How many MIME-definitions do you have !? Uh, right,
and how cool it was to take the Window$ approach of identifying
files by their extensions...I found no place yet neither in Gnome
nor KDE to identify files by a match against certain rules...
What are you talking about? KDE uses $KDEDIR/share/mimelnk/magic
And where do I set these rules using the typical KDE
file->right-click->edit-filetype (or in KontrolCenter/Filemanager/Filetypes) ?
And after I edited it, does Gnome take advantage of this ? See !?
This is what I was talking about;-)
For my system to do a more reliable filetype-recog I need
this:
/etc/httpd/conf/magic
/usr/share/magic/magic.mime
/usr/share/magic/magic
$KDEDIR/share/mimelnk/magic
I am aware, that I could symlink duplicate files. I just do not
have the time to keep track whenever and wherever an application
installed its own 'magic' file. We were talking about Desktop and
that includes: "Normal Users"
In order to be able to associate filetype with their mimetype my
current box has this: (and now all we know is which filename-suffix
belongs to which mime-type...
Now, I installed a plugin, in order to be able to read some historic documents. That required some nerscape-plugin. This is what the plugin-installer did: It spit its mime-types extensions in any server directory it could find and more...
/usr/var/www/.mime.types
/usr/var/named/.mime.types
/usr/var/spool/fax/.mime.types
/usr/var/spool/lpd/.mime.types
/usr/var/spool/mail/.mime.types
/usr/var/spool/news/.mime.types
/usr/var/spool/uucp/.mime.types
/usr/var/spool/postfix/.mime.types
/usr/games/.mime.types
/usr/local/lib/netscape/mime.types
/usr/share/webmin/mime.types
/etc/X11/fs/.mime.types
~/.mime.types
/usr/var/ftp/.mime.types
/usr/var/lib/nfs/.mime.types
/usr/var/lib/rpm/.mime.types
/usr/var/lib/htdig/.mime.types
/usr/var/lib/mysql/.mime.types
/usr/var/lib/pgsql/.mime.types
/usr/var/lib/sympa/.mime.types
Note, these are the same files. Not even linked. No, simple
duplicates... My question would be, if this still would happen that
easily, once a global Linux MIME/filetype-definition system is
established.
Nota bene: I am sure the lists are incomplete and yes, this is not a typical system, and yes, I could "work around", but why not have one central repository for such information ?
I was actually looking for a nice "Aqua" theme for Gnome, but it seems none of them work with the new theme engine...meanwhile, there are plenty of them for KDE...
I use High-Performance Liquid with KDE myself. On the Gnome I found a GTK+ theme, that makes the buttons look very similare, sort of plastic buttons. I am not exactly sure what is its name (and I am in KDE now, so I can not easily test) but if you browse them all you will find it. I guess it is part of the standard distribution for Gnome (or whatever). I think it is "BlueIce".
While I agree competition is good I find it important, that competition, once it has produced enough "critical mass" gets joined into both environments as a base, a standard.
However, I am a little sad to see the way things seem to work:
I hope this won't get interpretated as a troll. It is just a listing of negative impressions I have and feel they sting me.
On the one side we have many "conservative" developers (which I have sometimes the feeling is especially valid for KDE folks(who do not want to change too much, instead stay with the old and enhance it, read interview, and now I am going on thin ice, since KDE has some nice innovation built in;-)) Of course, this conservatism brings the stability we all desire and which I enjoy daily as a user who prefers KDE due to stability over Gnome.
On the other side we have "Theme-Junkies"
who are mainly idealizing about the surface..just have a look what topic it needed over at Gnotices to address a joint-effort of Gnome and KDE : Common theme-engine.
I am really into Eye-Candy myself but it is not what makes my work being done. I see there are many MANY more issues both teams should address in a joint-venture:
Inter Process Communication on application-scripting level. Let's face it, most applications come with their own scripting support. For Gimp and XChat you can use either Python or Perl.
For Emacs you can use emacs-lisp. Others use Tcl. And this is all nice, but is there a common Linux-Scripting API ? Something like ARexx was on the Amiga (not really an API but a powerfull language for any application) or WSH (Windows Scripting Host, the precedessor of.NET if I dare to say) on M$ Windows ? I think the desktops would be the first place to define such a thing, because IPC macroing is mostly a users/powerusers thing and they are the ones who get addressed by any desktop at most. There is more to user-level IPC than Drag&Drop.(And I am not talking about "Word-Macros",mind you;-))
How many MIME-definitions do you have !? Uh, right, and how cool it was to take the Window$ approach of identifying files by their extensions...I found no place yet neither in Gnome nor KDE to identify files by a match against certain rules...
I am in need for global keyboard shortcuts.
I want applications to start implementing their functionality as exportable (to the scripting host) commands, adding the additional benefit, that the user can fully (!) customize all menus and keyboard- and mouse-events. This is configurability ! Not the fact, that I can set some themes...(both Desktops at least allow for global keyboard definitions per desktop system, I know).
How many contact lists do you have ? I have one in KMail (is up quicker than Evo and KDE's default), one in Opera (adding while surfing) and one in Evolution. Cool ? Not ! And the same goes for bookmarks of the browsers. Yes, I use Opera mainly but sometimes I just use Konqueror or Mozilla. The import/export is not enough.
I want a common base !(earth shakes;-))
Now, I, as a user and developer, do that movement, that the ballet-dancers do (and which I lack the english expression for), that moment when they have their legs completely spread apart while touching the ground. I got some training in this myself, I touch the "Desk's Top" but it hurts me often, still.
I know this ain't easy. There have been huge flame-wars, not so long ago between both teams, software-fidelity is some sort of spiritual believe...(Emacs vs. Vi, KDE vs, Gnome, Windows vs. RestOfTheWorld, etc.). A slight hope on the horizon could be the Linux Standard Base LSB. In any case some head must be found both sides trust and we could have M$ struggle also on the desktop within four to five years. I tell you !!!:-D
Also, I am pretty sure, this all will happen sooner or later. But I find it disturbing to see not much sophisticated movement below the surface (which, in addition, would be quite easy to implement) and users wanting theme-engines and "the-looks congiguration" mainly.
You're missing the entire point of what assembly is used for.
Well...I use it myself. So, no, I am not. But I see your point. On the other hand you do not see the point I try to defend. I have basically two issues with your point of view:
1
You "idealize" the available compilers.
In fact, C and C++ compilers will usually beat the pants off of any but the most experienced assembly programmers.
"Usually", yes, but noone uses ASM for "usual" tasks. What about:
the GUI library, which I use (and was written in C) and which got some nice speedups gains when a guy started hand-optimizing it...?
time-critical routines where one might prefer to stick to 'inline-assembly' ?
"tricks"...?
2
Fact is, that we have a new, virtual computer, virtual hardware, etc. AmigaDE is not being realized as a V-Machine, but as V-Hardware. That is a big difference ! A VM might emulate the ideal environment for development and runtime. A VH emulates the ideal hardware. Now, within this zone, why do you think Assembly won't be a good thing to have ? I see no difference as how 'inline' assembly, used in higher-level languages to speed up execution is suddenly not a need anymore as soon the CPU is not being realized within hardware but software.
Programming platform independent assembly is a waste of time. Any competent VM has an interface that lets you call into native code - thus letting you write any platform specific assembly you might desire.
But this is not platform independant assembly. Why would they do it ? This is assembly tied to the TAO platform, which in itself tries to realize a computer done fully in software. Programming for this platform will sometimes be very low level. It is the most mobile computer at all, since you can even share it among mobile computers of different architecture. And we find a very different 'hosting' environment here. AmigaDE is supposed to run on cell-phones (weak CPU, less memory), Handhelds, Desktops, later servers etc. This is the actual goal. They want a computer, that is a full abstract, a computer, that fits onto a Disk you keep in your pocket or whatever. It would be fully scalable and whether you find yourself slipping in your "computer on a disk" into a terminal at the airport or on your desktop at home, it will sense the underlying hardware and scale appropriately. (This has nothing to do with VP ASM but I wanted to mention'what the system actually is we are talking about). Compilers do create overhead or miss a need here and there, which gets optimized by hand later, if needed. So, why would a C compiler on a virtual CPU not create overhead ?
However, I am not a TAO programmer. I don't know much about it
and most of my speculations are just that: speculations.:-) But I insist on the very fact, that the TAO/AmigaDE system is not a VM. It is much more. It is a Virtual Computer. Taking care of this, ASM (and we are talking of an ASM implementation here, developers start praising as soon it is being mentioned) might be looked upon a different light.
ASM is fun: You got the machine "at your fingertips".
ASM is fun: It is like trying to get that dirt out of the head of your vacuum-cleaner by poking around with your fingers.
You write:
But doesn't that mean to negate a lot of advancements made in computer science? Modules, OOP, [...]
What about "Modules" written in ASM ? What about ASM Modules in OOP ?....
Really, I don't see the advantage of ASM anymore, besides certain realtime constraints.
Well, do not forget, this is a virtual processor. That means, this ASM is as ideal as its inventors could dream it. It gives you much more than convnetional ASM. I did not use it myself. But I am pretty sure it has its reasons of existance. And sooner or later, whatever language you choose, whatever technique you prefer: It gets translated into machine-code. With ASM you're a little closer. In any case, the control is upon you. Completely. And you can optimize yourself.
Anyway, this is about an ideal CPU with an ideal language. If you do not want to use VP ASM you use VP C or whatever. You can still write your critical stuff in ASM, inlined.
It's a matter of taste, of skills, of the CPU you code for and much more. The classic AmigaOS was coded in many parts in ASM. That is where it got (also) its responsieveness from, scientists were actually using it in realtime environments, but it was not an RTOS.
Anyway, this gets off-topic. Amiga kicked (and still does) butt ! Of course, this is something new, we talk about and has nothing to do with the original Amiga anymore. It is completely new and different. And I think they will fail because they did not yet show a real product and have the worst marketing I have ever seen.
While this may be nice if someone would like to cut his teeth on VP ASM it doesn't matter in pratice (eg. programming in a high level language).
You are right. And I did not see the AmigaDE/TAO system running. But the industry did. And many many of them want TAO. TAO is quite a hotty. It seems to be what Java tried and would not do. Java is too much of a bloat.(IMHO)
See, having a VP means that you can dig down to the core. My personal opinion is, that IT tech is years behind, and each year they go ahead (faster CPU, more memory) they step a year back. The art of computing has always been fetching a lot of functionality into small devices. And while this still is valid on the hardware side, it is not anymore on the software side. One of the most incredible things with the original AmigaOS was that you could do incredible stuff with just a 8MHz CPU and 512KB of RAM. I have an Amiga4000 with SCSI, MC68060@50MHz, 83MB RAM, 20GB HDD CPU and a fgx card and an Athlon1.2GHz, SCSI, 512MB RAM, dualboot (Windows,Linux) GeForce2 and whatever....Guess where I do my core development on ? Right, on the Amiga. And why ? Because it saves me from bloat. It forces me to think about optimization at all (not only for speed and response), it tells me how to do things neat and tight. This is what is needed in the computer business: Small, fast and affordable devices. Having a VP means to me "Nothing better than ASM..."
Well, it is all very similare, these days. AmigaDE was proposed as a system using the TAO elate/intent technology. This tech is not really a VM but gets more to the core. It is the complete abstraction of a CPU into software. It is a VP (virtual processor).
So you can code ASM for it (and a very nice version of it, with things available, that you couzld not have with real ASM).
Amiga Inc. wanted to enrich and enhance the elate system by creating the "Amiverse", a virtual space (like in Universe) where software modules would fly around like atoms and molecules, creating much larger molecules as soon the system requests a special application.
In fact, one would have an MP3 module, a HTML object etc, which could be reused and creat applications on the fly. At least this is how I understood this.
Knowing the Amige very well I know of one of its (and there were many, believe me, I still use my Amiga daily, Linux can't bring so much joy - and I am a developer) major strengths: IPC scripting. One had a bitmap-paint program. This program exported all of its functionalities (and with major applications these were usually about 100 to 500 commands) to the Amiga IPC scripting language (a rexx derivate) and suddenly you could use all of the bitmap painters functions in your scripting language.
Well, most applications had such an "ARexx port" (our export and address host).
Amiga was/is amazing.
Now the new AmigaDE will have a very new language, called SHEEP and developed by a really cool language designer from the Netherlands "Wouter van Oortmersen"). This language not only will kepp the good old fashion of Application IPC macroing/scripting (Windows has a different technique but with similare efforts, they name it WSH, which is a bit like.NET in a small) but will allow to be a real language (ARexx was that also) and molecular glue.
This is all my personal interpretation.
For more info, check ouzt the AmigaWorld News (or however they call it) at www.amiga.com.
What they mean with "Ip over MPEG" is nothing else than IP over DVB - Digital Video Broadcast. DVB is thedigital television standard in Europe, and NOKIA is a major player in it, as is Fujitsu-Siemens and others.
There exist three DVB transmission styles:
DVB-T (terrestrial, antenna)
DVB-C (cable)
DVB-S (sattelite)
and a similare audio-standard, named DAB - Digital Audio Boradcasting. DAB will replace the FM tuners over the years, and DVB will replace the conventional TV broadcastings.
Still we do not know what "IP over MPEG" is, right ? Well, DVB transmissions consist of a subset of MPEG2. I think this is what they meant with this. I have such
a DVB-Card in one of my PCI slots. Together with my USB Host-To-Host bridge, my D-Link NIC this is the third (never asked for, since I use DVB for Television only) network card I have in my system. The DVB standard not only transmits audio/video but also (since we are talking digital, you guessed it...;-)) generic information, as in this case, TCP/IP packets. With this it is possible to use a sattelite (with the SAT version) as network-downstream. This still would require the upstream to go through a conventional method, however. I guess this will change in the next ten years, and DVB will become a standard way to access the Internet...
What is especially interesting are the things going on "behind the scenes", especially from an Open Source point of view:
NOKIA is a major player/contributor to the MHP - Multimedia Home Platform specification/project.
MHP is a standard, that will incooperate DVB but make it a real standard. At the moment each broadcaster tries to enforce its own modifications and incompatibilities on the users (Germanies largest broadcaster did so, some French pay-channel did, etc.), just as we know similare practices from M$.
LinuxTV.Org also wrote and/or hosts the important (GPL'ed) software for the DVB cards on Linux, both the v4l compatible TV drivers as well as the IP over MPEG;-) driver. In addition they host a very cool Linux project, named VDR, which makes a harddisk-video recorder out of any linux compatible PC with one ore more DVB card(s).
All in all this is perfect for embedded systems and desktop boxes as well as it will be for full blown deksktops. (Linux desktop without X, digital video and audio broadcast based on free and open standards etc.)
There we had ARexx as programming and IPC "glue" language. [on Amiga most applications are scriptable by this language]
Since there was only a single language to do IPC scripting one might practically compare this with a single API.
One instance to access.
Not like: Emacs has elisp, Gimp has perl and Python, others have Tcl...there is no framework.
Now I do not know GNOMEs basement. Never been there. But I heard people talking about.
I think M.I. has the right vision. It _really_ is time to have a modular system with strong IPC, unified, standardized. I want to be able to view my 'inbox' the same way in a filemanager, in an email program or in my text-editor. Sometimes this is exactly what I need.
I started myself doing some stuff back on the Amiga.
It should have provided seperate ARexx macros with better ways to interchange data (other than PIPE, Clip-List and temp-files).
Also it was the foundation of "flying modules", minor or major function-modules, being "hot-pluggable" wherever you wanted them.
My project exploded. Soon it became a much more abstract and platform-independant thing, easily scalable and much more within seconds;-).
I found myself evaluating XML for the user's definitions of "things to be done". I bought a book on XML and was introduced to the "Windows Scripting Host" as programming example.
A very similare techinique to what I had in mind ! They even used the same terms like me ! They used XML, they exported functions of applications into a gereal API repository, each language could access it.
Basically.NET is just the next step on this road. If you once have come here, you automatically end up with a distributed, well scalable IPC system, being made out of components. There is no other logical way.
You see, I can understand M.I. if he ends up at Windows stuff. I needed to learn they already did what I wanted.
And I welcome it in parts. How much do I hate the fact, that KDE, GNOME and the rest of Linux do not share a *single* IPC API ?
The only thing I was eyeing jealously over the years I used nothing else then my trusworthy Amiga was Microsofts OLE. Something AmigaOS was lacking badly.
Microsoft have invented something very nice here. At least from the superficial view I have.
Whatever you try to do, it will look much like.NET. So, why not taking it over ?I share many of the fears critics have. I think M.I. should not use it as the base. This is too Microsoftish. No good. We would depend on them. On the other side I see no other way for a cometive system than at least support tight API connections etc.
So, personally I would suggest for something GNOMOE-made but with strong support for.NET.
P.S. Actually this comment should read like:
I think we need a platform independant, well scalable, unified IPC API, distributable (encode movie on SMP machine in LAN, view it on wallmount in kitchen, still it is one dynamic application). And I would like to see the different Linux projects adhere to such a standard, once it would be.
Nota bene: This is a motherboard, so all in the list is onboard !
That would give heaven of a multimedia machine: DualG4, Firewire, IRDA and Ether onboard, put one of the DCE Microservers (see next one) in one free PCI.....WROOMMMM !
DCE G3/G4 Microserver on a PCI card
Note, I did not find info on this card on their site, yet.
Now I came across your name the third time on the net !
First time was on Aminet;-) I have some of your Gfx installed
on my local disk. I do not use them, but they are so
nice, that I never could erase them. (they're in
my brush: dir;-))
Why does such a popular OpenSource site silence down a post about an OpenSource BIOS ?
I mean, yes, there has been some stuff about OpenSource BIOS. But the number of OpenSource BIOS is so small, that any news is good news.
There is much more OpenSource OS than is OpenSource BIOS, so any chance is a big chance.
Why not post the security hole in PGP ? (while advertising T-Shirts ironically saying "I read your email" huahuuahahahaha.)
I give up., I will monitor any reaction, and then I might erase my Slashdor account (have to sleep over it). I get a form letter when contacting the webmaster. I get articles rejected (look at these pics above...I mean, this is really cool ! Much more "Geek" than a lame T-Shirt saying: "You suck!" in binary digits)
I get the feeling what else might be withheld from us. Not by purpose, but...
Hey, anyone ever considered putting up a site, that shows all articles being rejected by the Slashdot Heinis ? Count me in;-)
This is just a mirroring of the problem itself: Average people who think they can decide upon what is best for a super-intelligence by judjing from looking at their own lifes. It just not works this way. It is average people's desicions above such hyper-inetelligences that make their lifes so problematic. "No you don't need that Quantum Physics book, my son, you are only eleven, here, Micky Mouse, that is what all other kids of your age read"
Charisma ? You want to tell me that Mahathma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, George Bernard Shaw, Pablo Picasso, Salvadore Dali, Steven Hawking, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix have no Charisma ?
You say you have run into few of them ?
I did so too.
I know two good enough to tell you that their problems came not from the facts that they haven't been in normal schools.
That was their problem
If you ask me: If Michael 'Air' Jordan would not have had the chance to play in the champions league, he might be an be an alcoholic today unlucky and looking back on his wasted life.
Or, if Albert Einstein (who went to a normal school and repeated class) would not have gotten the chance to study what he wanted, he might have become some ordinary salesman enjoying some wifes while their husbands are at work.(HEHEHE)
I think I won't start telling you about the case of the nine year old girl going to a normal school, getting fulfilled all her normal needs by her normal parents and one day she started to get bad grades in school, became aggressive, first towards the other kids, later against herself (she cut her arms with a knife, with nine years, uh oh ah...) until finally someone I know realized whta the girl was. (The parents: "What, this stupid little brat ?") Now she is in a special school for special kids. She has a lot of (admittedly special) friends and just progresses nicly.
I think I won't tell you about that extremly 'prodigy' guy I meat a year ago, who, yes, never was allowed to get the education he needs, but had to go to normal school and now has a lot of friends (he has a bar, uh oh uh...he could be Friedrich Nietzsche) and is so god damned unlucky, very strange and hypochondric. Fully underpowered.
Slashdot Mirror
And where do I set these rules using the typical KDE file->right-click->edit-filetype (or in KontrolCenter/Filemanager/Filetypes) ? ;-)
For my system to do a more reliable filetype-recog I need this:And after I edited it, does Gnome take advantage of this ? See !? This is what I was talking about
- /etc/httpd/conf/magic
- /usr/share/magic/magic.mime
- /usr/share/magic/magic
- $KDEDIR/share/mimelnk/magic
I am aware, that I could symlink duplicate files. I just do not have the time to keep track whenever and wherever an application installed its own 'magic' file. We were talking about Desktop and that includes: "Normal Users"In order to be able to associate filetype with their mimetype my current box has this: (and now all we know is which filename-suffix belongs to which mime-type...
Now, I installed a plugin, in order to be able to read some historic documents. That required some nerscape-plugin. This is what the plugin-installer did: It spit its mime-types extensions in any server directory it could find and more...
Note, these are the same files. Not even linked. No, simple duplicates... My question would be, if this still would happen that easily, once a global Linux MIME/filetype-definition system is established.
Nota bene: I am sure the lists are incomplete and yes, this is not a typical system, and yes, I could "work around", but why not have one central repository for such information ?
I use High-Performance Liquid with KDE myself. On the Gnome I found a GTK+ theme, that makes the buttons look very similare, sort of plastic buttons. I am not exactly sure what is its name (and I am in KDE now, so I can not easily test) but if you browse them all you will find it. I guess it is part of the standard distribution for Gnome (or whatever). I think it is "BlueIce".
While I agree competition is good I find it important, that competition, once it has produced enough "critical mass" gets joined into both environments as a base, a standard.
However, I am a little sad to see the way things seem to work:
I hope this won't get interpretated as a troll. It is just a listing of negative impressions I have and feel they sting me.
On the one side we have many "conservative" developers (which I have sometimes the feeling is especially valid for KDE folks(who do not want to change too much, instead stay with the old and enhance it, read interview, and now I am going on thin ice, since KDE has some nice innovation built inI am really into Eye-Candy myself but it is not what makes my work being done. I see there are many MANY more issues both teams should address in a joint-venture:
I want a common base !(earth shakes ;-))
Now, I, as a user and developer, do that movement, that the ballet-dancers do (and which I lack the english expression for), that moment when they have their legs completely spread apart while touching the ground. I got some training in this myself, I touch the "Desk's Top" but it hurts me often, still.
I know this ain't easy. There have been huge flame-wars, not so long ago between both teams, software-fidelity is some sort of spiritual believe...(Emacs vs. Vi, KDE vs, Gnome, Windows vs. RestOfTheWorld, etc.). A slight hope on the horizon could be the Linux Standard Base LSB. In any case some head must be found both sides trust and we could have M$ struggle also on the desktop within four to five years. I tell you !!! :-D
Also, I am pretty sure, this all will happen sooner or later. But I find it disturbing to see not much sophisticated movement below the surface (which, in addition, would be quite easy to implement) and users wanting theme-engines and "the-looks congiguration" mainly.
Well...I use it myself. So, no, I am not. But I see your point. On the other hand you do not see the point I try to defend. I have basically two issues with your point of view:
1
You "idealize" the available compilers.
"Usually", yes, but noone uses ASM for "usual" tasks.
What about:
2
Fact is, that we have a new, virtual computer, virtual hardware, etc. AmigaDE is not being realized as a V-Machine, but as V-Hardware. That is a big difference ! A VM might emulate the ideal environment for development and runtime. A VH emulates the ideal hardware. Now, within this zone, why do you think Assembly won't be a good thing to have ? I see no difference as how 'inline' assembly, used in higher-level languages to speed up execution is suddenly not a need anymore as soon the CPU is not being realized within hardware but software.
But this is not platform independant assembly. Why would they do it ? This is assembly tied to the TAO platform, which in itself tries to realize a computer done fully in software. Programming for this platform will sometimes be very low level. It is the most mobile computer at all, since you can even share it among mobile computers of different architecture. And we find a very different 'hosting' environment here. AmigaDE is supposed to run on cell-phones (weak CPU, less memory), Handhelds, Desktops, later servers etc. This is the actual goal. They want a computer, that is a full abstract, a computer, that fits onto a Disk you keep in your pocket or whatever. It would be fully scalable and whether you find yourself slipping in your "computer on a disk" into a terminal at the airport or on your desktop at home, it will sense the underlying hardware and scale appropriately. (This has nothing to do with VP ASM but I wanted to mention'what the system actually is we are talking about).
Compilers do create overhead or miss a need here and there, which gets optimized by hand later, if needed. So, why would a C compiler on a virtual CPU not create overhead ?
However, I am not a TAO programmer. I don't know much about it and most of my speculations are just that: speculations. :-) But I insist on the very fact, that the TAO/AmigaDE system is not a VM. It is much more. It is a Virtual Computer. Taking care of this, ASM (and we are talking of an ASM implementation here, developers start praising as soon it is being mentioned) might be looked upon a different light.
ASM is fun: You got the machine "at your fingertips".
ASM is fun: It is like trying to get that dirt out of the head of your vacuum-cleaner by poking around with your fingers.
You write:
What about "Modules" written in ASM ? What about ASM Modules in OOP ?....
Well, do not forget, this is a virtual processor. That means, this ASM is as ideal as its inventors could dream it. It gives you much more than convnetional ASM. I did not use it myself. But I am pretty sure it has its reasons of existance. And sooner or later, whatever language you choose, whatever technique you prefer: It gets translated into machine-code. With ASM you're a little closer. In any case, the control is upon you. Completely. And you can optimize yourself.
Anyway, this is about an ideal CPU with an ideal language. If you do not want to use VP ASM you use VP C or whatever. You can still write your critical stuff in ASM, inlined.
It's a matter of taste, of skills, of the CPU you code for and much more. The classic AmigaOS was coded in many parts in ASM. That is where it got (also) its responsieveness from, scientists were actually using it in realtime environments, but it was not an RTOS.
Anyway, this gets off-topic. Amiga kicked (and still does) butt ! Of course, this is something new, we talk about and has nothing to do with the original Amiga anymore. It is completely new and different. And I think they will fail because they did not yet show a real product and have the worst marketing I have ever seen.
You are right. And I did not see the AmigaDE/TAO system running. But the industry did. And many many of them want TAO. TAO is quite a hotty. It seems to be what Java tried and would not do. Java is too much of a bloat.(IMHO)
See, having a VP means that you can dig down to the core. My personal opinion is, that IT tech is years behind, and each year they go ahead (faster CPU, more memory) they step a year back. The art of computing has always been fetching a lot of functionality into small devices. And while this still is valid on the hardware side, it is not anymore on the software side. One of the most incredible things with the original AmigaOS was that you could do incredible stuff with just a 8MHz CPU and 512KB of RAM. I have an Amiga4000 with SCSI, MC68060@50MHz, 83MB RAM, 20GB HDD CPU and a fgx card and an Athlon1.2GHz, SCSI, 512MB RAM, dualboot (Windows,Linux) GeForce2 and whatever....Guess where I do my core development on ? Right, on the Amiga. And why ? Because it saves me from bloat. It forces me to think about optimization at all (not only for speed and response), it tells me how to do things neat and tight. This is what is needed in the computer business: Small, fast and affordable devices. Having a VP means to me "Nothing better than ASM..."
Well, it is all very similare, these days.
.NET in a small) but will allow to be a real language (ARexx was that also) and molecular glue.
AmigaDE was proposed as a system using the TAO elate/intent technology. This tech is not really a VM but gets more to the core. It is the complete abstraction of a CPU into software. It is a VP (virtual processor).
So you can code ASM for it (and a very nice version of it, with things available, that you couzld not have with real ASM).
Amiga Inc. wanted to enrich and enhance the elate system by creating the "Amiverse", a virtual space (like in Universe) where software modules would fly around like atoms and molecules, creating much larger molecules as soon the system requests a special application.
In fact, one would have an MP3 module, a HTML object etc, which could be reused and creat applications on the fly. At least this is how I understood this.
Knowing the Amige very well I know of one of its (and there were many, believe me, I still use my Amiga daily, Linux can't bring so much joy - and I am a developer) major strengths: IPC scripting. One had a bitmap-paint program. This program exported all of its functionalities (and with major applications these were usually about 100 to 500 commands) to the Amiga IPC scripting language (a rexx derivate) and suddenly you could use all of the bitmap painters functions in your scripting language.
Well, most applications had such an "ARexx port" (our export and address host).
Amiga was/is amazing.
Now the new AmigaDE will have a very new language, called SHEEP and developed by a really cool language designer from the Netherlands "Wouter van Oortmersen"). This language not only will kepp the good old fashion of Application IPC macroing/scripting (Windows has a different technique but with similare efforts, they name it WSH, which is a bit like
This is all my personal interpretation.
For more info, check ouzt the AmigaWorld News (or however they call it) at www.amiga.com.
It is pretty interesting.
What they mean with "Ip over MPEG" is nothing else than IP over DVB - Digital Video Broadcast. DVB is the digital television standard in Europe, and NOKIA is a major player in it, as is Fujitsu-Siemens and others. There exist three DVB transmission styles:
and a similare audio-standard, named DAB - Digital Audio Boradcasting. DAB will replace the FM tuners over the years, and DVB will replace the conventional TV broadcastings.
Still we do not know what "IP over MPEG" is, right ? Well, DVB transmissions consist of a subset of MPEG2. I think this is what they meant with this. I have such a DVB-Card in one of my PCI slots. Together with my USB Host-To-Host bridge, my D-Link NIC this is the third (never asked for, since I use DVB for Television only) network card I have in my system. The DVB standard not only transmits audio/video but also (since we are talking digital, you guessed it...;-)) generic information, as in this case, TCP/IP packets. With this it is possible to use a sattelite (with the SAT version) as network-downstream. This still would require the upstream to go through a conventional method, however. I guess this will change in the next ten years, and DVB will become a standard way to access the Internet...
What is especially interesting are the things going on "behind the scenes", especially from an Open Source point of view:
MHP is a standard, that will incooperate DVB but make it a real standard. At the moment each broadcaster tries to enforce its own modifications and incompatibilities on the users (Germanies largest broadcaster did so, some French pay-channel did, etc.), just as we know similare practices from M$.
LinuxTV.Org also wrote and/or hosts the important (GPL'ed) software for the DVB cards on Linux, both the v4l compatible TV drivers as well as the IP over MPEG ;-) driver. In addition they host a very cool Linux project, named VDR, which makes a harddisk-video recorder out of any linux compatible PC with one ore more DVB card(s).
BTW: see also DirectFB stuff on Freshmeat and for Gods sake, have a look at this amazing GTK+ desktop with full aplpha blending or the "rootless X Server"(1) (2) or "ten MPEG Videos playing at once, blended, without framedrops". You will find their GTK+ patches here and the DVB stuff here
All in all this is perfect for embedded systems and desktop boxes as well as it will be for full blown deksktops. (Linux desktop without X, digital video and audio broadcast based on free and open standards etc.)
Hi Bowie !
Your comment is interesting.
However, I know you must remember the Amiga !
There we had ARexx as programming and IPC "glue" language. [on Amiga most applications are scriptable by this language]
Since there was only a single language to do IPC scripting one might practically compare this with a single API.
One instance to access.
Not like: Emacs has elisp, Gimp has perl and Python, others have Tcl...there is no framework.
Now I do not know GNOMEs basement. Never been there. But I heard people talking about.
I think M.I. has the right vision. It _really_ is time to have a modular system with strong IPC, unified, standardized. I want to be able to view my 'inbox' the same way in a filemanager, in an email program or in my text-editor. Sometimes this is exactly what I need.
I started myself doing some stuff back on the Amiga.
It should have provided seperate ARexx macros with better ways to interchange data (other than PIPE, Clip-List and temp-files). Also it was the foundation of "flying modules", minor or major function-modules, being "hot-pluggable" wherever you wanted them.
My project exploded. Soon it became a much more abstract and platform-independant thing, easily scalable and much more within seconds ;-).
I found myself evaluating XML for the user's definitions of "things to be done". I bought a book on XML and was introduced to the "Windows Scripting Host" as programming example.
A very similare techinique to what I had in mind ! They even used the same terms like me ! They used XML, they exported functions of applications into a gereal API repository, each language could access it.
Basically .NET is just the next step on this road. If you once have come here, you automatically end up with a distributed, well scalable IPC system, being made out of components. There is no other logical way.
You see, I can understand M.I. if he ends up at Windows stuff. I needed to learn they already did what I wanted.
And I welcome it in parts. How much do I hate the fact, that KDE, GNOME and the rest of Linux do not share a *single* IPC API ?
The only thing I was eyeing jealously over the years I used nothing else then my trusworthy Amiga was Microsofts OLE. Something AmigaOS was lacking badly. Microsoft have invented something very nice here. At least from the superficial view I have.
Whatever you try to do, it will look much like .NET. So, why not taking it over ?I share many of the fears critics have. I think M.I. should not use it as the base. This is too Microsoftish. No good. We would depend on them. On the other side I see no other way for a cometive system than at least support tight API connections etc.
So, personally I would suggest for something GNOMOE-made but with strong support for .NET.
P.S. Actually this comment should read like:
I think we need a platform independant, well scalable, unified IPC API, distributable (encode movie on SMP machine in LAN, view it on wallmount in kitchen, still it is one dynamic application). And I would like to see the different Linux projects adhere to such a standard, once it would be.
- amixCan I use this with one of these: (nota bene: These are no iMacs)
PEGASOS Dual PPC MoBoNota bene: This is a motherboard, so all in the list is onboard !
DCE G3/G4 Microserver on a PCI cardThat would give heaven of a multimedia machine: DualG4, Firewire, IRDA and Ether onboard, put one of the DCE Microservers (see next one) in one free PCI.....WROOMMMM !
Note, I did not find info on this card on their site, yet.
- G3/G4 CPU 450-733 MHz 1-4 MB Cache
- bis 1 GB 133 MHz SDRAM
- 100 Mbit Ethernet
- optional Firewire
- PCI 2.1 Master/Agent
RIORED PPC MoBo- RIORED mainboard supports one or two CPU daughtercards. Each daughtercard contains one PowerPC G3cx microprocessor operating at a speed of 550 MHz.
- 64MB to 1GB memory by four interleaved sockets (used 2 by 2) consisting of 64 or 72-Bits (ECC) unbuffered SDRAM 168pins DIMMs.
- Memory speed support of 100MHz (PC-100) for up to 800 MBytes/s.
- 512KB of FLASH memory for the BIOS and SETUP.
- Four 33MHz PCI-32 (32-Bits) slots with BURST transfers at 133 MBytes/s.
- Two 66MHz/3.3V PCI-64 (64-Bits) slots with BURST transfers at 528 MBytes/s.
- AGP (3.3V) bus support with onboard DMA capabilities.
- PCI IDE for four devices (Ultra-DMA 66).
- PCI USB for four onboard ports (1.5 & 12Mbits/s).
- I2C port to pilot a front panel LCD to show the system information.
- I2C port for geeks.
- Time-of-year clock & NVRAM (256Bytes) with 3V lithium battery.
- Interrupt management with clear distribution (not shared int lines).
- Power management with wake up capability from USB events (keyboard / modem) and PCI cards (Ethernet).
- Ambiant thermical sensor.
I2C ports, yammiHi Messanger
Thanks, I sometimes lurk around on kuro5hin and like it.
When I came here I was in fear that my post produced a long list of flames (against me). :-)
I am happy to see only two positive replies,he !
But you did not comment on those pics above. ;-)
amix
Now I came across your name the third time on the net !
First time was on Aminet ;-) I have some of your Gfx installed
on my local disk. I do not use them, but they are so
nice, that I never could erase them. (they're in
my brush: dir ;-))
You still own an Amiga ?
amixOkay, I give up !
Can anyone please explain me why these articles got rejected ?
Why I post it to an article that is about strange "rebuilds" of computers ?
Because my article (number 3 in the list) I posted yesterday would have fittet exactly in here.
Hipsamtab1.jpg [50KB]
Hipsamtab2.jpg [51KB]
Hipsamtab3.jpg [53KB]
There is also articles on
.AmigArt
and
AmigaORG
Why does such a popular OpenSource site silence down a post about an OpenSource BIOS ? I mean, yes, there has been some stuff about OpenSource BIOS. But the number of OpenSource BIOS is so small, that any news is good news.
There is much more OpenSource OS than is OpenSource BIOS, so any chance is a big chance.
Why not post the security hole in PGP ? (while advertising T-Shirts ironically saying "I read your email" huahuuahahahaha.)
I give up., I will monitor any reaction, and then I might erase my Slashdor account (have to sleep over it). I get a form letter when contacting the webmaster. I get articles rejected (look at these pics above...I mean, this is really cool ! Much more "Geek" than a lame T-Shirt saying: "You suck!" in binary digits) I get the feeling what else might be withheld from us. Not by purpose, but...
Hey, anyone ever considered putting up a site, that shows all articles being rejected by the Slashdot Heinis ? Count me in ;-)
Score 5 !?! What ? Insightfull ?!
This is just a mirroring of the problem itself: Average people who think they can decide upon what is best for a super-intelligence by judjing from looking at their own lifes.
It just not works this way. It is average people's desicions above such hyper-inetelligences that make their lifes so problematic.
"No you don't need that Quantum Physics book, my son, you are only eleven, here, Micky Mouse, that is what all other kids of your age read"
Charisma ? You want to tell me that Mahathma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, George Bernard Shaw, Pablo Picasso, Salvadore Dali, Steven Hawking, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix have no Charisma ?
You say you have run into few of them ?
I did so too.
I know two good enough to tell you that their problems came not from the facts that they haven't been in normal schools.
That was their problem
If you ask me: If Michael 'Air' Jordan would not have had the chance to play in the champions league, he might be an be an alcoholic today unlucky and looking back on his wasted life.
Or, if Albert Einstein (who went to a normal school and repeated class) would not have gotten the chance to study what he wanted, he might have become some ordinary salesman enjoying some wifes while their husbands are at work.(HEHEHE)
I think I won't start telling you about the case of the nine year old girl going to a normal school, getting fulfilled all her normal needs by her normal parents and one day she started to get bad grades in school, became aggressive, first towards the other kids, later against herself (she cut her arms with a knife, with nine years, uh oh ah...) until finally someone I know realized whta the girl was. (The parents: "What, this stupid little brat ?") Now she is in a special school for special kids. She has a lot of (admittedly special) friends and just progresses nicly.
I think I won't tell you about that extremly 'prodigy' guy I meat a year ago, who, yes, never was allowed to get the education he needs, but had to go to normal school and now has a lot of friends (he has a bar, uh oh uh...he could be Friedrich Nietzsche) and is so god damned unlucky, very strange and hypochondric. Fully underpowered.
That is how these people fuck up.
Dammit ! A Ferarri needs no speed-limit.
Do you ?!