Adding DRM to the PCI pipeline would drag down the benchmarks so badly it wouldn't get adopted. DRM needs to go into a layer of the mix where you know that the data is intended to be.
It would be like adding SPAM filtering to the transport layer of a network (ie, encapsulated data that you have no way of knowing what the data is intended for) rather than a higher level where you know it is targetted to be email.
Not saying no one will try it, but the horsepower improvement would have to be immense to cover up the downside. DRM isn't going into the backplane for QUITE some time.
Sounds like the early days of Anarchy Online... actually, sounds like the later days of AO, too.
I gave on on AO after making repeated bug reports only to have the bug forums wiped not once but twice. After reposting I folded and retired. It was a real shame... I enjoyed the game enough to work on hacks like skinning the interface and making a better in-game map. But the bugs that were in the final beta never got fixed and it made travel and such a royal pain.
I got a free month awhile back and logged in to see if anything had changed... nope. Not to completely badmouth, they did add quite a bit, but the core issues were still there. I got another free month recently and asked around before reinstalling the software and... yep... still bugged maps and travel. Not worth the reinstall.
Here's hoping SW:Galaxies learned from those lessons. The Star Wars material is not enough to survive on alone. Especially after Episode I and II having been such a disappointment.
I'm on the verge of 32 and I have no issues pulling out my GBA while waiting for a plane or on the plane. My wife and I both have GBAs with Afterburners for the lights. Most likely we'll get each other GBA SPs for some holiday or another and use the old GBAs as GameCube controllers for use with FF.
Hell, last time I was at the airport I saw someone at least 40 in a suit playing on a GBA SP. If you want to hide your playing, all you are inconveniencing is yourself:)
Brew is still a very closed system as far as having to have the application signed to get it to run, and I haven't seen any good "do it yourself" methods. I would still much rather have a J2ME (Java) phone.
Not saying this is bad, getting GCC support is great for anything like this (I wish that GCC could compile targets for my Neuros), just weighing in on Brew in general.
1) My headphone have a convenient case to wrap them up and stow them so that they don't get tangled in my pockets. The adapter will not fit.
2) Most of the games I heard complaining about the headphone jack already have one. Same as most bought a GBA even though it didn't have a backlight. The number of SPs sold is not a good indication of how good or bad this decision was.
My main point is thus: The GBA SP was supposed to be a high-end system, and include those features that the GBA was lacking. People were willing to pay more to have it (in some views, paying double or more since often the person had paid $99 for the original GBA when it came out). The entire system is perfect... EXCEPT that they left out a piece that has been a common component on every model since day 1. That is a bad product decision. Me and others who have issue about the decision finding workarounds, trivial or annoying, does nothing to mitigate someone else's brainfart.
A strong argument can be made that TV broadcasts, especially news in the event of emergencies, are as much of a public service as telephones and radio.
Commercial based programming is definitely a luxury, just as are 1-900 numbers and talk radio. However, ripping away one of the main sources of news that is available to everyone at any time should be approached with more consideration than saying if you can't afford satellite or cable that you don't deserve it.
Perhaps, as part of ripping away the last broadcast channels (which won't bother me too much), some of the money made by selling that spectrum (and face it, the FCC isn't going to give away the entire spectrum, though I hope some is made public) should be used to provide a free of cost cable infrastructure. Say, locals and/or emergency information only.
For those folks who can't get cable, the FCC should work with the satellite broadcasters to mirror the same program, allowing anyone with a dish to receive the local/emergency channels for free. The satellite providers can still make money on locals by rebroadcasting a high-end HDTV version (while downconverting the signal for the free locals) as DirecTV has already hinted that they are going to do.
Close... I don't mind it when it is connected, I mind having to haul it with me and keep track of it. Generally speaking I can get a GBA, MP3 player, headphones, ticket stub, ID and wallet into my pants pockets, plus a magazine or two in my hands. Any more than that and I have to keep a bag with me under the seat (and it is not just a size/weight issue, it is a keeping track of it issue... hell, it might be better if the adapter was -bigger- in this case), which means I don't have room to stretch much on the plane (been on a Canadair Regional Jet lately, they're all the rage to cut costs and MAN they are small, I bump my head on the ceiling and I'm barely 6'). I would much rather the GBA SP was that 1/4" bigger in some dimension and provide a 1/8" jack than have to fiddle with yet another small component on the plane. And most I've met who want a GBA SP have similar issues with the headphone jack.
It is better than the backlight situation, and the SP folds smaller than the GBA so I may get one for that reason (and the backlight is a bit better quality than my Afterburner install), but that doesn't change the fact that both the decisions in question (no light on the GBA, no 1/8" jack on the GBA SP) were bad decisions for a large section of the market. The first is understandable, they needed a cheaper product, but the second is fairly mind boggling since the SP is supposed to be high-end anyway.
As someone who works in the computer industry doing product management / marketing (which, while it may not be self evident from the title is as much about funneling in customer requirements to the engineering team) and as someone who spent the money on the Afterburner kit for his and his wife's GBAs... all I have to say it TTHTHthththtptpttltlthhthtTTHTHTPtT!
Someone in Nintendo needs a clue that they are losing on the adult audience (and we have quite a bit of cash to spend). If I had to guess, the persons who "forgot" how many of us wanted backlights were the same folks who decided that we'd be happy to buy an adapter just to be able to plug in headphones.
I'm an air traveller for work sometimes... the GBA is my way of making it through a long cramped flight. I need the backlight for all the lowlight situations I am in while flying. Guess where I need headphones the most? Guess where I have the -least- storage capacity while playing.
Ditto... this happened to me when I switched to DirecTV from analog cable. I never knew I had it enabled until I turned on my DTV signal, then bang, big black rectangle with words to the effect of "this is a test of the text messaging system" on my TV. Called DTV and they quickly diagnosed it and had me turn off closed captioning. Worked fine.
Humbug... I wouldn't have cared if they would have edited it down, I don't expect most submissions to get approved anyway. But honestly, which wasted more of your time, reading my stream of consciousness or complaining about it?
Besides, so far seeing what gets rejected versus what gets posted, it seems that the more of that junk you include, the more likely it is to get posted. If you submit something that is short and to the point, it gets rejected more often. I knew that and decided to try and swing it in my favor since I wanted to get the word out on a product I enjoy and think others would.
As Bill would say... "Ack. ThththtlllptptpthththhtltttT!"
1) Both units use the same firmware, the only difference is the amount of built-in flash. The CPU, RAM, etc are the same between the 2 units.
2) The 128MB or 64MB flash are built into the main unit. If you buy the basic 20GB HD backpack version, you get a main unit with 64MB. If you buy the 128MB version you get a main unit with 128MB and the backpack only contains a battery. If you want the 20GB -and- 128MB options, you have to buy the bundle.
Neuros has been featured on/. a few times now. Once was specific to the announcement of planned Ogg support through Neurosetta. Heh, I guess there weren't enough duplicate stories to make sure everyone read them (NOW I know why/. does so many dupes:).
* I can rip to MP3 and Ogg in 1 invocation... MP3 for now, Ogg for when Neuros gets support (and for playing from my PC).
* Batch mode... rip the entire track to.wavs, eject the CD, then begin processing. That way another CD can be loaded. I routinely (when in rip mode) have 4 or 5 discs going.
* It will resume from just about any point if interrupted.
* With a simple wrapper it is easy to make ABCDE auto-invoke (at least in Red Hat 8) so that the only thing I need to do to rip a track to MP3 and Ogg and upload it to the file server is insert the disc.
I wanted to get this level of ease of use so my wife would rip her own CDs and still get high quality encodings. Nothing beats lame and oggenc for my ears, but she has a Mac and didn't want to fiddle with anything but iTunes. Now she walks over to the laptop in the living room, pops in a disc, and gets great encodings even easier than on a Mac.
I don't CARE if my 802.11g steps on my 802.11b... let it. I have 802.11b in a couple of devices (one requires a CF card and the other requires Linux), both of which can handle being slowed down all the way to 1Mb without me caring.
My hope was to have an 802.11g card in anything that could take it and use 802.11b as a fall-back. That way I can have a faster network where possible but still have connectivity in my other devices.
So... give us a mode that allows the "g" to step on the "b". Don't make it default, but make it a -standard- option so that there is interoperability. I know that many places won't want to use it like public APs, but those of us who are only using our own configuration should be able to.
I don't expect it to run at 54Mb/s as advertised, but open the floodgates a bit more when possible.
Works great, less filling
on
Ultima on Linux
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I used Exult a few months ago... was able to run U7 and U7.5 with the expansion packs for both.
I bought and played these on the PC a long time ago, but had tossed the boxes so I downloaded them again from an abandonware site in France (I don't remember the URL). Technically illegal, but since I'd paid in full for the games back then I feel morally sound:)
It was quite interesting to play Exult not only in 1024x768 on my Linux PC, but to then copy my saves to my Zaurus and play on the road on the Zaurus (though with less enjoyment than the PC just due to speed and interface issues).
Quite a piece of work. Highly recommended if you're into that sort of thing... my latest romp down memory lane has been to play Eye of the Beholder on my GBA. Wahoo!:)
It is important to realize that while the Neuros does still use FM nearcasting to do the job, it's not "crappy" like the cheap cellphone/CD player add-ons that do this.
The FM transmitter is built in to the Neuros and has no analog conversion until the end of the trip to the transmitter. Most (if not all) crappy FM add-ons take analog input and then convert that to the FM signal. The Neuros' FM transmitter gets a digital signal that is digitally filtered to convert well to the FM signal.
When the unit was first released a few months ago, a number of people had problems with the range of FM transmission. Digital Innovations found out the issue and performed a recall to fix all units.
Additionally, unlike most portable digital players, DI has a team of developers working on new firmware features that are downloadable for all Neuros owners. Better still, they've listened to their early adopters and realized that USB 1.1 is not good enough. So that are creating a backpack (the HD and power connections are done through removable backpacks, allowing future expandability, or for those who have LOTS of music, the ability to buy multiple HDs and swap them out quickly and safely) that has USB 2.0... and anyone who buys the USB 1.1 20GB HD backpack gets a free upgrade. DI has been -extremely- impressive about listening to customers.
There are a few drawbacks... the units are still first generation so the kinks in the firmware are still being worked on... and the unit itself is quite a bit bigger than an iPod. However, overall it was my unit of choice, especially with Ogg decoding (first portable with native Ogg decoding and one of the first devices with it at all) and a =supported= Linux client on their way.
Don't look for it in stores until late Summer / early Fall. After the recall DI decided to only sell through their web store until they get USB 2.0, Ogg support and alot of the firmware fixes in place. If you want one now, go to their website (remember, you'll get the USB 2.0 backpack for free minus the cost of shipping it back to them for replacement, and Ogg support is coming soon). They also have a very useful set of forums on that page.
(And no, I don't get a single thing out of this post except possibly the enjoyment of introducing other folks to this neat device).
After reading the article and after years of work in groups trying to make Linux more palatable to the end user, I pretty much agree with the author.
My 2 main differences are:
1) I think source should be online and downloadable. NOT in CD form is just fine, but if I do need to compile something new or recompile part of DistroX with a new option, I need to be able to get access faster than postal mail. I work for Sun, we use similar methods (postal mail or pre-paid downloads) and for my customers these methods just don't work. Put your source tree online, but don't put it in a CD format and label it clearly as for developers and you'll find almost no one downloads it except those who need it.
2) I disagree with moving to FreeBSD from the point of view of losing a LOT of development and it will very much hurt marketing. Apple didn't get bit hard by the *BSD thing, but that was because they were only concerned with selling to an existing desktop install base. If you are starting from scratch, being based on something (Linux) that the market has at least heard of with regularity is going to be a big boost.
I can see where there are big commercial advantages for not using Linux as your base, but I don't see them outweighing the benefits. I could be wrong, but that's the way I see it. By keeping your main system tools that do things like creating all the aliases, etc you are going to make it just as hard for a competitor to copy everything as you would if you based yourself off of FreeBSD.
NOTE: No matter what you do or how you do it, expect someone to try and clone DistroX. Therefore, spend a full R&D cycle (2-3 years) privately getting it POLISHED before you release it. If you start out significantly ahead of the game, it will be that much harder to catch up with you. When releasing, let it known that technically it is Linux, but don't HYPE the Linux. Hype the usability and compatibility. I know, sounds contradictory to what I said before about marketing, but Linux tends to market itself where people want that, you don't need to worry about it.
Another interesting option... if a company uses these to inventory high-dollar items and someone figures out how to get them out the door while leaving the RFID behind, how long might it take for the company to figure out they've been heisted?
My point being 2-fold:
1) RFID can't be made theftproof (or at least reasonably so) without making the tags a permanent part of the product (see my other post for why I don't consider this acceptable)
2) If it is not theftproofed, then the company still has to rely on manual inventory tracking... which negates much of the value of RFID to the company.
Just because a technology is cheap and convenient doesn't mean it is a good thing. I know that alot of this sounds like the same arguments that were made against machines during the Industrial Revolution, but unlike that revolution, I can't see RFID being beneficial to the consumer, only the seller.
This doesn't work for me... sorry, but RFID as-is is just potentially too invasive. It will be like wearing hardware cookies on your body or in your tires. I like cookies in my browser, but I still place some restrictions on them.
The only viable option to preserve consumer privacy while enhancing retail usability would be legistlation that requires the RFID tag to be put on a removable label. Buy a shirt with an RFID tag? No worries, just tear off the removable tag. Put a recycling bin at the store exit or cash register and the company can even put the tags back into use (a well done RFID database should allow the store to deactivate an RFID upon purchase and reactivate upon recycling).
Worried about shoplifters removing the RFID tag before purchase? Too bad. A smart shoplifter will find a way around this system, too (heck, RFID tags may in theory make it -easier- to do the old price tag switching maneuver, too). To make it a bit nastier, make it illegal to remove the tag before purchase. Embedding the tag in an unremovable place is bound to be attractive to companies that want to be sure nothing walks out the door, but sorry, I'm willing to pay a bit more for merchandise and have my privacy secure.
Otherwise I'll wait until some bright folks invent a nice little RFID jammer before I buy from a store that has these implemented or a proven device that can fry RFIDs.
A jammer should not be that hard to do. It could sense when an RF signal was going out to read the tags and then respond back with tons of nonsense tags (like the 802.11b project that broadcasts thousands of fake SSIDs). Or it could sense when your RFID tag was -responding- and send stuff out then. You could make it illegal to use the scanner in a retail chain, but once out the door turn it on so that your car's tires can't be scanned at McDonald's.
A truly intelligent scanner could be made that figured out your RFID signatures, uploaded them to other people with a jamming device, then you can help foil the inevitable scanners by carrying around random RFIDs of other people in the system.
Seriously, if people could read the bar tags off whatever box you were carrying around, even when it was in a bag, do you think people wouldn't carry big fat black magic markers around to disable the bar codes after purchase (or simply rebel against the concept of bar codes)?
I seriously don't want to have to expand my concept of a "personal firewall" to this level. Privacy has been nearly destroyed as-is, but at least I can still buy a shirt, tires, etc with cash and not have it logged with my name. But RFID enables complete tracking of individuals who carry the tags around. A quick example for closing (since I'm sure someone is going to say this is bogus):
* I buy tires for my Jeep that have embedded RFID tags so that the local tire shop can easily track their inventory.
* I drive to McDonald's for a burger with those tags installed.
* McDonald's doesn't know what the RFID was for originally, but they really don't care, they can just assign the RFID to me.
* McDonald's doesn't know who I am though... and at that point I wouldn't mind them giving me targetted ads or coupons at the drive through based on my anonymous RFID in their database... BUT... I forget to grab cash and stumble upon a McD's that takes credit (I think they either do now in some places or are planning to) so I fork over my card. *BANG* they know my name and some of my habits (as well as locations I've been if I tend to stop at McD's on those long road trips). It doesn't matter if I pay for everything after this point with cash as long as I drive my car there.
* Every store owned by McDonald's (did you know they own Chipotle for instance?) now knows about me. Better yet, some genious can now decide to sell my information to other marketing organizations.
* Add to this an RFID in your cellphone, you carry that everywhere, and the
Very much interested in this. In fact, I've written letters to Google and Yahoo requesting this but never got much beyond a polite thanks for the suggestion.
Actually, I'd be pretty satisfied if Google supported the advanced boolean search that Altavista has. When Altavista had one of, if not the, best databases I regularly used it. Take a look at:
I find that a combination of wildcards, AND, OR, NEAR, NOT, grouping via parentheses and being able to search specifically for anchors, images, etc meets 99% of my needs. Full regex would be nice, but not that much more useful. Plus, I would imagine regex would be a lot harder on the search server than the simplified advanced syntax.
I -really- wish Google supported matching via parentheses... they already support automatic ANDing and will understand OR as well, but grouping makes a big difference. That and I wish Google would allow more than 10 terms... when you start using OR to describe something (like for my motorcycle it would be:
V65 OR V-65 OR "Honda Magna" OR VF1100C
and I've already eaten up 3 terms...
The problem with starting a new search engine is it won't get used, even if it has amazing features, until it has a HUGE number of pages indexed. You might want to target specific subjects at first. Or, depending on the legality, create a meta search engine... I considered trying to create a meta-search script using Regex for Google (private use, so hopefully not illegal, but would probably still get banned if they caught on) but found it took too much time for my little machine on a narrowband connection to download each page and re-index it based on that additional regex processing.
The key to success is to index a BUNCH of sites before wide announcement (possibly by using the method mentioned a few days ago of harnessing a distributed processing project to add indexing servers, I'd contribute to something like this) of the project and make sure that you don't limit the effectiveness by limiting the number of terms.
I bought Majesty a couple of years ago... great game for laptop'ing on a plane. This was before I switched over to Linux on my clients. I wouldn't mind playing it on my linux boxes, but I'm not going to pay more money for it.
I don't require full parallel development, I can wait 2-3 months for a game to come out on Linux. However, I'm not going to pay full for it twice.
The only game I might consider paying full again would be Black and White... I never finished it. With that and NWN I'd be set for a long time.
I -would- be willing to pay $10 to enable Linux on some of my old games like Majesty. I can't pull up their site right now to see if this is possible. Or perhaps just copying the full version data over to the Linux demo version if there is one.
Slashdot Mirror
This could make for some funny games of chicken.
:)
Maybe I can convince the local PD to buy them
Adding DRM to the PCI pipeline would drag down the benchmarks so badly it wouldn't get adopted. DRM needs to go into a layer of the mix where you know that the data is intended to be.
It would be like adding SPAM filtering to the transport layer of a network (ie, encapsulated data that you have no way of knowing what the data is intended for) rather than a higher level where you know it is targetted to be email.
Not saying no one will try it, but the horsepower improvement would have to be immense to cover up the downside. DRM isn't going into the backplane for QUITE some time.
Mod the parent UP ... it is the only post that seems to make this point and this thread is the top thread when sorting by relevance.
Sounds like the early days of Anarchy Online ... actually, sounds like the later days of AO, too.
... I enjoyed the game enough to work on hacks like skinning the interface and making a better in-game map. But the bugs that were in the final beta never got fixed and it made travel and such a royal pain.
... nope. Not to completely badmouth, they did add quite a bit, but the core issues were still there. I got another free month recently and asked around before reinstalling the software and ... yep ... still bugged maps and travel. Not worth the reinstall.
I gave on on AO after making repeated bug reports only to have the bug forums wiped not once but twice. After reposting I folded and retired. It was a real shame
I got a free month awhile back and logged in to see if anything had changed
Here's hoping SW:Galaxies learned from those lessons. The Star Wars material is not enough to survive on alone. Especially after Episode I and II having been such a disappointment.
Pheh.
:)
I'm on the verge of 32 and I have no issues pulling out my GBA while waiting for a plane or on the plane. My wife and I both have GBAs with Afterburners for the lights. Most likely we'll get each other GBA SPs for some holiday or another and use the old GBAs as GameCube controllers for use with FF.
Hell, last time I was at the airport I saw someone at least 40 in a suit playing on a GBA SP. If you want to hide your playing, all you are inconveniencing is yourself
Brew is still a very closed system as far as having to have the application signed to get it to run, and I haven't seen any good "do it yourself" methods. I would still much rather have a J2ME (Java) phone.
Not saying this is bad, getting GCC support is great for anything like this (I wish that GCC could compile targets for my Neuros), just weighing in on Brew in general.
Wrong on both counts.
... EXCEPT that they left out a piece that has been a common component on every model since day 1. That is a bad product decision. Me and others who have issue about the decision finding workarounds, trivial or annoying, does nothing to mitigate someone else's brainfart.
1) My headphone have a convenient case to wrap them up and stow them so that they don't get tangled in my pockets. The adapter will not fit.
2) Most of the games I heard complaining about the headphone jack already have one. Same as most bought a GBA even though it didn't have a backlight. The number of SPs sold is not a good indication of how good or bad this decision was.
My main point is thus: The GBA SP was supposed to be a high-end system, and include those features that the GBA was lacking. People were willing to pay more to have it (in some views, paying double or more since often the person had paid $99 for the original GBA when it came out). The entire system is perfect
A strong argument can be made that TV broadcasts, especially news in the event of emergencies, are as much of a public service as telephones and radio.
Commercial based programming is definitely a luxury, just as are 1-900 numbers and talk radio. However, ripping away one of the main sources of news that is available to everyone at any time should be approached with more consideration than saying if you can't afford satellite or cable that you don't deserve it.
Perhaps, as part of ripping away the last broadcast channels (which won't bother me too much), some of the money made by selling that spectrum (and face it, the FCC isn't going to give away the entire spectrum, though I hope some is made public) should be used to provide a free of cost cable infrastructure. Say, locals and/or emergency information only.
For those folks who can't get cable, the FCC should work with the satellite broadcasters to mirror the same program, allowing anyone with a dish to receive the local/emergency channels for free. The satellite providers can still make money on locals by rebroadcasting a high-end HDTV version (while downconverting the signal for the free locals) as DirecTV has already hinted that they are going to do.
Close ... I don't mind it when it is connected, I mind having to haul it with me and keep track of it. Generally speaking I can get a GBA, MP3 player, headphones, ticket stub, ID and wallet into my pants pockets, plus a magazine or two in my hands. Any more than that and I have to keep a bag with me under the seat (and it is not just a size/weight issue, it is a keeping track of it issue ... hell, it might be better if the adapter was -bigger- in this case), which means I don't have room to stretch much on the plane (been on a Canadair Regional Jet lately, they're all the rage to cut costs and MAN they are small, I bump my head on the ceiling and I'm barely 6'). I would much rather the GBA SP was that 1/4" bigger in some dimension and provide a 1/8" jack than have to fiddle with yet another small component on the plane. And most I've met who want a GBA SP have similar issues with the headphone jack.
It is better than the backlight situation, and the SP folds smaller than the GBA so I may get one for that reason (and the backlight is a bit better quality than my Afterburner install), but that doesn't change the fact that both the decisions in question (no light on the GBA, no 1/8" jack on the GBA SP) were bad decisions for a large section of the market. The first is understandable, they needed a cheaper product, but the second is fairly mind boggling since the SP is supposed to be high-end anyway.
As someone who works in the computer industry doing product management / marketing (which, while it may not be self evident from the title is as much about funneling in customer requirements to the engineering team) and as someone who spent the money on the Afterburner kit for his and his wife's GBAs ... all I have to say it TTHTHthththtptpttltlthhthtTTHTHTPtT!
... the GBA is my way of making it through a long cramped flight. I need the backlight for all the lowlight situations I am in while flying. Guess where I need headphones the most? Guess where I have the -least- storage capacity while playing.
Someone in Nintendo needs a clue that they are losing on the adult audience (and we have quite a bit of cash to spend). If I had to guess, the persons who "forgot" how many of us wanted backlights were the same folks who decided that we'd be happy to buy an adapter just to be able to plug in headphones.
I'm an air traveller for work sometimes
Pheh.
Ditto ... this happened to me when I switched to DirecTV from analog cable. I never knew I had it enabled until I turned on my DTV signal, then bang, big black rectangle with words to the effect of "this is a test of the text messaging system" on my TV. Called DTV and they quickly diagnosed it and had me turn off closed captioning. Worked fine.
heheheheh, deal.
Humbug ... I wouldn't have cared if they would have edited it down, I don't expect most submissions to get approved anyway. But honestly, which wasted more of your time, reading my stream of consciousness or complaining about it?
... "Ack. ThththtlllptptpthththhtltttT!"
Besides, so far seeing what gets rejected versus what gets posted, it seems that the more of that junk you include, the more likely it is to get posted. If you submit something that is short and to the point, it gets rejected more often. I knew that and decided to try and swing it in my favor since I wanted to get the word out on a product I enjoy and think others would.
As Bill would say
And to be completely clear:
1) Both units use the same firmware, the only difference is the amount of built-in flash. The CPU, RAM, etc are the same between the 2 units.
2) The 128MB or 64MB flash are built into the main unit. If you buy the basic 20GB HD backpack version, you get a main unit with 64MB. If you buy the 128MB version you get a main unit with 128MB and the backpack only contains a battery. If you want the 20GB -and- 128MB options, you have to buy the bundle.
Neuros has been featured on /. a few times now. Once was specific to the announcement of planned Ogg support through Neurosetta. Heh, I guess there weren't enough duplicate stories to make sure everyone read them (NOW I know why /. does so many dupes :).
I use ABCDE as well, with some modifications.
... MP3 for now, Ogg for when Neuros gets support (and for playing from my PC).
... rip the entire track to .wavs, eject the CD, then begin processing. That way another CD can be loaded. I routinely (when in rip mode) have 4 or 5 discs going.
Some of the great things about that script:
* I can rip to MP3 and Ogg in 1 invocation
* Batch mode
* It will resume from just about any point if interrupted.
* With a simple wrapper it is easy to make ABCDE auto-invoke (at least in Red Hat 8) so that the only thing I need to do to rip a track to MP3 and Ogg and upload it to the file server is insert the disc.
I wanted to get this level of ease of use so my wife would rip her own CDs and still get high quality encodings. Nothing beats lame and oggenc for my ears, but she has a Mac and didn't want to fiddle with anything but iTunes. Now she walks over to the laptop in the living room, pops in a disc, and gets great encodings even easier than on a Mac.
I don't CARE if my 802.11g steps on my 802.11b ... let it. I have 802.11b in a couple of devices (one requires a CF card and the other requires Linux), both of which can handle being slowed down all the way to 1Mb without me caring.
... give us a mode that allows the "g" to step on the "b". Don't make it default, but make it a -standard- option so that there is interoperability. I know that many places won't want to use it like public APs, but those of us who are only using our own configuration should be able to.
My hope was to have an 802.11g card in anything that could take it and use 802.11b as a fall-back. That way I can have a faster network where possible but still have connectivity in my other devices.
So
I don't expect it to run at 54Mb/s as advertised, but open the floodgates a bit more when possible.
I used Exult a few months ago ... was able to run U7 and U7.5 with the expansion packs for both.
:)
... my latest romp down memory lane has been to play Eye of the Beholder on my GBA. Wahoo! :)
I bought and played these on the PC a long time ago, but had tossed the boxes so I downloaded them again from an abandonware site in France (I don't remember the URL). Technically illegal, but since I'd paid in full for the games back then I feel morally sound
It was quite interesting to play Exult not only in 1024x768 on my Linux PC, but to then copy my saves to my Zaurus and play on the road on the Zaurus (though with less enjoyment than the PC just due to speed and interface issues).
Quite a piece of work. Highly recommended if you're into that sort of thing
It is important to realize that while the Neuros does still use FM nearcasting to do the job, it's not "crappy" like the cheap cellphone/CD player add-ons that do this.
... and anyone who buys the USB 1.1 20GB HD backpack gets a free upgrade. DI has been -extremely- impressive about listening to customers.
... the units are still first generation so the kinks in the firmware are still being worked on ... and the unit itself is quite a bit bigger than an iPod. However, overall it was my unit of choice, especially with Ogg decoding (first portable with native Ogg decoding and one of the first devices with it at all) and a =supported= Linux client on their way.
The FM transmitter is built in to the Neuros and has no analog conversion until the end of the trip to the transmitter. Most (if not all) crappy FM add-ons take analog input and then convert that to the FM signal. The Neuros' FM transmitter gets a digital signal that is digitally filtered to convert well to the FM signal.
When the unit was first released a few months ago, a number of people had problems with the range of FM transmission. Digital Innovations found out the issue and performed a recall to fix all units.
Additionally, unlike most portable digital players, DI has a team of developers working on new firmware features that are downloadable for all Neuros owners. Better still, they've listened to their early adopters and realized that USB 1.1 is not good enough. So that are creating a backpack (the HD and power connections are done through removable backpacks, allowing future expandability, or for those who have LOTS of music, the ability to buy multiple HDs and swap them out quickly and safely) that has USB 2.0
There are a few drawbacks
Don't look for it in stores until late Summer / early Fall. After the recall DI decided to only sell through their web store until they get USB 2.0, Ogg support and alot of the firmware fixes in place. If you want one now, go to their website (remember, you'll get the USB 2.0 backpack for free minus the cost of shipping it back to them for replacement, and Ogg support is coming soon). They also have a very useful set of forums on that page.
(And no, I don't get a single thing out of this post except possibly the enjoyment of introducing other folks to this neat device).
After reading the article and after years of work in groups trying to make Linux more palatable to the end user, I pretty much agree with the author.
My 2 main differences are:
1) I think source should be online and downloadable. NOT in CD form is just fine, but if I do need to compile something new or recompile part of DistroX with a new option, I need to be able to get access faster than postal mail. I work for Sun, we use similar methods (postal mail or pre-paid downloads) and for my customers these methods just don't work. Put your source tree online, but don't put it in a CD format and label it clearly as for developers and you'll find almost no one downloads it except those who need it.
2) I disagree with moving to FreeBSD from the point of view of losing a LOT of development and it will very much hurt marketing. Apple didn't get bit hard by the *BSD thing, but that was because they were only concerned with selling to an existing desktop install base. If you are starting from scratch, being based on something (Linux) that the market has at least heard of with regularity is going to be a big boost.
I can see where there are big commercial advantages for not using Linux as your base, but I don't see them outweighing the benefits. I could be wrong, but that's the way I see it. By keeping your main system tools that do things like creating all the aliases, etc you are going to make it just as hard for a competitor to copy everything as you would if you based yourself off of FreeBSD.
NOTE: No matter what you do or how you do it, expect someone to try and clone DistroX. Therefore, spend a full R&D cycle (2-3 years) privately getting it POLISHED before you release it. If you start out significantly ahead of the game, it will be that much harder to catch up with you. When releasing, let it known that technically it is Linux, but don't HYPE the Linux. Hype the usability and compatibility. I know, sounds contradictory to what I said before about marketing, but Linux tends to market itself where people want that, you don't need to worry about it.
Dang, now games may have to be sold based on their gameplay mechanics and merits instead of relying on borrowing famous names.
Another interesting option ... if a company uses these to inventory high-dollar items and someone figures out how to get them out the door while leaving the RFID behind, how long might it take for the company to figure out they've been heisted?
... which negates much of the value of RFID to the company.
My point being 2-fold:
1) RFID can't be made theftproof (or at least reasonably so) without making the tags a permanent part of the product (see my other post for why I don't consider this acceptable)
2) If it is not theftproofed, then the company still has to rely on manual inventory tracking
Just because a technology is cheap and convenient doesn't mean it is a good thing. I know that alot of this sounds like the same arguments that were made against machines during the Industrial Revolution, but unlike that revolution, I can't see RFID being beneficial to the consumer, only the seller.
This doesn't work for me ... sorry, but RFID as-is is just potentially too invasive. It will be like wearing hardware cookies on your body or in your tires. I like cookies in my browser, but I still place some restrictions on them.
... and at that point I wouldn't mind them giving me targetted ads or coupons at the drive through based on my anonymous RFID in their database ... BUT ... I forget to grab cash and stumble upon a McD's that takes credit (I think they either do now in some places or are planning to) so I fork over my card. *BANG* they know my name and some of my habits (as well as locations I've been if I tend to stop at McD's on those long road trips). It doesn't matter if I pay for everything after this point with cash as long as I drive my car there.
The only viable option to preserve consumer privacy while enhancing retail usability would be legistlation that requires the RFID tag to be put on a removable label. Buy a shirt with an RFID tag? No worries, just tear off the removable tag. Put a recycling bin at the store exit or cash register and the company can even put the tags back into use (a well done RFID database should allow the store to deactivate an RFID upon purchase and reactivate upon recycling).
Worried about shoplifters removing the RFID tag before purchase? Too bad. A smart shoplifter will find a way around this system, too (heck, RFID tags may in theory make it -easier- to do the old price tag switching maneuver, too). To make it a bit nastier, make it illegal to remove the tag before purchase. Embedding the tag in an unremovable place is bound to be attractive to companies that want to be sure nothing walks out the door, but sorry, I'm willing to pay a bit more for merchandise and have my privacy secure.
Otherwise I'll wait until some bright folks invent a nice little RFID jammer before I buy from a store that has these implemented or a proven device that can fry RFIDs.
A jammer should not be that hard to do. It could sense when an RF signal was going out to read the tags and then respond back with tons of nonsense tags (like the 802.11b project that broadcasts thousands of fake SSIDs). Or it could sense when your RFID tag was -responding- and send stuff out then. You could make it illegal to use the scanner in a retail chain, but once out the door turn it on so that your car's tires can't be scanned at McDonald's.
A truly intelligent scanner could be made that figured out your RFID signatures, uploaded them to other people with a jamming device, then you can help foil the inevitable scanners by carrying around random RFIDs of other people in the system.
Seriously, if people could read the bar tags off whatever box you were carrying around, even when it was in a bag, do you think people wouldn't carry big fat black magic markers around to disable the bar codes after purchase (or simply rebel against the concept of bar codes)?
I seriously don't want to have to expand my concept of a "personal firewall" to this level. Privacy has been nearly destroyed as-is, but at least I can still buy a shirt, tires, etc with cash and not have it logged with my name. But RFID enables complete tracking of individuals who carry the tags around. A quick example for closing (since I'm sure someone is going to say this is bogus):
* I buy tires for my Jeep that have embedded RFID tags so that the local tire shop can easily track their inventory.
* I drive to McDonald's for a burger with those tags installed.
* McDonald's doesn't know what the RFID was for originally, but they really don't care, they can just assign the RFID to me.
* McDonald's doesn't know who I am though
* Every store owned by McDonald's (did you know they own Chipotle for instance?) now knows about me. Better yet, some genious can now decide to sell my information to other marketing organizations.
* Add to this an RFID in your cellphone, you carry that everywhere, and the
Very much interested in this. In fact, I've written letters to Google and Yahoo requesting this but never got much beyond a polite thanks for the suggestion.
... they already support automatic ANDing and will understand OR as well, but grouping makes a big difference. That and I wish Google would allow more than 10 terms ... when you start using OR to describe something (like for my motorcycle it would be :
...
... I considered trying to create a meta-search script using Regex for Google (private use, so hopefully not illegal, but would probably still get banned if they caught on) but found it took too much time for my little machine on a narrowband connection to download each page and re-index it based on that additional regex processing.
Actually, I'd be pretty satisfied if Google supported the advanced boolean search that Altavista has. When Altavista had one of, if not the, best databases I regularly used it. Take a look at:
Altavista Special Search Terms
I find that a combination of wildcards, AND, OR, NEAR, NOT, grouping via parentheses and being able to search specifically for anchors, images, etc meets 99% of my needs. Full regex would be nice, but not that much more useful. Plus, I would imagine regex would be a lot harder on the search server than the simplified advanced syntax.
I -really- wish Google supported matching via parentheses
V65 OR V-65 OR "Honda Magna" OR VF1100C
and I've already eaten up 3 terms
The problem with starting a new search engine is it won't get used, even if it has amazing features, until it has a HUGE number of pages indexed. You might want to target specific subjects at first. Or, depending on the legality, create a meta search engine
The key to success is to index a BUNCH of sites before wide announcement (possibly by using the method mentioned a few days ago of harnessing a distributed processing project to add indexing servers, I'd contribute to something like this) of the project and make sure that you don't limit the effectiveness by limiting the number of terms.
I bought Majesty a couple of years ago ... great game for laptop'ing on a plane. This was before I switched over to Linux on my clients. I wouldn't mind playing it on my linux boxes, but I'm not going to pay more money for it.
... I never finished it. With that and NWN I'd be set for a long time.
I don't require full parallel development, I can wait 2-3 months for a game to come out on Linux. However, I'm not going to pay full for it twice.
The only game I might consider paying full again would be Black and White
I -would- be willing to pay $10 to enable Linux on some of my old games like Majesty. I can't pull up their site right now to see if this is possible. Or perhaps just copying the full version data over to the Linux demo version if there is one.