, but coupled with MPEG-4 compression. Apparently 1080i or 720p MPEG-4 combined with filtering and preprocessing at normal DVD bitrates (5-9 mbps) looks pretty good! (Hopefully, this proposed standard won't get accepted. Let's move forward with higher capacity media. And while this format might look good enough, I want completely artifact free HD to display on my 48" HDTV.)
-Mani
go into the mame config menu. there's two buttons that are not configured, i think its "left paddle" and "right paddle". set those to buttons you have access to. now you can control how far the little balls shoot out!
:)
so it's actually a four button game, but of course we didnt figure this out until after we finished it the first time.
hey,
i built it using an mk2 cab i purchased off a friend for $300, a pc w/ a duron 1300, 512mb ram, and a trident blade t64 video card. interfacing between the pc's ps2 port and vga out with the joysticks, buttons, and arcade monitor done largely with the help of andy warne's j-pac.
all games run perfectly, with the exception of newer 3d additions to mame, such as cruis'n world. i've done a/b comparisons between mk2 running off the actual game board and emulated with MAME, and i cannot tell the difference.
it took a lot of work to get it right, but it was definately a labour of love. the hardest part was getting my video card to output at low horizontal refresh rates and resolutions that are compatible with both the monitor and various games - but you can now bypass all this hassle by purchasing andy warne's new arcadeVGA, a new radeon-based video card made for outputting video compatible with 15khz arcade monitors! no special software or configuration, you just pop this into your pc and you're all set. i wish this card was available 4 months ago when i got started.
good starting points:
Build Your Own Arcade Controls
J-Pac and ArcadeVGA
Happ Controls (however you can save some $$$ by not getting it from their online store, and finding a local distributor)
good luck!
me and some friends really got obsessed with playing that game on my mame cabinet. think three red-eyed young men furiously tapping one button for a good 3 hours (we started around midnight).
yes, on that fateful evening we finished Pachinko Sexy Reaction.
-Mani
To each his own, but as a serious gamer I feel obliged to respond to your post. But I'm tired of saying all this like a broken record so I'll try to keep it short.
;)
The whole PC vs console debate is so fucking dated and pedestrian that to make your assertion in any gaming circle will get you laughed out of the room. I don't think you mean badly, but I'll venture to guess that you're just mainly into a certain type of game. Nothing wrong with that, but I do take issue that you're spinning your personal preference in games as objective reason that [god-like-voice]PC's Are Better Gaming Systems Than Consoles[/god-like-voice].
I have the high end PC setup, and I agree that Battlefield 1942 cannot be enjoyed the way it should be on an XBox. Neither can Icewind Dale, Warcraft 3, or Space Quest 4. Now that we have that out of the way. I feel bad for you, the exclusive PC gamer, because you'll never enjoy the likes of Panzer Dragoon Orta, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Metal Gear Solid 2, Soul Calibur, Ikaruga, Megaman 2, or Punch Out. Even if the above were ported/emulated to a PC (I think MGS2 might already be ported), they would be as bad as playing Starcraft on an N64 (*cough*).
So I'll keep my MAME cabinet, all my consoles, and my PC. I count myself lucky because I can afford to do so. If you want to get into console gaming, feel free to ask me (or someone like me) for recommendations. Don't worry, no one will tell your UT clanmates.
i dont think anyone realizes that your post is a joke.
I resent your "in more important news" comment. This is extremely cool news, as the Bradley Trainer has almost been a piece of mythology in video game history. The US military hired this guy to make an enhanced version of Battlezone to simulate tank combat. This isn't an arcade game, it is a military simulator, developed by an arcade game developer. Pretty much everyone interested in classic gaming has wanted to play this, and just about no one has been able to until now.
Personally, I couldn't care less that a new version of FreeBSD came out. Go submit it as a story; don't go and use your "scoops" as troll ammunition. In short, your comment is a straight up troll and should be modded as such.
-Mani
I assure you that my uptime claim is not B.S. I've often had uptimes on the order of weeks (since I leave my workstation on 24/7 like most people), with reboots due to software installation.
And I stress Windows too. Along with the standard apps I use, I often test development code (pretty heavy stuff) and Windows doesn't break a sweat. I've never managed to take down the kernel requiring a reboot.
Note that at home, where I play various games (especially the buggy Battlefield 1942!), reboots are almost a daily event. So Windows is definately not there yet in terms of stability. But for your typical developer or desktop user it is about as stable as it gets.
First, some background.
... for me, for now.
I started using Linux as a development environment (as a hobbyist in highschool, and as a CS student when I was working on my B.Sc) around 1996. I was 16 and really excited about having a UNIX OS on my PC. I'm still very excited about Linux. But as a development environment, I develop in Windows 2000/XP pretty much 95% of the time excepting when I have to test/debug code on a UNIX platform.
I have XEmacs installed in Windows as a native app. I use Cygwin when I need a UNIX shell. XFree86(cygwin), Exceed and/or any other commercial/free X server generally work just fine. And I use MSVC++ for debugging - this is the main reason why I use Windows. I have not seen any UNIX debugger that comes close to MS's debugger (no, not even gdb, ddd or workshop).
As a desktop user, Windows has provided me with 99% uptime (and that missing 1% is for software upgrades requiring reboot, not crashes). I simply can't use the stability argument anymore.
I'm confident that Linux will kick ass on the desktop in the future. But if the Linux desktop is to entice developer desktops as well, a "killer app" debugger is needed. Unfortunately this is a huge undertaking. On top of this, UNIX developers might scoff at fancy GUI debuggers, just like I scoff at WYSIWYG word processors since I use LaTeX. But clearly this is not productive.
So, unfortunately, I have to disagree that Linux (or UNIX in general) is the ideal development environment
Just my $0.02!!!
You make a good point, but remember that the burden of proof will be on Microsoft. They would have to fight a costly, uphill battle in each case where they suspect any "contamination" is taking place. And this is really hard to prove stuff, unless the GPL programmer did blatant cut and pasting.
In this scenario I'd say that Microsoft is in a more compromised position than the GPL programmer, even if the GPL programmer is in the wrong.
On top of this, there are ways around this.
One way is for the GPL programmer to write all her own code, and leave spaces "paste Microsoft function XYZ here". This way no laws are being broken. (Illegal) binaries for such apps can be made available in places like Usenet, P2P, or IRC, while the application web site contains all legal code with instructions on how to patch and compile. Something similar is already happening to Microsoft, with apps compiled with illegally obtained XBox SDK's. The source is freely available on project websites, but binaries compiled using the SDK are only available on USENET, P2P, etc.
Just my opinion, IANAL.
-Mani
You're borderline trolling, IMHO, but I'll bite:
(a) Dreamcast controller != Atari joystick
(b) Used Dreamcast != $20, sorry.
(c) Mention downloading StellaDC and Atari rom packs, and burning it with a special program so your DC can boot it will make most people go "huh?".
(c') If they don't go "huh?", they probably have better things to do than find a used Dreamcast and do all of the above.
Seriously now, this thing is 20 bucks. Dreamcast shmeemcast.
-Mani
I had a G4/533 with a gig of RAM. General performance is just fine, non graphical applications like Apache, gzip, etc would have performance up to par with the same software on any other OS and/or platform.
... 1995.
... it doesn't anti-alias/scale/whatever, and it scrolls and resizes fast. Although this feature might not be needed if QE absolutely solves the above problems. But wait, my G4's Rage 128 pro wouldn't work with QE.
The main problem was the graphics rendering. I haven't tried Quartz Extreme, but on 10.1, things like scrolling in Mozilla (this includes Chimera) or IE were just sluggish. Scrolling a web page, in the Intel world, should only be sluggish if you're using a Pentium 100 with an non-accelerated graphics card.
Resizing a window in OSX has the same issues as scrolling. The last time a Windows or Linux user experienced sluggishness and frame skipping when resizing a simple file manager or browser window was like
I think what OSX needs is a means to bypassing the graphics pipeline for certain operations. One way I did this was by loading up IE for OS9 in OSX
The kind of UI sluggishness I describe is a really hard pill to swallow for a traditional PC user like me. I switched, but after a year ended up switching back. It's just like the time I bought an SGI, once I got over the fact that "wow, I own an SGI workstation!", it quickly became a cool purple doorstop. Once you get over having "real" transparent terminals, all you're left with is a slow user interface. Maybe OSX is a couple years ahead of its time?
I guess I'm just proposing something like www.exemployees-forum.com.
Or www.fuckedcompany.com =)
-Mani
Well, people will chime in and tell you that the Display Postscript / Display PDF display technologies and accompanying API's are a GUI solution for UNIX. While both NeXTStep and MacOS X look great, their windowing systems come with a significant loss in features; in particular, they are not network transparent.
... but I think there are projects out there trying to resolve this.
... look at the source of any Motif-using app and you'll see). Although, nowadays with projects like gnome, kde, tcl/tk, perl's gui hooks, etc ... it is almost trivially easy to code complex UI's for X.
I think most criticisms for X stem from the following reasons:
+ Adding fonts to X is, simply put, an absolute nightmare. Last I checked, it involves copy files to a directory, manually editing a text file, restarting your "font server", and other crap. This is just not acceptable
+ Back in the old days, writing apps for X was a nightmare. The low level drawing API that comes with X, called XLib, has more to do with drawing primitives like lines than with drawing and managing buttons, text fields, etc. AFAIK, the only decent API available for writing apps was Motif, which was only available commercially (note that many programmers will disagree with me that Motif is "decent" -- in fact, it is apparently a huge pain in the ass
+ XFree86 is a nightmare to configure. While Redhat does all kinds of fancy stuff to autodetect your video card/monitor, I tried Debian a few days ago and gasped at how little has changed in configuring XFree86 since 7 years ago. With a nervous laugh, I noticed that same line in xfree86config where you have to input your vertical/horizontal frequency ranges, and it warns you about how it might destroy your monitor. Aahhhh, fond memories of that very same config step that struck the fear of God in me as I installed Slackware for the first time when I was just a little tyke.
Fortunately, most of the above is being worked on. Despite all that I've said, I am an ardent X supporter. Its out of the box network transparency is a massive, let me repeat that, massive feature for anyone but the strict home user who only uses a browser and a chat program or two. Academic, scientist, programmer, administrator, office worker -- millions of professionals rely on X's network transparency every single day. No need to use/buy expensive, bulky, slow VNC clients or proprietary terminal servers. This is precisely why X is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Palms were always stupid expensive toys for dot com MBA's fat on VC cash, so they can beam their useless business cards to each other, like some kind of high tech mating ritual.
I bet more angry, layed off engineers are going to buy this thing to see what all the fuss was about. More than Little Billy and Soccer Mom Jane.
Still, I hope this thing tanks. Palms have and probably always will be obsoleted by pen and notepad.
I remember regularly visiting "rob malda's linux page" (or whatever it was called) for AfterStep mods and other similar things. Then Rob says, and I'm paraphrasing, "don't read my journal anymore, I got a news site up and running" ... Slashdot!
Considering how long I've been reading Slashdot, it really surprises me that it's been only 5 years. It really seems longer than that. I agree with CmdrTaco with the hope that this site doesn't change much in 5 years. Even the design of the site (remember the uproar over the grey backdrop in late 1997 ?? ouch!).
Thanks Rob and everyone else for the great site. I think this is a good time for me to go and drop another $20 to supporting Slashdot. Keep up the great work!
Read this brief summary about Alan Turing's life.
A serious, well written script documenting his incredible, tragic life would make A Beautiful Mind seem about as powerful as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (not to knock Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - great movie, it's just no tour de force).
Right now, unless your TV has a DVI or VGA input (99.9% don't), the only way to output high definition video to an HDTV is to buy a VGA->component transceiver which costs around $120. Then you have to configure your video card with a program like powerstrip to get the correct timings for the different HDTV resolutions.
The XBox is capable of 480i,480p,720p and 1080i straight out of the box. No extra hardware, no ugly configuration. Plugs right into your component inputs with the $20 HD kit. With Linux on the machine and its DVD drive, the possibilities are pretty damn cool.
-Mani
If you really want M$ to lose money, figure out a way around their copy protection, write an emulator, and watch how fast ISO images of the games start floating around IRC and p2p networks. Don't feed the beast by buying another xbox please!
...
...
... all the people who steal, vandalize, or generally fuck shit up for fun/profit, then justify it with half-assed anti-establishment ramblings. I've seen it in the punk rock scene, and I've seen it with geeks. It's all the same old bullshit and frankly I'm tired of it.
Yeah! And who cares about all the game development houses who will be losing potential sales as a result of your elite 0-day warezing
Or all of us who have to pay more for slower bandwidth because of selfish hogs flooding the pipes with illegal ISO's
I'd rather "feed the beast" than stoop lower than them, stealing games under the guise of some techno-freedom fighter sabotaging the Goliath.
All that said, it's not the actual criminals/pirates/etc that bother me. It's the hypocrites
-Mani
Hi Karl,
Also note that the newer DLP RPTV's do not fall victim to CRT burn-in.
First, to answer your question:
:)
Any modern ATI or Nvidia card should work just fine. Plasma displays are very sensitive with regards to having their exact resolution displayed, so use a program like Powerstrip to make sure Windows starts up with the exact resolution and refresh rate your plasma monitor requires.
If you haven't bought a plasma display yet, then I recommend you think twice about getting it. There are some really low cost monitors out there that can interface pretty well with a PC. Take, for example, the JVC AV-48WP30, at around $1,700 you can have a 48" HDTV that supports DVI(*). People are using this TV with their PC's at 1280x720, or 1920x540. There are also new 42" (HLM427W, I believe) and 50" (HLM507W) Samsung HDTV's that support DVI and are based on badass DLP technology (I heard this set is particularly sharp when connected to a PC). These Samsung DLP's are MUCH cheaper than other comparable sets, something like $3,000-$4,000.
Note, however, that while the theoretical HDTV resolution is 1920x1080i, very, very few HDTV's can display a discernable pixel grid at this resolution. Still, the price difference between a modern rear-projection HDTV and a plasma monitor is significant (you can buy a decent used car with the money you save).
Here are some very helpful links, I used them extensively when I was shopping around for a new set:
AV Science Forum: great forum with lots of very knowledgeable people. Many of them are into using displays like plasmas/HDTV's with their PC's.
Home Theater Spot: similar to the above, different layout. Another great, helpful site.
(*) Regarding these DVI connectors - yes, these are the new DVI connections used to transfer encrypted data to prevent people from copying future HD broadcasts. It is often documented that you can't use this DVI interface with your computer's DVI out, but more often than not this is not true and it will work just fine. However, ask around on the above sites about your particular DVI TV before buying an expensive DVI cable.
In other news :), the Lord of the Rings DVD is coming out on tuesday (or monday midnight for some stores).
:)
Initial reviews are saying that it basically kicks all ass, and will be the new reference DVD for home theater-philes. And mind you this isn't the upcoming 4-disc extended version.
Star what? Attack of the what?
-Mani